The Ultimate Insider: Xavier Franklin shares most memorable moments following TUF 34 season finale

Another season of The Ultimate Fighter 34 is in the books.

Mehemmedeli Osmanli closed out the latest season of the UFC’s long-running reality show in style, putting Christian Strong to sleep with a second-round buggy choke submission to earn his spot in the TUF 34 bantamweight finals opposite Ilimbek Akylbek Uulu.

The TUF 34 finals take place on Sept. 26 at UFC Vegas 121, with both matchups pitting teammates against one another as Team Michael Bisping’s Osmanli and Akylbek Uulu face off, with Team Daniel Cormier’s Tina Black fighting Melissa Amaya in the strawweight tournament final.

“Ali” entered the semifinals knowing he’d have to deal with Strong’s smothering wrestling game, though Strong also showed some pop on his feet in the opening round of their contest. However, the fight inevitably went to the ground in Round 2, and Osmanli committed fully to a buggy choke, eventually putting turning off the lights of a resilient Strong.

TUF 34 bantamweight contestant and MMA Fighting guest blogger Xavier Franklin broke down the incredible maneuver, one that everyone knew Osmanli had in his arsenal.

Xavier: Ali threw threw that up on everybody. Me, Ilimbek, Christian, he choked Christian in the tryouts with that same choke twice. He got him to tap. … I was sitting next to Ilimbek when the fight was happening and Ilimbek was like, “All he has to do is frame. I don’t know why he’s trying to lift up and slam him.” Because when you slam yourself, you’re putting yourself deeper into the choke. You’ve got to kind of frame and just wait for them to burn out.

But it was sick to see it, honestly. I seen Christian, I was like, “Oh shit, he’s about to get out of it,” because Ali kind of lost it for a little bit because Christian just made himself big. Then Christian put himself in it more and I’m like, “What the hell are you doing?” Then Ali squeezed again and then he got it. I was like, whoa, that was crazy.

Based on what was shown in the season finale, it seems that Osmanli and Akylbek Uulu were destined to meet in the finale. According to Franklin, the Team Bisping fighters were constantly at odds in the gym and back at the TUF house, and tensions eventually boiled over during one particularly heated session.

With Osmanli and Akylbek Uulu grappling on the mat, Akylbek Uulu stuck an elbow in Osmanli’s face, which Osmanli interpreted as an inappropriately dangerous move for training. A furious Osmanli attempted to escalate the confrontation and the coaches didn’t rush to stop him.

Xavier: That happened before the fight picks and stuff happened. That’s why I still say it made no sense for me to fight Ilimbek. That’s how I knew this is somebody else’s hand in the pot, this has nothing to do with what should happen, it’s what they want to happen.

I couldn’t tell, so from my angle where I was sitting, I didn’t see Ilimbek elbow him. I didn’t see it, but then when they showed it again, it wasn’t like an elbow, but it was almost like an elbow frame, like he was trying to frame on the buggy choke. So I see how Ali could say he got elbowed. Ali was going crazy, they showed a little, he was going ballistic. And then the coaches are like, “No, no, break it up,” and then Ali’s like, “No, let me put my MMA gloves on.” He puts his MMA gloves on, coach is like, “Alright, let him keep sparring.”

I’m like, “What are we doing, bro?”

Michael Bisping’s not there, so like all this madness is just f*cking going on. That shit was crazy because that lasted for a while. Even in the locker room, it lasted a while.

Franklin doesn’t understand why Osmanli and Akylbek Uulu kept being paired up when the coaches knew how much they disliked each other.

Xavier: You got two wolves training with each other. Obviously, there’s going to be some tempers flying now when you put Ilimbek and Ali together, they don’t like each other. You shouldn’t let them train together because they literally don’t like each other. If I was training with somebody I did not like or was on my team, I wouldn’t train with them because I know they’re going to do something and I’m going to do something back. It’s not going to be smart. I just thought that was very not smart on our coaches’ part, who have world champions. I was like, you can’t do stuff like that, but what do I know?

Franklin and Akylbek Uulu developed a close bond during the season, but he’s not ready to make a pick for the finale yet, saying both guys have a good chance to take home the TUF 34 bantamweight crown. He also made it clear that his teammates’ on-screen beef wasn’t just for the cameras and fans can expect more of that on fight night.

Xavier: They generally don’t like each other at all. Not just the fight, there’s stuff that happened behind the scenes that literally reminds me of Conor and Khabib’s situation. There may be a fight in the crowd between their two countries because it’s that bad.

With TUF 34 having come to a close, it only made sense to talk walk down memory lane with Franklin and ask him for some of his favorite moments.

When it comes to best fight, he puts his headline-making bouts against Micaias Urena and Ilimbek Akylbek Uulu at the top of the list, but also gives a major tip of the hat to the strawweight semifinal scrap between Tina Black and Delphine Benouaich.

Xavier: I think if I didn’t have to choose my own, not tooting my own horn, I would say probably Delphine and Tina. That fight was a banger. It was both going back and forth, it was 1-1 in the third and then in the third round, it could have went either way, maybe Tina edged it, maybe she didn’t, it was a good fight. I would say them.

Or Melissa and Gigi, but I think Tina and Delphine. They put on a show, they had Dana standing up and clapping and everybody going crazy, so yeah, I’m gonna go Tina and Delphine. … The girls brought it this season. They were out there fighting for their lives. I loved it.

Franklin also had a good relationship with Michael Bisping, and said his favorite moment with his coach was when he finally got to put his guard down as the season came to a close.

Xavier: Probably when we were in the restaurant. They didn’t show a lot, but when we’re just sitting there laughing and talking, he’s telling us about his family, telling us about our careers, having a real chat. He’s getting pretty loose and drunk, we’re generally having a good time and that was the best time I would say is in the restaurant where I could tell he wasn’t in character anymore. He was just being himself and I’m like, “Wow, you’re actually a good dude.”

He was literally giving us talks like we were his kids, but at the same time it was like he was looking at other versions of himself, almost like he was telling us what he would tell his younger self, so that. When he talked to us in the restaurant, that was my favorite Michael Bisping moment.

It’s not hard for Franklin to pinpoint the season’s lowlight either, though surprisingly it wasn’t Herb Dean making a mess of his fight with Akylbek Uulu, but rather having to fight Akylbek Uulu at all.

Xavier: The worst moment was having to fight Ilimbek. That was the worst. After they chose the fight picks, I literally walked off and I just teared up a little bit walking to the back. I was like, ‘This is the worst shit I’ve ever had to do.“ I fought my friends when I was younger, but that’s different. This is literally like, f*ck, I can’t even avoid this, this is just something I’m going to have to do, so for me that was the hardest thing to do, honestly.

Because me, friends that I get really close with, that I would consider like brothers basically, I wouldn’t ever want to harm them. I could train with them, spar with them, but fighting them, the mindset’s different, everything’s completely different. I told myself in my journal, “I’m going to have to basically kill him tomorrow,” but when I got in there with him and I just seen him, even when I’m hitting him, he’s like making sounds, I’m like, “Bro.”

It was just hard. It was a bad situation. I know people will probably give me shit, like, “You didn’t know him” or whatever, but I don’t care. When you meet a genuine person, you understand. You know. So for me that was the worst moment because I literally couldn’t even shake the feeling. Even before the fight, after the fight, I couldn’t shake it. I was just like, that was horrible. I was so pissed off in the house, too, I was like, “Oh f*ck.”

Asked who the funniest cast member was, Franklin didn’t hesitate to name Marlon Jones, who was eliminated from the competition early, but kept everyone else’s spirits up with his antics.

Xavier: Marlon, listen, he’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. They didn’t even show it after my fight with Macaias, me and Marlon stayed up until, like, three in the morning upstairs just talking, having stories, journaling, he had me up there crying laughing. He’s so funny. It’s Marlon for sure.

Reflecting on his experience, Franklin said he’s glad he followed his gut to take the TUF plunge rather than wait for a Contender Series call or a short-notice UFC opportunity.

Xavier: Obviously I’m not in the finals, but I feel like I got more out of this than I would have if I didn’t come. There’s a lot of controversy, but I feel people can see my character more, see my style. I showcased a lot more in this whole little show than I probably would have showcased if I would have fought Macaias at LFA for the belt, you know what I mean? Nobody was going to know my character. They probably would have seen me knock him out, but it wouldn’t have been anything of that.

So yeah, I would just say trust your gut instincts and believe in yourself. It sounds so corny, but if you believe in yourself, you trust your instincts, then I feel usually it works out most of the time.

Franklin advises future TUF contestants to get their head right before going into the house, because while the fighting side of things might be easy, not everyone is cut out to be on television.

Xavier: You have cameras in your face as soon as you wake up. If your mind’s not ready for this type of environment, you’re not going to be able to withstand it all, because it’s so much, it’s a lot. Even for me, I don’t mind cameras, I don’t mind all that, but it’s a lot, especially if you’ve never, ever thought you could do something like that, like reality TV, all that.

They even have you sign a contract saying like, are you mentally stable? Because you could literally go crazy on the show.

Overall, Franklin spoke glowingly of his time on TUF.

Xavier: One-of-one experience.

I think everybody that was an alumni to The Ultimate Fighter understands what I’m saying in saying it’s the greatest thing I’ve probably ever done that I’ll probably do in my life besides get married and have kids and stuff like that, or ever touch the UFC belt, but I feel like this was one of those one-of-one experiences where you pretty much gamble on yourself and then everything else will just unfold between the people you meet, between the things that happened, the coaches, the cameras, the stuff that made it on camera, the stuff that didn’t make it on camera, the journaling, the endless games of chess, endless games of pool, the drunk people, just everything.

It’s an experience, I wouldn’t trade for the world. Team Bisping has a group chat and we talk to each other all the time and I’m just like, “Damn, I never knew any of you and now it’s like, I miss all y’all. Y’all are like my family, my friends.” We tell each other that all the time, so it was a great season. Glad I could be a part of it.

The Ultimate Fighter 34 streamed exclusively on Paramount+ with new episodes every Tuesday.

Unlike most editions of TUF, coaches Michael Bisping and Daniel Cormier will not fight at the conclusion of the season, as both are long retired.

The finalists of the TUF 34 bantamweight and strawweight tournaments will compete for a six-figure UFC contract in the show’s live finale fights, which are set to take place at UFC Vegas 121 on Sept. 26.

See The Ultimate Fighter 34 teams below.

Here are the finals matchups:

Melissa Amaya vs. Tina Black

Ilimbek Akylbek Uulu vs. Mehemmedeli Osmanli

Here are the semifinal results:

Melissa Amaya def. GiGi Canuto via TKO (strikes) (R2)

Ilimbek Akylbek Uulu def. Xavier Franklin via decision

Tina Black def. Delphine Benouaich via decision

Mehemmedeli Osmanli def. Christian Strong via submission (buggy choke) (R2)

Here are the quarterfinal results:

Melissa Amaya def. Anna Melisano via submission (rear-naked choke) (R1)

Christian Strong def. Marlon Jones via decision

GiGi Canuto def. Anita Karim via TKO (strikes) (R1)

Mehemmedeli Osmanli def. Artem Belakh via submission (rear-naked choke) (R1)

Tina Black def. Natalia Alves via TKO (strikes) (R2)

Ilimbek Akylbek Uulu def. Sean Mora via decision

Delphine Benouaich def. Mackenzie Stiller via decision

Xavier Franklin def. Micaias Urena via TKO (strikes) (R1)

Advancing to finals: Amaya, Akylbek Uulu, Black, Osmanli

Advancing to semifinals: Amaya, Strong, Canuto, Osmanli, Black, Akylbek Uulu, Benouaich, Franklin

Eliminated: Melisano, Jones, Karim, Belakh, Alves, Mora, Stiller, Urena

Xavier Franklin is a cast member on The Ultimate Fighter 34 and a guest contributor to MMA Fighting. He also served as Michael Bisping’s unofficial English accent translator on the show.