The Ultimate Fighter returned for the second episode of season 18 on Wednesday night, and it provided one of the biggest upsets in series history.
Julianna Peña defeated Shayna Bazler via rear-naked choke after surviving the first round. It was a solid performance from the young fighter. She will be an interesting athlete to watch develop on the show.
We got our first glimpse into the in-house dynamic, but the majority of the episode was focused around the fight. Thankfully. Here is your good, bad, and ugly from the second offering of the latest season.
The Good
- As the cast makes their way through the house, you can hear Roxanne Modaferri mutter that she doesn’t want to room with a guy. There was something humorous and charming about how she said it. That kind of G-rated, unintentional, non-sophomoric humor is welcome on TUF 100% of the time.
- Rousey bursts through the doors to tell Team Tate to hit the bricks when it is time for her team to train. These teams have set times to train, and she isn’t willing to give up a minute for her team. I think that deserves a tip of the cap.
- The women of the cast made it clear they are here to fight, and not to get in a relationship with another fighter. I gave a small fist pump at that. It was one of the bigger concerns from MMA commentators heading into the season. However, it’s only the second episode, and there has yet to be an alcohol-fueled evening. We’ll see what happens, but there is hope this is purely a fighting season with no co-ed hijinx.
- Tim Gorman is injured, and that is not good. I’m sure everyone wishes him a speedy recovery. The reason his departure falls in the good category is because he was quickly becoming “that guy” in the house. His moments of talking about not wanting to train with the women because they are fragile and so forth was mind-numbing.
- Shayna Baszler has always been an interesting weigh-in character, and that continued with TUF. She placed the Queen of Spades card in Julianna Peña’s top as they squared off. It wasn’t malicious, it was just Baszler keeping things light-hearted.
- Rousey’s pre-fight speech to Baszler before they walked through the door was quite something. It got me pumped sitting on my coach. Love the intensity.
- Keys to Victory is a new addition to TUF, and it is a welcome one.
- Julianna survived through the first round, and she found herself beating up on Baszler. Pena finished with a rear-naked choke to nab the upset win and kick off TUF with a big shock. Kudos to her, and she should be fun to watch in her next outing.
- Rousey’s passion was astonishing. She truly cares about her role as a coach, and she wants her team to develop, perform, and win. When Baszler lost, Rousey took it as a personal failure. She is a fantastic coach with a lot of passion.
- The moment after the fight announcement where Rousey lets Tate know about her plans for their rematch – goosebumps. It got me infinitely more excited for their rematch.
The Bad
- Chris Holdsworth tried to lay some game on the ladies. It was awful.
- Baszler’s overconfidence was told throughout the episode, and it took away from the fight. It was built up to have her fail. Regardless, she shouldn’t look past opponents like that. It was a bad look, but perhaps the loss will give her more focus moving forward.
- Louis Fisette is back. Why is this bad? Well, he is someone who admitted in the first episode that he doesn’t train hard all the time. Not something to gloat about.
The Ugly
- Gorman is an idiot. Or, at least, that is how he came off when talking to the ladies about potentially training with them. He refuses to go 100% with them due to fear of hurting them. The antiquated view was painful to watch.
- Anthony Guiterrez made his attempt to hit on the ladies as well. It was dumb and I wish to see no more of him on the show because of it.
Next week we’ll get the first official fight on the men’s side, as Chris Beal (Team Rousey) takes on Chris Holdsworth (Team Tate).
The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rousey vs. Team Tate
Julianna Peña vs. Shayna Baszler
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