TUF 9 Finale had 3 great fights - 2 good ones

[Brian Shannon]

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So the fight between Clay Guida and Diego Sanchez was all that I thought it would be and more. Sanchez came out like a bull in a china shop and looked to nearly KO Clay. Yet some how Guida held on despite getting kicked square on the chin and going down. Diego dominated the 1st round by a wide margin....probably a 10-8 score (IMO).

The 2nd round was owned by Clay who used his excellent ground game to hold Sanchez down. He did what he wanted and seemed to push Diego around the ring. Even with Diego delivering some viscous elbow from the bottom that opened up another cut, Guida won the 2nd round 10-9.

The 3rd round Clay went away from what worked for him in the 2nd. Maybe because of the elbow maybe not but it was clear for over half the round he didn't want to take Sanchez down even though he was controlling on his back. That could have been what kept Guida from getting the round in all 3 judges eyes. Sanchez won it on a split decision. It was a war that began with the stare down as Diego walked into the ring. It really was like letting 2 caged animals free when they started.

That style isn't where Guida gets his success. He continues to try and throw with guys rather than play to his strengths, which is getting a guy on his back and wearing him out. He did it in the 2nd and won the round. Not by just one judge but by them all. Not one of the judges gave all the rounds to Sanchez. Should he get someone to help direct him in the way he will surely get another shot at Sanchez and put himself in title contention.

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In the other fights of the night Joe "Daddy" Stevenson took the decision after dominating Nate Diaz fro 15 minutes. Diaz is so good on the ground and comfortable on his back he doesn't think he can get beat that way. Yet what happens when you go up against a guy as strong as Joe you can't do much on your back. Joe just isn't going to get caught in a submission that easy. Nate needs to use his long arms and jab more then work his way into a take down for a submission. Joe had one good choke hold on Nate and to be honest not sure how he didn't tap except he is so used to being in that situation that it didn't phase him. Very good fight and I enjoyed seeing a much improved Joe Stevenson, compared to what we saw the last 2 fights.

Kevin Burns and Chris Lytle threw punches wildly for 3 rounds in an entertaining fight. Lytle won by decision. He just draws you into that style of fight. Burns had his shot to win but couldn't capitalize. Late in teh first round he caught Chris with a shot that dropped him. Burns rushed in and delivered some more shots but Lytle held on to get through the round. Once round 2 started he was pretty much ok and controlled the fight from that point on.

Ross Pearson vs. Andre Winner was a bit of a surprise. I expected Andre to win this fight. He seemed to be the better fighter of the 2 in the house. Ross had proven himself as a tough customer but he just was relentless and in turn wore Winner out and got the nod from the judges along title of The Ultimate Fighter.

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DaMarques Johnson got choked out by James Wilks as seen above. Wilks had shown good skill through out the show but last night he was great. DeMarques was hailed as the favorite by many to win even before the match up was announced. There was a bit of bad blood between the 2, at least that is how it was portrayed on the show. Wilks took a couple of shots early but quickly it was all Wilks who was all over Johnson on the ground with multiple submission attempts until he finally got him in a rear naked choke. In a classy move by DeMarques he took the trophy from the ring girls and handed it to James when he was announced the winner.

All in all it was a very entertaining show with the last fight being one for the ages. The UFC awarded 3 fight of the night awards to all fo the non-TUF fights. Personally I think it should have only gone to Guida and Sanchez but the other 2 were pretty good too.

Up next for the UFC is their mild stone show - UFC 100. July 11th is going to be a tremendous night of fights.

The Main card shapes up like this:
Champ Brock Lesnar vs. interim champ Frank Mir - Heavyweight title unification fight
Champ Georges St. Pierre vs. Thiago Alves - Welterweight title fight
Jon Fitch vs. Paulo Thiago
Michael Bisping vs. Dan Henderson - TUF 9 coaches fight
Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Alan Belcher

With a prelim card of:
Stephan Bonnar vs. Mark Coleman
Mac Danzig vs. Jim Miller
Jon Jones vs. Jake O'Brien
C.B. Dollaway vs. Tom Lawlor
Matt Grice vs. Shannon Gugerty
T.J. Grant vs. Dong Hyun Kim

Personally I am wanting to see Jon Jones and Jack Shields go at it. I would like to see it on the main card rather than Yoshirio and Belcher but hey they didn't ask me. This card looks to be fantastic. Hope it can live up to the hype.