By Jim Tatum September 22, 2010
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Episode 2 opens with the remaining fighters arriving at the house for the first time. In typical fashion most fighters head to the bedrooms and a few head to the bar. This is par for the course.
Quickly the viewer can clearly see the “special fighter” of this season, Jeff Lentz. Whether its declaring he’ll never tap or his unusual “vices”.
“I don’t think smoking and drinking every night is going to help you in the long run in this kind of sport,” Kyle Watson jokes.
“Let them think I have no gas in the tank,” Jeff says. I’ve got cardio for days.”
Then enter MR. BRUCE LEROY, aka Alex Caceres, who tells as all about his “experiences” in Florida. He wrestled deer and killed and with his bare hands alligator.
On to the next morning the fighters get to the training center for the coaches picking their teams. GSP and Greg Jackson make a fake list to try to throw wrench in Koscheck’s selections. Normally, I wouldn’t second guess or call out one of the coach’s selections, but Koscheck is such a douche – he fell for the oldest trick in the book. He had better hope that he uses more brainpower when he fights GSP than he exhibited when picking his team.
Koscheck picks first and picks his “friend” Marc Stevens, although he was impressive in his first fight this gives GSP an edge in picking the first fight and still getting the fighter he wanted.
Draft results are as follows:
Team Koscheck
1. Marc Stevens
2. Sevak Magakian
3. Sako Chivitchian
4. Andy Main
5. Nam Phan
6. Aaron Wilkinson
7. Jeff Lentz
Team GSP
1. Michael Johnson
2. Jonathan Brookins
3. Spencer Paige
4. Alex “Bruce Leeroy” Caceres
5. Kyle Watson
6. Cody McKenzie
7. Dane Sayers
After the “drafting” Dane says in a confessional, “I made it to the show, I’m so happy I made it to the show. But it kind of bites that I’m the last guy picked. I’m going to have to prove these guys wrong. … I’m not some chump.”
“Being picked last doesn’t mean [expletive],” Dana White says offering Dane words of encouragement.
GSP training session: GSP decide he will training with the boys and push his fighters while Coach Jackson leads the troop. GSP opts to be a good general and stand among his soldiers. GSP admits he picked his team to mesh with his coaches and not just based on talent.
Koscheck training session: (maybe we learn he isn’t such a bad guy, but don’t count on it) Koscheck states he likes “mindless training” that includes Bob Cook, barking orders and showing fighters “what they need to know”. Koscheck pushes the training pace hard and “thinks” he can win over his team.
Then it comes time for fight announcements, the winner will move on and the other will drink. (I’ve seen it before, this is how it goes.) GSP comes to the front and announces that we will see Bruce Leroy (aka Alex Caceres). Bruce asked to fight first and GSP honored his request.
Koscheck likes the match and thinks it’s going to work to his advantage.
Leroy’s focused time: Leroy and Dane work a little sparring in the back yard as Leroy explains his nickname and style. He love Bruce Lee and his love brought him to martial arts, the arts gave him the discipline he needed. Leroy is relaxed as he trains with GSP and the coaches talk about the importance of keeping the “picks”.
Lentz’s focused time: Lentz said he “saw” a flaw in Leroy sparring at the house, stating that he telegraphs any engagement with a shuffle. He and the coaching staff work to exploit it. Koscheck has concerns about Lentz’s smoking habits, but he doesn’t think its going to be an issue.
Back at the house the night before the fight, Leroy is calm and collected. Lentz on the other hand is burning off energy in the backyard; he expressed concern about fighting without his mother there.
Team GSP’s Alex Caceres vs. Team Koscheck’s Jeff Lentz: LETS GET IT ON!
Jeffery Lentz came out and did a good job dominating the first round. Lentz put an exclamation point on the round with an impressive judo throw.
During the second round Lentz looked gassed – breathing out of his mouth and lunging to land a knock out punch. Maybe someone needs to tell Lentz that he needs to back away from those cancer sticks and take this MMA thing seriously and if he did, he might be able to make some money at it. Did someone forget to tell him that he has the opportunity to fight for the UFC which is the most successful MMA promoter in the world?
Bruce Leroy aka Alex Caceres has the cocky attitude that will be needed to make it through the competition. He’s not a very physical fighter but he is deadly on the ground.
Koscheck as always (whenever things aren’t going his way) was unimpressed with the submission and calls the loss “disappointing”.
“I don’t really root for guys on this, but I was glad to see him win,” Dana says of Alex.
Not bad for the first fight – Koscheck looked like a chump and GSP looked like a genius (probably a preview of how their fight will go) – and the first fight was entertaining.
Tune into the aftermath with Stephan Bonner for more on the episode and interviews with the fighters.
