One Final TUF 14 Blog from Stephen Bass

Holy cow it’s mid January and I’m finally starting to get back into my every day rhythm.  Ok, I’m lying; I still haven’t found it yet.  It’s been a life changing few months for sure, getting to compete on the biggest stage in Mixed Martial Arts was a wild ride for sure!  I came up short from the goals I set for myself and it was disappointing for sure.   That being said, the six years I spent preparing, training, and sacrificing was worth every second and I’m far from done!

So what did we miss on TUF??  The last episode of the show saw Bedford losing to Dodson and Caraway to Diego, setting up the bantamweight finale of TJ Dillashaw vs. John Dodson and the featherweight final of Diego Brandao vs. Dennis Bermudez.  The results of those matches saw the two Greg Jackson products, Dodson and Brandao both walking away victorious.  More importantly though, in my eyes at least, was my showdown with Marcus Brimage.  I’ll take you through the whole shebang as it unfolded.

My game plan coming into the fight was to counter punch, create angles, and frustrate him into coming forward.   This in turn would set up the takedown where I’d take his back, force the tap, and go home victorious.  In the end he ended up being a bit faster than I thought and having vastly improved takedown defense so he was beating me to the punch, stuffing my takedowns, and pulling ahead in the fight.  Late in the second round, after wobbling him with a punch, I quickly realized that the game plan should have been to walk him down and connect with big shots!  It was that plan that would put him on his ass twice in the final round but it was too little too late, resulting in me suffering my first loss as a pro, in my UFC debut nonetheless.

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This loss forced me to admit that I’ve lost a lot of the drive, motivation and focus that landed me on The Ultimate Fighter in the first place.   Now it’s back to the drawing board to find those things again, continue to improve, and dissect what I have to do to get back to winning in an entertaining fashion for the fans.

I truly appreciate all the support from the MMA community and want to thank the fans for tuning in, Dana White and the UFC for the opportunity, and MMA Valor for hosting this blog.  You guys are the best!!

Message from the editor: We at MMA Valor were thrilled to have Stephen Bass blog each and every week during the 14^th season of the Ultimate Fighter. We want to thank him for taking the time out of his busy day to fans an inside look of the season. Please show your support for Stephen follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

Tags: Blog, Dennis Bermudez, Diego Brandao, John Dodson, Marcus Brimage, Mixed Martial Arts, MMA, Stephen Bass, TJ Dillashaw, TUF 14, UFC, Ultimate Fighter

Category: Blog, Exclusive, Featured, MMA, UFC, Ultimate Fighter