Dan Cramer’s The Ultimate Fighter® Blog – Week Six

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By Dan Cramer, Team Rampage

After Rampage told Forrest that their fight wasn't going to a decision, and implying that he was gonna knock him out, Forrest flipped out. He Donkey Konged the door in half and started getting all amped up in the locker room. I felt kinda bad for Nick, who was trying to get ready for his fight and all of a sudden, half of the door flies by his head.

At this point, Forrest and Rampage are definitely starting to get legitimately pissed at each other. I know after that whole argument, Rampage was asking Juanito to start training early for the fight. He was talking about how he was going to be in the best shape of his life. I think the argument and the competition really made things personal between the two and I think it just motivated both these guys even more than they already were. I can't wait to see the fight.

THOUGHTS ON CB DOLLAWAY

CB is hands down the most well-rounded fighter in the house. He was the best of all the wrestlers, and he had good submissions and striking on top of it. His leg kicks were devastatingly hard and his hands were fast. I think he was the favorite to win the whole show, and for good reason. The fight between him and Nick Klein actually went a little longer than I expected. Klein definitely surprised everyone. I think most people were expecting CB to make quick work of him. Although CB won in dominant fashion, Klein showed that he was game and had some slick jiu-jitsu. In the end, CB was just too much for him and caught him in an awesome guillotine.

QUARTERFINAL SELECTION MEETING

For the quarterfinal selections we all went in to meet with Dana and the coaches to plead our case for who we wanted to fight in our next match up. I figured everybody on their team (Team Forrest) would pick me. I didn't think a lot of guys would want to pick anyone on their own team, and between me or CB I think it's pretty safe to say, nobody wanted to fight CB. The match ups I thought would be best for me and would allow for an exciting fight would be either Cale, Matt Brown, or Amir. All these guys like to stand and bang, and that's one of the things I wanted to do. I also thought that my control on the ground would be better than any of these guys and I could work my ground and pound. I figured the fights I picked didn't really matter much and that they would give the number one picks (CB and Tim) who they wanted to fight. I guessed Tim would pick me and they would throw out any match ups I asked for. I assumed I would have to fight him at some point in the competition anyways. Whether it was in the quarterfinals or later, it didn't really matter, as I would have to beat him regardless. There was no prize for second place and I was there to win the whole thing. Might as well get it out of the way.

CRAMER VS CREDEUR

Sure enough, they announce the match ups and I'm fighting Tim Credeur. I was excited for the matchup. I knew I was the underdog (as I would have been in probably any matchup), but I knew I was better than my last fight showed, and I knew I was better than he was expecting. Tim has great Jiu-Jitsu (he’s the only black belt on the show) and was the most accomplished fighter in the house. He will definitely be the toughest and most experienced fighter I had ever faced. I knew I would be stronger than him, and I thought that might surprise him a little. The main thing I was focusing on in preparing for this fight was being able to keep my composure during the fight. I knew I could not dump my adrenaline the way I had against Luke, with Tim. An experienced guy like Tim would take quick advantage of that and wait until I was tired to work for a submission. I had to stay aggressive in this fight, but at the same time, not overly aggressive and swinging like I was in a drunken bar brawl (example: my last fight). Another huge thing I was focusing on was making sure to breathe properly. People don't realize it, but when you get caught up in slugfest exchanges like I had in my previous fight, you sometimes tend to hold your breath. This can destroy your stamina. Couple some bad breathing with a premature adrenaline dump and you will be gassed VERY quickly. Most of these things, Rampage explained, get better with time and experience. I was gaining neither of these before the fight, so it was up to me to mentally prepare. I know a lot of people don't think I have a chance to win this fight, and I need to prove them wrong.

THE OTHER QUARTERFINAL MATCHUPS

The other quarterfinal matchups were interesting as well. The one that I thought would be the most entertaining to watch would be Amir vs. Matt Brown. Both these guys had great standup and I knew it would be a battle. I think everyone in the house was really excited for this matchup. Jesse Taylor vs. Dante was another good matchup. Dante had great Jiu-Jitsu. He was a brown belt at the time but I'm pretty sure he has his black belt by now. Jesse was a Division I collegiate wrestler and trained with Dan Henderson. Both guys had a good amount of fights and it looked to be a classic wrestler vs. jiu-jitsu matchup. I think Dante had a severe disadvantage in this fight though, in that Jesse had trained with him for the past month and has seen all his bread and butter submissions. Jesse's style was no surprise to anyone, so it didn't give Dante an edge really. He relies on his wrestling and pure strength so there wasn't much you could do. A jiu-jitsu guy, on the other hand, relies on sneaky submissions and setting up certain things to catch a guy in a submission they don't see coming. Jesse had already seen all of Dante's submissions in practice. CB vs. Cale was a match that seemed to be heavily in favor of CB. Cale didn't like being on the ground too much, and CB was the best wrestler in the house. Bad matchup for Cale, but anything can happen. We'll see how it all plays out....

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