FanHouse UltimateFighterFinale

The year is half over, so we're giving out some MMA half year awards. Today we'll discuss the best fight of the year so far.

On Saturday, Kim Winslow became the first female referee in the history of the UFC when she worked two fights at the Ultimate Fighter Finale.

This week FanHouse caught up with Winslow for a wide-ranging interview in which she talked about her thoughts on being the only woman working as a ref in mixed martial arts, how her job as an air-traffic controller prepared her for stepping into the cage, and why she doesn't hesitate to stop between two fighters, no matter how big they are.

The full interview is below.

The UFC still has a long way to go before it matches sports like golf and baseball in mainstream popularity. But the ratings for Saturday's showing of the Ultimate Fighter Finale on Spike show that among young men, the UFC has very much arrived.

Spike announced today that the Ultimate Fighter Finale, featuring Diego Sanchez beating Clay Guida in the main event, got 663,000 viewers in the male 18-34 demographic -- the demographic that advertisers covet most -- compared to 384,000 for the U.S. Open on NBC and 184,000 for Major League Baseball on Fox.

Saturday night's Ultimate Fighter Finale featured five televised fights, three of which won co-Fight of the Night honors and the other two which crowned the winners of The Ultimate Fighter reality show. So there wasn't much time left over to talk about the fights that didn't make the Spike TV broadcast.

Diego Sanchez's split decision victory over Clay Guida at Saturday night's Ultimate Fighter Finale was one of the best UFC fights of the year, but MMA fans have been talking almost as much about the judging of the fight as the fight itself.

A significant moment in mixed martial arts history seems to have passed with little notice Saturday night: Kim Winslow became the first woman ever to be in the Octagon during a UFC fight when she refereed the undercard bout between Nick Osipczak and Frank Lester at the Ultimate Fighter Finale.

Diego Sanchez defeated Clay Guida by split decision in a brutal, bloody brawl Saturday night at the Ultimate Fighter Finale.

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James Wilks defeated DeMarques Johnson with a first-round rear-naked choke Saturday night at the Ultimate Fighter Finale, meaning both of this season's Ultimate Fighter winners are from the United Kingdom.

"This is the best moment of my life, for sure," Wilks said afterward. "I really appreciate the opportunity the UFC, Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta have given me."

Ross Pearson defeated Andre Winner Saturday night at the Ultimate Fighter Finale, winning the lightweight final of the ninth season of the UFC's reality show.

Pearson and Winner both represented Team UK on the show, which was set up this year as a team of American fighters taking on a team of British fighters, and their presence in the finale was seen by many as a sign of the strength of MMA in the UK.

In a battle of former Ultimate Fighter winners, Joe Stevenson ended a two-fight losing streak by defeating Nate Diaz by unanimous decision Saturday night at the Ultimate Fighter Finale.

The first two rounds were full of action on the canvas, with Stevenson clearly showing that he has improved his jiu jitsu skills by getting the better of Diaz -- a Gracie jiu jitsu brown belt -- on the ground.