Ultimate Fighter Season 9 “U.S. vs. U.K.” Q&A with Frankie Lester

By Dave Carpinello

This season of the Ultimate Fighter features the United States versus the United Kingdom. Ultimate Fighter 9 participant Frankie Lester was an alternate that made the show and too advantage of his opportunity. Frankie has decided to answer questions for UFC and TUF fans weekly here at PunchDrunkGamer. Frankie is a veteran of the United States Military and began training four years ago under the tutelage of “War Machine” Jon Koppenhaver. Frankie is a veteran of Total Combat and is on Team America. On the third episode Frankie defeated Kiel Reid by TKO in Round 1 to secure his spot in the Ultimate Fighter house. 

Questions Regarding Episode 11, 12 and the Season Recap:

1. Great fight Frank - 4 fights in 34 days is sick! You and James Wilks seemed to get along better before your second fight. Do you still consider him a traitor?

Frankie Lester – Good question.  I think that James Wilks did the best that he could and I think that he would of done good on either team but I think he chose Team UK because he felt it gave him the best chance to make it to the finals.  There was something like five times as many people that tried out for Team US as opposed to Team UK.  I am kind of over hating him and to be honest I don't think he's that bad of a guy.  We beat the shit out of each other so I feel better about him.

2. How long was it from the end of taping to your fight Saturday against Nick Osipczak?

Frankie Lester – It was about 3 1/2 months.

4. After the show and watching all the episodes what was your final impression of Michael Bisping?

Frankie Lester – I didn't have to watch all the episodes to know that Bisping was an arrogant prick.  I got to witness it firsthand and I think that the producers of the show gave him way too many chances to explain himself so that he would look better to the fans.  He came up with all kinds of stupid excuses for his comments including psychological warfare but it was all bullshit - he is just a prick. Bisping’s excuse back at the beginning of the show about the jet lag had nothing to do with jets or lag.  It was alcohol!  Let's just be honest and keep it real.

5. Good luck tonight Frankie; hopefully the training went well leading up to the fight.

Frankie Lester – Thanks but unfortunately the fight didn't go how I was hoping.  The training leading up to the fight went great but in the first couple minutes of the fight I took a really bad thumb to the eye and I'm still recovering from it.  The superficial layer inside of my eye got cut and so I am still dealing with blurred vision.

6. In your second fight with James Wilks, Bisping was bitching about the low blow you threw but not about the one Wilks hit you with.

Frankie Lester – I'm going to skip your question about Bisping because I flat out don't want to talk about him anymore.  I didn't try to hit him with a knee to the groin but I also don't regret it.  They actually have statistics on groin shots and 81% of fighters who get hit with a low blow first end up losing their fight.  So the next time I go into the cage I'm going straight for a low blow because it will give me an 81% chance of winning the fight.

7. What was your overall impression of TUF now that the season is done?

Frankie Lester – I think it was awesome and it was a great experience for me.  It'll blend a lot of opportunities for me including being able to train with Team Quest.  It gave me great exposure and the opportunity to work with the UFC and Dan Henderson.  It was one hell of a ride while it lasted and I'm actually kind of sad that it had to end.  I liked fighting four times in 34 days and I hate the fact that I have to wait months in between fights now.  As far as negatives go I don't really think there were any - the show is what you make of it as an individual and I went in there with a positive attitude and it became a positive experience for me.

8. What was your overall impression of the British Team now that the season has finished?

Frankie Lester – They were all good guys that had good character and I definitely think that they picked a very good team.  I still have a little bit of a problem with Dean and Nick right now but it is nothing that can't be worked out after a legitimate fight in the cage.  The whole way that that fight went down with Nick was bullshit.  I was telling Nick that he had stabbed me in the eye and I was trying to get the refs attention and Nick circled around and sunk in the choke.  I've watched the fight over and over again and the eye poke happened in the first exchange that we had.  I have to give their fighters credit for winning the two contracts and I already explained my fight and leading up to his fight, Demarques had a bad case of bronchitis.  You could see in his fight that he wasn't performing at 100% because he was unable to work on his cardio leading up to the fight.  If I was Bisping I'd be talking about that right now and the fact that he would've killed James if he had been healthy leading up to that fight but I'm not going to do that.  The moral of the story is that he lost and I think that he deserves another opportunity in the UFC.

I want to give a shout out to my good friend Jason Pierce.  If you have the balls to fight me we can do it at whatever weight you want - either 170 or 185 lbs. Preferably you choose 185 pounds so that I will have a little extra power backing my right hand when I knock you out.  And since you don't think that I won any fights legitimately in the house, my next one will come when I smash your eyeballs in!!

I want to say thanks to everybody who submitted questions for me to answer and I really had a good time working with the guys at PunchDrunkGamer every week.  I'll take all the fans I can get and you can also look me up on Myspace and Facebook.

You can read all of Frankie Lester's weekly Q&A's HERE