For some fighters a comeback is more meaningful than others.
Last week we saw Jeremy Jackson blow his title shot when he broke the rules and left the confines of the house to meet the lifeguard of his dreams.
Some of this season’s fighters are trying to come back to the big leagues after having dropped off the UFC radar screen, while others are fighting a bigger fight than the one in the Octagon. Oh yeah, and then there's Shonie, who's just trying to stay afloat.
Shonie's antics this week were focused on myth busting in the pool, or as Shonie would put it, dealing with the "mystical stereotype that black people can't swim." His extracurricular activities this week revolved around devising a floatation device using empty water bottles from around the house. Needless to say, as the empty water bottles collected in the pool, the other fighters’ level of agitation increased. They were not too impressed with Shonie's aspirations to conquer water. He finally managed to fill a green garbage bag full of the empty water bottles and float around the pool to his heart’s content.
The week's episode actually began with speculation that Matt Serra masterminded the match-up between Scott Smith and Travis Lutter to save his student and fellow Long Islander Pete Sell from having to fight. Could have Matt have planned this? Possibly. But I think it more strategic than malicious. This is still a competition after all.
Meanwhile, Rich Clementi and Matt were both ready to throw down this week. And given Jeremy's early departure last week from the Team No Love welterweight ranks, the possibility of Rich fighting could have happened. At a fighters’ meeting, Randy Couture announced that Team No Love would be allowed to bring back either Rich or Pete Spratt into the competition.
How would they decide? It came down to the flip of a coin. Jorge Rivera tossed the coin, it turned up heads, and Pete won. But would he fight?
That was the question after the coin toss. The coaches seemed to think that Rich would have been the better choice. Randy questioned Pete’s desire to fight. And even Pete questioned his own desire, saying that he was considering bowing out to Rich.
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