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By Matt Pelkey, MMATorch Columnist
THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER 14 FINALE
DECEMBER 3RD, 2011
LIVE FROM LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
======FACEBOOK PRELIMS======
-Bryan Caraway d. Dustin Neace by submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:38 of Round 2
-Steven Siler d. Josh Clopton by unanimous decision (29-28x3)
-Roland Delorme d. Josh Ferguson by submission (rear-naked choke) at 0:22 of Round 3
-John Albert d. Dustin Page by tko at 1:09 of Round 1
-Marcus Brimage d. Stephen Bass by unanimous decision (30-27x2, 29-28)
======MAIN CARD ON SPIKE TV======
-Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan welcome us to the Pearl at the Palm and break down the night's card, including the Bantamweight Final between John Dodson and T.J. Dillashaw, the Featherweight Final between Dennis Bermudez and Diego Brandao, and the five-round main event between middleweights Jason "Mayhem" Miller and Michael "The Count" Bisping.
FIGHT ONE: JOHNNY BEDFORD VS. LOUIS GAUDINOT (BANTAMWEIGHT)
ROUND ONE: No feeling out process to start as both men let their hands go early. Takedown by Bedford but Gaudinot is quickly back to his feet. They clinch against the cage and separate. Another quick takedown by Bedford and he transitions quickly to mount. Bedford works his way up looking for an armbar midway through the round. Louis gives up his back as a result and Bedford happily takes it. He lands some punches to the side of the head looking for the choke. Gaudinot finally gets back to a loose full guard, but really starts to each some punches. Bedford takes the back again and lands some knees to the body as the horn sounds.
PELKEY'S SCORECARD: 10-8 Bedford. Remember, I'm loose with my 10-8's, but Bedford completely controlled the action, held several dominant positions, and took no damage at all.
ROUND TWO: Gaudinot tries to start out fast, but soon finds himself pressed up against the cage eating knees and punches. They separate long enough for Bedford to land a flurry of punches before dropping down for and getting a takedown. He's content to control position and rest while landing occasional punches for a minute. He finally postures up and rains down big punishment. He moves to mount and the onslaught continues. With 20 seconds left he looks for an armbar. He just needs to extend it to secure the finish, but Gaudinot holds on as the bell sounds.
PELKEY'S SCORECARD: 10-8 Bedford. More of the same. He's completely dominating the fight right now.
ROUND THREE: A minute in and Bedford has him pressed up against the cage again unloading punches. One finally drops Gaudinot and he turtles up. Mazzagati lets the assault go on for a while as Bedford landed 20 or so knees to the body before its finally stopped. Great UFC debut for Johnny Bedford.
WINNER: Johnny Bedford by tko at 1:58 of Round 3
POST FIGHT: Bedford says he fell short of his goal of fighting in the finals, but he's blessed to be here and he wants a rematch with Dodson next.
STAR-RATING: (**+) Completely one-sided, but a standout performance for Bedford. The guys who perform impressively on this show will really be setting themselves up to be fast-tracked to bigger fights. Its one of the advantages of fighting at 135 or 145 in the UFC right now.
FIGHT TWO: TONY FERGUSON VS. YVES EDWARDS (LIGHTWEIGHT)
ROUND ONE: An occasional leg kick and lots of feints in the early going by Ferguson. Both guys throwing good, technical strikes, but not much connecting. Yves lands a head kick, but its shrugged off. Edwards starting to warm up. Ferguson lands a nice right that affects Edwards. Ferguson staggers Edwards with a punch and has him in trouble up against the cage. They end up on the mat in a scramble as the round ends.
PELKEY'S SCORECARD: 10-9 Ferguson. Tentative start, but wild finish with El Cucuy doing far more damage.
ROUND TWO: Edwards comes out in rhythm and starts opening up. He hurts Ferguson with a punch and follows it up with a head kick, several more punches and a flying knee. Ferguson survives and starts firing back. Yves shoots for a takedown late but is stuffed. Ferguson shoots for his own takedown and gets it as time runs out. Another good round.
PELKEY'S SCORECARD: 10-9 Edwards. Good, even round, but Edwards flurry towards the beginning that had Ferguson hurt was the most significant moment.
ROUND THREE: Both fighters start round three firing off some nice, technical strikes, but both are also doing a good job avoiding. Edwards lands another head kick, but again Ferguson just takes it. Helluva chin shown by El Cucuy tonight. Two minutes left and its still anyone's fight. The horn sounds with both standing in the center trading and slipping punches.
PELKEY'S SCORECARD: 10-9 Edwards. Neither guy landed much that round, but Edwards landed more and was generally the aggressor. 29-28 either way would be appropriate.
WINNER: Tony Ferguson by unanimous decision (30-27x2, 29-28)
POST FIGHT: Ferguson said Edwards did exactly what they thought he would, but he didn't think he'd last all three rounds.
STAR-RATING: (***) Good back and forth fight, although we learned nothing new about El Cucuy. He has good boxing, good defensive wrestling, and a stout chin. We already knew all that.
FIGHT THREE: T.J. DILLASHAW VS. JOHN DODSON (BANTAMWEIGHT FINALS)
ROUND ONE: Dillashaw comes out throwing leg kicks, but its not long before Dodson lands a left hand that staggers Dillashaw back to the cage. Dodson doesn't capitalize. Dodson lands a head kick that "oohs" the crowd, but goes unacknowledged by the announcers. Dodson rocks him with a left behind the ear and then drops him with a left. He follows down, but before he can really get his hammerfists of death going, Herb Dean steps in to stop it. Dillashaw was about to have his lights put out, but that probably could've gone on a little longer. Fine stoppage though. Dodson does two crazy backflips in celebration. Awesome.
WINNER: John Dodson by tko at 1:54 of Round 1
POST FIGHT: Dodson laughs his crazy laugh and makes funny faces as Dana White presents him with his trophy. He gets a smattering of boos for what the crowd perceives as a lame-ish stoppage. He says boo him or cheer him, just watch him. You got it, sir.
STAR RATING: (***) It was only two minutes, but you got to see plenty of what makes Jon Dodson such an exciting fighter. He's a natural flyweight, but until the UFC gets around to introducing another weight class, he'll have to be content to be the striking version of Demetrious Johnson in the bantamweight division.
FIGHT FOUR: DIEGO BRANDAO VS. DENNIS BURMUDEZ (FEATHERWEIGHT FINALS)
ROUND ONE: Bermudez charges out early and presses Diego against the cage. He locks on a standing guillotine, but uses it to control Diego and wear him down a bit before letting go and landing a nice punch. Diego starts to land some punches. He drops Burmudez with a punch but Dennis is quickly back to his feet, dodging Brandao haymakers. Burmudez lands a nice flying body kick. Diego drops Burmudez again with a huge right. He's throwing everything with everything. Burmudez fires back with some shots, but eats a counter. Brandao lands a flying knee and Burmudez pulls guard. Diego takes the back in a scramble and suplexes Burmudez down. Back to the feet. Burmudez drops Diego with a punch. Brandao in big trouble. He was charging in wildly. Burmudez landing lots of shots on the mat. He leaves his arm in and Brandao snatches it. He rolls him over and Burmudez is tapping like crazy! Whoa. He broke his arm. Insane finish.
WINNER: Diego Brandao by submission (armbar) at 4:51 of Round 1
POST FIGHT: Dana White presents him the trophy for winning the featherweight tournament. Joe asks him what he was thinking after he got hurt by the punch. He says he felt his legs go but that he knew Burmudez would be throwing punches and to look for the arm. He says he can by his mom a new house back in Brazil now.
STAR-RATING: (****) Awesome one round fight. Both guys went hard from the opening bell, both got hurt multiple times, and its a candidate for "Comeback of the Year" with that sick, slick submission from Brandao.
-They show the Facebook prelim between John Albert and Dustin Pague. Albert pulls off the small upset early with a big punch and some follow up ground and pound.
FIGHT FIVE: JASON MILLER VS. MICHAEL BISPING (MIDDLEWEIGHT)
ROUND ONE: No glove touch, no surprise. Miller comes out aggressive landing leg kicks. He charges in with punches and pushes Bisping against the fence. Bisping reverses. They separate. Miller lands a nice overhand right. Big body lock takedown for Miller. Bisping sits up, but Mayhem looks to mount. Stalemate in this position. Miller finally lands a few punches and Bisping is stuck here. Bisping finally wall walks his way back to his feet. Bisping lands his first significant punches of the fight with under a minute left. Miller dives unsuccessfully for a takedown as the round ends.
PELKEY'S SCORECARD: 10-9 Miller. Bisping closed strong but half that round was still spent with Miller in the mount.
ROUND TWO: Bisping is clearly the better striker and Miller knows it as he looks to clinch every time they engage. An accidental head butt halts the action 90 seconds in. Back to work, and Bisping continues to win the exchanges. Miller dives half heartedly for a leg and looks to roll and pull guard. Bisping stands over him and lands some punches and throws a would-be illegal head kick that misses. Miller gets back up and Bisping is just wearing him out now. He's landing knees and punches to the head and body at will against the cage. Miller falls to the ground with ten seconds left, but Bisping can't finish.
PELKEY'S SCORECARD: 10-8 Bisping. He was like a man possessed after the head butt and almost finished the fight towards the end.
ROUND THREE: Miller is in desperation mode early shooting for legs and coming up empty. Bisping still landing at will. Miller shoots again and finds himself in the turtle position eating punches to the head and knees to the body. He tries to roll over into a better position, but Bisping stays on him. Mazzagatti eventually has enough and mercifully ends the beating.
WINNER: Michael Bisping by tko at 3:34 of Round 3
POST FIGHT: Bisping says he tired. He put a lot into finishing that. He calls Miller a tough son of bitch and congratulates him on a great season of The Ultimate Fighter. Pretty humble from Bisping tonight. Joe asks him about challenging Silva but Bisping pours cold water on that by saying he wasn't happy with his performance tonight. Joe brings in Mayhem who apologizes for tiring out. He congratulates Bisping for being the better man and tells Dana White and Joe Silva to put him back in because he's ready to put on a show.
STAR-RATING: (***-) Good fight, with Miller winning the first round, but Bisping really took over about four minutes in. Great performance by him, but equally disappointing showing from Mayhem in his Octagon return. Bisping will likely need one more win like this to finally get his title shot. I wouldn't mind seeing Mayhem vs. Cung Le next time out for both. It makes sense to keep the part-timers away from the full-timers.
[Michael Bisping art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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