Colton Smith dominated his TUF 16 final with Mike Ricci from start to finish with his grappling to become the next ‘Ultimate Fighter’ winner.
Ricci threw a head kick in the opening 30 seconds of the fight and it just flew over the top of Smith’s head just as he was dropping down for a takedown.
Smith continued to push for the takedown and partially got him down, but Ricci worked his way back up. However, Smith still had his back and had no intention of letting go.
He gets the fight to the mat against the cage and gets his hooks in. He’s looking for the RNC, but Ricci does well to defend and then escaped slickly back to his feet.
The two men smile and high-five each other as they get back to work. Smith throws a punch and Ricci again ducks under and works for a low takedown.
He doesn’t get it, but clinches up with him against the cage. He positions himself round to Ricci’s back and then takes him down. He doesn’t do too much with it, but controls his opponent for the final moments before the bell.
Crazy start to the second round as Ricci appears to be kicked in the groin, but the ref doesn’t see it and Smith isn’t taking sympathy on him, pressing forward looking to take advantage of the situation.
Realizing this Ricci suddenly throws a big punch that lands. He backs up and holds his hands out, still asking Smith to give him time to recover, but his opponent is having none of it.
Smith closes the distance, hoists Ricci up and gets him down. He’s looking for a choke again, but Ricci gets out. Smith’s still all over him though and takes up residence on his back.
Ricci is in survival mode as he tries to fend off a number of choke attempts from Smith. He’s successful in that regard, but this has been a very dominant round for Smith.
Final round and Smith follows his gameplan to a tee, getting in close, spinning around to Ricci’s back and getting him to the mat.
Guess what, he’s looking for another choke. He still can’t get it though. Again he tries, and then again! Ricci looks very tired, but he’s still defending well. The problem is he’s offering absolutely nothing offensively, it’s one-way traffic.
A little ground and pound from the back now. Ricci tries to spin around, but Smith is still firmly attached to him.
Smith looking for more submission attempts, but suddenly Ricci seizes the moment and scrambles, and he gets on top. There’s not much time left though and before he really has a chance to do anything smith is able to reverse the position and is back on top as the bell sounds.
No doubt about who won this one, Colton Smith takes a clean sweep on the judges scorecards (30-27 x2, 30-26) and becomes the next ‘Ultimate Fighter’.
