Episode 07

Let me start by saying that with all the hype and talk that Junie
promoted himself he should have beat Roli in the first round. Junie
was first pick overall and fought the last pick overall. Either Roli
was just better than everyone expected or Junie really wasn't as
good as he said he was. I chose the latter. He was upset with his
performance and so was Mir. I would be too if I was him. He barely
won the fight. Junie only has a few weeks to heal and sharpen up his
skills before the semi's. I remember him coming home after the fight
with huge ankle from getting and giving kicks.. I can honestly say
Roli might have humbled him a bit. Might I emphasis the words "a bit"
especially for a guy like Junie. I give respect to Roli for being the
underdog and fighting his heart out. He also has many tools he must
improve including his stand up and over all strength. I just know Roli
is the kind of person to take that fight home to the drawing board,
except his flaws, and come back better.

I guess you can finally see my baking abilities. I can't tell you how
much my girlfriend laughed after seeing my cake for big Nog. All I can
say is it came from the heart. I'm not the most experienced baker but
I tried. Looks can be deceiving. Nog and the team said my cake was
tasty! Jules cake was even better with all that cookie dough inside!
Man I'm getting hungry writing this. Nog must have really liked us to
come over for his birthday. He could have done anything else. But he
came over to share his moment with us. Again I must say how proud I am
to be on the red team. After hearing the comments from Nelson and
Vinny I couldn't stop laughing. They called us gay and said we take
showers together! haha. The blue team is just a bunch of haters! They
wish they had the love we had! Just because we all fight in a cage for
living doesn't mean we can't show some love for each other. Of coarse
in a completely straight and non-gay fashion! We really did cook,
clean, eat, train, go to sleep and wake up together! In different beds
of course! It made time go by faster and helped a lot.

I never knew that Vinny and Nog had a fall out like that. I know Vinny
can run his mouth a bit sometimes. He talks much about the "girls"
which is funny. In the Philippines we'd call Vinny a Playboy. He's
the kind of guy that young girls want, but mothers should watch out
for. I do think that Vinny's Jiu-Jitsu level is world class. He
really is a freak of nature on the ground. But you should never
disrespect the world champ. He did call Nog's Jiu-Jistu "basic". You
really have to watch what you say on reality TV. Everything is
captured. Vinny is still a little fish in MMA compared to Big Nog -the
great white shark! He did apologies for his actions and I don't know
if they made up off camera.

Jules is a really nice guy. I'm sad to say that his skill level wasn't
up to par with most of the guys on the show. Especially his ground
game. He was pretty much a white belt on the ground. He had absolutely
no chance on the ground against Vinny. He did have a chance on the
feet with him. But he didn't execute the plan. He was suppose to throw
his hands. Let his strikes go and stay away from the clinch or any
take downs. I thought the game plan was stick and move. I think was
overwhelmed and was afraid to commit punches. I think he threw 2
punches in the whole fight.

Next week the light weights go at it! I can't wait!

Phillipe trains at Aviator with Brian Donnelly

Watching people do curls in the mirror makes me laugh.

Viewing Party!

What: Watch the nights Ultimate Fighter Episode with me!!!

Where: Aviator Sports and Recreation (http://www.aviatorsports.com/)
at the sports bar

When: Nov 5th at 8 pm

FREE TO GET IN! BRING ALL YOUR FRIENDS!! THE PLACE IS GIGANTIC!!!

Drinks - Food - Autographs - Raffle - Gear

Muscle Fitness magazine December 08 issue

Muscle Fitness magazine December 08 issue. Guess who has a full page!

Episode 06

Junie was really dying to fight ASAP. He was going to explode if he
didn't get in that cage soon. As you all can see Junie decided to pick
Delgado. It was a smart pick for him. Delgado didn't win his fight to
get in the house so Junie thought he would be an easy kill. On the
show the editing made Delgado's black belt look really fake. From a
first hand experience and rolling with the guy, I can see he really
did deserve a black belt. Black belts come at all different levels. He
might not be in the ranks of Vinny or Elliot on the show but he sure
did feel like a black belt. I also do think he had way better
Jiu-Jitsu then Junie. That's why during the fight Junie never wanted
hit the ground with Delgado.

Junie is just full of surprises. The incident where he pulled out the
black belt and spit on it wasn't only disrespectful to Roli. He
disrespected the art itself and all the black belts in the room. All I
remember is Anderson Silva that day looking really pissed off and
saying something in Portuguese that probably meant "That guy Junie is
a an asshole." Anderson Silva is the last person you ever want to piss
off. Junie doesn't seem to have a problem with that. Even Mir himself
didn't approve of his antics. However he also didn't punish him for
it. If I was Mir I would refuse to teach him and corner him.

I never understood this concept a lot of fighters display. That is
downgrading your opponents abilities before the fight to make yourself
look better. What this actually does is make your opponent look
unskilled and if you beat him, so what. You just beat someone who you
said "sucks" anyway. So how much better can you be if you accused your
opponent of "sucking." The smart fighter would not underestimate an
adversary. Instead praise him up for being well skilled in his craft
and formidable in the cage. This way when you beat him it only makes
you look better because you beat someone who is good. So you must be
really good at fighting. Anyone can beat a scrub so why call your
opponent a scrub?

The fight went the distance. I didn't think Junie had the conditioning
to go the full three rounds but he did. With all that drinking
alcohol and eating frozen pizzas he still managed to pull out a
victory. Junie is pretty athletic but he would be so much better if
he just focused and cleaned up his act. I really wanted Delgado to
win that fight. They both fought there hearts out. I have to hand it
to them. For the days following the fight they were both really beat
up limping around the house. I know Junie went to the hospital for an
almost broken ankle and Delgado had two black eyes.

Episode 05

The show started off as a continuation of Junie’s antics. We recapped the fight between Nelson and Efrain. Then Junie jumped over the cage and embarrassed himself, his team, and his coaches. It was totally out of line. At that point I remember standing and watching in total disgust. I remember thinking why doesn’t Mir just ask Dana to throw him off the show. If I was his coach I wouldn’t corner him, train him, or even allow him to come and train at the training center. That is the background from which I come. My coaches wouldn’t tolerate behavior like that. I also agree with Shane Primm saying that “It was Junie’s attempt to steal the spotlight. And it is the most disrespectful thing you possibly can do after a fighter wins a fight.”

Junie was sitting in the pool with Shane and said something along these lines: “So I hear you guys are trying to set Phillipe up with me next week if you have control? So is he the sacrificial lamb?”

That’s pretty funny. I did speak freely and openly to my teammates, coaches, and even some of the fighters on the other team that I wanted Junie next week as long a we sustained control. So he found out the plan. I wanted to fight him because I thought he was all talk. His fighting skills didn’t impress me at all. He did well against Jose Agallar who was a one-dimensional fighter that wanted to turn the fight into a jiu-jitsu match.

I just think Junie is overrated and I wanted to also put an end to his behavior by shutting him down in the cage. He was also first pick overall so I wanted to prove to everyone he didn’t deserve to be picked first. He knows I wanted him but you can see in the next episode he has control and winds up fighting someone other than me. That was odd being he presented himself as such a badass. Junie talked smack to everyone on the show — even to their faces. He never disrespected me to my face. He always called me a “Tough Filipino.” He either respected me as a fighter or he feared me.

As you can see the pranks got a bit out of control to the point where our coaches tried to get involved to put an end to it. I do admit that it was fun pranking the other team. Vinny really can’t take a joke at all. That was out of line. I witnessed him with my own eyes peeing on Efrain’s pillow. Luckily I had a extra pillow which I offered Efrain to keep. All I can say regarding pranks is that it only gets worse. You’ll have to wait and see.

Anderson Silva stopped by as a guest coach. While the man is an animal in the cage, he is a charismatic, smooth, soft-spoken, respectable guy outside of it. He shows the world that really good fighters aren’t knuckleheads and bar brawlers. They are professionals and take life seriously. I look up to him as an overall human being. The lessons he showed us was just what I needed. His kick, knee, and elbow combos were perfect for my game.

The fight between Shane and Eliot was a disappointment. I believed in Shane. He reached too far for that clinch and opened himself up to get body locked and taken down. He did fight the choke well, better than a lot experienced fighters would have. Good luck to him and I know he’ll be back. What was more disappointing to me is that our team lost control. If our team had control I would have faced Junie next. That’s what the plan was.

Episode 04

After watching the episode a few times I was appalled to see how much
focus was given to Junie's and Nelson's antics. I hope the people
watching can separate that type of a so called MMA fighter from the
new age professionals that truly deserve to be on the show. The UFC
and MMA in general have blown up to incredible proportions in the last
10 to 15 years. The only thing stopping MMA from getting main steam
are the politicians and conservatives who believe MMA is "to
barbaric and violent". Junie and Nelson particularly brought evidence
to that point. They got drunk and inner thoughts of violence broke
out. They started breaking things like delinquents as a way to show
how angry and cool they can be. That is not how a human being should
act and even further not how a professional fighter should act on television.
The incidence that occurred on the show brought us back a few years
politically in the struggle to bring the UFC to every state. Even in my
hometown of New York MMA is banned! MMA is not about bar
brawls or street fights. The people who still think it is, now have someone
to look up to. Junie! Young kids and parents will watch that episode
and be turned off. I would not want my kid to be involved in something
like that.

I feel ashamed of the two cast members. At one point I almost felt
sorry for them but those feelings ran dry after realizing that they weren't
genuinely sorry for there actions. As you can see I haven't been
getting much face time on the last few episodes. I try to stay away
from drunk violent behavior not only on the show but in life in general.
People like that have nothing to offer. I was sleeping tucked in my
bed during that pool incident. I made sure I slept early almost every
night so I can the most out of training the next day. I got on the show
with one goal in mind. And that didn't include drinking like a retard in
front of 5 million people.

Junie should have been thrown out right after he threw that glass at Kyle.
That was assault. He should have been arrested. I wasn't comfortable
sleeping in the house with a drunk on the lose. Thoughts of him pulling
out a kitchen knife and stabbing another fighter crossed my mind.
Sorry Junie but if I was Dana you would have been gone!

Junie jumping over the cage after Efrain's fight was just a way to get
more camera time. He will now be the person America loves to hate.
Just the plan he had in mind.

I really hope the fans can learn something from this episode. And that is
- drinking alcohol is just poisoning your body and it will hurt you.
I think Nelson's performance was great for the first 3 minutes. After that
his tank was close to empty and he couldn't give it his all. He knows he
could have done better and he knows its mostly due to his conditioning
level. Efrain looked great in the fight. His take downs were on point.
He had solid knees. He looked great in the scramble also. My hat goes
off to Efrain for keeping his cool and winning the battle in the cage
( where it matters ) and not with his mouth!

In recent news I hear that the UFC is preparing overseas events all
over the world. The Philippines seems to be what everyone is talking
about. If anyone has seen Chuck Liddel's latest video on UFC.com it
was him getting ambushed by 4,000 Filipino fans in Asia mall in the
Philippines. It's simple -Filipinos love the ufc! I trace my roots
to my Filipino family on my mothers side. I practically grew up there
every summer. I take pride in having Filipino Blood running threw me.
I believe Filipinos naturally have a likening to combat sports. All
throughout Filipino history you will find times periods with invasions
and turmoil. We have a very recent war like history that still occurs
to this day. I guess you can even say it makes us tough. If the UFC
plans on expanding it's reach as far as Manila, I'm 100 percent there.
It would be an honor to fight in the Philippines! Hopefully I won't
pass out due to the hot Filipino sun! haha - just kidding.

Episode 03

Wrapping up things from last week, I must say that Eliot definitely deserved getting back into the house. I think he won the fight. He fought such a tough battle against Karen and was pretty beat up after. I remember him icing his body up with this icing machine he had. He is definitely a UFC-caliber fighter.

As everyone saw tonight, I wound up on the red team as Nog's first pick. It felt great to be picked first by Noguiera but at the same time I felt some pressure. I felt I needed to fill in some big shoes. Being first pick for the red team meant you must be a bad ass. I was really happy to get picked by Nogueira rather then Mir. He is the reigning world champion!

As you can see we really focused on the team aspect of things. We trained together, cooked and ate together, and we even slept in the same room. My room had Delgado, Efrain, Jules, John, Kyle, and myself. Our team, as you can see from the episode, almost felt like a family.

This week's episode was certainly not short on drama. It was the craziest thing when Brian and Karen had to leave. When Dana said "You gotta go," he really meant it. From that point on we never saw them again. When we got back to the house all there stuff was gone.

As for the rule about not fighting due to a broken nose, it covers the safety of the fighters. Unfortunately the whole competition is over a six-week period. So you not only have to win your fights, but also win and come out unharmed.

Junie Browning also saw a lot of camera time, which I am sure he was fine with because he loved the attention. He is this emotional roller coaster that got overwhelmed with the entire situation. He said he had a hard time growing up and it was reflected well on this episode. I think that having the ability to drink and eat almost anything you want made him go nuts.

I've read in the past where some people have blamed the UFC and Spike for making alcohol so readily available. I really don't think they are to blame. I believe as an adult we should be responsible for ourselves. Not only are we adults, but also professional athletes (well, at least some of us are). So there should have been close to no drinking in the house. Spike and the UFC didn't tell us we have to drink or force it into our mouths. We didn't have to do anything we objected to. We didn't even have to train or get up in the morning if you so willed not to. It really is as "real as it gets!"

Finally, we have the fight. Ryan is so powerful. After watching the fight over and over on TV, he looked like he hit Tom with a brick. Tom stood his ground well but
made a small error which cost him the fight. I think Tom should fight at 185 lbs. and not at 205 lbs.. He is just not big enough. Nogueira didn't talk openly to the entire team about his fight pick. I think he just pulled Ryan to the side and told him his thoughts. The matchup was perfect.

One last thing: I was asked about the fried chicken reference last week. Well, in the kitchen there was some KFC and it smelled the place up. I think it was ordered for the Spike workers. Cold cuts would have been better. At least it wouldn't have smelled.