"Brutal" Johnny Bedford's Blog

Here we are, the second to last episode of the always entertaining Season 14 of The Ultimate Fighter. WOW what an opening line, I think I may have a career in MMA journalism after my fight career is done!

Anyways, the episode showed a recap of the first semi final matchup from last week, between Dennis Bermudez and Akira Corassani. To say that was a crazy fight would be a huge understatement, Akira came out full throttle connecting on Bermudez’s chin numerous times. After watching it for the first time on tv, and not live from the bleachers, it looked as if Dennis was out a few times on his feet. The one thing the world has now witnessed is Dennis Bermudez’s iron will. It doesn’t matter what you hit that guy with, he is going to keep coming. He finally was able to secure the takedown, and while listening to Mayhem’s expertise right in his corner, he was able to sink in a guillotine that choked Akira unconscious! Great fight for Dennis, and he’s the first man to secure his spot in the finale, live December 3rd
at the Palms in Las Vegas.

This episode shows a lot of the other fighters are kind of checking out! In real time, we have all already been there for 5 ½ weeks, and all the semi final matchups were the final two days we were locked in the house. To be honest, if I wasn’t still fighting it would be hard to want to train, or do anything other than thinking about getting home. It was really hard for me, and I still had a semi final matchup ahead of me. Every day was tougher than the next, I was ready to get home and see my wife and son. Dustin, Dennis, and I made a calendar for our room, and we would mark of the days every night before bed. The last few days took forever. It was hard but I had to stay focused, I still had one more fight left to win to complete this journey. Fine tuning skills, and getting your weight right was all that mattered the last
week.

They then showed Dustin giving our homeless buddy a goodie bag! This just shows the kind of person Dustin Pague really is. No one knew anything about him doing this, just one day he had a zip lock bag with him that had a sandwich, some Clif bars, a few bottles of water, and some Gatorade in it. It also had a letter he wrote, trying to lift his spirits and just to remind him that God loves him. The day Dustin had all of this, was one of the few days that there were no cameras with us for some reason. You could tell he was upset, and was certainly not looking for notoriety or anything from it. So the next day, while the cameras were rolling, we spotted our guy. He was on the same corner every single day, asking for any help anyone could give him. This is July, in Vegas and the temperature was always over a 100 so Dustin did the only thing he could do. We had no cash in the house, we weren’t allowed to leave, so he packed some stuff in a bag, and hopefully brought a smile to this guy’s face that morning.

Next up is the fight! Dustin is my teammate and one of the few really good friends I made on the show. I wanted nothing more for him to win, but I knew TJ would be a tough matchup. The classic wrestler vs striker matchup. I was hoping Dustin would be able to move his feet, and defend takedowns well enough to keep it standing where he is most comfortable. Unfortunately, as you all saw, that wasn’t the case. TJ showed pretty good striking, and was able to take Dustin down whenever he wanted to. From the top position he rained down elbows and punches, and controlled the fight for all 3 rounds. TJ also showed a solid chin, after getting clipped with a big flying knee by Dustin. TJ was the better fighter that day, and it was a sad moment for me on the show. You couldn’t ask for a better person than Dustin Pague, but TJ is a great fighter, and stuck to his game plan well.

With all that said, I still talk to Dustin and Dennis regularly, and I actually will be seeing them both this upcoming weekend. I am really excited to see these two again. I fly into D.C. late Friday night, and Dustin’s wife is picking me up and the two of us are driving to Harrisburg PA. We will meet Dustin there, and on Saturday we will meet up with The Menace, before going to a MMA fight that night, where both have fought before. Dustin is cornering one of his training partners, and it should be a good night fights. Sunday we are driving back to Virginia where Dustin just opened up his new gym called Disciple MMA. We will train together for the next few days before I come back Thanksgiving morning to spend time with the family. The next few weeks are going to be crazy with traveling to Virginia, then the Holiday and then leaving the following Tuesday to head to Vegas to fight Dec 3rd.

I know what you’re thinking, but that doesn’t mean I win or lose my fight next week against Dodson. It means that I am fighting, and you will have to wait a little while to find out who! More than just the finalists are fighting that night, and regardless of anything I am excited to finally be fighting for the UFC.

Thank you all for your continued support! I feel like I have the best fans in the world! Stay tuned for more blogs, interviews, and upcoming fight news. God Bless!!

So we all just watched one of the craziest episodes ever!! The show starts out showing the mini
celebration Team Mayhem was having, and next thing you know Diego is going crazy. Diego has two
personalities, what they haven’t showed would definitely show this. Some days in the house, Diego is
one of the nicest guys to be around, and the next he will be a raging maniac telling people he is going to
kill. Obviously in terrible English, I told him that he was going to be subtitled so people can understand
what he is saying! Anyways Diego for no apparent reason, tells Siler that he is going to kill him. You
could tell he was frustrated from his team losing all the matchups thus far, and him not knowing when
he was going to fight. But Siler ?? Why ? That dude has never done anything to anyone that could
warrant them getting upset. If he wasn’t sleeping, which was a lot, he was smiling, and happy to be
here. I didn’t understand it, but you never know what you’re going to get with Diego.

The snitch is discovered, and Dodson seems to care less about all the drama he has caused. I read a blog
a few weeks back, where he said he was upset with the way he is being portrayed. WOW! You have
been portrayed as a snitch, and that is exactly what you are. But this time around Mayhem out smarted
him, and kept it a secret who was actually fighting next. I’m still not sure why the last two 145 matchups
were the way they were. I thought that Siler, should of fought Akira. I wanted Team Mayhem to keep
control, and in my opinion Siler would have beaten Akira. At the time I felt like Neace wanted this beef
with Akira to guarantee the matchup he wanted. He definitely didn’t want to fight Diego. Siler being
the “I’ll fight anyone” guy he is, did not put up much of a fight when deciding who fights who.

Dustin Neace gets the name swagger jacker during this episode. I thought it was hilarious, and rightfully
so. At this point there were already a few things other guys commented on, but the cowboy hat with
the “B” painted on it was a little too much. Team Bisping get the hat in their possession, and just wait to
see what happens with that! Neace is fired up about his missing hat, and trashes Bisping’s locker room.
He is certain the Akira had something to do with it, and the two get in a heated argument before we
walk into the gym for fight announcement. Akira wants to fight him in the garden, haha yes everyone
thought that was hilarious. But obviously these two wanted to kill each other.

Mayhem takes center stage at the fight announcement that took forever as these two couldn’t stop
trash talking. Mayhem first announces Steve Siler, but obviously already discussed we knew Neace was
the on fighting next. Before Akira’s name is called, he already has his goofy hat and shirt off. Neace,
swagger jacks again taking his shirt off as well. They get in each other face, and Neace changes levels
and shoots one of the worst double legs ever. Akira is on top, but Neace is trying to arm triangle him
unconscious. I am right in the middle of the madness, and others start putting their hands on each
other. Bisping, being the classy guy that he is says something to Coach Ryan Parsons, and Mayhem
shoves Bisping back. Not to happy about it, Bisping keeps threatening Mayhem. Sorry, but that
horrible English accent is not intimidating anyone. What the show did not show, is Akira at this point is
something like 22 pounds overweight, with only 28 hours until weigh ins. He was miserable trying to get
that weight off in time, and you could see it as he stepped onto the scale.

Fight day is here, and tensions are high. Team Bisping desperately needs this win, and Team Mayhem

would love to pick off another one of their fighters. The tension is high when the fights start. Akira
is landing the better strikes, and gets a takedown after a spinning back kick misses horribly by Neace.
Akira is doing pretty well defending the submissions, but seems to be in defensive mode most of the
time on top. Neace then hits a great heel hook and has Akira in trouble. At the time I felt like I was
the only one that missed the “tap.” But after watching the episode, I am now certain that Akira did tap
out. The round ends and Team Mayhem and Team Bisping are arguing on the bleachers about the tap.
The fight is obviously not over, and the second round starts. I am screaming the entire time for Neace
to take him down. He has a big advantage on the ground, but refuses to attempt a single takedown.
Akira then connects on Neace’s chin and knocks him down. Some ground and pound from Akira and the
round ends. Still not sure how the first round is being scored, I am wondering if we are going to see a
third round or not. Akira is confident the fight is over, and machine guns Neace as he is sitting on the
stool in his corner. Neace tries to attack Akira but coaches keep them separated. Bisping is running off
at the mouth again, and Mayhem squirts him with water. Tempers flare, and the head of the Nevada
Athletic Commission threatens to suspend Akira for his stunt.

The show ends with Team Bisping excited to finally get a win, and Neace pleading his case in our locker
room. Dustin Pague saw the tap, and I am convinced. Dustin certainly isn’t the type to lie about
something. Recap; Dodson is a snitch, Diego is unstable, Akira wants to fight in the garden, Neace is a
swagger jacker, Team Bisping wins their first fight, Team Mayhem is still dominating this competition!

Thank y’all for reading each week. The drama is just getting started, so make sure to keep watching!!

Alright ladies and gentleman, episode 4 is in the books! What a great night of fights! Dennis Bermudez
and Dustin Pague were the two guys from the show that I really connected with. I still talk to both of
them regularly, and will continue to do so. The episode starts of showing Team Bisping training, and
it shows Louis telling Bisping that Bermudez versus Bass will be the next matchup. It is now clear as
to who is the “mole” and Bisping comments “I love that guy” speaking of Dodson of course. Pretty
upsetting watching it from the outside to be honest, this is a guy we all trained with and at this point still
respected. I had no idea it was as bad as it was at the time. I also read a blog last week from Dodson
saying he doesn’t like how the show is portraying him. I understand that this is tv and there is a lot of
footage, and that producers could tweak your character a little bit, but when your obviously a snitch,
how are you going to complain about it and say things like your being portrayed in the wrong.

Anyways enough about that rat Dodson, onto the first fight of the night! Stephen Bass obviously gets
a few more days than he was supposed to train for this fight. Bisping puts him through some hard
sparring with some of the wrestlers to mimic The Menace’s style. It shows Bass complaining and asking
if Bisping is trying to make him completely gassed before his fight. I’m not sure what his usual training
schedule is, but that looks like a Tuesday afternoon for me. I saw at no point that he was being over
trained by his coaching staff.

The next day at the fighter announcements, Mayhem takes the center of the mat, where by now he
is becoming quite comfortable. And we are all looking around, wondering where Michael Bisping is? I
have always thought he was arrogant, but to not show up for your team was ridiculous. Fighter picks
must go on, and Mayhem selects to no surprise The Menace Dennis Bermudez vs Stephen Bass. I am
very confident that Team Mayhem will keep control, and that Dennis will be the next fighter on our
team to lock down a semi finals fight. The fight starts and goes exactly as I envisioned it to. Dennis
comes out throwing big hard punches, and takes Bass down whenever he chooses to. Once he gets on
top, he delivers some of the best ground and pound I have ever witnessed live. I thought this fight could
have been stopped 4 or 5 different times. But with that said give credit to Bass’s heart. We could all
hear the ref telling him to better his position, and we would hear Bass grunt and move just enough to
keep the punches coming. He miraculously makes it out of the first round, only to be taken back down,
and delivered a ton more punishment before the referee had to intervene and stop the fight! Team
Mayhem now 3-0!!

The next part of the show is the fighter announcement for the next bantamweight matchup. Team
Mayhem selects Dustin “The Disciple” Pague to fight Team Bisping’s number 1 pick Louis Gaudinot.
Team Bisping seems very confident in this matchup, as I’m sure they felt they could finally win one. I
was blown away how arrogant they were. Having trained with Dustin for a few weeks at this point,
I didn’t see how a 5’3 striker would have a chance against Pague. Dustin has great stand up, creates
angles really well, and uses his length great. This fight starts and once again goes exactly has planned.
Dustin him keeps him at bay with his reach and is picking him apart. He is landing some big knees,
and dominating Louis in the clinch. The second round is exactly as the first was, Dustin is landing big
punches, low kicks, and knees to the head. The last big knee drops Louis to the canvas, and Dustin gets

on top to lock in the rear naked choke. Mayhem calls that variation “Captain America” and you can tell
is very proud of Dustin finishing the fight that way!!

This week has been a crazy week for me! My wife and I had a doctors appointment, where we were
able to hear the babies heart beat. We find out in another 5 weeks or so if we are having a boy or a girl.
I never thought I’d say this but I’m actually hoping for a little girl!! This past weekend I was in Houston
Texas, for the UFC fan expo. This is where the notoriety the show is providing hit me the most. Walking
into the hotel on Friday night being swarmed by fans for pictures and autographs was surreal. It was
a great moment for me, and really put into light, that all I have been working so hard for, is finally
here. Friday night I went to see Joe Rogan’s standup act, and went to dinner with Mayhem, Coach
Ryan Parsons, and The Menace. It was great being able to see all these guys again, and really enjoyed
spending time with them outside of the show.

On Wednesday morning I was at Fossil Ridge High School, where I had my first try at public speaking.
I was so nervous, way more nervous than when I fight, to go out and speak in front of thousands of
students. The assembly was about peer pressure, and Pastor Tyron broke it down into 3 sections.
Finding your purpose, preparation, and the people you surround yourself with. They showed a 3 minute
clip of me about preparation, and how nothing in life is guaranteed. The message was about preparing
yourself for when your big opportunity comes. I feel very blessed to be a part of such an amazing
church at Milestone. And loving all the support I’m getting from all the fans. Thank y’all so much! And
keep reading!!

Ok everyone, episode 3 is in the books!! Thanks again for all your support, and for reading my blog
each week! As you all witnessed I got my chance to fight on this episode. Once teams were selected,
Mayhem asked us who wanted to fight first. I immediately said I wanted to fight first. A lot of people
probably think this was not a good idea, since I did break my hand in my first fight against Carson Beebe.
Yes, they will show X-rays, and me in a cast in future episodes. But the reason I wanted to fight first was
because I wanted the best match up to get to the semi finals. At first we didn’t know if bantamweights
or featherweights were fighting first. I guess we kind of assumed it would be bantamweights, because
we all fought first to get into the house, and because we were drafted first. Coach Mayhem and Coach
Ryan found out from the producers that either weight class could fight first, but from there on out it had
to alternate between the two weight classes. Bryan Caraway has also said he wanted to fight first, and
after talking with the team and coaches, we all decided Bryan would go first. I was confident in Bryan
winning his fight, which you all seen that he did, and that I would get the matchup I wanted. Plus this
gave me a few more days for my hand to stop hurting as bad, and also to cut some weight now knowing
what day I will be fighting.

This episode is the first to start showing the drama in the house, and in training. Little “clicks” are
starting to be formed. And certain people are getting bored, and on edge already. Akira quickly
becomes the entertainment in the house, and I really wished they would of showed more of him
jumping up and landing on his nuts, as he did that probably 15 times for our entertainment. It was
hilarious, I have never met another male who is so willing to hurt his genitalia as much as he is, for
entertainment of others. Akira is also the first one to start the pranks inside the house. He would wait
until everyone else fell asleep, and started putting unusual things inside of peoples gloves and other
things. Obviously he got a rise out of Neace as you all witnessed the drama between the two start to
unfold. Also in this episode, you get to see the first meltdown in the UFC training center. Obviously
I wasn’t there for it, but Team Bisping is already at each others throat. Diego is a very emotional guy,
and you can see that very fast after living with him for a few days now. Marcus and him get into while
sparring, that turns into each of them trying to kill the other. Yes kill, as you hear Diego tell him that
with his broken English that needs subtitled the entire time. Back inside the house you see right away,
which guys bond with which. Death Leprechaun is formed by 3 of the guys who still are not tall enough
to ride rollercoaster’s. Dodson, Louis, and Ferguson are the little guys on the show, with way too
much energy. They name their click, and decide on the balcony outside of the upstairs bedroom as
their “hangout.” Great, that’s right next to my bed, I am definitely not to happy about that, knowing im
fighting in a few days time, but what are you going to do. The one thing that is weird about this little
click, is that Dodson is on Team Mayhem, but yet he chooses to spend all of his time with Team Bisping
guys. It looks fishy, but knowing what I do now, I would of kept a lot more secretive from him. Dodson
is a snitch, you know that right when Ferguson pulls out the sign at the fighter announcement. There
should have been no way for him to know I was calling him out other than Dodson running his mouth.

Onto the fighter announcement, my hand is still killing me, as you all seen when trying to spar with
Mayhem. But I am confident, I am still going to smash this kid. Mayhem announces me as the next
executioner, and then lets Ferguson know he’s next in line for a smashing. He obviously knew I was
calling him out, and pulls out is cute little sign that reads F@#% You Bedford. I was heated, I had no bad

feelings towards him up until this point, but now he has crossed the line. Ferguson can play the tough
guy all he wants, but everyone there knew he wanted nothing to do with squaring off with me in the
octagon. He now made it personal, and I was determined to make him pay for it. I let him know, that
he is going to have all the time in the world now to hang out with his new buddies, and drink and smoke
as much hookah as he wants. He’s going to be out of this competition come fight time.

The next day are the weigh ins. I am miserable, dehydrated and ready to get it over with and start
drinking, and eating again. At the time, I didn’t even hear Bisping’s comment about my hand, as I was
way more focused on drinking something rather than listening to his blabbering comments. The episode
then shows Team Bisping in their locker room, and Ferguson tells the coaches about my hand. I had
no idea about this, and as I watched it I get upset, now knowing what a snake Dodson really is. I am
rehydrating for the rest of the evening, and Coach Mayhem and all the assistants bring me food to the
house. I am feeling better at this point, and ready for tomorrow!

Fight Day!! I get to the training center early, and get my hands wrapped by “House” a long time wrap
and cut man for the UFC. He knows about my injury and puts some extra gauze and tape on it. I get
warmed up, mentally ready, and they call me to the hallway. The UFC music starts, and I walk through
the doors toward the cage ready to dominate. I am the first one in the cage, and next comes Josh
Ferguson. This is it, this is the fight I chose to advance me in the competition. The referee says fight,
and it’s on. Looking back now, I don’t know how bad my hand was hurting at that exact moment, but
you can obviously tell by my lack of ground and pound something isn’t right. I control him in the clinch,
and easily take him down whenever I choose to. From top side, I really only elbow with my right side,
not being able to throw big right hands down onto him. I lock on a kimura that I am still baffled on
how I didn’t finish it. I probably should of stayed there, instead of transitioning to the arm bar. But I
swell his eye up bad, with a hammer fist while trying to apply the arm bar. The second round is more
of the same, as I take him down and control him easily. I pass his guard, throw numerous elbows,
and end up winning a dominating decision. You can tell right away that I am not happy with going to
a decision. I should of put him away, either submitted him or knocked him out. I am not happy at all
with my performance, and really upset knowing I will not be getting the $5000 bonus for knockouts or
submissions. 5k would have been really nice in my bank account for me and my family, but at the end of
the day it is all about winning and advancing. I try not to dwell on it too much, and am happy to be the
first bantamweight in the semifinals. So now y’all get to see me fight at least one more time!!

Thanks for all the support!! Keep reading the blog and remember to like my fan page and follow me on
twitter!!

Alright, it’s the day after the second episode. As you all watched, the teams were formed and the first fight went down. It was a great day for Team Mayhem, as we kept control of the next fight selection, and start out 1-0 against Team Bisping.

Thank you everyone who came out to The Eagles Nest again this week, it means a lot to have all of you there with me watching each episode with me. And for the others who couldn’t make it out to the Eagles Nest thank you as well, your continued support means more to me than I’ll ever be able to show. It weird to say that I have fans, but I really feel like I have the greatest fans in the world!

Last night we had a few different ways to win free T-shirts. I am currently on an airplane heading to Florida for vacation with my amazing family! But once I land and get a second to talk to my great web guys Ricky Vega, and Todd Anstis, I will announce our Facebook Fans and Twitter followers who were lucky enough to be one of the 100th or 50th to Like or follow me. My other competition was to guess which team selects me in Episode 2, and which overall pick I was. There seemed to be a little confusion, and it was probably my fault, but we couldn’t accept the round in which I was picked as an answer in this contest. If you said 2nd round for example, that could be either the 3rd or the 4th pick, so we wanted specifics. The winner is going to be Nathan Emch and Cody Seevers. You both correctly picked Team Mayhem, and the 4th overall pick! You both also answered at almost the exact same time. We don’t want to hold up the contest digging through the numbers to see exactly who posted first, so instead of doing a bunch of research – you both win! And besides if I gave it just to Nathan, that might look a little fishy since he is my cousin from Michigan. Cody is a fellow Woodmore graduate, whom I
believe now lives in New Mexico. Congrats to both of you, and thanks for the support! Email me at johnny@brutaljohnnybedford.com and send me your address so I can ship them out as soon as I get back from Florida.

I have had a lot of questions about how to get a T-shirt. They took a little longer than expected to get in, but we will have them soon. Once they arrive, there will be a way to order them online, pick them up at the gym, or at the Eagles Nest next Wednesday. I am really happy about these shirts, and I will get pictures up of them on the website as soon I get back to Texas. Keep checking the blog, Facebook and Twitter to get additional details.

Now for the fun part…

If you follow me on Twitter, you probably saw where we told y’all to ask any question and it will be answered in today’s blog. There were only 4 questions, but don’t worry you will have other opportunities to ask questions you would like to have answered in the weeks to come. Ask anything you want, I will answer anything related to the show, and probably a lot more than that!

Question 1 comes from @RyanBerry8: What was your daily training schedule? Weights? Sparring? Technique?
The UFC talked with the coaches and they decided on what times we would be training each day. Team Mayhem would train everyday at 10 a.m. until 12 p.m. We would then go back to the house to eat lunch and relax, before heading back to the gym for our second training session from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m. Team Bisping would train from 12 until 2, and 6 until 8. What we did each day was decided by the Team Mayhem coaching staff. Some days we would grapple, and work on ground and pound. Later that day we may be kickboxing. There were days we put it all together and did MMA sparring. And the dreaded days of circuit training, for strength and conditioning. Some days would be a lot more technical, working on specific positions, or different submissions, and different striking combinations and footwork.

The one thing I will say for sure is that our coaches pushed us hard, but we also trained smart. Mayhem and the staff could tell when we were beat up and sore, so we may only have one training session that day. The thing I liked most was the individual training we received. Don’t get me wrong it was great being in a room with 7 other guys, roughly your size, that are all obviously talented fighters. Whenever you put a group like that together, everyone is going to get better. But again the specialized one on one training is what stands out most to me. Our coaching staff was extremely knowledgeable. Mayhem has fought for all the big organizations in the world. He’s fought the who’s who and obviously done really well against some of the best fighters in the world.

Mayhem’s main assistant was Dr. Ryan Parsons. Dr. Parsons is an MMA genius, being involved in the sport for years now. He was one of the head guys at Team Quest, and now is Mayhem’s manager, coach, promoter, and the list goes on. You can tell right away that he plays a major part in Mayhem’s day-to-day life, and that he is someone who he looks up to.

We had 2 of the greatest striking coaches I have ever seen on the show, and I was ecstatic to be able to work with them. First was Melchor Menor, who we all called Coach Mel. Coach Mel is a world champion thai boxer, going to Thailand numerous times to fight, and win. His thai boxing knowledge was incredible, and he would gladly work with anyone on our team, whenever possible. I spent a lot of time working with Coach Mel, and I am very thankful for it.

Next up is Danny Perez, Coach Danny was a world champion boxer, who is still the only man to ever knock down Antonio Margarito. Coach Danny was one of the coolest guys you could ever meet. Once you’re friends with him, you’re family, and you could tell he would do anything for each and every one of the guys on our team.

Our last coach was “Kush.” That was what Mayhem called him and I soon understood why – Kush is a lot easier to say than Kamaru Usman. Coach Kush is a stud wrestler, originally from right here in DFW. He now lives and trains at the OTC (Olympic training center) and worked well for the guys who didn’t have a solid wrestling base.

I would say most of my one on one training was done with Coach Mel, Mayhem, and Dr. Parsons. Wrestling being my main background, I didn’t work with Kush all that much, and with a right
hand that was killing me, it was hard to get a lot of mitt work in with Coach Danny.

Question 2 also comes from @RyanBerry8: Since you were locked up with a bunch of guys was it like prison? Was dropping the soap a mistake you do not make?
Hmmm I guess you could compare it to prison. You are on complete lock down for the entirety of the show. You see the same guys all day, every day. The production crew does everything possible to make you go crazy in the house. There is absolutely nothing in the house for entertainment. You can’t have any personal belongings, no cell phone, no money – nothing. There is no phone, internet, TV, or radio. I wasn’t able to talk to my wife or kid for over 5 ½ weeks. No phone calls, letters – nothing. You don’t hear a single song, and if you get caught singing a song, you get fined for it because of copyright laws. You drive to training everyday without music on, you train in silence, looking back now I realize how crazy it was.

Another thing that you take for granted, is that you have zero contact with anyone but the other 15 fighters. It was weird when the show was done taping, being able to walk out of our hotel room and get fast food, talk to people, little things like that.

As for the drop the soap comment, that definitely made me laugh! Maybe that’s where it falls short of prison haha. If you know fighters, you know we’re all a little weird, but definitely all sure of our sexuality. Sure you will see me getting rubbed down by another half naked male, but dropping the soap was never a real fear. Thank God!!

Question 3 comes from @Savagesquirrels: Who was the coolest/biggest name UFC fighter you met while in Vegas?
I am not sure if I am allowed to answer that how I want to, as it might give away upcoming
episodes. But what I will say is that I am not easily star struck, you can put me in a room with a bunch of UFC champions and I would be cool. One guy comes in as a guest coach one episode, and this man has been my idol for years. His career and the fighters he was training, is what made me want to fight MMA in the first place. Once they show the episode I will come back and share my thoughts on this.

With that said, Mayhem was one of the coolest guys I have ever met. I admit I went into the show not knowing what to expect, but I had a feeling that Mayhem was kind of a clown. I figured he was just like the persona he plays on Bully Beatdown, and I wasn’t thrilled about being coached by that guy. After getting to know him, I quickly found out he is one of the most down to earth, humble people you will ever meet. You could tell right away, that he was there for the right reason, and really cared for each one of his fighters. I still stay in contact with him, and will do so from here on out.

Question 4 comes from @erntx1: With lots of fighters coming out of TUF, how do you feel you will be defined? How important was it to have the coach you wanted pick you?
There are tons of fighters from TUF that have had tons of success in the UFC. With that said there are probably a lot more that you haven’t heard from in years. I am hoping to be defined by my work ethic: I am willing to out work any opponent. There is no fighter that I know who will out work me in preparation for our upcoming fight. There are a lot of things you can’t control in the cage, but being prepared is something you can control. I will always come in in shape, and I will never break. With me being a part of Season 14, the first time for the Bantamweights, and Featherweights. I am excited for the future, we showed the world what us little guys can do, and I continue to keep working my way up the UFC ladder.

The second question is great, I felt blessed to get on Mayhem’s team. I had a feeling I was going to be on Bisping’s team, and when I got picked by Mayhem I was excited. I knew Mayhem would be a much better coach for my style, and I thought I could relate with him better. As you will see in later episodes, I definitely was put on the right team!!

Thanks for all the questions guys, we will continue to do this every week!! I will not be on vacation next week, so I will be able to get these questions answered faster, without my wife wanting to kick my butt for being on a laptop while on family vacation. Thanks for the support!

As you as witnessed, I won my first fight to get into the house. And now I know that I’m going to be in a house with 15 other guys for the next 5 ½ weeks. They shuttle all the winners to the house, and its madness right away. Guys are running everywhere looking at the house, searching for bedrooms, checking out the fridge. Imagine how much searching there is with a 15,000 sq ft house, and a giant back yard. I follow a few of the guys upstairs, and there is a giant bedroom with 7 beds in it! There is UFC graffiti all over the walls, open floors, and seven tiny single beds. I get the one on the end, closest to the entry of the stairs, and our bathroom/closet area. Also there is a patio door right outside the bedroom, with my bed being closest to that as well. Looking back now I should have known this wasn’t going to be an ideal situation for me. But all the emotions of making it here, and realizing how crazy these upcoming weeks will be I wasn’t really thinking ahead.

All the fighters seem to congregate in the kitchen, where we find everything you could think of. There is a pantry as big as a bedroom, and the fridge and freezer are packed full. Guys are firing up the grill, and were all celebrating this moment together. The weird part of picking bedrooms, getting to know certain people, figuring out who you’re going to get along with, is that we have no clue what teams we’re all going to be on. Everyone is fat and happy, especially when we found out we still had a few days before they even decide who’s fighting, and weight seems to not be an issue for anyone.

I didn’t get much sleep with people staying up late, just being loud and forming their little cliques. You immediately see a clique form from what I would call the midgets haha. Dodson, Louis, and Taz are all about 4’9 and have more energy than any other adults I’ve ever spent time with.

I get some rest, and wake up and get ready to head to the UFC training center for the first time. They shuttle us over to the training center, and have us all huddle together as Dana White, Michael Bisping, and Mayhem Miller are all standing in front of us! Dana shows the coin and obviously we know which side is for who, with one side being blue, and the other orange. Dana flips the coin and it rolls halfway across the mats. It finally falls and it’s blue. Bisping wins the coin flip, and Dana tells him that he can either have the first fighter pick, or he can pick the first fight. He also says bantamweights are being
drafted first, and featherweights will be second. Bisping chooses to have the first fighter pick, and now has the first pick at both weight classes. Standing there, I had a feeling I was going to be drafted by Bisping. The fights to get into the house, we were assigned to a locker room, and the room I was in had Bisping’s assistants to warm us up and corner them. After the fight, Bisping’s assistants seemed overly impressed, and I was certain he was going to pick me. Well Bisping announces his first pick and its Louis Gaudinot. I am a little shocked, but I guess beating a big name European guy in Paul McVeigh to get into the house, impressed Bisping. I think a lot of people thought McVeigh would do really well on this season. Next up, Mayhem chooses John Dodson. One of the bigger name guys, but I’m thinking he predominantly fights at 125. I am pretty sure at this point ill be next, on Bisping’s team. Nope, he picks TJ Dillashaw. In my mind TJ is my toughest competition, being a strong athletic wrestler, fresh out of a Div.1 college wrestling room. And now training full time with the likes of Uriah Faber, Joseph Benavidez, and Chad Mendes, at Alpha Male. Then Mayhem chooses me, as his second pick. I’m happy to be on Mayhem’s team, I think his style will be a lot more suitable for me. You see the rest of the picks, at bantamweight. And next up is the featherweights. Bisping chooses Diego Brandao first, no surprise after that crazy knockout followed by a flying hammer fist. Mayhem chooses Dennis Bermudez first for his team. The “Menace” impressed Mayhem and his assistants at the fight to get in, by having a bad first round against Jimmy Rivera, only to come out in the second, still confident and ends up tkoing him in the second round. The shock of the draft in my opinion, is that Steve Siler is the last pick overall,
joining me on Team Mayhem. Siler beat arguably the biggest name guy on the show to even make it this far. He not only out struck but ended up finishing Micah Miller with a nasty guillotine, that left Miller getting stretchered out of the cage.

We go back to the house, now knowing who is on which team. At this point there still no animosity between the two teams. We find out our training schedule, and I find out that Team Mayhem will be training from 10a.m. to 12 p.m. And again at 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. At our first workout the obvious questions rises, with Mayhem having control of the first fight. Mayhem asks who wants to fight first? My hand is killing me from the fight against Beebe, but I still want to go first. Call it selfish, but I am
not there to be some hero and take on their best fighter first. I am there to win fights and advance in the competition. If my hand is broke or not, I’m still here to fight and win. We find out the 135 or 145 pounders can go first, but from there on out it will alternate every fight. After finding that out, and Bryan Caraway seeming to have the same mindset I do. The team decides Caraway or Nancy as we all called him will fight first. The opponent we chose for him is Marcus Brimage, who is a strong explosive striker, but very raw, with no wrestling or jiu jitsu. I am really happy with the matchup and confident
Team Mayhem will keep control, and I can get the fight that I want. And right now, im thinking I could use a few more days for my hand to stop hurting so bad. The next day Mayhem announces the fight, and its official. The next day is weigh ins, Caraway has no trouble at all with the weight cut, but we all witness Marcus killing himself trying to lose over 20 pounds in 24 hours. Bisping and his assistants come over to help Marcus cut the weight, and they have him outside with a sauna suit on running laps around the back yard. As soon as he has completed 50 laps, they bring him inside and put him into a really hot
bath filled with table salt and Epsom salt. He stayed in the tub for 20 minutes, and immediately got out and into his bed where they covered every inch of him with multiple blankets and towels. All you could see was his eyes sticking out. He did this routine another time, 20 more in the tub, and back to the bed for the last 20 minutes.

Team Mayhem has a training session the next day at 10 a.m, That is going to run right up until the weigh ins at noon. Bryan is on weight, so he is just waiting to get on the scale, while the rest of the team gets a light workout in. As were finishing up, Mayhem comes up with the idea to put all the tires inside Team Bisping’s locker room. I somehow become one a Mayhem’s leaders in this prank, and we figure out how to what seems like 30 tires in the room. The last tire is the biggest one, and we figure out how to knock it down, behind the closed door, so that they wont be able to get into their room. Pranks like this
are harmless, and you see stuff like this in every season on the show. It wasn’t disgusting, and we did nothing to anyone personal stuff, and my thoughts were its all in fun. It is just before noon, and Team Bisping is showing up for the weigh in, and training right after. Obviously they find out quickly, that they cannot open their door. Bisping, trying to show how strong he is, decides to kick down a door that seems to be made from cardboard. Bisping and Mayhem have a few words, which seems to be all in fun, but you can tell Bisping wants revenge.

The weigh in starts at 12 sharp, and Caraway gets on the scale first. Next up, obviously Brimage gets on the scale and makes weight. Impressive but all fighters know, he’s not a happy person right now after cutting 20 plus pounds in 24 hours. They square off and Team Bisping starts a really cute chant. It was corny at first, but then it became personal calling Bryan a bitch. Myself and others on the team, aren’t happy about it, and decide to use it as motivation to smash our upcoming opponents. Bryan feels disrespected, and rightfully so.

We all in back in the house that night, and everyone is excited for the first fight. I am blown away by the confidence Bisping and all his team have going into this fight. They have to know how experience Caraway is, I mean he has already fought multiple times for WEC and Elite XC. My feeling is that this is going to be a grappling clinic as Caraway destroys him once he gets It to the ground. Bryan is told he can have 2 teammates go with him early before the fights tomorrow to help him warm up and motivate him. He chooses myself, and Siler to go with him. The 3 of us are in the van on our way to the training center,
and Bryan is a nervous wreck. He already shared with me that he throws up before every fight, and how he has been working with a sports psychologist. It doesn’t seem to be working to me, my confidence is high, knowing he is going to win this fight, but he sure doesn’t feel the same. We get to the training center, Bryan gets his hands wrapped and is warming up. He wants it to be quiet in the locker room, and wants to hear positive affirmation from anyone in there. The producers tells all of us its fight time. All the fighters have to go out on the bleachers, and wait for the guys to walk through the door into the cage. It’s crazy, the music starts, and out comes Caraway first. He slaps hand with all of our team and walks into the cage first. Brimage is next and were ready to watch the first fight. Dana comes into the cage and give his speech, this will be 2 five minute rounds, if at the end of the 2 rounds the judges have it a draw, we will go to a 3rd round to declare the winner. He also reminds us that every single submission, knockout, or TKO gets up a $5000 bonus.

The fight starts and it’s not long until Caraway puts Marcus on his back. He transitions and takes his back. Team Mayhem thinks it’s a coming to the end, but Brimage defends well and oddly enough is landing the better strikes with Caraway glued to his back. The round ends, but with positioning alone, its definitely Caraways round. The second round starts, and this is where it gets a little scary for me. Here my newly met friend, teammate, training partner, taking some big shots and not looking too good on getting the takedown. I’m a nervous because if Bryan does happen to lose, I no longer have control
over who I fight. Bryan ends up getting a takedown late in the round, after getting hit with a big knee, some hard punches, and barely ducking out of the way of a monster head kick. He again transitions to Marcus’s back, and shortly after forces the tap. Bryan Caraway wins vie rear naked choke! The Team is ecstatic. Team Mayhem 1-0 baby, and now I now I know, ill definitely be fighting sooner than later!

Check back here after tonight’s The Ultimate Fighter Season 14 Premier to get my 2 cents on what went down!