TUF 24 Finale results: Rob Font wastes Matt Schnell with front kick, knee, ground-and-pound

LAS VEGAS – Rob Font wobbled Matt Schnell with a front kick, then dropped him with a knee to the jaw.

A few punches later, and Schnell (9-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) was face-down and unconscious on the mat, while Font (13-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) was left to celebrate a TKO victory that came at the 3:47 mark of Round 1.

The bantamweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s TUF 24 Finale event at The Pearl at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. It aired on FS1 following additional prelims on UFC Fight Pass and ahead of a main card on FS1.

Font wasted little time in this fight, getting Schnell to the mat in the opening minute and swarming him with his jiu-jitsu. Schnell defended well, despite getting his back taken early, and managed to get out of trouble and scramble back to his feet.

Once there, however, Schnell found himself in a new kind of trouble. A front kick to the face by Font sent Schnell stumbling backwards. Moments later, Font caught him ducking his head down low and tagged with with a hard right knee that sent Schnell crashing to the floor.

Font pounced right away, firing off right hands that eventually convinced Schnell to roll to his belly in search of escape. That only gave Font more openings to unload with punches to the side of the head, until Schnell stopped moving and referee Yves Lavigne moved in to call it off.

The victory gets Font back in the win column after his decision loss to John Lineker in May. Schnell’s loss in his UFC debut snaps a six-fight winning streak.

Up-to-the-minute TUF 24 Finale results include:

• Rob Font def. Matt Schnell via TKO (knee, punches) – Round 1, 3:47
• “Maestro” Dong Hyun Kim def. Brendan O’Reilly via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Jamie Moyle def. Kailin Curran via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Anthony Smith def. Elvis Mutapcic via TKO (elbow, punches) – Round 2, 3:27
• Devin Clark def. Josh Stansbury via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

For complete coverage of The Ultimate Fighter 24 Finale, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan contributed to this report on site in Las Vegas.)