Fight Ticker Exclusive: TUF 7 Episode 2 in a fighter's shoes
Fight Ticker member Mohawk is none other than TUF 7 contestant Brandon Sene. Sene is blogging here at FightTicker.com during the current season of TUF.
Hello all, my apologies on my tardiness getting this blog up. I am going to be receiving the episodes in advance from here on out, so I will be able to get this finished and posted soon after the show airs.
So now the full cast for this season has been revealed along with the “big twist!" At this point the pressure was on and I was facing the most important fight of my life. I went out with a very rough game plan to fight Aaron Meisner based on rumors that I had overheard while cutting weight the night before. From what I could gather he was a Muay Thai fighter who had great stand up with some pro Thai fights, he was 2-0-0 in pro MMA, and limited in his ground game. This came as somewhat of a relief to me as I consider my strength to be in Jiu Jitsu. I have decent enough Muay Thai that I am confident to stand with most fighters but I needed to fight smart on this one. So my plan was simple: to go out, feel out the stand up long enough to set up a take down and work for a submission or a TKO. I knew that I had to make this MY fight and not focus too much on tailoring a plan to him or his style. I wanted to make him work around me and my style.
Now, I have to interject this real quick here to continue on with the blog:
I was disappointed with the way the fight was edited -- it really didn’t show any of the fight that was worth seeing, and if you have watched the trailers, there was a highlight from my fight on almost every one! The way it may have looked on the episode was a first round fight that went to the ground right away.. Not the case at all! We stood and banged for the entire first round and I took him down once I think, only to return to the feet and continue to exchange leather. We were Thai clinched up exchanging knees, elbows and dirty boxing for what I thought was one of the most exciting fights. I was NOT happy at all with the way this fight was aired. On the episode where it showed me in side mount basically doing nothing but arm wrestling with him was the lamest part of the fight and it was about 30 seconds before the final bell in round 2! I was exhausted as Dana pointed out because the entire fight to that point was VERY fast paced and we beat the s*it out of each other! In the end there is nothing I can do to change how it came out but that fight was much better than it came off. GO TO WWW.UFC.COM and my fight is the first pic you will see, along with almost all the episode recap pics being my fight. Ahh I am frustrated..!
My game plan to fight Aaron went as I had hoped for about the first 30 seconds, and then it all pretty much went out the window and I found myself engaged in a Muay Thai battle very little of which was on the ground! Coming out into the second round I was very tired and feeling the dry air of Vegas in contrast to Florida made my lungs burn like hell! To this point the fight had been fast paced and I was looking to end it soon by any means. I ended up exchanging on the feet again and taking him to the ground about 2 min in leading into a scramble where I went for as Forrest said: “ the high risk arm bar." Which in the end I couldn’t quite finish off, putting us back into a scramble leading back up to the feet. We banged it out in true Muay Thai style for awhile longer until I ended up getting a take down off the cage and moving to side mount (this being the portion viewed on the episode), dropping a few short elbows and eventually taking the back and sinking in the rear naked for the win!
I have ended fights by submission before and competed many times finishing opponents by submissions but this one was by far the best feeling I have ever experienced! Immediately I felt a weight off my shoulders, and knew that I was now in fact on The Ultimate Fighter and in the house!
I give much respect to Aaron Meisner -- he is a very tough individual and I am sure we will see him at some point as a up and comer in MMA.
There really isn’t too much more to say about this episode because nothing new happened and from the last everybody knew what was going to go on. I will say though the talent level in the house is quite good and everybody has a great chance at the finals. Stay tuned for what is a CRAZY season of TUF!
I am going to post this now because it is so late already! Last week there was some interest in my military background and how it relates to training and fighting. As I had said I will post another blog in the next day or two discussing that topic..
Take care,
Brandon
Visit Brandon at his MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/sene8541
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Comments
Thanks Brandon. Great entry!
Thanks Brandon. Great entry! It sounds like they didn't do your fight justice at all. I was disappointed with how little of your fight they showed and what they showed. I'm looking forward to seeing full fights the rest of the season.
Mohawk Sportsline and
Mohawk Sportsline and MMAMadness joined forces with the ufc to take out Fightticker and all of its army! We shall not fall!!
Now back to your fight, I was so freaking confused they have been using you as one of the main
focus points on the commercials, which clearly gave away the fact you won, but then didn't show the fight? Who's team was you hoping to be on?
EERS_1_Fan
I didn't get my game console.
I too was disappointed in
I too was disappointed in what they showed on TV, but then again, in past seasons of the show they don't really show some of the fighters very much (unless you did something in the house of interest like get in a fight) until the week before their fight. If you have a later fight I assume we will get "caught up" about you right before your next fight. I guess it is because there are so many fighters it would be confusing if they had to show everybody each week. Ever notice how some of the TV programs do the same thing. A certain character will not be on an episode for a week and then "BANG" they have a main part in the plot the next week? Either way, don't sweat the small stuff, we know you'll do well.
yeah, i was expecting to see
yeah, i was expecting to see his entire fight. mohawk was in the previews a bunch. great blog though. eers wants to know which one in those pics is mohawk though, he's still a little confused and also wants to know if you took those pictures.
Underboss MMAfia
Head of the West Coast Family
Oh, here's a question I
Oh, here's a question I meant to ask. What was your impression and the other fighters' impression of the Simmler "ko of the century"? Was it as scary in person as it seemed on TV and have you ever seen anything like that in your experience as an athlete?
As everyone else mentioned,
As everyone else mentioned, I wish they would not have edited your fight, I even made my wife sit and watch it with me (normally she is not a fan of TUF because of the 'debatchery' - apparently it reminds her too much of my college days)... it seemed like one of the more competitive and closely fought battles from what was described. We were bummed to not see more of your fight. Oh well, I am sure we will get to see more of your fights. Do you think they matched up 'favorites' with intentions to get certain people on the show? I noticed a lot of 'striker' versus 'ground specialist' fights...
but either way, one of them
but either way, one of them was going to win. they matched them up like that so there wasn't gonna be all strikers or all ground people...i think...idk
Underboss MMAfia
Head of the West Coast Family
Thanks again Mohawk...more
Thanks again Mohawk...more good stuff!
Some of you may remember Josh Hall, who wrote a really excellent letter to Leonard Shapiro a few weeks back, which I posted here on FightTicker. Unfortunately, Shapiro wrote back to Hall in what we think was a curt form letter. Still, a lot of readers here really seemed to like Josh's viewpoints and initiative.
Anyhow, you may have also seen Josh on TUF. Like Brandon, Josh was in the military. Bummer, but Josh lost a very exciting fight in the opening TUF round of 32. He has an extremely deep blog up on his MySpace page. If you have some time (meaning like 15 minutes), I suggest you read it. Like I said, it's really deep, illustrating how much psychological turmoil goes into MMA and sports in general. Here's his page, and just navigate to his blog... Dave
http://www.myspace.com/teamcoltrane
Dude no worries about the
Dude no worries about the editing. I realize it's your career and everything but people will know by the end of the show etc... Hey, from what you saw, who do you think was the best fighter who got eliminated? I really thought Mike Marrello was gonna do well.....I was wrong, but Gerald Harris is one tough dude.
"Sometimes you're flush and sometimes you're bust, and when you're up, it's never as good as it seems, and when you're down, you never think you'll be up again, but life goes on."
haven't we seen gerald
haven't we seen gerald harris before? he looks familiar...
big mac, that's a quote from harry potter, right?
Underboss MMAfia
Head of the West Coast Family
Nice blog. I was
Nice blog. I was disappointed with how little they showed of your fight. It sounded like it was much better than what they showed on TV.
Looking forward to more blogs, the preview for the season looked good. The house looks totally insane (which seems to be the norm).
question for mohawk...did
question for mohawk...did you destroy any of the walls in the house, if so was alcohol a factor?
Underboss MMAfia
Head of the West Coast Family
Thanks Brandon for a very
Thanks Brandon for a very insightful commentary. You have the entire fightticker community rooting for you.
I will say I was shocked that the coming up on this season of TUF showed everyone destroying the house...heh.
Hitman for the MMAfia
Visit Brandon at his MySpace
Visit Brandon at his MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/sene8541
I know this sounds rediculose but I cant say man. You will have to watch ANYTHING that hasnt been aired yet I cant talk about.. Sorry bro
Dude, we're just now getting
Dude, we're just now getting your first fight on AFN. You're right, it didnt show much. But I think its bad ass to have a friend fighting on TV. Just so you know, you have the whole BW camp backing you. Later man.
Sean