I wouldn’t say it was a night of underdogs at The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 8 Live Finale, but I’m pretty sure I saw Simon Bar Sinister handing out bottles of Pure Distilled Shrinking Water.

The TUF 8 Finale was an entertaining event, mostly because things (for the most part) didn’t always go as expected. In one of the night’s many surprises, Junie Browning opened the show (and set the tone) with a stellar performance against Dave Kaplan that saw the self-proclaimed bad boy of TUF transition from wasted talent to serious contender.

I understand that Dave Kaplan is not a ranked lightweight, but Browning’s impeccable display of striking, grappling and yes, even conditioning made me wonder if I could have possibly been watching the same fighter who nearly got himself booted from the SpikeTV reality show for being a Grade A imbecile.

It appears that Junie Browning is indeed for real. I guess my only question now is: What the heck took so long? Had Browning gone through the season with the same intensity that he displayed last night, he may very well have been fighting in the last bout on the card instead of the first.

Speaking of first and last, hopefully this is the first and last time we’ll see the likes of Jules Bruchez in the UFC. I don’t think there’s one negative thing to say about his character or personality, but inside the cage he looks lost and underwhelming.

Still, I’ll take ten "Family" Jules before I take one Shane Primm. Normally guys flop to the canvas and cling to an opponent’s leg after they get rocked. Primm seemed to be using that strategy as his primary method of offense.

It was definitely offensive.

I guess my biggest complaint is that guys like Primm can get themselves hurt by mailing it in. He fought rather timidly and didn’t look like he was in very good shape. I’ll never fault a guy for losing but it’s hard to get excited about a fight when it’s obvious that one of the combatants doesn’t want to be there.

Kevin Burns probably didn’t want to be there when he woke up from the nasty KO he received at the feet of Anthony Johnson. In what could have been Fight of the Night (if not for Dana’s obsession with Junie Browning), Burns ate a flush high kick in the third round that will immediately join Cro Cop-Gonzaga and Salmon-Evans in the UFC’s head kick hall of fame.

If they really want to spice up the highlight reel, the production booth should also add some of the footage from the post-kick celebration by Johnson. It could be the worst display of the worm since Scotty Too Hotty pinned Dean Malenko for the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship.

And while we’re on the topic of the WWF, did anyone else laugh at Vinny Magalhaes when he got rocked by Ryan Bader and hit the floor like Sean Michaels over-selling a chair shot?

Congratulations to Bader for the victory. I was convinced he was getting subbed but he played it smart and kept it standing long enough for Mags to make a mistake.

As far as I’m concerned, the jury is still out on the future of Ryan Bader. Yes he won the TUF title, but I’m a firm believer that you don’t know what a guy is made of until he’s faced with adversity. No one from Season 8 really put him to the test and right now all I know is that he’s a great wrestler and a decent striker.

In a division that employs guys like Shogun, Rampage, Wanderlei Silva and even the melting Iceman, decent just isn’t going to cut it in today’s UFC.

Just ask Jason MacDonald.

J-Mac is a decent striker and a very good grappler, but the increasingly fragile Canadian will be spending so much time at the middleweight gate after his loss to Gouveia he could probably qualify for a pension by the next pay-per-view.

Gouveia dropped him in the first and showed a perfect example of how to finish a grounded opponent, but I’m going light on the praise since he failed to make weight for the bout.

He has since apologized and wants to continue to compete at middleweight, going so far as to promise that missing weight ‘will never happen again.’

Time will tell.

Speaking of time, how badly did Phillipe "Movin’ On" Nover want an extra minute in the third round against F. Rye Aine in the lightweight finals?

Like so often, wrestling was the difference. Escudero came out and I honestly expected him to fight ‘not to lose.’ Boy was I was wrong (as usual). Efrain was aggressive and intelligent. He pushed the pace and used his formidable wrestling skills not just to take Nover down and keep him grounded, but to set up different angles and land big shots.

Nover was visibly frustrated and couldn’t get much going until the final thirty seconds of the fight.

Duckman had everyone’s attention during the season, but Escudero just flat outworked and outclassed him when it counted. It was a special moment to see him win knowing how much he wanted this to honor his late father.

I’m not too worried about Nover. He’s already proven that he can fight, now he just needs to align himself with an elite camp and get to work on his wrestling.

As for the new lightweight champ, it’s going to be a long road ahead. There is no shortage of talent in the UFC 155lb division but he’s young, gifted and ready to accept a rematch with Junie.

You heard it here first.

Now that we’ve sorted our TUF chips, there still remains some unfinished business between coaches Frank Mir and Antonio "Minotauro" Nogueira, who are set to do battle at UFC 92: “The Ultimate 2008″ from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on December 27.

This one’s for jiu-jitsu bragging rights, as well as the chance to face Brock Lesnar to finally name an undisputed heavyweight champion.

Not to mention it’s on a card that also features Forrest Griffin vs. Rashad Evans and Quinton Jackson vs. Wanderlei Silva.

Don’t even think about missing it.