Sherdog.com’s Guide to the “Ultimate Fighter”

It's been 12 weeks and we are only days away from finding out which fighters will be taking home fat contracts with the UFC. Last week Diego Sanchez secured his spot in the middleweight final by beating Josh Koscheck in a three-round decision. This week on the recap we saw just how brutal this sport can be.

Koscheck isn't in the back crying about his loss, he's sucking on an oxygen tank and looks to be in pretty bad shape. Against his wishes he's sent to the hospital to get checked out and luckily he's just fine, but the purple bruises and scrapes on his face are proof of how tough these guys are.

The difference between mixed martial arts fighters and your average tough guy are threefold: In order to fight at a professional level, fighters must have the skills, the proper training and more balls than a driving range.

Most people in this world can't give a five-minute speech in public without passing out, much less put themselves in physical danger in front of a crowd. While Josh laid it all on the line and fought well for a rookie, he did end up looking like he got beat with a shovel.

Another fighter who has seen some damage is Forrest Griffin. He's been waiting to see if he'll be able to fight this week and after a visit from the fight doctor, his cut is OK’d. Unfortunately for Bobby Southworth this means he won't be able to fight, but he sticks around to corner Forrest's match against Sam Hoger.

Since this is the last episode before the final fight card on Saturday, there isn't much to talk about anything except for the fights themselves. So let's just get to it.

The first round between Griffin and Hoger was more like a light sparring session. Both of the fighters were somewhat tentative and who can blame them, too much is riding on this fight. Forrest brought the fight to Hoger but Sam was able to sneak in some good-looking kicks. Sam was able to get off a couple of feet to the lips and one good left kick to the ear. Forrest got off a few kicks right above Sam's right knee. Now I've heard people argue before, why waste energy on those leg kicks when you've only got two to three rounds to beat your man?

Here's why dunce: those kicks score points and if you kick a guy on his lead foot, he's not eager to lead with it again. If a guy doesn't want to stick his lead foot out there, then he ain't punching right and if he ain't punching right then he ain't fighting right and if he ain't fighting right then he's not living right and next thing you know you're living in a van down by the river … so it pays to kick those legs people.

In the second round they start off a little more active. Both guys are throwing punches and then dancing out of the way. Forrest decides to listen to his corner and grabs Sam in a Muay Thai clinch, pulling his head down and gets off three good knees.

The first knee was for Sam's forehead, the second was for his face and the third was more in the chin area and practically went through him. Sam's legs give out and he hits the ground against the fence. Forrest smells blood and fresh ink from a UFC contract and goes for the kill. With Sam lying on his side balled up and covering his face, Forrest drops down on one knee and throws punches on Sam's noggin until “Big” John steps in and ends the fight. Just a minute or so into the second round and Forrest has picked up reservations for Saturday's big dance.

Now we just need to find out who his date is going to be.

Mike Swick and Stephan Bonnar have been training partners since the beginning of the show and have grown to be good friends as well. Unfortunately, they will have to put this aside and face each other in the Octagon.

At the weigh-in we see that Bonnar has quite a size advantage. Mike Swick weighs in at 192 pounds to Bonnar's 204. A 12-pound difference could be devastating. It's unclear why Mike Swick is fighting at light heavyweight when he could certainly fight at 185. Perhaps the middleweight slots were full when he was invited on the show or maybe he hates to diet, but either way he is at a major disadvantage fighting a heavier man.

In the first round, both fighters come out and immediately clinch. Stephan gets Swick down with nice single-leg but gets caught in a vicious guillotine. Mike has the choke on solid and you can even hear Bonnar gasping for life, but Mike's legs aren't over Bonnar's hips. Mike is on his back with Stephan on top but to the side of him, which allows him just enough maneuverability to muscle his way out. Mike gets on top of Bonnar but Bonnar does a great job of tying Swick up and not allowing him anything. Swick moves Bonnar over towards the fence but that Bonnar is wily. Once against the fence Stephan pulls a Chuck Liddell and turns to one side to move out of Mike's control and is able to stand straight up and get out of trouble.

Once out Bonnar gets Swick's arm in a kimura and Swick rolls out of it but puts himself on his back and Bonnar is now in the mount. After eating two elbows, Swick knows he is in a bad spot and he does the perfect thing by picking the right moment and exploding. He bucks Bonnar off, rolls on top and is now in Bonnar's guard.

Once again Bonnar is pushed over to the fence, but this time while trying to work his way out he is able to slip his legs up over Swick's shoulders. He's now in position for a triangle but he isn't able to pull Mike's head down to secure the choke. Mike works to get out and throws a few punches to Stephan's exposed face. Only 10 seconds are left and Swick's corner yells for him to hold on. But with about four seconds left Bonnar catches Mike's arm and bridges.

Mike's arm isn't going anywhere but the wrong direction and he's forced to tap with two seconds left in the round. Ironically, if Mike Swick had been able to hold on to Stephan's neck for two more seconds at the beginning of the fight, “Big” John would have been waking him up from a mat nap.

So now it's been months since these episodes were recorded and the guys have been out of the UFC house and back home training for the fight of their careers. All the dust has settled and we have some interesting match ups for Saturday. Besides the guys fighting for contracts, we also have Ken Shamrock vs. Rich Franklin as the main event. Former TUF contestants will be battling it out (un-televised) for the paying crowd.

Now with the finals settled, and everyone out of Vegas we finish this episode by seeing Dana White close up the UFC training center that was used for the show. I'm sure within minutes it had become a Starbucks, but TUF fans will always remember it fondly.

Personally I'll miss the training center, the UFC house, the booze, and the police officers that stood by during the fights on the show. They weren't there to break up turmoil between fighters; I think they were there to protect the ring girls who were in a cage with men that have been female-less for three months.

Well there you have it. It's been quite a show and hopefully this weekend we will witness one of the best reality shows ending in fantastic fashion. I'll talk to you next week with the final results.