The UFC is a traveling circus of sorts, part sport and part entertainment. You never know what an event will bring. All we know for certain is that a collection of fighters will step into an eight-sided cage. The rest is anybody’s best guess.
Will an u…
The UFC is a traveling circus of sorts, part sport and part entertainment. You never know what an event will bring. All we know for certain is that a collection of fighters will step into an eight-sided cage. The rest is anybody’s best guess.
Will an underdog score a life-changing upset?
Will the show be filled top to bottom with exciting finishes? Or will the action remain at a kind of slow burn?
And, most importantly, who will Dana White yell at after the fights are all over?
Chad Dundas and Jonathan Snowden, two of Bleacher Report’s lead MMA writers and industry insiders, don’t have all the answers. Frankly, they likely have none. But each man has applied his keen wit to The Ultimate Fighter 18 Finale to bring you a collection of bold predictions about what’s to come.
Do you want to bring even hotter takes to the proverbial table? Make it happen, captain. Looking forward to the boldest of takes in the comments.
The 18th season of The Ultimate Fighter is set to close this Saturday, and the live finale will air on Fox Sports 1 from Las Vegas. This season features both male and female bantamweights, who will fight it out to win their respective tournam…
The 18th season of The Ultimate Fighter is set to close this Saturday, and the live finale will air on Fox Sports 1 from Las Vegas. This season features both male and female bantamweights, who will fight it out to win their respective tournaments on the card.
The card is headlined by Gray Maynard and Nate Diaz, who are set to fight for the third time ever. It is a competitive rivalry that dates back to TUF 5 and will likely end the night.
That being said, let’s take a look at the fights that could fish in fight night bonuses.
Submission of the Night: Chris Holdsworth
One man has run rampant through the competition on this season’s TUF, tapping out guys in the first round left and right. That man has been Chris Holdsworth.
In his time on the show, the Team Tate member has stopped Louis Fisette, Chris Beal and Michael Wootten via submission. All of his performances were quick and effective, making him an outright front-runner to win the male side of the bracket.
Davey Grant is big and tough on the ground, but the Team Alpha Male rep is on a different level and could secure a tapout as well as a post-fight bonus check.
Also in the running: Rani Yahya, Nate Diaz
Knockout of the Night: Jared Rosholt
There aren’t many possibilities for knockouts on this card, but heavyweight powerhouse Jared Rosholt can definitely get thing done with his fists.
The former Oklahoma State wrestler has shown intense stopping power and could easily stop Walter Harris. Not only could he stop it on the feet, but he could also use his nasty ground-and-pound to put the athletic Harris away.
Heavyweight knockouts are usually brutal, and if Rosholt can secure one himself, it could be a violent one.
Also in the running: Raquel Pennington, Gray Maynard
Fight of the Night: Gray Maynard-Nate Diaz
Nate Diaz is usually in fun firefights. Gray Maynard has been in slugfests recently. That could be the recipe for a Fight of the Night bonus.
Maynard’s power has been the key to his fights lately. His bouts with Frankie Edgar are evidence of that.
Diaz is a volume striker who lands multiple punches at a time. They aren’t the most powerful strikes, but they definitely add up.
This rubber match could be incredibly fun. Tune in to find out if these two put on a classic.
Also in the running: Julianna Pena-Jessica Rakoczy/Raquel Pennington, Jessamyn Duke-Peggy Morgan, Chris Holdsworth-Davey Grant
Former UFC lightweight title challenger Diego Sanchez is ready to make another run at the belt and he’d like to start with the winner of Nate Diaz vs. Gray Maynard III.
The bout headlines the finale of season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter …
Former UFC lightweight title challenger Diego Sanchez is ready to make another run at the belt and he’d like to start with the winner of Nate Diaz vs. Gray Maynard III.
The bout headlines the finale of season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter this Saturday and “The Dream” believes Maynard will be who settles the feud once and for all.
Man I need a fight! Im pretty sure after nate and gray fight ill have a opponent. want @NateDiaz209 but it will prob be gray #nateknows
His latest tweet from Tuesday afternoon is pretty interesting, considering just one month ago he was calling for a five-round scrap with a certain outspoken Stockton, California native.
Im thinking maybe natediaz for the next fight would be a epic 5 rounder.
Sanchez last competed at UFC 166 on October 19, putting together a 15-minute instant classic with former Strikeforce lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez.
The bout was an easy choice for the pay-per-view event’s “Fight of the Night” bonus and is on the short list for 2013’s “Fight of the Year.”
While the Greg Jackson’s MMA product is just 3-4 in his past seven bouts, he is 3-2 overall at 155 pounds with his losses coming to top-tier competition in Melendez and BJ Penn, fighting the latter for the title at UFC 107 in December 2009.
Meanwhile, Diaz and Maynard both could desperately use a win this weekend, as Diaz is on a two-fight losing streak while “The Bully” has compiled a 1-2-1 mark in his past four matchups.
Would Sanchez vs. Diaz or Sanchez vs. Maynard be a decent matchmaking play by the UFC after Saturday night?
John Heinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com.
Another injury has forced a reshuffle at UFC on Fox 9, as former UFC Flyweight Championship challenger John Moraga has dropped out of his scheduled bout with Darren Uyenoyama. In his place is a top flyweight outside the UFC in Alp Ozkilic.
This signing…
Another injury has forced a reshuffle at UFC on Fox 9, as former UFC Flyweight Championship challenger John Moraga has dropped out of his scheduled bout with Darren Uyenoyama. In his place is a top flyweight outside the UFC in Alp Ozkilic.
This signing has further bolstered the flyweight division, which keeps getting bigger and more talented as the days go by. Ozkilic, considered by many to be a top-five 125er outside the company, will certainly make the division even more talented.
Ozkilic‘s signing comes on the heels of the signing of his flyweight teammate Josh Sampo, who will compete this weekend at The Ultimate Fighter 18 Finale. Both men were college wrestling teammates who train out of St. Charles MMA in Missouri.
Ozkilic is much like Sampo in that he is a good wrestler with a solid submission base. The difference between Ozklic and Sampo is that Alp is probably the more powerful of the two, especially in the striking category.
He has especially shown that power and potential in his latest two outings, both of which came via knockout. After pasting journeyman Josh Robinson with nasty ground-and-pound, Ozkilic notched the biggest win of his career when he blasted through UFC vet Antonio Banuelos in just 30 seconds.
His matchup opposite of Uyenoyama provides an interesting chess match. Uyenoyama is a good wrestler that relies on his ground game to suffocate opponents. That may be tough against a better wrestler such as Ozkilic.
Most of Alp’s wins come via decision, showing that he can grind guys out as needed; however, one would think his plan here is to use his wrestling defensively while he chips away at Uyenoyama on the feet.
Alp’s only loss came back in April of last year, when he fell to current UFC bantamweight Chico Camus. Since then, however, he has grown leaps and bounds, showing to be a different fighter to this day.
The fight will take place on the prelims. Though the loss of Moraga is unfortunate, it’s great to see the UFC ink a future title contender like Ozkilic.
Stay tuned for more information from Bleacher Report as breaking news rolls in.
Follow me on Twitter for MMA news and other random thoughts (@RileyKontekMMA). Or don’t; that’s cool too.
Another season of The Ultimate Fighter is set to come to an end this weekend, as the historic season that featured women for the first time wraps up.
The card features plenty of alumni from different seasons, including Season Five, the …
Another season of The Ultimate Fighter is set to come to an end this weekend, as the historic season that featured women for the first time wraps up.
The card features plenty of alumni from different seasons, including Season Five, the live fifteenth season and the first Brazilian edition.
Not only will those participants be showcased, but those who took part in this season’s cast will get a chance to show off their skills.
Here are five reasons you need to watch TUF 18 Finale this Saturday on Fox Sports 1.
The Ultimate Fighter season 18 Finale is starting to take shape, as a huge women’s MMA bout between Team Rousey fighters Peggy Morgan and Jessamyn Duke has been announced by the UFC (via MMA Junkie).
TUF 18 has had a load of female talent on displ…
The Ultimate Fighter season 18 Finale is starting to take shape, as a huge women’s MMA bout between Team Rousey fighters Peggy Morgan and Jessamyn Duke has been announced by the UFC (via MMA Junkie).
TUF 18 has had a load of female talent on display, with almost all the women walking into the House with pro-level skills even before the season’s beginning. Morgan and Duke represented two of the most physically gifted athletes on the show this season, measuring 6’1″ and 5’11” respectively. On top of their frame, they both own strong grappling chops and serviceable striking.
Morgan won her way into the House by beating Bethany Marshall in convincing fashion (which you can watch here). However, she would go on to lose her quarterfinal bout with Team Tate’s Sarah Moras, who took her down and submitted her without incident.
Jessamyn Duke, meanwhile, roughed up Laura Howarth to get into the House (check it out here), but dropped a decision to Raquel Pennington that many pegged as one of the best fights in the history of women’s MMA. Duke’s combination of lengthy, Stefan Struve-like grappling and strong striking in the clinch made her a popular pick to win the show.
While both fighters lost their first official fight of the season, a combination of their obvious skills and the shallowness of the women’s division make them very valuable additions to the UFC in spite of that.
It is unknown as of yet which other fighters from TUF 18 will be making a return, but we know that Shayna Baszler will be cornering Jessamyn Duke and unable to fight at this time due to injury.
Well since it was announced, even tho injury is keeping me from fighting, I will still be at the #TUF18Finale helping corner @jessamynduke
The 18th season of The Ultimate Fighter is set to close this Saturday, and the live finale will air on Fox Sports 1 from