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Tag: TUF

  • TUF 23 Season Finale: The finals are set

    Tonight are the final semis before the TUF 23 Finale. Josh Stansbury faces Khalil Rountree in an all Team Jedrzejczyk bout, and Kate Jackson faces Tatiana Suarez in an all Team Gadelha bout. These winners are headed to International Fight Week in Las Vegas. 

    The winner of the all-Gadelha fight gets to face Amanda Cooper, and the winner of the all-Jedrzejczyk gets to face Andrew Sanchez.

    The two coaches can barely tolerate standing next to each other at the weigh-ins for Jackson vs. Suarez. Jackson is 115.5. Suarez is 115.

    Suarez says nobody in the house has put in more time than her and that she’s been working for this goal since she was three years old. She says she skipped her own prom to compete.

    Jackson says she never imagined a UFC contract was possible at the start but now it’s within her reach.

    Kate Jackson (Team Gadelha) vs. Tatiana Suarez (Team Gadelha)

    Jackson is in the red trucks and Suarez is in the dark trunks. Herb Dean is the ref for this fight.

    Suarez charges forward immediately and is firing off jabs with her right hand. She gets a takedown to side control 25 seconds in but it’s in an awkward position against the fence. She switches to the other side and is looking for an opportunity to pass.

    I know Jackson is pale as hell, but it’s still amazing how bright and splotchy the bruises are from the strikes that have already landed. Suarez goes for the neck as Jackson tries to get back to her feet. Once Suarez gets her to the ground though – it’s a wrap. Jackson taps at 2:53.

    So in our TUF 23 Finale for the women, it’s Amanda Cooper vs. Tatiana Suarez.

    Stansbury talks about how he’s facing a replacement fighter in Rountree, who also happens to be his best friend in the house. They play ping-pong together as they discuss how weird the situation is, but Rountree says he definitely won’t make the same mistakes he did last time now that he has a second chance.

    Stansbury says Rountree might be the best striker in the house but his cardio and ground game could be an issue. Rountree says if he gets taken down it could be trouble.

    Weigh-in time. Stansbury is 204.5 and Rountree is 205.5. Fight’s on!

    Josh Stansbury (Team Jedrzejczyk) vs. Khalil Rountree (Team Jedrzejczyk)

    Stansbury is in the red trunks. Rountree is in the black. Jason Herzog is our ref.

    Rountree stuffs the first takedown and Stansbury flops to his back before getting back up. Stansbury momentarily gets knocked down but Rountree is being patient. He’s backing Stansbury up with kicks and power shots.

    Stansbury occasionally tries to connect with the overhand right but he’s getting tagged a lot. Rountree is even having success with the head kick as Stansbury isn’t getting his arms up to block it. The left side of his head is bright red. The danger for Rountree is he’s spending so much energy he could be blown up any second.

    Stansbury grabs a clinch and gets off a few good blows before Rountree breaks away. Rountree looks like he’s breathing hard. He tags Stansbury with a big left and pours it on on the ground – TKO at 4:14.

    Khalil Rountree is advancing to the finals to face Andrew Sanchez.

  • TUF 23 recap: Miesha Tate guest coaches as the season winds down

    Last week, Andrew Sanchez beat his teammate Eric Spicely in just 47 seconds to advance to the finals. This week, teammates fight each other again as Amanda Cooper goes against Lanchana Green. Claudia Gadelha has brought in Miesha Tate to be a guest coach on this week’s episode. Not surprisingly, she’s showing them her takedown techniques. Cooper and Green are both thrilled, with the latter noting that wrestling isn’t something she does a lot of back home in England.

    Green is freaking out at the house because she usually fights at 125, and even though she made the weight for her first fight, her body rebounded and gained weight after. “I’ve got a week so I think I can get it done.” Coincidentally at the next training session, Gadelha admits Cooper is both stronger and heavier. “I can’t prepare my fighters for this fight. I’m too close to them.”

    Green wins an impromptu bowling tournament in the house using UFC water bottles as the bowling pins. The focus goes from there to her training at the gym. She says that no matter how good of friends she has been with Cooper, when the fight comes, she’ll have to turn on her “mean face.” She says she started out in muay thai, didn’t make much money, then realized once UFC had a strawweight division, she could make it.

    Team Jedrzejczyk fighters Khalil Rountree and Josh Stansbury are preparing for their semifinal fight since Rountree got back in as an injury alternate which Dana White notes guarantees at least one Jedrzejczyk fighter will be in the finals. Meanwhile, Cooper has gotten her weight down to 120.2 so she’s almost there, but she’s worried about cutting the final four pounds successfully in the morning. She’s 119.6 after she wakes up and she’s in a hurry to get to the gym and finish the cut.

    Cooper literally sweats it in the sauna until the bitter end, gets on the scale for the weigh-in, and she’s 117.5. She gets an additional hour to get down to the one pound allowance of 116. White: “If she doesn’t make it she’s out of the competition. And I can tell you when you get that far down that last pound and a half isn’t easy.” Green is 115.0 on the dot.

    After an extra hour of sweating and water shedding and wearing nothing but what she was born with, she finally makes 116 even on the scale. I’m happy she made it but I’m concerned that she’s going to be super drawn out and dehydrated for that fight – and White notes that he’s thinking the exact same thing.

    * Amanda Cooper (Team Gadelha) vs. Lanchana Green (Team Gadelha)

    John McCarthy is our ref. Cooper is in the red trunks and Green is in the black. We’re starting the fight with under ten minutes left so this isn’t going even a full round. Cooper is being aggressive early and forcing Green to backpedal. It’s deceptive though because Green already had a black eye from training before the fight began. Cooper shoots for a single and gets it. Green kicks her away but she jumps back on in side control. Cooper is drilling her with hard lefts. Green tries to scramble but Cooper gets right back on top in full. Nasty right elbows from guard. Green tries to scramble and gives up position again allowing Cooper to take her back and sink in the RNC with under a minute left. Green taps at 4:25.

    Cooper advances to the finals. Next week’s show is the season finale featuring Rountree vs. Stansbury and Tatiana Suarez vs. Kate Jackson.

  • TUF 23 recap: Dana White gets dunked

    Last week, Team Gadelha finished the first round 7-1 with Kate Jackson’s victory over Ashley Yoder. The quarterfinals: Andrew Sanchez vs. Eric Spicely, Amanda Cooper vs. Lanchana Green, Tatiana Suarez vs. Kate Jackson, and Josh Stansbury vs. Cory Hendricks. Unfortunately, Hendricks’ injury has proven to be too much for him so he’s pulling out of the tournament and someone gets to come back to replace him.

    Dana White sets up a Skype call with the coaches live from his location in London (presumably for the Bisping vs. Silva fight). He’s bringing back Khalil Rountree to face Josh Stansbury, so Sanchez and Spicely are still fighting each other as previously planned, and if Hendricks is healed up, he gets a shot on the TUF Finale in July. Gadelha is “very happy” with the decision.

    Rountree is frustrated that he’s having to fight a friend for the second time on the show, and Jedrzejczyk tries to encourage him to cheer up, but in his interview, he says he has to deal with it the way he needs to. “I’m in a situation where I have to put myself first and that’s not something that I’m used to.” Neither team is thrilled about fighting friends in their matchups.

    It’s time for the annual COACHES CHALLENGE.

    Two giant glass tanks have been filled up with ice water and there are platforms to stand over the top of them. The coaches have to stand up there and shoot air rifles at targets with 5, 10, and 20 point circles. The 20 is the bullseye and also says “DUNK.” For every 20 points, they go in the water, which Gadelha is already very unhappy about, but after winning the coin toss, she gets to shoot first.

    Gadelha scores 10. Jedrzejczyk misses. Gadelha scores 20 and Jedrzejczyk gets dunked. Jedrzejczyk scores 20 and Gadelha gets dunked. Gadelha scores 20 for another dunk. Jedrzejczyk scores 5. 10, 10. 20 and Jedrzejczyk is dunked again. Jedrzejczyk with a 20 and Gadelha is dunked. It’s 80 to 55. Gadelha hits the bullseye again and that’s game over – Jedrzejczyk gets dunked one last time. Gadelha gets $10,000 and her team gets $1,500 each. Jedrzejczyk vows to win even more money when they fight in July.

    Now, White goes up to the platform! She gets three shots to dunk him and if she succeeds. Gadelha gets another $15,000 and $500 more to each member of the team. Gadelha hits the bullseye on her very first try.

    * Eric Spicely (204.5, Team Gadelha) vs. Andrew Sanchez (201 pounds, Team Gadelha)

    Spicely is in the red trunks, Sanchez is in the navy blue trunks. Sanchez is hurting him early and hurting him often and the fight is over by KO in just 47 seconds! An overhand right set it up and a head kick really shook Spicely up, and it was only a matter of time until the stoppage after that. Sanchez isn’t happy about it because he had to fight a friend.

    “It’s very bittersweet. It’s strange and unexpected,” he said.

  • TUF 23 recap: The quarterfinals are set

    This season, both the women’s strawweight division and the men’s light heavyweight division will be competing, and the end of the season, Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Claudia Gadelha fight on the TUF 23 Finale with Joanna Champion defending her strawweight title.

    Last week, Team Jedrzejczyk finally got their first win when “The Sandman” Josh Stansbury was able to knock off Abdel Medjedoub via majority decision. That was the good news. The bad news is that Team Gadelha member Cory Hendricks has a pinched nerve or bulging disc in his neck, and it’s so serious he might be medically DQ’d.

    **********

    The final fight of the first round is Ashley Yoder from Team Jedrzejczyk vs. Kate Jackson from Team Gadelha. The interesting twist on this whole thing is that Jackson has actually fought Jedrzejczyk before — losing a fight by TKO back in 2013. She hails from Cornwall, England, but you could guess that just from her accent.

    Gadelha is very impressed by watching Jackson spar, saying she has incredible body strength, and the Brazilian coaches describe her as having “a beast” in her body. Watching her throw knee strikes it’s hard to disagree.

    Dr. Jeffrey Davidson, M.D. is back with news for Hendricks: he doesn’t have a herniated disc, just a protrusion. With physical therapy, ice and ibuprofen his prospects for recover are good – the doctor says we’ll know for sure in 4-5 days.

    The focus switches for a bit to Gadelha going to Xtreme Couture to train for her own fight, because she’s working hard to prepare for her rematch with Jedrzejczyk at the TUF 23 Finale in Vegas. “I beat her the first time and I’m gonna beat her again.” She can say that all she wants but Jedrzejczyk gave her the only loss of her career.

    We see Jedrzejczyk preparing in her own way, enjoying a post workout dinner with her coaches and her team, and then she heads to Drysdale Jiu-Jitsu to get her work in. She vows that she’s going to finish Gadelha. “It’s going to be striker vs. grappler but I’m going to prove strikers are the best in UFC. I want to fight her five rounds and beat her badly, second by second.”

    At weigh-ins, Yoder is 115.5 and Jackson is 115. Yoder vows to win the fight in the memory of her deceased brother. Jackson vows to show people what she’s capable of and move on to be a UFC pro.

    – Ashley Yoder (Team Jedrzejczyk) vs. Kate Jackson (Team Gadelha)

    Yoder is 4-1, Jackson is 7-2-1. Yoder is in the red and Jackson the black. Jackson has a takedown 15 seconds into R1 but Yoder is trying to throw her legs up around Jackson’s neck. She finally breaks free and lands a few hammerfists. A stand-up is threatened for inactivity at 1:28. Jackson responds with hammer but eats a few upkicks, and Yoder is warned by John McCarthy to target them carefully. Yoder is going for a submission again. Jackson’s arm could be in danger but McCarthy wants to see more. Jackson just can’t get free this time. You can see blood leaking out of her mouth on the back of Yoder’s leg. A strange first round but Jackson survived it.

    Jackson goes for a single leg in the first minute of R2 that’s stuffed. Jackson goes for a takedown but Yoder nearly takes her back in the process, and she’s already hunting for another submission attempt. Jackson gets her left arm free for a few shots to the face while McCarthy calls for more work. McCarthy stands them up at 2:47. Jackson shoots right away. They break at 3:32. Yoder may have been hurt by a head kick but she’s not down and out. Jackson is tagging her with lefts repeatedly. Another takedown is stuffed. This goes to the judges.

    20-18 X3 FOR KATE JACKSON. Team Gadelha finishes the first round 7-1.

    Quarterfinal Fights:

    – Andrew Sanchez vs. Eric Spicely

    – Amanda Cooper vs. Lanchana Green

    – Tatiana Suarez vs. Kate Jackson

    – osh Stansbury vs. Cory Hendricks

  • TUF 23 recap: Party bus, Boyz II Men reference & a fight

    This season, both the women’s strawweight division and the men’s light heavyweight division will be competing. At the end of the season, Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Claudia Gadelha fight on the TUF 23 Finale with Joanna Champion defending her strawweight title. Last week, Gadelha’s team won again and now holds a commanding 5-0 lead. She picked Amanda Cooper to fight Jamie Moyle in her quest to run the TUF table!

    *****

    Dana White opens the show by reminding us that there’s never been a clean sweep in TUF history, and that Jedrzejczyk is now playing “the mental game” and trying to get in the head of Gadelha’s team by saying that Amanda Cooper is “an easy fight.”

    We go to Jedrzejczyk’s training session, and she’s brought in TJ Dillashaw to help her team train. He runs them through footwork and posture drills to start, and reminds everyone that “feints win fights” when you fake out your opponent. Moyle says she hasn’t seen any of Cooper’s fights and won’t plan like she did – she just wants to focus on improving overall and getting better at what she does best.

    Khalil Rountree talks about staying positive and motivated even though he’s been eliminated. Dana reminds us that there’s always opportunities for someone to come back who was eliminated. We see Rountree breaking down outside because today is his father’s birthday, and he talks about how he used to manage bands like Another Bad Creation and Boyz II Men. His father was killed in an attempted robbery after a show.

    Amanda Cooper gives Moyle props at the Team Gadelha training session, saying she wanted to test herself against the toughest possible opponent, and that she plans on doing a lot of striking. “I just want to put on a show and make it interesting. On the feet is the best way to do it.” She says she fought three fights on a torn ACL so nobody’s seen just how good of a striker she can really be.

    Cooper reads letters written to her by her family and friends before she left for the show, which leads to a discussion about her dad getting her into boxing at a very young age. “I have a dream and that’s all I want right now is to accomplish it.” This transitions to a night on the town for everybody on the show courtesy of Dana White, complete with a party bus that has alcohol and a stripper pole. Partying ensues!

    Amanda Cooper gets dressed up for the weigh-ins. “I look like Jane but I fight like Tarzan.” Moyle gets on the scale and she’s 115.5. Cooper is 115 even. Fight’s on!

    * Amanda Cooper (Team Gadelha) vs. Jamie Moyle (Team Jedrzejczyk)

    Cooper is in all black and Moyle is in all red for this fight. Moyle is landing some good shots in the exchanges early. Gadelha has to remind Cooper to keep her hands up. Moyle pushes her into the fence looking for a takedown and eats a few knees. Cooper is keeping her balance well and breaks free at 1:33. Cooper is warned to watch her fingers.

    Moyle keeps her backpedaling the whole time but Cooper’s striking is getting better as the round draws on, using her natural height and reach advantages. Moyle shoots for a single leg and gets it at 3:27. Moyle stands to drop some bigger shots and nearly gets swept. Jedrzejczyk keeps yelling “STAY HEAVY” but the ref tells her to improve her position. 10-9 Moyle.

    Moyle gets another takedown a half minute into R2. Moyle is trying to pull her legs through to improve her position and eventually gets side control at 1:50, but she loses it and has to avoid upkicks. Cooper goes for a single leg but Moyle keeps her balance. Cooper gets a clinch and goes for some knees and elbows over the top. Moyle goes for a takedown and Cooper lands on top. She’s busted Moyle up with the elbows – there’s blood everywhere.

    Cooper gets side control and starts raining down big hammerfists and rights that have the ref threatening to stop the it. Moyle goes for a triangle but Cooper slips out. Cooper and Gadelha celebrate like they’ve won before the scores are even announced.

    Cooper wins by MAJORITY decision, but the scores aren’t read. Gadelha is 6-0!

    Next week’s fight is Abdel Medjedoub (Gadelha) vs. Joshua Stansbury (Jedrzejczyk). See you then!

  • TUF 23 recap: Divorce ultimatums…and some fighting too

    This season, both the women’s strawweight division and the men’s light heavyweight division will be competing. At the end of the season Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Claudia Gadelha fight on the TUF 23 Finale with Joanna Champion defending her strawweight title. Last week Claudia Gadelha’s team won again and took a 4-0 lead. She picked Eric Spicely vs. Elias Urbina IV for this week’s fight. Here we go!

    *****

    We open with Dana White talking about Gadelha’s lead and Abdel Medjedoub’s personal problem. On last week’s show, his wife threatened to divorce him if he didn’t quit UFC. After talking to Medjedoub, he agrees to allow another phone call. He tries to explain to her that if he leaves the show, he’ll never do anything in MMA again, but she’s not having it. She basically gives him an ultimatum – come home or we’re done.

    White makes Medjedoub a very unique offer – leave the show for a few days but if he comes back before the next fight, Sunday he can stay on the show. White’s position is he doesn’t want Medjedoub to have to choose between his career and marriage. Medjedoub takes him up on the offer and backs his bag to fly to Montreal and try to straighten things out.

    Finally we get to see some actual training with Elias Urbina IV. He admits he’s the baby of the show and talks about how growing up his family was intent on keeping him and his siblings in the sport of wrestling. If they had one dollar left that dollar went to wrestling shoes. Urbina says he doesn’t fear anything and that he feels relaxed in the cage whether it’s on the feet or on the ground.

    Meanwhile, Team Jedrzejczyk is game-planning for what they’ll do if Medjedoub can’t return. While they believe Khalil Rountree would get a second shot, he’s having so much pain in his knees training Jedrzejczyk advises him to take time off and heal up.

    Eric Spicely talks about his girlfriend dying in a camping accident when her canoe flipped under a bridge and she smashed her head into a pillar – she drowned while she was unconscious. He talks about how she never had any vices or issues – all she cared about was family, sports and school. He vows to continue to win in her memory.

    Pranking has infected the house. The guys put baby powder in the blow dryers. The girls respond by pouring baby powder on them while they’re in the hot tub. Khalil pranks Myron by jumping out of the shower when he goes to use the bathroom. Etc.

    Weigh-in. Urbina is 203.5 and Spicely is 205.5.

    Medjedoub flies back and is welcomed by Team Gadelha with hugs and smiles all around. Whatever he did it has been resolved. He refuses to talk about it on the camera, only saying he admits 1000% all the fault was his, and it will remain between him and her. 

    * Eric Spicely (Team Gadelha) vs. Elias Urbina IV (Team Jedrzejczyk)

    Spicely nearly catches Urbina in an armbar, and Urbina does something I’ve never seen before – he picks up his opponent and SWINGS HIM into the fence trying to shake him off. Spicely rolls for a leg and Urbina ends up dropping hard elbows on his ribs, but Spicely just won’t let go. He makes a transition to the back and get one hook in at the point Urbina nearly had top mount. Urbina keeps his chin tucked and concentrates on controlling Spicely’s arms. Spicely tries to soften Urbina up with rights to the head. The rest of R1 is Urbina defending.

    Whatever happens now, this fight’s not going three rounds given the TV time left.

    Urbina is attacking with kicks. Spicely shoots in for a single and misses. He shoots for the double and Urbina keeps his footing until 56 seconds. He nearly gets to his knees and pops up but Spicely drags him down to the ground and gets both hooks in. Chris Tognoni warns Spicely about shots to the back of the head. Urbina keeps defending and blocking as best he can but that’s all he can do. Dana is pissed off.

    Spicely 20-18 X3. Team Gadelha is 5-0. Gadelha predicts a clean sweep and picks Amanda Cooper to fight Jamie Moyle next week. See you then!

  • TUF 23 recap: Team Double J tries to avoid a “Green” day

    This season both the women’s strawweight division and the men’s light heavyweight division will be competing. At the end of the season Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Claudia Gadelha fight on the TUF 23 Finale with Joanna Champion defending her strawweight title. Last week, Gadelha’s team won again and took a 3-0 lead. She picked Lanchana Green (Gadelha) vs. Helen Harper (Jedrzejczyk) for this week’s bout.

    **********

    Green opens up the show talking about her roots in England, how getting beat up as a girl inspired her to be a fighter, and how nobody’s beaten her up ever since. “We’ve been working on takedown defense. I’m not giving Helen a chance to even get close to me.” Dana White says she’s the single best striker on Claudia’s team.

    Jedrzejczyk brings in Carla Esparza to talk to her fighters and hopefully give the team some inspiration. She takes Helen Harper and the rest of the fighters through catching kicks and throwing opponents to the mat. Jedrzejczyk says Harper is a “little tornado” and will show everybody how tough she is. Harper: “I’m kind of a rhino. I have the refuse to lose attitude. I want it more.”

    Harper talks about how being in an abusive relationship made her want to learn self-defense even though she was in denial and still tried to stay with her tormentor. “It was just a bully, a nasty person, trying to get into my life and ruin it day by day.”

    Abdel Medjedoub called the house and even though fighters are supposed to be isolated and not take outside calls, she tells the producers it was an emergency and gets them to take it. They try to tell her if they take the call it’s being recorded and she starts cussing them out. Then she threatens to divorce Medjedoub if he doesn’t leave the show and come back to Montreal immediately. It sounds like he’s going to quit.

    * Lanchana Green (Team Gadelha) vs. Helen Harper (Team Jedrzejczyk)

    Green is in the black trunks, Harper is in the red. You can hear Jedrzejczyk barking out to Harper not to wait and to be aggressive. The ref warns them to watch their fingers. Harper closes the distance but eats some hooks and knees in the process. Harper nearly has a takedown at 1:30 but Green keeps her balance. They break at 1:59. Harper charges at her and gets her on the fence again at 2:15. Green’s height and strength are making the takedowns difficult and she’s punishing Harper with big knees to the body. Harper tries so hard to get a takedown she actually lets Green on top pounding her in the face. She’s only had one strategy all round and it doesn’t work.

    Green is winning the striking war for the first minute of R2, but Harper gets her on the fence again and digs hard for a single leg. She can’t get it. Green is teeing off with the right hook repeatedly. Harper finally body locks Green and drags her to the ground at 2:01. She’s quickly warned to stay busy on top. She slowly inches her way to a full mount but gets another warning with 90 seconds left. Once she clears her foot from between Green’s hips she really starts to hammer on Green’s face, who tries and fails repeatedly to buck her off. This one’s going to a third round.

    As you’d expect Harper is looking for a takedown in the opening minute of R3 but can’t get it. She closes the distance again at 1:30 and manages to get Green’s back and throw her to the ground at 2:05 but can’t keep her down. Green bloodies up her face once she gets loose. Harper finally drags her to the ground at3:53 but that may be too little too late – and Green gets back up at 4:08 anyway. Harper goes for one last leg trip late to no avail. I’ve got Green two rounds to one.

    Green gets a unanimous decision and Team Gadelha goes up 4-0. Jedrzejczyk is insulted that Gadelha didn’t shake her hand after the fight. Harper is emotionally broken but she should be happy she had her team’s best fight this season.

    Next week’s fight chosen by coach Claudia Gadelha is Eric Spicely (Team Gadelha) vs. Elias Urbina IV (Team Jedrzejczyk). We will see you then!

  • TUF 23 recap: Double J tries to get on the winning track

    This season, both the women’s strawweight division and the men’s light heavyweight division will be competing. At the end of the season, Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Claudia Gadelha fight on the TUF 23 Finale with Joanna Champion defending her strawweight title.

    Last week, Gadelha’s team won again to take a 2-0 lead. She picked Andrew Sanchez to face Myron Dennis on this week’s show – her #1 pick from the men against Joanna’s #3 pick. Here we go!

    **********

    Jedrzejczyk is not happy with not having won a single fight so far and is being hard on her team as a result. “They are training like little girls in the primary schools. They train like pussies – I must say this. I must be honest with them. No more nice Joanna.”

    After Jedrzejczyk gives her speech in the locker room, Myron Dennis calls a team meeting of his own at the house. They all get in a football huddle and he promises to get the win for them to give them motivation. Sanchez isn’t happy about it and says they could have done the same thing at the gym.

    Gadelha and all her coaches come over to the house to cook Brazilian barbecue for all the fighters. “We are with them to the end of this.” Back at the gym, she’s working him very hard, but when he steps on the scale, he’s just 200 pounds. He says being smaller and faster is an advantage compared to the other guys.

    More drama at the gym as Jedrzejczyk is pissed that Gadelha’s team hasn’t finished cleaning up or left and starts throwing their equipment at them. Gadelha says they are being disrespectful. Jedrzejczyk says not cleaning up after yourself is disrespectful. This just keeps escalating.

    Weigh-in: Dennis is 204.5, Sanchez is 200.

    * Andrew Sanchez (Team Gadelha) vs. Myron Dennis (Team Jedrzejczyk)

    Dennis is in the red trunks and Sanchez the blue. “Big” John McCarthy is our referee. Sanchez gets an early takedown and decks Dennis with a right hand on the ground. Sanchez is landing some nice ground and pound until he jumps up at 1:47 looking to pass – and ends up right back where he was before in guard. Dennis kicks him away at 2:27 but Sanchez jumps to half guard. Dennis moves him back to full but eats some hard rights doing so. Dennis finally scrambles to his feet at 3:18. Sanchez takes him down again with 75 seconds left. Sanchez is given two warnings to work. Despite that, Sanchez owned this round.

    Surprise surprise: Sanchez goes for a takedown right away in R2 but Dennis avoids it and they reset at 25 seconds. Dennis is grinning like a maniac. McCarthy warns the fighters to watch their fingers. Sanchez shoots for a single leg and gets it at 1:44. Dennis kicks him away briefly at 3:30 but Sanchez jumps back on. They get up with 70 seconds left after multiple warnings by McCarthy to work. Sanchez shoots for a single again and has it at 4:20. That’s a wrap. He’s taking a unanimous decision.

    Dana White buries Dennis’ performance in the fight and with good reason. SANCHEZ ADVANCES AND TEAM GADELHA GOES UP 3-0.

    This was a very forgettable episode. Next week’s fight choice is Lanchana Green (Gadelha) vs. Helen Harper (Jedrzejczyk). See you then!

  • TUF 23 recap: The strawweights battle in their first fight of the season

    This season, both the women’s strawweight division and the men’s light heavyweight division will be competing. At the end of the season, Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Claudia Gadelha fight on the TUF 23 Finale with Joanna Champion defending her strawweight title.

    Last week, Gadelha’s team won and picked Tatiana Suarez to face JJ Aldrich, putting the two #1 seeds on a collision course in only the show’s third week! 

    This Week:

    Jedrzejczyk is helping Aldrich work on the “small things” to get better. Helen Harper gets injured as they’re working on submissions. Jedrzejczyk gives her a pep talk but Harper is still feeling bummed and “a bit rubbish” even when she gets to the house. Rountree tells her he’s out and can’t even come back but she’s still in the hunt.

    We switch to team Gadelha and Suarez talks about how she had to overcome a cancer diagnosis just to be where she is today. “I don’t really talk about it much with people because it’s something very very personal, but I believe if you continue to persevere you can get through anything.”

    Cory Hendricks and Khalil Rountree are having a donut eating contest, and the loser has to get makeup done by the girls in the house, while the winner gets a sparkling golden donut. Joshua Stansbury is the emcee/announcer for the battle. Rountree finishes his pile of donuts first and is declared the winner – not shocking he was able to do it given he’s already out of competition and doesn’t have to worry about making weight. Or does he? You never know if me might come back as an alternate.

    Back on team Jedrzejczyk we see Aldrich talk about how nobody who meets her believes she’s a fighter, but (cliche coming) getting in the cage “flips a switch.” She says to beat Suarez she’s going to have all the takedowns and light her up with strikes.

    Time for the weigh-in! Aldrich is 115, Suarez is 115.5. Fight’s on! Dana White says that five years ago Suarez was the #1 wrestler in the U.S., but that you can’t count Aldrich out because she trains with Rose Namajunas, so he expects a classic fight.

    It’s makeup time for Cory Hendricks. He also has to put on a Reebok sports bra. He says he’s not afraid to do it, but that it’s his own fault for underestimating Rountree’s eating abilities. Lanchana Green is impressed that he went all out. Hendricks says that he can’t figure out whether the guys are attracted or upset.

    * Tatiana Suarez (Team Gadelha) vs. JJ Aldrich (Team Jedrzejczyk)

    Aldrich is in the red and Suarez is in the black. Suarez shoots for the double, Aldrich sprawls at first, but Suarez gets her with the leg trip. She tries to scoot back to the fence to get up, gives up her head in the process, but ultimately gets to her feet. Suarez single legs her back down at 1:45after a warning not to grab the cage and quickly moves to her back looking for hooks. She goes for a choke with only one in and Aldrich escapes and stands back up. Aldrich tries to widen her stance but is taken down again at 2:58. You can see why Suarez comes so highly touted for her wrestling, and she’s bull strong too, able to just drag Aldrich to the ground when the obvious takedown technique isn’t there. She’s going for a standing guillotine with a minute left but Aldrich escapes and survives to R2.

    Suarez got “a tiny little cut” in the first round which was so tiny I didn’t even see it in HD, and Gadelha tells her not to worry. Suarez has another takedown at 40 seconds. She’s quickly moving to side looking for the arm triangle. Aldrich escapes at 1:26 but Suarez is all over her from behind. Aldrich stands at 1:55 but is thrown down head first. Suarez gets the left hook and hammers away looking for the RNC.

    She gets the second hook in and at 3:14 of R2 Aldrich taps – TEAM GADELHA WINS AGAIN.

    Jedrzejczyk is disappointed that Aldrich didn’t scrap harder. Suarez is happy but knows she has two more fights to go. Jedrzejczyk tells all of her team to fight to the end no matter what. Claudia picks Andrew Sanchez to face Myron Dennis. See you next week!

  • TUF 23 recap: Joanna & Claudia get physical on episode 2

    This season, both the women’s strawweight division and the men’s light heavyweight division will be competing. At the end of the season if both Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Claudia Gadelha, they’ll be fighting on the TUF 23 Finale LIVE with Joanna Champion defending her strawweight title.

    Here’s what you missed on the first show.

    Here are the teams:

    • Coach Gadelha: Tatiana Suarez, Andrew Sanchez, Kate Jackson, Eric Spicely, Amanda Cooper, Abdel Medjedoub, Lanchana Green, Cory Hendricks
    • Coach Jedrzejczyk: JJ Aldrich, Joshua Stansbury, Jamie Moyle, Khalil Rountree, Ashley Yoder, Myron Dennis, Helen Harper, Elias Urbina IV

    Jedrzejczyk picked Khalil Rountree vs. Cory Hendricks for the first fight but that’s later to come. First is the TUF fighters being brought to their palatial estate for the filming of the season. Both Rountree and Harper are super stoked. Medjedoub is the last to find a bed but the only room left with a bed has three women. Being that he’s married and of the Muslim faith Harper completely understands why he doesn’t want to do it. Hendricks offers to stay with the girls to help Medjedoub out.

    This leads to Hendricks having both feet checked out at the doctor’s office, and they do look pretty swollen. The doctor says he has contusions but no fractures, and that he should avoid striking with kicks for a few days. From there we go to a Team Gadelha meeting, where she splits up the men and the women to train separately with her assistant coaches, with Gadelha there to oversee and give advice to everyone.

    Before Jedrzejczyk’s team can even hit the gym for their session, Gadelha and Jedrzejczyk get into a shoving match — that’s our teaser before the commercial.

    As you’d expect everybody gets between them to break it up before it can get physical. Gadelha says she’s not going to let herself be bullied and let Jedrzejczyk get in her head. Dana White: “These two have so much animosity between each other I don’t know how they’re going to make it through the season.”

    Jedrzejczyk reveals her philosophy is completely different from Gadelha’s – she believes the women should train with the men. Jamie Moyle is completely down with it because she thinks training like the champ trains will take her to a whole new level. Jedrzejczyk: “I will try to help them as much as I can.”

    Hendricks and Rountree are joking about the fact they are both from Syndicate MMA yet have to fight each other. Moyle is heartbroken (she’s from Syndicate too) about it but understands it has to happen. Gadelha and her assistants are trying hard to help Hendricks do alternate training and get the swelling down so he’s able to stand and fight.

    Rountree talks about all the reasons fighting changed his life – having no father figure, not fitting into his peer group because he liked punk rock and skateboarding, being overweight – and training with his brother and other fighters gave him something to  feel confident about. “I lost the weight of a complete man just to be in this position – just to be on the stage to show the world what I can do.”

    Jedrzejczyk and Gadelha get into another smack talking session before their fighters can even weigh-in. Jedrzejczyk wears the title belt around her waist just to rub it in Gadelha’s face, then puts it over her shoulder and talks smack to her boxing coach, which pisses Gadelha off since she says he can’t even speak English. Gadelha claims Jedrzejczyk didn’t even beat her the first time (it was a split decision).

    Rountree is 204. Hendricks is 204. Fight’s on!

    Helen Harper was sick this whole episode but everybody looked in on her and took care of her – especially Rountree. Dana White is giving out four bonuses this season – two for best performance at $25,000 each and two fighters get $25,000 each for being in the fight of the season.

    * Khalil Rountree (Team Jedrzejczyk) vs. Cory Hendricks (Team Gadelha)

    Hendricks gets a takedown at 40 seconds but Rountree gets back up quickly. Rountree stuffs the next attempt and Herb Dean forces Hendricks to stand. Hendricks gets another takedown and gets Rountree’s back. He’s got a rear naked choke in. Rountree taps at 2:33 and TEAM GADELHA GETS THE FIRST WIN.

    Next week: Tatiana Suarez (Gadelha) vs. JJ Aldrich (Jedrzejczyk). See you then!