/ Spike

Four fighters earned their way onto the finale. One didn't. Guess which one is getting more attention?

Mike Chiappetta • E-mail

The organization will put its best foot forward with TUF championship fights: a lightweight battle between Phillipe Nover and Efrain Escudero, and a light-heavyweight tilt between Vinny Magalhaes and Ryan Bader.

But those will only come after the organization opens the show with Junie Browning, a destructive force in the TUF house who was nearly booted from the show several times, but was given more stays of execution than a death row inmate.

First, the positives.

Nover and Escudero are two excellent ambassadors for the sport. Nover is a certified emergency room nurse who has worked in New York hospitals. He shares a respect for Escudero, his teammate during the show's filming, but his life's irony is not lost on him; he causes pain as easily as he heals it.

"Working in the ER has helped me mentally," he says. "Working the night tour in that part of Brooklyn, you see lots of blood, gore and guts. Nothing surprises me. If something happens in cage, I'm used to it. I'm ready for anything. You can be sitting in triage at 3:30 in the morning, something happens, and you get up and get to work. In the cage, it's a similar mentality but on the opposite end of the spectrum. You smash the guy instead of put him together."

Escudero, meanwhile, is a full-time college student in Arizona who has worked his training and competition around his class and study schedule as he continues towards a criminal justice degree.

Escudero hopes to win the show as a tribute to his late father, who passed away just a week before the show began taping, but not before telling his son to follow his dreams.

Nover goes into the fight as a heavy favorite. He's already been compared to Georges St. Pierre and Anderson Silva, but Escudero will not be rattled by the hype.

"I like to prove people wrong," he says. Later, when asked about his stoic demeanor, he adds, "I have a saying: 'I can be nervous and get punched in the face, or I can be calm and get punched in the face.'"

The light-heavyweight finalists, Ryan Bader and Vinny Magalhaes, both enter with sterling credentials. Bader was an All-American wrestler at Arizona State University and is currently unbeaten in MMA at 7-0, while Magalhaes is a no-gi jiu-jitsu world champion.

What's interesting about this fight is that Bader's wrestling strength plays right into that of Magalhaes as a submission artist. Because of that, Bader will likely be reluctant to bring the fight to the mat, and since he has the power to dictate the fight's location, two fighters who both count grappling as a strength are quite likely to instead engage in a standup fight.

Both men say they've been working hard for that possibility, Bader with his Arizona Combat Sports teammates, and Magalhaes with Xtreme Couture, his new home in Las Vegas.

"I respect Vinny's jiu-jitsu immensely," Bader said. "But I'll fight wherever he wants to fight. I just want an exciting fight. I had a lackluster fight with Eliot [Marshall, in the semifinals], so I'm looking to go out and put on a show. If that means stand and trade, I welcome it and look forward to it."

"He's not a striker, so I'm not sure why he's saying that," says Magalhaes.

Now on to the bad.

After nearly starting a series of fights, after jumping into the cage unprovoked seconds after a fight he had no involvement with had ended, after throwing a glass at a roommate, after nearly backing out of his last fight, Browning was not only allowed to stay on the show, he was awarded with a televised bout against Dave Kaplan.

Let's make a distinction here: as a reality show character, Browning was gold; as a fighter, not so much.

"Putting him on the main card, it does reward his behavior," says Frank Mir, who coached Browning's team on the show. "It shows people that if you act like a moron or idiot, you'll get face time. That equals money, so it's creating a shortcut, and they don't have to invest as much time into fighting.

"More people talk about Junie that Phillipe or Efrain, which I think is an insult," added Mir, who said he was so disgusted by Browning's behavior that he wouldn't allow his son to watch the last two episodes of the season.

Browning's behavior was bad, but his performance in the ring was a disappointment as well. He needed a split-decision to get past Roli Delgado, then got thumped by Escudero in the semifinals, submitting to a d'arce choke.

Since the show ended, Browning has taken up residence at Xtreme Couture, where reports suggest he's been working hard and staying relatively low-key. Even Mir admits that Browning is gifted enough to be successful in MMA, but don't believe he should be handed a UFC opportunity due to his antics.

Browning has a chance to start his image rehabilitation on Saturday, but at least we can take comfort in knowing that win or lose, he will not have the night's biggest spotlight.

That will belong to the men who have earned it.

Full card
TUF Lightweight Finals:
Efrain Escudero vs. Phillipe Nover

TUF Light-Heavyweight Finals:
Vinny Magalhaes vs. Ryan Bader

Kevin Burns vs. Anthony Johnson
Wilson Gouveia vs. Jason MacDonald
Junie Browning vs. Dave Kaplan
John Polakowski vs. Rolando Delgado
George Roop vs. Shane Nelson
Tom Lawlor vs. Kyle Kingsbury
Jules Bruchez vs. Eliot Marshall
Shane Primm vs. Krzystof Soszynski