TUF 10 Finale Recap

Steve Mazzagatti continues to impress the masses with his officiating prowess. Following an illegal elbow which left Matt Hamill blinded by blood, Mazzagatti asked the deaf fighter if he could continue. In other news, on the way to the event, Mazzagatti got lost and asked a trash can for directions to the arena. The UFC production team decided not to show most of the fighter entrances, as is their custom for televised events. It's a way for them to save TV time and also avoid paying bands for using their songs. Curiously, they did show the entrance of preliminary card fighter Joe Brammer, who was decked out in Hoelzer Reich garb. For anyone who doesn't know, they're the clothing company best known for using Nazi related symbols on their apparel. They not only showed us the entrance for a fighter no one cares about, but they also managed to spotlight a company with ties to Neo-Nazism. Job well done, guys. Overall it was a poorly produced show on many levels. The fight placement made no sense. Why would you have Nelson/Schaub as the main event? Half the crowd left after Jones/Hamill, which was the obvious choice to be the headliner. They also made some strange decisions on the TV broadcast. I'm all for seeing preliminary card matches, but putting McSweeney/Schoonover in between Jones/Hamill and Nelson/Schaub had me scratching my head. It also didn't help that it was a long fight. If you're gonna show preliminary card fights, do it early. Once you get to the final two fights, you shouldn't be wasting time with things people hardly care about. Goldberg and Rogan made a major blunder at the end of the Jones/Hamill fight. They were singing the praises of Jon Jones and never mentioned the possibility of a disqualification. Mazzagatti deducted a point then the fight was stopped. It seemed pretty obvious to me. I don't blame Goldberg, because he never knows what's going on, but Rogan is usually better. Why do we have to wait fifteen minutes for the first fight to begin? No one cares about Goldberg and Rogan doing introductions. We want to see fights. Matt Mitrione made another dumb move when he told Rogan, "I've got retard strength." Frankie Edgar proved that he's a title contender. If Gray Maynard loses to Nate Diaz at Fight Night 20, Edgar should get the next shot at the Lightweight Title. Houston Alexander convinced himself that he could circle around the cage for three rounds, lightly kick Kimbo in the knee every forty-five seconds, somehow pull out a decision, and then not get cut (again) by the UFC. This ranks up there with some of the Worst Strategies of All-Time. A lot of people are giving Kimbo a hard time for gassing. I see it differently. For a guy who has never cut weight before, I think he did a great job. In the future, they need to get him bouts at a heavier weight (225-235lbs). Or, match him up with smaller Heavyweights. With the right fights, the UFC can get some miles out of him. It was great to see Roy Nelson throw a punch with something behind it. I think a lot of fighters fall into the trap of letting technique do the work. Sometimes you gotta load up and throw a punch with all of your power. Even if it misses, you put a little fear into your opponent. I don't think it's a good idea for most MMA fighters to learn boxing on its own, but for Marcus Jones it makes sense. He'd be better off taking six months and competing in some boxing matches. Get ring time (actual fights) and learn how to throw punches and defend. Otherwise, his MMA career will end before it even gets going. I'm happy with the decision to have Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz coach Season 11 of The Ultimate Fighter. It does not tie up any titles and these two need each other at this point. Neither can compete with the current crop of Light Heavyweight contenders. Lastly, Roy Nelson's jokes are painful to watch. He's one of those guys who thinks he's funny, but in reality he's not at all.