The streak of dominance continued for the Blackzilians in last week’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter. Kamaru Usman added another victory to his team and himself, handing veteran Steve Carl yet another defeat.
It’s do-or-die time for American Top Team as the Blackzilians are incredibly close to securing victory in the battle of teams. Looking to prevent their demise, ATT chooses to chooses another veteran in Nate Coy for this week’s fight. Squaring off against Coy is Valdir “Baby Monster” Araujo.
Prior to the week’s contest, fighters from both sides took field trips outside the TUF house. The Blackzilians headed to the Versace mansion as a reward for the team’s performance thus far in the competition. Later on, both teams are taken to the Harley Davidson showroom by former TUF contestant and winner, Michael Chiesa.
If Coy can’t secure a win for ATT, they’ll be mathematically eliminated from the team competition and the $200,000 grand prize.
As a reminder, here’s how the two teams stack up.
Round one saw Coy utilize his grappling advantage over Araujo. The Blackzilians’ competitor was taken down early in the round and failed to do much of anything to threaten Coy from the bottom. Araujo did manage a guillotine attempt but it was never anything serious. Coy failed to score a lot of damage but completely wore out Araujo with his top control. An easy 10-9 round for ATT.
Round two saw Araujo land a solid head kick and even landed in top position against Coy. Yet, Coy’s grappling was too good for the Blackzilians’ fighter and he eventually secured top position himself. After a failed kneebar attempt, Coy was able to push Araujo back against the fence and continue to wear on his opponent. It was similar to the first round in that Coy used a grinding style to keep control of the grappling exchange. With the round secured, ATT took home the victory via unanimous decision and remained alive in the competition.