The TUF 18 Finale took place tonight in Las Vegas, NV, and overall the event proved to be a solid night of fights, full of exciting finishes for the most part. Overall, seven betting favorites won while just two underdogs hit, and one fight closed as a true Pick ’em. Here’s a betting recap of the TUF 18 Finale based on the closing odds at Several Bookmakers: TUF 18 Finale Betting Favorites That Won In the finals of the TUF 18 women’s bantamweight tournament, Julianna Pena defeated Jessica Rakoczy via first-round TKO (punches and elbows) to win a six-figure contract with the UFC and emerge as a top contender. Pena cashed out as a -290 favorite (bet $290 to win $100), while Rakoczy lost as a +260 underdog (bet $100 to win $260). In the finals of the TUF 18 men’s bantamweight tournament, Chris Holdsworth defeated Davey Grant via submission (rear-naked choke) to win a six-figure contract with the UFC. Holdsworth is a stud and scored the win as a -200 favorite, while Grant was a +185 underdog. In a women’s bantamweight bout, Jessamyn Duke took out Peggy Morgan via unanimous decision. Duke dominated to win as a -235 fav and Morgan was a +215 dog. In a women’s bantamweight bout that kicked off the main card, Raquel Pennington defeated Roxanne Modafferi via unanimous decision. Pennington beat down Modafferi to cash as a -450 favorite, while her opponent was a +400 underdog. In a heavyweight bout, Jared Rosholt defeated Walt Harris via unanimous decision. Although Harris won the first round, Rosholt came back and won round two and three to win the decision as a -245 fav, while Harris was a +225 dog. In a welterweight bout, Sean Spencer defeated Drew Dober via unanimous decision. Spencer absolutely beat the brakes out of Dober on the feet, and cashed as a -230 fav, while Dober was a +210 dog. In a flyweight bout, Josh Sampo defeated Ryan Benoit via second-round submission (rear-naked choke). Sampo was put in some bad spots by Benoit, but proved to be the better fighter and won as a -115 fav, while Benoit lost at +105. TUF 18 Finale Betting Underdogs That Won In the main event of the evening, Nate Diaz defeated Gray Maynard via TKO (punches). Diaz absolutely smashed Maynard’s face with a brutal onslaught of straight punches early in the first and the fight was soon stopped by the ref. Diaz cashed out at +120, while Maynard lost at -130. In a featherweight bout, Akira Corassani defeated Maximo Blanco via DQ. Although Blanco controlled the early part of the match with his striking, Corassani was hit with an illegal knee that was deemed intentional and after he was not able to continue, Blanco was DQed. The strange ruling saw Corassani cash as a +175 dog, while Blanco was a -190 fav. Other In a featherweight fight, Tom Niinimaki defeated Rani Yahya in his UFC debut via split decision. Niinimaki controlled the grappling and deserved to win the fight via decision. Niinimaki closed at -105, while Yahya closed at -105 in what was a true Pick ’em fight.
