TUF 10 - Big Country

The TUF 10 Finale produced some dramatic KO's and submission victories, a weird ending and an unlikely decision victory. The biggest winner was TUF 10 heavyweight champion Roy Nelson. The 263 pound former IFL Champion was matched up against former football star Brendan Schaub, who played at Colorado in college, Utah Blaze of the arena league and briefly for the Buffalo Bills.

Big Country came out to Weird Al's "I'm Fat" which is a parody of "I'm Bad" by Michael Jackson and let his belly do the talking in the ring. Brendan was the early aggressor, tagging Roy and forcing him to cover up and defend numerous punches. From there, Roy was able to get a takedown and nearly got the fight into his infamous crucifix position.

Brendan was able to scramble and get back to his feet. During the next exchange, Roy threw a massive overhand right that found its mark to Brendan's temple. Brendan crumpled to the canvas and Roy threw a couple follow-ups to seal the first round victory and TUF 10 crown.


In other action, Jon Jones looked athletic, fast and dominating in his performance against Matt Hamill. The extremely long limbed Jones threw front kicks, spinning kicks, and spinning back elbows from southpaw and traditional stances. Midway through the first, Jones nailed Hamill with a massive slam, possibly dislocating Hamill's shoulder.

With full mount, Jones threw wicked ground and pound with amazing quickness. Hamill managed to block many of the strikes with some sneaking threw before Jones threw a 12-6 straight up and down elbow that is illegal. The strike KO'd Hamill, and ref Steve Mazzagatti gave Hamill a DQ win.

Two former college wresting stand-outs Frank Edgar and Matt Veach put on an excellent show. Veach was able to land crowd pleasing slams and use his power. Unfortunately for Veach, eventually Edgar found his mark with right hand sending Veach to the canvas. From there, Edgar working a rear naked choke.

Kimbo Slice made a successful debut in one of the upsets on the card. Most hardcore fans such as myself thought that Houston Alexander and his nasty muay thai put him at a clear advantage. Alexander was circling and shuffling throughout the fight. There were moments of big action and exchanges, with Kimbo mostly finding his mark.

In the second round, Kimbo managed to get a decent slam takedown with good ground and pound. Kimbo continued his dominance in the round working his counter punches. Houston Alexander's best round was the third, where he was able to land some big kicks to Kimbo's legs, at one point knocking the former street brawler down. In the end, it was a unanimous decision for Kimbo.

In other action former NFL players and TUF 10 castmates Matt Mitrione and Marcus Jones did battle in their official UFC debut. Marcus Jones was able to land a big takedown early and batter Mitrione with ground and pound strikes. However, in the second round Mitrione landed a big right hand to floor Jones, whose striking game still needs work.


FULL RESULTS:

Roy Nelson def Brendan Schaub via KO (punch) R1, 3:45
Matt Hamill def Jon Jones via DQ (illegal elbow) R1, 4:14
Kimbo Slice def Houston Alexander via unanimous dec
Frankie Edgar def Matt Veach via sub (RNC) R2, 2:22
Matt Mitrione def Marcus Jones via KO (punches) R2, 0:10
James McSweeney def Darrill Schoonover via TKO (strikes) R3, 3:20
Jon Madsen def Justin Wren via split dec
Brian Stann def Rodney Wallace via unanimous dec
John Howard def Dennis Hallman via KO (punches) R3, 4:55
Mark Bocek def Joe Brammer via sub (RNC) R1, 3:36

*Dana White announced the coaches for TUF 11, Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz.

TUF 10 Preview

TUF 10's regular season will wrap this Wednesday with a two hour episode featuring four fights. On Saturday, the TUF 10 Finale will take place, with Matt "The Hammer" Hamill and Jon "Bones" Jones headlining.

So far, Roy Nelson and Brendan Schaub from Team Rashad have made the final 4. Darrill Schoonover and Marcus Jones will fight first and James McSweeney will fight Matt Mitrione or an alternate.

Darrill Schoonover, an Army Vet, is 10-0 in his young career with a big victory over BJJ ace and former NFL player Rex Richards in the Shark Fights promotion. Schoonover has good stand-up to go along with his ground game. In his first TUF fight, Schoon peppered Zak Jensen standing, nearly getting a KO, before locking in a triangle choke.

Marcus Jones, a former 1st round pick of the Tampa Bay Bucs, is a big guy with huge power. Jones' stand-up is still not refined as he looks like a zombie stalking his prey. However, once the fight gets to the ground, it enters Jones' comfort zone. Against Mike Wessel in the first round of TUF, Jones secured a fast and nasty armbar, almost causing Wessel serious injury.

James McSweeney against Matt Mitrione will be a pure stand-up fight if the fight occurs. McSweeney has solid leg kicks that he would use to cut down a big tree like Mitrione. Mitrione took a beating in his fight with Scott Junk, however he has complained quite a bit since the fight.


TUF 10 FINALE MAIN CARD

Matt Hamill vs. Jon Jones
Frankie Edgar vs. Matt Veach
Finalist No. 1 vs. Finalist No. 2
Houston Alexander vs. Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson*

PRELIMINARY CARD

Dennis Hallman vs. John Howard
Brian Stann vs. Rodney Wallace
Mark Bocek vs. Joe Brammer
TUF 10 Final 4 runners-up
TUF 10 Second Rounders

TUF 10 - Darrill Stands Up

In the sixth episode of The Ultimate Fighter, Team Rashad's Darrill Schoonover fights Team Rampage's Zak Jensen. Schoonover (10-0) is a long time martial artist that was active in the Army for two years. Zak Jensen (7-3) is a former Northern Illinois football player and wrestler.

They show a healthy dose of footage of the fighters picking on Zak Jensen, whom Kimbo nicknames "Linderman." Wes Sims decides to craft a betting pool, with fighters picking dates on when he would break down mentally. Zak seems to take a beating in practice at well, finally doing well in the last practice.

Darrill is first shown drinking before practice and then the coaches talking to him about not drinking. Darrill said after the show he actually only drank the first two days, and he didn't fight till the 3rd week. Darrill is a pretty interesting characters, discussing tattoo's he got while drunk.

At practice, Rampage again gets at Darrill, calling him his usual nickname and trying to get under his skin. Darrill gets in Rampages face challenging him to fight at 205, and later saying in the confessional he would have headbutted Rampage, because anything goes in a street fight.

The fight gets off to a bang, as both fighter find their range and Darrill closes in. After getting in a clinch, Darrill unloads multiple knees into Jensen's midsection. As they broke free, Darrill let his hands fly as Jensen swung wildly and Darrill tagged him several times with straight punches.

While dazed, Jensen went for a double leg and eventually got a takedown. Darrill got his right leg up, and instead of defending the upcoming triangle, decided to throw hammerfists. Schoonover worked the triangle deeper as Jensen threw more hammerfists. Eventually, Jensen was choked out and became unresponsive.

With the win, Team Rashad now has 6 straight victories. Rampage's photo exaggerating Team Rashad was met with laughs.

(Darrill Schoonover pictured)

Remaining Fighters:

TEAM RASHAD

Matt Matrione (0-0) - Former NFL Lineman
Mike Wessel (6-1) - UFC Vet

TEAM RAMPAGE

Scott Junk (6-2) - Heavy hands, UFC vet
Marcus Jones (4-1) - Former NFL Defensive End

TEAM RASHAD 6 - TEAM RAMPAGE 0

2nd Round Qualifiers - Jon Madsen, James McSweeney, Roy Nelson, Brendan Schaub, Justin Wren, Darrill Schoonover