TUF 15 Episode 3 Recap: Justin Lawrence via KO

The third show starts off with a little bit of a recap of week three’s episode. After James Vick KO’d Cruickshank Dominick Cruz started off the mind games with a bang, and offered to put his top pick in the cage with anybody on Faber’s team. Urijah responded by asking Team Faber who was ready to go. He got crickets.

Cruz ended up picking Cristiano Marcello who was Faber’s second pick. This isn’t an easy match up for Lawrence as Marcello is the bigger guy, and poses a significant style advantage by being a black belt in BJJ for over ten years. Cruz could have definitely chose a lesser opponent for his #1.

When the show gets going Team Cruz is celebrating the fact that they threw Urijah and team Faber for a loop. Many in the locker room are talking about how somebody should have stepped up, and some continue to do so when both teams get back to the house. None more vocal than Chris Tickle (he’s a name you’ll hear later). Mike Chiesa tried to rationalize not stepping up to fight Lawrence by placing the blame on Faber for not picking him, but that leaves out the little tid bit about Urijah asking his whole team to jump in.

A lot of this show was revolved around Tickle. He tried to get under the other team’s skin by continuing the not stepping out talk. Then he decided to wear a gas mask to training, and started off the pranks yanking out Urijah’s parking sign to place randomly in the gym. And finally, he became “that guy” for season 15 when there was a little montage of him shown avoiding training hard. He even argued with Cruz a little bit when Dominick called him out. The pranks he started moved over to the coaches though when Urijah taped up Dominick’s picture to look like a cross between Hitler and Count Chocula, and Cruz placed a thong on Faber’s face to cover up his “butt chin”. Both actually pretty funny. 

We’re also given a little more depth on Cristiano and Justin. Lawrence was brought up in a family that trains. His parents own a gym, he’s been wrestling since he was in third grade, and he has over 150 amatuer fights (his words). Cristiano has been doing Jiu-jitsu longer than some of our readers have probably been alive. He was awarded his black belt by Royler Gracie in 1999, and was the long time BJJ trainer for Chute Boxe Academy. This fight is not only a great clash of styles, but also a great generational divide.

Fight Time:

Both are pretty timid in the first round. Lawrence looks to pick his shots, while Cristiano tries to press the action with little success. Neither guy is able to get things going, and Justin takes the round on activity.

The second round is more of the same, but Justin’s shot start to land more (especially the left hook). Marcello gets a deep body lock in the middle of the cage, but is unable to do anything with it and it spells his demise. As the left hooks start to pile up Lawrence comes forward with more frequency, until one loaded up shot blasts the master BJJ player in to unconsciousness.

Justin Lawrence defeats Cristiano Marcello by KO (left hook) Round 2 (3:16)

With that win Cruz still holds the power, and for next week’s fight he picks his team’s Myles Jury to face off against Urijah’s Al Iaquinta.