The Ultimate Fighter
THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER FRIDAYS 12/5: Penick's live blog of welterweight tourney semifinals
Dec 7, 2012 - 11:00:44 PM THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER FRIDAYS 12/5: Penick's live blog of welterweight tourney semifinals

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

The final pre-taped episode of The Ultimate Fighter's 16th season hits FX live tonight, featuring two semifinal bouts in this season's welterweight tournament. Tonight I'll be running down a recap and some random thoughts on the semifinal fights, which will provide the finalists for next Saturday night's live Finale event in Las Vegas. Here we go!

-Roy Nelson's team laments his training from the season, with Joey Rivera saying he's become jaded by this season's training experience. He said Nelson should stick to being a fighter, not a trainer.

-Segue to Team Nelson training session, as Colton Smith and Jon Manley will square off. Nelson says the coaches will be there up until the fight, then they need their own corners. Nelson says the fight comes down to gameplan, and whomever executes theirs better will come out on top.

-After the break, Rivera confronts Nelson about training from this season. Nelson rebuffs him immediately, and leaves it at "everybody has an excuse." Nelson says he can't give anyone heart, said some guys came in with a mission to win. Productive conversation.

FIGHT ONE: COLTON SMITH VS. JON MANLEY

ROUND ONE: Smith circled on the outside, then engaged first with a combo to push Manley to the cage in the clinch. They jockeyed for position for awhile. Manley finally broke free. Manley pawed with some punches nowhere near the mark, but landed a couple as Smith engaged again. Smith got a clinch and worked it into a trip takedown. Smith stood and looked to drop down. Manley landed an upkick. Smith dropped into a half guard, and tried to transition in a scramble. He tried to set up a shook, but Manley worked to his feet. Smith landed a knee on the way up. He got one in to the body in the clinch. The clinch battle continued for the final minute, and Smith got cut open under his eye.

Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Smith. I guess. Very little happened from either fighter that round. Lots of stalemate action in the clinch, and Smith didn't do much with the sole takedown of the round.

ROUND TWO: Manley got Smith's cut opened up early. Smith rushed in and again got the clinch. He worked to another trip to bring it down. Manley got to his feet, but ate a knee for his trouble. They separated, but Manley didn't get any offense in before Smith shot in and took him down again. Manley stood again, but Smith stayed on him. Manley grabbed for a kimura, then dropped down, but lost the hold. He got back to his feet and again attacked the arm. This time he got slammed for his efforts. Smith tried to take his back standing, and Manley got turned around with a kimura attempt before they separated. Manley finally shot in, got sprawled, and ate a few big knees to the head in the clinch. Smith scored a late throw into mount.

Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Smith. Three takedowns and little offense from Manley gives the round easily to Smith, and he likely punched his ticket into the finals with that round.

ROUND THREE: Must be three rounds for the semis, as Manley was most likely down the first two. They got a little cute with their striking, throwing some jumping kicks with Smith trying to showboat. Smith scored with a short combo and backed out. Manley landed a left hook. He tried to walk Smith down, and Smith briefly stumbled on the cage wall. He clinched and landed a hard knee to the body. Manley got loose, but Smith closed the distance again for the clinch. Manley landed a punch, but Smith stayed on him with knees and a couple punches. They traded knees. Smith landed a good short elbow. They separated again with two minutes left. Manley landed a hard left hook and Smith backed away. Manley connected on a short combo. Manley landed another hard two-punch combo. Manley blocked a punch and continued trying to stalk. He landed another right. Smith clinched. Manley landed a couple shots in close to separate. He rushed Smith with a few more punches but was clinched again. He landed a couple strikes, but got taken down as the round ended.

Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Manley. Too little too late, but he got some offense in there to likely win that round.

WINNER: Smith via unanimous decision.

-Manley was crushed by the loss, and was very emotional after the fight. His problem was a complete lack of offense until the final two minutes.

-Smith grabs a bottle of what looked like whiskey, commented "this is one men drink, not that vodka stuff," and proceeded to nearly choke on his pull. Funny. Didn't look like good whiskey anyway.

-Based on the time remaining in the episode, I'm calling an early stoppage in the Mike Ricci-Neil Magny fight.

-Yep, this fight's not lasting long, as we spend some time with Team Carwin, and running down "fight day" footage before getting the two to the cage. With little time left in tonight's episode, one of these fighters is getting stopped. Ricci wants to become the first Canadian to win the Ultimate Fighter, and he's got to get past a teammate to do that.

FIGHT TWO: MIKE RICCI VS. NEIL MAGNY

ROUND ONE: Both started tentatively, circling one another and looking for an opening. Ricci landed a hard punch to the body. He landed an inside leg kick. Ricci threw a couple jabs and backed away. Magny missed and clinched, avoiding the counters. Ricci defended the takedown attempt well on the cage, then used a kimura attempt to break loose. Magny landed a hard kick to the body in close. Ricci came back a short time later with a hard body kick of his own. Ricci backed away from a few strikes. Ricci landed a huge left that dropped Magny, then dropped into his guard. Magny recovered well, but Ricci tried to get working. He moved Magny's head to the cage and landed an elbow. Magny walked to his feet. Ricci took his back standing and landed a couple knees. He then unleashed a huge elbow in close as Magny tried to turn around, threw one more on the ground and it was all over. Magny was so out of it that he tried to go after referee Steve Mazzagatti after he came to.

WINNER: Ricci via KO

-Ricci said afterward he broke down afterward because he would have rather won by decision than knocking out his friend and teammate, and it hit him afterward. At the end, he said if he wouldn't have done it, Magny would have done it to him, so he had to.

-Ricci said he didn't think Colton Smith can hang with him, and if his "A" game is on, he'll win the Finale. That's your finals bout for next week, thanks for joining us here tonight. We'll have live coverage tomorrow night of UFC on Fox 5, as well as both of next weekend's fight cards in UFC on FX 6 and The Ultimate Fighter 16 Finale!