The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale kicked off it’s television broadcast with the FUEL TV preliminary fights. The feature fight saw Josh Samman facing off against Kevin Casey. Samman made it all the way to the semifinals, before getting knocked out by finalist Kelvin Gastelum. Casey had two chances to advance in the tournament, but gave up unanimous decisions to both Collin Hart and Bubba McDaniels.
Josh Samman vs. Kevin Casey
Samman came out early kicking out the legs of Casey. He followed him to the ground only to end up in a tight triangle attempt. The two scrambled as Casey switched to an armbar attempt before being shrugged off. Samman struggled to get out from under Casey for most of the first round. Once he got back up he punished Casey with violent knees from the Muay Thai clinch. Samman went immediately to the MT clinch at the start of second round and brutalized Casey with it. Casey did his best to survive, but finally collapsed under the punishment.
Josh Samman scored the TKO over Kevin Casey at 2:17 of Round 2.
Luke Barnatt vs. Collin Hart
Barnatt and Hester did their best to turn this into a war of attrition. Collin started pressuring Luke right from the opening bell. He came in with flurries to force and clinch and work the takedown. Barnatt did his best to keep Hart at the end of straight punches and defended well in the clinch. Both men took a beating as each tried to enforce their game. In the end, Barnatt got the decision on all three judges’ scorecards.
Luke Barnatt wins the unanimous decision (29-28 x 2, 30-27) over Collin Hart.
Dylan Andrews vs. Jimmy Quinlan
Quinlan came out relentlessly pursuing the takedown. He eventually got one right into side control, but wasn’t able to keep Andrews down. He came back looking for another, but ate a right hook for his effort, then an uppercut that dropped him. Andrews followed up with with some ground and pound to get the finish.
Dylan Andrews knocked out Jimmy Quinlan at 3:22 of Round 1.
Clint Hester vs. Bristol Marunde
Hester and Marunde got off to a slow start with both fighters pawing at each other from range for much of the first. Late in the round, Marunde scored a takedown after catching a low kick. He didn’t do much with it, but caught by a big right hand from Hester as he got to his feet. Halfway through the second, Marunde secured a hard fought takedown. He shrugged off a triangle attempt from Hester only to get dropped by a big upkick, but managed to survive the following firefight to see the 3rd round. Hester dominated the third round, landing a flying knee and punishing Marunde from top sprawl position. Finally, with time running out, Hester threw an elbow like an overhand right to get the KO.
Clint Hester knocked out Bristol Marunde at 3:53 of Round 3.