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Posts Tagged ‘TUF’

Preliminary card

Middleweight bout:  Rich Attonito vs.  Dave Branch

Branch defeated Attonito by fooling the judges into giving him the W (30–27, 30–27, 30–27)

Featherweight bout:  Fredson Paixão vs.  Pablo Garza

Garza defeated Paixão by knocking the daylights out of him (flying knee) at 0:51 of round 1.

Catchweight (138 lb) bout:  Will Campuzano vs  Nick Pace

Pace defeated Campuzano by crushing him till it hurt (Pillory Choke) at 4:32 of round 3.

Lightweight bout:  Sako Chivitchian vs.  Kyle Watson

Watson defeated Chivitchian by fooling the judges into giving him the W (30–27, 30–27, 29–28).

Featherweight bout:  Tyler Toner vs.  Ian Loveland

Loveland defeated Toner by fooling the judges into giving him the W (30–27, 30–26, 29–28).

Lightweight bout:  Cody McKenzie vs.  Aaron Wilkinson

McKenzie defeated Wilkinson by crushing him till it hurt (guillotine choke) at 2:03 of round 1.

 Main card

Featherweight bout:  Nam Phan vs.  Leonard Garcia

Garcia defeated Phan by winking at the good looking judge (29–28, 27–30, 29–28).

Welterweight bout:  Johny Hendricks vs.  Rick Story

Story defeated Hendricks by fooling the judges into giving him the W (29–28, 29–28, 29–28).

Middleweight bout:  Demian Maia vs.  Kendall Grove

Maia defeated Grove by fooling the judges into giving him the W (29–28, 29–28, 29–28).

Light Heavyweight bout:  Stephan Bonnar vs.  Igor Pokrajac

Bonnar defeated Pokrajac by fooling the judges into giving him the W (29–26, 29–26, 29–26). Pokrajac was deducted one point at the end of round 2 for multiple knee strikes on a downed opponent. Bonnar was deducted one point at the end of round 3 for illegal strikes to the back of the head.

Lightweight bout:  Jonathan Brookins vs.  Michael Johnson

Brookins defeated Johnson by fooling the judges into giving him the W (29–28, 29–28, 29–27) to become the Season 12 Lightweight winner of The Ultimate Fighter.

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.

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!

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.
Saturday we find out who will be the Ultimate Fighter. After that, 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.

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.
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.
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!
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!
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.

Ok, so for the entire season of The Ultimate Fighter 6(TUF6) this year 2007 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!