Tonight's special episode of The Ultimate Fighter 2 jumped right into the action! All the training, all the antics at the fighters' house did not matter anymore. It was between the underdog Jason Von Flue and the destined finalist Joe Stevenson; between Brad 'The Cowboy' Imes and Seth 'The Giant Killer' Petruzelli. After tonight, we would know which of the four remaining fighters would face Luke Cummo and Rashad Evans.
Jason was cleared to fight despite his nasty forehead cut. Round one started like the snoozer we have come to expect this season. Joe played smart with two minutes remaining in the round and took the fight to the ground. Jason was also ready with his strategy. Jason tied up Joe as much as he could because he knew he could not hang with Joe. It seemed like Jason could outlast the first round until Joe broke free and let loose elbow bombs. Jason exposed his back and succumbed to a beautiful arm bar by Joe. In a quick flurry, it was over.
I was ecstatic to see the final dream match-up of Joe Stevenson vs. Luke Cummo. Readers of my past UFC reviews will no doubt know whom I will be siding with this Saturday. Though I wanted Luke to win it all, it was more important to me to have a great match. Joe is a good striker and has great ground game while Luke is generally on the opposite of the spectrum. It will be a glorious battle this weekend!
The attention turned to the big boys. I got a kick out of seeing Seth and Brad pose for the pre-fight photo as Seth presented the 'two fingers to the eye' posture a la the three stooges.
Seth came out the first round, still as calculated as ever. Against a 7-foot tall opponent, Seth chopped the legs from under Brad with some powerful cut-kicks. While Brad failed to bridge the gap despite his long reach, Seth landed shots at will as he countered Brad's rushes. Seth completed a nice take down and had Brad lying on his back. However, Seth ignored Rich Franklin's advice to let Brad up and make this a stand-up affair. Seth attempted to get past Brad's guard to land punches and almost pulled off a creative ankle-lock attempt. In my opinion, round one belonged to Seth, the aggressor.
"What's wrong with you?" Rich Franklin asked as Seth sat in the corner. A simple shrug from Seth told me that he had not considered his corner's advice and was implementing his own game plan. He dismissed Rich's vast ring experience and was looking to win on his own.
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