By Neil Davidson
THE CANADIAN PRESS
Bad boy Junie Browning and Canadian Krzysztof Soszynski exited in the semifinals of Season 8 of "The Ultimate Fighter."
In taped mixed martial arts fights in back-to-back episodes of the reality TV show aired Wednesday night, Ryan Bader and Vinny Magalhaes advanced to the final of the light-heavyweight division while Phillipe Nover and Efrain Escudero moved on to the lightweight final.
The fighters will meet Dec. 13 at the Palms in Las Vegas, with the winner in each weight class earning a contract to fight in the UFC. Other fighters in the series also graduate to the UFC but the winner arrives with a higher presence — and presumably a better contract.
Bader, Nover and Escudero were all members of Team Nogueira under Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira while Magalhaes represents Frank Mir and former heavyweight champion Frank Mir.
Nogueira and Mir will meet Dec. 27 at UFC 92 in Las Vegas, with the winner moving on to fight heavyweight title-holder Brock Lesnar.
Magalhaes, a jiu-jitsu black belt from Rio de Janeiro, submitted Soszynski via armbar in the first round. Soszynski, a 31-year-old from Winnipeg who now trains out of Temecula, Calif., is a veteran of the International Fight League with more than 30 pro fights under his belt. But he was unable to defend against the jiu-jitsu skills of fellow Team Quest member Magalhaes, who pulled guard twice before catching the Canadian.
Soszynski exited, saying he needed to improve his jiu-jitsu.
"It’s definitely very disappointing, but you move on," he said.
Bader outmuscled Elliot Marshall to win a unanimous 30-27 decision in a dull contest that saw Marshall, a jiu-jitsu black belt, on the bottom for most of the fight — unable to use his ground skills to escape the more powerful wrestler.
The undefeated Bader was a two-time all-American wrestler at Arizona State, where he roomed with Season 7 finalist C.B. Dolloway.
In the lightweight semifinals, Nover hardly broke a sweat in stopping George Roop via first-round armbar submission. The fighting nurse from New York City turned heads when he fainted in the first episode of the show but has been a revelation in the cage since.
"This kid is one of the most talented kids I’ve seen on `The Ultimate Fighter’ ever," said UFC president Dana White.
White was called into action himself prior to the semifinals when Browning had another tantrum at the fighters’ house, throwing a glass at a fellow cast member.
Browning had escaped being evicted earlier in the show after going on the war path on a drunken night. White gave him another second chance after polling the other fighters, saying the hothead from Kentucky was trying to get himself thrown off the show rather than face the possibility of losing on TV.
The cast members agreed to let Browning fight and Escudero thumped the Season 8 bad boy before submitting him in the second round via D’Arce choke.
"Justice was served," White said.
Taking a backseat midway during the bout, Mir washed his hands of Browning when the fighter ignored his instructions.
Since Nogueira placed three fighters in the finals, he got to collect on a bet by shaving Mir’s head after the semifinals.
