In this week's episode of UFC The Ultimate Fighter Live, we saw our 7th opening round fight as Sam Sicilia from Team Cruz faced Chris Saunders from Team Faber. Heading into the bout, the two teams were even at 3 wins each. Sicilia was regarded as the favorite due to his huge KO win in the preliminary round, however it was Saunders who emerged as the victor, taking the fight via split decision after 2 rounds.

This was an entertaining, if sloppy battle that saw both men in trouble at times. The story here was Sicilia's power vs. Saunders's technique. In round 1, Saunders managed to drop Sicilia and looked to be very close to stopping the fight, but the Team Cruz fighter managed to get back in it. Round 2 saw Sicilia push the pace and keep the pressure on Saunders, who looked to be tiring through the round. After two rounds, I had it 19-19 with Saunders taking round 1, Sicilia round 2.

The judges did not see it my way and scored the fight as a split decision win for Saunders, with two judges scoring it 20-18 for him, and one going 20-18 Sicilia. All around strange scoring there that somewhat tarnishes what was an otherwise fun fight.

Next week, the opening round wraps up with Mike Rio vs. Andy Ogle.