We’ve hit episode 6, and past the half-way point of the quarterfinals. With Davey Grant evening the score for Team Rousey last week, Coach “Rowdy” set her fighter Jessamyn Duke against Team Tate’s Raquel Pennington. Will it be height or brawling that gets the win? Will there be any further shenanigans? Let’s find out…

TUF 18 Report: Episode 6

We start a the UFC Training Center, in Team Rousey’s locker room. Everybody’s happy for Davey and his victory, but the focus now is on Jessamyn Duke, who recounts how she had originally been set to fight against Raquel Pennington in her pro debut, only to have the bout nixed by her coach. Jumping to Team Tate, Pennington is excited for this fight, as she had been looking forward to it.

Back at the TUF house, we see the results of boredom. To paraphrase Sarah Moras, the house’s little princess, Julianna Pena, wants to make the rest of the girls into her little princesses by giving them makeovers. The first recipient of this is Raquel Pennington, followed by Moras herself. Self-professed tomboy Pennington appeared to grudgingly accept this, and then narrates over the scene, talking about her coming out process. It was hard for “Rocky,” who had trouble getting her mother to accept that she was still her daughter. She also thanks her girlfriend for the support, and while wanting her family to accept her relationship, it is ultimately her happiness and nobody elses. We jump back to the makeover, and see Pena fitting Pennington with a pair of ridiculously high heels, which Team Tate’s current representative admits may not be a smart idea. We move outside, and see “The Venezuelan Vixen” leading “Rocky” and “Cheesecake” up and down the poolside deck, as if it were a runway. Both fighters looked uncomfortable doing it, but went through with it as a way to relieve the boredom.

We jump to the UFC Training Center, where we see Pennington working out with Master Mel Terminor (SP?), doing padwork. Cut to Coach Tate, who explains that Mel is working with “Rocky” on her anti-clinch game, as well as getting inside of Duke’s long reach. During cooldown, “Cupcake” is seen telling her charge not respect her opponent’s striking, as Tate feels that Duke doesn’t know how to properly utilize her reach, nor hit with more than “peppering shots.” Pennington is not worried, and feels that her experience to date will carry her through, but will be prepared and stay on top. We end the segment with Pennington, a strong fighter but a slow starter, sparring with Cody Bollinger in preparation for Duke, while Coach Tate talks about her strength and the intensity needed in training.

We then jump to the Green Valley Ranch, on an excursion arranged by the UFC. The TUF fighters are there, surrounded by Hooters girls who are there to ensure they have food, drink, and (platonic) good times. We see the fighters walk in as Coach Rousey talks about how it’s a nice break from the constant “in-camp” element of the show. The fighters are all having a good time, some playing in the pool, some enjoying the eye candy. Michael Wooten enjoyed just being out of the house, and was pleased with the customer service. Coach Tate talked up the Hooters girls, saying that all of the guys and “maybe some of the girls,” appreciated having them there. As if on cue, there’s a shot of Chris Holdsworth staring with his mouth open. “Rocky” found it frustrating due to being in the middle of a weight cut and unable to eat the full spread of food, but enjoyed the time to play with her coaches as well as watching the fights.

Back at the house, we find Jessamyn Duke taking the opportunity to be alone while everybody else is at the pool party. She doesn’t understand why anybody would go to such an event the day before a fight. Duke took the quiet time to focus and work on her visualization exercises. The former model talks about the surprise of people back home who learn that she’s now a fighter. Her teachers seemed to be the most surprised. We learn that while she dabbled in modelling and acting, she did not stick with it as she felt neither allowed her to be herself. That is part of what “The Gun” loves about fighting, that she is encouraged to be herself.

Back at the Green Valley Ranch, we find Anthony Gutierrez discussing how much he’s enjoying the sights, sounds, and sun. We jump to Coach “Cupcake,” who is happy that her opposing coach, Ronda Rousey, is keeping to her own area, which was facilitated by the fact that they were in a place where drinks were brought to them instead of having to go up to a cramped bar. Ronda is then shown laughing, having a good time with her coaching staff, even going so far as to show the dance she would do if she were told only Herb Dean and “Big” John Macarthy would be the referees for her future contests.

With the fun over, everybody’s back at the house. Jessamyn Duke talks about preparing to go to bed when she suddenly hears a drunken “Sharkbait” Gutierrez unleashing pterodactyl-like screams. We see him do this, with Cody Bollinger laughing away. This escalates to “Sharkbait” running upstairs, throwing things at the door to the Team Tate Ladies’ Room, and even entering after Raquel Pennington gave him crap about it. He barrels into Julianna Pena’s bed, rolling over top of her, before climbing up to Pennington’s top bunk, trying to take her blankets and nearly pulling her off the bed. Eventually, we see her giving him the gears outside of the room, and telling him to go outside as he drunkenly responded. Pennington finished the segment with an assurance she will get payback.

The next morning, with Gutierrez asleep, Julianna, Sarah, and Raquel get him back. They jump on his bed, and then tip his mattress over, trapping him against the wall. We then move to the final training session for Jessamyn Duke before her fight with Pennington. Edmond Taverdyan is happy with what he sees, as Duke starts to narrate about the work he’s put in with her, helping her to improve her use of her long reach. “The Gun” admits that she’s had issues with not properly using her reach, but that she knows she’ll have to be at her best in all facets of her game in order to beat Pennington. She predicts she’ll pick the boxer/brawler apart with sniping shots from the outside. We cut to Coach “Rowdy,” who is also pleased with what she’s seen from her protege, and predicts that a confident and focused Jessamyn will be able to win the fight. While the two speak, and Ronda shadowboxes, the former Olympian continues her monologue, talking about who Duke never takes the easy way out, always comes in looking at the positives, and is now the best she’s been.

Now, it’s fight day. Both women acknowledge the awkwardness of the situation, but are ready to fight nonetheless. They each talk about what they intend to do, which is basically strike it out, and talk about their preparations. After some final words from their coaches, Duke and Pennington walk out to the cage, and now it’s fight time.

Jessamyn Duke (Team Rousey) Vs. Raquel Pennington (Team Tate)

Jessamyn Duke starts the first round off by firing out some jabs, then landing with a leg kick and a theep. Both women are exchanging single shots and 1-2s, and at around the 1:05 mark, Raquel Pennington catches a kick and pushes forward, trying to take “The Gun” down. Duke keeps her feet though, landing short shots even as she’s pushed up against the cage before eventually using her long arms to hook a standing guillotine choke in on “Rocky.”Pennington holds on and escapes with 2:48 left on the clock after almost a minute in the hold. Raquel lands a hard hook as they break, possibly breaking Duke’s nose. Duke begins attacking with a mostly kicks, using her reach, but Pennington presses forward and starts landing shots of her own. “Rocky” pushes “The Gun” back with a flurry of punches, but is stopped with a theep from the lanky former model. Both women continue exchanging blows, with neither really gaining the advantage. Hard theep by Pennington at 3:40 pushes Jessamyn back, but doesn’t stop her. Duke appears to be slipping a lot of shots, but is moving backwards. She continues to land, but Pennington is still pushing forward, even if she isn’t always connecting. One last big flurry from Pennington at 4:15, but it’s not enough to stop Duke as they keep trading blows until the close of the round. Close, but I call it 10-9 Duke.

Round 2 features more of the same. Duke continues to land, mostly with knees in the clinch, but Pennington is connecting more. Each woman has a couple of big flurries, and “Rocky” is starting to connect more. Too many exchanges and momentum shifts to really call without writing a novel, but while I call this round 10-9 for Duke as well, it’s just barely. The judges, however, see it differently, can we go to Sudden Victory.

Round 3, the sudden victory round, sees Pennington really getting her range and timing down, landing more of her punches and doing a better job of avoiding Duke’s clinch early on. It evens up again mid-way through, but Pennington is once again able to gain her momentum back near the end of the round and finish strong. This, in spite of a massive knee from Duke splitting her open at the eyebrow. This round is 10-9 Pennington, with the judges awarding it to the Team Tate fighter by unanimous decision.

Raquel Pennington def. Jessamyn Duke via Unanimous Decision

After the official results are announced, Pennington is embraced by her team as Coach “Cupcake” talks about how well she moved forward. Dana White was also impressed by this, and was looking forward to seeing more from “Rocky.” We get a little more coach drama as Miesha Tate goes up through the line-up, shaking the hands of Team Rousey’s coaches and gets a middle finger presented instead of an outstretched hand from Ronda. We cut back to Tate, who feels that now she has turned the tables on Rousey and has gotten inside her head. After Tate’s comments, we see Raquel getting stitched up, then talking about the experience and the fight as blood leaks from sewn up wound.

In the back lobby, Jessamyn Duke is sitting with her coach and taking the loss the way all the women have so far: Hard. She is upset with herself for not finishing, and was frustrated by her inability to put significant strings of offense together. We cut to Duke on her own, who talks about how she believed she could go all the way this season, but fell short. Ronda narrates over further scenes, saying both women were closely matched, and that you can’t just be better, you have to be worlds better. She feels that Jessamyn will grow from the experience, and that both Duke and Pennington should heart. We finish with Duke talking about how she has lost before, but that this defeat has been the hardest for her to take. She will deal with it, however, but going back to the gym and working on getting better.

After congratulating Duke and Pennington on their war, Dana White turns things over to Coach Miesha Tate for the fight selections. Tate chooses to put her other grappling specialist “Gentleman” Josh Hill against Team Rousey’s Michael Wooten. Tate gets an aside, praising Hill’s record in grappling competitions as well as his MMA record, while Ronda is feel confident in both Wooten’s ground game and his chin.

With episode 6 in the books, Team Tate is up 3-2 in the standings with 3 fights left in the quarter-finals. Outside of her outburst post-fight, it looks like Ronda Rousey’s doing a better job of keeping herself in check than her counterpart in Miesha Tate is, if the preview of the next episode is any indication. Duke versus Pennington was really a back and forth fight, and while not quite at the “Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar” level, it certainly was a war that both could be proud of. As far as next week’s fight, I don’t expect a ton of excitement, but it is should be a battle of two competent ground fighters either working their magic on the mat, or engaging in a tepid kickboxing battle. We shall see. So, with that all done, here are the current standings.

Team Tate (3-2)