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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
The quarterfinals come to a close tonight on The Ultimate Fighter 17, with two more fights on FX. Tonight's episode features Josh Samman against Jimmy Quinlan, and Uriah Hall back in action after his highlight-reel spinning heel kick KO earlier in the season, taking on Bubba McDaniel. Join me here for another running thoughts rundown of tonight's episode as it starts right now!
-Bubba McDaniel's having issues in training after three fights already. His teammates are seeing it take a toll on him, and Clint Hester is readying in case McDaniel ultimately can't go. Jones isn't sure whether Bubba wants to continue.
-Jones said Josh Samman has made it easy for him to give Samman what he wants. He said he's been a leader on the team and he's won his fights. Samman believes he's the strongest fighter in this field all around. He said he fully believes Quinlan's a better wrestler than him, but that it doesn't matter because you ned more to win the fight.
-Some of Samman's teammates don't know if he'll necessarily be at an advantage with perhaps questionable takedown defense and some nagging injuries.
-McDaniel's really not looking forward to fighting Uriah Hall. He was disheartened by having the hardest road possible, and he told Jones he thought Dana wanted him out of the tournament. This fight in particular is messing with his head. McDaniel finally said "I don't want to quit," and Jones said that's exactly what he wanted to hear.
-Jimmy Quinlan is confident in himself and his skills, and is ready to prove himself once again. He doesn't believe Samman is technically better than him, and believes he'd beat Samman in a jiu jitsu match ten out of ten. That said, he admitted he didn't have any technical striking, it's "basically just me running at the guy."
-Sonnen believed Quinlan's made a lot of improvements on the show thus far, and is a better fighter than he was three weeks prior.
-McDaniel's having issues at another training session, having back problems and not sure whether or not it's a kidney issue or something like that. Him fighting Hall is in the doctor's hands now.
-Samman said he didn't like Quinlan at first, but came around to him. He's still looking forward to the fight, though. Quinlan doesn't want to change anything he's done. Samman said he had a plan coming in, and he knows how close he is to the finals.
-Samman said you have to be special and just damn good at fighting to stop him, and he doesn't see Quinlan being that guy.
FIGHT ONE: JOSH SAMMAN VS. JIMMY QUINLAN
ROUND ONE: Quinlan immediately came forward and they exchanged some strikes. Quinlan shot, and Samman initially stuffed it. Quinlan then picked him up and ultimately scored the takedown. Samman defended well and attacked with some elbows to the body and head and Quinlan got cut open. Quinlan stayed on top as Samman continued to work from his back. Samman patiently worked off his back, but Quinlan passed to side control. Only briefly, as Samman regained guard and threw more strikes off his back. Quinlan had literally no offense from the top for an extended period of time. He lifted Samman up and dropped him with two minutes left. Samman continued working from his back. He attacked for a triangle, but Quinlan got out. Samman got to the wall and tried to get out, but Quinlan stayed on top of him. He threw a punch. Samman scrambled and got to his feet. He landed a big knee and got Quinlan to the cage. He landed two more knees to the face and Quinlan dropped to a knee. He took Quinlan's back and started landing strikes. He slammed the sides of his head with strikes and Quinlan was forced to tap to strikes to stop the assault. Great performance from Samman. He was winning the fight off his back and then finished it in brutal fashion.
Samman moves on with first round submission (strikes)
-Bubba's good to go after the doctor clears him. Jones says they need to make this fight more of a grinding fight than a kickboxing match.
-Sonnen believes Hall is the best athlete in the field, and the hardest worker, and he thinks all the guys are having issues with potentially having to fight him in the competition. He told Hall his opponents need him to beat himself more than anything.
-Gilbert Smith predicted a knockout for Bubba in ten seconds. Luke Barnatt believes Bubba seeing his teammate get KOd by Hall has him affected mentally. Samman thought McDaniel needed to get the fight to the ground. Jones wasn't happy with McDaniel's body language at the weigh-in. Dana White thought it was going to be a rough fight for Bubba.
-Bubba admitted that his own worst enemy is himself. Hall thought McDaniel was going to simply try to take him down and work ground and pound, but he plans on keeping the fight where he wants it.
FIGHT TWO: URIAH HALL VS. BUBBA MCDANIEL
ROUND ONE: McDaniel tried to get in quickly, then got hit with a knee and a punch that knocked him out. He face planted and took another couple shots. McDaniel was bleeding, face down as he came to, that would be scary.
Hall moves on with a first round KO
-McDaniel was complaining that something was wrong with his eye, may have broken his orbital bone with one strike. On replay, that orbital bone strike was brutal, and the follow-ups knocked him out cold.
-White was cageside with Carlos Condit, and talked about how nasty he is as a fighter. Hall's looking legit right now, and it will be good to see him against a higher level of competition as he moves up.
-With the quarterfinals complete, it's on to the semis, and I really think they're going to separate Samman and Hall in the semis, because that looks to me like the finals bout right now.
-Dana said he liked Samman having a plan as they asked everyone who they wanted. Hall wanted to fight Samman right away. Gastellum wanted to fight Dylan Andrews because he thought he could beat him. Wouldn't be surprised if it's teammate vs. teammate.
-But the coaches have a different idea, and want to see Samman vs. Hall and Gastellum vs. Andrews. We'll see if that's the route White takes in a second.
-Dana announces Josh Samman vs. Kelvin Gastellum and Uriah Hall vs. Dylan Andrews. That's what I actually expected, so not surprising. I definitely see Hall-Samman being the finals next weekend, but Gastellum and Hall could surprise people.
-Dana said he disagreed with the coaches, because he saw Samman and Hall as the top two guys, and said now we'll find out whether he was right or wrong.
Next week: The semifinals to determine the final bout to head to FX a week from Saturday at The Ultimate Fighter Finale.
Final Thoughts: Convincing, impressive wins from Josh Samman and Uriah Hall, and both fighters have shown a lot of impressive things during their time on this season. Honestly, if it's either of them winning this show on April 13, they'll probably be the best TUF winners - excluding the 135 lb. and 145 lb. winners from season 14 - to come out of this show in years.
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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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