Saturday night was fight night in Las Vegas, NV.  The reality series, The Ultimate Fighter, had the final fights to determine who gets signed on for a six-figure contract.  This year there were two weight classes and two contracts, AND I called them both wrong!

In the Light Heavyweights, Ryan Bader and Vinicius “Vinny” Magalhaes battled it out with Vinny being the underdog.  Bader is a NCAA wrestler turned MMA fighter, like many others, and is one strong competitor.  I had picked Vinny to win big time because he is a smarter fighter and absolutely vicious on the ground as a world champion Brazilian Jiu Jitsu player.

Ryan and Vinny just traded some punches and kicks with neither truly dominating the round…until  “Darth” Bader caught Vinny with a powerful punch to the temple and knocked him to the ground.  So powerful was this punch that it was deflected and still seemed to have knockout potential.  The ref stopped the bout very shortly after in the first round.

The next final bout was between Phillipe Nover and Efrain Escudero.  Phillipe was favored to win, but Efrain happened to disagree.  Phillipe is an awesome striker and a very good BJJ player.  Efrain is a collegiate wrestler turned MMA (see any trends forming?).

This fight was very exciting as there was much back and forth, even though Efrain was controlling the bout with his strength advantage.  Phillipe came very close to sinking in a much needed submission in the final round but failed.  The fight went to the judges, and there was no surprise when Efrain’s arm was raised.

I had picked both losers to win and was beat.  There was another that I wanted to lose but didn’t, Junie Browning.  On the show he was a punk.  He disgraced martial artists and dishonored another’s black belt.  I am pretty positive he did it to get noticed, and it worked.  However, I can’t stand those who can disgrace martial arts and profit from it.  He had a great fight and clearly was the victor, but it will take a lot to win me over.

Anyone else?

Tweet This Post