The Ultimate Fighter: Team Carwin vs. Team Nelson

The Ultimate Fighter: Team Carwin vs. Team Nelson
Genre	Reality, Sports
Created by	Frank Fertitta III, Lorenzo Fertitta, Dana White
Starring	Dana White, Shane Carwin and Roy Nelson
Country of origin	United States
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Original release
Network	FX
Release	September 14, 2012

The Ultimate Fighter: Team Carwin vs. Team Nelson is the sixteenth main installment of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)-produced reality television series The Ultimate Fighter.

This season reverted back to the taped format, after The Ultimate Fighter: Live's 12-week live format. The previous season saw the show be revamped. Prior seasons of the show were filmed in six weeks, edited and aired several months after filming was completed, whereas The Ultimate Fighter: Live was being filmed over thirteen weeks, featuring live fights. This season returned the old taped format, but stayed on Friday nights

Abandoning the usual open tryouts for the show, the UFC and FX interviewed candidates directly, with many interviewees being former-tryout participants. On July 12, 2012, Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin were announced as the coaches for the season.

Cast

Coaches

    Team Carwin

• Shane Carwin, Head Coach
• Trevor Wittman, Boxing Coach
• Nate Marquardt, Jiu Jitsu Coach
• Pat Barry, Striking Coach
• Duane Ludwig, Striking Coach
• Leister Bowling, Wrestling Coach
• Loren Landlow, Sports Performance Coach
• Ezra Scholey, Judo coach

    Team Nelson

• Roy Nelson
• Nick Diaz
• Nate Diaz
• Jake Shields
• Gilbert Melendez

Fighters

• Team Carwin
  • Sam Alvey, Bristol Marunde, Mike Ricci, Neil Magny, James Chaney, Eddy Ellis, Igor Araujo, Matt Secor

• Team Nelson
  • Dom Waters, Michael Hill, Cameron Diffley, Colton Smith, Jon Manley, Nic Herron-Webb, Joey Rivera, Julian Lane

• Fighters eliminated during the entry round

Saad Awad, Jesse Barrett, Diego Bautista, Frank Camacho, Jerel Clark, Cortez Coleman, Max Griffin, Zane Kamaka, Leo Kuntz, Ricky Legere Jr., George Lockhart, Lev Magen, David Michaud, Kevin Nowaczyk, Tim Ruberg, Jason South

Episodes

Episode 1: Bring It!

• Dana White welcomed the 32 fighters, consisting of all welterweights, to the show at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. He introduced them to the coaches, heavyweights Shane Carwin and Roy "Big Country" Nelson.
• White dismissed the fighters to pre-fight warm-ups for the elimination round.
• The preliminary fights began:

Dom Waters defeated Kevin Nowaczyk by KO (punches) at 0:32 of round 1.

Michael Hill defeated Lev Magen by KO (punches) at 1:27 of round 1.

Bristol Marunde defeated George Lockhart by submission (guillotine choke) at 2:23 of round 1.

Mike Ricci defeated Jason South by TKO (punches) at 1:50 of round 1.

Julian Lane defeated Diego Bautista by unanimous decision.

Igor Araujo defeated Cortez Coleman by submission (triangle choke) at 3:16 in a third sudden victory round.

James Chaney defeated Jerel Clark by submission (triangle choke) at 1:30 of round 1.

Cameron Diffley defeated Zane Kamaka by submission (armbar) at 1:37 of round 1.

Neil Magny defeated Frank Camacho by unanimous decision.

Jon Manley defeated Ricky Legere Jr. by unanimous decision.

Colton Smith defeated Jesse Barrett by unanimous decision.

Matt Secor defeated Max Griffin by submission (triangle choke) at 2:55 in a third sudden victory round.

Eddy Ellis defeated David Michaud by submission (arm triangle choke) at 4:29 of round 2.

Joey Rivera defeated Saad Awad by majority decision.

Nic Herron-Webb defeated Tim Ruberg by submission (armbar) at 4:17 of round 1.

Sam Alvey defeated Leo Kuntz by KO (punch) at 0:47 of round 1.

• White expressed his displeasure in some of the fights, but congratulated all of the winning fighters on making it onto the show. Team Carwin and Team Nelson then picked teams and a coin was flipped (yellow for Carwin, blue for Nelson). Nelson won the coin toss and opted to choose the first fight, so Carwin was allowed to choose the first fighter. The fighters were picked in the following order:

Coach	1st Pick	2nd Pick	3rd Pick	4th Pick	5th Pick	6th Pick	7th Pick	8th Pick
Carwin	Sam Alvey	Bristol Marunde	Mike Ricci	Neil Magny	James Chaney	Eddy Ellis	Igor Araujo	Matt Secor
Nelson	Dom Waters	Michael Hill	Cameron Diffley	Colton Smith	Jon Manley	Nic Herron-Webb	Joey Rivera	Julian Lane

Episode 2: What We Do

• The sixteen victorious fighters moved into the house. Rifts immediately began to form, with Matt Secor and Julian Lane frequently arguing. Later, Lane and Colton Smith pulled a prank on members of Team Carwin.
• Mike Ricci and Michael Hill note that they are the two only Canadian fighters on the show and befriend each other
• Nelson announced that his team would be training once a day – as opposed to the usual format in previous seasons of two-a-day training sessions – which caused frustration amongst his team.
• Nelson announced the match-up of Diffley, a former TUF coach on TUF 7, against Magny.
• Neil Magny defeated Cameron Diffley via unanimous decision (20–18, 20–18, 20–18).

Episode 3: We Have Control

• Nic Herron-Webb creates more household enemies when he decides that 2:00 am is the perfect time to play pool, whistle and jump rope outside people’s bedrooms.
• Julian Lane, Colton Smith and Herron-Webb take Alvey's mattress from his bedroom and float it on the pool outside. After seeing what happened, Alvey just laughed it off.
• Carwin announced the match up of Alvey against Rivera.
• Joey Rivera defeated Sam Alvey by majority decision (19–19, 20–18, 20–18).

Episode 4: Can't Fix Stupid

• Nelson had his team draw straws to determine who would fight next. Whoever drew the short straw would fight next and pick his opponent or pass the straw to a teammate.
• Lane drew the short straw and picked Marunde to fight.
• The fighters and coaches went to a screening of the new MMA based movie, Here Comes the Boom, starring Kevin James.
• Marunde was worried about making weight. He weighed 186 lbs at the fight announcement, but was able to drop down to 170 lbs at the weigh in. Nelson along with Lane and Joey Rivera questioned the accuracy of those results.
• Bristol Marunde defeated Julian Lane via unanimous decision (20–18, 20–18, 20–18).
• After the fight, Nelson confronted White about the controversy surrounding Marunde's weigh-in, asking if White wanted him to "keep an eye out on the commission" in the future. White stated that the commission's statement of Marunde making weight is true and that Nelson was being stupid.

Episode 5: Unleash the Beast

• Julian Lane was shown crying in the locker room after his loss talking about wanting to make a better life for his family and how he has nothing left for him.
• Carwin asked his team who was ready to fight, (all fighters rose their hands), to determine the next fight matchup.
• Matt Secor and Lane nearly came to blows after Secor farted and "threw it at Lane" which caused Lane to snap, claiming he would risk going home, just to fight Secor, as he had already lost his fight.
• Carwin announced the matchup of Araujo against Herron-Webb.
• UFC veteran and TUF alumni Eliot Marshall became a part of Team Carwin's coaching staff.
• Team Nelson put Mike Ricci's bed on top of the gazebo in the backyard causing a verbal spat between Herron-Webb and Ricci, who was not as patient as Sam Alvey.
• Igor Araujo defeated Nic Herron-Webb via majority decision.
• White and the rest of Team Nelson believed that Herron-Webb was screwed out of a third round.

Episode 6: One Mission

• Nelson complained about Nic Herron-Webb's decision loss to Igor Araujo in the previous week.
• Members of the blue team ate and threw away the chicken that belonged to Matt Secor and other members of Team Carwin. Secor blamed Michael Hill which caused an argument, leading to Hill calling Secor out for the next fight.
• Despite this, Carwin chose Ellis to fight Team Nelson's Smith.
• Carwin brought in UFC veteran Eliot Marshall and Trevor Wittman to help formulate a game plan for the fight against Ellis.
• Colton Smith defeated Eddy Ellis by majority decision (19–18, 19–18, 19–19) in yet another match that White and Team Carwin believed should have gone to a third round.

Episode 7: Summer Camp

• Nelson picked his next fighter by having his team "pick a number."
• Dom Waters won, but did not want to pick an opponent, so he passed control to Hill who picked Secor because of his big mouth.
• Forrest Griffin came in as a guest-coach to show Team Nelson some striking skills.
• Michael Hill defeated Matt Secor by split decision after three rounds.
• White complained about the judging once again, as the third round was deemed by those in attendance to be highly controversial.

Episode 8: Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em

• White visited the house to try to inspire the fighters after a few lackluster bouts leading to poor judges decisions.
• Michael Hill got drunk and challenged Neil Magny to a fight in the quarter-finals. Julian Lane, in a drunken rage, then began challenging Dom Waters to a fight by continuing to plea "let me bang, bro," to Hill. Despite Hill's assurance that "[he] will let [him] bang," the fight never materialized and Lane ultimately cried.
• The coaches challenge took place with Nelson and Carwin competing in sports such as javelin, discus and shotput. The winners of each of the 5 sports they took place in gained a 3m advantage in the decisive 400m race. Carwin won the race and the $20,000 reward.
• Jon Manley defeated James Chaney via submission (guillotine choke) at 3:25 of round 1.
• The fight was also controversial in that Chaney later admitted that he bit Manley in an attempt to escape from the submission attempt.

Episode 9

• The last match was automatically set up with Ricci matched against Waters.
• Julian Lane throws another fit in the house when he and Colton Smith discuss what they have done in their lives.
• Mike Ricci defeated Dom Waters via unanimous decision in the final fight of the third round.

Episode 10

• Michael Hill gets mad at Mike Ricci, as they are the two Canadians on the show, for betraying their friendship by requesting to fight him which they had previously agreed to in the finals only, and a rift forms between the two.
• At the weigh-in, there is a verbal spat between Igor Araujo and Colton Smith after Araujo shoves the Army Ranger. Smith then insults the Brazilian's mother, enraging Araujo and his teammates come and restrain him.
• Neil Magny defeated Bristol Marunde via unanimous decision (20–18, 20–18, 20–18) to become the first semifinalist this season.
• Colton Smith defeated Igor Araujo via unanimous decision (20–18, 20–18, 20–18)

Episode 11

• Jon Manley defeated Joey Rivera via majority decision (19–19, 20–18, 20–18)
• Mike Ricci defeated Michael Hill via unanimous decision (20–18, 20–18, 20–18)

Episode 12

• Colton Smith defeated Jon Manley via unanimous decision
• Mike Ricci defeated Neil Magny via knockout in the first round with a vicious elbow strike.
• The final is announced, Colton Smith vs. Mike Ricci.

Finale

The finale for the season was held on December 15, 2012 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Shane Carwin was expected to face Roy Nelson in the event's headliner. However, Carwin suffered a knee injury and was replaced by Matt Mitrione. The results of the fights in the finale are as follows:

Main card (FX)
Weight class				Method	Round	Time	Notes
Heavyweight	Roy Nelson	def	Matt Mitrione	TKO (punches)	1	2:58
Welterweight	Colton Smith	def.	Mike Ricci	Decision (unanimous) (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)	3	5:00
Heavyweight	Pat Barry	def.	Shane del Rosario	KO (punches)	2	0:26
Featherweight	Dustin Poirier	def.	Jonathan Brookins	Submission (d'arce choke)	1	4:15
Preliminary card (Fuel TV)
Welterweight	Mike Pyle	def.	James Head	TKO (knee and punches)	1	1:55
Bantamweight	Johnny Bedford	def.	Marcos Vinicius	KO (punches)	2	1:00
Lightweight	Rustam Khabilov	def.	Vinc Pichel	KO (suplex and punches)	1	2:15
Welterweight	TJ Waldburger	def.	Nick Catone	Technical submission (triangle choke)	2	1:04
Preliminary Card (Facebook)
Bantamweight	Hugo Viana	def.	Reuben Duran	KO (punch)	1	4:05
Lightweight	Mike Rio	def.	John Cofer	Submission (armbar)	3	4:11
Flyweight	Tim Elliott	def.	Jared Papazian	Decision (unanimous) (30-25, 30-25, 30-26)	3	5:00

Bonus awards of $40,000 were awarded to Tim Elliott and Jared Papazian for the fight of the night, Pat Barry for knockout of the night, and TJ Waldburger for the submission of the night.

Tournament Bracket

Elimination Round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Finale

Joey Rivera

MD

Sam Alvey

2

Joey Rivera

MD

Jon Manley

2

Jon Manley

SUB

James Chaney

1

Jon Manley

UD

Colton Smith

3

Igor Araujo

MD

Nic Herron-Webb

2

Igor Araujo

UD

Colton Smith

2

Colton Smith

MD

Eddy Ellis

2

Colton Smith

UD

Mike Ricci

3

Mike Ricci

UD

Dom Waters

3

Mike Ricci

UD

Michael Hill

2

Michael Hill

SD

Matt Secor

2

Mike Ricci

KO

Neil Magny

1

Bristol Marunde

UD

Julian Lane

2

Bristol Marunde

UD

Neil Magny

2

Neil Magny

UD

Cameron Diffley

2

Legend

		Team Carwin
		Team Nelson
UD		Unanimous Decision
MD		Majority Decision
SD		Split Decision
SUB		Submission
(T)KO		(Technical)KO