The Ultimate Fighter 18.03: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The third episode of The Ultimate Fighter has just passed, and it gave more insight into the fighters and coaches.

Chris Holdsworth met Chris Beal in this week’s fight, and before they entered the Octagon, the two teams went out to view a UFC event. The event turned a bit ugly at times, but there were no physical altercations. It was a well-rounded episode without much in the way of in-house nonsense.

This is the good, the bad and the ugly for the third episode of the season:

The Good

Roxanne Modaferri played the role of a masseuse for Chris Holdsworth. If you’ve read previous articles of mine you’d think I’d put this in the bad or the ugly. However, this one came off as innocent. It was just a nice teammate moment that was humorous. However, if this was clever editing to foreshadow anything, I will quickly move this to another section.
Chris Beal’s backstory was touching, and now he is on TUF to compete for a UFC contract. It is nice to see someone overcome such stiff circumstances to achieve success.
Edmond Tarverdyan is Ronda Rousey‘s main coach, and he was not a fan of Bryan Caraway. I am not playing favorites in this, but he reaches the good after Rousey explained that he became upset with Caraway back in March of 2012 after Caraway’s tweets about Rousey. More specifically, the ones about Rousey needing her teeth knocked down her throat.
On that note, it was also good to have Miesha Tate mention that it was wrong, and that Caraway has apologized for the comment. She noted that he didn’t mean it that way, but I’m not sure it could have been interpreted another. Regardless, he apologized, and Tate agrees it was not appropriate.
The editing was excellent for the pre-fight between Holdsworth and Beal. They did a good job of going back and forth between the two. It was a quality lead-up to the bout.
Holdsworth fought excellently. He won the fight everywhere, and he was able to make Beal a reactive fighter. He also got the finish. That is the important part for him, but the Team Alpha Male product looks like a contender in the house.

The Bad

Julianna Peña made her presence felt on this episode, but not in a good way. She came off as a very annoying housemate. And to do that in such limited airtime is actually impressive.
Rousey and Tate got into it at the bar as Caraway sat there, and it was just not a good look for anyone. There is a time and place for trash talk, but this wasn’t it.
Chris Beal wore a mask out to the cage. It looked stupid, and there was no audience to impress with that sort of stuff. It was just dumb. Don’t tell him I said that.

The Ugly

Team Tate felt that there female matchups were leaked by Julianna to Jessamyn Duke. This turned into a big ordeal, and it was annoying to watch. Yes, if the accusations are true it is a big deal for the team in this competition, but for the viewer our time could have been spent much better.
Most people think Rousey will defeat Tate again, and I am one of them. However, watching them coach their fighters only goes to further that belief. This is in the ugly section because that is how their rematch may get. Very ugly. The athleticism difference between the two is astonishing. This will be a brutal rematch.
Julianna wrote a letter to Chris Holdsworth before his fight as a bit of inspiration. And the guys got together to mock and ridicule it. It was a nice thought, and there was no need to do that. It shows the juvenile nature of groupthink.

Team Tate selected Roxanne Modafferi (Team Tate) vs. Jessica Racozky (Team Rousey) as next week’s fight.

The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rousey vs. Team Tate