These be dire straits that Team Wanderlei Silva be sailing through.
After Team Vitor Belfort jumped out to a commanding 2-0 lead, things looked grim for Wanderlei's squad, but the former PRIDE megastar was confident in the well-regarded John Teixeira's ability to bring them back into the mix. Unfortunately, Team Vitor's Rodrigo Damm and his relentless takedown attack proved too much and, much to Wanderlei's disgust, the lead improved to 3-0 with a sudden victory decision.
This week, Team Wanderlei continues trying to get themselves into the win column while Gasparzinho proceeds to annoy everyone in the house.
MMAmania.com will have play-by-play of the episode as soon as it is released on UFC.com, which will be somewhere in the vicinity of midnight ET tonight (April 22, 2012).
Follow me after the jump for results and a live blog of the action.
Game time.
Wanderlei wants the next fight to be Massaranduba vs. Mutante; the former expresses his doubts that Vitor will risk it.
Fight announcement right off the bat, I like it.
Damm skips the fight announcement; Vitor doesn't tell the other team why, prompting Wanderlei to ask if he's alright. Turns out Damm skipped because of exhaustion.
185 pounds: Macarrao vs. Mutante.
Exactly the pick I expected from Vitor. Macarrao was Team Wanderlei's last pick and is far less dangerous than Massaranduba or Pe de Chumbo.
Gasparzinho complains that Vitor gave Mutante an easy fight because their friends outside. Bodao agrees with the sentiment. Serginho is in tears and has to be comforted by his coaches.
Bro hug settles things.
Wanderlei admits that it will be a tough fight for his man, but believes he has what it takes to win. Both fighters take the opportunity to express their admiration of Macarrao's entry fight with Trinidade, a crazy slugfest that pleased everyone involved.
Macarrao picked up fighting at age seventeen; he says he knew he'd love MMA because, while doing Muay Thai, got the urge to kick his opponent while he was on the ground.
Apparently, Macarrao's mom almost had a fight with his opponent's mom at one event, and since then, she's stayed home and prayed rather than watch his fights.
Over to Team Vitor. Vitor mentions that Mutante doesn't do well when he doesn't listen to him.
Way to be humble, coach.
Recap of Mutante's entrance fight, one which Wanderlei says he was surprised lasted as long as it did.
Apparently, Mutante's mother died when he was twelve, leading his father to drink and his brother to take drugs. He met Vitor at seventeen.
His wife was apparently pregnant at the time, forcing him to take jobs on the side. He tore all the ligaments in his shoulder at one point, but managed to get back in the game.
House drama.
Gaspar tries to sleep outside, but an associate dumps a frog on him. He deserved that.
There's some tension in the house as nobody appears to have any idea what their cleaning schedule should be. Bodao says Macarrao doesn't help with the dishes, and considering how nasty the kitchen is, I believe him.
Wolverine singing in the pool, which annoys Vina, who criticizes him and the others around him for just mugging for the camera.
Gasparzinho hosts a "radio interview" with Serginho and takes a shot at Damm while he has the chance. Most of the people in the room seem to be having fun, but Damm is having none of it. Serginho tells them he's sick of them arguing and orders Gaspar to go to bed. Somehow, he agrees.
Gasparzinho bumps his head after trying to ride the ceramic panther into the pool. If Wanderlei's lucky, he'll probably knock himself out of the competition given enough time.
Weigh-ins
Macarrao is at 182 pounds and Mutante is at 186. Methinks the latter isn't normally a middleweight.
Commercial break.
Weirdly, we seem to be getting the entrance highlight in the middle of the show. No clue why.
Training time for Team Wanderlei. Babalu demonstrating proper sprawling technique. Jason says Macarrao trains harder than anyone on the team and Vina praises his toughness.
Product placement from both teams.
Fight day. Bees get into the house, freaking out Macarrao. He says he's alright with punches, but stings hurt. Musical stylings from Macarrao and more product placement (USE GILLETTE GUYS).
Remix of We Will Rock You on Team Vitor's bus, with new lyrics describing Mutante's inevitable victory. Mutante says he'll win even if Macarrao is a ninja or can shoot fire from his hands. I know several firebenders who would be offended by that.
Mutante has a huge size advantage, as expected.
Let's go.
Mutante vs. Macarrao
Round One: Both men tentative; Mutante looks like he's two weight classes above Macarrao, but eats a solid leg kick. Hard left straight from Mutante has Macarrao on the defensive, but he eats a hard left and disengages. Angry charge from Macarrao produces no success. Nice left hook and counter by Macarrao. Mutante almost tries a takedown, but Macarrao looked ready and he disengages. Another nice leg kick. Again. Mutante needs to use his size here; he throws a spinning kick that doesn't land and eats a leg kick. He comes in with an elbow, but eats another leg kick and a punch that has him shooting. No luck. He just doesn't seem comfortable in there, as Macarrao flurries whenever he gets close. Another failed shot and Macarrao barrels after him with punches. Every time, just a wall of punches from Macarrao whenever Mutante gets close. Mutante finally gets him down against the fence, but only has thirty seconds to work. Mutante has his back, but Macarrao gets to his feet and buzzes him with punches before the end of the round. 10-9 Macarrao.
Round Two: Superman punch and takedown attempt from Mutante, who's wasting no time this round. Good lord, he is gigantic compared to Macarrao. Macarrao defending well, but Mutante gets the high crotch and slams him down. Side control for Mutante. Macarrao spins out, but gets caught in the same arm-in guillotine that got Mutante into the house. He taps quickly. Man, he looked on the verge of a huge upset there.
4-0 Vitor, but the remaining guys on Wanderlei's squad are killers.
Mutante very respectful in victory and says tells Macarrao that he considers him a friend. Macarrao says he had chances to win, but didn't have the technique to escape the guillotine. Wanderlei tells him he's proud of him.
Macarrao disappointed in himself, saying he should have done more in the opening round.
Wanderlei's team seems a lot more emphatic about their chances than they were after Macapa's loss last week. I think the fact that their last pick was beating Vitor's first pick gave them confidence.
Macarrao still hard on himself, but affirms that he will still be champion one day.
Apparently, war breaks out next week between the teams. Sounds like good television. Catch you then, Maniacs.
Get the latest gear
