Alex "Bruce LeRoy" Caceres file photo: Spike TV
The lightweight with the biggest hair and biggest personality on this season of “The Ultimate Fighter” picked up the first tournament win of the season, recovering from a first-round deficit to tap Jeff Lentz with a triangle choke in the second.
The smiley, afro-headed and progressively vexing Alex “Bruce Leroy” Caceres, who participated in “Kevin Ferguson”-esque backyard prize fights in his native Florida before entering MMA, impressed coach Georges St. Pierre with his kung fu gi and sober in-ring style. Caceres and Lentz fought at featherweight before landing spots on the show. The Sept. 22 episode saw Team GSP and Team Koscheck established:
• Team GSP: Caceres, Michael Johnson, Jonathan Brookins, Spencer Paige, Kyle Watson, Cody McKenzie, Dane Sayers
• Team Koscheck: Lentz, Marc Stevens, Sevak Magakian, Sako Chivitchyan, Andy Main, Nam Phan, Aaron Wilkinson
St. Pierre scored an early head games victory on Josh Koscheck, drafting a fake list of desired picks and letting it show on a clipboard he was holding. Koscheck, seeing his rival had placed Stevens at the top of the list, switched his pick to claim his former wrestling pupil instead of his initial choice, Johnson. St. Pierre then scooped up Johnson, one of the most experienced fighters in the house and a favorite to win. Sayers was the last fighter picked.
The episode scored a 1.2 share rating for an average audience of 1.7 million viewers on Spike TV, up slightly from the 1.6 million for the Sept. 15 premiere. Next week’s episode features Caceres drinking too much and an appearance from former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson.