Conor McGregor slumped to yet another defeat as his prospect Rico DiSciullo was defeated on the final episode of a disastrous season of The Ultimate Fighter last night.
The Irishman lost all but one of his eight opening round matchups, with DiSciullo his sole victor after a clean sweep in the lightweight division and three losses at 135lb. His SBG Ireland teammate Brad Katona joined in the second round as part of a brief switch-up, but other fighters refused to leave Michael Chandler's side after winning early.
But while Katona booked his spot in the final with a tight victory over tournament favourite Timur Valiev, DiSciullo couldn't quite get it done when he took on veteran Cody Gibson. The Boston native was keen to book a spot at this weekend's UFC 292 in his hometown, and was given intimate one-on-one training by McGregor ahead of the fight.
Gibson entered the fight with a severe knee injury, but opted to persevere and continue in the tournament in order to earn a chance at the UFC, and a fight with house rival Katona. He flew out of the traps early and got DiSciullo to the ground, taking his back within seconds and looking for the finish.
The bout played out with Gibson on his rival's back, working his way towards a submission as McGregor and his team attempted to buoy their man back to his feet. Unfortunately with just over 30 seconds left in the first, DiSciullo was forced to submit to an head and arm triangle, declaring that he had cost himself with a silly mistake.
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"They knew Cody's knee was a little bit compromised but Cody is a gamer and that's what I love about Cody," Chandler told cameras after the fight. "They ended up kind of getting into a little exchange. Cody wraps his arms around, takes his back, throws the legs in does a body triangle and it's complete domination on the ground."
"Rico kind of slipped," McGregor added. "You need to find your footing and if you don't settle into it you come off your feet quick in there, that's essentially what happened. It was just a freak slip and you don't want that to happen to you against a fighter like Cody, with good back attacks, a good ground fighter. It wasn't nice, that should have been Rico's."
It served as McGregor's eighth loss of the season, with the Irishman winning only two bouts of his ten including Katona's semi-final showdown with Valiev. Gibson and Katona appear to have a legitimate feud that stemmed from the Canadian's behaviour in the TUF house, while lightweight finalists Kurt Holobaugh and Austin Hubbard are friendly teammates.