By Neil Davidson
THE CANADIAN PRESS
Featherweight Diego Brandao and bantamweight John Dodson win in decisive fashion to advance to the finale of Season 14 of The Ultimate Fighter.
The results leave rival coaches Michael (The Count) Bisping and Jason (Mayhem) Miller with two fighters each in Saturday’s live finale in Las Vegas.
Miller and Bisping will also face off Saturday night at The Palms.
Watch the TUF 14 finale live on Sportsnet on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET.
In the episode of the MMA reality TV show that aired Wednesday, Brandao (Team Bisping) punishes Miller’s Bryan Caraway before stopping him in the first round.
"This kid’s got unbelievable killer instinct," UFC president Dana White says of the hard-nosed Brazilian.
Next up for Brandao is Team Miller 145-pounder Dennis (The Menace) Bermudez.
Dodson, meanwhile, stops Miller teammate Johnny Bedford in a 135-pound semifinal. The five-foot-three Dodson will face T.J. Dillashaw of Team Bisping in the bantamweight final.
White calls the quartet "the four most talented guys ever going into the finale" in 14 seasons.
Brandao punishes Caraway with kicks early and then catches him with a left to the head with two minutes remaining in the round.
Brandao then throws more than 60 punches, kicks and knees in the next 75 seconds, knocking Caraway around the ring like a rubber ball. Referee Josh Rosenthal hovers on the fringe before finally stepping in.
At five foot eight, Bedford has a five-inch height and six inch-reach advantage on the pint-sized Dodson.
"A huge size difference," says White.
Bedford is unable to use it, however, in the early going. Both fighters score brief takedowns but it is Dodson who has the edge with his speed and fast hands.
Dodson ends the fight early in the second, felling Bedford with a left to the chin followed by six vicious hammer fists to his dazed opponent before referee Herb Dean could step in.
When the doctor asks the prone Bedford if he knows where he is, the fighter replies: "I’m in Ohio."
Dodson does a backflip in the cage and takes a bow while an unsteady Bedford lurches out of the cage.
"I didn’t think he had the power to knock me out. And apparently I was wrong," an emotional Bedford says later.
Winning the show is part of a Brandao game plan that includes buying a house for his mother in Brazil.
"The guy’s a beast," says Bisping, who chose him first overall when the fighters were divided into teams. "He’s the full package."
"Listen I’d be scared of the guy and he’s only the size of my leg," added the English middleweight.
Facing a stone-cold killer does little for the nerves of Caraway, who confesses he has thrown up before 30 of his 33 fights.
Brandao seems in Caraway’s head well ahead of the fight.
Caraway is shown in a hot tub, nervously looking on as Brandao sharpens a cleaver nearby on a rock prior to cooking.
