THE NEWEST SERIES of The Ultimate Fighter continued last night, featuring Conor McGregor coaching Team Europe against Urijah Faber’s Team USA.
The episode will be repeated tonight on BT Sport 1 at 10pm and Setanta Ireland at 10.45pm, so don’t read any further if you’re planning to avoid any spoilers.
The big news from the second episode of this series was that UFC president Dana White opted to bring one fighter from each team back, despite their losses in the fights to get into the house.
White allowed the coaches to make the picks, which left the door open for Conor McGregor to bring his SBG Ireland team-mate and sparring partner Artem Lobov back into the equation.
“The fights to get into the house were awesome. I loved the fights to get into the house,” said Dana White as he explained the logic behind his decision. “I felt like some of the decisions were questionable and I hate when I see good fighters possibly getting left behind. So I wanted to give the coaches the opportunity, if you could bring back one fighter, who would you bring back?”
Lobov lost a close decision to fellow European fighter Mehdi Baghdad in last week’s episode, but he’s now been given a lifeline to keep his dreams of securing a UFC contract alive. Urijah Faber chose to give a second chance to Johnny Nunez, who had been submitted by Ryan Hall at the first hurdle.
“It feels great to be back,” said Lobov. “Obviously I lost my fight to get into the house. I was talking to Dana straight after the fight and he was saying that the fight was awesome, that it was really close. It should have gone to the third round is what he said, and I guess he decided to give me an opportunity to finally get the third round.”
Dana White’s decision means that with nine preliminary-bout winners eventually emerging for eight quarter-final spots, the victorious fighter who turns in the least impressive performance in the UFC president’s view — despite winning — will be eliminated.
“We’ve never done this before,” White added. “Nine guys will win but only eight guys will make it to the quarter-finals. One guy who doesn’t perform will be left out.”
After winning the coin toss, Urijah Faber had the choice of the first preliminary fight and he decided to pair elite US grappler Ryan Hall with Sweden’s Frantz Slioa. Once again, Hall showed why he’s among the favourites to win the season by securing another first-round submission via heel-hook.
Team Faber subsequently retained the right to pick the next fight, which will see the USA’s Chris Gruetzemacher take on German fighter Sascha Sharma in next week’s episode.
So let’s get us get this… Every Galway and Mayo fan are going down the one road to a match…
On top of that the traffic for the Irish Open will also be going on as Ennis is the where the Park and Ride is going from.
Seriously could Galway and Mayo just use there home and away agreement… Galway was next due and next time it would be Mayo… This is just embarrassing…
@Cowboy Paddy: should have been played on Hyde park roscommon
@@at: Hyde is not big enough to maximise the cash at the gate and lets be honest thats the first, last, and only consideration for any GAA fixture location.
@@at: happy with Limerick . Mayo have bad memories of that ground . Hopefully we can give them another nightmare
@Cowboy Paddy: Whats embarrassing is the notion that our infrastructure can’t handle two sporting events 50 miles apart and can’t handle 30,000 fans going down a motorway between our 3rd and 4th biggest cities.
@Finnster: because it’s only down the road for ye
@According to Di Marzio: The Motorway will be fine, I was on the M4/6 two years ago when Roscommon played Mayo, and Galway played Kerry in the quarter finals on the same day in Croker. It was very busy, but nothing compared to the 3 land M50 on a regular rush hour.
@Cowboy Paddy: however bad getting to limerick will be, nothing is as bad as getting in and out of Salthill for a game
@Cowboy Paddy: motorway all the way from tuam lad. Traffic would be 10 times worse if it was in castlebar or Salthill. Limerick is well used to these events with the likes of Munster and limerick gaa. It will be the finest
@According to Di Marzio: plus let’s be honest, nobody outside Roscommon wants to be going to Hyde Park. Traffic in the town would be ridiculous not to mention the vast amount of supporters who’d miss out due to its capacity restrictions
@According to Di Marzio: exactly
@Anthony: Hyde Park holds 25k (since the upgrade), just under 19k people attended Mayo v Armagh at the weekend, so capacity wise, there probably wouldn’t have been an issue.
@stephen keane: Galway borders Mayo , Kilmaine , Ballinrobe , Claremorris areas are all as close if not closer than parts of Connemara and Clifden. So it’s fair on both sides . One of us is going to have a long sad drive back home though after the game ; )
@Do the Bort man: don’t put a damper on the Mayo ego and how they’ll be bringing 35,000 fans to Limerick – all pure mad of course!
@Cowboy Paddy: it’s ok, there’s a motorway!! They built one sometime ago!!
@Anthony: motorway all the way from tuam alright. But what happens when everyone trys to use the same exits into limerick?
@Finnster: I hope so but the way we have been playing it’s hard to see it. We have played 2 mediocre teams and one average team so far and haven’t even remotely impressed. That type of form isn’t good.
@Cowboy Paddy: Has to be neutral venue for a game of this magnitude. Limerick is only down the road. You have a strange idea of what the word ‘embarrassing’ means.
@Finnster: they played us in the Gaelic Grounds last year and gave us a predictable walloping Finnster so there most recent memory is positive.
@mike Kennedy: true , forgot about that
@Tony Boyle: they are really going to have to step it up . The second half in the Connacht Final was dire
@Cryptoalcho: do a bit of research before you leave. There are lots of different exits you can take. Stadium is well served and more accessible than most I think.
“Capacity of 43k”. There was 44k at it yesterday. Funny that.
One game on RTÉ over the weekend. Sad !
@Nightowl: money hungry GAA – madness having the game in Limerick
Can we assume that Kerry vs Galway/Mayo will be on Sunday 14th July? (as the winner of Meath/Clare will be entitled to a 7 day turnaround in the Group’s other match).
It’s a complete joke that the GAA cannot tell us exactly what dates matches of this scale are being held until 6 days prior to the match itself.
I wonder what the attendance will be? Works carried out at Dr Hyde park has increased its capacity to 25,000 people. Surely that would have been enough, and closer for both the teams and supporters.
Ahh The sports grounds…
Tuam or Nowhere
According to this article both Mayo & Galway gaa agreed to the venue. Its their own county boards’ fault. There is also a big tiddly winks blitz on in Limerick, oh the mayhem.
@The don: Surprised Mayo agreed considering Limerick is closer to Galway
Really daft that two Connacht counties has to play a championship match in Munster. Both could have come together and agreed on a home venue like the agreement in place for Connnacht championship games. Hyde park was more than capable of hosting the expected crowd of 18 to 20k matter of fact there was 24k at the Connacht final in 2015 but GAA politics tells us other wise now.
Should be played in Dr Hyde Park. 8000 capacity wasnt an issue last year in Newbridge. Its down to greed. 7pm throw in as well. Sky dictates the starting times.
What a joke ,.
Surely there wont be anything more than 20k-25k max at Mayo-Galway game? Hyde Park would have been sufficient.
But sure the Gaelic Grounds and the throw-in time gives Mayo fans another reason to whinge, so everyone happy all round then.