Had Invicta’s weight classes been merged into the UFC when it was bought by the company earlier this year, Carla Esparza would have been the default owner of the UFC Strawweight World Championship belt. As such, The Ultimate Fighter ranked her as the number 1 seed. Angela Hill on the other hand, only has one professional fight; a win as an atomweight against veteran Stephanie Skinner. Entering the show, Hill was ranked at the bottom of the pack, number 16, will she pull out an upset against the current Invicta champ?
On Tuesday, Esparza wrote on her facebook that she had the chance to see an advance copy of the episode, to which her reaction was: “So I’ve seen tomorrows episode of The Ultimate Fighter… uggg I’m dreading/looking forward to some hilarious gifs :-z“. Is this a sign that the fight didn’t go as she would have liked? Hill definitely impressed everyone in her first fight to get into the house and has been impressing her coaches in training since the first day, so she may be a serious contender, if not tonight, then she will definitely become one as her skills grow stronger in time.
Urijah Faber stepped in for Anthony Pettis for a few days while the latter was away and the team seemed to really take to him easily. They all reacted well to his teaching styles and, although Herrig was quick to point out how attractive he is, none of them seemed distracted by him. He was particularly impressed by Joanne Calderwood and she clearly loved some of the moves he taught her. As a fellow wrestler, he had good advice for Esparza who was mentally wavering at the thought of ring rust, not having fought in a year and a half. As not many women have the ability to knock someone out cold, the fact that Hill has that skill also weighed heavy on her mind.
On team Melendez, the Clark drama continued. While training, Namajunas took Heather down and apparently injured Clark’s knee in the process. The women clearly try to alienate their teammate and keep her out of their way as much as possible. How Clark feels about all of that will most likely never be revealed. Magana in particular seems to have a very hard time dealing with her fellow fighter and although Clark’s main rivalry is with Felice Herrig, it would not be surprising to see Magana fight her in the future, once the division is put into place.
As many fans of The Ultimate Fighter know, a lot of fighters will go into the house for a season that focuses on a weight class a step up from their usual due to the nature of the show; needing the athletes to stay at a low weight throughout their competition time. Justine Kish of team Pettis, we learn, has only fought once as a strawweight, she usually fights as a flyweight – 125lbs. As a result, she is basically spending all her days in the house weight cutting. The medical ramifications of doing so become evident when an old knee injury, for which she had surgery, comes back to haunt her and she has to sit out her training session. Faber tries to reassure her that she will not lose her skills by missing a few sessions, not realizing that to her the training is part of trying to get her weight down in time for when she will be called to fight.
Fight time and Esparza’s head is back in her last Invicta fight a year and a half ago, she truly struggles with the fear of ringrust and of simply fighting again after such a long time off. Whether it is by edit or how Pettis truly got her to focus, we see the pair drill one takedown after the next. Her wrestling is clearly in top shape. The women get in the ring and when the bell rings, both seem to hesitate. They spend the first minute or so feeling each other out, tentative, each trying to find their reach. Esparza shoots for a takedown and Hill immediately reacts the way Melendez showed her. However, either Melendez went easy with her or Carla is just much stronger and Hill is unable to move from her opponent’s grip. Hill’s inexperience and discomfort on the ground are put on full display from then on. She flays but she is also scrappy. She will not stop moving and trying to get away from Carla.
With about a minute left, Carla sinks in hooks with Hill standing and locks a reach naked choke that brings them to the ground and finishes the fight. It was a great fight, both women clearly wanting to show off their best skills and performance for Dana White and I would believe they both made an impression. Hill may have lost but the way some of her weaknesses were put on display can only help her coaches to round her out going forward in her career. She could make a big dent in this UFC division in time.
Next week, the claws are out as Heather Clark and Felice Herrig finally get to fight. Will team Melendez stand behind their teammate or rally with Herrig? It promises to be a great episode.
