Sherdog’s Guide to ‘The Ultimate Fighter’

Alex Caceres sure loves him some “Bruce Leroy.” Episode three of “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 12 featured non-stop chatter from the brash Miami, Fla.-based lightweight, as he relished his victory and let his just-vanquished foe, Jeff Lentz, know all about it. He rubbed it in, talked mad smack and sometimes fantasized aloud.

“I wish I was on the side watch,” Caceres said to a bored group of housemates, a least one of whom was not amused.

“I got to give props to Jeff for not stabbing Bruce in the eye with a knife,” said Spencer Paige.

Later, Gia Sissaouri, a badass Canadian wrestler walked into a Team GSP training session, and we learned that Georges St. Pierre wanted his fighters to know what it was like to compete with someone on a world-class level. That supposes, of course, that they learned something as they were all snatched up like ragdolls and spun around like pinwheels until Sissaouri gently laid them down. Ever watch a dad throw his son up in the air and catch him to his delight? Such was the competition Team GSP members experienced.

Instead of getting to roughhouse with crazy Uncle Gia, Team Koscheck members were busy getting yelled at for what their coach perceived as half-assed effort. Josh Koscheck lined them all up against the wall and drilled into their heads that training for the show would not be easy and that there was no time to waste. Wrestling-based coaches all seem to coach the same; they berate and rough up their boys, then cushion the fall.

Before long, it was time to pick the fight, and GSP was sitting pretty. He chose top pick Michael Johnson to take on Aaron Wilkinson. M.J. has been looked upon as the favorite since week one, and St. Pierre called him the “best atleet” on the show. Koscheck had no doubts in Wilkinson, referring to the UK rep as the show’s “sleeper” and plotting to scheme something for Johnson.

Koscheck also took aim GSP’s psyche. Stirring the pot is something he thinks will get GSP “wanting to kick my ass, because I can be a pecker head; that’s good. It means I can take him away from his guys.” Koscheck then proceeded to have GSP’s sensible sedan blocked in by two other parked cars. Sure, it’s cheap to mock St. Pierre’s accent, but it’s hard to avoid when the man explains that silly pranks will not affect him: “It’s not my first row-day-oh.” GSP had no slipups when he muttered a “GD” expletive in the Queen’s English after finding his car had been boxed in.

Koscheck and his assistants loved what they saw from Wilkinson in training, as he worked his way out from against the fence. The word “underestimated” got thrown out a lot by Wilkinson’s camp, but he liked knowing that GSP and Johnson both thought the fight would be a breeze

Johnson got his own inspiration when former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson sauntered into his dressing room at GSP’s behest.

“That there gave me extra motivation, really to have the opportunity to fight in front of Mike Tyson and to make Mike Tyson become a fan of Michael Johnson,” Johnson said.

The first round went to Wilkinson, motivation be damned. Johnson was cat quick, but Wilkinson caught him repeatedly with well-timed counters. Johnson looked to smash his opponent against the fence, but the drills in training paid off, as Wilkinson moved out of trouble and switched positions. Wilkinson also showed GSP, Johnson and “The Ultimate Fighter” cast a thing or two about British wrestling when he took down Johnson, kept him on his back and thumped away for a while.

Tyson looked at UFC President Dana White and said, “He definitely won that round. He turned that around quick.” White nodded. Both men wondered if Johnson might have lost his confidence after that first-round adversity.

“You got him doing a gut check right now,” Koscheck told Wilkinson between rounds.

In the second, the fight was much tighter. Wilkinson kept doing what he was doing; only now, he had to do it more often. Johnson got his own takedown and forced Wilkinson to keep on the defensive, winging inaccurate punches.

“Something happened to Michael Johnson in his corner, and he kept looking at Tyson,” White said, “but he came out in the third like a bat out of hell.”

Johnson came straight forward, as he connected and swarmed Wlkinson the second he covered up. Johnson followed him all the way to the floor with relentless ground-and-pound until Wilkinson gave up his back and, with it, the fight-winning rear-naked choke.

“We’re just not pulling the trigger and putting the finish on it,” Koscheck said before he delivered some kind words to Wilkinson and told his team of how proud he was of the effort. He reminded Wilkinson about the wild card, claiming he was as good a candidate for the spot as anyone.

Johnson pointed towards higher aspirations.

“I got at least three more to go until I’m crowned the winner of this season,” he said, “so that’s just my warm-up.”