Last week two heavyweights left the show which put the division down 1 fighter compared to the welterweights, therefore Dan “The Sandman” Christianson was brought in as the new heavyweight to even things outs. Dan’s most notable MMA opponent was Dan Severn who he lost to on two occasions both via decision. At 6’8 and 270 lbs Dan now replaces Brad Imes as the biggest fighter in the house.

Last week two heavyweights left the show which put the division down 1 fighter compared to the welterweights, therefore Dan “The Sandman” Christianson was brought in as the new heavyweight to even things outs. Dan’s most notable MMA opponent was Dan Severn who he lost to on two occasions both via decision. At 6’8 and 270 lbs Dan now replaces Brad Imes as the biggest fighter in the house.

During training welterweight Jorge Gurgel went down with an injury and later revealed he has no ACL in his left knee as he had suffered a severe injury just a few weeks before the show. He was subsequently taken to the doctor who confirmed there was fluid build up around his knee that was drained. Yet the doctor did advise Jorge that he was risking serious injury if he continued on the show, but Jorge was determined the only way he would leave the show was if he lost a fight. He showed a lot of toughness and heart that wasn’t nearly as evident from a few of the fighters the previous week.

As noted last week, Melvin Guillard continued to be the fighter that was getting under the skin of the other’s. He was once again proclaiming himself as the best fighter in the house, even going as far to say he would fight UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes. In two episodes it’s easy to see why MMA Ring Report picked him as this seasons Chris Leben, but Melvin’s outspokenness would come back to haunt him later in the episode.

After four days of evaluation Matt and Rich were ready to begin selecting their teams. Rich got the first pick and both coaches’ selections are listed below in the order they were picked.

Once the teams were determined it was time for the 1^st team challenge, UFC legend and season 1 coach Randy Couture was brought back to be the challenge coordinator. First up were the welterweights, they were lined up in their respective end zones and were required to race out to the middle of the field on their knees to ’capture the dummy’ and bring it back to their end zone. The last overall pick, Luke Cummo proved to be the difference in this event, as he was able to hold onto two guys from Team Franklin that gave the advantage to Team Hughes to secure the 1^st challenge victory. Team Hughes was now in a position to determine who they wanted to fight from Rich’s team, and it was believed some on the team were leaning towards picking Jorge Gurgel as they believed him to be injured.

After some discussion, Dana was called to the house for the big announcement and it was determined this season’s first fight would be Josh Burkman vs. Melvin Guillard. During the training sessions Melvin displayed amazing quickness that lead many observers to think it would be hard for him to get caught in a submission, prompting Dana to believe Team Hughes had the wrong strategy by selecting Melvin as the 1^st opponent and therefore expected Team Franklin to be victorious. Melvin seemed to be pretty relaxed leading up to the fight and he even played a joke on Dana just before the fight. He went into Dana’s office and said he didn’t feel ready for this fight and questioned whether he really wanted to fight, and obviously with everything that happened in the previous episode it was easy to see it looked like he had Dana fooled momentarily. Nonetheless, it was time to get ready for the fight, Josh weighed in at 171 lbs, 3 pound heavier then Melvin and 1 pound over the weight limit. However, in Nevada you can take or give a pound, so both fighters had cleared the obstacle that prevented a fight in episode 1.

The first two rounds of the fight Josh succeeded in taking Melvin to the ground, and working some GnP while trying to secure the rear naked choke. Melvin twice caught Josh in a guillotine in the 1^st round, but Josh powered out of it. Through the first two rounds it was clear Josh was controlling the fight and Melvin wanted to stand up and strike to avoid being dominated on the ground. Heading into the third round Rich Franklin told Melvin he was losing the fight and would need a KO to win, and he seemed to take Franklin’s advice to heart as he came out the aggressor in the final round letting his hands and legs fly. However, after weathering a couple of shots Josh was able to take Melvin down once again and he stayed busy enough so referee Herb Dean would not stand them back up. Josh Burkman wins a unanimous decision.

Next Week: Josh Burkman makes a surprise announcement (with his arm in a sling) and the first two heavyweights fight!