"TUF8" blog: Ryan Bader

Celtic Fan · Sep 26, 2008

Here is the other blogger for MMAJunkie along with Team Mir's assistant Coach Ken Hahn. I'll update this and Ken's as I find them.

Ryan is an ex NCAA champion wreslter from ASU. The same university that past TUF participant and MMAJunkie blogger CB Dollaway. Not so coincidently, they both train together for MMA too

"TUF8" blog: Ryan Bader discusses his victory in episode No. 2
by Ryan Bader on Sep 25, 2008 at 7:10 pm ET
Dana White, former heavyweight champ Frank Mir, and the current champ and legend Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira -- all watching you to see if not only you have what it takes make it in the house, but to see if you are worthy of them investing six weeks of their valuable time with you.

Stressful?

You have no idea.

In this most recent episode of "The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir," I knew that I was about to fight my friend Kyle Kingsbury. I had no coaches there, I did not have the support that I usually do when I am about to engage in hand-to-hand combat, and my mind was wandering, considering the possible outcome of what is about to happen. My stomach was turning, my head is spinning; excitement, nervousness and pressure were all running through my mind and body.

Luckily for me, I knew who I was going to be fighting. I have known Kyle from my days at Arizona State University. He played football the same time while I wrestled. Although I know him personally, I did not know too much about his fighting style.

When our names were called out to fight, we both look at each other and laugh. "Of course we are paired together," we kind of laugh to ourselves. We shook hands and parted enemies for the next two days.

Kyle is a tall guy, about 6-foot-4 and has a very impressive reach. I knew that I was a much better wrestler and that my jiu jitsu was also much better. I also knew that Kyle had some wicked knees and some impressive stand up. So my plan was to go in there, feel him out on the feet, take him down, and either look for the sub or ground and pound him to a stoppage.

Before I got into the fight, let me tell you -- it was a very weird, surreal and crazy experience. For me it felt like a little kids wrestling tournament. They called out all the fights, and they would take place back to back. I was one of the first up and was grateful for that.

I warmed up on the treadmill, shadow boxed and pummeled with a couple guys for my warm=up. Not my usual routine, but I did what I had to do considering the resources that we had. We were ushered to the back locker room and waited until they'd poke their head in and say, "Ryan, five minutes." I walked out to the back of the warehouse, which is so much smaller than it looks on TV. On my left were Dana, Mir and Nogueira. On my right were the rest of the guys vying for a spot in the house. All those emotions left my body, and I was ready to go.

It's fight time. I have known my corner guys for no longer than a couple hours. I was in on my own at this point. Kyle and I touch gloves, and the first of what I hope are many UFC fighters begins.

We feel each other out on our feet, and I can feel his reach is going to be a problem. I knew that I needed to get inside. I didn't want to sit and box with him knowing since I knew that would give him a better chance at him winning and me losing what I worked so hard to achieve. If you watched the fight, you can see that I ended up trying to rush some sloppy shots right at the beginning of the first round. I felt myself reaching and not really committing. I felt very sloppy the first minute, and in the cut-up version Spike TV showed, that is what the station aired.

I then relaxed and started picking my shots on out feet and, after faking a takedown, hit him with two hard hooks right in a row. I then hit him with a big overhand that connects. At this point I am thinking I can box with him and be fine, so I decided I'd wait for the perfect opportunity to take him down. Right when I was thinking this, "Bam!" I am hit perfectly with a right hand on the chin. I was still coherent, but my body just gave out for a split second and I was on the mat. I pulled guard then immediately swept him to his back and started a barrage of punches and elbows from the top. The bell sounded, and I was extremely pissed that I got dropped.

When the second round started, Kyle rushed me, which is not a good thing to do to a wrestler. I double-legged him and got a pretty good slam, and while on the way down, I passed his knee with my hand and ended up in side control. I tried to set him up to reach over my head, and when he did, I spring for the arm-triangle choke and slowly work my way across his body. I know I have it tight, but he was toughing it out, which made me second guess if I really did have it. I then heard him gurgle and make the choking sound, so I squeezed harder. Moments later I felt the greatest feeling in the world: three little taps on my back.

One little thing that I have learned is that I should try to never make any sound while in a choke. Sometimes your opponent will think that he doesn't have it all the way and may switch to something else even though you may have been done in just a couple more seconds. As soon as you make any sound, it just makes your opponent squeeze harder thinking he almost has you.

At this point, with my victory in the bag, I am elated, but I feel sorry for my buddy Kyle, whose dreams were just crushed. I feel that he could have beaten a lot of the guys that made it into the house. Mir also recognized that and was vocal about it, as you saw on the show. I really wanted to share the "Ultimate Fighter" experience with Kyle and was kind of pissed that they matched us up.

Although I felt bad, the elation eventually choked out the other feeling, and I was on cloud nine. A huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. In somewhat of a joking manner, I was actually told by my lovely roommates (who are fighters) that if I lost my fight and didn't make it onto the cast that I shouldn't bother coming back for awhile. Some support system, huh? You gotta love those guys.

Anyway, after the fight, I went past the bench and got congratulated by the coaches and Dana. Seeing a big smile on Nogueira's face and I felt very good. As I walked by the rest of the fighters, we slap hands, and I can see the difference in moods -- some ecstatic and some crushed. All these guys fought their butts off, but half of them were going home.

Looking back at this episode, there were some great fights. One that stood out in my mind was Eliot Marshall vs. Karen Grigoryan. Karen came out hard with some wild punches that had some good power behind them. Although he was taken down, Eliot then took control of the fight and ran a jiu-jitsu clinic on Karen, sweeping him multiple times and going for submission after submission. When the results came in and the fight was given to Karen, it was a shock to us all, even Dana. Eliot definitely deserved the win, and he was justifiably upset about it. I had a feeling he was going to be invited back after I saw the cast on Antwain Britt's arm, and sure enough, he was the first one considered when Antwain was told his hand needed time to heal.

John Polakowski vs. Wesley Murch was an interesting fight. John will stand there and trade with anybody, and that's what he tried to do. Murch looked good on the ground with some very good submission attempts. Toward the end of the first round, Murch kicked shin to shin with his opponent and was visually hurt. He came out in the second, and a last-ditch0effort flying knee was futile as he came crashing down in pain. The fight was called right after.

Shane Primm and Shane Nelson, who both ended up being my roommates, looked very impressive with dominant wins over their opponents. Primm looked to be a handful with his height and slick jiu jitsu. Efrain Escuerdo also looked dominant with his wrestling and unorthodox jiu jitsu.

Tom Lawlor's wrestling looked very good as he ran over a very big Ryan Lopez. I worked out with Lopez the day before the fights. He really wanted to start out with a leg kick. We told him it probably was not the best idea considering Tom's wrestling credentials. Sure enough Lopez threw the leg kick and almost got ran through the cage for his effort. With his solid wrestling skills, Tom, at this point in the competition, looks to be a legitimate threat standing in my way.

When it was all said and done and the last fight had wrapped up, it was a pretty festive mood. Even the fighters who had lost knew they all fought hard, and they were not looking forward to their flights home. The boys that made it in were relieved but knew that there was still a long tough road ahead of them if they wanted to be In the mix until the end.

This year of "The Ultimate Fighter" is going to be one crazy season with exciting fights and even crazier house shenanigans. As you saw in the previews, there are glasses being thrown as weapons, fights in the house, some aquatic wrestling, and a certain somebody drinking a full glass of yellow liquid that I can tell you is neither beer nor apple juice. Both teams bring in an amazing array of coaches that is any fighter's wet dream -- and also a pleasure for any MMA fan to watch.

Thanks for reading my blog, and I'll see you next week!
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Celtic Fan · Oct 2, 2008

espisode 3 blog

Team Nogueira blog: Ryan Bader discusses starring role in episode No. 3
by Ryan Bader on Oct 02, 2008 at 2:05 pm ET
Welcome back to my blog for episode three.

Everybody is all settled into the house (except Junie Browning), and we are all excited as can be (not nearly as much as Junie). The ride to the house was an amazing and surreal feeling at the same time. I am pretty sure everyone was on a natural high from our wins and securing a coveted spot in the house.

I was pretty excited about getting in the house and where we would be living for the next six weeks. My good friend and "TUF 7" alumnus CB Dollaway told me to get in the house and start ordering crazy stuff on the "list." He said they would shut it down after a few days, but on Day One, guys were ordering ugly white sunglasses and even Nike shoes. (I am pretty sure CB was hoping I would get him a new pair of sunglasses.)

When we got to the house – a new one that hadn't been used on "TUF" before -- and it was huge. We are told that it is one of the best houses that the show's producers had ever let a bunch of hooligans live in. With that distinction, we are told that the walls and major furniture were not to be touched under any circumstance and any and all damages would be paid for by the fighters. This was a major change to the previous seasons -- but a most-needed change if you ask me. We were told that last season's cast inflicted $70,000 worth of damage in the house and that it was certainly not going to happen again. We were all cool with not letting the place go to garbage, and we decided we would try to be respectable and abide to their wishes.

HERE'S JUNIE

The first thing that I did when entering the house was scope out the place that I would be sleeping and escaping to when I was fed up with all the BS of living with 16 fighters in one house. While some of the fighters walked around and admired the place, Shane Nelson, Shane Primm and I found a nice secluded room downstairs in the furthest corner. This may not seem important, but wait until you are trying to get a good night's sleep before a fight and people are in and out of the bathroom, yelling in the kitchen and drinking at the bar. I needed a place where I could escape if needed to get away from the drama and chaos.

The first thing Junie did was put a beer in his hand, and he then started looking for something that would take him to the next level. He was rewarded when he looked into the pantry. Behind the pantry door, he found a closet filled with 20-plus bottles of whiskey, vodka and even some gin. What a bad idea. We are all laughing watching Junie pour straight whiskey down his throat while he was sitting in the hot tub, thinking he was crazy (but somewhat entertaining) at the same time. He was not harassing anybody (yet) and just seemed to be enjoying himself. Keep in mind that we all could be fighting in a week, and for most of us, this was the biggest opportunity we have ever had in our fighting careers.

BRIAN AND KAREN'S "TUF" LUCK

When we arrived back at the gym for the team selections, Brian Mclaughlin and Karen Grigoryan were sweating the fact that they might be gone before they even get another chance to fight. Sure enough, when Dana White called them up to step forward, everybody knew that their dream and time there was over.

It was sad to see two people that deserved to be there have to pack up and leave after already winning and spending a night in the house. Awkwardness ensued as they stuck around and nobody, even Dana, knew what to do without being insensitive to the fighters who had their dreams crushed for fighting hard. I think we all realized at that point that it was an opportunity -- not a guarantee -- and that we'd better make the most out of whatever time we had on the show.

One positive thing that came out of the whole situation was they decided to bring back Kyle Kingsbury. I believe that out of all of the guys that went home, he was the one who had a shot at winning the show and deserved to be back. Nobody was shocked when he walked through that door; I think everyone realized that the competition just got a little tougher.

TEAM SELECTIONS

As the team selections started, everyone seemed somewhat nervous. At this time I was thinking that I couldn't go wrong with being on either coach's team since each had a phenomenal depth of knowledge and fantastic coaching staff. I was leaning a little bit to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for the obvious reasons but also because I was coached by his assistant, Daniel Valverde, who was great in my corner in the fight against Kyle. But, Frank Mir is a legend, so how do you go wrong with this group of coaches?

The coin flip landed blue for Mir, and he used his first choice to immediately pick Krzysztof Soszynski, which was a good choice considering his quick work of Mike Stewart and his number of fights. There was not a big surprise there at all.

Big Nog then got his pick and chose me to be on his team. I was extremely honored. The cameras do not show it, but we had to shoot that scene twice because Nog had said my name before the cameras were rolling, so I had to act surprised again. I thought that he was going to pick Vinny Magalhaes because of the "Brazilian" connection and his grappling pedigree. Nogueira said he was looking for that certain "attitude," and I guess he found that in all the fighters he chose.

To be honest with you, while standing there with Nogueira, I was looking at Mir's team and thinking that we were going to get crushed because of the immediate talent and veterans that Mir had picked. It was as if Mir had picked T.O., Moss and Romo, and we had a bunch of Rudys across the board. I think Nogueria saw fight and heart in each and every one of his picks. Team Mir did have the curse of the first pick on their side, and we figured we would need all the luck we could muster to get through the season ahead.

THE TEAMS SPLIT

Once we made our way back to the house, the team lines are drawn. Jules Bruchez had his stuff moved out by the blue team and put into another room without his permission so that all of Mir's fighters would be together. He felt somewhat disrespected, but Jules is a nice guy and let it go. But like I said, the battle lines were clearly drawn. Being a lifelong wrestler, I know the importance of having team unity, but just as in wrestling when you are in the cage, there is nothing your team will be able to do for you. It is man vs. man.

Junie is once again elbow deep in the liquor cabinet. When Junie drinks, it is not casual cocktail hour -- he is full speed from sober to piss drunk. I am no saint; I'll have a few drinks and have a good time. But I do not have to go all-in all the time. With Junie it's, "Let's drink as much as I possibly can until I pass out or do something I will regret." I wish I could tell you this is a once-in- awhile thing, but Junie does this every single time he opens the pantry.

Granted, he was entertaining at first, sitting around the dinner table, harassing everybody in a playful manner about being on the other team. But, as the night would go on, Junie would get more and more drunk and go through a number of different emotions. Like Krzysztof mentioned, he was happy, sad and violent, and then back to happy again. He started being a detriment to himself, hanging over the railing, kicking broken glass, and drinking himself into oblivion. Junie eventually was lying face down crying on the pool deck. We all got a preview of what was to come in the weeks ahead. The guy is a mess, and he and I have our issues.

MATCHMAKING WITH "BIG NOG"

When we were in the training center, Nogueira had every practice pre-planned and participated in every drill. I cannot say enough great things about him, his work ethic and his involvement in seeing his fighters succeed. Nogueira talked to me and told me to be ready to be the first fight. I told him I was ready to go and that I definitely wanted to fight first. What Nogueira told the team is that we were going to have a tough practice and see who was in the best shape to fight. We all did well -- except Jules started to overheat and had to be wrapped in cold towels. Maybe he didn't come in shape. Maybe he wasn't used to working that hard. But at that point, we were looking at him as our weak link.

When picking my opponent for the first fight, Nogueira and I pondered between Eliot Marshall and Tom Lawlor for a few days. We were then told that Eliot was under suspension because he went three rounds in his fight to get into the house, so Tom became the man in my way. It was a very smart choice; with Tom's wrestling he would be a very dangerous opponent to the rest of Nogueira's 205-pounders. Other than me, wrestling was definitely the weak point for Nogueira's big guys, so he was looking to me to take Tom out with my superior wrestling.

The game plan going in was to see how the stand up was going, look for knees if he planned on taking me down, and if there was an opening, put Tom on his back. We worked on this for a week straight, with Nogueira being my main training partner.

PANTY RAID

The blue team decided they were going to mess with our stuff while we were at practice – or engage in a little "psychological warfare," as they called it. With Krzysztof being the ringleader, they grabbed all of Team Nogueira's underwear and wrapped them up and put them on the diving board. They then proceeded to layer my underwear in heavy-duty saran wrap to my bed. Now, I am all for pranks, but never in my 24 years of life did I think grown men would perform a same-sex panty raid; it was gross and ridiculous all rolled into one nasty pile. I hope they washed their hands afterward.

When we arrived home, I knew something was up pretty much immediately. The cameras were following me into my room, into my closet, and wherever else I decided to go. I realized that some stuff of mine was gone but wasn't about to freak out. I am a pretty laid-back guy, and it takes a lot to really get me pissed off. We found the underwear outside and realized that it was everybody's because of Phillipe Nover's pink boxers and other very feminine undergarments.

Shane Primm eventually found out that they had wrapped my bed up, and as I tried to cut off this massive heap of plastic, they all watched intently to see how I was going to react. It didn't bother me in the least. It happened a couple of days before my fight and took about five minutes to get everything back to normal. If this is how we continued these "innocent" pranks, I had no problem with them and was game.

But I wasn't going to play with their underwear.

FIGHT PREPARATION

Fight day was finally here, and I was really excited -- not even very nervous like I usually am. This was most likely due to the fact that I had just fought the week prior and it felt like I was going into spar. I woke up early, got some food in me and went down to the basketball court to do some sprints and blow my lungs out. I like to get a hard go in the morning about three to four hours before my fight. It gives me confidence, and I do not feel as sluggish when the fight starts. We were allowed to bring two teammates with us, and I chose Shane and Kyle to accompany me and help me warm up. It was one of the best warm ups of my life with Nogueira orchestrating down to the minute what I was doing. He really helped me focus and was very positive, leading me through exactly what was going to happen. We got the five-minute heads up, and I heard the music as Tom was walking out. Now, at this point, I get nervous. This fight was going down in five minutes in front of millions of viewers. I put that out of my head, and it was my turn to walk to the cage. As I walked out, I saw all the fighters and Dana. Then to my surprise, Wanderlei Silva was sitting on a stool cage side. It was very surreal.

FIGHT TIME

Tom and I touched gloves and sized each other up. Some jabs, right hands and dirty boxing ensue. I take a couple half shots to see how he reacts, and just as I expected, I was going to have to either set my shots up or wait for the right time to put him on his back. That happened shortly after as I lifted him up and swept his legs out from underneath him. I was looking for another arm triangle, leaving my head in his armpit waiting for him to reach over, but he was expecting that. I tried my best to land some good clean shots while keeping him down. Tom has those wrestlers' hips. (If you have ever rolled with a great wrestler, you know what I am talking about.) He always felt as if he was going to pop up at any time, and sure enough he did. We exchanged a little more, then he rushed me. You never rush in on a wrestler unless you have him hurt. As he came in, I lowered my level and exploded. Even my feet were off the ground.

While on top of him, I was in the same position, trying to land shots and get side control. But he still felt like he was about to get out at any moment. So as he tried to get his guard back, I didn't try too hard to stop him, knowing that I might be able to do more damage in his guard. Sure enough as I play with his feet looking to land a big shot, he tried to kick me off. Now, nothing is protecting him, and I land a big looping right that immediately put him limp. The ref did not jump in right away, so I threw the weakest hammer fist I could to let the ref know that it was over while not continuing to damage Tom.

Getting that first fight over with and realizing I was in the quarterfinals was a great feeling. Not only that, but I could now really throw myself into the training knowing that I did not have to make weight and could not be picked to fight for at least a month. Nogueira was extremely excited and happy for the team, and we felt like and we had momentum going into the next 155-pound fight.

Like I said earlier, Tom is a great fighter and probably would have gone very far in the competition. If Team Mir had matchmaking duties, I could see Tom going as far as the finals. Tom has a great sense of humor and apparently a fascination with my hair with his many references. (I don't blame him considering the hair he was rocking in his first fight and in ours.) I guarantee that you will see a lot more of Mr. Lawlor in the future episodes and likely in the UFC. As shown in the previews with a 155-pounder, he has serious knockout power!

The next episode looks like the big Junie blowup, so you don't want to miss that. Well, every episode will probably have at least one blowup. It will get to the point in which you're asking, "What will he do next?" I guess that is what makes reality TV so compelling.

Until next time, thank you and see you next week! And make sure you check out RyanBader.com for all the updates that you do not get here.
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valo35 · Oct 2, 2008

The next episode looks like the big Junie blowup, so you don't want to miss that. Well, every episode will probably have at least one blowup. It will get to the point in which you're asking, "What will he do next?" I guess that is what makes reality TV so compelling.
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Every episode will probably have atleast one blowup concerning Junie, that is crazy. This is going to be a nuts season if he is acting like that every single episode.

speeds · Oct 2, 2008

valo35 said: ↑

Every episode will probably have atleast one blowup concerning Junie, that is crazy. This is going to be a nuts season if he is acting like that every single episode.
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This is the double-standard in the UFC with regards to The Ultimate Fighter... Dana pretends like he wants them to act like professionals, but he supplies them with a pantry full of liquor and more or less lets them run wild in the house so long as they don't fight. Plus they seem to recruit some oddballs every season. Bit of a mixed message.

Celtic Fan · Oct 2, 2008

IMO the Spike TV execs have a lot of say when it comes to adding 'characters' in the house. 16 guys acting nice and professional would = low ratings

Celtic Fan · Oct 12, 2008

Episode 4 write up

Team Nogueira blog: Ryan Bader on episode No. 4, Junie's meltdown
by Ryan Bader on Oct 09, 2008 at 10:15 am ET
Did "America's sweetheart" Juni Browning really just jump the cage after Dana White had just sat him down and gave him another opportunity to continue his quest to be the next Ultimate Fighter?

This has to be the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back, right? Will he finally get the boot from Dana's converse? Wish I could tell you, and now I will hook up Spike TV and say, "You will have to watch to see what happens!"

The night we have all been waiting for has arrived. We have put up with at least two weeks of fights, hard training, the rigors of extreme boredom of the house, and, of course, Junie. Tonight is fight night, and we have been talking among each other for what seems to be a month about how great it will be to watch some TV, and not only that, but a UFC pay-per-view fight card. It should be a festive mood with everybody in good spirits.

Well, speaking of spirits, this might just be the root of all evil on this festive night.

The spirit of choice was wine -- not a glass, not a bottle, but about four bottles shared between two 155-pounders. The wine was flowing, and the tempers were growing as Shane Nelson and, surprise, Junie were on the fourth bottle. Junie's ADD was kicking in, and while the main event was on, he started unleashing a barrage of cashews on some of the guys from Team Nogueira. As you have seen on the show, he was in Shane Primm's face as well as hitting the hat off of the nicest guy in the world's (John Polokowski's) head. Really, I am not exaggerating at all when I say this: John really might be the nicest guy in the world.

Junie continues his handling of nuts, and I tell him politely not to throw any at me. He abides by my wishes and makes his way down the line until he hits Kyle Kingsbury with a couple. Sitting and watching this whole thing go down, I could tell Kyle was getting close to his breaking point. Kyle grabbed the bowl of cashews away like a good fatherly figure should do at this time, and Junie did not like this. Junie then throws another at Kyle. Kyle ups the ante and goes all in. Kyle throws a couple handfuls at Junie, then to all of our surprise, Junie throws the wine and then the glass! Are you serious?

I didn't know what to do. Sit there and watch all of this unfold, or hit Junie over the head with a pool stick? I decided to go with the first until Junie tried to go after him again, in which case a couple of guys and I grabbed Junie and tell him to sit the beep down. Junie knows he is out of the competition at this point, as does the rest of the house. You can't throw a glass at somebody and expect everything to be fine. Now that Junie does not care, he becomes an even bigger maniac. Junie and Shane Nelson, who so far has been nothing but a great guy, bond and hit the tequila bottle very hard.

As we all are still in shock about the whole throwing of the glass, it just kept getting better and better. Soon, Shane is harassing Efrain Escudero and Rolando Delgado. Shane is just looking for a fight now, going as far as pushing Rolando out of his chair. Shane then moves on to Efrain again. What they don't show is that Nelson pushed Efrain like that numerous times. Efrain kept his cool like we all told him to, knowing that Shane was about to get what was coming to him.

I did not want to see this happen with Shane and Efrian. Efrain is my boy from Arizona, and Shane was my roommate and a good guy other than this particular night. We stepped in and squashed it, telling Shane and Junie to go play somewhere else. What a horrible idea it turned out to be.

Junie and Shane head out to the backyard but not before a stop at their favorite tequila bottle. Not only do they head to the backyard, but it seems as if most of the household furnishings decided to take a dip in the pool also. Let me tell you that, though the house is nice and there is a pool, we really don't have much to do. So when Juni snaps our pool cues, people start to get angry, and you can hear us yelling at him from the balcony.

The whole house made our way down to the backyard, and Junie is threatening everybody. He goes as far as carrying around a bottle and telling everybody he is going to crack them in the head with it if anybody says a word.

At this point Krzysztof (I have to look up his name every time) has had enough and confronts Junie, telling him to stop acting like a jackass. Krzysztof is 235 pounds and Junie is 170 soaking wet (which will happen later,) so Junie is nuts stepping up to him. He continually pushes Krzysztof until Krzysztof has to just walk away before he kills Junie. We head over to the other side of the pool, and Krzysztof comes up with the idea to get Junie kicked off for sure. If throwing a glass was not enough, Krzysztof was going to get Junie to hit him and have him thrown off for sure.

None of us were going to touch Junie if he swung or basically did anything to us. We were not going to throw away our chances because he wanted to take as many people down with him as he could. So standing there with Krzysztof by the side of the pool, Krzysztof whispers that he is going to throw Junie's clothes in the pool. As Krzysztof is telling me this, the camera guys are all yelling into their mics to get the whole cavalry over to the pool pronto because something is good is about to go down.

Junie's clothes are put in the pool and he reacts the same way that you would think he would. Now, once again in Krzysztof's face, Junie -- I think -- is about to hit him, and I suddenly do not like Krzysztof's plan anymore. I don't want to see him get hit in the face, for one. For two, I don't want Krzysztof going home because he got cut and people saying that the winner of the whole show only won because Krzysztof got sent home.

While this is happening, I was just so fed up with Junie that I thought it would be a good idea to kick his stuff back in the pool to give him a taste of his own medicine since he had been dishing it out to us all night. Once again Junie, with his chest out, is asking who did it. I tell him it was me, and he is asking if it was all fun and games. I tell him yes and that he needs to learn how to take it if he is going to dish it out all the time. Now, at this point, I know the pool is behind me, and I have my hands in my pockets. I see this look in his eyes; you know the one. His eyes get big all of the sudden like he is about to catch a football and you are covering him. Those eyes, plus his previous actions with Krzysztof, clued me in on the possibility that he might try to push me in the pool.

Well, my intuition was right, and as he went to push me, I kind of guided him into the pool not knowing that my Tapout hoodie was a little baggy on me, and down I go. Junie had a death grip on my sweatshirt, and luckily, Eliot Marshall grabbed me before going all the way in. The only thing that was running through my mind was to save my mic. We were told that they are $3,000 each and that if we ruined them, it was on us to replace them. Knowing this I did my best to stay out of the pool.

Junie got pulled out and I told him to "get his hands off me" with "boy" added on just to piss him off. Junie then push kicks an unsuspecting Tom onto the pool deck and takes swings at just about everybody until they come in and shoot him with a tranquilizer dart. Well I wish, but he is finally subdued and starts his circle of emotions, this time crying.

Pretty eventful night, huh? The next day we are all waiting on Dana White to come in and tell Junie that he is gone for good. But to all of our surprise, Dana lets him stay. We are all shocked. Then Dana tells us that he would not have been the least bit angry if one of us would have just laid him out. Now we are angry that we did not do it. No punishment whatsoever for Junie. Nelson gets what he was looking for, which is a fight.

This, to me, was also shocking. Why doesn't Team Nogueira get to pick after my win? It is our right to pick, and this could affect the whole outcome of the show. Looks like we just got vetoed. So Team Mir is getting rewarded by having one of their best guys fight first? This seems very strange to me.

We stayed with our original plan of having Efrain Escudero fight first. It also worked out because Shane was the one pushing and antagonizing Efrian. A good old-fashioned grudge match was in the works!

The fight unfolded how I predicted it would, though I thought Efrian was going to get a choke. Nelson is very good. He was winning on the feet, I felt, with Efrian landing better and more knees. On the ground Efrian kept better control until he sneaked in a triangle and finished it from up top with 20-odd seconds left. He was excited as were we. We just won another fight, Efrian picked up five grand in the nick of time, and we were in control while someone was not. That would once again be Junie.

Junie was yelling into the cage about the UFC having another "boring" wrestler, though Efrain just finished the fight with a triangle. I tell Junie this, but he is so infuriated that he has had enough and jumps over the cage to confront Efrian about his stoppage. Just what you want -- someone in your face after you just have battled through a fight.

I thought Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira was going to kill Junie while he pushed him up on the fence. Nogueira kept pointing at Junie telling him he was going to be finished next. All of the coaches from Team Mir were holding him back, visibly upset and embarrassed.

The scenes for next week's show tease at the outcome. Additionally, the man, the myth, the legend, Anderson Silva makes his "TUF" debut.
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LOL at Nog getting pissed at Junie.. little twerp was being disrespectful and I can imagine that would be a BIG issue for Nogueira.

Chocolove · Oct 12, 2008

Can't wait for Anderson Silva next week, by the looks of the promo he goes pretty hard and it even looks like Ryan gets a big welt on his head from sparring with Silva.

speeds · Oct 12, 2008

Yeah, Silva on the show should be jokes. Between him dancing and punishing the guys holding the bags it should make for a fun practice or two.

Celtic Fan · Oct 13, 2008

I was just wishing Junnie was on Nog's team... see what happens if he bad mouths silva or goes to hard in sparing with him... he'd get his bell wrung proper.

Celtic Fan · Oct 16, 2008

episode 5 blog

Team Nogueira blog: Ryan Bader on episode No. 5 of "TUF8"
by Ryan Bader on Oct 16, 2008 at 9:15 am ET
Another "boring ass" wrestler wins by stopping Shane Nelson in the exact move that was supposed to put an end to Efrain Escudero's run at being the next Ultimate Fighter. What happened next had all our jaws dropping, and the gentle giant Antonio Rodrigo Nogeria is disturbed.

Efrian looked good in his fight against Shane. Efrian doesn't have the best stand up in the world, and neither do I, so I can't talk much. He will tell you himself that he felt a little sloppy and was pulling out with his chin up. Efrian also has to watch leaning to one side and catching a high kick to the face. Other than that, Efrain landed great knees and controlled Nelson on the ground. Team Nogueira was ecstatic at the way this fight ended and watching Junie get so upset. We all knew that this was really getting to Junie.

Junie jumped into the cage and was grabbed by Nogueira as he tried to play red rover with a former and a current heavyweight champion. You can see that even Junie's coaches were embarrassed as they tried to calm him and get him out of the cage. I got the chills watching Nogueira point at Junie and tell him he was next and would be the next to "tap." Nogueira really cared what happened to us and always looked out for our best interests. He would go to war for any of us, and we gave the same attitude right back.

Dana White later told us that if Keith Kizer had been there, Junie would never be allowed to fight in Nevada again. Although, of course, Keith was not there that day, and "Teflon" Junie proved once again that the charges won't "stick" and he'd be a free man. We actually gave up thinking that he was going to be punished and kicked out, and we accepted the fact that no matter what he did, we were stuck with him.

Junie was not all bad. He had his moments when he could be somewhat charming, and I tried my best to get along with him after our water aerobics incident. He apologized to me and recently sent me a message on MySpace apologizing again and telling me it was all for TV. That being said, when he does drink, he is an absolute lunatic that will explode on you just like the grenade tattooed on his hand. During this latest episode, Junie also gave us an ultimatum, saying that we better hope he wins or we will have to deal with him drunk every night. At this point, I wam thinking that one of our teammates needed to "take one for the team" for everybody's sake!

I had been in the house for awhile at this time, and it was horrible. Once you shoot a couple hoops and go in the hot tub a few times, it loses its luster, and we are left bored out of our minds. We actually made a chess board from scratch and also some playing cards out of card board from Junie's 12-pack of Corona. We would play some no-limit hold 'em with sugar packets for hours, and when you would win, you'd realized all you had gained was pride in winning. Boredom was running rampant.

Our house was actually pretty clean also; some of us from both teams would get together and clean for a couple hours out of sheer boredom. We usually did not have to be up that early, so we would stay up late, not wanting to go to bed and miss anything.

Junie would actually come up to us when we were playing poker with two dozen eggs in hand asking if we wanted to throw them at him. His thinking probably was one, it might make it on TV. And two, we were paying more attention to the poker game than him. We couldn't give up that opportunity, so we would stop the game and go to the balcony. Junie would then give us the mapped out course he was going to try to complete. He set up markers such as touching a bush, then making a basket on the basketball court, jumping three times on the trampoline -- all while we were chucking eggs at him. It was his version of Easter, and he did all this naked. I am not going to lie; a couple of my eggs had "bad intentions" all over them. (Literally, I wrote "Bad Intentions" on them.)

The pranks were manifesting, and the current victim was Efrian. Krzysztof Soszynski (the big Polish guy whose name I get tired of looking up how to spell each week) froze Efrian's underwear. Innocent enough I guess, but the other prank? Not so much. It was not done to me, so I had a great time watching it all unfold, and I knew it was going to escalate just as I mentioned in a previous episode. Itching powder in the beds? pretty funny if you are not the ones up all night itching. Kyle Kingsbury was pretty pissed about this, and some of the guys went on a rampage with some sardines and sardine oil. It was spread in beds, in towels, walls, etc.

After Vinny Magalhaes realized that his bed smelled like SpongeBob's house, he stepped it up a little and got way out of line, peeing on Efrian's bed because he was the only one that was not in the room at the time. Efrian did not overreact and just washed his sheets, and I was surprised that this did not turn into a bigger deal. It just kind of died out right away. You just never know when boredom and someone getting offended were going to spill over into a major brawl.

At this point in the show, they don't show it, but you could see the tension between Kyle and Krzysztof. Both were making comments to me about each other, and I thought they were heading for a confrontation. The pranks were starting to get to the point where people were now taking them personally, and they were not thinking I would get them back with another prank. Things were escalating quickly.

Nogueira was kind of upset about all the pranks and wanted it to stop. He thought it was going to lead to someone getting into a fight at the house. He tried to talk to fellow coach Frank Mir, but Mir does not seem very interested and blows him off. Nogueira mentioned something about that not being a good move for him, and I had to laugh at that. This was really the first time there had been some noticeable tension between the coaches.

Nogueira wanted to put an end to the pranks, and he came to the house to talk to everybody. At least he tried; Team Mir really didn't give him much respect and basically told him that the pranks would continue. I felt bad for him at this point; he was trying to get something across and was unsuccessful. Stankie was drunk and funny as ever. Here is a world champion of our sport, asking us to behave -- and a lot of disrespect was shown.

I have a funny story about Al Stankie, who is our older boxing coach. After practice the coaches would go grab something to eat -- most of the time without showering and in full Team Nogueira garb, which (I'm pretty sure) they were not supposed to be doing. Stankie had on a rashguard, full TapouT velour red warm-up, a TapouT beanie and a couple long gold chains. They went to The Palms to watch the Lakers vs. Celtics game. Stankie is a big Lakers fan, and when a Celtics fan expressed some joy about his team scoring, Stankie walked over and slapped the guy -- with all of our Brazilian coaches looking on in horror. Before the other coaches could grab him, he yelled out, "I am with the heavyweight champion of the world! You want some?" Those of us that saw this understood that this could be Junie's relative, and maybe that is why he wasn't kicked off the show yet. Stankie is a great man, and Spike TV should give him his own show.

There are many stories that involve Stankie that I will try to give to you each week. We would all gather around Dan Valverde, one of the assistant coaches, and he would tell us the stories of what Stankie did over the weekend.

Anyway, as you saw in the episode, Anderson Silva eventually walked in and joined us in the gym. I had been waiting for this since being picked on Nogueira's team. Anderson was there for a couple days, and I got to drill with him for a whole practice, which was very very cool. When it came time to spar, we were rotating with each other in the cage. We would all spar, and when time was up, we would go to the next person. It seemed to me that every time that I would go in against Silva, he would go a little harder on me than with the rest of the guys. I thought at first that he did not like me or something, but Nogueira ended up telling me that he was going harder because he thought I could take it and he wanted to test himself also, which was a huge compliment.

Anderson is absolutely amazing. He is so fluid, and it is so hard to figure him out with him switching stances all the time. The sparring that was shown on TV was us at the end of the workout. He kind of gave me a go ahead to just go after him without throwing really anything crazy at me. This is not what I was referring to when I said that he was going "hard." Although he was throwing those spinning back heels with bad intentions, I actually saw it written on his heals in permanent marker while it was coming at me.

You also can see some cuts on my face. Unfortunately, they were not battle scars from sparing with the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world. The cuts happened in practice while wrestling Kyle. We both shot in at the same time and clashed heads. I did not know that I was cut at all, but Kyle looked at me and kind of freaked out therefore freaking me out. He ran around yelling for an EMT, and I then thought that the cut was three inches long. When inspected it maybe could have used a couple stitches, but it was fine. I slapped a butterfly bandage on and was good to go. I gave Kyle a hard time about overreacting but thanked him at the same time because he obviously cared about me staying in the competition.

We all lined up for the fight announcement, and we didn't even really know who would be fighting. Nogueira had been waiting until the last minute making up until this fight. We all kind of figured that it was Shane Primm that was next, though. So, Eliot and Shane are called to fight. I was pretty confident with this fight. Shane is definitely a very skilled fighter, but he just did not show up that day. Shane rushed in and was reaching for the plum clinch, which was a bad idea. He immediately got taken down, mounted and his back was taken. Eliot eventually secured the rear naked choke after working for it, and the fight was over. Eliot was pretty impressive in this fight. He looked good in the short time that we saw him on his feet and on the ground.

As far as him calling me out and telling me that I'm next, I knew that was coming and had even asked for it. It was a respectful call out, I guess. There is a backstory to this whole situation. When it came down to picking who I was going to fight first, he was on the list. We were sitting around the table and he said for me not to pick him because he was a little banged up and went three rounds in his fight to get into the house. I just kind of laughed and couldn't believe he just told me that. We then come to find out that he was suspended and that we couldn't fight him. Eliot then had a new demeanor and was telling me that I am lucky that I can't pick him, and he was kind of talking smack after he knew there was no possibility of me fighting him. I told him to call me out if he wins his first fight and we'd see what happens. Now it's in Dana's hands.

Anyway, that's it for this week. Just a few plugs first, though.

Please go to www.ryanbader.com and check out my new "Darth Samurai" shirts in my online store!

Also my management company has started a social networking site for us fighters to interact with the fans. We are going to be giving away some cool memorabilia, so go sign up at www.lgfighter.com. Special thanks to LG Sports Marketing for all they do for us fighters.

It's been great and I appreciate the positive messages! Talk to you next week
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source: http://mmajunkie.com/news/13026/team-nogueira-blog-ryan-bader-on-episode-no-5-of-tuf8.mma

speeds · Oct 16, 2008

I have a funny story about Al Stankie, who is our older boxing coach. After practice the coaches would go grab something to eat -- most of the time without showering and in full Team Nogueira garb, which (I'm pretty sure) they were not supposed to be doing. Stankie had on a rashguard, full TapouT velour red warm-up, a TapouT beanie and a couple long gold chains. They went to The Palms to watch the Lakers vs. Celtics game. Stankie is a big Lakers fan, and when a Celtics fan expressed some joy about his team scoring, Stankie walked over and slapped the guy -- with all of our Brazilian coaches looking on in horror. Before the other coaches could grab him, he yelled out, "I am with the heavyweight champion of the world! You want some?" Those of us that saw this understood that this could be Junie's relative, and maybe that is why he wasn't kicked off the show yet. Stankie is a great man, and Spike TV should give him his own show.
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WHAT???!!!

LMAO, Stankie is the f'ing man.

Celtic Fan · Oct 17, 2008

lol stankie is the man, old, tough and just don't give a fuck.

and lol at Junnie's asking for the guys to throw eggs at him while running an obstacle course naked... YIKES

Celtic Fan · Oct 23, 2008

Episode 6 blog.

Team Nogueira blog: Ryan Bader on episode No. 6 of "TUF8"
by Ryan Bader on Oct 23, 2008 at 10:00 am ET
"Fight, fight, kill, kill!" Haha, you have to love Team Nogueira assistant coach Stankie (Al Stankiewicz)!

It's finally time for Junie to put up or shut up. He went after Team Nogueira's supposed weakest link and got a rude awakening in this episode, I thought. Junie has obvious skills, but what about his mind? Will he break if he gets in there with a tougher opponent in the semifinals? These were some of the questions that were on our team's mind, especially taking into account Nogueira's 155-pounders.

It was pretty much common knowledge that Junie was going to pick Rolando "Roli" Delgado in the next fight. Junie told everybody that and was even heckling Rolando about how the fight was going to go. If that wasn't enough, he was constantly having to defend where and how he got his black belt. Even Frank Mir was questioning this, and Rolando got into his whole story about how he got it that would have made anybody question it. That being said, Rolando does have serious skills on the ground, and I believe he earned his black belt in a legitimate way. Mir came off somewhat bad in questioning Rolando. I am not in that world, so I really don't know how the "legitimate" black belts feel about somebody that does not have an airtight story. Mir did not just come out and say this on his own. He was talked into it by his team because most of Team Mir did not like or respect Rolando.

Rolando does not look like your typical fighter; he is a tall, lanky, goofy guy. He speaks softly (mostly about his gym) and was getting on a lot of people's nerves. I had nothing against him at all, but I think it was people just not respecting him that eventually turned into people not liking him on both teams. Rolando trained hard when it was time to go at it and was definitely scrappy and ready to fight anyone.

Team selections finally arrived, and to no one's surprise, Junie calls out Rolando. We were all lined up and previously talked about what we thought Junie was going to do when they faced off. Of course he couldn't just line up respectfully and just shake hands. Junie threw a black belt at him with "McDojo BJJ" written on it. Junie then pushed Rolando and spit on the black belt. Yeah, that's the Junie we know.

What you did not see after the spitting on the black belt incident was Anderson Silva getting pissed. Anderson actually had to go sit outside for a good 10 minutes because he was heated about the lack of respect. You could tell that Anderson was not a fan of Junie, and he couldn't care less about ratings. He just wanted to see Junie go down, and if there was any opportunity in the fight that Rolando could use elbows, he wanted him to do it!

At weigh-ins we see that Junie is acting a little strange and end up finding out he is two pounds over. Watching him try to cut these two pounds, I was thinking there was no way Junie could win this thing. He was breaking, and he'll probably end up doing it in one of his fights sooner or later. You even heard a comment from him while he was on the bike saying something along the lines of him not having any "legs" for the fight because of the weight cut, so he wondered why he should even bother. Are you serious? Is he already looking for a way out?

It was also pretty amusing watching Junie's diet. On fight day you could see him eating out of a tub with a spoon. Maybe some soup? A thick protein shake? Acia sorbert? No, it was Häagen-Dazs ice cream -- on the day of his fight. He has never really looked at nutrition as a part of his overall game. He would ask others and me about healthy foods, but he would resort back to Pizza the night before and ice cream day of. Junie said that it gave him energy.

The fight begins, and I honestly thought that Junie was going to take Rolando out pretty quickly just because he was so much more powerful and athletic. I have to hand it to Rolando; he showed huge heart and looked like an animal in the cage.

I was standing next to Krzysztof Soszynski watching this fight, and I could not tell whom he was rooting for. He was impressed with Rolando and kept yelling, "This kid has heart!"

Rolando looked great the first round. The game plan was to eventually get Junie to the ground, but that was harder than expected. Rolando does not really have a takedown, so he had to wait for the right opportunity -- one that never ended up presenting itself. Rolando was tagging Junie on his feet, but his punches really did not have much power behind them. You even saw Junie telling him to hit him and then preceding to give Rolando a free shot. I kept yelling at Rolando, telling him to hit him with a right hand when Junie did that. How great would it be to see Junie get KTFO when showboating?

The second round was all Junie. Junie landed heavy shots and leg kicks, and most went unanswered. Standing cageside I could see and hear the difference in power. Rolando was out-pointing Junie while Junie was throwing some heat. Rolando was working the body well, and that was the plan. We figured it would take a toll on Junie because of him having a hard weight cut the day before.

In the third round, both fighters are gassed. Rolando now has zero power; Junie has some. They go at it with all they have, and Junie edges Rolando for a split decision. I believe it was the takedown at the end and Junie standing over him for a while that secured the win.

Junie was more respectful after this fight than we probably expected him to be. Maybe he was humbled a bit, or maybe he was just being himself after the first three weeks of "acting." We could see somewhat of a change in him for the better, and he was definitely easier to get along with after the fight. You also saw him apologize to Nogueira about the whole spitting incident, which I thought was pretty classy after a classless incident.

Fighting on "The Ultimate Fighter" was not like anything we have done before. Just ask any of the guys. It is so stressful, and with the combination of the guys, the house, different coaches, etc., a lot of fighters did not fight like the usually do. It is hard to explain. It just is a weird situation. It messes with your head a bit, and by the end, you are fried both physically and mentally.

On the preview for the next episode, it looks like we get to see more of the training, which I like to see. Honestly this episode was not my favorite. I found it somewhat boring. We did not even get to see how they prepared before their fight! What can you do, though? Luckily, the next episode looks entertaining. I am interested to see Team Mir train with the snorkels. I did not get to see any of this and only heard about it from the guys.

Oh yeah, I've got another Stankie story. I don't know how many more I have, but I'll give you this one.

Stankie is somewhat of a ladies man -- a smooth talker if you will. He has a good girl at home, he says, but likes to flirt with all the women even though he is not going to take it anywhere.

So assistant coach Daniel Valverde takes Stankie to the grocery store to pick up some groceries. Daniel waits in the car and gives Stankie a good hour before he starts wondering what the hell he is doing in there. He gives him some more time but finally had enough and goes in to get Stankie. As Daniel is walking in, he looks to his left and sees Stankie shadowboxing and chatting up the cleaning lady with no groceries in his hands or around him. Daniel walks up, and in his Brazilian accent asks Stankie what he has been doing and where his groceries are. Stankie replies, "Son, I didn't have time to get them yet. Daniel this is my friend. Isn't she a darling?!" Daniel then has to take him by hand and shop for him. Keep in mind he has his TapouT beanie and Team Nogueira rashguard on.

Stankie would come into practice and have a grumpy look on his face. We would ask him why he was in a bad mood, and he would respond, "Son, you would be grumpy too if you had to listen to their Portuguese, Brazialianese or whatever the hell they are speaking.

"Plus I think they are making fun of me the whole time."
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LOL stankie is the best!

and daaamn, no one in their right mind would want Anderson pissed at them..

Celtic Fan · Nov 1, 2008

Episode 7 blog

Team Nogueira blog: Ryan Bader on episode No. 7 of "TUF8"
by Ryan Bader on Oct 30, 2008 at 10:25 am ET
Man, Frank Mir really does not like Rolando Delgado, huh?

Looking into Team Mir's locker room, you don't see a lot of respect for Rolando at all. I know Junie Browning went into the fight with a lot of hype (mostly coming from himself), but you have to give some credit to Rolando with the way he hung in there and had a never-say-die attitude. Rolando either showed he had an iron chin, or Junie's bark is louder than the bite. Living with a real Doberman and "The Doberman," I am used to barking dogs.

Our locker room after the fight was different. Rolando was really beating himself up after the loss and taking it very hard. Rolando was consistently apologizing, and the team would tell him to stop and ask him what else he could have done. Rolando said he fought his hardest and left it all out in the cage. So what else can you do then? If you have given it your all and had nothing left, take it and learn from it. This is a sport in which losing and overcoming that loss is almost more important as winning the big fights.

I was very interested in looking in on some of Team Mir's training. We had heard so much about it. Usually when their team would come home, Krzysztof Soszynski would tell me a little about their snorkel workouts, telling me that they were brutal and one of the hardest things he has ever done. He said they would struggle and barely make it through nine minutes of the training with the snorkel on. He then said Wanderlei Siva would do this for 25 minutes straight when in peak condition. The worst part to Krzysztof was the ice bath at the end.

That is one thing that I try to incorporate in my routine. Well, not the snorkel but the ice bath. I'll snorkel after my fights, preferably somewhere tropical. But ice baths are amazing in the way of making you feel brand new. I will go to my strength and conditioning practice, then straight to jiu-jitsu. After these two practices, I'm pretty beat, so I head over to Arizona State University and jump in their cold pool with Aaron Simpson and Jesse Forbes. Twenty minutes in 47-degree water and I am good to go. It takes all of the inflammation and soreness out, and I am ready to go again when night practice arrives.

This episodes tries to indicate there was a contrast in conditioning drills with both teams on this episode. Team Nogueira also had some hardcore training, but head coach Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria also is a keen observer, and when we thought we had hit a wall or overtrained, he would switch things up.

It looks as if we just played games the whole time, but that couldn't be further from the truth. The particular day that was shown, Nogueira could tell that we were tired and kind of run down when we walked in, so he decided to mix it up a bit. We did various drills that were also fun. It was like something you would do with young kids at a wrestling practice. Make them play a game that involves wrestling and conditioning, and the kids are having so much fun they don't even realize that they are working some of the drills and actually getting in better shape. I guess this works on grown men also because we had a blast and were all exhausted by the end.

I got the benefit of fighting first and got to immediately jump into some of the more intense training that Nogueira and his staff had us doing. One particular exercise was a great workout that pushed my cardio every time. We would have a barbell on the mat and start with 10 cleans from the floor, 10 snatches, 10 bent-over rows, then immediately into 10 sprawls, 10 sit-ups with the trainer hitting your stomach, and 10 rolls. The rolls at the end were to simulate being "rocked" after a punch. After we finished this, we immediately repeated this until the five-minute round was over. We then had a one-minute break and were back at it for three or more rounds. It was very exhausting; my heart rate was at 180 beats a minute and was kept there for five minutes.

If you want to read more about some of the various other workouts that you can and can't see, you can read about them in this month's Muscle & Fitness magazine. They came in and spent a day with us at the house and in the gym.

Heading into fight selection, it was pretty much common knowledge by now that Krzysztof's hand was messed up pretty bad. We would have picked him to fight if we had the choice, but we did not. He was actually going around the house telling everybody that he was fighting this week and talking about the weight cut. He was telling me he was going to fight Kyle Kingsbury because he didn't like the way Kyle handled the pranks. So it was a pretty big surprise when Vinny Magalhaes called out Jules Bruchez. It was the first time that anybody really tried to hide their pick.

I think both teams were in agreement that Jules needed to keep the distance and keep this fight standing if he had any hope to win it. This was Team Mir's No. 1 or 2 205-pounder and our least experienced 205-pounder.

Jules has great heart and is an awesome guy, but I just don't think his skills were up to par yet to be on the show. Yes, he did choke a guy out with one arm to get on the show without throwing a punch, but come on.

One funny story about Jules: Nogueira's strength and conditioning coach, a guy named Dragos (who was the Olympic weightlifting coach for Romania), was putting us through some drills one morning. Kyle and I blast through them and Jules comes and does his set. Dragos tells him, "Jules you are too slow!" Jules asks, "Coach, you mean I am doing it too slow?" Dragos then responds, "No Jules, YOU are too slow!"

We all died in laughter for a good five minutes, and Jules never got away from that quote the whole time in the house.

Jules had no previous pro fights; he did not come in with a very good base in any specific discipline. He did have a great drive for competition and a heavy left hand. To be honest, we all looked at Jules as our "weak link" and just hoped that he could pull this out. We just saw Rolando come out of nowhere and have a good fight. "Maybe Jules can too," we thought.

Vinny, on the other hand, is very talented on the ground -- one of the best in the world. We also heard that he does not like to get hit, and if the fight is brought to him, then you might get him to quit. That was Team Nogueira's game plan for Jules: get inside and box with him, and whatever you do, don't go to the ground.

Whether Vinny's talents on the ground were as good as Nogueira's was the question up in the air, and Nogueira wanted to know why he was talking smack about him. This was interesting to see on this episode. One, because I did not know this confrontation happened, and two, because I don't speak Portuguese. It made a lot more sense with subtitles and was great to see Nogueira get a little heated. Although Nogueira is the nicest guy in the world, I would not want him to look at me and call me his enemy. In a world with cameras all around you, you have to be careful what you say and do.

Of course we couldn't go an episode without a prank, and this one was actually very funny and one of my favorites. A body bag was on Jules' bed with flowers on top, lit candles all around, and a headstone that read, "He lived, he died ... who cares." It was actually a little creepy to come into the room and see that -- but immediately it was very funny.

Team Nogueira was asking for stuff all the time for pranks, not even big things at all. We were asking for rope and got denied, but Team Mir somehow gets body bags?

So fight time arrives, and Jules is very calm. I expected him to be somewhat nervous fighting one of the better guys on Team Mir, but he was very focused and relaxed. The fight started, and the standup is pretty boring with Vinny mostly keeping his distance and throwing some kicks that never really land. Jules is being extremely gun shy and just will not commit to anything. Finally Jules comes in throwing and catches him once or twice before almost being flying arm barred. Jules did exactly what we told him not to do. He is arm barred very quickly after being mounted, and the fight is over. Vinny told us that he didn't hit Jules when he mounted him because he felt it wasn't needed and that he felt bad for him. Vinny has not recived a lot of camera time yet; the little that he has is not his best moment on the show. He indeed is a good guy with some impressive skills.

At this point in the competition, I am getting antsy and just want to fight again and get out of there. I have been waiting around for a while and am doing nothing but training. At least assistant coach Al Stankiewicz -- I mean, "Stanky" -- is keeping me amused.

Stanky had this thing with Efrian Escudero. He liked Efrian a lot but really wanted to spar him. Stanky always told him that he would kick his ass if they boxed. So one day we told Stanky his dreams were going to come true. Nogueira told him he could spar Efrian in straight boxing if he wore the chest/rib protector. They would spar in the ring, with full walkouts and the whole hooray. I would corner Efrian and the rest of the team would be behind Stanky. This made his day, if not year -- well, probably decade.

Kyle overheard Stanky while he was hitting the speed bag warming up talking to himself. Stanky was muttering out loud to himself, "Stanky, one last hoorah. This is it, old chap! You're back in the game! Back in the fire! Do this and you can finally put down the gloves."

Hahahaha!

Efrian and I walk out first, make our way to the cage and get him ready. Stanky comes out with the whole team behind him, on top of the world. It almost looks like he was going to break into tears. He entered the cage and gave Efrian a menacing look. (Or was he just squinting to see Efrain across the cage because they took of his glasses?)

The bell sounded, and they are at each other's throats. Well kind of, considering Efrian could only hit to the body on Nogueira's persistence. Stanky was actually telling Efrian to engage and heckled Efrian the whole time. In the end Stanky came out on top, with a little help from Efrian, but on top. This was his time, his glory, his moment where he shouted out, "Ponchita!" (His wife's name.) "Ponchita, I did this for you!" The scene freezes, goes to black and white, and fades out to blackness on his team's shoulders.
Click to expand...

Chocolove · Nov 1, 2008

Haha, Stanky, that crazy old kook.

Celtic Fan · Nov 6, 2008

Episode 8 blog and more Stanky stories!!

Team Nogueira blog: Ryan Bader on episode No. 8 of "TUF8"
by MMAjunkie.com Staff on Nov 06, 2008 at 7:15 am ET
You would think that fighters would eat a little healthier, huh? Piss-soaked fruit, man juice, baby chicken fetuses -- man, what is wrong with us? I can assure you fear is not a factor for us!

I was in Costco the other day getting some food for my new diet. Fruit is a big part of it, so I wandered into the freezer in the back of the store and was confronted with a dilemma. The easiest thing to do was grab the big fruit bowl that already had the mixed fresh fruit all cut up and ready to eat, right? Well, I just couldn't bring myself to get the fruit bowl, so I got each fruit individually and had to cut them up at home. I once again get queasy walking by the prepackaged sushi and think about Kyle Kingsbury's "special sauce."

That had to be the most disgusting episode in reality TV history. The "fruit cocktail," while gross, was really not that bad when compared to the revenge that it brought about. The sushi with the special sauce was absolutely disgusting, especially when eaten by a male.

This whole stealing of Tom Lawlor's fruit started when Team Nogueira was sitting around the table and Tom came up to confront us about eating his fruit tray. At this time none of us had eaten or had even snacked on it whatsoever. After Tom kind of makes a big deal out of it, we decide that we now are going to take everything that comes in and devour it as a joke.

So for the next couple days, every time a fruit platter comes in for Tom, the whole team eats it as soon as possible. This turned out to be a big mistake.

Little did we know four people would pee in the fruit bowl and seal it back up nice and tight -- so that you would never know that is had been opened. So we came back from practice, and there is a nice cold, juicy fruit platter just waiting to be devoured. Right then and there, we should have known something was up. Usually they put them in the downstairs refrigerator. This one was upstairs where there was no doubt we would find it.

I grabbed the fruit and took it into the master bedroom where Phillipe Nover and I start shoveling the fruit into our mouths, even making sucking noises as we eat. These are big fruit bowls, and Nover and I definitely consumed our fair share of the special fruit juice that was added. To make the whole situation worse, we were hamming it up for the cameras, saying how much we love Tom's fruit and the like.

Eventually the whole team was munching on the fruit, and Kyle then mentioned that this one is delicious because it looks to have more "fruit juice" than normal. He is holding up watermelon and letting the juices drip into his mouth. The production crew must have been on their asses laughing at us.

I had my fill, so I was in the kitchen while the other guys finished it off. I hear Nover start yelling, "No, why?" and hear my name being called. Nover then came in to tell me that the fruit had been peed in.

My first reaction was disgust, then humor, and finally admiration on a job well done by Tom. We had been stealing his fruit and eating it, so we were pretty much in the wrong. He had pissed in his own food, so how could we really be mad? The prank was genius but may have set the stage for TUF to "jump the shark."

Nover was kind of shocked and bothered that Kyle and I were not the least bit disgusted (at least not showing it) by the eating of piss fruit. Nover was dry heaving and making a pretty big deal about it, giving Team Mir what they wanted.

Although it was disgusting, I could not taste a thing. I had no side effects and would have not known that there was piss in the fruit if nobody had told me. So I played it cool and did not let Team Mir see me sweat. I have been a wrestler my whole life, and I've seen way worse pranks than this.

That being said, I have not seen anything worse than the sushi with the "special sauce." This was pretty much the exact same situation as the fruit. Somebody from Team Nogueira was eating Nover's sushi for a long time. So we played the same trick back -- but we just upped the ante a bit.

Kyle came up with the idea to put some man juice on Phillipe's sushi in retaliation of them stealing it. Kyle was headed to the bathroom and one of the sound guys told Kyle to put on his mic. We all looked at the audio guy like a weirdo because of this request, and he kind of just shurgged his shoulders. Kyle went into the bathroom and did his thing on a plate. He then dipped the sushi in the "sauce," and they sealed it up perfectly.

We would check the fridge about every two hours like giddy schoolgirls, and when we realized that it was eaten, we were ecstatic. But at the same time, I kind of felt bad. Then we realized who had eaten it, and it made it even that much better.

Dave Kaplan was an interesting character; he was one of the smartest people I had been around as far as knowing random facts. We would challenge him on any random fact, and he usually knew the answer.

Kaplan was also a talker; he would talk about how many girls he pulled, how great of a fighter he was, etc. He would ask If I thought I was a better wrestler than him, and when I would say yes, he would get angered and think the opposite. Kaplan would belittle people and basically was a legend in his own mind. He was also very funny and fun to be around when he wasn't in one of his "self loving" moods.

So when Kaplan ate the sushi, most of the people, even some on the Team Mir, had a good laugh. Kaplan took it pretty well though (even though that is one thing I would have flipped out about). But Kaplan did not seem too bothered about little Kyles swimming around in his belly. Honestly, I was really surprised they put the sushi part on the show. I am certain all of the people watching at home likely missed what happened next.

I could go on and on about this, but I am just going to stop right here and move onto the disgusting chicken fetus. I am not one to back down to a challenge, so I told Nover I was down to eat one. It is a delicacy in some countries -- much like sushi with special sauce is to the "TUF" house. It was not that bad if you could get past the rolled up fetus, bones, hair and the head. It tasted like a yolk mixed with dark chicken meat. We even got Lyoto Machida to eat one.

As you can probably tell, we were all going a little crazy at this point. Normal rules of society did not apply to us anymore, and we had become animals. The house was like prison, and we were trying our best to just make it through to the end. We had nothing to do, and I was so sick of everything the house offered as entertainment, such as the pool, pool table, basketball court, etc.

On one of those boring days, Junie Browning stayed home from practice (his feet were badly swollen and he could not practice). He started telling us how he hated his team and that nobody works out hard, etc. Junie then went on to tell us how much he disliked Kaplan and gave Nover some advice on how to beat him. Nover did not need it at all, but it did boost his confidence a little.

Junie was actually hanging out with us (Team Nogueira) more and more. He didn't practice for a good week or so, so he was always home when we were. He did not like Kaplan because Junie thought he was all talk.

The fight day came, and Nover was ready to go. His mindset was perfect, and he was ready to shut Kaplan up.

The fight started, and we see a couple punches by both fighters, and then Nover connects with three punches that put Kaplan down. It was all Nover from there. Well, actually it was all Nover from the beginning of the fight, but he quickly choked out his opponent after softening him up with some punches. Dana was impressed as were we.

Kaplan still refuses to believe that Nover is better than him, and in the next episode, you can see he is delusional. Nover dominated and looked to be a force in the 155-pound division. Nover is the fighter Dana calls, "The next Anderson Silva."

Anyway, I know how much everyone loves them but I am running out of Stanky stories. But I will try to muster some up.

Going back before I fought Tom Lawlor, Stanky went up to Tom and told him he was No. 1 pick and that he could not be beat. Tom then told Stanky, "Stanky, you know I'm on the other team, right?" Stanky gave him a confused look and said, "Son, you're going to win this whole thing." Tom looked at him like he was crazy and said thanks. Stanky then came up and asked me if I had already fought and when the whole thing would be over.

I am going to be in Florida for the WEC event this week and to train a little with Nog and his team. I hope to run into Stanky while I am out there and see what he has been up to since the show finished.

We have to do more than what meets the eye when we do the team selections, etc. We have to stand there silently for about 10 minutes each time to get individual shots with the camera and the like. So while the producer is trying to get everything going and is trying to have a meeting with us, Stanky is heckling her the whole time. One classic line that we stole from Stanky was when she (the producer) was trying to explain something important. Stanky blurts out, "Sweetie, I wouldn't want to box ya, but I would love to wrestle ya!"

Even she couldn't help but laugh.

See you next week!
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Celtic Fan · Nov 13, 2008

Episode 9 blog -- aka no stankie stories!!

Team Nogueira blog: Ryan Bader on episode No. 9 of "TUF8"
by Ryan Bader on Nov 13, 2008 at 8:45 am ET
Man, I'm sorry guys. No one should have to sit through two episodes of urine drinking. The show is turning more into "Fear Factor" than a show about 16 fighters putting everything on hold to fight for a UFC contract. If you are still watching, more power to you.

Well, right where last week's episode left off, it's back to urine. Kaplan and Tom are both getting incredibly drunk. Kaplan drank almost a whole bottle of Vodka very quickly and had that glazed over look in his eyes. Kaplan kept saying over and over how the UFC loves him because he is exciting and will put on a show win or lose. He also kept telling us he could not be knocked out, no matter what.

So as the drinking reaches its pinnacle, there is a little bet going on. Somebody bet Dave Kaplan and Tom Lawler some "Rhinobucks" to take a shot of his own urine. Let me first explain these "Rhinobucks."

We had heard that Dana White and the crew take us out to a nice dinner after we get done filming the show. We had also heard that after we were done with dinner, Dana took us out for dessert -- in the form of one of the best strip clubs in Las Vegas, the Spearmint Rhino. We had heard that Dana also gives you upward of $1,000 of the strip club's own money, which are "Rhinobucks." These rumors were absolutely true, and the free dessert was amazing.

So having heard this, these "Rhinobucks" became a bargaining tool inside the house. I think the bet was something around 100 Rhinobucks to take a shot of urine. Tom was the first to accept the bet and peed in a shot glass, but before he could take it, Dave jumped in front of him and took it down. Not to be outdone by Dave, Tom then chugged a whole Solo cup of urine. Dave now, not to be outdone by Tom, starts peeing in a glass -- as does Tom once again. Not that this was bad enough, but when they get done peeing in each glass, they look at each other and switch glasses so they have each other's urine and both proceed to drink the whole glasses down. This was one of the most disgusting things that I have ever witnessed, and I was actually dry heaving. (Even though I had just ingested urine soaked fruit.)

Some of these scenes are out of order as far as the real timeline of the show. The "pee fruit" and "splushi" happened later in the season. The urine swapping happened before the sushi and fruit incident. Dave kept asking Phillipe Nover if he really thought that Nover was better than him, half in a drunken stupor but a lot of sincere truth behind it.

Tom and Dave were extremely drunk and decided to go downstairs. Dave was begging Tom to hit him. Tom finally did, and it is pretty brutal. Tom came upstairs and ran to the phone and called the producer. He asked if there was medical staff on hand and said that Dave might be in trouble while also asking if he, himself, is going to get in trouble. The producer told him that everything was fine, as was Dave. (They could see him on the cameras.) Then I saw the camera guy dying laughing when I went outside. He looked at me and told me what just happened is the funniest thing he had every filmed.

This "phone" that we had was in our pantry. We would pick it up, and a producer would answer. That's it. We would get calls on this phone when they wanted us to stop doing something, or they called to tell us we could leave to go to practice.

Of course Dave still claims he wasn't knocked out. He fell over his legs, went limp, and almost went into convulsions. But nope, still not knocked out. It sucks when there are cameras everywhere to tell a different story.

Cameras where literally everywhere in the house. They were all over the rooms, and the bedroom ones had night vision cameras to boot. Bathrooms? Oh yeah, there was one directly facing the toilet. We all got over the cameras being everywhere and cameras being in your face really fast. The second day we forgot they were there. There was no way you could put on an act unless you could keep it going for six weeks straight. You could be on the couch and be talking about the fights or somebody in the house, and an audio boom would come sneaking in right over your head. They only really filmed us when we were talking about someone in the house or the fights. If we were exchanging stories or talking about life outside the house, they had no interest in it. We learned real quickly when to talk about stuff and when not to. The first couple nights, we would be in our beds with the lights out and start talking about some of the fighters in the house with our roommates. Sure enough a hand would sneak in and turn the lights to the brightest setting, and the camera crew would sneak in and put the camera in your face.

It was Krzysztof Soszynski's turn to fight, and he had been messing with everybody with his pranks this whole time. We were trying to come up with some good ones to get him back, but the producers would never give us anything that we asked for like they would for Team Mir. So we just decided to make Krzysztof work a little and put everything we could find in his room. Honestly, it sucked as a prank, but it made him have to work a little before his fight just as we had to do as a result of his pranks.

We came out one morning and saw that all the furniture and kitchen utensils were gone. We just looked outside and went, "Huh, that sucks." Didn't bother us at all, and even everybody on Team Mir hated the prank. It looked like he pranked himself, staying up all night carrying that stuff to the basketball court. I would not be doing that before a fight.

The coaches challenge finally came in this episode, and we have been talking to Coach Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira the whole season telling him to brush up on his parlor games. Nogueira honestly thought that it could be a jiu-jitsu match, but we had to convince him that would never happen. We asked him what he was good at and he said, "Fighting and jiu jitsu." Man, we were in trouble. We had seen his basketball skills, and they were horrid. We passed him the basketball for the first time, and he did this two-handed overhead Donkey Kong throw at the basket. We were in trouble.

As we pulled up to a field, we saw a soccer goal, and we all get excited thinking that we had this in the proverbial bag. Then we saw Nogueira's practice shots. Can a Brazilian really be that bad at soccer? Yes, yes at least one can. We pulled out the narrow victory anyway, and Kyle Kingsbury really got under the skin of Mir, yelling "Gooooaaaaaallllllllllll!" Every time Nogueira would score.

So there is one more light heavyweight fight in the quarterfinals: Krzysztof vs. Kyle. This was going to be a fight that was going to stay on the feet as we knew that both of them liked to stand and bang. We all worked with Kyle a lot in a southpaw position with our hands way out to the side to simulate Krzysztof. The game plan was to box with him and use a lot of knees, which he did effectively at the beginning of the fight to the legs.

As the fight got started, they both exchanged and hit each other a couple times with Krzysztof getting the better punches and Kyle with the better knees. Kyle got a body lock and started to take Krzysztof down, and Krzysztof fell to his back. Krzysztof worked for an armbar that we can all see coming. We were yelling at Kyle to posture, but he never did and ended up getting submitted.

Kyle just needs to work extensively on the ground. He is so long and athletic with some good power. Once he gets his ground game up to par, he will be very dangerous.

Krzysztof once again looked good in his fight and is looking to be a very strong competitor.

The quarterfinals are wrapping up, and next week we get to see the semifinals match-ups!

Also, a lot of people have been asking what my diet is like going into a fight. I used to just eat pretty clean, but I have recently added a strength and conditioning coach to my routine in Ryan Johnson. This is an exact email of what he wants me to eat in a day. I try to stick by it but switch it up to fish, other meats, etc.

Breakfast (pre-workout)
1 banana
1 cup organic oats with half scoop Jay Robb whey protein and a handful of almonds (with almond milk)

10 a.m. (before grappling)
8 oz. Gatorade
Organic protein bar or half scoop whey protein

12:30 p.m. (post grappling workout)
8 oz. Gatorade
1 scoop Jay Robb whey protein with two organic omega 3 eggs
2 scoops waxi maize (with 1 tbsp Udo's oil)

2 p.m. (lunch)
6 oz. chicken or turkey
Multivitamin
Large salad
Gluten-free pasta

4:30 p.m.
2 slices of fruit
1 handful of almonds

8 p.m.
2 scoops waxi maize with 1 tbsp flax oil
1 scoop whey protein with 1 organic omega 3 egg

10 p.m.
4 oz. lean meat, chicken, turkey
1 cup rice with greens
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Celtic Fan · Nov 13, 2008

Since i know it's disappointing not having a stankie story.. I went and found one.

From Phillipe Nover's Blog at 5oz of pain

Al Stankie’s is a great character on the show. He kept our spirits high and brought a sort of old school boxing environment to training. He doesn’t know much about MMA, takedowns or ground work. “Why go on the ground and smell all those farts when you can just beat him on the feet,” he said. I like working with him as did most of the guys on our team. His combos were more related to straight boxing though. It didn’t matter. I just needed to get my punches out for a few rounds.

Things you should know about Al: he screams out funny things during training all the time like “Manchita!” I think that’s his Mexican girlfriend. “Ain’t nothing but a party, baby!” Also “HOEEEE!” and much more!
Stankie loves flirting with young girls. He one time interrupted a cast meeting and ask one of the assistant producers to come home with him as a joke. He wears rash guards and beanies all the time even in public and at restaurants. His son was a New York Yankee, Andy Stankowitz. He has a great vibrating massage machine that feels incredible on my back. He talks a lot and sometimes doesn’t stop. But overall he was fun to be around and I enjoyed him as did everyone else on the show, including the production personnel.
Click to expand...

aww man they're just not showing enough of this guy.. he has to be a coach on TUF from now on I say

Celtic Fan · Nov 20, 2008

Episode 10 -- only a little stankie this time.

Team Nogueira blog: Ryan Bader on episode No. 10 of "TUF 8"

Well, the semifinals are set, and we get to see John Polakowski dish out more than just hugs. Junie Browning almost loses it again because of a flying pork chop, and the days are coming in which we will finally be able to leave the house.

After Kyle Kingsbury lost to Krzysztof Soszynski, we were behind in team wins, but we kept our morale high for John, who would fight in the last quarterfinal fight of the show. John had been waiting to fight for some time, and though he is a fun-loving goofball of a guy, he flips a switch in his fights and becomes an animal.

John was always there to lift your spirits and offer a hug even if you were not in a hugging mood. He was always happy around the house and at the gym, but when it was time to train, he was all business. John comes from a kickboxing background and is a member of "The Pit" with Chuck Liddell. John's ground game was his weak point, and he worked very hard with Coach Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and the other coaches to try to get it up to par with George Roop's game.

Going into this fight, we were thinking that we had quite an advantage because of Roop's injured hand. He tried to hide his swollen and badly bruised hand from us, but obviously, we saw that it was in bad shape. Roop kept telling us that it was fine, and in the fight it looked like there was nothing wrong with it since he essentially used it at will. Roop is a very tough-minded individual. No doubt about it.

John went into a pirate mode in the later stages of the show. He drew a "fire the cannons!" picture, and that was his motto from then on out. He was even donning a pirate hat. He would come up to me right when I woke up, give me a big huge, tell me to "fire the cannons!" then ask if I gave the dog a bone today. I would look at him in half confusion, hug him, and tell him I did indeed give the dog a bone today even though I had no idea what he was talking about.

John never got pissed off -- until someone messed with his Lucky Charms. I was amazed at how mad he got about it, and I loved every second of it. He is such a nice guy, and to see him considerably upset about something so small was a sight to see. I think it was Tom Lawlor who took all the marshmallows out of his Lucky Charms and just left the oat things in the box. They sealed it up perfectly, and John, who is oblivious sometimes, thought that it was a manufacturing mistake. Then when he got into his second box, all the marshmallows were gone again. Could this just be coincidence, or could someone in this house who has been urinating on fruit, drinking their own pee and knocking out 155-pounders be playing a joke on him? Now, John was pissed and felt disrespected because he felt that he was nothing but nice to everybody and that he did not deserve this. He wouldn't even talk to Eliot Marshall for some time because we had him convinced that Eliot stole them all. It was definitely an overreaction on John's part, but we backed him up and had a good time watching this other side of him.

We only have about a week and a half left in the house at this point, and we are all out of our minds. Krzysztof starts throwing some rotten leftovers at some of the guys in the hot tub, and we join in. About six of us start throwing eggs, spaghetti, tomatoes and the dreaded pork chop. I never saw if the guys were getting hit by the food, but watching it on TV was hilarious. Supposedly Junie got hit in the face with a pork chop, and when he stood up pissed off to yell, he was confronted with an egg to the face! It was very comical for everybody upstairs when he was yelling -- about something so surreal as getting hit in the face by a pork chop. Junie ran upstairs all pissed and slammed the door to show us that he was serious. Junie and Krzyzstof got into it a little argument, and as things settled down, it turned into an all-out food fight. This food fight was all in fun, and the house was a mess. Chocolate syrup was poured over people right in the kitchen, and then a whole thing of flour was dumped over them. Eggs were splattered everywhere. It was a genuinely good time; everybody was letting off some steam and getting rid of some pressure that the upcoming semifinals were forecasting.

The fight between George and John was a very exciting fight. Roop definitely won the first round. His kicks looked good, and he had a good takedown that was followed by effective ground and pound. I thought the second round went to John. He did a lot more damage in that round and looked like he almost had Roop finished. But like the old adage says, "You can't leave it in the hands of the judges."

Roop got the win, and Team Mir pulled further ahead. Krzysztof made it known that he did not enjoy our "family dinners" and that they are clearly the better team.

I don't get why the other team was so against our dinners and Team Nogueira "get-togethers." You don't get too many chances to sit down with a legend of the sport in Nogueira very often, and we were just taking advantage of that. Also, most of our team got along and enjoyed each other's company, so why not?

Anyway, the time finally came when we got to go in with Dana White and the coaches and tell them who we wanted to fight in the semifinals. I knew who I wanted to challenge, and I knew Eliot was going to ask for the same fight. We had talked about this since he called me out after his fight. He was stuck with me after that, and naturally, I had to fight the man calling me out.

Looking back at the show, I was surprised Krzysztof called me out. I thought I was the worst match-up for him in the house. I feel he massively underestimates my jiu jitsu. Nogueira told me that Kyzysztof had called me out and said he could beat me on the ground. I was not bothered by this at all, but Nogueira was pissed. I just told him, "Oh well, maybe I will see him in the finals if we both get there." But Nogueira was pretty heated and told me he wanted to say something to Krzysztof in the room. I loved that, and it showed Nogueira really cared for and had the backs of his fighters.

The whole thing with Vinny Magalhaes and Krzysztof was also interesting. They were training partners at Team Quest before the show. However, they were at each other's throats on the show. Vinny would complain to me how Eliot and Krzysztof would never practice with him and how they were always talking smack about him behind his back. Also, keep in mind that after Eliot's win, Eliot looked at Krzysztof and said, "You and me in the finals, baby!" Right in front of Vinny. Vinny told me that he wanted Krzysztof because of that and because he felt Krzysztof had no jiu jitsu or wrestling. This whole thing was a huge surprise for me, especially with them being teammates.

It's too bad we don't get to see "Stankie" that much on the show anymore, but trust me, he was there in our ear. We actually had a code word in the back locker room when we needed Stankie to be quiet. Well, it was actually more of a code look. Kyle and I talked about it before his fight because Stankie sometimes would just go on and on when you were trying to focus. So before Kyle's fight, he gave me "the look," and I in turn gave assistant coach Daniel Valverde "the look", and he in turn would shut Stankie up.

I also heard from one of the producers recently that Stankie was begging and pleading to get on "TUF 9" as a striking coach! Haha! I really hope they consider this. The world needs more Stankie.

Once again, thank you for your time and interest in this blog. One more week, and we get to see which two guys make it to the finals. I am training hard right now -- hopefully getting ready for a fight here in December!
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valo35 · Nov 20, 2008

I hope Stankie gets onto TUF 9, that would be just awesome. Dude really loves to train people, and seems like the nicest old man.

I still think Junie wasn't completely wrong for the way he reacted about the food being thrown at him. If someone threw a pork chop at me, and then hit me in the face with an egg after I told them to quit it, I would probably get pissed off also.

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