The Ultimate Fighter 17: Team Jones v Team Sonnen

[Nickos66]

Wow, awesome episode. Big props to Kelvin, everybody loves a good underdog story and watching him surprise again and again is fantastic to watch. It'll be interesting to see who he gets pegged against next. Maybe Josh Samman, or even Dylan?

Dylan vs Luke was a battle to behold, I honestly couldn't decide who I'd hoped win. Chael's team's solid and he's a great coach but I didn't really rate Luke's stand up from his first few matches. Even though he KO'd Gilbert, he just looks a bit slow for his length, not unlike Freak show. He did really well though, landed some good jabs and when it went to the ground, looked very threatening with the lingering triangles and elbows and didn't let Dylan stay square with him and get hit too much.
Dylan though, maybe it's the kiwi stereotyping, but I picked him for the KO or GnP win - even though I was yet to see him look totally dominant, he looked great on his feet and didn't get caught napping on the ground which looked like a distinct possibility. He probably should've edged it out after 2 rounds but who honestly didn't want to see it go to a 3rd. Epic KO. Lands 3-4 huge shots that rattle Luke's cage and sends him spiraling and Luke's left to the mercy of the referee.

Can next week top this ep? The bench has been set because that was a great episode. Interesting seeing Clint Hester cutting on the treadmill, surely Bubba - who backs himself so much when he's outside the cage wouldn't have a sook and throw away his opportunity, surely not after talking about how much he's sacrificed with his family. Go in there and get KO'd for the good of the sport!

 

[Z_K]

******* missed it. I reckon the missus cancelled the recording for a kids show, though she denied it as I stalked the house in quiet rage.

So the Kiwi got up? Happy with that. I like him. Kelvin is the Mexican kid with the neck, yeah?

Really want to see Uriah kick Bubba's teeth down his throat next week.

 

[Guy Threepwood]

******* missed it. I reckon the missus cancelled the recording for a kids show, though she denied it as I stalked the house in quiet rage.

So the Kiwi got up? Happy with that. I like him. Kelvin is the Mexican kid with the neck, yeah?

Really want to see Uriah kick Bubba's teeth down his throat next week.

Lol at Mexican kid with the neck. I guess that's Kelvin... he's the young guy who choked out Bubba in the first round. And yes, the Kiwi did get up in a good fight. There should be several replays on over the next week, so you should be able to catch it and I definitely recommend it as it was a good episode.

 

[Sharks On A Plane]

If Bubba doesn't front up against Uriah, I guess we know why he's never made it big over all these years despite being touted as a top line fighter.

 

[alfy!]

Two brutal TKO/KO's, great episode. Dylan's finish was dope, brutal body shot and then 4-5-6 shots to the chin.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

Surprised he didn't keep it standing earlier, most of Luke's shots didn't faze Dylan and he landed two really clean strikes that appeared to rock Luke half way through the 2nd. Could have gone for the kill earlier.

 

[alfy!]

lol at someones post on mazzagatti's late stoppage of that first fight:

Wonder what's going on in his mind process.

"Should I stop it? " "Oh he's back up, a little bit..." "Whoa look over there,....Arianny....."

"* look back, the fighter is on the ground..." "Is he out?"

"s**t! I'm too far away to totally confirm that"

"WAIT UP, I'm coming! Oh he stopped hitting him?" "Okay"

"s**t the guy's eyes rolled back. Stopping this. It's a good time to stop right?"

"Is it right, brain? Look around. They're all looking at me. Okay I think I'll stop it"

 

[Guy Threepwood]

Surprised he didn't keep it standing earlier, most of Luke's shots didn't faze Dylan and he landed two really clean strikes that appeared to rock Luke half way through the 2nd. Could have gone for the kill earlier.

He likely would have normally, but probably wanted to keep the damage to a minimum knowing that he would be fighting again in a week or so.

 

[BradWCE]

This video shows that Bubba ends up fighting Uriah after all. Some will be glad that Bubba's taking on Uriah and others will be disappointed that Hester doesn't get the opportunity. Weird that at the end of the episode last week it looked like they didn't want to give away whether Bubba backs out or not then they put up this short preview which gives it away anyway.

 

[makingmemark]

Can't believe that went to a third, would have been pretty pissed had Dylan lost.

Ditto. Yes Luke looked dangerous on his back but Dylan controlled the whole fight and took him down so many times. Judging can be ridiculously inconsistent...

I, like many, have been so impressed with Dylan. You really can see how much he wants it every time he steps into the cage. Luke was my pick to win the show so still shocked he lost. But what a series of punches he lost to.

Bubba is all talk. He's going to get smashed by Uria. Hard to call the other fight but think the cop will just be too good if he can take cocky Josh to the floor.

 

[Arecsa]

Well that was expected. Josh Semen pissed his pants when he saw that and once again got to duck Uriah.

 

[alfy!]

Bubba got killed. Uriah is a beast.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

Really wanted a Dylan vs Uriah finale, I think he's the only one with a chin who could survive a Uriah blitz, I guess having it next week, will have to do.

 

[Crimson Azure]

Only took Bubba 10 seconds to get what he's been asking for.

 

[makingmemark]

Only took Bubba 10 seconds to get what he's been asking for.

He just knew it was coming, didn't he! Very surprised Jimmy just gave up.

Uriah is one scary individual. And I wasn't surprised the Boss went against the coaches re' the match-ups. Uriah-v-Josh would be the most exciting/sought after final as Dylan is just too "nice". Can't wait for Dylan v Uriah though!

He's a cocky d1ck but hats off to Josh, he never stops working and has stopped everyone in the first round.

 

[Crimson Azure]

He just knew it was coming, didn't he! Very surprised Jimmy just gave up.

Uriah is one scary individual. And I wasn't surprised the Boss went against the coaches re' the match-ups. Uriah-v-Josh would be the most exciting/sought after final as Dylan is just too "nice". Can't wait for Dylan v Uriah though!

He's a cocky d1ck but hats off to Josh, he never stops working and has stopped everyone in the first round.

Yeah, it was never going to be a Josh/Uriah semi even though the coaches wanted it but doesn't really make any sense to have them fight now.

Before the season Dana was talking about 2 beasts & I think its safe to assume that Uriah is on & josh is the other. I'd love Kelvin to prove me wrong but don't see it happening.

 

[Guy Threepwood]

He's a cocky d1ck but hats off to Josh, he never stops working and has stopped everyone in the first round.

All the semi finalists deserve praise. The level of talent on the season seems far better than any since season five, so to get through to the final four is a great achievement. Agree on Josh though... can't stand the guy but he gets the job done and Jones has started talking more about what he can do rather than how he tries to manipulate things.

I too was surprised to see Jimmy just give up when the tide turned in the first fight, particularly after he seemed to go through a similarly rough time with Clint in the first fight. Josh did a great job from the bottom in both nullifying Jimmy's offense and in creating his own, and when he got the opportunity to get off his back he took full advantage.

I was enjoying watching Bubba squirm and come up with excuses prior to his fight. I literally laughed when his blood work came back to say that his kidneys were functioning perfectly. Dana was spot on with what he said about Uriah knocking guys out though... I thought I'd enjoy seeing Bubba go down, but it was so quick and violent that you don't really know how to react. Bubba's eye was a mess too... looked like much more than one punch worth of damage to it!

No surprises as to the semi final match ups, but I didn't expect both coaches to want to put Josh and Uriah together at this point. Glad Dana overruled them and we (hopefully) get that match up at the finale. I expect both Dylan and Kelvin to give good accounts of themselves, but ultimately fall short. I also hope I'm wrong, but I'm now leaning heavily towards Josh winning the season. Uriah seems to have been carefully matched against strikers so far and Josh looks to be a very well rounded fighter. If we do get that match up at the finale, I'm thinking Josh puts Uriah on his back and beats him up.

 

[Nickos66]

I wouldn't be quick to put the W next to Josh, he'll have a much harder time getting past Kelvin with the heavy hands than he did with Jimmy.

The matchups Dana went with were the way to go to set up a great finale, but at this point i'd hate to see Dylan get carted out into the back of an ambulance. He's a great kid and I hate to see something like that end up happen to him after how he's accounted for himself so far this season.

 

[Guy Threepwood]

The matchups Dana went with were the way to go to set up a great finale, but at this point i'd hate to see Dylan get carted out into the back of an ambulance. He's a great kid and I hate to see something like that end up happen to him after how he's accounted for himself so far this season.

I recall Dana saying that the beast put three opponents in the hospital and Uriah's already done that, so hopefully that means Dylan can avoid waking up in an ambulance.

 

[alfy!]

Hall vs. Chris Weidman

 

[Nickos66]

I was talking to a mate in the office today, that'd make one hell of a rematch now.

 

[BradWCE]

Uriah and Josh were both impressive again. I'm hoping for a Uriah/Josh fight at the finale which I think is likely. Dylan and Kelvin have both been impressive so far as well though so who knows.

I saw that fight between Weidman and Uriah before but it was a lot worse quality than the one above so cheers for posting that. Pretty impressive that Uriah was able to stuff a takedown or two since Weidman was able to effortlessly take Munoz down. Uriah has probably improved a lot since that fight but Weidman's probably improved even more as that was only his third fight.

 

[Guy Threepwood]

Had also seen the lesser quality version of that fight and was impressed with how Chris handled Uriah. Appreciate the better copy too Alfy.

I was talking to a mate in the office today, that'd make one hell of a rematch now.

Uriah's a long way off a re-match at the moment, but could see him working his way there eventually. It's easy to get caught up in the TUF hype (I remember I thought Danzig would be a threat to BJ back in the day.... ), but I think, should he win the show, that he'll go against a guy like Ring or Dollaway up first. If he's impressive there, I could see his next opponent being around the fringes of the top 10.

 

[Nickos66]

Uriah's a long way off a re-match at the moment, but could see him working his way there eventually. It's easy to get caught up in the TUF hype (I remember I thought Danzig would be a threat to BJ back in the day.... ), but I think, should he win the show, that he'll go against a guy like Ring or Dollaway up first. If he's impressive there, I could see his next opponent being around the fringes of the top 10.

Of course, yeah I wasn't implying right away.

In other news, 1 punch. 1 punch did all this: http://fansided.com/2013/04/04/vide...face-in-three-places-in-tuf-17-quarterfinals/

“They say I have three breaks in my face,” related McDaniel. “The flooring of my orbital is broke, the shelf on the inside of my nose is broke, and something to do with the septum. Something like that… behind the workings of my nose is broken.”

 

[Guy Threepwood]

Of course, yeah I wasn't implying right away.

Oh yeah, I got that... was more looking at Uriah's potential path to the re-match than anything. I'd love to see them go around again too FWIW.

In other news, 1 punch. 1 punch did all this: http://fansided.com/2013/04/04/vide...face-in-three-places-in-tuf-17-quarterfinals/

I read the extent of the damage yesterday and laughed that people on sherdog and the like were suggesting Bubba took a dive in that fight. The punch couldn't have landed much cleaner and clearly had done a massive amount of damage. Sounds like Bubba will be fighting at the finale based on his tweets since the episode aired, so it's good to at least see that there's no lasting damage.