In episode two of the mixed martial arts reality TV show The Ultimate Fighter season 12 which features lightweight fighters, coach Georges St.-Pierre outsmarted coach Josh Koscheck during the team selection to pick the most favored fighter, Michael Johnson, for his team.
Although Koscheck won the coin flip and opted for the first team pick rather than choosing the first match up he ended losing his top choice, Micheal Johnson, to GSP because he thought his buddy, Marc Stevens, was his opponen's first choice. But GSP made a point of misleading Koscheck in this fashion to secure Johnson and it worked.
GSP was also able get Jonathan Brookins, 24, from Orlando, Alex Caceres, 21, from Miami, and to no one's surprise the yet undefeated guillotine choke specialist Cody McKenzie, 22, from Metaline, Wash. on his team.
After the team selection was complete GSP chose the fist match up for the next elimination round: his own fighter, Caceres, against Team Koscheck's Jeffrey Lentz, which was in fact, at Caceres' request. UFC President Dana White was somewhat perplexed at this new approach of letting the fighters choose their opponents, but was also curious to see how it would work out.
During the fight preparation GSP once again chose a more unconventional approach by stepping back as coach and serving as his fighters' training partner instead while his team of coaches controlled the training. He also stated that he picked fighters that he thought he could help improve while on the show rather than the most skilled or talented ones.
"My goal is not to win, but to help these fighters get better," said GSP. "This is not about me. I'm not selfish. This is about them and this is their time to shine."
Koscheck, on the other hand, made clear that he was determined to win the competition against Team GSP and drilled this mantra into his fighters' heads during training. Very much unlike GPS he expects his team to perform 'mindless training' as he called it, in order to push them to their limits which he expects to result in top performances.
When the time for the first elimination bout betweent he two teams arrived though, Koscheck's strategy backfired.
In spite of clearly controlling Cacares during the first round mostly in the clinch, Lentz became too self-confident and careless when he went in for the knockout finish in the second round. After barely surviving the first round Caceres cashed in on Lentz's mistake by locking him into a guillotine choke while defending on his back in full guard. Lentz tried to break the hold by slamming Caceres into the ground but to no avail. Eventually he had to tap out which earned Caceres the win via submission and advancement to the next round.
Once again White gave Caceres his official vote of confidence as likely winner of the entire season.
GSP proved to be an excellent strategist and coach as his team takes the lead and the choice of the next match up.
Episode three will air on Sept. 29 on Spike TV at 10 p.m.
Complete team rosters and results:
Team GSP
Michael Johnson
Jonathan Brookins
Spencer Paige
Alex Caceres 1-0
Kyle Watson
Cody McKenzie
Dane Sayers
Team Koscheck
Marc Stevens
Sevak Magakian
Sako Chivitchian
Andrew Main
Nam Phan
Aaron Wilkinson
Jeffrey Lentz--eliminated by Alex Caceres in episode two.
Keep track of all TUF 12 season fight results here: http://mmasphere.com/?p=5273
Comments
Haha. Koscheck got owned big time. I won't be very surprised if we see him getting tricked again.
I also like St-Pierre's motive to pick his guys and how has decided to coach and train them.
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