Demico Rogers TUF 10 Blog Week 2
Episode 2
After the first fight everyone on Team Rashad wanted to fight Kimbo and were all wondering who is going to get the chance. During our first practices Kimbo seemed to get more one on one time than most of the other guys. Kimbo had a target on his back so we were scrambling to get his wrestling and jiu jutsu defense up to par. We knew he was going to be called to fight early.
Rashad’s team was having some trouble with Roy being a team player. Roy has a lot of experience and is an independent guy. Our team did not realize that Rashad was having that much trouble with Roy because in the house he seemed like a pretty cool guy. The way I looked at it is no one here knows everything and we all have room to learn from the coaches and each other.
For our second pick Rampage chose Big Wes Shivers to take out Rashad’s #1 pick James McSweeney. Like the previous pick, on paper it looked like a good match up. Wes had about 50lbs on James and is very explosive. James on the other hand is a world class kickboxer and trains at one of the best camps in the U.S. The game plan was simple counter his leg kicks with straight right hands, crowd him into the cage, and pull him down. On the ground Wes’s size gives him an advantage.
At this point in the house everything was pretty chill. No one has had enough time to get sick of each other yet, but don’t worry that does come soon. I roomed with Wes Shivers, Wes Sims, and Zak Jensen so I had quite a bit of time to talk with Shivers about his up coming fight. His head was in the right place, he was calm and focused. You saw the conversation between Marcus, Abe and I. We truly believed if Shivers could catch James with a big right or control him on the ground he would come out on top. We also knew that if James kept moving and worked his kicks it was going to be a long day.
The beginning the fight went as planned, James came out with a leg kick and Wes rushed him and pulled him to the ground, so we thought all was good. Wes missed out on several ground and pound opportunities and James scrambled to his feet. Once the fight was standing it was clear that Shivers was already gassed and then James started landing the leg kicks. Throughout the rest of the fight Wes pulled him down a few more times and James lands several big shots. At the end of the second round we were all sure it was going to a 3rd round. When they called that the fight was over everyone on both teams was shocked, wondering if their guy had done enough. McSweeney won by majority decision. In my eyes the fight was close enough to warrant a 3rd round. For the next week Shivers had a bruise the size of a football on his thigh and some trouble walking. That gives you and idea about the force behind James’s kicks.
We are now down 0-2 and Team Rashad just gained control of the picks. At this point we are all just pissed off and hope we get picked so we can get our shot redemption.
Its now time for Rashad’s first pick and we all know who he is going for. He put his veteran Roy Nelson to take out Kimbo. This came as no surprise to any of us. This match up could go either way. Roy is well rounded and Kimbo hits like a truck. This is a fight worthy of pay per-view. Stay tuned next week for my review of episode 3.
For those of you in the Seattle Area come watch the show with me Wednesday nights at The Liquid Lime in Kirkland at 8pm. Check me out on facebook, myspace, & Twitter just look me up by name. Thanks for the support.
