The UFC will be broadcasting The Ultimate Finale for season 8 live on Spike TV on Saturday December 13th at 9 PM Eastern. Sandwiched between their “Fight for the Troops” event last evening, and the blockbuster “UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008”, the show will be the 2nd of 3 shows for the UFC in the month of December to close a busy year for the organization.
This season will mostly be remembered for the antics of Junie Allen Browning, but for MMA hardcores, it was all about the fighting. Phillipe Nover showed promise early garnering praise from everyone including Dana White, and proved he was the one to beat by dispatching of all comers on his way to a spot in the finals facing Efrain Escudero.
Escudero was impressive on the show, and was the man to finally shut up Junie Browning in his dominating victory over the brash and cocky Kentucky native. He will have his hands full when he steps in the Octagon against “The toughest nurse in the world” Phillipe Nover.
Nover quickly and violantly eliminated Joe Duarte, who was a favorite to win the show before filming even began. Nover was never in trouble in any of his fights, securing his position in the finals defeating the very tough and gritty George Roop.
Ryan Bader was an early favorite in the Light Heavyweight division, and he also advanced to the finals using his superior wrestling skills to overcome his opponants. He will be facing Vinny Magalhaes Saturday night, in a true match up of styles. Ryan with his All-American wrestling credentials against Vinny’s world class brazilian jiu jitsu background.
Before the winners of The Ultimate Fighter are decided, amazingly, Junie Browning and Dave Kaplan will start off the night on the main televised card. Far from impressive in his performances on the show, it seems that Junie has been busy since his TV appearance getting his game up to par, spending time in Las Vegas at Xtreme Couture. “Never been knocked out” Diamond Dave Kaplan will be looking to rebound from his loss at the hands of Phillipe Nover via RNC on The Ultimate fighter.
Also on the televised card is the much anticipated rematch between Anthony Johnson and Kevin Burns. Their first fight ended in controversy with Burns severely injurying Johnson with an eye poke that resulted in surgery, and a loss for the exciting Anthony Johnson. Look for Johnson to come out quick in this one, bent on revenge, and looking to put an exclamation point on the fight.
Jason “The Athlete” MacDonald will be facing off against Wilson Gouveia in a middleweight match up. McDonald won his last Octagon appearance at UFC 88 winning by submission, while Gouveia also won with a submission victory over Ryan Jensen in September.
The other TUF alums will be featured on the untelevised undercard. The undercard looks like this:
John Polakowski vs. Rolando Delgado
George Roop vs. Shane Nelson
Tom Lawlor vs. Kyle Kingsbury
Jules Bruchez vs. Eliot Marshall
Shane Primm vs. Krzysztof Soszynski.
-Denny “The Mad One” Hodge