Diego Sanchez Vs. Clay Guida - This fight was pretty fun to watch, it's getting a little more hype than I think it deserves, but it was a good fight. Sanchez came out strong and threw some great combinations and really got Guida off his game. I never have seen some throw as many uppercuts in a row that Sanchez threw at Guida in the first round. It seemed like he was throwing them forever, and he had some decent success with them. Sanchez had the first round easy, but the second round was a little closer. I still feel that Guida made the second and third round close by getting to the ground, but he still wasn't really doing anything. I think that's why he lost because he was on top more after the first round, but he just doesn't do much. I am not a huge Sanchez guy but he does have a lot of talent and he does separate himself from most of these mid-level guys pretty easily. The announcers would not stop going on about Sanchez taking on Florian again but I'm not sure how realistic that is because of Florian upcoming fight, and the layoff that he would have after that fight win or lose. I think better fights could be with Frankie Edgar, Spencer Fisher, Roger Huerta, and probably the best match up and maybe the most probable, Spencer Fisher.
DaMarques Johnson Vs. James Wilks - James Wilks really did a great job in this fight, and I think he showed (along with the other top 2 guys) that he is very confident and comfortable in the cage. He caught Johnson early and really kept him off balance after that. Johnson did a pretty good job at hanging around after getting caught, but could never quite get right. The fight went to the ground and late in the first round Wilks was trying real hard to slip in a rear naked choke but Demarcus was doing a good job at keeping his chin down and not letting it get through. The problem is even though you are stopping that choke from getting in, it does not feel good with that lock on your chin. I think Johnson just gave it up because he couldn't take the hold anymore, and Wilks slipped in the choke and Demarcus tapped with 8 seconds to go in the round. Wilks looks good to me, and I think Demarcus will get another shot too.
Chris Lytle Vs. Kevin Burns - This was a real battle, and a fun fight to watch. These guys really went at it and I think did a great job. What I did like was Lytle concentrating on what is probably the second most under-used, but very effective strike in mma next to leg kicks, and that is the body shot. Hardly any guys throw them, but Lytle did and I thought it really paid off for him in the second round, but specifically the third. Burns had a pretty nasty cut but it looked like it stayed out of his eye for the most part. This is a nice win for Lytle against a tough opponent, but Burns showed up too.
Ross Pearson Vs. Andre Winner - I think this went pretty much how I thought it would but after watching it, I was surprised a little that Pearson got the nod. I think both guys are very good, but I probably would have scored that fight 29-28 for Winner. I thought Winner really looked like a boxer in the way that he was closing out rounds with flurries to try and take the round. When they were in the middle and exchanging, they both did real well but Pearson was just too strong for Winner to stand there and keep swinging. That's why I thought that Winner may have won because he recognized it and then adapted to make the fight work better for him. Either way, both guys were and are good and I thought they showed that this group of guys from TUF may be the most polished walking into the UFC yet.
Joe Stevenson Vs. Nate Diaz - This was a real interesting fight to watch. Joe Stevenson did something that most opponents of Nate Diaz don't want to do, and that's go to the ground. I was surprised to see that Joe's strength pretty much negated Nate's ground game. Most will hold Nate's ground game up with some of the best in the sport, but in this fight even when he could get good position, which wasn't often, he couldn't hold it because Joe just tossed him off. This fight was mostly on the mat, but that didn't make it boring by any means. Great win for Joe and I'm glad he won. He's one of those guys I do feel bad for though because I'm not sure that he has what it takes to get to the top, but he works as hard as anybody else.
For a free event, this was a great night of fights. I have been hearing so much about how this was the most boring seasons of TUF, and that the talent level wasn't up to par, but I couldn't disagree more. I thought this was the best season so far, and I hope that they will continue to use the recipe of more fights, more looks inside the coach/fighter relationship, and mostly good attitudes and hard work, over the old recipe of over-drinking and trashing the house, each other, and the sport to win ratings.
