The Ultimate Fighter 16 Episode 2 Recap: Fighters Move into the House and One Fighter Advances

On the second episode of The Ultimate Fighter Fridays: Team Carwin vs. Team Nelson, the sixteen welterweights moved into the house, the teams had their first workouts and one team took control of the match making.

Following the first team workouts, the cast and coaches were called to the UFC training center to announce the first match up.  Coach Roy Nelson opted to give up the first fighter pick to gain match making control and chose Team Carwin’s Neil Magny to take on Cameron Diffley.

Nelson’s reasoning behind the match up was Diffley’s experience and jiu-jitsu game.

“Neil got put into a lot of bad positions from the first fight, so I figured Cameron would be able to put him in bad positions,” said Coach Nelson.

Coach Carwin thought the match up was strange, to say the least.

“It was an odd choice I think that Roy made.  I think Neil definitely has the advantage in this fight,” said Carwin.

Team Carwin wanted Magny to keep the fight standing and control the distance and pace.  Team Nelson’s game plan for Diffley was to secure a takedown and work his submission game to pull out the victory.

Neil Magny vs. Cameron Diffley:

In the first round, Magny did what was expected of him.  He controlled the distance and landed shots.  Diffly secured a late takedown in the round but was unable to finish with his submission attempts.  He worked for an arm bar before transitioning to a knee bar and was closest to finishing with a heel hook.

The second round was all Magny.  Magny worked his striking on the outside and stuffed takedown attempts.  When the fight did go to the ground, he maintained top position.

All three judges scored the fight 20-18 for Magny.

“It wasn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be.  He had a pretty deep heel hook in there.  It took a lot of heart to fight out of it, but I’ll take that birthday present any day,” said Magny after the win.

Cameron took the loss in stride and hopes it will make him a better fighter in the long run.

“It’s just a tough loss. I think I need to absorb the loss.  Let it change me.  Let it make me better as a fighter,” said Cameron following the fight.  “Neil did a better job establishing his range, punching me.  He was taking my shots real defensively.  I came up short.  Gotta work harder and come back stronger.”

The win transferred match making power from Team Nelson to Team Carwin.