OT: The Ultimate Fighter finale
I watched every episode of "The Ultimate Fighter" except last night's finale. I can't believe Roy Nelson won the whole thing. That guy might be the worst athlete I've seen in the UFC. Whenever he gets a takedown, he just lays on the guy and punches him in the head repeatedly.
Meanwhile, the guy I hated most on the show was Matt Mitrione. Not only is he a pansy about training, but he's also halfway retarded. Then he had to go and beat Marcus Jones, my favorite. I never thought Jones would be a great fighter, but I would have loved to have seen him demolish Mitrione.
Did anyone watch the finale? Was it as frustrating as I imagine it was?
Overall, I think the best fighter from this season was Brendan Schaub. He's athletic and he seems to have the passion for it, unlike some of the other dopes.
December 6th, 2009 at 10:44 AM ^
Has awesome talent, but the dude has a glass jaw as evidenced by both of his losses. It's unfortunate because he's a really nice guy; it's hard not to root for him.
December 6th, 2009 at 11:05 AM ^
The man is as stable as weapons grade plutonium. Like having a tame lion for a pet, nothing but a big sweet kitty until he gets upset for reasons unknown to humans and rips your face off and devours your innards. Is no one else slightly concerned about the welfare of the man's family? His uncontrollable rage set off by the slightest perceived insult was as fascinating as it was scary.
December 6th, 2009 at 10:57 AM ^
He may be quite rotund but he is a phenomenal athlete, especially when you consider his Weis-ian proportions. His fists knocked Schaub out cold. Hard to complain about his lack of athleticism when he demolished the man you consider to be the best fighter. Admittedly, his first few performances were somewhat lackluster but his last few fights have picked up in intensity. Perhaps, the greatest moment of the season was Nelson entering the ring to Weird Al's "Fat". Self-awareness is a huge plus in my book, adds to likeability.
As for "The Darkness", he might as well put the Staples "Easy" button on his chin. Even with his tremendous size, strength and impressive skill he couldn't beat a one dimensional fighter like Mitrione because he can't take a punch, his last two fights have proved that. I liked Marcus too, but to be fair, he may be as insane as Mitrione. I'm not sure if The Darkness is a reference to his skin color or his terrifying mood swings.
So, no, the finale wasn't frustrating, it revealed some truths that were becoming apparent even before the last episode.
The Kimbo fight may have been the worst. Not convinced that fight wasn't fixed or significantly altered in some way. Kimbo went down and his opponent just waited for him to stand back up. How much do you think they paid the Assassin to stay on his feet and not take the fight to the ground?
December 6th, 2009 at 11:02 AM ^
I didn't catch the whole card, but I was extremely impressed with Jon Jones. I'm calling he'll be the LHW champ within a year and a half. Dude is violent!
December 6th, 2009 at 12:27 PM ^
Jon Jones is a beast. Sort of reminds me of Anderson "Spider" Silva except he is bigger. The guy has an 84 1/2 inch reach. Extremely quick, explosive and violent with both kicks and hands.
December 6th, 2009 at 11:36 AM ^
Maybe Nelson can be promoted like "Butterbean" was when he boxed; at this point, his self-styled nickname on his website is "Big Country." Butterbean missed the boat by getting into MMA at least five years after his prime and is currently not much more than a sideshow freak, but Nelson might end up being quite entertaining and successful if handled right.
In the right circumstances, Nelson's extra weight can be an advantage in MMA-style fighting. I don't see him being mentioned in the same breath as anyone in the Gracie or Shamrock families anytime soon, but he could be a perennial crowd-pleaser as a mid-carder for a long time if his fights are selected and promoted well and he is able to maintain a "face" persona.
If I were Nelson, I would beg George Foreman for career advice. He could teach him a little bit about marketing, and using his size as an advantage to create income opportunities. And Foreman knows a little bit about being a champion at the highest level, too.
December 6th, 2009 at 12:16 PM ^
Magnus.... there was nothing cheap about Nelson's win. He stood up and clocked Schaub. Put the guy's lights out with one punch.
On the other hand, I don't think Schaub is quite as good as we, or for that matter HE THOUGHT HE WAS because the of the Marcus Jones "glass jaw factor". Beating Jones gave him a false positive. However, little did we know that my grandma could have knocked Jones out.
And now, the new question is, whether or not Schaub is another guy with a glass jaw. The Nelson punch was good, but I don't believe it was THAT good. Good enough to put Schaub out on his feet before his head hit the canvas good.... I don't know. Atleast in my mind, the jury is still out on Schaub's jaw.
I like Marcus Jones too. He was probably my favorite as well. But his stand-up defense is very poor. And then he can't take a hit. Mitrione didn't hit him with a great shot at all. The average fighter would have shook that punch off with no problem. Not the case with Jones. Sadly, he probably should hang em up. It is hard to stay in the fight game and not be able to take a punch.
December 6th, 2009 at 12:30 PM ^
the Nelson punch was more than good. it had power and was right behind the ear of schaub. most guys (like randy did when lesnar hit him in the same spot) go down when punched there. nelson is a force, fights to his strengths and has a gas tank better than you'd expect for a guy with 37% body fat.
jon jones will be the next champ at 205. i can't think of a fighter he would have a bad match-up with.
kimbo is a joke and agree that fight was 100% fixed. i.e. one judge scoring the fight 30-27. ahhh when you don't throw but two punches in a round how the hell do you win that round? fixed by dana for sure. alexander is total garbage on the ground. thiago silva took him down, mounted him and then TKO'd him in about 20 seconds last year. having to listen to mr. fear facter talk about how much kimbo has improved on the ground was painful.
the darkness seems like a great person, but has zero future in the sport. saying he has a glass jaw might actually be an understatement.
December 6th, 2009 at 12:59 PM ^
It was a good punch to be sure. But every punch is relative, right?? I mean, it is relative to the person that is hit with it. Because Schaub is so new to fighting, his sample size is small. We will have to see more of him to determine if the shot he got hit with was a shot that would have knocked "anyone out"... or was it just a shot that was enough to knock "Schaub out".
Marcus Jones is a classic example. After getting knocked out against Schuab many just thought (and it was being promoted) that Schaub had such great power. Now, after seeing Jones get knocked out a second time we have come to realize that it wasn't so much Schaub's power but Jone's jaw.
The more we see of Schuab (like Jones), the more we will know.
But irregardless, Nelson is a heck of a fighter. No matter what we find out later about Schaub's jaw.... that will do nothing to diminish the fighter that Nelson is. He has shown that he can beat fighters in multiple ways.... standup or on the ground. There is no doubt that the guy deserves to be Champion.
I believe the guy he probably surprised the most by winning it all was Dana White.
December 6th, 2009 at 3:19 PM ^
Jon Jones looked awesome, but there are numerous guys at 205 ahead of him right now. He won't get a title shot for a while, but he is extremely young. Shogun Rua might beat Machida when the rematch happens. Winner of Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva might get the next shot. Little Noguiera just joined UFC and is likely to get a shot before Jones. Does Rampage return? Couture just dropped back down to 205 and even though he is well past his prime the UFC loves giving him title shots.
The Kimbo fight did suck. Both guys tired easily. However, one of the highlights of the night was the Kimbo throw, he dropped Alexander on his head and nearly ended the fight there. Although I don't know how that judge gave the first round to Kimbo, maybe because Alexander was running away too much?
Overall a decent, not great night of fights. I can't wait for Penn vs. Sanchez though. Penn is a killer at 155 and Sanchez is just crazy enough to attack him.
December 6th, 2009 at 2:14 PM ^
as well, sad to see him go down the way he did. His ground and pound is impressive, but his standup game is beyond terrible.
I was impressed with Kimbo last night, he looked like an actual fighter not just a sideshow.
December 6th, 2009 at 3:10 PM ^
Roy Nelson came out to "I'm Fat" by Weird Al, which... awesome. Secondly, the guy has better cardio than a lot of the heavyweights. He's in shape, he just eats too much BK. He does bring some humor to the heavyweight division which it sorely needs.
December 6th, 2009 at 3:10 PM ^
My predictions were completely backwards. I was sure Brandon Shaub would win as well as Marcus Jones. I also thought that there was no way Kimbo Slice would beat a legit fighter. Kimbo's ground game was shockingly good. His legs are super spindly though.
That Jon Jones fight was incredible. Although the outcome sucked I can see the purpose behind the rule even if Rogan thought it was silly...but I've never done any full contact fighting so what do I know.
Pretty decent show overall.
December 6th, 2009 at 3:33 PM ^
Over the course of the season, Marcus Jones was the only guy I liked and rooted for. (Kimbo was surprisingly humble, but, man, when Dana White seemed desperate to replace Mitrione, Kimbo didn't want to fight).
It was probably the right result, but Roy Nelson fights like he's coached by Jim Tressel. It's boring, but he does what it takes to win.
December 6th, 2009 at 4:35 PM ^
"Roy Nelson fights like he's coached by Jim Tressel."
That's exactly what I thought when he won his second fight on the show.
December 6th, 2009 at 3:48 PM ^
I wanted Roy to lose, but he did earn his win.
I wonder how Marcus would fare if he had any standup ability - like keeping his chin tucked. I would think that nearly any fighter who left himself open like that would get KO'd by a heavyweight.
I look forward to seeing more of Jon Jones.
I think maybe Kimbo won because Houston was running nearly the whole fight. But Kimbo's gotta learn to check those leg kicks.