Guida and Sanchez both brought it tonight. You could tell Diego was tiring near the end of the fight, but what a start he had. There was several times where I thought he had Guida KO'd in that first round. How in the world did Guida manage to survive? I personally was kind of leaning more towards a draw, I thought Guida had that final round. I give credit to Diego, though, he was as tenacious as always. I don't think he walks right into a title shot against the BJ Penn vs. Kenny Florian winner, though. I think Frank Edgar deserves a chance at Diego. The winner of that can get a title shot.
Chris Lytle and Kevin Burns had a great brawl. Definitely Fight of the Night on most other cards. James Wilks made Damarques Johnson look a lot worse than he is. Damarques is a really good fighter, so that should tell you how good Wilks is. Ross Pearson also fought a good fight. Congrats to Wilks and Pearson.
I'm a sucker for a good brawl, that's why I gave this show such a high score. Sanchez vs. Guida and Lytle vs. Burns really popped that score huge. Also, I judge cards relative to what they are. This was a free show, so it gets a really good score. I had a lot of fun watching this. If this were a PPV, I'd probably give it an 8.5
Matt Pelkey, MMATorch Columnist: (7.0)
Other than the first round of the main event, nothing really stood out to me as being great, but nothing was even close to bad either. When that Andre Winner-Ross Pearson fight is the worst fight of the night, you know you had some pretty decent action. Diaz-JoeDaddy was a fun little ground battle, but it really only convinced me that Nate needs to put on several pounds of muscle if he wants to contend at 155. Too many good wrestlers in the division that can bully him around and avoid his submissions. Pearson-Winner was OK, and I thought the decision was right, but just too much uneventful clinch-work for me. I'm actually of the opinion that both those guys will make some noise in the lightweight division before its all said and done.
James Wilks put on the performance of the night in destroying tourney favorite Demarques Johnson. I'd like to see Wilks matched up with Matt Brown in his first non-TUF fight. Burns-Lytle was exactly what we expected it to be, and I think I was kinda disappointed by that. Definitely fun to watch two guys slug it out for three rounds, but its become predictable with certain fighters. Plus, after watching Jorge Gurgel and Connor Huen do that exact same thing the night before, only much better, Burns-Lytle suffered a bit in my mind.
The main event was fantastic...for a round. The second and third seemed anti-climactic to me with Guida looking only to utilize his unique brand of lay-n-pray, and Diego afraid to engage because he knew he'd lose a decision if he got held down again in the third. All in all, a nice night of fights, and a quick kudos to the UFC for handing out three "Fight of the Night" bonuses. It's a good precedent to set for the fighters that if they just come out and give it everything they have, more often than not they'll be compensated for it.
Jason Bent, MMATorch Columnist: (8.5)
Oh how the somewhat mighty have fallen; but then again maybe Joe Stevenson was never really that mighty, though he looked it against Nate Diaz on Saturday. What I mean by my previous statement is that Stevenson main evented UFC 80 against B.J. Penn and was also featured in the co-main event of UFC 91 against Kenny Florian, and on Saturday was in the opening bout of a 'TUF' finale on Spike. While the decision to place Diaz-Stevenson on first makes sense, it would seem to many that it was odd for those two to be opening the show while Lytle and Burns are more prominent.
Diaz and Stevenson was a fun fight to watch for me and while it wasn't the closest of bouts, it did feel that way considering all of the near submission attempts by both. Both men fared well, except it is Diaz who showed that he might not be ready for top competition while Stevenson showed he can beat everyone but.
Lytle vs. Burns was not necessarily a great fight and in hindsight appears that it was more Lytle than anything, but Burns had his moments near the end of the first round. Lytle was nearly finished but held on to not only recover but put his foot on the gas and run away with the fight. Lytle is Lytle. He will slug it out with anyone and is a good second tier welterweight while Burns looked like he needs a lot of seasoning. Sure he caught Lytle and hurt him in the first round, but by no means does this make him a fighter on that level just yet.
Both of the contract fights for 'The Ultimate Fighter' served their purpose, but I know of no man on this planet who would watch them again or any of the other fights from this season for that matter. There simply are not that many unknown fighters flying under the radar anymore with the proliferation of gyms and such, so this lessens the talent pool significantly. Ross Pearson is a scrappy guy who gutted out a clinch-filled victory over Andre Winner and he didn't so much as fight the better fight as he was the much more active fighter in doing so. Good win for him and a feel good moment of sorts but he has much to work on if he ever really hopes to make it in the UFC at all. As for James Wilks, I sure as hell don't know just what to think. Either I was actually right all along and Demarques Johnson was never on the UFC level and was just a big fish in a small 'TUF' pond or James Wilks is the best fighter of all and ready to give it a go in the UFC. No clue. I'd like to think Demarques Johnson was the best fighter in the house on 'TUF' and that James Wilks, after a great training camp, proved himself worthy of being on his level. It has been two days since the finale and I still am unsure.
Personality wise, it is likely that Johnson will get a second chance to make a first impression and that Wilks will be on a short leash. This season was BUILT around Johnson and regardless of how quickly he was handled on Saturday, there is no chance he fades into the night. Perhaps both men will make it in the UFC but the one fighter who I think has the tools to succeed is Cameron Dollar. He lost on the undercard on Saturday but at 21 years old with a strong athletic background, he seems to me that he just needs some time with a better camp. Dollar is my pick for best prospect but with Wilks winning it shows that no one should place any bets on these predictions.
Clay Guida vs. Diego Sanchez was truly one of the best fights of the year and provided us with one of the best first rounds of all time. We knew it would be good but few imagined it could be great and even those people were wrong as it was even better than that. We need a rematch sooner than later and this would certainly add to the intrinsic worth of a 'Fight Night' card. Sanchez deserves a title shot but Guida deserves a rematch just as much if not more.
Clay Guida looks like a Geico Caveman but fights like Captain Caveman and I am still amazed at how he was able to not just come back but to do so and find himself right back in a fight he was so close to losing. What an effort and what a night for this show.
The quality of the TUF contract bouts took business way down but the main event took business back up and then even higher.
Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief: (8.0)
This show had some very good fights, there's no doubt about that, but the pacing left a lot to be desired and until the final two bouts really dragged. I was happy to see so many guys on the card get bonus money for their fights, as there was a lot of really good effort throughout in some solid fights on the card, but it was clear Sanchez vs. Guida was the real fight of the night.
Nate Diaz needs to motivate himself to get better against wrestlers that can get him to the ground. He's had difficulty in two straight fights against guys that have frustrated him on the ground and controlled him throughout, and he hasn't really taken any damage in either of those fights. Stevenson did what he needed to get a much needed notch in the win column.
The Ultimate Fighter finals were interesting. I don't know who in the lightweight division to toss Pearson up against after this win as it's likely he'll have loads of trouble against many of the middle of the pack guys, but it was still a good win for him to finish out the season. James Wilks shocked everyone but himself in that final bout against DaMarques Johnson. He showed a ground game that wasn't even needed during his fights on the show, and smoothly went from sub attempt to sub attempt to sub attempt until finally locking in that choke. It's a highly disappointing loss for Johnson, but it's back to the drawing board and he'll be back in the Octagon at least once more to make a different impression to the masses.
The main event was simply great. For those who want to argue in Clay Guida's favor for this bout, or for having it a draw, really go back and watch that fight. Guida did almost zero damage to Sanchez throughout the entire bout, and the last time I checked simply surviving a brutal assault does not equal victory. Sanchez nearly knocked Guida out in the first round on more than one occasion, and Guida deserves ton of credit for being able to get out of that round. However, the arguments in the second and third for Guida have all been due to his takedowns and "control" on the ground. Yes, a takedown is an significant action in a fight, but simply staying on top while doing not much else than that does not and should not equal you winning a round. Diego Sanchez unleashed hell with his elbows on the bottom in the second round, and didn't need to get off of his back to win the round with how brutal they were. The third round was a wash on the feet and Guida's top control was negated by the fact that Sanchez had the takedown and went for multiple submissions on the ground. There should be no doubt in anyone's mind just by looking at the two after the fight that Diego Sanchez won that bout.
It was another solid free event on Spike for the UFC with another really good fight, but the slow pace early in the show hurt the enjoyment slightly.
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