TUF Times Blog – Episode 3 with Justin Wren and Zak Jensen
TUF Times Blog – Episode 3 with Justin Wren and Zak Jensen
BY MATTHEW KAPLOWITZ
Episode 3 of “The Ultimate Fighter” season 10 is in the history books and Roy Nelson proved himself to be the Babe Ruth of MMA, calling his victory over Kimbo blow by blow practically! But now it is time for the inside scoop on what went on during the episode behind the scenes and what we missed entirely, courtesy of the usual suspects, Zak Jensen of Team Rampage and Justin Wren of Team Rashad!
Q: Yesterday in the show, Keith Jardine walked on the set but we did not see him do anything. Did you guys do any training with him?
Justin Wren: Oh yeah, Keith came by for at least a couple of weeks during the show and that was great for us. Not only were we sparring with Rashad but now with Keith too!
Q: Aside from Kimbo’s prep how was training going at this point for Team Rampage?
Zak Jensen: It was going well, everyone had a few bumps and bruises but training was going very well.
Q: Justin, you mentioned last week you were doing alot of one on one training with Roy Nelson. What did you help him with for this fight with Kimbo?
JW: We just went over alot of groundwork and positioning. Roy is a ground guy and he knew it was going there. Roy said earlier he was going to trade and stand but that was not the game plan, I think he just said that for the fans. He was going to get him down as fast as he could! I am a wrestler and we were working on takedowns, but Roy is so seasoned and salty, I was just a training partner for him, nothing too crazy. Also planned on avoiding the hooks that Kimbo was going to throw.
Q: Did James McSweeney have any right to intervene in the argument with Rampage and Rashad?
ZJ: Yes and no, James was standing up for his teammate and coach James and Rashad train together at Jackson MMA in New Mexico. Also Rampage and James have a past, during the Machida fight Rampage was screaming over the top of Rashad’s corner and James got in his face and told him to stop.
JW: The way it came off on the show it looked like James was trying to defend Rashad but I think James sticks his nose in way too many things. As youll notice, James is in the background of alot of situations. He says he doesn’t like drama but I think he does.
Q: With Kimbo already getting alot more attention from Rampage, how much more attention was he getting now before his fight?
ZJ: Multiply it by 10. Atleast since it was his fight prep it was acceptable. The favoritism and earlier focus was annoying.
Q: You got to work one on one with him during the mount technique, were you worried at that point about Kimbo’s ground game for his up coming fight? What was going through your mind during the drill?
ZJ: I was worried, very worried. If Kimbo couldn’t get me off of mount how is he going to do against a BJJ blackbelt. I also worked with him on his wrestling which was not shown.
Q: Marcus’ gardening caught you off guard, what do you do to get yourself to a quieter place similiar to Marcus’ gardening?
ZJ: I like to read, and also listen to music. I like all kinds of music but I like country most of all.
JW: I just moved to the mountains and I just turn my couch away from the TV so i can look at the view I have. I live 9000 feet elevation so I like to look at the beautiful view and its cool to look in the distance and see downtown Denver.
Another funny thing about Marcus is me and him hung out alot. He told me his two favorite hobbies are gardening and building sand castles on the beach. I thought he meant it just as a hobby but no, he actually does competitions! He gets there by sunrise and works on these sandcastles till 4 or 5 PM and by then you are exhausted.
Q: Marcus also revealed his nerdy side with his love of comics and Dungeons and Dragons, do you get your nerd on to when you are not fighting with video games or comics or anything like that?
ZJ: Not going to lie I like the Harry Potter Movies I have seen everyone of them. I don’t know why I like them I just do. I also like to listen to classical music.
JW: I do play the UFC video game but nothing off the top of my head. I am a pretty big goof ball so I am sure there is something nerdy there I am just drawing a blank!
Q: Are there any cases of Marcus being sensitive or as he called it, “the big baby,” in the house that you can recall?
ZJ: Rashad dubbed him “Big Baby” It was funny because he is so big, but he is so nice and sensitive it fit. Marcus was easy to joke around with because he was so sensitive He did but they have not shown it yet so I do not want to let the cat out of the bag.
JW: I don’t know if they are going to show it or not. I don’t think there were any cameras around so I don’t think they will show it so I will go ahead and say it! Marcus was sitting on the couch downstairs and all of a sudden he starts flipping out. It was like in the cartoons when an elephant sees a mouse and jumps up on a table. Marcus jumps on the couch and freaks out and he saw a spider and he wanted me to come kill it for him. “Get it! Get it!” And I’m like, ok hold on. But it was a pretty vicious looking spider, about 2 or 3 inches long, pretty huge.
Q: Give us a play by play of the fight with your take on the situations.
ZJ: The fight starts and you can tell that both fighters are feeling each other out. Roy watching for that documented Kimbo power and Kimbo not wanting to over commit and get taken down. Kimbo surprises everyone with a leg kick, in fact it was not that bad of one either. Something Kimbo had never shown before. Kimbo and Roy trade back and forth and Roy tries for a takedown against the cage and Kimbo is doing a good job of keeping the fight standing. Roy finally gets Kimbo down and starts to work for position. He works to the crucifix position and starts with small not crushing punches to the forehead and top of Kimbo’s head. This went on unanswered for around 35-40 seconds. As this was happening Roy and his teammates were counting the punches as they landed. The round ends and Roy and all of his coaches and teammates are upset it was not stopped.
The second round starts and Kimbo comes out ready to fight, he hits Roy with some power shots and it looks like Roy was stunned. Roy rushes for the clinch and Kimbo makes his first and only mistake of the fight he throws a knee while being pushed back and that’s when Roy takes him down. Roy landed in side mount and then went right for the crucifix again and this time he and his team started counting right away it took 22 unanswered punches I think but Herb Dean finally stopped it. Roy gets up and goes over to the Fertitas and Dana and asks for a “Whopper with cheese, the king wants it his way.” Roy won but it was not the most exciting fight he did the bare minimum, but a win is a win and he advances to the quarter finals, and puts Team Rashad up 3-0.
JW: Roy and Kimbo came out and they were just feeling each other out. Roy went for a takedown in the first round with a bodylock from the cage and got a trip. Roy is pretty good with his double underhooks and his trips, he has done that in alot of fights. So he took him down, we all planned that before the fight that if Roy got him in the crucifix we would start counting. We forgot in the first but in the second round we decided to do it. So second round, Kimbo throws a knee and was off balance, he shouldn’t have thrown that, so Roy just bullied him over like a bulldozer and then we started counting. it was not devastating blows, I know from the people I saw it with last night they wished Roy had landed harder blows and I know Dana did too. When you were there live it was super exciting but on TV it was ok.
Q: Was the ending justified in the fight or should it have continued or been stood up?
ZJ: If Herb Dean would have stood the fight up with Roy in the crucifix it would have confirmed him being the worst referee in the sport. The fight should have been stopped after the 44 unanswered blows in the first. It does not matter how hard it is the lack of defense on Kimbo’s part. He was not intelligently defending himself.
JW: His arms were pinned down and I think it was a good stoppage. Safety first and whether or not it was 2 or 3 hard blows or 21 little soft blows, I think the ref has to protect the fighter, especially when both fighters arms are pinned to the mat since Kimbo was not able to defend himself at all.
Q: What is the long run impact of this fight?
ZJ: It made Kimbo look like he is trying to learn the whole sport of MMA which is true. It does not tarnish Kimbo he is an inexperienced fighter and Roy is a seasoned vet.
JW: I think Roy will get alot more fans and know who he is. He was an IFL champ and all the hardcore fans know him, but even Rampage did not know who he was when he showed up. Roy is a tough fighter who is ranked high and this is his chance to get more well known. It might hurt Kimbo a little but it showed him as humble and he was willing to learn and he should back in the finale. He has alot of time to train and I think we will see an improved Kimbo Slice.
Q: With Kimbo eliminated, at least at this point, will the show continue to be the Kimbo hour or will we finally get to know the other fighters more?
ZJ: I hope we get to know the other fighters but who knows, your guess is as good as mine.
JW: I hope since I am one of them! He may or may not be brought back down the road so it might still turn into the Kimbo Show but it is a great opportunity for him since he is doubling the viewership. But it will be awesome to see more of the other guys and there are good storylines that we have not even seen yet.
Q: This episode was again 90% fight related, so tell us one story that went on inside the house that cameras did not catch on this episode.
JW: The whole team got behind Roy and what is funny is they showed a little of us counting but we had actually planned it out. We sat around upstairs and talked about it and when Roy got the crucufix we were going to count really loud. Once the ref hears all of us counting he will have to stop the fight. We thought 10 or 15 would stop it but they let it go to 21 or something like that, so that was a cool thing to see our teamwork come into play.
Q: If you could reach into Kimbo’s beard, what do you think you would pull out?
ZJ: A turkey leg from three Thanksgivings ago.
JW: Chicken bones!
Justin would like to thank Texas MMA shop and World Fight Shop, as well as Buffalo Wild Wings for making some damn fine wings! Zak would like to thank Gorilla Combat and Hooters for also making some damn fine wings! Make sure to come back next week for episode 4 when we see if Kimbo does in fact come back in and if Marcus is the first to cry on this seasons show!
