Plot twist!
The Ultimate Fighter wouldn’t be the same without one, nor would it be the same without a fighter getting injured which is precisely what happened before Artem Lobov met Martin Svensson in the quarter-final.
At the beginning of Wednesday night’s episode of TUF, Dana White revealed that Svensson had been forced out of the competition with what doctors discovered to be a broken elbow sustained in his victory over Thanh Le.
That meant Chris Gruetzemacher, who was eliminated from the tournament by White as he judged the American lightweight to have had the least entertaining preliminary fight, had a very short stint on the sidelines as he got the shout to replace the injured Swede.
“This changes nothing for me,” Lobov said ahead of fight time. “I’m going to prepare the way I always prepare and I’m going to fight the way I always fight.”
Lobov did indeed get started in the same way that he begins every fight, with his hands dropped to his waist and a disdainful frown on his face.
Gruetzemacher began by taking the centre of the octagon and firing kicks to the lead leg of the SBG fighter but it was Lobov who landed the most significant blow early on as a counter left straight snuck through Gruetzemacher’s guard and startled the American.
A right hook from Lobov, the same strike that finished James Jenkins in his preliminary fight, caught Gruetzemacher on a rushed entry before the pair exchanged from the clinch.
Lobov then started mixing it up between the head and body with power shots while Gritz continued to pepper away with roundhouse kicks to the midsection.
Referee John McCarthy called for a timeout when a bloodied Gruetzemacher landed with a knee to the groin in a tie-up but it took nothing out of The Russian Hammer who persisted in punishing the head movement, or lack thereof, of the American.
It appeared that Gruetzemacher was getting sick of the stand-up when he looked to initiate a grappling exchange against the fence but Lobov’s low hands appeared to be a smart gameplan as they were low enough to fight off underhooks.
Conor McGregor’s sparring partner looked to be fading a bit in the latter stages of the first round as he tried to catch his breath by backing up into the cage as Gruetzemacher plodded forward and found the target with a number of short shots.
A straight right caught Lobov flush before the pair traded clinch strikes to finish out a close first round.
Lobov found a second wind at the start of the second and he regained the spring in his step but Gruetzemacher maintained his forward pressure.
Gruetzemacher’s leg kicks seemed to have taken their toll on Lobov’s lead right leg and The Russian Hammer began switching stances more in the second round.
A straight right from the American stumbled Lobov but he did well to regain his composure and continue with his gameplan.
The most impactful shots of the fight so far came midway through the round just when it appeared that Lobov had gassed. But he dug deep and forced Gruetzemacher to take a backward step for the first time in the fight with a pawing right hook and crunching left straight.
Fatigue set in for Gritz and Lobov dodged any potential judging shenanigans when he dropped his opponent for the first time with two minutes remaining on the clock.
Credit to Gruetzemacher as he fought his way back to his feet but it wasn’t for long as The Russian Hammer secured his second consecutive knockout of the season with a left hook that put Gruetzemacher out for good and put the first Team Europe representative into the TUF 22 semi-finals.
Since the conclusion of the fights to get into the house, there have been just two knockouts all season and both of them have come via the heavy hands of Artem Lobov so his stock is certainly rising as the competition progresses.
Catch The Ultimate Fighter at 3am GMT every Thursday morning on BT Sport (part of the Setanta pack in Ireland). Repeated at 10pm GMT on Thursdays.
