And then there were two…
That’s what we are left with after the 32-man field of TUF 15 contests has finally withered down to the finalists with only Mike Chiesa and Al Iaquinta left standing. The two will do battle this Saturday night to decide this season’s winner on The Ultimate Fighter: Live Finale – scheduled for this Friday, June 1st at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Both finalists faced some tough roads leading up to this moment with Iaquinta beating John Tuck, Myles Jury, Andy Ogle, and Vince Pichel to get to this point while Chiesa got past Johnavan Vistante, Jermey Larsen, Justin Lawrence, and Texas’ own James Vick to make it to the finals.
Aside from his four opponents, Mike Chiesa also had to overcome the death of his father early on in the season in order to get to this point.
Aside from the TUF 15 Finals, top welterweights Jake Ellenberger and Martin Kampmann will face off in the main event for the right to be called a legit title contender sometime in the near future for the belt currently held by Georges St. Pierre.
Both men have such aspirations with Ellenberger in particular displaying a strong portfolio of wins as of late with six in a row including back-to-back wins over Diego Sanchez and Jake Shields that earned him ‘knockout of the night’ and ‘fight of the night’ honors respectively.
The main card is completed by a pair of featherweight bouts featuring some young prospects in Max Holloway (youngest fighter in UFC) taking on Pat Schilling and former TUF contestant Jonathan Brookins taking on Gold Team protégé and Houston MMA rep Charles Oliveira.
See below for the full night of action set to broadcast on FX, Fuel, and Facebook.
Main Card (FX Channel)
170 lbs.: Jake Ellenberger vs. Martin Kampmann
155 lbs.: Michael Chiesa vs. Al Iaquinta (TUF 15 Championship Bout)
145 lbs.: Max Holloway vs. Pat Schilling
145 lbs.: Jonathan Brookins vs. Charles Oliveira
Preliminary Card (FUEL TV)
155 lbs.: Justin Lawrence vs. John Cofer
155 lbs.: Myles Jury vs. Chris Saunders
155 lbs.: Daron Cruickshank vs. Chris Tickle
Preliminary Card (Facebook)
155 lbs.: Cristiano Marcello vs. Sam Sicilia
135 lbs.: John Albert vs. Erik Perez
155 lbs.: Jeremy Larsen vs. Joe Proctor
