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.
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).
Early on, it looked like Kingsbury would overpower the Brazilian. The thai clinches appeared nasty as the taller Kingsbury threw some vicious knees. Upon closer look, Maldonado was blocking many of the knees and began hurting Kingsbury with some nasty body shots. He also ate a few big overhand rights. When Kingsbury decided to blow his nose in the third round, the 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. The Kingsbury takedowns must've gone a long way for the judges. He made good on 5-of-14.
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