As we found out last week, we would have our first fight pick from Coach Quinton this season, and it just so happened that it would come at the top of the hour. Rampage would opt to choose his own Gerald Harris to face Team Forrest's Amir Sadollah. Once again, this week we would be treated to two fights in one hour.
Round one of this first fight would begin with Gerald Harris shooting in for a successful takedown, pushing Amir Sadollah against the cage. After loosening his closed guard, Sadollah worked on some holds, but not securing any control. Amir ate an elbow from Harris for his troubles. Attempting to secure a triangle choke, the slippery wrestler Harris easily powered out of this submission attempt from Sadollah; who would continue to work his guard. Harris once again began to land strikes from the top position, slipping into half guard. Sadollah scrambled and attempt to work his Muay Thai skills before once again being pushed against the cage by Harris, who worked hard for a single leg takedown. Harris lifted Sadollah to ascend above his shoulders, slamming him savagely to the canvas like a child's plush wrestling toy. Landing in half guard, the two combatants soon rose up to the toes. Harris showed us, once more, his superb wrestling ability by shooting for another single leg, picking up Sadollah and again slamming him to the mat like a rag doll. Half guard would soon become full guard, with Sadollah working the butterfly soon after, which allowed him to scramble back to his feet. Still working for a single leg take down, Harris could not make anything happen before the sound of the horn. Round 2 began with a "shadow" double jab from Sadollah, with a brief exchange shortly thereafter. Harris shot in, attempting to assert his will and wrestling skill upon Sadollah, working for a double leg takedown and succeeding. Sadollah, scrambling, found himself pushed against the cage yet again. Ending up on the ground, Sadollah rolled for an attempt at securing back control, which Harris defended successfully. Rising to the feet again, Sadollah was taken back down with Harris not landing any strikes this time around. Sadollah scrambled and managed to land a solid knee to Harris' jaw nerve, dropping him like a sack of potatoes. After landing some strikes with Harris in turtle guard he would not be defending, causing Ref. Rosenthal to stop Amir for the T.K.O. victory.
An obviously upset Harris went immediately into a tantrum, clearly conveying his disappointment at being knocked out after almost winning what would have been a clear cut decision victory. After being calmed down by Coach Quinton and Dolce, Harris went on camera stating that he felt as if he had let his young son down, who would soon view his father's valiant and honorable effort on television.
Before the next fight announcement, Patrick Schultz could be seen in the backyard of the house in conversation with CB Dollaway. Schultz stated his expectation that he would be fighting Cale Yarbough next and, low and behold, Forrest would choose exactly that. This left the remaining semi-final competitors, Nick Klein and CB Dollaway to face off, for certain in the near future, for their own spot in the quarterfinal match-ups.
Round one of the second fight in the hour began with a missed high kick from Yarbough. With some impressive exchanges of legs and hands exerted from both men, Schultz was the first to land a solid connection, dropping Yarbough to the octagon surface. Allowing Yarbough to rise, Schultz landed a push kick to Yarbough's mid-section with full force. Then there was another missed high kick from Yarbough. Both combatants proved their stand up skills by exchanging hands like wild men, as well as working both low and high kicks rather diligently. Squaring off and landing some solid shots, Schultz proved to be getting the better of the connections causing Yarbough, the self-proclaimed stand up fighter, to shoot in for a successful take down. He landed some elbows and hammer-fists with Schultz utilizing a closed guard. After landing some more strikes, Yarbough brought the fight to the feet. With both men still intent on exchanging blows, Yarbough attempted to score some points on the judges score cards with another successful takedown, working on some strikes from top position before the sound of the horn. Round two began with both men swinging furiously for the fences, entertainingly showing their respective kickboxing prowess, not at all unlike round one. Yarbough diverted away from his stated game plan executing a successful take down into half guard. Yarbough dished out some elbows to the face of Schultz, who began wincing in pain because of this. Working on even more strikes, Yarbough was content with staying in half guard, pushing Schultz against the cage and raining down with another brutal bombardment of blows to the face of Schultz. Remaining stationary against the cage, Schultz stayed on the bottom for quite some time with Yarbough working on strikes and briefly securing wrist control to throw off the Massachusetts native. Yarbough opened Schultz's defense so that he could land some solid shots from the top. Rolling to his side, Schultz was barely defending against the punishment that Yarbough was dishing out until the sound of the horn, bringing round two to a close. Expecting a third round, both coaches and opponents exchanged words with each other before the official majority decision, which clearly went to Cale Yarbough.
Rampage was obviously displeased with losing control yet again. He stormed away from cage side in a huff declaring that he would bet his entire fight purse on whether or not his fight with Forrest would go to decision. Both coaches seemed quite irritated with each other. It was obvious that the light-hearted behavior amongst the two "clowns" would soon come to a halt, as their friendly relationship grew increasingly unfriendly by the minute. Dana closed off the show with his disbelief at the situation and predicted that the tension between both Champ and the number one contender was soon going to reach the boiling point. So, besides the certain fact of CB vs. Nick, only time will tell us what's in store for next week on the Ultimate Fighter.
by Joshua E. Ottley of mma-underground.com
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