The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 Finale – Clay Guida Vs. Diego Sanchez Play By Play

The Ultimate Fighter wasn’t the best season, but the US vs. UK did give it a bit of more intrigue. There were only a few fighters who really looked like they were going to be above average, so it was a bit predictable, but it was still a fun, albeit less than dramatic season.

James Wilks is facing Damarques Johnson and Ross Pearson is fighting Andre Winner.

But there are also two fights that should be really fun on this card as well. Joe Stevenson faces Nate Diaz while Clay Guida takes on Diego Sanchez in the main event.

1. Joe Stevenson vs. Nate Diaz

Both of these guys are former TUF winners.

Diaz no sold Stevenson’s attempt to touch gloves before the fight.

This was an absolutely awesome round if you enjoy grappling. Stevenson shot in and Diaz locked him a guillotine, which looked like what you’d expect the reverse of a rear naked choke to look like. Then Stevenson crucifixed Diaz’s upper body with his arm and legs and trapped him for a bit. Diaz got out of it and reversed the position, but fell right into Stevenson’s guillotine which was locked in tightly. It looked like Diaz was going out. But Diaz flipped over and got out of it. It was Stevenson’s round easily.

These guys have a counter to everything each does. But because they are such different fighters, all their counters are different as well. Diaz again tried for the guillotine, but Stevenson worked out of it and got on top. He put Nate up against the cage and was kneeing him in the thigh. Stevenson was on top of him and in control for nearly the entire round.

Diaz again didn’t want the hand tap to start the third. It was Nate’s best round as he had Stevenson on the run a bit late in the round. Stevenson stayed on his path, controlling Diaz for much of the round. They talked trash to each other while up against the cage. Diaz was telling Joe to work, while Joe was telling Nate to get off his knee. The reason Nate was on his knee was because Joe had him up against the cage and if he’s on his knee, Joe couldn’t knee to the head. This should be Joe’s decision.

Winner: Joe Stevenson by unanimous decision

2. Andre Winner vs. Ross Pearson

Let’s hope Ross’ shoulder doesn’t pop out during the fight. This is for the lightweight portion of the TUF 9 championship.

These guys were teammates on Team UK so it’s no surprise that the first round was pretty much a stalemate. Winner might’ve controlled Pearson a bit more, but it’s close. Winner did knee him in the bollocks (as Mike Bisping would say) one time. Winner closed out the round with a few punches and with a gun to my head, I guess he slightly won the round.

Mike Goldberg continues to say not to wait until the last minute to order UFC 100. Do people order PPV days in advance? Why wouldn’t you order it once the show starts?

Pearson was landing a few shots with his hands, and then Winner taunted him by dropping his hands (why?), and then was hit some more. Pearson was looking for the takedown, while Winner was looking for the clinch. Though Winner tried to flurry again at the end of the round, Pearson landed the better shots.

Well, Winner controlled him for most of the round. It was a good fight in the sense that they were matched up well, but there wasn’t any real domination by either guy which made it a hard fight to score.

Winner: Ross Pearson by way of unanimous decision

I would’ve expected Winner to have been declared the winner, but it was a close fight.

3. Kevin Burns vs. Chris Lytle

Lytle was looking for the wild over the top right hand. Burns was doing a great job getting out of the way and then following up with a body kick. Lytle was kicked in the bollocks and it looked like it took some steam out of him. Burns hit him with an uppercut that put him down and took over from there. It was all Burns at the end of the round. Lytle looked out on his feet and exhausted.

Lytle opened up with some big right hands and had Burns reeling. He was putting Burns on his bike. Burns was doing a good job at trying to counter, but Lytle’s shots seemed to do some damage. Burns kicked him in the bollocks twice more.

Because both guys were pretty tired, this ended up being a great round. Lytle opened up a huge cut around Burns’ left eye after catching his leg and landing a huge right. Burns had a few good shots of his own, but he looked tired and couldn’t get away from Lytle. It was a great round for Lytle to end the fight.

Winner: Chris Lytle by way of unanimous decision

I wonder if we’re getting all decisions tonight.

4. James Wilks vs. Damarques Johnson

James Wilks absolutely owned Damarques here. He had a triangle locked in, nearly had an umaplata, and then sunk in a rear naked choke for the victory. Johnson tapped with less than ten seconds left in the first round. Wilks was never in trouble.

Winner: James Wilks by way of 1st round submission

5. Clay Guida vs. Diego Sanchez

Diego’s camp must’ve noticed something about Guida’s stand-up defense because he opened up with uppercut after uppercut and rocked Guida for over a minute straight. Guida can take a shot. Guida finally got a takedown about a minute and some change in. Holy crap, I’ll repeat it again. Guida can take a shot. Sanchez knocked his head off nearly with a head kick, but Guida came back for more. Has to be a 10-8 round for Sanchez.

Wow, Guida has guts. After taking a huge beating, he controlled Sanchez for most of the round with his wrestling. And Sanchez was the one who looked most winded. Sanchez was scoring with elbows from the bottom. Guida bled all over him. It’ll be interesting to see if anyone gives Sanchez that round. He did the most damage, but how do you score elbows from the bottom versus complete octagon control?

For the first three minutes, Diego was able to keep the fight on the feet. He was slightly winning the round, but Guida was also scoring. Guida went for a shoot and slipped. Diego got his back and had an arm triangle in, but Guida got out of it. I think Guida is very slippery because of the sweat and blood. Guida ended up on top, but Sanchez was working for a kimura. The scoring is going to be very interesting. I had Diego winning rounds one and three, and winning the fight 29-27 because of the 10-8 first round.

This was probably the best fight I’ve seen all year long.

Winner: Diego Sanchez by way of split decision

The scores were 29-28 for Guida, 29-27 for Sanchez, and 29-28 for Sanchez.

Sanchez looked awesome and also very strong at 155. He definitely should be in the running for the next shot at 155. If Sanchez gets the winner of BJ Penn vs. Kenny Florian, maybe Guida should get the loser. He fought an awesome fight.

This was such a great night. There were at least three fights that are must watch.

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