UFC Ultimate Fighter live discussion thread: Closing out the quarter-final round

You know the drill. It's Friday, it's UFC, it's The Ultimate Fighter: Team Carwin vs. Team Nelson. Like last week, tonight's episode focuses squarely on the fights. The final two quarter-finals will take place, followed by the announcement of the semi-finals. As always, TUF airs at 10:00 p.m. ET on FX, and be sure to stay here at Bloody Elbow for live discussion.

After a pretty bad start to the season, things have been much improved lately. Perhaps it's just the allure of the finals coming soon, but I am once again looking forward to this week's episode. We have the most compelling fight of the season taking place, which should be interesting. This is also one of the season's last episodes, as the finals are just two weeks away on December 15.

Here's what to watch for tonight:

• Mike Ricci vs. Michael Hill. Hill thought these dudes had a Canadian bromance, Ricci disagreed. Now they'll fight. Between Ricci being the most interesting fighter of the season, and Hill's general oddness, this is one I'm looking forward to.
• Joey Rivera vs. Jonathan Manley in a Team Nelson vs. Team Nelson battle. Neither man has made a big impression on me this season, sorry to say.
• Semi-finals announcements: Will it be teammate vs. teammate to guarantee a Carwin vs. Nelson final? I'm hoping not since I'm rooting for a Magney vs. Ricci final, and they're both on Team Carwin.
• And finally - call me crazy, but I'm sort of missing the stupidity of Julian Lane. He was absent last week, denying us the opportunity for more top quality memes. Here's hoping for a brief, but meme-heavy Lane sighting this week.

Hope to see you here at Bloody Elbow tonight for TUF.

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