Saturday Night we witnessed the culmination of The Ultimate Fighter 10, with the exciting finale bout between Roy Nelson and Brendan Schaub.

As many had predicted, the experienced former IFL champ, Roy Nelson came out victorious in the end. I honestly did not expect Nelson to win by KO though, as Schaubs standup is very good and Nelson definitely having the edge on the mat.

I had imagined him taking Schaub down and finishing him with ground and pound, but the KO victory was a refreshing finish from the big bellied Nelson, and I look forward to seeing more of him in the future. I wonder who they have in mind for him next? As much as I like Roy Nelson, I have a hard time picturing him being any kind of threat to heavyweights like Lesnar, Big Nog, Carwin, Mir and Velasquez. Now that he is officially signed with the UFC, I guess time will tell.


Kimbo Slice also got his much anticipated octagon debut, with a unanimous decision over Houston Alexander.

The fight did not go down as expected at all, with Alexander constantly circling away from Slice, clearly frustrating the Florida brawler. Alexander was somewhat succefull in punishing Kimbos front leg with some quick inside leg kicks, but it was not enough to stop the bearded streetfighter who definitely got the better of most exchanges whenever there was actually some contact. Honestly I think several minutes passed before the two fighters actually had any form of contact, and I was surprised Alexander didn't get a warning. It must have been the leg kicks that kept him active enuogh to avoid the warning.

In the second round Kimbo dominated Houston, and really showed off some of those new found ground skills. The guys at American Top Team are clearly doing a great job with Kimbo and he is learning fast. All in all it was a solid performance by Kimbo Slice, and although I don't think he can reach the absolute pinnacle of this sport, I foresee some interesting matchups in the future.

Another controversial fight was the bout between undefeated Jon Jones and Matt Hamill. After Jones scored a takedown and moved to the mount position, he unleashed some terrifying ground and pound. Punches and elbows were raining down on Hamill, who could do nothing but cover up. At this point the fight got stopped due to Jones using an illegal strike, the straight up and down elbow. It is not allowed under the current rules and since Hamill could not continue due to a severe cut caused by the illegal blow, Jones was disqualified and Hamill got the win.

The interesting thing about this incident, was the very calm and collected reaction from Jon Jones. He appeared very mature for a 22 year old and said that the pressure is now off him, because he is no longer undefeated, and that he will come back even stronger. Good for him, and I really think he has what it takes to go far in this sport.




















Other fights from the event:

Frankie Edgar def. Matt Veach by 2nd round submission
Matt Mitrione def. Marcus Jones by 2nd round KO
James McSweeney def. Darrill Schoonover by 3rd round TKO
Jon Madsen def. Justin Wren by split decision
Brian Stann def. Rodney Wallace by unanimous decision
John Howard def. Dennis Hallman by 3rd round KO
Mark Bocek def. Joe Brammer by 1st round submission


Photos from MMAjunkie.com

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't watched The Ultimate Fighter S10E11 yet, and don't want to be spoiled, I guess you should stop reading :)

Matt Mitrione once again showed his true colors when he claimed his "rattled brain" was just a tactic to throw James McSweeney off his game. First of all, it was a lie. Matt Mitrione clearly got hurt in his fight against Scott Junk. Maybe not physically, but definitely mentally. Everyone could tell he just didn't want to fight McSweeney and all the theatrics from Mitrione really only served to make himself look bad. Second, if his statement was true, it was a very disrespectful thing to do to a fellow fighter.

When Mitrione finally came to his senses and decided to fight, it was McSweeneys turn to make Mitrione look bad. McSweeney came out and totally picked Mitrione apart, he got the better of Mitrione standing up, with takedowns and in the end with a guillotine submission to win the fight. Game over for Matt Mitrione and to be honest, he had it coming. He should show a bit more respect towards the sport and his fellow fighters.

In the second fight of the episode, we saw Marcus Jones battle it out with Darril Schoonover. Well, it was more of a steamrolling than a battle, as Jones dominated Schoonover from start to finish.

Jones looked really impressive in his first fight of the season, and followed it up by another stellar performance. After almost taking Schoonovers leg off with a devastating leg kick, Jones took Scoonover to the ground with a powerful takedown. Marcus Jones displayed some excellent ground skills in controlling Schoonover and really punishing him from both side control and from inside the guard. The fight ended with Jones putting Schoonover to sleep with some vicious ground and pound from guard. Marcus Jones was literally in full control of Schoonover the entire fight and is my pick to win the entire season (although Brendan Schaub is looking really good too).

The episode also featured a little back and forth exchange of words between Rampage and Rashad, which is always funny, since we know how rampage backed out of the planned fight to go star in a movie (yeah go figure). In the end Dana White announced the semifinals, and we have 2 great bouts to look forward to:

Roy Nelson vs James McSweeney

Marcus Jones vs Brendan Schaub

I'm really looking forward to these two fights and of course the finale. It has been a slightly disappointing season, but it is really starting to pick up and the recent fights have been great.