Although the main attraction in the quarterfinals is arguably Uriah Hall and his next match against Bubba McDaniel, Tuesday’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter was no disappointment.
In fact, had it not been for Hall’s amazing spinning-kick victory during Episode 3 that sent Adam Cella straight to the hospital, Kelvin Gastelum and Dylan Andrews would be the most likely candidates for the “Knockout of the Season” award.
(Read the full episode recap here for all the details.)
Regardless, both Gastelum and Andrews made huge statements in victory, and both men move on to the semifinals in dominant fashion.
• Kelvin Gastelum has now submitted a supposedly superior wrestler in Bubba McDaniel and scored a KO win against the hardy Collin Hart. Maybe being the nicest guy on the show didn’t help him become a star, but he’s suddenly developed into one of the most versatile finishers in this season.
• If you missed it, the finish in the Gastelum vs. Hart fight was truly cringe-worthy. Not only did the younger, less-experienced Team Sonnen prospect win the slugfest, but he punched Hart hard enough to bounce his head off the canvas.
• Gastelum clearly has killer instinct, too. Instead of waiting on referee Steve Mazzagatti to inject himself into the finish after Hart hit the mat, Gastelum went right in for the kill, flipping Hart over with a massive punch before smashing him apart with hammerfists.
• It took longer than a single round for Andrews to put Luke Barnatt down for the count, but he wasn’t any less impressive doing so.The back-and-forth brawl could have ended in a decision win for Andrews, but the judges questionably gave Barnatt credit for his more frequent striking. That contributed to an amazing rally in the third round, as Andrews finally cracked the Englishman’s chin with dozens of monster hooks.
Semifinal Match 1
Kelvin Gastelum (5-0) vs. Dylan Andrews (16-4-1)
Winner moves on to the TUF 17 Finale.
Quarterfinal 3
Josh Samman (9-2) vs. Jimmy Quinlan (3-0)
Quarterfinal 4
Uriah Hall (7-2) vs. “Bubba” McDaniel (20-6)
• Ronda Rousey’s appearance in the TUF gym was short and sweet, and as expected, it was quite a thing to see her effortlessly put so many middleweights and blown-up welterweights on their backs. Her speech about using her opponent’s advantages to drive her to win was pretty good stuff and bodes well for her coaching spot.
• At least the UFC didn’t bother hyping Mike Tyson’s cameo. He was barely on camera for a minute.
• Next week is going to be awesome! Uriah Hall vs. Josh Samman is the fight that many of us want to see, so it’ll be intriguing to see if they both win next week.
• During the teaser for Episode 11, it was revealed that Bubba McDaniel is the fighter who had a nervous breakdown about fighting Uriah Hall. Honestly, you can’t blame the guy. He already lost once, and he barely got past Kevin Casey last week. Needless to say, he’s a total long shot to win.
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