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On Saturday night, Amir Sodallah was awarded the six-figure contract as the winner of The Ultimate Fighter 7, taking out CB Dollaway with a perfectly executed armbar in the first round. While Sodallah is now considered new blood for the UFC’s middleweight division, don’t look for him to be fighting any big names just yet. In the main event, we saw TUF 3 winner Kendall ‘Da Spyder’ Grove win a unanimous decision over former UFC Middlweight champion Evan Tanner. I was expecting much more from Grove in this fight, especially considering the UFC may have been ready to cut him if he lost the bout. I wonder if he has already reached his peak.

Stay tuned, as this is about to get real juicy.

This Saturday night, the Season Finale of The Ultimater Fighter 7: Team Rampage vs Team Forrest goes down with a six figure contract going to the winner of what the UFC hopes will be the next superstar in their middleweight division. During last week’s episode, Jesse ‘JT MONEY’ Taylor pounded out a three round unanimous judges decision over teammate and friend, Tim Credeur, to earn a spot in the finals. Taylor will be taking on the winner of Amir Sadollah and CB Dollaway and based on what I’ve seen from these two fighters, my money is on Dollaway. But hold on a second…

At the end of last week’s episode we saw the UFC promote the fact that there is some sort of controversy with one of the finalists and their appearance on Saturday night may be in jeoprady due to some unprofessional conduct outside of the Octagon. Will it be Taylor, Sadollah or Dollaway? Tune in to Sportsnet on _____________, to find out.

One fight that is not in jeoprady on Saturday night will be the main event between former UFC Middleweight Champion Evan Tanner and TUF 3 winner, Kendall ‘Da Spyder’ Grove. Both of these fighters know that one more loss in the Octagon and the UFC will send them packing, so look for this fight to be an explosive affair with Tanner using knees and elbows in the clinch in hopes to knock Grove out. As for ‘Da Spyder’, he will definetly be using his reach advantage to keep Tanner at bay while using his explosive nature to land a flying knee or finish this fight on the ground with his razor sharp elbows.

While it’s definetly difficult to pick a winner, I’ll go with the younger and newly focused Kendall Grove to KO Tanner in the second round.

Following Saturday’s main event at UFC 85: Bedlam in London, England, the future of the weltereight division has started to come into focus.

Thiago Alves’ second round destruction of Matt Hughes is sure to be a reality check for the former UFC welterweight champion.  Hughes was never really able to punish his opponent as the younger, stronger and faster Alves was simply too much for the future hall of famer.  What’s next for Hughes? It has to be a grudge match with Matt Serra, which I believe may turn out to be Hughes’ retirement bout in the Octagon.

As for Alves? Well, for a guy who just knocked out two top contenders in the division, you figure he deserves a title shot, right?  I say don’t reward Alves quite yet, who not only failed to make weight for this fight, but was also suspended last year for using diruretics to make 170 lbs.  If I was Dana White, make Alves prove that he can make weight against one more contender, then guarantee him he will be next in line to fight Georges St.Pierre.  That’ll be some fight.

In the co-main event at UFC 85, it was a rude awakening for Canadian Jason ‘Dooms’ Day who was overwhelmed by Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping.  Bisping was relentless in his attack and it was just too much for Day to handle.  Seeing as the Canadian stepped up twice for the UFC in taking on tough opponents, let’s see what middleweight they reward him with. Personally, I’d like to see him take on the winner of the upcoming Ultimate Fighter Seven finale main event between Kendall Grove and Evan Tanner.

Mixed Martial Arts made it’s inaugural debut on network television last Saturday and the majority of reviews have not been overly positive. With EliteXC showcasing the match-ups that they did, many are questioning their matchmaking, which was set up for specific stand up battles.

The title fight between Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith was a stand up war and a great fight for the first time viewer of Mixed Martial Arts; but it was not MMA. It was more or less kickboxing which did a disservice for the true gem that is the fastest growing sport in North America.

The same can be said for the women’s bout between Gina Carano and Kaitlin Young, although many were happy to see the end of the second round when Carano tried to finish the fight with a rear naked choke. If Carano was able to close the deal, perhaps the knock on EliteXC’s matchmaking would be a mute point.

In Kimbo Slice’s bout vs James Thompson, we saw a variety of takedowns and some ground and pound at the end of the second round. Thompson pinned Kimbo against the cage and in the span of sixty seconds, unleashed over 30 elbows and 25 punches, all unanswered by Kimbo, the obvious poster-child for EliteXC.

In my opinion, the bout should have been stopped right then and there, as Kimbo was not intelligently defending himself. If that bout occurred in any other promotion, the ref would have stepped in to halt the bout, in the name of fighter safety. But this was Kimbo Slice.

 There is no doubt in my mind that whether purposely or not, Kimbo went into this bout a protected asset. To have him lose would have been a catastrophe for EliteXC but he was definitely exposed in this bout. But, lest we forget, this was only his fourth MMA fight and a bout against a seasoned MMA veteran in James Thompson.

I still believe Kimbo Slice has a bright future in the sport of MMA. He has world class trainers in Bas Rutten and Shawn Tompkins and I am confident they will correct a variety of kinks in his game and make him a better fighter for his next bout. He is still green and is receiving a lot of unnecessary criticism for his performance on Saturday night.

This blame can fall on a variety of shoulders, perhaps EliteXC for matching him up against Thompson, but also on the media for buying into the hype that is Kimbo Slice. Look at any of the greatest fighters of all time, be it boxing, kickboxing or MMA. They were all built slowly and efficiently with many of them not getting a real test until after 15 fights. Kimbo got his in his fourth fight.

Will Kimbo ever become a world class, top ten fighter? Maybe. Maybe not. But the fact remains that he is still on a huge learning curve and has little time to improve due to his age. He is not in his early twenties, but in his thirties. He will have a small window to improve and compete in this sport. Sooner or later, he will face a top ten fighter and he better be ready.

What will happen then, remains to be seen. For now, yours truly will not believe the hype until he does face top ten competition. But what I did see in Kimbo is a lot of heart and a no quit mentality. I am a fan for sure; that goes without saying, but Kimbo needs to work on his ground game, his defence and yes, his cardio.

I look forward to see who EliteXC has in mind for his next bout. To be frank, this is the least of my concerns as I sincerely hope to see a different matchmaking mentality from them, for their next CBS show. Let’s see some true match-ups with fighters who have a proven track record of not only winning bouts on their feet, but also on the ground with some submissions. Showcase that part of the MMA game, and the sport will grow by leaps and bounds.