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"Ultimate Fighter 10 finale: Roy Nelson gets contract, Kimbo Slice wins, Chuck Liddell coming back
Huge Announcement: During this event, UFC President Dana White announced that Chuck LIddell and Tito Ortiz will be the competing coaches for the 11th season of "The Ultimate Fighter" and face each other in the Octagon after the season concludes And now, back to our previously scheduled programming...
The 10th season of the UFC's uber-popular reality show, "The Ultimate Fighter," was arguably one of the very best since the first season that featured current UFC mainstays like Forrest Griffin, Mike Swick, Josh Koscheck, Diego Sanchez and Kenny Florian. As just about everyone already knows, this season featured nothing but heavyweight fighters and while not all of the preliminary fights were instant classics, the personalities of the fighters themselves carried the show and created a buzz for the finale. Saturday night's event had the distinction of determining who would win this season of the show and the accompanying six-figure contract, as well as settling a couple of grudges from inside the house. As if that wasn't enough, there was a top lightweight contender in action, not to mention the UFC debut of Kimbo Slice. Let's get right to the action.
Matt Mitrione KOs Marcus Jones: Jones looked like he was actually going to commit murder during the show when he found out that fellow cast member Scott Junk's fighting career was threatened by an eye poke from Mitrione. Cooler heads eventually prevailed, but Jones still carried some sincere dislike for Mitrione into this fight and quickly set about using his size and ground fighting advantages to wear him out. They were up and down during the first round and Mitrione landed some solid punches before the bell. Jones never got a chance to take it back to the ground in the second, though, because he ran into a big right as he chased Mitrione toward the fence. Jones went out like a light and suffered a bitter first defeat in the UFC.
Frankie Edgar submits Matt Veach: In my opinion, Edgar is one of the very best lightweights in the UFC. I'm talking top-five material, so I really felt that the undefeated, yet relatively unknown Veach was severely overmatched in this fight. Veach actually started the first round pretty well. He got a few take downs and big slams before Edgar was able to settle into his striking and control the rest of the round. One thing that I didn't account for when analyzing this fight beforehand was the size differential. Veach looked a lot bigger than Edgar out there and I think it caused the latter some problems. Edgar exploded in the second round, though, landing a huge right that dropped Veach. He followed him to the mat and landed several additional strikes before taking Veach's back and submitting him with a rear naked choke. Edgar showed his quality as a fighter once again and made a statement in the process, because if you ask me, he should have been given a chance at B.J. Penn before Diego Sanchez.
Kimbo Slice wins unanimous decision over Houston Alexander: It was no secret that both of these guys brought fight-stopping power into this one. What I was most curious about was the effect that the 215-pound catch weight would have on both fighters. I wondered whether or not Kimbo had been able to master the cut in his first attempt. As far as Alexander goes, I wondered whether or not fighting above his normal 205 would diminish any of his power. One thing we didn't have to worry about was this becoming a boring ground fight. These two were there to bang, but Alexander came out and circled for the entire first round, content to through periodic leg kicks. Kimbo took over in the second round, landing one of the hardest stomach punches I've ever seen. When Alexander slipped, he chased and landed more hard shots, then proceeded to gain dominant positions on the ground and land solid shots while doing so. As they headed into the third round, it was obvious that Kimbo had made good use of the time since taping of TUF 10 ended, training with American Top Team in Florida. Alexander landed a leg kick that buckled Kimbo on the third, but Kimbo took him down and got top position again. Both fighters were completely out of gas by the end and it went to the judges. I thought Alexander carried the first and third rounds, but Kimbo had the most dominating moments of the fight in the second, so it was kind of up in the air. Kimbo ended up winning a unanimous decision (one judge had it 30-27?!), but more importantly, showed the most improvement he ever has during any one fight in his short career. If he can get 15 minutes worth of cardio, learn how to check leg kicks and continue improving his ground game, he may yet be a legitimate factor in the heavyweight division.
Jon Jones loses to Matt Hamill by disqualification: I've always loved what Matt Hamill is about. Getting to the top level of MMA while being deaf is a mind blowing feat, but I just didn't think he had a chance against Jones, who came into this fight with some serious momentum. Jones stuffed all of Hamill's early take down attempts, then threw Hamill down and got top position. Then he started one of the most impressive ground-and-pound offensives I've seen in a long time. He was landing all kinds of elbows while Hamill covered up. Referee Steve Mazzagatti stopped Jones when he landed a "12 to 6" (straight down) elbow to Hamill's nose. Hamill laid motionless, though, unable to continue. His nose was badly damaged and bleeding into both eyes even before the elbow in question, so I assumed that Jones would be awarded a TKO. Instead, Jones was disqualified and suffered the first loss of his career. Mazzagatti had it right when he said he was taking a point from Jones. All of the damage had been done prior to the illegal strike, so he should have gotten a TKO in my opinion. It was an unfortunate ending to a great performance from Jones, but regardless of what his win/loss column says, future opponents have even more to worry about when facing Jones.
James McSweeney defeats Darrill Schoonover by TKO: McSweeney looked close to finishing Schoonover with a guillotine early in the first round, but gave up top position before getting it back himself later in the round. They finished the round trading strikes and Schoonover looked like he had McSweeney hurt. Schoonover looked a lot heavier than he did during the TUF 10 season and had recently been informed that he was going back on active duty with the Army. It's impossible to know if that affected his conditioning or preparation, but he looked completely wasted in the second round. McSweeney was far from incredible, but Schoonover made himself easy pickins. The third round was unimpressive and sloppy until McSweeney finally took advantage of Schoonover's state and finished him off with a combination of knees, kicks and strikes.
Roy Nelson KOs Brendan Schaub to become "The Ultimate Fighter:" I thought this fight could go either way, but I went with the veteran Nelson in my prediction article. I just had a gut feeling that he was going to turn it up more in this fight than he did during his other fights during season 10 to get to this point. Admittedly, the term "gut feeling" could take on a whole new meaning when Roy Nelson is involved, but you know what I mean, right? Schaub came out throwing crisp punches, but Nelson got a quick take down and went to work. He got side control, but Schaub escaped like we've seen so many times already. Schaub used his reach advantage pretty well, but then the unexpected happened. Nelson landed a hard right to Schaub's ear and dropped him like a bad habit. He didn't even have to finish him with any more shots, but got one in before Herb Dean pulled him off. It wasn't the exact method of victory I predicted, but I'll take it anyway. Nelson is a much better fighter than his physique leads many people to believe. As far as Schaub goes, I think he's a tremendous talent and at just 26, he's got time to improve and become a serious heavyweight contender.
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Huge Announcement: During this event, UFC President Dana White announced that Chuck LIddell and Tito Ortiz will be the competing coaches for the 11th season of "The Ultimate Fighter" and face each other in the Octagon after the season concludes And now, back to our previously scheduled programming...
The 10th season of the UFC's uber-popular reality show, "The Ultimate Fighter," was arguably one of the very best since the first season that featured current UFC mainstays like Forrest Griffin, Mike Swick, Josh Koscheck, Diego Sanchez and Kenny Florian. As just about everyone already knows, this season featured nothing but heavyweight fighters and while not all of the preliminary fights were instant classics, the personalities of the fighters themselves carried the show and created a buzz for the finale. Saturday night's event had the distinction of determining who would win this season of the show and the accompanying six-figure contract, as well as settling a couple of grudges from inside the house. As if that wasn't enough, there was a top lightweight contender in action, not to mention the UFC debut of Kimbo Slice. Let's get right to the action.
Matt Mitrione KOs Marcus Jones: Jones looked like he was actually going to commit murder during the show when he found out that fellow cast member Scott Junk's fighting career was threatened by an eye poke from Mitrione. Cooler heads eventually prevailed, but Jones still carried some sincere dislike for Mitrione into this fight and quickly set about using his size and ground fighting advantages to wear him out. They were up and down during the first round and Mitrione landed some solid punches before the bell. Jones never got a chance to take it back to the ground in the second, though, because he ran into a big right as he chased Mitrione toward the fence. Jones went out like a light and suffered a bitter first defeat in the UFC.
Frankie Edgar submits Matt Veach: In my opinion, Edgar is one of the very best lightweights in the UFC. I'm talking top-five material, so I really felt that the undefeated, yet relatively unknown Veach was severely overmatched in this fight. Veach actually started the first round pretty well. He got a few take downs and big slams before Edgar was able to settle into his striking and control the rest of the round. One thing that I didn't account for when analyzing this fight beforehand was the size differential. Veach looked a lot bigger than Edgar out there and I think it caused the latter some problems. Edgar exploded in the second round, though, landing a huge right that dropped Veach. He followed him to the mat and landed several additional strikes before taking Veach's back and submitting him with a rear naked choke. Edgar showed his quality as a fighter once again and made a statement in the process, because if you ask me, he should have been given a chance at B.J. Penn before Diego Sanchez.
Kimbo Slice wins unanimous decision over Houston Alexander: It was no secret that both of these guys brought fight-stopping power into this one. What I was most curious about was the effect that the 215-pound catch weight would have on both fighters. I wondered whether or not Kimbo had been able to master the cut in his first attempt. As far as Alexander goes, I wondered whether or not fighting above his normal 205 would diminish any of his power. One thing we didn't have to worry about was this becoming a boring ground fight. These two were there to bang, but Alexander came out and circled for the entire first round, content to through periodic leg kicks. Kimbo took over in the second round, landing one of the hardest stomach punches I've ever seen. When Alexander slipped, he chased and landed more hard shots, then proceeded to gain dominant positions on the ground and land solid shots while doing so. As they headed into the third round, it was obvious that Kimbo had made good use of the time since taping of TUF 10 ended, training with American Top Team in Florida. Alexander landed a leg kick that buckled Kimbo on the third, but Kimbo took him down and got top position again. Both fighters were completely out of gas by the end and it went to the judges. I thought Alexander carried the first and third rounds, but Kimbo had the most dominating moments of the fight in the second, so it was kind of up in the air. Kimbo ended up winning a unanimous decision (one judge had it 30-27?!), but more importantly, showed the most improvement he ever has during any one fight in his short career. If he can get 15 minutes worth of cardio, learn how to check leg kicks and continue improving his ground game, he may yet be a legitimate factor in the heavyweight division.
Jon Jones loses to Matt Hamill by disqualification: I've always loved what Matt Hamill is about. Getting to the top level of MMA while being deaf is a mind blowing feat, but I just didn't think he had a chance against Jones, who came into this fight with some serious momentum. Jones stuffed all of Hamill's early take down attempts, then threw Hamill down and got top position. Then he started one of the most impressive ground-and-pound offensives I've seen in a long time. He was landing all kinds of elbows while Hamill covered up. Referee Steve Mazzagatti stopped Jones when he landed a "12 to 6" (straight down) elbow to Hamill's nose. Hamill laid motionless, though, unable to continue. His nose was badly damaged and bleeding into both eyes even before the elbow in question, so I assumed that Jones would be awarded a TKO. Instead, Jones was disqualified and suffered the first loss of his career. Mazzagatti had it right when he said he was taking a point from Jones. All of the damage had been done prior to the illegal strike, so he should have gotten a TKO in my opinion. It was an unfortunate ending to a great performance from Jones, but regardless of what his win/loss column says, future opponents have even more to worry about when facing Jones.
James McSweeney defeats Darrill Schoonover by TKO: McSweeney looked close to finishing Schoonover with a guillotine early in the first round, but gave up top position before getting it back himself later in the round. They finished the round trading strikes and Schoonover looked like he had McSweeney hurt. Schoonover looked a lot heavier than he did during the TUF 10 season and had recently been informed that he was going back on active duty with the Army. It's impossible to know if that affected his conditioning or preparation, but he looked completely wasted in the second round. McSweeney was far from incredible, but Schoonover made himself easy pickins. The third round was unimpressive and sloppy until McSweeney finally took advantage of Schoonover's state and finished him off with a combination of knees, kicks and strikes.
Roy Nelson KOs Brendan Schaub to become "The Ultimate Fighter:" I thought this fight could go either way, but I went with the veteran Nelson in my prediction article. I just had a gut feeling that he was going to turn it up more in this fight than he did during his other fights during season 10 to get to this point. Admittedly, the term "gut feeling" could take on a whole new meaning when Roy Nelson is involved, but you know what I mean, right? Schaub came out throwing crisp punches, but Nelson got a quick take down and went to work. He got side control, but Schaub escaped like we've seen so many times already. Schaub used his reach advantage pretty well, but then the unexpected happened. Nelson landed a hard right to Schaub's ear and dropped him like a bad habit. He didn't even have to finish him with any more shots, but got one in before Herb Dean pulled him off. It wasn't the exact method of victory I predicted, but I'll take it anyway. Nelson is a much better fighter than his physique leads many people to believe. As far as Schaub goes, I think he's a tremendous talent and at just 26, he's got time to improve and become a serious heavyweight contender.
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