Clint Hester made a big impression in his UFC debut as he knocked out Bristol Marunde with a standing elbow strike on the preliminary card at The Ultimate Fighter 17 finale.
Marunde, a quarterfinalist on TUF 16 who filled in for injured TUF 17 veteran Zak Cummings, was able to land takedowns throughout the middleweight matchup but it wasn’t enough to stop Hester from landing damaging strikes throughout the first two rounds.
In the third round, as Marunde moved in, Hester stepped forward and landed an elbow that sent Marunde to the canvas and the fight was stopped at 3:53 of round three.
The knockout was reminiscent of Chris Weidman’s knockout of Mark Munoz last July, which earned him a title shot against Anderson Silva at UFC 162 this summer.
There is a lot of hype surrounding Hester, as the Atlanta native was the first pick of Jon Jones on TUF 17.
Hester improved to 8-3 as a professional and picked up his sixth career win by either knockout or TKO.
While Hester was the first pick of Team Jones, Dylan Andrews was the last pick on the show and the New Zealand native was also victorious Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
Andrews finished Jimmy Quinlan by TKO 3:22 after clipping him with an uppercut as Quinlan, who had UFC lightweight Joe Lauzon in his corner, shot in for a takedown. He followed up with several unanswered shots before the referee stepped in.
Luke Barnatt, the first overall pick on TUF 17, celebrated his 25th birthday with a unanimous decision win over Collin Hart.
The two exchanged feverishly on the feet for the majority of their 15-minute tilt with Barnatt getting the nod on all three judges’ scorecards (29-28, 29-28, 30-27).
Also on the televised prelims, which aired on Sportsnet ONE, Josh Samman TKO’d Kevin Casey at 2:17 of round two. Casey came out aggressive in round one and the Gracie jiu-jitsu black belt quickly locked in a triangle choke and armbar.
Samman escaped and began peppering Casey with knees to the body when the two were on the feet. In round two, Samman’s attack was too much for Casey who eventually fell to the ground and was finished.
Onslaught of online awesomeness
Cole Miller submitted Bart Palaszewski with a rear-naked choke at 4:23 of the first round of their featherweight bout that was seen on the live sportsnet.ca prelims.
The two spent the majority of the round exchanging on the feet with Palaszewski landing the more damaging blows, but with about a minute remaining in the round, Miller landed a takedown and began working his ground game.
Miller took Palaszewski’s back and locked in the choke that forced the tap.
After the fight, an emotional Miller, who was on a two-fight losing streak, explained that the win likely prevented him from being cut.
“I’m really emotional because if I lost this fight I’d be on the unemployment line,” Miller said. “I just kept my job.”
Also on the online prelims, Maximo Blanco picked up a unanimous decision victory over Sam Sicilia in a fan-friendly affair.
Early in the second round, following a close first frame, Sicilia landed a big right hand that knocked Blanco down and that punch ignited what became an all-out brawl for the remainder of the bout.
All three judges scored the fight 29-28 for Blanco.
To open the night, Daniel Pineda snapped a two-fight losing streak and picked up a submission win over TUF Live veteran Justin Lawrence with a kimura at 1:35 of round one.
The impressive finish was Pineda’s third first-round submission win in his UFC career since debuting in the UFC in January 2012.
