‘TUF 23’ Recap: Episode 4
After showing highlights from last week’s episode,
UFC President Dana
White is talking into the camera about how focused Joanna
Jedrzejczyk is and how she hates to lose, especially when her
fighters keep losing to her arch rival’s forces. It’s not long
before the scene shifts to Jedrzejczyk lashing out at her team,
saying they keep making “stupid mistakes.”
Clearly the reigning UFC strawweight champion isn’t thrilled at the circumstances and lets her tongue fly. “They are training like little girls in primary school. They are training like pussies,” she tells the camera. She is next seen laying into her fighters and detailing how tough she had it growing up, and that it was her hard work that led her into becoming a champion.
Claudia
Gadelha pops into the house a few scenes later and is ready to
cook up a Brazilian barbeque for not just her own team, but
everybody in the house. At this juncture in the season, it’s clear
that the Brazilian loves her team and enjoys being around them and
the barbeque is a success.
After a few scenes showing Andrew Sanchez in preparation for his fight against Myron Dennis at the end of the episode, Team Joanna walks into the gym but Team Claudia is still in there, packing up their gear. Jedrzejczyk is miffed at what she deems as a lack of respect and begins squawking at Gadelha to pick up her stuff and get out.
Fast-forward some minor things inside the house and it’s time for the weigh-ins. Both combatants come to the scale and are on point, but during the face-off, Dennis backs off and has his beard sprayed with water and then gets out a mirror to make sure he looks good. Sanchez laughs about the clownish behavior and thinks that his foe is not focused on the right things.
After a festive night at the house where Team Claudia’s fighters initiate a water balloon battle, the fight is upon us. “Big” John McCarthy is the referee of the matchup and almost as soon as he tells the fighters to get it on, Dennis is on his back courtesy of a powerful takedown. The four-time NCAA All-American quickly scoots to half guard, looking to pass to his right. Dennis is calm and scrambles out, but Sanchez is all over him, staying right on his heels. A nice right fist to the cranium from Sanchez surfaces but Dennis rolls with it.
Finally, Dennis is able to pull guard and then kicks his foe off, but there’s not enough time for him to spring to his feet before Sanchez is back on him. Dennis looks to his team and smiles, but he can’t get Sanchez off of him at all and time is starting to run out already. A series of Sanchez elbows three minutes in from the top position make an appearance, but they are mostly blocked by “Light-Skinned Chocolate.” Finally, Dennis explodes to his feet but Sanchez presses him into the cage. It’s not long before Sanchez drags him back down to the canvas with a little over a minute left and lands in full guard. Sanchez slams a hard left elbow to his opponent with 30 seconds left and rides out the round in Dennis’ guard. It’s as easy a round as there can be: 10-9 Sanchez
The second starts off more promising for Dennis as he stuffs an early takedown attempt, but the former Glory fighter doesn’t let his hands or feet go as much as he should have. In fact, it’s actually Sanchez who is landing the better, more accurate strikes before shooting in and taking him to the canvas again, this time via single-leg takedown. After a few minutes of the same smothering, grinding gameplan from Sanchez, Dennis sees light at the end of the tunnel and explodes to his feet. But before he can get any shots off, the wrestler smothers him into the cage and then seals the deal with another powerful takedown. Time expires and it’s another easy round for Sanchez, who wins the lopsided unanimous decision.
At the next fight announcement, Gadelha still has control and she opts to go with her own Lanchana Green to tango with the oft-maligned Helen Harper. Jedrzejczyk informs the camera that she is not thrilled with the fight because she believes Harper is not confident.
The episode ends with previews of next week and there is going to be some emotional turmoil in the house. Abdel Medjedoub receives a disturbing phone call from what seems to be his wife and all hell is about to break loose. He might have to leave the house and that drama is what will likely anchor Episode 5, which will see TUF 20 champion and former UFC world title challenger Carla Esparza making an appearance to help out Team Joanna.
Clearly the reigning UFC strawweight champion isn’t thrilled at the circumstances and lets her tongue fly. “They are training like little girls in primary school. They are training like pussies,” she tells the camera. She is next seen laying into her fighters and detailing how tough she had it growing up, and that it was her hard work that led her into becoming a champion.
Advertisement
After a few scenes showing Andrew Sanchez in preparation for his fight against Myron Dennis at the end of the episode, Team Joanna walks into the gym but Team Claudia is still in there, packing up their gear. Jedrzejczyk is miffed at what she deems as a lack of respect and begins squawking at Gadelha to pick up her stuff and get out.
“Move faster. Your time is over!” the Pole yells at Gadelha, which
elicits some devious chuckling from White, who says he expects
Jedrzejczyk to explode at any time.
Fast-forward some minor things inside the house and it’s time for the weigh-ins. Both combatants come to the scale and are on point, but during the face-off, Dennis backs off and has his beard sprayed with water and then gets out a mirror to make sure he looks good. Sanchez laughs about the clownish behavior and thinks that his foe is not focused on the right things.
After a festive night at the house where Team Claudia’s fighters initiate a water balloon battle, the fight is upon us. “Big” John McCarthy is the referee of the matchup and almost as soon as he tells the fighters to get it on, Dennis is on his back courtesy of a powerful takedown. The four-time NCAA All-American quickly scoots to half guard, looking to pass to his right. Dennis is calm and scrambles out, but Sanchez is all over him, staying right on his heels. A nice right fist to the cranium from Sanchez surfaces but Dennis rolls with it.
Finally, Dennis is able to pull guard and then kicks his foe off, but there’s not enough time for him to spring to his feet before Sanchez is back on him. Dennis looks to his team and smiles, but he can’t get Sanchez off of him at all and time is starting to run out already. A series of Sanchez elbows three minutes in from the top position make an appearance, but they are mostly blocked by “Light-Skinned Chocolate.” Finally, Dennis explodes to his feet but Sanchez presses him into the cage. It’s not long before Sanchez drags him back down to the canvas with a little over a minute left and lands in full guard. Sanchez slams a hard left elbow to his opponent with 30 seconds left and rides out the round in Dennis’ guard. It’s as easy a round as there can be: 10-9 Sanchez
The second starts off more promising for Dennis as he stuffs an early takedown attempt, but the former Glory fighter doesn’t let his hands or feet go as much as he should have. In fact, it’s actually Sanchez who is landing the better, more accurate strikes before shooting in and taking him to the canvas again, this time via single-leg takedown. After a few minutes of the same smothering, grinding gameplan from Sanchez, Dennis sees light at the end of the tunnel and explodes to his feet. But before he can get any shots off, the wrestler smothers him into the cage and then seals the deal with another powerful takedown. Time expires and it’s another easy round for Sanchez, who wins the lopsided unanimous decision.
At the next fight announcement, Gadelha still has control and she opts to go with her own Lanchana Green to tango with the oft-maligned Helen Harper. Jedrzejczyk informs the camera that she is not thrilled with the fight because she believes Harper is not confident.
The episode ends with previews of next week and there is going to be some emotional turmoil in the house. Abdel Medjedoub receives a disturbing phone call from what seems to be his wife and all hell is about to break loose. He might have to leave the house and that drama is what will likely anchor Episode 5, which will see TUF 20 champion and former UFC world title challenger Carla Esparza making an appearance to help out Team Joanna.
Related Articles
