For those of you who read my TUF quarter-finals predictions, you know I had Kelvin Gastelum beating Collin Hart, and Luke Barnatt beating Dylan Andrews. So I may have only called one of the fights correctly, but I nailed it. Either way, the last two picks of this TUF season are stepping up and really proving themselves worthy of being a top contender.
So let’s get the fight that I was dead wrong out of the way. Luke Barnatt is the tallest fighter of the tough season, and can strike, take his opponent down, and is pretty crafty on the ground. Unfortunately for him, the takedown came pretty easy for Dylan Andrews, and Barnatt’s attempts to reverse position or lock up submissions were in vain. The only close takedown attempt of Barnatt’s was countered, and he wound up on his back with Andrews in side control. Though Barnatt had a much more successful second round, the second half of the round was more of the same, with Andrews on top and finding himself in better positions. That judges ultimately gave Barnatt the round, but I leaned more towards Andrews in the second round as well. Regardless, he whipped away all doubt that he deserved to win by displaying his Muay Thai striking, and knocking out the number one pick of the season.
Now for the fight that I was dead on, and this fight certainly didn’t last too long. The wrestling was going to be close between Kelvin Gastelum and Collin Hart, but it was the striking than made the difference. Hart couldn’t get Gastelum down, which translates into him having to stand and bang with a fighter with plenty of knockout potential. It was an inevitable finish, with Hart being on the wrong side of the knockout.
As if the fights weren’t exciting enough, the lovely, yet bad ass Ronda Rousey. She coached a session with team Sonnen, I enjoyed watching her threw some of the fighters on their ass. Now as exciting as that was, it was her words of inspiration that stood out. “No on has the right to beat you.” That may have been some of the best coaching that I’ve heard in quite some time. She credited her words of wisdom to her mother, who would tell her the same thing before a fight.
We still have Josh Samman vs. Jimmy Quinlan, and Bubba McDaniel vs. Uriah Hall, in part two of the quarter-finals. Of course, I will be give my prediction for both bouts in the near future.
As always, your comments are welcome, positive and negative. That’s right, bring it!
– Ryan “Fight Freek” Poli
@FightFreek