Posts with the tag "The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale"

So, I am kind of glad that I didn't get my picks in. I don't think I did that well, but I haven't tallied up the results yet. Let's take a look.

Rob Yundt vs. Rob Kimmons - Starting off with a bang, I picked Kimmons to win this fight and I got it right!
CORRECT 1-0

Jeremy Horn vs. Dean Lister - So quickly back to 50%. I didn't think Horn could get caught, I guess I was wrong.
WRONG 1-1

Matt Brown vs Matt Arroyo - I knew Brown had heavy hands, but I didn't think he would be able to keep the fight off the mat. I was wrong.
WRONG 1-2

Marvin Eastman vs. Drew McFedries - I had to take a second look to make sure I had picked McFedries. I am sure glad that I did, he came out and looked awesome!
CORRECT 2-2

Josh Burkman vs. Dustin Hazelett - WOW, I didn't see this one coming! Burkman is one of my favorite fighters. Big props to Hazelett for the win.
WRONG 2-3

Matt Riddle vs. Dante Rivera - Glad I went with the experts on this pick. I didn't know for sure how Riddle would handle the big stage, but he did very well.
CORRECT 3-3

Spencer Fisher vs. Jeremy Stephens - I don't think I ever officially posted my prediction for this one, but you have to trust me that I picked Fisher. Finally, back above 50%.
CORRECT 4-3

Diego Sanchez vs. Luigi Fioravanti - OK, I don't know too many people that got this one wrong and neither did I.
CORRECT 5-3

Amir Sadollah vs. CB Dollaway - OK, my post made it sound like I picked both fighters, but I actually picked Dollaway. He lost and I am glad that Sadollah won, because having an Ultimate Fighter with a loss on the show didn't seem right.
WRONG! 5-4

Evan Tanner vs. Kendall Grove - Wow, did Grove prove me wrong. Or maybe Tanner just didn't live up to my expectations. Either way I got this fight wrong, bringing me back down to 50%
WRONG - 5-5

Well, not as bad as I thought. 50% may have been enough to put me on the leader board, but I will never now.

Amir Sadollah once again proved that he is the best fighter from The Ultimate Fighter 7 house. Coming into the fight, he was the only fighter that hadn't lost and he had already defeated C.B Dollaway.

Much like the first fight between the two fighters, Sadollah was able to catch Dollaway in an arm bar. Although, this time the stoppage was questionable. At least that is what Dollaway will have you believe. In my opinion, he was tapping and the ref made the right decision.

Sadollah looked great in the fight and will prove to be a legitimate fighter in the UFC. I believe he will have a run much like Kendal Grove. He will win a few fights out of the gate and then lose a few as well.

Speaking of Kendall Grove, he looked like a completely different fighter. He was sharp and calculating with his strikes. He made the one time UFC champion Tanner look old and slow. Grove won the fight via a split decision, but he should have won unanimously.

The scores went 29-28-Tanner, 30-26-Grove, and 30-26-Grove. Wait a minute, how do two judges agree that a fighter dominated enough to warrant a 10-8 round and yet the other judge scores the fight in favor of Tanner? I imagine we will be hearing more about this.

Overall, the event was a B+ in my book and that isn't too bad. I will breakdown my Almost picks later this week, but I will say that I was dead wrong about Dustin Hazelett. In a huge upset, he was able to defeat Josh Burkman. That's what I love about the UFC, anybody can lose.

Well, I let you down. I promised you picks for this UFC event, but I wasn't able to get them done. I only had two picks left so I will give them to you now quickly.

Amir Sadollah vs. CB Dollaway - The rematch is on! I have a good feeling Sadollah will repeat as a winner here. Dollway was hesitant to fight Credur on the mat and I think after his submission loss to Sadollah, he may chose to keep the fight on the feet. Still, if I was a betting man my money would be on Dollaway. I believe he wins by unanimous decision.

Evan Tanner vs. Kendall Grove - A very interesting matchup indeed. Tanner the former UFC champion looks to prove that he can still fight in the UFC. Kendall Grove is a talented young fighter, but I believe he is still a couple years away from challenging any of the top contenders. I expect Tanner to win this fight by decision.

Hope everybody enjoys the fights!

Diego Sanchez vs. Luigi Fioravanti - This should be one of the more entertaining fights of the night.

Sanchez is a huge fan favorite after winning the first Ultimate Fighter. After defeating Kenny Florian in the The Ultimate Fighter 1 Finale, he proceeded to roll through UFC veterans such as Nick Diaz, Karo Parisyan and Joe Riggs. He looked almost unstoppable until his fight with Josh Koscheck. Since that loss, he has a win over David Bielkheden and a loss to Jon Fitch.

Luigi Fioravanti is a striker that looks to end fights with every punch. He does have good takedown defense, but he will have his hands full with Sanchez. I believe Sanchez will get him to the mat and find some submission win. The question is how fast can it do it and in what round... I am guessing Sanchez chokes out Fioravanti in the first round.

Matt Riddle vs. Dante Rivera - Vegas has Riddle as the favorite even though he doesn't own a professional win. It is hard for me to pick against experience, but I have to imagine there is a reason Riddle is favored.

After a little research, I think I know why some of the experts are picking Riddle. Seems that Riddle is a very good wrestler and he has won state titles in wrestling. I have mixed thoughts on the end of this fight. I can see Riddle trying to throw with Rivera, but he should just control the fight with his wrestling skills. The safe bet here is Riddle by majority decision.

Josh Burkman vs. Dustin Hazelett - This fight looks lopsided to me, but who knows. Burkman is coming off a loss to Mick Swick where both fighters looked unimpressive. Still, I remember Burkman as a fighter that looks to impress the fans.

Hazelett is also coming off a loss. He fought Josh Koscheck at UFC 82. He managed to put up a good fight until Koscheck was able to catch him with a huge right hand. Hazelett will be looking for submissions, the question is whether he can get Burkman to the ground.

The odds-makers have Burkman as the favorite and I have to agree. I believe he wins this fight by a technical knockout. Expect this fight to go into the second or third round before Burkman can knockout Hazelette.

Marvin Eastman vs. Drew McFedries - With these two sluggers, one can be assured that the fight will be ending early. I had to lookup the odds on this one as I couldn't figure out who would be favored. It turns out that McFedries is favored, but not by much.

Marvin Eastman may have resurrected his career with his latest win over Terry Martin. In the win he even managed to go the distance. Still, does the Beast have much left at age 38?

McFedries is a Millitage product, so you know he will be ready to fight. The major knock on him is his consistency. He manages to look good one night and completely horrible the next.

This one will come down to who can land the first punch. I believe Eastman's best days are behind him, so I am picking McFedries to win this fight. As I said before, it should be quick so I will be picking the first round by technical knockout.

Matt Brown vs Matt Arroyo - This is a bad matchup for Brown. I liked him on the show and I think he has the potential to be a good fighter. The problem is that Arroyo is a submission expert and he will have no problem getting Brown to the mat.

Brown needs to keep this fight off the mat to have a chance to win. He throws his punches with bad intentions, but I just can't see him stopping Arroyo's takedowns. This one should be quick, I am picking Arroyo by armbar in the first round.

Tim Credeur vs. Cale Yarbrough - These are always the hardest fights to pick. Even though we saw these guys on The Ultimate Fighter, it has been a couple months since the show ended. Tim Credeur showed a ton of heart in his last fight with C.B. Dollaway. I hardly remember Yarbrough, but he was also eliminated by C.B. Dollaway.

I have to go with Credeur to win this fight because of his experience. Even though he is a more of a submission guy, I think this fight goes the distance and he wins by a majority decision. Still, I wouldn't be surprised if he manages to pull off an armbar submission.

Keeping the promise I made in my UFC Fantisy Game - Picking the Winners post, I will now take a look at the fight between Jeremy Horn and Dean Lister.

Starting with the legend, Jeremy Horn officially has a record of 88-17-5. See Wikipedia page for a complete listing of all of his fights. The question I have is does Horn still have any gas left in his tank? He has lost his last two fights and three of the last four. In Horn's defense, Matt Lindland and Nate Marquardt were very legitimate opponents.

On the other side of the spectrum is Dean Lister. Lister comes into the fight having won 3 out of 4 UFC fights. Still, there is nothing to get excited about with Lister, is there?

To me, this fight hinges on Jeremy Horn. He has a tendency to find an early submission or go the distance and win by decision. Lister specializes in submissions, but I just can't see Horn getting caught. I think Horn goes the distance and wins this fight by unanimous decision.

In my UFC Fantisy Game - Picking the Winners post, I promised to share my picks for The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale. To get things rolling, lets take a look at the matchup between Rob Yundt and Rob Kimmons.

I was introduced to Rob Yundt at UFC 81 where he fought Ricardo Almeida. Coming into that fight, Yundt had a record of 7-0. He ended up losing the fight in the first round by a choke submission. I didn't learn much in that fight, but I assume he is a decent fighter based on him being in the UFC.

I know even less about Rob Kimmons. His profile on Sherdog shows a record of 20-3. I recognize a few of his past opponents. The only opponent to stand out is Marvin Eastman who defeated him via unanimous decision. Scanning his wins, I notice that he tends to win fights in the first round. These wins have come by submission, specifically chokes.

This is a difficult fight to call. I am going with Rob Kimmons based on his fight experience. I think he submits Yundt by rear-naked choke early in the first round.

I have been playing the UFC fantasy game for a little while now and I am surprised on how well I have done. After all, users have to select the winner of the fight, winning method, round and minute. After 4 games I have never done worse than 134 place. Here are my results from the four events.

So far, UFC 84 has been my crowning achievement. I ranked 86 out of 19355. That puts me in the top 0.44%, not to bad.

For The Ultimate Fighter 7 finale, I plan to post my selections before the fight. That way, readers of this site should be able to repeat my success. I encourage you to use my selections and only modify one or two items. Using this method, you should be able to rank in the top 100 as well. However, if you do end up winning don't forget to thank me!