The Ultimate Fighter 11: Team Liddell vs. Team Ortiz - Episode 2: “Suck It Up” Recap

Recap of Episode 2 of TUF 11 as Clayton McKinney and Kyle Noke fight

This week’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter 11 starts with the 14 fighters moving into the house, a house which as usual is awesome, and which as usual will probably be destroyed in a later episode. We learn immediately that Chris Camozzi has a partially broken tooth that has become infected and will need at least two days to heal. Of all the fighters, Chris appears the most beat up from his unanimous decision victory against Victor O’Donnell.

A funny shot shows one of the walls in the house that has Dana White’s famous quote written on it, “So you want to be a f*****g fighter?” We will soon found out who doesn’t.

Chuck and Tito begin picking their teams. Chuck Liddell seems to be having fun with this Ultimate Fighter stint, but Tito Ortiz looks all business. Let’s see how their differing mindsets work out in the end.

Dana flips a coin to determine who gets first pick. Tito wins and decides to pick the first fighter instead of the first fight. Here are the selections:

Tito Ortiz’s Team / Team Punishment –

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1. Nick Ring (Tito says he is very poised and knew what he was doing in his fight).

2. Kyacey Uscola

3. Kris McCray 

4. Jamie Yager  

5. James Hammortree

6. Clayton McKinney 

7. Chris Camozzi

Chuck Liddell’s Team -

1. Kyle Noke (Liddell says his fight record speaks for itself, 10-0, and that he shows great composure)

2. Rich Attonito

3. Charles Blanchard

4. Josh Bryant

5. Brad Tavares

6. Court McGee

7. Joe Henle

Tito is very happy with his picks. He questions Liddell’s picks, saying that all his fighters are short and not real 185 pounders. Dana is blown away by the team picks as well, saying he doesn’t think Chuck made the right picks and that Tito has every guy who won in the first round.

It’s true that Tito picked all the fighters who made a significant impact in their last fight, but we’ll see whether or not they can perform like they did in the opening bout on a consistent basis.

Dana confronts Chuck regarding his terrible picking and Chuck reassures Dana that he got who he wanted. Tough, good guys. He claims that he looked at the fighter’s records online, seeing how they won and who they fought, and based his selections off that since some of the fights ended so quickly and offered little information regarding the fighter’s true abilities. It’s not exactly the most bulletproof strategy, but Chuck’s used to taking shots.

You can tell from the talk Chuck and Dana are having that they’re good friends, and that deep down, Dana wants his boy Chuckie to take down the “Huntington Beach Bad Boy.” Although, once Dana is on his own in front of the camera, he transforms from friend into promoter and says he really thinks Chuck made some bad picks. The heavy focus on Chuck’s “bad picking” makes me think his team is going to kick some serious ass.

With the finalizing of the teams, Ultimate Fighter 11’s foundation has been established; Chuck’s strategy vs. Tito’s stronger fighters. Chuck’s never been known for much strategy in the Octagon, and I’m not sure how many moves he thinks ahead outside it either.

Liddell says his strategy with coaching is he wants to take what all the fighters are good at and improve on it. He’s not trying to reinvent anyone or change the way they fight, just expand upon what got them on the show in the first place. His trainers are striking coaches John Hackleman and boxing Olympic gold medalist, Howard Davis Jr. Jake Shields, Liddell’s assistant coach, gets barley any screen time and I’m sure that has nothing to do with the fact that he’s a Strikeforce champion.

Hackleman tells the fighters that if they want to last in this sport to model themselves off Chuck and not Tito. Last I checked, Chuck was the one skipping out on training to pound some beers and broads, but what do I know?

We get a funny moment after Hackleman’s speech where Chuck corrects the way Rich Attonito is throwing Chuck’s bread and butter punch, the overhand right. I must admit, no one knows how to throw that overhand right like ol’ Chuck.

We get a look at Tito’s camp, were Tito introduces his striking coach Saul Soliz, and a BJJ coach. From the looks of it Tito wants to run a hard camp, focusing on the fighters being in top shape physically and mentally. He immediately begins picking on Clay, feeling that he isn’t pushing himself hard enough. “It’s easy to quit”, Tito says, likely his motto for the season.

It is revealed that Clay might have a torn rotator cuff from his first fight and that he’ll have to see a doctor the next day and get an MRI done. Team Tito suspects that Team Chuck is wise to this, as well as Camozzi’s injury, and will likely pick one of the two fighters to fight in the first bout.

While Clay seems overcome by his injuries, Camozzi is of solid mind, not letting the injuries disrupt his focus of winning and being the Ultimate Fighter. Clearly the weakest fighter right now mentally, at least according to UFC editing, is Clay McKinnie.

The first fight selection is about to begin, and this year instead of lining the fighters up along the mat to hear the picks, they have the fighters sit on makeshift bleachers. Chuck announces his selection, picking his number 1 choice Kyle Noke, to fight Tito’s number 6 pick Clay McKinnie.

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Camozzi immediately addresses what everyone is feeling, Clay vulnerability. He appears mentally weak and the fighters have been talking about his nervousness.

Tito doesn’t sugarcoat the selection, saying that Noke is a tough kid, with solid ground and pound. He says if Clay is going to win the fight, he’ll need to take Noke to the mat and keep him there.

Between commercials, we get a clip of Tito buying all his fighters a pair of identical running shoes, citing the fact that some of the fighters didn’t even own a pair or had holes in the ones they did own. The unmistakable orange Nike boxes almost make this brief clip a commercial among commercials.

We are introduced to the trio of Jamie Yager, Kris McCray and Brad Travers who are hanging out in their room together. McCray says they have to stick together, “We’re the only three Brown people in the house.” It is 3 in the morning, and the 3 fighters have a prank in mind on only the second night. They each grab an air horn and start blowing them throughout the house, waking up the whole house. James Hammortree, a firefighter, wakes up and instinctively thinks he’s getting a call from his firehouse to go fight a fire. It doesn’t take him long to realize he isn’t in a firehouse, but an animal house. Bad joke, sorry.

Kyacey Uscola gets pissed off and challenges the 3 of them in his short junior-varsity shorts. The next morning, Yager mocks Kyacey, holding his shorts up and imitating Kyacey’s voice. As this goes on, Clay begins knocking on Yager and the two of them have a little quarrel. You can tell that Clay doesn’t care for Yager, and then he confirms it, saying, “[Yager] is by far the hardest guy to get along with.”

When they return to the gym, we find out that Clay has gotten his MRI done and the doctor is back with the results. Clay doesn’t have a torn rotator or bicep, but there is a contusion, an infusion, which is the fluid blood collection. Basically a bad bruise incurred from being slammed on his shoulder.

Once Tito hears from the doctor that it’s only a bruise, he gets on Clay, trying to help him overcome the injury, saying such insightful things as, “he just needs to drop his nuts.”

Clay appears to be disappointed with the results, as the pain is so bad he was hoping it was a tear. But now that it’s been revealed to be a bruise, he has to fight through it. His insistent whining is setting up for a first round defeat, the pattern has been seen before. You really get the feeling that he doesn’t want to fight, or as Dana might say it, “He doesn’t wanna be a f*****g fighter!”

Tito gives his first motivational speech. “When you go to sleep at night, say, ‘I’m going to push myself harder tomorrow’.” He speaks of p***Yfooting around, and that when Rashad Evans won TUF 2, he says, he didn’t “p***yfoot” his way to the top.

After Tito’s “P***yfoot” speech, we find some more out about Liddell’s number 1 pick, Kyle Noke. It turns out Noke is from Australia, but currently fights out Greg Jackson’s camp in New Mexico. He would love nothing more than to be the first Australian UFC champion and hopes that his being here opens up more doors for Australian fighters. I’m sure, win or lose, he will somehow find his way onto next year’s UFC event in Australia.

Liddell says Noke is an all around good fighter and Hackleman adds that no weaknesses have been found yet in the Australian. Keyword yet. And so the hype machine begins for Australia’s potential Ultimate Fighter, Kyle Noke.

Following Noke’s little segment, one of the fighters brings up the question many MMA fans have been asking, why is Chuck fighting Tito for a third time after already whopping him twice. Liddell doesn’t really have a good answer, and shifts the focus to recent comments Tito had made regarding Liddell needing an intervention to deal with his alcoholism. It is obvious that Tito’s comments have pissed Chuck off, and if Chuck had no real motivation to whoop on Tito a third time, he just got it. Chuck says that Tito hasn’t looked at him since he made those comments and then adds that Tito “might get dropped here. But knowing he’s a p***y, he might press charges.”

They cut to Tito who doesn’t address the comments but says this season of the Ultimate Fighter is going to be amazing because everyone is in shape. Great news considering that last season just about every fighter was out of shape, and sucking wind after half a round.

They show Tito celebrating his birthday, as he blows out a bunch of cupcakes, and says he wished for his team to go undefeated. Then we discover that Tito has brought in a very special piñata for his birthday, a Chuck Liddell piñata. Sadly, Ortiz fails the break the piñata with his punches, and then finally punctures a wound in the stomach of the Chuck Liddell piñata with a kick. When the piñata bursts open, money flies out and as one fighter puts it, “we ran around like kids in a carnival,” trying to snatch up the money.

Sadly, and embarrassingly, the piñata was stuffed with singles.

We get a shot of Clay looking at himself in mirror. He looks defeated. He is going through the process of cutting twenty pounds and is real moody. He tells all his teammates to shut the [beep] up. He says to the camera that he doesn’t find himself clicking with anyone on the show and it is clear that he is trying to distance himself from everyone purposefully.

In a commercial break segment, we discover that Rich Attonito is itching to fight Jamie Yager.

When we return, Howard Davis Jr tells Noke that he is going to win and that he’s very confident in him.

Dana weighs in on the fight and says Noke looked good, but not first pick worthy. He says Clay had a tough first fight, messing up his shoulder and therefore he has to go with Noke, but he says if Clay didn’t mess up his shoulder the fight would be more interesting.

Yager thinks Clay will smash Noke and mess with Team Liddell’s morale. As Yager leaves the room, Rich calls him out and Yager tells him he just dug his grave.

Fight day comes and we get some prophetic words from Chuck as he waits for Noke to get ready. In a discussion with the fighters about when he’s scheduled to fight Tito, Chuck gives them a date and then says, but “that’s if that bitch actually fights me.”

Noke comes to octagon first, he says he doesn’t like to be cocky, he’s realistic about it and doesn’t need to hype himself up to fight, all he needs is to step into the Octagon.

Clay comes out next, looking like he broke a good sweat in the locker room. He does a terrible impression of the Aussie accent and the fight gets ready to start. But before it does, we get a cute little close up of Chandella’s booty. Ass shots of the ring girls have become as much a staple of the Ultimate Fighter as the fights themselves.

Dana gives his little rule explanation and Herb Dean starts the fight.

They touch gloves and Noke lands a good leg kick which is followed by Clay landing a nice leg kick of his own. Tito is very vocal in the corner and is offering some good coaching, except for one moment where he kept shouting Bing! Bing!

They feel each other out for the first couple of minutes, with Clay landing some decent leg kicks. Then Clay switches stance trying to confuse Noke, but Noke hits him with a solid front kick. Clay blows a snot rocket in the center of cage and the fight continues.

Clay looks uncomfortable, doing a lot of unnecessary movement, while Noke comfortably waits to counter.

Clay goes for takedown, Noke goes for a knee bar, but Clay ends up in half-guard. Noke tries for a triangle, but Clay slips out. He goes for it again and taps Clay out.

Clay seemed to want to get caught. He had been sitting in Noke’s guard with Noke’s legs wrapped around him for some time, and did absolutely nothing to avoid the obvious triangle attempt. Either Clay’s submission defense is weak, his nerves got the best of him, or he purposefully wanted the fight to end.

Clay storms away from the cage, but Tito calls for him back, saying he wants one minute with Clay to teach him something. Tito keeps saying please and finally Clay gives in. He takes Clay aside and shows him the proper way to get out of a triangle and then has Clay do it twice until he lets him go back to the locker room. Say what you want about Tito, but he comes across as an awesome coach, and even after Clay’s tantrums he reminds him that he still could fight in the wildcard bout.

Liddell’s team celebrates in the locker room, and Chuck mentions that he gets more nervous watching his team fight then when he fights himself.

Dana comes on camera to cap off the show, and says that while he thinks Tito picked better team, he feels Chuck may come up with the better strategy. Cue the lights.