The lightweight winner on the 8th season of the "Ultimate Fighter" reality series, Efrain Escudero rolled through Ido Pariente (rear naked choke), Shane Nelson (triangle choke) and Junie Browning (D'Arce choke) before earning a dominating three round decision win over Phillipe Nover en route to capturing the crown. Along the way Escudero showed off his strong grappling abilities, and his effective blend of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and wrestling abilities that have served him extremely well thus far in his career. While Escudero might not have the same highly renowned collegiate wrestling credentials that many in the sport do , Esucdero is a former Arizona state high-school wrestling champion and NJCAA All-American whose wrestling abilities have translated over very nicely to mixed martial arts. Quick and deceptively strong, Escudero has shown he can get the fight to the ground with good takedowns and big slams throughout his early career (see highlight video below). On the mat, Escudero boasts a tenacious and aggressive ground game that features excellent ground control and solid ground and pound skills. He has also shown good BJJ skills and always remains actively aware of, and possesses the wherewithal to quickly take advantage of submission opportunities when they should arrive. In fact, despite his wrestling background the argument could be made that Escudero's submission game is his strongest attribute as eight of his eleven pro wins have come via tapout, and that's not including the three submission victories he had during his "Ultimate Fighter" stint. While he'll need to continue working on his overall grappling ability, at 23 years of age Escudero already has a solid wrestling and submission base, displays solid BJJ skills and shows the promise of developing into an excellent all-round grappler.

On his feet, Escudero is not nearly as polished as he is on the ground and by his own admission will need to work diligently on his striking skills. Escudero has gotten to the point he has in his career relying considerably on his grappling ability, and had to be considered a fairly one dimensional fighter following his Ultimate Fighter stint. Escudero is however an intelligent, hardworking fighter and does recognize the need to improve his striking proficiency. In his first bout after winning "TUF", Escudero showed off those improving striking skills as he came out and displayed improving footwork and head movement, showed a willingness to keep the fight standing and eventually knocked out American Top Team product Cole Miller with a heavy right hand. Escudero's good instincts, solid head movement, quickness on his feet, excellent composure as well as his boxing bloodlines (his father was a professional boxer) will surely aid in his developing standup skills, and he is fully capable of developing into a competitive MMA striker.