The Blackzilians continued their winning ways in the previous episode. With four victories, they hold a 100 point-advantage but now the teams move into the second tier of fights and the weekly bouts will be worth 50 points each. The time is now if American Top Team wants to start making up lost ground.
This week’s episode began as all the past have, with The Blackzilians celebrating another victory and American Top Team members suffering the agony of defeat. Sabah Homasi stated he believed that he’d won his fight against Carrington Banks, a sentiment shared by many others. But we all know what happens when you leave the fight in the hands of the judges.
It’s that mentality that Blackzilians coach Tyrone Spong preached to his team during their practice. Spong called from his teammates to break ATT even more than they have now. He also challenged the next fighter to score a knockout victory.
While The Blackzilians were planning their next victory, American Top Team is forced to discuss the elephant in the room, Michael Graves. After losing the first fight of the season (his first loss in MMA as well), Graves entered a downward spiral induced by alcohol. This week he chose not to accompany his teammates to the weigh-ins and the coaches along with the fighters made one thing clear, either Graves needs to ship up or ship out.
UFC President Dana White also challenged the mental toughness of Graves, questioning if he can’t handle The Ultimate Fighter, how is he supposed to handle fighting in the UFC?
To stop The Blackzilians’ winning streak, ATT chose Hayder Hassan. He’s been the most vocal of ATT members, routinely stirring the pot with his adversaries throughout the season. Hassan enters the reality show with a 6-1 record and has a victory of The Blackzilians fighter Jason Jackson.
The Blackzilians rolled with Andrews Nakahara as their pick for this week’s fight. Nakahara has an interesting resume for a member of The Ultimate Fighter cast. He’s heralded as a world karate champion in Kyokushin karate and made his MMA debut against the legendary Kazushi Sakuraba. Nakahara’s last two fights have ended in draws, which brought his pre-show record to 4-2-2.
With both fighters being primarily strikers, White (along with most viewers) have high hopes this fight can bring some much needed action to this season.
As a reminder here’s how the two teams stack up.
Round one began as most thought it would. Nakahara came out throwing heavy kicks to the body and head, while Hassan took the center of the cage to use his boxing. Both fighters exchanged a few strikes but Hassan landed a huge punch that sent Nakahara crashing to the mat. The Blackzilians fighter covered up and Hassan pounced on his foe for a quick TKO victory.