TUF 6 Finale: Preview and Picks
by Dave Franklin

Since this is my first UFC Preview and Picks that I am writing for Zewkey.com, I will start by saying that on a typical 9 fight card, I usually go 6-3 with my picks; although, at UFC 78, I picked 7 right.

The Ultimate Fighter 6 has been, on the whole, an entertaining season; albeit this is the first season I have watched after finally getting DirectTV. I enjoyed the rivalry between coaches Matt Hughes and Matt Serra.

I was quite shocked that both finalists are from Hughes team. After losing 6 of the 8 prelim fights, I began to think if Matt Hughes was really not that great of a coach or if he just picked the wrong guys? Mac Danzig, with his experience, did not necessarily need the coaching the other guys did and Tommy Speer listened to every word that Hughes said. The other six guys on Hughes team did not listen to their coaches. They threw their game plan out the window once the fight started and paid the price.

On to the fights...

Paul Georgieff vs. Jonathan Goulet: Paul Georgieff was one of the fighters that I was referring to when stating that Hughes fighters threw their game plan out the window when they got into the fight. In his fight with Troy Mandaloniz, Paul nearly finished the fight with a kimura but when the fight got back to the feet, instead of taking Mandaloniz down, he decided to trade blows and was KO’ed for his efforts.

Georgieff definitely has the toughest fight of anyone from the TUF 6 cast. Jonathan Goulet is a UFC veteran who trains with the likes of Georges St. Pierre, Patrick Cote, and David Loiseau.

Although Goulet’s UFC record is an unimpressive 2-3, I am picking him to win by TKO. I think that his experience will be too much for Georgieff.

Roman Mitichyan vs. Dorian Price: I am glad to see Roman getting a shot in the UFC. While his stint on the show may have been short and comedic, it showed that he has a fighter’s heart.

Dorian Price was quickly overcome by semi-finalist Matt Arroyo in the prelims. After the fight hit the ground, Dorian seemed to be at a loss and Arroyo sunk in an RNC after delivering some ground and pound.

I have not seen Mitichyan fight, but his strengths are on the ground where Dorian seemed weak. If Roman fights with as much heart as he showed during the show, he will win. I am picking Mitichyan by first round submission.

Troy Mandaloniz vs. Richie Hightower: These two fighters have to have the worst nicknames in MMA. “Rude Boy” and “The Dirty Samurai?”
These two guys wanted to fight each other in the quarter-finals feeling that it would be a great fight. Unfortunately for both of these guys, they were paired against opponents that were just too much for them; Mandaloniz against Matt Arroyo, and Hightower against George Sotiropoulos.

I agree with these guys that this fight will be a stand-up war. I don’t see it lasting long though. I am taking Mandaloniz by first round KO.

Matt Arroyo vs. John Kolosci: I hope that there is time for this fight to air. Both fighters were impressive in all of their fights.

I think that Arroyo made an intelligent decision to drop out after being injured. I know he gave up an opportunity to win the contract, but fighting, especially against Mac Danzig, could have been career threatening. Arroyo is young and talented. He lacks the experience, but given time Arroyo will be among the elite from this season.

John Kolosci impressed me from his first fight. It was obvious to me that Kolosci came on this season to win. He also came with a warrior’s heart. He asked to fight Mac Danzig not once but TWICE.

I like the matchmaking in this fight. This is going to be one of the best fights between members of the cast. I am picking Arroyo by submission.

Ben Saunders vs. Dan Barrera: This fight in the prelims should have, in my opinion, gone to the “sudden victory” round. I had this fight scored at one round for each fighter, but the judges saw it differently.

Barrera is certainly a, um…., “different” kind of person. The show showed us his intensity. He seemed focused, but what was with the shadow-boxing in the bathroom? Barrera needs to listen to his coaches! He could have finished his fight with Saunders in the first round if he had listened to his coaches and team to back-up after knocking Ben down.

Saunders is well rounded. He had a couple of submissions sunk in on Tommy Speer in their quarter-final fight, but Tommy will not tap.

I like Barrera’s hustle. If he has a good corner that he will listen to, he will do well. I am taking Barrera by decision here.

Billy Miles vs. George Sotiropoulos: George was my pick to be in the finals with Mac Danzig. I was quite surprised that he lost to Tommy Speer.

Billy Miles is a big welterweight. He was concerned about cutting enough weight in his prelim fight against John Kolosci. Cutting a lot of weight can make a difference in your cardio and strength in a fight.

I will always pick technique over strength when the fighter with the technique is on. In his fight with Tommy, George was not on. George is a BJJ black belt and has the technique. I think that we are going to see a different George than we saw in the fight with Tommy. George is going to be on and win this fight by submission in the first round.

Jared Rollins vs. John Koppenhaver: After the “upper decker” prank and the run in these two had after “J-Roc” kicked the door down, I am glad that we get to see this fight.

Jared looks to have impressive grappling. Unfortunately, we did not get to see that at all in his prelim fight against George. In fact, we hardly saw any offense. I hope that he doesn’t freeze when fight time comes.

War Machine trains here in San Diego with world champion grappler Yoshida Baret. He lost his prelim fight to semi-finalist Tommy Speer.

I think that this fight will go to the ground pretty quick. I see “J-Roc” finishing what he started in the house by submission.

Tommy Speer vs. Mac Danzig: One finalist I expected to be here, the other was a surprise.

At the beginning of the season I picked Mac Danzig to win it all, so when he made it to the final I wasn’t surprised. Danzig has much more experience than any other fighter on the cast. Mac Danzig was a KOTC champion and even fought in Pride before coming on the show.

Tommy Speer is a surprise finalist in my opinion. I expected George Sotiropoulos to be in this position. Watching Tommy I thought ‘this guy can be good if he gets in with the right camp.’ Just today I was watching a video of Matt Hughes training for UFC 79 and who is training with him at HIT Squad? Tommy Speer. This was a good move on Tommy’s part.

Even though Tommy has aligned himself with Team Hughes, I am still taking Mac Danzig in this finale. Danzig has too much experience and I think that his technique will overcome Speer’s strength. I would not be surprised if we see Danzig drop to lightweight not long after taking the title of TUF 6 winner.

Roger Huerta vs. Clay Guida: This is going to be a fight worthy of main-event status for an event like this.

Roger Huerta holds the honor of being the first MMA fighter to be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. He holds an MMA record of 19-1-1 and a UFC record of 5-0-0. This is his fourth fight in 2007, more than any other UFC fighter. His last fight was against Alberto Crane at UFC 74.

Clay Guida brings a lot of experience to this fight. He holds a 22-8 MMA record and 2-2 UFC record. He has fought many top lightweights including Tyson Griffin, Marcus Aurelio, and Gilbert Melendez and held numerous titles including the StrikeForce Lightweight Title. After defeating Marcus Aurelio at UFC 74, Dana White said that Guida would move up in the lightweight rankings.

This is going to be an exciting fast paced match. Both fighters have good cardio and are aggressive. One thing to note is the step up in competition for Roger Huerta. In all 5 of Roger’s UFC fights, his opponents were making their UFC debut.

Huerta’s fight against Doug Evans at the TUF 5 finale is pushing me to choose Clay Guida in this fight. Evans took the fight against Huerta on short notice and lost by making a mistake in the second round after winning the first round. Evans strength is in his wrestling which proved to be tough for Huerta.

Guida’s strength also lies within his wrestling ability. I think that with his experience and wrestling background, Guida will win an exciting fight by, unfortunately, a split decision that many will claim should have gone the other way.

My picks are in bold:

Paul Georgieff vs. Jonathan Goulet
Roman Mitichyan vs. Dorian Price
Troy Mandaloniz vs. Richie Hightower
Jared Rollins vs. John Koppenhaver
Billy Miles vs. George Sotiropoulos
Matt Arroyo vs. John Kolosci
Ben Saunders vs. Dan Barrera
Tommy Speer vs. Mac Danzig
Roger Huerta vs. Clay Guida