The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was live with The Ultimate Fighter Season 24 Finale this past Saturday night (December 3, 2016) and saw Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson make his ninth successful UFC Flyweight title defense with a unanimous-decision win over Tim Elliott. The event saw eight of 12 scheduled bouts hit the judges’ scorecards for a decision, many of which were wars that were in the running for the evening’s ‘Fight of the Night’ honors. After the event concluded, the UFC awarded $50,000 to two fighters for ‘Performance of the Night’ and two fighters for ‘Fight of the Night’. The lines to wager on these props were available at Several Bookmakers. The TUF 24 Finale post-fight bonus winners were… Jared Cannonier and Ion Cutelaba earn Fight of the Night honors for their three-round battle on the evening’s main card. The pair exchanged from the opening bell until the closing bell, with both fighters having their moments. The first round clearly went to Cutelaba, and the second and third were very close, but Cannonier appeared to have edged them in the eyes of the judges at Octagon-side, as they awarded him the victory by unanimous decision. It was a very entertaining scrap from start to finish and many fight fans felt that it was the best non-title light heavyweight UFC fight we had seen in a while. Noteworthy fight(s): – Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson defeated Tim Elliott via unanimous decision after five entertaining rounds of action that nearly saw the champ lose his belt in the opening stanza. Personally, I thought this was the best fight of the night, and it made me a bigger fan of both flyweight fighters than I already was. – Joseph Benavidez defeated Henry Cejudo via unanimous decision in a closely-contested bout that saw both flyweights have their moments, and many felt this bout should have been scored a draw. Many also felt the bout deserved ‘Fight of the Night’ honors. – Brandon Moreno defeated Ryan Benoit via split decision on the judges’ scorecards following three entertaining rounds of action that saw both 125-pounders have their moments, but ultimately it was takedowns secured by Moreno that earned him the split call on the cards. Sara McMann earns Performance of the Night for her second-round arm-triangle choke submission win over Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Alexis Davis. The victory puts McMann at two straight inside the Octagon, and she hopes that another crack at the title is around the corner. Anthony Smith earns Performance of the Night for his second round come-from-behind TKO of Elvis Mutapcic. He was outgrappled in the first round but took over in the second when Mutapcic appeared to be rapidly fading, eventually landing an elbow to knock him down. Then a barrage of punches forced the referee to call the action. A solid win for Smith, who returns to the win column at 185 pounds. Noteworthy Performance(s): – None.
