The Ultimate Fighter 19 is finished up with the quarterfinals in the middleweight and light heavyweight brackets, and it's down to the final four in each respective field. One more win gets each fighter into the finale.
Sure, this season has been lackluster to say the least, but there is some viable talent in the house. This is especially true in the middleweight division, which has some very good fighters.
Following the quarterfinals, let's take a look at the power rankings in each division.
Middleweight
- Eddie Gordon (Team Edgar)
- Dhiego Lima (Team Edgar)
- Cathal Pendred (Team Penn)
- Mike King (Team Penn)
- Tim Williams (Team Penn)
- Roger Zapata (Team Penn)
- Ian Stephens (Team Edgar)
- Hector Urbina (Team Edgar)
The fights this season have been uninspiring, no doubt. That being said, there really is some solid talent here that has yet to really blossom.
The top dog based on explosiveness, size and well-roundedness has to be Eddie Gordon. The Chris Weidman teammate beat another top contender on the season, Mike King, which is impressive enough to throw him in the top spot.
A pair of welterweights in Dhiego Lima and Cathal Pendred follow Gordon in the rankings. Lima was the only man in the middleweight bracket to finish his opponent, which came as a result of resilience, patience and skill. Pendred, who didn't even look his best, managed to win using craftiness and endurance.
Despite losses, Mike King and Tim Williams come up next. Their reputations and toughness carried them into this competition. King had one of the best fights of the season against Nordine Taleb in the elimination round, and Williams has high praise from coach BJ Penn.
Roger Zapata comes in at the sixth position, despite the fact he is in the semifinals. He won a controversial decision over Ian Stephens where he was constantly taken down and couldn't do much about it. His ceiling doesn't appear to be high.
Leading up the rear is Hector Urbina. He showed some promise against Pendred, but his gas tank and sloppiness lead to his overall downfall.
In looking at the field, who is left and the matchups we have, my prediction for the finale is Eddie Gordon of Team Edgar vs. Dhiego Lima, his teammate.
Light Heavyweight
- Corey Anderson (Team Edgar)
- Dan Spohn (Team Penn)
- Patrick Walsh (Team Edgar)
- Anton Berzin (Team Penn)
- Matt van Buren (Team Edgar)
- Josh Clark (Team Penn)
- Chris Fields (Team Penn)
- Todd Monaghan (Team Edgar)
Whereas I think that the middleweight portion of this competition has some very good talent that could grace the UFC easily, the light heavyweights are a little more suspect. There are definitely some solid fighters though.
The two best are easily Corey Anderson and Dan Spohn. Anderson is more of a wrestler, albeit extremely explosive and athletic, while Spohn can do it all. That includes explosive knockout power, as seen against Tyler King in his elimination fight.
The next best two are guys who faced each other in Patrick Walsh and Anton Berzin. They had a very close match, with Walsh's wrestling getting the better of a well-rounded Berzin.
Matt van Buren is solid as well, but the talent level really drifts off after him. Josh Clark looked very lackluster in his bout, while Fields was lucky to get in the house (Josh Stansbury blew out his knee in their elimination bout) and Monaghan's only bright spot in three rounds of action was a desperation armbar.
In looking at the field, who is left and the matchups we have, my prediction for the finale is Corey Anderson of Team Edgar vs. Dan Spohn of Team Penn.
