Two quarterfinals and the explanation of what happened to Tito Ortiz to scrub his fight with fellow coach Chuck Liddell? Seems promising.
Must be busy, because we start with a weigh-in. Kyle Noke and Kris McCray are bummed because they’re buddies, and they have to fight. They’re also two of the best guys on the show, and one of them has to go out early.
Tito went to his neck doctor, and they want to do surgery. He says he has fought hurt for the last six years and doesn’t want to fight Chuck at less than 100 percent. Someone on the Web is surely cataloging all of Tito’s devastating setbacks and miraculous recoveries. I’ve written at least one of them.
Seems anticlimactic, doesn’t it?
On to the fight: Steve Mazzagatti is the ref, setting the stage for possible controversy.
But the only controversy is that McCray, an explosive fighter through his career so far, has reinvented himself as a lay-and-pray artist. It turns into a typical encounter of a strong wrestler against someone with just enough defense to keep the wrestler from submitting him or pounding him out.
Noke tries for a couple of submissions and takes McCray’s back for a while in the second round. That must account for the judges, who decide the fight should be prolonged to a third round. That surprises Dana White, who had already told Octagon girl Chandella she didn’t need to walk with the round card.
McCray holds Noke down through most of the third, occasionally landing an elbow and fending off one fleeting submission attempt. It’s an easy decision for McCray, who has come back from losing his first-round fight to advancing through the new wild-card bout to the quarters and on to the semis.
Fight 2: Tito says Seth Baczynski might be able to get the upset over Brad Tavares.
But first, Chuck visits the house, where he learns that Tito is talking about getting surgery. Chuck isn’t pleased. Says Tito better show up and fight him after all this. We don’t get Jamie “Crabman” Yager’s rebuttal for some reason.
After that brief aside, we’re back to the fighters. And again, they like each other. Tavares says he’s the youngest and least experienced guy in the house.
Herb Dean is our ref. Here we go.
Seth comes in and takes a couple of shots as he does. He clinches, tries to trip Tavares and then gets the takedown. Tavares has an active guard and goes for the armbar, but Seth stands and then lands on Tavares’ back. Seth works to lock his legs in a body triangle, then comes close to getting the rear naked choke.
Tavares finally reverses at the 1:40 mark, and he stands, throwing long punches toward Seth. Then we go back down to the mat, and Seth goes for a leg triangle. Tavares takes care of that by slamming him twice. Then he lands a lot of powerful shots in the last 15 seconds.
Right before the horn, we have a clumsy exchange. Seth kicks Tavares in the head while he has a knee or two on the mat. That’s illegal. Seth immediately yells out, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Tavares stands but then staggers back to his corner, asking, “What’d he hit me with?”
This must be that “controversial decision” they mentioned in the promos. Will Seth be DQ’d? Will they go to the scorecards after a round in which Seth won the first three minutes and Tavares won the last two convincingly.
We get back to see a doctor asking a few questions. Tavares answers with a lot of “huhs.” It’s a DQ.
Fairly obvious stuff, right? Herb Dean follows the rules as always. Tavares hangs his head, not happy to have won this way. What’s the controversy?
We hear that “the doctor” says the kick landed in the chest. Not sure which “doctor” they mean. The fight doctor who examined Tavares clearly knows otherwise. Maybe some other doctor? Dr. J? Dr. Spock? Tom Baker? Someone in a red Tito shirt picks up the argument. Tito foolishly believes him and starts throwing a fit. Team Liddell snaps back at Tito, and it’s not long before Chuck is being restrained.
Somewhere, Tito has just finished watching this episode, with the footage clearly showing a kick to the face, and is thinking to himself, “Why did I listen to that guy? Why didn’t I listen to — oh, I don’t know — my own fighter, who was yelling out an apology because he clearly knew he had kicked the guy in the head?!”
But first, Dana decides now would be a good time to tell Chuck that Tito has pulled out of the fight. Then he tells Chuck not to smash his phone. Chuck says he’s looking for Tito.
You have to pity the fighters in this one. Nothing went quite as planned — McCray did what he needed to win but surely would’ve preferred a livelier fight. All four fighters showed class in victory or defeat. But in the end, it’s Tito Ortiz setting fire to his own reputation. Good thing he has come back from that before.
The quarterfinal wrap:
* Court McGee (Liddell) def. James Hammortree (Ortiz), submission
* Kris McCray (Ortiz) def. Kyle Noke (Liddell), solid three-round decision
* Brad Tavares (Liddell) def. Seth Baczynski (Ortiz), DQ
* Josh Bryant (Liddell) vs. Jamie “Crabman” Yager (Ortiz)
and remember....You Can't Win, Until You STEP IN.
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