TUF Brazil 4: Episode 4 Recap

In the latest episode of The Ultimate Fighter Brazil 4, one team is still in shock over losing their coach just days into filming the show, while the other side of the competition spends a day on the slopes with some Octagon Girl hopefuls.

The fallout over former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva's exit from the show continues this week after it was revealed on the previous episode that he failed a pre-fight drug test from his last bout in January. Most notably, very emotional Andre “Dede” Ricardo tries to deal with the loss of his coach while also preparing for a fight.

Ricardo was a student and teammate of Silva's and took the news of his exit from the show the hardest of anybody from his group of fighters. Given his rocky state right now, it's no surprise that the coaches from Team Shogun decided to target the 23-year-old fighter for the next bout in the competition, where he'll take on Nazareno “El Tigre” Malegarie, who also happens to be one of the most seasoned veterans of anyone on the show this year.

Ricardo struggles to get past Silva's exit, especially as he begins his final preparations for the fight and the weight cut ahead of the showdown.

"It was a shock to have your leader abandon your team," Ricardo said with tears in his eyes.

To hopefully get Ricardo back in better spirits, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, who took over the team from Silva, comes over to The Ultimate Fighter house to meet with him and help with the upcoming weight cut prior to the fight. Ricardo was already a little heavier than expected, so the coaches put more time into his weight cut to ensure that he would not only hit the mark on the scale but still be able to recover 24 hours later for his bout with Nazareno.

While Ricardo cuts weight and tries to prepare for his fight, the competitors from Team Shogun receive the reward they were promised a week ago after beating Team Nogueira in a competition for the chance to ski on the slopes of Mount Charleston just outside of Las Vegas. To make the trip even more enjoyable, the fighters are joined by the contestants for the upcoming Octagon Girl competition for some snow and sun to burn off some steam before getting into the thick of the tournament.

For many of the Brazilian fighters on the show, the trip exposes them to the coldest climate they've ever felt, not to mention seeing snow for the first time in their lives. Brazil doesn't really have to worry about subzero temperatures, much less a snow storm, so this trip was not only fun but also a totally different world to visit for many of the members of Team Shogun.

Before leaving for the ski trip, some of the fighters from Team Nogueira joked that this is the episode where the girlfriends and wives of the members of Team Shogun might want to change the channel and not watch what's about to go down when you mix eight fighters and a car full of Octagon Girls in one trip together.

Amusingly enough, the prediction sort of comes true.

Bruno “Korea” Mesquita from Team Shogun finds one particular Octagon Girl named Jennifer Giacotto to kiss a few times while they are snow tubing up and down the mountain. Mesquita must have some fiery eyes because Giacotto didn't even speak Portuguese, but sometimes you just know, right? At least that’s what she says.

Following the day on the slopes along with a few more kisses shared between fighter and Octagon Girl, it's time to focus back on the action at hand as Nazareno from Team Shogun takes on Dede from Team Nogueira.

Nazareno is a well-known ground fighter with an arsenal of submissions at his disposal, as well as a solid base in wrestling. Dede is primarily a striker and has a fraction of the experience of his opponent, so it was a tough matchup going into the fight and the action went as many predicted when this bout was first announced.

Nazareno controlled Dede on the mat throughout the first round after landing an early takedown and continuing to work for position throughout the five-minute session. The second round gave Dede his opening to look for strikes as Nazareno failed at an early attempt to drag the fight back to the ground, but it didn't take long for the Team Shogun fighter to eventually find an opening and put the Team Nogueira member on the mat.

From there, Nazareno took over with vicious ground and pound and Dede just had no answers to counter the attacks. Nazareno continued to rain down punishment until Dede was no longer intelligently defending himself and the referee called a stop to the action. Nazareno wins and moves on in the tournament, giving Team Shogun two victories in a row so far in the competition.

The win gave Team Shogun control of the fight selection once again and they are looking to put another of their most experienced fighters into the next round of the tournament as they selected Dileno Lopes (18-1) to face off with Bruno “Bulldog” Silva (8-2) from Team Nogueira. On paper, it looks like another fight that favors Team Shogun, but Silva trains full-time with the coaches at Team Nogueira, so he might have an advantage of familiarity going into the bout.

Can Team Nogueira bounce back from two straight losses or is Team Shogun going to go up 3-0 in the competition? Find out next week on the newest episode of The Ultimate Fighter Brazil 4.