Fight Ticker member Mohawk is none other than TUF 7 contestant Brandon Sene. Sene is blogging here at FightTicker.com during the current season of TUF.

What’s up fight and TUF fans! After two episodes of non-stop fighting, some killer knockouts, and a little show of this season's talent, TUF is starting to get on track for a great season!

Once the fights were all wrapped up and we were officially in the house, there was a sense of accomplishment already amongst the fighters! We all had fought and this season truly earned the spot on The Ultimate Fighter. We all had a chance to see what our competition looked like in the Octagon which was nice because it gave us something to base a fight plan on for the guy we would be fighting later on in the show. Looking around the room and sizing up the competition I knew there was a lot of talent in the room and it would make for some battles in the cage. My mind was racing -- I wanted to know what’s next, who I would fight, who my coach would be, what the house was like, and is there anything else big we didn’t know about? A million questions lingered in my mind, and only hours after that huge feeling of relief from the first fight came the same familiar feeling of pressure!

Up until now we had been put up in a hotel room that was stripped of phone and communication to the real world. The hotel sucked, because we had no idea what was going on, and we were put in this room to pace around until somebody came and told you the next move, and the food situation was limited at best which is always tough when you are struggling to make and maintain weight. It felt like we had been in that damn room for weeks, but in fact it was a couple days.

We pulled up to the house late on the third night we were in Vegas. It was a great feeling and really put the whole experience into perspective stepping into the TUF house for the first time. I quickly found a bed as secluded as possible and claimed it as my own in a room with Cale and Dan, two of the other guys I had been talking to and seemed like good guys. So this was it! I was on season 7 of TUF -- it felt like I was right where I needed to be and everything was unfolding right on track! The house was all stocked with food, and basically anything you could want... except for TV, Internet, phone, books, magazines, music, or anything entertaining that wasn’t a fellow fighter. lol. Whatever, I had been in far worse than this!

The next day we went back to the gym and were assigned to our teams -- this was one more of the unanswered questions taken care of. The season began to take shape as far as training and competition. I was happy to be on Rampage's team. Who wouldn’t want to be? He is the world champion and an all-around bad ass, not to mention funny as hell! I was content with my team, knowing we had a lot of talent and experience to work with.

So, obviously the whole Paul Bradley thing sucked. I felt really bad for Paul, though; I don’t know him too well, and didn’t have the chance to get to know him. I know that he -- just like most of the guys on the show -- had a long story of sacrifice to be there. Understandably he took it pretty hard having to leave the show. I can’t imagine…to make it that far and then for something out of your own control, have to leave! I felt and still feel bad for the guy, but that shit was serious and nobody wants to have to deal with that same issue if it can possibly be prevented. Enough said.

The Mike Dolce/Jessie Taylor fight…Well Mike was on my team and a great guy with a lot of experience and talent. He trains with Team Quest in Oregon, is an IFL veteran, has some pro boxing under his belt, and a has well-rounded MMA game. Jessie trains with Team Quest also, but Quest South. He is mostly known for his wrestling/ground and pound. The match up looked good and had the potential to be a good fight.

As a fighter everybody is different when preparing for a fight, some guys train hard right up to the fight or with little or no break go and do their thing. Some like to taper off their training and let their body heal up in the closing days before a fight. It is the same on fight day; some guys need to get all pumped up, sweaty, and intense before their walk out. Others like me are calm, cool, and composed. This allows me to focus and save my energy for the fight. I know fighters who have to be mad at the guy they are fighting so they spend their time getting ready convincing themselves they truly hate their opponent! My point is everybody has their own rituals and training time line they follow, and those rituals and time lines are very important. It helps the fighter to feel in control and like he is following his game plan -- it is a big mental game and you have to do what you know and are comfortable with.

Prior to Mike's fight he had been pushed pretty hard, much harder than he would have liked to have been (this isn’t my opinion -- it is coming directly from Mike). I remember being inside the Octagon the training session before his fight and Mike had to say “look guys, I am at my breaking point here!” and he still was pushed to do a few more drills.

Keep in mind this is only 3 days after his first fight and the body is still in shock and recovering from the stress, weight cuts, and trauma of a fight. So jumping right back into a fight this soon is unheard of and basically nowhere would you ever do that.

In conclusion I think that there were a lot of factors that added up to the way Mike’s fight went. This is not to take anything away from Jessie Taylor (JT$) -- he is a hell of a fighter and great guy, an extremely hard fight for anybody. So congratulations to JT$!

Hope you all enjoy, have a good week and I will talk with you next episode. Oh, a side note, I am heading to Vegas tomorrow to train. I will be there next week for the episode. This means I won’t get the episode in advance and will have to write my blog after the show, so it might be a little while before the next one is posted.

~Brandon

Visit Brandon at his MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/sene8541