The Weekly Wrap: June 5 - June 11

McGee vs. McCray in TUF 11 Finale

Season 11 of “The Ultimate Fighter” will come down to Virginia-based wrestler Kris McCray and Utah scrapper and recovered heroin addict Court McGee. The middleweight finale pairing is a bit of a surprise, considering some of the accomplished MMA veterans on the show and the fact that McCray and McGee had been eliminated earlier in the season.

McGee looked impressive in stopping Hawaiian Brad Tavares in the final moments of a good semifinal bout that aired on June 9. The pair of Team Liddell fighters kept an active pace throughout three rounds, with McGee finding clutch success with takedowns. After working leg kicks and counter punches in the first two frames, McGee stung Tavares with a punch in the third, took him down, mounted his back and put him to sleep with a rear-naked choke in emphatic fashion. McGee had lost a close decision to Nick Ring earlier in the season but earned a rebirth after Ring fell out due to a knee injury.

McCray, who dropped a decision to Josh Bryant earlier in the season but won a wildcard return, took the rematch via decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28). McCray swarmed Bryant with takedown attempts and body locks to keep control. Both fighters came out tired in the second round and ended by going tit-for-tat with one-off punches and knees in the clinch. All told, McCray fought five times on the series, or every Tuesday since arriving.

The two-hour episode did a 1.24 rating for an average of 1.6 million viewers, putting the season average at 1.27, according to MMAPayout.com. Excluding the aberrant Season 10, which did higher numbers due to the participation of Kimbo Slice, the Season 11 average rating looks to be the highest since Season 3.

The finale airs June 19 on Spike TV from Las Vegas. Per tradition, several other cast members will get fights on the undercard. A clip show will air on June 16, featuring never-before-seen footage.

Season 12, which pits Georges St. Pierre against Josh Koscheck as coaches, began filming this week. It is the last season under the current Spike TV contract, an agreement UFC President Dana White hinted will be re-upped soon.