Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 16 episode four recap: Can't Fix Stupid

Another episode of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) season 16 has been completed, as a house full of Welterweight prospects and journeymen continue their quests toward a "six-figure" contract and the opportunity to be a professional Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter.

In this, the fourth episode, Team Nelson got the opportunity to make the most of re-acquired control, after Joey Rivera was able to defeat Team Carwin fighter, Sam Alvey, in a violent and explosive bout in the third episode of this season.

You'd expect for the coaches to have gotten together and decided which fighter would be best suited to represent them in the upcoming showdown.

You'd think they would have been strategizing and scouting match ups, trying to determine who would be the best choice out of Shane Carwin's stable to give them the upper hand.

You might think coach Roy Nelson put a lot of thought into the decision, out of consideration for his team and for the sole point of looking good on national television, if nothing else.

If you thought any of those things, you'd have been wrong.

Instead, Nelson decided to leave the match up to chance, having his fighters draw straws, and then allowing them to decide their own fate.

In theory, it makes a little bit of sense, as it does alleviate some of the stress, particularly on the part of the coaches. But, it also opens the window of possibility for a poor choice to be made, and to basically giftwrap the control of the competition and hand it back to Team Carwin.

And that's pretty much what happened.

Julian Lane, who was the last overall pick out of all the fighters, drew the short straw, and so he was given the opportunity to either represent his team in the cage or pass the opportunity to a teammate.

Lane opted to take the fight, which was bad news for his team.

Every season, there's "that guy." You know the one. He's the guy who barks the loudest but has the least amount of bite. He tells everyone how much he wants to win, but in the gym, he just doesn't back up his mouth.

Lane has looked to be that guy, to this point in the season, constantly starting fights in the house, and just being an overall obnoxious person. But, sometimes a fighter proves everyone wrong when he gets his chance and the horn sounds.

Sadly, that was not the case, and Lane merely re-inforced what people were thinking.

Though his opponent, Bristol Marunde, didn't exactly light the world on fire either, Lane just looked technically inept. He did manage to land a few blows early on, resulting in some decent cuts over the bridge of his opponent's nose.

However, he gassed pretty early, and he never really did anything to give himself a chance to win.

After the fight, Nelson approached UFC President Dana White, letting him know that he didn't think Marunde had made weight when he stepped on the scales the day before the fight, essentially inferring that the licensed athletic commissioner had ineptly done his job.

In typical fashion, White look at Nelson like he was from a different planet, asked him if he was serious, then just watched away, laughing incredulously.

It's going to be a long season.

Control goes back to Team Carwin, and you can believe that they won't be drawing straws in order to aid them in their decision for who will fight next.

Any predictions on who you Maniacs think will be facing each other in episode five of TUF 16?