The Ultimate Fighter 9 finale proved to be one of the most thrilling and entertaining free events in UFC history. Back and forth action and five top fights on the main card were all it took for this event to write its name in the history books.

The main event – which pitted Diego Sanchez against Clay Guida – was one of the best fights I have ever seen. The first three minutes or so, where both fighters threw everything at one another, was as ferocious and compelling from a fighter as you will ever see in the cage. It was superb.

Sanchez was going into the fight with much expectation on his shoulders. The first Ultimate Fighter middleweight champion is a heavy favourite in the lightweight division and immediately propelled his name into the top five rankings with a debut win at that weight against Joe Stevenson.

Clay Guida is a man who needs no introduction in the UFC. His record – 5-3 heading into this fight – doesn’t speak volumes about the type of fighter “The Carpenter” truly is. The American tends to bring everything to his fights and you’re guaranteed to see one hell of a scrap once that cage door closes on the twenty seven year old. His last fight may have been a controversial victory of Nate Diaz, but Guida was in relatively good form going into the fight.

So, we should have expected a tough battle between the two fighters. The pre-fight press conference and the weigh-in’s confirmed our suspicions. This was going to be a war.

It certainly didn’t disappoint as both men went toe-to-toe for fifteen minutes. A fantastic fight, with several great moments – it was a classic.

Our two TUF finales were also good scraps, but both were completely different fights.

Andre Winner versus Ross Pearson was always going to be a close battle between two friends who knew each other’s style of fighting. I expected Pearson to start out the aggressor and try to dictate the fight, with Winner using the jab effectively to score well. In fact, it was the opposite, as Winner took the first round and allowed Pearson to dictate rounds two and three. As mentioned, it was a close fight, but the judges gave the decision to Pearson, who fell to his knees as the decision was announced.

Pearson will now look to make his mark in the stacked UFC lightweight division. The task ahead is huge, with star names such as Sean Sherk, Diego Sanchez, Gray Maynard, Kenny Florian and champion BJ Penn rounding off one of MMA’s most deep talent pools. Pearson will have to start from the bottom and work his way up if he is to challenge the sports toughest lightweights.

There’s no doubt in my mind that a number of the lightweights featured in the series will be back. Andre Winner, Cameron Dollar and Jason Dent will probably have secured one more fight at least. You can also expect Jeff Lawson and Richie Whitson in there again and I felt both impressed, despite injuries, throughout their time on the show.

The fight between James Wilks and Damarques Johnson was the real “US vs. UK” finale as the welterweights locked horns inside the cage. Wilks, seen by many as the underdog going into the fight, showed some fantastic composure on the ground. He exposed many of Johnson’s weaknesses and by keeping Johnson on his back, he exploited his power advantage to pull off numerous submission attempts. It was a great fight, albeit disappointing for the American – who would have fancied his chances in the final.

Wilks now moves on to the UFC welterweight division and he’ll like his chances in a division that is regarded as one of the companies weakest. One of the biggest guys in the division, the UK fighter will hope to use his size advantage in his favour when he comes up against other fighters.

Damarques Johnson will likely be offered a deal with the company. Despite losing in the final, he has a bright future ahead of him in the UFC. I’d also expect the likes of Nick Osipczak, Frank Lester and maybe Mark Miller to walk out with contracts. Miller, who was defeated by Osipczak, was never able to reproduce the sort of form that saw him defeat current UFC stars Brad Blackburn and Josh Neer in the IFL. He’ll be hoping for a return fight in the company.

The nights other two main card fights also lived up to expectation. Joe Stevenson versus Nate Diaz and Chris Lytle versus Kevin Burns were always going to be two interesting fights. Stevenson, who has hit a patch of indifferent form over the last two years, needed a win here against Diaz, who was coming off the back of a controversial loss against Clay Guida in January. It certainly didn’t disappoint fans watching.

The Lytle/Burns fight gave Wilks a good reminder of what to expect in the UFC’s welterweight division. From top to bottom, there are a number of tough guys waiting for the new champion. That fight was an all out brawl as fists flied throughout. Let’s face it – it was just a typical Chris Lytle fight.

Overall, the night produced the goods on some many different levels. Unfortunately for the UFC, this event aired free, so they missed out on a bit of revenue in DVD sales and PPV buys. On the other hand, the event was available to a much bigger audience and therefore, more people got to see what the UFC was really about. It was awesome.

A fantastic event with some amazing fights – this was definitely the card of the year.

Martin Smith
martin@ifight365.com