by: Brent Wilson
brentwilson5@gmail.com
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Last week Team Jones regained control of matchmaking when Collin Hart defeated Rickson Gracie pupil and BJJ black belt Kevin Casey. This week Team Jones' Bubba McDaniel will square off with Team Sonnen's Kelvin Gastelum. Both Jones and Sonnen acknowledge that McDaniel is the favorite in the fight, with Jones characterizing the bout as his team's best fighter against the other team's weakest link.
Chael gets Ronda Rousey to call Gastelum and give him a pep talk, and promises to show up and teach a session if Kelvin wins. Chael meets up with Jon Jones and the two have an extremely amicable conversation talking about how tough and well-rounded Bubba is, ending the chat with a handshake. Now I really want to see these two delightful, friendly chaps FIGHT.
Chael and the coaches drop by the house and play some charades, having fun at the scantily clad, muscle bound Gilbert Smith's expense. Chael also gives the team a great pep talk talking about whatever emotions they feel in the fight won't help them, that it's actions that win fights. Immediately after he cuts a Hulk Hogan style "WATCHA GONNA DO..." promo on Jon Jones team. Chael Sonnen is a great character.
Team Jones' Josh Samman tells his coaches that he's not ready for the next fight because he's a little banged up, but he's ready to go three days after. Jones says he appreciates the communication, but he and the coaches feel that Samman is trying to dictate his match-ups rather than letting his coaches do their jobs.
It's Mickey Rourke! Chael brings him in to talk to his team about his own career as a fighter as well as how he hit rock bottom and kept fighting to reach his goals.
Bubba McDaniel (20-6), Notable Wins: Eric Schambari, Johnny Rees, Kyacey Uscola, Rob Wince, Mojo Horne, Kala Hose. Notable Losses: Alexander Shlemenko, Lucas Lopes, Gerald Harris.
Strengths: The southpaw is Jon Jones training partner at Jacksons and on a talent basis is just a smidge below UFC caliber, which isn't a slight at all. McDaniel has slick submission skills, and competent boxing and wrestling. He's fairly long and strong for Middleweight and has shown the ability to push lesser opponents around, and land hard shots from the clinch.
Weaknesses: A competent fighter, but not a superlative one. He's also not a prospect, he largely is what he is, a solid well-rounded pro. Plus, remember that time when McDaniel got kneed so hard in the guts that by Alexander Shlemenko that McDaniel freaked out and the referee somehow thought it was a knee to the groin? That ruled.
Kelvin Gastelum (4-0), Notable Wins: None really. Notable Losses: None.
Strengths: At 21 Kelvin is the youngest competitor ever on TUF. Gastelum's been able to completely outmatch lesser competition on the Southwest scene. Gastelum has shown power in both hands and the ability to throw around opponents, but given the opposition level there's really not a whole lot you can take from his prior fights, the competition on the show is going to be a big step up for him.
Weaknesses: Gastelum's stocky and stand only 5'9", pretty significantly undersized for Middleweight. Gastelum's tough but his striking is really raw, with winging shots and plodding footwork. He's young, inexperienced and raw, he has power and toughness but without the top level athleticism or skills to consistently top more skilled or well rounded opponents.
OPENING ROUND FIGHT #4 BUBBA MCDANIEL vs. KELVIN GASTELUM
ROUND ONE
Gastelum takes the center of the cage and is able to trip McDaniel down when he tries to close the distance. McDaniel immediately attacks with his hips before kicking his way back to his feet. Gastelum again overpowers McDaniel, wrenching him down from the front headlock position, briefly threatening with a power guillotine before controlling McDaniel's head and taking North-South. Gastelum's holding onto things that aren't there costs him twice in a row, maintaining the hold on McDaniel's head allows Bubba to get to his knees and sweep. Then McDaniel turns with a Gastelum kimura attempt from half guard to take Kelvin's back.
McDaniel lands a couple decent shots and briefly threatens with a rear naked choke. Gastelum grabs a hold of McDaniel's arm with two hands, yanks it hard and turns into McDaniel allowing him to turn out of McDaniel's hooks and stand. From standing back control Kelvin then sits out and takes McDaniel down to his full guard an excellent transition. McDaniel locks on an armbar right away, being very aggressive and flips Gastelum to his back. McDaniel sits up to full mount rather than crank on the arm, then takes the back again. He briefly threatens before Gastelum again isolates an arm and escapes the hooks and back to his feet when McDaniel tries to roll with him to mount.
A wild shot from McDaniel misses and Gastelum briefly takes McDaniel's back before McDaniel rolls through and tries to regain guard. McDaniel hits a hip bump sweep and passes to mount, only to be immediately swept by Gastelum who passes to side control before the round ends.
PHEW. A crazy back and forth round with both men establishing then immediately losing dominant position in a scramble fest. With all the scrambling neither man really landed any significant strikes, but I thought McDaniel maintained the more dominant positions for longer and briefly threatened with submissions. 10-9 McDaniel.
ROUND TWO
Gastelum comes out light on his feet and lands a nice leg kick and knee to the body. Kelvin easily shucks off a McDaniel hip toss attempt, McDaniel stumbles to the ground. Gastelum shucks McDaniels' legs to the side and again tries for a power guillotine when McDaniel tries to scramble to his feet. Unfortunately for him Gastelum pulls half-guard with the guillotine attempt, effectively neutering it. Gastelum gives his back again to try and stand up and shakes McDaniel off of him from the standing back mount. Now on top Gastelum lands two hard elbows and passes to half-guard past a McDaniel kimura attempt.
McDaniel again rolls to his knees to get up and this time rather than look for the guillotine, Gastelum takes the back instead. Gastelum lands a pair of right hands and SNEAKS HIS RIGHT ARM UNDER MCDANIEL'S THROAT AS MCDANIEL TRIES TO TURN INTO HIM! Gastelum simultaneously secures his hooks and McDaniel briefly hand fights before looking like he's going to go out before finally tapping at 2:38 of Round Two.
WINNER: Kelvin Gastelum by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 2:38 of Round Two.
Great, action-packed fight with a huge upset finish. Gastelum finally took advantage of McDaniel's willingness to give his back and roll to his knees with a slick finish out of a transition.
Gastelum's top control and striking still looked really raw but full credit to him for constantly moving and using his strength, toughness and wrestling to finish a very strong veteran opponent.
Bubba McDaniel is one of the better fighters on the show, but he doesn't have UFC superstar potential, his role was to be on the show and test prospects...and one ended up testing him.
To bring the show full circle Gastelum gets a celebratory phone call from Rousey. We could all only be so lucky.
Control has ping-ponged back and forth with Chael regaining control of match-making. Sonnen picks his team's Tor Troeng to face off with Team Jones Josh Samman. Somewhat similar to McDaniel, Tor Troeng is a smooth, high quality professional who is just a smidge below UFC caliber. Samman is an athletic, exciting, well-rounded prospect. Should be a good time.
This is a great match-up, both are two of the better fighters on the show with Chael admitting that he wanted to match up two people that no one wanted to fight.
brentwilson5@gmail.com
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Last week Team Jones regained control of matchmaking when Collin Hart defeated Rickson Gracie pupil and BJJ black belt Kevin Casey. This week Team Jones' Bubba McDaniel will square off with Team Sonnen's Kelvin Gastelum. Both Jones and Sonnen acknowledge that McDaniel is the favorite in the fight, with Jones characterizing the bout as his team's best fighter against the other team's weakest link.
Chael gets Ronda Rousey to call Gastelum and give him a pep talk, and promises to show up and teach a session if Kelvin wins. Chael meets up with Jon Jones and the two have an extremely amicable conversation talking about how tough and well-rounded Bubba is, ending the chat with a handshake. Now I really want to see these two delightful, friendly chaps FIGHT.
Chael and the coaches drop by the house and play some charades, having fun at the scantily clad, muscle bound Gilbert Smith's expense. Chael also gives the team a great pep talk talking about whatever emotions they feel in the fight won't help them, that it's actions that win fights. Immediately after he cuts a Hulk Hogan style "WATCHA GONNA DO..." promo on Jon Jones team. Chael Sonnen is a great character.
Team Jones' Josh Samman tells his coaches that he's not ready for the next fight because he's a little banged up, but he's ready to go three days after. Jones says he appreciates the communication, but he and the coaches feel that Samman is trying to dictate his match-ups rather than letting his coaches do their jobs.
It's Mickey Rourke! Chael brings him in to talk to his team about his own career as a fighter as well as how he hit rock bottom and kept fighting to reach his goals.
Bubba McDaniel (20-6), Notable Wins: Eric Schambari, Johnny Rees, Kyacey Uscola, Rob Wince, Mojo Horne, Kala Hose. Notable Losses: Alexander Shlemenko, Lucas Lopes, Gerald Harris.
Strengths: The southpaw is Jon Jones training partner at Jacksons and on a talent basis is just a smidge below UFC caliber, which isn't a slight at all. McDaniel has slick submission skills, and competent boxing and wrestling. He's fairly long and strong for Middleweight and has shown the ability to push lesser opponents around, and land hard shots from the clinch.
Weaknesses: A competent fighter, but not a superlative one. He's also not a prospect, he largely is what he is, a solid well-rounded pro. Plus, remember that time when McDaniel got kneed so hard in the guts that by Alexander Shlemenko that McDaniel freaked out and the referee somehow thought it was a knee to the groin? That ruled.
Kelvin Gastelum (4-0), Notable Wins: None really. Notable Losses: None.
Strengths: At 21 Kelvin is the youngest competitor ever on TUF. Gastelum's been able to completely outmatch lesser competition on the Southwest scene. Gastelum has shown power in both hands and the ability to throw around opponents, but given the opposition level there's really not a whole lot you can take from his prior fights, the competition on the show is going to be a big step up for him.
Weaknesses: Gastelum's stocky and stand only 5'9", pretty significantly undersized for Middleweight. Gastelum's tough but his striking is really raw, with winging shots and plodding footwork. He's young, inexperienced and raw, he has power and toughness but without the top level athleticism or skills to consistently top more skilled or well rounded opponents.
OPENING ROUND FIGHT #4 BUBBA MCDANIEL vs. KELVIN GASTELUM
ROUND ONE
Gastelum takes the center of the cage and is able to trip McDaniel down when he tries to close the distance. McDaniel immediately attacks with his hips before kicking his way back to his feet. Gastelum again overpowers McDaniel, wrenching him down from the front headlock position, briefly threatening with a power guillotine before controlling McDaniel's head and taking North-South. Gastelum's holding onto things that aren't there costs him twice in a row, maintaining the hold on McDaniel's head allows Bubba to get to his knees and sweep. Then McDaniel turns with a Gastelum kimura attempt from half guard to take Kelvin's back.
McDaniel lands a couple decent shots and briefly threatens with a rear naked choke. Gastelum grabs a hold of McDaniel's arm with two hands, yanks it hard and turns into McDaniel allowing him to turn out of McDaniel's hooks and stand. From standing back control Kelvin then sits out and takes McDaniel down to his full guard an excellent transition. McDaniel locks on an armbar right away, being very aggressive and flips Gastelum to his back. McDaniel sits up to full mount rather than crank on the arm, then takes the back again. He briefly threatens before Gastelum again isolates an arm and escapes the hooks and back to his feet when McDaniel tries to roll with him to mount.
A wild shot from McDaniel misses and Gastelum briefly takes McDaniel's back before McDaniel rolls through and tries to regain guard. McDaniel hits a hip bump sweep and passes to mount, only to be immediately swept by Gastelum who passes to side control before the round ends.
PHEW. A crazy back and forth round with both men establishing then immediately losing dominant position in a scramble fest. With all the scrambling neither man really landed any significant strikes, but I thought McDaniel maintained the more dominant positions for longer and briefly threatened with submissions. 10-9 McDaniel.
ROUND TWO
Gastelum comes out light on his feet and lands a nice leg kick and knee to the body. Kelvin easily shucks off a McDaniel hip toss attempt, McDaniel stumbles to the ground. Gastelum shucks McDaniels' legs to the side and again tries for a power guillotine when McDaniel tries to scramble to his feet. Unfortunately for him Gastelum pulls half-guard with the guillotine attempt, effectively neutering it. Gastelum gives his back again to try and stand up and shakes McDaniel off of him from the standing back mount. Now on top Gastelum lands two hard elbows and passes to half-guard past a McDaniel kimura attempt.
McDaniel again rolls to his knees to get up and this time rather than look for the guillotine, Gastelum takes the back instead. Gastelum lands a pair of right hands and SNEAKS HIS RIGHT ARM UNDER MCDANIEL'S THROAT AS MCDANIEL TRIES TO TURN INTO HIM! Gastelum simultaneously secures his hooks and McDaniel briefly hand fights before looking like he's going to go out before finally tapping at 2:38 of Round Two.
WINNER: Kelvin Gastelum by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 2:38 of Round Two.
Great, action-packed fight with a huge upset finish. Gastelum finally took advantage of McDaniel's willingness to give his back and roll to his knees with a slick finish out of a transition.
Gastelum's top control and striking still looked really raw but full credit to him for constantly moving and using his strength, toughness and wrestling to finish a very strong veteran opponent.
Bubba McDaniel is one of the better fighters on the show, but he doesn't have UFC superstar potential, his role was to be on the show and test prospects...and one ended up testing him.
To bring the show full circle Gastelum gets a celebratory phone call from Rousey. We could all only be so lucky.
Control has ping-ponged back and forth with Chael regaining control of match-making. Sonnen picks his team's Tor Troeng to face off with Team Jones Josh Samman. Somewhat similar to McDaniel, Tor Troeng is a smooth, high quality professional who is just a smidge below UFC caliber. Samman is an athletic, exciting, well-rounded prospect. Should be a good time.
This is a great match-up, both are two of the better fighters on the show with Chael admitting that he wanted to match up two people that no one wanted to fight.
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