The Ultimate Fighter 13: Episode 5 Recap

Last week, things didn’t go so well for Brock Lesnar and his band of merry men. Ramsey Nijem defeated Charlie Rader in what was an unexpected result, leading to Lesnar going off on his fighters in the locker room afterward. What kind of fallout will result from the post-fight rant, and can Lesnar’s next representative turn things around? Read on to find out.

We see Charlie getting his shoulder taken care of as the episode begins. In Team Lesnar’s locker room, Len Bentley storms out because he doesn’t think he should have to listen to Lesnar’s speech about the team underachieving and being- yes, you guessed it- “chicken shit”.

Charlie’s teammates convince him to come back into the locker room, but Brock isn’t in an apologizing mood. He talks about his own loss to Cain Velasquez, saying that the performance was his fault and no one else’s. When Len tries to give his point of view, Brock really isn’t hearing it. He says no one but Chris Cope has impressed him. Astute observers will remember that Lesnar didn’t even see Len’s fight, so he’s not in a strong position to ignore where Len is coming from. Lesnar continues his stunning assault on the single-season cliches record, saying that it’s “kill or be killed” in the Octagon.

When we go back to the house, Len is not done with the Lesnar issue by a long shot. He doesn’t care about Brock and isn’t going to let his “negative energy” get to him, though it would seem he’s already letting it do just that, right? Mutiny!

Before long, Junior dos Santos is back at the training center doing what he’s done many times already this season: announcing his fight pick. He chooses Mick Bowman from his own team to fight Clay Harvison from Lesnar’s. If you listen to the coaches, this will be the supposedly “classic” striker vs. grappler matchup, as Lesnar likes Clay’s submission game, while Junior and team thinks Mick’s standup will be the key.

We get yet another hint of dissension between Lew Polley and Junior dos Santos over who should be running practices at the next Team dos Santos workout. Junior wants Mick to focus on movement and body punches, but Mick’s ultimate plan is to pin Clay to the cage (God, no) and take him down. Perhaps he isn’t as impressed with Clay’s submission game as Team Lesnar is.

Clay works the mitts at Team Lesnar’s practice, and he’s focusing on how he plans to use his jab to keep Mick away and keep the fight standing. He thinks he can frustrate Mick, who he considers to be a brawler, by doing so. However, we get a continuation of the stupidest storyline since the last time it happened as it’s hinted again that Chris Cope is “sharing information with the other team”.

Oh, God, this shit again. As if the game plans being generated aren’t basic enough as it is, this is an environment where everyone lives together. It’s not as if people’s training is some big secret. Furthermore, what would Cope gain by sharing this information? This isn’t a show like Survivor where an allegiance can help save you at some point. You aren’t winning the show unless you win all of your fights, and giving the other team information about training methods and fight tactics isn’t helping you do that. It’s a stupid angle, just like it is every other season when they explore it. I guess when nobody’s pissing in anyone’s food, they don’t know what else to do to fill the hour long time slot.

Nevermind any kind of logic- Clay “knows a shady person when he sees one”. He says he’s tempted to beat Chris up. A mystery person writes the incredibly inflammatory “Chris Cope Double Agent” in the sand outside of the house. GASP! Such a vile insult! Surely those are fighting words. And it’s not really a mystery, since the production crew follows everyone around all the time, but what sense would it make to show us who actually did it? Then they couldn’t make a whole episode out of this nonsense.

Chris is mad about it and confronts his team, and no one will own up to possibly writing it or even to calling him a traitor, or spy, or whatever dumb shit they want to call it. They say there have been suspicions, but that’s it. Chris says he’s loyal to the team, and it appears to be a dead issue…until Chris isn’t around, and the talk begins all over again. Len in particular talks a lot about Chris except when Chris is actually around.

Chris theorizes that the writing in the sand is Tony Ferguson’s, and like any other rational person would when being accused of writing something completely unimportant in some sand, Ferguson gets angry. “How dare you say that I wrote that you’re a double agent in the sand of our zen garden?!?” He doesn’t actually say it, but he might as well with how melodramatic this nonsense is.

To top this stupid storyline off, it was actually Mick that wrote it. He wrote it because he thinks Chris hangs around his team to take info back to his own teammates, which is funny because Chris’ teammates think he’s doing the opposite. Even he doesn’t think it’s a big deal, and he wrote the damn thing. Let’s just not talk about this anymore, okay? Okay.

We get the customary fight day introspection from both fighters, with Mick saying that he is inspired by his daughter to give his best performance, while Clay earlier gave a story about how his brother’s ashes were part of the ink used to do his tattoo on his ribcage. Before we know it, the junior high girl drama is over and it’s time for the fight.

Both fighters make their way out, and our referee will be Steve “The Hairy One” Mazzagatti. Clay is aggressive right off the bat, landing a charging right hand. Mick works on low kicks. Clay lands his right hand and a low kick. Mick says “eff this” before long and shoots, but Clay defends and gets some offense in on Mick, who’s on his back. Clay drops into Mick’s guard and defends a triangle choke, then an armbar, neither of which were particularly threatening. The fighters stand up again and Clay counters Mick’s low kicks with- what else?- straight rights.

Mick is unsuccessful again in going for a takedown. Clay is finding a home for his right hand often. He lands another combo and presses Mick into the cage momentarily. They fight for underhooks until Clay backs off, preferring to stand. Mick lands some low kicks and even some punches before Clay answers with another right. Mick tries to shoot again near the end of the round, but it’s too little, too late on my scorecard. Clay gets it, 10-9.

The second round begins and Clay lands a kick to Mick’s body. They clinch and exchange knees as Clay pushes Mick toward the cage. Clay has Mick pressed against the cage for a bit before Mick circles away and lands an elbow before breaking apart from his opponent. Both are swinging a little more wildly now. Mick is trying to stick to his jab as he planned, and lands a leg kick that hurts Clay a bit. Clay is starting to land his own jab now. Mick is clearly less tired than Clay, but Clay is still landing his right with good regularity. Mick tries for a takedown, but Clay stuffs it as they end up against the cage. Clay circles Mick into the cage and they exchange some punches as a close round ends that I’ll also score for Clay, although more narrowly this time.

This fight could easily go to a third round. However, it’s announced that there is a winner, and it is Clay, who advances as Mick is eliminated. Afterward, both fighters are pretty emotional, as Mick is disappointed and Clay is concerned about a rather nasty looking pinky fracture. Still, Team Lesnar is back in it and feeling good, while Junior tries to keep Mick’s head up.

Next week, we’ll see if Brock’s team will be able to even things up as we get one fight closer to the quarterfinals. Hopefully, we won’t get any more “spy” nonsense. Can’t these guys just go fight in the backyard or destroy the house or something? Or, you know, they could actually show us some training without the MTV-style hyperactive cuts that keep us from really seeing what’s going on. Just saying.

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Tags: Brock Lesnar, Clay Harvison, Junior Dos Santos, Len Bentley, Mick Bowman, The Ultimate Fighter, The Ultimate Fighter 13