Twelve-bout TUF 17 Finale lineup set, includes Casey-Samman, Andrews-Quinlan
With the taped content for "The Ultimate Fighter 17" now in the books, the promotion has released the evening's 12-bout lineup. Among the additions are semifinalists Josh Samman (9-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) and Dylan Andrews (15-4 MMA, 0-0 UFC), who meet Kevin Casey (5-2 MMA, 0-0 uFC) and Jimmy Quinlan (3-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC), respectively.
The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale takes place Saturday at Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay Events Center. The evening's main card, featuring a Urijah Faber vs. Scott Jorgensen headliner and Kelvin Gastelum vs. Uriah Hall TUF 17 championship fight, airs on FX.
Both of those fights take place one the FUEL TV-broadcast preliminary card.
Additional fights involving "TUF 17" cast members include Robert "Bubba" McDaniel (20-6 MMA, 0-0 UFC) vs. Gilbert Smith (5-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) on the night's FX-aired main card, as well as Luke Barnatt (5-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) vs. Collin Hart (4-1-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC), and Clint Hester (7-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC) vs. "TUF 16" contestant Bristol Marunde (12-7 MMA, 0-0 UFC), who makes his official UFC debut.
Following the taping of "The Ultimate Fighter 17," UFC President Dana White promised that all 14 cast members would receive an official UFC fight.
"TUF 17" cast members Tor Troeng and Adam Cella fought at this past weekend's UFC on FUEL TV 9 event, with Troeng taking home a first-round submission win in his native Sweden. With the release of Saturday's bookings, Zak Cummings (15-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC) remains the lone "TUF 17" fighter left to be scheduled.
MMAjunkie.com (
UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps*–*MMAjunkie.com) learned from sources close to the fighter that Cummings was expected to compete on the finale but was injured and will be rebooked at a later date.
With the additions to the card now revealed, the full lineup for The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale includes:
MAIN CARD (FX, 9 p.m. ET)
Urijah Faber vs. Scott Jorgensen
Kelvin Gastelum vs. Uriah Hall - "TUF 17" tournament final
Miesha Tate vs. Cat Zingano
Travis Browne vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
Robert McDaniel vs. Gilbert Smith
PRELIMINARY CARD (FUEL TV, 7 p.m. ET)
Kevin Casey vs. Josh Samman
Luke Barnatt vs. Collin Hart
Dylan Andrews vs. Jimmy Quinlan
Clint Hester vs. Bristol Marunde
PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook, 5:30 p.m. ET)
Cole Miller vs. Bart Palaszewski
Justin Lawrence vs. Daniel Pineda
Maximo Blanco vs. Sam Sicilia