It’s a whole new season and Conor McGregor is the reason, as he and Urijah Faber go toe to toe as coaching foes on The Ultimate Fighter. They won’t duke it out after the season is done, but there’s still pride on the line, not to mention Conor’s reputation as the newest badass on the block.
Join us each episode for “The Notorious Quote of the Week” as Conor puts his mouth where UFC’s money is! There will be no “Fighters to Watch” this week though as it’s a two fight episode.
The Notorious Quote of the Week: “Dana recognized that these fighters were getting frustrated, and brought a lot of nice friendly women in to have fun with them.” Hmmmm.
Team McGregor finished the first round 6-3. Chris Gruetzemacher was eliminated because he had the weakest performance, but one of the quarter finalists may be out. Dana White comes out to make an announcement. “Martin (Svensson) has a broken elbow – he’s out.” He brings Gruetzemacher up to the front and has him face off with Artem Lobov. Conor McGregor predicts Lobov will finish him in the first round.
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For those not keeping track the rest of the quarterfinals are Saul Rogers (McGregor) vs. Ryan Hall (Faber), Marcin Wrzosek (McGregor) vs. David Teymur (McGregor) and Julian Erosa (Faber) vs. Abner Lloveras (McGregor). Dana White holds a pool party for the fighters at the house, complete with girls in bikinis and alcohol flowing freely.
Faber: “This little reminder about what’s on the outside is going to help them perform and do the things they want.” McGregor: “Dana recognized that these fighters were getting frustrated, and brought a lot of nice friendly women in to have fun with them. And that’s what happened – we had fun today.” The first quarterfinal is five days away, and the camera immediately cuts to “five days later” and the warm-ups.
Lightweight: Artem Lobov (Europe) vs. Chris Gruetzemacher (USA)
Lobov is in the gray trunks and Gruetzemacher the blue. “Gritz” is the aggressor early, pushing the pace and throwing kicks. Of course we know Lobov throws strikes from unorthodox angles and with a ton of power, and we see him land a really nice combo at 1:35. Moments later John McCarthy calls for time due to a knee to Lobov’s cup. McGregor tells Lobov to be a “little more flow-y” but the blood is already flow-ing from Gruetzemacher’s face. Gritz tries to clinch him on the fence for elbows. McGregor: “What’s he got? NOTHIN’.” His blood winds up all over Lobov’s left shoulder. Gruetzemacher is still attacking though, throwing body kicks and leg kicks and getting right in Lobov’s face. Gritz lands a clean hard elbow at 4:20. For the last two minutes of R1 he was the dominant striker, despite what McGregor is saying.
Gritz goes right back to the leg kicks and body kicks to open R2. Lobov is still ripping off power shots but has yet to stun or drop Gritz with any of them. A frustrated Lobov is now throwing kicks of his own. Gritz has started to open up Lobov’s face with his strikes 1:45 in. Lobov is slowing down and not just because his legs hurt – he’s spent all his time swinging for the fences hoping to put Gritz away. He finally drops Gritz with one at 2:46 but Gritz gets back up. McGregor: “Play with him he’s badly hurt!” A left hook drops Gritz at 3:15 and McGregor runs and jumps the fence to hug him and celebrate. LOBOV ADVANCES TO THE SEMIS VIA KNOCKOUT.
Ryan Hall vs. Saul Rogers is up after the commercial break.
Lightweight: Saul Rogers (Europe) vs. Ryan Hall (USA)
Rogers is in the gray trunks and Hall the blue. Rogers opens up with his hands right away. Hall is doing his best to stay at range and he throws a couple of good head kicks, though he gets dumped on his back on one. Rogers doesn’t go to the ground with him. Rogers dumps him again on a body kick at 1:22. The fighters are warned to keep the fingers out of the eyes at 3:10. Rogers goes for a takedown at 3:40 and doesn’t get it. Hall dives for a takedown at 4:05 and doesn’t get it. Hall looks like his right eye may be swelling up from the strikes of Rogers. On to round two!
There are only ten minutes left so this one isn’t going to a sudden death round. They touch gloves and Rogers quickly pops him with a right hand. Faber is calling for Hall to pressure Rogers. Hall goes for a takedown but Rogers ends up on top in full guard. Hall is warned to watch shots to the back of the head. Hall scoots to the fence. Rogers backs off and lets Hall stand at 1:30. Hall shoots and misses, Rogers tags him for a flash knockdown, Hall fails to pull guard and Rogers takes him down at 2:10. He pops his head out of a possible triangle but Hall is still fishing for a submission. Rogers backs out at 2:38. His right hand is landing all day. Hall dives for a leg lock to no avail. Hall pulls guard at3:39. Rogers can run out the clock on top if he wants. He’s warned to get his fingers out of Hall’s eyes. They stand with under 15 seconds left. Rogers should take this. He lands one last uppercut at the bell.
19-19, 20-18 and 20-18 for ROGERS BY MAJORITY DECISION. Two of the four semifinalists are now from Team McGregor. Hall has a big hematoma on his head in the post fight interview. We move on from this week to see if “Mystic Mac” can run the table and have an all Team McGregor finals. Join us next week!