The TUF 27 TUFtermath
Wednesday, April 18th marked the return of The Ultimate Fighter. This 27th season sees a cohort of undefeated lightweights and featherweights waging war in an effort to get a UFC contract and retain their “0.” Overseeing these young guns will be heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic and light heavyweight kingpin Daniel Cormier. This also means that TUF 27 TUFtermath is here in case you missed anything! Now, as with the last two seasons, this is more of a commentary than it is a recap. Don’t expect everything to be in chronological order. You’ll just get what I feel are the most important parts of the episode, plus the fight results. So, let’s get down to business.
The Big Three
#1) The Teams – After showing their skills for the coaches, the teams were rather quickly picked. Daniel Cormier won the coin toss, and chose to make the first pick of fighters. He ended up with Tyler Diamond, Brad Katona, Ricky Steele, and Bryce Mitchell. At lightweight, Team Cormier picked up Richie Smullen, Luis “Violent Bob Ross” Pena, Joe Giannetti, and Thailand Clark. Team Miocic were able to claim Kyler Phillips, Dulani Perry, Jay Cucienello, and Suman Mokhtarian at 145 lbs. Their lightweight roster consists of Alan Zuniga, Joe Martinez, Mike Trizano, and Stipe’s Team Strong Style training partner John Gunther.
#2) No, We Are Not Related – While the show was airing, someone on Twitter noted that Team Cormier member Brad Katona bore a familial resemblence to me. I did check this, and while Katona certainly resembles a better looking version of me, I can confirm that no, we are not related. Photographic evidence below.
Visual confirmation of reader Mike Bautista’s note of resemblance between MMASucka author Justin Pierrot and TUF 27 competitor Brad Katona
#3) Mind Games – It didn’t take long for Daniel Cormier to begin messing with Stipe Miocic. Unlike past coaches, however, Cormier has a way of making his muck-raking seem playful as opposed to malicious. Whether it was convincing Stipe to square off with him in the cage during the evaluations, or riling up Miocic’s team by proposing some matchmaking, D.C. was able to raise ruckus with a rakish grin. This will likely be a highlight this season.
The Stock Report
Stock up – John Giannetti. You don’t come in to the first episode of a season of TUF and choke a guy out in under 30 seconds and leave without a boost to your reputation.
The Fight
Gritty, Alpaca-shearing Team Miocic lightweight John Gunter took on Team Cormier slickster John Giannetti in the first bout of the season. It was short. After landing some strikes immediately after the bell, Giannetti forced Gunther to shoot. This allowed Giannetti to hook in a high elbow guillotine choke that would see Stipe’s teammate crashing to the mat before the referee stopped the fight at 17 seconds of the first round.
Next week, Team Miocic will look for redemption as Kyler Phillips takes on Team Cormier’s Brad Katona in a featherweight clash. Keep it locked to MMASucka.com for the next TUFtermath!
