4. Roy "Big Country" Nelson vs. Shane Carwin
Event: TUF 16 Finale There was nothing good about The Ultimate Fighter 16 in 2012. Nothing. The drama was over-the-top bad. The fights were... decent, but overshadowed by the garbage going on in the TUF house. The "champion" - Colton Smith - was a bust. The coaches challenge was so badly biased in favour of Shane Carwin that you could practically see Dana White giggling. I mean really - a track and field meet where the coaches run a lap? When one of your coaches is Big Country? Whose bright idea was that? Big Country, the portly star of the UFC's heavyweight division, and a winner of the heavyweight season of TUF himself, has always been a thorn in UFC President Dana White's side, but never more so than during TUF 16, where he questioned weigh-ins, instructed fighters to play it safe to ensure the win, and just generally pissed White off. Which is why we love Big Country - that, and the fact that he comes to fight, to entertain, and to knock guys out. He never goes down in a fight. For better or worse. As a result, our only hope for TUF 16 was that he'd make quick work of Shane Carwin in the coach's fight. Carwin was a fighter busted in a steroid scandal who dodged all questions about it and whose career tanked from that point forward, and juicing is one things Big Country is very against - making this a great grudge match.However, like most of Carwin's career, the story of this fight will be the story of what could have been. Still, Carwin was a formidable fighter. An interim champion, he almost - almost - beat Brock Lesnar, only to see the UFC Champion come back and decimate him after taking a beating of his own. And he almost - almost - fought Big Country on several occasions. TUF 16 was the last attempt, a fight we all wanted, if only to see if Carwin could avoid the right hand. I'm going to gamble and say he wouldn't have - he was really too slow, the exact sort of opponent Big Country likes to stun with his power and ability to eat punches himself. Still, we wanted this fight. Instead, Big Country introduced Matt Mitrione to his right hand, and Mitrione went to sleep.