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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
An exciting first round knockout win from Team Jones' Josh Samman capped off last week's episode of The Ultimate Fighter, and allowed UFC Champ Jon Jones to pick this week's matchup between Clint Hester and Jimmy Quinlan. It's striker vs. grappler tonight, so join me right here for my weekly running thoughts blog on another new episode as it begins on FX at 9PM ET!
-Samman said to Bubba McDaniel after last week's fight that the knockout was for him to give him a shot at the wildcard. McDaniel was wary, knowing four guys are left to fight. Samman and the rest of the team talked to Jones about the incidents with Urijah Hall from last week.
-Onto Jimmy Quinlan and this week's fight, he said it was the matchup he wanted. Team Jones told Clint Hester they felt Quinlan would be "scared s***less" to stand up with him.
-The guys get a little R&R, heading out to Hooters in Las Vegas for a UFC Fight Night. The guys were happy to interact with anyone that was outside of the house.
-Gilbert Smith did what he seemingly does best in taking off his shirt in public.
-The guys were all having fun and at the end wanted to do a big group picture, including the coaches, but the lone holdout was Uriah Hall, who sat at the table by himself.
-Hall's issues seem to be compounding, and his coaches were trying to talk with him about getting into the right mindset as he discussed the lack of sleep he's getting and other things.
-Back at the house, Samman's in pain after the fight, and wanted to head to the hospital to make sure there wasn't another blood clot issue like the horror story he recounted last week. Samman was just hoping his injuries don't get worse or - worst case - take him out of the competition.
-After the break, Samman got good news that there wasn't a clot in the leg, and that it should heal on its own. Samman said the hurt of not fighting would hurt him worse than any physical pain.
-Quinlan gave a bit of background on himself. He went to school for criminal justice, didn't have any real experience with fighting growing up. He's gone through the police academy, and made the transition from wrestling competitively to MMA.
-After another Team Sonnen training session, they get a pep talk from Sonnen. He believed Quinlan will get hit and will get hurt, but he's going to go through it and he's going to beat Hester. Sonnen believes a lot of guys from this season will have promising careers.
-Background on Hester now, who grew up just a little outside Atlanta, Georgia. He didn't have any reasons to fight growing up, it's just something he was inexplicably drawn to. He wanted to box until the gym he was at closed down. He moved to an MMA gym, and was in his first MMA fight ten months later.
-Jones was showing Hester some of the straight kicks to the legs he likes to employ. He said Hester is one of the few guys on the team who picks up on things immediately. He believes Hester can deal with Quinlan's wrestling, and has a major striking advantage.
-As the weigh-ins are shown, fighters from both teams once again talk up their respective teammates. Bubba McDaniel thinks Quinlan's a tough fight regardless because of how one dimensional he is in his wrestling game. Uriah Hall believes Quinlan's just got to be wary of the knees and other things he may not be able to anticipate.
-Hester actually likes Quinlan's sense of humor and gets along with him in the house, but they'll fight regardless and he expected a good, entertaining fight. Hester doesn't think anything will stop him from getting the contract from the UFC if he gets past Quinlan. He said this fight will be a test of timing for both fighters. Quinlan's gameplan is to put Hester's back on the cage before he eats a fist to the mouth. He thinks the fight's in his hands if he can bring it to the ground.
FIGHT: CLINT HESTER VS. JIMMY QUINLAN
ROUND ONE: Quinlan immediately closed the distance, got Hester to the cage, picked him up, and dropped him to the ground. He got right into side control. Hester worked out and got to his feet. He landed some hard elbows and punches as Quinlan got him to the cage and shot in again. Hester briefly stood but got slammed. Quinlan stayed on him with a body lock as Hester tried to climb to his feet against the cage. He landed some strikes and got to a better position. Hester grabbed a head lock and landed some knees as he pressed Quinlan to the cage. He landed a huge knee to the head and some follow up strikes that forced Quinlan to shoot in for a single leg. He was trying to recover with that hold, but drove Hester to the cage again. Hester landed some more hard strikes to the body and kept position as Quinlan continued trying to fight for the hold. Hester kept landing strikes, but Quinlan eventually dragged him back down. Hester got to a knee and got back to his feet again. He landed a nice knee. Quinlan picked him up again and slammed him. Hester landed strikes from his back and tried to scramble. Hester tried to grab for an arm to attack as the round ended. That's the exact type of round that a wrestler should lose despite the takedowns. He got beat up on the feet, and even though he got three takedowns, he had exactly zero offense otherwise.
ROUND TWO: Hester inexplicably ran forward and tried to shoot in on Quinlan, which led to a guillotine attempt, but he quickly got back to his feet. Quinlan then went for the takedown and Hester landed some elbows as he was again dragged down. Quinlan then got Hester's back, and then the mount as Hester tried to scramble. Hester gave up his back and Quinlan landed strikes as he was flattened out. Quinlan then locked on a rear naked choke and Hester was forced to tap. Terrible fight I.Q. from Hester that second round, not to mention card as he was tired out after the first, and he cost himself the fight. Quinlan didn't look that impressive out of the fight, either, because against someone who doesn't just give him that position he's going to run into trouble.
Jimmy Quinlan moves on with second round submission
-Jones told Hester not to hold his head down because he fought hard, and just got caught. Hester was hurt, but he hoped to get another chance.
-Sonnen brought over the Team Sonnen jersey to give to Jones from the lost bet in their bowling game last week. Jones had no intention of putting the jersey on then and there.
-Fight announcement time, and of course, with no other options left the default fight as Dylan Andrews against Zak Cummings for next week. Jones believes Andrews will do well. Andrews expects a tough fight against Cummings next week. Cummings says Andrews might be the nicest guy he's ever met and he'd never choose to fight him, but this is a competition and that's what he's got to do.
-Next week brings a very different type of coaches' challenge, and the final fight happens before the wildcard is picked.
Final Thoughts: That was a winnable fight for Hester, and his performance in the second round just didn't make any sense. It cost him greatly, and unless the coaches deem him wildcard worthy, his time in the competition is done. Outside of that, the episode continued progressing what seems to be a season long story with Uriah Hall, and follow up from last week's episode, which certainly adds to this season being more interesting than many of the more recent seasons.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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