Demico Rogers TUF Blog week 10
I can’t believe we are already at the episode before the semi-finals and two weeks away from the live finale. The drama of this episode is “will Matt Mitrione fight?” Since the day after Matt fought Junk he has been complaining about his brain swelling and feeling slow. Everyone on Team Rampage stepped their game up and wanted to show they were worthy of another shot. Most of the guys had a good reason. Wes Shivers wanted a rematch because his cardio was now much better than when we got here. Junk wanted to redeem himself after his first performance. Kimbo wanted another shot against someone closer to his size. As for myself, I knew I matched up well with McSweeney.
Team Rashad is still struggling with their new style of coaching while Brendan and Madsen are game planning for each other. I know Schaub had some one on one training time with McSweeney and T (Trevor Whitman) and some of the wrestlers were helping out Madsen. I can imagine the tough position it put the coaches in. They wanted everyone on their team to succeed but in the end though there is only going to be one winner.
We were all looking forward to the coaches challenge everyone was hoping they were going to be taking home $1500. It was really nice because we were able to skip afternoon practice that day and get out of the house even if it was only to the parking lot at the Palms. Rampage and Tiki were looking pretty good after the first game. We thought we had it in the bag. Then coach Van (aka Top Gun) decided to break out his volleyball skills and they won the next two. Its sucks we were out $1500 but hey losing is not so bad once you get the hang of it.
I am sure people want to know about Kimbo’s knee, so let me tell you. I remember his knee getting injured but we definitely had some help from the editing geniuses on the timing. He got hurt probably mid way through the prelims and it never got better. On previous episodes you will see him icing his knee off to the side. On the show the doctors say Kimbo’s cartilage is worn away and that is the cause of the pain that he has been feeling. I’m no doctor but I am pretty sure if I landed on his knee all the cartilage is not going to magically disappear. This was an old injury that was reaggravated. The truth is James is kickboxer and that is not the best matchup for Kimbo and having a sore knee made him little reluctant. Stay tuned and see on the finale if Kimbo makes his comeback.
Going into the fight I knew Brendan had the advantage simply because Madsen is pretty one dimensional. I was not sure on Madsen’s ability to pass guard once he got Brendan down. I knew it would be just a matter of time before he got tired and Brendan would be able to capitalize.
Brendan, in the beginning, was hesitant with his hands because if he threw an off punch he knew he would get taken down. Madsen’s wrestling helped him to get Brendan to the ground many times but he was never able to do much with it. Through the fight Brendan grabbed the cage several times. My opinion on that is that the ref is the one in charge and if he is not going to take a point away or scare Brendan enough to make him think so then why not keep grabbing the cage. My predictions were right, Madsen got tired and Brendan was able to let his hands go. He threw a long one two combo and caught Madsen on the chin and that was it.
This was a big win for Schaub. He showed resiliency by hanging in there after the big slams by Madsen and waited for his time to come. Brendan does a great job of staying calm under pressure and doesn’t get too excited and make mistakes. Those are both great signs of true professional. I am looking forward to going back out to Colorado next month and training with him again.
Thanks everyone for all the support and reading my blog! Check back in two weeks for the finale!
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