TUF: Live contestants Chris Saunders and Sam Sicilia (Photo courtesy of mixedmartialarts.com)

As the eighth episode of “The Ultimate Fighter: Live” begins, we watch some highlights from the previous week’s episode, in which Team Cruz’s Vinc Pichel forced Team Faber’s John Cofer to tap via arm-triangle choke early in the sudden death third round.

Heading into tonight’s episode, Team Cruz has evened up the fights at three apiece and recaptured fight control.  The seventh live fight selected for tonight’s show is a bout between Sam Sicilia of Team Cruz and representing Team Faber will be Chris Saunders.

Cruz was a lot happier after this fight compared to the previous performance of Chris Tickle, praising Pichel for listening to his advice going in for the third round.  He was told to go out there and make it a street fight and that is exactly what he did, securing the win.

Still taking the loss hard, Cofer was short for words about the loss and only promised that he’ll be back.

The Team Cruz training session started and team headmaster, Cruz, brought in a special guest to help with training.  Being the first woman invited to be a guest trainer on The Ultimate Fighter, Strikeforce 135-pound woman’s champion, Ronda Rousey, joined the team for the day. Rousey showed the team various judo techniques and they were more than willing to absorb everything that the champ had to throw at them.

Back at the TUF house the entire cast got together to watch UFC 145: Evans vs. Jones, including Rousey.  With the woman’s champ also being the first female in the TUF house, it clearly showed by the silence of her entrance.  With the fighters being secluded from the outside world, especially women, it led for awkward moments.

At the Team Faber training session, Saunders has all this skills that are necessary, but Faber points out that the self-confidence of his fighter is an area needing work.  Realizing that, Saunders felt that with him being the last chosen at team selection this is an opportunity to take out the number two pick and improve his stock.  The plan set by Faber for Saunders is to stick and move, getting out of the way of Sicilia’s wild punches.

Fighting 11 times last year alone, Sicilia rededicated himself to the sport and is ready to for his opportunity.  Focusing on Sicilia’s speed combined with his power, Team Cruz looked to make it a long night for Saunders by blasting him apart in the center of the ring before establishing the takedown.

Pranks start up again at the house and Team Cruz is accused of the traditional tampering of the kitchen faucet and Mike Rio states the fact that he’ll get crazy if someone tries to touch his hair.  In the backyard, Saunders broke down his life coming up to this point, describing how his parents weren’t around while growing up and how that has affected his life today by making him a stronger person.

Deciding to try and get under Cruz’s skin, Faber and the coaching staff removed all the furniture from Team Cruz’s dressing room and replaced it with workout equipment.  Getting down to their underwear, team Alpha Male worked up a sweat when Team Cruz members showed up to their room, which caused a bit of a stink.

At the weigh-ins, Sicilia checked in at 155-pounds for Team Cruz, while Saunders matched his opponent Team Faber.  As Cruz gave his fighter last minute pointers on ground control, Faber advised Saunders to utilize the push kick to keep Sicilia away.

To start the seventh live fight, Sicilia comes out throwing punches with bad intentions, but didn’t manage to land anything significant.  Midway through the round, Saunders finds his comfort zone and lands a head kick that drops Sicilian on his face.  Managing to recover, Sicilia got back to his feet and makes it to the second round.

The game plan of Sicilia is apparent well into the second round, he wants to knockout his opponent, but the chin of Saunders says otherwise.  The Team Cruz member did manage to drop Saunders with a wild left hook, but that wasn’t enough to make a difference in the eyes of the judge’s.  Team Cruz’s Sicilia has felt defeat for the first time, falling short by split decision to Saunders.

Happy with the victory, Saunders puts the equation together that added up to his victory.

“It went exactly as I thought,” Saunders said.  “Sam was second pick and a tough individual, but I have a great team behind me to help me out, and I had confidence; that’s all you need.”

Sicilia was also short with words, but realized what he did wrong coming into the decision loss.

“I didn’t believe in my wrestling as much as I could,” Sicilia admits.  “Other than that I made it a fight and lost a decision to a tough guy; there’s nothing else.”

Coming into the fight announcements UFC president, Dana White, states that he saw the fight going to a third and final round, as supposed to the judges.

Team Faber takes back control of the fight picks, but it is rendered useless, as there is only one fight left.  The eighth live fight to take place next Friday is between, Mike Rio of Team Cruz and Andy Ogle of Team Faber.