TUF 18 Finale results: Tom Niinimaki outgrapples Rani Yahya

LAS VEGAS – If Rani Yahya has one of MMA’s most dangerous ground games, no one told Tom Niinimaki. Or maybe they did, and he simply didn’t care.

Showing virtually no fear of the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt’s submission attempts, Niinimaki outworked Yahya for a split-decision win in his UFC debut. One judge gave Yahya a 29-28 score, but Niinimaki picked up a 30-27 and 29-28 for the victory.

The featherweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s TUF 18 Finale event at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. It aired on FOX Sports 1 following additional prelims on MMAjunkie and ahead of the main card on FOX Sports 1.

Yahya shot for a takedown 40 seconds in, hoping to put his top-shelf jiu-jitsu to work on the ground. Niinimaki defended at first, latching on to Yahya’s neck, and though Yahya nearly had things under control, Niinimaki reversed and looked to land ground and pound from up top. Yahya twice nearly had Niinimaki’s leg wrapped up, but the Finnish fighter continued to scramble out. Yahya was persistent and took Niinimaki’s back, but Niinimaki escaped to his feet – and took Yahya right back to the ground.

A minute into the second, Niinimaki again took Yahya down, showing virtually no fear of his ground game. Yahya went after a guillotine choke, but again Niinimaki was able to maneuver his way out of danger and into side control. Kim Winslow stood them up with 80 seconds left, and Niinimaki teeped Yahya backward. Right after, though, Yahya latched on to another guillotine, this time deeper. But Niinimaki survived it and continued to show little to no concern of the Brazilian’s ground attacks.

The third was more of the same for Niinimaki, as he took the fight to the ground and kept Yahya at bay for the first couple minutes. Once Winslow stood them up, Yahya tried to put together a combination on the feet, having found no success on the ground. Niinimaki soon found himself in danger as Yahya ducked under a punch to get a choke from up top, but once again Niinimaki survived.

“I was supposed to do more boxing and kicking, but my grappling was surprisingly good,” Niinimaki said. “The positions were tight, so I couldn’t give Rani any space. Perhaps that is why the referee stood us up. Going into this fight, there was a lot of pressure. But after the first round, I had my confidence and did well.”

Niinimaki (21-5-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) won for the 12th straight time and hasn’t lost since November 2006. Yahya (19-8 MMA, 4-2 UFC) had a three-fight winning streak snapped.

Up-to-the-minute TUF 18 Finale results include:

• Tom Niinimaki def. Rani Yahya via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
• Jared Rosholt def. Walter Harris via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Sean Spencer def. Drew Dober via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Joshua Sampo def. Ryan Benoit via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 4:31

For complete coverage of the TUF 18 Finale, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

John Morgan contributed to this report on-site in Las Vegas.