(Photo courtesy of Sherdog.com)

Jon Jones isn’t mad.  He says this several times, and it seems very important to him that people understand it.  If it was left entirely to him, he says, he probably wouldn’t be appealing his disqualification loss.  That part was mostly his management’s doing.  At the same time, he doesn’t think he got a fair shake from referee Steve Mazzagatti at the TUF 10 Finale.  It’s not that Jones disputes Mazzagatti’s ruling that his downward elbow strikes were illegal — he admits that they were.  But he doesn’t think it was what really caused the fight to be stopped, nor does he believe that Mazzagatti did what he should have done in the wake of the foul.  As he told me for this SI.com article:

“A big part of it is that Mazzagatti just didn’t handle things right,” explained Jones. “You know, he’s standing over Matt Hamill, who can’t see at the time because he has blood in his eyes, and obviously he can’t hear, and Mazzagatti is standing there asking him if he’s okay. Then he stops the fight.”

If you go back and watch the video of the fight, what you see is Mazzagatti standing over Hamill and asking him twice, "Are you done?"  Hamill doesn’t answer — maybe because he doesn’t even realize Mazzagatti is asking him a question — and that’s when the fight is waved off. 

(Tell him, Dana…)

After he was slapped with a disqualification loss following the 12-6 elbow incident at the The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale, Jon Jones told reporters that he was at peace with the fight’s result: "I try to look at everything in life for the best, and now I’m not worried about being undefeated anymore. I can go out there and be more relaxed…I’m going to bounce back stronger."

But after a couple days to reflect and re-watch the fight, Jones and his management team are somewhat less at peace with the DQ ruling, and they now plan to appeal the decision. Their argument rests on a subtle but important point: It was Matt Hamill‘s shoulder that prevented him from continuing in the fight, not his illegally-busted nose, but he wasn’t able to communicate that information to referee Steve Mazzagatti because he couldn’t hear or see what was going on, and his sign-language-interpreter wasn’t brought in to help clarify.

(Brendan Schaub does his best impression of Darrill Schoonover’s stomach. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Not to stereotype dudes from New Jersey, but Frankie Edgar is probably pumpin’ his fist like a champ right about now. The UFC lightweight contender came out of the TUF 10 Finale as the card’s highest-paid scrapper, thanks in part to his well-deserved Fight of the Night bonus. Meanwhile, reality struck Kimbo Slice, who’s now earning 1/20th of what he used to make in EliteXC. Of course, he could have gotten paid more behind the scenes, but we only have the official figures in front of us, and you know how we hate to speculate without hard evidence. [*cough*] The full salary list is below…

Roy Nelson: $41,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus, $25,000 Knockout of the Night bonus)
Brendan Schaub: $8,000

Matt Hamill: $46,000 (includes $23,000 win bonus)
Jon Jones: $20,000

Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson: $25,000 (no win bonus)
Houston Alexander: $13,000

Frankie Edgar: $71,000 (includes $23,000 win bonus, $25,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
Matt Veach: $30,000 (includes $25,000 Fight of the Night bonus)

(Props: MMA Fanhouse)

At the post-fight press conference following the TUF 10 Finale, Kimbo Slice was as pleased as you could reasonably expect considering he’d just narrowly scratched out a victory against a guy who all but refused to fight him. Though fans and pundits expected Slice and Houston Alexander to put on a one-round war — a backyard brawl brought to the Octagon — we instead got Minowaman vs. Zuluzinho part 2. "We were prepared for somewhat of his attacks, but I wasn’t prepared for the ring-riding that he did," Kimbo said. Still, he wasn’t going to let Alexander bait him into making a mistake:

(Props: MMA-Core)

Before the illegal downward elbow strikes that brought about his disqualification, Jon Jones first put Matt Hamill in real trouble with this leg trip takedown that turned the tide of the fight and, according to Hamill’s trainer, broke his left shoulder. 

Hamill still fought on after that point and did a surprisingly good job, considering the injury, of defending against the onslaught from Jones that soon followed.  That’s why you can’t really argue that it was the takedown and not the elbows that ended the fight.  What you could argue, however, is that Hamill got a lucky break when the illegal blows gave the ref a chance to take a look at him and conclude that he was in no position to continue fighting.  Odds are things would have only gotten worse for him, and they were already pretty damn bad.

(Roy Nelson gives Ariel Helwani the obligatory belly rub.)

Roy Nelson became the newest/fattest "Ultimate Fighter" winner with his knockout of Brendan Schaub at last night’s TUF 10 Finale.  Dana White must have been at least a little impressed this time, because he awarded "Big Country" the Knockout of the Night bonus, worth a cool $25,000.  Mark Bocek took home the Submission of the Night bonus for the rear naked choke on Joe Brammer that came at the end of an absolute grappling clinic.  Fight of the Night went to Frankie Edgar and Matt Veach for a spirited two round battle that ended with a submission victory for Edgar.

(Props: MMA TKO)

Though Dana White has previously suggested that he’s not even qualified to watch MMA, Steve Mazzagatti once again found himself in the center of an officiating crisis at last night’s "Ultimate Fighter" Finale.  This time, Mazzagatti made the unpopular, though ultimately correct decision to stop the Jon Jones-Matt Hamill bout when he saw these illegal elbow strikes from Jones.  In order to figure out whether the illegal blows were really the cause of the damage that left Hamill unable to continue, Mazzagatti became the first UFC ref to consult the video replay now at his fingertips thanks to a recent NSAC ruling.  NSAC director Keith Kizer later called it an effective use of the replay, sayng, "The only call you can make in that situation is a disqualification."

Of course, if you still wanted to bust Mazzagatti’s chops, you could ask him why he didn’t stop the fight sooner, back when Jones was unloading on Hamill from the mount.  Jones was so thoroughly dominating him that he even had time to glance up at Mazzagatti as if to say, ‘You’re seeing this, right?’  It works for Roy Nelson, but Jones wasn’t so fortunate. 

Looks like "Bones" got a little too creative for his own good this time out.  This one will go down as a loss on his record, but no one will forget the way he was dismantling Hamill prior to venturing outside the rules for a few regrettable seconds.

(Top: Kimbo and Roy demonstrate the difference between "built like a black man" and "built like a polar bear." Directly above: The Amanda Knox verdict affected some fighters more than others.)

Okay, so "Heavyweights" wasn’t the best season of The Ultimate Fighter we’ve seen. Let’s be honest: Project Runway had a more talented group of fighters this year, and there weren’t as many divas. But tonight’s finale card will still give us a very entertaining night of fights, with two worthy TUF finalists, Kimbo Slice’s (possibly) last stand, and the always exciting Jon Jones looking to launch to the next level against Matt Hamill. Round-by-round updates from the TUF 10 Finale are after the jump; refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest. We begin our evening’s entertainment with a grudge match between two ex-football players…

(Looking back now, it’s not hard to see why Roy Nelson ultimately decided not to go with "Big Graceful Swan" as a nickname.)

It’s that time again.  With the "Ultimate Fighter" Finale just a day away, we take a look back at season ten and a look forward into the futures of tomorrow night’s marquee fighters.  Enjoy.

Real talk: Was this the worst TUF season of all time?

BF: I’m tempted to say no. That is, until I start thinking about it and trying to name a season that’s been less enjoyable to watch and I draw a total blank. This was a perfect storm of crap. The fights were mostly one-sided, sloppy, uninteresting affairs. The Kimbo Bomb that resulted in huge ratings off the bat ended up being a dud. The bickering between Rashad Evans and “Rampage” Jackson went from enticing to annoying as soon as we learned that they wouldn’t be fighting any time soon.

(Rodney Wallace’s 8-second KO of Carlos Zevallos at a Revolution Fighting Championships event last December. Fight starts at the 2:27 mark; yeah, it’s kinda B.S., but a win’s a win.)

In addition to the reality show hopefuls and UFC vets that will be competing on Saturday, there will also be two guys who will be stepping into the Octagon for the very first time. They’re both undefeated, and they both have awesome nicknames. These are their stories…

RODNEY "Sho Nuff the Master" WALLACE (LHW)
Experience: 9-0 record (six wins via decision) with notable victories over Toni Valtonen, Antwain Britt and Aaron Stark. Last competed in September, when he won an eight-man VFC tournament in Aruba.
Will be fighting: Brian Stann (7-2, 1-1 UFC)
Lowdown: A member of the Team ROC crew in Harrisburg, North Carolina, the 28-year-old Sho Nuff has only been competing professionally since last April. Wallace was a three-time state champion while wrestling in high school, but transitioned to football at Catawba College, where he was a star running back. After graduating, he started training in jiu-jitsu and boxing, won a few Toughman matches, and compiled a 4-1 pro record in the ring. At 5’9", he’ll be giving up some height to most of the guys in the UFC’s light-heavyweight division, but he doesn’t think that will be a factor against Stann: "I have no doubt in my mind that I’m a better fighter than him. My only battle is going in there and staying poised the whole time."

("Hey. My eyes are up here.")

The Ultimate Fighter‘s Darrill Schoonover isn’t just a promising heavyweight with a minor drinking problem and disturbing tattoos; he’s also a U.S. Army veteran who spent four years serving our country. Schoonover will make his official UFC debut at the TUF 10 finale on December 5th, but his long-term career plans just became a little more uncertain. As he explained on Shambala Sports Radio:

Damn, dude. Can’t Dana pull some strings? It would be just his luck that Darrill wins the contract, then has to take off to hunt Bin Laden’s homeboys — a perfect end to a season where the coaches don’t even fight. Schoonover will be deployed for 400 days, and hopes to lose enough weight so that he can compete at light-heavyweight in the future. But no matter who he faces next month at the TUF 10 finale, he’ll be in good company…

("Bones" and "Osteoporosis" warm up before UFC 100. Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.)

According to reports on MMA Madness and The Garv, UFC light-heavyweights Jon Jones and Matt Hamill have agreed to face each other on the main card of the TUF 10 Finale (December 5th, Las Vegas). One of MMA’s most exciting prospects, Jones (9-0) most recently submitted Jake O’Brien at UFC 100, following decision wins over Andre Gusmao and Stephan Bonnar. Hamill (6-2) could be Bones’s toughest test yet. The TUF 3 vet has won back-to-back fights since his loss to Rich Franklin at UFC 88, scoring a TKO over Reese Andy at UFC 92 and a devastating head kick KO of Mark Munoz at UFC 96. It will be the first of a new four-fight deal for Jon Jones, who’s now splitting his time between Tristar Gym and Greg Jackson’s camp.