-Yes!
-Previously on "The Ultimate Fighter"...
Christian Strong, Mehemmedeli Osmanli,
and Ilimbek Akylbek Uulu
secured the first three bantamweight semifinal spots...
-Mwah!
-Whoo!
-...while Melissa Amaya,
Gigi Canuto, Tina Black,
and Delphine Benouaich advanced as the final four
in the strawweight division.
-That's my girl Tina Black.
-Now, in the last quarterfinal matchup of the competition,
Team Cormier's Micaias Ureña represents
his native Dominican Republic.
against American rising star Xavier Franklin
from Team Bisping.
-Great pace.
-Who will claim the last bantamweight semifinal spot
and move one step closer to becoming the Ultimate Fighter?
-Fight!
-I-I-I-I-I-It's time!
[ Crowd cheering ]
♪♪
Cormier!
-Michael "The Count" Bisping!
♪♪
-Can you understand him? -We understand you.
-[ Scouse accent ] He understands.
-Just talk slow.
-How do you say "sick and tired"?
[ Imitates Scouse accent ] Sick and tired?
-Sick and tired. -Sick and tired.
-Just say, "I'm fucked."
[ Laughter ]
-[ Imitates Scouse accent ] Sick and tired.
-What is a common saying that I can say?
-Everyone wants -- say, "Chicken and a can of Coke."
-[ Imitates Scouse accent ] Chicken and a can of Coke.
-I don't think I say -- I'm not that bad.
-Chicken and a can of Coke in our area.
[ Laughter ]
-It looks like German English.
-You say chicken and a can of Coke?
-Close. You speak too fast.
[ Mumbling ]
-I thought I had a hard time understanding you.
I don't know what's going on in here.
-In my mind, I'm like,
you can work as hard as you want, you're not gonna beat me.
Like, I'm the best.
I'm chilling, just trying to make dinner,
and he's just, like, trying to put on a show.
I'm looking at him, I'm like,
"I can smell fear in your eyes."
It's like [sniffs] I just smell bitch on him.
-[ Growls ]
-Hey, we call you Pink Power Ranger.
Or Pink Ranger.
That's your nickname?
You're not ashamed of it? You're not scared?
You walk out in a Pink Ranger mask?
So when you face him off next time,
next week or something, you're gonna have that shit on?
All right, drums.
[ People cheering ]
He said that you're scared
'cause he brought out his mask, so you left.
-I'm terrified. I'm so nervous.
[ Exhales sharply ]
-Ohhh!
-This guy crazy last night.
-You've never seen "Power Rangers"?
-I've seen before.
-You know what it is? -Yeah.
[ Laughter ]
♪♪
-♪ Hey, how you doing? What's up, what's up? ♪
♪ We come through, we gonna turn this thing up ♪
♪ When we pull up, they remember the crew ♪
♪ So come and move like this, you can do it too ♪
♪ You don't want to step to me, I'mma tear it up ♪
♪ Yeah, you looking at a boss, I keep going up ♪
♪ When I pull up in the stretch it's a flex ♪
♪ But it shows some respect to my team ♪
♪ We the best, we the best ♪
-Nice.
-♪ In the spot now, throwing the confetti ♪
-Good.
-♪ Welcome to the party ♪
-♪ Locked in a cage, but I'm about to break out ♪
♪ Ain't no way they can keep us down ♪
-This guy's got good skills.
There we go, Micaias.
Micaias looks good. He looks fast, he looks strong.
His striking is sick.
His grappling is sick. Wrestling is sick.
It's gonna come down to, can he keep Xavier off of him?
I feel like we have the tools to help Mica
get ready for this specific matchup.
Okay.
-♪ Locked in a cage, but I'm about to break out ♪
-Go.
Go.
Go. Harder.
Harder. Harder.
Harder.
-Again.
Walk in.
And kick.
Yeah.
Good. Knee.
Elbow. Elbow.
Ey. Yeah.
-Time!
-Good work.
-Christian, you got to defend a little bit
before he gets to your leg.
Defend, defend! Defend, Delphine, defend!
-What's going on? -What's up, Bisping?
-Hey, what's up, D.C.? We were told 1:00 p.m. today.
-We go 12:00 to 2:00. No, this is --
-They said 1:00 p.m. 'cause we're training at 4:00.
But I know you're training all your guys.
Guys... Your training's done.
-We started at 12:00, dude. We have 12:00 to 2:00.
-11:00 to 1:00. -No, we have 12:00 to 2:00.
-But I have guys here ready to train.
-Yo, get the fuck out of here. You just got off the airplane.
-Bring the guys in, okay? -Wrestle!
-What the fuck's going on?
[ Indistinct shouting ]
This is our time!
-It's a long slog doing this show.
It's every day we're in the gym, they're at the house.
You got to have a little fun.
-We're supposed to be here and practice.
What are you doing?
-D.C.'s got 27 coaches. A lot of them are very short.
So I thought, you know what would be good?
We'll bring in a team of, you know, some "little guys."
[ Indistinct shouting ]
-I cannot believe Bisping did that.
We got little people,
like, literally running behind our guys.
We got guys that are getting ready for tough fights,
we have guys that are getting ready for UFC fights,
and they can't even wrestle.
[ Oompah music playing ]
-We were like in a pure hard work
when suddenly the wrestlers came with the German symphony,
and they were doing kind of an orchestra
where we were trying to train.
So we were like, what the fuck?
And everybody started to dance.
-Well, please give us a little more time.
-Just a little more time. -"Little" more time?
Is that a short joke?
-Go. Wrestle. Wrestle.
[ Chuckles ] -Come on, D.C.!
This is the best day of your life.
Ha ha ha!
I brought them in for you, Rosendo.
I brought them in for you. They're about your size.
D.C.'s so annoyed.
He's so fucking annoyed. Ha ha ha!
-For the record, I fucking hated that prank.
Hey, get 'em off the fucking mat.
That was one of the most annoying things
I've ever seen in my life.
I mean, what is wrong with Bisping?
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
-[ Squeals ]
-Fuck no, I didn't want to dance polka.
No, I didn't want to dance.
But whatever. It happened. It sucks.
Great job, guys. Great job, ladies.
No, I did not want to do that.
And if I never hear that shit again in my life,
I'm fucking fine.
-Good job, good job. Good job, good job.
Good job.
-I've been on this show three times.
That was one of the worst moments I've had on this show.
Great job, Ben. Great job, Ben.
-You guys have a great training session.
-Get the fuck out of here.
-How did you get into fighting?
-I hate talking about it, but it was wrestling in high school.
I had like a bad injury.
So pretty much, like, I had internal bleeding because
I was cutting hella weight in high school, like, a lot.
I was going from like 165 to like 126
in like a couple of days.
-Really?
-But, yeah, it pretty much, like, backfired.
[ Sighs ]
One day I just wake up in just immense pain.
Can't even explain the pain.
It just felt like somebody was stabbing me a thousand times
with knives in my stomach.
I'm screaming. My mom rushes me to the E.R.
I mean, that day was -- I'll never forget that day.
And then went to the doctor, and he was just like,
"You have internal bleeding," but he's like,
"We don't know where it's from, but it's there."
And I'm like, "So, what,
I just can't wrestle for a little bit?"
And he's like, "Oh, you can't wrestle forever.
Like, you're done.
You can't wrestle, play sports, anything."
I'm like, "What? What are you talking about, bro?"
-And you're like 17, 18 years old.
-Yeah. -Jeez.
-My soul was in wrestling. You know what I mean?
So, yeah, it was definitely dark times for sure.
"Wow. Can't wrestle again."
My family, like helped me through all that shit.
I'm one of six. So I'm number four.
I'm like the middle child.
I looked different. I was small.
Like, I had big head,
I was super skinny, but always smiling.
Like, big teeth, you know what I mean?
I was the shortest kid, so get picked on.
That's why this fighting thing's pretty simple.
I've been doing it for so long,
because even when I was a kid, I was always fighting.
It didn't matter who it was.
Somebody said something about my height, I hit them.
I was that bad.
My parents were like, "We need to put him
in something aggressive."
So they put me in football.
Played football my whole life,
but I started wrestling my freshman year in high school.
And then I ended up falling in love with it,
honestly, with my whole heart,
because I actually discovered it on my own.
Nobody forced me to do it.
So then from that point on, I was just,
"I'm gonna be an Olympic champion.
I'm gonna be a world champion.
It's gonna happen for me."
So when I got injured and it got taken from me,
I felt like I lost, like, a best friend.
It didn't even feel like I lost a best friend.
It felt like I lost my life.
-Was there a solution for the internal bleeding?
Like, they were like, we're gonna do this...
-Well, I went to, like, a church camp,
just, like, going through the motions, you know what I mean?
And then, uh -- "Let me just pray.
Let me close my eyes, talk to God for a little bit.
Let me just see if he's going to answer."
I wouldn't say cursing him, but I was just like,
"Why would you show me how great I could be
just to, like, take it away?"
So then I just kept asking that.
Same, same, same. My eyes are closed.
And then he just said -- like, I literally heard him say,
"It's because you forgot me."
And I was like, "Damn."
Like, instantly, as soon as I heard that,
I just started crying, like, hard.
Like, I couldn't even control. It was hard.
And I was like, "Wow."
So then I came back from the church camp.
I'm just like -- I feel different, rejuvenated.
So then I was telling my mom, I was like,
"I think I need to go to the doctor."
We go, and he's like, uh.
"I don't know what happened. I don't know what you did."
He was like, "This is like some miracle.
What we saw is gone. There's nothing."
After that, I was just like, "I want to be a world champion."
How am I gonna be a world champion?
MMA is the other path to become a world champion.
-Man, how great is God? -I'm telling you.
-That's an amazing story.
♪♪
-Okay.
Let's make this short, sharp, effective.
Xavier was our number-one pick for a reason.
Just a consummate professional.
This man takes it very seriously.
-Beautiful.
-Every day in the gym,
we didn't have to really tell him anything
because the guy does it so well.
-Got a left hook too.
Hook. Hook.
-I don't really focus on what he's going to do.
I focus on my skill set and what I need to do.
If I go out there and fight my best fight,
fight like how I fight,
I don't think anybody in there can hang with me.
-Ooh, baby, I love that.
-Xavier's just so fast.
Oh! Big shots. Rocks him.
-Everybody knows me for my boxing,
but I can kick, I can wrestle really fucking good,
and my grappling's really good.
I can smash too.
-Oh, my God. -These men are brawling.
-Then I had my Contender Series fight on short notice,
against David Martinez.
-Fight's on.
[ Indistinct shouting ]
♪
It was a good back-and-forth.
Hurt him, rocked him a few times.
-And another one. Wobbled Martinez momentarily.
-Obviously he had a lot more leg kicks.
-Martinez trying to take that leg home with him.
-I had more, like, significant strikes.
-Still a lot of strength coming on.
-But came up short against him.
-By unanimous decision,
David Martinez!
-After that, I got to prove to myself --
not to the world,
I don't care about what the world thinks about me --
to myself that I'm a top-level guy,
I'm one of the best guys in the world.
-Yep. There you go.
-There you go!
-Having that experience, it was crazy.
But now I'm here and I'm like, I'm ready for this.
I'm telling you. He's not ready for this.
Like, people think they're ready and they can imagine --
no, it's way different.
It's just levels to this shit.
I'm on a different level and I'm gonna show that.
I'm telling you.
-Come on.
-Nice jab.
-You two are the best sparring partners for one another,
let me tell you.
Micaias I don't think has any answer
for anything that Xavier has.
Drive, drive, drive, drive!
He's a better wrestler, he's a better athlete,
he's got more power in the hands,
he's a better boxer, and he's more mentally strong.
He's been chatting a lot of shit,
saying he's ready, he's ready.
I'm like, well, you better be ready.
Because if you ain't ready for me,
you're gonna be out on your back.
You can choose your face or your back.
Whichever way you want to go, that's the way you're going.
-Beautiful.
-Aaah! I can't wait.
-Come on, hit me with a...
-Time!
♪
♪♪
To the scale, Micaias Ureña.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-I definitely think Micaias is gonna chew Xavier up.
He's got good boxing, got good striking, good kicks.
I think he's gonna be too much for Xavier.
-This guy I was pleasantly surprised with.
135 1/2.
-His striking is -- pssh.
It's gonna be hard. It's gonna be a hard fight.
I don't think this guy's in over his head at all.
He's good, man. He's very good.
-To the scale, Xavier Franklin.
[ Applause ]
-He's good. He's very good.
-Being in the gym with Xavier,
I know that he is super well-rounded.
He's clean with it on the feet.
He can put his hands together well.
He uses his strikes to get in on his shots.
-Xavier, be real still for me, okay?
-So I think he's gonna go in there
and he's gonna overload
and he's eventually gonna get the fight to the ground.
-It's 135 1/2!
-My man. Good job.
[ Applause ] -Water.
-It's gonna be a fun fight.
He look a little small, don't he?
He look a little small, huh, Papi?
[ Laughs ]
-D.C, no.
-You think he's no good?
-We do. Sparring, we do. -You're crazy.
-He's gonna fuck you up right after, dog.
Don't worry. Your time is coming.
-You lost last time. Shut the fucking mouth.
-Your team doesn't believe in you.
-Shut the fucking mouth like this.
-Even your team don't believe in you.
You're a fucking little bitch.
-Bitch.
-Hey, why this guy like disrespecting?
-I go to the finale. You won't be there, man.
-We'll see. We will see. -You won't be there. Trust me.
You won't be there, bitch. -We will see.
-Good job, guys. Good job.
Face front.
♪
♪♪
-You're always gonna get a money show whenever it's me.
It's just gonna be electric.
Every time I fight, it's literally like a movie.
It's like cinema.
You usually you don't get second chances.
I feel like God's given me a second chance,
you know what I mean, so to be able to go out there
with high stakes on the line, it's a blessing.
Nothing but thanking God for it all the time.
[ Cheers and applause ] -Hey! Let's go!
-Hey!
-What's up, what's up, what's up?
-I belong in the UFC because I have the look,
I've got the personality, I've got the fighting style.
I've got everything that you would want
for a perfect fighter to be in the UFC.
I don't want to just get to the UFC.
Getting to the UFC is just a small part.
I want to get in the UFC,
rack up wins, and then get the title shot.
I want to be a world champion.
-He's light on his feet. He's gonna be dancing around.
I think he's gonna be trying to stay off the fence
as much as possible.
You're gonna cut the cage off, force him backwards.
Establish your authority nice and early.
You know what you're doing. You've done this many times.
-♪ You can't touch me ♪
♪ I'm a monster ♪
-What I wished for when I was younger
is what I'm living in now.
But now, what I'm living in, I want more.
-♪ Take me out the cage, let me loose ♪
♪ The pressure on my mind, can I make it out alive? ♪
-I'm the main event everywhere I go. Doesn't matter.
[ Applause ] -Let's go, Xavier.
-Your time, Xavier. This is your time.
-Let's go, champ.
-♪ From the ground, but I've grown ♪
♪ How you gonna take my place when I've worked so hard
♪ To get this far? ♪
♪ How you gonna come my way ♪
♪ When I trained like this right from the start? ♪
♪ I got to get that win ♪
♪ If I take one fall, I'mma get back up ♪
♪ Yeah, I'mma get back up ♪
♪ Yeah, I'mma still catch up ♪
♪ Fall back down, they gonna crash ♪
-My prediction is I'm stopping him. Early.
♪
-Let's go, Mica! -Let's go, Mica!
-He can't take your power, Xavier!
He can't take your power!
-This fight is scheduled for two 5-minute rounds.
If after the two rounds are complete we have a draw,
we will go to a sudden-victory round.
Fighter, are you ready? [ Speaks Spanish ]
Let's fight!
-[ Speaking Spanish ]
-There it is.
-[ Speaking Spanish ]
-Yeah, that's it. More feints.
-Beautiful eyes. Seeing everything.
Make sure you score on miss if you can.
Got to be creeping in, creeping in.
-[ Speaking Spanish ]
-There it is. -There you go, buddy.
-Good block, good block, good block.
[ Speaking Spanish ]
-[ Shouting in Spanish ]
-All right, we're gonna get it. Double your way --
I like that. Way to mix it up.
Low and high.
-Four minutes. Four minutes.
-Nice. Nice, Mica.
-There you go. -Nice, Mica.
-Keep those shots nice and tight when you get in close.
There you go. -That's it.
-That counts, baby.
-Follow it up. That body shot he didn't like.
-Keep your hands tight, son. -Hands tight.
[ Indistinct shouting ]
-Get that knee. Knee him on the way in.
-[ Shouting in Spanish ]
-Good!
Good, Mica!
[ Indistinct shouting ]
-Way to keep your base right there.
-Finish with that left hook. -Good. Don't load it up.
Try to put them together a little bit more.
In front of you.
-Again, again.
[ Indistinct shouting ]
Nice, Mica! Nice, Mica!
-[ Shouting in Spanish ]
-Good! Three minutes.
-Set up your kicks!
-Knee him. Knee him when he comes in.
-Stay with it. Keep touching.
Nice little rips when you get in.
That's it. You're loading up.
Nice jab.
-Aah!
-Time. -Eye poke.
-God damn. -Come on, D.C.
[ Indistinct conversations ]
Listen, if these come out and poke him in the eyes right here
any more time, I'm taking points.
You understand? Okay.
Let's go.
-Keep doing what you're doing.
[ Indistinct shouting ]
-Put them together now. -Good!
-Let's go. Double your way in.
There you go.
-Good, Xavier, good!
-Stay with it, baby. Stay with it.
You're looking good.
[ Indistinct shouting ]
[ Cheering ]
-Good! Take him down!
Trip, trip, trip! Trip, trip, trip!
Trip, trip! Trip, trip! Trip, trip!
[ Indistinct shouting ]
Keep that whizzer. Keep that whizzer.
-Beautiful. -Get the right -- there it is.
-All the way. Speed, baby. -Back up with him, baby.
-Keep the whizzer on the right side.
-[ Shouting in Spanish ]
[ Indistinct shouting ]
-That's it, Xavier, Minute and a half.
You're good. Here you go, here you go.
-Get back to the kicks, back to the kicks.
-[ Shouting in Spanish ]
-Back to the kicks, back to the kicks.
-I didn't see it. I didn't see it.
Stop. -He did not touch his eye!
I did not see that. Listen, I did not see that.
Yeah, I did not see that. Ready?
-He don't want a beat-down. He don't want a beat-down.
-It was close. It was close.
[ Indistinct shouting ]
-There you go. Do it again.
-That's it. You got him running.
-Double your way in. Block with your hands.
-One minute.
-Good. -Looking for one.
Put them together.
-[ Shouting in Spanish ]
-Knee him, knee him, knee him!
-[ Shouting in Spanish ]
-Knee him!
Good job, Mica! -[ Shouting in Spanish ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
[ Shouting in Spanish ]
-That's it! That's it!
[ Indistinct shouting ]
Go again! -Feint!
-Did it again. You can't go backwards.
-30 seconds.
-Shoot him! Shoot him!
[ Indistinct shouting ]
Tell him knee, knee, knee.
-[ Shouting in Spanish ] -Knee! Knee!
-To the body. Ohh!
He's done! He's done! Finish it! Finish it!
[ Horn blows ] [ Indistinct shouting ]
He's done. He's done. He's done.
He's done. He's done.
-Time.
-It was an illegal shot. God damn it, man!
-That wasn't illegal. That was to the chest.
-Yeah.
-Big deep breaths. Big deep breaths.
Great round. Killing him to the body.
I think this is done. I think this is over.
[ Indistinct conversations ]
-God damn it, man!
[ Indistinct shouting ]
-That wasn't illegal. That was to the chest.
-Yeah.
-Great round. Killing him to the body.
I think this is done. I think this is over.
[ Indistinct shouting ]
♪♪
-Come here.
-The knee hit his shoulder, the thigh hit his face.
-The knee did not hit his face.
-Okay, the knee did not hit his face. All right.
-The knee hit his shoulder.
-Wait, what?
-Yeah, they called it. [ Cheers and applause ]
-It's over, boys. -The knee is legal.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Let's go!
-All you bitches talking that shit!
Talk that shit now!
-That is ridiculous.
No, that is ridiculous and you know it.
Hit him in the fucking face with his knee.
-Hey, go look at the replay.
-I want to see the replay.
Will you show him the replay, please, so we can shut him up?
-Of course, we watched the instant replay.
The knee was to the chest. D.C.'s out of his mind.
But what can I tell you? D.C.'s gonna D.C.
-Let's have a look. -D.C...
-The knee hit his shoulder. does not hit his face.
-Let's go.
-Oh! Ah! Look at this!
You got to come see this.
It's about as illegal as illegal comes.
It doesn't matter the contact. Look at this, though.
Dana, watch. Bring it back.
Bring it back.
Dana, I'm telling you, this is some...
Look at this. Watch, watch.
Dana, this is the craz--
You might be mentally ill. You know that, right?
-How? -You might be mentally ill.
-Did you not see him land in the face?
-I just fucking saw it on film.
Fucking yelling at everybody and shit.
♪
-So Round 1 starts, Micaias is on the back foot.
He's dancing around.
He's trying to do whatever he can to not engage with Xavier,
which is smart, because he's got power and he's also a wrestler.
-Yes!
Micaias is doing exactly what we tell him.
He's fighting behind the calf kicks.
He's on his bike, moving, jabbing, landing punches.
I thought he fought beautiful.
Good, Mica!
-Both guys were going toe to toe,
each landing some big shots throughout the round,
but then Xavier rocked Mica right before the horn.
-I like that.
-Xavier's doing a really good job cutting off the cage,
backing him up against the Octagon,
just looking to time those shots.
There it is.
And when Xavier had the timing,
that's when he really went to work.
Hit him with a couple of shots, ripped to the body.
That's it! That's it!
-There was a difference in the way that he was fighting
once he got hit with that big shot to the body.
He wasn't just moving anymore, he was running.
Knee! Knee!
-Finish it! Finish it! [ Horn blows ]
-The knee lands to the chest and shoulder.
When he's moving his head,
Xavier hit him with a right hand,
and that is what put him out.
-Xavier drops him, hurts him, outclasses him,
wins the fight in every single fashion.
And that was that.
-Winner by TKO -- Xavier.
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪
-D.C.
Oh, D.C.
How's that feel, the first-round stoppage, bro?
-You fought a good fight.
And you did what we asked you to do.
Those kicks were landing.
Then you stopped engaging with him.
You started to try to avoid him. You can't avoid him.
When a guy is, like, that aggressive,
you gotta stand and just fucking throw something hard.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-If you can see it and you have the courage enough to speak it,
then it will happen.
The great Conor McGregor said it.
I envisioned this every night.
I already knew. -Come here.
Proud of you, buddy. Great work.
-I'm trying to think of what shot I --
I don't know if it was the two or what,
but I seen him and he kind of like...
-Body shot, bro.
-It was a body shot? -Yeah.
-I envisioned how I was gonna walk out,
smile on my face, like I said, the stance I was gonna be in,
how he was gonna come forward.
I could see the nervous energy.
I could see it in his eyes. He was running like a scared dog.
Stepping in.
Once he kicked, I was like, "Okay, I know what this is."
-Quarterfinals have now come to an end
and each team is sending four fighters to the semis.
Xavier Franklin now joins his Bisping teammates
Mehemmedeli Osmanli
and Ilimbek Akylbek Uulu in the next round.
Christian Strong will be the only bantamweight
from Team Cormier fighting for a spot in the finale.
In the strawweight division,
Team Cormier has three semifinalists --
Melissa Amaya,
Tina Black, and Delphine Benouaich.
Gigi Canuto will be the only female fighter
representing Team Bisping.
The coaches are gonna meet with the fighters
to set the matchups for the semifinals.
♪♪
-What's up, guys? -Gigi!
-So Mike and I are tasked with coming up with
these semifinal fights.
I don't imagine it's gonna be easy.
-If you had your choice,
if you could fight any single one of them, who would that be?
-I would fight Delphine.
-I want to fight Gigi. -Okay.
-Gigi. -Yeah.
-Oh, my gosh.
I think that's no surprise. Gigi.
-Of course. That's good. -Why?
Oh, yeah, I did hear something like that.
[ Laughs ]
Christian. -How you feeling, buddy?
Ilimbek.
-Bek! Xavier.
-What's up, Coach?
-I'd like to fight Ilimbek.
-Christian. Give him to me.
-Why? -Two Americans. We gotta go at it.
We gotta see who's the best American that's gonna come out of here.
-So, if you could fight any one of those three guys...
This picture.
Yeah, see? [ Laughs ]
He's sexy. He's sexy now.
Please.
Who give my name?
Who said you? -Yeah.
-I honestly don't think anybody said your name.
-No one.
See, I told you. I love that.
I love the fact you're the only one
to come in here and say anyone.
-Yeah. -You know what I'm saying?
-Yeah, yeah, it's good.
Look, the kid kind of rubs me a little bit,
but he said, "I'll fight any of them," from the very moment.
Honestly, that's part of the reason
why people will be drawn to him.
Ah, shit.
This is really fucking hard.
♪♪
-Semifinals, huh? Ho ho! -Semifinal, yeah.
These matchups were incredibly difficult to make,
and I don't think -- this is fair to say --
that either of us are particularly happy
with what we've settled on.
-I do not like it.
-We had to settle on these matchups,
and we do have some very, very -- sadly for you guys --
difficult fights.
-We start with the women first.
-We argued about this for about an hour,
but Gigi Canuto, who's gonna to win this whole thing anyway,
respectfully, ladies.
She could have fought any one of them,
but the opponent will be none other than...
Melissa. -Melissa Amaya.
-I'm sorry, Delphine! -Let's go, Melissa.
Let's go. Go get it, champ.
-This is a great matchup for both of you.
-I'm literally having zoomies after the fights were picked,
and I just can't wait to show the world how good I am.
-Let's go, Gigi! -Gigi!
-I got what I wanted.
I wanted to test myself against her.
Like, she's young, exciting, very tough fighter.
-Look at the guns, man! -She's very strong.
-She's a gamer and I'm excited for it.
-Good job, good job, ladies. -Have a great fight, guys.
All the best. -Let's go!
-So, guys, listen,
having three people in the semifinal
makes for a very difficult decision
that leaves my girl Delphine to fight Tina Black.
So you ladies come on up here.
I don't like it, girls, but that is what it is, right?
♪♪
-Delphine and Tina, they're kind of similar fighters.
They're both strikers first. Neither lady are wrestlers.
They're gonna go out there,
they're gonna stand in the center of the Octagon,
they're gonna exchange shots and try and back each other up.
Very evenly matched fight.
-I wish you would have did a better job of coaching
so I didn't have to deal with this.
Good job, ladies. Good job, ladies.
[ Applause ]
-First pick with the men.
And sadly, I know you don't want to fight each other,
but this is the fight that we're gonna see.
So it's Xavier Franklin taking on Ilimbek.
-Ilimbek versus Xavier is gonna be a fun fight.
I'm just interested to see if Bek can employ
that same takedown-heavy strategy against Xavier,
who's a pretty good wrestler in his own right.
-This will be a phenomenal fight,
and I'm very excited for it.
-Here's the worry if you're Xavier --
I saw them in the evaluation.
Bek was taking him down.
This is a very dangerous fight for Xavier.
-I knew they were gonna do some bullshit with me.
Yeah.
-So, D.C., last but not least.
-Yep.
Christian Strong, obviously, is my only guy.
So, Christian, come up here.
-He gonna get his ass whupped.
-Christian, good luck.
Feels strong.
-He's very strong. American steel.
And he's gonna fight Mehemmedeli.
-Mehemmedeli! My man.
♪♪
Ohh! -[ Laughs ]
-D.C., he'll get you.
-I know he's not -- he's not scared.
-Look at the height difference. -Let's go, Christian.
-It's easier to get through him like that. Yeah.
Get him off you, Christian. Back up, boy. Back up, boy.
Yeah, you feel that? You feel that? You feel that?
You feel that? You feel that? You feel that?
-That's it. -You feel that?
-He's already scared. I can see it in his eyes.
-He's almost like trying to act like Conor.
-This guy is fucking irritating
and I'm looking forward to shutting this dude up.
-Get off. Chris...
-Let's go, guys.
-Hey, you're an American, What's up?
-Whoo!
-On the next episode of "The Ultimate Fighter"...
-This is my favorite part of the season.
-...D.C. and Bisping go to battle...
-They're gonna be competing in fencing.
[ Laughter ] -Fencing!
-...in a head-to-head competition
for the coaches challenge.
-Come on, D.C.! -And may the best blade win.
[ Cheering ]
-Shut up.
-Yep, yep.
-Then it's the first strawweight semifinal,
as Team Bisping's jiu-jitsu prodigy, Gigi Canuto...
-I'm willing to die to win.
-All right, Gigi. -Let's go!
-Let's go, Melissa. Come on, girl.
-...takes on Team Cormier's rising star, Melissa Amaya.
-Gigi's gonna have to rip my throat out
in order for her to get this win.
-Here we go.
-Who will claim a coveted spot
in the live finale?
-Oh, Jesus Christ!
♪♪