Tag: TUF 18

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


(Photo via Getty.)

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

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

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

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


(Photo via Getty.)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Time to dance this dance…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Team Rousey Men
Chris Beal
David Grant
Anthony Gutierrez
Michael Wootten

Team Tate Women
Julianna Pena
Sarah Moras
Raquel Pennington
Roxanne Modafferi

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

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

— Ben Goldstein

‘TUF 18? Debut Averages 762,000 Viewers for Smallest Premiere-Audience in Series History


(Okay, new strategy: We just turn this show into an offshoot of Naked and Afraid. / Image via Fox Sports 1)

Blame the new channel. Blame the new night. Blame viewer fatigue from the five hours of UFC fights on FOX Sports 1 that preceeded it. Blame it on the a, a-a-a, a-al, co-hol. Whatever the explanation is, Wednesday’s The Ultimate Fighter 18: Team Rousey vs. Team Tate premiere didn’t exactly blow up the airwaves, averaging 762,000 viewers, the smallest audience for a season premiere in the show’s history. The number is less than half of the 1.51 million viewers who tuned in to episode 1 of TUF 17: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen, which aired Tuesday nights on FX earlier this year.

The current-record holder for lowest-rated Ultimate Fighter season is TUF 16, which debuted with 947k viewers but went as low as 624k viewers in its fifth episode, and introduced the world to Julian Lane. It seems likely that TUF 18 will sink below TUF 16‘s low-water mark, given the audience drop-off that generally happens after the season premiere. (In a related story, UFC Fight Night 28 brought in just 539,000 viewers on FOX Sports 1 earlier that night — down 35% from the previous week’s Fight Night: Condit vs. Kampmann show in Indianapolis — but I guess that shouldn’t surprise anybody.)

Of course, there’s always a way to spin stories like these, and UFC president Dana White defended the numbers on a UG post last night:


(Okay, new strategy: We just turn this show into an offshoot of Naked and Afraid. / Image via Fox Sports 1)

Blame the new channel. Blame the new night. Blame viewer fatigue from the five hours of UFC fights on FOX Sports 1 that preceeded it. Blame it on the a, a-a-a, a-al, co-hol. Whatever the explanation is, Wednesday’s The Ultimate Fighter 18: Team Rousey vs. Team Tate premiere didn’t exactly blow up the airwaves, averaging 762,000 viewers, the smallest audience for a season premiere in the show’s history. The number is less than half of the 1.51 million viewers who tuned in to episode 1 of TUF 17: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen, which aired Tuesday nights on FX earlier this year.

The current-record holder for lowest-rated Ultimate Fighter season is TUF 16, which debuted with 947k viewers but went as low as 624k viewers in its fifth episode, and introduced the world to Julian Lane. It seems likely that TUF 18 will sink below TUF 16‘s low-water mark, given the audience drop-off that generally happens after the season premiere. (In a related story, UFC Fight Night 28 brought in just 539,000 viewers on FOX Sports 1 earlier that night — down 35% from the previous week’s Fight Night: Condit vs. Kampmann show in Indianapolis — but I guess that shouldn’t surprise anybody.)

Of course, there’s always a way to spin stories like these, and UFC president Dana White defended the numbers on a UG post last night:

We were #1 on all of cable with M18-34 and M18-49. We also beat out the US Open and the Detroit vs. Red Sox MLB game. This is all part of the building process. We’ve made a commitment to work with FOX to build this network. If you look at all the other networks we’ve ever been on, we consistently pull strong ratings.

The first time we put our prelims on FX, we pulled 880K viewers and it grew, depending on the fight, up to 1.9 million viewers for UFC 156. Also, the TUF season with Carwin and Big Country averged 822K viewers, then Jones vs. Sonnen averaged 1.3 million viewers.

We currently hold the top 4 most watched telecasts on FS1 since the network launched. To be honest, our Prelim and Fight Night numbers weren’t bad considering we started on the west coast at 2pm in the afternoon on a Wednesday. The most important thing is last nights fights were awesome and this season of TUF is great.

Yes, we didn’t pull 1 million+ but we will. But, we also fucked up last night by not starting the main event later so that we could get a live lead into TUF. The bottom line is FOX couldn’t be happier with the UFC and the ratings we’re pulling and we couldn’t be happier with the way we have been treated by the network.

If the UFC is still putting out the most popular content on FOX Sports 1 — and they are, by a wide margin — it’s understandable that Dana would focus on the positives. But soon, the day will come when TUF‘s audience on FS1 drops below Fight Master‘s on Spike, and if that’s not a sign to pull the plug on The Ultimate Fighter, we don’t know what is.

TUF 18 Episode 1 Recap: Welcome to Co-Ed Sleepaway Camp Fight Club

By Elias Cepeda

The first episode of The Ultimate Fighter season 18 begins with Ronda Rousey finding out that she will be coaching against Meisha Tate instead of Cat Zingano. She isn’t very happy. In fact, she loses her shit, storms around the TUF gym after Meisha walks in and surprises her, looking for Dana White so he can explain.

When he does, Rousey looks relieved. For some reason, she thought that seeing Tate there meant that she herself was being kicked off as a coach. Not sure why she’d assume that, but it just reaffirms that Rousey’s mind is a dark, scary place built to use everything it encounters as anger-inducing motivation. She’s a terrifying, awesome chick.

The reality sets in — Ronda will coach against Mr. and Mrs. Tate on TUF and will rematch Meisha when it’s all over. Rousey seems cool with it, finally, talking of destiny and broken limbs. This season, of course, will feature both men and women bantamweights vying for a UFC contract.

Thirty-two fighters, sixteen of each gender, have been invited to Vegas and will fight their way into the TUF house. First up, is the obligatory former female model turned fighter Jessamyn Duke out of Kentucky winning by triangle choke. The Invicta vet is 5’11 and somehow makes 135 pounds. Nuts.

Next up, David Grant from Britain faces Dominick Cruz’s teammate Danny Martinez. Martinez is desperate for the take down from the get-go. While defending a takedown against the fence, Grant throws a downward elbow to Martinez’ spine and has a point deducted.

Martinez finally gets a takedown near the end of the round but Grant immediately works a triangle choke. Time runs out and Martinez is saved by the bell. The second round starts and Martinez looks gassed.

Grant knocks Martinez down with a punch, then transitions to his back and, as Martinez gets up, Grant knees him to what he believes is the shoulder but what referee Herb Dean calls as an illegal knee to the head. Another point is deducted.

By Elias Cepeda

The first episode of The Ultimate Fighter season 18 begins with Ronda Rousey finding out that she will be coaching against Meisha Tate instead of Cat Zingano. She isn’t very happy. In fact, she loses her shit, storms around the TUF gym after Meisha walks in and surprises her, looking for Dana White so he can explain.

When he does, Rousey looks relieved. For some reason, she thought that seeing Tate there meant that she herself was being kicked off as a coach. Not sure why she’d assume that, but it just reaffirms that Rousey’s mind is a dark, scary place built to use everything it encounters as anger-inducing motivation. She’s a terrifying, awesome chick.

The reality sets in — Ronda will coach against Mr. and Mrs. Tate on TUF and will rematch Meisha when it’s all over. Rousey seems cool with it, finally, talking of destiny and broken limbs. This season, of course, will feature both men and women bantamweights vying for a UFC contract.

Thirty-two fighters, sixteen of each gender, have been invited to Vegas and will fight their way into the TUF house. First up, is the obligatory former female model turned fighter Jessamyn Duke out of Kentucky winning by triangle choke. The Invicta vet is 5’11 and somehow makes 135 pounds. Nuts.

Next up, David Grant from Britain faces Dominick Cruz’s teammate Danny Martinez. Martinez is desperate for the take down from the get-go. While defending a takedown against the fence, Grant throws a downward elbow to Martinez’ spine and has a point deducted.

Martinez finally gets a takedown near the end of the round but Grant immediately works a triangle choke. Time runs out and Martinez is saved by the bell. The second round starts and Martinez looks gassed.

Grant knocks Martinez down with a punch, then transitions to his back and, as Martinez gets up, Grant knees him to what he believes is the shoulder but what referee Herb Dean calls as an illegal knee to the head. Another point is deducted.

Grant is clearly the better fighter but is on the verge of losing because of point deductions. Not so fast, the Brit says, and he transitions to a beautiful rolling arm bar the next time the two are on the ground and finishes Martinez to make it into the house.

Dana White sits in between Ronda and Meisha outside of the Octagon, watching the fights. He tries to make small talk and Meisha seems to engage him but Ronda is focused like a laser, pen in hand, making notes as she watches.

Next up, Revelina Berto, sister of Andre Berto, and Jessica Rakoczy get in a back and forth grappling match before Rakoczy gets the submission with a weird, inverted omoplata.

Michael Wootten and Emil Hartsner are up next and both immediately earn the Dana White Scorn Award (also known as the Jon Fitch Memorial Trophy) for being “boring,” and doing that wrestling stuff that is so stupid. Wootten wins a decision.

Peggy Morgan is an adjunct college professor and tall as all get out. She uses her huge size advantage to smash Bethany Marshall and pound her out for a first round TKO win. Meisha Tate calls Morgan the biggest 135-pounder she’s ever seen in her life. Ronda dubs her “Peggy Don’t Give a Fuck.” Now that’s a nickname.

Next up women’s MMA pioneer Roxanne Modafferi takes on Georges St. Pierre Tri Star gym teammate Valerie Letourneau. The TUF producers and fighters continue their “good television” but incredibly disruptive practice of having the families of competitors come visit them the night before their fight and also watch the fights in person. Letourneau has her young daughter watch her lose. Gotta be rough, but we’ve seen worse. Roxy gets the take down, takes the back and sinks in a rear naked choke early.

Tim Gorman finishes Lee Sandmeier quickly, getting a take down, obtaining mount and then the back and finishing with strikes for the TKO win. You don’t know it yet, but Gorman is a real asshole. Stay with us, you’ll see what we mean soon.

Next up, former Gina Carano opponent and party wrestling buddy Tonya Evinger takes on Raquel Pennington. With so many pioneers and veterans on the women’s side, it is interesting to hear Meisha dish on fighters that she knows or well or at least knows of like Roxanne and Tonya. In this case, Tate shares with Dana that Evinger always has “drama” with her girlfriends and that is the reason she has lost the fights she has.

Seems out of left field, but after Raquel submits Tonya in the second round, Evinger herself seems to be referring to such situations saying that she’s got too many distractions in her life right now. Get it together, Tonya. We’ve always liked what you bring to the table, and we’re rooting for ya.

Chris Beal gets the distinction of being the first TUF 18 member (hopefully the last) to wear a mask out to the cage. The kid is a cancer survivor. Not sure if that’s related to the mask or not. In any case, he scores an early nasty knockdown of Sirwan Kakai but the Swede hangs tough, comes back and fights hard before losing a decision to Beal.

Josh Hill wins a unanimous decision over Patrick Holohan on the strength of his wrestling.

Colleen Schneider takes on the highly regard Shayna Baszler next and Baszler wins with an armbar.

Louis Fisett is a spoiled, no good, lazy moocher. Well, at least that’s what his father says about him. He immediately takes down Chris Holdsworth, of Urijah Faber’s suddenly-unbeatable Team Alpha Male, but is in trouble from armbars and triangle chokes right off. He works out but then gets reversed and taps to an arm triangle choke.

Julianna Pena shows impressive ground striking in her bout against Gina Mazany and wins a decision.

Anthony Gutierrez wins a decision over Matt Munsey next.

Former #1 ranked fighter Tara LaRosa fights a fan in Sarah Moras. That admiration doesn’t stop Moras from winning a decision off the strength of take downs and multiple submission attempts.

We’d heard lots about Cody Bollinger recently and the 22-year-old does indeed look tough in stopping Rafael De Freitas in the second round. Cody got a take down in the first but spent most of the first round working out of deep submission attempts from De Freitas. In the second round, however, Cody is the fresher fighter and begins to tee off on the feet with strikes until he drops and finishes De Freitas.

That’s all the fights and now it is time for the coin toss to see which coach will get to begin picking their team first. Ronda wins the coin toss and has the choice of picking first or instead deciding on the first fight. She chooses to pick the first fight and cedes the first fighter pick to Meisha.

Tate chooses Julianna Pena, whom she has trained with in the past. Ronda chooses Baszler. For the full team list, go here.

Oh yeah, here’s when we learn that Tim Gorman is a dork. The Iowa fighter gets chosen last by Tate, which probably kinda stings. Oh well, the other fighters just deal with it. Not Timmy, though.

“I got picked by Meisha Tate,” he tells the confession camera later. “Is that her name? I don’t even know what her name is so I don’t care that she picked me last because I don’t even know who she is.”

Well, the rest of the fight world knows who the soon to be two-time world title challenger is, Tim. She’s fought in the UFC, you haven’t. She’s headlined a pay per view. You haven’t. She’s a professional fighter who does this for a living. You hope to soon be able to do that one day. Any other questions?

Fight pick time is up and Ronda goes in headfirst. She pits both teams’ first picks against one another. Julianna Pena from Team Tate will take on Shayna Baszler from Team Rousey.

That’s it for this week, kids. Can’t wait to see how these guys and dolls coexist in the house together and who will come out on top in what looks to be a great first fight.

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


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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

–J. Jones

[VIDEO] The Latest ‘TUF: Rousey vs. Tate’ Preview Features Guy-on-Girl Action, Chicken Wing Poses, Paint Fights (?)

You know, for being a fairly straightforward ad that clocks in at just over 30 seconds, the latest TUF: Rousey vs. Tate preview offers more than its fair share of interesting moments and head-scratching editorial choices. A few highlights…

00:00 – The preview hasn’t even started yet and already we feel like we’re trapped in one of those Technicolor iPod commercials.
00:04 – Wait…were those gloves covered in yellow paint?
00:08 – Nothing says “Intimidating” quite like MORE YELLOW PAINT.
00:12 – My God, the overediting. Who directed this clip, Michael Bay on PCP?
00:17 – Surely this season will play host to the greatest pool hijinks since Caddyshack.
00:20 – Ronda Rousey, rocking what’s become known as “The Chicken Wing” pose or “The Sassy Arm Triangle of Insecurity.” In any case, we’d appreciate it if women never posed like this again for the rest of eternity.
00:21 – Tate, rocking the cross-armed, no nonsense stance. Point Tate, although we would have preferred she went full on B-Boy style.
00:22 – “Mommy, I think these Hulk Hands are knockoffs. They keep melting whenever I play with them outside.”

The top Youtube comment says it all, really:

–J. Jones

You know, for being a fairly straightforward ad that clocks in at just over 30 seconds, the latest TUF: Rousey vs. Tate preview offers more than its fair share of interesting moments and head-scratching editorial choices. A few highlights…

00:00 – The preview hasn’t even started yet and already we feel like we’re trapped in one of those Technicolor iPod commercials.
00:04 – Wait…were those gloves covered in yellow paint?
00:08 – Nothing says “Intimidating” quite like MORE YELLOW PAINT.
00:12 – My God, the overediting. Who directed this clip, Michael Bay on PCP?
00:17 – Surely this season will play host to the greatest pool hijinks since Caddyshack.
00:20 – Ronda Rousey, rocking what’s become known as “The Chicken Wing” pose or “The Sassy Arm Triangle of Insecurity.” In any case, we’d appreciate it if women never posed like this again for the rest of eternity.
00:21 – Tate, rocking the cross-armed, no nonsense stance. Point Tate, although we would have preferred she went full on B-Boy style.
00:22 – “Mommy, I think these Hulk Hands are knockoffs. They keep melting whenever I play with them outside.”

The top Youtube comment says it all, really:

–J. Jones