TUF 14, Episode 3 recap
At a Team Miller session, head coach Jason “Mayhem” Miller arrives with a couple dozen foam pool floats. His lesson?…
At a Team Miller session, head coach Jason “Mayhem” Miller arrives with a couple dozen foam pool floats. His lesson? “Defend yourself at all times.” Within seconds, the team members are smacking the crap out of each other with the brightly colored jousting sticks. Fighters such as Steven Siler appreciate the levity and fun.
As Team Miller trains, Michael Bisping enacts revenge for the couple dozen tires the opposing team put in his locker room during the previous episode. So they remove the tires from Miller’s car and quietly put them in their dressing room. UFC president Dana White gives the unofficial endorsement of a job well done. After his training session, Miller gets a kick out of it. “It’s just begun,” he tells the team. “It’s actually pretty clever.”
Dana does the intros, ref Herb Dean officiates the action, and we’re underway.
Josh lands first with a nice combo and resets. Johnny catches a kick, and Josh briefly tries a guillotine before he’s taken to the mat. Johnny rains downs some elbows and punches before backing off, and Josh is back up. Josh lands a nice lunging two-punch combo. The fighters trade jabs, and Johnny gets off a nice combo and body kick before clinching against the cage. Johnny throws knees while Josh lands some punches before they break. The fighters trade more punches before Johnny clinches, lands a big knee, and wrestles Josh to the mat. He postures up for some punches and moves into side control. Johnny tries to isolate an arm and then extends for an armbar, but Josh escapes and takes top position. Johnny is quickly back up, though. Josh works for a guillotine but gives it up, and they restart in the center. Johnny closes the distance and scores a final takedown before the round ends. It’s a competitive first round, but Johnny takes it 10-9.
Between rounds, Miller tells Johnny that his opponent is getting desperate. Bisping tells Josh to let his hands fly.
In the second, Josh comes out swinging, though his short reach presents problems. But the fighters soon clash with heavy shots. Josh gets through a nice right-left combo, and then Johnny tries to clinch. Josh lands again. Johnny looks to shoot but delivers a knee and clinches instead. He gets the trip takedown and works from full guard. Josh is pinned against the cage, and Johnny moves to half guard before Josh works butterfly guard. Johnny again moves to half guard and delivers some elbows. Johnny postures up, and Josh gets back up. Josh immediately throws a flying knee, but Johnny catches him and throws him to the mat. He lands in side control and works some short elbows. He tries to pin an arm for the crucifix position but instead delivers some elbows. The ref wants some action. Josh throws some punches from the bottom, and Johnny looks to improve position. He postures up to deliver some elbows and closes out the round with more punches. It’s another round for Johnny, 10-9.
As expected, Johnny takes the unanimous decision.