TUF 13, #9 Tequlilla Sunset

The quarter finals continued this week with two more fights. Team Lesnar’s Chuck O’Neil took on dos Santos team member Zach Davis. Davis won an earlier match-up between the two with a first round triangle, but it had been a close fight till that point. There’s a reason Chuck got a second chance through the wildcard, and he showed tonight what that reason is: sheer toughness.

Zach Davis made the mistake of planning to strike with O’Neil, despite Davis’s strength being JJ. It’s an ego thing many fighters fall for: wanting to bang with the banger or roll with the wrestler. Davis began with some crisp shots but took a few hard ones to the chin and then failed miserably with his takedown attempts. Lesnar’s diligent coaching of the wizard--- an arm isolation technique that causes an attacking fighter to be careful if not defend---kept O’Neil out of harm’s way throughout the fight.

Davis ended the first and began the second with a cut under his left eye, and seemed gassed and was unable to take O’Neil down. O'Neil didn’t finish the fight, but it was one-sided. O’Neil demonstrated that, even though he may be an underdog in his semi-final, no one fighting him is a shoe-in.

The bad news for Davis is two torn retinas. At this stage his fighting career is over, although UFC doctors have turned that sort of tide before. Who knows? Davis is young, and perhaps there is a surgeon who can work a miracle for the young lad. It is a sad reality of sports. I know a half dozen men who had to opt out of professional sports due to a knee, back, neck....

The last Q final pitted Lesnar’s Tony Ferguson against JdS fighter Ryan McGillivray. Ferguson had to be favored, but I have to admit I didn’t expect the quick uppercut KO Ferguson dished out. McGillivray started out fluid and strong, and seemed to have good movement, but couldn’t deal with the happy-meal combo dished out by the Michgan man.

The semi-finals are no breeze for favorites Ferguson and Ramsay Nijem, who fight Chuck O’Neil and Chris Cope respectively. O’Neil and Cope have improved greatly over the course of the show, and have displayed grit against adversity.

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The episode ended with an alcohol induced idiot-fest. The producers know alcohol isn’t so good for training, but is very good for ratings. In a group of 14 men, there will always be one incapable of holding his liquor. In this case it was Ferguson.

Ferguson , who had just finished garnering respect with his lucid, intelligent prefight comments, and his KO uppercut, lost the respect of all the housemates with a drunken stupor in which an alternate personality reared its ugly head. He confronted Charlie Rader and questioned the whereabouts of Rader’s son---with whom Rader has been legally trying to gain access--- and brought the ire of the entire cast. It’ll be a treat to watch next week’s episode, to see the reward Ferguson will win for his emotional instability. Hopefully he'll realize he’s not someone who should be imbibing, and that his night of drinking should be his tequila sunset.

Although Nijem and Ferguson will be favored to reach the final, after watching Cope and O’Neil throughout the show, I wouldn’t feel comfortable betting hard-earned money against them. And O’Neil has added fuel as he gets to face Ferguson, the man everyone now loves to hate. Smash his face, Chuck. Smash his face.

By Renko Styranka
ProFighting-fans.com MMA Staff Writer

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