Episode nine of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) Season 11, featuring coaches Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell and Tito "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" Ortiz, gets underway with a quarterfinal weigh in right off the bat for the Kris McCray vs. Kyle Noke fight.
Noke and McCray are bummed they have to fight because they're friends outside of the competition but Dana says the lesson here is that in the UFC there are no friends -- conveniently forgetting the hostage negotiations he has with AKA every 3-6 months.
After the weigh ins we get a Tito interlude about his neck problems. The doctors want him to have surgery and he sounds like he's considering it but ultimately "puts it in God's hands."
Uh-huh.
Quarterfinal fight #2: Kyle Noke (16-4-1) vs. Kris McCray (5-0)
Round 1: McCray shoots and takes him down. Noke pinned against the fence but squirms free and gets to his feet and escapes. Hard right by Noke. McCray ties him up and scores a big takedown. Again Noke breaks free and secures a guillotine on McCray when he fails on a shoot. McCray breaks the hold and pushes Noke to the fence. Noke is holding an arm but gets dragged to the floor and goes back into guard. McCray just laying on top of him and doing nothing but eating jabs from Noke. Round ends with McCray taking a coffee break on top.
Round 2: Quick shot by McCray and Noke pushes off. He tries again and gets a scoop slam. Noke against the fence, stands up and gets slammed down. McCray on top catching 40 winks. He wakes up and fires off a few obligatory body shots while Noke works an arm. Noke escapes and pulls McCray to the ground and jumps on his back but can't lock anything in and McCray reverses him. Noke butt-scoots to the fence but McCray just hugs him until time expires.
After the round is over Dana White tells Kendra to take her Round 3 card and find a chair -- only to get in the cage and realize it's going to sudden victory. Dana tells her "My bad!" He could probably say that for a lot of things this season but I'll save that for another post.
Round 3: Ortiz is a volcano and can't believe McCray didn't win both rounds. Lazy shot by McCray but he still gets the takedown. He doesn't do a whole lot on top and Chuck is calling for a stand-up. McCray starts punching from top but is tired and can't summon any power. McCray switches to elbows and Noke, mouth agape, shows zero urgency to escape. He grabs an arm but gets nothing. A minute left in the fight and Mazzagatti stands them up. McCray responds by shooting and pushing Noke to the fence and holding him there until time expires.
Kris McCray defeats Kyle Noke via unanimous decision
Brad Tavares and Seth Baczynski weigh in for the next quarterfinal fight and the consensus seems to be that Tavares is the favorite. Tito (not surprisingly) is taking Baczynski for the upset.
Back at the house, some of the contestants tell Chuck that Tito is thinking about backing out of the fight to have surgery. Naturally it doesn't sit well with the icy one, who promises to fight Tito at his house if he has to.
Tavares and Baczynski talk tough before the big fight.
Quarterfinal fight #3: Brad Tavares (4-0) vs. Seth Baczynski (11-5)
Round 1: Quick exchange of low kicks and Baczynski rushes and pushes him to the fence, eventually scoring the takedown. He postures up and Tavares rolls out to avoid a bomb but Baczynski uses the roll to take his back. Tavares tries to stand up but Baczynski has the hooks in too good to be shaken off and works for a rear naked choke. Baczynski rolls in a awkward way and it allows Tavares to escape, who is now on top dropping bombs. He gets a little overzealous and Baczynski locks up a triangle -- though Tavares is able to powerbomb his way out of it. Tavares on top punching but Baczynski manages to scramble out of it. Tavares slips and Baczynski gets to his feet before Tavares can and accidentally unloads a PRIDE-style soccer kick that puts Tavares on queer street one second before the bell. Baczynski apologizes and Tavares heads to his corner on rubber legs.
After the round is over the doctor comes in and has a look at Tavares and the fight is stopped.
Brad Tavares defeats Seth Baczynski via disqualification
There seems to be some extracurricular activity on the sidelines after the DQ as Team Ortiz claims Tavares got kicked in the armpit and bitched out so after some verbal jabs Coach Liddell makes a bee line for Tito and the benches clear.
Aside from some pushing and shoving it ends without incident.
Afterward, Dana pulls Chuck aside and tells him Tito withdrew from their fight. Chuck stands up in a rage and that's the show.
Tune in next week as Jamie Yager faces Josh Bryant (with a controversial ending), the semifinal bouts are announced and Dana White must decide what to do with Tito now that he's pulled out of the UFC 115 main event.
See you next week!
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