LAS VEGAS - It looked like a heavyweight versus a blown up middleweight, but fighting at the highest level has little do with appearances. The much bigger Kyle Kingsbury discovered what crisp boxing felt like and found himself in a dog fight against Fabio Maldonado. Kingsbury was able to survive some nasty body shots, score a few takedowns and do enough damage from the thai clinch to pull out a unanimous decision, 29-28 on all cards, at "The Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale" at the Palms.
"What a battle. A war. My head just continues to swell up. (Maldonado) is like the Terminator," said Kingsbury.
It's the fourth straight win for Kingsbury, who got off to a less than stellar start with the UFC. Kingsbury (11-4, 4-1 UFC) is one of several TUF alums on the card. Kingsbury lost to both Ryan Bader and Krzysztof Soszy?ski on the show, but the UFC saw enough in him to offer him a spot on the TUF 7 Finale. The former Arizona State defensive lineman has grown a lot as a fighter. He met a tough cookie tonight in Maldonado (18-4, 1-1 UFC).
"All the footage I saw on him came through tonight. But is sure is different going through it in your head and then experiencing it in person. I kept giving him good shot after good shot and they seemed like they were just going right through him," Kingsbury said. "It can be a little disheartening.� It does affect you.� But he's experiencing the same thing as well.� You just need to keep your composure."
Early on, it looked like Kingsbury would overpower the Brazilian. The thai clinches appeared to be doing major damage as the taller Kingsbury threw some vicious knees. Upon closer look, Maldonado was blocking many of the knees and began hurting Kingsbury with some powerful body shots. He also ate a few big overhand rights. When Kingsbury decided to blow his nose in the third round, his left eye blew up.
According to FightMetric, Maldonado outlanded Kingsbury 122-110. That included 65 body shots. Both, this Cagewriter and Yahoo! Sports' lead MMA writer Kevin Iole scored it 29-29 for Maldonado.
"I have a lot of respect for Kyle. He's a really tough guy. I honestly thought that I won the fight," Maldonado said. "I felt like I controlled every area of the fight.� Applying a little more pressure and a few more kicks might have convinced the judges in the end that I did do enough to win the fight."
The Kingsbury takedowns must've gone a long way for the judges. He made good on 5-of-14.
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