The Ultimate Fighter Live Finale took place in Las Vegas, Nevada, and featured a solid night of mixed martial arts. In the main event it was Jake Ellenberger who came out swinging for the fences, and dropped Martin Kampmann early in the round. However, it was Kampmann who came out swinging in the second round, and when Kampmann started throwing knees Ellenberger crumpled to the floor and was finished with strikes. Kampmann is now set to face Johnny Hendricks for what will most likely be a number 1 contender fight.

In the co-main event it was Mike Chiesa who was able to scramble to the back of Al Laquinta early in the first round, and sink in the rear naked choke to become The Ultimate Fighter Live season winner. Not only does he win the six figure UFC contract, but he also wins a Tapout endorsement deal and a Harley Davidson.  Chiesa overcame the death of his father, early in the season while he was in the house, and was able to win the show. Urijah Faber’s team won the entire season so Harley Davidson gave him a Harley as well.

Fight of the night Bonuses: $40,000.00
Knock out of the night: Martin Kampmann AND Justin Lawrence
Submission of the night: Mike Chiessa
Fight of the night: Just Lawrence Vs John Cofer

The Ultimate Fighter Finale Live Results

Main card (FX)

Welterweight bout:
Jake Ellenberger 171 lbs vs. Martin Kampmann 170 lbs
Martin Kampmann defeats Jake Ellenberger by technical knockout (knee) at 1:40 of round 2

TUF: Live Lightweight Tournament final bout:
Mike Chiesa 156 lbs vs Al Iaquinta 155 lbs
Mike Chiesa defeats  Al Iaquinta by technical submission (rear naked choke) at 2:37 of round 1

Featherweight bout:
Jonathan Brookins  146 lbs vs Charles Oliveira 144 lbs
Charles Oliveira defeats Jonathon Brookins by submission (guillotine) at 2:42 of round 2

Featherweight bout:
Max Holloway 145 lbs vs Pat Schilling 145 lbs
Max Holloway defeats Pat Schilling by unanimous decision (30-27×3)

Lightweight bout:
Justin Lawrence 155 lbs Vs John Cofer 155 lbs 19
Justin Lawrence  defeats John Cofer by knock out (head kick) at :19 of round 3

Preliminary card (Fuel TV)

Lightweight bout:
Daron Cruickshank 155 lbs vs Chris Tickle 154 lbs
Daron Cruickshank  defeats  Chris Tickle by unanimous decision (29-27 x3)

Lightweight bout:
Myles Jury 155 lbs vs Chris Saunders 156 lbs 4:03
Myles Jury defeats  Chris Saunders by submission (guillotine) at 4:03 of round 1

Lightweight bout:
Cristiano Marcello 156 lbs vs. Sam Sicilia 155 lbs
Sam Sicilia defeats Cristiano Marcello by technical knock out at 2:53 of round 2

Lightweight bout:
Jeremy Larsen 155 lbs vs Joe Proctor 156 lbs
Joe Proctor defeats Jeremy Larson by technical knock out at 1:59 of round 1

Preliminary card (Facebook)

Bantamweight bout:
John Albert 136 lbs Vs Erik Perez 134 lbs
Erik Perez defeats John Albert via submission (armbar) at 4:18 of round 1

The Ultimate Fighter Live season comes to an end on Friday, and today the fighters hit the scales. The event features 6 fights between cast members including the tournament final between Mike Chiesa and Al Iaquinta who are competing for the grand prize of a UFC contract. All fighters made weight and all fights will place as scheduled. The event will be headlined by a welterweight fight between Jake Ellenberger and Martin Kampann, and the event will be broadcast on the FX channel. Dana White also announced that Kenny Florian was retiring after the weigh ins.

The Ultimate Fighter Live Weigh In Results

Main card (FX)

Welterweight bout:
Jake Ellenberger 171 lbs
Martin Kampmann 170 lbs

TUF: Live Lightweight Tournament final bout:
Mike Chiesa 156 lbs
Al Iaquinta 155 lbs

Featherweight bout:
Jonathan Brookins  146 lbs
Charles Oliveira 144 lbs

Featherweight bout:
Max Holloway 145 lbs
Pat Schilling 145 lbs

Lightweight bout:
Justin Lawrence 155 lbs
John Cofer 155 lbs

Preliminary card (Fuel TV)

Lightweight bout:
Daron Cruickshank 155 lbs
Chris Tickle 154 lbs

Lightweight bout:
Myles Jury 155 lbs
Chris Saunders 156 lbs

Lightweight bout:
Cristiano Marcello 156 lbs
Sam Sicilia 155 lbs

Lightweight bout:
Jeremy Larsen 155 lbs
Joe Proctor 156 lbs

Preliminary card (Facebook)

Bantamweight bout:
John Albert 136 lbs
Erik Perez 134 lbs

While we are approaching the end of March and it seems like it has been forever since an actual UFC event other than The Ultimate Fighter, it is time to recap what has transpired in the first quarter of 2012 with regards to the UFC.

From January 1st through March 31 the UFC held seven events. The first of which took place on January 14th and the span ended on March 3rd. That was seven events in seven weeks. No wonder the UFC decided to take some time off as the next event scheduled isn’t until April 14th.

Looking back at the events, there were several memorable moments. From fights to knockouts to submissions, the first quarter did not disappoint in the least. Let’s take a look at some of the best of the best through out this quarter.

Submissions
During the quarter there were a total of seventeen submissions. Some were obviously more memorable than others. But there was something special about our top five submissions. It could be because a fighter stuck to his bread and butter, it could have been a submission that hasn’t been seen before, or it could have been just from the sheer fact that the fighter got the submission. In all cases, just mentioning the fight and the submission it is likely to bring images of people tapping to the forefront of your brain.

5. Jim Miller defeated Melvin Guillard by rear naked choke at UFC on FX: Guillard vs Miller
4. Dustin Poirier defeated Max Holloway by mounted triangle armbar at UFC 143
3. Martin Kampmann defeated Thiago Alves by guillotine choke at UFC on FX: Alves vs Kampmann
2. Rousimar Palhares defeated Mike Massenzio by heel hook at UFC 142
1. Charles Oliveira defeated Eric Wisely by calf slicer at UFC on Fox: Evans vs Davis

Knockouts
Nothing gets the crowd going more than a crazy knockout. Sometimes a ref is merciful and is able to stop the barrage of attacks and other times, a single shot sends a foe to the canvas stiff as a board. No matter how the knockout happened, fans will always place the fighter that delivered the finishing strike on a new pedestal wanting him to take on a step up in competition.

5a. Stephen Thompson defeated Dan Stittgen by head kick at UFC 143
5b. Anthony Pettis defeated Joe Lauzon by head kick at UFC 144
4. Tim Boetsch defeated Yushin Okami by TKO at UFC 144
3. Lavar Johnson defeated Joey Beltran by uppercuts at UFC on Fox: Evans vs Davis
2. Jose Aldo defeated Chad Mendes by knee at UFC 142
1. Edson Barboza defeated Terry Etim by spinning heel kick at UFC 142

Fights
While there were several memorable fights across all the cards, there is just something extra about the fights that received fight of the night honors from the UFC. Some fights were quick, others were one sided beatings, and others were great back and forth battles. With that said, here’s the top 5 fights from the first quarter.

5. Evan Dunham vs Nik Lentz at UFC on Fox: Evans vs Davis
4. Diego Sanchez vs Jake Ellenberger at UFC on Fuel TV: Sanchez vs Ellenberger
3. Roy Nelson vs Fabricio Werdum at UFC 143
2. Demetrious Johnson vs Ian McCall at UFC on FX: Alves vs Kampmann
1. Frankie Edgar vs Ben Henderson at UFC 144

Overall Card
Pay per views always tend to have a higher ranking as far as star power is concerned, and justifiably so; they require someone to purchase the event instead of watch it for free. But sometimes the free cards can out perform their pay per view counter parts on the fact that the fighters want to be on the main card of a pay per view instead of televised card. It was a difficult decision to rank the cards, but here’s the top 5.

5. UFC on Fuel TV: Sanchez vs Ellenberger
4. UFC on FX: Guillard vs Miller
3. UFC on FX: Alves vs Kampmann
2. UFC 142: Aldo vs Mendes
1. UFC 144: Edgar vs Henderson

UFC 143 took place on Saturday February 4th at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit battled it out for the interim welterweight title in the night’s main event.

Dan Stittgen vs Stephen Thompson - via Iron Forges Iron

While several fights went to the distance, there were some great knockouts and submissions on the card. The very first fight of the evening saw Stephen Thompson land and well timed head kick after a one-two combo that sent Dan Stittgen to the canvas unconscious. Thompson a highly touted striker entered his UFC debut with an impressive 60+ fight win streak including his Muay Thai fights.

Matt Brown has always been a fighter that brings a fight, but has struggled to put together solid wins lately. Chris Cope tried to hand Brown his second loss in two fights, but came up short when Brown caught Cope with a hook that sent Cope to the canvas and Cope was the fighter with the back-to-back losses on his record.

While Brown’s knockout was good, Thompson’s was just a bit better as it came at the end of a combo and earned Thompson the Knockout of the Night.

Dustin Poirier vs Max Holloway - via Iron Forges Iron

Like knockouts, there were two submissions during the night’s fights. Max Holloway made his UFC debut against Dustin Poirier, and Poirier welcomed him by attacking his limbs and neck. Poirier looked to have finished the fight with an armbar, but Holloway didn’t tap, so Poirier transitioned it to a triangle choke with the armbar. When that failed to win him the fight, he moved to have a mounted triangle choke and again attacked the arm. The third time was the charm and Holloway was sent home with his first loss of his career.

Kicking off the pay-per-view were middleweights Ed Herman and Clifford Starks. In the second round Herman scored a beautiful trip takedown and quickly passed to mount. From there it was just a matter of time as Starks gave up his back and Herman relentlessly worked to get a rear naked choke until he found it and a tap.

Poirier earned the night’s submission of the night bonuses with his mounted triangle armbar submission.

Nick Diaz versus Carlos Condit - via Iron Forges Iron

The rest of the fights all went to the judges’ scorecards. The main event was an exciting battle that had Nick Diaz running down Carlos Condit, only to be out-struck by Condit. The fight was difficult to score as many question do you score damage or aggression and how do you decide on damage. Condit ultimately won the unanimous decision, a decision Diaz was not too happy about. He said it was bullshit that he ran down a guy for twentyfive minutes and that the other guy won so he was done with the sport.

Roy Nelson vs Fabricio Werdum - via Iron Forges Iron

But the fight of the night featured a very improved striking game from Fabricio Werdum who landed several Muay Thai knees to the face and body of Roy Nelson. Nelson is one of the most durable fighters as he continued to come forward no matter what Werdum threw at him. Nelson at times came close to hurting Werdum, but could never capitalize on it. Regardless, the fight was one that will be talked about for weeks to come.