Grove, Bisping, AND Herman Earn UFC Contracts; Florian Routs Stout
LAS VEGAS, June 24 – Despite the fact that there are only supposed to be two UFC contracts up for grabs in the finale of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ series, which was held tonight at the Hard Rock Hotel, when you put on an epic battle like the one waged by middleweights Kendall Grove and Ed Herman, to paraphrase baseball great Ernie Banks, “Let’s pay two.�
But despite the largesse of the UFC braintrust of Dana White and Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta in awarding six figure contracts to both combatants, as well as light heavyweight Michael Bisping, there was a victor in what is the frontrunner for 2006 fight of the year, and it was Hawaii’s Grove, who eked out a 29-28 decision on all three judges’ scorecards, and truly, there are few adjectives to adequately describe the ebb and flow of the 15 minute vignette that truly showed what mixed martial arts is all about.
“This is heart,� said Grove, pointing to his chest, “and I’ve got the biggest one.�
“It was a close fight,� said a gracious but disappointed Herman. “It could have gone either way.�
It didn’t look that way early on, as Herman quickly and easily nullified the size of the 6-6 Grove by dropping him to the mat and opening up with both hands. Grove looked to secure an arm, but Herman used knees effectively to escape any trouble. With less than a minute and a half left in the round, Grove finally made it back to his feet, only to be dropped again by round’s end.
Already down a round, Grove, whose left eye sported a mouse, needed to make something happen, but it didn’t look good when Herman again secured the takedown. This time though, Grove locked Herman’s arm and then looked to land a triangle seconds later. With the pro-Grove crowd roaring, Grove tightened the lock but Herman escaped, drawing an even bigger cheer from the ‘Short Fuse’ section of fans.
This is how it went for the rest of the round – Grove gets the upper hand, then Herman rebounds and puts Grove in trouble. By the end of the round, Herman got his own triangle on Grove and it looked like the end was near, but “Da Spyder� escaped somehow, and now the fight was up for grabs in round three.
And both fighters fought like a six figure contract was on the line in the final stanza, and again, it was a back and forth battle of submissions and near misses, with each fighter showing the heart that will make them welcome in the Octagon anytime. The big scores of the round were Grove’s triangles and a last second rear naked choke, and Herman’s own sub work on his foe’s arm. By the time the final bell rang though, no one knew who had won, with strong arguments to be made for each fighter.
And though Grove had his hand raised tonight, Herman has just as much reason to keep his head high.
The other two finalists, light heavyweights Michael Bisping and Josh Haynes, had a tough act to follow in their bout, but there was still enough compelling action to keep fight fans happy and also earn the pride of Liverpool a UFC contract.
As expected, Haynes started swinging for the cheap seats, but Bisping stayed cool under fire, and a minute and a half in, a heavy knee to the head dropped Haynes hard. Bisping hesitated, and as Haynes went to rise, ‘The Count’ finally moved in and wound up losing a point for kneeing his still downed opponent.
Bisping wound up winning the first frame, but with the deduction, the fight was now even at 9-9.
Looking to get back on track, Bisping truly went to work in the second round, opening with a flying knee and working on a myriad of submissions, but Haynes just wouldn’t go away, again showing the heart of a lion as he tried to stay in the fight with his better skilled foe. Finally, in the final minute of the round, Bisping was able to jar Haynes, and he began letting loose with an array of strikes. Hayes eventually fell under the assault, and the bout was halted by referee John McCarthy at 4:14 of the round.
In the main event of the night, Kenny Florian, a season one TUF finalist who lost to Diego Sanchez in their bout last April, showed how far he has come in a little over a year, dismantling highly touted prospect Sam Stout in just one minute and 46 seconds of the first round.
Almost immediately, Florian got the takedown, surprising those who thought Stout would be able to hold him off and work his stand-up game, and from there, the fight was basically over, as ‘KenFlo’ worked his magic on the mat, got full mount, and then sunk in a rear naked choke as Stout gave up his back.
“I want to fight the best at 155,� said Florian. “I’ve been ready for this for a while.�
In a grueling light heavyweight bout, Keith Jardine rebounded from a horrific first round which saw him bloodied and bruised to win a unanimous three round decision over UFC debutant Wilson Gouveia.
Much faster than Jardine, Gouveia routed his foe in the first round with brutal leg kicks and quick 1-2s. But just when the end seemed to be near, ‘The Dean of Mean’ roared back, finally timing Gouveia and working in his own kicks and punches as the fight progressed. By the third round, Jardine was a bloody mess, but he was also in control of the bout, and the 29-28 scores across the board reflected the closeness of the bout as well as the rightful victor – Jardine.
TUF3 middleweights Rory Singer and Ross Pointon ended the preliminary action with a flourish, putting on a frantic 44 second brawl that saw Singer absorb Pointon’s thunder and rebound to score a first round submission win over ‘The Gladiator’.
As expected, Singer blazed out of his corner throwing power shots. With the crowd roaring, Singer absorbed a big right and fell to the canvas. The end seemed to be near, but Singer avoided any follow-up finishers and within seconds had locked in a finisher of his own – a triangle choke that forced Pointon to tap out and end perhaps the best one round fight you’ll see this year.
In perhaps the least surprising result of the night, Kalib Starnes took Danny Abbadi down to the mat and controlled the action of the meeting between TUF3 middleweight alums until the end came via rear naked choke at 2:56 of the first stanza.
Late replacement Luigi Fioravanti survived some rocky moments in the early going against TUF3’s Solomon Hutcherson in their middleweight preliminary bout, but using his veteran guile, he kept his cool, fought his way back into a positive position on the ground, and once the fight resumed on the feet, he lulled Hutcherson into a picture perfect left hook that ended the bout immediately at 4:15 of round one.
“This was a last minute thing, but I knew I had what it takes,� said Fioravanti, who lost a decision to middleweight contender Chris Leben in his UFC debut in April.
TUF3’s Matt Hamill, who became the sentimental favorite of the show due to his wrestling as well as his determination to not let being deaf hold him back from a pro fighting career, made his big show debut a successful one as stopped fellow cast member Jesse Forbes at 4:47 of the opening round.
After a brief trading session with Forbes, Hamill took him to the mat in order to work his ground and pound game. After a standup by referee Yves Lavigne, Hamill again went for the kill, putting Forbes on his back a second time. This time, Forbes was winded and had no answers for Hamill’s attack, and a series of unanswered strikes brought in Lavigne for the stoppage.
“On the show, I wasn’t so good,� said Hamill, “but I wanted to show people that ‘The Hammer’ was back.�
In the opener, Denver ’s Mike Nickels showed marked improvement over his stint on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ as he submitted highly touted Wes Combs in the first round of their light heavyweight bout.
Combs came out throwing bombs, rocking Nickels on a couple of occasions, but the Denver resident kept his cool and fired back with knees in the clinch. With little under than four minutes left, Nickels got Combs on the mat and took his back. After a series of strikes softened Combs up, Nickels sunk in a rear naked choke that produced a tap out at 3:10 of the round.
“This fight was about one thing – redemption for me and my camp,� said Nickels, who lost a hard-fought decision to Matt Hamill in the TUF3 semifinals. “I’m here to stay.�
