Diego Sanchez shouted, "Are you not entertained!" immediately after Bruce Buffer announced that Sanchez had won a narrow split decision over Clay "The Carpenter" Guida. 

Sanchez and Guida met in the main event of The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale and put on an absolute show. Both fighters stared each other down with an intensity and a ferocity that clued any casual observer into the fact that this fight would be a war, and a war it was.

Sanchez opened the fight with a German-style blitzkrieg of strikes, knocking out Guida's mouthpiece and causing the Chicago native to bleed and buckle. Somehow Guida survived the onslaught and was able to take Sanchez down, but Clay was still showing signs of damage. After a brief break in the action for Guida to re-insert his dislodge mouthpiece the fight resumed. Unfortunately for Clay the respite didn't aid him as Sanchez landed a flush head kick that dropped Guida. It looked as though the fight was about to end but somehow Guida survived the round. Guida got up and walked to his corner with a smile ready to keep fighting. 

Clay quickly recovered in-between the rounds and was able to mount a successful offense, taking Sanchez down and keeping him on the mat. While Guida may have been in top position he couldn't mount a sustain offense as  Sanchez attempted a few submissions and landed some serious elbows from the guard. At the end of the second round it looked as though it was all tied up on the judges score cards. 

The final round saw each fighter engage conservatively for the first few minutes. Guida looked to be setting up another takedown and appeared to be lulling Sanchez with prolonged standing after shooting so quickly in the second round. Finally, with approximately two minutes left, Guida shot in and took Sanchez down. Diego was able to reverse the takedown and get Guida's back. Clay struggled mightily as it appeared he was in danger of being submitted but he finally rolled into full guard. From there Diego kept busy, going for a kimura that nullified Guida's offense until the last few seconds where he unleashed a fury of punches. 

The decisive round was close but two of the judges saw it in favor of Sanchez who came away with the split decision victory. 

Many observers thought that the winner of this bout would go on to fight for the lightweight title after Kenny Florian and B.J. Penn fight in August. If that is indeed the case then Sanchez could be fighting his old cast mate Kenny Florian. 

The main hook for the ninth season of The Ultimate Fighter was the competition between nations. In the finals last night it was a clean sweep for Team U.K. 

James Wilks looked extremely impressive on his way to a first round submission over the lone American, DeMarques Johnson. Wilks showed excellent striking and a variety of submission attempts in his attack as he overwhelmed Johnson, who appeared in shell shock for most of the fight. With just six seconds left in the round Wilks was able to force Johnson to tap out and claim the "TUF 9" welterweight title. 

In the lightweight finals fellow Brits, Ross Pearson and Andre Winner, engaged in a battle of clinches and dirty boxing. Neither fighter appeared willing to fight on the ground or further than three inches, pardon, 6 centimeters apart from one another. The judges all thought that Pearson was more active and he won a unanimous decision. 

Chris Lytle and Kevin Burns fought in what appeared to be "fight of the night" that was until Sanchez and Guida met. Burns rocked Lytle early but the journeyman fighter was able to persevere. In the second round Lytle's striking begun to wear down Burns. In the third round an overhand right by Lytle caused a huge gash on Burns left eyebrow. Kevin didn't quite but was slowly being bludgeoned into submission by Lytle's favorite tool the over hand right. Christ Lytle came away with an unanimous victory. 

In the first bout of the evening Joe Stevenson proved that he is still a threat at lightweight. Stevenson used an excellent mix of wrestling, takedowns and clinch work to defeat Nate Diaz. Diaz was unable to use his reach or Jiu-Jitsu skills as Stevenson used a smothering attack. 

Full results after the jump. The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale coverage

Official Results

• Diego Sanchez def. Clay Guida via split decision (29-28, 29-27, 28-29).     
  
• Ross Pearson def. Andre Winner via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28). Pearson wins the TUF 9 lightweight finale.
  
• James Wilks def. DaMarques Johnson submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 1, 4:54. Wilks wins TUF 9 welterweight finale.
  
• Chris Lytle def. Kevin Burns via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).
  
• Joe Stevenson def. Nate Diaz via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).
  
• Melvin Guillard def. Gleison Tibau via split decision (no scores were read). 
  
• Brad Blackburn def. Edgar Garcia via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28).    
  
• Tomasz Drwal def. Mike Ciesnolevicz via TKO (strikes), Round 1 - 4:48.    
  
• Nick Osiczak def. Frank Lester via submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 1, 3:40 
  
• Jason Dent def. Cameron Dollar via submission (anaconda choke) - Round 1, 4:56.