Slice won a unanimous decision over “Assassin” Houston Alexander (9-6) in a 215-pound catchweight fight at SpikeTV’s The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale in Las Vegas December 5.

Mitrione knocked out former Tampa Bay Bucs first-round draft pick “Big Baby” Marcus Jones (4-2) at the same event.

Judges scores were 29-28 twice and 29-27 all in favor of Slice.

The first round was barely mentionable as Alexander circled outside and waved leg kicks while Slice stood firmly in the center of the Octagon looking for a brawl.  The two fighters clinched twice, but briefly and uneventfully.

But, round two…wow!  Alexander came out of his corner to take another walk around the Octagon; but, Slice came out like Alexander was in Kimbo’s backyard.  Slice clinched and took Alexander to the mat in full mount, landing a few shots.  Alexander wormed back to his feet; but, Slice took Alexander’s back and suplexed him.  Alexander shot for a single-leg in the scramble; but, again, Slice stood and fell atop Alexander on the mat and passed to full mount.  Alexander gave up his back after Slice began landing shots to Alexander’s dome.  Slice briefly worked a guillotine, but decided to mount Alexander and land short elbows before the bell ended the round.

Alexander’s strategy finally paid off in round three when he dropped Slice with a solid leg kick.  Slice didn’t so much stand up, as shoot for a single leg takedown directly from his butt.  But, after a lay’n'pray from both fighters, referee Josh Rosenthal compelled them to their feet.  It was obvious Slice could barely stand on his lead leg after Alexander’s kick early in the round; but, Slice engaged Alexander for an exciting, if sloppy brawl that ended when an Alexander elbow sent Slice backpedaling and bell saved both fighters.

The final episode will air for two hours and feature fights that will determine the two athletes who will fight for a six-figure UFC contract at at SpikeTV’s The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale in Las Vegas December 5.

The remaining heavyweights include James McSweeney (3-4), ex-NFL defensive tackle Matt Mitrione (0-0), “Big Baby” Marcus Jones (4-1), “Titties” Darrill Schoonover (10-1), “Big Country” Roy Nelson (13-4),  and Brendan Schaub (3-0).

Wednesday nights episode will feature matchups between McSweeney and Mitrione and Jones and Schoonover, then the winners of those fights in semi-final matchups with Nelson and Schaub.

Though a plotline forced by the show this season has been the return of “Kimbo Slice” Kevin Ferguson (3-1) after his first round loss to Nelson,  light heavyweight “Assassin” Houston Alexander (9-4) has confirmed he’ll fight Slice December 5.

Fighters.com will post live coverage of the final fights of season 10 tonight.  Return to Fighters.com tonight for discussion of the final fights and the season.

The matchup is rumored to be held at a 215-pound catchweight.

Alexander TKO’d “Tank” Sherman Pendergarst (11-15) at Adrenaline MMA 4 in Omaha September 18 after losing three consecutive in the Octagon by first-round stoppage.

Slice was TKO’d by “Silverback” Seth Petruzelli (11-4) at EliteXC in Fort Lauderdale in October 2008 and lost again in an exhibition bout versus “Big Country” Roy Nelson (13-4) on SpikeTV’s The Ultimate Fighter 10.

According to a source, the matchup was originally scheduled as a light heavyweight bout, but Slice indicated he couldn’t make the 205-pound limit and the fighters agree to fight at 215-pounds.

On a media conference call in September promoting Slice’s exhibition bout versus “Big Country” Roy Nelson (13-4) on The Ultimate Fighter 10, Slice indicated he would be willing to drop to 205-pounds if a promoter asked him to do.

Alexander TKO’d “Tank” Sherman Pendergarst (11-15) at Adrenaline MMA 4 in Omaha September 18.

Slice was TKO’d by “Silverback” Seth Petruzelli (11-4) at EliteXC in Fort Lauderdale in October 2008.

The matchup has been rumored, but not confirmed by Fighters.com.  The Times of Northwest Indiana has broke stories about Alexander before and Fighters.com considers the publication a good source for information about Alexander.

Also confirmed is a previously reported welterweight fight between “Superman” Dennis Hallman (41-12-1) and “Doomsday” John Howard (12-3) and a lightweight matchup between Mark Bocek (7-2) and Matt Veach (8-0).

Fighters.com broke the news of the UFC’s signing of Wallace and followed him as he prepared for Vendetta FC’s eight-man tournament and eventual victory in Aruba September 5 when he tapped out “Juggernaut” Antwain Britt (11-3) in an armbar in the tournament’s finale after disposing of Gregory Milliard (1-2) by decision in the first round and Team Quest’s Aaron Stark (9-5) by decision in the semi-final.

Former WEC champion Stann won a unanimous decision over “Robot” Steve Cantwell (7-2) at UFC Fight Night 19 in Oklahoma City September 16 in the third iteration of a trilogy that began in the WEC in 2007.

Hallman returns to the Octagon four years after losing a UD to “El Conquistador” Jorge Rivera (16-7) at UFC 55 in Uncasville. He tapped Justin Davis (11-10) in a rear naked choke in just 27 seconds at Strikeforce Challengers in Seattle 19 June.

Howard won a split decision over “Barncat” Tamdan McCrory (11-3) at UFC 101 in Philadelphia 8 August, his second Octagon win in as many outings.

Heavyweight “Kimbo Slice” Kevin Ferguson (3-1) is all but confirmed to make his UFC debut at the event, but his opponent remains a mystery.

The two finalists from the current season of SpikeTV’s The Ultimate Fighter 10 will also fight for a six-figure UFC contract.

MMA Gospel host “Reverend” Turk Vangel confronted Brown with the rumor that “Kimbo Slice” Kevin Ferguson (3-1) brought a gun into the American Top Team gym at which both Brown and Slice train after Slice was tapped out during a sparring session.

“It didn’t happen.  I was there that day,” Brown denied the rumor.  In fact, he thinks the rumor is hilarious.  He chuckled and remarked, “That’d be pretty crazy!  Like, ‘Whoa!  No one tap out Kimbo!’”

Brown called Slice a humble guy.  “If you watch him, you’ll notice he never insults anybody.  As much as people talk about him, he never responds to them.”

Brown will defend his WEC title for the third time versus Aldo and he related the difficulty preparing for the Brazilian fighter who fought primarily in small shows in Brazil before debuting in the WEC last year.  Brown said because Aldo has been ripping through the division so quickly – fighting just six minutes in his last three stoppage victories – there’s not a lot of good video on Aldo.

“We don’t know how he is on the ground yet,” Brown stated.

Brown also indicated the only additional training he’s doing for the fight is knee defense.  “If you fight your game well, you don’t have to worry too much about their game,” Brown stated.

Brown is excited about the prospect of a 2010 WEC pay per view event and is open to moving up to lightweight to fight WEC champ “Worm” Jamie Varner (16-3) or down to featherweight to fight champ Brian Bowles (8-0) or former champ Miguel Torres (36-2).

“All I care about at this time in my career is to take fights the fans care about.  No matter who it is. Where we both get paid, because you have a limited amount of time to accumulate wealth in this sport,” said Brown.

WEC 44 will take place at The Pearl at the Palms Hotel in Las Vegas November 18.

MMA Gospel can be heard every Saturday from 5:00-7:00 PM at MMAGospel.com.  “Reverend” Turk Vangel of MMA Gospel contributed to this report.

Something Slice said on Wednesday night’s episode of TUF 10 was even more illuminating than his fight versus “Big Country” Roy Nelson (13-4).  In a conversation with Marcus Jones (4-1) in the TUF 10 house, Slice commented about MMA, (and I’m paraphrasing a bit) “The flips, the kicks, the armbars, there’s too much going on.”

Jones comforted Slice, telling him he’s picking up the ground skills he’ll need to compete at the top of the heavyweight division, but is Slice really learning those skills?

During another scene, Team Rashad sat around the pool while Nelson described his gameplan for beating Slice.  He told his teammates how he would take Slice down, put him in the crucifix position, and count off the unanswered shots he would score to the referee.

And, during the first round of the Slice/Nelson showdown, Nelson took Slice down, put him in the crucifix position, and counted off the unanswered shots to referee Herb Dean.  Some will argue Dean should’ve stopped the fight after Nelson’s undefended punches entered double-digits.  But, Dean gave Slice the benefit of the doubt.

Then, in the second round, Nelson again took Slice down, put him in the crucifix position, and counted off the unanswered shots he scored.  That time, Dean had little choice but to end the fight.

Nelson is a genuine UFC-quality heavyweight with a ground game that gave Fighters.com’s tenth-ranked heavyweight “Pitbull” Andrei Arlovski (14-7)  trouble before Arlovski knocked Nelson out at EliteXC in Fort Lauderdale in October 2008.  But, with all due respect to Nelson, he didn’t do anything particularly spectacular on the ground versus Slice.  It was all pretty basic MMA, though effective.

Now, what’s troubling for Slice is that he was absolutely clueless in his defense of Nelson’s strategy…twice!  Slice has been training mixed martial arts full-time for two years, getting personal attention with quality training partners at EliteMMA, which is a good gym run by former UFC champion “El Guapo” Bas Rutten (28-4-1), and getting intensive training on his ground game in particular.

Think of it in this context: Fighters.com’s ninth-ranked middleweight “Ace” Rich Franklin (26-5) learned the basics of the ground game from video tapes in a garage before refining his grappling with Jorge Gurgel (13-5).

Slice has been given opportunities to improve his skills that no other heavyweight on The Ultimate Fighter 10 has been given and few fighters have ever been given.  Yet, Slice still thinks “there’s too much going on” in MMA?   If Slice hasn’t at least been able to put together a mental framework of the sport that allows him to understand what’s going on, will he ever be able to?

Fighters have to fight; and, as I said, Slice is a fighter.  But, mixed martial arts isn’t the best sport for every fighter to express their need to fight.  Though his only loss was at the end of a punch from “Silverback” Seth Petruzelli (11-4) at EliteXC in Fort Lauderdale, Slice is certainly talented on his feet.  Perhaps Slice could compete succesfully as a professional heavyweight or cruiserweight boxer.  Perhaps Slice could score some wins as a K-1 kickboxer in Japan.  But, at 35-years old with two years of high-level, intensive training and little percievable improvement in crucial skils to be a successful mixed martial artist, Slice should consider how his need to fight is best expressed.

The Ultimate Fighter 10 was taped in June and I don’t know the outcome.  I could be forced to eat crow if Slice is given a second chance in the contest and is fighting in the final in Las Vegas December 5.  But, from the first YouTube-broadcast backyard brawl to the loss to Nelson on Wednesday night’s TUF 10 broadcast, Slice’s slow progress in MMA hasn’t matched the time, effort, and devotion he’s invested and the time, effort, and money that’s been invested in Slice by others to make him a top heavyweight.  Maybe it’s time for Slice to cut his losses in MMA.

“I feel like shit,” Slice admitted after the loss, though an “L” won’t show on his record.

At the opening bell, Nelson waved a jab in Slice’s face as Slice sized up “Big Country”.  The first hard shot was a leg kick landed by Slice to Nelson’s lead leg.  Nelson bent over to snatch-up a leg and got tagged again with a Slice uppercut.  But, Nelson bullied Slice to the cage and tripped him to the mat and mounted.  Nelson landed a left punch and passed to side mount and pinned Slice’s right arm beneath his knee in the crucifix position.  Nelson counted off 10s of unanswered pats on Slice’s noggin as referee Herb Dean urged Slice to work.  The round ended in that predicament.

Slice exited his corner with urgency for round two.  He landed a straight right flush to Nelson’s jaw; but, Nelson bum rushed through Slice’s assault and ran right over the street fighter as Slice launched a knee strike.  From side control, Nelson smothered Slice with his “big ass belly”, as coach “Rampage” Quinton Jackson (28-7) called it.  Nelson again pinned Slice’s arm beneath his knee in the crucifix position and patted on Slice’s skull.  This time, Dean stepped in an ended the fight.

Nelson celebrated his “W” by ordering a Burger King Whopper with cheese from UFC President Dana White, who said Nelson hit like his daughter after the fight.

Fighters.com has kept intentionally out of the loop about who wins the fight that occured in June and will air Wednesday, but Monday on a UFC media conference call, Slice seemed to tip his hand about the outcome when he answered a question about fighting the tournament favorite, Nelson, saying, “If I have to lose, I want to lose to the best.”  However, Slice also commented that, “This is my best fight so far.”

As has been Slice’s legacy, the hype around him has overshadowed a five-year veteran mixed martial artist with an impressive record.  Though Nelson enters the fight on the only two-fight losing streak of his career, the losses have been in impressive performances versus top heavyweights “Snowman” Jeff Monson (28-8) in a three-round decision and tenth-ranked “Pitbull” Andrei Arlovski (14-7) by second-round KO.  Like Nelson said on TUF 10, episode 1 after Slice was announced in the tournament, “I thought I was the big announcement.”

Slice fights for the first time since his nationally broadcast first defeat, a 14-second TKO by “Silverback” Seth Petruzelli (11-4) at EliteXC in Ft. Lauderdale in October 2008.

Since the loss, Slice has switched training camps from “El Guapo” Bas Rutten’s (28-4-1) EliteMMA in Los Angeles to American Top Team in Miami.  Monday, Slice said, “I’m in camp now.  I’m just planning for my fight in December.”