Welcome back to The Ultimate Fighter season 20 recap! Since everything has already been established, in terms of teams and match ups, there’s nothing but training, the fight, and IN-HOUSE DRAMA for episode two!
Speaking of drama, there’s a bit of it as Heather (Jo) Clark has been talking about a blender, and it’s getting on her teammates’ nerves. Fortunately, instead of peeing in her food like on dude-TUF, Bec Rawlings and Rose Namajunas take her aside and politely mention that BlenderChat is getting to be a bit much. Heather takes it in stride and makes an effort to tone it down. I am upset that a minor difference was handled with maturity. There should have been more screaming and at least one piece of dishware should have been broken in anger.
There was some beef between the fighters and Team Pettis, as the coaching staff is prone to interrupting practice constantly to add critiques. This lead to a big sitdown session with the team and coaches, but Pettis came off a little prickly, simply saying the advice can be taken or ignored, it’s up to the fighters.
Prior to the fights, there were some clips released online of both teams studying the opponents. Emily Kagan and Gilbert Melendez tried to develop a game plan to counter Joanne Calderwood’s striking.
On the flip side, Jojo and Anthony Pettis review Kagan’s tendencies and work to prevent her from swarming Calderwood against the cage.
The fight: #2 Joanne “Dr. Kneevil” Calderwood vs #15 Emily Kagan
Another good fight. Round one started a little slow as Calderwood took the center of the octagon and Kagan circled on the outside each time Jojo closed distance. The fight eventually moved to clinching distance, and Calderwood’s Muay Thai paid huge dividends as she attacked with elbows and knees. Calderwood wins round one.
Round two featured more grappling, as the fight clinched up early. Calderwood got a take down and looked for a kimura. Kagan stood up out of the submission and slammed Joanne, but Jojo landed in an inverted triangle and just locked that up for the majority of the round. Calderwood took the second and a majority decision because one judge is kind of dumb.
Come back next week as #4 Jessica Penne versus #13 Lisa Ellis in a rematch from a great, yet bloody fight.
Highlights:
– Felice making a friendship bracelet for Anthony’s baby brother, Sergio Pettis.
– Rose and Heather rolling off the mats and splitting eyebrows and getting giant black eyes.
– Felice removing her panties to hang them on the Team Pettis sign
Quotables:
“Felice and Sergio sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” – Carla Esparza teasing Herrig because they are besties.
“First time ever coaching an all girl team, so I don’t know what emotions are at play.” – Anthony Pettis being kind of a jerk, since obviously a dude fighter never has emotions.
“Sorry, I burp a lot.” – Joanne Calderwood being super adorable as always
“Hey Emily, we can hug it out after, and I’m gonna make you a carrot cake after I beat you up.” – Jojo, again, being SUPER ADORABLE, YOU HAVE NO IDEA.
