Ultimate Fighter: USA vs UK Episode 4 Recap

Previously on TUF, drinking and egg shenanigans gave way to actual fighting, as Frank Lester and Jason Dent joined the final US roster, and a fortuitous coin toss gave Dan Henderson the right to pick the first fight.  Tonight, we’ll have the first US vs. UK preliminary fight!

We join our young scholars from the UK in the midst of a training session, as Bisping praises the fighters for being hard workers that don’t complain.  He says most of the fighters are well-known fighters in the UK fight scene.  Mario Sukata is the wrestling/submission coach, according to Bisping, and Dave Jackson is the Thai boxing coach for the team.  Nothing against Jackson, but I don’t see him making us forget Stankie from the last season.

Dan Henderson comes in, and he peeks on the proceedings as the US team gets ready to go at it.  One of the US fighters playfully tells a British fighter to work on his “jumper”, and apparently Bisping is basketball-impaired, as he seems to take it as a serious diss.  Henderson seems to be getting annoyed with Bisping’s smack talk, and is excited to “shut his mouth with my fists”.  His coaches include Gustavo Pugliese for boxing, Ricardo Feliciano for jiu-jitsu, and Cyrille Diabate for kickboxing.

Henderson is checking to see who’s close to weight and who wants to fight.  Richie Whitson says he’s willing, as is Mark Miller.  At the fight announcement, amid smirks between Bisping and Henderson, we find out that Mark Miller will face the UK’s Nick Osipczak.  Henderson made the decision because he felt that Miller was in good shape and fought well to get into the house.  Bisping says, “one to us”, which makes Damarques Johnson bristle.

Bisping goes over the tape of the US qualification fights, as he wasn’t in the US yet when they took place, and he wants to scout the fighters.  Bisping notices Miller’s love of the triple jab, his low hands following exchanges, and some other details.  “He could’ve finished him with a knee, but I don’t think he knows what a knee is,” he says.

Osipczak and Bisping work out in the cage and talk strategy.  Osipczak comes from a kung fu background, believe it or not.  They work angles and footwork so that Osipczak will be ready to counter Miller’s jabs, rather than backing up in a straight line.

Back at the house, we get our first prank of the season, as Johnson finds a UK shirt “in a common area” and writes “USA 1, England 0” on it.  They write a ransom note for it, as Lester reminds us of the agreed upon “no bodily fluids” guidelines for this season. 

There is some talk about how Nick fought southpaw to get into the house, although he’s going to fight orthodox in this bout.  He weighs in at 170 with no problems.  So does Miller, as Dana White predicts Mark to win, and puts over the fact that he had to overcome the awkwardness of fighting his teammate from home to get into the house.

Team UK gets back to the house and finds the ransom note.  “This is a bit gay for us really,” reacts one of the UK fighters.  Meanwhile, the US fighters go to train, and Mark Miller tells a story about how he was eating breakfast with his grandma, who asked him what his fight nickname is.  He joked, “The Meat Missile”, and apparently it stuck. 
He says he’s not one for game plans, so I’m thinking that Osipczak’s plan of surprising him by not fighting southpaw will not be a big deal.  Miller will think to himself, “hey, I’m not fighting a southpaw after all”, shrug, and go back to work.  “I think he’s gonna beat the fuck out of the guy,” says Henderson.

After practice, the guys notice that one of the UK fighters left his wrestling shoes behind.  Johnson quickly starts writing on them, along with Lester.  Cameron Dollar thinks that might be a breach in the rules that they agreed on for pranks.  David Faulkner notices the writing on the shoes, which belong to Ross Pearson, who is not pleased.  One has to wonder when the ban on bodily fluids will be discarded.

Pearson asks several times who wrote on his boots, and Jason Dent says he doesn’t know.  He comes back and tells his teammates that Pearson’s pissed.  Bisping is in favor of focusing on fighting, and says the real tally will be decided by who wins the fights.  Then, Bisping talks with Osipczak about how he should take Miller down, as Bisping watched some of Miller’s fights on YouTube and suspects he has a poor ground game.

Fight day is here, and we get the usual sentiments from the fighters.  “I wanna see his face after he feels some of your power shots,” says Dent.  “If it’s still there,” counters Miller.  I’m pulling for Miller, if only so I never have to type “Osipczak” again.

Finally, the fighters are in the cage, referee Herb “The Pirate” Dean gets us started, and it’s on like Donkey Kong.  Surprisingly, it’s Miller who looks to clinch at the start, and Osipczak uses a nice judo throw to take Miller down.  Miller has Osipczak in guard and looks to work a kimura, but Osipczak is defending.  Osipczak rolls over as Miller tries to cinch the hold, and Miller ends up on top.  Not much happens, as Miller doesn’t land any really meaningful shots, and Osipczak pushes him off to stand.  Some aggressive standup follows, with a nice exchange for both fighters, and Miller appears to drop Osipczak with a punch.

He follows him down but can’t put him away, and Osipczak ends up standing up and now he’s throwing some nice bombs.  Miller looks to be tiring, but they are both fighting aggressively in the clinch, anyway.  They continue to exchange and Miller’s hands are way down.  Osipczak gets a takedown.  Quite a pace here to start the fight.  Before long, Miller pushes him away and goes for a takedown.  Osipczak gets a guillotine attempt and falls back into guard, but Miller’s arm is in.  He almost appears to tap at one point, but he keeps on fighting and gets his head out.  For the rest of the round, Miller works some okay ground and pound.  Really competitive fight, really close round.

Both fighters are tired, but ready to go as we start round two.  Miller moves forward as the aggressor, but Osipczak gets a takedown and moves into side control.  Osipczak lands elbows to the head as Henderson tells Miller to scoot his hips away from his opponent, but he doesn’t appear to be listening.  Miller gets Osipczak’s neck and gets half guard, but can’t finish the guillotine without having Osipczak in his guard.  Osipczak passes to mount, with Miller still controlling his neck.  Finally, Miller is able to roll him over and end up on top in Osipczak’s guard.  Still, he looks very tired and Osipczak is more active striking from the bottom than Miller is from the top.  Herb Dean warns that a standup could be imminent, and Miller tries to get more active.  Osipczak goes for a triangle, but can’t get it.

Dean stands the fighters up with 1:15 left to go, and Osipczak lands a HUGE kick to Miller’s head and Miller falls flat on his face for the KO.  Very good, high-paced, competitive fight.  Bisping thinks it’s great that Osipczak had success following Bisping’s instructions, and talks about how he talks trash to the US fighters for a reason, as he hopes to gain a mental advantage for his fighters.

Next week, the US team starts to show some signs of dissention, as the UK fighters grow tighter as a group.  Of course, we’ll have the next elimination bout, as well.

by Jon Hartley for Fightmania.com

Tags: Dan Henderson, Dana White