This is the TUF 19 Finale live blog for Justin Scoggins vs. Dustin Ortiz, a flyweight bout at Sunday night’s UFC event at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
Scoggins, who is 2-0 during his UFC career and 9-0 overall, will face Ortiz, who has won two of his past three events, on the main card.
Check out the TUF 19 Finale live blog below.
Round 1: Mario Yamasaki is the referee. Here we go; battle of flyweights. Ortiz moves in quick, and gets low on Scoggins, and he dumps him along fence. He’s trying to advance out of guard, posturing up now, but Scoggins swings around for a potential triangle. Crowd lets out a roar. Ortiz being bent all kinds of ways, as Scoggins now goes flat on his belly torquing. He finally lets go. Wow. They come up, and now it’s Scoggins applying the pressure on the fence, and he drops Ortiz momentarily to the canvas — bounces right back up though. A couple of knees to Ortiz’s thighs, and they break. Back to center. Ortiz comes in winging punches, and as he closes in Scoggins tosses him to the ground. Right back up, though, goes Ortiz, and he snatches Scoggins’ back. He grabs him along fence and runs him down to the ground, trying to fish out a neck, but Scoggins right back up. They toil on fence. Scoggins has his forehead to Ortiz’s chin. They scramble on the takedown, and the sequence ends with Scoggins posting Ortiz on fence. Once again he trips him down, and once again Ortiz stands right back up. Repeat. Scoggins not letting Ortiz breathe though. Nice little punch there on the break. Close round. MMA Fighting scores R1 for Scoggins, 10-9.
Round 2: Ortiz moves in face, his chin up and throwing leather. He lands a couple of nice rights, and now shoots in on Scoggins, while Scoggins scrambles towards fence. Ortiz still trying for it, but Scoggins has leverage, and he’s hunches over Ortiz’s frame. Ortiz in side control, and he’s trying desperately to get in mount, but ends up in Scoggins’ guard. Small series of punches to Scoggins’ rib cage, and now some up-top chin music coming in too. Ortiz is swimming with his arms through Scoggins’ guard, landing very short range punches, but staying busy enough to keep Yamasaki at bay. In half guard now, and he gets to his feet, still latches to Scoggins’ back. As Scoggins tries to peel away, he dumps him back to the canvas. Back into side control, and he’s dropping acute elbows. He postures up, and ends up back in Scoggins’ guard, but still throwing punches when he can create space. Ben Askren yelling for Ortiz to posture and throw knees. The round ends with Ortiz on top blasting away at Scoggins’ ribs. MMA Fighting scores R2 for Ortiz, 10-9 (19-19 overall)
Round 3: Good action to start, as Ortiz comes in. They engage, and scramble, and right back to center. Scoggins sneaks in a nice right hand that might have hurt Ortiz a little bit. As Ortiz comes in with a combo and an uppercut, Scoggins takes him down. He is is Ortiz’s half guard. Ortiz able to scramble up, and right back to center. Ortiz swoops in and now they toil on fence. It’s Scoggins posting Ortiz. They remain there until Scoggins dumps Ortiz, and immediately Ortiz able to regain to his knees. As Scoggins tries to improve position, Ortiz slips out, and now snatches Scoggins’ leg, but can’t take him down. They reverse each other on fence in mad exchange and Ortiz finally spins Scoggins down, but there they hit impasse. Scoggins somersaults out, but Ortiz ends up back in his guard. Pretty frantic action from the flyweights. Ortiz now pounding away on Scoggins’ rib cage. Askren begging for him to posture and punch his face, but Ortiz can’t get the space. Round end that way. MMA Fighting scores R3 for Ortiz, 10-9 (29-28 overall for Ortiz).
TUF 19 Finale official results: Dustin Ortiz def. Justin Scoggins via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)