Team Carwin’s Bristol Marunde won a unanimous decision over Team Nelson’s Julian Lane on episode four of The Ultimate Fighter 16.
At the fight announcement Marunde told Lane he made a big mistake picking him. It turned out to be true and for a third straight week the team that chose the matchup ended up losing the fight.
Watch new episodes of The Ultimate Fighter 16 every Friday night on Sportsnet
In the first round Marunde was able to control Lane along the cage and land some solid knees although Lane cut Marunde in several places on his face and bust up his nose with short punches. Despite looking worse for wear after the first five minutes, Marunde controlled the action and took the round.
A big storyline heading into the fight was Marunde’s rather daunting weight cut. He had to lose 15 pounds in 24 hours, but did so with no issues and in the second round Marunde looked to be the fresher fighter.
Marunde came out with a more tactical, precision striking strategy and landed chopping outside leg-kicks that had Lane wincing in pain. Marunde once again controlled the Octagon while Lane was looking for a big haymaker that never came. Ultimately Lane was too tentative to force a third and deciding rund and Marunde won a unanimous decision.
Team Carwin now has a 2-1 record with Team Nelson’s record mirroring that at 1-2.
Outside of the cage, the fighters had some fun as popular actor and comedian Kevin James and UFC president Dana White allowed the housemates to see a sneak peak of the new film Here Comes the Boom that stars James as a teacher who starts competing in MMA to raise money for his school.
On the next episode of TUF 16, Shane Carwin makes the fight selection, Julian is still sour about his loss and becomes aggressive in the house, and Canadian Mike Ricci is the victim of another prank but this time he isn’t amused.
