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The Ultimate Fighter 5 finale recap

The Ultimate Fighter 5 finally came to a head on Saturday night and the free event on Spike did a lot to put the excitement back in the UFC. After a disappointing Chuck Liddell/Quinton Jackson main event, followed up by a pair of decisions in the co-main events at UFC 72: Victory; The Ultimate Fighter finale was a night of much needed wild and unexpected endings.

In the main event, B.J. Penn finally got his revenge on Jens Pulver by slipping a deep choke on Lil’ Evil at the 3:12 mark of the second round. The smart money was on Penn coming into the fight and the Prodigy showed why he’s considered one of the best in the game as he dominated Pulver on the ground. And it doesn’t look like there’s going to be a heated third contest in this rivalry as the fellas seemed to have squashed their beef once and for all with hugs and kind words. Well, actually, Penn didn’t say anything to the crowd immediately after the fight other than directing everyone to his website, but Pulver couldn’t have been more humble in defeat.

In the championship match of TUF5, Nathan Diaz and Manvel Gamburyan had a great fight going, but when Gamburyan went for a takedown 20 seconds into the second round, he dislocated his shoulder and had to tap out. While it’s an unfortunate turn of events for Gamburyan and nobody wants to win by injury, the tap out crowed Diaz as the winner of the season and the six figure contract. But as anyone who follows The Ultimate Fighter fallout knows, it’s often the losers of the season who end up becoming UFC PPV fixtures (see Chris Leben).

But the fight of the night was between Rob Emerson and Gray Maynard. After a physical first round, Maynard picked up Emerson and delivered a wicked slam that caused Emerson to tap because of an injury to his ribs. And it’s a good thing for Maynard that Emerson tapped because during his throw of Emerson, he ended up falling on his own head and knocking himself out. You can enjoy it for the brutality, or you can enjoy it for the hilarity, but at least this card had something to enjoy. Maybe the UFC should consider limiting all their fighters to 155 pounds, because this has definitely been the most entertaining division of late.