Will Phillipe Nover Live Up to the Hype on Saturday Night?

The finale of the eighth season of "The Ultimate Fighter" will air at 9:00 pm ET/PT next Saturday (December 13th, 2008).

The card will mostly consist of matches that feature participants from the eighth season of the show - there are currently two matches that will feature fighters that did not take part on the show.

The event will be headlined by the lightweight battle between Phillipe Nover and Efrain "El Matador" Escudero. Nover currently has a ton of hype surrounding him (the show did a great job of building him up) and will likely be a heavy favorite to win. Nover v Escudero will headline the show.

Of course, there will also be a match between Ryan Bader and Vinicius (Vinny) Magalhaes for the Light Heavyweight contract.

You will also have two matches (as mentioned) that feature fighters that didn't take part on the eighth season of the show.

You have Jason "The Athlete" MacDonald vs Wilson Gouveia.

You also have Kevin Burns vs Anthony Johnson. If you'll remember, Burns and Johnson fought at UFC Fight Night 14 - that match was stopped in a very controversial fashion. Johnson was poked in the eye and was unable to continue - the ref ruled that Burns won the fight by TKO. Johnson filed a protest and lost - the two will hook up again next Saturday. Johnson took the loss very well, and will likely have the fans on his side in this fight.

After that you have a number of other matches that involve fighters from the eighth season of "The Ultimate Fighter":

Junie Browning vs Dave Kaplan. Browning possesses a great deal of raw talent but clearly didn't have his head screwed on properly during the show. He ended up losing in the semi-finals to Escudero, and will be looking to redeem himself on Saturday. Apparently he has gotten his act together in the months following the show.

Krzysztof Soszynski vs Shane Primm. Many people picked Soszynski to win the Light Heavyweight contract - instead, he ended up losing in the semi-finals to Vinny. I have a feeling that Sosynski will end up in the UFC anyways.

Eliot Marshall vs Jules Bruchez.

Kyle Kingsbury vs Tom Lawlor.

Shane Nelson vs George Roop.

Rolando Delgado vs John Polakowski.

The last five matches may or may not end up on the show, depending on the length of the five main card fights.

This should be a great night of fights. Will Nover live up to the hype? Who will win the light heavyweight contract? How will Junie Browning perform in his first UFC professional fight?

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