TUF 12 Finale Undercard Live Blog: Wilkinson vs. McKenzie, More

Filed under: UFCLAS VEGAS – This is “The Ultimate Fighter” Finale live blog for the six preliminary card bouts of tonight’s event at The Pearl at The Palms in Las Vegas.

The six unaired fights are Aaron Wilkinson vs. Cody McKenzie; Ian Loveland vs. T…

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LAS VEGAS – This is “The Ultimate Fighter” Finale live blog for the six preliminary card bouts of tonight’s event at The Pearl at The Palms in Las Vegas.

The six unaired fights are Aaron Wilkinson vs. Cody McKenzie; Ian Loveland vs. Tyler Toner; Kyle Watson vs. Sako Chivitchian; Nick Pace vs. Will Campuzano; Pablo Garza vs. Fredson Paixao; and David Branch vs. Rich Attonito.

The live blog is below.

‘The Ultimate Fighter’ 12.10 Recap: Mad Dogs and Englishmen

(Kyle Watson, Michael Johnson, and John Danaher join host Stephan Bonnar to run down last night’s fights on the latest episode of "The Aftermath." Warning: Danaher drops a "retard" joke within the first 30 seconds of the interview. Anybody else getting a Lanny Poffo vibe from this guy?)

Michael Johnson is one of those dudes who can’t appreciate the sheer hilarity of being sprayed with water. When Sako (or was it Sevak? one of those guys) rigs the sink to blast the next person who uses it, MJ is on the losing end and freaks out. So immature, you guys! Michael is convinced that Alex Caceres is to blame, I guess because he saw Alex pull the same prank the day before. Their quarterfinal fight can’t come soon enough.

But first, Kyle Watson and Aaron Wilkinson will have to face off. GSP says Aaron is a better striker than Kyle, so Kyle needs to get the fight to the ground. Kyle’s plan is to take Aaron down from the clinch, rather than shooting in. Logically, Coach Koscheck advises "English" to keep the fight standing. After three fights in the house, Aaron’s right eye is looking rough. And it’s go-time already…

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(Kyle Watson, Michael Johnson, and John Danaher join host Stephan Bonnar to run down last night’s fights on the latest episode of "The Aftermath." Warning: Danaher drops a "retard" joke within the first 30 seconds of the interview. Anybody else getting a Lanny Poffo vibe from this guy?)

Michael Johnson is one of those dudes who can’t appreciate the sheer hilarity of being sprayed with water. When Sako (or was it Sevak? one of those guys) rigs the sink to blast the next person who uses it, MJ is on the losing end and freaks out. So immature, you guys! Michael is convinced that Alex Caceres is to blame, I guess because he saw Alex pull the same prank the day before. Their quarterfinal fight can’t come soon enough.

But first, Kyle Watson and Aaron Wilkinson will have to face off. GSP says Aaron is a better striker than Kyle, so Kyle needs to get the fight to the ground. Kyle’s plan is to take Aaron down from the clinch, rather than shooting in. Logically, Coach Koscheck advises "English" to keep the fight standing. After three fights in the house, Aaron’s right eye is looking rough. And it’s go-time already…

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‘The Ultimate Fighter’ 12.8 Recap: The Cucumber and the Pickle

(Josh Koscheck and Marc Stevens run down last night’s episode with host Stephan Bonnar in the latest installment of "The Aftermath." Warning: The editor forgot to bleep out Koscheck’s numerous F-bombs. Props: UltimateFighter.com)

The official title of this episode is "KOS in a Commotion." There’s nothing funny about rape-choking a male nurse, but we’ve always appreciated a good pun.

Dane Sayers is bummed that he was robbed of a wild card spot. After all, he lasted two rounds against Sako Chivitchian, and Marc Stevens didn’t even last 20 seconds against Cody McKenzie. As Jonathan Brookins explains, "It’s supposed to be reserved for the guy that put on the best performance…some people like the cucumber better then the pickle, I don’t know." But Stevens is the "obvious pick" according to Dana, I guess because he knocked some dude out in the elimination round. We’ll see how far that gets him. Coach Koscheck thinks Marc has a lot of "po-tential" that he didn’t get to show, because he got submitted "kind of early." Kind of!

Alex Caceres tweaked his back during his round-of-14 fight against Jeff Lentz, and is unable to train as hard as the other guys. Michael Johnson just thinks he’s lazy. They argue about it at the house, and Caceres explains that he needs to save his body for his next fights, and promises that when it’s time for him to fight MJ, he’ll be training, believe that. The gauntlet has been dropped, son.

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(Josh Koscheck and Marc Stevens run down last night’s episode with host Stephan Bonnar in the latest installment of "The Aftermath." Warning: The editor forgot to bleep out Koscheck’s numerous F-bombs. Props: UltimateFighter.com)

The official title of this episode is "KOS in a Commotion." There’s nothing funny about rape-choking a male nurse, but we’ve always appreciated a good pun.

Dane Sayers is bummed that he was robbed of a wild card spot. After all, he lasted two rounds against Sako Chivitchian, and Marc Stevens didn’t even last 20 seconds against Cody McKenzie. As Jonathan Brookins explains, "It’s supposed to be reserved for the guy that put on the best performance…some people like the cucumber better then the pickle, I don’t know." But Stevens is the "obvious pick" according to Dana, I guess because he knocked some dude out in the elimination round. We’ll see how far that gets him. Coach Koscheck thinks Marc has a lot of "po-tential" that he didn’t get to show, because he got submitted "kind of early." Kind of!

Alex Caceres tweaked his back during his round-of-14 fight against Jeff Lentz, and is unable to train as hard as the other guys. Michael Johnson just thinks he’s lazy. They argue about it at the house, and Caceres explains that he needs to save his body for his next fights, and promises that when it’s time for him to fight MJ, he’ll be training, believe that. The gauntlet has been dropped, son.

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TUF 12.3 Recap: Mike Tyson’s Tap-Out!!

(The beginning of the Johnson/Wilkinson battle from last night. You can watch the rest here. Props: SignofBelief)
Alex "Bruce Leroy" Caceres may have impressed us in last week’s fight, but he’s making no friends in the house by bragging …

(The beginning of the Johnson/Wilkinson battle from last night. You can watch the rest here. Props: SignofBelief)

Alex "Bruce Leroy" Caceres may have impressed us in last week’s fight, but he’s making no friends in the house by bragging about his victory non-stop. While hanging out with the defeated Jeff Lentz, he says that Jeff may have been "underesterating my talents and skills," and claims that every head kick bounced off his afro. Lentz manages to avoid strangling the bastard, but the other TUF guys are quickly losing patience.

GSP brings in wrestling world champion Guivi "Gia" Sissaouri, to work with his squad. Homeboy is sick on the mat. It’s a great little master-class for the guys, but Georges has another visitor coming in later that will make Gia look like small potatoes. (Hint: Face tattoos, tigers.)

Down 0-1, Koscheck is playing catch-up. His fighters already seem to be breaking down, physically and emotionally, so Kos makes it clear that they need to toughen up and quit ass-dragging in practice. Training seems to improve after that.

It’s fight announcement time, and since Team GSP won last week, they retain control of the picks. St. Pierre selects Michael Johnson (his craftily-obtained #1 draft pick) against Aaron Wilkinson (Koscheck’s #6 pick??). GSP is obviously looking to take Koscheck’s heart with a brutal victory, but is it a wise strategy to waste your ace on the other team’s weakest link? (Keep in mind that Jeff Lentz was Team Koscheck’s #7 pick.) Still, a badass wrestler vs. a British guy. This seems gift-wrapped for the red team.

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