Well, Jorge is gone. Sure, no more of his kvetching.
But I miss him already. Although he didn't win his fight
with Jason, he proved that he was plenty tough enough.
Even with his bad knee, he and Jason put on the best match
of the TUF2 season so far. As this week's episode began,
Jorge said his tearful goodbyes and went home to tend
to his knee and to fight another day.
Jason won the fight, but you'd hardly know it the way
his coach behaved. Matt Hughes had taken a dislike to
Jason the minute he walked into the TUF house. Why? Who
knows. But as we've seen lately, Hughes doesn't need much
of a reason to be a bully. Jason was a late arrival on
the show, but that wasn't his fault. He was a replacement
because of the many injury-related and whiny crybaby departures
early in the season. Hughes made Jason earn his way onto
his team with the same Workout From Hell he'd put the
others through at the beginning of season two. Jason passed
that test...or so he thought.
It hasn't helped that the show has been edited to make
Jason seem "weird" although there really hasn't
been any evidence of that other than the say-so of a couple
of guys with an ax to grind.
But to win a fight like that and have your coach completely
ignore you in favor of a game of solitaire was inexcusable
behavior on the part of Hughes. He is starting to make
Bob Holly look nurturing.
Anyway...
Jason needed 40 stitches to close up cuts on his face.
This was the first time he'd ever had stitches and wasn't
nearly as brave about that as he had been about stepping
into the octagon. He joked that the only "good side"
left on his face was from his eyebrows up. But when he
got home, everyone had gone to bed. He'd hoped someone
would wait up to see how is eye was or want to discuss
the fight. Hughes' contempt seemed to breed disrespect
among the team members. Jerks.
This week's challenge was called "Last Man Standing,"
which was a mud wrestling match on the floor of the Orleans
Arena. It was messy, to say the least. Although it was
sponsored by Right Guard Extreme, Tide would have been
a more appropriate sponsor. Rashad and Brad of Team Franklin
won, giving Rashad an opportunity to gloat. Hughes had
treated him badly when he won his match a couple of episodes
back, and it was sweet revenge. Very sweet.
Team Franklin had originally picked Keith to fight Mike,
but upon further consideration, Coach Franklin decided
Seth vs. Dan would be a better match at this point. After
the fight had been announced, Dana White had an announcement
of his own. Team Hughes would have to give up a welterweight
to Team Franklin. Hughes, of course, was gracious about
having to give anything up. Then, without a second thought,
he kicked Jason to the curb. Later, Jason told the Confession
Cam what he thought of Hughes and showed him he was number
one. Several times. (I'm sure there were plenty of viewers
doing the same thing.)
Coach Hughes, who hates to lose, took the challenge loss
out on his team and worked them like those government
mules Jim Ross is always referencing.
While Team Hughes was enduring a grueling workout, Team
Franklin was enjoying health shakes and welcoming Jason
to his new team. He was finally getting some well-deserved
respect.
In this week's beauty segment, Big Mike was shown bleaching
Joe's hair. Sammy thought he'd get a makeover, too, and
both of them were sporting new do's by the end of the
show. As a hairdresser, Mike was actually quite good.
It was finally fight time for Dan "Sandman"
Christison and Seth "Silverback" Petruzelli.
It went the distance, with Seth winning by unanimous decision.
On his way out the door, Dan attributed the loss to being
forced to fight a friend. That's as good as anything to
blame it on, I guess.
Buh bye, Sandman. And pleasant dreams.
***
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The Ultimate Fighter Season 1 on DVD
