Note-
TUF 7 competitor Jesse
Taylor will be writing about his experience during
the show. Look for a new posting after each episode. Thanks to Jesse
and Dave
Franklin.
Whats
up World! So, today we just watched episode three of The Ultimate Fighter
7 and I'm going to tell ya'll
about what I was thinking and feeling at the time of the show. We just
fought our way into the house and the very next day we were picking teams.
Truthfully,
I was so happy to be on Forrest's team. Me and Forrest related together
on certain levels and I admired his work ethic. I was pissed to be picked
third
though. I am just very competitive and felt like I should have been picked
first, so right away I had something to prove. After the fight to get in
the house I made good friends with fellow college wrestlers C.B, Gerald,
and Paul
Bradley,at the UFC training center, even though I liked all the fighters
that got in the house. After all, I usually like everybody I meet but love
to compete
with everybody I meet. What better way than dueling it out with our fists,
shins, knees, elbows, and feet? The feeling of getting in the house was
awesome. I realized I made it here and thought of it as a fighters paradise
to harness
my warrior ways.
In
the house there was all sorts of food, and anything you wanted you got
except for hookers and drugs (just kidding), including a request list.
It was great here we'd put down food we wanted to eat and got it. It was
one of the few cool things we had in the house considering the fact we
had no Internet, TV, or entertainment. My bunk mate was Tim Credeur a southern
gent who could whoop some ass and break your arm, and we were on the same
team so we got to beat each other up daily and became close through this.
Our room had the most bad-ass shower and people were saying I looked like
Big John and Nicholas Cage put together. I bonded with my first opponent
Mike Dolce as well. He ate really healthy and I recall him even making
me a healthy meal before knowing we were going to fight each other. He
got me into eating spinach. Mike Dolce and Gerald Harris train at our sister
Team Quest camp up in Oregon. I trained with Gerald before but never Dolce.
It was Forrest's idea for someone tough to take out one of their sleepers.
Mike Dolce could have easily been in the finals if it not was for the strategic
mastermind, Forrest. My style was just a great match up for me and bad
for him. Forest saw this and decided for me to fight Dolce. He was a good
friend of mine but it was a great choice and I quickly obliged to fight
the heavy-handed man. Our team was solid. I think they had the better athletes
but we had better workers. We will see which one pans out. I also really
like our coaches. Gray Maynard is a phenomenal fighter who has a wrestling
background like myself. Cameron Diffly is so knowledgeable of jiu -jitsu,
and Mark Beecher is an awesome Muay Thai coach. I got along with these
cats as well so relished the opportunity to brawl and harness my skills.
My teammates were cool cats as well and I loved the fact that we got to
beat each other up daily and work to get better. Now it was fight time
just four days later and I was fighting. I was stoked!
I knew little about Mike Dolce's strengths and weaknesses. I knew he
was a great boxer and great wrestler but was suspect to his ground game.
I had only a couple of days to get ready for Dolce and my philosophy was
to train balls to the wall till before fight time. I figured why not go
into this fight like I practice. That's what I did. I used too much wrestling
and overwhelmed Mike and had a decent ground game to dominate him. Mike
did well and actually in the midst of things threw something (I still to
this day and after watching it don't know what hit me) that left a mark
over my left eye during the whole show and hopefully my life. The advantage
I had by fighting first is that I had more time now to prepare for my next
opponent. I won via neck choke crank in the second round. A submission.
I won the fight and was relieved to keep on training and get ready to do
it right before my next fight. It was a good fight purse. More money for
me and my son!
At
the house I was having trouble with some things. The dishwasher was frustrating.
Making food was tough but me and my buddies helped each other
for survival. Forrest trains like a maniac and so do I so that worked out
well. We also had more diversity on our team. We had an athlete wrestler,
scrappy jiu-jitsu guys, and a bunch more brawlers who love to stand and
bang it
out. I liked my bed and we quickly realized that I was ping pong champ.
My first nemesis in Ping Pong was Dan Cramer but others would try and beat
me on the ping pong table. Paul Bradley was also kicked out the first week,
which was a bummer, for he was a cool guy and I thought it was a good fight
for me. First week down and I already fought twice in just little over
than a week. I love this shit!
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$JTMONEYJESSETAYLOR$$$$$$$$$$$
Visit Jesse's
MySpace
Jesse
Taylor's Website http://YoJTMoney.com
The Money Shot: Jess Taylor's
TUF 7 Blog-Episode 3
