Las Vegas, Nevada – The oldest fighter in the competition, Igor Araujo, won a majority decision over the youngest, Nic Herron-Webb, on The Ultimate Fighter® Fridays episode five – “Unleash The Beast” – that aired on FX on Friday evening.
The victory – the second in a row for coach Shane Carwin’s team over coach Roy Nelson’s – gives them a 3-1 edge after four preliminary bouts.
The 6ft 3inch Araujo, aged 31, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, is 22-6 in his mixed martial arts career; the 5ft 10inch Herron-Webb, 22, of Anchorage, Alaska, is 11-3.
Araujo, a father of two young children, lives in Switzerland six months of the year and has taught Brazilian jiu-jitsu at a school in Geneva since 2006. The French-speaking Araujo trains with TUF™ 14 winner, Diego Brandao, at Jackson’s MMA in Albuquerque. Brandao is in action at UFC 153 tomorrow night.
Araujo said: “I felt really happy because I won my fight on my son’s birthday. It was really strange fighting in the TUF gym, with Dana White watching, I felt so much pressure. I should have finished Nic, but I didn’t and I didn’t get the $5,000 bonus because of it. I respect Nic, he is a nice guy, he is young and a tough fighter, but in this situation being away from my family was my biggest opponent at that time.”
Herron-Webb , nicknamed “NAP-Time” as much for his fondness for snoozing as for his hard-hitting fighting style, said: “I was pretty disappointed after my fight. I felt like I got robbed of the chance to go to a third round. I wish I would have been more aggressive and fought harder. After my fight it felt like the team moral dropped because all of the guys on my team thought it was my fight to win and take back control for our team, so it sucked.”
Tickets for The Ultimate Fighter® Finale on Dec. 15 at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas are on sale and priced at $304, $254, $179, $154, $104 and $79. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit the Hard Rock Box Office, all Ticketmaster locations, www.ticketmaster.com, www.thejointlasvegas.com or charge-by-phone at 800.745.3000.
Results after episode five:
Team Carwin (3-1)
Sam Alvey (0-1, lost to Joey Rivera by decision in episode 3)
Bristol Marunde (1-1, defeated Julian Lane by unanimous decision in episode 4)
Mike Ricci
Neil Magny (1-0, defeated Cameron Diffley by decision in episode 2)
James Chaney
Eddy Ellis
Igor Araujo (1-0, defeated Nic Herron-Webb by majority decision in episode 5)
Matt Secor
Team Nelson (1-3)
Dom Waters
Michael Hill
Cameron Diffley (0-1, lost to Neil Magny by decision in episode 2)
Colton Smith
Jon Manley
Nic Herron-Webb (0-1, lost to Igor Araujo by majority decision in episode 5)
Joey Rivera (1-0, defeated Sam Alvey by decision in episode 3)
Julian Lane (0-1, lost to Bristol Marunde by decision in episode 4)
A full recap is available at ufc.com.
The series resumes next Friday, Oct.ober 19, on FX at 10 p.m. ET/PT (check local listings for Central and Mountain Time) with the sixth episode of its 12-week run. In that episode – “????” – tempers flare in the house and training intensifies at the gym. Then two welterweights enter the Octagon for their Preliminary fight.
For more show information, bios, videos and photos, visit ultimatefighter.com and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter under our new name @TUFonFX or on Facebook.com/TUF.
About the Ultimate Fighting Championship®
Universally recognized for its action-packed, can’t-miss events that have sold out some of the biggest arenas and stadiums across the globe, the UFC® is the world’s premier mixed martial arts (MMA) organization. Owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC, headquartered in Las Vegas and with offices in London, Toronto and Beijing, UFC produces more than 30 live events annually and is the largest Pay-Per-View event provider in the world. In 2011, the UFC burst into the mainstream with a landmark seven-year broadcast agreement with FOX Sports Media Group. The agreement includes four live events broadcast on the FOX network annually, with additional fight cards and thousands of hours of programming broadcast on FOX properties FX and FUEL TV. This also includes the longest-running sports reality show on television, The Ultimate Fighter®, which now airs on FX.
In addition to its reach on FOX, UFC programming is broadcast in over 149 countries and territories, to nearly one billion homes worldwide, in 20 different languages. UFC content is also distributed commercially in the United States to bars and restaurants through Joe Hand Promotions, in English throughout Canada via Premium Sports Broadcasting Inc. and in French throughout Quebec via Interbox. The UFC also connects with tens of millions of fans through its website, UFC.com, as well as social media sites Facebook and Twitter. UFC President Dana White is considered one of the most accessible and followed executives in sports, with over two million followers on Twitter. Ancillary UFC businesses include best-selling DVDs, an internationally distributed magazine, UFC.TV offering live event broadcasts and video on demand around the world, the best-selling UFC Undisputed® video game franchise distributed by THQ, and a new franchise in development with EA, UFC GYM®, UFC Fight Club affinity program, UFC Fan Expo® festivals, branded apparel and trading cards.
FX
FX is the flagship general entertainment basic cable network from Fox. Launched in June of 1994, FX is carried in more than 98 million homes. The diverse schedule features a growing roster of critically acclaimed and award-winning hit dramas series Sons of Anarchy and Justified; the miniseries American Horror Story, which earned 17 primetime Emmy® Awards, tying for the most nominations of any program this year and the most nominations for a miniseries in basic cable history; the acclaimed hit comedy series It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The League, Louie, Archer, Wilfred, Legit, BrandX with Russell Brand, and Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell. The network’s library of acquired box-office hit movies is unmatched by any ad-supported television network. FX’s other offerings include the acquired hit series Two and a Half Men and How I Met Your Mother, and live sports with UFC and NCAA football.
