The Cecil Peoples Award For Best Display Of Utter Blindness And Ineptitude: The referee that did nothing after looking directly at Charles Oliveira when Oliveira kneed his grounded opponent. How do you miss something like that, honestly? Multiple replays show that he was in full view of the illegal strike. We’re already sick of bad judging with judges that seem to not know how a fight works, must we now be plagued with referees who forget or maybe even don’t know the rules? Where the heck is Herb Dean when you need him? That’s not a knock on Dean, by the way. That’s just a small joke, because really, if I don’t make at least a small joke about this situation I’ll probably launch into a tirade.

The “Brand New Day” Award: Rich Attonito, who looked like a new man when he debuted at Welterweight on this card. He took on a very tough Daniel Roberts and simply out-worked him. This fight went all over the place, and while it wasn’t an all-out domination, I can’t remember the last time Attonito looked that good. I think it’s going to be very interesting to see what kind of a future Rich Attonito has at Welterweight.

The Underappreciated Undercard Award: This award goes to the entire “UFC Prelims LIVE” broadcast for “UFC on Versus 4”. UFC fans with a Facebook account got to see seven fights for free, with four of those fights ending in stoppages and most of the decision victories being entertaining, competitive fights. We basically got a second event for free on Facebook, and it wasn’t a bad event at all. Once more the “UFC Prelims LIVE” broadcast impressed me and leaves me believing that these fights are far more than “just the prelims”.

The “Comeback King” Award: Cheick Kongo, for giving us a topic to talk about for months. Should the fight have been called before Kongo staged his comeback? Where does this comeback rank amongst the UFC’s greatest? Where does this leave both Cheick Kongo and Pat Barry? It certainly was a history-making moment, but how big of one? As a guy that used to consider Cheick Kongo one of his “dark horse favorites”, I’m very glad that Kongo turned so many heads at “UFC on Versus 4”. I don’t know what the future holds for Cheick Kongo, but I am glad that he’s breathed some new life into his career. It was one of the most dramatic come-from-behind victories in MMA/UFC history, and I’ve just got to commend it one last time.

So that’s what I think, fans and friends. And remember, it’s all in good fun… mostly.

Matt Brown, a fighter who is likely on his last leg with the promotion, will be taking on Rich Attonito in his next outing with the UFC. Attonito drops down from the middleweight division to make a splash at 170-pounds, where Brown will be there to greet him.

The TUF Finale show takes place on June 4 and will serve as the culmination for the upcoming season of “The Ultimate Fighter” which features a field of welterweights coached by opposing fighters Junior dos Santos and former champ Brock Lesnar. In the main-event of the TUF finale, WEC lightweight champ Anthony Pettis will meet with perennial contender Clay Guida, which will likely determine a new contender to the 155-pound belt.

Heavy.com initially reported the match-up, which has since been confirmed by several media outlets since.

Brown is winless in his last three outings, where he has been defeated by Ricardo Almeida, Chris Lytle, and Brian Foster–all by way of submission. However, before the recent stretch of bad luck, “The Immortal” procured a three-fight win streak, finishing off opponents Ryan Thomas, Pete Sell, and in his last victory James Wilks, finishing off the TUF winner on third-round strikes.

Attonito is perhaps on better grounds with the UFC, though he is also coming off of a loss of his own. After debuting in the organization with a second-round TKO of fellow housemate Jamie Yager (from the eleventh season of TUF), Rich went on to record a dominating decision win over Renzo Gracie black belt Rafael Natal last September. However since then, Dave Branch was able to avenge the loss for his fellow Gracie teammate, taking home a decision win over Rich.

The loss prompted Attonito to try his hand at the welterweight division.

So, MMA peeps, what do you think of the match-up? Who do you favor? Sound off in the comment section below.

Sherdog first brought word of the upcoming fight that sees the 7-1 Branch take on the 9-3 Attonito. Dave Branch is a former Bellator FC fighter that debuted in the UFC in July. Unfortunately for him, his debut in the UFC was also the first professional loss of his career, as he was on the wrong end of a KO slam courtesy of Gerald Harris. The Renzo Gracie protégé rebounded in September with a tough Unanimous Decision win over Tomasz Drwal.

Rich Attonito is perhaps best known for his time on season 11 of “The Ultimate Fighter”. Attonito made it all the way to the quarter-finals before a broken hand took him out of the competition. His spot went to the man who would later win it all, Court McGee. Attonito is a perfect 2-0 in the UFC, and made his UFC debut TKO’ing season 11 bad-boy Jamie Yager right into the unemployment line.

“The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale” event will also feature three other confirmed bouts. Stephan Bonnar will face Igor Pokrajac in the main event of the night. Kendall Grove will also be taking on feared submission specialist Demian Maia. And finally, Johny Hendricks will meet Rick Story.

I think Branch/Attonito is a very worthy addition to what is shaping up to be a pretty entertaining card. I’m thinking this fight is going to be a major clash of styles, even though both men are within shouting distance of each other’s (T)KO, submission, and decision wins. Attonito has displayed some good punching power in his time with the UFC, but there is only one Renzo Gracie and anyone who trains under him is usually a serious threat. I’m thinking this one goes to an action-packed decision and just might steal the show if it lives up to all of its potential.

All in all, I’m liking the “TUF 12 Finale” event more and more. Leonard Garcia’s return really interests me since I’ve been a fan of his for quite some time. I think Demian Maia vs. Kendall Grove is also a very, very entertaining fight with loads of possibility. Hendricks vs. Story should be a fast-paced fight heavy on the striking. And I’ll always support Stephan Bonnar no matter how unlikely it seems that he’ll ever find any real relevancy in the UFC. Stephan Bonnar comes to fight, and always puts on an entertaining performance. At the end of the day, you’ve at least got to respect him for that, despite the mistakes he’s made and the setbacks he’s faced.

And what about you, fans and friends? Are you looking forward to “The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale”?

The two men will go to war to determine who will become the TUF season 11 champion and earn the six-figure contract from the UFC.

Court was a true dark horse coming into the competition but one Fighters.com and MMA Gospel Radio felt was highly promotable due to his background story.

Court has stated he is a drug addict. His story is one of redemption after being clinically dead from a heroin overdose.

“I’d lie, cheat, steal. I didn’t have anything. I pawned the majority of the [expletive] I had. I didn’t have anything. I lost pretty much everything I had. Life wasn’t looking good. Guys at my workplace didn’t want me around and I got switched from crew to crew. My life was horrible. It was nothing. I was a waste,” he told Yahoo Sports.

His first venture into black tar heroin is one he will never forget. “I remember it like it was yesterday,” McGee says. “I remember what vein it was in. I sat there and he made one up in a spoon. He shot it, just a little bit, and I remember I fell back in my seat and two tears rolled out of my eyes. They hit my earlobes and I just went ‘Ahhhh.’”

Court tells us about the night his life changed when he took that does of heroin that had him declared dead.

“At the time, they were using Meth and the rule was nobody in the house but me,” McGee says. “They walked in and saw this girl there and they were angry right away. ‘Who the [expletive] are you?’ They were freaking out that she was there. And she was freaking out and yelling back, ‘I think he’s dead. I think he’s dead.’ “

After coming back to life Court spent time in a rehab facility and as with most addicts he relapsed a few times. Once, as talked about on TUF, he took a drink in Las Vegas and wound up in Iowa with a long sleeve shirt on and no pants, unsure of how he’d gotten there but craving Meth.

His turn-around came on April 16 2006, Easter Sunday where he quit drinking and doing drugs for good. He has been sober ever since. Hoe fought drug addiction and now faces another fight, the fight to become “The Ultimate Fighter”.

Standing in his way is a very tough Kris McCray. Kris began studying martial arts at the age of 12 with Tae-Kwon-Do and Karate. As Kris got older he played many other sports but none gave him that excitement he felt from wrestling and kickboxing.

After a successful high school wrestling career, Kris went off to college, while teaching high school wrestling in his spare time. Kris entered the U.S. Army Reserve at age 21, spending 6 years in service. During this time, Kris began learning Jiu Jitsu and joined Team Gold Medal Grappling, a Master Lloyd Irvin affiliate. Kris also worked many odd jobs to support himself, ranging from taking tickets at a movie theater to bouncer, security guard, butcher, and anything else he could do to make ends meet.

Kris started fighting amateur MMA in 2006/2007 and went undefeated, with a record of 10-0-0. His talent caught the eye of MMA promoter S. Marcello Foran and in October 2008, Kris began fighting on the professional MMA level. He quickly became a rising star in the UWC – Ultimate Warrior Challenge. After going 4-0-0 (all first round victories), it was clear Kris was ready to test himself against the best in the world.

Now he sits ready to make a name for himself and earn the six-figure contract that all the men entering TUF 11 wanted to call their own. He had a hard road to the finals actually setting a TUF record of fighting five times.

This will be a battle of two very good wrestlers who also love to stand and bang. Fighters.com expects this to be one heck of a fight that will likely end up being a stand-up war.

The official line up for “The Ultimate Fighter 11″ finale is as follows:

MAIN CARD

Matt Hamill vs. Keith Jardine
Court McGee vs. Kris McCray
Chris Leben vs. Aaron Simpson
Spencer Fisher vs. Dennis Siver
Rich Attonito vs. Jamie Yager

PRELIMINARY CARD

John Gunderson vs. Mark Holst
Seth Baczynski vs. Brad Tavares
Josh Bryant vs. Kyle Noke
Chris Camozzi vs. James Hammortree
Travis Browne vs. James McSweeney