Final WEC Event, GSP-Koscheck Headline A Light December MMA Schedule

December is traditionally one of the busiest months of the year with the holidays wreaking havoc on our minds, wallets and waistlines. One more deep-fried "holiday" Twinkie? Sure, why not?

And for those of us lucky enough, there's snow, ice and single digit temperatures to look forward to. Ho, ho, ho indeed.

Thankfully, we have fighting inside a cage to take our minds off things featuring some fruitcakes, Miracle on 34th Street-style comebacks and probably even some nutcrackers.

Don't blink: like November,  there are just four events, all running within a 12-day window. It all kicks off a week from Saturday with a live head-to-head match-up between No. 1 and No. 2.

You bring the egg nog. I'll bring the rum.

Saturday, December 4

UFC: The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale
Las Vegas, NV — Live on Spike

Strikeforce
St. Louis, MO — Live on Showtime

The two major companies in the sport will go head-to-head, forcing MMA fans to pick one and DVR the other, RAW vs. Nitro style (Pro wrestling reference? Check).

Of course, the UFC is coming strong with the finale of an awesome TUF season fueled by the antics of Josh Koscheck.

There have been some great fights thanks to a lightweight only season, but the ultimate winner will now find themselves going into the deepest division in the UFC thanks to the WEC merger. Lucky him!

The finalists will be confirmed on Wednesday's TUF regular season finale, but we're down to Michael Johnson/Nam Phan and Kyle Watson/Jonathan Brookins. My pick: Phan vs. Brookins.

"Mr. TUF" Stephan Bonnar headlines against relative unknown Igor Pokrajac with Demian Maia vs. Kendall Grove and Jonny Hendricks vs. Rick Story providing support. The show looks decent on paper, but nothing that's going to pop a huge rating.

On the flip side, Strikeforce has put together a nice show to close out their 2010 campaign, but took a huge PR hit this week when Herschel Walker had to drop off the show due to a cut suffered in training. That kills the mainstream media interviews they would have secured during fight week and some of that crossover viewership that Walker still has.

The main event features Dan Henderson vs. Renato Sobral in a rematch of a fight that happened 10 years ago. This will be Hendo's first fight since getting outwrestled by Jake Shields in April, while Sobral last was seen beating Robbie Lawler in June. Good matchup, but they're a combined 75 years old and I'm not sure what either guy's career motivations are at this point.

A 205-pound title shot is on the line. Quick...name the champion!

Speaking of Lawler, he's in the co-main event against the veteran's veteran Matt Lindland while Paul Daley makes his promotional debut against Scott Smith. Antonio Silva may or not fight depending if they can get an injury replacement for Valentijn Overeem.

On paper, Strikeforce has the better lineup but the right guys doing what they do best (Daley and Lawler especially) could take this from a good show to a great show.

Saturday, December 11

UFC 124: GSP vs. Koscheck II
Montreal, Quebec, Canada — Live on PPV

One week later, we get the month's most anticipated fight with Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre defending against Josh Koscheck three years after they first fought. There's not much else I can add that Koscheck hasn't already said, but there is one guarantee I can make: the week leading up to this event is going to be freaking awesome.

Looking at the undercard, there's no doubt this is a one-fight promotional show. Sean McCorkle vs. Stefan Struve? Joe Stevenson vs. Mac Danzig? John Howard vs. Thiago Alves has a chance to be really fun as does Charles Oliveira vs. Jim Miller, but the rest of the card as a whole is Spike level.

But while it lacks star power, the UFC 124 card has that underdog appeal of a potentially really, really entertaining show with roster cut implications for some of the losers. It's going to be a wild crowd which means Dana White will be on edge for a big night from his employees.

One interesting tidbit: there are seven Canadian fighters on the card, but only one—GSP—is on the main card.

Thursday, December 16

WEC 53
Glendale Arizona — Live on Versus

It's fitting that the last event in WEC history could be arguably its best.

The show is headlined by Lightweight Champion and local favorite Benson Henderson vs. Anthony Pettis with the winner getting the No. 1 contender spot for the UFC Lightweight title.

The MTV darling Pettis is one of the most exciting young fighters in the sport and Henderson is on the cusp of achieving his UFC dream. With a shot at the Frankie Edgar/Gray Maynard winner in their sights, this is going to be good.

The co-main event features the final WEC Bantamweight title fight in company history with champ Dominic Cruz taking on Scott Jorgensen. Jorgensen has been a great story in that he's won fight after fight after fight in earning this shot while Cruz has started to come into his own at the right time.

The winner will then become the first-ever UFC Bantamweight Champion, so yeah, there's a lot of pressure here.

On pure action and what's at stake for the winners, I can't imagine a better two fights on top to close up shop for the WEC organization.

By the way, Donald Cerrone is on the undercard fighting Chris Horodecki, Jamie Varner is back against Shane Roller and Bart Palaszewski continues his mini-career resurgence against a game Kamal Shalorus. 

With the UFC now being more aggressive with cuts, this will be a normal WEC card cranked to 11 considering there is no guarantee all of the guys on this final show will be carried over with a loss. If this event was a person, picture someone after two pots of coffee doused with 5-Hour Energy shots while eating expresso beans and watching a normal WEC event.

Essentially, WEC 53 is a job review. Pass and move onto the big stage. Fail and you're in the MMA soup kitchen line with Gerald Harris, Seth Petruzelli and Nick Osipczak.

Josh Nason is a New England-based freelance MMA journalist that covers live events, has written for FIGHT! Magazine and frequently does radio/podcast appearances. He asks for your "like" for ESPN Boston to cover MMA. Follow him on Twitter.