The 'Ultimate Fighter 2' Finals Are Set!

The 'Ultimate Fighter 2' Finals Are Set!

Joe Stevenson and Luke Cummo to Fight in Middleweight Finals

Brad Imes and Rashad Evans Do Battle in Heavyweight Finals

Ultimate Fighter Season 1 Champ Diego Sanchez to Fight Nick Diaz in Main Event

Spike TV To Air Fights Live On Saturday, November 5 At 9:00PM From Las Vegas

NEW YORK, Nov. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- After twelve weeks, The Ultimate Fighter 2 Finals are finally set. Joe "Daddy" Stevenson and Luke Cummo will fight in the Welterweights Finals and Brad Imes and Rashad Evans will fight in the Heavyweights Finals LIVE on Saturday, November 5 at 9:00pm ET/same day tape/PT on Spike TV from The Joint at The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The winners will receive a multi-year, six-figure contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship(TM).

Diego "The Nightmare" Sanchez, crowned "The Ultimate Fighter" in the Middleweight division in Season 1, fights emerging welterweight contender Nick Diaz in the main event. Season 1 "Ultimate Fighter" middleweight finalist Kenny Florian takes on former Muay Thai World Champion Kit Cope in the undercard.

Spike TV will air a 12-hour marathon from its hit series on Saturday, November 5 from 9:00am-9:00pm featuring all 12 episodes from The Ultimate Fighter 2.

The live finale is the culmination of the 13-week series featuring eighteen men from across North America in a fierce battle for a six-figure contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (TM) on The Ultimate Fighter.

ABOUT THE FINALISTS:

Welterweights

JOE

The Torrance, CA native and current Las Vegas resident was an all-state wrestler at Silverado, High School just outside of Los Angeles. The 23 year-old has been competing in mixed martial arts since he was 16 and has a current professional record of 28-6. He has held 5 MMA titles in various weight-classes ranging from 155lbs to 205lbs. A former forklift operator, Joe has two kids, Joey (4 years old) and Tyler (2 years old), and lives with his girlfriend Maria who is a lawyer and female boxer.

On Episode 4, Joe took out Marcus Davis in the second welterweight elimination fight by submission due to elbow strikes. Stevenson showed off his jiu-jitsu skills on Episode 12 taking out Jason Von Flue with an arm-bar in the first round.

LUKE

The 25 year-old Taoist is from New Hyde Park, Long Island and is a graduate of Chaminade High School. He graduated Nassau Community College with a degree in Biology. He currently has a 6-1 professional MMA record and trains with UFC contender Matt Serra. The Bruce Lee fan lists "Sin City" among his favorite movies.

On Episode 8 Luke defeated Anthony Torres by unanimous decision. On Episode 10, Luke knocked out Sammy Morgan with a knee in the second round of a spectacular fight.

Heavyweights

BRAD

The 6'7 Springfield, Mo. Native, who currently lives and trains in Bettendorf, Iowa, has only been participating in MMA for the last nine months and already has a 5-0 professional record. Brad played offensive tackle for the University of Missouri and was a starter his senior year. He went on to play professionally for the Arena Football League's Iowa Barnstormers. The former Strength Coach for the University of Missouri and Texas Christian University football teams, Brad is a loan officer in Sacramento. In his spare time he is an outdoorsman and enjoys hunting.

Imes showed off some grappling skill on Episode 3 by defeating Rob Mac Donald by triangle choke in the first heavyweight elimination fight. On Episode 12 Brad defeated Seth Petruzelli by split decision in a grueling bout.

RASHAD

The two-time All-State wrestler at Wheatfield High School in Niagara Falls, New York was also a standout football player at running back and safety. He attended Michigan State and wrestled in the 174lb division. Rashad graduated with a degree in Psychology and currently works at a hospital in Lansing, Michigan, where he lives and trains. Her currently has a professional MMA record of 10-0.

Rashad defeated Tom Murphy in Episode 5, Mike Whitehead in Episode 9, and Keith Jardine in Episode 11, all by unanimous decision.

Following is the full fight card for The Ultimate Fighter Season 2 finale:

Preliminary Bouts:

Heavyweight Bout
Kerry Schall (19-6) vs Keith Jardine (9-2-1)
6'3"/265 lbs. 6'2"/220 lbs.
Cincinnati, OH Albuquerque, NM

Welterweight Bout
Melvin Guillard (36-5-3) vs Marcus Davis (9-3)
5'9"/168 lbs. 5'10"/170 lbs.
Salt Lake City, UT Bangor, MN

Welterweight Bout
Sam Morgan (16-6) vs Josh Burkman (15-2)
5'11"/170 lbs. 5'10"/170 lbs.
South Minneapolis, MN Salt Lake City, UT

Main Card - Live on Spike TV:

Welterweight Bout
Kit Cope (2-2) vs Kenny Florian (5-2)
6'0"/170 lbs 5'10"/170 lbs.
Las Vegas, NV Boston, MA

Welterweight Final Bout
Luke Cummo (6-1) vs Joe Stevenson (28-6)
6'0"/170 lbs. 5'7"/170 lbs.
Long Island, NY Las Vegas, NV

Heavyweight Final Bout
Brad Imes (5-0) vs Rashad Evans (10-0)
6'7"/260 lbs. 5'11"/225 lbs.
Bettendorf, IA Lansing, MI

Main Event:

Welterweight Bout
Nick Diaz (11-3-0) vs Diego Sanchez (15-0)
6'0"/170 lbs. 5'11"/170 lbs
Stockton, CA Albuquerque, NM

Craig Piligian of Pilgrim Films and Television, Frank Fertitta III, Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White of Zuffa, LLC and Kevin Kay of Spike TV are the show's executive producers. Brian J. Diamond is Vice President, Sports & Specials, Spike TV and serves as Executive in Charge of Production for Spike TV.

Spike TV is available in 88 million homes and is a division of MTV Networks. MTV Networks, a division of Viacom International Inc. (NYSE:VIA)(NYSE: VIA.B), owns and operates the following television programming services -- MTV: MUSIC TELEVISION, MTV2, mtvU, VH1, NICKELODEON, NICK at NITE, COMEDY CENTRAL, TV LAND, SPIKE TV, CMT, NOGGIN, MTV INTERNATIONAL and THE DIGITAL SUITE FROM MTV NETWORKS, a package of 12 digital services, all of which are trademarks of MTV Networks. MTV Networks also has licensing agreements, joint ventures, and syndication deals whereby all of its programming services can be seen worldwide.

Source: Spike TV

CONTACT: David Schwarz, Spike TV, +1-212-767-8639; Jim Byrne, UFC - NY,
+1-917-587-5423; Jennifer Wenk, UFC - Las Vegas, +1-702-221-4790;
Bobby Amirshahi, Spike TV - LA, +1-310-407-4727

Web site: http://www.spiketv.com/

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