TUF 27 Finale Full Report: Adesanya Dominates In Scorecards

For wrestling fans, the best way to put the TUF 27 finale into their world is to call it the night before Wrestlemania. Tonight’s card has its own type of shine, but at the same time is a way to get everyone ready for what’s to come tomorrow. The Ultimate Fighter’s 27th season finale takes place in the Pearl Theatre, which is in Paradise, Nevada. Main event of the evening is Middleweight Brad Tavares versus Israel Adesanya. Below them on the main card is the finale for the Lightweight and Featherweight TUF tournament. To crown the Lightweight tournament winner, Mike Trizano faced Joe Giannetti. The Featherweight tournament saw Jay Cucciniello against Brad Katona. Below those three featured bouts were 9 other fights, starting on the UFC Fight Pass Early Prelims with Gerald Meerschaert facing Oskar Piechota.

 

1. Starting off the evening was Gerald Meerschaert and Oskar Piechota in a Middleweight fight. In the first round Piechota was very dominant. He got a takedown early on, but got stood up. Piechota took it to the ground once again with a minute to go. In the second round Meerschaert was landing lots of strikes that were unanswered. After minutes of strikes, Meerschaert put in a Rear Naked Choke that put Piechota to sleep. From the first to the second round, it was quite the impressive comeback from Meerschaert.

 

My Scorecard:

Fighter	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
Meerschaert	9
Piechota	10

 

2. Ending off the early prelims was Matt Bessette against Steven Peterson in a Featherweight bout. Early into the first round Peterson went for a Guillotine that Bessette escaped. Bessette dominated with the strikes in the first and second round. The third round was much slower with both fighters gassing out. The fight went the distance, with the judges giving Peterson the win via Split Decision (29-28, 29-28 & 29-28).

 

My Scorecard:

Fighter	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
Bessette	10	9	9	28
Peterson	9	10	10	29

 

3. Switching to FS1, Bryce Mitchell and Tyler Diamond, two members of Team Cormier in Ultimate Fighter, face each other. Both fighters were on the Featherweight part of Cormier’s team. The mutual respect between both fighters was really seen during this fight. Diamond got a takedown shortly after he was accidentally hit below. In the second round Mitchell put in a very right Triangle hold while elbowing his head. After being in the triangle for a long time, Diamond escaped. Diamond got a decent amount of strikes in at the end. It was hard to score the second round. Diamond had complete control in round 3, starting and finishing strong. The fight went the distance with Bryce Mitchell winning by Majority Decision (29-28, 29-28 & 28-28).

 

My Scorecard:

Fighter	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
Diamond	9	9	10	29
Mitchell	10	10	9	28

 

4. John Gunther, who as the broadcast team has mentioned many times, trims alpacas for a living outside of MMA. A fan even shouted something along those lines to him during the fight. Anyways, Gunther fought Allan Zuniga in a Lightweight fight. Gunther showcased successful ground game in the first round. In the second round Zuniga tried his hardest to stay off the ground where that’s all Gunther wanted to be at. Online people seemed to be really bored by this fight. In the final 10 seconds of the fight it really started cracking, with both fighters tee’ing off. It went the distance, like many fights tonight, with the judges giving John Gunther a Majority Decision (29-28, 29-28 & 28-28). In the post fight interview Gunther gave an Alpaca scream, or something. I can’t judge if the impression was accurate or not.

 

My Scorecard:

Fighter	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
Gunther	10	10	10	30
Zuniga	9	9	9	27

 

5. Up next was Luis Pena versus Richie Smullen. Luis Pena has an impressive afro, coining his nickname “Violent Bob Ross”. It has to be a very recent nickname for Pena since in his Sherdog photo he is bald. Smullen has three wins going into this fight, while Pena has two. After a few minutes of ground game Pena dropped Smullen with strikes. Pena then finished the fight with a Guillotine on the ground.

 

My Scorecard:

Fighter	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
Pena
Smullen

 

6. The final fight before the main card was Montana De La Rosa against Rachael Ostovich in a Flyweight bout. They both appeared in past seasons of TUF. The first round was mostly standing with De La Rosa landing many strikes that got Ostovich backing up. In the final round Ostovich put in an Armbar that the crowd was really behind. De La Rosa eventually escaped. Ostovich seemingly gassed out after the Armbar, because De La Rose started really getting her with strikes. De La Rosa was able to secure a win with a Rear Naked Choke.

 

My Scorecard:

Fighter	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
De La Rosa	10	9
Ostovich	9	10

 

7. In the first fight on the main card, Alessio Di Chirico faced Julian Marquez in Catchweight 190 lbs. It was Marquez who missed weight, making this a Catchweight bout. The first round was nearly all stand up swinging. It was very hard to decide who got the first round. Marquez had a better second round than first, with good stand up game and a good attempt at a Kimura. The fight went the distance in easily one of the most entertaining fights of the night. The judges ruled in favour of Di Chirico via (30-27 Marquez, 29-28 Chirico & 29-28 Di Chirico).

 

My Scorecard:

Fighter	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
Di Chirico	10	9	9	28
Marquez	9	10	10	29

 

8. In the eighth fight of the evening, #7 rank Flyweight Barb Honchak faced #8 rank Roxanne Modafferi. Modafferi showed off her personality at the Weigh-Ins yesterday, wearing a Dragon Ball-Z wig while standing on the scale. The first round was nearly all standing while Modafferi was completely dominant on the ground in the second. The fight came to a close in the second when Modafferi finished the fight with elbows on the ground.

 

My Scorecard:

Fight	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
Modafferi #8	10
Honchak #7	9

 

9. In the final fight before we crown TUF winners, we have Martin Bravo against Alex Caceres in a Featherweight fight. The first round of the fight felt like a warmup for Caceres. In the second round he really broke into a stride, landing lots of significant strikes and winning the round (on my scorecard). The third round was the closest, with Bravo showing more life than what he did in the second. Caceres seemed to panic in the third, going for a takedown at one point to slow the pace of the fight. The fight went the distance, with Caceres getting the Split Decision from the judges (29-28, 29-28 & 29-28).

 

My Scorecard:

Fight	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
Bravo	10	9	10	29
Caceres	9	10	9	28

 

10. In the first of two tournament finals tonight, Jay Cucciniello faced Brad Katona to crown The Ultimate Fighter Season 27 Featherweight Winner. Cucciniello lost in the first round of the bracket, but was given a second chance after Ricky Steele got injured and couldn’t fight. In the first round, which was a very slow round, Katona dropped Cucciniello with a strike. Since such little else happened in the round, that could have easily been what gave Katona the round. Early in the second round an almost identical situation happened. A minute in Katona got a takedown. The fight went all 15 minutes. All three judges gave Brad Katona a 30-26. Unanimously, Brad became an Ultimate Fighter (30-26, 30-26 & 30-26). Dana White was in the ring to award Katona with his trophy.

 

My Scorecard:

Fighter	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
Cucciniello	9	9	9	27
Katona	10	10	10	30

 

11. From one tournament final to another. Mike Trizano faced Joe Giannetti to decide the winner from the Lightweight bracket. This fight was very uneventful, going the distance. The crowd booed in disapproval once the third round ended. By Split Decision Michael Trizano won (29-28, 29-28 & 29-28).

 

My Scorecard:

Fighter	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
Giannetti	9	10	9	28
Trizano	10	9	10	29

 

12. Finally, the main event of the evening. The pacing of this show was completely off compared to the traditional UFC show. As this main event was getting started, UFC had just started to go over their schedule time slot, which ended at 1 AM Eastern. But enough complaining, because Israel Adesanya faced Brad Tavares #8 in a Middleweight clash. In the fourth round there was a pause in the fight so that medical at ringside could check a nasty cut around Tavares’ right eye. Looking at it in-between rounds, it was disgusting honestly. The cutman fit the whole tip of the cloth he was using into the gash to get blood. The type of injury you can’t fathom having. Adesanya was pretty dominant for most rounds except the first round, which could have went either way. These two guys were just slugging away round after round. The fight went all five rounds. The judges gave Adesanya the win via Unanimous Decision (49-46, 50-45 & 50-45).

 

My Scorecard:

Fighter	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Total
Adesanya	9	10	10	10	10	49
Tavares #8	10	9	9	9	9	46

 

Now that this event is out of the way, all sights are set on tomorrow’s card. Of course in the main event is Daniel Cormier moving up to Heavyweight to challenge Stipe Miocic for his Championship. The co-main event that was thrown away just days ago was Max Holloway versus Brian Ortega. The fight got taken off the card after a recurring health scare going on with Max Holloway. Hopefully he is able to heal up and be 100% sooner rather than later. Because of this scratch, Derek Lewis versus Francis Ngannou was moved into the co-main event slot. The two fighters have been no short of intense this weekend, with a face-off at the weigh-ins that got slightly physical. The card has many other exciting matchups all the way down the card, making it an exciting, very PPV worthy card. All has been said and done, and now it’s time to see who will come out victorious.