The Ultimate Fighter was supposed to feature the first semi-final bout for the men, but weight issues crept up again this season. David Grant and Anthony Gutierrez of Team Rousey were on the docket for the episode.
Gutierrez advanced by Cody Bollinger not making weight. He was the only one to not have to fight in the quarter-finals. Yet, this time it was Gutierrez who missed weight. This allowed Grant to advance to the finals.
| Team Rousey | Team Tate |
| Julianna Pena | |
| Raquel Pennington | |
| Jessica Rakoczy | |
| David Grant | Chris Holdsworth |
(Note: Winners are in bold, losers are scratched off the list and the next competitors’ names are in italics.)
Even with no fight there was plenty to take away from this episode:
- Ronda Rousey continues to come off as one of, if not the, most caring and passionate coaches in TUF history. In this episode, she went over to the house to cook for her team. It seems as if she is stopping by the house in nearly episode to give something back to her team.
- Rousey also was on the brink of tears during training. She legitimately cares about her team and doing the best she can for them. It is a welcome sight for The Ultimate Fighter, and it shouldn’t go without praise.
- The commercials foreshadowed another botched weight cut, and it was apparent it would be Gutierrez early in the episode. For what has to be at least the third time this season the editors focused on his poor eating habits in the house. This time it came back to bite him.
- This season’s coach’s challenge was a rock climbing competition. This was one of the more fun and competitive competitions in some time. Rousey took the victory over Tate and earned $10,000 for herself and $1,500 for each member of her team.
- After winning, Rousey had some choice words for Tate and double-birds all the way down from the top of the wall. The hate is very real, but at some point there it begins to come off poorly. I think we’ve reached that moment. However, Rousey makes no bones about being “Team Real Mean” as opposed to her perception of Tate being “Team Fake Nice.”
- One of the best parts of the entire season was Manny Gamburyan‘s talk with Gutierrez. Gamburyan was brutally honest with the young fighter, and it was beautiful to hear. He told him straight up that he did not belong in the UFC for his actions. No minced words.
- Dana White gave Gutierrez time to address his peers and coaches, but that came off as someone who was repeating bits that he has heard in the hopes of gaining favor as opposed to someone who was sincere.
- One of the final scenes of the show was a talk between Rousey and White. It was a good look at both, and a great insight into the pressures of the show. Rousey wanted to do a weight-cut of her own, but White stressed to her it wasn’t her fault. This talk and Gamburyan‘s comments to Gutierrez were reason enough to catch this episode.
- Next week will be the final women’s bout between Jessica Rakoczy and Raquel Pennington. There seems to be some foreshadowing of Rakoczy‘s constant shoulder problems. We will see how much of an effect that has on the fight.
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