Episode 3 of TUF Middleweights starts with Dana making one of his classic over the top announcements. Unfortunately for Team Ortiz, it wasn't good news. One of their fighters, Chris Camozzi, had a fractured jaw and had to be sent home which opened the door for prelim loser Seth Baczynski to come on as a replacement.
Team Lidell was in control for the 2nd fight selection and they decided to match Brad Tavares against James Hammortree. Thats a rough draw for Tavares, because lets face it, a guy with the last name Hammortree was born to fight. Back at Team Ortiz training session, tensions rose as Nick Ring and Jamie Yager got into it while sparring. Yager, who gets under everyones skin, apparently really ruffled feathers when he called Ring a bitch. Ring hates name calling.
When the fight starts, The 1st round is back and forth with Tavares stuffing an early takedown and attempting a rear naked choke. Hammortree eventually gets in side control, but does very little damage. The rest of the round could go either way, but I score it for Tavares, barely.
The 2nd round starts in a clinch that eventually lands Hammortree on his back. They reverse position and end up battling against the cage. Ortiz then secures himself as the most annoying ringside coach ever by yelling the same thing over and over again, in one case screaming bodylock 8 times in a 5 second time frame. Tavares spends the remainder of the round trying to secure an arm lock. Although thats not a bad tactic, it may have cost Tavares the round as he inflicted very little damage and spent a good portion of the 5 minutes on his back.
The first two rounds are scored a draw, so they battle for sudden victory in the 3rd round. Both fighters are gassed, so I expected a sloppy final 5 minutes. Instead they start by exchanging solid jabs (the best of the fight) for the first minute, and then Tavares is taken down. Hammortee gets in half guard, lands a couple of blows and just when you start thinking the fight could be over, somehow Tavares gets to his feet and controls the next 3 minutes. Although Tavares never secures a submission and Hammortree did more early damage, I score the 3rd round for Tavares because of Octagon Control.
The judges agree with Tavares winning and retaining control for Team Lidell. They go into next week up 2-0 with a chance to really bury Team Ortiz.
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