Building Divisions and Contenders
The UFC continued their tradition of hosting a reality show to determine who will be the next fighters in the UFC.
The Ultimate Fighter has been an extremely important show for the UFC and in a sense, it is a way to find new talent.
Of course, not everyone that comes out of the show makes it big and sometimes the winners are not the biggest names in each season.
Still, it is a way to bring new talent to the promotion and more often than not the UFC uses the show to find talent where they need talent.
There are multiple examples of the UFC using the show to launch an entirely new weight class and determine a champion.
Sometimes they just try to find young talent in divisions that are suffering through a slow period.
This new season was an attempt o build two divisions that need the help more than almost any other in the UFC.
One has been a division that has been in trouble for years and is finally starting to show signs of life.
The heavyweight division has been full of older fighters for a long time but young fighters like Francis N’Gannou, Curtis Blaydes, Derrick Lewis and Stipe Miocic are making noise.
To try to capture that momentum the UFC brought in a new group of heavyweights into the TUF house looking for a new star.
Like in so many years before the tournament provided a chance for at least one fighter to break through and become an immediate part of the heavyweight challengers.
This year that chance was taken by a Spanish fighter from the Canary Islanders as Juan Espino was able to take care of Justin Frazier in the finale.
The fight was a display in what Espino can bring to the division as he has the rounded game that can be successful.
He avoided the big punches from Frazier and took the fight to the ground where he was able to lock in an armbar.
The fight was over and Espino earned himself a six-figure contract with the UFC as he will join the many names head of him as TUF champions.
With the division still changing he could find himself competing for a title soon if he can continue to display his ground game in a division where that is lacking.
The other part of the show featured another new division on the UFC roster in the women’s featherweight division.
This division was essentially created for Cyborg the woman many consider the be the greatest female fighter ever, at least skill-wise.
The problem is that Cyborg took the title and was left with a division without many fighters to defend her belt against.
The UFC has been building the division slowly looking for those challengers and a part of that was trying to find new talent on the show.
That finale came down to two impressive women in Pannie Kianzad, looking to be the first Iraqi fighter in the UFC, and Macy Chiasson, a New Orleans fighter who had a record of 2-0.
The fight took place mostly on the ground with both fighters looking to finish the fight early but it was Chiasson that got the advantage.
In the second round, Chiasson locked in a choke and submitted Kianzad to take the win and enter into a fairly new division.
The UFC once again brought in two new fighters and is sure to look at others fro the show as they continue to try to build divisions through the show.
The heavyweight and women’s featherweight divisions are in need of a boost and so two new bigger names are in plus more from the show to try to continue to produce stars.
One division not in need of any new stars has been the welterweight division where the talent level has grown to a scary point.
Throughout the top ten, there are great fighters who could all win the title leaving Tyron Woodley with a murderer’s row of challengers.
Two such challengers faced off in the main event of the TUF 28 Finale with Kamaru Usman putting his 10-fight win streak on the line against former lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos.
It was one of the tougher tests for Usman but he passed with the ability to land enough on the feat and to stuff the ground game of Dos Anjos.
He took the unanimous decision and continued his run through the division not leaving a lot to argue against for his consideration at the top of the division.
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