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| The last time Michael Bisping fought as a coach for The Ultimate Fighter he was victim of a brutal Dan Henderson knockout at UFC 100. |
After one of its most exciting seasons, The Ultimate Fighter is coming to an end this Saturday night on
SPIKE with a three-hour season finale that includes two final match-ups in the
bantamweight and featherweight divisions as well as a middleweight bout between
the two coaches, Michael Bisping and Jason Miller.
In the featherweight final it will be the Brazilian Diego
Brandao taking on New York native Dennis Bermudez. Over in the bantamweight
finale it will be Sacramento’s own T.J. Dillashaw taking on John Dodson, who
hails from Albuquerque.
Let’s take a closer look at the big three bouts of the
evening:
Brandao vs. Bermudez:
Brandao showed to be a vicious striker in his first fight against Jesse
Newell just to get in the house. It was an impressive KO in the first round
that sent notice to all other featherweights that Brandao would be the one to
beat. He followed that up with first-round KO wins over Steven Siler and Bryan
Caraway.
Bermudez defeated Jimmie Rivera for a spot in the house via
second round TKO. Bermudez then defeated Stephan Bass, also in the second
round, in a match Bermudez controlled every aspect of. His semi-final bout
against Akira Corassani almost sent him packing. After getting knocked down
twice, Bermudez won via guillotine choke in the first-round.
Dillashaw vs. Dodson:
The bantamweight battle is very evenly matched. Dillashaw, a member of Team
Alpha Male, was dominant in his three victories. He defeated Matt Jaggers via
first-round TKO to get into the house. Dillashaw then used his wrestling and
grappling ability to submit Roland Delorme to move on through to the
semi-finals. It was there that he dominated Dustin Pague and won via unanimous
decision (30-26, 30-27 and 30-26). It was one of the more dominant performances
the show has ever seen.
His opponent, the diminutive John Dodson is a despising
looking fighter. He is small in stature, but he earned his spot in the finals
via a KO win over the much larger Johnny Bedford. Dodson also won his
preliminary match vs. Brandon Merkt via a first-round TKO. His other win came
via unanimous decision over John Albert. Of all the bantamweights in this
tournament, these two seem to be best fit for an exciting finals bout.
Miller vs. Bisping: Both
Miller and Bisping come into The Ultimate
Fighter finale on solid win streak. Bisping, three wins, is coming off of a
TKO win over Jorge Rivera at UFC 127 in February of this year. Miller, two
wins, hasn’t fought in over a year. His last win was a submission over Kazushi
Sakuraba at Dream 16 in Nagoya, Japan. Both have careers that have taken quite
different paths.
Bisping was a former TUF contestant on season 3 and has a
steady, albeit slow, rise to become an upper-tier fighter in the UFC. Miller,
well his path to the UFC can be defined as rocky at best. He made his UFC debut
at UFC 52 in April of 2005. He lost that bout to another up and comer in
Georges St. Pierre, who’s gone on to have a pretty decent career. Miller, whose
nickname is Mayhem, is a vastly different fighter since ’05 debut and can be
dangerous if the match goes to the mat.
This will be an entertaining main event as both men are
skilled strikers and mat technicians, but if this goes to the mat the upper hand
goes to the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Mayhem Miller. If this stays
standing, the best bet is on Bisping. Fans can expect this match to go either
way or to go the distance with neither fighter giving an inch.
Follow me on Twitter @NiteshDutt.
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