This Saturday brings the 10th season of “
The Ultimate Fighter” to a close, as heavyweight of heavyweights,
Roy Nelson, takes on NFL convert and all-around physical freak
Brendan Schaub to decide this season’s winner. The usual intrigue of a “TUF” finale is only enhanced by an undercard that features
Matt Hamill and
Jon Jones locking horns to decide the next big thing in the light heavyweight division.
Backing up those quality bits of violence is a lightweight duel pitting
Frankie Edgar against
Matt Veach in a matchup that could have title implications for Edgar. Of course you also have
Kimbo Slice making his official UFC debut against
Houston Alexander. All in all, no better time to get hyped up, so get your knowledge fix with another round of quality fight talk.
As the most experienced and proven of this season’s competitors, Nelson was an easy pick to make it to the finals. His opponent, Schaub, was just another NFL convert with an impressive collection of YouTube clips and little else going for him. It turns out those clips had more going for them than anyone thought, though, as Schaub’s run through the tournament has turned him into one of the most talked about heavyweight prospects in the game today.
That fact makes this bout all the more disappointing since there is no way a guy with four professional fights to his name should be fighting Nelson, a proven veteran of 17 bouts. Nelson has the chin to survive Schaub’s power and the mat game to exploit his still unpolished jiu-jitsu. Even if Schaub can keep this bout upright, there’s no guarantee he can match Nelson’s surprising striking savvy.
Schaub certainly wouldn’t be the first unexpected finalist to develop into a far better fighter than anyone expected, and his already obvious talent can’t be ignored. Nelson appears to be the better fighter right now, but no one knows if Schaub is going into this bout the same fighter we’ve grown accustomed to.
From the start of this season, I had Schaub tabbed as the unknown to keep an eye on. Despite the fact that all logic dictates a win for Nelson, I’ll take Schaub to shock everyone and score a come-from-behind TKO late in the second round. In the event this pick doesn’t pan out, I’ll just claim it was all rigged.
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