The preliminary round is coming to a close with an outstanding performance from Ricky Steele, but yet again, injuries strike.

Getting to know Ricky prior to his fight with Suman Mokhtarian, he talked about having multiple surgeries on his feet – and as much as his style is hard to beat, using your feet as your main weapons will always bring complications. So with that, I thought he might be a little more selective with his kicks in this fight, as it was only fight No. q, but as we all saw, he left everything in the cage and hammered Suman with some vicious kicks, and Team Cormier took another win – but now has three members of the team nursing injuries!

Moving forward with only two preliminary fights left, we have the aggressive Allan Zuniga against the silent but deadly Richie Smullen. Coming into the show, me and Richie became good friends and trained a lot together prior to entering the house. This guy has a legit grappling game and scary leg locks.

Richie has the least pro MMA fights out of the group but is still one of the most experienced fighters with over 10 amateur fights. Amateur MMA is really taking off in Ireland, and the level of competition out there isn’t as described: It’s not amateur, at all. These guys take it super serious, and a lot of them train full-time, so 10 amateur fights is real experience. Along with a handful of amateur boxing fights and a ton of grappling competitions, Richie was very experienced. He is also surrounded by a great bunch of fighters and coaching staff at SBG Ireland – having “The Notorious” Conor McGregor as a training partner can never hurt.

In itself, it’s a big bonus because of McGregor’s talent, but mainly because it attracts so many talented fighters to SBG. This is one of the biggest things Richie likes about it – all that talent that comes through the doors at the gym for him to train with – so you can see why, in my opinion, he is one of the most talented and dangerous 155-pounders on the show.

Richie is not a man who tries to walk in McGregor’s spotlight. He is his own man and fights for his family – but, he will not have anyone talk bad of McGregor or SBG Ireland. Loyalty is a big part of his life, and he loves to scrap.

Fight prep for Allan was a strange setup because everyone on our team – and especially the coaches – knew that we had a big challenge on our hands in the grappling department going into this one. After grappling and sparring with Allan, I knew he was in deep waters on the floor with Richie. You could say that for most of the guys on the show, but especially with Allan, though he certainly is no joke. Allan has the biggest record, coming onto the show at 13-0 and competing all over the world. Was his level of competition the highest standard? Maybe not, but he does have a couple of ex-UFC fighters on his record and a lot of finishes.

Allan’s style is very aggressive, and he is tough as nails, physically and mentally. He comes from a family of fighters, with his dad being an ex-professional boxer, which explains where Allan’s tough skin comes from. Many times throughout the show, I would try to talk with Allan – mainly in the jacuzzi, because that’s where you find Allan if he needs to be found.

Allan spoke only Spanish and didn’t communicate with others often, with Jose Martinez Jr. being the only other Spanish-speaking fighter. Even though I’ve lived in Spain for some time now, I wasn’t the best person for a chit-chat, as my level of Spanish is muy poco, but I got by and had some chats with him. He’s a big family man and found it very hard being away from them, but this is what this show brings out in people: real passion and dedication to reach their goal, even if loved ones have to suffer without you.

Time for weigh-ins, and we’ve got ourselves a fight!

I think the longer you wait to fight on this show, the more that the animal comes out in you, I know Richie has been dying to throw down since we got here, and you could really feel it from both men in the staredown. Daniel Cormier had to step in before it got too heated. After the teaser of how violent this fight was going to be at the weigh-ins, what came next was upsetting and unbelievable!

It’s fight day, and we are waiting for the fighters to make the walk, and Suman comes out from the warm-up areas and is gossiping with Team Cormier. Loads of rumors are flying around: Richie’s stomach is cramping, Richie’s not fighting, Richie that, and Ritchie this, etc. All of us were confused and had no real idea what was going on. We were just waiting to find out, but we knew something was wrong because we were waiting a long time, and then boom! The fight’s off because Richie is not medically fit to compete.

My heart sank. I class Richie as a friend. Regardless of him fighting or not, I was more worried about his health. All I could think about was his family back home, who want him back safe and sound. Once I managed to sneak through production, I went and checked on him. I was absolutely devastated for him. Not only was this man in pain, but his soul was broken, being so close to getting his shot to prove himself and take that step closer to setting not only himself up, but his family’s future. All he wanted to do was compete on “TUF” and have that moment, and to make things worse, no one could give him any answers to what was happening to him, his whole body swelled up, his calf as hard as concrete.

There were a lot of confused faces around. A lot of people had their own opinion on the situation, saying it was nerves, bad diet, being over-trained, but what does it really matter right now? This man has had his opportunity taken from him, right at the last moment, in the strangest circumstances! All that really matters is his health and safe return to his family.

I am pretty sure you will see this man enter that UFC octagon one day. I believe in the guy’s skill and just see this as a very strange obstacle and bump in the road he has to overcome.

So Allan gets a free pass and is through to the semifinals, and even though he protested and had an extremely emotional response to not fighting, as Dana White said, he was set up in the best position possible: no injuries, no pain, and you’re through! Allan didn’t like it, but it is what it is. The last preliminary fight in the competition is set, we have my main man “Delightful” Dulani Perry vs. the No. 1 pick in Tyler Diamond. Can the last pick take out the No. 1 pick? Wouldn’t that be interesting! See you next week to find out.

Jay Cucciniello (8-0), an English featherweight on “The Ultimate Fighter 27,” blogs about the season each week exclusively for MMAjunkie. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMelowFelow or Instagram at @mellowfellowmma. New episodes of the show air each Wednesday night on FS1.