By Steve Juon for WrestlingObserver.com
It’s American Top Team vs. The Blackzilians. It’s a whole new format – not just rival coaches – rival GYMS. Tonight we’ll be covering what happens between those gyms LIVE as the show airs. ATT is already down 50 points after the first two fights and Dan Lambert is sick of eating crow from defector and hated rival Glenn Robinson. How will they respond this week? Join us at 10 ET to find out! You can refresh as often as you like while the show is in progress for updates.
Here’s a quick summary of what’s happened so far:
Episode #1: Eight welterweights are chosen from each camp by their respective owners. Dana White explains the scoring system and the coin is flipped, giving Blackzilians home gym for the first fight. Michael Graves (ATT) vs. Kamaru Usman (Blackzilians) is the inaugural fight. Usman wins a majority decision and the Blackzilians keep control, taking a 25 point lead.
Episode #2: ATT puts their faith in European prospect Uros Jurisic. The Blackzilians choose veteran fighter Luiz “Buscape” Firmino, recently of World Series of Fighting fame. Lambert and Robinson exchange nasty verbal jabs that are more exciting than the fight. Buscape dominates his way to a unanimous decision via takedowns, causing Dana White to fume in anger. Nevertheless the Blackzilians go up 50-0 on ATT.
And now, without further adieu, it’s time for Episode #3. Tonight the teaser is that “things get heated” during the weigh-ins. We shall see!
Ricardo Loborio, ATT coach, says the last fight was “a tough day.” He tells the whole team that they should have a bitter taste in their mouth, but the next 10 fights of the season are their chance at redemption. Dan Lambert agrees and says even if you lose the first eight fights and win the last four, you’d still win the team competition on points (400-300). Dana White however says ATT is “way behind” and they’re “in a slump” – he’s trying to build up the drama.
Meanwhile at the house Valdir Araujo of the Blackzilians is getting his drink on, and he’s upset that somebody took “his” red wine. He’s sure somebody from ATT did it. Michael Graves is laughing about it. Steve Carl eventually confesses that it was him and that he’s trying to stir the pot and get in their heads.
ATT has their team meeting trying to figure out who fights next. They’re counting on Steve Carl to turn things around, and he’s another WSOF veteran – in fact he was the inaugural WSOF welterweight champion. He hails from Belle Plaine, Iowa. He says he only had one training partner when he started and that was a heavyweight, and that coming to ATT has filled in all the holes in his game. As for the fact he’s won a lot of fights via submission, “If you think that’s all I have in my game you’re in for a big surprise.”
Meanwhile at the Blackzilian gym Glenn Robinson is talking about the dangers of overtraining, before the focus shifts to making the pick for their next fight, and he’s analyzing resting heartrates to see how quickly his fighters recover. Rashad Evans wants to keep their record of dominance going and “Baby Monster” Araujo is the man they’ve chosen to keep the streak in tact. He’s 14-5 overall and his last loss was at WSOF 8 against Tyler Stinson. “I got this nickname when I started doing jiu-jitsu at 12 years old. I was too aggressive. When I step in the cage, I’m there to finish.” Commercial.
Sabah Homasi is being bleeped out when we come back, and says that after this week he hopes to never have to go back to the Blackzilian gym again. Meanwhile Steve Carl is concerned about his weight cut, and he says the sauna is on the Blackzilian side of the house, giving them an unfair advantage. This is the moment of tension we’ve been building to in every commercial so far. The teams arrive to hit the scale and make the fight official.
Araujo is 170 even. CARL IS 171.75. Tyrone Spong of the Blackzilians accuses Carl of being unprofessional. Dana White says if he doesn’t cut three quarters of a pound in an hour, Araujo will have to agree to take the fight over weight. Michael Johnson of the Blackzilians says they shouldn’t have allowed Carl in the sauna – he should have had to go outside and jog it off. Now they’re threatening to go to the sauna and kick Carl out. Nathan Coy of ATT isn’t having it – he’s not going to let them kick them out of the gym – and he says he’ll barricade the sauna door. It’s hotter OUTSIDE the sweat box than in as we go to break!
Spong and Coy are nose to nose in the locker room when we come back from commercial. Hayder Hassan from ATT says Coy is their leader and wouldn’t have let anything happen. Dana White: “It’s their gym and if they don’t want you using their sauna, get home gym advantage!” Carl gets back on the scale (with a towel) and makes the weight. Carl: “I’m ready to start climbing that mountain. It’ll be a hell of a fight.”
Dan Lambert and ATT have a team meeting to watch videos of Araujo. Carl: “His strategy is probably to drag me to the ground and hold me down for two rounds.” Din Thomas of ATT says that Carl can use his ground and pound to neutralize any advantage that Araujo has in jiu-jitsu. Hassan says Araujo’s jaw is glass. “You can blow on that thing and he’ll go down.” Robbie Lawler tells Carl if you pour on the pressure, you’ll see every Araujo takedown coming. Commercial.
Carl: “I just want to go out there and prove what level I’m on. This fight is really important to turn things around and get it back to our side.” Araujo: “His ground game is really complete, but nothing that can surprise me. I have to show the world who Baby Monster is. I fought Chris Weidman for three rounds. Compared to (him) Carl can do nothing to me.” That’s true – he lost to Weidman at ROC 33.
* Valdir Araujo (Blackzilians) vs. Steve Carl (ATT)
Round 1 is underway at 10:38 ET. Carl is in blue trunks, Araujo the black. Araujo goes for a single leg at 35 seconds and doesn’t get it. They trade hard kicks to the body. Carl is chasing with shots and Araujo nearly gets a takedown from it. They wind up against the fence and Araujo finally brings Carl down at 1:58 but he pops up immediately. Carl turns him around on the fence and fires off knees before being warned not to grab the cage. ATT warns Carl to keep his head up. Araujo is having a hard time shaking Carl off. Carl drops levels looking for a double and Araujo widens his stance. Carl lets it go with a minute left. Glenn Robinson calls for Araujo to get off the fence. He does with 25 seconds left but Carl momentarily gets his back, then in a scramble Araujo pushes him back to the fence trying to get a leg trip. Carl turns him back into it before the horn. Dan Lambert thinks Carl clinched R1 (literally CLINCHED it).
We’re back for R2 at 10:48. Carl comes out swinging and Araujo backs off. Araujo tries a cartwheel kick. Carl throws a high kick. Araujo lands a solid right book to the head. Carl circles looking for angles, eats a body kick and a leg kick, but gets his arms around Araujo’s waist. Glenn screams at Araujo again. “GET OFF THE CAGE!!” Carl dives low at the two minute mark looking for the takedown and Araujo is practically doing the splits. Carl nearly trips him but Araujo hops away. Lots of chanting in Portuguese at the gym – it’s like a Fight Night in Brazil. Araujo goes for a leg trip of his own that doesn’t work and Carl pushes him into the fence again. Carl goes for the single leg with 90 seconds left then backs off. He drops for a double and gives up his neck to a guillotine. Araujo pulls guard and sweeps on top AND CARL TAPS OUT. He had no choice. His face was changing colors from white to red to purple – Araujo had it TIGHT. Commercial.
We’re back for the post-fight wrap-up as the referee makes it official that Araujo wins via guillotine submission. The Blackzilians are overjoyed to make it three in a row and go up 75-0. Glenn Robinson says he expected Carl to be more aggressive and that he looked “drained.” Drained or not a submission’s a submission and a tap’s a tap. Araujo says he knew he’d fight “a big name” and he was happy to win. Carl is understandably dejected. “I’ve been in the sport a long time and it feels like this is my last shot.”
We’ll see you back here next week as ATT tries once again to dig their way out of the hole they’re in! Thanks for reading our LIVE TUF 21 recap.