There was plenty of action at The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale: Team USA vs. Team UK Saturday night at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. While the card was set up to provide two new contracts for fighters on the Spike TV show The Ultimate Fighter, the main event will get serious Fight of the Year consideration.

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Diego ‘Nightmare’ Sanchez improved his record to 23-2 with a split decision victory over Clay ‘The Carpenter’ Guida (25-10) in a three-round lightweight classic. Two judges sided with Sanchez by scores of 29-27 and 29-28, while a third scored the bout for Guida, 29-28. VegasInsider.com scored the contest for Sanchez, two rounds to one.

‘Nightmare’ is already ranked in our top-5 lightweight power rankings, and figures to be on the short list to get a shot of the winner of the UFC 101 matchup between champion BJ Penn and Kenny Florian. Sanchez barely cashed tickets as a decided $3.25 favorite (bet $325 to win $100) over Guida, the $2.50 underdog.

Sanchez prevailed in part because he inflicted more damage on his opponent, stumbling Guida early with some solid uppercuts. Later in the round, Sanchez connected on a head kick to help him win the round on one judges’ scorecard, 10-8.

Despite the punishment, Guida stormed out for the second round and took this contest to the mat. ‘The Carpenter’ took the second round by ground and pound despite taking a couple of elbows to the head.

The third round was extremely close, and realistically could have gone either way. Guida eventually secured top position, but Sanchez was the more active fighter while trying to secure a Kimura and armbar.

After the fight, Sanchez showered his opponent with compliments.

“Guida has a tremendous chin, there’s a reason why he’s never been knocked out,” said Sanchez. “That’s what the UFC is all about, bringing battles like this to the octagon.”

While the favorite prevailed in the main event, there were two upset victories according to the odds for the TUF 9 lightweight and welterweight titles. British fighter James Wilks (6-2) won the welterweight title and UFC’s six-figure guaranteed contract in impressive fashion.

Wilks dominated American Damarques Johnson (9-7), finishing the fight at 4:54 of the first round with a rear-naked choke. Wilks entered the octagon as a decided $2.75 underdog, but left as the show’s latest welterweight champion.

Lightweight Ross Pearson (9-3) won a unanimous decision over fellow Brit Andre Winner (9-3-1) as a $1.55 underdog. Pearson won on all three judges’ scorecards, 29-28, which was even after the first two rounds.

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