Now that we know the full fight-card and which two contestants will be battling it out to be crowned this year’s Ultimate Fighter, the time is upon us to take a look at the event from top to bottom and get you filled in on the fights.
David Branch (7-1-0) vs. Rich Attonito (9-3-0)
After getting slammed onto SportsCenter by Gerald Harris in his UFC debut, Renzo Gracie black belt David Branch bounced back with a solid performance over Tomasz Drwal to earn his first win inside the Octagon.
Rich Attonito was shut down early in Season 11 of the reality TV staple, breaking his hand during his opening round win over Kyacey Uscola. Since then, the American Top Team product has collected a pair of victories, stopping Jamie Yager at the last installment of this show before getting the better of Rafael “Sapo” Natal in September.
This is an interesting pairing in that neither guy is head-and-shoulders ahead of the other in any area of the fight, a situation that usually yields an entertaining fight. Both men should be safe from the firing line – save for pulling a Harris – so expect the two middle-tier middleweights to come out hard in an effort to further cement their standing in the division.
Fredson Paixao (10-3-0) vs. Pablo Garza (9-1-0)
Someday in the distant future, someone will ask who took part in the first featherweight bout in UFC history. These two combatants will now go down as the answer to that question.
Paixao is a world-class competitor in Brazilian jiu jitsu, having earned gold at Mundials in 2001, 2002 and 2005. After dropping his WEC debut to top 10 competitor Wagnney Fabiano, Paixao has since bounced back with wins in his last two fights. Like many sport jiu jitsu standouts, Paixao’s striking lags behind his ground game. He’s still able to get by with only his grappling game, but that will change as he moves up the division.
Garza has made the most of not making it into The Ultimate Fighter house this season. After losing to Michael Johnson in the qualification round, Garza was a last minute fill-in for Jason Reinhardt at WEC 51, getting submitted by Tiequan Zhang in the first round. Now, “The Scarecrow” gets another chance to catch with the company.
Unfortunately for Garza, this feels like his “thanks for helping us out” fight, the one where if he loses, the company can cut him loose without feeling bad about dropping the guy that did them a solid.
Will Campuzano (8-2-0) vs. Nick Pace (5-1-0)
While Paixao and Garza will go down as the answer to a trivia question, these two competitors will most likely be forgotten despite being the first bantamweight fighters to step into the Octagon.
The truth of the matter is that this is really a forgettable fight; while both Campuzano and Pace have shown promise, they’re at the level where a loss sends them back to the regional circuit, eager to be invited back for another cup of coffee with the big show.
Sako Chivitchian (5-0-0) vs. Kyle Watson (12-6-1)
This bout serves as a prime example of how much The Ultimate Fighter has changed in the 12 seasons it has been on the air.
At the TUF 1 Finale, current contenders Josh Koscheck and Chris Leben scored wins, while long-time veterans of the Octagon Mike Swick and Nate Quarry got their first of many UFC victories. Six years later, all four remain in the UFC fold. I don’t hold out the same hope for these next four fighters, even if you reduce the time frame to two years.
Chivitchian intrigues me based on his judo pedigree, a skill set honed under his uncle, Gokar. With a legitimate elite level background as a judoka, “The Chainsaw” has the kind of grappling skills to carry him through this fight and perhaps a couple more at this level.
Watson is the kind of guy you want to see succeed. Not a superior physical specimen or blessed with outstanding athleticism, Watson is a grinder in the greatest sense. That being said, his lack of athleticism and explosive skills was evident against Jonathan Brookins in the semifinals and he appears overmatched here as well.
Ian Loveland (13-7-0) vs. Tyler Toner (11-2-0)
I grew up racing horses, so even before Tamdan McCrory took to the Octagon, I had heard the term “barn cat” on more than one occasion. Stupid little mongrel cats always hissing at me when I’m trying to pick a stall…
Anyway, Loveland goes by the moniker “The Barn Owl” and that’s one I’m not too familiar with. Aren’t owls more of a tree-dwelling animal? A member of Team Quest, Loveland has earned six-straight wins heading into this bout. Curiously, he was added to the card as an injury replacement for Leonard Garcia. Keep that in mind as we move forward.
Toner fights out of the Grudge Training Center in Colorado, and looks nothing like a fighter. I know that sounds dumb, but seriously, he looks like an accountant or the guy who works at your local hardware store and knows everything there is to know about wrenches.
As with every fight on the undercard, this should be a case where the winner stays and the loser leaves town.
Aaron Wilkinson (6-3-0) vs. Cody McKenzie (11-0-0)
The battle of the two men to choke out Marc Stevens via guillotine could be an interesting affair, if only because you’ve got to be curious to see if Cody can continue earning wins by his signature submission.
Wilkinson is one of the competitors who has the look of someone who a chance to latch on long-term with the UFC. He trains at the Wolfslair Academy, a gym that is well-represented in the organization, and showed a hunger to learn and commitment to his craft during his time inside the Ultimate Fighter house.
A member of the Lyle Beerbohm “Fancy Pants Fight Team,” McKenzie is one of those rare breeds that manages to earn wins despite being a one-trick pony. All but one of his wins has come by guillotine, and the two victories he secured on Spike TV were secured that way as well. Unfortunately for the Alaskan, in the one fight where he wasn’t able to sink in a choke, his lack of secondary and tertiary talents was exposed.
Leonard Garcia (14-6-1) vs. Nam Phan (16-7-0)
It’s a miracle!
Either “Bad Boy” needs to change his nickname to Wolverine to represent his rapid healing mutant powers or the UFC just took the easiest path to switch the fight card and said he had an injury that didn’t actually exist.
Regardless of the situation, this is going to be a great way to kick off the card, as every Garcia fight is entertaining, and Phan has proven himself to have the all-around game and conditioning to hang with the Greg Jackson student.
Thankfully for Phan, he hasn’t had to try and prepare for this fight while fending off the annoying antics of his eliminated teammates.
Johny Hendricks (9-0-0) vs. Rick Story (11-3-0)
You may not be excited about this fight, but I am. Both of these welterweights are on my list of dark horse contenders heading into 2011, and this bout will determine which one takes that next step forward.
Hendricks is a former All-American wrestler from Oklahoma State, but don’t think of him as just a wrestler. He won his UFC debut with a quick knockout of TUF 7 winner Amir Sadollah, and earned his last victory over Charlie Brenneman with a TKO finish as well. Training in tandem with the talents at Xtreme Couture and Marc Laimon’s Cobra Kai gym, Hendricks has been getting a well-rounded education in the sport and has earned straight A’s to date.
After losing his UFC debut to John Hathaway at UFC 99, Story has put together four-straight wins to climb up the welterweight ladder. His arm triangle from inside Brian Foster’s half-guard was outstanding, and his TKO victory over Dustin Hazelett this summer in Oakland sent “McLovin” to the lightweight division.
The winner of this fight will get a bump up in competition for their next encounter, while the loser will remain a staple in the middle of the division.
Demian Maia (13-2-0) vs. Kendall Grove (12-7-0)
This is one of those fights where I’m nearly positive of what will take place, yet not completely sold that the outcome will actually end up meeting those expectations.
Maia and Grove aren’t in the same league despite being in the same division; the Brazilian is a former title challenger who has faced some of the top 185-pound fighters in the organization, while Grove has never managed to climb above the middle of the pack since winning Season 3 of The Ultimate Fighter.
Those facts make Maia the heavy favorite, with a submission win seemingly like the sure outcome, but the crazy thing about Grove is that every so often, he puts together a performance that surprises you – like his D’Arce choke win over Alan Belcher.
Until he puts it all together and actually earns a win against an opponent of Maia’s standing, I’m expecting my expected outcome to come through.
Jonathan Brookins (11-3-0) vs. Michael Johnson (8-4-0)
The battle for the title of The Ultimate Fighter is an all Team GSP affair featuring the top two talents from the welterweight champion’s camp.
After a season’s worth of episodes and three fights for both men, you know the gist of what each fighter brings to the table. Brookins has exhibited quick transitions and slick submissions, while Johnson makes the most of his natural abilities and raw athleticism, as well as a double leg takedown to score points.
What intrigues me about this contest is whether or not Johnson has built up better cardio since the cameras stopped rolling. He seemed to tire in each of his outings on the show, and Brookins isn’t the type of fighter you want to gas against.
Conversely, Brookins will have to contest with the athleticism and strength of his opponent. Getting the better of a pair of judokas and a grinder like Kyle Watson is a totally different experience than contending with the power/speed/size package presented by Johnson.
Stephan Bonnar (12-7-0) vs. Igor Pokrajac (22-7-0)
Since his epic encounter with Forrest Griffin at the first ever Ultimate Fighter Finale, “The American Psycho” has put on a number of entertaining bouts, including his back-to-back battles with Krzysztof Soszynski in 2010.
Bonnar is an example in longevity and popularity, a fighter any number of up-and-comers and seasoned veterans could learn a thing or two from. Anyone wanting to see how to maintain long-term employment with the UFC needs to watch Bonnar’s highlight reel. He’s willing to scrap it out with the best of them, and while he has come away on the wrong side of the cards on more than a handful of occasions in recent years, fans still can’t get enough of the Indiana native.
Pokrajac is a long-time training partner of Mirko Cro Cop, and has gone 1-2 through three trips into the Octagon thus far. Unlike his more well-known training partner, Pokrajac prefers the ground game, coming into the cage with a wrestling and jiu jitsu base.
Though both men have solid ground games they could rely on, don’t expect to see this one contested on the canvas, at least not for very long. They’ll stand, they’ll bang, and the people will cheer wildly, exactly what the UFC expected when they put this pairing together at the top of the card.
