Photo by UFC
It’s your favorite time of the week yet again. Watch Al’s weekly Newsday Interview right HERE. Hear Al’s thoughts on the quarter finals and his next opponent, and get some input from a “special guest”. As always thank you to Mark La Monica for putting it all together. If you have any questions for Al leading up to his quarter final fight next week be sure to send them to Mark via twitter HERE. More to come tomorrow, enjoy!
It was reported earlier today that Dominick Cruz has torn his ACL and will be forced to back out of his fight July 7th against Urijah Faber. The two have shared a lot of bad blood in the past which has escalated since the start of this season of TUF. I know I speak for a lot of people when I say I really wanted to see these two fight for a third time. There’s no word yet if Faber will fight a new opponent for the interim Bantamweight title, or wait until Cruz is healthy enough to fight. We’ll find out more throughout the week but I don’t see any way Cruz wouldn’t stay and continue working with his team, even if a surgery was involved. Dana White has yet to say much except a short message via his twitter saying “It’s true Cruz blew his ACL. Stay tuned for more info.” Later on Cruz sent out a message himself saying “I’m bummed people, Thanx for the support as I battle this. Big sorry to all the fans out there! I WILL recover and I WILL be back to put on a show!” How ever you feel about Dominick Cruz you never want to see an athlete get hurt, and you would never wish an injury on anyone. Hopefully he has a quick recovery and is back in the cage soon. I’ll update everyone as more information comes out this week.
This weeks episode starts out with Team Faber celebrating the big win by Chris Saunders over Sam Sicilia. Mike Chiesa went into the opposing locker room to sit with his long time friend Sam after his loss. Cruz thought Sam did everything he could, and the fight could have went to a third round. Both Ogle and Rio express their excitement for their fight this week. Continue Reading
This past Fridays fight between Andy Ogle and Mike Rio was the final fight of the first first round. Andy Ogle executed a great game plan and was able to get a victory and advance to the Quarter Finals. Look for a full episode recap here tomorrow. During the episode Dana White sat down with Faber and Cruz and got their input before selecting the quarter final match ups. There’s going to be two quarter final fights this Friday and two fights the following Friday. You can all put your panic attack on hold for a week as Al won’t be fighting until the following Friday, May 18th. People have all ready been asking me about McCanns, and as always well have a big viewing party and open bar there the night of Al’s fight. More details to come on that.
This Friday’s match ups are very interesting. It’s going to be Joe Proctor against James Vick, and Mike Chiesa against Justin Lawrence. Both fights have the potential to be very exciting. That leaves Team Cruz’s Vinc Pichel, Andy Ogle, or Chris Saunders for Al to fight the following week. Unfortunately he could fight someone on his own team. This is where the tournament really becomes more about the individual and not the team. Check back for more information on the quarter finals throughout the week, and as always thank you for reading.
-Matt Pellicane
Don’t forget to watch Al on a new episode of TUF Live tonight at 10 PM on FX. Tune in and find out who will be the last fighter in the quarter finals, Andy Ogle or Mike Rio. Well also find how the next few weeks will be laid out in regard to the quarter and semi finals. Things are about to get very interesting make sure you tune in.
It’s taken me a little time to get caught up from vacation but here’s a little episode recap from last week. This weeks episode featured the matchup between Chris Saunders and Sam Sicilia. The episode started out with Team Cruz in high sprits after a much needed win by Vinc Pichel. Cofer was very upset and distraught after the tough loss to Vinc. He had fought a great fight but Vinc came out very aggressive in the third round.
It was really interesting to see World/Olympic medalist in judo, and the Strikeforce Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey on the show this week working with Team Cruz. Ronda was the first women to be a guest coach on the show. Cruz talked about brining her in because “she’s vicious and she knows what it takes to win. That’s what the guys need to see.” She worked with all the guys and demonstrated a lot of great judo techniques. All of the guys on Team Cruz in some way or another called her a “badass”. She threw everyone around despite their size showing just how talented she is. Rousey was very excited about how open minded everyone was to learn. (On a side note if you’ve never seen Ronda Rousey fight look her up, she’s a great athlete and a lot of fun to watch.)
A very funny moment following Rousey working with Team Cruz was having Cruz bring her to the TUF house to watch UFC on PPV. All of the guys were very shy around her, and there was a lot of awkward silence. Rousey went on to say “It was like I had the plague or something, like oh my god a girl!” While watching the PPV everyone just kind of sat around her but no one talked to her. Ronda despite being one of the best women fighters in the world is very pretty so it appeared that maybe the guys were nervous. The only contact on camera she had was with Tickle saying she wanted to ask for some salted nuts, but didn’t want to open her self up to any jokes. Cruz commented saying “Even if they didn’t talk to her I think they were all just happy to have a girl around. They haven’t seen a girl in ages.” Faber added that “ There was just a lot of crickets. For having the first girl in the house these guys blew it.”
We watched as boredom continued to filter throughout the house, and the pranks continued. Boxer’s in the freezer, chap stick glued to night stands, and later in the episode Faber and his guys even pull a prank on Cruz’s locker room. Tickle wrapped the sink hose in plastic wrap so anyone who went to use the sinks would get squirted. Although Cruickshank fell for it, Al wanted no part of the joke. “Real funny, real f*cking funny!” he said to the camera. “You’re not going to get us you idiots.”
The rest of the episode revolved around both fighters Chris Saunders and Sam Sicilia. Chris Saunders came from a tough upbringing. His parent’s weren’t really around and he was in and out of foster homes. He feels like that difficult childhood molded him into a stronger person. MMA put the control in his hands for the people in his life who said he couldn’t do it.
Sam Sicilia would fight a few amateur fights and then “disappear” for awhile. He went pro officially just over a year ago. He fought eleven times in the passed year with a lot of knock outs. He’s very athletic and has great cardio. With his heavy hands he’s brutal and relentless.
The fight was a very good one. Sam came out swinging aggressively in the first round. The two tied up against the cage and exchanged kicks. Back in the center of the cage Sam connects again, Saunders looks for a takedown. Saunders lands several nice kicks including a head kick that drops Sam. The kick only temporarily stuns Sam as the two are quickly back up. Sam answers with a big right hand and a take down, ending the round with a choke attempt.
The second round starts with some more big shots by Sam. The two tie up against the cage again. Both fighters look for takedowns. Once back up Sam drops Saunders with a left hand and looks to finish. Saunders regains his composure and the two wrestle for position with Saunders now on top. The two eventually work their way back up. Both fighters threw a few wild punches near the end of the round, but looked gassed. Although Sam connected with some of those “wild” shots Saunders chin held up. Even though many felt the fight may go to a third round, Saunders wins the fight by split decision. Andy Ogle against Mike Rio next week for the final fight in the first round.
-Matt Pellicane
I wanted to make sure I got this in for everyone before I got out of town. In case you didn’t get to see it yet, HERE’S Al’s Weekly edition of “TUF Talk” As always thank you to Mark La Monica for putting all this together. If you have any questions you’d like to ask Al send them to Mark via twitter HERE. Enjoy and have a great weekend.
-Matt
Photo by UFC
First off I want to thank everyone again for supporting Al, as well as reading and supporting the blog. It mean’s a lot to Al and myself, and we really appreciate it. Things are going to get even more exciting as we enter the quarter finals, so be sure to check here and stay up to date with everything that’s going on. With that being said from this post on will be a slow few days on the blog. I’m going to be in Las Vegas with a bunch of people(wish us luck) for my friend Jared’s bachelor party. A big congratulations to him and his fiance Jackie getting married in a few weeks. If anything important happens I’ll try to get on and keep everyone updated. Otherwise keep up with UltimateFighter.com and TUF on Twitter for constant updates. The TUF twitter account is doing a live chat Friday at 7pm that will be fun to get involved in. Don’t forget to watch Al on a brand new episode of TUF Live this Friday at 10pm on FX, and I’ll talk to you all next week!
-Matt Pellicane
If you missed this week’s episode, or wanted to see this again HERE’S Dana White’s speech to the guys. White lends some advice trying to keep the guys focused and motivated. He reminds them how important their hard work is, and why it’so crucial to keep battling through. He lends some advice as the competition is about to get even tougher week by week.
Photo by UFC
Hey everyone. I wanted to try and get some discussion going and hear who everyone would want to see Al Fight next. Once Sam Sicilia fights Chris Saunders, and Andy Ogle fights Mike Rio the quarter finals will be set. Everyone seems to have some thoughts, even Al himself via his Newsday Interview that he thought he matched up best against James Vick. I’m curious to hear from all of you. Who do you think Al should fight next and why? Possible fight choices from Team Cruz are Justin Lawrence, Vinc Pichel, and James Vick. Other choices pending what happens in their upcoming fights would be Mike Rio and Sam Sicilia as well. Comment below and lets hear what all of Iaquinta Nation has to say.
-Matt Pellicane
Iaquinta Nation 