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The Ultimate Fighter Season 5 Finale
By Erin | June 23, 2007
A very interesting juxtaposition between the two sets of “major” fights tonight. Where Nate and Manny are pretty much “I just want to win the fight”, Jens and BJ are much more of the “I just want to want to beat his ass”.
Manvel “The Anvil”? Oh dear, that’s just unfortunate.
Roger Huerta vs. Doug Evans
Round 1: Huerta gets a knockdown early but Evans gets the fight back with some serious scrambling and they end up tangled up against the cage. They then separate and start swinging for the fences, with Huerta throwing in a couple of kicks for good measure. Huerta then goes in for the takedown which Evans manages to hold off but gets stuck against the cage. Evans manages to work around to Huerta’s back and gets a body triangle. Huerta slides out and gets Evans up at the cage again. They separate and start throwing punches before Evans takes Huerta down and lands in guard.
Round 2. Huerta comes out swinging hard and Evans starts operating on the defensive. Evans trips up Huerta and lands in his guard. Back up on the fence and Evans gets another takedown on Huerta. Huerta manages to switch up there positions and gets side control. Huerta gets Evans’ back and then into full mount and alternates between working for a choke and punching the sides of Evans’ head until the ref steps in.
Winner: Roger Huerta via TKO
Thales Leites vs. Floyd Sword
Round 1. Leites goes in for a knee which Sword catches and pushes Leites into the cage. Leites then gets a takedown and much scrambling ensues. They go back to standing against the cage and Leites gets a nice trip into side control. Leites gets back to standing and drops a few punches and kicks to Sword’s legs. Leites goes back down and gets Sword’s back and then transitioned to an arm triangle. Sword taps.
Winner: Thales Leites via Arm Triangle.
Gray Maynard vs. Rob Emerson
Whoa, Rob, bring the hair back buddy. No need to bic unless the baldness is starting to set in. Though, I will forgive this if he never again wears the vinyl thong again.
Round 1: Really fast start with both guys throwing punches and a nice knee from Emerson. Emerson then gets a takedown which Gray quickly switches up. They go back to standing with Gray kina hanging off Emerson’s side. Gray gets a guillotine from side but doesn’t do anything with it. Gray gets some nice body knees from the side and then moves to full mount. Gray stands and drops a few punches before going back to side mount. Gray gets Emerson’s back and the round ends.
Round 2: Gray gets a couple of big shots followed by a huge slam. Emerson immediately taps and the ref automatically steps in and calls the fight. Gray managed to knock himself out with that slam as well. You can totally see him thinking: “Wha? I won while I was unconscious? Go me!”
The judges call the fight a no contest. Didn’t Hughes once win a match even though he knocked himself out in the process? Gray is understandably pissed and claims that he did not knock himself loopy.
For some reason we get a mid show music video of what we’ve already seen tonight combined with random backstage shots. Umm, k.
Transformers Commercial: I’m not sure how well trying to serious-up Transformers is going to be, probably pretty close to most of Michael Bay’s other movies: really pretty with a stupid plot.
Joe Lauzon vs. Brandon Melendez
Whoa, Melendez does not make weight. He gets a bigo fine from the commission, but Lauzon is fine with fighting him anyway. And I must say the new hair and nickname on Emerson don’t make him as scary as I think he’s trying to be.
Round 1: Lauzon gets around a few good punches of Melendez and gets a takedown. Lauzon moves to full guard and then over to Melendez’ back and works for the rear naked choke. Melendez gets out and gets the dominant position with Lauzon up against the fence. They go back to standing and Lauzon takes Melendez down and into half guard and then moving to Melendez’ back after some maneuvering. Melendez flips them over and mooshes Lauzon against the cage. Lauzon grabs for a knee bar as the round ends.
The new Bruce Campbell Old Spice commercial is really starting to weird me out, but really, what else can you expect from him?
Round 2: Melendez starts with punches but Lauzon sneaks under for a takedown. Lauzon gets Melendez’ back, but is against the cage again. As Melendez spins out, Lauzon grabs a triangle choke and Melendez taps out.
Winner: Joe Lauzon via triangle choke.
Rachel Leah is shown in the crowd. And I’m betting that must be her boyfriend thats she sitting with due to how close they are together. I can hear the collective disappointment of the fan boys from here.
Montages of “What Manny and Nate Have Been Up To Since the Show Stopped Taping”. Nate proves to be a boy after my own heart saying that he was just happy to be home with his TV.
Nate Diaz vs. Manuel Gamburyan
Good grief, I don’t think Manny had enough layers on. Also, blatant ass checking by one of the chicks in the front row.
Nate is also a big proponent of the More Layers are Better theory, including his full Gi.
Round 1: Wow, there’s a big ol height difference. Manny goes in fast for the takedown but Nate manages to switch up their positions. Manny grabs a choke and really strains to ends the fight, but Nate gets out. Manny gets Nate’s back as they go back to standing and eventually gets another takedown. Manny drops punches from Nate’s guard and Nate grabs for a kimura. Manny holds it off ad goes back to Nate’s guard. They go back to standing with Manny hanging onto Nate’s neck.
Round 2: Manny goes in for a takedown which Nate holds off. Manny taps out form the bottom and it looks like Manny dislocated his shoulder on the way down. Ye-ouch.
Winner: Nate Diaz via tapout
Wow, you just know Dana is trying to set a new world record on “fucks” backstage with all these odd endings.
Cole Miller vs. Andy Wang
Round 1: Stand up to start with Cole blocking a couple of Wang’s takedown attempts. Cole gets a nice high kick in to knockdown Wang followed by shots on the ground. Wang fights it off for a moment but Cole continues and the ref steps in to stop the fight.
Winner: Cole Miller via TKO
Jens Pulver vs. BJ Penn
I would never be able to train if I had a cookie factory right next to my training facility. I really hope that BJ’s comments come from his odd sense of humor and not some serious over confidence.
BJ defiantly looks like he dropped some serious weight to make 155.
I really do love it when Jens goes with the fucked up hair. Yes, I know I’m a weirdo.
Round 1: BJ gets a quick takedown after landing a couple of good shots on Jens. They end up with Jens sitting up against the fence. BJ picks him up and moves him into the center of the cage with BJ in Jen’s half guard. BJ moves to full mount before almost grabbing an arm bar. Jens wiggles out but BJ transitions to a triangle. Jens gets out of this as well and sits in BJ’s guard. They go back to standing and start throwing knees and punches from the clinch.
Round 2: BJ gets the trip and ends up in half guard. He then goes to full mount. They roll around switching from full mount to Jens back and eventually sinks in a rear naked choke to which Jens taps.
Well, pooh. You still rock Jens, if you need a hug, I’m here for you. Though, if you go down to 145, I’m not sure who to vote for, you or Faber.
BJ tells us all to go to his website instead of giving a post fight interview, sigh.
Topics: Erin Bucknell, MMA, UFC | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Hey I think “Manvel the Anvil” is pretty clever!
Now is the time for BJ to step up after this high profile win and prove the hype he’s been tagged with. Whatever weight class he fights in, he needs to win a title and not walk away after he does so. If he’s really “The Prodigy” I have yet to see it in any of the fights I’ve watched him lose and not much in the fights I’ve seen him win, although I haven’t seen this one YET.
BJ looked pretty great. You could tell he was in great shape. The skill with which he goes for submissions is just amazing. I felt bad for Jens.
Penn is great. Technically there is no-one better than him
Was I the only one that thought Pulver’s takedown defense wasn’t what it used to be?
IMO, if Pulver drops to 145, Faber will be able to win easily just by dumping Pulver on his butt over and over again.
Hug from Erin = acceptable/probable rape
Hug from BJ Penn = just wrong i tells ya just wrong 🙂
Okay BJ finally beat someone that he should have beat a couple of years ago. Don’t take too much from this fight people.