The Ultimate Fighter Finale - Court McGee Wins The Ultimate Fighter, Matt Hamill Beats Keith Jardine

No one will ever confuse Court McGee vs. Kris McCray with a great UFC bout, but there was a lot riding on the line with the winner being crowned the winner of this season’s Ultimate Fighter. In the end it was Court McGee that added his name to the list of TUF winners with a second round rear naked choke.

For the entire fight McCray could not get on track as McGee was outstriking and outwrestling him. On the ground McCray had no answer for the jiu-jitsu of McGee as he was, at multiple points, able to pass to mount or take the back. It was a pretty stunning display by McGee where he was able to transition to the back and sink in the rear naked choke in the second.

Originally planned as the main event the bout between established light heavyweights Matt Hamill and Keith Jardine turned out to be a very solid bout.

Both men had moments during the three rounds where it looked as though their gameplan would throw the other man off enough to earn the decision. However, the true story of the fight may come down to the moment in the second round when referee Herb Dean deducted a point following an accidental eye poke by Jardine. It is extremely rare (and extremely wrong) to deduct a point for the first accidental foul of a fight. The penalty turned the second round into a 10-8 and likely changed the strategy of Jardine going forward.

Many fans and experts considered Chris Leben to be a gatekeeper at best in his current place in the UFC. Aaron Simpson was a rising star and people thought that he would break right through that gate.

Simpson did a very good job in the first round of landing hard punches and got some nice takedowns to dominate the round. Simpson’s reputation was one of having close to an unending gas tank, but that reputation proved to be a bit more bluster than truth as he faded after being unable to put Leben away in the opening frame. Leben did his normal thing of surviving the best the other guy could throw at him before being able to start landing his heavy punches.

Dennis Siver defeated Spencer Fisher in a close fight at the Ultimate Fighter Finale. Siver was cut badly in the first round by a clash of heads but it didn’t stop him from pouring on pressure for the rest of the fight and outworking Fisher with a variety of strikes including a nice leg kick attack.

Fisher was game for the entire fight as he attempted to find ways to effectively use his length but he couldn’t keep the shorter Siver from getting inside and doing work. The flashy strikes of Siver, including his famous spinning back kick, were not landing but he did manage to continually land to the legs.

In the main card opening bout of The Ultimate Fighter finale Rich Attonito survived a tough first round where season bad boy, Jamie Yager, was able to use his diverse striking to keep Attonito from finding his distance or timing. Throughout the opening round it was Yager bouncing around and landing hard leg kicks and solid hooks with both hands. Attonito was throwing a lot of single punch counters that weren’t landing while Yager was scoring seemingly at will. Yager was even able to skillfully defend against the takedown multiple times.

However, by the end of the opening frame Yager was fading and staring to get tired. Attonito capitalized on this in the second round as he was able to get inside and throw hooks that landed. It became clear early in the second that Yager was in trouble and eventually Attonito got the takedown and took Jamie’s back. From there it just took a flurry of punches and the fight was stopped.