Welcome to the second week of "The Ultimate Fighter: Lesnar vs. dos Santos." Read on for spoilers, a fight recap, and the reason why Brock is choking that poor bunny.
Apocalyptic drill of the week: At Team dos Santos practice, Junior has his fighters put on gas masks and train. Keon Caldwell struggles through the practice, saying that he had a hard time leaving his family.
Lesnar teaches what he knows: wrestling. He corrects his fighters in their grappling ways and says that he expected to lose the last fight because of the picks. He also uses his favorite phrase: "You can't make chicken salad out of chicken [expletive]."
Gut check the week: Caldwell talks with dos Santos, and says that he wants to go home to see his daughter. Dos Santos tries to talk Caldwell through the indecision, and his teammates point out that he needs to stay for his daughter, but in the very next frame, Dana White walks in. He asks for Keon, and Keon looks like he soiled his pants.
White gives him a surprisingly compassionate speech, reminding Keon that he needs to fight for his daughter. No f-bombs were dropped in the making of this motivational speech.
Fight pick of the week: Javier Torres (Team dos Santos) vs. Chris Cope (Team Lesnar)
Lesnar isn't surprised by the pick, as he thinks that Junior is matching up his best against Lesnar's weakest fighters. An odd wrinkle in this fight is that Cope trained with Lew Polley, dos Santos' assistant coach. Polley tells Torres all the wrinkles of Cope's game, particularly that he doesn't like working against the cage.
Gut check that didn't work of the week: Keon still isn't focused in practice, and he decides to go home. He mentions that knows it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but feels like it's the right thing to do.
Many will look at Caldwell as a crazy man, but he did the right thing. Fighting takes 100 percent of your effort and focus. To give anything less is downright dangerous both to himself and his teammates. Saying, "I want to be a fighter," and actually doing it are two totally separate things. When faced with the actual life of being a fighter, he realized it wasn't for him and left the door open for someone else to take over.
Wait, Brock is human? of the week: Sensing that Cope is an underdog, Lesnar sits his fighters down to remind them that no one is indestructible. Everyone can lose fights. Lesnar brings up his own loss to Cain Velasquez as proof of that, opening up to his team and showing a vulnerable side.
Stuffed animal of the week: Before the fight, a nervous Cope reads and rereads a letter from his girlfriend. He pulls out a stuffed animal, a good luck charm from his girlfriend's daughter. Torres' motivation comes from home, as well, as he learned that he was going to be a father before he left for the show.
Fight of the week: Torres (Team dos Santos) vs. Cope (Team Lesnar)
Round 1: Just as his coaches instructed, Torres takes Cope into the fence and grinds him out there for nearly two minutes. When they separate, Cope tries to land strikes and pushes Torres into the cage. Torres responds with a hip toss take down. Cope works back to his feet, and the two continue to work against the cage for much of the round. Just before Cope pushes away, Torres lands a knee that opens a cut underneath Cope's eye in the final seconds of the round.
Round 2: Cope starts strong by throwing kicks, but Torres takes him into the fence again. When Cope can break free, he does well and lands kicks and strikes, but Torres does a good job at keeping him clinched against the fence. Torres tries in vain to get a takedown, but remains in the clinch.
After two rounds, the fight is called a draw, and they head to a third round.
Round 3: After tons of clinching, Torres tries for another hip toss takedown but it misfires, and Cope falls on top of him. Neither fighter seems interested in the ground, and they return to their feet and the clinch. Two odd moments happen when the fighters get confused by referee Herb Dean's instructions. First, he tells them to fight or he will break them apart. They stop fighting, and he has to tell them, "No! Fight!" Next, Cope throws an inadvertent knee to the crotch. Torres is given time to recover, but it's Cope who picks up a second wind. He has an easier time breaking free of Torres' clinches, and lands knees and kicks. Dos Santos begs Torres to take Cope down, but he never listens. Cope dominates the standup for the remainder of the fight.
Judges decision: Cope wins it two rounds to one. That makes Lesnar a happy man, because his fighters just made chicken salad out of chicken [expletive]. He tosses the bunny to Cope in glee.
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