Last night’s episode began with a little foreshadowing, Tito noticed one of his light heavyweights, Noah Inhofer, was having a hard time keeping his hands up during training and gave him a specific drill to work on. Ortiz instructed Noah to get use to keeping a basketball against his face which would ultimately create the proper posture when he was striking. Interestingly enough, it was Noah that was later called out from Team Ortiz to compete in the first LHW fight of the season.

Shortly after Ortiz explained how the basketball drill would put Noah in a better position to block a punch or throw a punch, Dana White appeared to make the official announcement about which two fighters would square off later in the show. Team Shamrock was still in the enviable position of deciding who they wanted as an opponent, and selected Jesse Forbes from their side to battle Noah Inhofer. Forbes said the reason he selected Inhofer was because he felt his condition was not up to par. Both fighters have a wrestling background, but Inhofer is thought to be the better rounded mixed martial artist.

It’s quite obvious Ortiz has a tighter bond with Matt Hamill then any other fighter on his team, which is probably due to the fact he’s spent more time with Hamill because he is deaf. Nevertheless, Ortiz went to the trouble to get Hamill an interpreter to help the fighter understand what the coach is trying to teach him. Regardless, some of the fighters are feeling as though Ortiz isn’t giving them the attention they deserve.

Jesse Forbes is easily the most attention starved person to appear on the show since Lodune Sincaid, he runs around the house like Dennis the Menace seeing what he can either break or destroy. Forbes was involved in the childish prank played on Noah, where he sliced his basketball, and then believing he was Mario Puzzo suggested someone place the “dead” ball in Noah’s bed, hoping it would resemble a horses head. Fortunately, these guys are on the show for their fighting ability and not their creativity.

Believing his team was overtraining, Ken Shamrock decided to give his team a couple of practices off and allow them to rest and let their bodies heal. However, the nice gesture appeared to have gone unappreciated, as his next training session he needed to intervene and called out Kalib Starnes. Shamrock felt because Starnes had already assured himself a position in the semi-finals he wasn’t pushing himself in training, and wasn’t being a team player to the other fighters. Shamrock’s speech appeared to be lost on most of his fighters.

The night before Forbes and Inhofer were set to fight, Tito called his guys to the gym for a late night training session and most of the team seemed puzzled Inhofer would be required to participate when he was fighting the next day. In attempting some top mount wrestling drills, Inhofer rolled his ankle and the concern was all over Tito’s face as the team began to question why he wouldn’t have let Noah sit this session out. Fortunately, the x-rays came back negative, and Noah was diagnosed with a sprain, which was certainly a huge relief for Ortiz as he knew he could just tape Inhofer’s ankle and he would be fine to fight.

The fight started out with both Jesse and Noah each throwing a punch, and then Jesse shot in and drove Noah back into the cage. Ortiz yelled for Noah to get the left under hook, but he couldn’t secure it and Jesse ended up taking him to the ground. Jesse was in control from the top position until Noah was able to trap his right arm from within his guard and rolled his hips and extended into an arm bar. Jesse flipped over in an attempt to roll out of the submission, but that only allowed Noah the chance to lean back and lock the hold in tighter, which resulted in Jesse tapping out. Something else Jesse now has in common with Lodaine, they both lost in their first appearance on the show. Team Ortiz now holds the hammer, and it’s very likely Tito will start to antagonize Ken.