The Ultimate Fighter 7: Week 8 Recap

The show opens with a recap of last week’s fight where we learn that the reason it didn’t go to a third round was because the judges scored the second round, where Pat Schultz didn’t do a thing but lay on his back and get wailed on, 10-8 in favor of Cale Yarbrough.

We see Forrest Griffin go apeshit in the locker room after the fight is over because of comments made to him by both Schultz and Rampage after the fight. Forrest is so pissed, in fact, that he Hulk-smashes the door to the locker room, two pieces of it swinging freely on the door hinge. After that he does a little bit of shadowboxing and warming up like he’s about to fight Rampage. He’s finally chilled out a bit when Schultz comes in and apologizes for making the comments to Forrest post-fight, saying he should never have said such things to a veteran. Classy move by Schultz as his comments after the fight were a bit out of line.

Back at a Team Forrest practice, Forrest has secured a net gun, wanting to unleash it on someone. They all decide that they should make Rampage the net gun’s first victim. Luke Zachrich is a little wary of this, saying he hopes that Rampage will find the humor in it.

Forrest sneaks up on Rampage while he is doing some training of his own, catching him after the session is over, sitting up against the cage. Forrest blasts Rampage with the net and Rampage declares war. Rampage is in obvious disbelief over the netting incident, saying he can’t let Forrest get away with netting him on national television. There will be payback.

Back at a Team Rampage practice the focus shifts to C.B. Dollaway’s upcoming fight with Nick Klein, the final preliminary fight. Dollaway talks about how he got into MMA, his amateur wrestling background, and of course his All-American status at Arizona State. Rampage thinks that C.B.’s the most talented fighter in the house but that his ego is too big, so Rampage says he’s going to have to “shove his size 12 up his ass.”

Matt Riddle is rolling with C.B. and taps him with a kneebar which causes Rampage to ridicule him about it. C.B. doesn’t take the ridiculing very well and throws a playful kick at Rampage’s body. Rampage proceeds to get down to business and challenge C.B. to a grappling contest. Rampage lands a takedown but C.B. flips him over and taps him with a guillotine. Rampage admits, once again, that C.B. is good.

Back at a Team Forrest practice they are talking strategy to Nick Klein about his upcoming fight with Dollaway. The plan is to get Dollaway on his back because “wrestlers panic when they’re on their back,” and that’s exactly what they want Dollaway to do: panic. If Klein can’t get C.B. on his back then they want him standing and scrambling if the fight hits the floor.

Both fighters make weight and fight time is upon us..

C.B. Dollaway (Team Rampage) vs. Nick Klein (Team Forrest)

Round 1

Dollaway comes out firing with a kick which is checked by Klein who forces the action to the mat. He quickly has Dollaway on his back but Dollaway cinches in a guillotine choke and uses it to sweep Klein and gain top position. From here Dollaway rains down punches while Klein tries for a kneebar. He appears to have it locked up at one point but Dollaway is able to scramble out of it. Nick turtles up but Dollaway rolls him over to land better punches and almost gets caught in an armbar during the transition. Dollaway escapes the armbar and rains down some more punishment on Klein from the top.

Klein eventually regains full guard and is throwing up some triangle attempts but Dollaway is wise to his submission attempts, powering out of them or passing his guard altogether. Klein eventually gives up his back, eats some punches, and tries for an armbar. Dollaway is able to ride the round out while defending the armbar.

Round 2

Dollaway comes out with another kick, landing square on Klein’s leg and it looks like it hurt Klein. After a bit of sloppy standup from both fighters, Klein jumps guard against the cage, something his coaches groan about. Nick gives up his back again in an attempt to scramble and takes more punishment before he reclaims full guard. Dollaways unloads from this position with strikes and elbows. Nick gives his back up again in an attempt to scramble but leaves himself in a bad position with his neck exposed during the scramble and C.B. cinches in a deep guillotine in half guard, forcing Klein to tap near the end of round two.

WINNER: C.B. Dollaway via submission (guillotine choke)

Team Rampage gains a moral victory, but is still down 6-2 in the overall competition. Dollaway says he wanted to win for his team and for Rampage but now that’s all over with as the quarterfinals are upon us.

Back at the house, C.B. and Matt Riddle are chilling in the hot tub with what seem to be matching sunglasses. Cale Yarbrough starts calling them “douches” and “boyfriends,” which Dollaway doesn’t take kindly to. He says he’s been able to brush off Yarbrough’s idiocy for the most part but now it’s gotten personal and he wants to fight him in the quarterfinals. He may very well get his wish.

Back at the gym, Amir is giving Forrest the haircut that he promised him. Amir gives him a horrible haircut, basically shaving Forrest’s head completely and then drawing lines on the left side of his head in an homage to the 80′s. As Forrest is getting ready to jump in the shower, Rampage douses him with a huge water gun multiple times. Super soak that ho, Rampage.

Before the episode ends, Dana and the coaches pick quarterfinal matchups and call each fighter in one by one. C.B. is the first and states that he wants Cale Yarbroug. Cale gets called in and says he wants to fight someone from Team Rampage, so there you have it. The quarterfinal matchups are as follows:

• Jesse Taylor vs. Dante Rivera
• Amir Sadollah vs. Matt Brown
• Dan Cramer vs. Tim Credeur
• C.B. Dollaway vs. Cale Yarbrough

Next week we’ll see Jesse vs. Dante as well as Amir vs. Matt so tune in for more fights, less drama.