TUF 24 Finale results: Brandon Moreno survives knockdown, takes split call from Ryan Benoit

LAS VEGAS – Brandon Moreno proved that his upset win over Louis Smolka was no fluke, but Ryan Benoit made him work to do it.

Despite being wobbled at several points and dropped in the second round, Moreno (13-3 MMA, 2-0 UFC) rallied on the strength of his takedowns and overall aggression to defeat Benoit (9-5 MMA, 2-3 UFC) via a narrow split-decision victory.

The flyweight bout opened up the main card of today’s TUF 24 Finale event at The Pearl at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. It aired on FS1 following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Moreno spent the first round of the fight establishing himself as a takedown threat to the heavy-handed Benoit. Over and over he hauled Benoit down, only to have Benoit pop right back up to his feet, looking to disengage.

But if the goal was to give Benoit some pause as he came forward looking to land his powerful hooks, it met with mixed results. Midway through the second frame, Benoit countered a Moreno kick with a looping left that caught Moreno just behind the ear and dropped him to the floor. Moreno cleared the cobwebs quickly, however, and rebounded late in the round with a takedown to make things close.

He kept that momentum going in the final round, pushing the pact against a visibly weary Benoit, even if it at times left him open in the striking exchanges. In the end, it seemed to be Moreno’s edge in aggression that impressed the judges. The fact that he managed to plant Benoit on the mat with repeated takedowns? That likely didn’t hurt either.

When the judges turned in their scores, Moreno was the winner by a narrow margin, taking the fight with scores of 28-29, 29-28, and 29-28.

Moreno has now won two straight in the UFC. Benoit has now lost three of his last five.

Up-to-the-minute TUF 24 Finale results include:

• Brandon Moreno def. Ryan Benoit via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Ryan Hall def. Gray Maynard via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
• Rob Font def. Matt Schnell via TKO (knee, punches) – Round 1, 3:47
• “Maestro” Dong Hyun Kim def. Brendan O’Reilly via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Jamie Moyle def. Kailin Curran via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Anthony Smith def. Elvis Mutapcic via TKO (elbow, punches) – Round 2, 3:27
• Devin Clark def. Josh Stansbury via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

For complete coverage of The Ultimate Fighter 24 Finale, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan contributed to this report on site in Las Vegas.)