On the second episode of "The Ultimate Fighter 12", we may have a gotten a preview of a recurring theme with Georges St. Pierre duping Josh Koscheck, and the always smiling Alex Cacares lulling an opponent to sleep.
The show returned for the second episode with 14 fighters having fought their way into the house. Now it was time to choose teams. Both coaches made out their draft big board but GSP decided to draw up a dummy sheet and try to sucker Koscheck into thinking he was going to pick Marc Stevens. Stevens was coached by Koscheck at the University of Buffalo. Kos thought he'd sneak a peek, saw GSP's fake list and fell for the bait. Both coaches had Michael Johnson rated No. 1 but Koscheck took Stevens with the top pick and Johnson fell right into GSP's hands.
It also meant St. Pierre had control of the fight selection and he took an approach no other coach has in the recent history of TUF. He let the most enthusiastic fighter choose his own fight. According to GSP, a motivated fighter is one who'll probably win. There's no one on the show with more vim and vigor than Cacares aka "Bruce Leroy" out of Miami. Cacares, 21, calls out Jeff Lentz, a banger with good wrestling. Koscheck is smiling ear-to-ear thinking that GSP just made a big mistake. We're not sure why since Bruce Leroy was a No. 4 pick and Lentz was a No. 7 pick.
A huge fan of martial arts' legend Bruce Lee and named after a character in the 1985 film "The Last Dragon", Cacares is seen meditating, doing breathing exercises and showing off wacky kicks in the backyard. Lentz even comments that it may look cool but the technique is terrible.
At the same time, the producers of TUF make sure to highlight the fact that Lentz appears to have a two-pack-a-day smoking habit. In reality, he probably puffed on three or four cigs in a 24-hour period but it looks like he's constantly smoking. It sets up the question about his cardio.
By the looks of the fight, the smoking may have played a role. Lentz talked about throwing hands and beating Cacares so badly that he'd want to go home but that wasn't the approach he took. Lentz worked the clinch against the cage for almost the entirety of the fight round. He looked for trips and judo throw takedowns. He got a couple but Cacares got to his feet quickly. Lentz did put an exclamation point on the first with a big judo throw but he worked so hard that he returned to the corner with his mouth open.
Lentz came out for the second looking winded and Cacares was able to take advantage. Bruce Leroy scored a takedown, had Lentz's back and then got reversed. Lentz was in Cacares' half guard but allowed the fighter on the bottom to easily get it back to full with 3:38 left in the round. From there, Cacares freed his left leg and threw it up on Lentz's shoulder that was the beginning of the end. The wilting Lentz tried to slam off the triangle attempt by Cacares, but didn't put up much of a fight after that. Bruce Leroy moves on with a submission win and leaves Lentz behind to smoke and drink all he wants.
Bruce Leroy is cocky. Next week's tease includes a mention that he may have crossed the line in rubbing the victory in Lentz's face a little too much. He's certainly confident and afraid of no one. The kid is built like a beanpole but apparently he's been in his share of scraps. Before getting into legitimate mixed martial arts training, he was a street fighter cashing around $600 a fight. Lentz should've watched the "Bruce versus Chocolate" fight on YouTube. You can't slam your way out of a Bruce triangle.
Sebastien Tortelli Ben Townley Pedro Tragter Marty Tripes Vlastimil Valek
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