The Ultimate Fighter 34 finals went down last night (Sat. Sept. 26, 2026) with UFC Fight Night: Rosas Jr. vs. Barcelos, and while this season of the reality show came and went in spades, the men’s bantamweight tournament finale may be remembered for the extremely messy way it ended.
Mehemmedeli Osmanli from Azerbaijan and Ilimbek Akylbek from Kyrgyzstan fought their way through the Paramount+ 8-man tournament to earn a spot on the main card of Saturday’s Meta Apex card, but their fight ended by DQ just 2:19 into the first round after Osmanli threw a knee at a downed Akylbek, catching Ilimbek right in the face while he was clearly grounded on the canvas.
The referee quickly stopped the fight and Akylbek fell on his back in a daze. The fight was scored a DQ win for the underdog Akylbek, but not without controversy: some, including Osmanli, claimed the Kyrgyz fighter faked a knockout.
“He’s fake,” Osmanli declared in an Instagram Live video after the loss. “First he took my leg. Then when the referee stopped, he put me forward.”
A slow-motion replay of the incident shows Akylbek grabbing Osmanli’s leg, adjusting his grip and fighting for position. The referee then stopped play and Akylbek rolled onto his back and made the play. He stayed out of it even when the team planted him against the cage, and when he was brought to his feet after the fight, a disqualification was issued.
We’ve seen knocked-out fighters try to grapple their opponents or even the referee, so Akylbek’s instinctive reaction to grappling doesn’t conclusively confirm that he was faking things. Osmanl’s fans could spend a little more time being mad at him for throwing a blatantly illegal knee to a grounded opponent than rioting against Akylbek for the DQ win.
While no one in North America seems to care that much about The Ultimate Fighter anymore, the men’s bantamweight final was a big deal in Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan, and the way it ended caused quite a stir among fans in those regions. Rafael Fiziev, who has roots in both countries, took to Instagram after the controversy to try to defuse the situation.
“In the final of such a historic show, two Turks attacked their opponents with honor and grace!” he said. It is amazing that two of our men who live on another continent can represent the Turkish identity at such a high level. Don’t fight with each other! Here we all belong to each other!”
