TUF 8 Sherblog: R.I.P. Jules
Krzysztof Soszynski Oct 30, 2008
It was three weeks into our stay, Team Mir had control of the next
fight, and the light heavyweights were up at bat.
Vinny and I talked about who we wanted to fight. I wanted Kingsbury, as he and I did not get along at all. I didn’t even know why, but there was something about him that I just did not like -- maybe it had something to do with him sporting a Speedo everyday around the house or that he would use the bathroom with the door open. I am sure the stress of the house didn’t help either.
Vinny and I told Mir that we did not care who our opponents would
be. We were not worried, as neither Jules Bruchez nor Kyle
Kingsbury had anything for Vinny on the ground and I was not
worried about their standup.
When Vinny was matched up against Jules, so we knew my fight with Kingsbury was 10 days away and it was time to test out the hand. It was my first time rolling in three weeks and I thought the injury was getting better. Boy, was I wrong. I rolled lightly with Tom Lawlor and attempted a kimura from the bottom. He dropped his hips and all his weight fell on my hand. My hand immediately turned red and swelled up like a balloon.
I was a little surprised at how my injury was downplayed on the series. They show all of my stupid, childish and meaningless pranks, but will not go into detail about my biggest storyline in the house -- my injury. After all, it actually has something to do with the reason why we all are in the house.
The memorial service for Jules was my best prank; everyone in the house loved it. Jules had a great laugh about it and even the producers gave me props. Jules knew it was all in good fun, and Nog’s team and Jules came back with one of their own pranks on me. I was getting along with most of Team Nog’s light heavyweights anyway. Bader and I hung out and had a few drinks together after his fight; we stayed up late and talked until 3 a.m.
The dissimilarities between the teams were obvious: Nog’s team was like a big family, whereas Mir’s team was more like friends and training partners. Even the training sessions were a lot different. I really enjoyed the way our training sessions were run. Frank came in with an open mind and would always listen to any of our suggestions. We are all individuals and train in our own way. Frank knew that. He gave us options for each training session and we had a choice in what we did. Nog’s team training sessions ran differently and seemed like they all had to do the same workouts together. There was nothing wrong with that -- it just wasn’t for me.
I really enjoyed Rafael Alejarra’s conditioning circuits because they were very challenging and not what I was used to. Alejarra and I got along great; he could tell that I was a hard worker and ready to give one hundred percent every workout. I think I earned his respect.
It did not bother me that Nog and his coaches would drop the house by a lot; I can understand why. I am sure Nog missed his home and family and was bored like us. Frank, on the other hand, lives in Vegas and has his family to take care of. He only came by 3-4 times during those six weeks.
My former Team Quest teammate, Vinicius “Vinny” Magalhaes, kept very quiet throughout the show. He slept and ate mostly, and oh yeah, farted a lot. The smells that would come out of him were insane, especially during our van rides to and from the training center. It was like tasting your lunch a second time. Vinny would just laugh and smile as we all gagged. I hope the production crew got a bonus on those days.
I don’t think any of us knew about Nog and Vinny’s argument. Nog is the kind of man that expects respect and rightly so. We did see Vinny grapple with Nog before the fights to get into the house. Vinny was cutting weight, but still did very well against Nog, which surprised everyone. I know for sure it went to his head. I don’t think Vinny said anything disrespectful -- only that he felt he was a more technical grappler. He didn’t say anything about being a better MMA fighter than Nog. However, he should have said nothing and kept it to himself.
A fight between Vinny, a fighter who does not press the action much and is more of a counter puncher, and Jules, a fighter who seemed very scared and hesitant, had the makings of a very boring fight. And it was. However, the second that Vinny and Jules tangled up we knew it was over. We even had bets going on how fast Vinny would finish Jules once the fight went to the ground. The over-under was 15 seconds. Most of us lost the bet though.
Vinny and I talked about who we wanted to fight. I wanted Kingsbury, as he and I did not get along at all. I didn’t even know why, but there was something about him that I just did not like -- maybe it had something to do with him sporting a Speedo everyday around the house or that he would use the bathroom with the door open. I am sure the stress of the house didn’t help either.
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When Vinny was matched up against Jules, so we knew my fight with Kingsbury was 10 days away and it was time to test out the hand. It was my first time rolling in three weeks and I thought the injury was getting better. Boy, was I wrong. I rolled lightly with Tom Lawlor and attempted a kimura from the bottom. He dropped his hips and all his weight fell on my hand. My hand immediately turned red and swelled up like a balloon.
Frank called his doctor to see if we could get him in to see me.
The doc came out two days later. I continued to hide the injury at
the house and did the ice baths in my room behind closed doors.
Frank’s doc was amazing; he used ART (Active Release Technique) to
help disperse the swelling, which it did. He put me through some of
the most intense pain I have ever experienced; I had tears in my
eyes. The doc said he thought I had broken my thumb, which was my
speculation from the start.
I was a little surprised at how my injury was downplayed on the series. They show all of my stupid, childish and meaningless pranks, but will not go into detail about my biggest storyline in the house -- my injury. After all, it actually has something to do with the reason why we all are in the house.
The memorial service for Jules was my best prank; everyone in the house loved it. Jules had a great laugh about it and even the producers gave me props. Jules knew it was all in good fun, and Nog’s team and Jules came back with one of their own pranks on me. I was getting along with most of Team Nog’s light heavyweights anyway. Bader and I hung out and had a few drinks together after his fight; we stayed up late and talked until 3 a.m.
The dissimilarities between the teams were obvious: Nog’s team was like a big family, whereas Mir’s team was more like friends and training partners. Even the training sessions were a lot different. I really enjoyed the way our training sessions were run. Frank came in with an open mind and would always listen to any of our suggestions. We are all individuals and train in our own way. Frank knew that. He gave us options for each training session and we had a choice in what we did. Nog’s team training sessions ran differently and seemed like they all had to do the same workouts together. There was nothing wrong with that -- it just wasn’t for me.
I really enjoyed Rafael Alejarra’s conditioning circuits because they were very challenging and not what I was used to. Alejarra and I got along great; he could tell that I was a hard worker and ready to give one hundred percent every workout. I think I earned his respect.
It did not bother me that Nog and his coaches would drop the house by a lot; I can understand why. I am sure Nog missed his home and family and was bored like us. Frank, on the other hand, lives in Vegas and has his family to take care of. He only came by 3-4 times during those six weeks.
My former Team Quest teammate, Vinicius “Vinny” Magalhaes, kept very quiet throughout the show. He slept and ate mostly, and oh yeah, farted a lot. The smells that would come out of him were insane, especially during our van rides to and from the training center. It was like tasting your lunch a second time. Vinny would just laugh and smile as we all gagged. I hope the production crew got a bonus on those days.
I don’t think any of us knew about Nog and Vinny’s argument. Nog is the kind of man that expects respect and rightly so. We did see Vinny grapple with Nog before the fights to get into the house. Vinny was cutting weight, but still did very well against Nog, which surprised everyone. I know for sure it went to his head. I don’t think Vinny said anything disrespectful -- only that he felt he was a more technical grappler. He didn’t say anything about being a better MMA fighter than Nog. However, he should have said nothing and kept it to himself.
A fight between Vinny, a fighter who does not press the action much and is more of a counter puncher, and Jules, a fighter who seemed very scared and hesitant, had the makings of a very boring fight. And it was. However, the second that Vinny and Jules tangled up we knew it was over. We even had bets going on how fast Vinny would finish Jules once the fight went to the ground. The over-under was 15 seconds. Most of us lost the bet though.
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