This season it appears that UK coach Michael Bisping is stepping up and providing the verbal fuel in the ever popular TUF smack talk series, putting his mouth on the line for the fans who seem to be drawn to verbal barbs as much as the fisticuffs on the popular TV program.

Emotions are running high and it appears that Bisping is getting on the nerves of the members of Team USA with his confidence and smack talk. Demarques Johnson seems especially ticked off with his antics and Team USA coach Dan Henderson goes as far as to say he is looking  forward to “shutting his mouth with his fist.”

Episode 4 of season 9 begins with Bisping introducing his “assistant” coaches Mario Sukatan - who is the wrestling and submission coach, and Dave Jackson - the Thai boxing coach at the Wolfslair in England. Both are his actually his coaches in reality so even he feels it is a little odd to have them labeled as his assistants and he says as much in the intro.

Henderson also introduces his coaches and he has four to Bisping’s two, which seems like it would be an advantage with eight fighters in the house it gives each guy more time with one of the five coaches. His coaches are Gustavo Pugliese (boxing), Ricardo Feliciano (Jiu Jitsu), Cyril Diabate (Muai Thai), and 2000 Olympic team member Heath Sims. The coaches are forced to go to work right away as Henderson – who has the power to choose the first fight – has chosen Mark Miller to face Nick O in the first official Team US vs. Team UK fight. With that the posturing begins anew with Bisping already counting it as a victory for his team within earshot of Demarques Johnson who always seems to be stewing everytime Bisping says anything. 

Dan Henderson is also confident in his team, but appears content to doing his talking in the cage without the smack talk that Bisping always seems ready to churn out every time the camera is on him. There is one thing that bothers Henderson however, and it is the fact some of his team has to make weight for the third time in a week! In honesty it seems almost dangerous, and on top of that Team UK will have had a couple weeks from their last fights which puts them at an unfair physical advantage.

Bisping had visa issue’s and didn’t have a chance to see some of the Americans fight so he and his two assistant coaches Dave and Mario set out to look at tape of Miller’s victory that put him in the house. Bisping is not impressed saying that he is “one-dimensional” doesn’t “know what a knee is,” has “no chin either,” and “looks like a psychopath who just got out of a mental institute.” Classy stuff.

It takes 4 episodes for the practical jokes to start and it is not surprisingly Johnson who kicks it off when he finds that a Team UK member has forgotten his shirt in the common area of the house. He takes it, writes US – 1, UK -0 on the shirt and hangs it up for Team UK to see when they come back from training. Pretty tame compared to season’s past so I am surprised they even show this unless it leads up to something spectacular later on in the season…

The Weigh ins…

The weigh ins take place and both fighters weigh in at 170 lbs. on the dot and Dana White gives his thoughts on the fight  picking Miller to win the fight based on what happened in their qualification bouts. “Osipczak didn’t overly impress me on his last fight, he basically fought a leprechaun,” he says laughing.

Bisping on the other hand appears very serious about his intentions to dominate the show saying Team UK are “not here to get on TV, we are here to win the God damn show.”

Bisping’s team then returns to the house and sees what has happed to Dave Faulkner’s shirt and aren’t overly impressed or bothered by the gag. It happens a second time however when Ross leaves his wrestling shoes out and they suffer the same fate as the shirt, this time being inscribed with US -2, UK – 0 to signify their second prank. Turns out the shoes belong to Ross, and he doesn’t seem very happy about it but nothing really comes of it yet.

The fight is about to start and Henderson tells Diabate he thinks that Miller is going to “Beat the F_ck out of the guy,” while Bisping tells Osipczak that he feels Miller doesn’t have much of a ground game.

Fight 1 170 lbs. Mark Miller (Team USA) vs. Nick Osipczak (Team UK)

Round 1

As expected Nick comes out orthodox – contrary to his stance in his qualifying match-up - and takes the fight to the ground with a nice little hip toss before Miller is able to use a Kimura to get back to the top position.

Miller lands a nice knee-punch combination as the fight gets back to the feet, but Nick is able to get it back to the ground.  Against the cage both fighters go to work with both fighters taking and landing solid shots in an absolute firefight. Osipczak’s takedowns don’t look especially explosive but it is becoming readily apparent that Miller’s takedown defense is suspect at best.

Miller actually drives for a takedown of his own and Nick locks in a guillotine and it appears that Miller actually tapped… Action continued however and Miller pushed his head out and went to work on a steadfast ground and pound attack for a minute until the round ends.

On a sidenote, Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto is sitting next to Dana White while the fight is going on.

Round 2

Miller tries to throw hands again but Osipczak takes the fight to the ground with Miller attempting to lock in a futile guillotine attempt. Osipczak actually mounts Miller with his head locked in and after about a minute of inactivity Miller is able to roll and get the top position where neither fighter is able to mount any significant offense. Miller appears completely gassed with his hands way down, and following a stand up, Osipczak looks low, kicks high - and secures the knockout to give the first victory to Team UK in what may have been a poor choice of fight by Team USA.

Next episode:

After only one loss, team US starts to fall apart, and Team UK seems to be getting closer. Two fights will take place in episode 9.