The Sunderland fighter was beaten by Chris Holdsworth in the bantamweight final after two months of battling it out on the TV show.

Grant, 27, reached the final after last-four opponent Anthony Gutierrez failed to make the weight.

However, his dream ended when Holdsworth gained the upper hand with a rear-naked choke in the second round that forced the Brit to tap out.

Holdsworth (5-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) is still to taste defeat with all of his wins by submission, while Grant (8-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) had his eight-fight unbeaten streak strangled by the Sacramento fighter.

But Holdsworth was full of praise for his beaten rival, saying: “You have to take your hat off to Davey. I really respect him. He’s a great fighter and a great human being. He lost, but I wish him plenty of luck in the future.”

      

Julianna Pena stopped Jessica Rakoczy in the opening round of the first-ever TUF women’s final.

It was another barrier to be brought down and Pena said: “It’s great that the UFC have allowed women to fight.”

Pena had nothing but praise for her team coach Miesha Tate, saying: “I just couldn’t have done it without her.”

But praise was nonexistent between Tate and rival coach Ronda Rousey, who clearly dislike each other.

Bantamweight champ Rousey will have a second octagon clash with Tate at UFC 168 on December 28.

Rousey defeated Tate for the Strikeforce title in March last year before joining the UFC, where she fought Liz Carmouche to claim the belt in February.

When the pair were interviewed by the octagon, they appeared to avoid any kind of eye contact.

There is a clear Froch-Groves animosity between the pair that will only add fuel to what promises to be a heated encounter.

In the main event, Nate Diaz landed a succession of blows on Gray Maynard to force a first-round stoppage.

It was a fine display from Diaz, who can now move right into the lightweight world title mix with his confidence sky high.