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Lawrence shock blows TUF season wide open

Michael Chiesa forced the stoppage of Justin Lawrence © Getty Images

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Season 15 of The Ultimate Fighter no longer has an outstanding favourite after the highly fancied Justin Lawrence was not only beaten but stopped by Michael Chiesa in a shock result on Friday.

Lawrence had sparkled in his first two fights and was the top pick of Dominick Cruz. Hailing from the famous Team Black House, the youngster was expected to win the show en route to becoming a UFC star.

Those plans, at least for now, have been derailed by the awkward Chiesa, who pounded out the stoppage at 1.02 of the third round after a seesaw battle.

Chiesa claimed round one, with much credit going to the judges for recognising his work from the bottom, locking Lawrence in a body triangle while delivering multiple elbows to his head. Lawrence spent much of the round on top and every so often he broke free to drop some punches of his own on Chiesa, but the round undoubtedly belonged to the underdog.

The second stanza was much more in line with what had been expected. Lawrence kept the fight standing, threw too many kicks but still managed to drop Chiesa when he sunk in a thudding liver shot.

However, the ground exertions had clearly tired Lawrence and it slowed him in the third as the fight again went to the ground - although Lawrence initially found himself on top. That changed when Chiesa reversed to get to full mount, where he dropped bombs on an exhausted Lawrence to force the stoppage.

"I am here to fight the best and everybody had Justin ranked No. 1," Chiesa said. "It was a blessing. He pushed me to my limits in the second round and I had to dig down."

The result blows the competition wide open, and England's Andy Ogle will fancy his chances of following in the footsteps of Michael Bisping and Ross Pearson by winning a TUF season, although he must overcome Al Iaquinta in the quarter-finals.

There was some good news for Team Cruz, who claimed the first quarter-final when James Vick beat Joe Proctor by a unanimous 20-18 decision. Vick's opponents are having real difficulty fighting their way inside his huge reach, and that proved the case as Proctor only threatened with a late choke.

"It was tight but I would've went to sleep before I tapped," Vick said. "It was deep but I knew I'd get out of it if I kept fighting."

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