Tag: Shayna Baszler

Comparing and Contrasting Shayna Baszler and Julianna Pena’s TUF 18, Week 2 Blogs


(Photo via Getty.)

By now, you probably know (or have heard from an outside, spoilery source) that Julianna Pena scored a massive upset over Shayna Baszler in yesterday’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter 18, choking out the WMMA pioneer in the second round of their scrap. The shocking victory was made all the more impressive by the fact that everyone in the TUF house, every assistant coach, Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate, Dana White, cameramen 1-3, the Mayor of Television, 4 out of 5 dentists, Bono and the Duke of Lacrosse Team knew that Baszler was all but a lock to win the season, let alone some preliminary fight against a 4-2 nobody.

But no one believed that Shayna Baszler was fighting a certified tomato can more than Shayna Baszler. If that sounds like an insult, it isn’t. The fact is, Baszler was only setting herself up for disappointment with her weigh-in card tricks and chest-puffing statements like “[Pena] doesn’t deserve to be in the same ring with me. She should be coming to my seminars and learning.” Well it looks like THE THUDENT HATH BECOME THE TEACHER, THAYNA. (Ed note: Apologies, I sometime write with a lisp.) 

In any case, other MMA websites who aren’t CagePotato were able to secure exclusive access to both Pena’s and Baszler’s TUF 18 blogs (or at least, that’s what we keep telling ourselves) and have passed along their thoughts on what was surely an emotional week on the show for both fighters. Which is where we come in: To highlight the most interesting blurbs from said blogs and punctuate them with the occasional fart joke. God I love my job.

We shall begin with Ms. Baszler’s blog, the somewhat pretentiously titled “Queen’s Manifesto” (courtesy of TheMMACorner). Not only is it the more personal blog of the two, but it also showcases the delusional and often contradictory lengths at which a fighter must sometimes go to justify a loss.


(Photo via Getty.)

By now, you probably know (or have heard from an outside, spoilery source) that Julianna Pena scored a massive upset over Shayna Baszler in yesterday’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter 18, choking out the WMMA pioneer in the second round of their scrap. The shocking victory was made all the more impressive by the fact that everyone in the TUF house, every assistant coach, Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate, Dana White, cameramen 1-3, the Mayor of Television, 4 out of 5 dentists, Bono and the Duke of Lacrosse Team knew that Baszler was all but a lock to win the season, let alone some preliminary fight against a 4-2 nobody.

But no one believed that Shayna Baszler was fighting a certified tomato can more than Shayna Baszler. If that sounds like an insult, it isn’t. The fact is, Baszler was only setting herself up for disappointment with her weigh-in card tricks and chest-puffing statements like “[Pena] doesn’t deserve to be in the same ring with me. She should be coming to my seminars and learning.” Well it looks like THE THUDENT HATH BECOME THE TEACHER, THAYNA. (Ed note: Apologies, I sometime write with a lisp.) 

In any case, other MMA websites who aren’t CagePotato were able to secure exclusive access to both Pena’s and Baszler’s TUF 18 blogs (or at least, that’s what we keep telling ourselves) and have passed along their thoughts on what was surely an emotional week on the show for both fighters. Which is where we come in: To highlight the most interesting blurbs from said blogs and punctuate them with the occasional fart joke. God I love my job.

We shall begin with Ms. Baszler’s blog, the somewhat pretentiously titled “Queen’s Manifesto” (courtesy of TheMMACorner). Not only is it the more personal blog of the two, but it also showcases the delusional and often contradictory lengths at which a fighter must sometimes go to justify a loss:

The first day of practice would be a dream for many hardcore fans of WMMA: Ronda and I just rolling. I had mentioned earlier how I was worried about Ronda and I both having strong personalities. We could very well clash. And both of us being proud people, both of us probably knowing that many in the WMMA community were begging for us to fight, I had some concern about training together getting overly competitive. Maybe she would want to show me exactly who she was, which I would definitely try to not let her get away with. But, as it turns out, Ronda is as secure with herself as I am. Zero ego. We rolled, we sparred, we trained. No one-upping, no pissing contest. Training. Two of the best females in the world just training together. It was awesome. And spoke again of her character to me.

Many out there believe I shouldn’t have had to do this show. That the UFC should already have signed me. That, in some ways (and I hope my Team Rousey family understands I mean no disrespect in saying this—love you guys), I was better than all this. And in some ways, Ronda treated me as such, like a comrade and not a “student.” It was a relief. 

You gotta love it when someone who spoke of herself in the third person when originally discussing the matchup, handed out a “death card” to her opponent at the weigh-ins and alluded to the fact that she was “better than all this” claims to have zero ego in hindsight. No offense, Ms. Baszler, but you most certainly have an ego if you think a fellow contestant should be attending your seminars.

You know how when you go to the gym and spar, there’s always that guy? Maybe he’s a new guy, maybe he’s just that guy that only has two speeds, but he always ends up going way too hard. You know him. Every gym has him. Maybe if you were in 100 percent fight mode, you would whoop his ass. But it’s just sparring, and you know this. That is the same feeling I had when Julianna came out round two. Never felt this way before. She fought for her life, and I just wanted to hold her down and put my finger on her mouth and whisper, “Shhhhhh…” I knew she was spazzing and fighting balls out. So I checked out. “Shit. I will just get her next round.” And it was too late…

Well clearly, this paragraph was written with no other purpose in mind than hurting my feelings. My nickname at the gym, after all, is “That Kid With Two Speeds And Both Of Them Suck.” I don’t know why they just can’t call me by my much shorter, actual name, but I digress.

Julianna showed up that day and fought for her life. I didn’t. Bottom line. Like her or not, she fought for her life at a time when I felt she didn’t even deserve to be in the cage with me. I still to this day say 99 out of 100 times, I win this fight. She just happened to do whatever it took to have her 1/100 happen on that day. The most frustrating part of all of this being that all the new fans of WMMA and of the QoS will only hate because I was so confident going into this fight, it comes off as arrogant. Julianna Pena is not better than the Queen of Spades. But many will believe it after this…foolish mortals. 

I retract my previous statement about Baszler having an ego. Anyone who refers to him/herself in the fifth person surely has their ego in check. “The Queen of Spades would like to know if you foolish mortals accept checks on delivery for a set of the eggplant forkchops.”

I had no idea Ronda took it so hard when I lost until I watched the show. Manny Gamburyan told me every day until the end of the season that I broke all their hearts that day. But to see Ronda so bothered, and then shouldering the responsibility…in the end, the part that sucks the most was disappointing all of them. They truly believed in me. And why shouldn’t they? I am one of the best in the world, the contract gift-wrapped for me. And I just let someone grab it. Disappointing the coaches is something I wish didn’t happen. Their confidence in me…it’s just a big ouch.

So, the fight picks happened. Team Tate picking off our injured guy, like expected. But, in what is the act that sealed my loyalty to Ronda, she walked up to Miesha and said what she did about how she was going to beat her up even more for celebrating in my loss. Now, Miesha and I have always been friendly. And whether she meant it as offense towards me or not, Ronda took it that way. For Ronda to have my back like that…I dunno. Loyalty is something that has become one of the most important things in the measure of a human in my eyes. The fact that I had just let her down, she knows I am gunning for her belt one day…but she still had my back. It spoke volumes to me. 

As BG pointed out in his recap of episode 2, there seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding on Team Rousey regarding the difference between celebrating your fighter’s win and “smiling at someone’s pain.” Using Cat Zingano’s face to stand up was one thing, but Tate celebrating her close friend’s massive upset over an extremely cocky favorite didn’t exactly strike any of us as disrespectful. Just because Rousey needed to have a good cry over a disappointing loss doesn’t mean that anyone else — let alone the coach of the winning team – should have to do the same.

Now let’s take a look at Pena’s blog (courtesy of MMAFighting), shall we? Spoiler alert: It is much more straightforward and will require far less of my groundbreaking insight.

Comparing and Contrasting Shayna Baszler and Julianna Pena’s TUF 18, Week 2 Blogs


(Photo via Getty.)

By now, you probably know (or have heard from an outside, spoilery source) that Julianna Pena scored a massive upset over Shayna Baszler in yesterday’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter 18, choking out the WMMA pioneer in the second round of their scrap. The shocking victory was made all the more impressive by the fact that everyone in the TUF house, every assistant coach, Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate, Dana White, cameramen 1-3, the Mayor of Television, 4 out of 5 dentists, Bono and the Duke of Lacrosse Team knew that Baszler was all but a lock to win the season, let alone some preliminary fight against a 4-2 nobody.

But no one believed that Shayna Baszler was fighting a certified tomato can more than Shayna Baszler. If that sounds like an insult, it isn’t. The fact is, Baszler was only setting herself up for disappointment with her weigh-in card tricks and chest-puffing statements like “[Pena] doesn’t deserve to be in the same ring with me. She should be coming to my seminars and learning.” Well it looks like THE THUDENT HATH BECOME THE TEACHER, THAYNA. (Ed note: Apologies, I sometime write with a lisp.) 

In any case, other MMA websites who aren’t CagePotato were able to secure exclusive access to both Pena’s and Baszler’s TUF 18 blogs (or at least, that’s what we keep telling ourselves) and have passed along their thoughts on what was surely an emotional week on the show for both fighters. Which is where we come in: To highlight the most interesting blurbs from said blogs and punctuate them with the occasional fart joke. God I love my job.

We shall begin with Ms. Baszler’s blog, the somewhat pretentiously titled “Queen’s Manifesto” (courtesy of TheMMACorner). Not only is it the more personal blog of the two, but it also showcases the delusional and often contradictory lengths at which a fighter must sometimes go to justify a loss.


(Photo via Getty.)

By now, you probably know (or have heard from an outside, spoilery source) that Julianna Pena scored a massive upset over Shayna Baszler in yesterday’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter 18, choking out the WMMA pioneer in the second round of their scrap. The shocking victory was made all the more impressive by the fact that everyone in the TUF house, every assistant coach, Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate, Dana White, cameramen 1-3, the Mayor of Television, 4 out of 5 dentists, Bono and the Duke of Lacrosse Team knew that Baszler was all but a lock to win the season, let alone some preliminary fight against a 4-2 nobody.

But no one believed that Shayna Baszler was fighting a certified tomato can more than Shayna Baszler. If that sounds like an insult, it isn’t. The fact is, Baszler was only setting herself up for disappointment with her weigh-in card tricks and chest-puffing statements like “[Pena] doesn’t deserve to be in the same ring with me. She should be coming to my seminars and learning.” Well it looks like THE THUDENT HATH BECOME THE TEACHER, THAYNA. (Ed note: Apologies, I sometime write with a lisp.) 

In any case, other MMA websites who aren’t CagePotato were able to secure exclusive access to both Pena’s and Baszler’s TUF 18 blogs (or at least, that’s what we keep telling ourselves) and have passed along their thoughts on what was surely an emotional week on the show for both fighters. Which is where we come in: To highlight the most interesting blurbs from said blogs and punctuate them with the occasional fart joke. God I love my job.

We shall begin with Ms. Baszler’s blog, the somewhat pretentiously titled “Queen’s Manifesto” (courtesy of TheMMACorner). Not only is it the more personal blog of the two, but it also showcases the delusional and often contradictory lengths at which a fighter must sometimes go to justify a loss:

The first day of practice would be a dream for many hardcore fans of WMMA: Ronda and I just rolling. I had mentioned earlier how I was worried about Ronda and I both having strong personalities. We could very well clash. And both of us being proud people, both of us probably knowing that many in the WMMA community were begging for us to fight, I had some concern about training together getting overly competitive. Maybe she would want to show me exactly who she was, which I would definitely try to not let her get away with. But, as it turns out, Ronda is as secure with herself as I am. Zero ego. We rolled, we sparred, we trained. No one-upping, no pissing contest. Training. Two of the best females in the world just training together. It was awesome. And spoke again of her character to me.

Many out there believe I shouldn’t have had to do this show. That the UFC should already have signed me. That, in some ways (and I hope my Team Rousey family understands I mean no disrespect in saying this—love you guys), I was better than all this. And in some ways, Ronda treated me as such, like a comrade and not a “student.” It was a relief. 

You gotta love it when someone who spoke of herself in the third person when originally discussing the matchup, handed out a “death card” to her opponent at the weigh-ins and alluded to the fact that she was “better than all this” claims to have zero ego in hindsight. No offense, Ms. Baszler, but you most certainly have an ego if you think a fellow contestant should be attending your seminars.

You know how when you go to the gym and spar, there’s always that guy? Maybe he’s a new guy, maybe he’s just that guy that only has two speeds, but he always ends up going way too hard. You know him. Every gym has him. Maybe if you were in 100 percent fight mode, you would whoop his ass. But it’s just sparring, and you know this. That is the same feeling I had when Julianna came out round two. Never felt this way before. She fought for her life, and I just wanted to hold her down and put my finger on her mouth and whisper, “Shhhhhh…” I knew she was spazzing and fighting balls out. So I checked out. “Shit. I will just get her next round.” And it was too late…

Well clearly, this paragraph was written with no other purpose in mind than hurting my feelings. My nickname at the gym, after all, is “That Kid With Two Speeds And Both Of Them Suck.” I don’t know why they just can’t call me by my much shorter, actual name, but I digress.

Julianna showed up that day and fought for her life. I didn’t. Bottom line. Like her or not, she fought for her life at a time when I felt she didn’t even deserve to be in the cage with me. I still to this day say 99 out of 100 times, I win this fight. She just happened to do whatever it took to have her 1/100 happen on that day. The most frustrating part of all of this being that all the new fans of WMMA and of the QoS will only hate because I was so confident going into this fight, it comes off as arrogant. Julianna Pena is not better than the Queen of Spades. But many will believe it after this…foolish mortals. 

I retract my previous statement about Baszler having an ego. Anyone who refers to him/herself in the fifth person surely has their ego in check. “The Queen of Spades would like to know if you foolish mortals accept checks on delivery for a set of the eggplant forkchops.”

I had no idea Ronda took it so hard when I lost until I watched the show. Manny Gamburyan told me every day until the end of the season that I broke all their hearts that day. But to see Ronda so bothered, and then shouldering the responsibility…in the end, the part that sucks the most was disappointing all of them. They truly believed in me. And why shouldn’t they? I am one of the best in the world, the contract gift-wrapped for me. And I just let someone grab it. Disappointing the coaches is something I wish didn’t happen. Their confidence in me…it’s just a big ouch.

So, the fight picks happened. Team Tate picking off our injured guy, like expected. But, in what is the act that sealed my loyalty to Ronda, she walked up to Miesha and said what she did about how she was going to beat her up even more for celebrating in my loss. Now, Miesha and I have always been friendly. And whether she meant it as offense towards me or not, Ronda took it that way. For Ronda to have my back like that…I dunno. Loyalty is something that has become one of the most important things in the measure of a human in my eyes. The fact that I had just let her down, she knows I am gunning for her belt one day…but she still had my back. It spoke volumes to me. 

As BG pointed out in his recap of episode 2, there seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding on Team Rousey regarding the difference between celebrating your fighter’s win and “smiling at someone’s pain.” Using Cat Zingano’s face to stand up was one thing, but Tate celebrating her close friend’s massive upset over an extremely cocky favorite didn’t exactly strike any of us as disrespectful. Just because Rousey needed to have a good cry over a disappointing loss doesn’t mean that anyone else — let alone the coach of the winning team – should have to do the same.

Now let’s take a look at Pena’s blog (courtesy of MMAFighting), shall we? Spoiler alert: It is much more straightforward and will require far less of my groundbreaking insight.

Comparing and Contrasting Shayna Baszler and Julianna Pena’s TUF 18, Week 2 Blogs


(Photo via Getty.)

By now, you probably know (or have heard from an outside, spoilery source) that Julianna Pena scored a massive upset over Shayna Baszler in yesterday’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter 18, choking out the WMMA pioneer in the second round of their scrap. The shocking victory was made all the more impressive by the fact that everyone in the TUF house, every assistant coach, Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate, Dana White, cameramen 1-3, the Mayor of Television, 4 out of 5 dentists, Bono and the Duke of Lacrosse Team knew that Baszler was all but a lock to win the season, let alone some preliminary fight against a 4-2 nobody.

But no one believed that Shayna Baszler was fighting a certified tomato can more than Shayna Baszler. If that sounds like an insult, it isn’t. The fact is, Baszler was only setting herself up for disappointment with her weigh-in card tricks and chest-puffing statements like “[Pena] doesn’t deserve to be in the same ring with me. She should be coming to my seminars and learning.” Well it looks like THE THUDENT HATH BECOME THE TEACHER, THAYNA. (Ed note: Apologies, I sometime write with a lisp.) 

In any case, other MMA websites who aren’t CagePotato were able to secure exclusive access to both Pena’s and Baszler’s TUF 18 blogs (or at least, that’s what we keep telling ourselves) and have passed along their thoughts on what was surely an emotional week on the show for both fighters. Which is where we come in: To highlight the most interesting blurbs from said blogs and punctuate them with the occasional fart joke. God I love my job.

We shall begin with Ms. Baszler’s blog, the somewhat pretentiously titled “Queen’s Manifesto” (courtesy of TheMMACorner). Not only is it the more personal blog of the two, but it also showcases the delusional and often contradictory lengths at which a fighter must sometimes go to justify a loss.


(Photo via Getty.)

By now, you probably know (or have heard from an outside, spoilery source) that Julianna Pena scored a massive upset over Shayna Baszler in yesterday’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter 18, choking out the WMMA pioneer in the second round of their scrap. The shocking victory was made all the more impressive by the fact that everyone in the TUF house, every assistant coach, Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate, Dana White, cameramen 1-3, the Mayor of Television, 4 out of 5 dentists, Bono and the Duke of Lacrosse Team knew that Baszler was all but a lock to win the season, let alone some preliminary fight against a 4-2 nobody.

But no one believed that Shayna Baszler was fighting a certified tomato can more than Shayna Baszler. If that sounds like an insult, it isn’t. The fact is, Baszler was only setting herself up for disappointment with her weigh-in card tricks and chest-puffing statements like “[Pena] doesn’t deserve to be in the same ring with me. She should be coming to my seminars and learning.” Well it looks like THE THUDENT HATH BECOME THE TEACHER, THAYNA. (Ed note: Apologies, I sometime write with a lisp.) 

In any case, other MMA websites who aren’t CagePotato were able to secure exclusive access to both Pena’s and Baszler’s TUF 18 blogs (or at least, that’s what we keep telling ourselves) and have passed along their thoughts on what was surely an emotional week on the show for both fighters. Which is where we come in: To highlight the most interesting blurbs from said blogs and punctuate them with the occasional fart joke. God I love my job.

We shall begin with Ms. Baszler’s blog, the somewhat pretentiously titled “Queen’s Manifesto” (courtesy of TheMMACorner). Not only is it the more personal blog of the two, but it also showcases the delusional and often contradictory lengths at which a fighter must sometimes go to justify a loss:

The first day of practice would be a dream for many hardcore fans of WMMA: Ronda and I just rolling. I had mentioned earlier how I was worried about Ronda and I both having strong personalities. We could very well clash. And both of us being proud people, both of us probably knowing that many in the WMMA community were begging for us to fight, I had some concern about training together getting overly competitive. Maybe she would want to show me exactly who she was, which I would definitely try to not let her get away with. But, as it turns out, Ronda is as secure with herself as I am. Zero ego. We rolled, we sparred, we trained. No one-upping, no pissing contest. Training. Two of the best females in the world just training together. It was awesome. And spoke again of her character to me.

Many out there believe I shouldn’t have had to do this show. That the UFC should already have signed me. That, in some ways (and I hope my Team Rousey family understands I mean no disrespect in saying this—love you guys), I was better than all this. And in some ways, Ronda treated me as such, like a comrade and not a “student.” It was a relief. 

You gotta love it when someone who spoke of herself in the third person when originally discussing the matchup, handed out a “death card” to her opponent at the weigh-ins and alluded to the fact that she was “better than all this” claims to have zero ego in hindsight. No offense, Ms. Baszler, but you most certainly have an ego if you think a fellow contestant should be attending your seminars.

You know how when you go to the gym and spar, there’s always that guy? Maybe he’s a new guy, maybe he’s just that guy that only has two speeds, but he always ends up going way too hard. You know him. Every gym has him. Maybe if you were in 100 percent fight mode, you would whoop his ass. But it’s just sparring, and you know this. That is the same feeling I had when Julianna came out round two. Never felt this way before. She fought for her life, and I just wanted to hold her down and put my finger on her mouth and whisper, “Shhhhhh…” I knew she was spazzing and fighting balls out. So I checked out. “Shit. I will just get her next round.” And it was too late…

Well clearly, this paragraph was written with no other purpose in mind than hurting my feelings. My nickname at the gym, after all, is “That Kid With Two Speeds And Both Of Them Suck.” I don’t know why they just can’t call me by my much shorter, actual name, but I digress.

Julianna showed up that day and fought for her life. I didn’t. Bottom line. Like her or not, she fought for her life at a time when I felt she didn’t even deserve to be in the cage with me. I still to this day say 99 out of 100 times, I win this fight. She just happened to do whatever it took to have her 1/100 happen on that day. The most frustrating part of all of this being that all the new fans of WMMA and of the QoS will only hate because I was so confident going into this fight, it comes off as arrogant. Julianna Pena is not better than the Queen of Spades. But many will believe it after this…foolish mortals. 

I retract my previous statement about Baszler having an ego. Anyone who refers to him/herself in the fifth person surely has their ego in check. “The Queen of Spades would like to know if you foolish mortals accept checks on delivery for a set of the eggplant forkchops.”

I had no idea Ronda took it so hard when I lost until I watched the show. Manny Gamburyan told me every day until the end of the season that I broke all their hearts that day. But to see Ronda so bothered, and then shouldering the responsibility…in the end, the part that sucks the most was disappointing all of them. They truly believed in me. And why shouldn’t they? I am one of the best in the world, the contract gift-wrapped for me. And I just let someone grab it. Disappointing the coaches is something I wish didn’t happen. Their confidence in me…it’s just a big ouch.

So, the fight picks happened. Team Tate picking off our injured guy, like expected. But, in what is the act that sealed my loyalty to Ronda, she walked up to Miesha and said what she did about how she was going to beat her up even more for celebrating in my loss. Now, Miesha and I have always been friendly. And whether she meant it as offense towards me or not, Ronda took it that way. For Ronda to have my back like that…I dunno. Loyalty is something that has become one of the most important things in the measure of a human in my eyes. The fact that I had just let her down, she knows I am gunning for her belt one day…but she still had my back. It spoke volumes to me. 

As BG pointed out in his recap of episode 2, there seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding on Team Rousey regarding the difference between celebrating your fighter’s win and “smiling at someone’s pain.” Using Cat Zingano’s face to stand up was one thing, but Tate celebrating her close friend’s massive upset over an extremely cocky favorite didn’t exactly strike any of us as disrespectful. Just because Rousey needed to have a good cry over a disappointing loss doesn’t mean that anyone else — let alone the coach of the winning team – should have to do the same.

Now let’s take a look at Pena’s blog (courtesy of MMAFighting), shall we? Spoiler alert: It is much more straightforward and will require far less of my groundbreaking insight.

TUF 18 Episode 2 Recap: Some Pussy-Ass Bullsh*t


(The front of the card says, “You will die, bitch.” The back of the card says, “But I’ll be in the hot tub tonight around 10 p.m. if you want to hang out, no pressure, I just think you’re cool and you look like you could use a backrub.”)

It’s been a long time since we’ve had a good ringer on The Ultimate Fighter. I’m talking about guys like Roy Nelson or Mac Danzig, who entered the TUF house with literally ten times more experience than some of their cast-mates, and performed like men among boys, cruising to the glass-trophy with shocking ease.

In recent seasons, the talent pool on TUF has dried up to the point where you simply don’t see that kind of fighter anymore; every hot prospect or free agent that’s not immediately snatched up by the UFC gets poached by Bellator or World Series of Fighting, and they don’t have to beat the hell out of near-amateurs on a reality show between sessions of binge-drinking and furniture-abuse.

Of course, since this is the first time that The Ultimate Fighter has featured women, the range of experience in the female bracket is stunning. You’ve got Peggy “Daywalker” Morgan, the 2-0 rookie. Jessamyn Duke, Sarah Moras, and Jessica Rakoczy each have just four pro fights under their belts (and Rakoczy has a losing record). Somehow, these girls are supposed to compete with Shayna Baszler (15-8), who carries over a decade of professional experience with her, and a history of gnarly submissions that include two (two!) wins by twister.

Shayna Baszler was supposed to be the first female ringer in TUF history*. Unfortunately, she knew it just as much as we did, and became convinced that winning the show was a foregone conclusion. She got cocky. She got really cocky. She got really, really, embarrassingly cocky. And she paid for it.

Here’s how last night’s episode played out…


(The front of the card says, “You will die, bitch.” The back of the card says, “But I’ll be in the hot tub tonight around 10 p.m. if you want to hang out, no pressure, I just think you’re cool and you look like you could use a backrub.”)

It’s been a long time since we’ve had a good ringer on The Ultimate Fighter. I’m talking about guys like Roy Nelson or Mac Danzig, who entered the TUF house with literally ten times more experience than some of their cast-mates, and performed like men among boys, cruising to the glass-trophy with shocking ease.

In recent seasons, the talent pool on TUF has dried up to the point where you simply don’t see that kind of fighter anymore; every hot prospect or free agent that’s not immediately snatched up by the UFC gets poached by Bellator or World Series of Fighting, and they don’t have to beat the hell out of near-amateurs on a reality show between sessions of binge-drinking and furniture-abuse.

Of course, since this is the first time that The Ultimate Fighter has featured women, the range of experience in the female bracket is stunning. You’ve got Peggy “Daywalker” Morgan, the 2-0 rookie. Jessamyn Duke, Sarah Moras, and Jessica Rakoczy each have just four pro fights under their belts (and Rakoczy has a losing record). Somehow, these girls are supposed to compete with Shayna Baszler (15-8), who carries over a decade of professional experience with her, and a history of gnarly submissions that include two (two!) wins by twister.

Shayna Baszler was supposed to be the first female ringer in TUF history*. Unfortunately, she knew it just as much as we did, and became convinced that winning the show was a foregone conclusion. She got cocky. She got really cocky. She got really, really, embarrassingly cocky. And she paid for it.

Here’s how last night’s episode played out…

In a sequence lifted from 20 years’ worth of The Real World episodes, the fighters bum-rush the TUF house, scramble to pick bedrooms, then immediately hit the hot tub. ”A little Hot Tub Time Machine action going on!” says Chris Holdsworth, and everybody cringes, inwardly.

In confessional shots to the camera, the fighters discuss the elephant in the room: Would they be hooking up with their fellow cast-mates while stranded in the TUF house? The general consensus among the women is no.

“I came here to do business,” Julianna Pena says. “Looking for a boyfriend was not on my list of things to do.”

“You don’t really want to be that girl,” Peggy Morgan adds.

Still, that doesn’t stop Anthony Gutierrez from running down his odds with each woman: “Sarah wants me really really bad, and I’m not toally into her, I think maybe because she wants me? Jessica, she’s my hot cougar. Jessamyn, she says she’s got a boyfriend, but sometimes we lock eyes a little longer after the conversation’s over…” Oh boy, looks like we’ve got a ladies’ man over here!

As some of the male and female fighters discuss the prospect of training together — specifically, whether or not men should go less than 100% when training with women —  Tim Gorman cements his status as house jackass by shouting: “A GIRL IS NOT GONNA SUBMIT ME!” into the camera. As it turns out, no one of either gender will be submitting Tim Gorman this season. But we’ll get to that.

On the last episode, Ronda Rousey made the bold move of selecting her #1 female pick Shayna Baszler to take on Miesha Tate‘s #1 pick Julianna Pena in the first quarterfinal match. “What organization would put on Julianna vs. Shayna?” Shayna asks. Now, referring to oneself in the third-person is a well-known warning sign that a person’s ego is getting out of hand. But it’s true. Out on the real world, MMA bouts are occasionally shot down by athletic commissions if there’s a vast disparity in experience. Julianna Pena is 4-2, and coming off of two losses (including one against her TUF teammate Sarah Moras). You probably wouldn’t be seeing this matchup in Invicta.

Pena recalls the time she met Shayna Baszler at a Strikeforce show and got pictures with her. Now she’s fighting this woman she looked up to, and she’s a bit spooked. She admits that she’s nervous about Baszler’s submission skills. Even some of her own teammates are dubious that Julianna will be able to pull this one off.

During a light recovery day on Team Tate, Coach Miesha notices that Tim Gorman is nursing an injury. He says he tore his hamstring during his elimination round fight, and his ankle is noticeably swollen. Miesha sends him off to see a doctor. On a related note, Team Rousey’s Chris Beal has a jacked-up hand, but he’s dealing with it.

The second that it’s time for Team Tate to leave the gym, Ronda Rousey kicks the door in and shouts them out of the room. “I know it’s rude,” she explains later, “but psychologically, you have to be like, ‘You move when we tell you to, and we never have move for you.”

Shayna throws in some more trash talk: “I’ve been doing this for over a decade, and [Pena’s] not the one to put the stamp at the end of that…I’ve got stuff for here she’s never seen”

We learn more about The Queen of Spades’s tough journey as a female MMA fighter — coming up at a time when nobody cared about female MMA fighters, and the top payday was $300 cash under the table — and what this experience means to her: “I wish there was some way I could Vulcan mind-meld to you people the long road it’s been for us…the epic battles you’ve missed just because it wasn’t in the UFC. And now it’s finally here.”

We see Tate teaching Julianna how to avoid getting armbarred — something that Tate has spent a lot of time thinking about lately. “I think Julianna is the hardest-hitting 135-woman on the planet,” Tate says. “She’s mean and nasty.”

Gorman gets the bad news: One of his major hamstring muscles has nearly torn off, and the doctor recommends 4-6 months of rehab.

“Are you taking into account, like, what a big opportunity it is?” Gorman asks the doctor.

“No opportunity on Earth is worth doing permanent damage to your leg,” Dana White tells him.

“To me it is,” Gorman says. Aw man. He might be a jackass, but you gotta feel for the guy. At any rate, the decision has been made, and Gorman gets bounced from the competition. Replacing him will be Louis Fisette…hey, the deadbeat kid!


(“Lives With Parents.” That’s going to be on his tombstone, isn’t it.)

In a rather unique bit of skullduggery, Baszler pops a Queen of Spades card into Pena’s sports-bra at the weigh-ins. “Spade’s the death card,” Baszler says. “So I gave her a little Queen of Spades card for what’s to come.” Dang.

“It wasn’t cool,” Fissete says. “Keep your cards at home and don’t pull that shit at weigh-ins.”

“Shayna was already in her head, and doing something like that even makes it more so,” Jessamyn Duke says. “I don’t think Julianna really realizes with what intensity Shayna is coming.”

“I’m not gonna lose to her,” Baszler says. “She doesn’t deserve to be in the same ring with me. She should be coming to my seminars and learning.” And so, Shayna Baszler officially jinxes herself out of the win. Ah well.

Ronda, in ice-cold terminator mode: “Shayna’s great, she’s ready. This other girl doesn’t deserve to breathe the same air as her, and she knows it.”

“You’re the queen of fucking spades,” Ronda tells Shayna, pre-fight. “You need to show everybody what that fucking means.”

Famous last words, from Shayna Baszler: “There is a side of me that feels like I shouldn’t have to dance this dance. I fought a lot of the girls that are already signed in the UFC. I’m ranked higher than some of them, you know? I don’t know why I kept getting passed up, I don’t know why. I think it’s time to teach the people a lesson.”

Time to dance this dance…

Round 1: Shayna comes forward, looking to establish herself early. Coach Tate screams “BE FIRST!” and suddenly Julianna remembers the game-plan — she storms forward with hard punches and has Shayna on her heels, pushing her against the cage. Shayna ties her arms up, drags her to the mat once, then twice, and lands in side control. Shayna takes Julianna’s back, works for a choke, loses it, and gets in Julianna’s guard. Julianna lands a pair of elbows from the bottom. Julianna looks to work her guard, and Shayna lands a couple strikes from the top before she’s kicked off. Shayna grabs a headlock when they’re on their feet, and tries to set up a crucifix on the mat. She loses it, but puts Julianna right back on the mat after the younger fighter tries to stand. Julianna tries to kick out, Shayna scrambles back on top of her. Shayna rolls for guillotine, loses position completely, and gets reversed. Shayna has her arm around Julianna’s neck but can’t do anything with it. Julianna gets some space and tees off as Shayna stands and tosses her back down. Shayna re-establishes top position as the round ends. Julianna may have landed more strikes, but I’d probably give the round to Shayna for her takedowns and ground control.

I was wondering if they’d have ring girls working the round cards on this season, and my question is answered. What up, Vanessa.

Round 2: Julianna comes out slugging just like in round one. She fires wild, heavy punches and Shayna is just trying to weather the storm. Shayna tries to toss Julianna but can’t. Shayna ties up with Julianna against the fence. Shayna might be running out of steam. Julianna turns her around and lands some brutal knees from clinch. Julianna takes Shayna down. Shayna’s nose is bloodied. Julianna gets in side control, then back mount. Shayna covers up as Julianna rains down punches from above. Julianna sneaks an arm under Shayna’s chin, then rolls her and squeezes out a tap. It’s a huge upset, and Team Rousey’s gets their heart ripped out early.

Coach Ronda is absolutely heartbroken for Baszler: “I wish I could take everything that Shayna’s feeling and feel it myself right now,” Rousey says. But it seems like she already is. Have we ever seen a TUF coach cry for their losing fighter before last night?

Baszler is inconsolable, but Ronda does her best: “Everyone’s seen you and everyone knows you…there were a lot of Ultimate Fighters before you that ended up doing nothing, but there are lot of people who were on the show [and didn’t win] that ended up being everything.” Well, maybe not everything, but yeah, close enough.

Ronda, still crying: “It was my job to make sure they got through this, and I fucking failed today. I looked over and saw Shayna just hurting like that, and I looked over and saw Miesha just smiling at her pain. She’s gonna pay for every smile she smirks today.”

For the record, there wasn’t any moment where we saw Tate “smiling at [Shayna’s] pain.” Sure, she celebrated her fighter’s victory, but unlike some other TUF coaches we could name, she wasn’t a dick about it whatsoever. Still, Ronda confronts her after the fight and threatens to punish her for smiling at her girl’s pain. Tate is understandably confused. “Smile at your girl’s pain? Shayna’s my friend,” Tate says. Still, Tate didn’t show the proper level of respect for poor Shayna Baszler, and Ronda has another reason to hate her.

Now that Team Tate has fight selections, the next matchup will be Chris Holdsworth (Team Tate’s #2 male pick) vs. Chris Beal (Team Rousey’s #1 male pick). Tate’s crew noticed Beal’s hand injury, and they want to take advantage of it while they can.

Of course, this further infuriates Ronda Rousey, who calls the move “some pussy-ass bullshit.” Maybe it is. Maybe it’s just smart play. What do you think?

On the next episode: Rousey and Tate get into a verbal altercation at a makeshift bar, and Miesha claims that Ronda doesn’t know how to hit pads. Don’t miss it!

Team Rousey Women
Shayna Baszler (eliminated by Julianna Pena in the quarterfinals, episode 2)
Jessamyn Duke
Peggy Morgan
Jessica Rakoczy

Team Rousey Men
Chris Beal
David Grant
Anthony Gutierrez
Michael Wootten

Team Tate Women
Julianna Pena
Sarah Moras
Raquel Pennington
Roxanne Modafferi

Team Tate Men
Cody Bollinger
Chris Holdsworth
Josh Hill
Louis Fisette (replaced Tim Gorman)

* Actually, Tara LaRosa was supposed to be the female ringer on this season, but she didn’t even make it past the elimination round.

— Ben Goldstein

The TUF 18 Cast List Features a Who’s Who of Female Bantamweights and a Who’s That of Male Bantamweights


(Well if there’s one thing we know about Tonya Evinger, it’s that she can generate a lot of power even off her back.) 

The cast list for TUF 18: Rousey vs. Zingano Tate Again was released earlier today, and among the female bantamweights competing for that glass plaque and a contract worth almost $10,000 a year for the next 10 years are such familiar faces as Shayna Baszler, Tonya Evinger (the power bottom pictured above), Tara Larosa and Roxanne Modafferi to name a few. There’s also Valerie Letourneau, a 4-3 Canadian slugger who should not be confused with Mary Kay Letourneau, the schoolteacher who diddled a “lil slugger” back in 1996.

Among the male participants, however, you will not find nearly as many recognizable names. Or any. The lone exception to the argument we just presented would be Cody “Bam Bam” Bollinger, a 14-3 KOTC and Bellator veteran who you might have seen get TKO’d by season 8 featherweight tournament winner Shahbulat Shamhalaev (no joke, I spelled that correctly on my first try) back at Bellator 76. Despite the lack of familiar faces, there are a lot of (albeit modest) undefeated records on the men’s side of the equation, which calls to question why the 1-3 Jessica Rakoczy would be selected given her-oh now I see why.

Check out the full cast list after the jump, then give us your predictions as to who the early favorite should be in our newly-upgraded comments section.


(Well if there’s one thing we know about Tonya Evinger, it’s that she can generate a lot of power even off her back.) 

The cast list for TUF 18: Rousey vs. Zingano Tate Again was released earlier today, and among the female bantamweights competing for that glass plaque and a contract worth almost $10,000 a year for the next 10 years are such familiar faces as Shayna Baszler, Tonya Evinger (the power bottom pictured above), Tara Larosa and Roxanne Modafferi to name a few. There’s also Valerie Letourneau, a 4-3 Canadian slugger who should not be confused with Mary Kay Letourneau, the schoolteacher who diddled a “lil slugger” back in 1996.

Among the male participants, however, you will not find nearly as many recognizable names. Or any. The lone exception to the argument we just presented would be Cody “Bam Bam” Bollinger, a 14-3 KOTC and Bellator veteran who you might have seen get TKO’d by season 8 featherweight tournament winner Shahbulat Shamhalaev (no joke, I spelled that correctly on my first try) back at Bellator 76. Despite the lack of familiar faces, there are a lot of (albeit modest) undefeated records on the men’s side of the equation, which calls to question why the 1-3 Jessica Rakoczy would be selected given her-oh now I see why.

Check out the full cast list below, then give us your predictions as to who the early favorite should be in our newly-upgraded comments section.

Women’s 135-pound division:
Shayna Baszler (15-8), 33, Sioux Fall, S.D.
Revelina Berto (3-1), 24, Winter Haven, Fla.
Jessamyn Duke (2-1), 27, Richmond, Ky.
Tonya Evinger (11-6), 32, Lake St. Louis, Mo.
Laura Howarth (4-0), 26, Hove, East Essex, ENG
Tara LaRosa (21-3), 35, Albuquerque, N.M.
Valerie Letourneau (4-3), 30, La Prairie, CAN
Bethany Marshall (4-1), 25, Newport News, Va.
Sarah Moras (3-1), 25, Kelowna, CAN
Margaret “Penny” Morgan (2-0), 33, Nashua, N.H.
Gina Mazany (3-0), 25, Seattle, Wash.
Roxanne Modafferi(15-10), 30, Pittsfield, Mass.
Julianna Pena (4-2), 24, Spokane, Wash.
Raquel Pennington (3-3), 24, Colorado Springs, Colo.
Jessica Rakoczy (1-3), 36, Las Vegas, Nev.
Colleen Schneider (4-3), 31, Las Vegas, Nev.

Male 135-pound division:
Christopher Beal (7-0), 28, Somis, Calif.
Cody Bollinger (14-3), 22, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.
Louis Fisette (6-1), 23, Winnipeg, CAN
Rafael Freitas (6-0-1), 29, Albuquerque, N.M.
David Grant (8-1), 27, Bishop Auckland, ENG
Tim Gorman (9-2), 30, West Des Moines, Iowa
Anthony Gutierrez(4-0), 22, Lee’s Summit, Mo.
Emil Hartsner (4-0), 23, Luberod, SWE
Joshua Hill (9-0), 26, Binbrook, CAN
Chris Holdsworth (4-0), 25, Woodland Hills, Calif.
Patrick Holohan (9-0-1), 25, Dublin, IRL
Sirwan Kakai (9-1), 23, Coconut Creek, Fla.
Daniel Martinez (18-4), 28, San Diego, Calif.
Matthew Munsey (4-1), 26, Hollywood, Fla.
Lee Sandmeier (9-0), 30, Knoxville, Iowa
Michael Wootten (6-0), 24, Liverpool, ENG

–J. Jones

Invicta FC 4: Esparza vs. Hyatt — Complete Main Card Video, Prelim Insanity, Photos + More

(Complete Invicta FC 4 main card broadcast, courtesy of Invicta FC)

Saturday’s Invicta FC 4 event at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, KS, was supposed to be a significant step forward for the all-female promotion, as the main card was presented as an Internet pay-per-view for the first time. (Previously, Invicta’s events had been streamed online for free.) Unfortunately, the broadcast turned out to be a technical fiasco. Due to issues with payment processing and an uncooperative streaming partner, paying customers were unable to log on to watch the event. Even after the paywall was removed — and full refunds were offered to those who had already shelled out cash — the stream was still unreliable.

It was a worst-case-scenario for Invicta FC, whose budding fanbase might be wary of paying for similar broadcasts in the future. In a post-event interview with Ben Fowlkes at MMAJunkie, Invicta president Shannon Knapp seemed to acknowledge that securing a TV deal for her promotion has become more critical than ever, in the wake of their failed iPPV experiment.

As for the fights themselves? They certainly had their moments, although the main card was further cursed by a near-total lack of stoppages. In the headliner, former collegiate wrestler Carla Esparza and late-replacement Bec Hyatt waged war in Invicta’s first strawweight (115 pounds) title fight. Esparza’s relentless takedowns and top control helped her win all five rounds on the judges’ scorecards, but the colorful Aussie didn’t make it easy for her, stinging Esparza with her striking every time the women were on their feet.

The event’s official “Fight of the Night” award went to Alexis Davis and Shayna Baszler, who turned in a fantastic grappling battle that ended in the third round when Davis put Baszler to sleep with a rear-naked choke. It was the only bout on the main card that didn’t go to the scorecards. We suggest that you skip to the 2:02:59 mark of the video above to watch the fight — or just check out these two photos that tell the story pretty well by themselves…


(Complete Invicta FC 4 main card broadcast, courtesy of Invicta FC)

Saturday’s Invicta FC 4 event at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, KS, was supposed to be a significant step forward for the all-female promotion, as the main card was presented as an Internet pay-per-view for the first time. (Previously, Invicta’s events had been streamed online for free.) Unfortunately, the broadcast turned out to be a technical fiasco. Due to issues with payment processing and an uncooperative streaming partner, paying customers were unable to log on to watch the event. Even after the paywall was removed — and full refunds were offered to those who had already shelled out cash — the stream was still unreliable.

It was a worst-case-scenario for Invicta FC, whose budding fanbase might be wary of paying for similar broadcasts in the future. In a post-event interview with Ben Fowlkes at MMAJunkie, Invicta president Shannon Knapp seemed to acknowledge that securing a TV deal for her promotion has become more critical than ever, in the wake of their failed iPPV experiment.

As for the fights themselves? They certainly had their moments, although the main card was further cursed by a near-total lack of stoppages. In the headliner, former collegiate wrestler Carla Esparza and late-replacement Bec Hyatt waged war in Invicta’s first strawweight (115 pounds) title fight. Esparza’s relentless takedowns and top control helped her win all five rounds on the judges’ scorecards, but the colorful Aussie didn’t make it easy for her, stinging Esparza with her striking every time the women were on their feet.

The event’s official “Fight of the Night” award went to Alexis Davis and Shayna Baszler, who turned in a fantastic grappling battle that ended in the third round when Davis put Baszler to sleep with a rear-naked choke. It was the only bout on the main card that didn’t go to the scorecards. We suggest that you skip to the 2:02:59 mark of the video above to watch the fight — or just check out these two photos that tell the story pretty well by themselves…



(Props: Esther Lin/Invicta Fighting Championships. Click images for full-size versions.)

Let’s have a moment of silence for Hiroko Yamanaka, who has somehow become the go-to opponent for freakish Brazilian sluggers. This time, the lanky ex-dominatrix came face to face with Ediane Gomes, who, as ZombieProphet reminds us, once competed in a vale tudo match against a dude. Gomes mauled Yamanaka in the first round — nearly securing a stoppage via ground-and-pound — but Yamanaka held on until the bell, and began to shift the momentum in the third frame when Gomes ran out of gas. Unfortunately it was too little too late, as Gomes hung on for the unanimous decision victory.

The preliminary card saw significantly more finishes with four of the seven bouts ending within the distance. Notably, Pat Barry’s girlfriend Rose Namajunas won her professional MMA debut, submitting Emily Kagan by third-round rear-naked choke in their strawweight bout. Even as a cornerman, Pat Barry is entertaining and explosive:


(Props: Chris Gregory)

Also on the prelims, featherweight* knockout machine Veronica “The Heartbreaker” Rothenhausler — who won her last two amateur fights in a combined ten seconds — was victorious in her pro debut, KO’ing Katalina Malungahu in the first round. Seriously, this woman has freakish power. (Check out the GIF here, via BloodyElbow.) Rothenhausler. Rothenhausler. Rothenhausler. Remember that name, folks.

Sadly, our latest “Hot Fighter Alert” recipient Paige VanZant was routed in a unanimous decision by fellow strawweight Tecia Torres. Though VanZant looked to be in over her head at times, she showed tremendous heart in staying in the fight for all fifteen minutes. Keep in mind that VanZant is still just 18 years old; we definitely haven’t seen the last of “12 Gauge” Paige.

On that note, judging from the weigh-in video, victorious prelim fighter Laura Marcusse-Sanko has “Future Hot Fighter Alert” written all over her.

Here are the complete results, via InvictaFC…

Main Card
– Carla Esparza def. Bec Hyatt via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45)
– Alexis Davis def. Shayna Baszler via technical submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, :58 [fight of the night]
– Leslie Smith def. Raquel Pennington via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
– Sarah D’Alelio def. Amanda Nunes via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
– Ediane Gomes def. Hiroko Yamanaka via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
– Joanne Calderwood def. Livia Von Plettenberg via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)

Preliminary Card
– Cassie Rodish def. Stephanie Frausto via TKO (strikes) – Round 3, 1:04
– Tamikka Brents def. Amanda Bell via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
– Jodie Esquibel def. Liz McCarthy via majority decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
– Rose Namajunas def. Emily Kagan via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 3:44 [submission of the night]
– Tecia Torres def. Paige Van Zant via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
– Veronica Rothenhausler def. Katalina Malungahu via KO (punch) – Round 1, 1:12 [knockout of the night]
– Laura Marcusse-Sanko def. Cassie Robb via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 1:07

* Rothenhausler missed weight for her featherweight contest against Malungahu, getting down to 146.6 after her second attempt.

Bonus photos, via Esther Lin/Invicta Fighting Championships (except for the last one). Click all to enlarge.


(Bec Hyatt pops Carla Esparza in the grill.)


(Ediane Gomes does likewise to Hiroko Yamanaka.)


(The tartan-skirted Joanne Calderwood cracks Livia Von Plettenberg with a knee.)


(Felice Herrig does her best to cheer up Bec Hyatt after the fights. Josh Koscheck approves.)