The Ultimate Fighter season 20 is coming to a close this week when the finale hits Fox Sports 1.
The main event will see the crowning of a champion. The inaugural strawweight championship bout will be between the winners of semi-final matchups Carla Esparza vs. Jessica Penne and Rose Namajunas vs. Randa Markos.
There will be plenty of other fights taking place on Friday. The complete card will not be official until following the final taped episode of the show on Wednesday evening. The UFC has already announced nine bouts including six women's strawweight fights with other cast members from the show.
There are plenty of reasons to watch this event on Friday, and here are four of the best reasons to tune in when the UFC gets its first-ever 115-pound champion.
Winding Down 2014
MMA fans the last events of 2014 are coming up fast. The UFC is only offering three more events in this calendar year, and two of them happen this weekend.
Your chances to catch high-level fights are winding down.
2015 will be another jam packed year. It gets underway with an impressive slate of fights including Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier just after the new year. But 2014, well, you aren't going to see anymore title fights after Friday.
The year is closing out with some quality fights and you should post up at your TV to take them in.
Strawweight's Progression
The 115-pound division has long been the deepest division in women's MMA. Some of the top athletes were put on the show to compete for the title, but there were also many fighters who needed time to develop.
On Friday we will get to see how far they have come along.
Angela Hill came in as a fairly one-dimensional fighter. Will she have seen a big jump by training with Gilbert Melendez and his team for the duration of the show? Tecia Torres entered as one of the favorites to win the entire show, but she is still very young in her career. What leaps did she make? Rose Namajunas is in that same category, but she may be vying for a title on Friday.
The Ultimate Fighter is a pressure cooker and fighters often exit the show with a big increase in talent. It will be exciting to see how much better the entire cast has become since the show stopped filming. The already deep division will continue to get better thanks in large part to the show.
Stylistically Pleasing Matchmaking
Credit goes to Joe Silva and Sean Shelby for making this a fun fight card.
Just arrived in Vegas with my boy @kjnoons who's fighting on the @ufc #TUF20Finale as well! @Warrior_Fuel | @JuryJJ pic.twitter.com/lp0DYiwg5S
— Jeremy Stephens (@LiLHeathenMMA) December 9, 2014
It lacks a top-to-bottom depth of important fights, but it isn't a pay-per-view telecast. It's a TUF finale. It shouldn't have all important fights throughout the card. The two matchmakers have come forward with a fun slate of fights.
Jeremy Stephens vs. Charles Oliveira, K.J. Noons vs. Daron Cruickshank, Joanne Calderwood vs. Seohee Ham are all great matchups. Tack on the potential fight between semi-finalist losers and the title fight and we have five good, competitive matchups to watch on Friday. That's more than enough reason to catch the show.
The Strawweight Championship
Clearly the biggest reason to watch is the title fight.
This is the final title tilt of 2014, and is historic in crowning the first UFC champion ever at this weight. Whomever steps in the cage for the title bout will deliver a quality matchup.
Many of these smaller shows have been criticized in the past for lacking a top tier fight, but that won't be the case on Friday. You will get to see 12 pounds of gold up for grabs in the main event. It is the most obvious reason to watch the event.
The Ultimate Fighter 20 finale is going to be a good show. The talent and matchmaking for the event almost guarantees a pleasing night of fights, and you should take it all in on Friday evening.
