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The Ultimate Finale: Penick's Delayed Random Thoughts in Chronological Order By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Jun 22, 2008 - 10:50:39 PM
Hello everyone, I'm watching the show on DVR after taking in the second half of TUF season in marathon-like fashion. I'll be updating throughout my viewing of the show with my thoughts on the fights and the interviews; and with that being said, it's on to the show.
-Good video interviews as always setting up tonight's action. Grove and Tanner both seem to realize the magnitude of this fight for their own individual careers.
-Matt Riddle's knock out victory on TUF was a great highlight. The kid's pretty damn cocky, but he's got some talent to back it up, and we'll see how he does here against Dante Rivera.
-Riddle's inexperience showed a few times in that first round, but he held his own and looked very good outside of those couple of instances. The knee exchanges between the two in the clinch were really good, and they both did some damage. Riddle had some good strong shots in near the end and his takedown at the end probably helped swing that round his way.
-Riddle's doing a really good job with those knees in this fight. Of course as I type that Rivera comes back with a knee to the head.
-Riddle's showing some great strength in holding off these takedown attempts from Rivera. There's that inexperience showing again getting away from that mount as Riddle tried to grab the submission. He didn't need to give that position up.
-Nice finish, almost locking on that arm bar for Riddle. That round was all him as well.
-Pretty boring third round here. Riddle looked very impressive in this fight. He's got a ways to go in the game, but he's got a lot of potential.
-No surprise on the unanimous decision for Matt Riddle. Good professional debut for the kid. Riddle in his interview says he feels he belongs here and I'd have to agree. Riddle's got some charisma there as well, and as long as he continues to improve, which is really all he can do from here, he will be an entertaining guy to watch as he climbs the ladder.
-I am excited to see how Anderson Silva does at 205. He's just fun to watch, and Dana White and Joe Rogan are hyping the man something fierce here. They really want to just squash this Affliction show as much as possible.
-Spencer Fisher vs. Jeremy Stephens now. The back and forth on the ground in this round is really good. Stephens is getting pounded on and taking some abuse but he's also being very active and trying to get submissions. Fisher takes round one, no doubt. He delivered a lot of punishment on the ground.
-Both guys are wildly firing in this second round. Fisher dominated this round again once it got to the ground, although Stephens got a bit back by slamming him at the end. It's another round to Fisher regardless.
-Stephens can sense he's behind here, and he landed some nice shots early in this third round. Stephens looked like he had that guillotine locked in, but that was a nice pass by Fisher.
-Wow, great job by Fisher to hold off on that choke at the end of the round.
-Another non surprising decision. Fisher definitely won that fight, but Stephens looked good in spots himself. That was a decent fight, but nothing spectacular.
-I can't freaking wait for Jackson vs. Griffin. Rampage is a funny man, and he's got class as a champ, giving lots of respect to Griffin here. These two play off each other well and I can't wait to see them in the Octagon.
-Luigi Fioravanti against Diego Sanchez now. I've always been a Diego fan since the first season of TUF, despite that snooze fest he had against Josh Koschek last year. I'm hoping for the exciting "Nightmare" in this one.
-Diego's just flying all over the place here in the first round. The pace is great here, both men are just launching combinations. I love a good back and forth brawl, and they're doing just that at a great pace here.
-Luigi did a wonderful job with takedown defense before getting a takedown of his own. The round goes to Diego, though.
-Angelina Jolie is smoking hot.
-Great right hand from Diego to send Fioravanti to the ground. Luigi got himself back up quite nicely. Diego looks great here. Another great shot from Diego and an awesome exchange after that. This is a great fight so far. Good two rounds in the books, and I have Sanchez taking both of them.
-More good exchanges to start the third round. I am really surprised at how good Sanchez's stand-up has been here. Luigi has been highly impressive with his ground defense and sprawling.
-Wow! What a freaking head kick to the temple by Diego and great follow up to pound Fioravanti to the finish. Wow.
-Diego showed a side of himself that we really haven't seen to date, at least to this extent. He's scary good with this type of striking to go with his ground game.
-Good preview video for season 8 of TUF. I can't see Mir hanging with Nogueira in that Heavyweight Title fight in December, though.
-As always, the training videos for CB and Amir are top notch. Cb comes off as the arrogant cocky dick that Forrest pegged him as, and Amir comes off as totally likeable. Amir got lucky in that semi-final match and caught the arm bar when he was getting out-classed the rest of the way, but if CB Dolloway gives him another opportunity, Amir will take it and make him tap again.
-Just as I said, CB left the arm out there while pounding on Amir and he got caught in the arm bar. He's complaining about it, but he clearly tapped, even if it was just once. Herb Dean was right there for that.
-Good for Amir. He took his punishment and took advantage of his opportunity for the submission and he's a deserving Ultimate Fighter champ. He's got a humble, deadpan type of charismatic personality and he'll be fun to watch in his UFC career.
-Great, another show about some drunken 'sconi's. Kidding. Could be funny, though.
-Main event time. Evan Tanner's beard is epically awesome. Holy shit that one legged knee from Kendall Grove was amazing. Kendall's looking great here. Ouch, nice up kick by Grove. Kendall takes a good first round.
-Grove is landing a lot of shots here in the second round. Another one legged knee from Grove! Nice takedown by Tanner. Tanner's bleeding quite a bit here. Nice use of the kimura by Grove to get himself back to his feet. Tanner just got rocked with about 10 shots, and I can't believe Grove didn't finish that. Good head kick right before that round ended. Another round for Grove there.
-Far too much stalling in this third round for my liking. Another great right hand from Grove late in the round. Tanner gets a couple of shots in there himself. Tanner's looked better in this round but this is Grove's fight. Really good rebound showing from Kendall Grove.
-Well my DVR just cut out as they were going to interview Grove, but that was a very good showing from him and a pretty good main event fight. Overall it was a decent night of fights, with Diego Sanchez having probably the best showing of the night. Join us later this week for a new MMATorch Audio Update that will include a review of this finale. Thanks for joining my delayed reactions this evening!
