The Ultimate Fighter 7: Week 9 Recap

We’re into the quarterfinal matchups and we have four Team Forrest members fighting one another this week. That means two of them will train with Team Rampage and be cornered by Rampage and his coaches. Dana asks Forrest to make the decision but Forrest won’t do that so they flip a coin. Shouldn’t Dana know not to make the coach decide? Just flip a coin to begin with. Anyways, the coin flip determines that Matt Brown and Dante Rivera will go to Team Rampage and Amir Sadollah and Jesse Taylor will stay with Team Forrest.

Back at the house we get a glimpse of Jesse’s eating habits and they aren’t the greatest. He microwaves mini cheeseburgers and eats pretty much whatever he wants. The other fighters are astounded that he stays as fit as he does while eating as much crap as he does. Jesse needs to cut a few pounds before the fight so he puts on the plastic sweatsuit and participates in some ping-pong which actually works. He drops the weight and enters the hot tub soon after.

In the hot tub Jesse has to relieve himself but one of the castmembers urges him to pee outside of the hot tub. So he does, only he goes right next to the hot tub and just pisses in his pants, leaving a puddle of piss next to the hot tub. Then Jesse re-enters the hot tub with urine-soaked shorts. Dante enters the hot tub shortly after, unaware of the pee incident. In a confessional later, they ask Dante if he knew that Jesse peed in his pants and got right back into the tub. Dante had no clue.

Soon after, it’s fight time..

Dante Rivera (Team Forrest) vs. Jesse Taylor (Team Forrest)

Round 1

After the fighters touch gloves Dante whiffs with a punch and Jesse scores the easy takedown, moving into Dante’s half guard. From there he punishes Dante with punches and elbows, posturing up and raining down blows. When he’s not doing that he’s controlling Dante’s posture and listening to his corner as they call out almost every one of Dante’s maneuvers. Dante finally gets back to full guard only to absorb more punishment. Complete domination by Jesse in round one.

Round 2

Dante whiffs with yet another punch as they come out and Jesse lands another takedown and picks up right where he left off in the first round. He rains down punishment in the form of elbows and punches from Dante’s full guard and stifles any offense that Dante is trying. Eventually Jesse shows a bit of fatigue and is simply controlling position when the referee stands them up. When on the feet Dante wings a sloppy hook at Taylor and Jesse ducks under and takes him down again. More punishment from Taylor as he continues to rain down elbows and punches from Dante’s guard. Dante’s attempts to tie him up are useless and the round ends with Dante eating elbows and punches against the cage.

Winner: Jesse Taylor via unanimous decision

Back at the house Matt Riddle tries to get Amir and Matt Brown pumped up for their fight, telling them that blood will be spilled. It’s the fight that everyone in the house has been waiting for. It’s obvious that Matt and Amir are buddies but are ready to fight one another. Amir says he’d rather lose to a friend than an enemy and they both are happy to have the chance to stand across the cage from one another.

And not too long after that, it’s fight time once again..

Amir Sadollah (Team Forrest) vs. Matt Brown (Team Forrest)

Round 1

Matt comes out firing with a body kick but Amir effectively uses a front kick to keep him at bay. Brown comes in aggressively with a combination and lands a great right hand. After exchanging blows the fighters clinch and both land knees, Amir landing a serious knee to Brown’s liver which makes him visibly cringe and drop down for the takedown. Amir fends off the takedown for a good while. Finally they break and Brown lands a solid combination on Amir and begins to take over the standup, using his reach to his advantage. The fighters clinch once again and trade knees to the body but Amir lands a solid elbow from the clinch that seems to daze Brown. Amir capitalizes and moves in with punches while Brown is backing up. Brown is able to clinch and secure a trip takedown and take Amir to the ground but Amir rolls out and both fighters clinch against the cage as the round ends.

And let’s see, during the commercial break we have…WTF? An EliteXC on CBS ad prominently featuring Kimbo? During TUF? Weird. Money talks, I guess. Anyways, back to the recap..

Round 2

Brown comes out of the gates flying, chasing Amir down with a flurry of punches. Amir misses with a wild flying kick. Both fighters clinch against the cage and jockey for positiong while trading knees. Eventually Amir is able to trip Brown to the ground and secure the mount position. Brown is able to fight it off but Amir is relentless in getting the mount. He rains down elbows and punches from the top as Brown tries to roll out. As Brown tries to roll out Amir goes for the armbar but gets stifled and transitions to a triangle choke, locking it on and it’s not too long before Brown taps.

Winner: Amir Sadollah via submission (triangle choke)

After the fight both fighters sing each other’s praises and show love to one another in the locker room. Good, exciting fight to end the episode. Next week we see the final two quarterfinal matchups, C.B. Dollaway vs. Cale Yarbrough and Tim Credeur vs. Dan Cramer and the semifinal matchups are announced. Also, Jeremy May looks to stir the pot (again) with Jesse Taylor. It looks like drinking is involved so be sure to tune in for the meatheadedness.