In what is likely the 13th and final fight for UFC 202, Randa Markos will take on Cortney Casey at strawweight.
Markos (6-3) has split her four UFC appearances, with her most recent being a decision over Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger. The Canadian is still…
In what is likely the 13th and final fight for UFC 202, Randa Markos will take on Cortney Casey at strawweight.
Markos (6-3) has split her four UFC appearances, with her most recent being a decision over Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger. The Canadian is still looking for her first win streak after alternating wins and losses.
Casey (5-3) is 1-2 with the UFC, but is coming off her first victory just three weeks ago that came via TKO vs. Cristina Stanciu. Her two losses were to Joanne Calderwood and Seo Hee Ham via decision.
UFC 202 takes place August 20 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The featured attraction is a welterweight rematch between Nate Diaz and featherweight champion Conor McGregor.
Live results from the FOX Sports 1 main card will be after the jump beginning at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT, courtesy of Matt Saccaro. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest updates, and shoot us your own thoughts on twitter @cagepotatomma. Thanks for being here.
(Shaking is customary, but wiggling is also acceptable. / Photo via Getty)
Live results from the FOX Sports 1 main card will be after the jump beginning at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT, courtesy of Matt Saccaro. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest updates, and shoot us your own thoughts on twitter @cagepotatomma. Thanks for being here.
PRELIMINARY CARD RESULTS
– Felice Herrig vs. Lisa Ellis
– Heather Jo Clark def. Bec Rawlings via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).
– Joanne Calderwood def. Seo Hee Ham via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26).
– Tecia Torres def. Angela Magana via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
– Aisling Daly def. Alex Chambers via submission (arm bar), 4:53 of round 1.
– Angela Hill def. Emily Kagan via unanimous decisio (30-27, 30-26, 30-27).
It’s official: Former Invicta FC strawweight champion Carla Esparza and fan-favorite Rose Namajunas will square off in the main event of the TUF 20 Finale — this Friday, December 12th, at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas — with the winner being crowned the UFC’s inaugural women’s strawweight champion.
The booking was revealed on last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter, in which Esparza earned a unanimous decision win over Jessica Penne, and Namajunas submitted Randa Markos with a kimura in the first round. Highlights of the Esparza vs. Penne semifinal fight are after the jump. The complete TUF 20 lineup is below…
MAIN CARD, FOX SPORTS 1 (9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT)
Carla Esparza vs. Rose Namajunas
Charles Oliveira vs. Jeremy Stephens
Daron Cruickshank vs. K.J. Noons
Yancy Medeiros vs. Joe Proctor
Randa Markos vs. Jessica Penne
PRELIMINARY CARD, FOX SPORTS 1 (7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT)
Lisa Ellis vs. Felice Herrig
Heather Jo Clark vs. Bec Rawlings
Joanne Calderwood vs. Seo Hee Ham
Angela Magana vs. Tecia Torres
PRELIMINARY CARD, UFC FIGHT PASS (6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT)
Alex Chambers vs. Aisling Daly
Angela Hill vs. Emily Kagan
It’s official: Former Invicta FC strawweight champion Carla Esparza and fan-favorite Rose Namajunas will square off in the main event of the TUF 20 Finale — this Friday, December 12th, at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas — with the winner being crowned the UFC’s inaugural women’s strawweight champion.
The booking was revealed on last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter, in which Esparza earned a unanimous decision win over Jessica Penne, and Namajunas submitted Randa Markos with a kimura in the first round. Highlights of the Esparza vs. Penne semifinal fight are after the jump. The complete TUF 20 lineup is below…
MAIN CARD, FOX SPORTS 1 (9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT)
Carla Esparza vs. Rose Namajunas
Charles Oliveira vs. Jeremy Stephens
Daron Cruickshank vs. K.J. Noons
Yancy Medeiros vs. Joe Proctor
Randa Markos vs. Jessica Penne
PRELIMINARY CARD, FOX SPORTS 1 (7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT)
Lisa Ellis vs. Felice Herrig
Heather Jo Clark vs. Bec Rawlings
Joanne Calderwood vs. Seo Hee Ham
Angela Magana vs. Tecia Torres
PRELIMINARY CARD, UFC FIGHT PASS (6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT)
Alex Chambers vs. Aisling Daly
Angela Hill vs. Emily Kagan
TUF 20 got its first semi-finalist on last night’s episode, when #14-ranked Randa Markos tapped out #6 seed Felice Herrig in the first round with a brilliant modified armbar. Now carrying wins over Herrig and Tecia Torres, Markos has become the season’s Cinderella story — but keep in mind that her next fight will be a true buzzsaw against the winner of Rose Namajunas vs. Joanne Calderwood.
Also on the episode, Anthony Pettis and Gilbert Melendez squared off in the Coaches’ Challenge, which was a non-physical competition for the first time ever, on account of Pettis’s gimpy knee. So if you feel like watching a semi-awkward UFC trivia competition hosted by Bruce Buffer, that’s after the jump.
TUF 20 got its first semi-finalist on last night’s episode, when #14-ranked Randa Markos tapped out #6 seed Felice Herrig in the first round with a brilliant modified armbar. Now carrying wins over Herrig and Tecia Torres, Markos has become the season’s Cinderella story — but keep in mind that her next fight will be a true buzzsaw against the winner of Rose Namajunas vs. Joanne Calderwood.
Also on the episode, Anthony Pettis and Gilbert Melendez squared off in the Coaches’ Challenge, which was a non-physical competition for the first time ever, on account of Pettis’s gimpy knee. So if you feel like watching a semi-awkward UFC trivia competition hosted by Bruce Buffer, that’s after the jump.
(Here’s what the TUF 20 bracket looks like after episode 1; click image for full size version. Team Pettis is in green, Team Melendez is in purple. Props: Reddit MMA)
Last night’s premiere episode of The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned ended with Invicta FC standout Tecia Torres losing in a major upset, when she dropped a three-round decision to the relatively unheralded Randa Markos. If you think that’s a “spoiler” because you haven’t watched the episode yet, well, now you know how the rest of us feel. Due to some epic screw-ups by the UFC production team, the Torres/Markos result was briefly revealed on the broadcast before the fight had even aired, and UFC.com posted an episode recap while the show was still going on. Those are spoilers, my friends.
But all that weirdness aside, TUF 20 episode 1 was a highly satisfying two hours — and not just because the CagePotato logo appeared on the broadcast several times (!) in footage from Rose Namajunas’s Invicta fights. In an interesting change of format, the 16 strawweight competitors were given seeding-numbers based on their rank in the division, and placed into a bracket; #1-ranked Carla Esparza will fight #16-ranked Angela Hill, #2-ranked Joanne Calderwood will fight #15-ranked Emily Kagan, and so on. Coaches Anthony Pettis and Gilbert Melendez still got to pick their teams based on which fighters they liked best after an evaluation session — and they’ll still decide the order of the fights — but they weren’t given the seed-numbers beforehand. It worked out like this…
Instead of giving you a scene-by-scene rundown of everything that happened on the show, we’d like to debut the TUF 20 Checklist, which will hopefully hit the major themes that you’ll be seeing each week. Here we go…
(Here’s what the TUF 20 bracket looks like after episode 1; click image for full size version. Team Pettis is in green, Team Melendez is in purple. Props: Reddit MMA)
Last night’s premiere episode of The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned ended with Invicta FC standout Tecia Torres losing in a major upset, when she dropped a three-round decision to the relatively unheralded Randa Markos. If you think that’s a “spoiler” because you haven’t watched the episode yet, well, now you know how the rest of us feel. Due to some epic screw-ups by the UFC production team, the Torres/Markos result was briefly revealed on the broadcast before the fight had even aired, and UFC.com posted an episode recap while the show was still going on. Those are spoilers, my friends.
But all that weirdness aside, TUF 20 episode 1 was a highly satisfying two hours — and not just because the CagePotato logo appeared on the broadcast several times (!) in footage from Rose Namajunas’s Invicta fights. In an interesting change of format, the 16 strawweight competitors were given seeding-numbers based on their rank in the division, and placed into a bracket; #1-ranked Carla Esparza will fight #16-ranked Angela Hill, #2-ranked Joanne Calderwood will fight #15-ranked Emily Kagan, and so on. Coaches Anthony Pettis and Gilbert Melendez still got to pick their teams based on which fighters they liked best after an evaluation session — and they’ll still decide the order of the fights — but they weren’t given the seed-numbers beforehand. It worked out like this…
Instead of giving you a scene-by-scene rundown of everything that happened on the show, we’d like to debut the TUF 20 Checklist, which will hopefully hit the major themes that you’ll be seeing each week. Here we go…
Did the “ladies bring it” in the episode’s fight?: Yeah, they absolutely did. Tecia Torres dominated the first round against Randa Markos, battering the Iraqi-Canadian with her trademark side-kick and some painful-looking oblique kicks. (Torres was also aided by Herb Dean’s less-than-stellar officiating.) When Markos tried to take the fight to the ground, Torres wouldn’t let her. But Markos came alive in the second frame, eventually dragging Torres to the mat and smashing her with ground-and-pound. It was clear that both women were fading during the sudden victory round, but once again, Markos managed to score a takedown late in the round, and held Torres on her back until the final horn, which was enough to earn her the nod from all three judges. It was a truly gutsy performance from Markos, who we figured didn’t have a chance in this one.
Most absurd Dana White exaggeration (tie):
– “It’s the most important season we’ve ever done.” I think he meant “with the obvious exception of season 1.”
– “One of these girls is literally gonna become one of the biggest stars in the world.” Oh man. Demetrious Johnson is ten pounds heavier and has a penis, and he still can’t get over with fans.
Best tease of a scene from a future episode: At some point in the season, Dana White will have to console a crying “Rowdy” Bec Rawlings in a back room at the TUF gym. That usually means “injury,” but we’ll see. Poor Rowdy Bec. Also, one of the women passes out during a weight cut at one point.
Scariest quote: “Those women are my food.” — Angela Magana. Holy shit. Take this thing back to Baltimore! Thug Rose gets an honorable mention for her speech about how she enjoys hurting people.