21 fights. 11 knockouts. 3 submissions. 7 decisions. 24 hours.
Yup, all that happened under the same banner of the Ultimate Fighting Championship in less than a complete day’s cycle, the second half of proceedings invaded Las Vegas capped off with Roy Nelson blowing the doors off Matt Mitrione.
For those of you who missed my matches to make following UFC on FX 6 you can find it here, and now let’s get down to business on fights to make following The Ultimate Fighter 16 finale.
Roy Nelson vs. Gabriel Gonzaga-Ben Rothwell winner
Roy Nelson was supposed to face rival TUF coach Shane Carwin but as usual the injury bug smashed those plans into smithereens. Mitrione was a game challenger for the TUF 10 champion but Nelson proved his worth as a solid gatekeeper to the stars. Moving forward for the big-bellied Nelson the winner of Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Ben Rothwell would be a suitable fight no matter who gets their hand raised.
Pat Barry vs. Phil De Fries vs. Todd Duffee winner
Pat Barry is hardly a top-tier heavyweight but the lovable kickboxer serves his purpose and serves up a platter of violence when called upon and he did so again this weekend fighting off three submission attempts from Shane Del Rosario before corking him with the kill shot in the second frame. Barry is a fighter to throw on the next televised card that’s lacking some mindless violence and it doesn’t really matter who he meets, the winner of the returning Todd Duffee and Phil De Fries from December 29 would be a fine match.
Dustin Poirier vs. Dennis Siver
Dustin Poirier suffered his first defeat in his ‘Fight of the year’ calibre performance against Chan Sung Jung and bounced back in style submitting Jonathan Brookins in less than a round with a d’arce choke. The American Top Team product needs to get back in the Octagon and start stringing together wins to get back to the top of the title-challenger’s cue so any top-ten 145-pound combatant would be fine, can’t say I’d complain if he met Dennis Siver who just tore TUF product Nam Phan to shreds last weekend.
Mike Pyle vs. Jay Heiron-Erick Silva winner
I spoke with Mike Pyle for an interview after he wrestled a win away from hot prospect John Hathaway and he said he wanted to become a great striker and I sort of dismissed it since he was in his mid-to-late thirties but boy has he put it together on the feet smoking James Head and scoring his third-straight win from his vicious hands and knees. Right now Pyle desserves one last chance to see if he can tussle with the best, the victor between recently dethroned championship hopefuls Jay Heiron and Erick Silva would be a fun fight with some interesting consequences.
Rustam Khabilov vs. Michael Chiesa
Nobody impressed me more over the weekend that Rustam Khabilov. In one of the best UFC debuts of all-time he threw Vinc Pichel around like a ragdoll with three beautiful suplex’ that finished the night for Pichel. For the M-1 Global product he just needs to meet a good fighter with some promise, a fight with unbeaten TUF 15 winner Michael Chiesa would be some good, wholesome entertainment for the whole family.
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