The Ultimate Fighter season 19 returned on Wednesday night for its second episode . The fighters entered the house, trained, and fought the first between Team Penn and Team Edgar. BJ Penn got to select the first match-up, and he selected Cathal Pendred from his team. Pendred did not have to fight to get in the house, and that was the main reason he was selected for the opening bout. From Team Edgar, Penn selected Hector Urbina. This is the good, the bad, and the ugly from episode two.
The Good
- A big plus for this season is the quality of coaching staffs from both teams. Frankie Edgar brought along his championship coaching staff of Mark Henry (boxing), Ricardo Almeida (grappling), and Anderson Franca (muay thai). Penn brough along Andre Pederneiras of Nova Uniao (jiu-jitsu), Mark Coleman (wrestling), and Jason Parillo (boxing).
- The current formula of TUF gives us more insight into the training of the fighters leading up to the fight. That is welcome each time, but there are problems I will tackle in another section. Fans want to see the fighters develop.
- At the weigh-in there was a prolonged, intense staredown between Pendred and Urbina. It actually got me excited for the fight.
- Urbina would have been the betting underdog in this fight. Pendred is one of the top prospects in the division. However, Urbina won the first round going away. He nearly finished the fight to advance, but he couldn’t quite do it.
- Pendred’s resilience was on display after Urbina nearly got the finish. He rebounded and won. This may have been a wake-up call, and it will hopefully see him grow into the shining star many think he is.
The Bad
- Yes, it is nice to see more training than in-house antics. The reason this is in the bad is that it is becoming formulaic. Recap, in-house discussion, fighter(s) who fight on the episode talking about background, training from both teams centered around the fighter who will fight, and finally the fight. We don’t exactly get to see the team training. We don’t get a good feel for the chemistry all the time. It’s a small complaint, but maybe the UFC and Fox Sports teams can change things up a bit.
- Both fighters appeared tired after the first five minutes. For Pendred, specifically, that is unacceptable. He should have been 100% fresh. That is worrisome moving forward.
- Pendred entered as a hot prospect. After the first fight I doubt many are pegging him for big things in the UFC. He did not look the part of a future contender.
The Ugly
- After the intense staredown Urbina got a bit angry at Pendred. For no apparent reason. Pendred wore an Irish flag, and Urbina had a Mexican flag tied around his forehead. I am all for national pride – although, Urbina is technically an American – yet there is no need to go to the extent that Urbina did. Unless something was said that was not aired, it seemed like an uncalled for outburst.
Penn selected the first light heavyweight fight. Team Penn’s Daniel Spohn vs. Team Edgar’s Todd Monaghan.
TUF 19: Team Edgar vs. Team Penn
• Cathal Pendred vs. Hector Urbina: Cathal Pendred def. Hector Urbina via decision.
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Came to the site to compare my rankings with yours, UFC's, USAToday's, and BleacherReport's and saw this was the first article so started doing mental inventory and I thought the top 2 were the same as yours except I give the nod to 171 because of the competitiveness of the ME. Also I have FN 35 3rd and RFA 12 (one with Ortega/Koch and Munhoz' last title defense) at 4th. Both Cage Warriors events were good I agree.
While I question your ranking of Montague a little, mostly I must commend you for being the ONLY rankings besides my own that has Gaudinot ahead of Lineker. Well done sirs.
I think FW is, by far, the most interesting division at the moment. I notice more differences in these rankings than any other division. I don't think Charles Oliveira receives enough mention and imo several of Bellator's "2nd tier" FWs deserva mention as well. Here's mine: http://www.tapology.com/ur/9011.png
Another VERY interesting division since the departure of GSP. I applaud you for giving Lombard the rankings credit I, too, feel he deserves.
Quickly becoming as interesting as the 3 divisions directly below. Once again I have to give you props for being not only the only other rankings that remember Rockhold's win over Souza but Mousasi's as well.
What happened to my comment? Am I not allowed to post my rankings because they're from tap?
mmacover.com does too
why is philippou ranked higher than carmont?
good question. And Romero's only career loss is at LHW to Feijao & Larkin did much better vs. Carmont and his only losses are to Tavares in a close fight and Lawal (later overturned) also at LHW. I think both should be higher meaning Larkin should be ranked and Yoel top 10.