Tuf 8 Season Finale Results

For those of you who missed watching the main card aired on Spike TV last night here is a rundown of the results from the Pearl in Las Vegas:

Undercard Matches:

Challenged by former UFC champ Frank Mir in regards to the legitimacy of his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt, Rolando ‘The Crazy Cuban’ Delgado had opportunity to prove his submission prowess when he finished John ‘Buckets of Blood’ Polakowski with a Guillotine Choke 2 minutes into round 1 to start the evening off.

George Roop who lost a narrow decision to get eliminated from this season’s show put on another impressive performance unfortunately losing again by split decision to Shane Nelson.

Tom Lawlor defeated Kyle Kingsbury in a competitive match with the judges unanimously giving Lawlor 2 of the 3 rounds.

Eliot Marshall left nothing to the judges finishing Jules Bruchez with a rear naked choke one and a half minutes into round 1.

The last of the undercard fights saw favoured veteran Krzysztof Soszynski looking to redeem himself after getting caught in a submission by Vinicius Magalhaes in the semi finals.  This time Krzysztof made good use of his superior experience submitting Shane Primm in round 2.

Main Card:

The televised portion of the card kicked off with Season 8’s most controversial character, Junie Browning.

Many question the wisdom of rewarding Browning’s juvenile antics with a televised match but TUF 8’s trouble-maker seems to have cleaned himself up after his stay on the show training diligently in Las Vegas with the team at Xtreme Couture.  Facing in Dave Kaplan an opponent with no professional MMA fights on record, Junie Browning made good on his opportunity submitting Kaplan with an arm bar early in the second round.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu stand-out Wilson Gouveia wasted no time in finishing Canadian Jason MacDonald by verbal submission 2 minutes into round 1 in the first of two matches that didn’t feature TUF alumni.

The second non-TUF match saw a rematch of Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson and Kevin Burns.  Their first match was called a TKO when Johnson was unable to continue due to an eye injury caused by an unintentional poke.  Most critics feel the bout should have resulted in a No Contest instead of a win for Burns.  After undergoing eye surgery, Johnson set the record straight with a Knock Out kick at the opening of round 3.

The main event matches for the card saw the finalists from this season’s batch of lightweights and light heavyweights meet.

Light Heavyweight Final:

Having risen to the top of this season’s light heavyweight competitors dominating wrestler Ryan ‘Darth’ Bader and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu wizard Vinicius Magalhaes looked to determine who would be this season’s ultimate light heavyweight fighter.  The outcome was anti-climactic as Bader took early advantage of Magalhaes limited striking skills stopping the Brazilian with punches 2 minutes into round 1.

Lightweight Final:

The lightweight finalists proved much more competitive than their larger counterparts.  Heralded by UFC president Dana White as the next Anderson Silva or GSP, Phillipe Nover failed to live up to the hype as opponent Efrain Escudero was awarded the unanimous decision 2 rounds to 1 on all scorecards primarily on the strength of his ability to take Nover down at will.

Summary:

With many exciting finishes the finale of TUF 8 gave fans a few prospects to look forward to.  Undefeated Ryan Bader and veteran Krzysztof Soszynski should add some interest to the UFC’s light heavyweight division while Efrain Escudero and Phillipe Nover will need to work hard to earn their places in the UFC’s talent-rich lightweight division. 

Wilson Gouveia and Anthony Johnson continue to be dangerous opponents each only a couple wins away from contender status.

And of course the purportedly reformed Junie Browning is likely to return to the Octagon again, hopefully without the emotional baggage that was on display during the taping of the reality show.

Corey (Bad Llama) Lapell is the owner of Empower Athletics (www.crossfitempower.com)