The show picks up right where we left off at the aftermath of the Akira Corassani defeat of Dustin Neace. Neace is still bitter about the fight not being stopped in the first round as he secured a deep heel hook submission, and caused Akira to tap. Regardless if Akira’s tap was seen or not seen by the referee, Neace should have held the submission until the referee had broken up the fight. Instead, it looked like Neace loosened the hold right after he felt Akira tap, giving Akira an opportunity to escape and continue the fight. Jason Mayhem Miller chalks up the fight as a great learning experience for Neace and the rest of his team to not stop fighting until the referee stops you from fighting.
On the way out of the UFC training center, Team Mayhem coach, Ryan Parsons exchanges words with Michael Bisping about his and his team’s unsportsmanlike conduct. Parson says he understands why Bisping is the most hated fighter in the UFC. I’ve always given Bisping the benefit of the doubt for his conduct and his image whether it be due to unfavorable editing, or match making that makes him look like an antagonist against a more popular fighter. This episode, however, makes him hard to defend. He seems to be the instigator for each altercation. Before and after each fight and during the fighter announcements, all you can hear is Bisping running his mouth at Mayhem, telling him things like go back to Bully Beatdown, or that he can’t control his team because he can’t even control himself.
The last quarter final match in the featherweight division is Team Mayhem’s Steven Siler and Team Bisping’s Diego Brandao. In the prefight confessionals, Brandao talks about his tough life in Brazil and how his promise to his father to take care of the family motivates him to fight and live a good life. With this fiery motivation, Brandao Is labeled as one of the most feared fighters of the tournament and during his fight he shows why.
Without taking any instruction from his corner, Brandao wildly starts the fight with a flying knee attempt. He keeps the pressure on Siler with a barage of punches and another flying knee. He eventually Catches Siler with a punch to the chin that drops Siler and causes the referee to step in and stop the fight. Brandao moves on to the semifinals with a huge exclamation point for Team Bisping.
Diego Brandao defeated Steven Siler via KO (punches) at 0:30 of round 1
Team Bisping finally get a chance to make a fight pick, and it is the last set of picks for the season. The final bantamweight match ups are Team Bisping’s John Albert versus Team Mayhem’s John Dodson, and Team Bisping’s TJ Dillashaw against Team Mayhem’s Roland Delorme. When deciding the fight picks, Bisping spoke to TJ Dillashaw and John Albert to see who wanted to step up against Mayhem’s toughest prospect, Dodson. Dillashaw states that he feels he is the best fighter between who’s left on Bisping’s bantamweights, and still chooses to take what he believes is the easier fight against Delorme. The rest of Team Bisping loses respect for Dillashaw for this decision and it looks like in next weeks previews, the team will make him pay.
On to the next fight of Albert versus Dodson. There is a distinct height and reach advantage in the favor of John Albert which Bisping hopes he can take advantage of, but Dodson’s speed and agility prove to make the fight very one sided. Dodson shows why he is Team Mayhem’s first bantamweight pick as he controls all aspects of the fight winning most of the striking exchanges on the feet and staying on top on the ground. Dodson convincingly wins both rounds.
John Dodson defeated John Albert via unanimous decision at 5:00 of round 2.
