(Photo: Yahoo's "The Contender" Page)

Folks, you know it had to come down to this.

This is probably one of the most heated rivalries I've seen on a reality tv show, and that includes the Chris Leben/Josh Koscheck feud from the Ultimate Fighter.  And unlike that feud, this one wouldn't disappoint.

First, the show.  The show starts with how the West Coast were disappointed with Ishe's refusal to fight Ahmed last week.  Ishe still stood his ground, saying he wasn't ready for it and he'll fight Ahmed when he's ready.  He also expressed frustration over Jesse's words at the pre-fight press conference, where both had exchanged words and Ishe had to leave the event to cool off.

Later, Stallone awarded another gold boxing glove medallion to Jesse for winning the fight.  Jesse now doesn't have to fight until Episode 8, by which that time all fighters would have fought.  The West Coast's reward for winning the flag/puzzle competition was Tommy, who is one of the trainers, taking them to a top clothing outlet and buying them all a new set of clothes.

Later, Sugar Ray decides to do some "light" sparring with Ahmed, just to see what he knows and get a feel of him.  However, nobody told Ahmed that it was supposed to be "light", and he connected with some fairly heavy punches and shots to the dome.  Ray wasn't that miffed by it, but a couple of fighters that watched it said it was disrespectful.  Ahmed admitted that he wanted to show Ray what he had and gave him a little more of a taste than the usual sparring, claiming he could make Ray look bad.

Meanwhile, Ishe, tired from all the stress caused in the last episode, went home to his wife and kids.  There he broke down in front of her, saying he was tired of everything that had been going on and he had been training really hard.  She helped snap him back into focus, and get his head right.  It was just in time too, because the next day when the West Coast was ready to give him an ultimatum about his antics, Ishe changed a bit and told them if he was going to fight anyone, it would be Ahmed.

That set up this week's mission:  dodgeball.  Similar to the movie, the two teams were placed on two sides of a tennis court, with the balls lined up by the net.  They had to run from the fence to get the ball, and then hit the opposing team with it.  Last surviving member wins for his team.  Jesse and Alfonso were out of the mission to make it even.

This wasn't much of a challenge, as the West pretty much took down the East team.  At the end, it was only a three-on-one, with Ahmed left.  He hung in there for a while, but eventually got hit, and the West won again.

When it was time for the team meeting, the West simply went to Ishe and asked was he ready.  Ishe simply replied, "You know what I'm going to do." and that was pretty much the end of it. 

When it came time to lay down the challenge, Ishe added a little twist.  He called Brent out.  The West was shocked, and most initially thought he had chickened out.  Brent came out, and Ishe whispered in his ear to pray for what he's about to do.  Stallone demanded to know what was going down, and Ishe told Brent to walk back.  Ishe then called out Ahmed, and they stared each other down.  It got so intense that Stallone had to threaten them with disqualification if they threw a punch, and they eventually had to be separated by the rest of the fighters.

So the fight was Ishe Smith vs. Ahmed Khaddour.  Coming into this fight, both guys were undefeated.  Ishe, from Las Vegas, was 14-0 with 7 KO's, and Ahmed, born in Lebanon, raised in Denmark, and now resides in Hollywood, was 15-0 with 9 KO's, hence someone was going to taste defeat for the first time.  That was about the only thing they had in common, as Ishe was a family man with a wife and a son that and solidly Christian, while Ahmed was a pretty boy with a fiancee', no kids and loved the extravagant life.  It was like two magnetic poles retracting from each other.

The press conference was suprisingly calm and organized.  That was probably because the two who were causing the most problems were finally in front of the podium.  Ishe remained calm and surprising modest, mainly saying he just wanted to get this over with, while Ahmed talked about how he was going to knock Ishe out and run him off.  Ahmed also took some digs at Ishe for going home to his wife when he was having problems.

This was no doubt the most aggressive fight of the three that aired.  It wasn't about combinations or speed; just power, and both launched it at will.  As soon as the bell rang Ahmed charged out and started throwing hooks to the head and the body.  Ishe shook it off and started throwing his own, and unfortunately for Ahmed, Ishe connected more. 

It seemed as if Ahmed's only goal was to knock Ishe out, while Ishe had a semblance of a game plan; stay calm, absorb Ahmed's punches, and then come back with your own.  Huge shots rocked both guys; in fact, there was one in the third round where I thought Ishe might go down from.  But he absorbed it and kept coming with his own.

Ahmed on occasion got uber-aggressive, and it resulted in some dirty tactics, like holding Ishe's head down, and not breaking clean once the ref requested it.  It got some boos out of the crowd, and the Ishe chants started.  Ahmed also clowned around too much, making faces and taunting.  During one incident where he pulled Ishe by the head and Ishe went to his knees, Ishe's wife was yelling from the crowd about his behavior.  Ahmed responded with a disrespectful gesture.

But Ishe through all of that wasn't flustered too much.  Ahmed probably won the first and fourth rounds, but the others were definitely won by Ishe.  Ishe was simply better prepared, and had the fight thought out.  It went the distance, and Ishe Smith won the unaminous decision.

After the fight, Ahmed didn't start anything, and just went back into the locker room.  His ego wasn't hurt too bad, as he was talking about how Ishe didn't hurt him and he didn't get a scratch.  He wants a rematch with Ishe, and says his boxing days aren't over.  Whether you like Ahmed or not, he put on an entertaining fight, and he's tough as nails.  This was one of those fights where you would like to see continue and maybe go 10 rounds instead of five.

Check out the next episode which is Sunday at 8PM EST on NBC.  It'll be interesting to see how everyone reacts to this fight, and to see what the East team can do in order to finally get a victory in either the missions or the fights, so they won't lose another member.

My Other Contender Posts:

1.  The Contender Quarterfinals:  Ishe vs. Sergio
2.  The Contender, Episode Eight:  Jimmy vs. Joey
3.  The Contender Episode Seven:  Juan vs. Tarick
4.  The Contender Episode Six:  Anthony vs. Brent
5.  The Contender Episode Three:  Ishe vs. Ahmed