We have now reached the half-way point of the preliminaries on TUF 25. The fourth episode focuses on the fight between first overall pick James Krause and late replacement Johnny Nunez. Mercifully, the coach drama is kept to a minimum and the fighters are allowed to be the stars once again. Let’s break the episode down now.
The TUFtermath – Episode 4
The Big Three
#1) A Very Hairy birthday – during the filming of TUF 25, TJ Dillashaw celebrated a birthday. His team members took it upon themselves to get crafty and make him a birthday card mentioning how “unbearable” it would be to be under Cody Garbrandt. Of course, this meant there was a bear drawn on the card. It also meant that the majority of Team Killashaw shaved off bits of their body hair to make the bear realistically fuzzy. Yeah.
#2) Bro! – Coach Cody Garbrandt took it upon himself to try and raise his fighters’ morale with a TUF House visit, flanked by – among others – his fiancee’, Urijah Faber, Clay Guida, and Meisha Tate. This led Team No Love member and bartender Julian Lane to start making drinks for everybody. Of course, this meant we got a sequence of Garbrandt bro-ing out after saying he doesn’t drink shots all that often. It was bro-y to say the least.
3) When Doves Cry – In an effort gain any kind of edge in future match-ups, Team No Love approached American Top Team member Hayder Hassan about fighting his offf-show teammate Dhiego Lima. After some cajoling from Garbrandt and Danny Castillo, Hassan reluctantly accepted the fight. Seems kind of odd that a guy who preaches team loyalty would be so keen to make another person go against one of their own, but there it is.
The Stock Report
Stock up – James Krause. Dude is raising his little sister after his step-father passed away and his mother went to prison. Add that to the fact he runs a successful gym and is a a top 20 welterweight in the UFC? How can you not respect that. Stock up for Krause for sure.
Hold – Johnny Nunez. For a good chunk of his fight with James Krause, he looked good. The early blitz put Krause down twice, once with a takedown and again with a knockdown. While he was over-eager, Nunez didn’t look bad in this fight and could still potentially get a late-notice replacement call from the UFC.
The Fight
This was a one round fight with a couple of big momentum shifts. James Krause looked strong in the opening seconds, but Johnny Nunez responded with a blitz that resulted in him earning a takedown. Nunez was able to keep Krause on his heels, pushing the TUF 15 alumni back with short, gritty bursts that even scored a knockdown. The Missourian would not be denied though. Krause was able to score a precise knee to Nunez’s head that rocked the late replacement and led “Panzer” to another submission victory.
American Top Team members collide next week, when Hayder Hassan and Dhiego Limo square off. Team No Love is grasping at any straw to gain their first victory as Team Killashaw continues to steamroll through. Will there be a sea change next week? Keep it locked to MMASucka.com and the TUFtermath to find out!
