The seventh episode of The Ultimate Fighter debuted on Tuesday night with Clint Hester vs. Jimmy Quinlan. The episode got underway with a recap of last week’s fight, and then jumped right in to preparations for this week’s match-up. It was a fight Sonnen felt great about at the end of last week.
This is the good, the bad, and the ugly from this week’s episode:
The Good:
- One fantastic piece of this season that has not been remarked on is its score. The music in each episode has been great. This episode in particular highlighted this point. When Quinlan began his training session the score going on in the background helped set the stage for the moment. The next time you watch an episode you should take time to appreciate the music of the series.
- Chael Sonnen continues to be a great coach. His motivational speeches and general instruction is fantastic to watch, and plays very well on television. The show has done a great job of painting Sonnen in a softer light.
- Jimmy Quinlan and Clint Hester may have fought at the end of the episode, but the best portion of the show was their interactions in the house. They are friends, and they did not let the fact they were fighting hamper that. They joked around the morning of the fight and showed great class.
The Bad:
- I understand Hooters is advertising on the show, but this was poorly done. It came off cheesy, and there was no reason to waste a couple minutes on fighters drooling over scantily clad women delivering them hot wings.
- Before heading to commercial during one of the breaks they began showing clips of the fight to come. They shouldn’t. We are tuned in to watch the fight, and most likely fight fans don’t want anything spoiled. FX should avoid doing this in the future. It is a big let down to see the striker on his back with the accomplished grappler on top of him.
- As Sonnen mentioned last week, Jon Jones’ match-up was terrible. When you have a striker vs. grappler battle you better make sure your striker has good takedown defense. Hester did not.
The Ugly:
- While in Hooters, Gilbert Smith once again became shirtless. Seriously, keep your damn clothes on.
In spite of Team Sonnen regaining control, Zak Cummings vs. Dylan Andrews is the fight for next week by default. It is the final opening round fight, and we should have a good sense of which fighters will nab the wildcard spots after its conclusion.
What did you think of this week’s fight? Click the stars to let us know:
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