The Ultimate Fighter finale has come and gone, and the ending was not what most expected.
After the much-hyped “scariest knockout in TUF history” was revealed to be Uriah Hall decapitating Adam Cella, Hall walking away with a plaque and a not-as-great-as-it-sounds “six-figure UFC contract” seemed like a good bet.
Then when he punched out Bubba McDaniel, it seemed pretty certain. Then, after besting Dylan Andrews with strikes, it seemed like an inevitability.
The thing is, guarantees of any kind are imagined in MMA. Any given fight can end any given way. Title shots are equally up in the air. Day in and day out, nobody knows what’s going to happen with anything in MMA, a curse and a blessing for fans and media alike.
Josh Grispi becoming a top-10 pound-for-pound fighter was something that seemed sure to happen. Brandon Vera was going to join Randy Couture and BJ Penn as the next two-division champions. Edson Barboza? Definitely more than just one kick.
Obviously, these lofty projections failed to come even remotely close to fruition. In that same vein (but not nearly as absurd), Uriah Hall, the next Anderson Silva, is now lumped into the same demographic as Brad Imes, Phillipe Nover and Damarques Johnson.
One would think we, be it fans or media, would have learned at this point. Hell, even at its most basic level, this was a match between a striker and a wrestler. Rarely does that work out for the former.
Alas, we have not, and likely never will. With Hall vanquished by a solid, but by no means amazing wrestler, we are now back to square one in finding the next big thing.
Who the fans and media latch on to next is tough to call. There are many prospects to hook on, be it Gunnar Nelson, Myles Jury, Khabib Nurmagomedov or any of the young-yet-great fighters that are floating around the UFC right now. Regardless, there will be somebody who is totally, really, definitely, no really this time, going to be a champion.
Will it work out? Maybe. Probably not, though.
Even if it doesn’t, it won’t kill our spirit. We’ll get it right some day, right?
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