The Ultimate Fighter 12: Quarterfinals 3 & 4

In the fighter house, someone has put a rubberband on the sprayer of the sink, and this prank really irritates Michael Johnson. Johnson seems like a high-strung guy and immediately blames the prank on Alex Caceres, though Alex didn’t commit the prank. Alex admitted to starting the prank in the house, but he wasn’t the culprit of this particular prank. This is yet another reason to hype the upcoming quarterfinal match between Alex and Michael, who have been rivals since the beginning of the show.

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In his quarterfinal matchup against Aaron Wilkinson, Kyle Watson plans to use lots of work in the clinch in order to neutralize the reach advantage and striking skills of Wilkinson. Watson is planning on using a trip from the clinch as opposed to shooting for a takedown, since Wilkinson will probably be looking for the shooting takedown attempts. In fact, Koscheck works with Aaron on defending against shots so he can stay on his feet and utilize his boxing, though Koscheck warns Wilkinson not to throw any knees as Watson may grab a knee and score a takedown.

Round 1 Aaron Wilkinson (Team Koscheck) vs. Kyle Watson (Team GSP)

Kyle surprisingly comes out throwing leg kicks and jabs before he rushes in for a successful trip, which he uses to go to sidecontrol. Aaron is on his back and looks like a fish out of water against the jiu-jitsu ace. Aaron momentarily gets to his feet with Kyle behind him, but Kyle returns him to the mat and gets full mount. Aaron rotates his hips and Kyle takes his back and slips in a body triangle. Kyle digs for a rear naked choke, which he gets with very little difficulty. Though GSP is calling for Kyle to switch his grip, Kyle uses a Gable grip (which looks like the kind of headlock a schoolyard bully would employ for milk money) and Aaron taps out at 3:59 in the first round. After yet another of his fighters loses by way of rear naked choke. Kyle Watson joins Nam Phan and Jonathon Brookins as semifinalsts on this season.

In preparation for his upcoming fight, Dana White lauds Alex “Bruce Leeroy” Caceres for his “submissions, good standup and wrestling defense, great afro. I (Dana) don’t know what everybody’s beef with Bruce is.” Apparently Dana hasn’t visited the fighter house this season at all, or else he would know why the fighters don’t like Alex.

Legendary boxing trainer Freddy Roach stops by GSP’s training session to work with the fighters on their boxing game. In his introduction, Roach mentions that he’s trained 27 world champions and currently has 4 champs under his tutelage. Apparently someone is trying to cash in on Manny Pacquiao as his name was mentioned at least 4 times during Roach’s brief visit, including the time when Roach says “Michael Johnson has good speed. He reminds me of Pacquiao.” While that may be true, I can safely say that Pac-Man has a much better gas tank than MJ.

Speaking of Michael Johnson, he wants to break Alex’s spirit by taking Alex down, letting him up, and taking him down again. Alex, on the other hand, wants Johnson to fight him with emotion, so Johnson makes a critical mistake.

At the weigh-in, Koscheck talks trash at GSP about rigging the quarterfinals in favor of Johnson. Koscheck throws his support behind Alex since he thinks GSP is sacrificing Alex.

In order to maintain a level of fairness, GSP elects not to corner either fighter, since both are on his team. Jeff Lentz chooses to corner Alex, while Kyle Watson corners Michael.

Round 1- Alex Caceres vs Michael Johnson

Both fighters are southpaws and Michael opens with a jab before changing levels and scoring a duckunder takedown. Alex quickly returns to his feet before a Johnson cross knocks his mouthpiece out. After the restart, Michael presses Alex into the cage and scores a takedown. Alex quickly regains his feet and both fighters trade punches and low kicks. After throwing a low kick, Alex slips and Michael ends up on top. Alex is doing a great job retaining guard when Johnson passes. The round ends and it is an easy one to score: Michael Johnson takes round 1 10-9. Johnson looks very tired, which is similar to his first fight. Lentz tells Alex “when you come off the cage, his hands are down. Head Kick!

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Round 2

Both fighters trade punches to start the round and Alex marches right into an explosive takedown. Michael gets sidecontrol, just as Kyle asks for. Alex gets back to his feet and Michael presses him into the cage. Michael lands some heavy punches against the cage and Alex attempts a half-hearted shot attempt that looks something like a slip. Michael takes Alex’s back and looks to stick the hooks in. In a move straight out of my personal wrestling highlight reel, Johnson gets sloppy while in control and falls over Alex’s head. Alex quickly throws some heavy punches and elbows as he looks fresher than Johnson at this point. Michael gets back to his feet after taking just a little damage and presses Alex against the cage and scores a quick takedown. Alex gets up quickly and throws a body kick, which Michael catches and utilizes to score a final takedown. Without too much damage taken, Michael Johnson easily takes the decision by unanimous decision. Michael and Alex both mention that the fight squashed any beef between the two, and now the coaches meet with Dana to discuss the semifinal pairings.

Shockingly, the coaches and Dana all agree that Michael Johnson should fight Jonathon Brookins and Nam Phan should take on Kyle Watson. These fights will take place on the next episode of The Ultimate Fighter, which is a two-hour episode. The winners next week will compete live on Spike TV at the Ultimate Finale in December.