The Ultimate Fighter: Team Bisping vs. Team Miller

The Ultimate Fighter: Team Bisping vs. Team Miller^[2] is the fourteenth installment of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)-produced reality television series The Ultimate Fighter.

The UFC and Spike held open tryouts on March 21, 2011, in Newark, New Jersey. The casting call went out for Bantamweight and Featherweight fighters. All fighters that applied and tried out for the show must have had at least three professional fights and have been at least 21 years of age. Some of the fighters that showed up for the tryouts included UFC veterans Din Thomas & Kit Cope, WEC veterans Wagnney Fabiano & Ian McCall, and former Olympic bronze medalist Alexis Vila.^[3] Rumors had surfaced of Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping being possible coaches, though Jason Miller offered via Twitter to replace Chael Sonnen if he is unable.^[4] Miller and Bisping were later confirmed as coaches by Dana White.^[5]

Cast

Coaches

Fighters

• Team Bisping
  • Bantamweights: Louis Gaudinot, T.J. Dillashaw, John Albert, Josh Ferguson.
  • Featherweights: Diego Brandao, Akira Corassani, Marcus Brimage, Stephen Bass.

• Team Miller
  • Bantamweights: John Dodson, Johnny Bedford, Dustin Pague, Roland Delorme.
  • Featherweights: Dennis Bermudez, Bryan Caraway, Dustin Neace, Steven Siler.

• Fighters eliminated before entry round
  • Bantamweights: Carson Beebe, Casey Dyer, B.J. Ferguson, Tateki Matsuda, Matt Jaggers, Paul McVeigh, Brandon Merkt, Orville Smith
  • Featherweights: Josh Clopton, Karsten Lenjoint, Eric Marriott, Micah Miller, Jimmie Rivera, Jesse Newell, Brian Pearman, Bryson Wailehua-Hansen

Episodes

Episode 1: Scrappers

• Dana White welcomed the 32 fighters, consisting of 16 featherweights and 16 bantamweights, to the show at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. He introduced them to the coaches, middleweights Jason "Mayhem" Miller and Michael Bisping.
• White dismissed the fighters to pre-fight warm-ups for the elimination round.
• The preliminary fights began:

• Bantamweight bout: Josh Ferguson defeated Casey Dyer via KO (punches) at 0:14 of round 1.
• Featherweight bout: Diego Brandao defeated Jesse Newell via KO (punches) at 0:47 of round 1.
• Bantamweight bout: John Dodson defeated Brandon Merkt via TKO (punches) at 1:37 of round 1.
• Featherweight bout: Dennis Bermudez defeated Jimmie Rivera via TKO (punches) at 1:40 of round 2.
• Bantamweight bout: Roland Delorme defeated B.J. Ferguson via submission (triangle choke) at 1:56 of round 1.
• Featherweight bout: Marcus Brimage defeated Bryson Wailehua-Hansen via TKO (strikes) at 0:21 of round 2.
• Bantamweight bout: Johnny Bedford defeated Carson Beebe via submission (neck crank/guillotine choke) at 4:19 of round 1.
• Bantamweight bout: Dustin Pague defeated Tateki Matsuda via majority decision (19-19, 20-18, 20-18) after two rounds.
• Bantamweight bout: Louis Gaudinot defeated Paul McVeigh via TKO (strikes) at 4:59 of round 3.
• Featherweight bout: Bryan Caraway defeated Eric Mariott via unanimous decision (20-18, 20-18, 20-18) after two rounds.
• Featherweight bout: Dustin Neace defeated Josh Clopton via unanimous decision (20-18, 20-18, 20-18) after two rounds.
• Bantamweight bout: TJ Dillashaw defeated Matt Jaggers via TKO (strikes) at 5:00 of round 1.
• Featherweight bout: Steven Siler defeated Micah Miller via submission (guillotine choke) at 0:53 of round 3.
• Bantamweight bout: John Albert defeated Orville Smith via submission (rear naked choke) in round 1.
• Featherweight bout: Stephen Bass defeated Karsten Lenjoint via submission (triangle choke) in round 2.
• Featherweight bout: Akira Corassani defeated Brian Pearman via KO (punches) in round 1.

• White was impressed with the elimination round fights and congratulated the winning fighters on making it onto the show.^[7]

Episode 2: I Against I

• The fighters moved into the house, picked their beds and had a barbeque.
• Michael Bisping and Jason Miller selected their teams; Bisping had first pick while Miller picked the first fight.
• The first featherweight matchup was announced: Marcus Brimage vs. Bryan Caraway.
• Mayhem visited his team at the house and brought Normatec MVP Pro compression suits to help them recover faster after training.
• Mayhem pranked Bisping by taking the training tires and putting them in Team Bisping's dressing room.
• Brimage got help from Bisping and his team with cutting weight, while Caraway dealt with severe anxiety issues about the fight.
• Bryan Caraway defeated Marcus Brimage via submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:55 of round 2.

Episode 3: Death Leprechauns

• Bisping got Miller back after his tire prank in the dressing room by jacking the tires on Mayhem's car.
• Tempers flared during a Team Bisping sparring session, especially between Diego Brandao and Marcus Brimage.
• The first bantamweight matchup was announced: Johnny Bedford vs. Josh Ferguson.
• Knowing he was going to be picked by Team Mayhem, Josh Ferguson dedicated a note of profanity he wrote just for Johnny Bedford.
• After Akira Corassani's pranks increased, a bitter rivalry began between him and Dustin Neace.
• Missing his friends on Bisping's team, John Dodson made up his own team with Louis Gaudinot and Josh Ferguson called the "Death Leprechauns", a team of fighters who fight naturally at flyweight.
• Team Bisping was made aware of Johnny Bedford's injured right hand by John Dodson of Team Mayhem, who was trying to help Ferguson and is a mole for Bisping's team.
• Johnny Bedford defeated Josh Ferguson via unanimous decision after 2 rounds.

Episode 4: Get the F Up

• Bisping didn't show up for the featherweight fight announcement and his team wonders where he has been.
• The featherweight matchup was announced: Dennis Bermudez vs. Stephen Bass.
• Dennis Bermudez defeated Stephen Bass via TKO (referee stoppage due to punches) at 2:58 of round 2.
• Bass blamed Bisping for his loss, due to overworking him in practice the day before.
• The bantamweight matchup was announced: Dustin Pague vs. Louis Gaudinot.
• Bisping used insider information from John Dodson to prepare his next fighter.
• Dustin Pague defeated Louis Gaudinot via submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:32 of round 2.
• Mayhem was happy that his team was now 4-0 over Bisping's team.

Episode 5: Swagger Jacker

• After the previous fight, Diego Brandao called out Steven Siler, wanting to fight him next.
• Miller devised a plan to throw off Team Bisping by postponing the predetermined matches by one week.
• Josh Ferguson was upset that Mayhem had given Dustin Neace a cowboy hat with the letter "B" for Dustin's nickname, "Beast" on it. Thinking this was to mock the "B" on his cowboy hat, calling Dustin a "Swagger Jacker", Josh took the hat and hid it.
• The prank rivalry between Dustin Neace and Akira Corassani turned ugly when Dustin accused Akira of taking his cowboy hat, making Neace trash Team Bisping's room in retaliation.
• The featherweight match up was announced: Dustin Neace vs. Akira Corassani.
• During the fight announcement things heated up even more between Neace and Corassani when Neace shot in for a takedown, causing a scuffle on the mat with both coaching teams coming to break it up.
• Mayhem confronted team snitch John Dodson, telling him his actions caused all the drama at the fight announcements. Dodson showed no remorse, claiming that "Sh*t Happens".
• Akira Corassani defeated Dustin Neace via majority decision after 2 rounds.
• Although referee Herb Dean didn't stop the fight, Team Miller questioned the outcome when Corassani looked to be tapped out while caught in Neace's heel hook in the first round.
• Bisping was relieved that his team finally has a win over Team Miller and enjoys the victory by watching Mayhem's car get towed after accidentally parking in a handicap space.

Episode 6: Thrown to the Lions

• The first fight is between featherweights Steven Siler and Diego Brandao.
• Diego Brandao defeated Steven Siler via KO (punches) at 0:30 of round 1.
• After Team Miller's training session, the coaches noticed that Roland Delorme's right foot was swollen; thinking its a staph infection, Roland was rushed to the emergency room.
• Before the fighter announcements, Bisping made a speech about how Team Miller should be "gracious losers" after they lose a fight.
• The bantamweight matchup was announced: John Albert vs. John Dodson.
• The last bantamweight matchup was also announced: TJ Dillashaw vs. Roland Delorme.
• TJ Dillashaw's teammates thought he took the coward's way out by dodging the harder fight with Dodson and taking the easier fight with Delorme, having Albert fight in his place instead; claiming that Albert was being "thrown to the lions".
• John Dodson defeated John Albert via unanimous decision after 2 rounds.

Episode 7: Draft Dodger

• Roland Delorme's foot injury left him questioning his future fighting on the show.
• Former Brazilian muay thai champion Rafael Cordeiro of Chute Boxe Academy guest coached during Team Miller's training session.
• UFC legend Tito Ortiz made a surprise appearance to guest coach Team Bisping, teaching them the art of ground and pound.
• TJ Dillashaw - referred to as the "Draft Dodger" by his teammates - had both Akira Corassani and Diego Brandao give him a hard time in training. After taking hard shots from Akira in his sparring session, Dillashaw took out his frustration on Marcus Brimage, escalating it into an arguing match.
• The doctor cleared Roland of his foot infection to fight in his upcoming match.
• Mayhem pulled a prank on Team Bisping coach Tiki Ghosn by surrounding his truck with concrete highway barricades in his parking space so he couldn't get out.
• TJ Dillashaw defeated Roland Delorme via submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:43 of round 2.
• After the preliminary fights, Mayhem had five fighters moving on and Bisping has three.
• Dana White announced the semifinal matchups: Bantamweight fights: TJ Dillashaw vs. Dustin Pague and John Dodson vs. Johnny Bedford. Featherweight fights: Akira Corassani vs. Dennis Bermudez and Diego Brandao vs. Bryan Caraway.

Episode 8: Don't Do This at Home, Kids

• Louis Gaudinot broke down the separation going on in the house, breaking it down into three groups: Louis, Dodson, Ferguson, Diego, Marcus and Akira all hang out with each other; then there's the "Bible Study Group" which is Bedford, Dennis, and Dustin who stay to themselves; and lastly is "The Casino" made up of T.J., Neace, Prince (Albert), Caraway, and Bass who all play cards together every night.
• Akira Corassani was sick of Bryan Caraway always doing his hair in the morning and decided to take an electric razor and shave a chunk of his hair off while he was sleeping, which escalated into Team Miller having to barricade their doors at nighttime.
• Bisping and Tiki played a prank against Team Miller by pulling off what they thought was the best prank of the season; spraying them with fire extinguishers in their locker room while a live marachi band plays as they were trying to escape the fumes.
• Afghan Dutch Kickboxing champion Siyar Bahadurzada who trains with the Golden Glory team in Holland guest coached during Team Miller's training session and gets Dennis Bermudez ready for his fight by simulating Corassani's stand-up style.
• Before their featherweight semifinal match, Corassani tested Bermudez' patience by drawing a picture of him as an owl mocking his unintelligent "quotes of the day" and then singing a song about how he going to be victorious over Dennis in what he called a "slaughter".
• Dennis Bermudez defeated Akira Corassani via submission (guillotine choke) at 3:12 of round 1.
• Akira didn't take his loss well, initially disbelieving it in his post-fight groggy state; meanwhile Dennis celebrates moving on to the final.

Episode 9: Get Me to the Finals

• Dustin Pague acted like a good samaritan when he told the van driver to stop so he could give a homeless man on the street a food care package.
• When Mayhem stopped by the house for the fighter's barbeque, he dared Dustin Pague to eat a couple of live backyard bugs. Pague accepted and ate them for Mayhem's $60.
• Bisping and Mayhem went head-to-head in the annual "Coaches Challenge" when they played a game of Air Hockey for $10,000 cash ($1,500 each member of the winning team) on the roof of The Palms.
• Even though Bisping rose to victory against Mayhem, three games to one, Team Miller gets a laugh when, after his victory dance on the Air Hockey table, Bisping slips on his backside the moment he jumps off the table and lands back on the floor.
• Second semifinal fight took place (Bantamweights): Dustin Pague vs. T.J. Dillashaw.
• T.J Dillashaw defeated Dustin Pague via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-26) after 3 rounds, to move onto the finale.

Episode 10: It's About to Go Down

• The last two semifinal fights took place (Bantamweights): Johnny Bedford vs. John Dodson and (Featherweights): Bryan Caraway vs. Diego Brandao.
• John Dodson defeated Johnny Bedford via KO (punches) at 1:00 of round 2, to move onto the finale.
• After the fight, Bedford was devastated and shocked that Dodson actually had the power to knock him out.
• Since it's the last day in the house, the guys threw a party and Mayhem crashed it with his coaches and holds a beer pong match and does stunts with his BMX bike into the pool.
• Like with his previous fights, Bryan Caraway was nervous about his upcoming fight and once again started to doubt his martial arts abilities.
• Diego Brandao defeated Bryan Caraway via TKO (punches) at 4:15 of round 1, to move onto the finale.
• Even though Bryan Caraway lost, he gained Dana White's respect by having heart in the cage after taking a full minute of Diego Brandao's shots.
• After the last fight, Dana White calls for a pose down between Michael "The Count" Bisping and Jason "Mayhem" Miller, hyping their fight for the finale.

Featherweight Bracket

Bantamweight Bracket

Finale

• Bantamweight bout: T.J. Dillashaw vs. John Dodson

Dodson defeated Dillashaw via TKO (punches) at 1:54 of round 1.

• Featherweight bout: Diego Brandao vs. Dennis Bermudez

Brandao defeated Bermudez via submission (armbar) at 4:51 of round 1.

Bonus awards

Fighters were awarded $25,000 bonuses for the best fights of the season.

• Fight of the Season: Dustin Pague vs. Louis Gaudinot
• Knockout of the Season: John Dodson over Johnny Bedford
• Submission of the Season: Dennis Bermudez over Akira Corassani

References