TUF 8 Finale Recap

• Excellent performance by the TUF 8 winner Efrain Escudero last night. Escudero demonstrated an excellent gameplan and ground skills in out-working Phillipe Nover. Nover fought a good fought himself, but just wasn’t up to Escudero’s game last night.
• Congrats to Ryan Bader for winning the light heavyweight portion of TUF 8. Bader didn’t use his wrestling base at all as he KO’d Vinicius Magalhaes with a seemingly basic, deflected punch. I’ll say this, I’ve never seen anyone curl up into a ball as fast as Magalhaes did last night.
• Anthony Johnson got the revenge he so desperately sough last night in spectacular fashion as he KO’d Kevin Burns with a beautiful head kick. Burns fought a solid fight and looked very sharp on his feet, keeping Johnson off balance for the full first round.
• I still don’t like the kid, but Junie Browning definitely looked sharp last night. Granted, as I said in my preview, Dave Kaplan was simply in that fight for Browning to be “showcased” but you can tell the time he has put in with Shawn Thompkins has really paid off.
• Eliot Marshall, and Krzysztof Soszynski both deserve to remain in the UFC and should be fun to watch in the future.

Dr J

Posted: December 14th, 2008 5 Comments Categories: Events
In 2003, Craig "Dr J" Jolicoeur began what would eventually become MMA HQ. Over the course of several years and several different websites, MMAHQ.com was established and quickly gained a loyal following. The original and current aim of MMA HQ is to provide up-to-date news and information in the world of mixed martial arts. Today, thousands of people get their MMA fix either directly through MMAHQ.com, or through its news feeds or associate websites every day. Tags: Anthony Johnson, Dave Kaplan, Efrain Escudero, Jason MacDonald, Junie Browning, Kevin Burns, Phillipe Nover, Ryan Bader, Shawn Thompkins, The Ultimate Fighter, Vinicius Magalhaes, Wilson Gouveia

5 Comments
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1. dane says:

   December 14, 2008 at 1:58 pm

   congrats to escudero and “darth” bader… they both deserved to win it…

   is it just me or does mike goldberg stare at rogan pretty creepily whenever joe is talking to the camera?

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2. Amir says:

   December 16, 2008 at 2:01 pm

   When is Anthony Johnson going to get a real shot at some upper echelon level talent? he’s always been one of my favs and looks better every time he steps in the octagon.
   His ground game is still unproven, but his sheer size and power in that division will make it hard for anyone to manhandle him.

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   • bvrasp says:

     December 16, 2008 at 2:26 pm

     Amir, I think his loss to Burns is what delayed his rise in the ranks and this rematch was a good way to eliminate that loss and get him a bit of revenge too hehe. I think we’ll see him fighting tougher guys very soon, if not his next fight then definately the one after, assuming he wins ofcourse.

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     • richard says:

       December 17, 2008 at 12:50 am

       johnson should really take it easy hes very young with a very short career with one loss people get over u now,look at karo.

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3. patrick says:

   December 17, 2008 at 4:55 pm

   good night of fights.

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