It’s Remembrance/Veteran’s Day. Take a moment to respect those who fought for your freedom.
Welcome to the (not LIVE) recap for the LIVE Finale for The Ultimate Fighter 4: The Comeback. Why am I writing LIVE all in caps? Well, a) Way back in the days of Inside Pulse v2 I used to do LIVE coverage of The Amazing Race, and we always wrote LIVE all in caps and b) That’s how they write it on the UFC website. But really, it’s more of the latter and less of the former.
BTW, I tend to recap in a CRZ-ish style, so this may be a bit long. You’ve been warned.
Before the LIVE show, some preliminary matches were fought featuring some of the fighters of TUF4 plus the debut of another Brazilian middleweight.
Thales Leites vs Martin “Hitman” Kampmann (see below)
“Captain Miserable” Charles McCarthy def Gideon “The Gladiator” Ray (Tapout -> Armbar, 4:43 R1)
Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith Vs. Pete “Drago” Sell (see below)
“The Secret Weapon” Pete Spratt def Jeremy “Booty Call” Jackson (Tapout -> Neck Injury, 1:11 R2)
Gladiator opening.
Chris Lytle, Matt Serra, Travis Lutter and Patrick Coté talk about their opponents and how they see the fight going.
Now, LIVE from The Joint inside the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, NV, it’s time for the finale of The Ultimate Fighter 4: The Comeback. Your hosts, as (almost) always for these LIVE fights, are Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan.
They talk about what we already know – all the fighters have been in the UFC before, and they’ve all got a shot at winning. They talk about the weigh in, as Travis Lutter struggled to get down to 185, managing to get to 186. It’s your classic striker vs grappler fight.
Mike talks about how Serra vs. Lytle was probably the expected outcome (unless you asked Dana White) since they were the co-captains of Team Mojo. Rogan thinks that Serra has the grappling advantage while Lytle is a better striker, but he’s a firefighter by day plus he’s got four kids. That’s about three jobs right there.
Fight #1
Three rounds, UFC Middleweight (185lb) Division.
Edwin Dewees think that people underestimate Rivera’s ground game but he thinks he can beat him there. Jorge thinks that it’ll be a war of attrition.
Edwin “Bamm Bamm” Dewees (34-10, Brausa Academy, Phoenix, AZ) Vs. Jorge “El Conquistador” Rivera (13-5, Team Elite, Milford, MA)
The referee for this match is Yves Lavigne.
Round 1
Rivera misses a huge high kick, they exchange some leg kicks. Clinch, and Rivera is against the cage, but slips out and they’re in the centre again. Rivera hitting some low legs kicks, and starts landing some punches. Dewees is covering up well, and gets a flurry of his own. Rivera lands a jab, then an uppercut and Dewees is down and covering up as Rivera rains down punches, and Lavigne stops it.
Seemed a bit early for me, but then again, Dewees wasn’t doing much more than turtling.
Jorge Rivera def. Edwin Dewees (TKO -> Strikes, 2:38 R1)
Joe Rogan asks about how much Jorge learned in the house. Jorge thanks God and his family, and then talks about how he got to work with guys he had a lot of respect for. He talks about how he stunned Dewees and then just tried to hit him anywhere he was allowed to.
Well, since there’s a PPV next week, let’s do a promo for UFC 65: Bad Intentions. Wonder if the Gubernator will be there?
Fight #2
Three rounds, UFC Lightweight (155lb) Division.
Clementi just wants to have a good exciting fight. Thomas thinks that he can stop Clementi from anywhere.
Let’s look at some drunk people before going to the Tale of the Tape.
Rich “No Love” Clementi (33-10-1, Team Voodoo, Sidell, LA) vs Din “DinYero” Thomas (20-7, American Top Team, Orlando, FL)
Clementi looks a lot leaner and meaner here. Meanwhile, Thomas looks positively ripped.
The referee for this match is Steve Mazzagatti.
Round 1
Standing at first, and we get some exchanges. Clementi gets a nice high kick. Keeping Thomas away with high kicks. Thomas linds a nice right, and we get a clinch at 2:00. Thomas controlling, but not too much happening, and Mazzagatti breaks them up at 3:00. Thomas rocks Clementi with a right, and they go to the ground at 3:15. Back up, and Thomas with a nice combo. Rich gets a couple of low kicks in, and Thomas landing some body shots. Clementi gets a takedown to end the round, but I think Thomas takes this one. 10-9 Thomas.
Round 2
Clementi continues with the low kicks, and misses a spinning backfist. He slips and Thomas goes right into his guard at 0:45. Clementi gets out of it and they’re back up. Clinch, and dirty boxing from Thomas leads to a nice combo. Clementi backs off, and he looks a bit tired. Thomas landing left jabs seemingly at will. Thomas stuns Rich, and gets him down into a mount at 3:00. Rich gives up his back, and Din gets on a rear naked choke and the tapout comes very quickly after that.
Din Thomas def. Rich Clementi (Tapout -> Rear Naked Choke, 3:11, R2)
Din thanks his American Top Team, er team, and thinks the time off really helped him recharge. Din tries to explain what he’s doing, but he thinks that he needs to beat Joe up in order for him to understand. Oh, and he’s coming for Sean Sherk. Mike Goldberg “complains” about Din’s “lack of personality”. Hah.
Did you know Kurt Angle was in TNA now? Well, you will after seeing the 50 Impact! ads during this broadcast.
Preliminary Fight
Three rounds, UFC Middleweight (185lb) Division.
Both guys want to put on a show. We’ll see if they can deliver where the fights on the show failed.
Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith (11-2, Capital City Fighting Alliance, Elk Grove, CA) vs. Pete “Drago” Sell (7-2, Serra Jiu-Jitsu, Long Island, NY)
The referee for this match is “Big” John McCarthy.
Round 1
Sell lands a nice leg kick, Smith lands one of his own and hits a nice combo. Both men swinging, and Smith applauds and they high five. Both men seem to be looking for hard combos. Exchanges, and more high fives. Sell gets in a nice combo, and we go to a clinch. Foot stomps by Sell, and he hits a couple of elbows for good measure. Smith keeps going for a high kick, but keeps missing. Smith drops Sell, be he’s back up. Sell is bloodied under both eyes, Smith under the right eye. Smith lands a nice knee, and back to a clinch. The round ends, and they exchange pleasantries again. 10-9 Smith.
Round 2
Sell gets some punches in early. Smith fakes a couple of kicks, and Sell gets in some more good punches. Sell gets in a nice jab, and Smith gets in a nice combo. He’s going for some low kicks now. Sell hits a gut shot which doubles up Scott Smith, and as Sell goes in, Smith throws a wild right and knocks out Sell!
Damn. And Smith looks to still be in pain from that body shot.
Scott Smith def. Pete Sell (KO, 3:25, R2)
Smith notes that he got drilled, and that he had just that one punch left. He doesn’t think that he’s ever been hit that hard ever. And he’d rather fight his brother than someone he doesn’t know.
Fight #3
TUF 4 Finals – Three rounds, UFC Middleweight (185lb) Division. Winner gets cash, sponsorship and knocked the frak out by Anderson Silva.
Because this is the finals we get the usual “back home” look at Travis and Patrick. Travis loves his kid and his girlfriend, but apparently for him, women come and go. Motorcycles, however, are forever. His strategy, unsurprisingly, is to take Patrick down and use his BJJ to get the win.
Patrick took a month off, and then got to training – mostly Muay Thai and takedown defence. He’s planning to go for the knockout, and thinks that Travis is a one-dimensional BJJ guy.
Patrick “The Predator” Coté (9-3, BTT Canada, Quebec City, QC) vs “The Serial Killer” Travis Lutter (11-3, Forth Worth, TX)
The referee for this match is “Big” John McCarthy.
Round 1
Lutter shoots, Coté blocks and he’s up against the cage. Lutter is tenacious though, and gets the takedown into a half-guard. Coté is trying for a kimura, but Lutter is unconcerned. He gets out of it and pushes Coté against the cage. Lutter in side control. He takes the back and is going for an armbar. He works his way very high and secures the armbar for the tapout.
Travis Lutter def. Patrick Coté (Tapout -> Armbar, 2:18, R1)
Dana presents Lutter with all his goodies. I gotta say, the two new ring girls aren’t as hot as Rachelle Leah. And I never noticed this before, but the ring girls wear Keds-type sneakers, as opposed to just about every other fighting organization, where stripper heels are the norm. Here’s Joe Rogan. Lutter didn’t expect to win that fast, but he got lucky there. He gives Silva respect, but he’ll take him down because that’s what he does.
Now here’s Anderson Silva. Lutter tells him that he looks forward to fighting him. Silva (through his interpreter) congratulates Travis, and tells him that he (Silva) is gonna have to work on his jiu-jitsu. Kinda ironic, coming from the Brazilian.
Let’s see that Hughes-GSP promo again.
Now, let’s talk to Hughes and St. Pierre LIVE, via satellite to help sell the PPV. Hughes doesn’t pick a winner for the welterweight fight. GSP simply says that he doesn’t know who will win. Hughes looks forward to fighting Georges, but he’s not looking beyond him yet, and he doesn’t plan to retire soon. Georges is at 110%, is in the best shape of his life, and is ready to rock and roll. He thinks that he’s improved more than Matt since his last fight. He’s trained a little different, and had some middleweights train with him. Matt is treating GSP as a formidable opponent.
Goldberg puts Hughes on the spot about the TUF4 winner again, and Matt still avoids the question. Rogan asks about GSP’s promo after the Hughes-Penn fight, and Hughes thought that it was a lack of respect. GSP notes that he apologized to Hughes later, and that he was disrespected more in the buildup to the fight. After seeing what happened during TUF4, it’s hard to disagree.
Preliminary Fight
Three rounds, UFC Middleweight (185lb) Division.
Lietes thinks that it’ll be a great fight, and that he can get a submission. Kampmann hopes that he’ll KO Lietes.
Thales Lietes (9-0, Nova Uniao, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) vs. Martin “Hitman” Kampmann (10-1, KFT Shootfighting, Las Vegas, NV)
The referee for this match is Yves Lavigne.
Round 1
Lietes goes for the shoot and drives Kampmann into the cage. Martin escapes and they exchange. Thales shoots again and Kampmann shows a nice sprawl. Clinch, and after some scuffling along the cage Kampmann gets free and throws a few punches that didn’t look like they connected. Leites hits a right and knocks Kampmann down. Thales goes into Kampmann’s guard but after a brief flurry they get back up. Leites goes for the shoot and Kampmann sprawls again. Finally, a judo throw takes down Kampmann at around 3:15 and Leites gets full mount. He goes for an arm triangle and falls back to half guard. Leites is passing at will but Kampmann keeps working to get back into half guard, guard and eventually they get back up. 10-9 Leites.
Round 2
Leites starts with a combo that Kampmann blocks. Kampmann hits some nice leg kicks, and again blocks a shoot. Kampmann is getting some good shots in, and is really working that leg. Superman misses, and they keep exchanging with Kampmann hitting those low kicks seemingly at will, but he’s eating some punches in the process. Thales is limping a bit, and Kampmann is hitting Leites with a lot of punches. Leites gets his shoot blocked again, and Kampmann declines the invitation to go into his guard. High kick connects, and Thales is bleeding from an earlier punch. Kampmann rocks Leites, and he slips going for a shoot. 10-9 Kampmann.
Round 3
Leites immediately goes for a shoot and Kampmann sprawls again. He tries to pull guard again but Kampmann is having none of it. Standing again, Leites gets a couple of nice shots in but Kampmann again counters. We get an exchange, and Thales goes down at 1:00. Kampmann goes down and hits Leites a few times but gets back up again. Kampmann is hiting Leites at will but Leites isn’t giving up. I’m surprised that he hasn’t been KO’ed yet. Leites is exhausted, and Kampmann keeps nailing those low leg kicks. He blocks another shoot, and now he’s teeing off on Leites and hits some Muay Thai knees. Dominating round for Kampmann. 10-9 Kampmann.
Martin Kampmann def. Thales Leites (Unanimous Decision)
Martin thinks that his takedown defence is what won him the fight, and doesn’t know what was keeping Leites up.
Fight #4
TUF 4 Finals – Three rounds, UFC Welterweight (170lb) Division. Winner gets cash, sponsorship and a title shot against either Matt Hughes or Georges St. Pierre.
Chris spent some time with his family, and talks about his job as a fireman. He notes that second sucks. Matt Serra went back to Long Island and ate cannollis with his family. He’s got a big family, and puts over his brother Nick. He thinks that endurance is the key for him in this match, because he’s in for a war.
Chris “Lights Out” Lytle (32-12-4, Integrated Fighting Academy, Indianapolis, IN) vs Matt “The Terrah” Serra (14-4, Serra Jiu-Jitsu, East Meadow, NY)
The referee for this match is Herb Dean
Round 1
Clinch to start, and Serra gets Lytle against the cage. Some nice foot stomps, and Lytle is blocking the takedowns. Serra is pressing the issue but Lytle keeps blocking. Serra gets some knees and foot stomps in, and again tries for a takedown, but it’s blocked again. Finally, LYTLE gets a takedown at 2:50. He’s in guard, and Matt is doing a good job at controlling Lytle. Serra controls the arm, and tries for an armbar but Lytle gets away and they stand up. Serra pulls Lytle into butterfly guard, but Lytle gets back up quickly. Round ends with Lytle getting a loose guillotine on Serra. 10-9 Lytle.
Round 2
Serra tries a kick, Lytle grabs and clinch. Serra gets Lytle against the cage, tries foot stomps, keeps trying for the takedown but Lytle is blocking. Serra tries a whizzer at 2:00, but it’s blocke. Rogan is talking about families. Dean breaks at 3:30. Clinch again, Lytle’s been kneeing a lot and Serra’s left side is bright red. 10-9 Lytle.
Round 3
Serra tries a spinning backfist but misses. He gets the takedown on Lytle and moves to half-guard. Lytle gets back to full guard, Serra stands up and forces Lytle to hang on. Dean stands them up at 2:00. Clinch, and Lytle punches Serra’s pink spot. Lytle throws Serra down, but Serra gets away. Clinch again, Serra gets Lytle against the cage. Lytle kneeing the right side now. Serra’s trying hard for the takedown, Lytle blocking well. Both men go down, Lytle misses a wild punch. Serra misses a high kick and that’s the round. 10-9 Serra.
The first judge scores it 30-27 Serra. The second, 30-27 Lytle, and the third judge scores it 30-27 for the winner by split decision… Matt Serra!
Matt Serra def. Chris Lytle (Split Decision)
Dana presents Matt with all the prizes and here’s Joe Rogan. Matt’s happy, and he thinks that whoever gets on top in the fight will probably win. He’d rather fight Hughes because it’s a better fit for him.
Well, I went 1 for 4 with my predictions, which is pretty bad, and even worse when you consider the Thomas one was a gimmie. On the flipside, Trent went 4 for 4. Unfortunately, all that gets him is me giving him props.
Well, that was fun. Let’s do it again sometime.
The Inside Pulse
The fights here were definitely a lot better than those on the show. I can’t see either Lutter or Serra winning a title shot, but it does raise their profile significantly. And I wouldn’t be surprised to see Serra and Din Thomas pop up again for the rumoured Lightweight tourney in TUF5.
