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The most recent season of The Ultimate Fighter will conclude today with oddball, Ramsey Nijem, meeting the season’s villain, Tony Ferguson, in the finale. The event will be headlined by a lightweight clash between the last ever WEC champion, Anthony “Showtime” Pettis, and real-life Energizer bunny, Clay “The Carpenter” Guida.
The rest of the card is filled with some exciting, if not entirely divisionally relevant match-ups, so let’s break down the action.
Clay Guida vs. Anthony Pettis
If you’re unfamiliar with Pettis from his WEC bouts and are looking to get pumped for tomorrow’s main event then I suggest you check out his most recent bout. Not only did Pettis capture the WEC title off of Ben Henderson in a five round, back-and-forth war, but he sealed the decision win in the fifth round with what has been dubbed “the Matrix kick”.
Running towards his opponent, he jumped and kicked off the cage wall to land a flying kick to the face of Henderson that dropped him to the mat. The kick perfectly summed up the excitement level Pettis brings to the sport.
Originally, Pettis was to get a direct shot at the lightweight title once the WEC was merged with the UFC, however the Frankie Edgar/Gray Maynard draw nixed those plans and Pettis will not meet the tireless Guida.
Guida is riding a three fight winning streak into the bout, with his most recent win being a bizarre guillotine choke submission win over former PRIDE lightweight kingpin, Takanori Gomi. Guida confused Gomi with what can only be described as a bizarre dance routine for the first round and a half before putting the Japanese fighter out of his misery in the second.
This is a fantastic match-up and will really show what both fighters are made of. The aforementioned Henderson has shown the high level that the WEC lightweights were on but Pettis will definitely have his hands full with Guida, who will try to use his suffocating wrestling game to grind Pettis down.
Pettis’ best bet will be to make sure he stays away from Guida where he should be able to pick him apart, or even to attempt to put the smaller Guida on the mat where the UFC vet should be at a disadvantage.
Prediction: Guida is the perfect fighter to spoil well laid plans but I think Pettis is going to continue to surprise everyone in this bout. I believe the WEC champ’s wide variety of standing techniques will give Guida fits and should see him win a highly entertaining decision.
Ramsey Nijem vs. Tony Ferguson – The Ultimate Fighter 13 Tournament Final
The concluding fight of the most recent TUF brings two fighters who walked vastly different paths. Picked forth by Junior Dos Santos, and eighth overall, Nijem wasn’t seen as much of a threat. His goofball antics were left once he entered the cage however and he managed to finish all three of his opponents on the way to the final.
Conversely, Ferguson was picked third by Brock Lesnar and fifth overall and while he too finished all his opponents to make it to the finale, it was his actions inside the TUF house that sets him apart from Nijem. A bizarre drunken rant about fellow teammate Charlie Rader’s parenting abilities saw him ostracised by everyone else in the house.
He will no doubt enter tomorrow’s bout to a hostile reception.
The match-up itself could very well favour Ferguson though if he is able to negate Nijem’s wrestling. The far more technical striker, Ferguson should be able to take Nijem’s wild striking apart if the fight stays there for any great period of time.
If Nijem is able to get Ferguson to his back though, he could very well have the tools to make light work of him.
Prediction: I see Ferguson as the bigger fighter heading into this bout and I think those grams will matter once the two tie up. I see Ferguson stuffing Nijem’s shots and picking him apart en route to a late stoppage and becoming the first real villain to ever win The Ultimate Fighter crown.
Ed Herman vs. Tim Credeur
A middleweight battle between two fighters who haven’t been in the cage since August and September of 2009 respectively. A knee injury suffered in his UFC 102 bout with Aaron Simpson has kept Herman on the sidelines while an irregular brain scan has stopped Credeur from competing.
Both are recovered now though and this match-up should make for a wildly entertaining fight. Herman’s wrestling based game will mesh well with Credeur’s highly dangerous guard game and two strikers possess equal skills and power in their stand-up.
Prediction: A back and forth, up and down battle will end with Herman tapping out the a Credeur triangle choke midway through the second round.
Kyle Kingsbury vs. Fabio Maldonado
Kyle Kingsbury surprised everyone with his 21-second demolishment of Ricardo Romero at UFC 126. An also ran on the eighth season of The Ultimate Fighter, Kingsbury lost his first UFC bout but has put together three successive victories since then.
He will meet Fabio Maldonado, a Brazilian who trains with the Nogueira brothers, at tomorrow’s event. Maldonado had a successful UFC debut wherein he pounded out TUF alumni, James McSweeney at UFC 120.
Prediction: No one really knows what to expect from these two, but I for one am still not entirely sold on Kingsbury. Maldonado might not set the world on fire but I think he has the game to control and possibly stop Kingsbury late in the fight.
Chuck O’Neil vs. Chris Cope
The show’s two defeated semi-finalists will scare off for the unofficial third placing this season.
O’Neil was lucky to even be on the show as he wasn’t originally selected as one of the show’s cast members. An injury to Myles Jury saw him move into the house and after losing his first bout, he was brought back as wild card but was eventually eliminated by Ferguson.
Cope made it to the semis after scoring the impressive scalps of the much more fancied Javier Torres and Shamar Bailey.
Prediction: This fight will most likely stay on the feet as Cope’s takedown defence should negate any possible attempts made by O’Neil. From there, I think I will take Cope’s striking over O’Neil in a close decision win.
Undercard
Jeremy Stephens vs. Danny Downes: Downes is the kind of opponent Stephens eats for breakfast. Stephens via KO.
Josh Grispi vs. George Roop: Grispi was the wonderkid in the featherweight division there for a while but a decision loss to the unheralded Dustin Poirer killed all his hype. He should make quick work of the wildly unspectacular, Roop.
Ryan McGillivray vs. Shamar Bailey: Bailey was an early favourite to win the show, but was eliminated by semi-finalist Cope. He should be able to control McGillivray though and take a decision.
Clay Harvison vs. Justin Edwards: I’ll take Harvison here by TKO in a short and wild brawl.
Scott Jorgensen vs. Ken Stone: Jorgensen might feel slighted being placed on the undercard after having just fought for the bantamweight title but this bout should make the broadcast though as he will make quick and violent work of Stone.
Reuben Duran vs. Francisco Rivera: Should be a wild bout between two quality bantamweights coming off losses to big name fighters. I’ll take Duran by submission though in a highly entertaining scrap.
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