The Ultimate Fighter: Liddell vs. Ortiz Episode 11 Recap (Part 2)

Now, it’s time for Kris McCray to use his all-star cast to help him get ready for . He works the mitts, and Franklin talks about how McCray will have fought five times in six weeks. We get an interesting bit where Maynard and Franklin point out the importance of good posture when going for a takedown against the cage. Interesting stuff- I wish they did more of that on this show. McCray is shown working transitions from punches to takedowns in the cage.

Back at the house, and…this won’t be good. Yager wants to get everyone back for the prank earlier, and he highjacks everyone’s shoes. Tavares decides to whip some beans and rice outside on the sunbathers. The others think Hammortree will “stab one of them” if they don’t stop. Sure enough, he heads upstairs to confront Yager. He then dumps a bunch of garbage out on his bed, so Yager dumps beans all over Hammortree’s bed. The two get up in each other’s faces, and Hammortree tries to get him out of his room. Yager calls Hammortree “a little bitch”, and Hammortree thinks Yager expects people to back down because he has “a little volume in his hair”. Yager does the “flinch” thing at Uscola, and Uscola doesn’t like it and tries to go at Yager. Yager is talking tough for a guy who quit, which Clayton McKinney happily points out. “I got rocked” is Yager’s excuse. Uscola says for Yager to put his shoes on and go outside. Oh schnap! Yager looks outside his window to see if Uscola is really out there, and Uscola says he’s waiting. Yager isn’t about to come down, though. “Another fight he didn’t show up for,” he says. Ha! Hammortree says he wants a chance to smash Yager’s face in during a UFC event. McKinney says he’d love to “crush his face,” too. Even Kris McCray doesn’t want to talk to him.

We see Bryant preparing for McGee, throwing combinations and getting pointers from Liddell and company. Then there’s the weigh-in, as both fighters make weight as expected. The two warm up and Franklin tries to build up McGee for the rematch, telling him that no one worked harder to get where they were in the show than he did. “If I win this thing, I took the hardest path, because I fought every week for the last four weeks,” McCray says.

Then it’s fight time and they both start off fairly aggressively, as McCray may have caught Bryant with a punch on the way in for a takedown, and he gets Bryant’s back from a standing position. He’s working to pull Bryant down, and does, but Bryant is doing a nice job of defending and stands right back up. McCray circles to the front and works a single-leg takedown and gets Bryant on his back, though he works to stand up immediately. He pushes McCray’s head away and stands, though McCray continues clinching and working for a takedown. A nice knee to the body by McCray and they separate, with McCray looking a bit tired already.

Bryant lands a nice jab and blocks a head kick from McCray. McCray comes forward with a one-two that doesn’t really land and eats a hook from Bryant. McCray lands a kick to the body and clinches Bryant, but Bryant circles away. Bryant is not throwing as frequently as he’d like cause he’s worried about defending takedowns. McCray lands a couple of jabs but there’s nothing on them. A nice uppercut lands for McCray, who clinches again, though Bryant pushes away and lands an overhand right. Knees to the body and head from McCray, and Bryant pushes his opponent against the fence. Uppercut to the body from Bryant, then McCray pushes away. Nice left hook from Bryant, but McCray takes it like a champ. Uppercut from Bryant. The two both throw as time expires. Nice shots from Bryant make it very close, but McCray was pushing the pace and controlling for most of the round, so I give a slim 10-9 advantage to McCray.

Before round two, McCray is clearly gassed. Franklin wants him to stay relaxed and not work too hard when he puts Bryant against the fence. The round starts and McCray lands an overhand right and clinches. Bryant circles away from the clinch and eats a jab as they feel each other out. Another jab lands for McCray, who hits Bryant with uppercuts to the body and head, then clinches again. Bryant now looks for a single-leg takedown, but McCray defends. Knee to the body for McCray. Not a lot happening as they exchange knees to the body. Referee Steve “Jewelz” Mazzagatti separates them as Bryant wings an overhand right and misses. McCray lands more hockey-style uppercuts and then a knee as they clinch and Bryant looks for the takedown. Good defense by McCray, who is showing a lot of heart considering how tired he must be.

Two minutes left. McCray lands some jabs, as does Bryant. Bryant misses a left and they clinch as McCray lands some light body shots. They exchange knees to the body again. Bryant is pinning McCray against the cage but McCray is landing knees to the body and outworking him there. McCray looks for a takedown but doesn’t have the gas to pull it off. I’d give that round to McCray, too, but I wouldn’t argue with it going for Bryant. 10-9 McCray.

The third round starts much as the last one ended, with neither finding their range for their punches, though Bryant lands the first meaningful punches of the stanza with a hook and uppercut. Low kick for Bryant, then another. He should keep throwing those. Nice triple jab lands for Bryant, and hockey uppercuts and a clinch are the answer from McCray. Bryant circles away and lands a counter left, then glances a right off of McCray’s head. McCray ducks and goes for a takedown, but Bryant defends very well and gets away. McCray ducks a left hand and Bryant smartly lands a nice right hand uppercut as a result. McCray buckles a bit from a Bryant leg kick. They are both very tired now.

Bryant gets underhooks momentarily and eats a knee to the body from McCray. McCray works the Muay Thai plum briefly but misses his punches. I have no idea why Bryant isn’t working the legs of McCray. McCray clinches and lands knees to the body. McCray takes Bryant’s back from a standing position and Bryant looks to break McCray’s grip and turn into him. Bryant lands a left hook, and another that barely had anything on it. A quality left hook follows, and McCray shoots. Another very close round. I would go 10-9 Bryant because he landed the better shots and neither did much with their wrestling besides get stuffed. Whoever wins this round better have used the time while the show was airing to get in better shape! Of course, not having to fight several times in a six-week period will probably help.

As we return, the other fighters tell the two to put their hands up, just in case the judges are waiting to score the fight until they see which one “looks” like he won. I hate that. No judge ever decided a fight because someone put their hands up as if they won afterwards. The scorecards are 30-27 (x2), 29-28 for Kris McCray. Franklin points out that he’s the first undefeated coach ever on the show. Well played, sir. Well played. Liddell would have liked to see Bryant pressure him more instead of sitting back a bit now and then. McGee, who still has his fight shorts and gloves on from his bout, faces off with McCray as we see highlights from each during the season. Apparently the two fights took place on the same day, though it wasn’t edited to appear that way.

So, we’re all set, as we’ll have the battle of the “Mc”s at the finale, as well as the matchup between Liddell and Franklin at UFC 115 this weekend. We’ll have coverage of both events of course, and the recaps will be back this fall when Georges St. Pierre and Josh Koscheck coach their teams on “The Ultimate Fighter 12″.

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Tags: Chuck Liddell, James Hammortree, Jamie Yager, Josh Bryant, Kris McCray, Kyacey Uscola, Rich Franklin, The Ultimate Fighter 11, The Ultimate Fighter Liddell vs Ortiz, Tito Ortiz