The Ultimate Fighter keeps getting more and more interesting every week. This week you would think that the focus would be on Jeremy Jackson’s sudden absence, but Team No Love barely pays any mind. This leaves us with one man in the spotlight: Shonie Carter. So how about Shonie Carter anyway? Aside from the two fighters inside the Octagon, this week’s episode was largely dominated by the air of mystery surrounding “Mr. International.” Apparently many members of the household are having difficulty adjusting to living with the International Pimp. I have no idea how it would be to live with the guy, but I’ve interacted with him enough to know that he’s a really nice guy, and hilarious to boot. But I digress…

This week Shonie pisses everyone off with his giant “floaty” project, which basically equates to Shonie throwing 50 or 60 empty plastic water bottles into the pool. This continually pisses off Team No Love, especially Jorge Rivera and Rich Clementi, whom both repeatedly attempt to clean up the mess. Shonie stifles their attempts at cleanliness, sneaking out at night to throw the bottles back into the pool.
Due to Jeremy Jackson’s romantic debacle last week, Team No Love now has to decide who will replace their fallen comrade. The guys decide to be fair and flip a coin, with Pete Spratt taking heads and Rich Clementi on tails. The coin is flipped, and a drama-less moment later the coin lands heads up, giving Pete Spratt another chance to prove himself. The kicker is that his opponent will most likely be Matt “The Terror” Serra. Given Matt’s submission skills, this week’s fight could be a repeat of Spratt’s previous effort. Pete brings this concern to the surface, explaining that he feels Matt is more well rounded then he is. Pete also voices that he feels Rich matches up better, because he again is more well rounded than Spratt.

Shonie is back in the spotlight, telling us that he has a “sleep deprivation disorder” which makes him like the great vampire “Nosferatu.” This aggravates his roomies, Mickey Burnett in particular, especially when Shonie is playing pool very early in the morning (or late at night, depending on your view of the half empty/full cup theory). Din Thomas tries to play peacemaker by hanging out with Team No Love, while simultaneously doing a little espionage on the side. Din remarks to Shonie that nobody on that side of the house is really happy with him. Matt Serra and some other members of Team Mojo don’t seem too phased by his antics. Shonie remarks how he “does stuff to spite you,” adding, “I just do $hit like that.”

Back at the gym, it is revealed that Pete reluctantly accepted the responsibility of fighting. Matt feels that this is a bad move, and even Randy Couture senses that Pete is very hesitant in taking this opportunity. Later that night, Shonie finally gets all the bottles together in a big trash bag, and proceeds to kick and flop about on top of them. He explains, “I had to fight the mystical stereotype that black folks can’t swim. I can swim!” While some people in the house find this guy incredibly annoying, I for one can’t get enough of his entertaining antics. Shonie is hands down the most entertaining fighter on the show when he’s outside of the Octagon, and within those caged confines he’s obviously no slouch either.

Cut once again to the gym, and it’s revealed that Din Thomas is really suffering from that nasty staph infection. While the rest of Team Mojo sweats away in training, Din can’t really get the energy to get up and go. This juicy little tidbit of information comes into play at the fight announcement. It is there that Pete Spratt announces that Matt Serra is fighting next week, and it’s revealed that Din Thomas has been selected to fight Mickey Burnett for this week’s battle. The trickery seems to continue through every episode of this season, and both the fighters and the producers are keeping all of us at home guessing.

Well it turns out that Team No Love is playing a little hardball by picking Din, feeling that he will be at the peak of his illness by the time of the fight. Little do they know that Din is actually on medication, and won’t be feeling that bad by the time of the fight. Segue into this week’s background check, which is actually pretty informative. New fans in particular gain valuable insight into the history of our sport, being informed of the UFC’s more hardcore roots. Both Din Thomas and Mickey Burnett are old-schoolers, and have been fighting for a long time. Mickey Burnette in particular has been fighting almost since the UFC’s birth, once a member of Ken Shamrock’s infamous Lion’s Den, which was also one of the first American MMA “schools”.

Once again, its 10:53pm and the fight is just starting. What is with this season and its short fights? Once the bell sounds, the fighters start out slow, feeling each other out a little. They trade a few blows, highlighted by a low leg kick from Burnett. Mickey shoots and gets a takedown into Din’s guard. Din maneuvers his hips up, looking for a triangle, which “The Eastside Assassin” slams himself out of. The fighters get back to their feet and trade, where Din catches Burnett with a nice 1-2 combo. Din realizes that he is in control and attempts to take the fight to the mat, but is sprawled on and resorts to pulling guard instead. Almost immediately, Din locks on a tight triangle choke, forcing the tap with 2:31 left in round 1. Post-fight, Burnett looks really disappointed backstage. His future in the sport is uncertain, as Mickey has already been involved in many battles both in and out of the ring. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens, on the next episode of….THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER!