The Ultimate Fighter 12: Episode 6 Recap

This week, we get a special treat on “The Ultimate Fighter”: two fights! Aside from that, there’s sure to be plenty of silly drama and other nonsense, of course. Let’s get on with it as we continue to follow the twelfth season of the show.

To start the episode, Josh Koscheck and his coaches go into one of the dressing rooms where Team St. Pierre’s Michael Johnson is getting adjusted by the chiropractor. Of course, Koscheck starts busting Johnson’s balls, saying he looks “fat” and that he didn’t show good cardio in his fight. Coach Dave Camarillo then kicks Johnson out of the room, even though he was just getting adjusted and not really saying anything.

At the house, Johnson and his teammates talk about how Team Koscheck has changed since they finally got a win. “They could easily lose this 6-1,” Johnson notes. Sure enough, later in the evening, they are all going crazy in the house and making tons of noise. Kyle Watson says, “They completely forgot that we already won three fights and we didn’t rub it in their faces at all.”

Koscheck shows up at the house to encourage the trash talking, and Johnson tells Koscheck there was no reason to be a “dickhead” earlier. Johnson notes that the team acts a lot differently when “Mama Koscheck” comes around. It’s funny how sticking different colored jerseys on these guys and putting them in teams easily creates tension between the two groups, even though it’s really an individual competition.

Marc Stevens is going to fight Cody McKenzie in the first fight of the episode. Koscheck was talking crap as the two faced off, and McKenzie put his hand in Koscheck’s face. Afterward, people get mad and overreact and blah blah blah. It’s like the teams themselves have become symbols of their coaches, with Koscheck’s charges antagonizing their rivals while St. Pierre’s representatives try to take the high road.

GSP talks to his team to tell them to not fall for Koscheck’s games. He explains that he’s not afraid of anyone, but doesn’t react to any shenanigans unless he feels physically threatened. Meanwhile, McKenzie starts talking about how he has no wrestling background and was never a great athlete, but he just gets in the cage and fights, plain and simple. Well, he says that, but with a dozen “uhs” in there.

In Koscheck’s continuing quest to sound accidentally gay, he says he wants to train with McKenzie. “I’d love to get my hands on you,” he says as he pats McKenzie on the shoulder and smiles creepily. Stevens is shown working out in the Octagon, and he’s working on shooting off of his right hand. Camarillo wants Stevens to avoid the guillotine at all costs during takedown attempts. Stevens says that McKenzie built his record off of “bums”, while he himself has fought “twenty tough guys.” Sure, like Mike Scott (0-2), Hansel Calderon (1-1-1), Al Buck (4-6), Jose Rodriguez (5-13), and Joe Manzello (4-6).

There’s some trash talk before the fight, including one zinger from McKenzie (“For how little he is, he sure walks tall”). Koscheck reminds Stevens that “millions of people are gonna be watching this.” Oh, so he knows that people will watch this stuff, yet he still acts the way that he does? Well, that’s confusing.

In the cage, “Cowboy” Steve Mazzagatti will be the third man. In a funny moment, Stevens puts his hand up to see if they will touch gloves at the start, and McKenzie shakes his head “no”. You just got done bashing this guy, and you want to be buddies when the fight starts?

The fight starts, and after a brief exchange, Stevens charges right into a Stevens guillotine. Stevens is past the guard to the side mount, so he should be able to–holy crap, Stevens is out! He was where he needed to be, but McKenzie had Stevens’ right leg hooked with his to keep him from getting farther over to fight the choke.

The reactions from Koscheck and team are as priceless as you might imagine. Koscheck said he had an “ew-ie” feeling inside. McKenzie channels Randy Quaid in his post-fight comments, laughing about how he surprised everyone. GSP wants everyone to be modest after the fight, and he says that being nice allows them to surprise opponents with their ferocity during the actual fights.

Koscheck frets over the fact that his two remaining fighters won’t know what to expect. Um, there’s only two guys left that they can face. Not exactly rocket science.

GSP announces that Jonathan Brookins will face Sevak Magakian. Brookins is pretty much getting his first screen time, probably because he isn’t a jackass. He is shown doing some yoga outside, and he talks about the role of meditation in his preparation. Of course, the serene background music is quickly cut into a generic hard rock instrumental and quick cuts of Brookins training. Oooooooooh, such a duality!

Brookins and GSP bonk heads when they’re grappling, and GSP gets a cut on his eyebrow as a result. As he’s getting ready to leave, Koscheck notices the cut and GSP reassures him that he’ll be fine for December’s fight. Koscheck says he doesn’t plan to hit him on the eyebrow, but instead on the chin. “Good luck with that,” replies St. Pierre.

Everyone talks about Sevak’s mentality as we watch him take shots to the face with his hands down in sparring. Hey, cool story bro, but maybe work on developing good habits for the fights where you won’t be wearing headgear and your opponent won’t have 16 ounce gloves? Before the fight, Koscheck tells his team, “This is our house, fellas…we built this place.” Wait, what? I’m trying to think of any way possible that his comment could make sense, but I’m not coming up with anything.

It’s fight time, and Sevak comes out mean-mugging anyone and everyone, while Brookins is smiling and winking. They do a little hand raise to indicate that they will touch gloves, which I think is just dumb. You’re getting ready to fight, wondering whether the other guy wants to touch em up or not shouldn’t even be on your radar. Why even go through the thought of, “Hey, I wonder if the other guy wants to touch gloves. I should ask him from across the cage”? It’s silly.

They touch gloves. Okay, guys, do you feel better now? Good gravy. Oh, by the way, Josh “Caged Cannibal” Rosenthal is our ref. Wow…right off the bat Brookins reverses a throw and ends up in side mount, then is able to get one hook in to try to take Sevak’s back as he stands up. He finally gets the other hook in, and Sevak is focusing on controlling his opponent’s wrists now. Sevak makes a mistake by putting his right hand on the mat to balance himself, allowing Brookins to start sinking in the choke. From then, it’s academic and soon, Sevak falls to the mat and taps. Another win for Team St. Pierre.

Koscheck, for his part, focuses on trying to make Magakian feel better after the fight. He tries to tell Magakian what he needed to do to defend the choke better as the show closes out rather abruptly.

Next week, our last preliminary fight will take place, as Sako Chivitchian and Dane Sayers will face off. It looks like the coaches’ challenge will be a home run derby (with what appears to be a junior high softball fence), and we’ll find out which two fighters will get the wild card opportunity.

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Tags: Cody McKenzie, Georges St. Pierre, Jonathan Brookins, Josh Koscheck, Marc Stevens, Michael Johnson, Sevak Magakian, The Ultimate Fighter, The Ultimate Fighter 12, The Ultimate Fighter St. Pierre vs. Koscheck