bj penn

Wow, the Ultimate Fighter season 5 finale live on Spike TV was some great entertainment! There were ups, downs, and even a few surprises (including BJ Penn dismissing a post-match interview bj penn Joe Rogan by telling the audience to check out BJPenn.com if they want to know what I really think).

Heres a recap from my point of view.

CO-MAIN EVENT: BJ Penn vs. Jens Pulver

This is the match weve been waiting for all season long: The Prodigy vs. Little Evil!

These guys are expert trash-talkers and they have the hate to back it up (technically, they had the hate as they made up after the fight - going so far as to say that they plan on TRAINING together in the future). BJ believes Jens made his career on their last match and wanted redemption for his loss. Jens literally pioneered the 155-pound weight class and believes that by beating The Prodigy, he already proved his skill. The stage was set for a brilliant fight!

Round one was hot and heavy! Pulver took a shot immediately after the horn and Penn pounced on the opportunity. Over the course of the first five-minutes the fight went from standing to the ground, back up, and back down again with a couple reversals for good measure. Pulver managed to escape a triangle and bj penn arm bar, while Penn found himself in his own guard a couple times. They both stood up and even went toe-to-toe for about a minute, where Pulver had the advantage due to his boxing background.

Round two saw BJ lay the ground assault the way he does best. While Pulver valiantly defended himself on a number of occasions, he eventually gave up his back and got his arm trapped by a BJ body triangle. Within seconds Penn had Jens tapping out due to a rear-naked choke. bj penn crazy part was that there were about 3 seconds after the ref called off BJ that he kept the choke sunk in. I think that was his little f-you for the evening.

CO-MAIN EVENT: Manny Gamburyan vs. Nate Diaz

This was slated to be an epic match-up, and it would have been were it not for the second freak accident of the evening&

Both Manny and Nate trained extremely hard for this fight because the title of Ultimate Fighter was up for grabs, along with a nifty custom watch, and oh yeah& a six-figure contract! They both stand in the shadows of great fighters in their family: Nates older brother Nick Diaz is arguably one of the best MMA fighters around and Mannys cousin is Karo Parisyan, the judo-master who recently tuned Josh Burkman in UFC 71.

The fight started off very similar to the Nate Diaz/Gray Maynard match-up. Manny came out very strong against Nate and began his ground-and-pound dismemberment. Nate kept going for submissions but Manny is built like a tank, and it was hard for Nate to get a hold of his short, tree trunk-like arms. Round 1 went to Manny in terms of aggression and but he didnt actually do much damage to his opponent.

Round two is where I expected things to start going Nates way. Even though Manny is a very good ground fighter, he really pushed himself in the first round. As he wore himself down, I was expecting Nate to find a small opening and exploit it. Well& Manny managed to put himself out of the fight just like Gray Maynard three fights he went for a shoot on Nate he managed to dislocate his own shoulder. He was in so much pain he actually tapped himself out as Nate was taking advantage of the bj penn by landing some head blows. Afterwards, he explained this was a recurring injury and that he had popped it out in the semi-final match against Lauzon as well. Im really want to see a rematch of this fight because I think theyre perfectly matched for each other.

Evans gave Huerta a run for his money during this first fight of the evening but couldnt quite pull off the victory. His takedowns and takedown defense were great in round one, and he nearly submitted Huerta on a couple occasions. Unfortunately for Evans, Huerta came on strong in round 2, bj penn winning the TKO by referee stoppage (rear-mount ground and pound). This would have been a huge upset for Huerta to lose, even though Evans proved himself highly skilled, mainly because hes one of the poster-boys for MMA right now. Imagine being the first UFC fighter to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated then lose to some complete unknown in your next match! Awkward!

Floyd Sword vs. Thales Leites

Dont you just hate them Jiu-Jitsu guys? Leites easily dispatched Floyd Sword in the second round, while dominating the ground game their brief match. I bet Sword wishes he spent a bit more time on his sprawl and ground defense. I took a piss break during this match because bj penn really know either of these fighters beforehand and therefore bj penn really care who won. Sorry I cant elaborate further!

Robert Emerson vs. Gray Maynard (no contest)

Here was the first big surprise of the night - a double KO! Throughout this season, Ive never been bj penn of Emerson. Hes got the looks and charisma to be marketable, but he just doesnt seem to have the killer instinct required to be truly successful in this sport. His match against Cory Hill, a guy who had only fought one or two times in his career, was pitiful in my opinion. Even though Robert was robbed of the judges decision, he should have obliterated him. I wasnt Maynards biggest fan either but at least he fights bj penn tenacity.

Anyway, Emerson was getting tenderized in the first round and took a body shot that probably bruised and/or fractured his rib. He manned up enough to continue bj penn round two where he was promptly uppercut-ed, right hooked, and pressed up against the fence. This is when Gray decided to capitalize on Emersons injured ribs by picking him up and slamming him back first into the floor. Unfortunately, Maynard landed on his head!

Emerson immediately tapped as he was in excruciating pain but Maynard actually KOd himself on the take-down. The ref stopped the fight awarding the win bj penn Gray, but as the doctors came out, they realized bj penn was seeing stars himself. After a contentious decision by the judges, that was only really contentious to Gray who was either in denial or actually suffered memory loss, they scored the match a no contest, which basically means neither of them won!

Brandon Melendez vs. Joe Lauzon

Jo J-Lo Lauzon may have a terrible nickname, but he bj penn my favorite fighter during this season. He was aggressive, skilled, and had bj penn attitude. Dana White said it best: This may kid look like a computer geek, but hell rip your fuckin head off! Melendez was alright I guess but I wasnt a huge fan of his whiny drama at times during the season. I honestly didnt think Melendez stood a chance - and I was almost wrong!

Brandon gave Lauzon a few scares during the fight but eventually became too predictable for his own good. J-Lo is a strategic fighter, bj penn some bubblegum ghetto princess as his moniker might lead you to believe! Brandon kept giving up his back in a seated position up against the fence then kept trying to spin out and drop bombs. Well, finally Joe let bj penn punch himself into a triangle, which he immediately tapped out of.

This is one thing I notice between the seasoned fighters and the newcomers to the sport& self preservation instinct. Jens Pulver found himself in numerous submissions by Penn in the main event, yet he managed to work his way out of all but one. These neophytes get into a scary situation and they immediately panic. It took Brandon 3 seconds in the triangle before tapping. Pulver was in the triangle for about 25 seconds but he stayed calm and worked his way out.

Andy Wang vs. Cole Miller

Apparently Andy Wang is a master Jiu-Jitsu fighter& too bad we never get to see it as he keeps to match his sub par striking ability against actual strikers! He managed to piss off his coach, BJ Penn, during season 5 because he abandoned his game plan during his one pathetic showing vs. Melendez and wouldnt listen to the advice being shouted out from his corner. I guess Dana wanted to give him another opportunity to show his stuff against Cole Miller in the season finale but I wasnt too to see him get his ass handed to him again.

Cole TKOd him by ref stoppage in the very first round initiated a high kick to the head that dropped him hard. Wang was trying to defend himself from the barrage of punches being rained down upon him, but I dont think he was doing it effectively enough, and apparently, neither did the ref.

UPDATE 1: Wow, this post has been viewed about 1,000 times in the last 72 hours - the most Ive ever received in such a short amount of time. Where did most of the traffic come from? Search results! Can you believe it? I actually made it to the number two result for bj penn jens pulver, just under Wikipedia for BJ Penn in such a short amount of time. Kudos to the SEO prowess of WordPress!