TUF Talks: "The Ultimate Fighter" Season 13 Episode 7

Hello once more fans and friends and welcome to “TUF Talks”, my weekly recap/commentary series covering the latest episode of the popular UFC reality TV series “The Ultimate Fighter”. This week, “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 13 heads into its seventh episode featuring the final preliminary bout: the always-interesting “wild card” fight. Plus, episode seven also features the coach’s challenge. With both camps in close competition, who will gain the advantage heading into the quarterfinals? Let’s find out by diving right into the latest edition of “TUF Talks”.

The episode begins with Team Lesnar’s Len Bentley very upset at being snubbed from the “wild card” fight. Bentley even approaches Dana White to vent his frustrations. Bentley takes his issues back to the TUF house, with members of both Team Lesnar and Team Dos Santos becoming annoyed with Bentley’s rants. Meanwhile, Brock Lesnar tries to give a pep talk to his team, but his “tough love” philosophy soon shines through and he says “tough ****” to all the people who fought and didn’t win.

Back at the TUF house, one of the TUF cast decides to stir the pot in a very high school-like way: he pulls Len Bentley aside and says that Junior said that Brock said that Len Bentley shouldn’t get a shot at the “wild card” fight. This eventually leads to a face-to-face conversation between Bentley and Lesnar, with Lesnar explaining that Bentley’s knee injury was the chief reason why he was excluded from the wild card. Bentley doesn’t seem remotely satisfied with that answer, and in an odd twist, Lesnar actually seems to be regretting the decision to put Chuck O’Neil in the wildcard, stating that he feels like O’Neil doesn’t seem motivated.

After some words are exchanged between Shamar Bailey and Chris Cope regarding Cope’s bizarre penchant for screaming at the start of every morning, we get the coach’s challenge. It seems as if football will be the sport of choice, with several drills involving running, tackling, and throwing. Everyone assumes that Lesnar has the challenge in his back pocket thanks to the time he spent with the Minnesota Vikings.

That turns out to not be true at all.

In terms of speed and power, Lesnar and JDS appear evenly-matched, but when it comes time to kick a field goal and throw a football, JDS pulls ahead of Brock substantially. At the end, when the two have to catch a pass and then return it 100 yards, Lesnar is so far behind that Junior starts dancing his way towards the end zone and does a front flip to win the challenge. Junior ends up taking some of the money he won from the challenge and giving it to the losing team, although of course he doesn’t give Brock anything. After some final pre-fight hype, and with both men making weight successfully (and having their pre-fight staredown in their boxer shorts), it’s now time for the “wild card” fight between Chuck O’Neil and Javier Torres.

The first round of this fight sees both men very evenly-matched, with neither fighter landing anything too significant. The first round sees both men try to finish, but end up hitting nothing but air. The round ends with Torres pressing O’Neil up against the cage. The second round is spent almost entirely on the ground, with both men gaining a dominant position at least once. O’Neil ends up staying on top for the longest, and eventually, Torres tires to power out but ends up getting caught in a D’Arce Choke. After several seconds trying to escape, Torres ends up tapping out.

With that win, Team JDS and Team Lesnar are all tied up with four wins apiece. Soon afterwards, the quarterfinal match-ups are announced. It’s going to be Clay Harvison vs. Ramsey Nijem, Chris Cope vs. Shamar Bailey, Chuck O’Neil vs. Zach Davis, and Tony Ferguson vs. Ryan McGillivray. The episode ends with a sneak peek at next week’s episode, which will feature not one but two fights.

Overall, I liked this episode of “The Ultimate Fighter”. Heading into the quarterfinals, I think TUF Season 13 has really begun to find itself a happy medium. The quality of the fights has improved, more or less, and the drama has been getting a bit better. As a whole, this season has been hit-or-miss, but it’s “hitting” more frequently, and I do like that.

And what about you, fans and friends? Any thoughts on this week’s episode?