Demetrious Johnson is two things. He is serially unknown, and he is the best active fighter in the UFC today.
The only person ever to hold the UFC flyweight championship tried to improve his position on both fronts Saturday, when he headlined the finale of season 24 of The Ultimate Fighter.
Mighty Mouse wasn’t actually on the show—co-main eventers Henry Cejudo and Joseph Benavidez were the coaches this season. A championship dance with Johnson just served as the rather formidable first prize for winning fighter on the season, which featured 16 champions from smaller MMA organizations around the world.
The winner? One Tim Elliott, a flyweight veteran who overcame his UFC release in 2015 by climbing to the top of the Titan FC promotion.
Would Mighty Mouse run his win streak to 11—as he was heavily favored to do—or would Elliott wake up the echoes of Matt Serra, another TUF alum who shocked the world with his upset of Georges St-Pierre lo those many years ago?
And what about that coaches’ fight? Cejudo or Benavidez seemed to genuinely dislike each other, and the winner Saturday has a very strong case to be the next title challenger.
As always, the final stat lines only reveal so much. These are the real winners and losers from the TUF 24 finale.
Full card results appear on the final slide.