TUF 25 Finale results: Gray Maynard smothers Teruto Ishihara with wrestling for easy win

Perhaps UFC analyst Todd Grisham summed things up perfectly when he said the fight between Gray Maynard and Teruto Ishihara looked like a big brother fighting his little brother.

And little brother simply had no answer.

Try as he might, Ishihara couldn’t combat Maynard’s impressive wrestling display, leading to a dominant unanimous-decision victory for Maynard. All three judges scored it 30-26.

The featherweight bout opened today’s UFC event, The Ultimate Fighter 25 Finale, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The preliminary-card bout streamed on UFC Fight Pass prior to the FS1-televised prelims and main card.

One round after the other, Maynard (13-6-1 MMA, 11-6-1 UFC) set the tone early by taking down Ishihara (9-4-2 MMA, 2-2-1 UFC) and smothering him on the mat. Each time Ishihara tried getting back to his feet, Maynard would remain on him like glue and get him back to the mat. If Ishihara did manage to escape to his feet, Maynard wouldn’t waste time before perfectly timing a takedown attempt.

“That’s the hardest way to win,” Maynard said, “with those takedowns and grinding a person out.”

Maynard twice almost finished the fight in the third round. He opened the frame with a quick takedown. While on the mat, Maynard had a kimura in deep that Ishihara managed to get out of. Not long after, Maynard locked in a guillotine up against the cage. But credit Ishihara for finding a way out.

The third round saw a little bit of controversy as Ishihara hit Maynard with illegal up-kicks to the face as Maynard postured up on his knees. The referee issued a warning to Ishihara, who also got some time to breather.

It didn’t matter, though. Maynard rode him out for the final 90 seconds to lock up the decisive victory.

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

• 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.)