Soooooo Manny came back from the doctor and has a fracture in his leg, I wasn't sure if it come from the leg kick that dropped him in the fight or from hobbling around on it after the fight.  This was a huge shock for the team and a very sad moment.  It was hard to come to terms with at first and made me personally realize that this opportunity could be taken away at ay given time.

After our goodbyes we all went back to the house and the team was a little bit down and it would be the first night that there would be an empty bed in the Aussie room.  Around midnight I thought I heard the voice of the replacement but when he came in to give me a hug it turned out to be RUSEEL BAN-DINGO and man what I sight to see in the middle of the night.  I didn't get long to spend with him and as I woke the next morning I wondered if I’d ever see him again.

Young Pat Iodice was next in the LW’s and he was up again Brendan from Manchester.  Didn't know too much about him as he was a replacement they brought in after one of the original LW’s was sent home form the UK with the bicep tear.  Patty seemed to have a frustrating time at training while preparing for this fight and even broke down in tears part way through the practice session.  The Kid is good and apart from being the youngest ever to be on TUF has some serious skills and every chance of winning this fight.

After starting the fight strongly with a great double leg and landing some good ground and pound Brendan managed to get top position at the end of the round and in my eyes Pat edged out the first round.  Second round Brendan cam out real strong and basically had Patty fighting off his back.  After the second round concluded we were waiting for the third round when the ref called the two fighters to the middle and awarded a decision win the team UK with Brendan being victorious.  Another huge shock for team OZ, as we couldn't work out how the judges had scored the fight two round to none in favor of UK.  

I guess it just wasn't our day losing Manny and then Patty going out in that way.   A massive waste of food and some late night noise await the house soon!

The team was really into full swing and we had really become a solid unit, the whole OZ v UK battle really showed our true colors in the way we were training together supporting each other in and out of the gym. Welterweights were back in the firing line and to be honest we were pretty confident that Manny or Xavier could get the job done.

“Chalate” if you hadn’t noticed already was the running the ship when it came to food preparation and definitely a great chef, I think to some extent he could have been the leader of our team in a few of the boys eyes and really the glue that bought the team close in the first place.

With UK having the fight pick and only 2 of our guys left to fight in the WW’s both guys were ready to go and fairly close to weight, and with Ross choosing Bola to fight Manny really gave us all the confidence in the world as Manny had been preparing for this exact fight.  Morale once again picked up after coming off a loss once again we have 24 hours to make weight and then 24 hours to fight.

NOT much to say about his fight as Bola did exactly what we thought he would do and did a great job keeping many at distance and after landing a huge leg kick dropped Manny and gained top position.  It seemed from where I was sitting that after spending 3 or so mins on top position he didn’t cause any damage and after making a mistake Manny was able to scramble secure a high crotch takedown dumping Bola on his head and instantly landing with a north south choke on.  I’m not sure if Bola didn't know what was happening or how to defend as he lay still for a few seconds allowing Manny to secure and squeeze……… and tap Bola with one of his pet submissions.

After we went back to the change room and the excitement died a little we found out that Manny had a pretty sore leg and had to go get it checked out.  Back in the winners circle again the Aussies went home happy chaps!

This time we walked back to the change rooms victorious again in the WW division and honestly I was just as shocked by how the fight ended as I was stoked to see Rob get the KO in epic style.  Rumor had it that Luke was a killer on the feet and he came out and showed us why, not sure if you guys think the same but I saw his punches being thrown in a very different way to what I’m used to seeing and that kind of looping action left the corridor open for the straight right.  Now I can vouch for Rob’s right hand and yes he hits as hard as it looks (I had the pleasure of wearing a few of those during time in the practice room) and I wasn't expecting Luke to recover from that shot.  I was however a little shocked at the result as Rob was backing up the whole time until he landed that punch from the back foot.  A 19 sec KO set the new standard for our belief and us was growing strong after that match.

Whittaker is another fighter that cuts huge weight to get down to 77kgs and he to was impressive during the weight cut and how he made it look so easy, I know that shit aint easy but I guess the Hungry Jacks burger, angry fries and can of coke he devoured straight after he got off the scales added a little more to the whole Rob Whittaker weight cut method.  So at this stage Whittaker and myself are through to the semis and things are looking good for the Aussie WW’s.

Back at the house after things had cooled down after Wall vs. Freak show, we were having a bit of a chat in the living room when young Mr. Wall proceeded to tell us that with another shot at the Freak show things might be different, which in turn allowed me to exhaust my ‘second to none ‘ negotiation skills and set up the rematch.  This rematch how ever would take place in the kitchen and involve 2 hot substances and 4 nostrils.  If you missed the final result of the first ever ‘ TUF smashes wasabi challenge ‘ do your self a favor and watch episode 3 ASAP.  To his credit Wall was strong but Freak show was stronger and if not for puking everywhere may have been a closer decision but Freak show went 2-0 up on Wall with some hectic yet delicate and precise snorting.

Wall definitely gained a lot of respect from the Pom’s and it seemed to unify the entire household for a short time, short lived we all went back into fight mode the next day and prepared for the next fight pick.  With the house already starting to break down the kitchen started to become disgusting and yours truly initiated the first clean up (although there was not many other things to do at the time) and was hoping that it stayed a little like the way we left it for at least a while.

Back from training that night we were tired, sore, run down, hungry, thirsty and looking forward to having a clean kitchen to make some food without having to deal with a mess and to our total surprise the kitchen was looking great again with shit everywhere.  The episode ends here with again yours truly having a few words to say about the great environment we had for making food  so if Missed it you don't have long until episode 4.  Also up for fight pick is the lightweights and if you have been following twitter its no surprise who is up next and we all know this fella brings it every time he fights…. Can we get our first LW win for Australia?  Tune in guys Wednesday night.

Episode 1 came to abrupt end 40 or so seconds into the second round with my fight against Valentino, the outcome definitely set off a few of the Poms and while the ref was raising my hand in the middle of the cage our boy Xavier seemed to be pumped about the whole thing which caused a bit of confrontation with Norman from the UK team.  The 2nd major event was Mike being sent home due to a torn bicep, he was a heavy favorite to win the competition in the LW division and heartbreaking for the entire house to see his dreams crushed before the fights began.

Now if you didn't pick up on it the entire UK team was hating on Ben Wall, we couldn't work out the reason for it and I just put it down to the UK being down 1-0 and the amount of testosterone getting around in that house. It didn't take very long at all before Norman and Freakshow came up with a few names and the one that stuck was ‘fox piss’.  It was at this point that the entire UK lightweights were hoping that they would be matched with Wall.

Myself, Manny and Whitaker had the chance to chat to Freakshow a little and he seemed to be a cool guy, a little bit eccentric but pretty cool so we weren’t to sure if the whole persona thing was an act or actually him.  He was a little frustrated with the UFC taking his ‘ bag of goodies’ from him prior to entering the house and I kind of got the feeling he was ready to fight a.s.a.p.

After George looked at putting Wall or myself up first depending on what weight class was nominated Wall had basically double the time I had to prepare.  Freakshow was the chosen Pom to face Mr. Wall and really seemed quite confident in the faceoff.  Our take on the whole thing was the same as the previous fight in the UK showing confidence to mask the nerves and doubt they were still carrying from the ‘shock ‘ loss from the last fight.

Something that hasn't been shown to much so far during the first 2 episodes was the weight cuts, obviously from the first fight Valentino was a much bigger guy than myself and rumor had it he had cut down from around the 95kg mark for our fight at 77kg, Wall and Freakshow are two fairly big LW fighters and I know for a fact Wall cut 10+ kgs for his fight.  I was amazed at how deciplined he was during the weight cut which in turn made the cut seem somewhat easy, I was impressed at his ability to get down to weight and still go balls out for the whole fight.  The fans don't realize how much work goes into making weight and I do think a little more emphasis should be put on what we go through every day in the gym and cutting weight to give the public a better idea of this game we play.

Wall went down in the second fight, which clearly should have gone to a third round.  Credit to Freakshow though he fought a smart fight and did what he had to do to win.  Morale was still high and I think Wall was a little frustrated as he left it to late to chase the fight down and seemed to fight a little different than the Ben Wall we have seen in previous fights. Next week stayed tuned for TUF smashes 1st house challenge WASABI vs PERRI PERRI!

So first things first, being Aussie and a sportsman means that no matter what time of the day it is, what type of activity it is (be it a sport or roc throwing) we cant stand losing let alone losing to the English.  Going into the house this was the mindset the whole Aussie team had.

We arrived to the house a little earlier than the Poms and got to settle in and check everything out. Man we really lucked out with the house and I thought to myself immediately I could get used to this.  Meeting the Poms was a little awkward and my first thoughts were like “ did the UFC send the wrong guys over here because these guys looked huge” I guess you could say they strolled around with a little bit of arrogance but then again which fighter doesn't have a little bit in them.  The person that really got our attention was Colin aka ‘the freak show’ as he was wearing some kind of British flag body suit thing and we knew right away that this house was going to get interesting.

We only had roughly 24 hours in the house before the first fight pick and then another 48 hours before the first fight, with so much to take in so soon it felt like the first fight took no time at all to come around, we all know by now that I was matched up for the first fight against Valentino Petrescu at welterweight.  Now Valentino isn’t the typical welterweight as he had had many fights in quite a few different weight classes, the fact that he was 3 inches taller than me really made him seem huge when we faced off.  Things got a little heated during the weigh ins, I’m not sure why but we ended up nose to nose with our hands by our sides waiting to see who would back down first.

Fight day came around very very quickly and it started to actually sink I that the last 2.5 years of training, of busting my ass in the gym, of sacrifices I’ve made all comes down to 10 or less minutes in the cage.  Now this was something running through my head the whole time leading up the fight and again I question myself “ are you ready for this “.    Stepping into the cage and standing across from Valentino was the exact time I felt this is where I belong right now, right at this point in time.  The fight was full of nervous energy and I think that showed the first round, once my range and timing came together I was able to land a solid left and drop my opponent and follow up with the finish on the floor.  I know a lot of Aussies had their heart in their mouth during the fight but we got the job done!

To finish off I just wanted to talk about the X-mans out burst after my fight, he is a great guy and a very colorful person and very patriotic, which in turn really got under Normans skin. This lead Norman to continuously call for him to be picked next to fight and Xavier was happy to oblige anytime.  The only problem was they are not in the same weight class.  So there is my view on a few events that happened in the first episode.

A quick shout out to my MMA family that has been a huge help to me being where I am  in this fight game today – Fiore mma, Planet max, Axis jiu Jitsu Academy, PUMMA, Punch Equipment, Tiger Muay Thai,  Nutrition Underground,  Suburban Armour,  Sculpt training centre and Flex Pose and Fight. Be sure to keep watching every Wednesday at 7:30pm on FX channel 123 and catch my blog for episode 2 same place same time next week.  

The aussie gangsta benny blanco says ‘don't talk about it be about it ‘