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TUF 30 | What you’ve missed so far
The 30th season of The Ultimate Fighter is currently underway though we wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t even know it had started yet. The muted reaction to the return of TUF has caused a lot of conversation about whether it’s necessary anymore but it has to be remembered just how many contenders this format has produced.
In this season, eight heavyweights and eight women’s flyweights have been coached by bantamweight champion Juliana Pena and Amanda Nunes ahead of their title rematch. Here is everything you’ve missed in the four episodes that have aired.
The first thing to point out is that thus far, as many will have predicted, the rival coaches have been incredibly professional towards each other. Whilst Team Volkanovski vs Team Ortega had a few squabbles that added a little tension to their fight, Pena and Nunes have barely spoken to each other on the show. Both women will want to focus on doing the best job they can for their fighters and with Pena now being champion, she does not need to engage in a back and forth with Nunes as we saw in the build-up to their first fight.
A second part of the series to take into account is the two weight divisions chosen for this season. Aside from the women’s featherweight division that seems to open up and shut down whenever Nunes is defending that belt (which she still holds), heavyweight and women’s flyweight are the two divisions in the UFC that are always desperate for new talent. With both divisions being fairly thin in terms of depth, there is a real chance with this series to produce several fighters that will go on to compete for the UFC for years to come if they can impress on the show.
Episode 1
The first thing that is noticeable about this series compared to others is that Forrest Griffin is now a major part of the TUF setup. He has essentially taken Dana’s role of carrying out the briefing as well as hosting the weigh-ins and fight picks. Once the teams have been picked, Juliana Pena gets to make the first fight and chooses her second heavyweight pick Zac Pauga to take on team Nunes’ last pick Nyle Bartling. Pauga wins a fairly one-sided unanimous decision, showcasing some good striking with a very loose and low stance that left Bartling stuck on the outside.
Episode 2
In the second episode, the women’s flyweights took to the stage as Pena picked her number one flyweight Helen Peralta to take on Nunes’ third flyweight selection Kaytlin Neil. Neil is talking at the house about feeling disrespected by team Pena as she knows them from training at Syndicate. She says in an interview that they’ve been to some of her fights and Pena even called her last fight but has now matched against her to face their first pick.
Just two days before the fight, team Nunes comes into the dressing room to find Neil crying, she had just been told that her father had passed away. Kaytlin Neil goes on to pull off the upset, beating Peralta via a split decision after three rounds, using her height and reach advantage to keep Peralta back. Pena’s number one pick seemed cautious and overly willing to clinch with Neil despite losing those exchanges.
Episode 3
Episode 3 flips back to the heavyweights with a match up that provided the best piece of entertainment so far. The fights haven’t been the best so far but the history between Mitchell Sipe and Mohammed Usman was sure to add some tension. Sipe was constantly talking to Usman and trying to get under his skin, he claimed that he and Usman were meant to fight a few years back but Usman pulled out and went on to fight someone else.
Mo Usman was always going to be a huge point of interest for TUF as the younger brother of Kamaru Usman and in this episode, he gets to play the face against Sipe’s very cocky heel personality. This plays out in the fight also with Sipe constantly taunting Usman and talking to him with his hands down. Though this resulted in a more entertaining watch, the fight itself was fairly slow with Usman picking up a unanimous decision after it went to a third round. Sipe’s overconfidence and taunting may have cost him the fight.
Episode 4
The most recent episode of TUF saw tensions run high for both teams as team Nunes’ pick Brogan Walker suffered an injury (that didn’t end up being as bad as it seemed) and team Pena’s pick had a steep weight cut ahead. Chantel Coates was pulled out of the tournament as attempting a near 30-pound cut would’ve been dangerous for her health. Pena brings in alternate Laura Gallardo who she’s familiar with but with team Nunes having the fight pick, they choose to remake the fight due to Walker’s injury. Laura Gallardo faced Kathryn Paprocki after coming into the tournament a few days earlier and picked up a majority decision after she dominated the second round with her wrestling.
Check back each week for more episode recaps as they happen! Who’s your favourite to take home the TUF trophies at the tournament end?
The whirlwind surrounding Ryan Garcia’s victory over Devin Haney last weekend is just beginning to settle down but it seems the controversial boxer is intent on staying in the headlines as he eyes UFC champion, Sean O’Malley.
The bizarre lead up to the fight with Haney was plagued with erratic behaviour on Garcia’s part, rumours of a mental breakdown, signs of alcohol and drug issues, and generally controversial behaviour. Garcia missed weight by 3.2lbs, and appeared to chug a beer on the scales during the weigh ins.
Entering the fight as an underdog, Garcia surprised everybody by dropping Haney three times and emerging victorious by majority decision. After the fight, Garcia insisted he drank and smoked every day in the build up to the fight and still picked up the win. This shocking turn of events has now opened up a variety of possible lucrative match ups for Garcia going forward, and it seems one MMA superstar wants a piece of that action.
The UFC hasn’t sanctioned a boxing crossover bout since Conor McGregor faced Floyd Mayweather back in 2017. ‘Suga’ Sean O’Malley has long campaigned for the opportunity to test his striking skills against Garcia, and this week on his podcast The Timbo Sugar Show, he insisted that the UFC have already given him the green light to seek out some opportunities in the boxing ring:
“A boxing fight’s possible for sure. I’m not there yet. I’ve still got to become bigger. Two more f*cking sick performances, then we’re talking about being able to do it.
O’Malley continued: “They told me ‘You can do a boxing fight, 100 percent, if it makes us enough money’. The option is there, it just has to be able to make enough money. But Ryan being a f*cking freak like that, you need two A-sides to make a f*cking Floyd v Conor fight”.
Ryan Garcia tweeted an image of himself and O’Malley this week with the caption: “RAINBOW CACA BRAIN. WANTS TO BOX. BE PREPARED TO BLEED RAINBOW”
RAINBOW CACA BRAIN
— RYAN GARCIA (@RyanGarcia) April 22, 2024
WANTS TO BOX
BE PREPARED TO BLEED RAINBOW pic.twitter.com/GGrvV7ZSCH
Sean O’Malley became the UFC’s bantamweight champion when he knocked out Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292 last August. He then defended the belt and avenged the only loss on his record when he dominated Marlon Vera over five rounds at UFC 299 in March.
The next step in the fascinating UFC journey of Alex Pereira remains to be seen. ‘Poatan’ pulled off a sensational knockout finish over Jamahal Hill in the first round of their main event bout at UFC 300 to defend his light heavyweight belt.
In his post-fight interview, the Brazilian called for the opportunity to compete at heavyweight at UFC 301 which takes place in Rio De Janeiro in just a couple of weeks. UFC president Dana White seemed unenthusiastic about that idea, however, and it seems now that the dust has settled after 300, Pereira is a little more willing to take his time before signing up for his next fight.
In an interview with MMA Fighting’s Trocacao Franca podcast, Pereira was asked if he’d rather defend his 205lb title again or test the waters in the heavyweight division. He responded:
“It’s hard to answer that. I haven’t thought too much about it yet. If it’s a longer period of time, I’d obviously rather defend my belt. If it takes too long and I fight at heavyweight and there are injuries, when am I going to defend my belt? I don’t want to hold up the division.
I was imagining the best-case scenario when I called for a heavyweight fight at UFC 301, but I have two broken toes. Both feet are f*cked. It’s complicated. I don’t want to hold up the light heavyweight division. A cool scenario would have been fighting at heavyweight at 301 and then giving the opportunity to someone to fight for the light heavyweight belt next. I think that would have been cool”.
205lb contender Magomed Ankalaev has called for a fight with Pereira on the UFC’s October pay-per-view card in Abu Dhabi, but ‘Poatan’ brushed that idea off instantly, saying:
“I don’t want to fight at the end of the year. I want to fight sooner, so maybe that shows he won’t be ready. I don’t know why he said that. This guy is complicated”.
If Pereira manages to get another win under his belt and is ready to go again before the end of the year, he said he would much rather compete on the Madison Square Garden event in November, which is closer to his current home in Danbury.
“It makes total sense” he said. “Wait one more month and I’m fighting at home? It’s so much better”.
ONE Championship’s striking roster has continued to flourish in 2024, and it got even stronger this week with the announcement of another elite kickboxer putting pen to paper in the world’s largest martial arts organization. Japanese megastar Masaaki Noiri has officially inked a deal with ONE, and he’s set to add further depth to the stand-up ranks.
Noiri is a former two-division K-1 World Champion and Grand Prix Champion, and he’s also a former WBC Japanese Muay Thai Champion.
Fighting in ONE will allow him to switch between the two sports whenever he wants, and this is an exciting prospect for the 30-year-old.
“As ONE officially announced, I have signed a contract with ONE Championship, the highest stage for striking. If I want to pursue being the strongest in the world that I believe in, this is a stage I have to challenge on,” Noiri said.
“I believe ONE is the ultimate stage for striking, so I wanted to challenge myself in that ring. I’m pursuing to be the strongest in the world through martial arts, so I chose this path to test if the current Masaaki Noiri can make it in ONE.”
It would be remiss of ONE’s hottest new signing not to have World Title ambitions as he embarks on his new journey.
However, along with gold, Noiri’s looking to show the world what strikers from his country can do, and he hopes a world-class compatriot can help him in that mission.
“[My plan is] to definitely win the ONE world title,” Noiri said.
“Not just me, but together with Takeru Segawa. And we’ll prove the strength of Japanese fighters to the world.”
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