TUF 18 Finale results, gifs: Sean Spencer gets past stubborn Drew Dober

LAS VEGAS – Sean Spencer may know one thing about Drew Dober: He’s a stubborn adversary.

Spencer seemed to throw all the offense he had at the UFC debuting Dober. Dober never went down, kept pushing forward and threw back throughout. But it was Spencer who walked away with a unanimous decision sweep in a fun slugfest.

The welterweight 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.

Both fighters swung early, with each getting inside to land some solid combinations. Dober wanted a high left kick, then tried to take Spencer to the ground. He couldn’t’ get it done, though, and he had to eat a left after the break. They tied up again, but it was Spencer getting the better of things after they split with some big punches that opened Dober up. Toward the end of the frame, Spencer landed some big body kicks to seemingly lock up the round.

Dober may not have been winning the exchanges in the second, but he kept coming and seemed to walk through Spencher’s best shots to continue countering with some of his own. Dober continued to go after takedowns, but Spencer continued to defend. Dober landed a few crisp punches and kicks late in the second, but he also showed some signs of fatigue.

Spencer came forward with some bad intentions in the third, but Dober did more of the same – he stood in and fired back. A Spencer knee and pair of punches a minute in couldn’t drop Dober as things continued to play out the same as in the first two rounds – Dober being stubborn about succumbing to what appeared to be solid offense from Spencer. Spencer bloodied Dober further, then landed a big knee and a another right after that. Punches and more knees threatened to put Dober away, but he held on to survive the fight.

“Drew is a tough kid,” Spencer said. “I threw everything I had at him and he didn’t go down. I knew he was a good wrestler, but I had been training originally for a black belt in jiu-jitsu – so there was a slight change in plans, but I felt prepared. I’m just glad I got a fight in. I’m still growing into my game and getting better every time I’m out there.”

Spencer (11-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) won his second straight fight and now has victories in five of his past six. Dober (13-5 MMA, 0-1 UFC) had a four-fight winning streak snapped in his UFC debut.

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

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.