Episode No. 11 recap: 'The Ultimate Fighter 21: ATT vs. Blackzilians'

American Top Team (top) and the Blackzilians

Episode No. 11 of “The Ultimate Fighter 21: ATT vs. Blackzilians” opens with ATT celebrating its crucial victory in the previous episode. Nathan Coy earned the team 100 points that closed the Blackzilians lead to 300-to-200.

UFC President Dana White explains that ATT needs to win both of the two remaining bouts in the competition in order to edge out the season. The Blackzilians need to emerge on top in just one of two fights.

Blackzilians owner Glenn Robinson vents at the team for dropping the previous fight and feels the athletes are staring to lose focus toward the end of the tournament.

Robinson and the Blackzilians coaching staff select Jason Jackson to represent the team in the potentially competition-clinching bout. Jackson defeated Marcelo Alfaya on Episode 6 and says he’s ready to earn another victory.

ATT owner Dan Lambert is having a more difficult time selecting which fighter he wants to have in the important matchup. Lambert speculates that Michael Graves should fight after losing to Kamaru Usman on Episode 1. However, he is concerned about the fighter’s lack of discipline throughout most of the season.

Uros Jurisic is another candidate proposed by the ATT coaching staff. A vote is made, and ultimately the majority of the coaches vote for Graves to compete.

Graves says he is determined to redeem himself. He’s not happy with the way in which he performed in his first appearance and wants to show the world he’s a more competent fighter than his previous performance indicated.

Both teams move away from the gym for the annual coaches challenge. Lambert and Robinson will face off in a relay race and the winner will earn $10,000 as well as $1,500 for each member of their team.

Lambert and Robinson are each able to select three people from their teams – fighters or coaches – to join in the relay race. Lambert selects ATT strength and conditioning coach Brian Harris along with fighters Sabah Homasi and Cristiano Soldado. Robinson opts for Blackzilians wrestling coach Greg Jones along with fighters Carrington Banks and Jackson.

The race is back-and-forth throughout, but when the coaches receive the baton on the final stretch, Lambert takes a comfortable lead and crosses the finish line first. Lambert wins the race for ATT and the money that goes along with the victory.

The official weigh-in follows, and Graves and Jackson learn they’ll be fighting each other. Both fighters successfully make the welterweight limit and the matchup is official.

The fighters finalize their preparation and game plan. Graves suffers a neck injury during his final training sessions. However, he pushed through and the 11th tournament bout of the season is underway.

Michael Graves (4-0) vs. Jason Jackson (4-2)??

Round 1 – Graves opens with a left body kicks that backs Jackson up. He lands a leg kick soon after. Graves moves in with a combination and Jackson fires back off the counter. Jackson connects with a clean shin to Graves’ groin, but the referee doesn’t see it. Jackson attacks as he attempts to recover and unleashes a flurry of knees and punches against the cage. Graves turtles up into a defensive position and Jackson continues to batter him with knees to the side of the body. Graves covers up as he continues to absorb strikes and the referee threatens to stop the fight. Jackson gets on top of Graves and throws punches, but somehow Graves survives and spins out between Jackson’s legs. Graves scrambles, takes the back and begins to work for a rear-naked choke. After a brief struggle Graves slips his forearm under Jackson’s neck and forces the submission.

Michael Graves def. Jason Jackson via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 3:01??

Both teams explode over the result. ATT is thrilled with the comeback, but the Blackzilians are horrified the fight wasn’t stopped earlier when Jackson landed a countless number of unanswered blows.

Nevertheless, ATT gets its second straight 100-point victory and the competition is even at 300 points for each team. ATT will keep home gym advantage for the final fight of the season, which will determine which side wins the competition.

Also see:

• Episode No. 10 recap: ‘The Ultimate Fighter 21: ATT vs. Blackzilians’
• Episode No. 9 recap: ‘The Ultimate Fighter 21: ATT vs. Blackzilians’
• Episode No. 8 recap: ‘The Ultimate Fighter 21: ATT vs. Blackzilians’
• Episode No. 7 recap: ‘The Ultimate Fighter 21: ATT vs. Blackzilians’
• Episode No. 6 recap: ‘The Ultimate Fighter 21: ATT vs. Blackzilians’
• Episode No. 5 recap: ‘The Ultimate Fighter 21: ATT vs. Blackzilians’
• Episode No. 4 recap: ‘The Ultimate Fighter 21: ATT vs. Blackzilians’
• Episode No. 3 recap: ‘The Ultimate Fighter 21: ATT vs. Blackzilians’
• Episode No. 2 recap: ‘The Ultimate Fighter 21: ATT vs. Blackzilians’
• Episode No. 1 recap: ‘The Ultimate Fighter 21: ATT vs. Blackzilians’

Catch new episodes of “The Ultimate Fighter 21: ATT vs. Blackzilians” every Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. PT) on FOX Sports 1. MMAjunkie recaps each episode of the reality series.

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