The Ultimate Fighter 18 Week 4 Notes: Team Rousey’s Edmond Tarverdyan in Another Altercation
Tensions between the Team Rousey and Team Tate coaching staffs continued in the fourth episode of The Ultimate Fighter 18.
Coaches Nearly Come to Blows
During last week’s episode, Team Rousey striking coach Edmond Tarverdyan had some choice words for Miesha Tate’s boyfriend Bryan Caraway. This week, Tarverdyan focused his attention on former UFC fighter Dennis Hallman.
“Dennis Hallman is one of our guest coaches. He’s fought in the UFC. He’s a friend of ours. We’ve trained with him a bunch, so we wanted to bring him out here,” explained coach Tate. “Edmond was eyeballing Dennis up and down just like he’s been kind of doing to all the rest of us, the rest of our crew. And Dennis is just not one to put up with that.”
Tarverdyan offered to give Hallman his phone number so they could settle their differences. Hallman suggested they go into the UFC gym and “go right now.” Tarverdyan suggested that Hallman was trying to get him kicked off the show. Coach Ronda Rousey intervened and told Hallman to do it at the right time.
“Look at the cameras. Do it when they’re not around and then you’ll be a man,” said Rousey to the 69-fight veteran.
Hallman responded, “I can wait here until they leave.”
“When I first got here, it didn’t seem like it was going to be so bad until they lost the first fight,” said Tate. “After Julie (Pena) beat Shayna (Baszler), Ronda has been throwing a piss-fit.”
UFC president Dana White had to play mediator between the two teams.
“I’m like guys, stop. This isn’t going to happen here. This isn’t what this is about. It’s not what we’re here for,” said White. “We are here for these fighters and let’s give them every opportunity to win. All this drama and (expletive) will be settled when Ronda and Miesha fight.”
The Fight: Roxanne Modafferi vs. Jessica Rakoczy
Rakoczy had a shoulder injury heading into the bout and Coach Rousey believed that’s why Team Tate picked her to fight this week.
Stylistically the match-up put a striker against a grappler. Rakoczy is a boxing champion, while Modafferi is known for her submission prowess.
Modafferi secured a takedown early in the opening round, but was unable to inflict damage. Rakoczy fought her way off the bottom and gained top control. Modaferri isolated an arm and worked for submissions, but Rakoczy defended the submission attempts. Modaferri won the round on MMAWeekly.com’s scorecard with a late takedown.
Rakoczy put her boxing skills on display in the second frame. She landed a left hook that knocked Modaferri down, but Modaferri quickly bounced back to her feet. She pulled guard and Rakoczy unloaded punches before letting Modaferri up. The referee warned Rakoczy about grabbing the fence, but did not take a point. When the fight resumed, Modaferri secured a takedown. Rakoczy reversed her and Modaferri applied a closed guard. Rakoczy elevated her and slammed Modaferri to the canvas nearly knocking her out. Rakoczy landed punches as Modaferri struggled to defend herself. The referee stepped in and stopped the fight.
Jessica Rakoczy gave Team Rousey its first win of the season.
Fight Announcement
Rakoczy’s technical knockout of Modaferri switched matchmaking control to Team Rousey. Coach Rousey decided to match David Grant against Team Tate’s Louis Fisette.
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