THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER SEASON 12 EPISODE 4 REVIEW

Iron Mike sticks around and offers Team GSP some words of wisdom. He states that the smarter fighter always wins and that confidence is key, not only in fighting, but in any aspect of life.

Back at the house, Team Koscheck lets loose their sour grapes at Alex Caceres. Apparently, Caceres was yelling all sorts of profanities against Wilkinson during the fight and Team Koscheck took offense to that. Oookay. I honestly don't see anything wrong with that. Sure, yelling profanities against another person is a bad thing, but Caceres was essentially just cheering for his team in his own way. And now, just because they lost, Team Koscheck is looking for a scapegoat to vent their anger upon. And better yet, when Caceres gets annoyed at them for talking about him behind his back, Sevak goes into a mindless rage. Team Kosecheck definitely looks like it's being demonized, at least in this episode. Caceres just laughs it off, which is, oddly enough, the mature thing to do.

Andy Main (left) vs. Kyle Watson (right)

GSP arrives at the gym and, showing that he's learned his lesson, parks in such a way that Koscheck can't repeat his car door prank.

FIGHT PICK

GSP picks Kyle Watson to fight Andrew Main. It's basically the youngest guy in the house vs. the oldest, so GSP is banking on Watson's experience to gain him the upper hand against Main, but Koscheck is looking to capitalize on Main's youth, and defeat "Old man" Watson by sheer physicality.

Team GSP believes that, despite the fact that both fighters specialize in BJJ, Watson's is much more experience and can submit Main. If the fight goes to a BJJ standstill, though, the backup game plan would, of course, be to finish the fight on the feet.

Team Koscheck's plan is to put Watson out of his comfort zone by having Main stay active and mobile. They figure that Watson likes the slow, technical pace of BJJ, and will feel uncomfortable if his opponent keeps moving a lot, both on the ground and on the feet. Koscheck's teammate, John Fitch, also makes an appearance to help out with the training.

PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE

At this point, Koscheck's extreme competitiveness is getting the better of him. He doesn't like losing 2-0 to anyone and makes this well known to his team. Main feels the pressure to not only turn the tables around, but also prove that he has legitimate skills despite being the youngest in the house. Team GSP recognizes this and wants to maximize the psychological advantage that they have. They remove Watson's anxiety by having him visual himself submitting Main, and rehearsing going into the cage to fight over and over.

I'm very impressed that Team GSP is placing so much emphasis on sports psychology in their preparations for the fights. Psychological tools can be incredibly useful and may sometimes clear the line between losing winning. The fact that GSP's assistant coaches recognize this shows just how professional they are.

Main takes Watson's back early in the 1st round

ROUND 1

Both fighters come out swinging and it is immediately clear that Main is the faster, more accurate striker. Watson recognizes this and immediately clinches and pins him onto the cage. Main quickly reverses the position and jumps on Watson's back. Watson defends pretty well from this position, but is still under a lot of pressure from carrying around Main on his back. Watson drops to the ground, breaks free of Main's grip, and gains a superior position. He is unable to be effective from this position, however, as Main pushes him off with up kicks. The fight is indeed a BJJ stalemate by this point. The round ends and I personally gave it to Main, since he was clearly the more offensive fighter

ROUND 2

The second round starts almost exactly the same. Main comes out with superior striking and Watson, threatened, takes him down. Watson maintains his top position for much of the round, but, once again, fails to be effective, as Main neutralizes all of his attacks. He takes Main's back at the halfway point, though, and sinks in a rear naked choke. Main, obviously exhausted, fails to escape this time and taps. Koscheck is clearly upset.

MY TAKE ON THE EPISODE

Watson finishes Main with a Rear Naked Choke

The episode was pretty average, in my opinion. Not a bad episode, but nothing too great, either. Due to the BJJ stalemate, the fight wasn't the most exciting to view, though Watson did pull off a great finish.

I found the antics and childish anger in the house more annoying than entertaining, but I hear that that sort of drama apparently pulls in ratings somehow, so I suppose I understand. I also loved Iron Mike sharing his words of wisdom and the psychological tools that Team GSP utilized. Though, again, nothing too exciting. I was pretty surprised at the end of the episode, though, when Koscheck actually showed some maturity and kept his composure after his third straight loss.

UP NEXT

I am so not a fan of the pranks being shown regularly at the TUF House, but here we go again, care of Alex Caceres, who is apparently this season's "bad boy", though I really don't think he's anything even close to that.  Team GSP brings in another assistant coach to help with training, this time in Muay Thai. Plus, former UFC Light Heavyweight champ Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell shows up to talk to Team Koscheck, and two more Lightweights mix it up on the next Ultimate Fighter!