The UFC Blog

The Ultimate Fighting Championship returned home to Las Vegas after a successful stint in Germany with yet another amazing night of fights.

The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale aired free on SpikeTV from “The Pearl” at the Palms where we witnessed two of the UK’s most talented fighters, lightweight Ross Pearson and welterweight James Wilks earn a six figure contract in the UFC.

However, the main event stole the show.

A battle between two of the UFC’s most aggressive lightweights did not disappoint as Diego “Nightmare” Sanchez edged Clay “The Carpenter” Guida via split decision in one helluva slobber knocker.  

Sanchez came out possessed in the opening round as he threw everything but the kitchen sink at Guida.  Hooks, uppercuts, head kicks and countless flying knees all found their mark on Guida, but like the savage that he is; Guida was able to survive the onslaught.  

It was quite an epic first minute to any fight.

Guida was able out wrestle Sanchez in the second round and controlled “The Nightmare” for the majority of the round.  

The final stanza proved to be the deciding factor as Sanchez weathered the early storm from Guida and counter punched his was to his second straight victory within the lightweight division.  

Sanchez may have secured his spot as the number one contender as we await the BJ Penn/Kenny Florian fight later this year.

Two former TUF winners faced off in more lightweight action as Joe “Daddy” Stevenson used his superior strength to hand Nate Diaz his second consecutive loss.  

Diaz was unable to get anything going as he gazed at “The Pearl’s” lights for three rounds.  Stevenson out muscled the lanky Diaz and earned the unanimous decision.  

Team UK sweeps!

Heavily favored DeMarques Johnson fell victim to a James Wilks’ choke with only seconds remaining in the first round.  Wilks dominated from the get go and found “the golden ticket” in form of a six figure UFC contract.  

Ross Pearson was also an underdog in his fight with fellow countryman Andre Winner in their lightweight bout, but Pearson earned a unanimous decision and a six figure contract.

The first televised bout featured hard hitting Chris “Lights Out” Lytle as he slugged it out with Kevin “Fire” Burns.

In a barn burner of a fight, Lytle out slugged Burns and delivered on his promise on having yet another “fight of the night.”  Lytle earned the victory despite three groin shots and has yet to tap in 48 professional fights.  

It was truly a great night of fights and it was all free!

MAIN CARD

• Diego Sanchez def. Clay Guida via split decision split decision (28-29, 29-27, 29-28)
• James Wilks def. DaMarques Johnson via submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 1, 4:54 to become "TUF 9" welterweight winner
• Chris Lytle def. Kevin Burns via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Ross Pearson def. Andre Winner via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) to become "TUF 9" lightweight winner
• Joe Stevenson def. Nate Diaz via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-29)
PRELIMINARY CARD
• Melvin Guillard def. Gleison Tibau via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Brad Blackburn def. Edgar Garcia via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Tomasz Drwal def. Mike Ciesnolevicz via TKO (strikes), Round 1 - 4:48
• Nick Ospiczak def. Frank Lester via submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 1, 3:40
• Jason Dent def. Cameron Dollar via submission (anaconda choke) -  Round 1, 4:46

The UFC has done 99 main cards, about 20 Ultimate Fight Nights and 8 TUF Finales before tonight’s card. But tonight the promotion did something they have never done in the company’s history…they gave THREE Fight of the Night Bonuses, and rightly so. The ground clinic otherwise known as Stevenson/Diaz yielded an extra 25K for each fighter. Ditto for the stand up war between Lytle and Burns that saw both fighters staggered and in deep trouble at different points in the fight. And in what was a complete demonstration of what MMA is all about with devastating striking, submissions. grappling, ground and pound and a pace that would make Lance Armstrong want to take a breather, Diego Sanchez and Clay Guida were equally rewarded for a fight for the ages.

The UFC gave away $150,000 in those bonuses plus 25K each to Jason Dent for Submission of the Night and Tomasz Drawl for Knockout of the Night for a total of 200K in bonuses alone. When you consider that the gate for the event was $500,000, even the most staunch UFC hater will have a hard time saying anything negative after the company just handed out a whopping 40% of the gate in extra bonuses. Well done.

The main card is Live and FREE on Spike TV with some amazing fights and a huge Fight of the Night candidate with Chris Lytle vs. Kevin Burns and what should be an action packed battle between Diego Sanchez and Clay Guida. Check you local listings and don’t miss it!

We don’t want to spoil the fun and blog the results here in case you haven’t seen the fights yet in your time zone, so check your local listings and tune in to Spike TV.

Remember, we’ll have a full review of the event on this Monday’s Pro MMA Radio at 6PM PST, 9PM EST with MMA Mania’s Jesse Holland. Enjoy the fights!

Gleison Tibau and Melvin Guillard are two of the more densely muscled fighters in the 155 division. In a posedown, it’s tough to say who wins. In a fight, Gleison should have won but the  judges saw it otherwise, awarding Melvin a split decision victory. For some unknown reason, announcer Bruce Buffer didn’t read the scores, just as he did in most of the main card fights in Germany at UFC 99. Tibau dominated the third round and did enough damage in round two to earn the decision in my eyes. Some media members around me had the fight 30-27 for Gleison, I had it 29-28. In any case, I have no real explanation as to how anyone could give the decision to Melvin. To his credit, he was able to survive spending a significant amount time on the ground with Tibau, a BJJ black belt, and not get submitted which has been his achilles heal throughout his UFC career. Maybe I’m just not someone who thinks that getting up after youv’e been taken down should count heavier than the takedown itself. Two judges apparently thought otherwise.

Brad Blackburn was awarded a split decision victory over UFC newcomer Edgar Garcia. The crowd booed so loudly that you could barely hear the post fight interview with Joe Rogan. It was a tremendous fight and could be in the running for the Fight of the Night depending on what happens later tonight. Overall, I thought Edgar landed the bigger blows and controlled the fight as it went on. Late in the third round he landed a huge left on the button that floored Brad that I thought would seal the deal with the judges. I had him winning the fight 29-28 with Brad winning the first and Edgar taking rounds two and three. But, every round was so close that I can see why we ended up with a split. For Blackburn, this marks his third win in three fights in the UFC. He has crisp stand up and may get a name opponent next time out. And based on tonight’s performance  there is no question that you’ll see Edgar back in the Octagon.

And we still haven’t made it out of the first round. Tomasz Drwal was just too much everywhere for Mike Ciesnolevic standing and on the feet. Drwal took the overmatched MFS product down at will on five different occasions, which was surprising given that Mike was the bigger fighter and has a strong wrestling pedigree. When Mike went for a takedown toward the end of the first round, Tomasz caught him with a perfect knee that sent him to the canvas. Smelling that the end was near, Drwal dished out about 10 seconds of ground and pound until referee Herb Dean had seen enough and mercifully stopped the fight at 4:48. Drwal moves to 2-1 in the UFC with his only loss coming at the hands of then undefeated Thiago Silva.  

Frank Lester became the first fighter in TUF history to score a victory after being given a second chance to fight after a loss in the house. He did so with solid stand up, an iron heart and the benefit of his opponent’s gag reflex. None of those factors helped the overmatched Lester against Nick Osipczak. Nick landed a left hook that staggered Lester late in the round. Frank went for a takedown, Nick sprawled, got a hold of Frank’s neck and transitioned to a fight-ending rear naked choke that gave the talented UK fighter his first win in the Octagon.

As if the recession wasn’t bad enough, Jason "Dynamite" Dent submitted Cameron Dollar by Anaconda choke at 4:36 of the first round. Dollar dominated the standup for the entire first round, mixing head and body strikes that seemed to get to his nemesis in the house. But that’s MMA…you can be dominating and all it takes is one wrong move and you quickly go from hunter to prey. After losses to Gleison Tibau and Roger Huerta in his first stint in the UFC, Dent now has his first UFC win on his record.

Just got back from the weigh ins for the TUF 9 Finale at the Palms Hotel here in Vegas. This is my third TUF Finale and I can honestly say there was more fan intensity at this one than the others I attended…combined. Maybe it’s the whole US vs. UK vibe but I was there an hour before the fighters actually hit the scale and there were times when a US fighter, Marques Johnson, for example, stood up and the roped off crowd went bananas. Of the UK fighters, Ross Pearson seemed to have the largest contingent at the event. Michael Bisping was not received too well by the crowd and there were repeated chants of "USA" that broke out periodically throughout the event.

The most popular fighter based on crowd response was Diego Sanchez. As usual, he worked himself into a frenzy and if he and Clay Guida got any closer in the face off they’d need a marriage license from the nearest drive through Vegas wedding chapel. Everyone made weight with the exception of Mike Ciesnolevicz who came in at 208 and couldn’t make it down to the 206 limit (the weight class is 205 but the fighters are allowed to be one pound over in non-title fights.) The two pound gaff will cost him 20% of his purse, which gets forfeited over to his opponent, Tomasz Drwal.

Here are the official weigh in results for tonight’s event.

155 lbs.: Diego Sanchez (156) vs. Clay Guida (155)
170 lbs.: DeMarques Johnson (170) vs. James Wilks (171)
155 lbs.: Ross Pearson (156) vs. Andre Winner (155)
170 lbs.: Chris Lytle (170) vs. Kevin Burns (171)
155 lbs.: Joe Stevenson (155) vs. Nate Diaz (156)
155 lbs.: Melvin Guillard (155) vs. Gleison Tibau (155)
155 lbs.: Brad Blackburn (170) vs. Edgar Garcia (171)
205 lbs.: Mike Ciesnolevicz (208) vs. Tomasz Drwal (205)*
170 lbs.: Frank Lester (170) vs. Nick Osipczak (170)
155 lbs.: Jason Dent (155) vs. Cameron Dollar (154)

Don’t miss it, this is an amazing card for free TV. Chris Lytle vs. Kevin Burns has Fight of the Night written all over it, Stevenson vs. Diaz highlights two very dangerous fighters coming in off a loss (or losses in Joe’s case) and the Diego vs. Clay fight is a must see. Two guys with ridiculous cardio in a fight that will have serious title implications regardless of the winner…and both fighters are well aware of it.

The event airs live and free on Spike TV on Saturday, June 20th, at 9PM in your local time zone. Check local listings…it will air at 9PM EST on the East Coast and will air delayed at 9PM PST in the West. If you missed any of the action this season, you can check out the whole season starting with episode one at 9AM.

Don’t Miss An All New Episode of The Ultimate Fighter® Tonight At 10pm ET/PT On Spike

There are only 2 episodes left so don’t miss it tonight.

Don’t miss an all new episode of The Ultimate Fighter® tonight at 10pm on Spike TV.

The Semifinals start tonight so don’t miss it.

On another note for TUF, if you haven’t heard Kimbo Slice is on Ultimate Fighter 10, gonna be interesting.

For those of you who haven’t been able to keep up with the latest season of the Ultimate Fighter, here is your chance to see a piece of the action.

Here is the fight card set so far and guaranteed to be some more great fights.

Diego Sanchez Vs. Clay Guida
Joe Stevenson Vs. Nate Diaz
Chris Lytle Vs. Kevin Burns

Event: The Ultimate Fighter Team US vs Team UK FINALE
When: June 20, 2009 9pm ET
Where: The Pearl, Nevada
Get you tickets now, click here.

All new episode of The Ultimate Fighter tonight 10pm ET/PT on Spike TV.

By Thomas Gerbasi

The preliminaries are done, the teams for the United States and United Kingdom are set for this season of The Ultimate Fighter. Now it’s time to get down to business and start the bouts that will eventually whittle the field of 16 to two Ultimate Fighters.

Team UK has impressed coach Michael Bisping thus far with their efforts in the gym. “They’re not a team of wannabes,” said Bisping, happy that all his fighters are looking to bring it in their bouts against Team US.

To aid in his team’s development, Bisping has brought in UFC vet Mario “Sucata” Neto for wrestling and submissions and Dave Jackson for Thai Boxing.

“They’re not training harder than us,” insists ‘The Count’

Bisping’s talking has gotten under the skin of the US team’s Damarques Johnson, but coach Dan Henderson takes it all in stride.

“I know I’ll have my chance to shut his mouth with my fist,” said Henderson, who has enlisted Heath Sims, Cyril Diabate, Ricardo Feliciano, and Gustavo as his coaching staff for this season.

As the first fight approaches, Team US has the opportunity to pick the fight, but Henderson is concerned because the UK team has had a two week break from their elimination bouts, while some members of the US squad are just coming off fights. But after checking with his team, both for weight and fight readiness, Henderson decides that the opening bout will pit Mark Miller against the UK’s Nick Osipczak.

Bisping’s happy with the matchup, and as Miller shakes hands with Osipczak and wishes him luck, the UK coach smiles as he says “We make our own luck.”

Before the fight, the UK coaching staff breaks down tape of Miller. “He seems quite one-dimensional,” says Bisping, and when Osipczak says that he will switch from a southpaw to orthodox stance for the fight to throw Miller off, the UK squad gets even more confident.

Back in the house (and in the gym), Johnson and his teammates begin this season’s pranks by innocently writing on their rivals’ shirts and wrestling shoes. But when Ross Pearson finds out that it’s his shoes that have been written on, he’s not too happy.

“I was playing nice before,” said Pearson, but Bisping insists that his team stay focused on the task at hand.

“Try to ignore it and rise above it,” he said.

Osipczak took those words to heart in his hotly-contested bout with Miller, one that saw the two fighters engage in a back and forth battle both standing and on the mat. In the first round, it appeared that Miller tapped out to a guillotine choke, but the bout continued as he eventually fought his way loose. Osipczak would have the last word though, when a single right kick to the head knocked Miller out in the second stanza and eliminated him from the competition.

With Osipczak’s win, Team UK takes a 1-0 lead; here’s how the teams look…

TEAM USA
WELTERWEIGHTS
Mark Miller – eliminated on episode four by Nick Osipczak
Jason Pierce
Damarques Johnson
Frank Lester

LIGHTWEIGHTS
Richie Whitson
Santino DeFranco
Cameron Dollar
Jason Dent

TEAM UK
WELTERWEIGHTS
David Faulkner
Dean Amasinger
Nick Osipczak 1-0
James Wilks

LIGHTWEIGHTS
Ross Pearson
Martin Stapleton
Jeff Lawson
Andre Winner

For weekly recaps of The Ultimate Fighter, as well as fighter profiles and a blog from UK coach Michael Bisping, chack out UFC.com.

All new episode of The Ultimate Fighter tonight at 10pm ET/PT only on Spike TV.

For those of you who have not been able to keep up with the first two episodes here is a recap of what is going on this season on The Ultimate Fighter: US vs UK!

This is the first time the UFC has pitted two nations against each other in the Ultimate Fighter.

Both teams started with 16 fighters who have to fight to earn a spot in the TUF House and compete for a six figure contract with the UFC.

The UK has its team already set and some promising talent has already shown to be representing the UK.

Here are the List of UK fighters who have earned a spot in the House for this season:

WELTERWEIGHTS
David Faulkner
Dean Amasinger
Nick Osipczak
James Wilks

LIGHTWEIGHTS
Ross Pearson
Martin Stapleton
Jeff Lawson
Andre Winner

For a complete recap of Episode One click here.

On the USA side of things, Dan Henderson didn’t even get a chance to relax after his win over Rich Franklin as he had to get back to Vegas to see who was contending to be on his team for the USA.

So far there are 6 fighters for the USA and we will find out who the last two are tonight.

Who made the cut for USA so far:

WELTERWEIGHTS
Mark Miller
Jason Pierce
Damarques Johnson

LIGHTWEIGHTS
Richie Whitson
Santino DeFranco
Cameron Dollar

For a complete recap on episode 2 click here.

Don’t miss tonight’s episode as we find out who the last two fighters are to make it into the house and get a look at what the competition this season will be like.