Last week on the first episode of season seven of "The Ultimate Fighter," 32 men showed up only to learn that they would have to fight and win to move into the TUF house. After the first 16 fights, eight fighters secured their spot on the show and this week we found out which eight would join them.
The first round went back and forth with Riddler looking like he won the round. Simmler had warned before the fight that his standup is "limited at best," and it showed in the second round. Just after touching gloves, Simmler left his hands low and Riddler absolutely nailed him with a right hand that sent Simmler crashing to the floor.
Riddler pounced and unleashed three more hammer bombs to the unconscious fighter's jaw, which left things pretty scary for a while. Simmler showed signs of a broken jaw as he moaned and groaned through deep breaths while coming to.
"Matt got KO of the century," mused Jackson, though his face showed concern.
"You get a lot of pussies trying to come into the house," Riddler had said before the fight. "I'm not a pussy."
Afterward, as Simmler was loaded into a stretcher, he was still asking what happened and if he had actually been in a fight. Frightening stuff when a guy doesn't remember where he is or what he was doing.
Patrick Schultz came out swinging against Luke Zachrich. However, Zachrich was able to reverse position and get on top of Schultz, trapping one of his arms under his back.
"That is one of the worst positions to be in," Forrest Griffin (Pictures) remarked.
After taking a few big shots, Schultz rolled over and Zachrich finished him off in the first round with a rear-naked choke. "After-party at the house," joked Zachrich after his hand was raised.
Griffin told White and Jackson that Tim Credeur was a "legit" black belt at the start of his match with Erik Charles. The fight looked like a black belt taking his time with a white as Credeur calmly passed guard, worked for an arm and then easily transitioned into an armbar to end the fight early in round one.
"Everybody knew I was a jiu-jitsu black belt," said Credeur. "Really all I did is show everyone that I was."
White joked that Jackson's cornermen weren't fairing so hot, and it began to get under Jackson's skin. He asked one of Forrest's trainers if he could borrow him. Griffin's boy told Jackson the best way to fight Forrest was with his "hands down and chin out."
Aaron Meisner looked pretty good against Brandon Sene until Sene forced him back with a takedown that had Meisner's braced knee buckling under him.
"That's his bad leg too!" exclaimed Dana as Meisner went down.
"If it wasn't, it is now," Griffin added.
Sene took advantage once Meisner turned sluggish and won over Jackson's respect.
"Brandon had his ass handed to him in a brown paper sack, and he opened the sack and put it behind him and kept on going," said Jackson, noting that he looked like someone he could teach. Sene said it felt as if 10,000 pounds had been lifted off his shoulders with the win.
The next two fights went the distance, and only the highlights were shown. Gerald Harris (Pictures) won a unanimous decision over Mike Marrello. He had some spectacular and explosive slams and punches en route to his victory.
Jeremiah Riggs impressed the judges and Dana even through a loss after taking a savage beating by Daniel Cramer. Everyone on the evaluation panel was wowed by Riggs' toughness and said that had he known how to do anything, he would have won the fight. It wouldn't be shocking to see Riggs show up later as a replacement if a fighter gets injured or sent home this season. He looks like the type of guy White would love to see get some real coaching.
Jesse Taylor (Pictures) took on Nick Rossborough, whom White referred to as "Slim Shady" in the next to last fight. Taylor took Rossborough down immediately and just worked positions, picking his shots in order to get Rossborough to finally give up his back and tap via rear-naked choke in the first round.
"Sent him back to 8 Mile," said Griffin of Taylor's efforts.
Jackson wasn't so impressed, calling Taylor a "one-trick pony."
"I'm not here to f--- around and say hello," said Matt Brown prior to his fight with Jackson's former training partner, Josh Hall.
After introducing the fighters, White went back to the coaches' tables and said, "Those motherf------ never stopped staring at each other the whole time. They never even f------ looked at me. This is going to be a good fight."
Sure enough the two traded well when standing. Both used jabs and dirty boxing to score points with head-snapping shots.
Jackson's boy got the better position using a throw to put Brown on his back and unloaded with some good shots from the top. Brown got Hall in some trouble late in the round with a tight triangle, but Hall wiggled out.
Instead of getting out of danger, however, things got worse for Hall when Brown scrambled to get on top. With only seconds left in the first round, Brown exploded with a dozen or so hard shots, causing the ref to step in and stop the fight.
Dana thanked the losing fighters for coming out and remarked that they all did a hell of a job before congratulating the winners. Next week coaches Forrest Griffin (Pictures) and Quinton Jackson (Pictures) will decide who will be on their teams. The field of 16 is comprised of the following fighters:
Jeremy May (Pictures)
Matthew Riddler
Dante Rivera (Pictures)
Amir Sadollah
Brandon Sene
Jesse Taylor (Pictures)
Cale Yarbrough
Luke Zachrich
Matt Brown
Paul Bradley
Daniel Cramer
Tim Credeur
Mike Dolce (Pictures)
CB Dollaway (Pictures)
Gerald Harris (Pictures)
Nick Klein