Ranking The Ultimate Fighter 18 Fighters: The Quarterfinals
The Ultimate Fighter 18 got started this week with a two-hour premiere that featured 16 elimination fights. The long running reality show is making history this season as the UFC will crown the first-ever women’s Ultimate Fighter winner. The eight women that won their elimination bouts will live in the house alongside eight men. The 16 men and women will be coached by UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey and her bitter rival Meisha Tate. Be sure to stay caught up with DirectTV through DX3, and never miss a fight.
The win or go home elimination bouts were, for the most part, exciting but there were a few stinker’s on the men’s side. Some fighters looked better than other’s though, which tends to get lost once they enter the house and start their journey towards becoming the next Ultimate Fighter. Taking a page from that #2 MMA promotion and their reality show (Fight Master: Bellator MMA), we are going to rank the fighters heading into their quarterfinal bouts.
These ranks will be based primarily off the fighter’s elimination bouts and not their career. As The Ultimate Fighter 18 heads into the semifinals and finals we will re-evaluate the fighters and rank them accordingly. But first let’s see how the eight men and women made it into The Ultimate Fighter 18 house:
The Ultimate Fighter 18 Women’s Bantamweight Elimination Round Results:
Jessamyn Duke – Age: 27 (2-0, 1 NC) vs. Laura Howarth – Age: 26 (4-0) – Duke by Triangle Submission
Jessica Rakoczy – Age: 36 (1-3) vs. Revelina Berto – Age: 24 (3-1) – Rakoczy by Submission
Peggy Morgan – Age: 33 (2-0) vs. Bethany Marshall – Age 25 (4-1) – Morgan by TKO
Roxanne Modafferi – Age: 30 (15-10) vs. Valerie Letourneau – Age: 30 (4-3) – Modafferi by Submission
Raquel Pennington – Age: 24 (3-3) vs. Tonya Evinger – Age: 32 (11-6) – Pennington by Submission
Colleen Schneider – Age: 31 (4-3) vs. Shayna Baszler – Age: 33 (15-8) – Baszler by Submission
Gina Mazany – Age: 25 (3-0) vs. Julianna Pena – Age: 24 (4-2) – Pena Decision
The Ultimate Fighter 18 Men’s Bantamweight Elimination Round Results:
Daniel Martinez – Age: 28 (18-4) vs. David Grant – Age: 27 (8-1) – Grant by 2nd rd. Armbar Submission
Michael Wootten – Age: 24 (6-0) vs. Emil Hartsner – Age: 23 (4-0) –Wootten by Decision
Tim Gorman – Age: 30 (9-2) vs. Lee Sandmeier – Age: 30 (9-0) – Gorman by TKO
Christopher Beal – Age: 28 (7-0) vs. Sirwan Kakai – Age: 23 (9-1) – Beal by Decision
Joshua Hill – Age: 26 (9-0) vs. Patrick Holohan – Age: 25 (9-0-1) – Hill by Decision
Louis Fisette – Age: 23 (6-1) vs. Chris Holdsworth – Age: 25 (4-0) – Holdsworth by Submission
Matthew Munsey – Age: 26 (4-1) vs. Anthony Gutierrez – Age: 22 (4-0) – Gutierrez by Decision
Rafael Freitas – Age: 29 (6-0-1) vs. Cody Bollinger – Age: 22 (14-3) – Bollinger by TKO
The Complete Ultimate Fighter 18 Cast prior to the elimination round
The Ultimate Fighter 18 Women’s Quarterfinal Rankings:
#1 – Shayna Baszler – The favorite to win the show displayed her well-roundedness while dominating her opponent. [Picked 2nd overall]
#2 – Peggy Morgan – A monster of a 135 lbs. fighter that will be very tough opponent but the multiple weight cuts could be a cardio issue at some point. [Picked 6th overall]
#3 – Roxanne Modafferi – One of the women’s MMA veterans showed her experience which will be her greatest attribute against the lesser seasoned fighters. [Picked 7th overall]
#4 – Julianna Pena – With her in your face style that fans love she might be the fan favorite to win. She looked great but it would have been nice to see her finish the fight. [Picked 1st overall]
#5 – Raquel Pennington – Showed lots of heart to weather the early storm from her opponent but it’s hard to see just how good she is due to her opponent gassing out. [Picked 5th overall]
#6 – Jessamyn Duke – A very tall but raw fighter that could really surprise people if she can absorb all the training and advice from her coaches. [Picked 4th overall]
#7 – Jessica Rakoczy – Showed some nice grappling despite her striking background. [Picked 8th overall]
#8 – Sarah Moras – Her fight was likely the worst of the eight women’s fight but that doesn’t take away the fact she pulled the biggest upset on paper of the elimination round. Calling out Ronda Rousey though wasn’t the best of ideas though. [Picked 3rd overall]
The Ultimate Fighter 18 Men’s Quarterfinal Rankings:
#1 – Christopher Beal – Coming back from cancer that almost took his leg, Beal has a great storyline for the show. He also has some great striking and enough of a ground game to survive and get the fight back to the feet. [Picked 2nd overall]
#2 – Chris Holdsworth – As part of the un-official fight of the night he displayed some great BJJ. Coming from a family of martial artist and training with a great gym at Team Alpha Male doesn’t hurt either. [Picked 3rd overall]
#3 – Cody Bollinger – A bit of cockiness got him in trouble in round one but damn he went off in round two when his opponent ran out of steam. There’s no doubting his skill though and I expect he’ll go far. [Picked 1st overall]
#4 – Tim Gorman – To call him a madman is probably being too nice but his brawling style rolled over his opponent. Cardio and how he handles a wrestler are concerns though. [Picked 7th overall]
#5 – Anthony Gutierrez – It’s a good thing he wasn’t happy with his own performance because neither were the fans. He showed good skill but couldn’t finish when the opportunities were there. [Picked 6th overall]
#6 – David Grant – His fight was sloppy with those two illegal shots but he used his length well and scored a slick submission to top it off. [Picked 4th overall]
#7 – Joshua Hill – Another fighter that is on Dana White’s bad list. He’ll need to show more than his wrestler / grappler hold top position game though. [Picked 5th overall]
#8 – Michael Wootten – His performance didn’t score any points with UFC President Dana White but let’s hope he got the stinker out-of-the-way. [Picked 8th overall]
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Those lists look a lot different than mine, though mine are based of experience watching some of these men and women outside TUF.
This season is extraordinarily lopsided in terms of grapplers and as such, I think you have the wrong guys in the wrong spots. Beal will likely get eaten alive in the first round as he was found to be lacking in the grappling department. That’s not something you can fix in a couple of weeks. Being as it’s heavily tilted towards grapplers, I have Hill as the favorite, as he’s an exceptional takedown and top game specialist. Dana hates him, but he’ll outwork the other wrestlers and survive the bottom game of guys like Holdsworth and Grant.
For the women, I stuck Modafferi in 7th. Much like Tara LaRosa, she’s busted up and the sport passed her by a long time ago. Good grappler but not much of an athlete and no heart at this point. I put Moras closer to the top, as she’s a bit tighter in the grappling department than most of the women, and not all that small either.
We’ll see how this pans out when the dust clears!