The Ultimate Fighter 8 Episode 11 Re-Cap

The Ultimate Fighter 8- Episode 11 Re-Cap
Team Noguiera vs. Team Mir

The fights on today’s show are:
Light Heavyweight Fight- Ryan Bader vs. Eliot Marshall
Lightweight Fight- Phillipe Nover vs. George Roop

Light Heavyweight Fight- Ryan Bader vs. Eliot Marshall

They are focusing on Marshall’s jiu jitsu as his chance to upset Bader. Marshall has a 4 inch reach advantage in this fight. The winner will move on to fight in the finals. I like Bader in this fight.

R1- Pretty even first half to the first round. Bader catches one of Eliot’s kicks and takes him down right in front of Big Nog in the corner. Bader pinned Marshall up against the fence and delivered some decent shots on him. Bader takes round 1 10-9 due to the take down.

R2- Bader catches another Marshall kick and get an early take down. Bader stays on top of Marshall for the majority of the round and they are stood up at the one and a half minute mark. Bader almost immediately takes down Marshall again. So far Bader is just showing that he is a superior wrestler to Marshall and Marshall hasn’t done much on his back to show his jiu jitsu skills that he and Mir were talking up. Bader is up 20-18 after two rounds.

R3- Marshall goes in and gets taken down by Bader almost immediately. Bader is just dominating this fight from a wrestling perspective. He’s not doing much damage once he gets him down but he’s controlling him. Very reminiscent of Josh Koscheck from season one. He would dominate guys on the ground but couldn’t finish them. The ref stands up the fight right after Bader lands an elbow. About five seconds after they are on their feet Bader gets another take down. Marshall goes for a kimura but Bader slams him and then hits him with a forearm. The ref stands them up again with one minute left in the fight. Marshall goes for a high kick and Bader ducks it and gets yet another take down. Bader takes this fight 30-27. He just dominated Marshall from a wrestling perspective and Marshall juts didn’t show any of his jiu jitsu and got in very little offense.

Judges score the fight 30-27 in favor of Bader.

Winner: Ryan Bader by Decision (Unanimous)

Lightweight Fight- Phillipe Nover vs. George Roop

I think Phillipe has to be the favorite in this fight. Roop has a 4 inch height advantage but the reach is even.

R1- Nover immediately gets two shots in on Roop and gets a take down. Roop pushes off the cage to reverse positions. Nover fights hard for a kimura and gets it and Roop taps. Really impressive showing by Nover. He really made a statement to me that he is the #1 lightweight on the show and he is the guy to beat.

Winner: Phillipe Nover by Submission (Kimura) R1

Light Heavyweight Rankings:
1. Krzysztof Soszynski
2. Ryan Bader
3. Vinny Magalhaes

Lightweight Rankings:
1. Phillipe Nover
2. Efrain Escudero
3. Junie Browning

Eliminations:
Tom Lawlor (ranked #2 LH) eliminated by Ryan Bader (Round Two)
Shane Nelson (ranked #5 LW) eliminated by Efrain Escudero (Round Two)
Shane Primm (ranked #5 LH) eliminated by Eliot Marshall (Round Two)
Roli Delgado (ranked #7 LW) eliminated by Junie Browning (Round Two)
Jules Brunchez (ranked #3 LH) eliminated by Vinny Magalhaes (Round Two)
Dave Kaplan (ranked #1 LW) eliminated by Phillipe Nover (Round Two)
Kyle Kingsbury (ranked #5 LH) eliminated by Krzysztof Soszynski (Round Two)
John Polakowski (ranked #5 LW) eliminated by George Roop (Round Two)
Eliot Marshall (ranked #4 LH) eliminated by Ryan Bader (Round Three)
George Roop (ranked #4 LW) eliminated by Phillipe Nover (Round Three)