TUF 17 Contestant Clint Hester's TUF Blog: Episode 2

Clint Hester's TUF profile.

With the first official fight of the season in the books, the controversy has already begun. When Jones picked the shortest competitor, Gilbert Smith, against the tallest competitor in Luke Barnatt, many were skeptical as to why Jones would have set up such a bizarre matchup.

Now that episode 2 is in the books, let’s welcome back TUF 17 favorite Clint Hester for his second entry:

So tonight’s episode was pretty awesome! I don't know if I'm excited because I have lived with the other thirteen guys for six weeks and I know how everything went down, but this show has been great!!

So this episode was named ambush and it seemed more of ambush the way it happened. Team Jones was trying to change the fight pick right before we went out to announce it, and we did it that way because we weren’t really sure how to break our feelings to [Gilbert] Jamal.

From my point of view, I thought Jamal had it in the bag except from times when he would speak about not having positive reinforcement like he usually does back home. So I'm thinking to myself, “He will not be able to focus for this fight or it will be too much pressure on him just from the way he is acting.” Then we had him trying to defend himself about his cardio and going in trying to prove a point to us, which was not needed in my opinion. He got the fight and now you have nothing to prove in my eyes. All we had to do as fighters was do whatever it took to get to the next round.

So, with all that being said, I feel Jamal went into the cage and did what was planned. It just sucks that there wasn't a plan B.

What I remember from being there was his arms got tired from exerting so much energy going for the takedowns. He should have stepped back and blasted Luke with combos because when he would throw he would land! But we all live and we all learn with each fight and I feel that was a great fight and he went out there to win it. It's just that my man Luke Barnatt wasn't giving anything away and he capitalized on a bad shot and clipped Jamal with a knee that put him out.

But keep watching because two people who loose will get selected for the wild card. Will it be Gilbert Jamal Smith? Or will it be another contestant that dreams of being the Ultimate Fighter who got cut short in this first round? Stay tuned for a great, exciting season!