Tag: The Ultimate Fighter

TUF 18 Episode 4 Recap: Piss Fits, Toilet Paper Roll Men, And a Gnarly Dive-Bomb KO

(Rakoczy vs. Modafferi highlights, via Fox Sports.)

While the first women’s quarterfinal bout on TUF 18 featured an ego-driven meeting of Team Rousey and Team Tate’s top picks, the second one pitted the female bracket’s #4 seeds against each other. At the end of last week’s episode, we saw coach Miesha Tate select WMMA veteran Roxanne Modafferi (who comes onto the show with a five-fight losing streak) to go in against Team Rousey’s Jessica Rakoczy, a former boxing champ who has only earned one victory in five MMA fights. Once again, we have a meeting of the old school vs. the new school — not to mention a classic matchup between a grappler who’s shaky on her feet vs. a striker who’s still learning this jiu-jitsu stuff. Spoiler alert: The fight ends by stoppage, and it’s ugly.

Ronda Rousey is psyched about the matchup, though. “They’re such predictable little pussies,” she says. “[Modafferi’s] not gonna be able to bully in, you’ll be able to pick her apart, it’s perfect.” Rakoczy apparently suffered a shoulder injury during her elimination fight, but she’s ready, and Miesha Tate will pay for every smile she smirked.

Modafferi thanks Tate for the fight-selection — in Japanese, obviously — and says she’s not going to underestimate Rakoczy, even though her team (and guest coach Dennis Hallman) are convinced that Modafferi’s got this one in the bag. Vengeful MMA Gods, that’s your cue to enter.

Edmond Tarverdyan mean-mugs Hallman and tries to pick a fight as soon as he sees him. Hallman calls his bluff and offers to settle it right then in the training center. Rousey holds her coach back, then gets in Hallman’s face and throws a “piss fit.” (Miesha’s words, not mine.) Dana White has to come in and play peacemaker, which is kind of an unexpected role for him. I’m sure it’s just that infamous reality show editing, but man, Tarverdyan and Rousey are really coming off like crazy assholes here.


(Rakoczy vs. Modafferi highlights, via Fox Sports.)

While the first women’s quarterfinal bout on TUF 18 featured an ego-driven meeting of Team Rousey and Team Tate’s top picks, the second one pitted the female bracket’s #4 seeds against each other. At the end of last week’s episode, we saw coach Miesha Tate select WMMA veteran Roxanne Modafferi (who comes onto the show with a five-fight losing streak) to go in against Team Rousey’s Jessica Rakoczy, a former boxing champ who has only earned one victory in five MMA fights. Once again, we have a meeting of the old school vs. the new school — not to mention a classic matchup between a grappler who’s shaky on her feet vs. a striker who’s still learning this jiu-jitsu stuff. Spoiler alert: The fight ends by stoppage, and it’s ugly.

Ronda Rousey is psyched about the matchup, though. “They’re such predictable little pussies,” she says. “[Modafferi’s] not gonna be able to bully in, you’ll be able to pick her apart, it’s perfect.” Rakoczy apparently suffered a shoulder injury during her elimination fight, but she’s ready, and Miesha Tate will pay for every smile she smirked.

Modafferi thanks Tate for the fight-selection — in Japanese, obviously — and says she’s not going to underestimate Rakoczy, even though her team (and guest coach Dennis Hallman) are convinced that Modafferi’s got this one in the bag. Vengeful MMA Gods, that’s your cue to enter.

Edmond Tarverdyan mean-mugs Hallman and tries to pick a fight as soon as he sees him. Hallman calls his bluff and offers to settle it right then in the training center. Rousey holds her coach back, then gets in Hallman’s face and throws a “piss fit.” (Miesha’s words, not mine.) Dana White has to come in and play peacemaker, which is kind of an unexpected role for him. I’m sure it’s just that infamous reality show editing, but man, Tarverdyan and Rousey are really coming off like crazy assholes here.

Raquel Pennington gets frustrated by Modafferi’s lower intensity during a grappling session, and wants to train with the male fighters instead. So, Coach Tate makes it happen, running a men vs. women sparring session. Sarah Moras demands that Louis Fisette hit her in the face when she senses that Fisette might be taking it easy on her. He takes her down and pounds on her a bit. So now you’ve seen men fighting women (technically) in the UFC. Happy now, you weirdos?

Jessica Rakoczy has taken on the role of house mother, cleaning the house and kissing boo-boos. With her team down 0-2, she feels the pressure to carry the team on her back, despite her weakened shoulder.

Modafferi and Shayna Baszler are old friends from the dark ages of WMMA, and fought each other in Japan back in 2006. Now, the Happy Warrior spends her free time teaching Baszler Japanese. Everybody loves Roxanne Modafferi. Her constant kindness and sheer unguarded weirdness have made her something of a beloved team mascot.

Rakoczy opens up about the abusive step-father who haunted her childhood and ended up beating her mother to death. “He’ll have his karma,” she says. “He’ll be going to hell, that’s for sure.” Luckily, Jessica was able to focus her resulting anger and aggression into boxing.

Roxanne and Jessica both come in under the bantamweight limit (133 and 132 pounds, respectively), then have a little fun with some nunchucks and a dart-gun before they face-off. Suddenly, Roxanne’s “Happy Warrior” smile goes away. Even the men feel the chill in the room.

Jessica talks about how awkward it is to be preparing for a fight while living in the same house as your opponent. Roxanne makes a life-sized man out of toilet paper rolls. (I’m…so…roneryyyy….) Jessica starts to get emotional thinking about not having her son around. Roxanne gets emotional after reading a note of encouragement from Julianna. Pfft, women, amirite?

Time to bang…

Round 1: Both fighters measuring distance with leg kicks. Jessica throws some fast straight punches to the body and head. She starts out as the aggressor, but then Roxanne fires back some punches of her own, moves Jessica back to the fence, and takes her to the mat. Roxanne hangs out in guard for a bit, Jessica kicks her off, Roxanne comes right back in. Jessica looks for a submission off her back, but can’t put anything together. Roxanne on top in side control, sneaks in a short elbow after a moment of inactivity. Jessica scrambles to her knees, Roxanne looking for back control. She can’t get it, and Jessica winds up on top. Now it’s Roxy looking for an armbar. She loses it and Jessica comes in hard with an elbow from the top. A couple more strikes from above from Jessica, as Roxanne tries to tie her down. Jessica escapes when Roxanne tries for a heel-hook, somersaulting out of danger. Back on the feet, Roxanne misses a spinning backfist by a mile; it is truly Sonnen-esque. Roxanne shoots for a double, Jessica stays on her feet and defends. A bit of dirty boxing against the fence, and Roxanne takes Jessica to the mat again. Jessica tries to work her guard as time expires.

Back on the stool, Roxanne sucks in some very deep breaths as Miesha Tate politely asks her for one takedown in the next round. They know they probably won the opening frame due to top control, and Roxanne’s best bet is to do it all over again. Back on Team Rousey, Edmond’s advice to Jessica is simple: Box the shit out of her.

Round 2: Jessica flashes some punches, and Roxanne wades in to clinch, her arms out like a mummy. Jessica fends her off and scores a brilliant backpedaling knockdown with a left hook. Roxanne pops up and they scrap from close quarters until Roxy falls back into guard. Instead of immediately letting Roxanne up, Jessica tries to make Roxanne pay right then and there, diving in with a punch and trying to work some ground and pound. Roxy nearly catches her in an armbar, and Jessica realizes that maybe standing and banging is the best option here. She retreats to her feet and starts putting on a boxing clinic, tagging Roxy once, twice, then sending her to mat again with another left hook. Hammerfists from Jessica as Roxanne clutches at her legs, trying to convert a double. The ref stops the action and then stands there for a few seconds as everybody wonders what the hell is happening. Finally, the ref takes Jessica aside and tells her that if she grabs the fence again, he’s taking a point. (He also warned her for fence-grabbing in round 1, saying that if she did it again, he’d take a point. Well, he’s not exactly following up on that threat, but the pause does give Roxy a long moment to clear the cobwebs, which is sort of fair, I guess.)

The ref restarts the fight in the same position, with Jessica against the fence and Roxanne down on her legs. Roxanne is tenacious, and eventually drags Jessica down. Jessica flips her with ease and gets on top. Coach Ronda screams at her to stand up — seriously, Jessica, WTF? — but Jessica insists on playing around in guard. As soon as Roxanne latches onto her arms, Jessica takes a page out of the Sarah Kaufman playbook and picks Roxanne, slamming her hard on the mat. Roxanne’s head takes a rather hard bounce. She’s visibly dazed, trying to get up while half-asleep. Jessica stuffs a left hand in her face from above, and Roxy endures what might be her third flash-knockout of this fight. Jessica gets on top, grinds down with some strikes, and gets to her feet. Once more, she pops Roxanne in the face from above, as Roxy rolls around on her back, trying to find the strength to get up. Roxanne gets to one knee, collapses to the mat, and Jessica fires off a perfect dive-bomb KO. It’s over. Thank God, it’s over. Roxanne fought the last 20 of that fight while unconscious. Late stoppage, but at least they let a samurai go out on her sword.

Eventually, Roxanne wakes up screaming. She calls out for her big sister, and Jessica comes over for a post-fight hug and pep-talk. Everybody on Team Tate is gutted for Roxy, but it’s a great moment of inter-Team unity. No hard feelings. Everybody lives to fight another day, hopefully with the lessons they learned from this moment. Roxanne shouts some nonsensical gibberish. Or maybe it’s Japanese, but clearly, the poor kid has suffered some brain damage. She cries into Shayna Baszler’s arms, the only other person in the building who understands exactly how fucking badly this sucks right now.

And so, “Team Rowdy” has control of the fight picks, and Ronda chooses her #2 guy Davey Grant to face Team Tate’s injury replacement Louis Fisette.

On the next episode: Ronda’s mom shows up. HIDE. YOUR. WEED.

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 (eliminated by Chris Holdsworth in the quarterfinals, episode 3)
Davey Grant
Anthony Gutierrez
Michael Wootten

Team Tate Women
Julianna Pena
Sarah Moras
Raquel Pennington
Roxanne Modafferi (eliminated by Jessica Rakoczy in the quarterfinals, episode 4)

Team Tate Men
Cody Bollinger
Chris Holdsworth
Josh Hill
Louis Fisette

— Ben Goldstein

TUF 18 Episode 4 Results and Recap: Tension Continues, Women Throw Down

The fourth episode of TUF 18 featured the second women’s fight of the quarterfinals, with Jessica Rakoczy of Team Rousey taking on long-time vet Roxanne Modafferi of Team Tate. Rakoczy scored the upset with a second-round knockout of Modafferi due…

The fourth episode of TUF 18 featured the second women’s fight of the quarterfinals, with Jessica Rakoczy of Team Rousey taking on long-time vet Roxanne Modafferi of Team Tate. Rakoczy scored the upset with a second-round knockout of Modafferi due to a vicious slam and follow-up punch.

As with the last fight’s pick, Team Tate chose that fight because Rakoczy had a shoulder injury that it wanted to exploit. She worked through that, using her quickness, footwork and overall explosiveness to tire Modafferi and score the win.

  • Modafferi is a less-skilled female version of Shinya Aoki when she fights. She closes the distance quickly while eating shots before scoring the takedown. From there, she works her top-game grappling. She truly is one of the toughest vets in WMMA.
  • Rakoczy getting off her back in the first round was impressive, especially considering the difference in grappling skills between her and Modafferi.
  • Who saw Rakoczy get off her back and avoid strikes while adjusting her shorts? That was as awesome as it was skillful. Her footwork and head movement may be second-to-none in this competition.
  • It really didn’t make a huge difference in the end, but that referee really should have taken a point from Rakoczy. He warned her three times, and then the fourth time stopped the action and still did nothing! If you aren’t going to back up your warnings, don’t make them at all.
  • That finish was absolutely nasty. Roxanne clung onto Rakoczy in guard, but she was devastated with that brutal slam. She was totally out there, which shows the bad refereeing. That final punch was unnecessary, but it was what got the fight finally stopped. Rakoczy looks legit.

 

TUF 18 Rosters

Team Rousey Team Tate
Shayna Baszler Julianna Pena
Jessamyn Duke Sarah Moras
Peggy Morgan Raquel Pennington
Jessica Rakoczy Roxanne Modafferi
Chris Beal Cody Bollinger
Davie Grant Chris Holdsworth
Anthony Gutierrez Josh Hill
Michael Wootten Louis Fissette

 

  • The confrontation between Dennis Hallman and Edmond Tarverdyan came from mean mugging. Yes, folks, mean mugging. If I confronted every person who give me a questionable look, I might never be able to leave the house in the morning.
  • Dana White‘s part in the potential throwdown is another reason why I think he is great for the sport. His comments to the media (h/t MMAJunkie.com) about how what they were doing was bad for the sport was reminiscent of what he told the guys on TUF 5 and why he kicked out Marlon Sims, Noah Thomas and Allan Berube.
  • Jessica’s back story was super heartbreaking. I thought it was really hard to watch, but her background is just another reason why combat sports are so great. It was her escape and it probably saved her life.
  • Roxanne is kind of weird, but it is awesome. She is easily the most entertaining person on the show now that Tim Gorman is gone. Her personality is really infectious, though; how can you not root for her?
  • After the fight, Roxanne was all class. She had just been brutally knocked out by Jessica, but the only thing she was worried about was giving her a hug and congratulating her. That is one of the reasons I love this sport.
  • Shayna Baszler’s back story about fighting Roxanne in Japan was great. It was also tough to see her break down with Roxanne, it sucked. Both are long-time vets of the sport and pioneers in their own respective ways. I hope they are successful at the finale.
  • Next week, Team Rousey picked Davie Grant to take on Louis Fissette of Team Tate. Who do you think will win? Vote in the poll!

 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

TUF 18: Jessamyn Duke Fighter Blog, Episode 4

Note: All quotes and material were obtained firsthand by Bleacher Report through one-on-one between Jessamyn Duke and Bleacher Report’s Riley Kontek.
Coming off Chris Beal’s loss to Chris Holdsworth, my team was now 0-2 going into the next f…

Note: All quotes and material were obtained firsthand by Bleacher Report through one-on-one between Jessamyn Duke and Bleacher Report’s Riley Kontek.

Coming off Chris Beal’s loss to Chris Holdsworth, my team was now 0-2 going into the next female fight with Team Tate in control. At the picks the two smallest women were chosen, Roxanne Modafferi and Jessica Rakoczy, my teammate.

It was a fight we would have picked, but we were going to wait until the last female fight because, unfortunately, Jessica hurt her shoulder in the elimination fight against Revelina Berto. She got caught in an armlock and everyone knew she was banged up. After she won her fight against Revelina, she sat on the bleachers for the rest of the fights with an icepack on her shoulder.

So in a perfect world, we’d have opted for more time for her shoulder to heal. But in the TUF house, you don’t always do what you want to do; you do what you have to do.

Jessica couldn’t train to her fullest because of her injury. She could barely move her shoulder or even sleep on it. It wasn’t a secret either because she was constantly icing it. It was her right shoulder so all she could really throw was her left punch, which you saw when she was working on a drill with Ronda Rousey. It wasn’t until she was picked to fight that the coaches even started working her right shoulder and grappling. Team Tate knew she was hurt, and that’s why they picked her. Shades of Chris Beal…

The confrontation of the episode was between Coach Edmond and Team Tate’s guest coach Dennis Hallman, a UFC veteran. At one of the weigh-ins, which they didn’t show on TV, Hallman was staring a hole through Edmond. This was the first time we had seen Hallman and for some reason he decided to try and mean mug Edmond. It’s one thing to glance and catch eyes with somebody, but he was making it obvious.

Finally, Edmond spoke up and said, “What’s your problem man, why are you staring at me?” What you saw on the show was Edmond giving Dennis the look back because he was insulted by it.

In the locker room, Ronda was sure Hallman was trying to provoke Edmond into a fight to get him kicked off the show, which would have hurt our team because Edmond was considered the head coach and Dennis was a temporary guest coach for them. We thought it was a cheap tactic, but the episode only shows Edmond’s reaction, not what provoked him. Trust me, Hallman started it.

Edmond has a temper to begin with, so they knew it would push his buttons, but he kept his cool. Of course, Dana White stepped in and tried to calm the situation down saying things like, “This isn’t what the show is all about, this will make the sport bad, please knock it off.”

After that Ronda gave him her word that Team Rousey would not engage in any further confrontations, respond to any so called “pranks” and that nothing would happen.

However, this kind of antagonistic behavior would continue for the rest of the show.  We just couldn’t react because Ronda  told us not to do it. She said when she gave her word, she meant it, and we had to honor that as her team.We did, but the result was Team Tate would kind of bully us knowing that we wouldn‘t retaliate.

Going into the house, I didn’t really know anything about Jessica Rakoczy in terms of her personal life or the extent of her boxing career. However, she truly became one of my favorite people in the house because she was very passionate about the sport. She was extremely caring and motherly toward us and she had literally everything coming into the house we would need. For instance, somebody would say, “Man, I wish I had a Q-tip” and bam! She would pull out her bag and grab you one.

Of course, she had a heartbreaking background. What she’s gone through is the reason she has the passion she does for this sport. It really is true, boxing saved her life. Had she not found boxing, she wouldn’t be the person she is today.

You can see her passion in each of her fights. She has the most terrifying warm-up I’ve ever seen, and it’s because she draws on the pain from her past to give her strength and it makes her fight with a vengeance.

As for Roxanne, you can see how positive and friendly she is on the show. That’s her true character, and she’s just impossible not to like. Everyone got along with her, and she was really fun to be around.

She was making that toilet paper man in our room and at first I was like, “This is really what you’re doing right now?” Then a couple minutes later, I’m on the floor helping her and having a blast. Her playful outlook and happy attitude are just really infectious. That was great because we needed someone like that in the house.

In the cage, though, Roxanne is one of the toughest fighters in the world. She’s no joke when she fights, and people sometimes underestimate her because she is so nice and friendly. She can take a shot and keep coming forward and she’s a serious threat on the ground. Going into the fight, we had to stress to Jessica how dangerous Roxanne really was, which gave her a little fear going in, but that’s a good thing because she went into the fight prepared and not overconfident.

Jessica admitted having Roxanne as a roommate and opponent was kind of awkward, but we sat down at the beginning of the show when we chose rooms and discussed the ground rules of what we could talk about and what we would do when inevitably one of us would be fighting her. Would somebody move rooms?

What we decided was that it wouldn’t be a big deal and we would stick with everyone in the room. I could understand the awkwardness Jessica had though, because I don’t like to be buddy-buddy friends with somebody before a fight because that can lead you to treating someone like a sparring partner instead of an opponent. After the fight, I’m all about being friends but beforehand I need some space. That obviously wasn’t the case with the fight between Jessica and Roxanne.

Fight time came and I thought it was a good, competitive bout. Roxanne won the first round with her grappling and positions. She did get reversed at one point and took some damage, but she still took the round. On the other hand, Jessica is extremely explosive and strong, so Roxanne had a hard time holding her down to do any real harm.

At one point, she had her in a really tight armbar. I think because Jessica was such a handful, Roxanne tired out a little bit in the first round. You could see she was a little gassed in between rounds.

Jessica’s speed and accuracy with her punches were the key to her win. Roxanne threw a spinning back fist which she side-stepped and countered hard in the blink of an eye. At one point, Jessica got back on her feet and was adjusting her shorts while avoiding punches to her head. That’s how quick she is. She was still fresh, and Roxanne was definitely getting a little winded.

The refereeing in that fight was some of the strangest I had ever seen. The way he stopped Jessica in the middle of striking Roxanne and screamed in her face was weird. We thought she was hitting Roxanne in the back of the head. He pulled her off to the side and talked to her, but didn’t take a point.

She did grab the fence unintentionally several times but just because it wasn‘t on purpose, doesn’t excuse it, so she probably should have gotten a point taken.

You can’t give that many warnings. If you are going to give that many warnings, you have to take a point or stop giving warnings. I don’t think taking the point would have done anything to change the fight outcome, but she probably should have been penalized.

The finish of the fight was crazy. Roxanne was lifted up by Jessica and slammed to the mat. Her head bounced off really hard and you could tell from her eyes that she didn’t know where she was. She got hit again, and it looked like it brought her back to consciousness, which happens. One more punch and she was out again, and that’s when the stoppage came. Sometimes you get knocked out and another strike wakes you back up, and that’s what I think was the case there.

The stoppage may have seemed late because Roxanne looked loopy while on the ground, but she was still throwing her legs up for attacks, and we were yelling for her to back off. Roxanne’s dangerous even when she’s hurt badly and that’s why I think the ref let it go as long as he did. That final punch that earned the stoppage may have been overkill, but the ref was giving her a chance to work. 

The mood after Roxanne lost was pretty crappy. We were elated that Jessica won and Team Rousey had gained control, but we were also extremely bummed for Roxy. There was no excessive celebration; everyone was just concerned that she was okay. Of course, being the awesome person she is, she immediately wanted to see Jessica and congratulate her. She truly is a good soul and a class act.

So finally, we got to pick the next fight and Ronda went with Davey Grant from our team against Louis Fissette of their team. She picked Davey because he was ready and had been asking for a fight. He was peaking in training, which is great because that’s when you get the best performance in the cage.

He’s kind of a goofy guy, and a bit of a roughneck in training. He spars hard, wrestles hard, fights hard and overall trains hard. He loves to bang and he loves to get in there and go. We knew he had to get in there and fight right away.

Louis was the guy who lost to Holdsworth in the fight to get into the house but took Timmy Gorman’s spot when he got injured. We viewed Louis as their weakest fighter, so that’s why we chose him. That being said, his fight with Holdsworth showed he could go hard and would probably be a tough opponent. 

We had a ton of confidence in Davey, which was great for me because, if he won and we retained the pick, I would get the next fight. I was supposed to be next if Chris Beal had won, but that didn‘t happen. Of course, I was feeling very confident Davey could win, so my excitement started building just knowing I’d have a fight of my own very soon.

 

**Tune in next week to hear Jessamyn’s thoughts on the continued tension between coaching staffs, more in-depth stories from the house and her thoughts on the fight between Davey Grant and Louis Fissette as well as the next female fight pick.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

TUF 18: Jessamyn Duke Fighter Blog, Episode 4

Note: All quotes and material were obtained firsthand by Bleacher Report through one-on-one between Jessamyn Duke and Bleacher Report’s Riley Kontek.
Coming off Chris Beal’s loss to Chris Holdsworth, my team was now 0-2 going into the next f…

Note: All quotes and material were obtained firsthand by Bleacher Report through one-on-one between Jessamyn Duke and Bleacher Report’s Riley Kontek.

Coming off Chris Beal’s loss to Chris Holdsworth, my team was now 0-2 going into the next female fight with Team Tate in control. At the picks the two smallest women were chosen, Roxanne Modafferi and Jessica Rakoczy, my teammate.

It was a fight we would have picked, but we were going to wait until the last female fight because, unfortunately, Jessica hurt her shoulder in the elimination fight against Revelina Berto. She got caught in an armlock and everyone knew she was banged up. After she won her fight against Revelina, she sat on the bleachers for the rest of the fights with an icepack on her shoulder.

So in a perfect world, we’d have opted for more time for her shoulder to heal. But in the TUF house, you don’t always do what you want to do; you do what you have to do.

Jessica couldn’t train to her fullest because of her injury. She could barely move her shoulder or even sleep on it. It wasn’t a secret either because she was constantly icing it. It was her right shoulder so all she could really throw was her left punch, which you saw when she was working on a drill with Ronda Rousey. It wasn’t until she was picked to fight that the coaches even started working her right shoulder and grappling. Team Tate knew she was hurt, and that’s why they picked her. Shades of Chris Beal…

The confrontation of the episode was between Coach Edmond and Team Tate’s guest coach Dennis Hallman, a UFC veteran. At one of the weigh-ins, which they didn’t show on TV, Hallman was staring a hole through Edmond. This was the first time we had seen Hallman and for some reason he decided to try and mean mug Edmond. It’s one thing to glance and catch eyes with somebody, but he was making it obvious.

Finally, Edmond spoke up and said, “What’s your problem man, why are you staring at me?” What you saw on the show was Edmond giving Dennis the look back because he was insulted by it.

In the locker room, Ronda was sure Hallman was trying to provoke Edmond into a fight to get him kicked off the show, which would have hurt our team because Edmond was considered the head coach and Dennis was a temporary guest coach for them. We thought it was a cheap tactic, but the episode only shows Edmond’s reaction, not what provoked him. Trust me, Hallman started it.

Edmond has a temper to begin with, so they knew it would push his buttons, but he kept his cool. Of course, Dana White stepped in and tried to calm the situation down saying things like, “This isn’t what the show is all about, this will make the sport bad, please knock it off.”

After that Ronda gave him her word that Team Rousey would not engage in any further confrontations, respond to any so called “pranks” and that nothing would happen.

However, this kind of antagonistic behavior would continue for the rest of the show.  We just couldn’t react because Ronda  told us not to do it. She said when she gave her word, she meant it, and we had to honor that as her team.We did, but the result was Team Tate would kind of bully us knowing that we wouldn‘t retaliate.

Going into the house, I didn’t really know anything about Jessica Rakoczy in terms of her personal life or the extent of her boxing career. However, she truly became one of my favorite people in the house because she was very passionate about the sport. She was extremely caring and motherly toward us and she had literally everything coming into the house we would need. For instance, somebody would say, “Man, I wish I had a Q-tip” and bam! She would pull out her bag and grab you one.

Of course, she had a heartbreaking background. What she’s gone through is the reason she has the passion she does for this sport. It really is true, boxing saved her life. Had she not found boxing, she wouldn’t be the person she is today.

You can see her passion in each of her fights. She has the most terrifying warm-up I’ve ever seen, and it’s because she draws on the pain from her past to give her strength and it makes her fight with a vengeance.

As for Roxanne, you can see how positive and friendly she is on the show. That’s her true character, and she’s just impossible not to like. Everyone got along with her, and she was really fun to be around.

She was making that toilet paper man in our room and at first I was like, “This is really what you’re doing right now?” Then a couple minutes later, I’m on the floor helping her and having a blast. Her playful outlook and happy attitude are just really infectious. That was great because we needed someone like that in the house.

In the cage, though, Roxanne is one of the toughest fighters in the world. She’s no joke when she fights, and people sometimes underestimate her because she is so nice and friendly. She can take a shot and keep coming forward and she’s a serious threat on the ground. Going into the fight, we had to stress to Jessica how dangerous Roxanne really was, which gave her a little fear going in, but that’s a good thing because she went into the fight prepared and not overconfident.

Jessica admitted having Roxanne as a roommate and opponent was kind of awkward, but we sat down at the beginning of the show when we chose rooms and discussed the ground rules of what we could talk about and what we would do when inevitably one of us would be fighting her. Would somebody move rooms?

What we decided was that it wouldn’t be a big deal and we would stick with everyone in the room. I could understand the awkwardness Jessica had though, because I don’t like to be buddy-buddy friends with somebody before a fight because that can lead you to treating someone like a sparring partner instead of an opponent. After the fight, I’m all about being friends but beforehand I need some space. That obviously wasn’t the case with the fight between Jessica and Roxanne.

Fight time came and I thought it was a good, competitive bout. Roxanne won the first round with her grappling and positions. She did get reversed at one point and took some damage, but she still took the round. On the other hand, Jessica is extremely explosive and strong, so Roxanne had a hard time holding her down to do any real harm.

At one point, she had her in a really tight armbar. I think because Jessica was such a handful, Roxanne tired out a little bit in the first round. You could see she was a little gassed in between rounds.

Jessica’s speed and accuracy with her punches were the key to her win. Roxanne threw a spinning back fist which she side-stepped and countered hard in the blink of an eye. At one point, Jessica got back on her feet and was adjusting her shorts while avoiding punches to her head. That’s how quick she is. She was still fresh, and Roxanne was definitely getting a little winded.

The refereeing in that fight was some of the strangest I had ever seen. The way he stopped Jessica in the middle of striking Roxanne and screamed in her face was weird. We thought she was hitting Roxanne in the back of the head. He pulled her off to the side and talked to her, but didn’t take a point.

She did grab the fence unintentionally several times but just because it wasn‘t on purpose, doesn’t excuse it, so she probably should have gotten a point taken.

You can’t give that many warnings. If you are going to give that many warnings, you have to take a point or stop giving warnings. I don’t think taking the point would have done anything to change the fight outcome, but she probably should have been penalized.

The finish of the fight was crazy. Roxanne was lifted up by Jessica and slammed to the mat. Her head bounced off really hard and you could tell from her eyes that she didn’t know where she was. She got hit again, and it looked like it brought her back to consciousness, which happens. One more punch and she was out again, and that’s when the stoppage came. Sometimes you get knocked out and another strike wakes you back up, and that’s what I think was the case there.

The stoppage may have seemed late because Roxanne looked loopy while on the ground, but she was still throwing her legs up for attacks, and we were yelling for her to back off. Roxanne’s dangerous even when she’s hurt badly and that’s why I think the ref let it go as long as he did. That final punch that earned the stoppage may have been overkill, but the ref was giving her a chance to work. 

The mood after Roxanne lost was pretty crappy. We were elated that Jessica won and Team Rousey had gained control, but we were also extremely bummed for Roxy. There was no excessive celebration; everyone was just concerned that she was okay. Of course, being the awesome person she is, she immediately wanted to see Jessica and congratulate her. She truly is a good soul and a class act.

So finally, we got to pick the next fight and Ronda went with Davey Grant from our team against Louis Fissette of their team. She picked Davey because he was ready and had been asking for a fight. He was peaking in training, which is great because that’s when you get the best performance in the cage.

He’s kind of a goofy guy, and a bit of a roughneck in training. He spars hard, wrestles hard, fights hard and overall trains hard. He loves to bang and he loves to get in there and go. We knew he had to get in there and fight right away.

Louis was the guy who lost to Holdsworth in the fight to get into the house but took Timmy Gorman’s spot when he got injured. We viewed Louis as their weakest fighter, so that’s why we chose him. That being said, his fight with Holdsworth showed he could go hard and would probably be a tough opponent. 

We had a ton of confidence in Davey, which was great for me because, if he won and we retained the pick, I would get the next fight. I was supposed to be next if Chris Beal had won, but that didn‘t happen. Of course, I was feeling very confident Davey could win, so my excitement started building just knowing I’d have a fight of my own very soon.

 

**Tune in next week to hear Jessamyn’s thoughts on the continued tension between coaching staffs, more in-depth stories from the house and her thoughts on the fight between Davey Grant and Louis Fissette as well as the next female fight pick.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

TUF 18 Episode 3 Recap: Romance, Liquor and Mad-Dogging Are in the Air

(Chicks. Pro fighters. Bar. Fighting. Sweet)

By Elias Cepeda

Last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter 18 kicked off with some delicious fatness as Coach Miesha Tate delivers treats to last week’s fighters. Her BFF Julianna Pena gets a milk shake and, remembering that she told her how much she loves cake, Miesha brings Team Rousey’s Shayna Baszler some chocolate cake.

Miesha keeps it classy and magnanimous, boys and girls. Though she doesn’t look too happy when Shayna, her former roommate, tells her that Ronda Rousey has won her over a bit.

Julianna doesn’t seem to be making many friends in the house. The underdog won big last week and helped her team, but almost everyone interviewed seems to say that she annoys them.

Maybe it’s the fake British accent she’s adopted and refuses to drop. This week, Julianna’s teammate Chris Holdsworth is taking on Chris Beal, who was chosen by Tate to fight next because he has an injured hand.

Ronda is still furious at the pussy-ass bullshit move and insists that Beal will beat Holdsworth with one hand. Before that can happen, however, Cody meets with Coach Tate and her mascot/assistant coach/boyfriend/manager/suitcase pimp/fellow UFC bantamweight Bryan Caraway to tell them that he believes there’s a mole on their team.

He thinks that it is Julianna. Bryan seems to agree.

Apparently Team Rousey’s Jessamyn Duke guessed all the matchups that Team Tate had laid out as their number one choices. Of course, this means that Julianna, who is friends with Tate and trains with her, told Team Rousey the plan.

Why? Well, she’s already fought so she doesn’t care about what happens to the rest of the team, according to Cody.

When he confronts Julianna with the accusation, which he somehow says isn’t an accusation, she denies it but when others pile on, she suggests that perhaps Roxanne Modafferi, who rooms with Team Rousey ladies, shared the top secret info.

Roxanne flatly denies it and her team jumps to her aid, one of them calling her “a fucking Samurai” who would never stoop so low.

The Part Where We Learn Chris Holdsworth is a Smooth Operator


(Chicks. Pro fighters. Bar. Fighting. Sweet)

By Elias Cepeda

Last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter 18 kicked off with some delicious fatness as Coach Miesha Tate delivers treats to last week’s fighters. Her BFF Julianna Pena gets a milk shake and, remembering that she told her how much she loves cake, Miesha brings Team Rousey’s Shayna Baszler some chocolate cake.

Miesha keeps it classy and magnanimous, boys and girls. Though she doesn’t look too happy when Shayna, her former roommate, tells her that Ronda Rousey has won her over a bit.

Julianna doesn’t seem to be making many friends in the house. The underdog won big last week and helped her team, but almost everyone interviewed seems to say that she annoys them.

Maybe it’s the fake British accent she’s adopted and refuses to drop. This week, Julianna’s teammate Chris Holdsworth is taking on Chris Beal, who was chosen by Tate to fight next because he has an injured hand.

Ronda is still furious at the pussy-ass bullshit move and insists that Beal will beat Holdsworth with one hand. Before that can happen, however, Cody meets with Coach Tate and her mascot/assistant coach/boyfriend/manager/suitcase pimp/fellow UFC bantamweight Bryan Caraway to tell them that he believes there’s a mole on their team.

He thinks that it is Julianna. Bryan seems to agree.

Apparently Team Rousey’s Jessamyn Duke guessed all the matchups that Team Tate had laid out as their number one choices. Of course, this means that Julianna, who is friends with Tate and trains with her, told Team Rousey the plan.

Why? Well, she’s already fought so she doesn’t care about what happens to the rest of the team, according to Cody.

When he confronts Julianna with the accusation, which he somehow says isn’t an accusation, she denies it but when others pile on, she suggests that perhaps Roxanne Modafferi, who rooms with Team Rousey ladies, shared the top secret info.

Roxanne flatly denies it and her team jumps to her aid, one of them calling her “a fucking Samurai” who would never stoop so low.

The Part Where We Learn Chris Holdsworth is a Smooth Operator

The episode returns from a break and goes straight into the first co-ed massage of the season. Roxanne is rubbing Chris Holdsworth’s shoulders and neck. He says they should do this more often. She replies that all he needs to do is ask and does he want some more right now?

Nah, that’s good for now, babe but I’ll let you know when I need you again, he replies.

From there, we hear more from Holdsworth about his youth. His older brother, who he looks up to a great deal, was shot and killed when Chris was just eight years old.

His brother was a kick boxer and when he received his black belt posthumously at his funeral, Chris decided he too would get into martial arts. And now, here he is, fighting on national television in the world’s top MMA organization.

His brother “would be real proud of me,” Holdsworth says. No doubt.

Holdsworth is a Jiu Jitsu guy and Beal looked like a dangerous striker in his first bout. Tate thinks that Beal’s only weapon is his left hook and says that they are looking to capitalize on his over-committing on hard punches with take downs.

Back at the TUF house, Holdsworth continues to make time with the ladies poolside. He lays out in the sun next to Julianna. She says that Chris is a leader and starts asking him about his past relationships. Chris explains that he’s always had trouble finding a girl who can accept his fighter lifestyle.

Later, Holdsworth tells the camera that he might need a little company during this “lonely time.” Back at the pool, Chris floats the idea of “friends with benefits” to Julianna. She says that she’s “all about it.”

We have a consensus, then.

In her bedroom, Julianna apologizes to Roxanne for accusing her for being a mole. Roxanne seems to totally understanding and tells the cameras later that she just wants “peace and harmony” on their team. And that, folks, is why they call this woman The Happy Warrior.

On Team Rousey, Jessamyn denies even “knowing” about Team Tate’s match up preferences and says she was basically just guessing and trying to mess with them. She claims that she told this to the men on Team Tate but that they told her, no matter, they were going to use it to go after Julianna.

Julianna says “to hell with them all,” which seems like an appropriate attitude for a fighter to have.

We come back from commercial and Beal talks about appreciating running after nearly losing his leg to cancer. “I run to love now. I run six to seven miles every day,” he says.

We learn that Beal’s older brother was also shot and killed. Beal says he is motivated to show his own son that hard work is the way to succeed.

“I’m not going to let nobody take this away from me…I want this as much as I want to breathe,” he says to himself on the treadmill.

He also wants to “put a smile on Coach Ronda’s face.” Presumably because she scares the heck out of him and everyone else when she’s got her game face on. A competitor like Rousey can’t be fun to be around when she’s in a fighting mood.

Tension at the Watering Hole

The fighters and their coaches are taken to the Fertitta-owned Red Rock Hotel and Casino to watch a UFC event on television. Rousey decides to go to the bar to wet her whistle.

While doing so, she gets too close to Tate’s boyfriend Caraway, according to Miesha who tells her to get away from her boyfriend/manager/assistant coach/henchman/etc. Rousey denies trying to make moves on Tate’s man saying, “I don’t think anyone with a half a brain would desire a man like that.”

And, it’s on.

Rousey insults Caraway’s pad-holding and coaching abilities. Tate says that Rousey doesn’t even know how to throw punches.

At this point Ronda calls her own head coach Edmond Tarverdyan over to tell him what the Tates are saying about her striking ability. Keep in mind that Edmond is a proud, successful fighter and coach himself. And that Caraway once threatened (on twitter, like a real man does) to knock Rousey’s teeth in. And keep in mind that Edmond is Armenian and looked pretty drunk at this point. But mostly, Caraway threatened to hit Rousey a while back, and that’s enough of a reason for tensions to escalate.

“As long as I live, no one’s going to break Ronda’s teeth,” Edmond says to Caraway, who stays sitting, looking down and saying nothing.

“There’s too much cameras here [but] I’ll get you some day.”

Edmond is pulled away and lil Bryan offers that he has already “apologized for that.”

As is the custom for courageous people everywhere, after Edmond walks away Caraway mutters under his breath. “Act tough now,” he whimpers.

“We are tough. Always,” Ronda responds.

“You act tough on twitter.”

Then she walks away. Hard to argue with the girl.

The argument continues with Edmond and the Tates across the room from one another. “She’ll beat you standing any day,” Edmond shouts at Tate. “Then, she’ll break your arm after that. You and your boyfriend. Both of you together,” he specifies.

Rousey says to Caraway, “You never say shit to my face but you talk on twitter. That’s fucking bitch behavior.” Again, the lady makes a strong case here.

As for Miesha, Ronda respects her abilities. “She’s a legit fighter,” she tells cameras later. “She’s got balls…but I don’t feel the least bit sorry for breaking her arm in half.”

Remember, that isn’t hyperbole. Ronda snapped Tate’s arm in half once before. It was nasty.

After it is all said and done, Ronda goes right back to the bar, next to Caraway and orders another drink. The girl is a gunslinger, plain and simple.

Fight Day

Both Chris H. and Chris B. make weight and it’s time to wait and fight now.

Rousey says that Beal asked her to fight first. Tate is confident that Holdsworth will take Beal down and submit him.

Back in the house, Holdsworth channels fourth grade boys everywhere and shares a private note that Julianna wrote to him. “I believe in you,” it begins.

“Believe in yourself…be primal but stay in control.”

It is read out loud by a roommate in a mocking voice and they all laugh and make sex jokes about cardio, being primal and enchiladas.

Julianna signs the letter, “VV,” prompting the former male model of the bunch to say, “she wants that PP.”

Chris promises to give Julianna “the best two minutes of her life.”

While Holdsworth and his buds have a good ol’ fashion sausage party, Beal is in a room, laying on the floor talking to himself. He talks to himself a lot.

Beal walks out to the cage. The mask is back.

Round one begins and Holdsworth kicks Beal low. He recovers and they are back on.

From the start, Holdsworth is the aggressor with Beal looking to slip and counter. Holdsworth lands the first big strike of the fight a minute in – a stiff right hand.

Beal follows with a hard left hook and jab. Holdsworth lands another right hand and then a double leg take down.

Beal gets back to his feet quickly but Holdsworth gets him down again. Beal immediately reverses positions but Holdsworth locks on a triangle then arm bar. Beal escapes and gets up. The two are back on their feet.

Big right hand from Beal. A one two from Holdsworth and the two lands. He tries for another take down and gets stuffed. He goes for another and gets stuffed again by Beal.

Holdsworth keeps pushing forward, undeterred. He lands another big right hand that drops Beal to the mat. Holdsworth jumps on him and then locks up an arm-in guillotine and pulls guard.

Beal taps out.

I’m not sure but I’m pretty sure a Team Tate male member then shouts out, “That’s what you get for eating biscuits at breakfast!”

I have no idea what it means but I plan to use that phrase as much as possible from now on. Unless it was a racial thing. In which case, I’ll write a column criticizing Chael Sonnen for something shortly.

Chris Holdsworth earns five grand for the submission and a home-made enchilada dinner from Julianna. All he has to show for the effort is a small shiner under his left eye. And just like that, Team Tate is up 2-0.

In the Team Rousey locker room, Beal apologizes to his coaches for his first ever loss. He calls Holdsworth the better man that day.

Fight pick time and Team Tate has dibs. Miesha chooses to have Rousey’s Jessica Rakoczy fight her own Roxanne Modafferi. Who ya got, ‘Taters?

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 (eliminated by Chris Holdsworth in the quarterfinals, episode 3)
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

TUF 18 Episode Three Results and Recap: Rousey/Tate Argue, Men Compete

The third episode of the season featured the first Team Rousey vs. Team Tate male fight: Chris Beal vs. Chris Holdsworth.
Holdsworth advanced to the next round of the tournament with a first-round guillotine finish after dropping Beal with a straight r…

The third episode of the season featured the first Team Rousey vs. Team Tate male fight: Chris Beal vs. Chris Holdsworth.

Holdsworth advanced to the next round of the tournament with a first-round guillotine finish after dropping Beal with a straight right.

The pair were two of the top fighters in the competition. Team Tate selected Holdsworth to go up against Beal due to his lingering hand injury. They felt that it was the opportune time to take out Rousey‘s top pick, and that proved to be the right call. There was a little more in-house focus this week prior to the fight as well.

  • Beal said early on in the episode his gameplan was to stick and move. He did not follow that strategy.
  • The Prestone Keys to Victory is a welcome addition to the show.
  • Holdsworth did an excellent job on the feet. He got off first, established his distance and did not allow for Beal to utilize his biggest weapon. His striking improvement will make him one of the favorites to win it all this season.
  • Beal’s movement was awkward at times. It could have been that he is not used to backing up, but it could be that he just needs to improve.
  • “That’s what you get for eating biscuits for breakfast,” said Team Tate nutritionist Eric Triliegi following the result. I don’t know what that means, but it made me laugh.

 

TUF 18 Rosters
Team Rousey Team Tate
Shayna Baszler Julianna Pena
Jessamyn Duke Sarah Moras
Peggy Morgan Raquel Pennington
Jessica Rakoczy Roxanne Modafferi
Chris Beal Cody Bollinger
David Grant Chris Holdsworth
Anthony Gutierrez Josh Hill
Michael Wootten Louis Fisette

‘The Ultimate Fighter 18‘ episode three

 

  • If a butterfat milkshake makes Julianna act like that I think everyone would support a ban on the product. Ms. Pena did not come off the best in this episode. Her housemates are not the only ones tiring of her so quickly in the competition.

  • There has been quite a bit of negative reaction to Rousey thus far this season, but as B/R’s Riley Kontek has stated it is largely unjustified. The passion she has, and the care she puts into this as a coach is phenomenal. It’s awesome to watch.

  • It is interesting how Team Tate has immediately gone after Julianna so early in the season. It has mostly been the males, but it isn’t great to have team friction so early on.

  • There was a lot of speculation about Miesha Tate as a coach heading into the season, and thus far the early episodes have shown her as a really good coach. She has a very good supporting cast as well, but she comes off as the unquestioned leader.

  • The two clips of the coaches training their respective fighters for this episode’s fight showed a distinct difference in athleticism. It gives a glimpse into one of the biggest differences between the two coaches.

  • The confrontation of the coaches at Red Rock did not come off well for anyone besides Bryan Caraway. It could be how it was edited, but Caraway appeared to be minding his own business before being bombarded by the mess. Neither of the coaches came off well in the segment.

  • The guys ridiculing and making fun of Julianna’s letter to Chris Holdsworth was mind-numbingly stupid.

  • Miesha Tate selects Roxanne Modafferi to take on Jessica Rakoczy in a classic grappler vs. striker matchup for next week. Who will win? Vote in the poll.

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