TUF 17 Finale: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen – The Rundown

A week after the Final Four dust settled in the NCAA, the final 4 contestants on TUF 17 battled it out to determine which two would meet this weekend at the Mandalay Bay Events Center for the title of The Ultimate Fighter.

The 2 finalists ended up being highlight reel knockout artist, Uriah Hall & upset specialist, Kelvin Gastelum and together with a pair of former WEC superstars, two heavyweight powerhouses and just the second women’s fight in UFC history, they will share the limelight in the Nevada desert. Here is the rundown on what to look out for this Saturday as the UFC heads to Las Vegas for The Ultimate Fighter Finale for the first time ever live from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino.

“The California Kid” Urijah Faber (27-6) vs. Scott “Young Guns” Jorgensen (14-6) 5- round Bantamweight Bout.

A pair of ex-WEC standouts headlines the night when former WEC 145-pound champion, Faber and one-time WEC title contender, Jorgensen, take center stage for the main event. The former WEC title holder knows that a significant win over the tough-as-nails, Jorgensen, can bring him one step closer to that UFC belt that has eluded him thus
far in his MMA career.

Faber has won 4 out of his last 6 matches and looks to have a promising 2013 as he kicked the year off with a dominant victory at UFC 157 two months ago. There, “The California Kid” defeated Ivan Menjivar in a rematch, needing just the 1st round to submit his Salvadorian adversary via rear naked choke. Faber is a decorated NCAA Division 1 wrestler with heavy hands & excellent submission skills and must be on point as he collides with a fighter that has awfully similar characteristics in “Young Guns”.

The Utah native is also an NCAA Division 1 wrestler with powerful fists who can implement an extremely active guard if he ever finds himself fighting off of his back. For his final 2012 match, Jorgensen closed out in impressive fashion submitting John Albert by rear naked choke in the 1st round of their UFC on FOX 5 tilt this past December.

Both warriors in this 135-pound headliner should find themselves at the very top of the division with a win come Saturday. Just who emerges victorious is really anyone’s guess since they are pretty evenly matched. The two are elite wrestlers, possess tremendous cardio, have solid takedown defense and can change the tempo of a fight with their excellent boxing.

This blistering battle of blazing bantamweights could headline any UFC event and command the crowd’s attention since it could end in any round or be remembered as a 25-minute war. The winner will be the one who implements a better game plan and fights their fight for however long this battle lasts.

Uriah “Prime Time” Hall (8-2) vs. Kelvin Gastelum (6-0) 3-round The Ultimate Fighter 17 Championship Middleweight Bout.

The cream of the season 17 crop rises to the top for this encounter between 185-pound UFC hopefuls when Team Chael Sonnen team mates, Uriah Hall and Kelvin Gastelum, step into the Octagon for a chance to claim the TUF championship. All friendships will be put to the side as “The Big Apple’s” deadly KO artist, Hall, looks to annihilate his former friend now turned enemy for a chance to win the 6-figure UFC contract.

The New York resident displayed dazzling striking skills in all of his 3 fights leading up to the Finale as he laid out his first two opponents in the 1st round and TKO’d Dylan Andrews in the 2nd round of their semifinal match. In fact, “Prime Time” has raised the bar when it comes to expectations as he blazed a trail during his time inside the TUF House by easily dispatching of anyone who stepped in his way. The Jamaican stand out proved head coach Chael Sonnen right as the 2nd pick for Team Sonnen.

More than capable of playing the role of spoiler is Arizona’s Gastelum, the last pick by Chael for Team Sonnen. The undefeated 185er turned heads with back-to-back-to-back upsets in all 3 of his performances. Whether he was submitting Jon Jones training partner,
Bubba McDaniel, in his first match or knocking out the talented Collin Hart in the next one, Kelvin really shined in his semifinal bout against Josh Samman.

Samman had defeated all of his opponents, all by finish and all in the 1st round leading up to his fight with Gastelum.Well, none of that matter once the unbeaten fighter got the fight to the ground getting the 1st round submission over Samman via rear naked choke.

The question heading into this electrifying TUF Finale is: will it be business as usual when Uriah Hall passes the ultimate test or does the Jamaican prospect get hauled away at the hands of Kelvin Gastelum in one of the biggest upsets in TUF history?

Miesha “Cupcake” Tate (13-3) vs. “Alpha” Cat Zingano (7-0) 3-round Bantamweight Bout.

The first ever women combatants to compete on a TUF Finale write their page in the MMA history books as former Strikeforce champion, Miesha Tate takes on the undefeated, Cat Zingano. The icing on the cake for this 135-pound tilt is that the winner earns a spot as one of the two head coaches on the next season of TUF. The icing to that icing is that the opposing coach for TUF season 18 is none other than UFC 135-pound queen, “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey who will put her UFC women’s bantamweight belt on the line against her rival coach once the season comes to an end.

This stipulation should be specially endearing to Tate since victory grants her a shot not only at a UFC championship but also a chance for revenge seeing as how she lost her Strikeforce belt in her first title defense to Rousey last March. The loss ended her championship reign as well as a 6-fight win streak that stemmed all the way back to 2009. Tate bounced back from that loss to submit Julie Kedzie this past summer via 3rd round armbar in what many insiders called an “instant classic” inside the Strikeforce cage.

Zingano has no cakewalk as she is welcomed to the Octagon by “Cupcake” Tate. However, a win for the Coloradoan can catapult her instantly to the upper echelon of the recently minted UFC Women’s Division. No stranger to big fights, the former Fight to Win 125-pound champion and Ring of Fire 125 lb & 135 lb champion is unbeaten since turning pro in 2008 and has the experience needed to add another title to her already crowded trophy case.

“Alpha” Zingano has only gone the distance once owning 6 finishes out of her 7 victories, half by KO and the other half by submission. Both of these fierce female fighters might steal the show in one of the most anticipated matches that night, and why wouldn’t they, all in attendance will witness the second ever women’s fight in UFC history.

Travis Browne (13-1-1) vs. Gabriel “Napao” Gonzaga (14-6) 3-round Heavyweight Bout
In a fight that very few think goes the distance, heavy hitters Travis Browne and Gabriel Gonzaga square off in what promises to be a colossal barn burner. Browne is on the comeback trail following his first pro defeat which happened when he headlined UFC on FX 5 this past October against Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva.

Now, regrouped and refocused, the Jackson’s MMA team member looks at this weekend’s fight as his redemption night and the first step towards his climb back up the heavyweight ladder. The talented 6-foot 7-inch giant has only gone the distance twice in his 13 triumphs, with 9 of them coming by way of KO. Standing in the Hawaiian’s way ready to rain on his parade is Brazilian jujitsu black belt, Gonzaga, who rides a 3-fight win streak into the Octagon. Not at all unfamiliar to finishing fights, this Brazilian monster has yet to go the distance in any of his victories, with 9 of them coming by way of submission.

This extra large match-up between two of the UFC’s best finishers should keep fight aficionados glued to the TV set. With 25 finishes out of a combined 27 wins between the two, basic arithmetic tells us this one won’t require the judges to use their paper and pencil. Don’t blink for the Browne versus Gonzaga collision because there’s a decent
chance it won’t go to a decision.