TUF 20 Finale Results: The Real Winners and Losers
The Ultimate Fighter Season 20 is over and done with. As its name suggested, a champion was crowned, as Carla Esparza received a shiny new belt and was declared the UFC's first-ever strawweight champion. Rose Namajunas, meanwhile, became the first fighter to fall short of the UFC's 115-pound strap.
Ten other fighters won. Ten other fighters lost. Other people who didn't even enter the cage were impacted by the fights Friday night.
The biggest winner of all, as one would expect, was Esparza. While a great deal can be extrapolated from any given UFC event, the label of "UFC champion" still counts a great deal for her present and future as a fighter. While Namajunas entered the cage as the favorite, Esparza quickly reminded everyone that the "top strawweight" discussion starts, and likely ends, with her.
The biggest loser, however, was not Namajunas. No, she still has a bright future ahead of her and, someday, will likely become a champion. The biggest loser in all this was the UFC.
The UFC's struggles when it comes to building stars are well-known. Namajunas, through The Ultimate Fighter alone, got over with fans in a profound way. With her looks, skills and savagery, she could have been an honest-to-goodness overnight star with a win. Alas, she came up well short of victory, and the UFC now has another fighter who has little appeal beyond the fact that she owns a UFC belt.
Who else won Friday night? Who else lost? Read on.
Real Winner: Prospects
1 of 11
Result
Angela Hill defeats Emily Peters Kagan by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27).
Real Winner: Prospects
Angela Hill was lacking in two things entering The House: experience and takedown defense. Well, with a few months of serious training under her belt, she has improved leaps and bounds. Against Emily Kagan, a grappler by trade, Hill stuffed takedown attempt after takedown attempt and lit up the Jackson-Winkeljohn fighter with superior striking. In the end, Kagan walked away as a battered mess, while Hill walked away with a 2-0 record.
Analysis
Hill was one of the few true prospects on this season of The Ultimate Fighter. Young and inexperienced, she had plenty of potential entering the show but was destined to come up short against Invicta champ and top seed Carla Esparza. Against softer competition, however, she established herself as somebody to watch in an interesting, fast-moving division.
Real Winner: Seasoned Veterans
2 of 11
Result
Aisling Daly defeats Alex Chambers via submission (armbar) at 4:53 of the first round.
Real Winner: Seasoned Veterans
Aisling Daly entered The Ultimate Fighter as one of its top veterans, and she looked the part against Alex Chambers. While Chambers scored an early takedown, Daly used her superior groundwork to lock up an armbar. While Chambers would miraculously escape, Daly scored a takedown of her own and advanced position until she once again isolated an arm. This time, however, she forced the Australian to tap.
Analysis
It was great work by Daly, frankly, and a great turn for the UFC. While the women's strawweight division is much deeper than the women's bantamweight division, it doesn't have too many fighters who have serious striking, wrestling and submissions. Daly is one of the few who do, however, and as such finds herself in a strong position rankings-wise.
With a couple of wins (assuming she is on point weight-wise), she could end up in the title mix. And with the UFC angling to deepen its roots in Ireland, she could become a particularly strong foothold in the region.
Real Loser: Shtick
3 of 11
Result
Tecia Torres defeats Angela Magana by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26).
Real Loser: Shtick
Angela Magana became one of the biggest names on this season of The Ultimate Fighter with her constant bullying of Heather Jo Clark. Unfortunately, that infamy did nothing for her in the cage against Tecia Torres. Magana did little to contend with Torres' striking and seemed almost content in absorbing punishment. That led to a lopsided scorecard from the judges and could also lead to a pink slip from Zuffa.
Analysis
Magana was more or less this season's main character, but her Twitter meltdown has basically touched every corner of MMA. For all her antics and shtick, though, she wasn't even a hint of a challenge for Torres.
As if that wasn't bad enough, she even failed to capitalize on her "queen" persona, being introduced as Angela "Your Majesty" Magana instead of "Her Majesty" Angela Magana. It was not a good night for her.
Real Winner: Weight Classes
4 of 11
Result
Joanne Calderwood defeats Seohee Ham by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26).
Real Winner: Weight Classes
There aren't many tougher draws a fighter can get for her UFC debut than Calderwood, but that is precisely what Ham had to face. While she put in an admirable effort, dancing around Calderwood in the first two rounds and bloodying her up with punches, Calderwood used her size and brutal clinch striking to take home a unanimous-decision win.
Analysis
You wouldn't think that a person could be dwarfed by a 115-pound woman, but there it was. Against the soft-spoken Scot, Ham looked like a child. That size difference paid dividends for Calderwood, who was able to wrench Ham around and set up devastating knees.
It was surprising how small Ham looked compared to Calderwood, frankly. Despite the South Korean's obvious skills, the strawweight division just doesn't seem to be for her.
Real Loser: Bullies
5 of 11
Result
Heather Jo Clark defeats Bec Rawlings by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).
Real Loser: Bullies
In a fight that functioned as the finale's foremost grudge match, Heather Jo Clark took on Bec Rawlings. The fight was always a question of whether Clark would tie up Rawlings against the fence or Rawlings could stay at range and unleash her scary punches and elbows. Clark managed to keep things under control for two rounds and weathered a third-round storm to earn the 29-28 decision win.
Analysis
Rawlings and Angela Magana were the primary villains of the season. While Clark is not quite an angel herself (read about her rivalry with Felice Herrig here), this still panned out to be a supreme "heel vs. face" matchup. And, well, the face won.
Rawlings remains one of the better fighters of the season, and her Australian nationality ensures she will remain on the roster. The damage to her brand, though, will linger on.
Real Winner: Hair-Pulling
6 of 11
Result
Felice Herrig defeats Lisa Ellis via submission (armbar) at 3:05 of the second round.
Real Winner: Hair-Pulling
Herrig has always walked the line between "high-level fighter" and "personality." When she wins, her muay thai skills and raw power make her one of the best at 115 pounds. When she loses, she is all sizzle and no steak.
Well, Friday night she was a high-level fighter. Against a game Lisa Ellis, Herrig defended early submission attempts and chained together triangle attempt after triangle attempt, eventually leading to a slick second-round armbar.
Analysis
Was there some edge-of-your-seat grappling going on in this fight? For sure. But the talk on Twitter was all about the hair-pulling:
"Herrig just full on pulled ellis’ hair to get her head into a triangle and uses it to transition to armbar ftw. #cheap #tuf20finale
— Sarah Kaufman (@mmasarah) December 13, 2014"
"Ugh the 15ers w/their hair pulling #TUF20
— Shayna Baszler (@QoSBaszler) December 13, 2014"
"Herrig doing the old hair pull to triangle bit. #IceCold #AlsoIllegal
— Luke Thomas (@SBNLukeThomas) December 13, 2014"
Real Winner: Jessica Penne
7 of 11
Result
Jessica Penne defeats Randa Markos by split decision (29-28, 30-27, 28-29).
Real Winner: Jessica Penne
In a battle between TUF20 semifinalists, Markos faced Penne. While Markos demonstrated impressive strength and toughness, Penne put on an absolute grappling clinic against a formidable opponent. She chained submissions, pulled off impressive sweeps and nailed sweet reversals.
While the fight officially went down as a split-decision win for Penne, this was still great work by the former Invicta champion.
Analysis
While Penne's skills are not a mystery among those who have followed women's MMA, this was likely a wake-up call for many. Her high-risk, high-reward style is exciting all on its own, but her ability to get out of disadvantageous positions through anatomy-defying flexibility is worthy of TV-style double-takes.
It is anyone's guess how far she can go in her UFC strawweight career, but it should be quite a ride regardless.
Real Winner: Stockton 209 My Boy Gilbert Melendez Diaz Academy WHAT?!
8 of 11
Result
Yancy Medeiros defeats Joe Proctor via submission (guillotine) at 4:37 of the first round.
Real Winner: Stockton 209 My Boy Gilbert Melendez Diaz Academy WHAT?!
Yancy Medeiros kicked off the men's portion of the card in exciting fashion. After some back-and-forth action with Joe Proctor, Medeiros landed a devastating spinning kick to the body that curled Proctor into a fetal position. From there, he locked up a tight guillotine choke to finish the fight, earning yet another impressive stoppage.
Analysis
Sure, Medeiros put on a good fight...but the real action started once he got the microphone. After training with the Diaz brothers, Medeiros isn't just good at putting on edge-of-your-seat performances, but he has also mastered the art of the Nate Diaz laundry list of shout-outs.
Real Loser: Fight Fans
9 of 11
Result
KJ Noons and Daron Cruickshank go to a no-contest (accidental eye poke).
Real Loser: Fight Fans
Noons is a fighter with a jaw-dropping highlight reel. Cruickshank is one of the most exciting, dynamic strikers in MMA today. Putting them together for a fight was a recipe for 2014 Fight of the Year...so naturally, something had to go wrong.
After a round of back-and-forth action, Noons somehow landed an uppercut of fingers to Cruickshank's eye. He was visibly bloodied by this, and the fight was called off not long after.
Analysis
Ugh. How disappointing.
Seriously, go over to YouTube and look up either man's highlight reel. The MMA gods are cruel to have teased this fight, only to pull it away from us.
Real Loser: Bouncing Back
10 of 11
Result
Charles Oliveira defeats Jeremy Stephens by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28).
Real Loser: Bouncing Back
This was supposed to be Jeremy Stephens' fight. With his clubbing right hand and newfound takedown defense, he was surely going to be too much for the submission specialist Charles Oliveira. Right?
Wrong, apparently. Oliveira nearly finished Stephens in the first round with a triangle armbar and irrevocably took the wind out of Stephens' sails. Lil' Heathen found himself on his back foot for basically the entire fight and just could not find any sustained offense. The result? A convincing win for Oliveira.
Analysis
The Stephens who dominated Darren Elkins and knocked out Cole Miller would have made quick work out of Oliveira. Unfortunately, the Stephens who got his face punched clean off by Yves Edwards and got outpointed by Melvin Guillard is the guy who showed up.
Stephens, for whatever reason, just cannot seem to bounce back after a loss. His UFC career record consists of alternating streaks of red and green. While he might have actually been a legitimate contender entering his fight with Cub Swanson in June, the Stephens of today is functionally a steppingstone for high-end prospects.
Real Loser: Rose Namajunas' Hype Train
11 of 11
Results
Carla Esparza defeats Rose Namajunas via submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:26 of the third round.
Real Loser: Rose Namajunas' Hype Train
Namajunas sliced through her competition on The Ultimate Fighter like a pizza cutter through risen dough. Her obvious talent, coupled with her rapid development, earned her favored status with the oddsmakers entering fight night.
Esparza didn't care, though. With her powerful takedowns and smothering top game, she wore Namajunas out and scored a third-round stoppage. With that, she became the UFC's first strawweight champion.
Analysis
Namajunas was lights-out on The Ultimate Fighter, scoring submissions over Alex Chambers, Joanne Calderwood and Randa Markos. The development she showed between Invicta and The Ultimate Fighter was absurd, but Esparza was just too much for her. It's a tale we have seen many times in and out of TUF.
This most certainly is not the last we have seen of Namajunas. She will be a top-10 fighter at 115 pounds for years to come, and saying that she will one day hold the belt is not a bold claim.
Right now, however, is not her time.
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