Tag: TUF 18

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 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

UFC Benevolent of the Day: Dana White Pays for Injured TUF 18 Tim Gorman’s Hamstring Surgery, Offers ‘Shot’ in Promotion


(No, that is not a lady’s hind quarters. It is Tim Gorman’s injured leg. And, some really fancy shorts. | Photo via @TimmyGormanMMA)

This week we learned that in addition to being a cocky loud mouth, The Ultimate Fighter Season 18 (TUF 18) cast member Tim Gorman, is also a committed, tough s.o.b. The male bantamweight tore a hamstring clear off before getting his chance to fight his way into the TUF house, still fought, won and looked to move through the season.

Meisha Tate and her coaching staff noticed that Gorman was hobbling around during early practices and asked him to explain, at which point he showed the results of his nasty injury (also photographed up top). Gorman was forced to get an M.R.I. scan, which confirmed that his hamstring was royally screwed and Dana White made him leave the TUF House over the fighter’s protests. Which, of course, led to this freeloading no goodnik getting another chance.

During a google hangout Thursday White told fans that Gorman will also get another chance in the UFC, however. “The kid’s a nutball, he’s a lunatic,” Uncle Dana said. “I like that, that’s not a bad thing. He wanted to continue to fight, I respect that. He’ll get another shot in the UFC, we’ll give him a shot.”

Great news for Gorman. Even better, Timmy went on The Underground forum and wrote that White personally paid for his much-needed hamstring surgery. The UFC’s health insurance policy didn’t cover Gorman’s medical procedures because they were treatment for a “pre-existing” condition, ie. he hurt himself before he stepped into the Octagon or UFC Training Center.

Gorman’s UG post below:


(No, that is not a lady’s hind quarters. It is Tim Gorman’s injured leg. And, some really fancy shorts. | Photo via @TimmyGormanMMA)

This week we learned that in addition to being a cocky loud mouth, The Ultimate Fighter Season 18 (TUF 18) cast member Tim Gorman, is also a committed, tough s.o.b. The male bantamweight tore a hamstring clear off before getting his chance to fight his way into the TUF house, still fought, won and looked to move through the season.

Meisha Tate and her coaching staff noticed that Gorman was hobbling around during early practices and asked him to explain, at which point he showed the results of his nasty injury (also photographed up top). Gorman was forced to get an M.R.I. scan, which confirmed that his hamstring was royally screwed and Dana White made him leave the TUF House over the fighter’s protests. Which, of course, led to this freeloading no goodnik getting another chance.

During a google hangout Thursday White told fans that Gorman will also get another chance in the UFC, however. “The kid’s a nutball, he’s a lunatic,” Uncle Dana said. “I like that, that’s not a bad thing. He wanted to continue to fight, I respect that. He’ll get another shot in the UFC, we’ll give him a shot.”

Great news for Gorman. Even better, Timmy went on The Underground forum and wrote that White personally paid for his much-needed hamstring surgery. The UFC’s health insurance policy didn’t cover Gorman’s medical procedures because they were treatment for a “pre-existing” condition, ie. he hurt himself before he stepped into the Octagon or UFC Training Center.

Gorman’s UG post below:

“Yeah Dana and TUF producers went beyond what they should have to make me feel welcome from the start and after I was sent home. My hamstring was torn off the bone the week of the fight (so yes, I fought to get in the house like that), so they couldn’t cover a pre-existing injury. They were so nice even after my injury fucked their show up. Being on that show meant the world to me but the way they treated me made the whole experience lifechanging. I could go on for days with true genuine nice things about TUF producers (Jamie and Gary), Dana, Sean Shelby and everyone else including the the camera guys.

Anyone talking shit about Dana or anyone behind the scenes with UFC or TUF is a piece of shit liar or they did something to UFC/TUF and got what they deserved.

When I thought my life was over and couldn’t even afford to pay the medical bills, they kept me positive and paid for everything out of their own pocket when my manager or I didn’t tell them I didn’t have the money.

They have more heart than they do anything and anyone who says different is a fool.”

We may never find out if a woman can submit lil Timmy Gorman but it’s great news that neither he nor the UFC are letting his nasty hamstring injury KO him. We can’t imagine staying conscious through the type of pain he must have felt with his torn hamstring, much less fight and win in the UFC Octagon.

Yes, he’s obnoxious. But also, the kid’s got guts. And talent. Now he’ll get a second chance to show both in the UFC.

– Elias Cepeda

What Sorcery is This? ‘TUF 18, Episode 2? Ratings *Up* 14% From Season Premiere


(“Quick, someone get a trampoline and Adam Carolla before everyone stops watching!” Photo via Getty.) 

It looks like a few more of us were finally able to find the Fox Sports 1 network on our deluxe digital cable television packages (#whitepeopleproblems). According to MMAFighting’s Dave Meltzer, viewership for the second episode of The Ultimate Fighter 18 jumped up 14% from the season’s premiere last week. It’s not incredible news given how abysmal said premiere’s ratings were, but it’s something gosh darn it:

It was the largest increase of a first episode of the season to a second episode in the 18-season history of the show. Only four previous seasons has the second episode had more viewers than the first, almost all in the early days of the show. Some of the gain was due to significant promotion of the show during FOX’s NFL telecasts on Sunday. Other was likely positive word-of-mouth coming from the first episode.

Right Dave, “promotion during NFL telecasts” and “word-of-mouth” were responsible for the increase in TUF 18 viewership. Please, explain to me again what exactly this “NFL” is that you speak of (*shakes head*). The ONLY reasoning behind these numbers is that the audience who tuned in the first week, like myself, instantly fell in love with Miesha Tate and had to come back for more. That being the case, I’d just like to let you all know right here and now that I CALL DIBS (after she leaves Bryan Caraway, which she totally told me she was doing this one time on Twitter).

Previously: Comparing/Contrasting/GIF-capping Shayna Baszler and Julianna Pena’s TUF 18, Week 2 blogs.

–J. Jones


(“Quick, someone get a trampoline and Adam Carolla before everyone stops watching!” Photo via Getty.) 

It looks like a few more of us were finally able to find the Fox Sports 1 network on our deluxe digital cable television packages (#whitepeopleproblems). According to MMAFighting’s Dave Meltzer, viewership for the second episode of The Ultimate Fighter 18 jumped up 14% from the season’s premiere last week. It’s not incredible news given how abysmal said premiere’s ratings were, but it’s something gosh darn it:

It was the largest increase of a first episode of the season to a second episode in the 18-season history of the show. Only four previous seasons has the second episode had more viewers than the first, almost all in the early days of the show. Some of the gain was due to significant promotion of the show during FOX’s NFL telecasts on Sunday. Other was likely positive word-of-mouth coming from the first episode.

Right Dave, “promotion during NFL telecasts” and “word-of-mouth” were responsible for the increase in TUF 18 viewership. Please, explain to me again what exactly this “NFL” is that you speak of (*shakes head*). The ONLY reasoning behind these numbers is that the audience who tuned in the first week, like myself, instantly fell in love with Miesha Tate and had to come back for more. That being the case, I’d just like to let you all know right here and now that I CALL DIBS (after she leaves Bryan Caraway, which she totally told me she was doing this one time on Twitter).

Previously: Comparing/Contrasting/GIF-capping Shayna Baszler and Julianna Pena’s TUF 18, Week 2 blogs.

–J. Jones

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.