Thursday, September 05, 2013

Review of The Ultimate Fighter 18 episode one

As I have done with WWE Total Divas, I plan to review every episode of this year's The Ultimate Fighter and post the video for international fans who don't get to see it. Of course this is the first edition of TUF to feature female coaches and fighters. It was supposed to be Ronda Rousey vs Cat Zingano. But Cat blew out her knee band Miesha Tate was sprung on Ronda. Ronda thought she was being replaced. As UFC president Dana White explained in an interview with Ariel Helwani, White got into a bad argument with Ronda's lawyer a few days earlier and Ronda thought he was pissed with her and was kicking her off TUF. Though I expect drama in upcoming episodes, this first episode is the qualifying round and we're going to concentrate on those fights. My main criticism of the female roster of TUF is that half of them were over 30 years of age. Only three of them made it into the house. And I only expect one of those three, Shayna Bazsler, to make it any farther. She shouldn't have to go through TUF to get in the UFC. Look, there's a thin line between experienced and over the hill. And I don't think over the hill fighters should be on TUF. I have always said that I prefer that fighters retire one fight too early than three fights too late. But some fighters and many fans live in a dream world where fighters never age. Well, they do age and some hang on too long. And though Tonya Evinger and Tara LaRosa would have been very entertaining in the house, they shouldn't have been on TUF in the first place. Others will lie about this. I won't lie and Tara knows I won't lie. White, Ronda and Miesha are sitting together. Miesha wants to chit chat but Ronda is thinking about winning doesn't want to chat. The first fight is Jessamyn Duke over Laura Howarth by triangle choke. Jessamyn is tall and I expect her to be one of the favourites to make it to the finals. Then converted boxer Jessica Rakoczy won over Revolina Berta by omo plata. Revolina is undersized and should probably fight at 125lb. Peggy Morgan won over Bethany Marshall by TKO. Peggy is over six feet tall and Bethany is undersized. Huge mismatch. Roxanne Modafferi beat Valerie Letourneau with a rear naked choke. Roxy is a better fighter than Valerie. Raquel Pennington beat Tonya Evinger with a guillotine choke in round two. Tonya started out OK but ran out of gas and looked very old when she tapped out. She looked out of shape to me. Shayna Bazsler beat Colleen Schneider by armbar. Shayna is probably the most accomplished fighter on TUF. Julianna Pena won over Gina Mazany by TKO. And the final women's fight had Sarah Moras win by unanimous decision over Tara LaRosa. Tara didn't look like Tara LaRosa. She looked like someone who used to be Tara LaRosa. So then the teams were chosen. Ronda won the coin toss and chose to pick the first fight. Miesha got select her team first. If I want to win, I would pick Shayna Bazsler first. But Miesha picks Julianna Pena because both are from Washington and have trained together. Of course Ronda takes Shayna. She wants to win. The other members of Team Rousey are Jessamyn Duke, Peggy Morgan and Jessica Rakoczy. That's a big team. The other members of Team Tate are Sarah Moras, Raquel Pennington and Roxanne Modafferi. Ronda chose Shayna vs Julianna as the first fight. That will be on next week's show. Ronda ain't messing around. Enjoy the video!
8VnnXcaCtDufGaeubPIt by sadbash
CA9alz1IgsPpT3dJY4tN by sadbash

No comments:

Post a Comment