411’s The Ultimate Fighter 7 Report 4.16.08: Episode 3

Posted by Jeremy Lambert on 04.17.2008

The first in house episode of The Ultimate Fighter 7 has arrived. 32 guys showed up and 16 stayed after winning their fights. Jackson and Griffin finally got to pick their teams and are now called upon to mold the next Ultimate Fighter.

The Ultimate Fighter 7: Team Rampage vs. Team Forrest
Episode 3

Previously: 32 guys fought and 16 won to stay in the house.

Opening Video

The 16 guys enter the house and check the place out. Everyone is excited that they fought and won to get in the house.

They go to the training center where Griffin, Jackson, and White are waiting to select the teams. Dana was impressed with all the fights and wants everyone to keep up the hard work. Rampage wins the coin toss and decides to pick the first fighter over the first fight. This year the team that wins the fight, stays in control of picking fights.

Rampage selects CB Dollaway with the first pick. Forrest picks Tim Credeur. Matt, Amir, Paul, Jesse, Kramar, Matt Brown, Gerald, Cale, Mike, Daunte, Jeremy, Nick, Brandon, and Luke are all selected in that order. Both coaches are happy with their team.

Jesse is happy that he is with Forrest because he is a cardio machine. Paul has some type of rash on his neck, which Rampage believes that it's herpes. People are afraid to roll with Paul due to the rash.

Jackson's goal is to learn and teach. Jackson puts over his coaches. Dana White brings in a dermatologist named Jason Michaels. Jackson asks him if he's related to Shawn Michaels and Quinton Jackson is officially my new favorite fighter of all time. Sadly, Jason is not related to Shawn. Michaels says that Paul's rash is contagious and that stress brings it out. So much for this guy. Paul has to run on the treadmill while everyone else spars.

At Team Forrest training, Forrest says that he's never going to be a coach but he knows how to run a training camp. Forrest brought in GRAY MAYNARD~! to help the guys with their wrestling. Unfortunately, I don't believe we'll get a Randy Couture cameo this season.

Dana calls Jackson and Paul into his office and tells Paul that he's going to have to go home. Dana is worried that Paul's rash will spread to others on the show and he can't have that happen. Dana is upset that he has to kick Paul off the show because he did nothing wrong. Paul gave up his job to come on the show and now he has nothing. The guys think that it sucks for Paul that he has to leave.

At the fight selection, Forrest picks Jesse Taylor to fight Mike Dolce. Dolce likes the match up. Jesse was picked to take out one of Team Jackson's top guys.

Jesse looks exactly like Big John McCarthy so he has that going for him if fighting doesn't work out. Forrest thinks Jesse could be the next Matt Hamill. Is that a compliment?

Mike trains out of Team Quest, which means he's destined to fail in the UFC.

With Paul gone, someone has to come back. Dana talks to Jackson about who he wants to bring back. Jackson wants to bring back Aaron but he hurt his knee. He picks someone else but that guy won his fight so he's already there. Jackson ends up selecting Patrick and a lot of people on the team are questioning that decision.

Jackson comes over to the house to hang out with his team. Jackson believes that he's one of the coolest people in the world, concurred, because he can be friends with anyone. Jackson goes around the table and gets to know his team. The team also gets to know Jackson. The team really bonds with Jackson during the conversation and liked that he came to kick it with them.

Mike believes that Jesse had a weak mind, which leads to an awesome scene with Jesse taking 5 minutes to push in the dishwasher drawers. Jesse expects this fight to be a brawl. Both men think they're good enough to win.

Jesse Taylor (Team Forrest) vs. Mike Dolce (Team Rampage)

Round 1: Mike stuffs an early takedown. Mike grabs a leg but Jesse switches and gets his back on the ground. Jesse works for a rear naked choke but Mike keeps his chin tucked. Mike rolls into the guard of Jesse. Mike throws short elbows from the guard. Jesse pushes off and puts Mike on his back, ending up in half guard. Jesse once again gets the back of Mike. He tries for the choke again but Mike rolls Jesse into side control. Mike puts Jesse in half guard but eats a lot of punches in the process. Jesse fires off punches from the guard as the round ends. Easy round win for Jesse.

Round 2: Jesse scores with a quick takedown and ends up in guard. Jesse passes to side control and the quickly into mount. Jesse connects with a slew of punches until Mike gives up his back. This time Jesse locks in the rear naked choke and Mike passes out.

Winner – Jesse Taylor by Submission

Forrest enjoyed the energy displayed by Jesse. Jesse puked after he won the fight. Dana hands out a $10,000 bonus to Jesse for winning the fight. He's already making more than Keith Jardine before the Chuck fight. Mike wishes he had more time with the coaches.

Next Week: Team Rampage looks for a bounce back fight. Riddle gets under the skin of Duante.

Show Comments: A good true first episode. The Jesse vs. Mike fight was a solid fight that never bored me so that's always a plus. Jackson's heart to heart with his team was great comedy and once again Jackson, Griffin, and White stole the show with their side comments.