And in the end, there were only two. After 10 weeks on reality TV's The Ultimate Fighter, welterweights Hayder Hassan and Kamaru Usman will square off in the series finale on July 12. Three-hundred-thousand-dollars will be on the line at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Hassan, who fights out of the Coconut Creek, Florida-based American Top Team, and Usman, a member of Boca Raton's Blackzilians, are the only remaining competitors from TUF's twenty-first season. Their contest will settle a long-standing rivalry between the two South Florida gyms, after Hassan already claimed two-hundred-thousand-dollars in the season's penultimate episode, defeating Vicente Luque via Split Decision.
TUF 21, which comes to a close on Sunday (9 P.M. EST/6 P.M. PST, Fox Sports 1), has taken a completely different approach than previous incarnations of the UFC's tentpole reality program. Rather than solicit talent from around the country to compete for a promotional contract, TUF 21 focused on the contentious relationship between ATT founder Dan Lambert and Blackzilians owner Glenn Robinson. Fighters were then matched in a blind round-robin format.
The only athlete to compete in, and win, three bouts this season was Hassan, a talented and powerful striker who previously competed under both the Titan Fighting Championship and Strikeforce banners, almost single handedly carried ATT to victory during the season-long tournament. Claiming victories over Luque, Andrews Nakahara, and Felipe Portela, Hassan now has his sights set on taking out a fourth member of the Blackzilians.
Usman, a standout wrestler originally from Nigeria, won decisions over Michael Graves and Steve Carl en route to the finals. He now looks for his first official UFC victory after competing for Legacy Fighting Championship since 2014.
A matchup of striker versus grappler, this contest between Hassan and Usman will likely go the distance, as both fighters have demonstrated excellent durability inside the cage. But after three rounds, look for Hassan to outlast his opponent and take the TUF title.
Following Hassan and Usman's matchup, welterweights Jake Ellenberger (30-9, 9-5 UFC) and Stephen Thompson (10-1, 5-1 UFC) will compete in the evening's headlining bout.
Ellenberger, a veteran wrestler with heavy hands, will look for his second straight win, after a Performance of the Night submission over Josh Koscheck at UFC 184. Thompson, a kickboxing whiz and flashy Karate practitioner, returns to the Octagon for the first time since September 2014 and is looking for a fifth-straight victory.
Expect Ellenberger to move forward in this one; Thompson will counter by throwing awkward kicks while backing up, using his reach advantage to fluster his competition.
And while Thompson will be able to evade Ellenberger's takedowns for the first half of the fight, look for Ellenberger to wear Thompson down late in the contest before finishing the fight due to ground and pound in the third.
The Ultimate Fighter 21 Finale is the culmination of the UFC's "International Fight Week," which also features UFC 189: McGregor vs. Mendes.