Top 10 moments from The Ultimate Fighter in 2014
Over the course of 2014 there were two separate seasons of The Ultimate Fighter with three new winners from the long running reality show being crowned, including the first ever women's strawweight champion resulting from season 20 of the show.
There were plenty of highs and admittedly some lows as well, but the two seasons of The Ultimate Fighter in the past year had a lot of great moments to remember.
As 2015 kicks off and the announcement of a new season of The Ultimate Fighter looming overhead, today we take a look back at the top 10 moments from the show from this past year.
Combining Team Edgar vs. Team Penn from season 19 as well as The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned, these are the most memorable fights, altercations and results from the past year of the reality show.
10. Rose Namajunas vs. Joanne Calderwood
This second round matchup in the women's strawweight tournament was definitely the best of the season as Rose Namajunas caught Joanne Calderwood in a submission to finish the fight and punch her ticket to the semifinals on the show.
Namajunas threw everything she had at Calderwood on the ground, but the scrappy Scottish fighter wasn't about to go out without a fight. She battled back in the second round and nailed the upstart American with some hard shots from the clinch as well as a couple of elbows for good measure. Eventually, Namajunas dragged the fight back to the mat before she locked up a fight ending kimura that put her into the next round of the tournament.
It was one of the best fights in TUF history and definitely deserved recognition as one of the top moments of the year.
9. Most Controversial Ending in TUF History
In one of the most bizarre endings in the history of The Ultimate Fighter, Team Penn member Roger Zapata got a majority decision win over Ian Stephens with just about no one believing he actually should have walked away victorious.
Stephens seem to out work and out wrestle Zapata for the biggest chunk of all three rounds, not to mention Zapata lost a point for illegal elbows, which meant he was already well behind on the scorecards when the fight came to an end.
Still the judges somehow returned a verdict that saw Zapata get the win. UFC president Dana White was irate. Coach Frankie Edgar was maybe even angrier. But the judges' decision stood and Zapata moved on in the competition while just about everybody who watched the fight and then saw the result was forced to pick their jaws up from the floor, trying to figure out what just happened.
8. TUF 19 Finalists Vindicated
When the book about The Ultimate Fighter is finally written, no one is probably going to champion season 19 as the year with the best fights that have ever taken place in the history of the show. As a matter of fact, UFC president Dana White was on record saying this was one of the worst seasons in history when it came to the elimination tournament that took place in the light heavyweight and middleweight divisions during season 19.
So it was with great pleasure to see finalists -- Corey Anderson and Eddie Gordon -- show up in a huge way at the finale back in July.
Eddie Gordon came storming out of the gate in his fight against Dhiego Lima, putting away his fellow Team Edgar teammate in 71 seconds. Not to be outdone, Anderson made even shorter work of Matt Van Buren, finishing the fight in just 61 seconds by TKO.
It was good to see both Anderson and Gordon stand tall after taking a public relations beating for months while the show aired.
7. Patrick Holohan Dedicates His Fight to Aisling Daly
You can't write this kind of moment in a reality show.
Aisling Daly -- a veteran mixed martial artist from Ireland -- was struggling to keep up during her time on the show this past season. Thousands of miles from home, Daly felt like a stranger in a strange land trying to adapt to life in Las Vegas. Her spirits were instantly lifted when the UFC allowed the fighters to watch the UFC Fight Night card from Dublin, which took place while the show was being filmed.
Daly was already heartbroken she couldn't be at the show, but her frown turned upside down when her teammate Patrick Holohan took time after his debut win to dedicate the performance to her and wish the women's fighter the best of luck while she was doing her thing on The Ultimate Fighter.
Daly was elated and watching it all unfold on film was just a touching moment between teammates and longtime friends.
6. Dan Spohn with a Knockout of the Year Candidate
The entry fights to even make it onto The Ultimate Fighter can sometimes be a mixed bag of results. Sometimes fighters try to do just enough to win so they can stay healthy going into the show. Others try to put on a serious performance to impress the coaches as well as UFC president Dana White, who is always sitting cage side to watch the bouts.
Ohio native Dan Spohn certainly falls into the latter category when it comes to his entrance to the show after he knocked out former heavyweight Tyler King with a face-planting knockout to kick off The Ultimate Fighter season 19.
The knockout was so fierce just about everyone gasped as Spohn connected flush with a punch and King stumbled and then fell like a redwood getting chopped down in the forest. The fight stands as one of the greatest finishes in TUF history and maybe even UFC history as well.
5. Randa Markos Arrives
The rankings on The Ultimate Fighter this past season said Canadian fighter Randa Markos was a solid No. 14. She had much different ideas.
Markos took the ranking as a challenge to prove she belonged and it didn't take long for her to show it when she went out and beat No. 3 ranked Tecia Torres in the opening round of the tournament. Torres was a heavy favorite to not only do well on the show, but potentially be a title contender at the end of it. Instead, Markos stole her thunder with an impressive performance to win in the opening round.
To keep her momentum going, Markos then took care of Felice Herrig with one of the most unique armbar finishes in UFC history while also ending the fight in rapid fashion. Markos made it clear that rankings are sometimes just numbers and she's going to be a welcome addition to the UFC strawweight division.
4. Rose Namajunas Finishes All Three of Her Fights to Make it to the Finale
When The Ultimate Fighter season 20 started in September, Rose Namajunas was ranked No. 7 overall and given the kind of depth at 115-pounds, her placement wasn't shocking. Namajunas was a highly touted prospect, but with just three professional fights on her record prior to the show it was hard to figure out where she would fit in by the end of the season.
By the end of the show, Namajunas proved she was one of the best in the world.
She tore through Alex Chambers before submitted Joanne Calderwood in the second round -- which was the first time the Scottish fighter had ever been beaten -- and then took out Randa Markos to punch her ticket to the finale. Namajunas was the only fighter on the show to finish all of her bouts and she shot to superstardom by the time the series was wrapped.
3. Frankie Edgar Defeats B.J. Penn at the TUF 19 Finale -- Penn Calls It a Career
Not all moments can be full of smiles and sunshine, but there was definitely a celebration at The Ultimate Fighter 19 finale when Frankie Edgar showed once again why he is one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport when he dominated and finished B.J. Penn. It marked the third win for Edgar over Penn -- feat which had never been done before and as it turns out can never been done again.
Following the loss, Penn decided to call it a career as he retired moments after the fight with Edgar came to an end.
It was a bittersweet moment for fighters and fans as a true legend and icon of the Octagon retired. More than a few tears were shed and there will probably be a few more when Penn is eventually inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. Penn was one of the best ever and while his exit was heartbreaking, it's a moment no fan will ever forget.
2. First Ever All Women's Cast on The Ultimate Fighter
While season 18 introduced women to The Ultimate Fighter for the first time, season 20 marked a historic moment when 16 women not only joined the show but became the show.
In an unprecedented move like any before it, the UFC bought out an entire division of the best 115-pound women's fighters in the world from Invicta FC and then held tryouts to cast a wide net around the rest of the best to make up the cast of The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned.
To raise the stakes even higher, the winner of the 16-person tournament would then be crowned champion -- another first in Ultimate Fighter history.
1. Carla Esparza Emerges as the First Ever UFC Women's Strawweight Champion
When The Ultimate Fighter kicked off in September, the 16 women entering the house were ranked and at the top of the list was former Invicta champion Carla Esparza. The ranking, while surely meant as a compliment, also put a rather large target on Esparza's back not to mention raised the expectations for what she would have to do to live up to being No. 1 by the time the show ended.
Esparza proved the rankings were right on the money and then some.
She cruised through her fights in the house and despite her ranking and record, Esparza entered the finale as a slight underdog to upstart contender Rose Namajunas. Esparza made every odds maker in the world eat their words as she dispatched Namajunas in relatively easy fashion and now stands as the best 115-pound fighter in the world.
