 |
UFC The Ultimate Fighter Episode 5 Recap
Reported By: Boxing Insider - 02.15.2005 10:32 AM
Featured: Ken Shamrock's Lion's Den Clothing
THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER: EPISODE 5 - UN-CAGED
By Ken Pishna, BoxingInsider.com
On Episode 4 of The Ultimate Fighter, Chuck Liddell had to give up one
of his light heavyweights to Randy Couture to try and even out the
teams. He sent Alex Schoenauer to Team Couture. At the end of the show
Diego Sanchez applied a rear naked choke to Alex Karalexis to send him
packing.
While Episode 4 lacked a noticeable spark, this week on Episode 5 there
was an entire forest fire to make up for it.
The show started off with Chuck introducing his team to the methods he
uses to condition for a fight. He brought in his strength and
conditioning coach, Tom Fries, to put the team through their paces.
Following that, Team Couture ran through a sparring session in which
Nate Quarry’s ankle was injured when Couture did a takedown on
Schoenauer, driving him into Nate’s leg. On crutches, Nate’s ankle was
not broken, but the prognosis was vague with anywhere from 2 days to 2
weeks to heal up.
This being three weeks that the fighters have been cooped up in the
house together, they were all starting to go a little stir crazy. UFC
president Dana White then surprised the fighters and took them out for
a night on the town. The guys started drinking at the house before they
left, continued drinking at dinner and on through the night.
The drunken fighters returned to the house about 1:30 in the morning
and this is when the fireworks really started. Bobby Southworth and
Chris Leben had been having words throughout the evening. The two now
blew up at each other while hanging out around the pool, nearly coming
to blows with Southworth calling Leben a “fatherless bastard.”
A few minutes later, Southworth apologized, but it seemed to be a
transparent attempt to make himself look good to the others.
This was one of the most emotional moments of the show thus far.
Southworth’s comments really touched a nerve with Leben, leaving him in
tears. Having not known his father growing up, Leben had just met his
father for the first time since he was a baby as the taping of the The
Ultimate Fighter began in Vegas.
Nate Quarry really stepped up in this episode showing the maturity of a
true leader. He sat with Leben and calmed him down. Nate even helped
Leben set up sleeping arrangements outside of the house so that things
could cool down.
Here is where Bobby Southworth and Josh Koscheck, who had been
harassing everybody all night, poured more fuel on the fire that is
Chris Leben. At about 3:30 a.m., Southworth and Koscheck, still
drinking, decided to turn the hose on a sleeping Leben.
He immediately woke up and went berserk. On a rampage to find Koscheck,
Leben punched his fist through the glass of the front door cutting his
hand in the process. Bleeding, he kicked in one of the bedroom doors
before finally being subdued by Nate.
Again, Nate took care of Leben, applying first aid to his hand and
accompanying him to the hospital. The two ended up staying the night at
another house to make sure that the situation did not flare up again.
Notified of the situation at 7 a.m., Dana immediately called a meeting
with Randy and Chuck and the fighters involved to hear their various
sides of the story. Going in to the meeting, Nate was again the
consummate teammate saying that, “If Chris Leben is told to go, I’m
going to go with him.”
Leben and Nate were up first. Nate told the details of what had
transpired and backed up Leben. For his part, Leben took responsibility
for his actions. He admitted that when Southworth and Koscheck poured
water on him, he snapped. He admitted that he screwed up, busting his
hand through the glass of the front door and kicking in the bedroom
door.
As far as his hand was concerned, the cut was a clean grazing across
the back of his hand that looked nasty, but required no stitches. If
allowed to stay on the show, Leben could still fight with it.
Southworth and Koscheck were up next. Southworth basically lied, saying
that they never actually sprayed water on Leben. Koscheck tried to
justify their actions relaying that “[Leben] threatened my life and he
threatened Bobby’s life.”
Having a hard time deciding where to go from here, Dana decided that
he, Chuck and Randy should watch the video footage of what had
transpired the night before.
Following the watching of the video, Dana and the coaches still
couldn’t decide the best course of action to take. Dana called in one
of the owners of the UFC Lorenzo Fertitta for some direction. Lorenzo
stated that if the fighters had fought outside of the Octagon that they
would immediately be off the show, but since that hadn’t occurred,
although they did get about as close to the line as they possibly
could, alcohol access should be taken away from the fighters and they
should make them start acting like professional athletes.
Dana, Chuck and Randy still wanted to do something to show these guys
that there are consequences for their actions. Randy and Chuck decided
that there was no way that all of the fighters involved could remain in
the house. So they determined that Chris Leben and Josh Koscheck, both
being middleweights, would fight for their spot on the show. No
challenges, no choosing. The two would battle in the Octagon to settle
their differences.
Leben was ecstatic, “I can’t believe [Randy] told me that. I’m going to
get my redemption… I’m going to be able to crush [Josh’s] skull in and
not go to jail for it.”
Surprise! Surprise! This is where the show ended setting up the first
two-episode scenario of the season.
This was far and away the most engrossing episode of The Ultimate
Fighter so far. If you missed it, find a friend that taped it or catch
one of the replays.
Up Next Week: Will Chris Leben get his redemption? Or will Josh
Koscheck send the fighter that everyone loves to hate home?
Ken Pishna is a regular contributor to BoxingInsider.com and a senior
writer and editor at MMAWeekly.com. He can be contacted via email at
KenPishna@MMAWeekly.com.
LetsGetCredit.com - Apply for a Credit Card NOW!
WrestlingDotCom.com - Pro Wrestling News & More!
|
|
|
