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Canwest News Service
The participants in the actual final fight of this season's Ultimate Fighter series are still to be decided publicly, but the rest of the TUF finale card set to air December 5th from Las Vegas got a big boost with the announcement of two huge support fights.
Jon "Bones" Jones and Mark "The Hammer" Hamill will go at it hammer and tong in the light heavyweight division, while TUF competitor Kimbo Slice lines up against veteran slugger Houston Alexander in a fight that will likely be a 'test your knockout power' contest.
In Jones, the UFC has a young, electrifying competitor who isn't afraid to issue a back suplex to get an opponent's attention, while Hamill brings size, strength and genuine wrestling nous to a battle he has to win to get back in the title picture.
Legally deaf, Hamill has cleaned the clock of the mid-level of the light heavyweight division, but was outworked by A-listers Mike Bisping and Rich Franklin whenever he looked set to contend in the past. He'll need to destroy Jones to announce himself as legit once more.
But Jones won't go quietly. The 6'4" undefeated phenom put a hurting on Stephan Bonnar at UFC 94 and guillotined Jake O'Brien at UFC 100, displaying as much style as substance in the process. If he beats Hamill, he's one gatekeeper away from title shot talk.
The Kimbo Slice/Houston Alexander fight will be a little less tactical. In fact, it'll be a brutal display of fast, nasty hands and outright ferocity.
Alexander exploded into the UFC with a 48 second win over Keith Jardine at UFC 71, followed by a one minute victory over Alessio Sakara at UFC 78. But since then? All downhill with losses to Thiago Silva, James Irvin and Eric Schafer.
Kimbo has no record to really speak of. His wins to date have been largely tainted and his losses over-discussed. All that matters is, dude can throw and Alexander will not be looking for takedowns. Chins will get popped. Someone is going to have their lights turned off.
Whoever loses this fight, you can close the book on their UFC career. Incentive rules.
Also on the card, but not nearly as compelling, is the fight between 10-1 Jersey boy Frankie Edgar and 11-0 Matt Veach. Not that those two can't swing – they can and do – but the initial opponent for Edgar was Kurt Pellegrino, and he would have been a solid scalp for the little man to step over on his way to title contention. Instead, he gets a guy with great skills but no name recognition, so a win brings minimal career benefit and a loss derails him for a long time.
For former MFC competitor Veach, this is a coming out party. His only victory in the UFC was a handy 1st round TKO over Matt Grice, but this is a step up in class for him, even with an undefeated record to his name.
Also on the card, Canada's own Mark "The Professor" Bocek takes on unknown quantity Joe Brammer in a bout that should be below Ontario's master of submissions.
With two losses in his career (one to Frankie Edgar at UFC 73 and another to Mac Danzig back at UFC 83), Bocek has made a habit of schooling solid low-to- mid level competitors in the art of the jits, so why he'd be fed a rookie with no name recognition is a little beyond me. Bocek should be offered someone like Sean Sherk, who has a record but has been beaten a few times of late. That, at least, would give one of the two fighters a route to the high road.
Instead, Bocek will tie Brammer in knots and the golf claps will follow.
Elsewhere on the card, uber-veteran submission machine Dennis Hallman (41- 12) goes at the recently surprising John Howard (12-4) in a fight that means little but would be a nice chance to impress the brass.
Hallman once beat Matt Hughes back in the day (in 20 seconds, no less), but never got any juice for his efforts because, whenever he'd return to the UFC, it'd be against the biggest name of the day. Losses followed against Jens Pulver, Frank Trigg, and Jorge Rivera. After a 20 second deconstruction of Justin Davis at Strikeforce: Challengers, perhaps the UFC will finally let Hallman build a rep.
Against Howard, he'll have to be on his A-game.He took the Barncat, Tamdan McCrory, out of the UFC with a split decision vic at UFC 101, his second splitter in two UFC contests. In fact, seven of his last ten contests have gone to the judges, so if this is going to be a cardio war, Howard is equipped to last.
Lastly, Brian Stann will offer his soul to be eaten by Rodney "Sho Nuff" Wallace.
The remainder of the card will be set after the TUF semi finals play out on TV.
The TUF season finale hits Spike TV on December 5.
DONKEY PUNCHES: Speculation is rife that Canada's world champ Georges St Pierre with face UK kickboxer Dan Hardy in a title defense at UFC 109 on Superbowl weekend in Las Vegas … Randy Couture vs Mark Coleman and Nate Marquardt vs Chael Sonnen are also rumoured to be lined up for that event … Lyoto Machida has tweeted that his rematch with Mauricio Shogun Rua has been signed for May 1 in Montreal … NFL great Herschel Walker debuts for Strikeforce on January 30 … Thales Leites vs Dean Lister and Jason MacDonald vs solomon Hutcherson will headline MFC 23 on Fri. December 4. HDNet will televise the Alberta event. Perennial fan favourite and former UFC god Marvin "The Beastman" Eastman will be on the undercard.
cparry@vancouversun.com
http://www.twitter.com/chrisparry
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Hamill outworked by Bitchping? Are you kidding me? Hamill won that fight, but it was in England and the judges unfairly gave it to Bitchping. Watch it for yourself if you don’t believe me.
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