The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck Finale

Main card
Lightweight bout: Jonathan Brookins vs. Michael Johnson
Light Heavyweight bout: Stephan Bonnar vs. Igor Pokrajac
Middleweight bout: Demian Maia vs. Kendall Grove
Welterweight bout: Johny Hendricks vs. Rick Story
Featherweight bout: Nam Phan vs. Leonard Garcia

Preliminary card
Lightweight bout: Cody McKenzie vs. Aaron Wilkinson
Featherweight bout: Tyler Toner vs. Ian Loveland
Lightweight bout: Sako Chivitchian vs. Kyle Watson
Bantamweight bout: Will Campuzano vs Nick Pace
Featherweight bout: Fredson Paixão vs. Pablo Garza
Middleweight bout: Rich Attonito vs. Dave Branch

Thoughts?

Main card
Lightweight bout: Jonathan Brookins vs. Michael Johnson: Brookins is so humble, yet so awesome. He has taken on his coach's personality in that way. Brookins grappling was outstanding on the show. He had great TKD's and submissions and he was very pateint. He will take someones back and hang out till he can make his move. It was always fun to watch Brookins work. Micheal Johnson seems to be a one trick pony right now. He reminds me a lot of Evans, when Evans was on TUF. Although he showed some OK striking against Phan, his major tool is his wrestling. He will probably take Brookins down, but that is not a bad thing for Brookins. I think this will be a great fight and I am picking Brookins, if you could not tell by my gushing over his grappling

Light Heavyweight bout: Stephan Bonnar vs. Igor Pokrajac: I can't think of anything to say about that Igor guy. Bonnar's last win was huge for him and it probably saved his UFC career. I will pick Bonnar because I don't know who Igor is

Middleweight bout: Demian Maia vs. Kendall Grove: I keep waiting for Grove to take that next step and beat a great fighter. Everytime he gets that shot, he loses and I don't see that changing here. The term "world class" is thrown around a lot in MMA, but Maia is beyond that. His BJJ is in a class all it's own. Maia wins by Sub.

Featherweight bout: Nam Phan vs. Leonard Garcia: This one should be a slug fest. Phan strongest asset is his striking and Garcia can take a lot of punishment. This one could be FOTN and it is really hard for me to pick a winner. I will go with Garcia because he has a lot more experince, but I think this will be an awesome fight.

Fuckin accidentally hit the back button before posting...so now I gotta type it all again. I'm gonna do it briefly this time and with less detail...

Basically, Brookins is a much more complete fighter than Johnson. Johnson probably has the advantage from a physical standpoint on their feet and Johnson definitely has the better wrestling, but he doesn't always seem to know what to do once he gets someone down. They either always get back up or he just kind of lays on top, using a lot of energy to not successfully advance his position. I see Johnson eventually tiring out and Brookins taking Johnson's back and rear-naked choking him to a win.

I'd rather see Maia/Grove headlining above Bonnar/Pokrajac. The only reason I see Bonnar/Pokrajac so high up on the card is because Bonnar participated on TUF 1...and that's really it. I think Maia will be much more entertaning and will completely grapple-fuck Grove and submit him.

Phan/Garcia says a lot to me about the UFC's opinion about Phan. To put him in a match against such an experienced fighter for his UFC debut after TUF tells me that win or lose, Phan will still get another fight with the UFC. For the reasons you listed, this is a good choice for fight of the night.

Only other match I'm really interested in is McKenzie/Wilkinson. I think if McKenzie can get his gas tank up to where it needs to be, he can eventually guillotine Wilkinson. If not, he'll just get picked apart standing up and get TKO'd.

You made some great points about the wholes in Micheal Johnson's MMA game. I would like to add that not only does seem to not know what to do in the gaurd, he lets guys out of trouble pretty easily. He let Phan get up at least 3 times in there Semi-Finals fight. Johnson has a lot of promise, but Brookins seems to be the better fighter right now. It will be interesting to see how much both of them have progressed after TUF was over. Strikeforce is also Sat, so I will have to jump channels all night. The only Strikeforce fight I really want to see is Hendo vs. Babalu

Wow...completely forgot about Strikeforce. Daley/Smith should be another one to expect fireworks, but yeah, after that and Babalu/Heendo, there's not much else that would make me want to watch it over the UFC.

Daley's unsportsman like conduct really put me off of that guy and I hope he gets his face punched off.

Whats up with the judges ? Nam Phan had that fight won by a clear mile.

I had Phan winning 2 of 3 rounds, but yeah, he should've won that fight. Garcia was really honest during the post-fight interview though and gave a ton of credit to Phan, so that was nice to see him do that instead of going with Machida's "if the judges saw it go my way, then I won and nothing else matters" stuff.

McKenzie won via guillotine...surprise surprise. Phan/Garcia got fight of the night. Maia grapple-fucked Grove to a victory. Brookins beat Johnson. Basically 4 out of 4 predictions for me (though I did choose Brookins by submission instead of decision...but still)

I don't know what the fuck those judges were looking and Joe Rogan hammered that terrible decision for like 20 minutes. He said that the judges are incompetent morons. That is probably the worst decision I have ever seen. I scored the fight 29/28 Phan. I had Garcia winning RD1 and Phan winning RD 2 and RD 3. RD 1 was very close, but I thought Garcia did enough to win. After RD 1, Phan dominated. That was a fuckin horrible decision. Garcia had nothing to apoligize for. He busts his ass in every singe fight and he could not help that retarded judges decision.

Micheal Johnson's striking was miles away from when he was on the show. He tagged Brookins over and over in RD 1 and rocked him a few times. Brookins showed great toughness and proved that he can take a shot. Once he was able to get Johnson to the mat, Brookins took over. RD 2 and RD 3 was all Brookins. Brookins needs a lot of work in his striking but he knows that. That was great fight and I was very happy for Brookins.

Baba described Maia vs. Grove perfectly. Maia took him down, took dominate position almost anytime he wanted it. Grove did a good job of fighting out of trouble, but that is all he did. RD 1 and RD 2 was all Maia, all the time. Grove won RD 3, but RD 3 was a pretty boring RD. Grove landed some strikes, but he did no real damage and Grove basically stayed away from Maia for the last 5 mins. Maia's stand up seems to be getting better, but his grappling is still his strongest skill and there might not be anyone that can out grapple Maia fight now. He looked very impressive last night.

This next thing has nothing to do with the topic, but I feel like I have to say this. Hendo fuckin dropped Babalu with around 3:08 in the first RD. That is the only Strikeforce fight I watched and I could not be happier with Hendo leaving Babablu lookin up at the lights.

Quote :

Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace Demian Maia was the big winner at Saturday's “The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale” Finale, which took place at The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.

Maia earned an event-high $80,000 for his unanimous decision victory over Kendall Grove ($28,000). The figures were communicated to Sherdog.com by the Nevada State Athletic Commission via email.

Jonathan Brookins garnered $16,000 for his unanimous nod over fellow season finalist Michael Johnson ($8,000). Meanwhile, Season one winner Stephan Bonnar netted $62,000 after outpointing Croat Igor Pokrajac ($10,000).

Featherweight competitor Nam Phan ($38,000) was awarded a $30,000 consolation prize in the form of a “Fight of the Night” bonus for his widely disputed split decision loss to former WEC talent Leonard Garcia ($62,000), who also walked away with the $30,000 bonus.

Something interesting to note: Nam Phan made more money than the TUF winner Brookins before his bonus.