Thursday, September 29, 2011

TUF 14 in-depth: Dillashaw glad he didn?t have to babysit Caraway

TUF 14 in-depth: Dillashaw glad he didn?t have to babysit CarawayT.J. Dillashaw may be the brightest prospect in the entire cast of Season 14 of "The Ultimate Fighter." How he'll come off during the show is anyone's guess. You can never predict which fighters and personalities will strike a chord with the show's producers.

He's a former elite college wrestler who works under Urijah Faber and Team Alpha Male, one the leading gyms when it comes to producing elite bantamweights and featherweights. If Dillashaw isn't featured beyond his fighting, it looks like we'll at least get a good look at his personality in his weekly blog on Heavy.com.

The 25-year-old bantamweight landed with Team Michael Bisping. Dillashaw got a along with the brash Brit, but he could see why some people aren't big fans of the middleweight contender.

"I was a little afraid to be on Bisping's team because of the way he's portrayed in the past to be a jerk and no one really liked him that much ? which he is. He really is a jerk, but he wasn't like that with the team, so it's really not that big a deal," Dillashaw wrote on Heavy.com.

Dillashaw was impressed with Bisping's work in the corner of Marcus Brimage during the show's first Round of 16 fight. All in all, he thought Bisping was a good coach.

"If you're on his side, he's got you all the way. He really cared about us. He cared about how we did in the competition, he made sure that we had everything that we needed. He's a really good guy," said Dillashaw.

Featherweight Bryan Caraway, another Team Alpha Male fighter, landed on Team Jason Miller. Dillashaw wasn't surprised the show focused on the "Nervous Nancy" angle for Caraway. He's been around the 27-year-old and knows how much Caraway struggles mentally during the prefight.

"Getting back to the point of Bryan being on the other team, it was actually kind of nice because he couldn't rely on me for all his stability, me giving him confidence and whatnot. He had to get that from his team, and I didn't have to be bothered with it. I got to worry about myself, and what was going on in my situation," said Dillashaw.

Caraway took out Brimage in fight No. 1. The match up itself was chosen by Caraway. The rest of Team Miller decided they had to ease Caraway's panic by allowing the fighter to choose his destiny. He picked the right opponent.

"[Brimage] as an MMA fighter, he's a little ignorant to everything that goes on in the background. It's not just all about the skills; it's the lifestyle, the diet, and the mentality of knowing that you've got to be disciplined at all times," said Dillashaw.

Dillashaw gave credit to Bisping for going the extra mile on Brimage's weight cut. The fighter weighed 157 afternoon before the fight, and Bisping's weight-cutting methods helped him dropped 11 pounds in one night.

It looks cutting weight may be a common thread throughout the show. There was tons of risky food available to the fighters. Dillashaw said some of the featherweights were as high 178 before their fights.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/TUF-14-in-depth-Dillashaw-glad-he-didn-t-have-t?urn=mma-wp7512

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