Jessamyn Duke Victorious at The Ultimate Fighter 18 Finale
The winner of The Ultimate Fighter is not always the fighter from that season to have the most success inside the Octagon; Jessamyn Duke could end up falling into that category.
Jessamyn Duke came into the reality show with just three professional fights under her belt. The tall lanky fighter looked pretty raw in her elimination bout but you could see that the talent was there. As part of Team Rousey, Duke would loss to Raquel Pennington in the quarterfinal round, but their three round battle turned out to be the Fight of the season.
At this weekends finale Jessamyn Duke faced Peggy Morgan as part of the trifecta of women’s bouts on the main card. Having soaked up all she could during her time on the show, Duke looked greatly improved and dominated her opponent for the full 15 minutes. Despite actually being the smaller of the two fighters she controlled the fight and in doing so was able to pick Morgan a part with her striking. A clean sweep unanimous decision from the judges earned Duke her first UFC win, in just her forth career bout.
The raw talent that enter The Ultimate Fighter 18 came away a polished fighter and she only going to continue to improve. Her length and striking will give many fighters trouble right now but as she develops her MMA skill set more and more, she could be a threat in the 135 pound women’s division. Let’s not forget that is was Julianna Pena though who won The Ultimate fighter 18 this past weekends with an impressive TKO win over Jessica Rakoczy. She deserves all the recognition for winning the show and has a bright future a head of here, but just make sure to keep an eye on Jessamyn Duke.
For those that missed it, the third women’s bantamweight bout featuring fighters from The Ultimate fighter 18 was a match-up between Raquel Pennington and Roxanne Modafferi. Despite Modafferi looking better then she did in her quarterfinal loss to Rakoczy it was Pennington win by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28).
For complete TUF 18 results, click here.
Category: MMA, UFC, Ultimate Fighter