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TV Reviews
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The Ultimate Fighter
THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER REPORT 4/23: Hyden's rundown of all the fights, all the drama on Spike TV
By Frank Hyden, MMATorch columnist
Apr 27, 2008, 23:40
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The Ultimate Fighter review
April 23, 2008
By Frank Hyden
The show begins with a recap of the previous episode's fight between Jesse Taylor and Mike Dolce. Afterwards, Jesse is shown drinking and celebrating while Matthew Riddle antagonizes Dante Rivera. Dante says he would retire if Riddle were to ever beat him.
Team Rampage is training and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson is really pushing his team hard. After a good workout they spend some time trying to figure out who's fighting next.
Jesse has Athlete's Body and the other housemates have him spray Tinactin on his breakouts. Luckily, John Madden doesn't come bursting through the wall like the Kool-Aid Man. Although that would have livened things up. Riddle talks some more smack.
The next fight will be Tim Credeur vs. Matthew Riddle. Tim talks a little trash of his own while Dante tries to get Riddle to bet on himself in the upcoming fight.
Team Forrest is shown training as Tim talks about his fight. He actually uses the phrase "Neato Mosquito" when talking about Riddle. He also has that condescending-sounding Dana White habit of referring to people as "kid" or "boys". Riddle is then shown training.
Both men make weight. Riddle only weighs 182 pounds. He could probably drop down to welterweight. Tim has a lot more experience and has basically everything to lose. It's the finals or bust for him. Both fighters talk more trash and the screen reveals that both men have the same reach despite Tim being an inch taller.
FIGHT- Tim Credeur vs. Matthew Riddle
ROUND 1- Josh Rosenthal is the official and we start quick as Riddle takes Tim's back. They scramble to their feet but Riddle hits a throw and gets back on top of Tim. A reversal sees Tim get on top. They scramble around again and Riddle gets Tim's back again. Riddle hits an elbow but Tim gets on top again. An exhausting flurry by Tim sees him raining down shot after shot on Riddle for nearly a minute before the round ends. Matthew was stopping a good amount of them and limiting the damage but Tim was scoring on several of them.Rosenthal was close to stopping the fight a few times.
ROUND 2- Riddle gets on top again before they both scramble to their feet. They go to the ground and Tim is on top. Riddle lands anupkick to Tim while Tim was on his knees, incurring a warning from Rosenthal . Both fighters begin throwing blows and this is a total war on the ground and on their feet. It's Riddle on top, then Tim. Rampage is yelling for Riddle to stand up because Tim is wobbly. But he doesn't listen and Tim grabs an armbar for the submission victory.
WINNER- Tim Credeur by armbar
The fight tonight was very good. It was back and forth with constant action. The rest of the show was just your basic TUF stuff, with the drinking and the trash-talking. There wasn't a whole lot going on, but I'm sure that'll change very soon. I'm really liking the openness and honesty of both Rampage and Forrest. They seem like the kind of guys you could sit and have a drink with. And so far the focus of the shows has been on the fighters and not the coaches. The season previews have told me that's going to change, though. That's probably a good thing because so far none of the fighters have separated themselves from the pack. Admittedly, it is a little early to say that definitively, though. If the rest of this season's fights are this good I'll be very happy.
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