TUF 5 episode two continued where episode one left off.  Team Penn fighter Matt Wiman may have said it best when he said it was a sad day for humans.

Indeed it was.  But, it was also a happy day for viewers of the show.

A new wrinkle in the show was the fact that episode one loser Allan Berube decided not to leave the house after losing his fight, bucking tradition.  It will be interesting to see how Berube impacts the show, given that he is currently out of the running.  I think keeping fight losers is a brilliant move because of the additional drama that may be introduced to the show.

BJ Penn continued to play mind games with Jens Pulver, hoping for a more favorable second fight matchup.  Unfortunately for Penn, the games didn't work this time.  In addition, Penn's team chemistry appeared to be unraveling a bit when two of his fighters -- the omnipresent troublemaker Gabe Ruediger and the aforementioned Wiman -- continued to snip at each other.  This dysfunction was nipped in the bud -- for now -- with a team meeting.

In addition, the lonely fighters had a funny episode with two passing women and their horses.  One of the horses had trouble with traction on the TUF house's slick driveway and required that the fighters bring out rugs so that the horse could regain its footing.

The testosterone level shot up when one of Team Penn's fighters wrote a disparaging comment about Team Pulver on one of the house walls (apparently, these guys have a little too much free time.)  When Team Pulver returned to the house, Nate Diaz made a not-so-surprising debut on the show by taking his shirt off and elevating the tension in the house.  Diaz's Team Pulver teammate Manny Gamburyan then absolutely flew off the handle and even threatened to leave the house over what initially seemed to be a rather innocuous dig at his team.

And oh, there was also an elimination fight in episode two.  This one featured Team Penn's Noah Thomas against Team Pulver's Gamburyan.  Thomas' confidence in himself came from his experience, having fought over 40 fights in the previous 2+ years.  On the other hand, Gamburyan -- Karo Parisyan's cousin -- had spent the last couple of years recovering from a shoulder injury and hadn't fought during that time.  In the end, it didn't matter.  The stocky Gamburyan caught Thomas with a punch early and dominated Thomas on the ground, ending the fight with a first round submission due to Kimura.  The victory was an impressive one for the Armenian.

The first two episodes of TUF have been entertaining and have featured two lopsided fights.  Team Pulver is sitting pretty right now, up 2-0.  As good as the talent displayed in the Octagon has been, the drama in the TUF house has been even better.  I can't wait for the TUF 5 hot tub scene (there will be a hot tube scene, right?)...

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I stayed up late to watch Bad Blood: Dana White vs. Tito Ortiz on Spike TV right after TUF 5 episode two.  The one-and-a-half hour show -- detailing the history between the two men, how the boxing match came about, and White's preparation for the match -- was a bit anti-climactic given that it had been reported in the MMA online media that Ortiz failed to show up for the weigh-in a couple of weeks ago.  Still, I watched and was interested to learn a little more about Dana White behind the scenes. 

I was impressed by White's candor about his age and his physical shape and by his drive to train for this fight even as he continued in his role as UFC President.  It becomes clear over the course of the show how White has made UFC such a successful promotion -- he displays a lot of the same traits in his preparation for the bout.

In the end, I think the bout not taking place may have been the best thing for UFC and all involved.  The idea was a lose-lose for all parties involved.  The sole exception to this may have been White, who would have gained a little on a personal level from winning the bout.  But, something tells me White is more interested in keeping MMA and UFC credible and Ortiz losing to his 37-year-old boss may have hurt the credibility of the sport.

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Spike TV has begun showing promos for their tape-delayed telecast of UFC 70 from Manchester, England on April 21.  What struck me is that the promos advertise the program as being on free TV.  I think I understand the spirit of the claim, but it's not technically true.  While Spike TV is not pay-per-view and it's not a premium cable channel, it is a basic cable channel.  And, last time I checked, basic cable still costs money.  Regardless, UFC 70 is a very nice card and televising it on Spike TV is huge for MMA fans.

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Fox Sports Net will be televising tonight's IFL Uncasville match between the New York Pitbulls and Portland Wolfpack at 11 pm EST in a two-hour tape-delayed telecast.  All five fights in this match will be shown on the program, hopefully in their entirety.