“The Ultimate Fighter 31” with coaches Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler finished in style Saturday as the two-fight live finale served as a portion of the UFC 292 prelims.
For 12 straight weeks, lightweight contestant Kurt Holobaugh spoke to MMA Junkie for a behind-the-scenes look at his run on the reality series. Not only that, Holobaugh (20-7 MMA, 1-4 UFC) won the entire lightweight bracket when he slickly submitted Austin Hubbard (15-7 MMA, 3-5 UFC) with a triangle choke in Round 2.
With the victory, Holobaugh became the “TUF 31” lightweight winner and secured a multifight deal with the UFC. He joined MMA Junkie for one last edition of “Kurt’s ‘TUF 31’ Chronicles,” which you can read below.
Four days after...
“I’m trying to let it sink in, but I just still feel like everything is the same. I don’t feel like much is different other than a bunch of people congratulating me and my social media blowing up. Other than that, it feels pretty normal.”
Fight week
“I felt like I was right at home. I felt like that’s where I belonged. There was nothing that I didn’t expect. I feel like I’ve been there so many times already. I’ve made that walk time after time. I put all that in the back and I’m like, ‘I know what I’m here for. I feel like I belong. I know I belong. I’ve just got to go out and show it.”
The submission
“When he went down, I hit him with a front headlock. They already knew what I was going for because I heard his corner, ‘Guillotine. Watch the guillotine.’ I’m like, I’m not about to go there. I tried for a second to get my glove under the chin, but I said, ‘I’m going to count to three and take his back. One, two, three…’ and I spun. When I spun, he kept on double wrist control, so I attacked his other hand on the inside. I felt like the choke was actually starting to get close and I was sinking it under the chin. But he had a slight angle where he was able to turn into me.
“Even once we got to mount, I tried to pull his hips away from the cage a little bit. But he did a good job and actually placed his toes in the cage a little bit. … He bridged pretty hard, but I didn’t expect him to come up like that. When he did, that’s when I saw the arm. That’s a position I play with a lot in the gym. Like I keep trying to tell everybody, I’m a jiu-jitsu guy. I’m not a wrestler. That’s why I don’t put them down. But I want guys to think twice. That’s when I had that back position and mount position and I took that arm, that’s just a position that I work a lot.”
Roar
“It was like a dream come true. But it felt like I’ve already lived that, because I dreamed so much. Every time I’d go to bed, I’d think about the outcome of the fight. There’s not many outcomes that I dreamed of him winning. I felt like that was just another dream. I already felt that. I was surprised. I was happy. I was blown away. But I don’t think I was shocked, because I was expecting it to happen.”
Trophy
“Well, the only thing that sucks is I have two gyms. Maybe I’ll leave it in one gym for a month or a week or something, then I’ll bring it to the other gym for a month or a week.”
No bonus?
“I was almost 100 percent sure I had that Performance of the Night in my pocket. After the Sean O’Malley fight, I thought, ‘OK, maybe he’s going to get a performance,’ which kind of sucks, right? Because he’s already making millions. What’s another $50,00 to him? That’s why, I don’t know. I’m not saying champions shouldn’t be eligible for bonuses. But the guys like me who are up-and-coming and don’t have the $1 million in the bank account should be the guys getting the bonuses.”
How 'TUF 31' changed a man
“I’d always get to the UFC and fight all these tough guys and it wasn’t even necessarily that they beat me. I’d make rookie mistakes and beat myself a lot of the time. I feel like I’ve cleaned up those mistakes because every time I’ve come out of the UFC, I’d trample everybody that’d I’d fight. Going into the house and training with all of those high-level guys and seeing where I already knew where I was at, going out there, I just felt like it was another day at the office.”
Coaches: Scott Smith, Rafael Ellwanger, Jimmy Mills
“We never really got in the UFC, even thought I won those fighters in ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ house, they’re weren’t in there with me. That was cool to see them and see their reaction. They deserve it, too. They’ve been in my corner for a long time. They deserve just as much.”
“… Rafael and Scott were there since the first day I walked through the door in 2007 or 2008. My coach Jimmy was a good friend of Rafael, who was my head coach. When I was fighting Desmond Green in Alabama, he has a gym in mobile so we linked up with him in 2014 and he’s been in my corner ever since.”
New focus
“I want to work my way up the rankings. I want a number beside my name. I know it’s possible. I know I can win fights in the UFC and I know I can beat good guys in the UFC. It’s never too late to start a run. I’m in the UFC now. I’m on a win streak. I’m on a big win streak coming off ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’ so let’s take it one fight at a time and try to get that number beside my name and start working my way toward a world championship. … I want December or January next. It’d be working good for me.”
