The Ultimate Fighter - Undefeated

[BigJag]

That was some impressive goal tendering by the novice.

[wandshogun09]

The Finale is a week away now and it's a decent little card that I think deserves some discussion. 

 

If you haven't watched this week's episode yet then there's spoilers ahead, and also, why are you even in this thread?

 

FOX SPORTS 1 MAIN CARD
Brad Tavares vs Israel Adesanya 

Mike Trizano vs Joe Giannetti - TUF Lightweight Final

Brad Katona vs Jay Cucciniello - TUF Featherweight Final

Alex Caceres vs Martin Bravo

Roxanne Modafferi vs Barb Honchak 

Julian Marquez vs Alessio Di Chirico 

 

FOX SPORTS 1 PRELIMS
Rachael Ostovich vs Montana De La Rosa

Luis Pena vs Richie Smullen

Allan Zuniga vs John Gunther

Tyler Diamond vs Bryce Mitchell 
 

FIGHT PASS PRELIMS
Matt Bessette vs Steven Peterson

Gerald Meerschaert vs Oskar Piechota 

 

We've got one more episode to go. We've still got one of the featherweight finalists to be decided yet and there still might be a couple more fights added to the undercard yet. I quite like what's there so far though. It's basically foreplay for the UFC 226 card the next day. 

 

Brad Tavares vs Israel Adesanya main events this. Interesting fight and a real test for Adesanya. He's still unbeaten in his MMA career. 13-0 with 12 knockouts. Extensive striking background with a 50-5-2 Kickboxing record, a 5-1 Boxing record and experience in Taekwondo. He knocked out Melvin Guillard before signing with the UFC and has won his first 2 fights in the Octagon. He's got a style and a confidence and swagger unlike most and always has something smart arse to say in his post-fight interviews. I thought his last fight in April against Marvin Vettori exposed some flaws in his game though. He had big problems with the grappling and particularly the wrestling. He got by and won a split decision but on the night I'm pretty sure I had Vettori edging it. Either way it's not really a good sign.

And Brad Tavares, for me, is an even tougher test. He's been in the UFC for ages now. He was on the Liddell vs Ortiz season of TUF back in 2010. He's always kind of just been there and been lost in the shuffle but he's a solid fighter. He's got a 17-4 record and holds wins over Lorenz Larkin, Thales Leites, Nate Marquardt and Phil 'The Best Eva!' Baroni. His last 3 losses were to Robert Whittaker, Tim Boetsch and Yoel Romero, so no shame there. And he took Yoel the distance, which is better than most do.

Make no mistake, this is a difficult test for Adesanya. Tavares has unquestionably been mixing at a higher level in MMA and has the Octagon experience on his side. But if Adesanya is going to be the fighter and star he's been hyped up as, these are the fights he should be winning. 

 

Mike Trizano vs Joe Giannetti is the TUF Final at 155. My memory is hazy when it comes to Trizano. All I really recall of him is that he's the guy who wore that silly cowboy hat for most of the season. Can't remember his fights. He's made the finals though, on a season of unbeaten fighters, so he's got something. He's 6-0 with 4 finishes. Giannetti I'm more familiar with. He was one of the standouts of the show from early on for me. Liked his attacking style. He reminds me a lot of a young Carlos Condit in that he'll dive on any opening the opponent leaves and he seems to be dangerous everywhere. He's also 6-0, with 5 submissions. 

 

Brad Katona vs either Tyler Diamond or Jay Cucciniello will make up the TUF featherweight final. Good fight either way. Katona was one of my favourite guys in the house this season. He's 6-0, 26 years old and Canadian. Unassuming, nerdy looking little fucker. No bullshit intimidation tactics or putting on an act. Just came across as a genuinely nice guy. But there's something there with him, lurking behind the eyes. He's like a sinister Clark Kent. Maybe it's a Canadian thing because it's very much the same vibe you get off Rory MacDonald. I like him though. He's going up against the winner of the Diamond vs Cucciniello semi final on this Wednesday's last episode of the season. Diamond (Team DC) was considered one of the favourites to win the whole thing and was the number one pick during team selection. He's 9-0 with 6 finishes and fights out of Team Alpha Male. Cucciniello (Team Miocic) is British, 8-0 and a former soldier who fought in Afghanistan. He actually lost early on in the season to Bryce Mitchell but when Luis Pena suffered a broken foot, Cucciniello was the most vocal and pushed hard to step back in. Of course, Dana loved that and gave him a second chance. He seems like a tough guy. So yeah, either of these 2 against Katona should be a battle and a half. 

 

Julian Marquez vs Alessio Di Chirico is ***WAND'S ONE TO WATCH*** here. This is a fight that nobody is talking about but I have seriously high hopes for it. Marquez to me, is someone well worth keeping an eye on. He came into the UFC after catching Dana White's attention with a huge KO on the Contender Series. He then made his UFC debut in December on the prelims of a Big FOX show. He submitted Darren Stewart in the second round of an absolute barburner. Seriously, it was one of the least talked about best fights of 2017. Incredible fight. If you've got Fight Pass, fire it up. He's 7-1 now with a his wins being finishes. He's got some personality as well. As we all know, as an exciting fighter with a lot to say, the sky is the limit if you can stay in that win column. Alessio Di Chirico is Italian, 28 years old with an 11-2 record. He's had mixed results so far in the UFC but scored a big knockout over Oluwale Bamgbose in his last fight in December. Then, in his post-fight interview, just randomly blurted out "Scusi, babadaboopi", which is apparently a Family Guy reference. Could be a fun one, this. Marquez seems like one of those nutty, balls out fighters. And Chirico went 9-0 with 8 stoppages pre-UFC. 

 

Roxanne Modafferi vs Barb Honchak 2 is a rematch 7 years in the making and a real clash of veterans of women's MMA. Modafferi is 35 and debuted in 2003, Honchak is 38 and debuted in 2009. These two were fighting back when women's MMA was an occasional thing in the US and was a long way off existing in the UFC. They've got 48 fights between them. Modafferi is a grappler with brown-belts in BJJ and Judo. She has a 21-14 record and made the finals of the TUF flyweight tournament last year, before losing to Nicco Montano. She's been through some bad spells and losing streaks in her career and in her mid 30s, after a 15 year career, you have to wonder how much longer she's got in the sport. Honchak, despite being older, doesn't have as many miles on her. She's had less fights (10-3 record) and has never been stopped. She lost a close decision in a good fight with Lauren Murphy in December. Before that she was the first ever Invicta flyweight champ and defended it twice. Like I said, this is a rematch. Their first fight was in 2011, Honchak won that fight by submission. 

 

Allan Zuniga vs John Gunther has just been added to the card. Zuniga is Costa Rican, 13-0 record. He made it to the semis on the show but lost to Joe Giannetti. Gunther was one of the more likeable characters in the house. Bit of a throwback to when you'd get those TUF contestants who maybe weren't the best equipped fighters on the show but were fun to watch on a TV show like TUF. Don't get me wrong, Gunther seems a tough bloke. The clips they showed on TUF of his early fights you could see he likes a good bloody scrap and has heart. He was just more known on the show as the guy doing Lama impressions, channeling his inner Shonie Carter and making a bottle raft, and just generally goofing around. He's 6-0 though and a teammate of Stipe Miocic back in Cleveland. 

 

Alex Caceres vs Martin Bravo is a fight I'm kind of looking forward to, just because I get a kick out of watching Bruce Leroy fight. He's never going to be a contender, he's probably never getting above the Fight Night/prelims level. But he's always an entertaining addition to any card. He was another victim of McGregor vs The Bus back in Brooklyn. His fight with Artem Lobov got scrapped thanks to that mess. He's lost 3 of his last 4 now so I'm hoping he picks up a win here. Bravo is going to be a hard fight though. He's Mexican, 11-1. He was unbeaten before getting KO'd by Humberto Bandenay last time out. But he won his first 11 fights, 9 finishes. Got a feeling this could be it for Caceres sadly. 

 

Rachael Ostovich vs Montana De La Rosa is one that's not of any real relevance to anything. Neither has the best record but there's legit potential there for both IMO. Both were on the flyweight season of TUF last year. Ostovich is Hawaiian, 27 years old. She's got a crap 4-3 record (6-0 as an amateur) but I thought she looked really good on the Finale, submitting Karine Gevorgyan in less than 2 minutes. If she can bag a few wins and start picking up some momentum I think there's promise there. She was likeable on TUF and had a touching backstory. De La Rosa also showed potential on the show. She's 23 years old, 8-4 record. She's lost to the likes of Nicco Montano (the current 125lb champ), Cynthia Calvillo and Mackenzie Dern, who are all having success in the UFC. So she's been in with some good opposition already at a young age. Like Ostovich, she also had a standout performance at the Finale, submitting Christina Marks in 2 minutes. Good little fight between two TUFers with potential in the cage and in terms of marketability. 

 

Luis Pena vs Richie Smullen pits two more of this season's contestants against each other. Pena was 4-0 coming into TUF. He beat Jose Martinez in one of early episodes but a broken foot took him out of the tournament before he could advance any further. He's a bit of an intriguing one. His nickname is 'The Violent Bob Ross', for fuck's sake. And he's a big old boy for 155. There aren't many 6'3" lightweights knocking about. Smullen is 3-0-1 and a teammate of Conor McGregor at SBG in Dublin. He was meant to fight Allan Zuniga on the show but pulled out with leg cramps right before he was about to go to the cage. Dana speculated that he'd mentally bottled it but fuck knows. Hopefully we'll see what he's got here. 

 

Pretty nice card, that. I've actually stuck with TUF all the way through this time so that's probably helped me appreciate this one a bit more. But TUFers aside, the Tavares vs Adesanya and Marquez vs Di Chirico fights in particular should make this more than worth your time. 

[Egg Shen]

I officially bailed on the season, i really enjoyed what i saw (4 episodes) but i just aint gonna get around to watching it all with the world cup being on and wanting to get some 226 hype down me. I'll still catch the finale though.

Marquez/Di Chrico went over my head too. Thats one of them fights that doesnt really snap into place until im reminded of who they are, excellent fight that. Finale should be a lot of fun.

[Egg Shen]

 

Israel Adesanya says all the right things doesnt he.

I can't get my head around Brad Katona's accent, what the fuck is that. Super likeable guy but his accent is frying my brain.

[wandshogun09]

The Jay Cucciniello vs Tyler Diamond fight from this week's final episode was really good. Best fight I've seen on TUF in ages. Glad Cucciniello won and really looking forward to tonight's final between him and Brad Katona now. 

[Egg Shen]

forgot i put Adesayner on my bet slip and logged onto Paddypower this morning to see he'd won but at the same time spoiling the fight for myself. Careless as fuck

[d-d-d-dAz]

Israel looked spectacular. Really, really good but if he wants to get a spot in the hearts of the casuals, he’s going to need some big finishes. That whole style needs that big moment, where the opponent goes limp.

[Egg Shen]

He's definitely going in the right direction, he's got the personality and mouth to help him make up for a lack of finishes in my opinion. By all accounts be completed schooled Tavares who's the 8th Middleweight in the World. He's called for the winner of Hall/Costa, which will be great either way.c

The actual show was a stinker apparently with everyone moaning about FS1's snail like pacing being the main factor.

...and if anyone needs reminding on how insignificant a TUF win is these days, to and watch MMA Fightings post fight show, they basically breeze over both finals in a combined 10 seconds.