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.