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.

Filipino message on TUF

Mouth piece colors














TUF 8 commercial for Episode 3

Thank you to a special Doctor

I would like to send a special thanks to my private doctor. Dr Bernard Yonk (Also a fellow martial artist.) I've known him for so many years and he has given me some great advice on life. At any point in time he'll drop what he's doing even if he's examining a patient and tend to my needs. After a few minutes of health related issues like a twisted knee or lower back pain, the conversion always leads into the latest martial art moves and techniques he wants to show me. Thanks again for your help.

TUF Episodes 01 & 02

I received a lot of positive feedback from my first blog submission last week here on FiveOuncesOfPain.com and I wanted to thank everyone for their support. A few people mentioned they would like me to get into more detail, so before I get into my thoughts from the second episode, I will share more thoughts about the premiere.
First, I wanted to give everyone some more background on me. I fight out of Brooklyn New York with Team Insight. We are small MMA camp that really hasn't hit the main scene. My coaches are Ralph Mitchel and Clarence "Cee" Everett. I also train Jiu-Jitsu under Alexandre "Soca" Freitas.

Some other team Team Insight fighters you have to watch out for are Nardu Debrah, Dave Branch, and John Beneduce. I've been training under Ralph Mitchel since the age of nine-years old. He started me off with traditional arts, Muay Thai kickboxing, Judo, JKD, Filipino Arnis, and basic street self defense.

After watching my training partners compete in mixed martial art fights I thought I can do it also. And after winning my first fight, I was hooked! I am born and raised in Brooklyn, New York and I still live here.Two of the most talked about things from the first show was Jason Guida's failure to make weight and Jose Agallar's controversial comments during his confessional interview.

Jose's interview kind of surprised me because I never knew Jose was that crazy. He seemed like a cool guy when I spoke with him. He even gave me some good fight advice against Joe Durate. I rolled with the guy to warm up. I never knew he had views like that. I am really surprised about what he said on his interview. A lot of my friends and family disliked the kid.

Someone also asked me whether I felt Guida was to blame or if the commission over-reacted by not allowing him to cut one more pound. I think it's totally his fault and he knows it too. You have months and months of preparation knowing you're going to be on TV. From the looks of his build he could have easily lost 10-to-15 pounds of fat two months before getting on thereby making the weight cut much easier. I lost close to 20 pounds trying to get on the show. People say I looked like Skeletor on TV!

Regarding my qualifying fight with Duarte, I realize the result surprised a lot of viewers who had heard he was one of the favorites coming into the show. Even from my perspective I had a really good sense that people favored Durate before the fight. Even Nogueira himself admitted to me that he thought Durate was going to kick my butt. Ever since I fainted everyone there thought I was a punk. When people found out I was fighting Durate they almost looked at me with pity. I just absorbed it all and wanted to prove myself.

I did have some people who supported me. The assistant coach, Daniel Valverde, cornered me well during my fight. he sort of reached out to me backstage as well. I could hear him and Delgado encouraging me while in the cage. I guess you can say I was leaning toward the red team that day.

The publisher of this site, Sam Caplan, asked me some questions following the episode. He wanted to know how my life had changed after the first airing. Surprisingly, the changes have been minimal despite the exposure. Part of it is because New York is so big. I take the train all the time and not one person recognizes me. MMA and the UFC aren't as popular in New York as it is in Vegas and the West Coast. The only attention I get is through the internet or at the gyms and dojos I train at. I had a great premiere party where over 200 of my friends came. That was some great attention. It was a blast!

Onto the second episode, but to be honest, I can't really say much about this episode because while I was there, I didn't watch any fights. I fought last of all the sixteen fights. I don't like watching other fights before mine because it distacts me from what I really there to do. If I were to watch someone else fight I can get so involved that I might lose sight that I'm to perform in just a few minutes. I like to stay backstage and focus. It's a lot of pressure fighting last. Everyone sort of waited for that fight to happened. I guess you can say I close the show well.

I remember the smell of fried chicken in the kitchen area which was a bit distracting while trying to warm up for the fight. Now that I've watch Elliot and Karen's fight I could not agree more with Dana that Elliot should have rightfully got the winning decision.

Overall that day of fighting was one of the most nerve wrecking days of each and every fighter's life. We all knew that our careers were on the line and the pressure was on. Everyone fought there hearts out. It was a great day.

Time to rest

Lately guys I feel a bit over trained. It is very difficult to keep balance in you life with so many things going on. Today I'm taking the day off, sleeping, eating some BBQ and watching some tv. =)