So this is it, the last episode of the season, the episode that determined an opponent for Damarques Johnson at the Ultimate Finale.

The show opened with Henderson having a rib dinner with Team US and talking war wounds with Frank Lester. Lester says he doesn’t want cauliflower ears, but Henderson says he likes them.

Bisping also has dinner with his team, though on a different night it seems, and after he leaves Andre Winner tosses some curry at Dean. Dean proceeds to toss Winner in the pool, and then Dave Faulkner hits him with a face full of flower. Everyone had a good English laugh, but that toss into the pool seemed rough on the ribs and could have turned out poorly.

The episode revolves around Frank Lester, who is fighting James Wilks in a rematch of the fight that cost him his front teeth.

I’ll admit that I couldn’t stand Lester in the lead up to his first fight, but he has grown on me. He proved that he has a ton of heart, and in this episode he explained that he doesn’t have the anger he had in his first fight. Lester said that he usually hates his opponent and can’t relax but he got to know Wilks and thinks he is a good guy. The two are shown talking about Lester’s daughter and signing each other’s jerseys.

The fight itself starts off strong for Lester who I think won a very close first round. After that though, it became obvious that he had taken a beating in his last few fights (this was his 4th in 34 days). Lester slowed down and while still stuffing every takedown attempt; he couldn’t gain the advantage striking. By the third round James was beating him to the punch (literally and repeatedly) and eventually put him away with multiple knees to the head.

Throughout the fight James seemed to be mocking Lester a bit, which angered Team US, especially Damarques Johnson. Personally I think that when you know your opponent gets sloppy when emotional it’s just good sense to try and push his buttons.

Lester was upset about the loss and the loss of financial security for his daughter. But based on how Dana White was gushing over Lester’s fighting spirit, I doubt this is the last time we see him in the octagon.

The show closed with the coaches having a few choice words to the camera about one another. Bisping felt Henderson underestimated his team, and that he was going to smash him since his time has passed. Henderson said that the show has motivated him to beat Mike, who is a nice guy sometimes but can only be categorized as a douche bag.

Overall, I must say, this has been one of the best seasons yet. The show wasn’t full of house nonsense; it simply showcased a bunch of guys focused on fighting (and Jason Pierce) set within a healthy international rivalry. While I am excited for the all heavyweight season coming up, I hope they revisit this format and we see Team Brazil, Team Canada and Team Japan.

So that is all for this season, but follow me on twitter at http://twitter.com/RaysMMAThoughts where I will be posting my thoughts about the Finale as it happens.