TUF 17 Finale Results: What's Next for the Winners

The Ultimate Fighter 17 finale has wrapped up with good fights and a few surprises.

Urijah Faber kept a hold of his ranking with a submission victory over Scott Jorgensen, and Cat Zingano earned a title shot against Ronda Rousey. The surprise of the night was Kelvin Gastelum, upsetting Uriah Hall to win the crown of The Ultimate Fighter.

Nine other bouts took place and gave us nine winners looking for their next fight.

Here is what's next for the winner of the TUF 17 finale.

Daniel Pineda

Daniel Pineda had one of the night's most impressive performances when he submitted Justin Lawrence in the first round.

Pineda took the fight to the mat, and Lawrence was pinned against the fence. Pineda worked the Kimura and got the finish just 1:35 in to the round. This will line him up for a bigger fight in the featherweight division.

After dropping two fights in a row, he won't be getting a high-level fighter on a winning streak. A qualified opponent would be Akira Corassani.

Corassani is on a two-fight win streak, but he is certainly not breaking in to the upper levels of the division. After wins over Andy Ogle and Robbie Peralta, Pineda fits right in with where Corassani currently sits. It's a fight that makes sense for all involved.

Maximo Blanco vs. Cole Miller

Both of these men won on the Facebook preliminary card, and there is no reason to look further for their next opponent.

Miller looked good against Bart Palaszewski, and Blanco seemed to find his rhythm against Sam Sicilia.

The loser of this fight could still end up in the bread line, but it simply makes sense for where they stand in the division. They are two fighters who have simply not performed up to their abilities. Whichever proves their skills in this fight will have earned the right to stay.

It's a fight that could be featured on a non-Facebook preliminary card.

Clint Hester

Clint Hester has some serious power in his hands. Unfortunately, he is still very green in other areas.

That doesn't bode well for a long run inside the UFC unless they bring him along slowly. And, unfortunately again, they don't have a penchant of keeping scrubs around for too long.

Hester's best bet is to fight a fellow TUF 17 winner on an upcoming card, but that may not be likely. So, they should focus on one of their other prospects who has a favorable matchup against Hester. Michael Kuiper is a solid choice.

The matchup would force Hester to focus on his grappling and make Kuiper prepare for the striking of Hester. If all goes right, they make two prospects grow in areas they struggle at, and the winner moves along in the division.

Dylan Andrews vs. Luke Barnatt

Neither of these two are UFC-caliber fighters, and their fights showed that.

Dylan Andrews benefited from a questionable referee decision as he separated the fighters against the cage as Jimmy Quinlan was working for a takedown. Andrews took the opportunity to finish the fight. There's nothing wrong with that.

Luke Barnatt was involved in a sloppy brawl with Collin Hart. No one was a winner in that one.

Winner gets a third fight, loser gets cuts. It seems fair.

Josh Samman

I have been a Josh Samman critic the entire season of The Ultimate Fighter, but he performed well at the finale.

He survived a deep submission attempt from Kevin Casey and then fought incredibly smart.

After surviving the submissions, he worked from the Thai clinch. He noticed Casey had no answer for that. So, at the beginning of the second round, he immediately went back to it and finished Casey in the second frame. That's smart.

On the opposite end of the spectrum was Uriah Hall. He did not fight smart.

It seemed as if the talented middleweight was looking to emulate the champion of the division rather than employ his own style. It backfired. It ruined the hype he had built around himself.

Their talent is still raw, but they are undoubtedly the top prospects exiting from this season.

There are not a lot of great options for Samman or Hall. The best option is simply to give fans what they thought they were going to get in the finale. Pit Samman up against Hall.

Bubba McDaniel

I am at a loss as to what to do with Bubba McDaniel.

The middleweight won, sure, but he didn't show anything that stood out to suggest he belonged on the main card. The best suggestion I have is a fight that no one will care about. That way, it gets buried on Facebook.

Have McDaniel square off against castmate Tor Troéng.

Troeng won earlier this month, and the loser can hit the regional circuits to continue to improve. The standard of being a part of the UFC has certainly dropped in recent times, but there has to be some qualifications because it is starting to get depressing.

Travis Browne

Travis Browne only has one loss inside the Octagon, and that is to current title contender Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva. It was a fight where Browne got injured in the opening minute, and it affected his performance. So, why isn't he involved in the discussion of being a top-10 heavyweight?

He has a KO over 10th-ranked Stefan Struve. He is being overlooked.

Browne has earned a top-10 fight after destroying Gabriel Gonzaga. So, who's available?

Last I checked, Alistair Overeem.

Junior dos Santos will likely earn a rematch with Cain Velasquez if they both win, and Daniel Cormier will also be in that discussion with a win over Frank Mir. That leaves only a couple top heavyweights open, and Overeem should return in the summer. It is a fight that makes sense, given the current landscape of the division.

Cat Zingano

Ah, yes. One that does not take a guess.

Cat Zingano earned a shot at the UFC Women's Bantamweight Championship with her win over Miesha Tate. She will fight Ronda Rousey for the title in late 2013.

In the meantime, she will coach opposite Rousey on the next edition of The Ultimate Fighter.

This is a big step up for Zingano, and we are about to see if she is ready for the bright lights of headlining a pay-per-view.

Kelvin Gastelum

First and foremost, congratulations to Kelvin Gastelum for the upset. Now, what do you do with him?

Even his coach, Chael Sonnen, said on national television, he isn't great at any one thing. He is clearly green and still learning at the ripe age of 21. What bottom-of-the-barrel fighter can they throw him against to foster his development?

It's "slim pickins."

The UFC's best option for Gastelum is to probably find a raw talent on the regional scene and sign him to a deal to face Gastelum. When Gastelum wins, they can cut the other fighter and gauge what to do with him then. If he shows significant improvement, a fight with a UFC-caliber fighter will be next.

Urijah Faber

It is abundently clear that Urijah Faber has earned another shot at UFC gold. What is not clear is who he will face for it.

The champion is still sidelined with an injury, but no one knows exactly when he will return. Should the UFC keep Faber out until Dominick Cruz returns? Should those two settle their score in a title fight?

If Cruz is still going to be out for a long time, then he will get a shot at the interim title. He will have to wait to see who holds the belt as Renan Barao will defend it against Eddie Wineland.

Faber has done enough to earn the title shot, but he'll have to wait to see which title he gets to challenge. In any event, he can't be denied the next title shot.