Nelson vs. Schaub Set for ‘TUF’ Finale/Kimbo vs. Alexander Also Official

December 03, 2009 | Tim | Comments 1

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The final of this season of The Ultimate Fighter is finally set. Roy Nelson won his semifinal fight against James McSweeney while Brendan Schaub impressively finished Marcus Jones to earn the spot in the final. The Ultimate Finale takes place this Saturday night in Las Vegas, starting at 8 pm Central on Spike TV.

The huge edge in experience goes to Nelson, who has a 13-4 overall record. He’s also fought the likes of Andrei Arlovski, Ben Rothwell, and Jeff Monson during his career. Schaub will only be in his fifth professional fight, and his most impressive win to date was probably the win against Jones in the semifinals.

Also finally made official after the airing of the latest episode, is a catchweight contest between Kimbo Slice and Houston Alexander. The fight will be contested at 215 pounds. Slice lost in the first round of the show to Nelson. The UFC and Spike teased his possible return for the rest of the season, but when given the opportunity to come back for the quarterfinals as an injury replacement, Slice turned down the fight, saying he would only have been at “40%” due to lingering knee issues. The fight with Alexander has been rumored for weeks, but has now been officially announced.

Alexander made a huge splash into the UFC by getting a first round TKO victory over Keith Jardine at UFC 71. He followed that up with another first round TKO over Alessio Sakara at UFC 75. However, Alexander’s weak ground game was evident in a loss to Thiago Silva at UFC 78. He followed that up with an 8 second loss to James Irvin at UFC Fight Night 13, and then another submission loss to Eric Schafer at UFC Fight Night 15. The UFC allowed him to take a fight outside of the organization against Sherman Pendergarst at Adrenaline 4. Alexander finished the overmatched Pendergarst in the first two minutes of the fight. He’ll probably need a win over Slice to keep his spot in the UFC.

Since taping of The Ultimate Fighter finished up, Slice has been training at American Top Team in Florida. ATT is considered one of the top camps in MMA, with a roster of fighters that includes Thiago Alves, Jeff Monson, Thiago Silva, Mike Thomas Brown, Denis Kang and Wilson Gouveia amongst many others. ATT head trainer Ricardo Liborio has been in charge of sharpening Slice’s skills and teaching him some semblance of a ground game. We’ll find out how much his learned on Saturday.

The main event of The Ultimate Finale is an intriguing clash of light heavyweights Mat Hamill and Jon Jones. Jones is one of the top prospects in the division, and it will be interesting to see how he fares against the wrestling skills and toughness that Hamill always displays.

Other fights that feature members of this season of The Ultimate Fighter include:

Marcus Jones vs. Matt Mitrione

Darrill Schoonover vs. James McSweeney

Justin Wren vs. Jon Madsen

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