Tag: The Ultimate Fighter 20

TUF 20 Episode 2 Results and Recap: Calderwood Advances to Make Team Pettis 2-0

The Ultimate Fighter had another near upset in the second week, but No. 2 seed Joanne Calderwood did just enough to escape No. 15 seed Emily Kagan.
Kagan showed just how deep the 115-pound division is in her competitive fight against Calderwood, but sh…

The Ultimate Fighter had another near upset in the second week, but No. 2 seed Joanne Calderwood did just enough to escape No. 15 seed Emily Kagan.

Kagan showed just how deep the 115-pound division is in her competitive fight against Calderwood, but she came up just short. Certainly, Calderwood owes her the carrot cake. Calderwood will take on the winner between No. 7 seed Rose Namajunas and No. 10 seed Alex Chambers in the quarterfinals.

This episode took us into the home lives of both women to set up the bout and gave us a fantastic two-round bout. Calderwood took the victory by way of a majority decision.

 Note: The highlighted matchup is the fight that will air next week.

  • For what it’s worth, I believe the opening title screen for this season of TUF is the best the show has ever produced. Kudos for that.

  • There seems to be a little flirting going on between Felice Herrig and Sergio Pettis. Herrig seemed concerned about his age, but that didn’t stop her typically flirtatious ways. The rest of Team Pettis teased her about it.

  • Calderwood got her one-on-one training with Anthony Pettis. There was a focus on technique with her kicks. She whacked Pettis, causing him to say they weren’t going full speed, to which Calderwood said she wasn’t. It was a humorous moment between coach and student.

  • Jessica Penne was the first to voice concerns over the coaching. There seems to be a bit too much criticism for her, and the other members of the team are concerned with the stop-and-go nature of practices. Time will tell how that all shakes out, but it is worth keeping an eye on.

  • Heather Clark is getting on the nerves of her Team Melendez teammates with her complaining, and Rose Namajunas seems the most perturbed by it. They end up rolling hard, and roll off the mat. Clark comes up with a small cut by her eye.

  • Herrig talked to her teammates about putting a pair of panties on the Team Pettis sign in the locker room. She views it as a team-building exercise. Calderwood was the second to put her undergarments on the sign.

  • We got to see some of Calderwood‘s training in Scotland thanks to home video. The best part of the videos was the family interaction. These videos have been some of the best bits of TUF thus far.

  • Kagan has a very interesting backstory. She talked about how her parents moved to Israel, and she joined them for three years before coming back to the States.

  • The highlight of the episode was still the fight. It wasn’t a barn-burner, but it was a good showing of their technique. Calderwood‘s technique with her muay thai was fantastic, and Kagan showed flashes herself. Calderwood took the 2-0 victory to advance.

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The Ultimate Fighter 20: Joanne Calderwood vs. Emily Kagan Live Blog & Analysis

The Ultimate Fighter season 20 opened up with a major upset right out of the gate.
No. 14-seed Randa Markos defeated No. 3-seed Tecia Torres by decision. It was an instant jump-start to the season, which will crown the first-ever UFC strawweight champi…

The Ultimate Fighter season 20 opened up with a major upset right out of the gate.

No. 14-seed Randa Markos defeated No. 3-seed Tecia Torres by decision. It was an instant jump-start to the season, which will crown the first-ever UFC strawweight champion. Unlike past seasons, the tournament schedule is set by virtue of seeding the cast.

The second episode will feature No. 2-seed Joanne Calderwood taking on No. 15-seed Emily Kagan.

Bleacher Report will have complete coverage of the episode and the fight at 10 p.m. ET. Come back for all your TUF 20 coverage.

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TUF 20: 5 Things to Look for This Season

The latest rendition of The Ultimate Fighter debuted last week to horrific ratings that made it the worst season premiere in the storied history of the show. TUF 20 only drew 536,000 viewers which may come as a bit of surprise due t…

The latest rendition of The Ultimate Fighter debuted last week to horrific ratings that made it the worst season premiere in the storied history of the show. TUF 20 only drew 536,000 viewers which may come as a bit of surprise due to the positive chatter surrounding the show leading up to the premiere.

TUF 20 features a different format than we’ve grown to know over the years, and more importantly, an actual champion is going to be produced this season as the winner of the show will be crowned the first UFC women’s strawweight champion.

Aside from the poor ratings to begin the season, this series of The Ultimate Fighter is about as good of a chance the UFC has in resurrecting a series that has been on the decline for quite some time. The roster of female fighters should attract a surging demographic, and make for television that will generate some much needed publicity.

Read on for five things to look for during this season of The Ultimate Fighter.

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UFC: What If People Don’t Actually Care About TUF 20?

There’s been plenty of hype about The Ultimate Fighter 20. Plenty.
It’s the first time in the program’s history that a champion will earn a title through the process of living in the house and fighting a whole bunch in a short period of time.
And maybe…

There’s been plenty of hype about The Ultimate Fighter 20. Plenty.

It’s the first time in the program’s history that a champion will earn a title through the process of living in the house and fighting a whole bunch in a short period of time.

And maybe, just maybe, people don’t actually care all that much.

To be clear, that’s not a reference to people within the MMA sphere.

Hardcore fans, the type who were watching Invicta back in the UStream pay-per-view days, they care.

Media, who’ve been tasked with live blogging and writing about how horrible TUF‘s been for about five years now, they care.

UFC and FOX executives, hopeful that high stakes might revive that stale product, they care.

But people? Joe Sixpack who can’t find FOX Sports 1 on the dial and isn’t keen to find the UFC without just cause? What if that guy, those people, don’t care?

There’s reason to think that might be the case.

For all the hype leading up to TUF 20, the months of updates from Dana White about how crazy the show will be and the months of fans who’d checked out committing to checking back in thanks to said hype, the ratings weren’t that good.

Actually, they were kind of bad.

Maybe not bad for a random season of middleweights coached by two dudes fighting just for the sake of it, but for a season with a belt on the line coached by the two best lightweights on Earth?

Not great at all.

It’s certainly too early to hit the panic button, but it has to raise some questions.

What are the implications for TUF as an entity if this season busts? Will it even continue to exist if a world title can’t garner some mainstream attention? 

What does it mean for women’s MMA and, more specifically, the strawweight division if good fights and interesting back stories can’t get people watching?

Did we all overestimate the appeal of the women’s wing of the sport thanks to Ronda Rousey’s self-promotion and White’s about face on the matter?

It’s too early to answer any of those questions, but it’s never too early to start letting them gestate. If, when the answers reveal themselves over the course of the season, they’re negative, then there will be some major cause for concern.

Nobody wins with TUF 20 being more about hype than about viewership.

Women’s strawweight is rich with talent, the TUF franchise has been stale and this is a genuinely sound attempt to revitalize it, and with the UFC doing so many shows there’s value in having another title in the mix with some capable individuals chasing it.

Unfortunately, if no one is watching, none of that matters.

So for those who’ve been waiting for this season, understand that, though you’re doing your part, it’s going to take more interest from the casual fan for TUF 20 to have the impact it should.

What’s happening on Wednesday nights for the next few months has the potential to impact the lives of female athletes all over the world, fans of the sport who’ve been wanting more from TUF and the UFC for a while now, and the promotion itself both today and in the future.

Those are pretty high stakes, and they’re stakes that have only been heightened by the amount of publicity the season’s been getting since long before it ever started.

Without more eyes though, TUF 20 could be one of the more undeserving busts in UFC history.

 

Follow me on Twitter @matthewjryder!

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TUF 20: Why the Format Shift Was Ideal and B/R Staff Predictions

The Ultimate Fighter 20 debuted Wednesday night with a two-hour episode.
This season introduces the UFC audience to the new 115-pound women’s division. The strawweights on this season will not battle it out for a six-figure contract, but they ins…

The Ultimate Fighter 20 debuted Wednesday night with a two-hour episode.

This season introduces the UFC audience to the new 115-pound women’s division. The strawweights on this season will not battle it out for a six-figure contract, but they instead will fight to become the inaugural UFC strawweight championship.

The tweak to the format this season was that the 16 fighters were seeded. Everyone knows who they will fight in the first round and how the bracket is set up.

That is exactly what they should have done for this season. There was no other choice.

In seasons past, the fighters would have to fight to gain entry to the house, the coaches would pick teams, and whomever had control would pick a fight. It was a solid format for the show with a roster full of prospects. It added the reality-show element that it needed for the network.

TUF 20 was different from the beginning. Are there prospects on this cast? Absolutely, but the majority of fighters are veterans. Several members of the cast are the upper echelon of the division. It would have been a disservice to the cast if they had kept the old format.

Would we really have wanted to see No. 1-seed Invicta FC champion Carla Esparza vs. No. 4-seed Jessica Penne? No. The fighters being seeded makes this a more legitimate tournament. It makes the tournament more sport than spectacle, which is what we want.

The UFC could continue to do this with future TUF incarnations. The UFC’s scouts know who these fighters are and know their abilities. They could seed every seasons if they wanted to, but it wouldn’t be necessary.

Other seasons of TUF is about developing a new generation of fighter. TUF 20 is about crowning a champion.

As we now know, No. 3-seed Tecia Torres was eliminated in the first round. That was a very big upset, and elevated No. 14-seed Randa Markos on a national platform. More fans now know who she is and what her abilities are. The seeding format helped assist in making that a possibility.

This will be a very exciting season, and a big reason is how the format was altered thanks to this season being a group of talented veteran fighters going after a belt.

Members of the Bleacher Report MMA staff gave their predictions on the season, and several had to be shocked with the opening episode. Torres was picked to win on three out of eight ballots. With Joanne Calderwood up next, it will be interesting to see if two more writers lose their victor.

Note: All B/R staff predictions were made prior to the TUF 20 premiere.

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TUF 20 Episode 1 Results and Recap: Season Opens with New Format and Major Upset

The Ultimate Fighter returned for its 20th season on Wednesday evening, and it may be the most anticipated season since the show first aired. After 19 seasons, a new division will be implemented through the show, and a champion will be crowned at its f…

The Ultimate Fighter returned for its 20th season on Wednesday evening, and it may be the most anticipated season since the show first aired. After 19 seasons, a new division will be implemented through the show, and a champion will be crowned at its finale.

The UFC brought in eight of Invicta FC’s strawweight division fighters for the show—including champion Carla Esparza—and did open workouts to select the other eight cast members.

The season began with a bang, as a new format was announced for this particular season, and one of the biggest upsets in TUF history went down.

Randa Markos upended rising prospect Tecia Torres by unanimous decision. It was a close fight, but Markos won the second frame to push it to a sudden-death third round. In the final round, Markos did enough to get the nod on the scorecards and advance to the quarterfinals.

Note: The highlighted matchup is the fight that will air next week.

  • The opening to the show was fantastic. They did a great job of explaining how this season came about and showing love to Invicta FC. The partnership between Invicta FC and the UFC has already proved fruitful and only looks to be a positive for both organizations.
  • One of the best things about the premiere episode was the fighter profiles. In seasons past, we have gotten short quips from the fighters at the hotel as they attempt to win a fight to get in the house. However, this season, with fighters already signed to the organization, TUF went to their training camps to film pieces on the fighters. It was some of the best work the show has done in recent memory, and it did a fantastic job of promoting these athletes to a wider audience.
  • The eight women who were picked from the tryouts shows that the UFC is also focused on the future of the division. They picked a mixture of veterans and young fighters. There were other veterans they could have chosen, but prospects such as Angela Hill were picked instead. It is obvious they wanted some young talent on the roster to help build a potential future star.
  • The new format for this season is simple. It is a seeded tournament. The coaches do not have to pick a matchup. The tournament is already set, and they just have to decide when that fight will happen. It is a great way to do this season, as a title is on the line, and several members of the cast are ranked.
  • We typically see a difference in coaching styles during evaluations, but the contrast between Anthony Pettis and Gilbert Melendez is stark. Melendez was very laid-back in his evaluations, while Pettis took a more authoritative approach. It will be interesting to see how each team’s fighters progress throughout the season under their respective coaches.
  • As an aside, the team colors this season are very similar. I am not sure if that was deliberate, but it may make it difficult for the viewer to know which fighter is on what team just by glancing at the jerseys.
  • Entering the show, everyone knew of one rivalry—Heather Jo Clark vs. Felice Herrig. And as luck would have it, they are going to fight in the first round. There is no wondering if this fight will happen, but only when. I, for one, am glad of that. It makes their episode, whenever that may be, a very interesting one to watch.
  • The first fight of the season pitted No. 14 seed Randa Markos against No. 3 seed Tecia Torres. Torres moved up the ranks quickly with her impressive wins in Invicta FC, but Markos showed that the youngster still has a ways to go in her development. Markos did a fantastic job of outgrappling her en route to a decision win. It was a big upset, and one that very few could see coming. It was a heck of a way to kick off the highly anticipated season.
  • Next week’s matchup is between No. 2 seed Joanne Calderwood and No. 15 seed Emily Kagan.

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