For many MMA fans, the Ultimate Fighter represents not only a look into the lives and mentalities of mixed martial artists, but also an opportunity to see fighters burst into the spotlight after six weeks of seclusion in a Las Vegas House.
Drama and chaos have come to epitomize the show and it has culminated in a rematch between semi-finalists. Of course, that all would come in due time.
First, a few fights of the people not good enough (who decided that, I have no idea) to warrant a main event, or even the main card:
Rob Kimmons (7-1) defeated Rob Yundt (6-2) by submission due to gullotine choke at 3:52 in the first round.
Dean Lister (10-5) defeated Jeremy Horn (88-17-5) via submission due to guillotine choke at 3:58 in the first round.
- B/R Ticket Guide
Matt Brown (9-6) defeated Matt Arroyo (3-1) via TKO at 3:30 in the second round.
Drew McFedries (6-3) defeated Marvin Eastman (15-7-1) via TKO at 1:08 in the first round.
Dustin Hazelett (12-5) defeated Josh Burkman (20-5) via submission due to arm bar at 4:46 in the second round.
And on the main card:
Matt Riddle (0-0) defeated Dante Rivera (10-2) by unanimous decision, proving once and for all that a fighter saying that they would retire if they lost (Rivera) just sounds dumb.
Spencer Fisher (22-3) defeated Jeremy Stephens (13-2) via unanimous decision, proving once and for all that if Fisher bleeds during the fight, it is going to be a fight worth watching.
Diego Sanchez (20-2) defeated Luigi Fioravanti (12-3) via TKO at 4:07 in the third round, proving that grapplers can knock people out, but should probably stick to what they do best.
Amir Sadollah (1-0) defeated CB Dollaway (7-1) via arm bar in the first round, proving that sometimes, nice guys win it all. Congratulations to Amir who has shown more heart that perhaps any other fighter ever to appear on The Ultimate Fighter.
And in the main event:
Kendall Grove (10-5) defeated Evan Tanner (34-7) via split decision (30-26, 29-28, 30-26), proving that a former middleweight champion working on sobriety and coming off a loss to Yushim Okami might not be ready for a main event fight.
comments (6) write a comment »
write a new comment
5 months ago
How can Diego stick to what he does best if he can't keep Luigi on the ground? I think very few people predicted that Diego would win the stand-up battle, let alone finish the fight via strikes on the feet (it was the head kick and knee that really finished the fight, the punches on the ground were the icing on the cake).
Diego's striking looked much improved, and he is getting more well-rounded every time we see him. His two losses were against top 3 fighters. If he can continue to improve his stand-up while adding some muscle mass, he will have a great chance at beating Kos and Fitch in rematches, and possibly GSP also. And I would love to see Diego vs. Penn at 170.
from 5 months ago
Diego vs Penn would be awesome, but didn't you think that Diego already has increased his muscle mass? It sure appeared that way to me.
from 5 months ago
I definitely have to hand it to Luigi for keeping the fight standing, but I am not convinced that Diego really wanted it to be on the ground.
5 months ago
I'm convinced that whoever the judge was that had Tanner winning that fight, had to be roasting budz with Rogan earlier in the night. Shot in the dark it was Cecil Peoples.
from 5 months ago
I'm not even sure how it could have been 29-28 for the simple fact that Tanner got destroyed in the second. Best case scenario it should have been 28-28, of course, I don't buy that one either.
5 months ago
Yeah, Diego did have some extra muscle on him for that fight. He's been lifting a lot of weights recently, according to sources. It was either bulk up or cut down to 155. I wouldn't mind seeing him at lightweight, but he would lose some cardio and perhaps intensity, so maybe it it better that he is staying at 170.
write a new comment