TUF 7 - Episode 9

The producers of the show have once again graced us with two fights. I really like the fact that they have watered down the weigh in and training scenes and are showing more fights. We did however get to see more antics at the house this week. Being a "husky" guy, I can now say that Jesse Gray is my new favorite fighter. That guy eats worse than I do. His steady diet of microwave cheeseburgers and hostess cupcakes is bound to have him in the heavyweight division before long. He was 5 pounds overweight heading in to the bout but was able to lose it by playing ping pong in the plastic suit and peeing in his shorts on the deck next to the hot tub. The greatest part was him climbing right back in with his soiled shorts. His opponent, Dante Rivera soon joins him without knowing that Jesse had tainted the water. Dante hops right in and proceeds to fully immerse himself in the water. Jesse of course is lauging the entire time.

Since there are 6 members of Team Forrest and only 2 for Team Rampage, a coin is tossed to determine who will corner Dante Rivera and Matt Brown. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but it turned out to be a large factor in one of the fights.

The first fight features Jesse Gray (6-2) vs. Dante Rivera (10-2). After exhchanging a few blows, Jesse gets an easy takedown. He shows a very impressive ground and pound and easily wins the round staying on top the entire time. In round two, its more of the same. Easy takedowns followed by solid striking and heavy elbows are leaving Dante very frustrated. He mounts no offense and Jesse easily takes the win. Its hard to fault Dante as he was at a huge disadvantage. Everytime Dante would start to work for a submission from the bottom, his former trainers at Team Forrest would see it coming and let Jesse know what he was attempting. This had to be extremely frustrating for Dante. It was almost as if Jesse had a blueprint of his game plan. I think they should have made it where neither coach could corner the fighters and let members of the team do it.

I also wanted to point out how smart Jesse was in this fight. Some would call him a wuss for not finishing the fight. However, Dante is skilled on the ground and Jesse did the right thing. After dominating the first round, it was a foregone conclusion that he would win. In this type of format it is important to come out of your fight unharmed and ready to fight again. These fighters do not get a 3 month break between fights. Fighters need to see the bigger picture and Jesse did the right thing by sewing up the victory and saving his body for the next match.

Our second fight of the night was Amir Sadollah (0-0) vs. Matt Brown (9-6). This was really a fantastic fight. The fighter went back and forth between trading punches and kicks to knees in the clinch. Despite a flurry at the end from Amir which includes a huge kick to the kidney, Matt seems to get the better of the exchanges and in my opinion wins the round 10-9. Amir is really a tough guy. He took Matt Brown's best punches and stayed on his feet.

Round two begins with more stiff punches from Matt. The fighters go back to the clinch and coming out of it Matt lands a big knee followed by a punch combination that appears to hurt Amir. After another clinch, Amir executes a trip takedown and immediately transitions to the mount. From there he drops heavy punches and elbows. Amir pins him to the cage and starts inflicting some serious damage. Matt sweeps and gains top position but leaves his head and arms exposed. Amir quickly locks in the triangle and before you know it Matt Brown is tapping and Amir has pulled off the upset.

Amir really showed something in this fight. He was willing to stand up and trade with a tough chin and the ability to throw some good kicks of his own. He also showed good ground and pound and the ability to work for submissions. Despite having no professional fights, he could be the dark horse to win this competition.

Two fights are on the card next week as well. We will see C.B. Dolloway (one half of the sunglass sisters) vs. Cale Yarbrough and Dan Cramer vs. Tim Credeur. Additionally the semi-final fights will be announced.