Brandon Sene's TUF Blog: TUF 7 Episode 5 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.
I will start this one off by apologizing for missing the last blog. I was out in Vegas training and just really didn’t have the time or resources to write it.
The trip to Vegas was awesome! I had a great opportunity to train with some very talented fighters. I trained all over Vegas but made the Warrior Training Center my home base. I would definitely suggest and highly recommend training there if you are in Vegas. I also made my way to Cobra Kai for some world class BJJ, along with a few other camps in the area for what was overall unbelievable training and experience. I will be moving out to Vegas as soon as I get my house in Florida sold.
So that brings us to this week's episode of which I am the star! … So what can I say about this one? It is basically the most frustrating thing I have ever had to watch, and I have watched it several times now! I was disappointed in the fight itself and even more so in the decision. I can’t believe this is how the largest opportunity of my life, what I have worked harder at, and wanted more than anything else played out… It is sincerely heartbreaking.
Forrest had been making smart matchups from the start of the show. He was choosing matchups based on styles, experience and by pure emotion in some cases! In the Tim and Riddle fight, Tim is a seasoned veteran of fighting and had an impressive record of over 10 fights, while Riddle had only been fighting for a fraction of the time and had 1 pro fight under his belt. My matchup was very similar. Dante Rivera had over 20 fights (although they had him listed at 10-2). He is a Brown belt working on his black soon, and has been fighting for a long time. I have 2 fights coming into the house and have been training in MMA for about 1 ½ years… Again, a wise matchup for team Forrest.
Real quick to sort of sum up my thoughts on last week's fight: I thought Matt was going to pull it off -- he really did well and took it to Tim! In my opinion if he could have held on for the last bit of the second round, he should have won the decision. He ended up getting caught by Tim in a nice arm bar (Tim is a black belt, don’t forget)! Matt is the man and he is a great fighter and a good personal friend of mine -- look out for him! Oh and he got his x box! lol
When they announced me and Dante I wasn’t really surprised at all. I had noticed he was asking me a lot of questions in the house in the days leading up to the fight. He was inquiring about my experience, where I had fought, who I trained with, just stuff you want to know as a fighter about your opponent. This along with my experience level made me a prime target in my mind, so I had a strong hunch.
The episode really didn’t show it all that much, but everybody thought this fight was going to be a pushover. They all thought that Dante was going to walk through me. I really think the only person in the house who didn’t was my boy Riddle. Everybody else was sort of like… “Yeah man, I think you're going to do good, but don’t worry about it either way he has a lot of experience you know. “ Even my coaches were acting like this. When I was getting ready for my fight with Dante I remember them saying, “ Yeah, we watched some tape on Dante… And , yeah, well… he is good.” Hard to explain this in writing but it was said with a strong tone of "You're screwed" in it! Lol… If you paid attention or can re-watch the episode you will see what I mean. It pissed me off but at the same time it was a reasonable assumption based on paper and my experience level.
I was ready and I felt great even though I was a little disappointed that I wasn’t getting more confidence. But I was ready to go and ready to show what I did have. I had fought and beaten Aaron Meisner, who was a Muay Thai stud from Dante’s area, whom he had researched because they were supposed to fight. I knew Dante wouldn’t want to be on his feet exchanging leather with me after my win against Aaron. Dante prides himself in being a solid BJJ Brown belt and would be looking to get it to the ground ASAP. So I worked on takedown defense, scrambles, and standing up once I was down. I was convinced that I didn’t need to be on the ground with him -- I am confident in my BJJ but he just plain and simply had much more experience in his game. So my plan was to stop the take down and work him in the Thai clench, and make him exchange with me. I wanted to frustrate him and take away his strength on the ground. I knew this plan wasn’t going to make for the most exciting fight but I needed to win, I had to win, and this was how I was going to do it.
The fight itself went sort of how I had wanted it… I was in the clench with Dante… A lot! Once I was on the ground, at first I managed to scramble to my feet again and force him to stand. In the clench I was actually punishing his legs with knees -- the film doesn’t really do it justice but those ten or twelve knees to his legs were solid and hurting him. I was landing some knees to the body and sneaking some punches in here and there. More so than anything I was working, punching and trying to fight while Dante was just hanging onto me, holding me until he could get together a trip takedown. He did have a big slam on me because I was trying to wrap up a guillotine, but landed in my guard and was not delivering any damage or credible threat. That takedown was the only thing that Dante did in that round, which in no way was equivalent to my knees, elbows, and punches throughout the entire round!
The second round went pretty much the same -- he wouldn’t exchange with me so he tied up the clench and we worked there. He kept trying the outside trip takedown over and over. I was kneeing and punching as much as I could but mostly just working on defending the trip, and scoring points. I know that is boring to watch but like I have said, this fight I had to play smart, with Dante's experience and ability this wasn’t a fight I could just start mindlessly brawling with him or he would take advantage of that, take me down and probably submit me. Anyways, we did end up on the ground with Dante in my guard where I was elbowing the hell out of his head, punching him and working as much as I could. I was landing hard strikes from the bottom, but I couldn’t put it together to get back up. Still on the ground I felt like he wasn’t attacking me really -- he was just sort of stale and holding me, he wasn’t working to pass when he was in guard, he wasn’t ground-and-pounding me, he was just holding position… I really just felt pinned down and like time was just burning away uselessly! With exactly 1 minute 1 second left in the 2nd I managed to sweep Dante and get to his side. (Forrest said with 22 seconds left but it was 1 min 1 sec.) I landed a few elbows and controlled him for the remainder of the round. He definitely didn’t win this round either -- he had nothing but a trip that was due to the ref saying “stop” … him tripping me, and then the ref saying ”no, no, continue…fight” once we were down, and one other trip that landed high on my side, which I reversed. Again throughout the duration I was striking, inflicting damage, and staying busy scoring more points!
Well, at this point I thought the fight was over and really felt good about it… it definitely wasn’t going to go down as the best fight on TUF or anything, but I thought I was going to advance in the tournament, which after all was my goal. So I was in my corner thinking I was waiting on the final decision but there was a lot of discussion going on and nobody really seemed to have it. The fighters on the side started hinting at a third round, the coaches were asking, “What’s up, what's going on -- you haven’t said anything!! What’s going on?” At this point the one minute break had passed and still no answer... Nobody really knew what to do, then all of a sudden like it was a spur of the moment new idea, the ref says “Ok lets go -- we are doing another one.” I would still like to know who or how that was decided!!! Dana himself told me later that he didn’t know why there was a third round! And Rampage clearly expressed his discontent on the episode saying: “There shouldn’t even be a damn third round. He won that fight!”
So anyways out to the third round and it was like the prior two -- basically the same thing, no exchange on the feet, clench, trip, Dante is on my side and holds me down until the end of the round. Now, even I say to myself watching the fight… “Get up, move, get off your back” in that last round! However, I roll everyday with solid BJJ guys and I will tell you if a good blue belt, let alone a good brown, decides he wants to hold you down in side mount and that’s it.. hold you.. You’re not getting out.. Let alone a solid brown belt. I was not hurt, damaged, or even tired really after this fight, just frustrated beyond all imagination! I still am!
I don’t really know what else I can write on this... Dana himself said at least I was inflicting damage and trying to work and insinuated I won the fight! He also said he wasn’t excited to have ether one of these fighters in the UFC... I can understand that due to the fight being boring. In all fairness I wish he would have considered that I was trying to fight, and considered my experience level to his... I wasn’t the experienced fighter here who stalled this fight and made it boring... I truly was trying to fight to win decisively.. I guess it is what it is at this point but I wish every second of everyday that I could have it to do again!
Rampage was obviously quite upset about the decision also, along with the other coaches and my team. I have yet to talk to anybody who hasn’t said basically. "You got f*cked on that one man!"
I learned that I can’t afford to let any fight go to the judges! I won’t make that mistake again. I have seen it a million times before with other fighters but now I guess I know firsthand! Looking back I also think I let Dante’s experience and hype get to me. I have good submissions, and a solid game that I should have played less cautious with him and forced him to fight me at my game... Lessons learned I guess… Hard lesson learned.
One last thing -- I like Dante. He is a good fighter and has really good BJJ! Don’t take away from this that I am taking anything away from him as a fighter or competitor. This is just how I feel and what I saw in the fight between us.
Brandon
Visit Brandon at his MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/sene8541
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Comments
I was way pissed about the
I was way pissed about the whole stopping the fight until he had your feet in the air thing! Thats why I started a thread about it.
And thats the only reason it went to a third round IMO.
What I don't understand, why Dana included you? I thought you did a hell-ofa-job working against him. He wanted to clinch the whole match.
In Dana's Eyes Nate Quarry was fine for being careful and chasing Kalib, but you was dull for attacking and tying up?
Sometimes I think he forgets this is "mixed martial arts, and he is still a boxer or something?
EERS_1_Fan
Head of South East Tribe MMAFIA
MMABRAT, CaptnCrunch, and Michael are all going to start training in the devils MMA lol
Mazzagati pulled another
Mazzagati pulled another classic ref job, "Stop!" (as fighters are clinched against the cage)
*Sene goes limp*
*Dante picks Sene up and slams him*
Mazzagati--"OK....Fight!"
Really Steve?!!?!?!??! Is this like the Lesnar fight when Brock hit Mir in the back of the head "4 or 5 times"?! Did ya just miss the whole point of having "fights".....I think Steve must know the Fertittas from "back in the day", and these guys just keep hooking him up. He is NOT a good ref whatsoever.
This was a horrible decision. Brandon won rounds 1 and 2 hands down. Dante did NOTHING. He did land a glancing overhand right/left (cant remember) in the third.....whooooooohoooooo! Everyone who watched it knows Rivera did not even come close to winning that fight. It's a shame too.
And I'm not kissing ass here. It wasn't even that great of a fight. It was fairly boring (Not Brandon's fault) with all the clinching and lame takedowns. For a BJJ wizard Rivera should have submitted Brandon on a number of occasions. But when you have that Marine heart, well, you're gonna have to have more than "skill" to beat Brandon. Rivera attempted nothing, he didn't fight, and he didn't deserve the win. I respect Dante as a fighter and as a man, but he lost that fight. Not the first time and unfortunately not the last. Way to go Mohawk.
"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."
Ass kisser EERS_1_Fan Head
Ass kisser
EERS_1_Fan
Head of South East Tribe MMAFIA
MMABRAT, CaptnCrunch, and Michael are all going to start training in the devils MMA lol
Brandon, While I'm not
Brandon,
While I'm not speaking for the Fight Ticker community, I'd be surprised if anyone disagrees with me on this. I am proud to have you representing the site and proud to have you as a member of our community. You did all the tickers proud with your performance last night. If you had told me one fighter had 2 fights coming in and the other had 12 I wouldn't have known which is which.
You lost to a 185-pound blanket, a lay-and-pray artist. I don't believe Rivera once tried a submission or had you in trouble. You were doing all the damage in that fight.
But, in the end it comes down to the judges. As long as fighters know that judges will reward these sorts of performances, fighters will keep giving us these boring fights. You were the only one who came to fight and the only one who came to finish the fight. Rivera went in for a cheap win.
It's frustrating to watch fights like that, ones that essentially show us nothing.
I hope Dana and the UFC hang on to you -- at the very least he seems to think you won the fight. You clearly have more upside than someone like Rivera.
Thank you for your brave performance and for your wonderful blog!
Brandon - I hope we see you
Brandon - I hope we see you in the TUF Finale where you can fight your game and finish some chump. I think too much is getting awarded for these takedowns and not enough for your strikes, if you were on your back or against the cage or where ever those looked devastating. I've taken a knee to the quad before by accident playing sports and I could barely get off the field, I couldn't imagine someone throwing the knees like you were. Brutal.
On another note, someone spoiled one of the finalists for me the other day. Not cool. Going to take away some of the suspense from some of these fights.
-The Captain
EERS_1_Fan wrote: Brandon -
Brandon - I hope we see you in the TUF Finale where you can fight your game and finish some chump.
that is the pm i sent him right after he was screwed lol
EERS_1_Fan
Head of South East Tribe MMAFIA
MMABRAT, CaptnCrunch, and Michael are all going to start training in the devils MMA lol
Jesus... exactly word for
Jesus... exactly word for word... Scary man
-The Captain
Wells said Ticker and +1!
Wells said Ticker and +1!
Tough, tough loss man... I hate to see a guy get a win with basically 3 rounds no damage or even real attempt at damage being done.
I wish they would stand fights up a little quicker and they seriously need to send judges to fighting 101 class. So much advantage is given to 'take downs' and 'control' and not enough to 'meaningful damage'... which would be fine if they just stood fights up more quickly.
Well, I hope to see you fight again soon, I would say I would like to see you get a rematch to prove what we all saw, but that would be at the risk of Dante laying on you for 15 more minutes...
Sixtus wrote: Wells said
Wells said Ticker and +1!
Tough, tough loss man... I hate to see a guy get a win with basically 3 rounds no damage or even real attempt at damage being done.
I wish they would stand fights up a little quicker and they seriously need to send judges to fighting 101 class. So much advantage is given to 'take downs' and 'control' and not enough to 'meaningful damage'... which would be fine if they just stood fights up more quickly.
Maybe I watched a different fight? Everyone keeps using the "Lay and Pray" phrase which I hate by the way! /// All I saw was the stock and hunch approch! once he got the take down, there was no "lay and pray" Mohawk was doing the damage from bottom.
EERS_1_Fan
Head of South East Tribe MMAFIA
MMABRAT, CaptnCrunch, and Michael are all going to start training in the devils MMA lol
That was a horrible
That was a horrible decision!! How do you score points by traping your opponent against the fence or laying on top of him and just hanging on. I could give someone a bearhug for 6 minutes. I agree that the ref has to be more involved in keeping the action going. If he thinks the gameplan of one of the fighters is to Lay and Pray....stand the fighters up early a couple of times. Make them both work.
Eers - lay and pray
Eers - lay and pray meaning... Dante just controlled from the top position and didnt really do much... he wasnt really TRYING to do much beyond that - this is not a knock on Brandon. It looked like Dante worked towards some basic-level submission positions (kimara) but never really made a solid attempt at them - It looked like he was just working to control Brandon. The only real submission attempt was the knee-bar or ankle lock (couldnt tell really which he almost had) but that didnt really appear to be a big threat to Brandon and it resulted in him standing up out of it if I recall.
Ticker got it right - he lost to a blanket - a lay and pray artist. He layed on Brandon and prayed he got a victory for controlling the top position - which he did.
i'm f**king pissed at dante.
i'm f**king pissed at dante. all we heard about this guy was he was the best in the house, that he was a really good BJJ guy. he showed none of that. i hope i never see him in the UFC and if he goes on to win this season this whole thing was a waste. anyone can lean against a guy and lay on top of them. he had so many oppurtunitys to gnp and he didn't, he just held mohawk as mohawk elbowed him. poor job by dante, the ref, the judges and i'm liking rampage more than forrest now...forrest said himself that dante didn't do shit on the ground.
brandon, you did all you could to win, i hope someone gets injured later in the show and they picked you to fight and you go on to win the finals. you deserved to win that fight.
Underboss MMAfia
Head of the West Coast Family
ULTIMATE CHALLENGE CHAMPION UFC 83
iamphoenix wrote: i hope
i hope someone gets injured later in the show and they picked you to fight and you go on to win the finals. you deserved to win that fight.
Wow. You must be pissed phoenix. You just wished injury on another fighter... I thought I was pissed off...
or another case of neck
or another case of neck herpes.
it's unfortunate that one guy came in to fight and the other guy to hug.
Underboss MMAfia
Head of the West Coast Family
ULTIMATE CHALLENGE CHAMPION UFC 83
What if someone was to get
What if someone was to get pink eye?
EERS_1_Fan
Head of South East Tribe MMAFIA
MMABRAT, CaptnCrunch, and Michael are all going to start training in the devils MMA lol
pink eye...get off the
pink eye...get off the show!!
who else thinks jesse(i think that's him) looks like the dumb kid in the class?
Underboss MMAfia
Head of the West Coast Family
ULTIMATE CHALLENGE CHAMPION UFC 83
does dante have a blog? i
does dante have a blog? i want to hear if he's satisfied with a cheap win like that.
Underboss MMAfia
Head of the West Coast Family
ULTIMATE CHALLENGE CHAMPION UFC 83
http://mma.lohudblogs.com/200
http://mma.lohudblogs.com/2008/05/01/mike-dolces-ultimate-fighter-7-blog...
mike dolces blog...who the fudge are these judges??!!
Underboss MMAfia
Head of the West Coast Family
ULTIMATE CHALLENGE CHAMPION UFC 83
this could have
this could have helped...
Underboss MMAfia
Head of the West Coast Family
ULTIMATE CHALLENGE CHAMPION UFC 83
lol...I'm going to buy a
lol...I'm going to buy a bottle of that just in case I ever run into the guy...
this is dante rivera
this is dante rivera training...as you can see, this is a really difficult technique to learn, and it requires hours upon hours of laying down without moving...
Underboss MMAfia
Head of the West Coast Family
ULTIMATE CHALLENGE CHAMPION UFC 83
Nice job Mohawk - both the
Nice job Mohawk - both the blog and in the fight. I also read your interview over on MMAJunkie. As a mixed martial artist and as a person, I appreciate all your efforts. I don't necessarily support the war, but I certainly appreciate the danger you folks in the armed forces must encounter. In addition to here on FightTicker, you get a lot of comments on different sites saying you're a class act (and that you won the fight); that says something. Nice job overall and I have a good feeling we'll see you in the UFC at the finals!
LMFAOAP EERS_1_Fan Head of
LMFAOAP
EERS_1_Fan
Head of South East Tribe MMAFIA
MMABRAT, CaptnCrunch, and Michael are all going to start training in the devils MMA lol
My Dad (EERS) isn't the
My Dad (EERS) isn't the funest person to watch TV with any way, but he was a lunatic (sp) last night! As if People thousands of miles away (not to mention) "pre recorded" could hear him he was screaming, and acting a fool.
I had to finish watching it in my room because i could not hear what was going on. When it went to round 3 I heard my dad say "they cost him the fight"
I have to admit, Mohawk was robed and White will set him up with a nice fight I'm sure?
MMABrat
Run Forest Run
mohawks tryout video
mohawks tryout video
Underboss MMAfia
Head of the West Coast Family
ULTIMATE CHALLENGE CHAMPION UFC 83
Brandon - I had a bad
Brandon - I had a bad feeling last night when I read the preview for the episode, and saw you dominate the first round. The preview said something about a coach being angry at a decision. After the first round ended, I told my son that you were going to get robbed. He said no way. And after the second round, he was laughing at me. He said he didn't think it would even go to a third round, let alone have Rivera win the fight. Well, it went to the third, as we all know, and Rivera hugged the hell out of you. It's a nice gesture outside of the Octagon, but inside, it should have led to a loss for him.
My son was going ballistic after the decision was announced. He was so angry. He made me promise to send you some type of encouragement here on FightTicker. He usually watches the episodes before school on Thursday morning, but because a fellow Ticker was on, I let him stay up. He eventually fell asleep around 2:15 AM, still bitter over the decision. His mom brought him down to my job this evening, and he is standing over my shoulder as I type this. He asked me to tell you to keep your head up, and he knows this is not the last we'll see of you. He hopes they bring you back if there is an injury, and he knows you'll KO your next opponent at the Finale.
Thanks, Brandon, for trying to make a fight where there clearly wasn't one, and for giving my 11 year old and I someone to root for, together. It's been a pleasure watching you so far. Can't wait for the next fight.
TBC
TBC, that is a really
TBC, that is a really touching story. I hope Brandon reads your comment and I hope he realizes how much he is truly appreciated on this site. It's not about wins and losses -- it's about the journey and so far Brandon is traveling that journey in a remarkably admirable way.
Phoenix, great video. Very creative and shows yet another facet of who Brandon is as a person. Highly recommended. Makes me wonder why they don't show these on TUF...
HEY EVERYBODY THANK YOU SO
HEY EVERYBODY THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE SUPPORT AND COMENTS!! I HAVE READ ALL OF THEM AND THEY ALL REALLY MAKE ME FEEL ALLOT BETTER KNOWING IT WASNT JUST ME.. SO ONC AGAIN THANK YOU ALL...!! fyi: THERE IS A PRETTY GOOD INTERVIEW UP ON MMAJUNKIE NOW ALSO!
Visit Brandon at his MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/sene8541
kinda late with my
kinda late with my assessment/reaction ... (missed it when it aired the first time and only got to watch it 2 days later).
round 1. i have to say it appeared you clearly won the first round with strikes, despite getting taken down. i think in the clinch and on the ground you were landing more shots, and while dante may have been working for something, it didn't appear to be going anywhere and not particularly damaging.
round 2. at first i was going to say that i think this was dante's round while i was watching it because after what i believe to be the 1st takedown, he had you in an awkward position and was actually landing a few strikes. BUT, again, you were striking a lot more. when you were able to sweep and reverse, i think you effectively balanced out the scoring that may have given this to him... in my mind, i believe the scoring on this round could have justifiably been anywhere. looks like some folks would have handily given this one to you, others dante. i was torn and decided that your efforts in the sweep would have definitely, at the very least warranted a 9-9 draw for the round. i also believe the ref did not address the takedown correctly and should have stood you both up, since he called for a break prior to the takedown.
round 3. the final round shouldn't have happened. unfortunately, i think he laid on you for more than half the round, effectively just securing a 10-9 without putting in as much effort as most of the viewers probably would have wanted to see.
i believe you should have been given the decision without a 3rd round, at the very least with a 19-18 score from the judges. you got out-wrestled but i think if you take into account the striking and work you were doing, the judges did you a disservice.
i like how incensed rampage got over the whole thing because i think it shows how strongly people believe that you won that fight. i know you aren't at liberty to discuss what happens in episodes that don't air, but here's to hoping someone can't fight and they give you another shot.
Wow, that's got to be
Wow, that's got to be heartbreaking to lose like that. He had one submission attempt which was a weak knee bar. No striking, no ground striking, and no subs. I don't think it should have even gone to overtime. That was your fight. Best of luck in your next fight, just work some more sprawl and your sweeps in BJJ and you'll do much better against lay and pray guys.
That decision was definitely
That decision was definitely lame as hell, but nonetheless you proved you could hang with one of the most experienced fighters on the show and are the type of fighter who will always push the action. It's damn impressive the way Rampage went to bat for you too, and I'm sure he'll be a great contact for you as you continue to build your MMA career. Hopefully you'll be back as a replacement later on in the season, or, at the very least be fighting in the finale. I'm pulling for you man...