TUF 10 Finale: Big Country Wins Big
Published by Jim Genia on December 6th, 2009 in Current Events

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He was expected to win, just not by knockout. Roy “Big Country” Nelson won big at the live TUF 10 season finale last night, taking striker and ex-NFLer Brendan Schaub’s best before judiciously planting a fist to the Greg Jackson-trained fighter’s noggin and sending him into Dreamland in the first round. The bout saw action all over the place, with Nelson – who sports a jiu-jitsu black belt to go along with his massive belly – smothering his foe on the ground and Schaub escaping back to what should have been his realm. However, with an extensive record against top-level opponents, and an IFL heavyweight championship belt hanging on his mantelpiece, Big Country clearly knows his way around a cage, and that knowledge enabled him to wade in past Schaub’s quick punches to deliver the coup de grace.

When Nelson entered the competition he was expected to excel, and when he entered the Octagon at the TUF finale he was at least expected to emerge with the hard-fought “W”. But now, as this season’s “Ultimate Fighter”, Nelson finds himself in the unique position of being a contender for the heavyweight championship crown fresh out of the TUF house. Given his skills and experience (and, of course, the shallowness of the pool), Big Country could very well win that too.

In his official UFC debut (TUF bouts count as exhibition matches), the much-maligned but insanely popular Kimbo Slice out-pointed Houston Alexander in a 15-minute fight that contained about three minutes of action. Setting the tone for the affair was Alexander’s inexplicable game plan, which saw him circle Slice along the circumference of the cage, throwing tentative kicks to the former backyard brawler’s lead leg and invoking shades of the non-epic Dan Severn vs. Ken Shamrock II bout (don’t try to find video of that one, it was awful). For his part Slice seemed to want to engage, and succeeded in Round 2, catching the fleeing Alexander and throwing him to the ground where he scored with his fists and a half-hearted choke attempt. That alone put Slice ahead on the scorecards, and when exhaustion slowed things in the final round, it was then just really a contest of who could get the most oxygen in through their mouths. On paper, this one should’ve ended abruptly and with fireworks. Regardless, the UFC’s golden goose got the much-needed win.

In the light-heavyweight co-main event, the ultra-talented Jon Jones absolutely manhandled Matt Hamill, out-wrestling the wrestler and depositing him hard on the canvas. Unfortunately, in the ensuing ground and pound assault – which left Hamill a bleeding and broken mess – Jones delivered two downward-pointed elbows (an illegal technique). As Hamill could not continue, Jones was disqualified.

UFC lightweight contender Frankie Edgar took a significant risk in agreeing to face the unranked Matt Veach. After all, Edgar was coming off a victory over top fighter Sean Sherk, and a loss to someone new yet hungry could nudge him from title contention. In the end, though, the risk didn’t matter, as “The Answer” answered Veach’s brawn, wrestling and brawling style with superior boxing, which had him stunning Veach enough to take his back and nail the rear naked choke on the ground.

In other action, Matt Mitrione dispatched Marcus Jones ten seconds into the second round with a pair of right hands, punctuating what was a battle between to TUF 10ers and ex-NFL football players. Canadian Mark Bocek had his way with newcomer Joe Brammer, getting the tap out from a standing rear naked choke in the first round. And after a back-and-forth fisticuff, Brit James McSweeney overwhelmed Darrill Schoonover with strikes to get the TKO victory in the third round.