CAUTION: SPOILERS INCLUDED – This week on The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rampage vs Team Forrest, the quarterfinals begin with two matchups that will whittle the field down from eight to six. The stakes have never been higher as the show begins the countdown to June 21st’s finale in Las Vegas.
CAUTION: SPOILERS INCLUDED – This week on The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rampage vs Team Forrest, the quarterfinals begin with two matchups that will whittle the field down from eight to six. The stakes have never been higher as the show begins the countdown to June 21st’s finale in Las Vegas.
In this week’s bouts, teammates will lock horns when Jesse Taylor meets Dante Rivera and Matt Brown locks horns with Amir Sadollah. All four fighters hail from Forrest Griffin’s team, so a coin is tossed to see which fighters will be cornered by Griffin and which two will be cornered by the opposing coach, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson.
After the toss, Rivera and Brown are to be cornered by Rampage, with Taylor and Sadollah staying with Team Forrest.
Taylor (6-2) whose weight cutting method includes eating of bacon, cupcakes, and microwave burgers, and playing ping pong while wearing a plastic sweat suit, nonetheless shows no signs of weakness when the bell rings against Rivera (10-2). From the outset, Taylor puts Rivera on his back and keeps him there, grounding and pounding his way to an easy two round unanimous decision victory while Rivera, unable to use his jiu-jitsu game, is eliminated from the competition.
The other quarterfinal matchup, between good friends Brown (9-6) and Sadollah (0-0), is much more explosive, with Brown attacking immediately and Sadollah showing a granite chin before firing back at his foe and hurting him badly with a knee to the body.
The pace is fast throughout, but in the second round, Sadollah secures a takedown and after some effective ground strikes he moves into the mount position. Brown continues to battle and momentarily frees himself. The ensuing scramble sees Sadollah capitalize though, and a triangle choke ends Brown’s night.
Taylor and Sadollah now move on to the semifinals. Next week’s other two quarterfinal bouts pit Dan Cramer against Tim Credeur and Cale Yarbrough vs CB Dollaway.
Here’s how the teams look:
TEAM RAMPAGE
Mike Dolce – Eliminated in week three by Jesse Taylor
Daniel Cramer 1-0
CB Dollaway 1-0
Paul Bradley – Eliminated due to medical issues
Matthew Riddle – Eliminated in week four by Tim Credeur
Gerald Harris – Eliminated in week seven by Amir Sadollah
Jeremy May – Eliminated in week six by Matt Brown
Brandon Sene – Eliminated in week five by Dante Rivera
Pat Schultz – Eliminated in week seven by Cale Yarbrough
TEAM FORREST
Tim Credeur 1-0
Amir Sadollah 2-0
Jesse Taylor 2-0
Matt Brown 1-1 - Eliminated in the quarterfinals (week nine) by Amir Sadollah
Cale Yarbrough 1-0
Dante Rivera 1-1 – Eliminated in the quarterfinals (week nine) by Jesse Taylor
Nick Klein – Eliminated in week eight by CB Dollaway
Luke Zachrich – Eliminated in week six by Dan Cramer
For weekly recaps of The Ultimate Fighter, as well as fighter profiles, stay tuned to UFC.com.
