Cody McKenzie def. Aaron Wilkinson via submission (guillotine), round one
Leonard Garcia def. Nam Phan via highway robbery split decision
Rick Story def. Johny Hendricks via unanimous decision
Demian Maia def. Kendall Grove via unanimous decision
Stephan Bonnar def. Igor Pokrajac via unanimous decision
Jonathan Brookins def. Michael Johnson via unanimous decision, wins The Ultimate Fighter season 12
Notes:
- The story of night is definitely Nam Phan's wrongful loss to Leonard Garcia. This was a big opportunity for Phan -- who was a contestant on the show -- to show that he could hang in the big show. He did that. But his record won't reflect it. It's also unfortunate to see a guy like Garcia who has a big heart and a great personality get booed, but really, it's not the first time he's been awarded a slanted decision. He's got a horseshoe hidden somewhere. This was unfortunate for both parties and I'm with Joe Rogan -- something needs to be done about the quality of judges.
- Kendall Grove said before his fight that he asked for Demian Maia as an opponent so he could prove he belonged at the top of the division. That wasn't very smart.
- Yeah, he's irrelevant, but I still like watching Stephan Bonnar fight.
- I became a big fan of Brookins and Johnson over the course of the show. Maybe because of that I put high expectations on them, but I was expecting a bit more from this bout. For a guy touted as "the best athlete in the house" Johnson clearly gassed, and Brookins didn't look like he improved his striking/striking defense at all since his time on the show. (He does have a helluva chin, though.) Both of these guys show great potential, but the time to start growing is yesterday. With the WEC folding into the UFC, the lightweight division is shark-infested waters. Brookins and especially Johnson have their work cut out for them.
- Cody McKenzie with ANOTHER guillotine!
