Saturday, June 20th, another season of the hit Spike TV show, The Ultimate Fighter, ends with what will hopefully be a bang. I wanted to run down the fights on the show that I had not covered and then what all the fighters will need to do to make it to the UFC and stay.



Jason Dent vs Jeff Lawson 155-Lightweight
Lawson appeared to be one of the better grapplers on the United Kingdom team but unfortunately we did not get to see a lot of his skills. He had a chest infection and was not able to work out real heavy. It showed in the fight. He gassed hard but we got some comedy out of it. At one point, he leans down on knees in the middle of the fight and as Dent approached he tries a flying knee. It did not connect and ultimately Dent prevailed. Somehow, Dent was even less impressive. He had the most exhausted opponent I have ever seen and he could not finish him. You constantly got the feeling that Lawson could win this fight if he had not had the chest infection.



Frank Lester vs David Faulkner 170-Middleweight
Well, Jason Pierce pussed out of pretty much the whole season. So Dana asked either Mark Miller or Frank Lester to come back and fight Faulkner in the last elimination fight. Miller’s nose was broken and he had not been able to train correctly the whole season. So back to “Crazy” Frank “The Tank” Lester. By the way, this guy is awesome, a coach’s dream. So the fight was pretty simple. These two guys pounded the crap out of each other and the fight was about to go to 3rd round. Faulkner decided he was done and refused to come out for the final round. Therefore, Lester literally out-hearted the guy.



Jason Dent vs Ross Pearson 155-Lightweight
This was one of the Lightweight Semifinals and really a disappointing fight in a lot of ways. Jason had two terrible fights leading up to this and you got the feeling Dana White would like to fire him. He claimed he was holding back so he would be fresh in the Semis. Even though this reeks of revisionist history as a weak attempt to counter even weaker performances, to Dent’s credit he was a lot more active in this fight. However, Pearson looked a lot less impressive than was expected. Maybe Dent had just gotten that much better training in the house but from what Henderson advertised he was very difficult to coach. For some reason, Pearson was just not able to finish Dent at any point and had his hands full for the duration of the bout. Though, he was able to pick up the win and move on to the finals.



Cameron Dollar vs Andre Winner 155-Lightweight
In the second Lightweight Semifinal, Winner actually finished Dollar quite easily. Though, Cameron did show a lot of improvement in his striking, he got a little overaggressive and Winner finished him. As goofy as Cameron has seemed at times, he did seem to progress a lot on the show. Also, he has a great wrestling base to build from.



Damarques Johnson vs Nick Osipczak 170-Middleweight
In the first of the Middleweight Semifinals, Damarques dominates most of the fight because he can just manhandle Osipczak on the ground. It was a very active fight and both men showed they deserved to be there. I think both of them can have good careers in MMA.



Frank Lester vs James Wilks 170-Middleweight
Frank Lester is a freaking beast, but he just could not pull out another fight. He was obviously exhausted by the third round and could just not last. To his credit, Wilks looked even more improved from his first fight with Lester. Wilks shook off several bug shots, but really escaped the fight unscathed.



Here I am going to rundown what each fight might want to do if they want to keep working on getting in the UFC, Brits first. We will try our best, but it is difficult to evaluate fighters with such little data.

  1. Andre Winner: As a Lightweight finalist, Winner has a great chance of making it in, regardless. In his fights, he has shown a broad display of skills. Like a lot of Team UK, he could learn some better wrestling techniques.
  2. Jeff Lawson: One of the better grapplers on Team UK, we did not get to see a lot of him because of his conditioning problems due to illness. He has a ton of finishes by Armbar and the bit we got to see he had decent striking ability. I do not know if he wants to continue to seriously pursue an MMA career, but I would definitely like to see more.
  3. Martin Stapleton: Well, all the British fighters were extra impressed with this guy, but we saw very little of him when Cameron Dollar dominated him. He needs to work on his takedown defense but he seems tough enough and voracious enough to continue his career.
  4. Ross Pearson: The other Lightweight finalist has a lot to prove after allowing Dent to stick around so long. I liked him a lot starting from his preliminary fight and I think he has a lot of potential. Like many of the other Brits, he needs to work on wrestling.
  5. James Wilks: Wilks looked like a very well rounded fighter. He is a Jui Jitsu specialist but unfortunately we did not get to see a lot of that since he did so well on his feet. He showed especially refined skills in his second fight with Lester. Also, almost all the film we have on him is against Lester so it is hard to evaluate that sample size.
  6. Nick Osipczak: Nick has very good striking skills but almost no grappling ability. He needs to really focus on some takedown defense and submission skills. I think because of his length and brains he could have a very strong future.
  7. Dean Amasinger: In his preliminary, Dean looked like one of the show favorites but he has a very serious weakness to a Triangle Choke. He has one assignment to progress as a fighter: defend against the Triangle Choke.
  8. David Faulkner: Wow. He really looked like the most promising fighter on the show. But as Bisping said in the prelims, he is kid of mental. He has to get his mental problems under control and learn how to keep a mouthpiece in, but maybe he just does not have the brain to be a fighter.
  9. Ritchie Whitson: I think he got a tough draw in his elimination fight and he has a lot more to offer than what we saw on the show. He showed some very creative striking and might want to work on counter striking techniques.
  10. Santino Defranco: He is a very good submission fighter but you have some sort of striking to threaten your opponents with. He came back from ridiculous medical problems to appear on the show, so he definitely has the heart to continue.
  11. Cameron Dollar: “The Kid” seemed like a real tool from the beginning of the show. He has a look and a mouth that is marketable though. Also, he has amazing wrestling skills and actually enjoys training wrestling. Of course, he needs to continue improving his stand up and get some basic submission skills.
  12. Jason Dent: I do not know about this guy. Henderson seemed to think he was difficult to coach. But he showed some much better skills in his Semifinal fight. Looking at his physique I still thing he could drop down to 145 or 135 and make a go of it in the WEC.
  13. Mark Miller: He got his nose broke in the very first fight of the season, so we saw almost nothing after that. He looked good in his two fights and wanted to get back in to fight Wilks. I think he needs to figure out how to work in some knees and kicks into his repertoire.
  14. Jason Pierce: He was a wuss from the beginning, he was not into being on the show, and Dana did not like him. He is never making it in the UFC.
  15. Damarques Johnson: He really seemed like one of the most complete fighters on the show. He has a little better ground skills that Wilks, but Wilks may have better submissions. I am really looking forward to their fight. I was always impressed with his leadership skills on the team.
  16. Frank Lester: Frank is crazy and awesome. I have never seen a fighter that impressed everyone more. I liked him, everyone on the show liked him, the coaches liked him, and Dana White liked him. If he wants to and he focuses on his training, he will get every chance to fight in the UFC for while. I don’t think he is as smart a fighter as Forrest Griffin, but he has that kind of toughness. Frank is awesome.




Can’t wait to watch the Finale on Spike and review it. We will have Pearson vs Winner, Johnson vs Wilks, Dent vs Dollar, and Lester vs Osipczak from the show. Lots of other fights too, including Sanchez vs Guida and Stevenson vs Diaz.

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