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Live on Spike TV – The Ultimate Fighter Finale: Team Nog vs. Team Mir at the The Pearl, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Finale features the last battles for the Lightweight and Light Heavyweight Ultimate Fighter Team Noguiera vs Team Mir season winners.

Ultimate Fighter Finale Main Fight Card
* Phillipe Nover (6-0-1) vs. Efrain Escudero (11-0) wins by UD!
* Ryan Bader (8-0) vs. Vinny Magalhaes (3-2) wins by TKO in RD1!
* Kevin Burns (7-1) vs. Anthony Johnson (5-2) wins by KO in RD3!
* Wilson Gouveia (11-5) vs. Jason MacDonald (21-10) wins by TKO in RD1!
* Junie Browning (2-1) vs. Dave Kaplan (3-1) wins by Armbar in RD2!

Preliminary Card
* Krysztof Soszynski (16-9-1) vs. Shane Primm (1-0) wins by DWL/Kimura in RD2!
* Eliot Marshall (5-2) vs. Jules Bruchez wins by RNC in RD1!
* Kyle Kingsbury (7-1-1) vs. Tom Lawlor (4-1-1) wins by UD!
* Shane Nelson (11-3) vs. George Roop (8-4) wins by Split Decision!
* Rolando Delgado (7-3-1) vs. John Polakowski (2-1) wins by Guillotine in RD1!

This week we are treated with 2 episodes back to back, perhaps because last week we got denied an episode. Since these were the final fights for the season the focus was more upon the actual fights rather than the pre-fight drama and…um…Andrew Zimmern impressions.

The first fight announced was Ryan Bader vs. Eliot Marshall. After Eliot’s RNC win over Shane Primm in his previous fight he respectfully called out Bader with a “You and me baby” and a fist tap to which Bader replied “Let’s do it.” Both guys got their wishes.

Ryan Bader vs. Eliot Marshall
Bader had mentioned before the fight how he liked having the better wrestling because he could dictate whether the fight would stay standing or go to the ground and this fight proved him correct. The fight started out with the two seeming to be evenly matched. A few punches and kicks were exchanged, including an unintentional kick to the nutsack by Eliot in which Bader decided to pass on taking a breather. Bader thankfully didn’t rush in desperately with his takedowns and showed himself to be very comfortable in the stand-up. After Bader landed a series of kicks to the leg, Eliot wanted to return the favor and Bader grabbed a kick and tossing Eliot on his back.

Here they seemed to be evenly matched….Eliot pitting his guard against Bader’s G&P. Bader showed in his last fight that he going put you to sleep with one punch while you are on your back, so the fact that Eliot matched his G&P with some great guardwork is a tribute to his skill level.

Eliot continued with the kicks in the 2nd round landing some real solid ones. However, it’s tough enough to defend getting taken down by a great wrestler when BOTH feet are on the ground, let alone one and Eliot got taken down a few times and Bader worked his G&P.

Bader won a unanimous decision and makes it to the finals. Here’s the part that disgusts me: the fair weather, fake MMA fans that criticize Bader as a boring lay n’ pray wrestler because of this fight. Anyone that is an actual fan of MMA would realize that Eliot is not a bum and his groundwork canceled out Bader’s G&P. When you say Bader lay ‘n prayed, you are insulting Eliot’s skill level. I want to say they are also completely ignoring his past performances, but in all likelihood they are simply unaware because they don’t real care about MMA, but would rather have the image of being an MMA fan with all their Affliction shirts and TapOut hoodies. Bader’s one punch KO of tom Lawlor, 2 submissions and 4 TKOs are considered boring Lay ‘n Pray? Having only ONE fight before this make it to a decision is the sign of a boring fighter? Riiiiiight. Stick to Magic the Gathering and D&D Conventions and stop pretending.

Mir in typical ignoramus fashion states: “He knows he’s not that great of a fighter; he’s just a good wrestler. I’ll give him credit for winning with limited abilities.” furthering demonstrating how ignorant he is and greatly insulting his own fighter in Eliot, since Elito couldn’t win against such a crappy wrestler pretending to be a fighter. We all know submission an TKO wins are pretty common in wrestling. The greatest mistake Mir makes is talking about someone’s limited abilities when he has 7 submission wins and only 1 TKO win. Sounds pretty damn limited to me. Bader has more TKOs in LESS fights. Mir…wake up dude.

I had some minor dislike for Eliot because of his disrespect for Nog earlier in the series, but after this fight had more respect for him. He’s a terribly talented guy and I’m sure we will see more of him.

Phillipe Nover vs. George Roop
Nover goes from being the fainting nurse to the “Anderson Silva at 155#s”. THAT’S a great story and was a lot of fun to watch unfold. Roop was given a lot of compliments by Mir and the rest of the team for his toughness and tenacity. Roop has a broken hand and a black eye and steps up to fight. THAT is what a REAL fighter is. The guys has massive balls and is another guy that is terribly talented. Unfortunate for him he is taken on Nover. Nover comes out with a fury of hands and pressure that get Roop to the ground. Roop sweeps and Nover is already working the DWL. Roop tried to fight and escape it for some time but Nover wasn’t given it up. As Roop tries to squirm out, Nover rolls him, figure fours his legs and sinks in one of the deepest DWL I have ever seen. Since his legs are locked by Nover, he’s got only one flipper and it’s not enough to do anything but tap.

I hope to see more of Roop. He has got massive amounts of heart and skill and it will be a terrible shame if the UFC passes him by.

In episode 12, we add some more drama, of course from the ever predictable Julie Browning. More on her later. Let’s talk fight.

Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Vinicius Magalhaes
This fight was a battle amongst teammates and one billed as the classic striker vs. grappler match up. The consensus was if it stayed standing Krzysztof wins and if it goes to the ground Vinny wins. After a few light exchanges, Vinny rushes Krzysztof against the fence and then jumps to guard pulling Krzysztof down with him. Vinny immediately locks in Mission Control and rams a few elbows into his head and then not much happens from there. Krzysztof wisely backs out and gets to standing where he lands a good 12-14 kicks inside Vinny’s leg that he simply either has no answer for or doesn’t know how to check. Perhaps he just didn’t care.

Just when it looks like Krzysztof is finding his range and beginning to land some real damage, Vinny again gets close and jumps to guard pulling K down with him. Man that last name is killing me. Once there Vinny goes into BJJ mode and locks in an armbar. Vinny reminds me of the Tyson back in the day where you knew bad things were about to happen and you could count the seconds until the fight was over. Vinny’s grappling is downright scary and will be a problem for anyone on earth at 205#s.

Insert drama from Julie Browning here. Julie throws glass that nails Primm, takes a swing on Primm while Primm is sitting and LOL…misses….takes another swing and gets teeped and sent flying back for his troubles. Vinny steps in and drags Julie away. Julie cries. Julie screams and yells. Julie states she only did it to get kicked off the show because she was afraid she was going to lose the fight. BLAF reprimands Julie and sends her into time out. BLAF tells the fighters they have to jerk Julie off if they want her off the show. /drama

Julie Browning vs. Efrain Escudero
Efrain has been wanting this fight from day one. Julie goes from sitting on the ground when the fighters are announced to stretching and touching her toes when the bell rings. In a mildly interesting back and forth stand up battle with Efrain coming out with a slight edge, Julie feels she should try to takedown Efrain…who is a far better wrestler and grappler. Must have been a Mir gameplan. Julie fails.

In round 2 more of the same, with Julie doing a bit better. Efrain changes his tactics, shoots and takes Julie down where she gets half guard. Efrain pounds away looking for an opening. Julie is trying to come up, Efrain pushes his head down and nails a Brabo and Julie taps.

Julie in typical bipolar fashion goes outside and tells everyone that she should be in another sport as she has wasted 3 years for nothing. A minute later in the confession booth she says he’s not going anywhere. Yay, we get to see her get beat up some more!

The final matches for the Spike TV event:
Efrain Escudero vs. Phillipe Nover
Ryan Bader vs. Vinny Magalhaes

Main Card:
Jason MacDonald vs. Wilson Gouveia
Kevin Burns vs. Anthony Johnson
Junie Allen Browning vs. Dave Kaplan

Prelims:
Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Shane Primm
Kyle Kingsbury vs. Tom Lawlor
Jules Bruchez vs. Eliot Marshall
Shane Nelson vs. George Roop
Roli Delgado vs. John Polakowski

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Official TUF 8 Cast!
Well, it’s official. UFC and Spike TV, in conjunction with Sports Illustrated have revealed the cast for the 8th installment of the hit TV series ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ dubbed “Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir”. The new season will kick off on September 17th on Spike TV following the broadcast of UFC Fight Night 15 and will air each subsequent Wednesday night at 10:00pm ET/PT.

This season will feature both Light Heavyweights (205#s) and Lightweights (155#s), preliminary bouts will be held during the first two episodes to pair down the field from 32 to 16. The two finalists in each weight class will meet in “The Ultimate Fighter 8” Live Finale on Dec. 13 in Las Vegas live on Spike TV.

UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir will be the 2 opposing coaches and will fight at the UFC’s end-of-the-year show in December. Assisting Nog will be Anderson Silva and Lyoto Machida. Helping out Frank Mir will be Abu Dhabi 2007 Absolute Winner Robert Drysdale (by beating Marcelo Garcia) and Rafael Alejarra.

The cast this year has an international flavor with contestants from not only the expected nations like Brazil and the US, but Israel, Russia and Nova Scotia. In addition, after each episode Spike.com users will get exclusive extended footage from each episode and an exclusive video leak of the upcoming episode.

OK guys! WHO IS GONNA WIN?!?!? Give us the scoop on a fighter you think will win! So far the buzz is that these guys are the monsters: Junie Browning, Efrain Escudero, Ryan Jimmo, Vinicius Magalhaes, & Shane Primm.

Lightweight Cast! (155#s)

Jose Aguilar
Grapplers Edge
Las Cruces, NM

Fernando Bernstein
San Clemente, CA

Junie Allen Browning
Four Seasons Martial Arts
Lexington, KY

Rolando Delgado
Westside Fight Team
North Little Rock, AR

Joseph Duarte
Unleashed Training Facility / Alliance MMA
San Diego, CA

Efrain Escudero
Southwest Martial Arts
Tempe, AZ

Brandon Garner
Team ROC
Raleigh, NC

David Kaplan
Lloyd Irvin Team
Camp Springs, MD

Eric Magee
South Shore Sport
Rockland, MA

Brian McLaughlin
Team Gracie Tampa
Tampa, FL

Wesley Murch
Trojan Gym
Bristol, UK

Shane Nelson
B.J. Penn’s MMA
Hilo, HI

Phillipe Nover
Team Renzo Gracie (Pictures)
Brooklyn, NY

Ido Pariente
Tel Aviv, Israel

John Polakowski
The Pit
San Luis Obispo, CA

George Roop
Ultima MMA
Tucson, AZ

Light Heavyweight Cast! (205#s)

Ryan Bader
Arizona Combat Sports
Chandler, AZ

Antwain Britt
Bombsquad MMA
Virginia Beach, VA

Jules Bruchez
Ronan Dojo
Lafayette, LA

Charles Diaz
SD Fight Club
San Diego, CA

Lance Evans
TKO MMA
Niagara Falls, NY

Karen Grigoryan
RusFighters Sport Club
Russia

Jason Guida
Hellhouse Gym
Chicago, IL

Ryan Jimmo
Titans MMA
Halifax, Nova Scotia

Kyle Kingsbury
American Kickboxing Academy
Sunnyvale, CA

Tom Lawlor
American Top Team
Oviedo, FL

Ryan Lopez
Oklahoma City, OK

Vinicius Magalhaes
Team Quest
Temecula, CA

Eliot Marshall
Eastern Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Boulder, CO

Sean O’Connell
Salt Lake City, UT

Shane Primm
Team Gracie Tampa
Tampa, FL

Krzysztof Soszynski
Team Quest
Temecula, CA

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