| Junie Browning’s Ultimate Fighter Blog – Week One |
WHY THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER?
A lot of people have asked me why I tried out for The Ultimate
Fighter, since I was already 18-1 as an amateur and 2-0 as a pro in MMA. But I thought it would be easier to make it on here than in the real world. I don’t have as many connections as a lot of the big camps, so I figured it would be the only way to get my name out there really, by going out there and beating the guys from the big camps. Plus, girls like it.
THE LINE OF THE YEAR
My friends and family loved the first show, especially my line about Jose Aguilar having a better chance of getting me pregnant than beating me, and everyone who’s watched the show had the same reaction – that it was probably their favorite line that they ever heard. I wasn’t even trying to be funny, but I guess it came off that way.
LINE OF THE YEAR – PART II
As far as my other comment about guys going on the show just to get a free Tapout shirt, I actually sorta believe that. I feel like a lot of the guys went on there just to say they were on the show, and I don’t think they even had confidence in themselves that they would go far in it.
BEATING JOSE AGUILAR
I felt that the guy would be a little better because of the way he talked, and to be honest, I think he is a little better than what people give him credit for. I just felt like I fought really good. I think if he fought pretty much anybody else, he would have made it into the house.
TEAM MIR
I could tell Frank Mir liked my style and the way I fought, so I assumed that I was gonna be his first lightweight pick, and that was actually who I wanted to get picked by. I was always a big Frank Mir fan growing up. I always liked his fighting style, so it was almost like a dream to even meet him, let alone be on his team and be his first lightweight pick. I liked Nogueira too, but I didn’t know as much about him. I didn’t watch as much PRIDE fighting until I got a little bit older, so I didn’t really grow up around him.
I knew a little bit about Robert Drysdale from Abu Dhabi and stuff, but I really didn’t follow him a whole lot. I just knew that he was a bad ass, so I was pretty happy to get to work with him. I figured he could show me a lot because a lot of my game is jiu-jitsu.
EARLY DAYS IN THE HOUSE
The first few days we all got along pretty good. We were just getting to know each other, but I felt like a lot of the guys were putting up a front right off the bat, so it was hard to really gauge if they were cool or not.
When it came to some of the crazy stuff going on in episode three, I just thought it would entertain me and the other guys because there was really nothing else to do, and I was pretty excited about making it on the show, so I thought I’d celebrate. If I had seen the previous season, I don’t think I would have acted that crazy, but the show was being recorded as season seven was being played so I didn’t know anything about Jesse Taylor and all that stuff. And to be honest, I thought Jesse Taylor made the show a little more interesting.
To be honest, I think they underplayed it, I was hoping they’d show a little more. They made me look a little more sane than I really am. Seriously though, it was somewhat embarrassing because I never really see myself acting like that big of an idiot, and now I can see where everyone’s coming from when they watch me and go ‘this guy’s a lunatic.’ Now I see it.
COACHING
I don’t believe six weeks is long enough to classify somebody as a coach. I think that takes away the credit from the people that actually taught you everything you knew. I believe six weeks is just long enough to work on what you already know and get in better shape. Team Nogueira’s guys were treating Nogueira like they were working with him since Day One, and they treated all their coaches like that. I don’t really believe they were our coaches; they were like our babysitters for the season.
EARLY PRACTICES
I actually believe back home I work out a lot harder. They did a lot more instruction and drilling stuff, and back home I do a lot more sparring and conditioning. My practices at home are tougher, but as you’ll find out, that may change during the season.
BADER VS LAWLOR
I think it was just a bad matchup for Lawlor because it was basically battle of the wrestlers, and I don’t believe Bader could have lost that one because of his wrestling ability. But Tom did better than what I expected him to do. He had a good gameplan; it’s just that Bader’s a tough dude to go against in your first fight.
| " | My friends and family loved the first show, especially my line about Jose Aguilar having a better chance of getting me pregnant than beating me, and everyone who’s watched the show had the same reaction – that it was probably their favorite line that they ever heard. |
