Lei Tong

Those kinds of size differences at HW are the norm, but not at LHW. Also, Bonnar is approximately 158 times more skilled than Imes was at the time of the finale, with a better chin to boot.

Bonnar towers over Rashad. It's ridiculous.

The smell of Cummo's feet could probably KO poor Jonathan.

Of all three WWE programs wasn't the one to use to get back into wrestling. Probably not Raw either, now that I think about it. Probably right. I enjoyed a Finlay match from a couple of months ago on Smackdown, for what it's worth.

Well, so much for my attempt to get back into pro wrestling.

No way Goulet/Cummo goes to the cards, IMO. Not with Goulet's glass jaw and Cummo's wide-open guard.

It ties the series high, along with the Season 3 premiere & Leben vs. Koscheck. I think the other two finales have done 1.9 & 1.7/8

2.0 is the highest rating for a TUF finale thus far, so at least it's an improvement.

Rivera was never more than a MW gatekeeper, and showed his utter brilliance by diving into Murray's triangle as though Lee was in possession of some bomb ass pussy. Oh, and fine. I'll take whatever bet. No biggie.

Also, Leben may care about the fans, but he knows what he has to do to win. He's not retarded enough to think that getting his face carved up will be better for his rep than a lackluster JD.

Newton was never a good MW and Murray's entire reputation was based on KO'ing an old Pele after getting his BUTT handed to him beforehand.

It's a combination of - Leben being slightly underrated (most people think of him as a skilless brawler, when in reality he has decent takedowns & ground control). - Silva being pretty overrated (Horn is the only Top 10 middleweight he's defeated, which was helped by Horn managing to outdo himself again by tearing his groin). - Leben matching up well with Silva (Silva has KO power, but Leben has one of the best chins in MMA, and has pretty much never been badly hurt; this will definitely help him in closing the distance and getting a takedown and holding Anderson down, whose bottom game is poo).

Basically, the fight is Leben's to lose. He has the iron chin to walk through most of what Anderson will throw, and decent enough wrestling to take him down and nap on him. However, if he tries to stand and trade, he's gonna' get outpointed badly and likely cut.

If Yvel could somehow knock PDP's head off as he chokes to death... I'd be pretty happy.

Now this is coming from an MMA fan who hasn't watched pro wrestling even semi-regularly for the past half decade, but I agree that I'm not really feeling Kurt's new style. The technical execution comes off as pretty sloppy, and makes both Kurt & his opponents look bad because of it, IMO. As an example: Kurt's new love of his double leg. Now, if he's trying to get over as a ground technician, why not stick to his opponent like glue to set up something on the ground as follow-up, instead of dumping them like any other slam or suplex? Also, when it comes to his shot, does anyone find it hard to believe even in pro wrestling logic that people wouldn't know better than to expect a shot from an amateur wrestler who's walking around with his level changed. Have him feint a punch, pump high & go low, SOMETHING to set it up. Hell, he could feint a shot, and when his opponent goes to sprawl, have him jump on them with a front headlock. As for the submissions and positioning on the ground, I'll just say that there's very little reason to not be able to do some smooth transitions or put on some proper looking subs with a compliant partner. While watching Kurt wrestling I see tons of things that can be done or changed that would work within the confines of the gimmick. For example, rather than have him use a half dozen during a match, have him use the German/back suplex as a devastating move. Then, put him against an opponent who mentions how much he respects Kurt's ability and has scouted him thoroughly for the match. During the bout, show how much the opponent respects the move, as he willingly back himself against the ropes or into a corner and lets Kurt pound on him rather than give up his back. Eventually, Kurt takes their back with a quick duck under from a collar & elbow, only to find that opponent has trained for this as well, and counters with a dropdown & switch, and attempts to suplex Kurt instead. You can repeat this position a few times with variations, like with a switch battle or the opponent defending the German with a leg hook long enough to drop down again. As it seems Kurt is wearing himself down from trying and failing at nailing the maneuver, during another attempt, as his opponent tries to push his hips out and drop down, have Kurt abandon the rear waistlock and immediately slap on a bulldog choke for the win. This puts over Kurt's versatility, submission skills and ability to end the fight at the flick of an eye. Then again, I'm just a dumb MMA fan, so maybe I'm totally off base here.

I called the striking damage a wash, with Kendall hurting Ed a couple of times standing, and Ed getting some decent backmount G&P. I gave Kendall the edge for his RNC attempts, which I felt were much closer to Herman's attempted armbar.

Koscheck has already improved exponentially since his TUF days. His ability to improve position has already surpassed that many wrestlers-turned-MMA'ers (though his inability to keep mount is cause for concern), and he can finish if given the opprotunity. His stand-up and G&P aren't where they should, but he himself realizes is need to get over the timidity that affects his striking. Add in world class wrestling (arguable the best at WW) and loads of mental toughness, and the kid easily looks like a future champ.

I wouldn't say Silva's chin is "great." He usually gets dropped by most solid shots that land, though he recovers quickly. I'd say his resiliency is great, as opposed to his chin.

Some of the best Muay Thai @ HW, solid ground skills and supposedly good wrestling (as of yet untested)and while his competition may have topped out with Silva, but he's beaten everyone about as convincingly as could be hoped for. You can't ask for much more in a HW prospect nowadays. I could easily seem him beating many guys hanging around the Top 15 (Alistair, Monson, Buentello, etc).

He hasn't done much more than Edson "Crazy Motherfucker" Drago, and if you still consider Vera a prospect, he blows both out of the water.

I actually question Matt's mental toughness, and his ability to adapt to MMA relatively late in his life. In other words, he's no Josh Koscheck.

I'm currently laughing my balls off at all the Canadians who thought Stout would beat Florian for the past year.

Josh is scrappy, but the skill difference is pretty apparent thus far.

Bullshit? Hardly. An argument can easily be made for Kendall winning round 2 & 3. FOTY candidate regardless.

Middleweights: Mike Stine Kristian Rotharmel Danny Abadi Solomon Hutcherson Kendall Groves Rory Singer Ed Herman Kalib Starnes Lightheavyweights: Matt Hamill Ross Pointon Mike Nichols Jesse Forbes Noah Inhafer Josh Haynes Tait Fletcher Michael Bisping - A number of guys brought in to make the favorites look good (as in, some of these cats are Rafferty-bad) and/or to stir up trouble in the house, though a number of good fighters should make it to the semis.