The Ultimate Fighter Ten Finale was an event to remember, one that will have MMA lifers referring back to the variety of storylines that have been written in the UFC’s history book.

“Big Country” awards me many free meals in the future

I for one held my breath throughout the main event between Roy Nelson and Brendan Schaub, as my July 2009 prediction that “Big Country” would win the six figure contract was consistently met with reservation. Once “Big Country” finished “The Hybrid”, I exhaled a sigh of relief, while fielding a plethora of phone calls, texts and emails pertaining to the prediction…many of which will cost a fair amount of folks a night on the town for yours truly.

With that being said, Nelson is still not getting the respect he deserves, namely because he will likely be thrust right into the mix of the UFC’s heavyweight divison. With the weight class being so thin on talent (no pun intended), Nelson will be matched up with quality opponents right away.

Jones was the victim, is the victim and will always be the victim

The co-main event stoppage is raising quite the controversy, but for all the grief referee Steve Mazzagatti gets, I agree with the decision he made. History will show that for the first time, instant replay was used to determine the final result of the bout ( a disqualification to Jon Jones giving the victory to Matt Hammil ) and based on his stoppage, Mazzagatti was correct.

While the throwing of elbows in a 12 o’clock to 6 o’clock fashion is deemed illegal according to the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, this scenario has raised a variety of concerns in my eyes.

First off, the rule is simply a silly one, and should be erased from the rule book. Earlier this year, Big John McCarthy discussed this at length during my C.O.M.M.A.N.D. certification course and quite frankly, the rule itself is out dated and needs to be abolished immediately.

In the case of Jon Jones, two things come to mind – if that rule wasn’t there, he would have won the fight, but the fact the youngster did throw them was disturbing. Did he not know that they were illegal? If so, we have an issue. Second, if he is using them in training, then a tiny portion of the blame has to fall onto the lap of Greg Jackson and crew.

This is something that should have been corrected with “Bones” a long time ago, because the worse thing about the disqualification is if Jones’s incredible potential becomes a reality, many will look back at the “loss” in his career, similar to that of Fedor Emelianenko’s loss to Tsuyoshi Kohsaka in 2000. It may be a loss on paper, but we all know what the true result is, and now, he will never be able to say he has a perfect record.

Kimbo Slice not only lost, he wasn’t event impressive

Kimbo Slice’s “official” UFC debut will go down as a victory, but I can’t say I agree on the final judges decision.

Yes, Houston Alexander circled for the vast majority of the first round, but he did land more strikes than Kimbo – he won the round. If it’s okay for Machida to play that game, then it’s okay for Alexander.

Round two – no question that Kimbo won that round, but in round three, Alexander landed 27 strikes to Kimbo’s 13 ( http://fightmetric.com/fights/Slice-Alexander.html ). He kicked Kimbo’s legs out from underneath him. Kimbo did execute a takedown but did nothing with it. Houston ended the round with a left elbow and right hand that sent Slice wobbling backwards. He wins round three to me, and the bout two rounds to one.

Instead, one judge scores it 30-27 for Kimbo, while the other two judges score it 29-28 for Slice as well. Mind boggling in my opinion, but welcome to a period of MMA where far too many judges simply do not even understand the very scoring critieria they are employed to administer and calculate.

Slice’s performance was also sub-par. Cardio issues aside (I still can not figure out how in this day and age, guys fatique so easily) one would figure that after training and fighting in MMA for over two years, you would figure Kimbo would know how to secure the back position and know how to lock in a rear naked choke. He obviously does not know how, or completely forgot how to do so in the second round of his fight with Alexander.

This is the same guy who spent months training with a team ( which included submission fighter Marcus Jones ) on The Ultimate Fighter, is a part of the American Top Team, one of the best teams on the planet, and spent a fair amount of time with the legendary Bas Rutten.

I’ll be the first to admit that Kimbo is one of the nicest guys that I have ever met, but I cannot for the life of me understand why he cannot execute what ground game he has learned over the past 24 months. I know men and women that have trained less than three months of BJJ, that have the positioning and submission locked into their muscle memory and can likely do it at will, after running a marathon and blind folded to boot. It’s inexcusable to see a UFC fighter not be able to pull it off in a fight.

Random Misc TUF Ten Notes

* While Frankie Edgar continues to do very well in the UFC’s division, he belongs in the featherweight division. Trust me, if the money was there, he would do it, but until the UFC’s payscale improves at 145 lbs, Edgar will continue to face much larger foes, and it’s just not right.

* Marcus Jones’ gas tank was disappointing to say the least, and so were his hands. Hopefully the charismatic role model can fix both of them, because he is the perfect mold of what the UFC looks for in a superstar.

* Canadian Mark Bocek had a stellar performance, but now needs to cross the line and start fighting some tougher competition. His boxing looked better, but now I’d like to see him tested against someone that cannot be taken down easily and has great hands. Bocek appears ready to take it to the next step.

* Although he lost to James McSweeney via TKO in the third round, we should all wish the best to Darrill Schoonover, who now returns to active duty in Afghanistan.

* Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell will renew their rivalry as coaches on season eleven of The Ultimate Fighter. I cannot say I agree with this decision (I’d much rather have seen Ortiz and Forrest Griffin as coaches) but if Tito can rock the boat, the ratings will be gold. On a side note, I’m picking Ortiz to defeat Liddell in their upcoming trilogy bout – let the hate mail begin.

* Time for the UFC to take the TUF Finale’s on the road. Yesterday’s dismal attendance and low gate will surely be (more than) compensated by the television ratings, but I’d suggest moving the show outside of Vegas. They know who wins ahead of time, so just have the show in a city of one of the two fighters who made it to the final. I know this may give away the end result, but how many people will actually pay attention and figure this out (okay, every MMA message board, but at least the live attendance will be booming). Imagine if the TUF 10 Finale was held close to Schaub’s hometown (i.e. Denver, Colorado). It’s safe to say more than 1400 people would have showed, and unlike the 1400 in Vegas, everyone would have stayed in their seats for the main event.

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