This is the fifth episode of “The Ultimate Fighter” season 21 and the third we’ve covered here at LBS. I will admit that I hadn’t watched TUF prior to doing this series with NOS® Energy Drink, but I am being completely honest when I tell you that I look forward to watching it every week. The show is very well done and always features some interesting conflicts in the lead up to the fight. The structure is perfect too because they spend most of the episode building up to a climax, which comes when the two fighters square off at the end of each episode. It really is exciting and something to look forward to each time, and the format is perfect.
This week’s fight was between Hayder Hassan of American Top Team and Andrews Nakahara of the Blackzilians. The Blackzilians won the first four fights in the series and led 100-0 based on the point system, but the points doubled for the next four fights, giving ATT a chance to come back. And just because the Blackzilians were already up 100-0 doesn’t mean they were taking it easy.
The Blackzilians selected Nakahara, a former karate champion who has great standup and jiu-jitsu. They are really high on Nakahara and believe he will one day be a world champion. Blackzilians coach Tyrone Spong was calling for a knockout despite his team being up 100-0. The interesting thing is they were really hoping he would be matched up against Hassan.
After seeing all four of their previous fights end in losses, American Top Team decided on Hassan because they wanted to see a finish. Hassan describes himself as a knockout artist and his name means “brave.” He believes he was born for this because his family roots are with the “baddest warriors of the time.”
With the selection of Hassan, the Blackzilians got exactly what they wanted. They felt Naka was more technically sound than Hassan and that it would be the “perfect” fight for him.
But things don’t always go as planned.
When they met in the cage, Naka tried to keep Hassan at a distance with his karate kicks. Knowing that would be Naka’s strategy, Hassan was able to block most of the kicks. He in turn tried to close the distance and get in Naka’s face. He said prior to the fight that his plan was to “put so much pressure” that his opponent can smell his breath and “know what I had for breakfast that morning.” That is exactly what he did.
Once Hassan got Naka up against the cage, it was all over. He landed a right and then a big left hook which knocked Naka down to the mat. Hassan pounced on top and got in a few punches before the fight was stopped, giving American Top Team its first win of the series.
The victory came by TKO just 48 seconds into the first round, which is nothing unusual for Hassan, who has never gone the distance in a two-round fight.
Hassan was pleased with his effort, while Nakahara was disappointed.
“I trained for like three months for this moment and I can’t show my techniques,” Nakahara lamented after the fight. “I feel bad because I trained my best for the fight and then 40 seconds and just one punch. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, but I will train more.”
Hassan said on “TUF Talk” that he was motivated by some chants the Blackzilians did towards him in a foreign language where they said “you’re doing to die.” He said that made him want to put them in the hospital.
The score is now 100-50 in the season and ATT will finally get the home gym advantage for the next fight.
There were two other interesting side stories in the buildup for the fight.
One was a conflict between Blackzilians fighter Jason Jackson and Hassan, who actually fought prior to the show. Jackson accused Hassan of being a dirty fighter who pulled his hair during their bout. The other had to do with ATT’s Mike Graves, who has gotten into trouble before. Graves was late getting to the gym for the weigh in because he was up drinking the previous night. He was described of bad for the team’s morale and there was consideration about kicking him out of the house. Since this was the second negative incident involving Graves, you have to figure he is on thin ice with his team.
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Below is the NOS® performance replay from the fight:
