I love watching Dana White get pissed at Nelson or anybody for that matter. On “the Aftermath” show on spike, Dana and Nelson were still bickering and it came out that Nelson is still training at his house and only occasionally sparring at larger fight camps. Dana White was very angry and tried to get one of the other TUF fighters there to agree with how stupid that was.

Really anything can happen in the Ultimate Fighter. I really see a lot of great matchups in these quarter finals and hope that the fights are more exciting then the first half. My only concern is the amount of fighters that were gassing out after the first round or even the first flurry of punches. Even Rashad’s favorite fighter James McSweeney ended up practically collapsing of exhaustion in his first fight. Unlike UFC fights these guys do not have the time to correct large gaps in their skills in between fights and I think a few of the fights that last to the 2nd or 3rd round will end up being two fighters using all of their strength to throw punches that a sloth could dodge. That being said I think there will be some very good fights and still more upsets to come.

photo courtesy of sherdog

Brett Rogers is no joke, he might even be able to beat a lot of the UFC’s Heavyweights, but he has only fought one UFC level fighter and that is Andrei Arlovski. Brett beat him by KO and no one can take that away from him. Andrei is an ex-UFC Champion and Brett knocked him out in 22 seconds. That is where Brett’s record begins and ends though, all of the rest of his competition would be happy to make it on the Ultimate Fighter. What you can take from Brett’s past fights are how quick he is and how devastating his punch combination’s are. One thing that has not been tested in recent fights is Brett’s ground game and his chin, but that is because all but one of his opponents did not get past the first round. Another thing about Rogers is that he did spend some time with Josh Barnett, who was supposed to be Fedor’s last opponent and has a very strong ground game. I do not think Rogers will go at this fight like Barnett would but some pointers from a veteran are always helpful. This was a positive sign from Rogers because he has been with his current fight camp all of his career. It is nice that he is loyal and he might be comfortable with them but he is fighting the best Heavyweight in the world and should be training as such in order to be the best Brett Rogers walking into the cage on Saturday. If Brett was fighting any other fighter besides Fedor then I would give him a chance. Fedor has proved time and time again through technique under pressure and confidence in his own skill that he will not be defeated by another human being. Only an experienced Brock Lesner could have the strength and talent to possibly control Fedor.

Fedor is not like many champions, out to prove that he is the best or that he can exchange blows with anybody. Fedor stills fights in Combat Sambo Tournaments in Russia, for fun I guess. Fedor has fought Worldclass kickboxers with knockout power, strong wrestlers that could takedown anybody and submission artists that seemed unstoppable and even people twice the size of him. Fedor has always found a way to win and in most instances found a way to finish them. Fedor is always calm before, during and after his fights and it makes it possible for him to take hard punches, wrestling slams and submission attempts and remember how to use everything to his advantage and win the fight. Nothing could display this better than when Kevin Randleman picked him up in the air and dropped him on his neck, watch it on YouTube and you will start to understand what Fedor is capable of. This fight is no different and he is facing a less experienced, more one-sided fighter than most of his fights in the past. Fedor will do what he’s done to all the others, he will come in, land a few strikes to daze Brett and then do a backward Russia Bear hug and choke Brett out.
One interesting fact about this fight that makes it especially interesting is that this is Fedor’s first fight in a cage instead of a ring. 31 fights over 9 years and 5 fight organizations and Fedor has never fought in a cage. The only way this will hurt his game is that he has used the ring ropes to his advantage in a few fights. The fight where this made the most difference was when he fought Matt Lindland in Bodog Fight and he slid the rope into his armpit and not only prevented Lindland from taking him down but reversed the situation and ended up taking Lindland down. For the fight with Rogers I do not see it being an issue, I do not think Rogers will try and take Fedor down. If that is true, cages are a decent amount bigger than rings and have no corners like in a boxing ring and Fedor could use it to slip away if Rogers rocks him with big punches or Fedor can use it to feel Rogers out early in order to figure out Rogers’ punching range and quickness.

In this day and age when the hype is built up just to get you to visit the local bar to buy an overpriced drink, Fedor still cannot be hyped enough because he truly is the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion or the World.