Posts with the tag "The Ultimate Fighter 7"

Amir Sadollah once again proved that he is the best fighter from The Ultimate Fighter 7 house. Coming into the fight, he was the only fighter that hadn't lost and he had already defeated C.B Dollaway.

Much like the first fight between the two fighters, Sadollah was able to catch Dollaway in an arm bar. Although, this time the stoppage was questionable. At least that is what Dollaway will have you believe. In my opinion, he was tapping and the ref made the right decision.

Sadollah looked great in the fight and will prove to be a legitimate fighter in the UFC. I believe he will have a run much like Kendal Grove. He will win a few fights out of the gate and then lose a few as well.

Speaking of Kendall Grove, he looked like a completely different fighter. He was sharp and calculating with his strikes. He made the one time UFC champion Tanner look old and slow. Grove won the fight via a split decision, but he should have won unanimously.

The scores went 29-28-Tanner, 30-26-Grove, and 30-26-Grove. Wait a minute, how do two judges agree that a fighter dominated enough to warrant a 10-8 round and yet the other judge scores the fight in favor of Tanner? I imagine we will be hearing more about this.

Overall, the event was a B+ in my book and that isn't too bad. I will breakdown my Almost picks later this week, but I will say that I was dead wrong about Dustin Hazelett. In a huge upset, he was able to defeat Josh Burkman. That's what I love about the UFC, anybody can lose.

As we expected, this was a pretty crazy episode. If you didn't see the preview, check it out on YouTube.

The second semi-final fight takes place almost immediately after the show starts. The matchup puts the favorite C.B. Dollaway against Amir Sadollah. The fight starts and goes pretty much to script. Sadollah lands a few good punches and kicks before Dollaway is able to take him down. The fight makes it to the third round and once again we find Sadollah on his back. This time, Dollaway makes a mistake and leaves an arm out. Sure enough, Sadollah secures an arm bar and Dollaway is forced to tap out.

Since Sadollah wins the fight, we now know that either he or Jesse Taylor will be kicked off the show for their behavior. Judging from their prior actions on the show, it is easy to figure out that Taylor will be the one in trouble.

Eventually, we find out that Taylor was out on the town drinking heavily. As the preview video shows, we see him kicking out the limo window. He then goes into the casino and starts "terrorizing some female guests."

Sure enough, Dana White kicks him off the show. The best part was when the coaches, Dana White and Jesse Taylor all get together to discuss what happened. You can see Taylor squirming as White asks him some questions about what happened. He tries to blame his drinking, but White wants nothing to do with him and sends him home.

With Taylor out of the finale, Sadollah needs a new opponent. Logically, White brings back Tim Credeur and C.B. Dollaway to fight for the opening. The fight actually turns out to be pretty competitive. Dollaway eventually wins the decision and secures his spot in the finals.

So the live finale is set and it will be a rematch between Amir Sadollah and C.B. Dollaway. Don't forget to tune in Saturday for the live finale!

And then there were three... In the eleventh episode of the The Ultimate Fighter, Jesse Taylor was able to defeat Tim Credeur. With the win, Taylor cements his position in The Ultimate Fighter finale.

The episode primarily focused on the Taylor and Credeur. However, we also got to see the customary coaches challenge. As it turns out, Forrest Griffin is the "Larry Bird" of MMA. The editors chose to cut out most of the competition, but we did see enough to know Forrest easily won the competition.

Now, there is only one fight left before the finale. C.B Dollaway will look to continue his domination as he fights Amir Sadollah. I must admit that I never thought Sadollah would have made it this far. He has a decent chance to beat Dollaway, but the odds are definitely against him.

At the end of the show, the next weeks teaser proved to be quit interesting. They show a limo and one of the windows being smashed. After that, we see Dana white saying something about a fighter not being able to fight in the finale. My initial thoughts lead me to believe it was Taylor losing his temper again, but we will have to see.

The show starts off where the last one ended, Forrest is upset over the comments made during the fight. He decides to take his anger out on the training room door. Forrest later admits that he "had a tantrum, a little man period."

After calming down, we see Forrest with this gun like contraption that shoots a net. Together with his team, they figure out how to fire it. I still don't have a clue what anybody would use this for. Then, somebody on the team gets the bright idea to have Forrest shoot Rampage.

So Forrest plans his attack and eventually surprises Rampage and shoots him with the net. Rampage doesn't really do anything but stand up and ask what the hell is going on? He doesn't act upset, which I find strange and then he goes into a big spiel about being "netted." I don't really understand the reference, but Rampage goes on to explain that he is from the south and that is what might happen down there. He even mentions (somewhat jokingly) that he was surprised Forrest's coaching assistant didn't have a noose.

The final matchup of the first round is a fight between C.B. Dalloway and Nick Klein. Apparently C.B. Dalloway is one of the best fighters on the show as he was the first overall pick. We see him rolling with Rampage and C.B. ends up catching Rampage in a choke hold. Very amusing.

The fight turns out to be more even than most would have guessed. For the most part, Dollaway dominates the first round. He did look sloppy at times, somebody well versed in submissions would have caught that arm he kept leaving out. The second round is more of the same, but this time Dollaway catches Klein in a choke and Klein is forced to tap out. The victory by Dollaway gives Rampage his 2nd fighter in the next round.

The last 10 minutes of the show prove to be very entertaining. We see Amir giving Forrest a haircut to settle a bet they had. Of course the new haircut isn't that good according to Forrest. After the haircut, Rampage gets his revenge on Forrest for being "netted" by soaking Forrest with a squirt gun. Finally, the coaches select and announce the next round of fights:

• Jesse vs Dante
• Amir vs Matt
• Dan vs Tim
• C.B. vs Cale

Overall, a great episode!

I understand this is a little late, but still worthy of a post so here goes. The seventh episode of the Ultimate Fighter 7 was a good episode as fans were treated to two fights.

The first fight is between Gerald Harris and Amir Sadollah. In an upset, Sadollah is able to win the fight via TKO. Harris is obviously upset after the fight as he believes the ref stopped the fight early.

The second fight featured the contestants Patrick Schultz and Cale Yarbrough. This matchup goes the distance and Yarbrough wins the fight via majority decision. For more on the fights, see Five Ounces of Pain's episode recap.

The best part of the episode happens after the Schultz-Yarbrough fight. Rampage is obviously upset with the outcome of the fight and screams out to Forrest, “I bet our fight doesn’t go to decision. I’ll bet my whole purse on it.” This clearly upsets Griffin as the previews show him tearing apart a room in the gym.

The choice words from Rampage clearly show how much of a competitor he is. His frustration may have been directed at Forrest, but it should have been towards his team. Now, Rampage will have to deal with a fighter who tends to fight better when he is upset. And the drama grows...

It is always interesting to see how the show is going to start off. For this episode, we find Jeremy May acting like a fool. He writes on the ceiling of the house and complains about not having sex twice a day. Then he pesters Jesse Taylor by throwing a Gatorade bottle at him. For his final act, he puts lime juice in Matt Brown’s can of chewing tobacco. Brown wasn't happy about the prank and lets May know they will soon be fighting out their differences.

Michael Bisping makes a surprise visit to Rampage's camp. He talks to the fighters about doing the right things. Get plenty of sleep, don't drink, and be learn all you can. The best part of it all is that he spars with one of the fighters and gets kicked right in the nuts. I got a good chuckle out of the shot...

The fight between Rivera and Sene is announced. The early announcement leads me to believe that the fight will be going the distance, possibly to a third round.

Round one is very exiting as Sene is able to keep the fight off the ground for most of the round. Even when Rivera is able to finally get Sene to the mat, Sene lands some nice elbows from his guard. The round ends and I have Sene winning the round 10-9. Interestingly, both corners tell their fighters they won the round.

Round two is more of the same. Again, Rivera is able to get Sene to the mat, but Sene stays busy and inflicts more damange. Towards the end of the round, Sene is able to reverse control and finally gain control of the fight. I have Sene winning this round 10-9, much like the first. The onlookers seemingly score the fight differently as they are clamoring for a third round.

To my surprise, they do go to a third round. Apparently the judges gave round one to Sene. For the final round, both fighters are obviously tired. Rivera is once again able to secure a takedown and controls the rest of the fight. Rivera wins the fight by decision.

After the fight, Rampage is obviously upset and goes a little crazy. We find him destroying the training room and eventually goes outside to vent his frustration. At this point, Rampage gives us another priceless quote, "I used to go to anger management, but it just made me mad."

In a surprise move, the next fight is announced before the end of the show. Not surprisingly, it will be a fight between Matt Brown and Jeremy May. Forrest sounds off on the fight saying "One thing you don't do is mess with a southern mans bacco."

Overall, a good episode and great lead up to next weeks show. I can't wait!

I was pretty disappointed with this episode of The Ultimate Fighter. There just wasn't to much interesting about the it.

The only saving grace for the episode was the fight between Tim Credeur and Matt Riddle. Credeur did have some nice smack talk for Riddle where he promises "to beat those dreams right out of ya". For the most part Credeur delivered. Riddle showed his strength and even had Credeur on his back, but eventually Credeur was able to slip in an arm bar and win by submission.

Not sure what the next episode has in store for us, but lets hope its more than episode 4 showed.

Finally, the field of 32 fighters have been narrowed down to 16 so that the coaches can pick their teams. Here are their picks:

Team Rampage

1. C.B. Dollaway
2. Matt Riddle
3. Paul Bradley
4. Daniel Cramer
5. Gerald Harris
6. Mike Dolce
7. Jesse May
8. Brandon Sene

Team Forrest

1. Tim Credeur
2. Amir Sadollah
3. Jesse Taylor
4. Matt Brown
5. Cale Yarbrough
6. Dante Rivera
7. Nick Klein
8. Luke Zachrich

After picking the teams, Rampage notices what looks like a rash on Paul Bradley's neck. At the time, it didn't look like much to me. Paul heads to the doctor's office where the doctor informs him that it is some form of Herpes. Right away I was thinking they needed to get that guy out of the house. Then, I remembered the preview where Dana White said something like "I never had to throw a guy out of the house for this before."

So Dana white tells Bradley that he is off the show and he is heartbroken. He mentions that he had to quit his job to come on the show and, to be honest, I felt bad for the guy. Rampage is forced to pick a replacement and after several tries he picks Patrick Schultz to join his team.

Forrest gets to pick the first fight, so he announces that Jesse Taylor will face Mike Dolce. Jesse Taylor's claim to fame is that he actually looks a lot like Big John McCarthy. I guess it is a good thing he retired as Taylor's opponents may get confused in the ring anytime McCarthy would have been reffing.

The two fighters eventaully fight and the match is fairly exicting. I must say though, I have never seen a guy (Mike Dolce) give up is back so many times and then escape from the rear naked choke. Dolce eventually gives up his back one too many times and Taylor is finally able to submit him via rear naked choke.

Overall, a great show with a pretty good fight. If nothing else, the show is worth tuning in for just to hear the comments from Rampage and Forrest. In fact, I plan to have a top-ten list of comments down the road so stay tuned.

The show starts and the fights are on!

• Dan Simmler (1-0) vs. Matthew Riddle (1-0): The first round starts and ends without much to write about. Let's just say that the second round was a little different. As the round starts, Riddle throws a huge left hook that absolutely floors Dan Simmler. As Simmler lays on the ground, everybody wonders if he is alright. They show a clip of him being carted off to an ambulance all the while he is asking "was that a real fight or practice?" Seems like he asks that question at least three or four times.
• Luke Zachrich (7-1) vs. Patrick Schultz (7-1-1): Schultz starts the fight with a lot of intensity, but it is immediately obvious that he is lacking some MMA skills. Zachrich eventually secures a rear-naked choke to win the fight.
• Tim Credeur (10-2) vs Erik Charles (10-5): This fight looked like an instructional video. Credeur proceeds to take down Charles, move to side control and then sink in an arm bar. Chareles has no choice but to tap and Credeur wins the fight. I am glad that Chareles loses the fight as he was running his mouth. Something about being a great striker and how he would love to fight everybody in the house. I guess he won't get his chance.
• Brandon Sene vs. Aaron Meisner: Meisner isn't fighting particularly well, so Rampage goes down by the rink to give him advice. Meisner doesn't listen to the advice and eventually Rampage walks away saying "he didn't listen." He should have listened as Sene is able to secure a rear-naked choke and win the fight. Once Rampage returns to the coaches table, Griffin gets in a good jab and tells Rampage that he wouldn't listen to him either.
• Mike Marrello vs. Gerald Harris: Harris wins a decision
• Daniel Cramer vs Jerimiah Riggs: The fight starts and the fighters work their way to the mat. One fighter (I can't remember which) upkicks the other fighter and true to form Rampage asks "is that illegal?" Dana White looks at Rampage with a dumbfounded look and informs him that it was illegal. Cramer goes on to win the fight via a decision.
• Nick Rossborough (8-3) vs. Jesse Taylor (6-2): For some reason, the coaches refer to Rossborough as the Eminem of the MMA world. Not sure where they get that from, but it didn't help him much in the ring. Taylor wins the fight by rear-naked choke. Again Rampage throws out a priceless quote, "[Taylor] is a one trick pony."
• Josh Hall (3-2) vs Matt Brown (9-6): This was a really entertaining fight. Hall comes out and looks very strong and manages to secure a triangle on Brown. Brown is able to escape and gains mount position. At this point, you can tell that Hall is out of gas and Brown starts to land bombs. Brown wins via TKO with only 2 seconds left in the first round.

A great start to the Ultimate Fighter. The new format is a huge success and the coaches should provide endless humor for the upcoming shows.

Let's rock! The Ultimate Fighter 7 Team Forrest vs Team Rampage is officially underway as the fighters walk in. Immediately they are surprised as wave after wave of fighters arrive. Eventually, they come to the conclusion that there are 32 fighters instead of the normal 16.

The fighters gather around Data White and he goes into a speech about how he hates "pussys and posers" and tells the fighters they have to fight to get onto the show. Most fighters take a glance around the room, obviously shaken by the fact that they have to fight right away. Now, the question is who will be fighting who and how many fights they will show on the first episode.

Fights:

1. Prince McLean (5-4) vs. Mike Dolce (4-4): Dolce wins via knockout.
2. Cale Yarbrought (0-0) vs. John Clarke (6-2): Yarbrought is the youngest guy on the show and Clarke had to cut 17 lbs to make weight. Yarbrought wins by TKO after Clarke gases late in round one.
3. Amir Sadollah (?-?) vs. Steve Byrnes (6-1): I swear Jackson kept talking about a Marie, but I couldn't figure out which fighter that was. A pretty good first round as both fighters got their licks in. Another good round, but Amir ended winning by an arm-bar.
4. David Baggett vs. C.B. Dollaway: Dollaway wins.
5. Dante Rivera vs. John Wood: Rivera wins.
6. Nick Klein vs. David Mewborn: Klein wins.
7. Paul Bradley vs. Reggie Orr: Bradley wins.
8. Jeremy May (6-5) vs. Dave Roberts (4-5): May wins by arm bar while also having a triangle choke. Strange, but effective. Big disappointment for Rampage as Roberts was his boy.

A great show all around. The extra fights were a great addition. One thing that did annoy me was a coaches cam they showed during the fights. I can't wait for next week.

Dan Simmler is rumored to be a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter 7 according to MMAJunkie.com. He doesn't seem to have much MMA experience, but he does have a lot of combat experience. Here is a one of his grappling videos where he executes a flying triangle.

Simmler is a perfect contestant for TUF. He has MMA skills and the show will allow him to put all of his talents together and gain the recognition needed to fight in the UFC. He should be fun to watch.

Forrest Griffin and Quinton Jackson were named as the coaches for the upcoming Ultimate Fighter y reality show. Dana White assured the fans that the two would be fighting for the light heavyweight title. The question lingers, is Forrest Griffin ready for a title shot?

As I was thinking about the match up, the first thought to cross my mind was that how can they put Griffin against Jackson, also know as Rampage? Rampage not only knocked out UFC champion Chuck Liddell, one of the most dominating UFC fighters, but also defeated former Pride champion Dan Henderson.

Forrest can win this fight. If the past year has taught us anything, it's that anybody can win. Just ask former welterweight champion Jorge St. Pierre. Forrest will need a good game plan. Forrest has followed his strategies perfectly in his last two fights, where he was able to pick apart Hector Ramirez and tire out Mauricio Rua.

The question remains, is he ready for the title shot? Absolutely. He has the experience, with fights against Mauricio Rua, Keith Jardine, Tito Ortiz, and Elvis Sinosic. He knows about pressure; remember he won the original ultimate fighter. So, why not?