• TUF 13 Finale

Huge KO sees Ferguson crowned Ultimate Fighter

Tony Ferguson showed better hands against Ramsey Nijem in the finale of The Ultimate Fighter © Getty Images

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Tony Ferguson is the newly-crowned Ultimate Fighter after he delivered a stunning highlight reel knockout of Ramsey Nijem in the TUF 13 Finale.

Ferguson lost a lot of fans during the series following an ill-judged alcohol-fuelled rant, but only his hands carried bad intentions against Nijem, finishing the fight at 3.54 of the first round to pick up the $100,000 UFC contract.

Nijem had displayed the better wrestling throughout the series, but Ferguson's own grappling game had always been solid, and he sharpened up his work thanks to an invite to Brock Lesnar's gym. And when it came to an exchange of fists, Ferguson always carried more power.

Nijem's own striking pushed the pace, catching Ferguson on more than one occasion as he launched forward with flurries of punches. But when Ferguson landed a left hook, Nijem's feet froze as the rest of his body crashed in a heap, confirming the crowning of the new Ultimate Fighter, one that has the potential to shake up the welterweight division.

"I learned a lot about myself in [that house], I kept a lot bottled up and took a lot of inner demons in there with me," said Ferguson. But I leave it all out there in every fight, and from here on I want to do the right thing so that kids will see me as a role model. Holy crap man, I don't even remember throwing that. I knew he would try to take me down, but just like BJ Penn and Jon Fitch, you don't take people on at their own game.".

In the light-heavyweight division, TUF 8 contestant Kyle Kingsbury was left seeing out of only one eye in a Fight of the Night victory over 18-4 Fabio Maldonado. A nice one-two combination closed up Kingsbury's eye at the beginning of the third round, but he had bloodied the face of Maldonado with a series of knees out of the Thai clinch earlier in the bout to earn a 29-28 decision.

In a superb show of warrior-like spirit from both men, Kingsbury looked like he would finish things early as he battered the Brazilian in the Thai clinch, but Maldonado began answering with sickening uppercuts to the body. A guillotine choke almost won it for Maldonado, who was the better boxer, but he could not keep himself out of the clutches of Kingsbury.

By the end of the fight Maldonado was bleeding out of his nose and mouth, while Kingsbury's left eye was closed over, but they both kept throwing to the final second as Kingsbury landed his fourth straight victory. "We had seen on video that he throws uppercut, but until you're in here and seeing what he's packing, you don't realise how devastating he is," commented the winner in his post-fight interview.

TUF 3 contestant Ed Herman bounced backed from defeat to Aaron Simpson in the middleweight division by finishing Tim Credeur after 48 seconds of the first round. Herman, who has previously stated he would beat Michael Bisping, dropped Credeur with two big uppercuts before finishing things with a huge bomb to his grounded opponent.

And kicking off the main card, Chris Cope showed significantly improved striking - and a marked willingness to attack that was lacking throughout the TUF series - as he defeated Chuck O'Neil via unanimous decision. Setting things up with his jab, coupled with improved footwork, Cope hurt O'Neil with a left hook midway through the fight, and he later landed a spinning back fist in a 30-27 decision on the cards of all three judges.

TUF 13 Finale results
Tony Ferguson bt Ramsey Nijem via KO at 3.54 of round 1
Clay Guida bt Anthony Pettis via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Ed Herman bt Tim Credeur via TKO at 0:48 of round 1
Kyle Kingsbury bt Fabio Maldonado via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Chris Cope bt Chuck O'Neil via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Scott Jorgensen bt Ken Stone via KO at 4:01 of round 1
Shamar Bailey bt Ryan McGillivray via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Jeremy Stephens bt Danny Downes via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-26)
George Roop bt Josh Grispi Roop via TKO (body punch) at 3:14 of round 3
Clay Harvison bt Justin Edwards via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Reuben Duran bt Francisco Rivera via rear naked choke at 1:57 of round 3

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