Great Expectations
May 28, 2009Eric Mangini Puts “The Drive” to Good Use
May 28, 2009A few weeks ago, I posted that a Clevelander was on the UFC’s reality show on Spike TV, The Ultimate Fighter. Dent is also blogging about his experiences on the show over at Yahoo! Sports’ Cagewriter Blog. It is especially nice to have his perspective on his most recent fight on the show where he defeated Jeff Lawson. After the fight, UFC CEO Dana White and Jason Dent’s coach for the show, MMA veteran Dan Henderson talked on camera about how unimpressed they had been with Dent’s victory.
To be honest, it seemed pretty lackluster to me at home too. Dent was fighting a submission specialist in Lawson and he was visibly gassed and tired very quickly. Dent seemed to take his time finishing a hobbled opponent and obviously the UFC brass thought this showed a lack of killer instinct. After reading the blog, I think Jason does a good job of defending his tactics.
Even though I finished my opponent and got my bonus check, I didn’t seem to earn the approval of Dan Henderson or Dana White. I thought I fought a really intelligent fight. I walked out of the fight without a scratch, got the finish, got my bonus check, and didn’t even have to step my game up all that much. I love the UFC and I respect the hell out of Dana but Dana wants to see an all out WAR in every fight. In my mind, I knew I was in a tournament and the whole idea to win with out revealing your hand to the other team and not get hurt. I did just that.
This season of TUF has been pretty entertaining and has been especially fun because of the local slant it has for me. Here’s hoping Jason Dent continues to win and represent the Cleveland area well.
2 Comments
Any chance he can he put Hedo in a cobra clutch for about three hours tonight?
/Iron Shiek
Ummm… Scott… Camel Clutch… Camel Clutch…