The Ultimate Fighter 10: Heavyweights - Episode 7 Recap & Review

Recap of Scott Junk vs Matt Mitrione on TUF 10 Episode 7

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The ratings boosting tenth season of “The Ultimate Fighter” put on another great hour with episode 7 featuring an opening round bout between former NFL player, Matt Mitrione and former UFC veteran, Scott Junk.

The show begins with a pair of horribly sketched imitations, the first stars Rashad imitating Rampage after his first fight with Wanderlei Silva (in Pride), where Rampage was knocked out. The second featured Rampage mocking Rashad after being dropped by current light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida at UFC 98.

This weeks’ fight announcement took place at the beginning of the show, however was delayed after more verbal sparring took center stage between the two coaches. Finally, Rashad made it official; Matt “Meathead” Mitrione (Team Evans) vs. Scott Junk (Team Rampage).

Dana weighed in on this weeks’ fight, claiming that other than Mitrione being a former NFL player, he didn’t know much else. He did say that he was familiar with Scott Junk, calling him a “banger,” who “has the skills to fight on the ground.” He also went on to predict Junk the winner, favoring him mostly because of the experience factor inside the cage and octagon.

The tournaments’ last opening round bout was also announced, pitting Mike Wessel from Team Rashad against Marcus “Big Baby” Jones of Team Rampage. DW didn’t have much to say about this fight, only saying that due to the size difference, he didn’t know how it would unfold.

Before the fighters could leave the training center, Rashad and Rampage went nose-to-nose once again. Evans told Rampage that he is a “quitter,” and he thinks that he will make him quit. Rampage only responded with statistics, bringing up the fact that he has more knockouts than his counterpart (‘Page 14 / ‘Shad 5). This pinned up anger towards each other is not for the cameras; it’s just unfortunate that they will not be fighting each other anytime soon.

Back at the house, Scott Junk reported to his teammates that Matt showed him a note stating that Mike (Wessel) was scared to fight Scott, therefore leaving Matt in that position. The strategic move seemed to do nothing more than upset not only Team Rampage’s fighters but also his own Team Rashad’s teammates as well.

At practice the note still was wrecking havoc, aggravating Rashad into questioning why someone would do something like that at this point in the tournament. Rashad, although upset with Matt, stayed focused and was sure to let his fighter know that he should leave the mental games out of it and concentrate on how he can stop the experienced Scott Junk.

At Team Rampage’s practice, Coach Tiki Ghosn as well as Rampage expressed their approval with the match-up, believing that Scott just has too much for Matt to handle. Fighters from both sides seemed to agree with the two coaches from Team Rampage. In fact, most of the fighters from both teams looked to be hoping that Scott would finish Matt.

Time was also spent on highlighting Matt’s feud with teammate Jon (Madsen). Matt was shown upsetting Jon after taking some of his orange juice without asking him. The differences carried over into practice when Team Rashad’s coaches wanted about 60% effort in sparring practice, however Matt went all out on Jon, which turned out to not only upset his teammates but also his coach. Rashad did his best to relax his fighter by trying to keep him focused on the goal.

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Before fight day, a wild and crazy night took place at the TUF castle. Eliminated fighter, Wes Sims dressed up in his best “ninja” outfit in order to sneak up on an exiled Matt, who was playing basketball by himself. Wes continued to follow Matt around, first to the pool table and then poolside. Matt was the better man that night, choosing to walk away and not give in to Wes’ mind games.

Hawaii’s Scott Junk (6-2-1) against Indiana’s Matt Mitrione (2-0) looked to favor Scott in all areas except for the size factor. Mitrione was taller, heavier and had the longer reach. Junk was the more experienced fighter and looked to be a huge favorite.

Round 1 began with Matt demonstrating surprisingly solid stand-up skills. Matt floored Scott after catching a leg kick and then connecting with a hard right hand. Matt continued to dominate Scott dropping him three more times; once with a takedown and two more times with punches. Scott tried to take the fight to the ground but Matt knew better and kept it in a standing position. Scott finally came alive with about 1:00 remaining in the 1st. He repeatedly caught Matt with wild and looping punches to the face, leaving both fighters barely able to stand at the end of the round. Even Dana White was left standing and applauding after the action-filled 1st round.

The 2nd round kept a much slower pace. Junk came out as the fresher of the two heavies; however it was Mitrione who continued to pick Junk apart, especially with his jab. Junk did score the fights’ lone takedown at the 3:26 mark, but after a 1:30 went by the referee stood them back up. As they prepared to put in the last minute of the fight Matt continued to get caught with well-placed punches mostly due to his hands getting lower and lower. They both continued to move forward despite hardly being able to stand up.

The first judge score the fight a draw (19-19), the second and third judges scored the fight (20-18) in favor of Matt. The surprising upset shocked many of the people in attendance, including Rampage, who took his anger out on a door that was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Next week’s episode will include the last fight of the opening round. Team Evans’ Mike Wessel vs Marcus Jones of Team Rampage. This fight is the last chance for Rampage to keep one of his original fighters in the tournament. In addition to the last opening round bout taking place, the quarterfinal round match-ups are announced. Tune in next week to see who will continue on and take the next step in winning the six figure UFC contract.