TUF 14 Finale : Team Bisping vs Team Miller

After a successful season which produced many great fights, season fourteen of The Ultimate Fighter came to an end on Saturday night. This season saw eight featherweights and eight bantamweights move into the house to compete for a UFC contract, with the two coaches going head to head being the outspoken and generally disliked Michael 'The Count' Bisping coming up against the outspoken and generally well liked Jason 'Mayhem' Miller. Each coach had two fighters in the final, with Diego Brandao (Team Bisping) fighting Dennis Bermudez (Team Miller) for the featherweight title, and T.J Dillshaw (Team Bisping) coming up against John Dodson (Team Miller) in the bantamweight final.


Michael 'The Count' Bisping -vs- Jason 'Mayhem' Miller

Six years after his last bout in the UFC, when he took on GSP in April 2005, Mayhem Miller finally made his comeback to the octagon. Miller spent time in organisations such as Strikeforce and DREAM, recording victories over fighters like Tim Kennedy and MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba and losing to Jake Shields via decision and returned a better fighter but in Michael Bisping he faced a very well rounded opponent.

Mayhem began the first round pushing the pace, and landing some shots on Bisping, before getting the takedown midway through the round. He managed to land a few shots while he had had Bisping's legs trapped in a triangle, but when he tried to transition to a mount Bisping managed to get back to his feet.

It was in the second round Mayhem suffered a adrenaline dump. He began looking tired, and his shots didn't have the same speed or precision as the first round. This could be attributed to the fact Miller hadn't fought since September of last year. Bisping started finding his range, with Miller taking some heavy shots and knees pressed against the cage. To his credit, Miller has a good chin, but the fight could possibly have been stopped by the end of the second when Bisping was on top him using his ground and pound. Miller didn't have any answer for Bispings shots the entire round and all four of his takedown attempts were easily stuffed.

The fight followed the same story line in the third, with Miller eating some big shots and Bisping stuffing any takedown attempt. Miller eventually curled up in the middle of the octagon covering himself while Bisping landed some knees to the body. It soon became clear Mayhem wasn't defending himself, and the referee called a stop to the fight three and a half minutes in to the third round.

Diego Brandao -vs- Dennis Bermudez

During the entire season one thing became apparent, and that was none of the featherweights wanted to fight Diego Brandao. The Brazilian, fighting out of Greg Jackson's gym in New Mexico, knocked out each of his opponents on the show.

Bermudez took the fight to Brandao at the start, and caught him with some early shots. One thing we never seen during the series was Brandao fight from the back foot, and he didn't look too comfortable. But it looked like this fight would end like all his others when a huge overhand right connected with Bermudez, followed by a left hook and also a flying knee attempt. But if fans were expecting Brandao to find the finish they may have been surprised when Bermudez connected with a right of his own, flooring the Brazilian. But as he began to throw down hammer fists he left his left arm open, allowing Brandao to show his slick Jiu Jitsu skills, finding the armbar after a swift turn, leaving Bermudez to tap out.

Such was the performance of both fighters they manged to win Fight Of The Night, and with Brandao leaving with Submission Of The Night as well as the UFC contract.


T.J Dillashaw -vs- John Dodson

He may not be a team player, but John Dodson is going to cause a lot of fighters in the UFC problems. T.J Dillashaw, a teammate of Urijah Faber at Team Alpha Male, has a wrestling pedigree and one can only assume his game plan was to take Dodson to the ground. Easier said than done. When faced with somebody with good takedown defence such as John Dodson, you have to set up your takedowns with strikes. Dillashaw's problem? He couldn't get near Dodson. Every time he threw a punch Dodson would just jump out of the way, and jumped back into range immediately, such was his speed.  Then, almost two minutes in to the first round, Dodson connected with the back of the head of Dillashaw to win the UFC contract. It may have been a questionable stoppage but Dillashaw's legs had gone to jelly and Dodson caught him with two follow up strikes.


It proved to be a clean sweep for Greg Jackson, as both Brandao and Dodson train at his gym, adding to numerous other UFC fighters in the camp.


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