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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Last week's episode of The Ultimate Fighter "Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen" saw Jimmy Quinlan defeat Clint Hester to move on to the next round. That sets up the final opening round matchup tonight between Team Jones' Dylan Andrews, and Team Sonnen's Zak Cummings. Tonight's episode will also feature the coaches challenge, and the pick for the wildcard fight, so join me for my weekly live blog during the broadcast as it kicks off in minutes!
-Bubba McDaniel continues hoping for the wild card slot, and teammate Adam Cella believes McDaniel's the one in the house that deserves a shot more than anyone else.
-We get right to a training session for Dylan Andrews, and Jones feels he's got a good shot against Cummings. Andrews talked about issues his brothers had with drugs that led him down a different path.
-Andrews and Hall bonded over their belief their feelings of fear and dislike of the fighting experience, yet it being something that they're too good at to walk away from. Andrews says people feel his pain in the cage, and feel what he's gone through in his life. Interesting, human moment there between two talented guys on this roster.
-Zak Cummings talked about how people around him thought he should have gone into something more intellectual than fighting, but they came around based on his dedication. He said he's never been in a street fight in his life, and he sees MMA as just competition.
-Sonnen and one of his assistants commented on Cummings while watching him train, and believed he's still a question mark into this fight. They admired his dedication after trying out for TUF several times.
-Coaches challenge time, and instead of a sport this year, Jones and Sonnen get to operate some large machinery. Driving excavators, the two will compete over three different challenges.
-They had to fill up a large bin with dirt, stack large tires, then scoop a basketball with a very large vehicle. Interesting. Jones got off to a quick start, but Sonnen overtook him. Sonnen trash talked Jones throughout the competition, ribbing him as he had difficulties moving the tires. Sonnen hit a snag trying to stack the tires properly, and Jones came back and took over. Jones got the basketball for the third challenge, but it rolled over the tire, allowing Sonnen a shot, and he got the ball in to win. That was definitely much more entertaining than Shane Carwin against Roy Nelson in a track and field competition.
-Jones said Sonnen won the bowling competition and the coaches challenge, but they're there to win the fights, so they're not done yet.
-Cella believes Andrews will surprise a lot of people. McDaniel thinks Andrews doesn't realize how hard he hits, and he expects a KO win for his teammate.
-Cummings said he was glad to go last here because he got time to mentally and physically prepare himself.
-Andrews talked about his two kids and said he can do anything with the support of his family, and how he wants this so badly that he's put his family through things during his career that he never wanted to put them through. It's been said before, but this season of the show has humanized these fighters much more than any recent season, and it's been a great shift.
FIGHT: DYLAN ANDREWS VS. ZAK CUMMINGS
ROUND ONE: Andrews connected early, and Cummings came forward with a short combo. Cummings shot in for a takedown, but was stuffed on the cage. Andrews landed a few nice kicks and covered up well. Than Cummings got through in a nice counter. Andrews dropped and Cummings tried to set up a D'Arce choke. He unloaded some elbows as Andrews tried to recover. Cummings got in some more elbows and continued controlling the head to try setting up a choke. He used that to transition nicely to mount, but then Andrews exploded out and reversed. He was opened up bad from the elbows and bled heavily onto Cummings. He landed a couple of punches and elbows. Sonnen yelled at Cummings to get up, but he stayed in guard and got smashed by a big series of elbows from Andrews. Andrews got to hag guard and started unleashing strikes as Cummings tried to cover up and get wrist control. He threw shots from his back, but kept taking damage on the bottom. Andrews ended the round on top. Very hard round to score, and could see it going either way.
ROUND TWO: Cummings tried an early capoeira kick that was blocked. Andrews landed a solid leg kick. Cummings grazed the back of Andrews' head, but when he tried to jump in with a flying knee he wound up on his back. Andrews passed to half guard. He landed a nice elbow, but Cummings initially did a good job controlling his posture. Andrews adjusted and landed a few forearms and elbows. Andrews landed a few strikes as he was told to work. Cummings tried to hold on to force a stand up. Andrews tried to continue working the elbows with the threat of a standup there. He kept busy with strikes and Herb Dean again told him to work. He landed a nice body shot and strike to the face, then went back to elbows to stay busy enough to avoid the stand up. He landed a few more hard elbows. Cummings tried to kick off the cage, but Andrews stayed on top. Andrews continued working with elbows and forearms. Cummings went for a desperation kimura, but Andrews got out and landed a few more strikes before the round ended. I'd guess the fight goes to Andrews here, but there's a possibility for a third round.
-No third round, meaning this is going to Andrews. Sure enough, that's the case.
Andrews moves on with majority decision win
-Onto the wildcard pick. Dana takes Jones and Sonnen out to talk about the wildcard. Normally White picks the wildcard, but he left it up to the coaches with two guys from each team up for it. Sonnen said he wanted to put Kevin Casey in, but Jones has a tough call between his teammate Bubba McDaniel and Clint Hester. Jones wanted them to flip a coin, and McDaniel didn't want to do that.
-Jones said it was a very tough pick for him, and he walked out to think about it. He said he felt that he was having to betray a friend. Jones went with the fighter who has put more years into this, and he picked McDaniel. Hester seemed ok with the decision, and it was clearly difficult for Jones. Sonnen went with Casey as he said.
-This is the fight McDaniel wanted initially, and he said Casey doesn't know what he's in for.
-Next week: McDaniel and Casey square off in the wildcard fight to get into the quarterfinals. The preview promises "one of the most shocking finishes in TUF history."
Final Thoughts: Another solid episode for a season featuring a lot of them. The fight itself wasn't amazing or anything, but the rest of the show setting it up was pretty good, and Andrews moved on. He's got more to offer than what he showed, but he did just enough to win by edging out that very close, very good first round.
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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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