Who were the winners at The Ultimate Fighter Finale? Click below to get the results for all the fights at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Friday, July 7, 2017.
In one of the most spectacular debuts in UFC history, Justin Gaethje withstood the war of the year to finish Michael Johnson by TKO at 4:48 of the second round. Gaethje barely out-struck Johnson, 100-96 in the fight and every blow landed by both fighters in this fight of the year contender was a significant strike. Gaethje was rocked at the end of the first round and then in the second Johnson wobbled him again, landing big shots as the crowd seemed to be waiting for Gaethje to fall. But he hung in there and then came storming back, landing a flying knee in the final sequence and then a few punches before a few more knees. That’s when referee John McCarthy called the fight. Gaethje improves to 18-0 and almost surely will appear in the top 10 of the lightweight rankings next week.
THEY SAID IT:
Justin Gaethje: “ Who’s next? Who’s next? It feels fantastic. I love this. You can’t break, me I promise you.”
In a wild sequence that led to the finish of the fight, Dhiego Lima caught Jesse Taylor with a perfectly-placed hook as Taylor looked for his third takedown of the fight. Lima, looking to capitalize, got overaggressive on Taylor’s back and slid off. The two scrambled and Taylor ended up on Lima’s back and sunk in a rear naked choke to get the finish at :43 of the second round. Taylor wins the The Ultimate Fighter: Redemption season and picks up a check for $290,000.
THEY SAID IT:
Jesse Taylor: “I can’t put this into words. I think this is the perfect redemption story. I’ve fallen down a lot in life, we all saw it 10 years ago on The Ultimate Fighter 7. I just kept going, I kept grinding. I went over to Russia, I went to Australia I got to see the world and I got a second chance and I wasn’t going to let this second chance go to waste. We all mess up in life. There’s nothing too special about me, I’m a simple guy who went after his dream. If you hit me with a train I’m going to get up and keep going. I’m going to start a college fund for both my boys and maybe I’ll finally get that RV I’ve always wanted.”
Drakkar Klose out-struck the sensational striker Marc Diakiese, 95-58, and landed a pair of takedowns to take the split decision, 29-28, 28-29, 29-28. Klose landed two devastating leg kicks that seemed to really change the momentum of the fight. Both kicks dropped Diakiese and he seemed noticeably hurt after the second one. Klose improves to 2-0 in the UFC and Diakiese drops the first pro fight of his career.
THEY SAID IT:
Drakkar Klose: “It feels great. He runs his mouth a lot and after the fight he got under my skin and I had to let him know how I felt. You can’t be talking all this s*** and not back it up. To me, this was just another fight. I want to get another one going, let’s line it up in two or three weeks. I train with the best. I train with Benson Henderson and he threw those kicks at me; he threw those punches at me a million times. After the decision was read I just let him know. He thought he was going to run through me. Yesterday he told me I was going to sleep, but I’m wide awake. I’m going to eat some food tonight then I’ll go to sleep knowing I got my hand raised. I want the winner of the main event tonight next.”
Jared Cannonier brutalized Nick Roerick for the entirety of their fight, finishing the UFC debutant in the third round at 2:08 by TKO. Cannonier landed 52 percent of his strikes, landing big combinations and a massive elbow that was the beginning of the end for Roehrick, who was tough and withstood the barrages from Cannonier, who landed a total of 84 total strikes.
THEY SAID IT:
Jared Cannonier: “A fight is a fight; it never goes the way you want it to so the opponent change didn’t throw me off. Very rarely does a fight go the way you want and I didn’t expect anything different this time I just knew I was better than my opponent. I have abs now – that’s the biggest difference in this being my first camp as a full-time fighter. Also, I’m becoming a more well-rounded fighter. I only spent four weeks down at the MMA Lab, next camp I’ll have a full camp at the Lab so there will be even more tools in my bag. You heard me call out the man, Gokhan Saki. He’s a striker and I like to strike. I like to test myself against the best in the world and I believe he’s the very best striker in the world and I dig that call out.”
Elias Theodorou landed three of 11 takedowns and out-struck Brad Tavares, 69-38, but Tavares was still able to capture the unanimous decision win. Theodorou landed most of his strikes in the second round and the judges obviously felt Tavares did enough in the other round to capture the win.
THEY SAID IT:
Brad Tavares: “Fighting in Vegas, my adopted hometown, means a little bit more and it means that my friends and family from Hawaii and I get to represent for them. Elias was exactly what I thought he’d be, tough. He moved a lot. The one thing that did surprise me is that I’ve never seen him be that wrestling heavy, taking shots, but I was ready for it. The choke in the third wasn’t as close as I wanted it to be, but I think I had him worried. I’m healthy and I’m ready to go whenever the UFC wants.”
Jordan Johnson took the unanimous decision victory, 29-28, 29-28, 29-28 against Marcel Fortuna.
THEY SAID IT:
Jordan Johnson: “I feel great. That dude was a IBJJF world champion and I was a mediocre wrestler and we just got in a fistfight and I beat him. People need to put their kids in wrestling programs and put money back into the schools. I was hitting him hard. I’m sure people could hear when I hit him. He didn’t really touch me, I caught everything on my forearms. I’m going to have a fake 4th of July party right now and I’m going to enjoy Vegas for a couple days.”
Angela Hill ended a three-fight losing streak in the UFC with a dominant unanimous decision win against Ashley Yoder, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27. The former Invicta FC champ defended three of six takedowns from Yoder and out-struck the wrestler, 66-54 in total strikes to win the fight.
THEY SAID IT:
Angela Hill: “ The biggest difference for me is having a lot of good training partners, a lot of good people to spar with, a lot of good coaches and being able to mask everything a lot better – not just moving forward and getting taken down. I knew Ashley was going to be tough, she was able to get that first takedown pretty easily and I was surprised by that. I knew she was going to be able to take a lot of punishment and I knew it would be awkward because I’m not used to fighting southpaws. All of that kind of stunted me a bit, but I’m still kind of happy with my performance. I wish I had knocked her out, that was my goal, but she’s tough. I don’t know where this puts me in the division. She’s not ranked, I’m not ranked, so it’s tough to tell. I’m ready to be ranked, I’m ready to fight a more well-known opponent and start to build my stock. It doesn’t have to be top-10 or top-five, but just someone that people know to keep building my mystique.”
James Krause landed 115 total strikes to just 45 for Tom Gallicchio, using his high-volume attack to capture the unanimous decision win, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27. The two friends from season 25 of The Ultimate Fighter went toe-to-toe for 15 minutes and Gallicchio hung in there, but wasn’t able to keep the fight on the ground where he wanted it, landing just 1/9 takedown attempts.
THEY SAID IT:
James Krause: “ It’s tough. There were four of us in the same room while we were in the house. I fought Ramsey who slept right above me, Jesse who slept across from me and I fought Tom who was in the top bunk. I got three out of the three that were in my room, so it was a little bit awkward. In fifty-something fights Tom is the first friend I’ve ever fought and it was tough. Honestly, I was doing some tactics in the Octagon, I was talking to him – I was kind of talking s*** to him and I felt bad afterward. I know he’s a guy who thrives off the underdog thing and I couldn’t let him into the UFC nicely. At this level, every advantage counts so I did everything I could to make it a little harder on him. I’m going to talk to my coaches and my team about whether or not I’m going to stay at 170. That’s a big question right now.”
CB Dollaway was able to defeat Ed Herman in a grueling grappling-filled bout, landing 5/5 takedowns en route to the unanimous decision victory, 29-28, 29-27, 29-27. Dolloway also doubled up Herman in total strikes, landing 121-53 and also landed more significant strikes at 45-31.
Tecia Torres def. Juliana Lima
Tecia Torres stepped up on short notice and delivered in a big way, submitting Juliana Lima with a rear naked choke at :53 of the second round. The finish is the first for Torres in the UFC and the No. 5-ranked strawweight has now won five of six inside the Octagon.
THEY SAID IT:
Tecia Torres: “At this point in my career I feel like if I want to fight with the best I have to be able to beat everybody else in the division. I really wanted the opportunity to fight Juliana and I felt confident with my training thus far in Colorado. I think that “Karate Hottie” (Michelle Waterson) can get me the title shot. I understand that she’s coming off a loss against Rose in her last fight. That’s who I’ve been waiting for, karate versus karate, and I think that’s a big enough fight to propel me into the number one contender spot. I can be ready to go again as soon as late August.”
Gray Maynard landed a staggering 11 takedowns unofficially against Teruto Ishihara to take the unanimous decision win in the opening bout of the evening, 30-26, 30-26, 30-26. Maynard picks up just his second win since 2012 and looked dominant in the process.
THEY SAID IT:
Gray Maynard: “I love Vegas, this is the best place in the world to fight. It’s the fight capital of the world, all my people are here, I love to fight here. How you’re treated here, the accommodations, all the places to eat – you can’t beat it. I’m going to be in Vegas for a long time, so this is my top choice of where to fight. Next, I want to get back in there in October or November against Artem Lobov. He comes to fight and he has a good name. I’m only going to the top from here on out.”
