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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
We're back with another episode of The Ultimate Fighter 17 tonight, and this week promises one of the craziest knockouts not just in TUF history, but in all of MMA according to Dana White. Join me here at the top of the hour for my live blog on the third episode of the season!
-We open with a recap of last week's episode, with Gilbert Smith losing to Luke Barnatt and Team Sonnen setting up Uriah Hall vs. Adam Cella for tonight. Hall and Cella speak backstage about their matchup, and Cella believes they'll be standing with each other.
-Team Jones believes that Team Sonnen made a mistake with this matchup. Bubba McDaniel isn't happy with losing the pick, and Team Sonnen - and Kevin Casey especially - looked right past McDaniel's call out after last week's fight. They have a somewhat cordial back and forth in the house.
-Josh Samman triggered a reaction from Hall by correcting him around the fire, which brought us to Hall giving us some background on him. He came to the U.S. from Jamaica at 13, and he's got some lingering issues with bullying from growing up because of that. Samman touched a nerve, and Hall wants to call him out after the Cella fight.
-Sonnen credited Hall for being the best athlete in this competition, but said he can be his own worst enemy. Casey subbed Hall in training, and Hall didn't react all that well to it. It's wholly apparent he's got an ultra-competitive, doesn't-handle-losing-well persona.
-Cella thinks rather highly of himself and his skills. He says he doesn't have to do this, as he's got a job to fall back on and there's not as much pressure on him. At a training session Jon Jones advised Cella to avoid blocking kicks from Hall and instead catch them to bring him down. He then drills them on elbows in close from the guard. That's one of his most effective ground and pound techniques, and it's clear to see why with him breaking it down as well.
-Jones thinks half the guys in the house are intimidated by Uriah Hall, and thinks Cella is an underdog into this bout.
-Jon Jones quote: "It's a cold world, no mercy. You've gotta go out and get what you want."
-Chael says Uriah's going to need to come out and attack, and said his team is all about fighting offensively and pressing the pace. He believes the constant offense negates so-called "game plans" and won't let opponents get comfortable.
-Hall believes he's got nothing to lose and a lot to gain. He sought out some advice from Sonnen on confidence. Sonnen explained a mental block that he felt he had, and said one of the things that helped him was seeing a sports psychologist and realize that everyone's going through the same thing in the sport. He relayed advice from Randy Couture about learning to fight with the negative voices in your head instead of against them. Sonnen talked about different paths to failure and success. This is the type of Chael Sonnen I can get behind. The intelligent, articulate version of Sonnen who can give good advice and who can come off as an actual person. As opposed to the canned, rehearsed, vastly overrated promo lines he likes to spout off.
-Kevin Casey talks about wanting to fight Bubba McDaniel later in the competition. He gets some criticism from his teammates, Jimmy Quinlan in particular. He said fighting shouldn't be a game about picking who you're fighting, it should be about getting booked and fighting someone.
-Sonnen puts Kevin Casey's picture up as who they'll pick next, but Cella doesn't think they should look past him.
-Jones and his coaches make an appearance at the house for a little cookout and bonding session, just as Team Sonnen did in last week's episode. Jones asked his guy's what it would mean to them to get to the UFC. Cella answers and Jones says he thinks Cella has the right attitude. A few more guys wax emotional.
-It's on to fight day, and Cella comes into the bout confident that he can get past Hall, despite the intimidation that comes with the matchup. Cella believes he can submit him, and says you have to believe in your head that your opponent can't beat you.
-Sonnen tells Hall to visualize things that could go wrong in a fight as well as what could go right so that he's prepared. He said the worst thing that can happen is you mislead yourself that it's all going your way. Seriously, why isn't this the Sonnen that comes out more often? The schtick is tired; this legitimate beacon of support, knowledge, and intelligent advice comes across as far more interesting than any of the ridiculousness he uses to goad fights or hype them up.
FIGHT: ADAM CELLA VS. URIAH HALL
ROUND ONE: They exchanged strikes early, and Cella held his own as they got into a short clinch battle. A minute in, Hall caught a kick and took Cella down. Cella threw up for a triangle and Hall stood up. Hall landed a punch to the body. Cella worked to his feet. Hall hit him with a left hook> He knocked him over with a push kick to the body and Cella popped back up. Cella got in a strike. Hall caught another kick and dropped him but let him up. They traded leg kicks. Hall landed a legt. Hall landed a nice double kick low and high. He avoided a spinning back fist off a caught kick. Hall landed another kick to the body that caught Cella off balance. They clinched briefly> Cella came in with a solid exchange. Hall landed a right. Cella tried to press in with strikes that were mostly blocked. He missed another spinning back fist. Hall landed a few jabs. Cella overreached with strikes that missed. He got in a jab and Hall fired back. He got a punch to the body. Hall then threw a spinning head kick to the side of Cella's face that landed flush and crushed him to the canvas. Holy shit, Dana wasn't kidding. That was unbelievably sick. Cella was out in scary fashion and Hall said "I'm sorry Adam" with a really worried look on his face as they went to break.
Back from break, Hall was standing in the corner waiting for Cella to come to. Cella finally sat up and was told what happened. He got to his feet to the applause of everyone, and asked what happened.
Hall moves on by knockout
-Fight recap time, and White talked about how Hall has a style where it's hard to tell what he's going to do. Then they replayed that knockout over and over and over. So sick. Lived up to the hype in every way. It truly was one of the sickest kicks you'll ever see in a fight. Heel right to the jaw.
-Everyone on Team Sonnen joked that Hall took the Knockout of the Season, and Dana White agreed, and Luke Barnatt joked that Hall stole it from him.
-Hall said the win felt good, but he felt bad about how badly he could have hurt him there. Steve Mazzagatti went into Team Jones' locker room to assure them that Cella was alright and just on his way to the hospital.
-Chael Sonnen picks the next fight with Jones absent as he went to the hospital with Cella. The fight for next week is Kevin Casey vs. Colin Hart. Bubba McDaniel wasn't happy he didn't get that bout. Sonnen thought he was keeping Casey safe to the next round with this matchup.
-Preview for next week has Jones eager for a win, and Hart promising to "jack up" Casey.
-Another good episode, and TUF 17 is 3 for 3 thus far. Thanks for joining me tonight, I'll be back here with another live blog next week for episode four.
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Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/The_Ultimate_Fighter_25/article_15856.shtml
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