The latest season of "The Ultimate Fighter" is down to its last two episodes. With two quarterfinal fights, we find out who is a step closer to winning the show.
Will this fight happen? Bubba McDaniel isn't feeling well after so many fights in such a short time. He's feeling back and kidney pain, and is supposed to fight Uriah Hall. The fight may be in jeopardy as McDaniel goes to get his bloodwork done. But before we find out the result of his bloodwork, there's a quarterfinal fight.
Jimmy Quinlan (Team Sonnen) vs. Josh Samman (Team Jones)
It took only one round for Samman to get the win. Samman landed huge strikes from the get-go, and Quinlan played to his strengths and went for a huge takedown. It didn't matter. Samman took top position and landed all kind of strikes until the bout was stopped. UFC president Dana White called Samman "for real."
Also real? McDaniel's test results. He was cleared to fight. The fight with Hall is on, and the fighters in the house can't help but wonder if this fight will end just as Hall's last fight ended.
"I don't care if you're a vet who has heard 30 fights. You see your teammate get a spinning kick to the face at that velocity, it's going to make you think, [expletive]. I don't want that to happen to me."
Luke Barnatt's words capture the feeling of most of the fighters going into the final quarterfinal fight. At the weigh-in, McDaniel jokingly covers his face with his hands during the face-off. McDaniel's coach, Jon Jones, said it left a bad taste in his mouth.
Bubba McDaniel (Team Jones) vs. Uriah Hall (Team Sonnen)
Oh wow. Hall took less than 9 seconds to knock out McDaniel. When McDaniel comes to, he asks what happened. A knee to the body and a fast right straight to the eye not only knocked McDaniel out, but sent him out an ambulance. That's the second straight Hall opponent who got a trip to the emergency room.
After the win, Hall was given plenty of kudos.
"You're a contender for the title. I spent five years in that weight class. You're a contender," Chael Sonnen said to Hall in the cage after the fight. White was no less impressed.
"The way that this guy knocks people out, you don't even want to clap. You feel bad clapping," White said.
Now, it's down to just four fighters. White announced the semifinal match-ups:
Josh Samman vs. Kelvin Gastellum
Uriah Hall vs. Dylan Andrews
This sets up Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen in both semifinal matches. The bouts will air next Tuesday, setting up the live finale on April 13.
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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/know-ultimate-fighter-125834037--mma.html
