TUF 25 Finale results: C.B. Dollaway earns hard-fought unanimous decision vs. Ed Herman

C.B. Dollaway was bloodied and exhausted, sitting in one of the octagon corners after completing a grueling 15 minutes against Ed Herman.

Dollaway might not have looked like a winner. But when the judges’ scorecards were read, it was confirmation that he earned a unanimous decision over Herman.

The light-heavyweight bout was part of the preliminary card for today’s UFC event, The Ultimate Fighter 25 Finale, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It aired on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

Though it was unanimous, the result was anything but easy. The tone was set right from the start when Dollaway (16-8 MMA, 9-8 UFC) was on the receiving end of a hard Herman (23-13-1 MMA, 10-9-1 UFC) right hand to the ear, which discombobulated Dollaway momentarily. The good news, however, was that it also seemed to wake him up as he recovered quickly and got the fight to the mat, where he was relentless in smothering Herman. The first round overall was an impressive display of wrestling and jiu-jitsu from Dollaway.

In the opening seconds of the second round, Dollaway landed a kick to Herman’s neck that stunned him, though he responded with a clobbering right hand that dropped Dollaway. They stood back up quickly, and fatigue became noticeable for both men, though Herman managed to land a combo and dropped Dollaway with a straight left. Herman would go on to control the second round, which set the tone for a pivotal third.

That definitely went to Dollaway, who took control early. Despite a dangerous kimura attempt by Herman from the bottom, Dollaway escaped and controlled the action on the ground. Things got nasty for Herman as Dollaway scored with some mean ground-and-pound mostly of elbows. In the final seconds, Herman tried for a knee bar but failed, leading to the final decision.

It was a tough fight for both men. Dollaway, despite winning with a score of 29-28 and two 29-27 marks, was transported to the hospital after for undisclosed reasons.

Up-to-the-minute TUF 25 Finale results include:

• C.B. Dollaway def. Ed Herman via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-27)
• Tecia Torres def. Juliana Lima via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 0:53
• Gray Maynard def. Teruto Ishihara via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)

For more on The Ultimate Fighter 25 Finale, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

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