Mairon Santos became the last competitor to secure a grand final spot on this year’s season of “The Ultimate Fighter” on this week’s episode, getting past short-notice opponent Guillermo Torres via unanimous decision in the featherweight bracket.
The crisp boxing of Santos allowed him to earn the nod on scorecards, marching forward to out-land Torres through all three rounds. While Torres never seemed noticeably rocked by anything that Santos landed, the accumulative damage that he took from the strikes through 15 minutes showed on his face by the end.
It became clear after three rounds that the cruising performance from Santos would be more than enough to earn him a spot in the finals.
Torres received a last-minute call to appear in the semi-finals, getting a second chance after losing in the opening round against Roedi Roets.
It was only after Zygimantas Ramaska dramatically couldn’t get cleared by the athletic commission on the day of his semi-final booking that Torres was called on to compete.
It was expected that Ramaska might run into issues getting cleared, so they had Torres cutting weight in the days leading up to the bout. An emotional and even shocked Ramaska provided one of the more sombre moments of the season after he was pulled from the tournament, reflecting to himself that his journey had come to an end without actually losing. “It’s not an easy time right now,” he told the show.
Santos, a prospect from Brazil who overcame fellow LFA vet Edwin Cooper Jr. earlier in the bracket, will face Kaan Ofli in the live finals of the tournament this weekend as part of a UFC “Fight Night” card from Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
On the middleweight side of the show, Ryan Loder and Robert Valentin will face off.
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