Last night was the finale for the Australia based The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes MMA tournament show. The UFC aired the event live on FX for American audiences and the four fight main card delivered some quality action.
In the main event coach of Team UK Ross Pearson dispatched his counter part, Team Aussie's George Sotiropoulos in impressive fashion. Pearson found a home for his left hook early in the fight, dropping Sotiropoulos in the first two rounds before finally the Australian was unable to recover.
Florida based fighter Hector Lombard was also on the card fighting the feared leg locker Rousimar Palhares. Lombard picked his shots and carefully trapped Palhares against the fence and unleashing combinations of punches. Lombard dropped Palhares once mid-way through the first round, and the fight went to the ground, but there Lombard was very careful with the Brazilian leg lock expert. Palhares was not aggressive on the ground however, as he appeared to be using the time grappling to recover from the beating he took on the feet. Lombard was able to escape back to the feet. He rocked the Brazilian hard again and this time was able to finish for a (T)KO victory.
Both the finals fights for the TUF went to decision but delivered exciting action Norman Parke and Robert Whittaker won the Lightweight and Welterweight tournaments.