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UFC The Ultimate Fighter Finale (12/13/08) in Las Vegas
By Zach Arnold | December 13, 2008
Originally posted on December 4th
Undercard
- Lightweights: Rolando Delgado vs. John Polakowski
- Lightweights: Shane Nelson vs. George Roop
- Light Heavyweights: Kyle Kingsbury vs. Tom Lawlor
- Light Heavyweights: Eliot Marshall vs. Jules Bruchez
- Light Heavyweights: Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Shane Primm
Main card
- Lightweights: Junie Browning vs. Dave Kaplan
- Welterweights: Kevin Burns vs. Anthony Johnson
- Middleweights: Jason MacDonald vs. Wilson Gouveia
- Light Heavyweight: Ryan Bader vs. Vinicius Magalhaes
- Lightweights: Phillipe Nover vs. Efrain Escudero
Commentary
Ivan Trembow on Sleazeball Promoters and Trash TV: What The Ultimate Fighter has become:
White also presented the ridiculous argument on the show that Browning would have been able to tell people in his hometown that he was kicked off of TUF for being so much of a bad-ass, as if that factor is equal in its importance to the show’s remaining credibility being destroyed.
Keeping Junie Browning in the UFC after five separate actions that would have individually warranted kicking him off the show and out of the UFC is not “justice being served,” as White said. It’s White acting like a sleazeball promoter. That’s what it is.
One must also keep in mind the message that this sends to future TUF contestants. When the UFC actually does want to send a message about something to other fighters, they do that by making examples out of people. (Ask Jon Fitch about that for verification.)
In Browning’s case, instead of sending a message of that kind of behavior not being tolerated, the exact opposite message has been sent.
“Act like an idiot, do things that could and should get you kicked off the show, and we’ll build an entire season around you and keep you in the UFC instead of kicking you out of TUF and outside of the UFC.”
As a criminologist, even one with extremely liberal tendencies who thinks America’s “get tough on crime” movement does far more harm than good, I felt tonight’s episode of TUF (episode 12) portrayed some of the most hideous dimensions that can emerge from MMA when manipulated by gluttonous intentions and/or poor judgment.
In the past few months, we’ve seen mixed martial arts make major strides. The extensive mainstream media coverage of Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar and UFC 91as a whole was not characterized by questions about MMA’s legitimacy, nor did it insinuate that MMA was comprised of street fighting thugs. MMA was constructed in the media as an exciting sport with talented, hard working, articulate athletes. What we saw on episode 12 of TUF was quite the opposite. Junie Browning’s exit from TUF as a result of losing to Efrain Escudero was not justice; it was convenient. MMA was turned into an institution used to settle non-sporting violence. That sends a horrible message to viewers, reinvigorates the connection between MMA and street violence, and is neither sport, nor justice.
Dave Meltzer & Bryan Alvarez had a slightly different take. Some quotes include:
“I was just in awe of Dana White in the second episode.” — Meltzer
“What a worker!” — Alvarez
“He was awesome!” – Meltzer
Dave went on to say that Junie Browning should have been kicked off two months ago, but that Dana White handled the situation like a skillful old-time pro-wrestling promoter. (Partially paraphrasing here, but listen to the audio yourself if you can for validation of this notation.)
Update: Junie Browning compares himself to Muhammad Ali in an interview with AOL Fanhouse:
“I think The Ultimate Fighter made me look a little nicer than I was,” Browning said. “I was pretty happy about that. I did other stuff like that that they didn’t show — the usual, me acting like a prick.”
“They’ll probably boo me and probably throw rocks at me,” Browning said. “They’ll probably try to fight me coming out to the cage. But that’s OK. Some of the best fighters in the world, everyone hated them starting off. I think people will grow to like me once they see I can fight. Muhammad Ali, people hated him.
(12/13) — According to three different TUF 8 contestants quoted by the Canadian Press’ Neil Davidson, Junie Browning admitted to those contestants at various times that he planned his antics on TUF 8 ahead of time in order to make a big name for himself. — Ivan Trembow
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 60 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
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.
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”.
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?
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.
Browning vs. Kaplan wins Fight of the Night? Wow.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.