The Ultimate Fighter 12: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck

Johnson threw Bruce Leroy down whenever it occurred to him to do so. It wasn't even close. I hate agreeing with Koscheck, but man, it was ridiculous.

Phan couldn't contain Cody, who isn't half the athlete Johnson is. He beat Cody on cardio alone. Problem is that Johnson's best round so far was that insanely hyper third round he had in the previous fight. He gets stronger the longer the fight goes.

Phan is phucked.

 

I will agree that it's Brookins in the other fight, though. He's my favorite to win it all. He's so damned good at throwing people, and he doesn't fuck around at all when it comes to submitting guys. He just methodically takes guys' backs and then just finishes fights how he wants to.

 

Brookins and Johnson

Johnson dominated Leroy. Other than about 20 seconds in the second round, Leroy did absolutely nothing. Phan hasn't been impressive at all.

 

Johnson better work on his cardio as he was dead tired against Leroy.. Phan is no pushover.

 

Johnson looked exactly like he did at the end of the second round in his prior fight. Groggy and just kind of "there." Just like his opponent. Then he unleashed a huge load of whoop ass when it went into the extra round. Johnson's got an extra gear that he didn't get into in this fight. Maybe he just keeps it in reserve just in case.

Phan proved he had good endurance too, so I can see this going to three rounds, and Johnson unloading again.

 

I wasn't surprised (was anybody?) to see Brookins advance. He's one dimensional as a wrestler, but he's amazing at that one dimension. Even when he couldn't get the guy's back, he just surfed on top of him on the ground. He just stayed on top.

Complete opposite of Johnson. Johnson had Nam in bad spots repeatedly throughout his fight and couldn't really do anything with it. He couldn't really control the clinch even though he was clearly stronger, and when he got it to the ground he seemed to take more damage from elbows to the head than anything he delivered. Nam is really, really lucky he didn't face Brookins, because he'd have been embarrassed in the first round.

I don't see how Brookins loses this. Johnson is so strong and athletic, but he doesn't really know what to do with it.

 

My favorite moments:
- Watching the general douchebaggery on "Team" Koscheck evolve. They start by being dicks to Team GSP in the house when they finally win a fight, then the team turns on Koscheck himself for his worthless coaching, and finally they go after the one guy on the "team" still competing (Nam). And really, I don't know if any of those individuals on that team were any worse than normal, I just think it's the natural outcome of putting Koscheck in charge.
- Watching Mike Tyson talk to those guys. I dunno--it was just kind of fun. In a way he was the Ultimate Fighter of his generation.
- Cody choking out those guys in obvious ways
- Brookins doing these monster throws in three different fights
- Drunk french kickboxer
- GSP tricking Koscheck into not taking Johnson

Least favorite:
- Pretty much every time Koscheck thought he was being "clever." Hiding the sandal, "male nurse," parking too close. Some day there'll be a bio pic about him, and it'll star Will Ferrel.

 

Watson really exposed Brookins stand up in their fight, I know they've had a lot of time off to shore up their game before the finale but I think it's very possible Michael Johnson uses his wrestling in reverse and wins a stand up war against Brookins, you know, assume Johnson doesn't gas.