The Ultimate Fighter Team Rampage vs Team Forrest Finale Recap and Results

Tagged with: Finale, season 7, team forrest, team rampage, the ultimate fighter, tuf

Saturday, June 21, 2008, 22:10

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Dante Rivera vs Matt Riddle

At welterweight from Team Forest Dante Rivera vs Matt Riddle from Team Rampage the 1st round saw dirty boxing with tons of knees to the body by both opponents. In Round 2 we saw some wild punching by Rivera and then some nice ground and pound and jiu-jitsu from Riddle to lead us into the 3rd round. In the final round Riddle got full mount again in the end and pounded his way to a unanimous decision.

Rivera said before the fight that if he lost to Riddle he would retire. In the end Rivera simply could not take down Riddle and looked weak and slow.

Spencer Fisher versus Jeremy Stephens

In Round 1 Jeremy spent most of his time on his back with The King looking for big elbows and dropping bombs. In Round 2 we saw a good back and forth stand up war until Spencer once again took Jeremy to the ground and stayed on top for the last 2:30 or so. Jeremy’s best round came in the 3rd but looked to gas to finish it inside of the last minute.

In the end Spencer Fisher wins with a Unanimous Decision.

Solid fight for both fighters. They both can take a lot from this and bring a much better game to their next opponent.

Diego Sanches versus Luigi Fioravanti

This was the fight that I had been waiting for. Diego is one of my favorite fighters and he always bring high intensity and is a nightmare for most of his opponents. Until he lost to Koscheck and Fitch he was at the top of the food chain having won 19 straight.

In Round 1, it was an interesting stand up match as neither opponent could take each other down until Luigi took Diego down with 5 seconds left.

In Round 2, Diego continued to control the match even knocking Luigi down with strikes a few times. I was certainly impressive with Luigi’s take-down defense getting back up every time Diego put him down.

In Round 3, Luigi seemed a little drained was still able to counter every one of Diego’s take-down. However with about 1 minute and 10 seconds left Diego hit with A HUGE HEAD KICK and then a BIG KNEE and pounded out a decisive victory.

Luigi was prepared for Diego’s wrestling, but a New Nightmare may have been Born into the World tonight. His striking was precise and wasn’t as wild as we had last seen. Diego may not be ready for GSP again, but a rematch versus Koscheck could see differently results.

Amir Sadollah vs CB Dollaway

Listening to Amir, he reminds me a lot of Forrest. He likes getting his ass beat.

CB is D-1 Wrestling All-American that has has become a solid striker. Fighting out of Tempe he has been able to build a good support system from wrestling at Arizona State to now training at Arizona Combat Sports.

Despite the odds Amir once again put CB into a bad position causing CB to tap out due to an Arm Bar.

CB attempted to claim he didn’t tap, but it was clear that whether he mentally meant to or not, his right hand clearly tapped on Amir’s leg.

It won’t be the last time we see CB, but tonight Amir is the Ultimate Fighter CHAMP for Season 7.

Evan Tanner vs Kendal Grove

This fight was “the-looser-leaves-town-fight” as Kendal summed it. Evan Tanner is the former UFC Middleweight Champion and Kendal was a rising star until he met Patrick Cote and Jorge Rivera. Both needed to prove they deserve to still be at the top of the mixed martial arts world.

Evan is a personal hero of mine. He is a writer, poet, philosopher, and fighter. He maintains an amazingly honest blog

Round 1 started with a battle of clinches and good elbows and knees from Kendal. Kendal threw an amazing knee right to Evan’s head which would have knocked out most people. Through most of round one, Kendal seemingly dominated no matter where Evan took the fight.

Round 2 Tanner came out firing, but Kendal was able to throw good jabs and leg kicks to keep Tanner at bay. With 2 minutes left, Kendal threw some amazing elbows and again against any other opponent with less experience would have finished him with his flurry, but Evan continued to fight on. With 10 seconds left Kendal threw a big head kick, and ended the round with a kick to the body.

Round 3 Kendal continued to look refocused and refined. Tanner a true warrior continued on, continued attacking and attempting to close the difference. Tanner finished the round attempting to knock out Kendal only to find that Kendal was able to throw a 3rd flying knee. Kendal was able to win a split decision and certainly place fear in other middleweights (not sure what the one judge was watching). Training with BJ Penn seems to have provided way more dividend that the CHUMP Tito Ortiz.

The UFC once again succeeded. Another CHAMP of the season and a finale of Brawlers, Sprawlers, Champs, and Chumps. Thank You Dana, can’t wait until September for TUF 8, but we will talk more about that later.

Congratz to all the fighters, it was a fun night!