...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
It's time for another episode of The Ultimate Fighter 17 on FX, with Team Sonnen now holding a 3-1 lead of fighters heading into the quarterfinals. Tonight's episode pits Josh Samman from Team Jones against Tor Troeng from Team Sonnen. Stick with me throughout the episode for my ongoing live thoughts on the broadcast and the fight!
-As the episode begins, Bubba McDaniel reacts to the loss before the go to the thoughts on tonight's fight between Samman and Troeng. Jones says their team loves the matchup; Sonnen talks up Samman, saying they would have liked him on their team, but he believes Troeng is the sleeper in this show. Troeng's teammates also believe that Team Jones has no idea what he's about, but they do having trained with him.
-Troeng - nicknamed "Thor" - gets a present from his teammates in the form of a homemade "Thor's Hammer." I like it.
-At Team Sonnen's training session, Luke Barnatt didn't take kindly to a stiff jab from Uriah Hall in training and took a break from it. Barnatt said Hall's got a bad attitude and is an "ego-driven machine."
-Barnatt believes the European fighters like himself and Troeng aren't getting much respect and are getting overlooked.
-After the first break, a number of fighters on Team Jones aren't taking kindly to Josh Samman trying to take control of things. Samman thinks he's helping, but it's not sitting well with everyone that he's trying to be the "leader" or the "know it all."
-Samman runs down a time where he nearly lost his leg due to a blood clot that required surgery. Yikes. Jones complements his game, but does add some slight criticism.
-Thus far the show hasn't edited Samman in the greatest light, but he seems knowledgeable and like he does mean well as he's trying to be of assistance to his teammates.
-Hall stirs the pot a bit when they were sitting around talking about who they wanted to fight. He said he wanted Barnatt, his teammate, and Barnatt just didn't understand why he'd call him out before the prelims are even over. Kevin Casey thinks it's more division in their team than necessarily. Things get a little heated after that, though Hall tries to brush it off. Barnatt thinks Hall wants to be on Team Jones, and would be happy if he was over there.
-Hall hung around the fire with Team Jones, and in a transition from that conversation they start talking about everything. Hall said he was "jokingly" made the call out, and he shouldn't have said it. Gilbert Smith tried to talk Hall into giving up stuff on Team Sonnen because he doesn't like being over there. There's more contention with Hall as he makes another comment towards Adam Cella. What we've got here is failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach.
-After the break, the guys are beginning to find ways to mess with Hall. Hall continues to dislike Samman, but he's not endearing himself to others as well. He's now looking to avoid things and stop conversing on stupid stuff, and he wants to turn his focus to what he's there for. As he said, "I'd rather talk with my fists."
-The two teams got to head out to the Red Rock hotel to watch a UFC event on big screens and do some bowling. Jones is in the middle of an interview, then Sonnen comes in to challenge Jones to three frames on the lanes. Winner coaches a session with the other team's jersey on. Sonnen's at least trying to keep things interesting.
-Sonnen starts out with a strike, Jones does not. Jones admits he's terrible at bowling. However, things get interesting into the final frame. Sonnen wins by two. Jones jokingly runs out, then jokingly holds back tears. Still more entertaining than prank wars and drunken maniacs.
-On to weigh-ins and both make weight. Both teams expect a tough fight here.
-Both fighters are entirely confident in themselves heading into the fight. Samman thinks he'll be the better athlete, and says there's no way anyone wants this more than he does.
-Sonnen says it would be helpful to know what Troeng's weaknesses are, and he said nothing bad's going to happen out of this, because at worst he's getting a wild card spot. Troeng says he gets a feeling of silence and calm before the beginning of the fight. Samman believes the stage is set for him to have a great moment, and he just has to go out and "steal it from him."
FIGHT: JOSH SAMMAN VS. TOR TROENG
ROUND ONE: Samman slipped on an early kick but caught himself. He land a leg kick. He rushed Troeng with a flurry and they clinched. Troeng pressed him to the cage and tried to get a hand loose to throw strikes. Samman turned him around and threw a few knees. Samman got in a hard knee to the body. Troeng broke away and landed a solid body shot, but Samman covered up as he threw a few more. He got in a knee to the body. Samman went for a throw but Troeng held it off and wound up on top. He stood up and landed a couple of strikes. Samman tried to get up as Troeng stood, but Troeng dropped back down into his guard. Samman defended well from his back, then scrambled nicely and tried to get Troeng to the ground. He landed a couple of strikes. Samman landed a few more knees. Samman rushed him again and scored a huge knockout with a flurry against the cage. Very nice performance from Samman to get another win for Team Jones.
Samman moves on with round one KO
-Troeng needed a bit to come to, and he was disappointed in himself.
-The slo-mo replay of the knockout was brutal. Jones liked what he saw from Samman trying to dictate the fight immediately. Sonnen said Troeng did something he never does in practice in dropping his hands and Samman took advantage of it. Samman believes if there was anyone on the other team itching to fight him, they aren't anymore, and he thinks he's now the No. 1 guy in the house.
-Sonnen said he wanted six more minutes from those two. He told Troeng he thought it was a good fight. Troeng said he didn't know what he could learn from the loss, as he felt like he just got caught, but he wants to try to find something that will make him better as a fighter and a person.
-Back to Hall, he says Samman's the guy in the movie you want to see get his ass kicked.
-The fight for next week is Clint Hester, #1 pick from Team Jones, and Jimmy Quinlan from Sonnen. Sonnen thinks it's a surprising pick. We'll see how wise it was next week.
-Preview for next week sees Samman heading to the emergency room, the guys getting a night out for a UFC event, and the Hester-Quinlan fight.
-Thanks for joining me tonight, we'll be back next week with another all new episode.
(Attention MMATorch app users: Make sure to upgrade to the latest edition of the MMATorch app on your iPhone, iPad, or Android device!)
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
Interested in joining MMATorch's writing team? Send idea for a theme to your column (for Specialist section) or area of interest (i.e. TV Reporter) along with a sample of writing to mmatorch@gmail.com.
