The Ultimate Fighter: Live Finale Prelimary Card Live Blog

Cristiano Marcello vs. Sam Sicilia (UFC)

TUF: Live Finale preliminary results and recap

“The Ultimate Fighter: Live Finale” is set for this evening at the Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. HeavyMMA.com will be covering the action as it happens for the five-fight preliminary card.

The undercard features several contests between contestants from this past season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” including Daron Cruickshank vs. Chris Tickle and Myles Jury vs. Chris Saunders.

The live preliminary card blog begins at approximately 5:45 p.m. ET. The first fight streams live on Facebook, while the next four will broadcast live on FUEL TV.

John Albert vs. Erik Perez
Round 1: Touch of gloves gets this fight going. Albert misses with a looping left hook, while Perez misses just barely with a leg kick. Albert closes the distance and clinches, sending knees into the legs of Perez. They separate and begin throwing. Perez lands a hook, but Albert comes firing forward. He walks into a punch and is now looking takedown. He appears to have the back standing, but Perez turns him an is on top. Albert with a triangle choke submission attempt. He has it, and Perez is in real trouble, but defending. Big strikes from Perez, but Albert has had the choke for a minute now. He escapes, and looks for a submission of his own. From a modified mount, Perez rolls to for an arm and has it. Referee Kim Winslow calls the fight off, though Albert did not tap. He is angered by the stoppage. Still, he was in big trouble.

Official Decision: Perez def. Albert via verbal submission (armbar) at 4:18 of Round 1

Joe Proctor vs. Jeremy Larsen
Round 1: Proctor and Larsen exchange jabs to start the round. Larsen scores a shot and works for the clinch. He opts out of the closed-quarter fighting. Larsen with a flurry of strikes. Proctor clinches with his opponent and lands a vicious knee. Larsen is in trouble. He falls to the mat. Hammerfists from Proctor, and this fight is over. Larsen questions the stoppage, but he is clearly hurt.

Official Decision: Proctor def. Larsen via technical knockout at 1:59 of Round 1

Christiano Marcello vs. Sam Sicilia
Round 1: Marcello looks to keep the distance in this fight to avoid the power of Sicilia. Marcello looks takedown, but Sicilia evades the attempt. Combo lands for Marcello, followed shortly after by kicks. Hook thrown by Sicilia, followed by a body punch. Trip from Marcello, who wouldn’t mind fighting on the ground. Sicilia lets him up and throws several big punches, but misses. Sicilia looking to land a bomb, but Marcello moves away as the round comes to an end. Sicilia is really not interested in setting up his strikes, simply looking for the big shot. Marcello, meanwhile, doesn’t seem willing to commit to a takedown, leaving him with little opportunity at offense. Heavy.com scores the round 10-9 for Sicilia.

Round 2: Sicilia starts off with what seems like the game plan, throwing big hooks right out of the gate. Marcello lands a kick and looks takedown, but Sicilia gets away. Nice hammerfists allowed him to break away. Fighters exchange, each landing nicely. Left hook from Sicilia, hurts Marcello, who had been landing nicely. Knee to the body lands for Sicilia, followed by some more hooks. Marcello is down. Big shots from Sicilia, and this fight is over. Late stoppage from the ref. Marcello got brutalized in those final moments.

Official Decision: Sicilia def. Marcello via technical knockout at 2:53 of Round 2

Myles Jury vs. Chris Saunders
Round 1: Saunders misses with a series of kicks after Jury landed on to start the action. Saunders does, however, land a left hand, while Jury defends. He attempts to grab a kick, but lets it go. Inadvertent eye poke leaves Jury wincing, and Saunders is warned. Action breaks, but Jury is fine. Nice right lands for him, followed by another. Flying knee from Jury is dodged by Saunders, who looks for the takedown. Jury grabs hold of a choke. He has Saunders’ right hand trapped. Jury forces the tap. Nice finish from the lightweight, the fourth finish of the night.

Official Decision: Jury def. Saunders via submission (guillotine choke) at 4:03 of Round 1

Daron Cruickshank vs. Chris Tickle
Round 1: Cruickshank comes forward early looking for action. Takedown attempt leads to a guillotine attempt from Tickle. It looks somewhat tight, but Cruickshank remains composed. Cruickshank maneuvers his way out of the choke and is now on top of Tickle, who immediately slips back to his feet. Cruickshank doesn’t like it and trips Tickle right back to the mat. Upkick from Tickle lands, but causes a break in action. Referee Steve Mazzagatti deducts a point from Tickle for the illegal strike. Action resumes and Cruickshank hits another trip. He lands a right from top position, followed by a few elbows. Tickle is having a difficult time getting out of this position, and Cruickshank rides out the round in top position. Heavy.com scores the round 10-8 for Cruickshank.

Round 2: Cruickshank looks for action early again, missing with a kick. Tickle comes straight back with a punch, but Cruickshank lands a kick in return. Tickle comes forward, attempting to grab Cruickshank’s neck and roll. Cruickshank breaks through the maneuver and is in top position. Tickle tries to scramble from the bottom, but Cruickshank stifles the efforts. He is in Tickle’s guard now, but little is happening. Still nothing happening… Mazzagatti stands the pair up. Cruickshank throws, but a counter from Tickle puts him down. Tickle now on top. He tries to sneak in a late choke, but can’t. Heavy.com scores the round 10-9 for Cruickshank.

Round 3: Fighters trade kicks to begin the final round of the fight and preliminary card action. First four fights were all stoppages, but the judges are less than five minutes from being called into action. Kick lands to the groin of Tickle, but he shrugs it off. Takedown from Tickle, and he moves to side control right away. He attempts to transition to the back. Poor decision, as Cruickshank slips out. He takes top position here with three minutes to go. Punches from Cruickshank, who is avoiding a stand up at this point. Tickle works to a seated position and leans against the fence. Cruickshank trying to keep him down. Tickle gets back up, but only momentarily, as Cruickshank tosses him back down. He moves to mount and looks for a guillotine choke. He survives. Heavy.com scores the round 10-9 for Cruickshank.

Official Decision: Cruickshank def. Tickle via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-27)