Another TUF was crowned on Saturday, June 19, 2010.  It was Court McGee lifting up the worthless glass trophy this time.  Actually, just the trophy is worthless.  The six figure UFC contract ain’t too shabby of a prize.  The other The Ultimate Fighter 11 freaks put on a good display.  The Yager/Attonito fight was kind of disappointing.  I kind of wanted to see Yager go against Hammortree to settle all the crap that happened in the house but whatever.  Yager’s fight ended with another loss.  I don’t know what happened to this guy.  Out of all the loudmouths in the house, he looked like he could go the furthest.  Maybe he should loose the fro and get serious about fight training?  The Hamill/Jardine fight ended in a bloody mess.  I couldn’t believe what happened to each fighter’s eyes.  At one point, Jardine poked Matt’s eye then after a long clinch and a few strikes, Jardine looked like he needed to get the RED out.  Jardine’s days as the “Mean” one are very numbered.  I think this is loss four in a row.  He’d probably make a good spokesperson for Scared Straight or something.  The Octagon hasn’t been to friendly of late.  Here’s the results of this (I kid you not, I couldn’t stay awake both times I attempted to watch these fights.  Maybe it was the lack of Joe Rogan yelling out “oumaplata!” every other move!) snooze-fest:

No Wanna See You Undercard Fights:

* Middleweight bout:  James Hammortree vs.  Chris Camozzi
Camozzi fooled the judges and beat up Hammortree via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)

* Middleweight bout:  Kyle Noke vs.  Josh Bryant
Noke put the hurt on Bryant via TKO (strikes) at 3:12 of round 2.

* Middleweight bout:  Brad Tavares vs.  Seth Baczynski
Tavares fooled the judges and beat up Baczynski via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

* Lightweight bout:  John Gunderson vs.  Mark Holst
Gunderson fooled the judges and beat up Holst via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

Main Drunk on the Couch or Pub Spike TV Fights:

* Middleweight bout:  Jamie Yager vs.  Rich Attonito
Attonito put the hurt on Yager via TKO (strikes) at 4:25 of round 2.

* Lightweight bout:  Spencer Fisher vs.  Dennis Siver
Siver fooled the judges and beat up Fisher via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28).

* Middleweight bout:  Chris Leben vs.  Aaron Simpson
Leben put the hurt on Simpson via TKO (punches) at 4:17 of round 2.

* Light Heavyweight bout:  Matt Hamill vs.  Keith Jardine
Hamill fooled the judges and beat up Jardine via majority decision (29-27, 29-27, 28-28). Jardine had one point deducted for a pokey in the eyehole.  OUCH!

* Middleweight bout:  Court McGee vs.  Kris McCray
McGee choked the fight out of McCray via submission (rear naked choke) at 3:41 of round 2 to become The Ultimate Fighter.

* Heavyweight bout:  James McSweeney vs.  Travis Browne
Browne put the hurt on McSweeney via TKO (punches) at 4:32 of round 1.

This was a pretty packed card for a freebie.  I could argue that it was an even better card than the last few Pay Per View UFC fights what with Kenny Florian, Gomi, Roy Nelson, Nate Quarry and Gleison Tibau.  I gotta say, Roy “Big Country” Nelson is another of those fighters that I have to eat crow about.  Nate Diaz is one that I’ve really really come to respect after talking a bunch of trash about him.  Nelson just does NOT look like the kind of guy that can lay you out but he’s proven it in match after match that he belongs in the Octagon, big stomach and all.  Guess we’ll be seeing a LOT more of this guy.  I think a Kimbo rematch is in order.  Oh yeah.  Remember THAT guy??!?  He *is* still under contract if I’m not mistaken.  Let me know if I am…  Here are your BIG results.

No Wanna See You Undercard Fights:

* Welterweight bout:  Charlie Brenneman vs.  Jason High
Brenneman fooled the judges and beat up High via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28).

* Middleweight bout:  Gerald Harris vs.  Mario Miranda
Harris put the hurt on Miranda via TKO (punches) at 4:49 of round 1.

* Middleweight bout:  Yushin Okami vs.  Lucio Linhares
Okami put the hurt on Linhares via TKO (doctor stoppage) at 2:47 of round 2.

* Lightweight bout:  Rob Emerson vs.  Nik Lentz
Lentz fooled the judges and beat up Emerson via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28).

* Lightweight bout:  Jacob Volkmann vs.  Ronnys Torres
Volkmann fooled the judges and beat up Torres via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 30-27).

* Lightweight bout:  Andre Winner vs.  Rafaello Oliveira
Winner fooled the judges and beat up Oliveira via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27).

Main Drunk on the Couch or Pub Spike TV Fights:

* Lightweight bout:  Ross Pearson vs.  Dennis Siver
Pearson fooled the judges and beat up Siver via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

* Middleweight bout:  Nate Quarry vs.  Jorge Rivera
Rivera put the hurt on Quarry via TKO (punches) at 0:29 of round 2.

* Lightweight bout:  Caol Uno vs.  Gleison Tibau
Tibau put the hurt on Uno via TKO (punches) at 4:13 of round 1.

* Heavyweight bout:  Roy Nelson vs.  Stefan Struve
Nelson layed the smack down on Struve via KO (punches) at 0:39 of round 1.

* Lightweight bout:  Kenny Florian vs.  Takanori Gomi
Florian choked the fight out of Gomi via submission (rear naked choke) at 2:52 of round 3.

The Ultimate Fighter Heavyweights Finale rumbled in on December 5th, 2009 with a whimper and left with a big HONK! er Country. Yes, horror of all horrors, Roy “Big Country” Nelson emerged victorious and is now the newest Ultimate Fighter winner. I keep forgetting and, I think, everyone else keeps forgetting that this is a *GAME SHOW*. So Brendan Shaub getting nailed in the temple shouldn’t have been a surprise. He just doesn’t have the ring experience that Nelson has. At least he didn’t get his face smashed by Roy’s belly like all the other losers on TUF that got schooled by him. “Meathead” Mitrone took down “Big Baby.” I was really pulling for Marcus to redeem himself but he showed his inexperience as well. He’s got a few years to get better though. Kimbo won his first match as a UFC fighter. This shouldn’t have been such a snoozer. You can thank Houston Alexander’s camp for sticking to the most boring gameplan ever: Circle, circle, circle, smack Kimbo in the knee, circle, circle, circle, smack Kimbo on the knee, Oops! get owned by Kimbo Slice’s *ground game*??!?! The headliner fight between Matt Hamill and Jon Jones was easily the most exciting if you remove the win by DQ for Hamill. I’ve won by DQ before. You really feel like a bitch raising your hand in victory while you are bleeding your nose out. Hamill is better than that but Jones is something else. Watch out UFC, Jones is not going away!

Here’s your results in all their inglorious crappitude…

No Wanna See You Undercard Fights:

* Welterweight bout:  John Howard vs.  Dennis Hallman
Howard put the hurt on Hallman via KO (Strikes) at 4:55 of round 3.

* Light Heavyweight bout:  Brian Stann vs.  Rodney Wallace
Stann fooled the judges and beat up Wallace via unanimous decision. (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

* Heavyweight bout:  Jon Madsen vs.  Justin Wren
Madsen fooled the judges and beat up Wren via split decision. (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)

Main Drunk on the Couch or Pub Spike TV Fights:

* Heavyweight bout:  Marcus Jones vs.  Matt Mitrione
Mitrione put the hurt on Jones via KO (Punches) at 0:10 of Round 2.

* Lightweight bout:  Frank Edgar vs.  Matt Veach
Edgar choked the fight out of Veach via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 2:22 of Round 2.

* Lightweight bout:  Mark Bocek vs.  Joe Brammer
Bocek choked the fight out of Brammer via submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:36 of round one.

* Catchweight (212 lb) bout:  Kimbo Slice vs.  Houston Alexander
Slice fooled the judges and beat up Alexander via unanimous decision. (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)

* Light Heavyweight bout:  Matt Hamill vs.  Jon Jones
Hamill dropped his hands and used his unguarded face to win against Jones via DQ (illegal elbow) at 4:14 of Round 1

* Heavyweight bout:  Darrill Schoonover vs.  James McSweeney
McSweeney put the hurt on Schoonover via TKO (Strikes) at 3:20 of Round 3.

* Heavyweight bout:  Roy Nelson vs.  Brendan Schaub
Nelson put the hurt on Schaub via KO (Punch) at 3:25 of Round 1 to become the The Ultimate Fighter 10 Heavyweights Winner.

The UFC Fight Night 13 has come and gone. I’ve been able to watch it, watch it again, and then re-watch it for good measure. I’ve come away with a few thoughts. The match ups were actually not too bad. There was a really good mix of fighters this time out and very few couch potatoes if you don’t count Tim Boetsch who got dropped in the second round of his fight. Our Ultimate Fighter Alumni fare ok although some of them could have done much much better. I’m talking to you Farm Boy! Just don’t hurt me or try to find me or… hey, how about I buy you a few beers buddy old pal! We also got to see the debut of the new season of The Ultimate Fighter. Was it everything we hoped and dreamed for?

Joe Lauzon was handled without mercy by Kenny Florian late into the second round of their fight. They were pretty even for a while there. This match easily scores as best of the night. That is, unless of course the un-aired Clay Guida or Manny Gamburyan fights were as action packed as this one. I remember Joe on the Ultimate Fighter 5 and he was one of the short listed guys to win it all. It’s funny that he headlines this event while the guys that advanced further than him are second and even no-billed at all.

Tommy (The Farm Boy) Speer was handed an embarassing loss to Anthony Johnson. It wasn’t a good sign when we saw Matt Hughes in his corner. Hughes probably handed Speer a Bible and his patented “gameplan” for Johnson. It was obvious that Tommy was going to try to take this one to the ground and then do some pounding or submitting from there. He did so by charging in with his head wide open and just got rocked by punches that kept coming. He ended up in a little ball on the side of the Octagon. He should have abandoned the gameplan when he discovered that his head was hurting a bit. I hope Tommy does better. He certainly was my pick to win last season. Of course, the mad Vegan Big Mac Danzig had something to say about that.

Nate Diaz is the real effing deal. As much as I can’t stand the guy and believe that he walked away with a fake win on the Ultimate Fighter 5, he is proving himself to be one of those elite fighters. His match with Kurt Pellegrino really proved that he can’t be beat even when he is soundly getting beat. Kurt controlled and layed the beat down on Nate for almost his entire match. Then somehow, he found himself in a triangle complete with double birds for good measure. Manvel the Anvil won his match as well. I will scream at the top of my lungs until it happens: NATE DIAZ VS MANNY GAMBURYAN MUST HAPPEN NOW!!!!

After all this bone crunching goodness, we got to see the new season of The Ultimate Fighter unfold. In a word best used by Forrest Griffin: Garbage. This was just the preliminary fights. 32 guys started shuffling into the gym and none of them had a clue what was going on. “Uh… usually there are only 16 guys on the show but all these other dudes kept walking in the door. We were all like, ‘WTF??!’” Hmmmm… you signed up for a show called “The Ultimate Fighter” and you know only 16 guys are on the show? Duh. So we saw some more fights by guys that were really really raw or “garbage.” So if they drag this part of the show out more, we’re looking at 2 more weeks of this junk. I can’t believe I’m jonesing for an upper-decker or a foosball table in the pool right now!

Mac Danzig brought it to Tommy Speer last night on the Ultimate Finale.  It was a result that was hard to fathom going into the fight.  Tommy had shown no signs of giving up at all on The Ultimate Fighter.  That Mac was able to submit him shows that all the brooding talk (from Mac himself) of how he was better than everyone else was true after all.

The featured fight of the night was Roger (El Matador) Huerta vs. Clay (The Carpenter) Guida.  As predicted in my rant, The Carpenter hammered away at El Matador but in the end, Huerta won out.  It was a truly exciting match and from all appearances, Guida looked like he was going to win it all.  Huerta never lost composure, however, and came away with a victory by rear naked choke.

The fight between Ben Saunders and Dan Berrara didn’t match the bloodfest that was their fight in TUF6.  Both came back stronger and better trained but Saunders long legs helped to defeat Berrara in both the standup and ground games.  Ben didn’t finish it like he wanted but he got the decision which is really all that matters.

George Sotiropoulos completely outclassed Billy Miles with his ground game although he did a great job of trading punches.  Miles has a much better standup game and George was curious as to why Miles brought it to the ground.  Luckily for GeorgieBoy, Miles made that mistake.

Troy “Rude Boy” Mandaloniz vs. Richie Hightower:Upper-Decker Extreme Match1 2K7.  Rude Boy and Hightower traded some fierce blows in this mostly standup game.  Troy came out ahead with a great series of knees and punches.

Upper-Decker Extreme Match2 featured Jared (JRok) Rollins vs. Jon (Warmachine) Koppenhaver.  This was a truly bloody mess of a fight.  The ground and standup games of both of these guys were top notch.  JRok had Warmachine in submissions a number of times.  War just wouldn’t give up and a la Tommy Speers, came up with a bloody win.  Easily one of the best matches of the night.

All in all a great finale.  We got to see all of our favorites from TUF6 come back better and stronger.  We also saw a fantastic UFC match in Huerta vs. Guida.  Be on the lookout for all of these fighters.  They will be forces to be reckoned with for sure.

We are at the end of another chapter of UFC‘s The Ultimate Fighter(TUF).  What a show it’s been!  From the drama of Roman not being able to fight, to Dorian flipping out and wanting a piece of the crew, to Paul experiencing the heartbreak of losing a close family member.  These lows have been compelling but the highs have obviously been the MMA action.  We’ve seen some awesome fights, especially from Tommy who doesn’t seem to understand that fighters actually lose sometimes.  Ben revels in combat and has a smile whether he’s pounding on someone or being pounded by someone.

Tonight we find out who will compete in the finals. After tonight, we will have to face another period of time without TUF to keep us company.  It’s clear that in it’s 6th incarnation, TUF shows no signs of fading away but nothing is perfect.  There are still some annoyances that plague this series and what better time to address these issues than before the start of The Ultimate Fighter 7?  Maybe Dana White and crew will take heart so that the next TUF show will be it’s best ever.

1)  Move the show to different venues around the country.  Vegas isn’t the only place with an octagon.  We’d be able to see more fighters and coaches in the UFC/MMA community.  Maybe the fighters would get into less trouble with the locals as well.  The finale should still be fought in Vegas to make the prize that much sweeter.

2)  Give the fighters something to do!  We’ve seen enough pranks and the recent “upper-decker” incident  has really taken us to a new low.  This is a popular show and Dana always stresses that this is an incredible opportunity for anyone lucky enough to make it on the program.  Make them go out into the community and help out someone.  If they based the show in New Orleans or Florida, they could build houses.  The UFC could and should represent itself in a better light.

3)  No more crying!  The sight of a grown man crying is a sad one indeed.  We don’t need Barbara Walter’s moments on a show about fighters.  It’s unfortunate that this makes for great TV but if we have to sit through another tearful rant (see Andy Wang TUF5), we might as well watch some Oprah.  Who knows?  We may get a new car!

4)  On somewhat the same note, no more losers talking about leaving the house.  Everyone knows the deal by now.  The opportunities in the UFC come to everyone in the house, not just the overall winner.  Maybe they need to do some psychiatric evaluations on everyone before they enter the house so they know who will make it the whole way without wimping out (see Joe Scarola) or worse, flipping (see Dorian) out!

5)  This one may be a tough one:  Reduce the chance of injury during training.  I don’t know how you could do this without compromising the quality of instruction.  Still, nicks, bruises, and black eyes are one thing.  Broken bones and herniated disks are an entirely different matter altogether.  The first show denied us the chance to see what Roman may or may not have been able to do.  We’ve also been denied the chance to see the fight that we’ve been sold on this whole season: Serra Vs. Hughes because of injury.  There’s another post devoted to this so we’ll leave it at that.

There you have it.  Five things that could push TUF to the next level.  Will they do any of this?  Probably not.  Oh well, I suppose there are worse things to see on television than a bunch of drunken idiots bashing their heads into walls and throwing foosball tables into pools!

More: continued here

Ok, so for the entire season of The Ultimate Fighter(TUF) this year we have been lead to believe that Serra Vs. Hughes would be our big payoff. What began as a minor dislike for each other was crafted into a full fledged feud. It would be settled, like last year’s grudge match between Little Evil Jens Pulver and The Prodigy BJ Penn, in the Octagon.

This Saturday, December 8th at the Palms in Vegas, we will be treated to a number of other good fights in their own right.

The undercard, which most likely for brevity, will be pared down, features some compelling matches:

JRoc vs. Upper-Decker Machine will definitely be interesting once we get to the ground game. Can you say “Lower Decker?” Probably can’t show that on SpikeTV.

Roman vs. Dorian will be another one to watch. Roman was willing to step into the Octagon with a bloody stump and if it hadn’t been for the cooler heads of the UFC doctors, he would have.

For those of us who’s knowledge of UFC extends only as far as TUF, the main event maybe a fight between two strangers. For those of us in the know, The Matador Huerta vs. The Carpenter Guida will be an exciting match. I don’t think any amount of hammering from the Carpenter is going to stop El Matador from a victory in this one however.

We have yet to find out who will be in the championship bout but we know, for sure, who will not be fighting: Hughes vs. Serra. They also will not be fighting in the pay-per-view UFC79:Nemesis. No, we get to see Hughes vs. Georges St. Pierre compete in something called an “interim welterweight title.” It’s a great match for die-hard UFC fans. For fair weather newbies that are fans of the TUF6 show, it’s an incredible let-down.

Interim Title??!? Aren’t they all interim titles? You’re the champ until you’re not. Serra couldn’t fight because of an injury. No problem. (See Roman Mitichyan above.) The “real” fight for the championship will be decided after this match; winner going on to fight a healed up Serra. What if Hughes loses the match? It will then be GSP vs. Serra for the real Interim-Interim Welterweight Championship.

Championship belts in combat sports nowadays are a dime a dozen. Just look at the mess in professional boxing. There is no need to put up a “Championship” bout that means nothing. A match between Serra and Hughes would transcend any meaningful ranking in the UFC. Even if GSP lays waste to Hughes, Hughes should still fight with Serra. The “bottom-line” (read that MONEY) would be fulfilled with this match as well since TUF6 is an extremely high rated show.

Let’s just hope that the champion of the show is real this time as well. If we go back to TUF5 Finale, Nate Diaz won because Manny Gamburyan dislocated his shoulder. Not because he was winning the match. Have we seen a rematch? No. This would have been an excellent undercard fight. They each are fighting other matches, Diaz is fighting Alvin Robinson on an upcoming UFC Fight Night 12 on January the 23rd. Manny Gamburyan fights a different “Nate,” Nate Mohr at the aforementioned UFC:79. How much better would it have been to see Diaz vs. Gamburyan? A lot better.

Just like Hughes vs. Serra: Give Us the Fight We Were Promised!