Comments on: UFC The Ultimate Fighter Finale (12/13/08) in Las Vegas

By: Ivan Trembow

Ivan Trembow — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 22:34:08 +0000

Some changes in his life, yes. And I hope that he does stay sober. That is a good thing. But “model citizen,” as Goldberg said last night and as they also portrayed prior to the Bisping fight, no.

By: dave2

dave2 — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 16:40:25 +0000

Chris Leben has made some positive changes in his life. He went sober, is not so much of a jack ass anymore and he takes training more seriously. But he’s still irresponsible considering that he violated probation and he did take steroids. He still has more growing up to do.

By: Ivan Trembow

Ivan Trembow — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 10:07:00 +0000

I am so sick of hearing the re-writing of history when it comes to Chris Leben. It was bad before his C-level kickboxing match against Michael Bisping, and somehow it has gotten even worse after he tested positive for steroids, as Mike Goldberg actually said on the show tonight in a serious, non-joking tone of voice that Chris Leben has been “a model citizen” since TUF.

Really? A model citizen? Does a model citizen get arrested for drunk driving? After getting a slap on the wrist and no prison time for that drunk driving offense, does a model citizen fail to meet his court-ordered requirements to take certain classes (which is what he got instead of jail time) and instead move to Hawaii without fulfilling his slap-on-the-wrist requirements? Does a model citizen fail to inform his employer that he won’t be able to travel to the U.K. to fight in the PPV main event that he signed to fight in because of his outstanding arrest warrant? Does a model employee cheat by taking steroids?

I might be more forgiving of this ridiculous re-writing of history if it was a one-time slip-up. But all of the above were things that Leben did before the Bisping fight (other than the positive steroids test result), and yet he was essentially portrayed as a model citizen in the build-up to that fight as well.

By: IceMuncher

IceMuncher — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 08:12:34 +0000

When it comes to the east cost/west coast time differences, those of us in the west coast with satellite television have it made. On non-major networks like Spike we get the east coast feed, meaning the finale tonight was on from 6-9, and then on top of that the UFC PPVs run 7-10. We also get the east coast feed on Versus, so WEC starts at 6 as well.

Anyway, just thought I’d brag about it for a bit. Sorry 45.

By: Don Muraco

Don Muraco — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 07:44:02 +0000

Junie getting so many opportunities, then this gift FOTN bonus leads me to believe there’s something very Pat Patterson-esque going on behind the scenes.

By: Ivan Trembow

Ivan Trembow — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 07:05:11 +0000

Browning vs. Kaplan wins Fight of the Night? Wow.

By: 45 Huddle

45 Huddle — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 07:00:17 +0000

I would like to point out…. for the people who were mocking me a few days ago….

Joe Rogan brought up how the foot stgance is different for MMA due to takedowns. See, it’s just not stuff I’m making up…. MMA striking will always look different then a pure boxer for this reason.

By: Alex Sean

Alex Sean — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 05:52:58 +0000

I gotta ask; What the hell was Yamasaki doing during the Burns/Johnson fight? There was at least three minutes of time wasted by Yamasaki allowing Johnson to sit in Burns’ guard and do absolutely nothing. Of course that will all be forgotten due to the brutal knockout.

And actually a similar thing happened in the Nover/Escudero fight where Nover was desperately trying to pull the Rubber Guard and Escudero laid on his face for over a minute doing absolutely nothing. I understand he was in a somewhat dangerous position, but come on. Where are the yellow or red cards when you need them, right?

By: 45 Huddle

45 Huddle — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 05:03:49 +0000

TUF 8 Thoughts:

1. Phillipe Nover vs. Efrain Escudero – I think both of their stocks dropped in my eyes. Nover’s more so then Escudero. Nover looked pretty average compared to what he did on the show. And with Escudero, I think he will have a hard time with superior wrestlers like Sherk.

3. Ryan Bader – Impressed me tonight. If they push him through at the right pace, he can at least be a contender in the Light Heavyweight Division.

4. Jason MacDonald – Continues his gatekeeper status. Need I say more?

5. Wilson Gouveia – First, what’s happening at ATT? They need to hire somebody to get their fighters on better diets. Secondly, Gouveia looked solid. His win was almost identical to how he ended it with Jason Lambert.

6. Anthony Johnson – The KO was very nice. I don’t think Johnson will ever be top tier, but he is fun to watch and a good indicator of where other fighters are at.

7. Junie Browning – No matter what his antics on the show were, he showed vast improvements tonight. He should be around for a while.

Overall, a fun night of fights. Much better pacing then “Fight For The Troops”.

By: 45 Huddle

45 Huddle — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 04:06:39 +0000

I don’t feel too bad for you west coast folks. PPV’s end at 1am here on the East Coast.

So far it’s been an exciting fight card.