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James Horne

Nov 11, 2009 Nov 11, 2009 2 0

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MMAmania.com Ultimate Fighter 8: Assistant coach James Horne sounds off on episode 10

James Horne is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir. He currently serves as an assistant coach under Frank on season eight of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 8 on Spike TV. He will provide a behind the scenes perspective as we head head into the homestretch of the series. This column is sponsored by Kill It Clothing.

Everyone needs a hug … at least that's how John Polakowski feels and he let's everyone know it every chance he gets.

Last night's episode of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 8 may have seemed a bit weird to those watching the clips of John's frequent big hugs while in the fighter house. To be honest, at first, it was a little weird having a dude you don't know real well hugging everyone from both teams every day.

That's right, he actually hugged EVERY PERSON from both teams EVERY TIME he saw them EVERY DAY. And we're not talking about brief embraces … John brings you in for the real thing.

Always.

Regardless, John is genuinely a real nice person -- he definitely won't be getting into any street fights anytime soon. It was good to see that the latest episode took the time to capture that … even if it does come off a little kooky.

Because he's such a laid back and friendly guy it was definitely odd to see him get so upset about someone removing all the marshmallows from his Lucky Charms. He definitely appeared to overreact, but perhaps that was his way of getting pumped up for the fight … who knows.

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MMAmania.com Ultimate Fighter 8: Assistant coach James Horne sounds off on episode 9

James Horne is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir. He currently serves as an assistant coach under Frank on season eight of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 8 on Spike TV. He will provide a behind the scenes perspective as we head head into the homestretch of the series. This column is sponsored by Kill It Clothing.

Last night's episode of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) begins with a recap of the lightweight fight between Phillipe Nover and Dave Kaplan. Of course, it didn't last long because Dave -- by his own admission -- stepped into the Octagon with a horrible gameplan.

In fact, he was more than likely doomed to lose in the locker room before the fight.

He simply didn't do what we had talked about in training and while preparing for the fight. We knew that Phillipe was very dangerous, resilient and well rounded. Dave walked out there and stood in the center of the cage and basically dared Phillipe to exchange with him without offering up much of a defense … or offense for that matter.

Dave is actually a member of our gym at Striking Unlimited in Las Vegas, Nevada. He continues to train along with me and Frank Mir. And from working with him so much we know that he is a very talented, durable and smart fighter. I think he just got caught up in the moment and lost focus on what he had to do to win against Phillipe.

That's some real bad timing, especially against an unforgiving fighter like Phillipe.

In the end, Dave paid for his mistake and it's unlikely he'll make it again. Frank always talks about how mental mixed martial arts is … and he's right. In short, Dave is an intelligent guy and he learned his lesson.

Or did he?

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