Matt "The Immortal" Brown's Blog Site

TUF Finale Blog

I hope you guys have been enjoying my weekly blog. I
apologize for not having blogs up the last two weeks of the show but it was
getting close to fight day and training was my number one focus. With the
weight cut and stress that close to a fight I was just simply too occupied with
other things to be able to keep up with the blog.

The training for this fight went perfect. I had exactly the
right training partners including friends from OSU wrestling squad, Dorian
Price on my muay-thai, John Stutzman on my bjj and Rich Franklin on my mma.
Dave Branch, brown belt under Renzo Gracie, was kind enough to make the trip
all the way from NYC to emulate Arroyo. Dave is far bigger than Arroyo and has
better standup, wrestling and bjj. So going into this fight I was 100%
confident that I had done everything necessary to win this fight and I had
nothing to worry about. When you go into a fight at your best, and you know it,
it doesn’t matter anymore about outcomes. Winning and losing is secondary, you
can focus on performing at your peak and you just know that victory is in your
near future.

So, the training went perfect, the weight cut went perfect,
and my mind was fully focused on my job. Now I just have to execute. The only
mistake I made was running to cut some of the weight. I run almost every day so
I figured it would be easy, but with a lack of water, dry air in Vegas, and
lack of proper nutrient intake my muscles got very sore. Going into the fight
my legs were weak and sore like I had done a hypertrophy workout the day
before. Due to my sore legs and the extremely long wait in between the locker
room warm up and the actual fight I was cold by time the bell rang. Matt Arroyo
was probably cold too, but it didn’t seem to affect him at all. He came out
strong and hard. I was completely anticipating a shot really quickly from
Arroyo but he planned well against me and faked shots while throwing punches.
It had me thrown off for a second. He hit me with some clean punches pretty early
in the fight and he even took me down and mounted me. I never thought for a
second that I was in trouble or that I couldn’t get back to a good position.
Once I got back up from being mounted I remember thinking “I am not going to
stand here and get knocked out waiting on this guy to shoot!” So I woke up and
went to work. I started imposing my will and began feeling his confidence level
drop. In the second round I felt extremely comfortable and was ready to fight
for real now. That was when he pulled guard. All through training camp my game
plan was to stand up out of his guard and get the fight back to the feet. After
being in Dustin Hazelett’s guard, Dave Branch’s guard, Jonh Stutzman’s guard,
and the many other high level bjj guards that I play in daily, I did not feel
the least bit threatened. So I started punching to loosen him up so I could
stand up, but he never opened his guard or shifted his hips or anything. So I proceeded
to ground and pound the best I could. I just stayed patient and picked my shots
being careful not to over commit and be susceptible to submissions. Tito Ortiz
yelled at me “Elbows are better than punches!” and “Put him against the cage
and elbow!” For whatever reason, I could hear Tito over my own corner or
anybody in the arena. I figured he knew what he was talking about so I followed
his instruction and ko’d Arroyo then and there.

I thanked Tito after the fight but it was cut off on UFC On
Demand video. I am sure Tito is not the best guy to talk about during UFC
interviews right now but he helped me end the fight and I felt like he deserved
at least a thanks for that.

The after party was really fun. It was at Rain Nightclub at
the Palms. I talked to Dana  briefly
about my future and was glad to hear that he enjoyed the fight. It was also
good to see all the guys from the show that I spent 6 weeks with in seclusion
and Rampage, Juanito and Junior were all there also. Mark Beecher, Eddie Bravo,
Joe Rogan and Amir were probably the funnest guys to hang out with that night.
I was also happy to see that Jesse Taylor and Nick Klein made it to the show.
Those are two really great guys that made the house experience a lot easier. I
am sure that I am missing some people but it was a crazy night and I can’t wait
to do it again!

In conclusion I would like to thank all the people that
support me and everyone behind the scenes that make my dream a reality. You
guys know who you are.

If you got any questions feel free to hit up my myspace at http://www.myspace.com/live2fight_fight2live  and
my sponsors at tapout.com and Denim Addiction on my top friends list/myspace.

In this episode we start off seeing Jesse’s crazy eating habits. Jesse was an amusing character from beginning to end on the show. He is a great person and a great fighter and even though he doesn’t come across as the most intelligent guy, he actually is a lot smarter than people give him credit for. He walked around at 185 pounds or so, o all the food he was eating was fine in the sense that it wasn’t going to affect his ability to make weight, but obviously those foods are not good for any professional athlete for nutritional purposes, energy levels and recovery. He never had any problems making it through the toughest practices though, so I don’t criticize him for his eating.

First fight shown is Dante vs. Jesse. This was the first time I saw this fight because I was warming up while they were fighting. I really expected Jesse to try and stand with Dante and I thought he would get subbed if it went to the ground. I watched the first 30 seconds or so of the fight, watched Jesse take Dante down, and walked back to my dressing room assuming the fight probably wouldn’t last long from their. I was very wrong. Jesse controlled the fight well from beginning to end and pulled out a fairly easy decision. Jesse does a really good job of staying active on top and controlling a fight. His wrestling is really good and he never gets tired. Good formula for a lot of victories.

Next is my fight with Amir. I have been thinking for weeks about what I was going to write here in my blog about this fight and never came up with anything. About all I can say is that Amir is very tough and he game planned well against me. I didn’t expect him to be able to handle my plumb clinch as well as he did, I didn’t expect him to take me down and I didn’t expect him to circle away as much as he did. He wouldn’t let me plant my feet to get off solid shots. When I came out in the second round I was able to get him backing up to the cage and plant my feet a little bit, but not enough to knock him out. Granted, he also has a very tough chin and solid defense so Amir definitely deserves all of the credit for the victory. Their isn’t a whole lot else that I have to say about this fight. If you have any questions, hit me up on myspace or something and I will answer them as soon as I can.

I can’t give out any information as to when I will be fighting again but expect to see me around and expect good fights every time I am around. I am not slowing down, I am not taking time off, and I am not backing down from any fight. Champions are not men who have never been knocked down. Champions are not men who can not be beat. Champions are not men that have never lost. Champions are men who get back up, even when they can’t….. I will get back up.

If you guys have any questions or remarks about the episode feel free to hit me up on myspace at myspace.com/live2fight_fight2live. Also make sure you check out my website (still being finished but is now accessible) at the immortal.tv and mattbrown-mma.com. For the best in designer clothing check out my sponsors myspace, denim addiction, on my top friends. Also I will be doing the mmaweekly live radio show every Monday at 930 pm, tune in to here more of my thoughts on each weeks episode. Thanks for reading!!

At this point of the filming I was finally able to start training again. My foot was still hurt from the Jeremy May fight but I knew that my next fight would be soon so I needed to be working. The great thing about the second fight is that you have a better idea of when you will be fighting so you can rest and prepare a little better.

I remember the Klein-Dollaway fight really well. A lot of the fights I barely remember, but this one really stuck out in my mind for some reason. First off, I don’t think that C.B. was the best match up for Nick Klein. I feel like Klein sort of got stuck with C.B. Not saying that Klein didn’t have a chance or that I didn’t believe in him, but I think he would have matched up better against other fighters on Rampage’s team and other fighters on our team would have matched up better against C.B. Klein, as you all saw, has some very slick jiu-jitsu and was almost able to catch C.B., but C.B. was just too strong and controlled the fight very well. Honestly, I don’t ever remember hearing anybody saying that they wanted to fight C.B., so I give Nick Klein all the props in the world for stepping up and fighting like a true warrior.

The fight was a great fight. Very technical. I was standing behind Dana when I heard him say “This is the most technical fight I have ever seen on TUF”. I couldn’t agree more. I think a lot of guys on previous shows hold back. It is their first exposure to the spotlight, it is an extremely high pressure situation, and it is nothing like any other fight you have been in before (no crowd, Dana sitting ringside, fighting at the same place you train, etc.). This years fighters didn’t hold back though. With the exception of a few fights, you see everyone this year fighting for their life. Nick Klein and C.B. Dollaway really came through and fought hard as they could. I give them both props for showing their will to win.

As for all the stuff that happened on the side, (Rampage getting net-gunned, Cale talking trash, Pat apologizing to Forrest, etc.) I don’t even really remember a lot of this stuff happening. I guess I kept to myself more than I thought. I was their when Forrest got his hair cut and I thought that was pretty funny. I never knew that Forrest actually went through with netting Rampage and I thought Cale was talking trash to Pat, not C.B. So I don’t really have a lot to say about all that stuff. If you have any questions about it I will answer the best I can, just send me a myspace message.

When it came time for semi-final match ups I was thinking they were going to match me up with Kramer, Cale, or Amir. I told them right off the bat that I would prefer not to fight Amir. In my mind, I just didn’t want to be the one to have to knock Amir out of the tournament. Plus, we were roommates. I don’t want to sleep next to the guy I am fighting. It was pretty obvious once I was talking to Dana, Forrest and Rampage in the conference room that they wanted me to fight Amir. I told them it would be a fun fight but I would prefer someone else. I kept telling them I would fight anyone ,but they were adamant that I choose. That is not something I would ever want to go through again. This part of the show was the worst part of the whole show for me. I just wanted to fight because there is a guy in front of me, not because I picked him to fight me. Anyway, Amir and I talked for a few minutes after they announced the fight and we pretty much decided that we just wouldn’t talk or hang out for the next few days. Amir even told me that he would sleep in another room if I wanted him to.

At the time, I didn’t know that C.B. and Cale were having words in the house, so I was wondering why they made this match up. I understand now, but at the time I figured they were just trying to get C.B. into the finals by giving him favorable match ups. I figured maybe Rampage had some say in it and got C.B. the most favorable match up possible, which in my opinion was Cale. I knew Tim would want to fight Kramer, he had been talking about it since we got to the house because Tim was friends with “Missisippi”, Jeremiah Riggs (the guy that Kramer beat to get in the house). Dante vs. Jesse was a very interesting match up to me. I trained with both of them on Team Forrest and figured this fight was a toss up. That, in my opinion, was a very even match up.

Next week you get to see me and Amir throw down in what many people said was the most exciting fight of the season! So make sure you watch! As always, I will be watching it at Buffalo Wild Wings on The Ohio State University campus. Feel free to drop by and enjoy the show!

If you guys have any questions or remarks about the episode feel free to hit me up on myspace at myspace.com/live2fight_fight2live. Also make sure you check out my website (still being finished but is now accessible) at the immortal.tv and mattbrown-mma.com. For the best in designer clothing check out my sponsors myspace, denim addiction, on my top friends. Also I will be doing the mmaweekly live radio show every Monday at 930 pm, tune in to here more of my thoughts on each weeks episode. Thanks for reading!!

This weeks episode continues on showing more fights, less house drama and less talk. I love it. That’s what this show should be all about! First up is Amir vs. Gerald. No surprise that Gerald picked Amir. Matchupwise and on paper, this fight is all Geralds. No question. If this fight would have happened two weeks before it did, before I trained with Amir, I never would have given Amir a shot in hell. I had Gerald as one of the top guys in the house and one of the worst matchups for anyone. I knew about his history in the IFL and knew about some of the top level guys he had fought. After working with Amir a little bit in training and seeing his work ethic, discipline, and never say die attitude, I knew Amir had a chance. The fight went about like I expected other than I knew Gerald could potentially grind out a decision. Amir won the only way I saw him winning. He stayed calm, fought valiantly, scrambled hard, and caught Gerald with his head low. Amir showed true warrior spirit in this fight. The cameras can’t do justice for how proud we all were of Amir. We were all jumping up and down and it was one of the most exciting moments of my fight career. Amir’s record is definitely deceiving. He may be 0-0, but he has fought in muay-thai, lots of grappling tournaments, and he trains like an experienced veteran. Maybe he doesn’t have any pro mma fights, but he is a warrior, no question. What a lot of people don’t realize, is that a warrior is born, not created. You can have 100 pro fights and still not be as tough of a warrior as Amir is. If it isn’t in your blood, then there is nothing you can do to change that. It is in Amir’s blood and he proved that with this victory.

Cale and Pat were up next. I think they had some words before hand, before the fight selection. Cale is the type of guy that comes across kind of cocky, but he really is humble. He is just very confident in himself. Pat was a pretty easy pick for Cale because he isn’t a wrestler or jiu-jitsu player. The kid just likes to bang and is very athletic. Come to find out from training he is also a very fast learner, so don’t ever count him out of a fight. Everyone knew that Pat is a banger and wants every fight to stay on the feet. He is from the east coast Sityodtong with Mark Delagrotte (sp?). So going into this fight we knew it was going to be a barnburner and a standup slugfest. That is exactly what it turned out to be. I think both guys could have benefited from throwing smoother shots with more combos and less telegraphed power shots, but who am I to judge? The fight went perfect for Cale, except he got dropped once. This turned out to be Rampage’s reasoning behind going to a third round. He believed that Pat won the first round because he dropped Cale. He said that Pat dropped Cale twice, but one was definitely just cale being off balance. Either way, I am just glad I am not a UFC judge. I think Cale should have finished Pat anyways in the second when he was in Pat’s half-guard. He should have looked to pass or posture up and throw some finishing shots. But again, who am I to judge? It is always easy to say what they could have or should have done. It is much harder to get in a cage and do it.

Pat’s remark to Forrest was kind of rude I thought. I think Pat was just frustrated that he knew he was about to lose a decision. Rampage was obviously frustrated, but who wouldn’t be? His team was falling apart. They had a lot of guys injured, they were losing fights, and a couple of their losses were due to very debatable decisions. I only know Rampage a little bit, but he doesn’t seem like the type of guy that likes being on the losing end of a debate. I think he just likes to see fights finished and won decisively, as does Forrest. The problem is, in combat sports, fights go to judges and their can almost always be a debate with the judges. You just have to fight your best and deal with the judges decisions. I have dealt with it before and it is not a fun thing, but that’s the way it is. I think the anger, frustration and smack talk were all just due to Rampage and Forrest’s passion for their teams. Both of these guys loved the the guys on their teams and wanted to see them win. When they didn’t win , they sometimes just let it out in a negative way, but it showed the passion these two have for the fighters. I am just honored to have been a part of it.

If you guys have any questions or remarks about the episode feel free to hit me up on myspace at myspace.com/live2fight_fight2live. Also make sure you check out my website (still being finished but is now accessible) at the immortal.tv and mattbrown-mma.com. For the best in designer clothing check out my sponsors myspace, denim addiction, on my top friends. Also I will be doing the mmaweekly live radio show every Monday at 930 pm, tune in to here more of my thoughts on each weeks episode. Thanks for reading!!

TUF Blog Episode 6

So I finally got my wish and get to fight Jeremy BAMF May. Leading up to the fight everybody was making a lot of funny Chuck Norris style jokes about me around the house and talking about how I was “a maaaan.” It made me feel good (and still does) that I am respected like that by my fellow fighters in the house. At the same time, I don’t like hearing that stuff. Complacency is one of the worst things that can happen to a fighter, so I was just trying to focus on the fight, but some of the things the guys said was just really funny though. I imagine they will be on some of the outtakes if you buy the dvd’s.

Seeing Jeremy drinking didn’t effect me at all. I was told within 15 or so minutes of being home that he wasn’t really drinking. It just told me that he was not confident in his skills and was trying to come up with ways to get in my head to affect my performance. It didn’t work.

Jeremy’s knee was hurt one of the first days of training. The editing kind of made it look like it happened while training for me, but he didn’t train for me. He just rode the bike and sucked up to Rampage. I know all this because his training partners were better friends with me that they were with him and they told me what was up. I almost wish I never heard that stuff because it affected my mental performance more than anything else in my opinion.

They go on to show some of my training and let you in on some of my personal life, my past drug and alcohol problems, my close encounters with death and the fact that boxing/thai-boxing and mma have made me a new, better person. I am not going to get into all this too much here but if you have any questions or need some advice feel free to hit me up on myspace. My address is at the bottom of this page. I have been through a lot. Most if not all of it was my fault and I have learned a lot but now I have a reason to live and I love this sport and have ambitions and goals now. MMA is a great sport, as is boxing, muay-thai, wrestling, etc., and it can help to make you a better, stronger person regardless of your situation.

As for the fight, I truly believe this was not one of my better performances. As a matter of fact I would rate it as one of my worst. I have no excuses for this, it just happened. My game plan was to pace myself, pick my shots and take the opportunities as they arose. I knew their would be opportunities as the fight went along. I didn’t want to make the mistake of pushing for an opening and leaving myself vulnerable. Jeremy is an extremely awkward fighter with strange angles, long reach and unorthodox timing. It threw me off a lot but I knew from the time that the bell rang that I just needed to keep working little by little and eventually he would break, and he did. I didn’t tell Forrest about my game plan. The one they set for me was attack, attack, attack, catch and counter and be technical yet aggressive. I liked his game plan and it was completely my fault that I didn’t speak with him about my thoughts on the fight. Forrest was obviously frustrated and I think he expected more out of me, but I am sure he was happy that I found a way to win and finish the fight big. I learned from this mistake and in the future I will always be more open with my coaches and let them know more about my feelings on a particular fight.

I told Jeremy after the fight “It’s all good, it’s squashed”. Jeremy is still a dick and still a douche bag though. I just didn’t want any problems that could potentially affect me for my next fight as I am sure I will have a much tougher opponent next time and I know that I must perform better than I did against Jeremy if I expect to win this thing. Jeremy said “Matt got lucky”. I only got one thing to say about that, f#@k

Jeremy May. He was lucky that I didn’t fight the best I could or he wouldn’t have even got up after the fight. In a way I kind of took it easy on him. Not consciously, but I didn’t go after him like I have went after many others and if I did then that fight would have been different, and only worse for him.

Next up was my boy Luke versus Daniel. What a fight this was! Kramer came out on fire. I love it! Luke fought the best he could but was obviously overwhelmed by Kramer. Luke is a very good striker and didn’t show his best in this fight, but the way Kramer fought he could beat a lot of guys just on aggression. When his boxing gets more solid, he will be a force to be reckoned with. Not that he isn’t now, but once his boxing cleans up he will be very dangerous. Their fight had one of the best first rounds I have ever seen on TUF. Props to both guys for that war. Kramer’s cardio came through in the end and won the fight for him. Luke had his chances but didn’t have the energy left to finish. That’s a part of fighting that is sometimes underestimated. You can’t expect to win without cardio. Luke usually has great cardio, but that day it just wasn’t their. Maybe it was the environment, maybe it was nerves or maybe it was just Kramer’s tenacity. Either way, Kramer proved that he is a warrior and he more than deserved to be there and at this point I couldn’t wait to see him fight again.

If you guys have any questions or remarks about the episode feel free to hit me up on myspace at myspace.com/live2fight_fight2live. Also make sure you check out my website (still being finished but is now accessible) at the immortal.tv and mattbrown-mma.com. For the best in designer clothing check out my sponsors myspace, denim addiction, on my top friends. Also I will be doing the mmaweekly live radio show every Monday at 930 pm, tune in to here more of my thoughts on each weeks episode. Thanks for reading!!

The events of this episode took place maybe two or so weeks into the show. A funny side note, the episode was entitled “Chewbacle”. I thought that was kind of funny. Anyway, it started off with Credeur telling Riddle he would buy him an Xbox. Riddle was obviously offended when Jeremy made the stupid comment about Riddle not defending the armbar and getting an Xbox. Jeremy, at this point, was not rubbing his teammates and fellow fighters the right way. J.T. didn’t like Jeremy at all. I didn’t have anything against him at this point and was actually defending him. A lot of people were talking about how Jeremy was immature and didn’t deserve to be here, but I was neutral and believed that all guys were o.k. until they did me wrong.

Heraing Jeremy say that he would “whoop my ass so bad” really makes me mad today. Obviously I didn’t hear about that at the time. Next, he puts lime juice in my dip. Funny joke if you are my friend. As a matter of fact, at the bar last night some of my friends joked around with me and did the exact same thing! I laughed about it and got a new can, but when my enemy does it, a man that I never even spoke to, hung out with or cared the least bit about does it, I take it very personally. We had already spoke about me and Jeremy fighting. He was actually the first guy that I wanted to fight because stylistically he matches up well with me. I mentioned it to Forrest at the first fight selection when we chose J.T. to fight Dolce. I told Forrest I could out strike him and he is one of the few guys that would stand with me. I said I am 100% confident that I would beat Jeremy and Forrest said “I am 100% confident that you will stand in front of him and bang”. After Forrest worked with me a little bit and evaluated my skills I think he was confident that I could beat Jeremy and we decided (before the incident with tobacco) that I would fight him if Dante won. So I was already planning on fighting him when he put the lime juice in my dip.

Enough about Jeremy. Dante and Brandon were up to fight next. This was the worst fight of the season by far. Dante did what he does to everyone, but just didn’t throw that many punches. I have seen Dante fight before the show and he is extremely aggressive and finishes his fights. I don’t know if Brandon is just that good or if Dante was out of his element. Either way, the fight was pretty boring and their isn’t a whole lot to say about it. As for who won the fight, if I was a judge I would have given it to Brandon, but I can completely understand the judges giving it to Dante based on control. Rampage obviously thought that Brandon won and I can’t blame him, but this isn’t the first fight that a guy won by controlling his opponent regardless of the damage inflicted.

So next up is me Jeremy and I at the fight selection. Like I said in the confessional, I just wanted to let Jeremy know that I am coming to fight. I will be in your face and I am not backing down. I didn’t like the guy one bit and at this point I was not afraid to let him know. Around the house, Jeremy was no where to be found for the next couple of days. He was staying away from everyone, hiding in his room and not messing with people like usual. It was obvious that he was nervous and I couldn’t be happier.

If you guys have any questions or remarks about the episode feel free to hit me up on myspace at myspace.com/live2fight_fight2live. Also make sure you check out my website (still being finished but is now accessible) at the immortal.tv and mattbrown-mma.com. For the best in designer clothing check out my sponsors myspace, denim addiction, on my top friends. Also I will be doing the mmaweekly live radio show every Monday at 930 pm, tune in to here more of my thoughts on each weeks episode. Thanks for reading!!

This weeks episode started off showing the humorous side of J.T. (Jesse Taylor). Outside of fighting J.T. is a pretty amusing guy. There wasn’t any funny editing or anything to make J.T. any different. You are seeing the real J.T. Money and I am sure you will see much more of J.T.’s crazy antics around the house. This show could almost be called the J.T. Money show. I can’t wait to see some of the things he did in the house that I missed.  

“If you ever beat me I will retire.” This is what you all heard Dante say to Matt Riddle. I think Dante liked to mess with Riddle for fun, but from the beginning you couldn’t help but think that it would eventually escalate into something more serious. Dante, I am sure, is confident that he can beat anyone in the house and that he will win the show, but so is everyone else. I don’t think he was actually getting into Riddle’s head as much as he thought he was. I think most of the talk was done out of boredom and fun rather than actually wanting to fight one another. We’ll see how this all pans out in future episodes. 

If I remember correctly, the idea of Dante fighting Pat Schultz was never taken into consideration on our side. We were trying to take out there guys one at a time. I don’t really remember a lot of talk about who is the toughest or weakest fighter. It was all about match-ups. Pat was not by any means one of their weaker guys. He has a suspect ground game, but every fight starts on the feet and that is where he is dangerous. We decided that Tim would match-up well against Riddle because of Riddle’s lack of experience and inferior ground game. Riddle has a very good ground game and is a solid wrestler, but Tim is a solid black belt with much experience on the ground. So it made sense to have Tim take him out. That way we wouldn’t end up getting a bad match-up against Riddle.  

Next they showed J.T. and his fungus. Everybody picked on J.T. because he had ringworm and funky feet. It was all in good fun, but you have to take care of that stuff. It isn’t that hard. Just shower and use the Tinactin (or whatever cream you prefer). We had a ton of Tinactin all over the bathroom. Just pick it up, spray it, and go on with your day. Easy enough.  

I think peoples perception of Riddle is a little messed up. I actually have respect for his attitude. He knew coming in that he was a huge underdog. He hardly had any experience and didn’t train with any pro fighters or anything. So he just came in with a positive attitude and fought the best he could and had a good time doing it. Tim said something about everything being “neato mosquito” for Riddle. That is just how Tim talks, he always has a unique way of saying things, but I don’t think most people realized how tough Riddle was going to be. I think Tim may have even underestimated Riddle a little bit. I could be wrong, but that is the perception that I got. At the weigh-ins Tim talking trash to Riddle may have been an attempt to intimidate Riddle. I think this was the first time Riddle may have actually realized what he was getting into and showed signs of weakness. He is a warrior, but Tim was showing that he was 100% ready and was very confident, whereas I think Riddle had some doubts. Riddle’s biggest strength, in my opinion, is that he didn’t have anything to lose. The worse that could possibly happen is that he loses, doesn’t get invited to UFC and goes back home and lives with his mom. Not that bad if you ask me. Tim has a lot of people watching, he has like 5 or 6 gyms under his name, he has a family to support, a house, etc. Like he said, this was do or die for him. He has had this dream for a long time and if he loses to a guy with one pro fight, it is not good for him. I didn’t realize at the time that this was do or die for Tim. I feel for him, it must be a tough situation.  

Finally, on to the fight, and what a fight it was. Both guys looked a little flat in my opinion, but it is easy for that to happen considering the circumstances. I was personally impressed by Tim’s leg kicks and his butterfly guard. I think he could have worked more leg kicks on the feet, but it is always easy to say from the sidelines. Riddle fought hard and fought tough. The fight was back and forth the whole time. I gave the first round to Riddle, but most judges would probably give it to Tim because he ended up on top at the end. Riddle impressed me with his will to win and toughness. Tim landed some good shots and Riddle just ate them and kept fighting. When the first round ended and Riddle got up off the mat with blood running down his face, he looked over at all of us and had a big smile on his face. This was the first time I really had respect for Riddle. After a round like that and barely making it out of the round he is still having fun and enjoying his time in the cage. I will remember that smile forever. I thought it was awesome. In the second round Riddle began to show signs of gassing and it looked to me like he was getting desperate. This is where Tim’s experience shined I think. He kept fighting on and eventually got the armbar finish.  

Props to both guys for putting it all on the line and fighting hard as they did. Both guys had a good chance of winning that fight, but Tim was the better man that day. I wouldn’t mind seeing a rematch personally!   

If you guys have any questions or comments feel free to hit me up at myspace.com/live2fight_fight2live or hit up my website, theimmortal.tv or mattbrown-mma.com. For the best in designer clothing check out my sponsors, Denim Addiction on my top friends list via myspace. Central Ohio mma fans, I will be appearing at Buffalo Wild Wings on campus every Wednesday from 9-11 pm. Hope to see you there. See you all next week!

Matt Brown weekly blog, Episode 3

There is a lot to talk about for this weeks show. What a crazy week it was for us. First off though I would like to speak about Paul Bradley. I can’t tell you how sorry I feel for that guy. He gave up a lot to be on the show and had to go home due to something completely beyond his control. I wish him the best of luck in the future and hopefully he gets another chance soon. They didn’t show where he was in the house saying goodbye to everyone. He was crying a lot, understandably, and it was obvious that he really wanted to stay. Whether he is an exciting fighter or not, he beat a very game fighter in Reggie Orr to get on the show and deserved to be there.

So in comes Pat Schultz. I never would have expected them to bring him back. I really thought they would bring back Reggie Orr. In my opinion, he is the man that deserved to be back, but maybe he was injured or something. I don’t know. In any case, Pat Schultz is a gamer with very good standup and is a threat in the tournament. He was very happy to be back and was ready for another chance, but now he has something to prove and nothing to lose. Not a bad scenario for him really.

So after media day (which was not shown on tv) and getting our first look inside the house, it was time for team picks. I personally didn’t care which team I was on, but if I had to choose I would have chosen Forrest and I was glad that I got picked on that team along with my teammate Luke Zackrich. The reason I would have chosen Forrest simply comes down to work ethic. I didn’t know Rampage personally so at the time I could only go by hearsay and I had always heard that Rampage doesn’t like training and has people wake him up and take him to practice, whereas Forrest is the first guy in the gym and last guy out, and that he is one of the hardest workers in the gym, just like myself. I don’t even know at all if any of this is true, like I said I was only making my preference via hearsay. So anyway, I was happy to be on Team Forrest. After all the picks were done it was pretty obvious that Rampage was looking more for wrestlers and Forrest was looking more for hard workers and well-rounded guys. We did get one really good wrestler in Jesse Taylor though. Luke, my teammate back home, was the last pick. It was pretty obvious from his facial expression that he was a little embarrassed and now he had something to prove. There were some remarks about him being the “weak link” on our team, but I think if they knew Luke better they would not have thought this. He probably had the best record on the show (9-1) and definitely had some of the most technical standup out of everyone.

When it came time to make the picks we only had two guys to choose from because it had to be a fighter that only fought one round due to NSAC guidelines that said for every round you had to have so many days rest. Mike Dolce was one and I think CB was the other one. Jesse really wanted to fight first and it made sense for him to fight Dolce because dolce is definitely one of Rampage’s better guys and the best way to beat Dolce is by grinding him out with a wrestler. After talking to Dolce in the house I heard that he had wrestled D-1 in college and I began to think that maybe J.T. wasn’t the best guy to fight him. After training a little bit with J.T. though I had confidence that he can beat just about anyone. He works as hard as anyone I have ever seen in the gym and is solid everywhere.

Finally it is fight day. J.T. versus Dolce. When Dolce stepped into the octagon he looked as intense as I have ever seen a fighter. He screamed loudly when he walked in, he had an evil smile on his face and had fire in his eyes. I honestly thought he would scare J.T. into a loss. J.T. worked his game plan to perfection and ground out Dolce until he opened up a rear naked choke. Dolce had his opportunities but wasn’t able to capitalize. The end result was a win for Team Forrest and we retained control of the next fight pick. I honestly think dolce would have been a bad match up a lot of the guys on our team so it was good to have him out first. Dolce is the kind of guy that can end a fight quickly and is a tough fight for anyone. Truth be told, had he been a little more relaxed and focused on game plan, he may have given J.T. a better fight or even won. Who knows. That is what makes this sport so exciting. It doesn’t take much to lose, but it takes everything to win.

If you guys have any questions or remarks about the episode feel free to hit me up on myspace at myspace.com/live2fight_fight2live. Also make sure you check out my website (still being finished but is now accessible) at the immortal.tv and mattbrown-mma.com. For the best in designer clothing check out my sponsors myspace, denim addiction, on my top friends. Also I will be doing the mmaweekly live radio show every Monday at 930 pm, tune in to here more of my thoughts on each weeks episode. Thanks for reading!!

Episode 1 and 2 of TUF 7

Being that I didn’t make a blog for episode 1 I am doing episode 1 and 2 in one. Plus, it was all one day for me anyhow., and what a long day it was. It felt like a gladiator arena in there with 32 fighters waling around a gym all day waiting for their fight to be called. Guys fighting later were waiting around trying to relax while their comrades were all beating each other up. A lot of emotions were stirring all day as some dreams were crushed and others were one step closer. As for me, I watched my good friend Prince get beat by Mike Dolce and my other good friend Luke Zachrich beat Pat Schultz. So before I even fought I already had high and low emotions from watching my friends fight. When I started getting warmed up I was exhausted. I was hitting mitts lightly with Juanito and was tired from only about 2 minutes of light mitt work! When it was time to fight though I just blocked everything out and did the best I could. It turned out to be enough. When I heard the signal that there was 10 seconds left I spent every last breath in my body to finish that fight. Had it went to a second round I would have been dead man walking, but obviously my opponent, Josh Hall, wouldn’t have been too well off either. I trained hard to get ready for the show and it showed. My cardio is number 1 always for me.

I didn’t watch most of the fights that day except guys that I knew which included my two teammates fights, Dante Rivera’s fight, the Riddle/Simmler fight, and I remember catching Cale’s fight because it was the last one of the day. I wasn’t surprised by the outcome of Dante’s fight. I had seen him fight a few times before and knew what he was about. Cale’s fight was really good and I didn’t expect him to win but he pulled out a victory due to his heart, composure, athleticism, and will to win. The Riddle/Simmler fight was obviously very brutal. I had heard of Simmler before and knew about his grappling credentials and had spoken with him during the tryout process. I was rooting for him and wanted to see him fight and felt really bad for him after the fight. I believe he is a warrior though and he will be back.

After a long day of fights and up and down emotions I was extremely relieved to know that I was going to the house finally but realized that this was only the beginning. Their was still a lot of work to be done and all this meant nothing now. It was time for the real wars now. Their was no time for enjoying victory. I may have to fight again soon.

I agree with Dana that their were no pussies or poseurs in that gym that day. Everyone came to fight. Some get better matchups than others. Some came on weight better than others. Some just fought better that day than their opponent. I am proud to be a part of the first 16 that had to fight into the house and I give props to every one of my comrades, winner or loser, that fought like a warrior that day and put it all on the line to fulfill their dreams. It was not an easy thing to do. Everybody made weight, everyone fought as hard as they could and everyone was respectful. At the end of the day everyone their could have been a contender to be the next Ultimate Fighter, but their can only be one. Stay tuned and keep checking out my blog every week.

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