The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale Saturday night at the Pearl inside the Palms Casino featured two former winners of the reality show, along with the newest member of the elusive club. The three fighters won their matchups by different methods in front of a sold out crowd, two of which entered the octagon as underdogs.

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Middleweight Amir Sadollah (1-0) secured a first-round submission victory over CB Dollaway (6-1) to win season 7 of The Ultimate Fighter and the guaranteed six-figure contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. That victory ended in controversy when referee Herb Dean determined that Dollaway tapped due to an armbar at the 3:02 mark. The former Arizona State wrestler protested vehemently to no avail, helping Sadollah cash tickets as $1.60 underdog (bet $100 to win $160).

“I was confused at the end,” said Sadollah. “I didn’t feel a tap.”

This actually marked the second fight between these two after meeting in the semifinals of The Ultimate Fighter. Sadollah won that contest with an armbar in the third round. Dollaway got another chance when fellow cast member Jesse Taylor was kicked off the show due to a drunken rampage after advancing to the finals.

“This is a big disappointment for me,” stated Dollaway. “The beginning of the fight was going just like I expected, then he caught me with that same armbar.”

In Saturday’s main event, TUF 3 winner Kendall ‘Da Spyder’ Grove (9-5) earned a split-decision victory over former middleweight champion Evan Tanner (32-8). The scoring was quite peculiar, with two judges scoring it 30-26 for Grove and the third judge (Al Lefkowitz) scoring it 29-28 in favor of Tanner. VegasInsider.com scored the contest in favor of Grove, 30-27, who prevailed as a $1.75 underdog.

This contest was billed as a must-win for both participants after these two combined to lose four of their last five matches. Grove cut Tanner with an elbow strike in the first round, and landed a solid flying knee that slowed down the veteran striker.

The second round saw Grove use his 6-foot-6 frame to his advantage, connecting on solid knees to the body before landing some solid elbows from top position once this contest went to the ground. The third stanza was much of the same, with the Hawaiian landing solid elbows in what is probably Tanner’s last appearance inside the octagon.

“I knew Tanner was a strong wrestler, but I think I frustrated him,” said Grove. “This win feels good, everyone was saying that I was just a reality TV winner.”

Diego ‘The Nightmare’ Sanchez (19-2) won the first season of TUF, and entered his matchup against Luigi Fioravanti (12-4) as a decided $5.00 ‘chalk.’ ‘The Nightmare’ won an entertaining encounter with a technical knockout at 4:07 of the third round.

Sanchez was unable to capitalize on his strength and take Fioravanti down, but won a standup war in this welterweight matchup. The 26-year-old ended the fight with a solid left leg head kick that staggered Fioravanti before following up with a flying knee. From there, he used his ground and pound until the fight was stopped.

“I have tremendous respect for Luigi, he prepared to stop my takedowns but he wasn’t prepared for my standup,” noted Sanchez. “I prefer to take my fights to the ground where I’m more dominant and avoid punishment.”

**Octagon Extras**

-The Tim Credeur-Cale Yarbrough fight was called off Saturday night when Credeur tested positive for Adderall in a pre-fight drug test. The banned substance is a psychostimulant tradtionally prescribed to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Brad Young can be reached at byoung@vegasinsider.com.