Wait, The Ultimate Fighter was still airing?
The 34th season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF), coached by UFC Hall of Famers Daniel Cormier and Michael Bisping, concluded this week on Paramount+ — and the show went out with a historic finish.
Advertisement
The season’s final semifinal featured top Azerbaijani Bantamweight prospect Mehemmedeli Osmanli, who stole the show throughout TUF 34 with his over-the-top personality, against American wrestler Christian Strong.
And Osmanli showed out when it mattered most.
Strong controlled most of the opening round with his wrestling, grinding Osmanli against the cage and controlling him on the ground for nearly four minutes. However, when Osmanli finally returned to his feet with less than one minute remaining, he lit Strong up like a Christmas tree and bloodied the American with several clean shots.
Osmanli carried that momentum into the second round, cracking Strong with nearly everything he threw. Strong eventually secured another takedown and settled into half guard, but that proved to be a costly mistake.
Advertisement
From the bottom, Osmanli locked up a buggy choke. The submission initially didn’t appear tight, and Bisping even instructed him to let it go. Osmanli refused, continued squeezing, and eventually forced Strong to go to sleep.
With the victory, Osmanli recorded the first successful buggy choke in TUF history — and to land one inside the Octagon, as it hasn’t been done in the UFC yet.
Check out the historic finish below:
