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TUF 10 Finale Draws Meager Crowd, Pays Out Similarly Meager Bonuses


(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.


Noticeably absent from that list of bonuses are Kimbo Slice and Houston Alexander, who both spent about fifty percent of their much-hyped fight waiting for the other guy to do something.  Slice eventually won the decision, and even managed to look like he knew a thing or two about the ground game (mostly by virtue of Alexander knowing nothing about it), but the way both men nearly collapsed as soon as the final horn sounded should be a clue that neither of them is an elite athlete in peak physical condition.

As for the UFC, they drew a reported 1,400 spectators for a $504,350 live gate at the Pearl at the Palms last night.  By comparison, the TUF 9 Finale at the same exact venue this past summer drew 2,217 fans (1,801 actually paid for their ticket) for a live gate of $498,650.  

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ArmFarmer- December 7, 2009 at 12:40 pm

I don’t really think Nelson went easy on kimbo, and I think Houston has just become gun shy with the way things have gone for him recently. He’s had a few embarassing losses and he probably saw it as a make or break me fight and was just afraid of getting ktfo and humiliated again, hence the keeping distance and leg kicking strategy. I could be wrong but that’s how I see it.

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richorama- December 7, 2009 at 12:32 pm

@ArmFarmer

i realize the lay off between the show ending and finale is long. what i guess i was trying to illustrate was the difference in behaviour displayed by both Nelson and Alexander from their previous fights vis a vis their fight with Kimbo. clearly, both have competed against arguably superior competition and both seemed (to me) to give Kimbo an easier time. anyways, i get what you’re saying. also i really wanted to use “vis a vis” in a comment.

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ArmFarmer- December 7, 2009 at 8:38 am

@richorama

“understand that Nelsons rationale is that he wanted to avoid injury so early in the competition, but he could have conceivably ended the semi-final fight with the same “pitty pat” punches. this would have allowed him to avoid injury before the final.”

That’s apples to oranges. Roy could have been fighting within a week of beating Kimbo so it’s smart to not go all out in that one. The same is not true for the McSweeney fight. That was a semifinal fight.. meaning the last fight of the reality show. After that fight they all go home and wait around for months and months while the show is finished, aired, and it’s time for the finale. Roy probably had close to a year to recover from the McSweeney fight as opposed to the possibility of fighting one week after the kimbo fight.

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TheKCB- December 7, 2009 at 7:32 am

I’m not sure where all this Nelson-hate is coming from. He said it was a marketing decision for him to go on the show and have people watch him and he knows he has the skills to be competitive (understatement considering his experience level) on TUF. Do most people forget that he was the favorite to win before the season started? Like heavily favored I thought.

Maybe he can go with Brock maybe he can’t, so what if he has confidence, most fighters do. He has fought top fighters before and that educates a fighter’s evaluation on where he stands in the division. I think he’s earned it and this was a perfect opportunity for him.

Oh and nelson vs. brandon vera? Please. Vera has lost all signs of being an exciting and aggressive fighter. And is at light heavyweight.

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agentsmith- December 7, 2009 at 5:57 am

TUF 9 finale’s gate of $498,650 for 1801 paid spectators equals an average ticket price of about $277.

TUF 10 finale’s gate of $504,350 for 1400 spectators equals an average ticket price of about $360, and that’s presuming they all paid which most likely isn’t true, so the actual average is even higher.

Nearly $400 per ticket for the finale of the worst season of TUF ever… no wonder the place looked half empty. I wouldn’t pay even half that for that show.

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Peter Griffin- December 7, 2009 at 2:02 am

Who wants to see Brandon Vera and Big Country fight? Should make Roy humble fast.

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meanfinger- December 6, 2009 at 9:38 pm

no i understand what your sayin mt598. i kinda was wonder wtf was goin on with alexander when kimbo pretty much waved at him for half a second after takin that big leg kick.. im just sayin if it was the puppet master behind the scenes and wanted to stage a huge fight ,i woulda expected someone to fake being k.o’d and put on a show.. but wut the fuck do i know

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Daddy_jeffy- December 6, 2009 at 9:29 pm

Roy Nelson said he can hang with Brock Lesnar. I am not a Brock fan, but he would put Big Country in a small package, and fast.

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mt59801- December 6, 2009 at 8:26 pm

@ meanfinger
All we’re saying is go back and watch the alexander vs jardine fight. If he wasn’t afraid of jardine why would he be scared of a guy who got his ass handed to him by seth petrucelli.

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meanfinger- December 6, 2009 at 8:13 pm

u dummies… alexander isnt the same fighter as when he was killin muh fuckas.. he had to go outside the ufc and fight some dude with a losing record as a tune up. the only thing im not feelin about the kimbo challenge is the catchweight deal… but when u can sell tickets and get people to watch the show who gives a fuck.. i know i watch this for entertainment and i also love the technical aspect. but i know alot of people are haters and cant get over the fact someone is actually makin money doin sumthin they love to do.

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richorama- December 6, 2009 at 8:08 pm

@mando 7997

taking a look at alexander’s resume it’s easy to see that he’s aggressively fought legit contenders which makes his behavior during the Slice fight suspicious. lending a little more to this argument is if you compare Kimbo vs. Nelson to Nelson’s semi-final fight on TUF. if i remember correctly, Nelson eventually ended up in side control and pounded out victories in each fight. taking a look at how much damage was inflicted in both fights however shows that Nelson did not attack Kimbo with nearly the same level of aggression as in his semi-final fight. i understand that Nelsons rationale is that he wanted to avoid injury so early in the competition, but he could have conceivably ended the semi-final fight with the same “pitty pat” punches. this would have allowed him to avoid injury before the final.

i guess what im trying to say is, muthafuckas be triflin’.

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meanfinger- December 6, 2009 at 8:07 pm

and i love the way “fat boy” roy rung schaub’s bell.. that was worth a double whopper.. i like the way he tried to pull a reverse lesnar and brown nose burger king

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meanfinger- December 6, 2009 at 8:04 pm

kimbo haters r strong in here. if they wanted to throw the fight,dont u think they woulda made him take a big one on the chin to build up their guy??

p.s and besides that… alexander is a warrior, and would never let someone dip them on their head the way kimbo did.

p.s.s. ufc fan is an idiot..

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mt59801- December 6, 2009 at 8:00 pm

Yep, throw of the night award goes to Houston Alexander. There have been so many questionable calls and fights that I have to wonder if Dana is the new Don King, or Bob Arum. Maybe these should all be 5 rounders now so fewer fights go to the cards.

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J Akuma- December 6, 2009 at 7:58 pm

@ UFC Fan

It is special… a special kind of stupid.

You have long outlived your usefulness, back under your bridge.

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UFC fan- December 6, 2009 at 5:43 pm

“SnallTrippin Says:
Sun, 12/06/2009 – 17:22

Had to finally join the damn site to comment on UFC Fan: Idiot.”

So you joined just cause of me huh? wow that is special, just another reason why the Ben’s should make me the moderator of this site, I bring in the people.
Ok you have outlived your usefulness , back to your trailer.

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SnallTrippin- December 6, 2009 at 5:22 pm

Had to finally join the damn site to comment on UFC Fan: Idiot.

EDIT- And some of you: It’s completely normal for ANY fighter to think they’re awesome, it’s just the mentality that has to go along with it. Some are just more…outspoken.

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Zyz Zyx- December 6, 2009 at 3:33 pm

Nelson winning this season of TUF is like a normal guy winning the Special Olympics: is it really something to be proud of?

Just think, if Nelson or Kimbo had gone to Strikeforce earlier this year, they both could have gotten beat up by Fedor by now and this season of TUF would have had NOTHING at all going for it. NOTHING. They would have cancelled the season and probably sold the UFC to Strikeforce.

I also find it ironic that Dana White is on the Kimbo train now that the rest of the world can see that Kimbo isn’t UFC material.

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syntheticop- December 6, 2009 at 2:53 pm

Roy Nelson, The man has some skills, but he thinks he is the best fighter in the UFC or MMA for that matter. I just cannot even watch or listen to him. Dana White was right the whole time. Roy is the only one out there impressed with him !!

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Endocat- December 6, 2009 at 2:48 pm

@ghostboner

I actually think mazzagati didn’t stop it sooner because he was afraid of being blasted for an early stoppage.

Every fight with a tko someone calls it an early stoppage, this time it was justified seeing as how matt had a dislocated shoulder, not to mention he was in a position he was making no attempt to get out of.

Fights have been stopped for way less

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Endocat- December 6, 2009 at 2:45 pm

Well he must have landed something because Matt hamills nose was already busted BEFORE that elbow hit him on the bridge of his nose.

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ghostboner- December 6, 2009 at 2:39 pm

Come on you all know perfectly well that if Mazz had stopped the fight anytime before he did he would be getting blasted even worse for “early stoppage”, using the argument that Hammill was still intelligently defending himself. Which would be true. Mazz made the right call for once. It might be the first and last time, but right is still right. That said, Jon Jones you bastard you owe me 10 US cash dollars!

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Catalyst8487- December 6, 2009 at 1:49 pm

I don’t have the fight available to rewatch it but when I was watching it last night, it looked like Hamill was defending most of those shots. Bones was going crazy on his forearms and his biceps. Hamill was moving the entire time as well. For once I think Mazzagatti did the right thing by letting the fight continue. It’s a shame that Bones couldn’t just keep doing what he was doing.

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Dmonicideals- December 6, 2009 at 12:47 pm

My only problem with the Jones stoppage is: How many times have you seen fighters use those elbows from their back and never get called for it? Go watch Lutter/Silva….. There are KenFlo and Lauzon fights where they use those elbows from their back, why all of a sudden when you are on top is it an offense? That fight should have been stopped about 90 seconds before then anyways, but that is besides the point. Yes, Mazzagatti made a fair call here, but it was a terribly inconsistent call. That fight should was over long before those elbows.

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mando7997- December 6, 2009 at 12:22 pm

I’m trying to figure out why no one is talking about the FACT that houston alexander threw that fight. That was so obvious. Watch any of his previous fights. He has never been a fighter to shy away from a fight and it’s pathetic that the UFC is so desperate for a big name that they have fighters throwing fights so they can bring Kimbo back for another fight. I like kimbo as a person but as a MMA fighter he is a joke and doesn’t belong in the UFC. I’m very disappointed with what I saw last night. If I wanted to watch that I would have tuned in to the WWE.

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