TUF 17 Finale: Boy Wonder Wins Split Decision

TUF season 17 reached its conclusion on Saturday night with a card punctuated by spectacular fights and surprising results as the season champion was crowned in Las Vegas.

The TUF Finale Fight
Kelvin Gastelum was eager to throw blows with Uriah Hall, who seemed content to allow the smaller fighter chase him around the ring.   Kelvin began scoring with takedowns, but Hall turned the corner in the second round when he started reversing position on Kelvin and scoring on the smaller fighter -- including a stunning suplex late in the five-minute period.   Hall started pushing the pace more in the third round, but Kelvin secured a few takedowns and avoided any significant damage.

Despite being heavily favored, Kelvin appeared to win the fight -- and two judges acted in kind by scoring the bout 29-28 for Kelvin.  Surprisingly, one judge gave the fight to Uriah by the same score.

With his victory, Kelvin became the youngest winner in TUF history and did so as the last pick by his Coach, Chael Sonnen.  Harley-Davidsons are in order for the champs!

The Best of the Rest

Uriah Faber (28-6) def. Scott Jorgensen (21-7)
'The California Kid' won a fight that featured a blistering pace by securing a rear naked choke in the fourth round.  The bout was an entertaining fight between two friends and Jorgenson appeared to rebound and control the fight in the third, but Faber regained momentum in the fourth and secured the win by submission, his 16th-career win by tapout.

Faber likely deserves another bantamweight title shot following the win, but he will have many detractors gunning his direction that still have ammunition -- including five loses in title fights dating back to 2008 -- that will argue others are more deserving, including Michael McDonald and Bibiano Fernandes, among others.

Cat Zingano (8-0) def. Miesha Tate (13-4)
Tate controlled the majority of the fight from the opening bell when she surged at her opponent.  But Zinagno survived multiple takedowns and submission attempts through two rounds and won with a flurry of knees in the third period.

With the win, Zingano will join UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey -- Kelvin’s favorite training partner -- as a coach on the next season of TUF ( and we have a TUF-related surprise below!).

Travis Browne (16-1-1) vs. Gabriel Gonzaga (14-7)
The pre-fight talk seemed to side with Gonzaga and then Browne claimed the first round knockout in spectacular fashion.  While defending a single-leg takedown against the cage, the towering heavyweight fighter dropped a series of elbows to the side of Gonzaga’s head that collapsed his opponent to the mat.

Bubba McDaniel (21-6) def. Gilbert Smith (5-2)
Bubba and McDaniel delivered a solid bout between two TUF contenders, but Bubba’s experience began to show as the bout advanced.  Bubba showed a number of skills against Smith, including a technical sweep from his back, and ended the contest with a triangle armbar in the third round.

And In addition to the aforementioned fights, a number of other TUF 17 contenders fought on the undercard, including:

Josh Samman (10-2) def. Kevin Casey (8-3) (TKO, round two)
Luke Barnatt (6-0) def. Collin Hart (4-2)(unanimous decision)
Dylan Andrews (16-4) def. Jimmy Quinlan (3-1) (TKO, round one)
Clint Hester (8-3) def. Bristol Marunde (12-8) (TKO, round three)

Final Thoughts
Where the hell was the Uriah Hall from the regular season?  Was this a body double?  Uriah looked content gliding and dancing, almost in a rope-a-dope-type manner.  He consistently retreated in an attempt to draw Kelvin in, but never showed his killer instincts that allowed him to dominate his early fights.  But, the runner-up certainly deserves a UFC contract and should be a future force in the middleweight division.

And who was this Bubba?  The training partner of Coach Jon Jones in Albuquerque, N.M. showed why he was favored entering the TUF season and was impressive in his fight with Gilbert Smith.   Apparently, the TUF season was difficult for Bubba, a rather large middleweight, as he had to maintain a low fighting weight during the filming because of the short period between fights.   He showed up at full strength on Saturday.

As impressive as the Cat Zingano and Miesha Tate bout was -- and it was my favorite fight of the evening, a non-stop battle between two driven competitors -- I couldn’t help but think that neither can match up with Ronda Rousey.  Zingano seemed overwhelmed by Tate’s early pace and exploded in the third with superior cardio, but Rousey will likely have the advantage in both pace and cardio in their anticipated matchup.

‘Bones’ Jones was awkward in an interview with Sonnen, who may seriously cut better promos than Ric Flair.  Jones was aloof and detached as talked distantly over Sonnen and the reporter, a fact the reporter pointed out.  Meanwhile, Sonnen just did his thing:  “My name is on the marquee and I'm a bigger draw than Rocky.  I'm soon to be champ and they call me Chael P.”

Oh, by the way, in a surprise announcement from the Big Boss Man Dana White, the next TUF with ‘Rowdy’ Rousey and Zingano will be aired on Fox Sports 1, the network’s new flagship sports channel.  In most regards, this is a big deal.  MMA wil l continue to be an important element of FOX’s future broadcasts and the show should have an opportunity to grow its ratings if the channel succeeds, as many think it may.

And, Kelvin.  Well done.  The youngest ever fighter on TUF has become the youngest champion of the show.  I doubted the young fighter every step of the way.  In fact, I still do because experience is often a significant factor in fighting.  Yet, I’m a fan of Jon Jones, the youngest ever champion, so paint me a hypocrite.   Kelvin impressed every step of the way and proved he was more than a wrestler, in addition to meeting every challenge head on -- which, rather strangely, couldn’t be said about every fighter on TUF 17.   A big congratulations are in order for the unassuming and inspirational young man.

Images Courtesy:  MMAfighting.com; another awesome GIF from FanSided.com; BloodyElbow.com; and NYPost.com.