The fighters in the house are getting kind of prickly. Seems even the Pro fighters are just as susceptible to “House Fever” as the amateurs.
This week, Charles McCarthy was the highlighted whipping boy. They caught the man on camera crying because his buddy Mikey Burnett lost. They even gave him a nickname, “Captain Miserable”. Serra even made him a cape to wear. It was quite a funny scene. The guy is definitely a “glass half empty” kind of person.
There was one surprise this week. They brought in Rich Franklin as a surprise “guest”. This move WAS surprising because he is going to be fighting the winner of the show. I could just see Dana White mentally rubbing his hands with glee as he turned up the mental pressure on these veterans. How would you like to train in front of the guy you are ultimately going to face for a championship shot?
A belated congratulations are in order. Jorge’s significant other (they didn’t specify if it was his wife or not) had a baby girl. I thought it was a real class act for Dana White to break the rules and bring him a video of the event. It takes a lot of dedication to miss an event like that.
Team Mojo eventually picked Charles McCarthy to fight Pete Sell. I thought this a smart move on Team Mojo’s part because it pit opposite fighting styles against each other. Their only alternative was Jorge Rivera who can bang with the best of them and they definitely didn’t want any part of that.
The run-up to the match was pretty boring because these two cats only had three fights in the UFC between themselves. They call Charles McCarthy the human highlight reel because Loiseau delivered the nastiest spinning back kick to the ribs and then followed it up with a jumping knee to the head for the ages. I guess Dana White felt so bad that he wanted to bring back Charles for another shot. I pretty much wrote Charles off as a softy. The way he talked did not scream fighter to me.
Pete Sell on the other hand had all of two matches in the UFC. The first was against Phil “The New York Bad Ass” Baroni. He was a HUGE underdog against Phil yet still managed to win the fight with a guillotine. They brought him back on the first Fight Night Live against Nate McQuarry and he got knocked out in less than thirty seconds. Both Dana and I agree that the referee stopped the match too soon. Pete took a knock to the head that sent him to the mat and then quickly ate a dropping fist but he quickly covered up and started to ground-fight when Dean Herb literally fell on top of the two and smothered them both.
The match that followed, although long, was really quite boring. Charles McCarthy was inept in about every area of his game in comparison to Pete Sell. The first round had Pete coming out strong. Pete threw some bombs to the head and Charles wanted nothing of that. He then shot in but got quickly reversed and spent most of the round curled up in a ball while Pete whaled on him.
The second round had them go to the ground again. Charles got a good reverse in that landed him on top but he didn’t capitalize. He kept trying to shoot the half-guard with a hand pry but didn’t bother to land shots to loosen the guard at all. He also kept trying to go for the Kimura with his opponent flat on the canvas. It wasn’t working yet he kept trying. Charles won that round by default.
The third round had them trading shots up top for the first half. Pete was landing some bombs but Charles got one good combo in that cut Pete over the eye. They then went to the ground where Charles got a decent attempt of an armbar but couldn’t sink it enough to do any damage. The match ended with Pete taking the decision. It really wasn’t as exciting as it sounds.
I am going to start ending my reviews with some quotable quotes that spring up from each weeks episode. This week had a bunch of them.
Jorge kissing Up to Rich Franklin - “I heard I get to fight the middleweight champion. I heard he is a stud.” (*Rich Franklin is sitting right next to him*)
Charles about the shopping list - “Were you the one who wrote ‘Personality’ on my shopping wishlist?” (He is asking Pete Sells when it was Shonie who did it)
Random Shonie Carter - “In my kingdom, let there be blingdom...” (he says this with a fully blinged out hat canted on his head.)
Matt Serra coaching Pete Sell - “YOUR HIPS ARE GLUED TO HIS!!! YOUR HIPS ARE GLUED TO HIS!!!” (Pete’s in the mount position on top of Charles)