The Ultimate Fighter Season 10, Episode 8 "One Soldier Left"

After receiving a cease-and-decist e-mail from a third-party ISP tracking company on behalf of Zuffa (the UFC's parent company), I decided that it would be better to no longer download any UFC programming. So how, I wondered, could I possibly watch "The Ultimate Fighter," without incurring jail time, an enormous fine, and most importantly the wrath and personal disappointment of Dana White? Don't get me wrong, I'm generally anti-piracy (every album or movie I review comes from a physical copy), but I tend to let the morality go a little hazily gray when it comes to downloading a TV show that you could just as easily tape. The problem is, I don't currently have Spike, ergo cannot tape it, ergo I deserve the warning and any spankings that will come with it. I think UFC is doing what's right for its company, and having people watch their stuff without every paying for it doesn't build the company one bit. Still, we go back to the question about how I am going to watch the show.

The answer came when I was looking for last week's episode of "The Aftermath" (the aftershow, where the fighters are interviewed) on Spike.com, and I saw that you could download the season's episodes from iTunes. 'Brilliant!' I thought, thinking that I could now watch the show, and do so in a way that lets the UFC know that I am watching their programming. As it turns out, iTunes takes about two days to get its poop together and get the episode up. So, on Friday I did (after intentionally not talking to anyone who watches the show) and when I previewed the video on the iTunes player, I felt that I had likely wasted my $2.99. The video was choppy, which doesn't really get to be a huge problem until you want to watch some fighting, at which points movements which only take half a second can end a fight. So, with some trepidation, I loaded the video onto my iPod and tried it out there.

Oh. My. God. (aka Nathan Fillion, in case you missed the "Slither" review) I had never tried the video features on my iPod before, and now, I don't ever want to look at a screen larger than 2.2 inches. The picture was twice as clear as I get from the Ultimate Fighter DVDs (I still need Seasons 2, 4, 6, 8, and 9, if anyone is trying to think up a Christmas gift for me), to say nothing of the TV rips I was used to downloading. The best part, now, if I want, I can lay in bed and watch my show without disturbing anyone (aka me getting the silent treatment because "somebody's" computer fan is keeping them awake). So, with supreme giddiness (but three dollars less on my Visa... which makes me think I should set up a donation option, like on Wikipedia, so that you guys can start paying for my rental and download fees), I tucked myself in, and watched Episode 8 of "The Ultimate Fighter - Season 10", entitled "One Soldier Left."

Some strange things happened this episode, the main one being that for the first time this season, sympathy switched over to Rampage. Instead of being cocky, inconsiderate, and ill-tempered, he came across funny, and kind of endearing, beginning with an apology to the door he destroyed last week. By the end, when Rampage and Rashad had their inevitable bicker, it was Rampage who came out the better, more well-spoken, and more loyal man.

We've known what this episode's fight was going to be since last week, so we get right down to it. Most of the camera time is spent on Marcus Jones, first establishing him as a brute child, who is extremely keen and enthusiastic about everything he's learning. His training is accompanied by a borderline-hilarious impression of Jones courtesy of Rampage. Later, we see Jones act the part of a 10-year-old girl when he freaks out about a bug in his room. Then, we see him react with 1 part furor, 2 parts pouting when Brendan Schaub draws a few pictures of him, under which Mike Wessel writes "sucks balls." For some reason, people are surprised when Jones takes this badly, and Wessel, despite claiming he will "man-up," doesn't take credit for the accusations of testicular suction. This is likely because Jones claims that he is doing to take someone's arm home with him when he finds out.

Speaking of Wessel, all we really learn about him is that he is a good puncher (hence his nickname "White Tyson") and that he misses his wife (who has cancer). Considering this imbalance of TV time, I was anticipating a Jones victory, based on how the stories would play out. Jones winning would mean that the guy who just loves MMA and wanted to give it a try, giving up a career playing pro football, was able to make a name for himself in the fight game. It would inspire a lot of out of shape people watching at home (or on their iPods) to think "I could do this too! That's why I love this sport!" It would also make for a tragic end to Wessel and his sick wife's dreams. I'm not saying it's pretty, I'm just saying it's a good story.

When the fight goes down, Wessel starts off throwing punches, but quickly forgets his coaches' game plan and tries to go for a trip. Jones flips him over on the way down, and goes for a choke. When Wessel flips around, Jones pulls an armbar out of nowhere and wins the fight. The after-fight speeches go pretty much as anticipated: Jones is downright giddy and Wessel cries. I would too.

After the fight, Rampage decides to antagonize Titties (aka Darrell Schoonover) a little more, by apologizing and then jiggling his moob. Since I'm on a pro-Rampage kick, and have grown to hate Schoonover, I chose to find it funny this time.

The fights are then chosen and announced:

Roy Nelson vs. Justin Wren
-This is the fight that I am most looking forward to. Justin Wren looked amazing in his first fight, and I really want to see Roy Nelson get shut down. Nelson's comparative experience is something that's hard to ignore, but Nelson also admits that he plans to play it as safe as possible. Wren won't let that happen, and will bring a war. As much as I would like that to mean that Wren will pull out a bloody victory, we have heard Dana talk way too much about Nelson for his run to end in the 2nd round.

Brendan Schaub vs. John Madsen
-Schaub's fight didn't look great, and his victory came about when Demico started making mistakes. Madsen on the other hand, exposed his opponent's skull. Based on their last fights, Madsen looks much more like a beast, although my official prediction is that Brendan will take a beating before finding a quick submission the second Madsen makes a mistake (Amir Sadollah-style).

James McSweeney vs. Mat Mitrione
-Previews suggest that Mitrione may be out of commission due to his brain being turned into some kind of gelatinous goo during his fight with Scott Junk. I imagine that this is just another Kimbo Slice comeback tease, and that McSweeney will knock Mitrione out, and everyone will laugh.

Marcus Jones vs. Darrill Schoonover
-Until I saw him fight, I thought that Marcus Jones was going to be this season's Corey Hill (from Season 5, who later suffered one of the nastiest sports injuries ever): a tall, inexperienced guy, who learned enough in his time in the house to eke into the second round, but didn't really stand a chance of winning the whole enchilada. After seeing him fight, I had to give a lot of respect to Jones' Jiu-Jitsu, I just think that Schoonover's is better. I predict Jones will take Schoonover down but then be overwhelmed when he gets there. And, I will hate to see it happen.

And there you have it, my predictions for the next four episodes, which had damned well better be worth my $11.96.