There’s something about Matt Major’s effeminate trunk designing hobby combined with the ass whooping he took at the hands of Alexander Schlemenko’s back fists that makes me wonder if he wouldn’t fit in better on Project Runway and not The Ultimate Fighter. That said I can’t help but root for the guy. And here he looked . . . amazingly . . . like a fighter. He had tenacity, crispness, aggression. No longer just standing there waiting to be punched he brought the fight to Cooper in the form and over the top Street Fighter-like shots. . . . Then Round #2 started. Cooper could easily see that Major used every ounce of gas he had in those first five minutes and decided to easily take him down and pound him out for the TKO victory. Sadly his new look and attitude didn’t also come with new cardio.
Neil Grove def. Alexey Oleinik (TKO at 0:45 of Round 1) to advance to the Heavyweight Finals
As pathetic as it looks now I actually predicted a defeat for Grove at the hands of Eddie Sanchez. Oh well, live and learn. Oleinik is coming off of a shady and very bloody victory over Sean Hayes. Both fights were memorable though the accidental head butt delivered by Oleinik and ensuing gash are seared especially deep into my brain. This contest, however, was of the more laughable variety. In all of 45 seconds Grove dominated Oleinik, hitting nasty shot after nasty shot, some of which even looked uncontested. Even still the stoppage seemed to arrive a wee bit early as to my eyes Oleinik was attempting, somewhat incompetently, to go for a single leg takedown. Most would agree that he was dazed and probably holding on for dear life but less than a week previous Houston Alexander won the comeback of the year by doing just that.
Cole Konrad def. Damian Grabowski (unanimous decision 30-26, 30-27, 30-26) advancing to HW Finals
Despite the lethargic pace of their first round victories this remained, at least for me, one of the most anticipated fights of the month. Two undefeated, highly publicized heavyweights who have radically different styles and body types putting their spotless records on the line for a chance to take on knockout artist Neil Grove. Referee Jason Herzog opens, once again, by asking the fighters if they have any final questions. Is he contractually obligated to ask that and, if not, has anybody actually taken him up on the offer? Just like in his fight with Scott Barrett, Grabowski spent most of the time underneath a bigger wrestler, but this time his work from the bottom was much less impressive and he was forced to swallow a lopsided decision loss. Perhaps Grabowski simply didn’t have an opportunity to take on top tier wrestlers back in his homeland because he seems surprisingly vulnerable to takedowns and rather useless when it comes to getting out of them. Konrad, meanwhile, picks up his most important victory to date. When his name first started being bandied about I was an eager as anyone to believe the hype, “Hey, he’s a collegiate wrestler from Minnesota who trains with Brock Lesnar. How could he not be awesome??” But then we had to watch his first two outings on national television and he proved himself to still be deep green. This time around though everything seemed to be clicking. His takedowns were razor sharp and even looked dramatic, then, once he had Grabowski down, he showed himself to be adept at using his hulking, Polar Bear-ish frame to stymie any sort of ground game. The finals could very well end up looking just like this, and even though Grove hits like a jackhammer my money is with Konrad as of right now.
Jameel Massouh def. Nick Mamalis (Submission at 4:27 of Round 1)
I stand in awe of all these finishes this week. Remember the way everyone walked around in a state of shock after Chris Leben took two fights in a three week time frame? Well there was none of that here at Mamalis was back in the cage just 14 days after being bounced from the Bantamweight tournament. It sounded hardcore to me until they mentioned that back in June of last year he fought on back to back nights. Good for him . . . I guess. The fight here was truly unremarkable, just Mamalis destroying any good will he had left over from his two wins last season. More exciting for me was Jimmy Smith making an “always protect yourself” comment and then, ever so snidely, connecting it to the Marqurdt/Palhares fight. He’s really stepped up his game and has become one of the more enjoyable and trust worthy MMA voices out there since this season began.
After that we got highlights from some of the prelim fights. I know that not everything has to be just like the UFC does it but don’t they have a pretty solid idea when it comes to killing time? You know exactly how long your prelim fights went so you know exactly which one to go to based on how much time needs to be killed. Here we saw a quick head kick knockout that was a blast to watch and then they patched us over to the third round of another match. I don’t care how incredible that 3rd round was (granted, it had its moments), I’d much rather see a snoozefest in its entirety. Next week we get the Bantamweight semi-finals which should be well worth everyone’s time.
