Nate Diaz

The semi finals are over and it looks like Manny and Nate will be moving on to the finals.

Manny dominated the ground against Joe Lauzon, with the exception of one rear naked choke attempt by Joe. Manny wins by decision.

Although Gray Maynard looked very good in the first round against Nate Diaz, he eventually got caught in a Nate Diaz submission in round 2.

The finals are just over a week away (June 23rd) and we know of 3 fights so far.

BJ Penn vs Jens Pulver
Manny G vs Nate Diaz
Monstah Lobstah vs Leonard Garcia

The Ultimate Fighter Season 5 semi finals are just a couple of hours away and it's time for me to put up my predictions:

But first, the fights

Joe Lauzon vs Manny Gambaryan and Nate Diaz vs Gray Maynard

These should both be good fights, but just to recap. Joe Lauzon is a good well rounded fighter who starts fast, but Joe has had some injury problems, or maybe the producers of the show just want to keep us guessing. Manny Gambaryan is a fireball, tons of energy, good cardio, excellent ground work. Manny's only real short-fall (no pun intended) is his height and reach, but that hasn't stopped him so far. Nate Diaz is another good all around fighter. Nate looked great in his first fight and despite being beaten in the standup against Corey Hill found a way to win. Gray Maynard is probably the fighter who has not lived up to his potential on the show, he'll need to up his game a bit this week if he wants to win.

Joe Lauzon vs Manny Gambaryan
If Manny can get inside Joe's punches and take him to the ground, then stay on top of him, he'll have a good shot at this fight. Note that I said "if", I think that Joe Lauzon will find a way to finish this fight.

Prediction : Joe Lauzon

Nate Diaz vs Gray Maynard
This is a really tough pick, but during the first couple of weeks I was picking Joe Lauzon and Nate Diaz to be in the finals and I'm going to stick with that.

Prediction : Nate Diaz

I'll keep this short and sweet. On last nights Ultimate Fighter, Gray Maynard defeated Brandon Melendez to move on to the quarter finals. His team Penn team mate, Joe Lauzon is already in the quarter finals.

There will be two fights next week, featuring Corey Hill vs Nate Diaz and Manny Gambaryan against Matt Wiman. I think Nate will take Corey easily, but the Wiman vs Gambaryan fight should be excellent.

Last night's Ultimate Fighter was one of the season's best episodes. There are/were 8 fighters left.

The fight results leading up to last night were

Nate Diaz defeated Rob Emerson
Joe Lauzon defeated Brian Geraghty
Corey Hill defeated Rob Emerson (Rob was put back in after Gabe Ruediger failed to make weight)
Cole Miller defeated Allen Berube
Matt Wiman defeated Marlon Simms
Manny Gambaryan defeated Noah Thomas
Gray Maynard defeated Wayne Weems
Brandon Melendez defeated Andy Wang

So, Diaz, Lauzon, Hill, Miller, Wiman, Gamaryan, Maynard and Melendez moved on to the next round.

To read on about last nights show click continue.

Press Release from UFC.com

UFC® Returns to The Pearl at The Palms for The Ultimate Fighter® 5 Finale

Las Vegas, Nev. – April 24, 2007 – When former UFC® Lightweight Champion Jens Pulver defeated the seemingly invincible BJ Penn in 2002, he shocked the world and proved that when it comes to the Octagon™, nothing is impossible. Since then, Penn has plotted his revenge and waited seemingly in vain for the opportunity to avenge his first and most bitter defeat. But on Saturday, June 23rd, these two 155-pound pioneers - who matched wits for six weeks as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter® Season 5 - square off in a rematch five years in the making and finally get the chance to settle their score with their fists when they battle in the main event on The Ultimate Fighting Championship® organization and Spike TV’s The Ultimate Fighter 5 Season finale live from The Pearl at The Palms in Las Vegas.

more at UFC.com

Ultimate Fighter Season 5 Results for Episode 4

Are you ready for the Ultimate Fighter 5 recap? For those who don't know, Ultimate Fighter is a show on Spike TV involving UFC figthers all working toward a UFC contract. Season 5 has lightweights, with coaches Jens Pulver and BJ Penn. Pulver and Penn will fight at the end of season 5 (finale is scheduled for June 23rd).

Warning, if you read on, you will find out who won the fight. If you need your Ultimate Fighter Results fix, continue reading.

The title says it all, just a gentle reminder to watch TUF 5 tonight!

Wow, I am extremely confused. Here's a quick recap of the UFC 70 action.

Let me start with Michael Bisping vs Elvis Sinosic.

Michael Bisping came out strong, but a little wild, missing punches. Sinosic was more accurate, but wasn't doing much damage with his shots. Once the fight hit the ground, it was a different story, Bisping seemed to calm down a bit and landed a large number of shots on Sinosic.

Sinosic survived the first round and the second round continued much like the first. In the second, Bisping almost got caught in an arm lock, then again by rear naked choke, he ended up reversing postition and finishing Sinosic with strikes on the ground.

Michael Bisping defeats Elvis Sinosic by ref stoppage

Andrei Arlovski vs Fabricio Werdum
In my opinion, there wasn't a clear winner in this fight. I suppose that Arlovski took it because he knocked Werdum down twice, but I don't think Werdum was really hurt. Neither fighter really engaged in what was a disappointing battle. With the skill sets these two possess, this should have been the fight of the night.
Andrei Arlovski wins by decision

Mirko Cro Cop vs Gabriel Gonzaga
The fight started with a few missed punches by Gonzaga. Cro Cop then landed a good kick to the body, but Gonzaga caught it and took Mirko to the ground. Gonzaga dominated on the ground, landing punches and elbows. The ref stood them up with about 30 seconds left in the first round and...
Gabriel Gonzaga KO'd Mirko Cro Cop with a right high kick to the head

The big fight I've been waiting for all week turned out to be Nick Diaz's little brother Nate Diaz vs Rob Emerson. Before I get to the fight, a little more about the episode.

1) Gabe gets a colonic. In possibly the worst tv experience ever, Gabe decides that a colonic is a good way for him to make weight. I have a question...does he not plan on eating again before he fights? Here's something for Gabe to try.

1) get a tube about 1/4 inch in diameter
2) shove marbles in one end of the tube until it's full
3) now shove another one in.
Q) Did one of the marbles fall out...I'll bet one did.

Ok, same tube, now empty it...and start shoving marbles in again...hey look it gets full again.

Ok, the chick giving the colonic was kind of hot, but other than that it was a waste of 15 minutes of air time. Gabe's team mates seem to think that he'd be better off training and sweating that having a tube shoved up his ass. I have to agree.

In other news, team Pulver (or more accurately Jens) invited Jeremy Horn to work out with the guys and show them a thing or two about ground work. The segment mostly focused on Corey Hill and how impressed Jeremy was with Corey. In fact, much of this episode focused on Corey considering that Nate Diaz and Rob Emerson ended up fighting.

In the fight itself, the first round was mostly a stand up battle. Diaz got caught with a couple of punches when he was coming off some standing submission and take down attempts. I had the first round pretty even.

The second round was all Nate Diaz, he was winning the stand up, and took the fight to the ground and dominated there. Rob Emerson defended well for a while, but finally got caught in a rear naked choke.