TUF 6: Episode 9
Your turn to play the role of Matt Serra. You choose the quarterfinal bouts. Who do you select to go up against Mac Danzig and Tommy Speer?
I'm going to assume that Dana White will not let Danzig and Speer fight one another. Reason being, after the main point of declaring a TUF champion, the second goal is to have the coaches' teams compete against one another. If they already start to compete against themselves, what's the point of having coaches? Just have 16 fighters, have Dana set up the fights, hire trainers and get on with it.
So for the sake of argument, who would you select? Would you try to finish Hughes' team off and put Danzig and Speer up against Sotiropoulos and whomever you deem #2? Or would you try to put a couple middle-o'-the road guys against them to see if you get lucky?
Here's how I'd match 'em up:
Kolosci v. Danzig - I believe that Danzig is the favorite, so I wouldn't put Sotiropoulos in against him just yet. I think you could get lucky with Kolosci because he's older and more experienced than most of the other options and he probably has the best all around striking/sub mix of the group. Should Danzig win, you still have your ace in the hole (and hopefully Kolosci would at least damage Danzig, weakening him for the next round).
Mandoloniz v. Speer - I'd be tempted to use either Sotiropoulos or Saunders here. I think that Sotiropoulos would easily win, but he could take some damage and I'd rather hold him back to fight the least accomplished of Serra's fighters (more on that down below). I think that Saunders is probably the third best on Serra's team, but being that he's predominantly a striker, Speers might be able to control him. I think that Mandoloniz or Kolosci would both be better choices here.
Sotiropoulos v. Hightower - As many of the cast have suggested, Hightower may be the weakest of the group and may actually be inferior to some other fighters who have already lost. This is probably as close to a "gimme" as Sotiropoulos could get, so hopefully he gets through relatively undamaged and you can put him up against Danzig or Speers if they get through to the semi's.
Saunders v. Arroyo - I believe that Saunders would take this one and that you could potentially throw him at Danzig if Danzig surpasses this round. Danzig is a superior fighter to Saunders, but Saunders could get in a powerful shot to get lucky.
I was tempted just to have Sotiropoulos fight Danzig and Kolosci fight Speers, but if they both lost it could be devastating to Serra with such an advantage at this point. Whacha think? Your turn to play Serra.
RANDOM FACT #1: Did you know that if you go to tuf6.com, that it actually directs you to FF? Kewl.
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