UFC Ultimate Finale 9 Recap - Fight of the Year Candidate

The UFC has seen some intense fights in its day: from the Ken Shamrock-Tito Ortiz wars to the Georges St. Pierre-Matt Serra rematch.

But most of the fighters in those matches had true bad blood with each other. The Clay Guida vs. Diego Sanchez battle at on Saturday night at The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 Finale in Las Vegas happened to be just as intense simply because it was a matchup of two fighters who refuse to give an inch and absolutely never believe in the possibility of losing.

After staring holes right through each other, Guida and Sanchez engaged in a three-round lightweight war that left many spectators wondering if Guida was actually human after the immense punishment he took in the first round.

Sanchez, the betting favorite at the BetUS Sportsbook coming in, used Guida’s face for target practice in the first round as he got the better of virtually every exchange and then later dropped him toward the end of the round with a powerful high kick.

Guida surprisingly seemed unfazed going into the second round, maintaining his boundless energy and going on the attack. He started to work his top control game in the second, keeping Sanchez down but not inflicting a ton of damage. The resourceful Sanchez landed some elbows from the bottom that cut the top of Guida’s head that left him leaking uncontrollably and it was a blood bath after that.

The third round was much closer as Guida worked some more top control on the ground and Sanchez made a few submission attempts but was unable to lock them in.

Afterwards, both fighters praised each other’s efforts in what was one of the best fights of the year and Sanchez took home a split-decision win that might have put him in line for a title shot against the UFC 101 winner of the Kenny Florian-BJ Penn title match.

The night’s other star-studded lightweight battle saw Joe Stevenson score a mild betting upset as he used his superior strength and wrestling to bully lanky jiu-jitsu specialist Nate Diaz around the Octagon, leading to a unanimous decision and snapping a two-fight losing streak. Now, questions will undoubtedly dog Diaz about whether he’s strong enough to compete in the division.

Two Ultimate Fighter winners were also crowned on the night as Team UK representative Ross Pearson won the lightweight contract with a fairly uneventful unanimous decision win over countryman Andre Winner. The fight was even for the first two rounds until Pearson landed a knee and an elbow late that opened up a cut under Winner’s left eye.

James Wilks, also of the UK, was crowned the other Ultimate Fighter winner on the night after he slapped a rear-naked choke on lone US representative DeMarques Johnson late in the first round to win the welterweight contract.

Wilks called it the best moment of his life and will now open his own MMA gym in Laguna Hills, California.

Chris “Lights Out” Lytle was also victorious on the main card as he scored a unanimous decision win over Kevin Burns in the welterweight division.