Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale

Caught the last couple fights of the Ultimate Fighter 9 finale on Sunday afternoon.

James Wilks was super impressive in his dominant win over heavy favourite Demarques Johnson in the TUF 9 Welterweight Finale. Wilks, representing the Michael Bisping led Team UK, dominated in every facet of the fight. Unexpectedly punishing Johnson on the feet early on, the fight headed to the ground where Wilks proved his dominance catching Johnson in a rear naked choke to coax the tapout in the final seconds of the round.

What the future holds for these 2 young men in the UFC is cloudy, at best. Johnson will be given a chance on a couple of undercards in the near future, whether he can this chance and run with it is doubtful. Wilks will simply join the current entourage of British fighters dominating the cards of future European held UFC events. Will he be able to hang with the Upper Echelon of UFC Welterweights? My guess, No.

Diego Sanchez took home arguably the most devastating split decision victory in recent UFC history against the always game Clay Guida. Having grown up on the Japanese K1 and Pride scene, Sanchez took this fight comfortably, but with the American scoring system the way it is, Guida fans could argue that Clay took the second and third rounds. That argument is for another day.

With the win Sanchez moves into the Number 1 contender spot in the talent bare UFC Lightweight division. If Florian and Sanchez can not take the belt from BJ Penn within the next year, I highly doubt anybody within the current set up will. Clay Guida will simply continue on his merry way in the UFC, and could find himself a permanent fixture Main Eventing Fight Night and Ultimate Finale cards.

In other relevant fights Ross Pearson took home the TUF9 Lightweight title with a win over fellow Pom Andre Winner. Expect these two fighters to join James Wilks as part of the UFC's European adventure.

Joe Stevenson took home a UD over young Nate Diaz in a fight and result which does not much of anything for either man's career.

Stevenson has arguably extended his stay of execution from the UFC for another 1/2 fights. Joe "Daddy" has shown that he will never quite be that elite Lightweight the UFC expected him to be, and with that should have tested the waters outside the organisation in the hope of a better oppurtunity. With Strikeforce, Affliction and Bellator making waves in the US market, Sengoku holding a vastly under-rated LW division, and DREAM arguably the strongest, Stevenson could have ccome in and made a real impact in any of these organisations.

As for Nate Diaz, his two consective losses to Stevenson and Guida have put his career back 2 years. Though still a very young fighter, Diaz will struggle to compete in wrestler heavy division, given time Diaz should be able to rebound from these losses and come back with a much more sound strategy against his future opponents.