TUF Times 8 with Darrill Schoonover and Zak Jensen

Episode 8 of TUF season 10 is behind us, unless you watch Spike later tonight when they are probably repeating it four more times. Otherwise, we finally saw “Big Baby” in the cage to take on Mike Wessel, and I don’t know about you, but I was shocked to see Marcus hit an armbar off his back for the win! My jaw dropped! So with that, Team Rampage ends the streak of Team Rashad and the winners are set to begin facing off in Round 2 of the tournament. To discuss the events from last night, here is Darrill Schoonover from Team Rashad and Zak Jensen from Team Rampage.

Q: How messed up were Junk and Mitrione after that fight on the last episode?

Darrill Schoonover: Junk’s eye was really bad, he could barely see it out and Matt had a really bad migraine. He might have had a concussion.

Zak Jensen: Scott’s right eye was so swollen and it kept swelling after the fight it looked like it was going to pop.  It actually looked like it started tearing the skin under his eye.  His left eye where he was poked in the eye actually ended up having a torn retna,  Matt was beat up also, his was more internal.  He said his head was pretty shaken up.  He actually went to the hospital, which is eluded to during the preview for next weeks episode.  

Q: Are you surprised that Sims actually stopped his one man party when Mitrione asked?

ZJ: Yes, but Wes needs the other person to fuel it and with no response, Wes gets bored and moves on.

DS: What they didn’t show was Wes was trying for awhile. They couldn’t show the entire time since Wes was doing it for like two or three hours, I don’t think he stopped right away, he just got tired of trying then went away. He went in there and shot silly string all over his closet since he was sleeping in our closet.

Q: Was the house cliquey for each team or was everyone on equal setting?

ZJ: There were cliques for sure.  James and Sims were a tight group, so was James and Brendan.  Everyone got along with Marcus and Kimbo.  There were a few. I just tried to hang out with people who were not dicks.

DS: I tried to keep involved in the team but everybody was hanging out with everybody. Nobody was bad about that, segregating each other.

Q: Did Marcus overreact to the drawings of himself? Should Mike have written “sucks balls” on it?

DS: No, I thought it was pretty funny and not a big deal. But put yourself in his shoes, you wouldn’t want your children seeing something like that on TV. I don’t think Mike should have done that. He was just trying to be funny and ended up taking it too far. Alot of us guys were just joking around but some of them took it too far and that’s what it was.

ZJ: The picture Brendan made was stupid and the sucks balls comment was BS.  Marcus had a right to be angry and I am glad they showed him doing so.  It was a huge contrast to him being Big Baby and screaming at a potato bug (I will say that did look like a spider and a scorpion had a baby).  Marcus was right, his kids are going to see that crap.  The thing is I was told that Matt wrote it, now watching it and seeing Mike wrote it is interesting.  

Q: Give us the fight play by play of Wessel VS Jones.

ZJ: The fight was quick. Marcus and Mike came out after each other.  Mike went for a trip and Marcus threw him, then Marcus went for a hammer lock Mike turned to his back.  Marcus went for a rear naked choke.  Mike turned and got in a good position as soon as it looks like Mike will start to ground and pound Marcus hits a nasty armbar.

DS: Mike went out there swinging, he tried to grab Marcus and Marcus muscled him to the ground. Then he just tried to rip his arm off!  

Q: Did you expect Marcus to win by an armbar off his back or even a submission at all?

ZJ: I did. It almost looked like Marcus let Mike get into his guard so he could go for the armbar.  

DS: The size difference was so big between those two, I knew if Marcus got him to the ground the fight might be over but Mike might land a good shot and move a little more but obviously that did not happen. So I was not too surprised that happened.

Darrill, what is it like having to choose to fight against your own teammates? Were you happy with your picks?

DS: Honestly, it was good and bad. At the same time, I know what they’re good at and I know what I’m good at. I chose Matt or Marcus and they gave me Marcus. I knew I would have better stand up with Marcus and if I kept moving he could not get me and if he got me, I would be alright on the ground he would not be a threat on the ground, jiu jitsu wise. Same with Matt, he would not have alot of jiu jitsu or wrestling so I could hold my own with him and if I took him down I could end it.

Darrill, Rampage was hellbent on having you fight Marcus. Why do you think that was?

DS: I don’t know. Me and Rampage were just not getting along and he just wanted one of his guys to take me out. I think he was feeling a little threatened. I am glad they showed that I actually pushed him back into the cage (during the confrontation earlier in the episode). He was the one that cowered away a little bit. I really could not stand the guy, he ran his mouth too much.

Q: Zak, When Rashad asked if people on your team wanted to help his team train, did you want to jump ship deep down or were you staying loyal to Rampage? 

ZJ: Rashad asked us if anyone wanted to go train with his team.  We all did not go and we stayed with Rampage.  It was weird he sprung that on us right there on the spot.  In any other circumstance I would have jumped at an opportunity to work with Phil Nurse and all of the other coaches they had on Rashad’s team but I stayed because Rampage was my coach and I did not want to be disrespectful. 

Q: Does Rampage have any right to feel bad about his team losing seven out of eight fights when he has repeatedly said he is not a coach?

DS: That’s just a cop out. You went into the show knowing you are going to be a coach and help these guys out, it’s just a cop out.

ZJ: I think it shows he does care about the fighters.  He does hate losing and I get that he is not a coach but he does not have to keep saying it over and over.  It is almost like he is telling himself he is not.  Rampage told me about the rule of attraction. He said if you say something negative, negative things will happen say positive things positive things will happen.  I think he should use his own advice and say ” I am a coach, I am a coach.”  And hey, maybe he will be one.  All joking aside, he is a great fighter and a great guy, I hope we will all get to see him in the cage again.  

Darrill would like to thank ATT, Fighter’s Sports, and Three-Legged Monkey. Zak would like to thank Gorilla Combat for being his home gym and also Octagon MMA in Dallas.  And Zak also said, “I would like to say thank you to my family and friends who have stuck by my side through all the ups and downs. I would also like to thank all the people who have shown me their support in the past week, it truly means a lot to me and it will never be forgotten.”