Last Updated on February 6, 2013.
by John Morgan – MMAjunkie.com
UFC President Dana White is not a man uncomfortable with lacing superlatives when it comes to hyping his product. But when he promised that Tuesday’s episode of FX’s “The Ultimate Fighter 17” would deliver one of the craziest knockouts in UFC history, White was right on the mark.
Team Tiger Schulmann fighter Uriah Hall flattened opponent Adam Cella with a kick so brutal, White said FX lawyers refused to allow him to post an unedited version of the carnage online.
“In my 13 years at UFC I have only seen 5 KO’s like this,” White wrote on Twitter.
Strikers by trade, Team Sonnen’s Hall and Team Jones’ Cella traded heavy shots throughout the first round of their middleweight bout, which aired on Tuesday’s new episode of “TUF 17.” With the round coming to a close, Hall launched a spinning wheel kick that landed on the button and sent Cella crashing to the canvas. Cella was unconscious when he hit the mat, and Hall walked away with a spectacular victory.
Cella took nearly four minutes to recover from the blow, and a gym that had been cheering a highlight-reel finish fell eerily silent as the fighter slowly shook out the cobwebs.
UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, the head coach of Team Jones, accompanied his fighter for a precautionary visit to the hospital and took to Twitter following the episode to let everyone know Cella recovered quickly from the blow.
“He was in good spirits and actually pretty hilarious on the way to the hospital,” Jones said.
Hall is now an obvious frontrunner among the 14 middleweight fighters vying for a UFC contract and is an early favorite for the $25,000 bonus check that comes along with the season’s fan-voted “Knockout of the Season.”
New episodes of “TUF 17” air Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on FX.
