Vicente Luque hoping to flip script in UFC on FOX 17 rematch with 'TUF 21' foe Hassan

Vicente Luque

It won’t show up on his official record, but Vicente Luque is looking to avenge a loss on Saturday.

On Season 21 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Luque (7-5-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) fought Hayder Hassan (6-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) in the final fight of the show’s regular season. Much was at stake, and Luque came up on the wrong end of a controversial split decision.

Hassan’s win meant American Top Team completed a remarkable comeback to win the points-based season against Luque’s rival Blackzilians team, which had stormed out to a big lead earlier in the season. One judge’s scorecard was the difference between a $200,000 prize for ATT, and that money going to the Blackzilians, instead.

Now Luque has a chance to get that loss back – but this time, in a fight that will count toward his record. And this time, he’d like to keep the judges out of it.

“A lot of people felt that I’d won,” Luque told MMAjunkie. “I think I won. Not much changes. We’re both strikers. I respect him. There isn’t much mystery regarding this fight. We’re going to strike, and this time we don’t want it to go to the judges. And if we end up on the ground, I’ll be looking to submit him, too.”

Luque and Hassan meet in their welterweight rematch on the preliminary card of UFC on FOX 17, which takes place Saturday at Amway Center in Orlando, Fla. Their fight streams on UFC Fight Pass ahead of additional prelims on FOX Sports 1 and the main card on FOX.

After the show wrapped, Hassan was picked by his squad to represent American Top Team in the final against Kamaru Usman for the “TUF 21” crown, but he was submitted. Luque made his official UFC debut on the same card in July, but dropped a decision to fellow cast member Michael Graves.

That fight was less controversial, as far as Luque is concerned.

“I think I came up short a bit,” Luque said. “Michael did very well. He was very intelligent in using his high-level wrestling. I trained a lot of wrestling, myself. I thought I was going to be able to submit him with my jiu-jitsu, but his wrestling was better.”

And that, Luque said, taught him enough of a lesson in the unanimous decision setback to get him working on that part of his game.

“I’m working hard so this doesn’t happen again, so I’m not nullified (in the future),” he said. “That fight didn’t have much action. It was mostly me getting taken down and trying to get back up. I’m looking for ways to avoid that situation. I’m working on my takedown defense, takedowns and submissions.”

But if all goes as he hopes, he might not have to worry about takedown defense when he and Hassan run things back.

“Ours will be an action-packed fight,” Luque said. “Our first fight was the best from the ‘TUF 21’ season. Expect a lot of striking. Be ready for a great fight.”

For more on UFC on FOX 17, check out the UFC Events section of the site.