The Ultimate Fighter 1 Finale

From CageWiki

1 Background
2 Fight Card
3 Pre-Event Notes
4 Results
5 UFC Event Chronology
6 External Links

Background

The Ultimate Fighter 1 Finale was a 9-bout fight card that was held on April 9, 2005 at the Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The card aired live on Spike TV at 9pm ET/PT and was headlined by a light heavyweight bout between UFC Hall of Famer, Ken Shamrock and rising light heavyweight, Rich Franklin.

The event also decided the winners of TUF 1's middleweight and light heavyweight tournaments.

Fight Card

Preliminary Card

Welterweight Bout: Alex Karalexis vs. Josh Rafferty
Middleweight Bout: Mike Swick vs. Alex Schoenauer
Middleweight Bout: Nate Quarry vs. Lodune Sincaid
Middleweight Bout: Josh Koscheck vs. Chris Sanford
Middleweight Bout: Chris Leben vs. Jason Thacker
Light Heavyweight Bout: Sam Hoger vs. Bobby Southworth

Main Card

TUF 1 Middleweight Final: Diego Sanchez vs. Kenny Florian
TUF 1 Light Heavyweight Final: Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar
Light Heavyweight Bout: Ken Shamrock vs. Rich Franklin

Pre-Event Notes

This was the first live UFC event ever to be broadcast on Spike.

The event features all 16 fighters from TUF 1 in differing match-ups with Alex Karalexis, Josh Rafferty, Mike Swick and Alex Schoenauer dropping down on a weight class from their TUF weight divisions.

Results

Preliminary Card

Welterweight Bout: Alex Karalexis defs. Josh Rafferty via TKO (strikes) at 1:40 of round 1.
Middleweight Bout: Mike Swick defs. Alex Schoenauer via KO (punches) at :20 of round 1.
Middleweight Bout: Nate Quarry defs. Lodune Sincaid via TKO (strikes) at 3:17 of round 1.
Middleweight Bout: Josh Koscheck defs. Chris Sanford via KO (punches) at 4:21 of round 1.
Middleweight Bout: Chris Leben defs. Jason Thacker via TKO (punches) at 1:35 of round 1.
Light Heavyweight Bout: Sam Hoger defs. Bobby Southworth via unanimous decision.

Main Card

TUF 1 Middleweight Final: Diego Sanchez defs. Kenny Florian via TKO (punches from mount) at 2:49 of round 1.

Florian circled tentatively early before being taken down where Sanchez moved to mount and pounded out Florian to become the first ever TUF winner.

TUF 1 Light Heavyweight Final: Forrest Griffin defs. Stephan Bonnar via unanimous decision (29-28 x3).

In possibly the fight of the year, Bonnar and Griffin went to war for three rounds never stopping and continuously rocking each other. The fight went to the judges with the extremely close decision going to Griffin unanimously. Due to the outstanding performances from both fighters they both received the same contract with the UFC.