The first round concluded with another take down by Luke. Sam is deceptively strong and can easily force his way out. This prevented Luke from taking any real advantage while he was mounting Sam. Sam is very adept on the ground, and almost pulls off an arm bar if not for the clock running out. At this point, I'm hoping that Luke turns the fight into a stand-up match.
On the ground, Luke lands a nice knee and elbow to start the second round. Sam stands himself up impressively and the two exchange blows. On the fence, Sam was visibly tired and fell to one knee from a punch by Luke. Luke, sensing the kill, went in for a few more blows, clinched and landed a devastating knee to Sam's head. Sam falls to the ground and the referee had to stop the fight. I did not see the deciding blow until the replay.
I was also surprised by Matt's reaction to Sam's despair for losing the match. Sam was crying and Matt showed more emotion to this loss than he ever had. Well, as much as Matt Hughes could offer. Should I cut him some slack?
All in all, a good welterweight fight tonight. However, I did not like the fact that I knew Sam would lose the fight simply based on the previews. But what's most important to me was that my prediction had come true. Luke, my dark horse pick is in the welterweight finale on November 5th!
P.S. A few people have asked me if I know the songs that are played during the ring entrances for the fighter. I honestly do not know the songs, but I have a feeling that they are available on a CD album compilation from the UFC. Anybody who's listened to it yet?
Article comments
1 - billy
Nica, I cant believe Luke keeps winning, he is like a schoolyard nerd that beats people up when he gets mad.
One gripe, right before the commercial before the fight, they fade out with highlights before the commerical breaks, with like second long excerpts of the fights.
I clearly saw in the excerpts luke wobble his opponent, so i said great I know who won now.
and guess what, he did wobble him and the fight ended like 30 seconds later.
If they keep doing that I am not going to watch anymore. that wqas real amatuerish.
2 - Jerry Odom
Good Review.
Short of Von Flue getting lucky we're going to definitely see Luke and Joe slug it out. Thats going to be a quality matchup I think. We really haven't seen what Joe can do yet and I think Luke may have a little something for him. Quality fight coming up on Spike!
I love the matchups done by the coaches. A definite right step for this season. Suprisingly they announced we're also going to see what should've been the finals fight in Rashad vs. Keith next week. I was suprised at this but it definitely will make for a good lead up to the finale. Not a bad decision because if alot of people are like me they're really ready to see Joe vs. Luke regardless of the heavyweight matchup.
The show started fairly week but it seems like its going to end strong. They had a week lineup this season but all in all I think we'll still be happy with the guys that come out on top.
3 - Sean
This review is extremely biased to Luke. I love Luke, I hope he wins, but the other guy was a really good fighter. It is amazing to me that in your review you completely left out just how good the other guy was. He did an amazing job standing up with Luke. I would say the other guy won the first round. How can you guys say that because you saw the one guy "wobbling," or going down to one knee, that he was going to lose. If they had shown Luke getting hit on the jaw and going down, would you have thought the other guy was going to win? It was a good fight and Luke earned the win, but the other guy deserves credit.
4 - jeff
Dude,
Luke and Joe are bad ass. However, Von Flue beat Jorge Jurgel and Jurgel was favored to win the whole thing. I hope von flue beats joe and goes all the way. It doesn't seem possible but it would be sweet if he did win it. Guess we will find out.
5 - Evan
its hard to say who's going to be victorious between joe and luke. i'm hoping that they keep it on the feet and luke knocks out joe. his discipline and heart really shows when he's in the octagon. luke needs to go out there and display more of his crazy shit and show people that you don't have to be a typical arrogant blockhead to be an ultimate fighter.
6 - Vince Chan
Credit should be given to Sam Morgan! I agree with Sean who made the comment. There's no excuse for being biased on this review, but I was elated for Luke and had been rooting for him all season long.
Sam Morgan will get to fight in the Ultimate Finale. He will be up against Josh Berkman, who was another favourite of mine from the series. Apparently, SpikeTV will air as many fights as possible this time around, rather than only the contract fights of Season 1. Tune in to the finale!
7 - Elizabeth Lapicola
My cousin at the Ymca was taking up Judo and Karate in 1985 After Quit her scoccer team to joint combat fighting !
8 - kATRINA MOSS
Most of the UFC fighters are not very good at boxing. I think we need some pro-boxers to fight some of these wana be fighters.