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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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…and Frank Mir, the master of the “Wizard”.

Apparently, in this episode some of Julie Browning rubs off on to Mir or inspires him to stop pretending he’s a cool guy and let his real inner jerk come out. He wants Julie to “Just crush Delgado.” because he doubts the authenticity of Roli’s Black Belt. How ironic considering coming from a guy who has handed one out to a friend in a 2 and a half year period and got his simply for his win over Tim Sylvia. In recent weeks this contraversy has popped up a few times in MMA headlines, and with each passing day it makes Mir look worse and Roli look better. Mir questions Roli personally and Roli knows it’s a complicated story and how it sounds so he stumbles a bit. Mir takes it as evidence that Roli’s Black Belt is disingenuous. Sometimes when you wear a tinfoil hat to protect yourself from a shadow conspiracy, you forget how silly you look wearing it.

After they announce the inevitable match up and pose, Junie decides to bring a Black Belt out, throw it at Roli’s feet and spit on it offending Nog, Anderson Silva, and just about everyone else. A close up reveals “McDojo BJJ” written on it. Ryan Bader mentioned in his blog that Anderson Silva was the most visibly pissed and actually had to leave the building for 10 minutes to cool down.

Tom Lawlor for some reason wishing to join in on the Roli hate says “I think the ceremony that Rolando had was actually where UPS came to his door with a package and hand delivered it to him.” and later says during the weigh-in process “I think Rolando was praying to whoever gave him his black belt that Junie was not going to make the weight. I think Rolando really is legitimately scared of Junie.” Obviously he was wrong on both counts. EmbarrASSingly wrong on both accounts.

After not making weight, Julie has one hour to lose 2 pounds. There was a moment where it looked like he wouldn’t make it, but he eventually lost the weight thanks to teammates.

After getting his kick caught and sent to the mat by Julie, Roli got up and the first half of the first round of the fight was all Roli. Excellent footwork, landing the jab at will and Junie pretty much catching everything with his face. In the latter half of the round, Junie woke up and landed a few punches of his own, but not quite enough to win back the round. Roli was sending a clear message to everyone: “I am not afraid of anyone. Let me show you.”

Someone in Julie’s corner must have said something to motivate him, because he came out in the 2nd round ultra-aggressive, waving Roli on. Some really great body work by Julie, started to take it’s toll on Roli, however he kept on fighting. Roli still landed some punches that marked Julie’s face up and snapped his head back, but the heavier punches were by Julie, including a knockdown that he couldn’t capitalize on. However, Julie’s drinking and poor eating habits (known to eat Häagen-Dazs in preparation) taxed his cardio and at times his hands were down at his side and he appeared exhausted. Roli must have seen it and finished the round out by landing a nice combo and appeared to have Julie momentarily stunned.

The judges saw it the same way, one round for each and set a 3rd round up. The 3rd was similar to the 2nd, but more dominating for Julie as he was given the split decision.

After the fact, Julie had a temporary taste of humility as his first round KO prediction and easy fight didn’t come to fruition. He apologized to Nog for spitting on the black belt, and Mir pretended to back him up.

Roli Delgado posted on MixedMartialArts.com:

“I know a lot of you wanted to see Junie lose because of his antics and behavior on the show. And of course a lot of you wanted to see me win because you have met me at one show or tournament over the last 10 years. Here are my thoughts concerning the episode and the fight. First, Frank Mir is a jerk. He asked me a question and I answered it and then asked me several follow up questions which made me look like I was rambling. The only thing that makes this ok is that I get to watch Nog beat him and he is breaking records in giving Black Belts.

Thanks for all of the support. “

No shame and apology not accepted as he did a stellar job.

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First apologies to everyone for not having the Season 8 blogs up. For starters I am going to play catch up and put all the previous episodes together in one blog, and then from now on make one per episode. Unlike last year where I did a PBP, this year I will just give results, a short commentary and link to some damn good blogs from some of the fighters, and any animated GIFs or other goodies.

TUF 8 Episode 4!
Well, the best way to sum up this week’s episode is “As the Junie Turns”. How someone that is so screwed up in the head can be so talented is beyond me. I can only imagine how incredible he would be if he got his act together. At least now we have one of the two fighters that BLAF described down. One is a 155# Anderson Silva and one “makes Chris Leben look like Mother Teresa”. I’m going to go ahead and say Junie is the douchebag that BLAF is talking about.

From the beginning of the episode it’s the JB Roller Coaster Express. Throwing glasses, calling on fighters, swearing, crying, pushing people, kicking people, and a whole lot more. It was a glorified temper tantrum. Right alongside him as his very own “Robin” was Shane Nelson, who picked a fight with a few fighters, most notably Efrain Escudero.

When BLAF showed up at the house, everyone was positive that he was going to boot off Junie and Shane Nelson. BLAF said he wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but apparently he didn’t want to kick off his investment in the form of JB. Though he scolded both fighters, he decided not to kick them off. Then he tells Shane Nelson that he is fighting next.

So if you kick someone, throw a glass at them that shatters and cuts them, take a swing at a few fighters, destroy the pool and house, cause a major disruption, BUT will make BLAF money and great ratings, you will just get a verbal scolding. If you challenge another fighter and get in his face, but will probably NOT make BLAF a ton of money or matter in the ratings, then you really pissed him off….you have to fight immediately. The look on Shane’s face was priceless.

Message to other contestants: If you are talented, you can do whatever you want. BLAF wants his money. Krysztof said in his blog that now that he knows he CAN put his hands on JB and not get kicked off, things may change. Good. Since BLAF won’t do the right thing, maybe Krysztof will KO JB.

Anyhow, Nog says BLAF told him to choose Efrain Escudero to fight Shane Nelson so it’s on. The fight starts out with some striking of which to my surprise Shane gets the better of. First half of the first round was all Shane. After Efrain nails a few takedowns he holds Shane down and finishes out the round with some smothering G&P. Nothing of substance really lands, but 2nd half of the round goes to Efrain. Anyone’s round.

Second round starts out with more of the same, but Efrain doesn’t take as long to get the takedown. Nelson doesn’t like it, escapes and rolls into Efrain’s guard. Efrain baits him and Shane falls for it. I can’t understand why anyone with a blue belt or higher would reach BACK while in someone’s card. Spidey sense should tingle. Well, this “purple belt almost brown belt level” fighter in Shane Nelson reached back and got a triangle slapped on. As he fought it, Efrain sat up and swept him, so now he had a mounted triangle. Shane taps.

Junie starts pacing and runs up against the cage screaming at Efrain who could care less. That just make JB crazier and he screams “Just what the UFC needs: another boring ass wrestler.” and mumbles about “Lay ‘n Pray”. Apparently lost on JB is that fact that the “boring” lay ‘n pray wrestler just won by an uncommon submission (in the big leagues) with a mounted triangle. Also lost on JB is that Efrain has 10 wins, with 9 by submission. Yeah…real boring and a lay ‘n pray fighter for sure. Supposedly JB is straight and not drunk, so not only does he have drinking and anger problems, but has an intelligence problem.

As JB is flipping out screaming, Nog tells him that he is next on the list and that is too much. JB climbs over the fence into the ring and charges who!??! Efrain? Nog? Now he gets downgraded from having an intelligence problem, to having Down Syndrome. No offense to those with Down Syndrome…I want to say they have probably been called worse, but I can’t be so sure. Nog grabs him and stops him.

In the teaser for next week, they show Mir scolding JB saying “This is the 2nd time and now this time you have embarrassed me.” Looks like ratings and moola will STILL keep him on the show.

Sad really.

Krysztof Soszynski’s Blog about Episode 4 is a great read. He talks about them planning to get Junie kicked off the show by taking a swing at someone. We all know now it didn’t work. Check out his blog!

TUF 8 Episode 3 Summary!
Lightweight Brian McLaughlin and Light Heavyweight Karn Grigoryan are suspended due to their broken noses. Kyle Kingsbury was brought back in for the Light Heavyweights.

Tom Lawlor vs. Ryan Bader wins by KO in RD1! A BOMB of a punch while standing and Lawlor is on his back in guard (grounded) puts Lawlor to sleep.

TUF 8 Episode 2!
John Polakowski def Wesley Much via TKO (injury) – R2
Shane Primm def. Sean O’Connell via submission (RNC) – R1
Efrain Escudero def. Ido Pariente via submission (RNC) – R1
Tom Lawlor def. Ryan Lopez via submission (RNC) – R1
George Roop def. Rolando Delgado via decision
Ryan Bader def. Kyle Kingsbury via submission (arm-triangle) – R2
Shane Nelson def. Charles Diaz via decision
Karen Grigoryan def. Eliot Marshall via split decision

TUF 8 Episode 1!
Mike Stewart (1-0) vs. Krzysztof Soszynski (16-8-1) wins via TKO
Fernando Bernstein (2-0) vs. Dave Kaplan (2-1) wins via rear naked choke
Joe Duarte (3-0) vs. Phillipe Nover (4-0-1) wins via rear naked choke
Eric Magee (3-1) vs. Jules Bruchez (0-0) wins via rear naked choke
Vinicius Magalhaes (2-2) vs. Lance Evans (2-2) wins via TKO
Antwain Britt (4-1) vs. Ryan Jimmo (6-1) wins via majority decision
Brian McLaughlin (5-0) vs Brandon Garner (4-1) Fight ruled a no contest
Junie Browning (2-0) vs Jose Aguilar (2-0) wins via TKO

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