The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned, decided to go on a two-week hiatus just as it was really gaining heat. Hopefully, viewers are excited to tune back in tonight for an all-new episode! Here’s a quickfire recap to get you all prepped up and back to speed on what’s happened so far.
TUF 20… So Far
Teams
With a Championship belt on the line for the first time, this season is slightly different than all other TUFs. This time around, 8 woman were chosen ahead of time, picked out of the Invicta FC roster and ranked as the top contenders, with Carla Esparza, the Invicta belt holder, firmly in 1st place. Auditions were held to find 8 other women to complete the cast and they were also ranked by looking at their fight records.
At the time of choosing teams, Dana White announced to head coaches Anthony Pettis and Gilbert Melendez that this season, they would not know what rank the girls held but, as they made a pick, their opponent would automatically go to the other team. As such, if one chose Esparza, her opponent would therefore be the lowest ranked girl (number 16 seed Angela Hill) and she would be on team Melendez. Here is what the roster ended up being in alphabetical order.
Pettis
Joanne Calderwood, Alex Chambers, Aisling Daily, Carla Esparza, Felice Herrig, Justine Kish, Randa Markos, Jessica Penne
Melendez
Heather Clark, Lisa Ellis, Angela Hill, Emily Kagan, Angela Magana, Rose Namajunas, Bec Rawlings, Tecia Torres
Fights
Randa Markos (#14) defeats Tecia Torres (#3)
Joanne Calderwood (#2) defeats Emily Kagan (#15)
Jessica Penne (#4) defeats Lisa Ellis (#13)
Carla Esparza (#1) defeats Angela Hill (#16)
Tonight Felice Herrig (#6) takes on Heather Clark (#11)
House Drama
As the girls first trickled in to the gym on the first day, they all seemed rather subdued and quiet…until Felice Herrig caught sight of Heather Clark. The rivalry has run deep for years between those two. Herrig is known as a bit of a trash talker, after years of strong dislike, the two woman finally met in the Bellator cage in March 2013. Herrig came out victorious but still, after the fight well, the fight kept going! When those two found out they would be facing each other at TUF, they were more than happy!
Team Pettis overwhelmed their girls with instructions early on and so, the team members organized an intervention with their coaching team to let them know how they felt and the problem was resolved without problem very quickly. Herrig emerged as an early leader and fits in to the role quite easily. Pettis had to step away for a week and Urijah Faber came in to fill his spot. It was really interesting to see the girls respond to his teachings. While Esparza seemed to take her fellow wrestler’s looks more than anything, Calderwood really took to his coaching style amazingly. The extremely quiet fighter had a fire lit in her eyes and hopefully she will be invited to train with him in the future as she could take a lot from his style and she just soaked up all the information he gave them like a sponge. Elsewhere, we learned that Justine Kish has only fought once at 115lb and had quite a bit of trouble reaching the weight. As such, she has been cutting weight basically since setting foot in the house to hopefully reach the strawweight limit by the time she is chosen to fight. Her body is feeling the exhaustion of being pushed to the limit and deprived of proper fuel however and old knee injuries are reemerging to bother the fighter.
On team Melendez, Clark is having a hard time fitting in with her team members. Unfortunately, as hard as she keeps trying, the worse things are getting for her. This week will truly be interesting to see who the rest of the team will root for against Herrig. On their side, Rose Namajunas who is known for being quite soft spoken is seeming to really be growing into a role of natural team leader and it does fit her well. She does not push her views on anyone but is simply unafraid to speak up. Angela Magana truly cannot stand Clark, more so than the rest of her team, and flames just flare up between the two at every moment. Bec Rawlings unfortunately received some very sad news, her step father passed away back in her home of Australia. The fighter decided to honor him and both their dreams by staying in the competition, hopefully this fuels her inner fire even further to win the entire show, no matter what it shows incredible heart.
Tonight promises to be a wild fight! Both in the cage and out!
Don’t miss the show’s deepest rivals, Herrig and Clark.
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