The main card of The Ultimate fighter Finale 17 started off with former teammates Bubba McDaniel and Gilbert Smith. McDaniel lost in the opening round of the tournament, giving up a submission to finalist Kelvin Gastelum. He was brought back for the wild card match where he KO’d Kevin Casey. He fell short of a shot at the finals when was KO’d by the other finalist and super-hyped Uriah Hall. Smith lost via KO in the first round of the tournament.
McDaniel pressured Smith with strikes early, but gave up a takedown. Not a lot of strikes thrown on the mat and the two exchanged sweeps. McDaniel used a guillotine attempt to sweep and finished the round landing knees from top position.
The second round was all Bubba McDaniel. He outstruck Smith to start the round, then dominated on the ground for the second half. After defending a guillotine attempt, McDaniel took dominant position and proceeded to back mount. He landed solid punches from there, but wasn’t able to grab a choke.
Less than a minute into the final round and Bubba already established dominant position. Smith barely did enough to survive before giving up his back. Smith escaped the back mount and immediately found himself in a triangle. Bubba added on the armbar to get the finish.
Bubba McDaniel submitted Gilbert Smith with an armbar at 2:49 of round 3.