Episode 9 Preview: See That Door?
Previously on The Ultimate Fighter...
Everything that has transpired so far between Team Rousey and Team Tate on Season 18 was reviewed, setting the stage for the final two bouts of the quarterfinal round in each competition, and reminding everyone that tensions continue to run high between the warring coaching staffs.
In seeing the fights (or at least portions of the fights) stacked up next to each other, the women's fights stand out ahead of the men's thus far, as all three have been highly entertaining back-and-forth affairs, capped by the front-runner for Fight of the Season, Rocky Pennington's win over Jessamyn Duke.
Conversely, the men's side has seen more dominant performances through the first three bouts, with Chris Holdsworth earning a first-round finish, Davey Grant collecting a second-round stoppage win, and Michael Wootten rebounded from a rough first round to earn a clear decision win over Josh Hill.
And then there is the heat between Ronda and Miesha, which is ramping up more and more with each fight, and causing fans to line up on either side. Note: there doesn't seem to be any "I can see both sides" to this situation.
The stage is set for an exciting home stretch to the season, beginning with the final two fights of the quarterfinal round.
Who Gets Told to Go Home?
In the preview to this episode, we see an irate Dana White standing in the UFC GYM, directing someone to the door, uttering something along the lines of "You see that door? That's the door you go out right now."
Who is it?
Why are they being banished?
What the hell happened?
Is it time for this episode yet?!
"Edmond Rousey" Fallout
Before we got the recap show, Team Rousey coach Edmond Tarverdyan was shown the lone "Edmond Rousey" picture UFC President Dana White failed to take down after Team Tate plastered the gym with them. It was given to him, he crumpled it up in his fist, and walked out...
And nothing else was really said about it.
Where did he go? Where does this go from here? Does the person getting tossed off the show have something to do with this? So many questions...
With Dana having laid it out to both teams that the taunting, pranking nonsense needed to stop, you have to think that the UFC President is going to have something more to say about this, especially if Team Tate still hasn't figured out it's time to put an end to the digs and jabs.
Sarah Moras (3-1) vs. Peggy Morgan (2-0)
The final women's fight of the quarterfinal round pits Team Tate's Canadian representative Moras against "The Daywalker," Peggy Morgan of Team Rousey, who took out Bethany Marshall in the qualifying round.
Note: "The Daywalker" is an awesome nickname. We need more South Park references in MMA.
Moras dominated WMMA pioneer Tara LaRosa to get into the house, and fits as a stylistic counter to Morgan, and the strikers that have already advanced into the semifinal round. Based out of Toshido MMA in Kelowna, British Columbia the gym where Rory MacDonald began his training Moras has very good fundamentals, and a strong ground game.
Morgan is 6'1" and uses her length fairly well. She also showed very good finishing instincts and abilities in her fight with Marshall, ending the fight quickly when the opportunity presented itself.
One of the really interesting elements here (and it carries over to the men's side of things too) is that Team Tate has a 2-1 edge on the women's side of things, and a win for Moras would mean teammates could have to face off in the next round. As much as this is a competition and everyone is out for themselves, they've become friends, and sometimes these things get tricky.
Cody Bollinger (14-2) vs. Anthony Gutierrez (4-0)
Bollinger was the first pick on the men's side of the draw after an impressive win over Rafael De Freitas in the qualifying round. He's an incredibly experienced fighter for being just 22-years-old, and is a well-rounded fighter 4 KO/TKO, 5 Submissions, 4 Decisions.
This season was tame in terms of household pranks and tomfoolery, leading to the mildly annoying at times Gutierrez being considered the "troublemaker" of the group thus far. He earned an uneventful decision to get into the house, but seems to have the type of "Don't worry, I got this" mentality that competitive, game fighters always have.
As mentioned above, this fight could set up a teammates need to square off battle in the semifinals if Gutierrez earns the win here.
Which leads us too...
How Will the Semifinals Shake Out?
When these two contests are over, we'll know the four remaining fighters on each side and how they're aligned in the semifinals.
There are some interesting possibilities, and with the entertaining bouts we've had so far, we're bound to get quality match-ups now matter how things shake out heading into Episode 10.
