The episode begins with Dana White informing Forest Griffin that, since he has two quarterfinal matches in which two of his own fighters face off, he has to choose who he corners and who goes over to Rampage's team.  Forest doesn't want to choose, so they flip a coin.  Dante Rivera and Matt Brown end up going over to Team Rampage – Jesse Taylor and Amir Sadollah stick with Team Forest.

The first quarterfinal match is between Jesse Taylor and Dante Rivera.  Jesse and Dante have become good friends in the house, but neither are reserved about the possibility about beating the crap out of each other.  Jesse, it turns out, is a freak of nature – he east terribly, yet keeps his physique easily and has no problem cutting weight at the drop of a hat.  We reach fight day minutes into the episode.


Jesse Taylor vs. Dante Rivera

Round 1:

Jesse gets Dante to the ground early, after Dante misses a punch.  There's a lot of grappling, Dante on top trying to throw punches.  He gets some off, starts landing some, adding some elbows for good measure.  Jesse keeps intermittently landing punches, easily keeping top position.  It stays like this until the 1:30 mark, when Jesse momentarily stands up, but he goes right back to where he was, on the ground throwing punches, for the rest of the round. 

Round 2:

Again, Jesse immediately takes Dante to the ground.  On top, Jesse goes back to his first round formula, throwing a bunch of punches, landing some of them.  The ref makes them get to their feet halfway through the round, but Jesse takes Dante right back to the ground. 

Jesse Taylor wins by decision.

Matt Brown vs. Amir Sadollah

The second fight of the night comes between two more friends.  Both are roommates, both have resilient chins, and both like to stand.

Round 1:

Matt Brown lands a few early punches standing up, with Amir retaliating with a nice couple of knees.  They stay standing, and end up grappling about a minute into the round.    They exchange knees while hugging, but nothing major.  They grapple against the fence, not much action going down.  They separate halfway through the round.  Amir throws some high kicks, doesn't land any major blows.  Matt lands a punch or two, and they're back to grappling.  They separate and Matt remains the aggressor, landing some punches.   They grapple again, with a minute left, and separate thirty seconds later.  Amir lands a couple punches, they grapple and the round ends.  I'd probably give it to Matt Brown, the round, but it might be somewhat close. 

Round 2:

Matt Brown comes out firing, landing some punches and some kicks.  Amir responds admirably, throwing a flying knee.  They grapple some, then exchange some knees.  Amir eventually gets Matt to the ground. Matt looks gassed.  Amir stays on top position, but doesn't do a whole lot with it.  Matt tries to get up, Amir takes him back down and lands a bunch of punches.  He follows it up with a couple elbows.  Amir, finally, ends it with a triangle. 

Big win for Amir it was a very entertaining fight.


-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of UFC)