Complex sentence: Larson told Long, "I really hope we don't have to play each other" before leaving the green room, but they would in fact face off as Long won his match and a total of $11,516 in cash and prizes.
Split into simpler sentences: Larson told Long, "I really hope we don't have to play each other" before leaving the green room. But they would in fact face off as Long won his match and a total of $11,516 in cash and prizes.