The Notorious opted for a fellow SBG fighter when given his first fight pick of the season.
British lightweight Saul Rogers fights out of SBG Manchester and he got the nod from Conor McGregor to represent Team Europe in the fourth fight of TUF 22.
With Team U.S.A. leading 2-1, the bout was of huge importance as McGregor attempted to keep his team’s momentum on track from Marcin Wrzosek’s victory over Tom Gallicchio last week.
Rogers was taking on Urijah Faber’s representative Billy Quarantillo and the Brit took a distinct experience advantage into the cage.
The gameplan for Tha Hangman would have been to engage the less technical Quarantillo in a grappling contest but it was actually the American who shot first on a takedown, which prompted Faber to ask his fellow cornermen “what the fuck is he doing?”
As the question left Faber’s lips, Rogers predictably stuffed the shot and ended up on top of Quarantillo.
From there, Rogers was like a wet blanket round the shoulders of his opponent as he held on to a bodylock and ragdolled Quarantillo for the remainder of the first.
In the second round, Rogers came out calling for Quarantillo to pour it on before intelligently diving under on a leg and taking the fight to the ground once more.
There wasn’t the slightest hint of a comeback on the cards as Rogers controlled the American throughout the second, transitioning from the back to side control to half guard at will and landing hard ground and pound throughout.
Rogers’ dominance showed on the scorecards as one judge gave him both rounds 10-8 while the two others gave him a 10-8 in the second round.
It won’t go down as the greatest fight in TUF history but it was a smart gameplan from Rogers who knows that he’ll be fighting again sooner rather than later so ensured minimum damage was inflicted.
The domination means that McGregor keeps control of the fight picks and he chose France’s Mehdi Baghdad to take on Julian Erosa.
The Ultimate Fighter is on BT Sport (part of the Setanta pack in Ireland) every Thursday at 3am (repeated at 10pm on Thursdays).
