Will Ultimate Fighter Winners Ross Pearson & James Wilks Be Able to Compete in the UFC?
by Leland Roling on Jun 22, 2009 12:47 PM EDT
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Saturday night's Ultimate Fighter Season 9 Finale from the Palms Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada was a final chance for the participants of the show to prove they have what it takes to compete in the UFC. Throughout the last few weeks, many fans had regarded this season's roster as less than stellar. In fact, most fans believe that the eventual winners of the show would probably have a tough time breaking into the mid-echelon of their respective divisions. Did Ross Pearson and James Wilks prove on Saturday night that they could hang in their divisions?
The lightweight showdown between Ross Pearson and Andre Winner didn't go exactly as I had pictured it in my mind. My initial thoughts were that Pearson could lean on Winner in the clinch and work knees and dirty boxing to his benefit. While this did end up happening for much of the fight, Winner was a bit of a surprise in terms of being unable to execute any type of real strategy. Pearson was able to control Winner, land solid blows, and continually wear him down. While I wasn't overly impressed with the fight on paper, Pearson did a great job implementing his game plan.
Pearson reminds me of Paul Kelly. He has above average conditioning with more bulk than most lightweights within the division due to his shorter height. That extra bulk seems to translate into more power, and his endurance has shown in his fights on the TUF series and at the finale. My real concern for Pearson is when he meets a fighter within the division that is able to counter his clinch work and stifle him on the floor. Pearson's striking isn't great, and he could definitely be overwhelmed on the ground by a superior grappler, something the lightweight division isn't exactly shallow in.
James Wilks actually impressed me substantially. The conventional wisdom coming into the fight was that Johnson had the superior striking compared to Wilks. But Wilks shattered that myth immediately. Wilks was not only throwing solid, straight punches, but his accuracy was surprising. I've never thought Johnson was any type of world beater due to his weak defense standing, and Wilks took full advantage of that hole in Johnson's game.
What is the consensus thought on both Wilks and Pearson following their performances from Saturday evening? Do you believe one fighter has an edge over the other in terms of making an impact in the UFC? I would definitely go with James Wilks right now for his performance on Saturday night, and the lower rungs of the Welterweight division aren't terribly above his current skill set. With some more top training, he could potentially break into the middle of the pack in a year or two.
Pearson is a bit of a different story. He could potentially become a Gray Maynard-type of fighter if he actually had the wrestling acumen, but we wouldn't see that kind of skill set unless he truly devoted a lot of time to working with top wrestlers. Can Pearson beat guys like Mark Bocek, Matt Wiman, Cole Miller, Jeremy Stephens, Thiago Tavares, or even Paul Kelly? I think it's tough to sell right now. Bocek would be a solid matchup to test his submission defense, but Tavares would also be very tough. I think Pearson has a tough road ahead of him unless he can truly become dynamic.
The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.
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During the show I was definitely not impressed with the performance of any single fighter. When the finals came around, I’d hoped the finalists had used their off-time wisely and improved their skill sets. At the Finale, it seemed to me that Lester, Dollar, Pearson, and Dent did not seem any different than on the show. Wilks, on the other hand, I thought looked pretty good on the feet compared to before, and of course his ground game seemed up to snuff considering the opposition.
Very shallow season talent wise. Both of these guys will lose the majority of their fights in the UFC and be kicking ass in Strikeforce before you know it.
by Derek Suboticki on Jun 22, 2009 1:10 PM EDT reply actions
Wilks, Pearson, UFC
Wilks is a solid enough fighter at this point. I thought DeMarques was mediocre at best, so I certainly wasn’t surprised to see James walk through him. Aside from that, James seems to be well rounded and skilled enough at striking and particularly jiu jitsu to certainly work his way into the thick of the welterweight division.
I’m not sure I see him becoming a legitimate title contender at any point, and he’s probably the least compelling TUF winner to date. Although, after seeing him handle DeMarques in a way he really hadn’t handled Frank Lester while on the show, it indicates to me that he’s not only improving, but he can perform well under the big spotlight, which is every bit as important as having the skill set in the first place.
I still really haven’t seen any of Ross Pearson’s fights. I missed his match with Jason Dent entirely, I have no recollection of who he fought in his first fight once making it into the house, nor do I remember his fight to make it into the house. Although I was watching the show on Saturday, I felt at the time that Winner was the clear winner in their match, so how closely was I paying attention?
All of that having been said, Pearson is 24 and has a UFC contract. Unless he gets thrown to the wolves too early, which may happen nowadays, I suspect he’ll be able to develop pretty well. Of course, I say this without knowing fact one about his training situation, so maybe I’m wrong on that.
...Behold, a pale horse. The man that sat upon it was Wieters, and hell followed with him.
"BJ on the BE" - Kierkegaard
just to play devil's advocate for a sec...
i think it’s WAY to early to predict this kind of thing. if you look back at winners of previous seasons, it took them awhile to come into their own in the ufc. what’s the hurry to mention them in the same breath as some of those guys (be they gatekeepers or not)? i’m sure they’ll bring them along slowly (a la bisping, and others), fighting on uk undercards against other first-fight-in-the-ufc prospects, and cast members they never fought on the show (osipczak for example).
but based purely on raw potential, i voted just for wilks. i thought his striking showing
considerable improvement since the show, and he’s obviously slick on the ground. i’m excited to see how he progresses… which i was definitely thinking going into the finale, as he seemed pretty one dimensional beforehand.
It is WAY too early to predict, but from this point, I wanted to see what people could gauge from their performances on Saturday. Wilks looked much improved in his striking IMO. Pearson’s overall style would have to change in order for me to consider him a mid-echelon level fighter.
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by Leland Roling on Jun 22, 2009 2:09 PM EDT up reply actions
Depends entirely on how the UFC builds them. IF they throw them under the bus (or to the wolves so to speak) they’re going to have a difficult time. Usually the UFC though has been pretty good at building up their TUF combatants so I don’t see any reason why they would do any different with these guys. Maybe they’ll spend even more time with these guys to help build on the momentum in the UK.
I’m always surprised that people always expect that the alumni out of TUF are supposed to be instant-world champions. If the UFC can build them up, get some exciting competitive fights out of them help build and maintain an audience interested in watching them they don’t need the TUF winners to be champions, just fighters that play ball and put asses in seats.
Neither?♦
Neither will make a bigger impact…why would I vote this? Anyway, I voted wilks, but I always doubted demarques so, I wasn’t really chocked by his demise.
You would vote for that if you expect them to have a similar impact.
Bolts from the Blue // "Game over." - Jamal Williams
Bloody Elbow // "Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." - H.L. Mencken
by Richard Wade on Jun 22, 2009 4:33 PM EDT up reply actions
Pearson will be a better LW than Wilks will be a WW. I know everyone is masturbating over Wilks demolishing the incredibly mediocre, incredibly overrated DaMarques but he’s the wrong side of 30 and has no wrestling and mediocre stand up (no, dominating DeMarques Johnson on the ground does not = good stand-up, and he still managed to get tagged a few times).
Btw, it was Andre Winner who initiated the clinching, Ross said he was surprised afterwards that that was Andre’s gameplan. And when they did break Ross got the better of the striking, which people should be impressed by considering all the pre-talk was about how slick Andre is on the feet.
Really though, I don’t know how any viewers (especcially those who haven’t seen any pre-TUF fights of his can accurately judge Ross’ ability and potential – he ran through his first two opponents in TUF in impressive fashion with a knockout and a nice sub, then spent 15 minutes dominating a guy who held his own for the full 15 minutes with Roger Huerta and Glieson Tibeau. In the final he won a close decision against an evenly matched opponent who knew him very well…he could be great, he could be mediocre – it’s far too early to tell.
If I had to guess I’d say he’ll spend the next few years training all over the place – at the Wolfslair, at Rough House and at camps in the US (which he’s already started doing) and become a very solid addition to the LW division. It’s ridiculous how everyone is writing him off, ignoring the history of other TUF winners.
I’m stone and rambling, meh.
Very impressed by both
but I do realized that this program is a show meant for newbies to get a shot at the big show. I don’t expect either to fare well initially even though Anderson Silva put on a James Wilks costume and beat the hell outta the “Bigmouth”, DJ. That stated, I do like Wilks’ chances in the octagon better than Pearson as the lightweight division is more crowded with talent than the welterweights.
Jay K.
It all depends on what kind of training they go through now that they’re in. Nobody thought Rashad Evans would amount to anything after TUF and he became champion in the UFC’s crown jewel weight class. You never know…
This just in,
Rashad still hasn’t amounted to anything, despite his fluke-ish title reign.
That’s ridiculous. He’s lost one fight and has wins over Chuck and Forrest.
by Derek Suboticki on Jun 22, 2009 4:42 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
^this. The idea that Evans “hasn’t amounted to anything” is just bullshit.
Bolts from the Blue // "Game over." - Jamal Williams
Bloody Elbow // "Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." - H.L. Mencken
by Richard Wade on Jun 23, 2009 9:44 PM EDT up reply actions
Look at it this way...........
They have just as good a shot as Kimbo!
by SouthAlaBamaRampage on Jun 22, 2009 5:18 PM EDT reply actions
I’ve seen a few of Ross’s pre TUF fights. To be honest he lookes like he’s improved a lot in the last year. his fight with kurt Warburton was probably the most exiting I’ve ever seen.
I’d definately say Wilks is the more complete fighter but the welterweight devision in the ufc has no easy fights.
As someone who watches loads of domestic mma I would have thought that stapelton and che mills were the best fighters in the opening line up but that goes to show how little I know.
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