The Ultimate Fighter Season 12: Episode 8 Recap

We’re inching ever closer to the end of another season of “The Ultimate Fighter”, and only the wild card bout remains before we get down to the quarterfinals. In tonight’s episode, we will see Marc Stevens and Aaron Wilkinson face off in that fight.

Of course, there are varying opinions on the wild card choices, as Jonathan Brookins and others think that Stevens should have been passed up after losing extremely quickly in his last fight. Meanwhile, Dane Sayers lost a decision to Sako Chivitchian and was not chosen. St. Pierre himself agrees with the decision, though, saying that Marc is just the better fighter of the two at this point.

Meanwhile, the always polarizing Alex Caceres apparently is having back problems, though his teammates aren’t really buying it. Michael Johnson is critical and thinks Caceres is just slacking off, while Caceres maintains that he’s really in pain and can’t help it.

Team Koscheck gets together for a training session, and talk about the selections for the wild card bout continue. Koscheck says that Stevens and Wilkinson were good choices, but many, including Andy Main, feel differently. Go figure- the guys that weren’t chosen disagree with the decision? Who’d have thought? Marc says he does feel pressure and doesn’t want to get caught again after losing so quickly the last time he fought.

Apparently, Koscheck has grown tired of trying to get a rise out of St. Pierre and has moved on to other recipients for his particularly ignorant brand of trash talk. He’s in the dressing room, busting Brad Tate’s balls. Tate is Team St. Pierre’s medic, and Koscheck simple-mindedly mocks him whenever he gets the chance for being a “male nurse”. Hmmm…there are plenty of “male nurses” in the military, then, I suppose. I wonder if Koscheck wants to make fun of them, as well?

Tate is annoyed that Josh is being disrespectful, and Koscheck laughs, satisfied with the reaction. He pretends to lunge at Tate, and once Tate closes the door, apparently ending the confrontation, Koscheck bangs on the door. Once it’s opened again, Koscheck pokes in Tate’s direction with a toilet plunger. This is a world class athlete, folks!

As Aaron and Marc prepare for their fight, Aaron says that he’s prepared to fight his teammate, since the sport simply calls for that at times. They’re shown cutting weight next to one another, and they’re actually making plans to train together some more after the show, too.

Now it’s time for the weigh-ins, and hey, before you send me that e-mail chastising me for calling Koscheck a typical high school bully who never grew up, you might want to wait a second. Koscheck goes for the old de-pants move, and Tate is not impressed, saying Koscheck have to do a lot more than that if he wants to embarrass him. What’s next? A swirly?

Koscheck won’t leave Tate alone, though, and Tate starts returning fire in Koscheck’s direction, mentioning the first loss to St. Pierre. He then mentions that Koscheck likes to fake being hit by knees, which clearly gets under Koscheck’s skin. Also, about a million fist-pumps were just performed in living rooms across the globe as Tate finally said something that gave Koscheck a taste of his own medicine.

Of course, being a bully, Koscheck can dish it out but can’t take it, and after yet another tired male nurse joke fails to bother Tate, he resorts to going to Tate and trying to choke the paramedic. Tate slaps Koscheck’s arm away, and it’s on! Dane Sayers tries to stop Koscheck, and gets smacked around for his trouble, and now he’s pissed at Koscheck, too.

Koscheck later tries to explain his behavior: “You lose it…you just kind of snap.” Meanwhile, Sayers later says he was trying to help Koscheck “and then he put his hands on me and just stiff-armed my face. Who wouldn’t be pissed?” Koscheck goes to find Sayers in the dressing rooms, and gives about the least genuine apology imaginable, as he essentially says it was Sayers’ fault for supposedly pushing him first.

Get this, though: Koscheck says that he thinks St. Pierre set this whole thing up and brought Tate in just to trash talk with him, so that St. Pierre could get under Koscheck’s skin without being directly involved. That’s seriously one of the dumbest things I’ve heard in awhile, especially since Koscheck initiated all of the trash talking. Did St. Pierre put him in there somehow knowing that Koscheck would be a douchebag and be unable to resist making lame “male nurse” jokes, then?

The weigh-ins finally take place, and everything there is good, as both weigh in at 156 pounds. Afterwards, Koscheck goes to Brad and asks him if he wants to “hold hands and walk out”, which once again shows how awkward Koscheck is. Tate blows him off to attend St. Pierre’s team meeting.

St. Pierre tells his group that in the quarterfinals, because of the number of fighters on his team that advanced, two of his fighters will have to face one another. He wants input on who his fighters would like to face irrespective of team allegiances, and Johnson hopes it’s his chance to square off with Caceres.

The next day, Wilkinson gets a call from home, which can never be good on a show where no one gets to connect with the outside world. Sadly, he’s informed that his grandmother has passed away, but his mother doesn’t want him to return home. Wilkinson is visibly upset, but promises his mom that he won’t come home. He later says he won’t tell the other fighters what has happened.

Koscheck tries to rally the troops by telling his fighters that they shouldn’t take this opportunity for granted. “It’s not often you get a second chance,” he says. However, he will watch from the stands and not corner his fighters, so that he can stay impartial.

We’re ready to get underway, and our ref is Herb “The Bandit” Dean. We get the usual feeling-outprocess to start, and then Wilkinson throws the first punches of the fight, though they are blocked. Stevens lands a leg kick and lands a takedown. He’s instantly in side mount, throwing elbows. Stevens goes to mount and unloads some punches, prompting Wilkinson to turn and give his back. Wilkinson is scrambling to get away and briefly does, but Stevens gets back control again and continues working for a rear naked choke. Wilkinson may actually be helped by some bleeding from under his eye here.

Stevens decides to go for an armbar, but Wilkinson escapes, only to find himself in a triangle choke. Wilkinson stacks Stevens and delivers some shots to the body. Stevens is still trying to tighten the choke, but it’s obviously not deep enough, as Wilkinson is able to keep punching and avoid submitting as the round ends.

The second round begins with Wilkinson throwing strikes but worried about takedowns, as he clearly lost the first round. Stevens misses a wild punch but lands a takedown. However, Wilkinson takes the opportunity to go for a guillotine choke, and what do you know? Stevens quickly taps! Stevens sums it up best in a post-fight interview: “I guess I need to work on my guillotine defense.”

The Team Koscheck fighters who were passed over for the wild card spot are obviously annoyed with Stevens’ performance, believing that they would have made more of the opportunity. Wilkinson is happy to have won and they start treating his cut immediately, since he’ll have to fight in a few days.

Dana Whtie has the coaches come in to discuss quarterfinal matchups. Almost immediately, Michael Johnson and Alex Caceres are discussed as possibly fighting one another in the round’s only teammate vs. teammate fight. Caceres agrees to the fight, and Koscheck, always the conspiracy theorist, thinks St. Pierre just wants Johnson to get an easy path to the semifinals. Johnson wants the Caceres fight, but so does every other Team St. Pierre fighter. White would rather see Nam Phan face Caceres, but ultimately announces that Johnson and Caceres will face off.

The other matchups will pit Jonathan Brookins against Sako Chivitchian, Kody McKenzie against Nam Phan, and Kyle Watson against Aaron Wilkinson. St. Pierre is happy with the matchups, and Koscheck is equally unhappy with the Johnson-Caceres fight. Hey, win more than a couple of fights and your opponent won’t get to pick a matchup between his own fighters, right?

Next week, we’ll get the quarterfinals underway! Be sure to join us right here with the recap after the show is over.

E-Mail Jon Hartley

Tags: Aaron Wilkinson, Georges St. Pierre, Josh Koscheck, Marc Stevens, The Ultimate Fighter, The Ultimate Fighter 12, The Ultimate Fighter St. Pierre vs. Koscheck