The Money Shot: Jess Taylor's TUF 7 Blog-Episode 4
by Jesse Taylor Subscribe in a reader
Note- TUF 7 competitor Jesse Taylor will be writing about his experience during the show. Look for a new posting after each episode. Thanks to Jesse and Dave Franklin.
Hello family, friends, fans, and enemies! You are all loved, much respect to y'all. Sorry for the late blog people. I just got back from Houston, Texas for a wedding and it was great. I'm eager now to get back to training and getting beat up at Team Quest for daily beat downs.
So episode 4 starts out with me having a couple drinks and having some fun. I love the dudes at Spike and UFC and how they portray me because it's entertaining. I will give them that. On the show I did have some fun; however, I worked my ass off- harder than other people and drank on the show only 3 times. Those three times were wild times, but I am curious to see if they're going to make me seem like a drunk. I think my fighting and training that they show you guys will tell you that my work ethic is what makes me a good fighter and good fighter to come. Hard work and training is what makes anyone awesome at what they do. I can't even tell you guys how many countless push ups I do in the shower and that is one beautiful sight!
My philosophy on training and everything is different, I believe. What I do is get a little loose, have some drinks to unwind and relax after weeks of training. This makes me want to get back to training even more for some reason, and I believe it's good to give the mind, body, and soul a break once in a while to regroup, then get back to it. That is what I do and that is what you guys saw. The blinds and dishwasher are so far some of my worst enemies and very tough opponents for me in the fighter house. Ringworm is another tough cookie to combat, but it is defeated by tough-acting Tinactin, as my good friend and bunk mate Tim Credeur pointed out to me in the house.
BREAKDOWN OF FIGHT, TRAINING, etc:
So tonight we see me unwinding (after my fight) in the house, strategies of coaches, Dante Rivera and Matt Riddle arguments, and training. If you pay attention to the show I think our team, Team Forrest, had the advantage of training and coaching. We just had more coaches and the advantage of a constant Muay Thai coach of Mark Beecher. Now, people have different philosophies of training, but I believe if you always go hard and pretty much just beat each other up on a daily basis while learning new techniques and trying new fight moves, you're going to get better. We also conditioned better, had our own coach, and did drills to work on our bodies so we could maintain our muscle mass and get in better overall shape. With these tools you could not go wrong, plus our own coach trained with us daily so we got better from that as well.
Our team, like I said earlier, was diverse in their fighting styles. Each one of us was a different style of fighter so we got to see different looks. Forest, Cameron, Mark, Gray, and Norm also kicked my ass a lot, so with this hands-on experience of our coaching staff we all got better. I feel Team Rampage got limited quality time with their coaches. Forrest would spar and grapple with us constantly. I do not believe Rampage did that with his team and definitely not all the time. It is evident from watching the first two fights that our hard work ethic, coaching, and diverse fight team was working out well for Team Forrest (team BROWN NOSE).
Dante and Matt bickered a lot, but it was mostly friendly arguments and consisted of Matt kind of being the younger brother and Dante being the older brother. They would talk shit to each other quite frequently and it was humorous. It was also strange seeing the strategies of Team Rampage. Having the ball in your court is awesome, and for future coaches I think it is more important getting to choose the fights than picking who you think the best fighter is! We kept Team Rampage constantly on their feet and from the looks of things they never had a clue who or when they were going to fight. This is hard and we have a clear advantage here. Mind over matter works, and it was tough for them not knowing when they were fighting or who they were fighting. Patrick Schultz was not picked as they thought and Matt Riddle was. Like I said before our strategy was to get rid of some of their best fighters early – not to do Best vs Worse because that is also not the warrior way. To me and from watching the show it seemed we were going to do Best vs Worse but that was not our game plan. Rather we chose our tough guys against their tough guys and considered some good style match-ups. That was the genius plan of Forrest and our team, and it worked.
I trained with Tim daily and knew he was a tough brawler who loved to battle. He did not mind getting hit in the face and like me could not go light. He relished the opportunity to fight anyone and the dude's a warhorse. He slept right above me in the house, and would make terrific Southern Cajun style food for me, and constantly let me eat his leftovers like a hungry dog. Tim is a seasoned vet, who is comfortable anywhere in the fight, not to mention he's a black belt in jiu-jitsu, and he does THUG jitsu. That means he will hit you in the face or bust a hole in your lip to get the choke or armbar. I loved his training style and he loved the concept of fighting and being a warrior. We had something in common. Riddle was a tough wrestler, good at jiu-jitsu, and had powerful fists with a sprinkle of cockiness. That's also what makes a good fighter – you need to think you're the best to be the best. We heard it from Riddle, sometimes a lot. I still liked the guy but although he was funny and entertaining, I still have to go with my teammate here. I was confident going into the fight Tim would handle Riddle. Matt Riddle proved once again that he was a gamer and tough kid by battling with the seasoned vet Tim Credeur. The fight was back and fourth with plenty of action. Stand up was a little to Riddle's side, and wrestling takedowns even. Tim had much better ground work as the fight showed and it paid off. Tim was constantly reversing Riddle on the ground while peppering him with punches and elbows, even a high kick was thrown. Matt Riddle had good stand up but was just not comfortable there and Tim loved to bang so he was. On the ground Tim's jiu-jitsu was too much for Matt and I give Tim Round 1 because he finished on top in full mount landing bombs on Riddle and causing his nose to explode with blood.
Round 2 was much the same, however, Matt Riddle had the slight edge here with his takedown and some stand up work. Tim again reversed Riddle, and as Riddle was slowly fatiguing, Tim Credeur went in for the kill, landing bombs on Riddle's face, then securing a beautiful armbar. 2-0 for Team Forrest!
The fights keep getting better, and the show really hasn't even begun yet. There's going to be drama, possible house fights, and I'm sure this is one of the craziest houses and seasons yet with a ton of surprises never seen before. This season will be never forgotten and best for years to come. Keep watching lucky season 7 because it's about to get CRAZY!!!!!! Later y'all and see you next week.
Also come to McKee's Tavern Wednesday night in San Diego, off Camino del Norte, for a great time. I will be there and give you secret details of what went down each episode, and will be selling JTMONEY shirts that you can wear to support me and give me secret power to try and win the whole deal. So come to McKee's Tavern and kick it with me!
JTMONEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY$$$$$$$$$$$$$JESSE TAYLOR
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