Get caught up with everything that happened in the last twenty-four hours with today’s edition of the Daily MMA review with notes from TUF 20 tryouts, Anthony Johnson moving up the UFC rankings, the fastest submission in MMA history and much more.
The TUF 20 Tryouts Recap
Exactly two years ago, Invicta FC, MMA’s premier female-only fight organization, put on it’s first event, and today, the UFC held tryouts to help fill out the first female-only season of The Ultimate Fighter, a season that will crown the promotion’s inaugural women’s strawweight champion.
With eight potential spots and two alternate positions on the line, 36 fighters tried out to join Carla Esparza (9-2), Tecia Torres (4-0), Felice Herrig (9-5), Bec Hyatt (5-3), Joanne Calderwood, Rose Namajunas (2-1), Alex Chambers (4-1) and Emily Kagan (3-1) on the show.
In a media scrum at the tryouts, Dana White confirmed that the season premiere will be on Sept. 20, and that Claudia Gadelha (11-0), Juliana Lima (6-1) and Paige Van Zant (3-1), who were all rumored to be on the show, won’t be on the season because Gadelha couldn’t cut the weight that many times in such a short span of time, Lima didn’t speak good enough English and the 20-year-old VanZant was too young (which I assume is a Nevada regulation since Tyler Manawaroa and Jake Matthews, who were both 19 years old at the time, were on the Canada-based TUF Nations).
MMA Junkie released the names of the 36 fighters (three of which who were on that first Invicta FC card) vying for a shot in the TUF house as well some more information on TUF 20.
Here’s the complete list of the fighters that have been reported to be at the tryouts.
– Aisling Daly (14-5, 5 KO/TKO, 7 Sub)
– Amy Montenegro (3-0, 2 Sub)
– Angela Hill (1-0, 1 KO/TKO)
– Angela Magana (11-6, 2 KO/TKO, 6 Sub)
– Angelica Chavez (4-2, 4 Sub)
– Ashley Yoder (1-0, 1 Sub)
– Audrey Alvarez (2-0, 1 KO/TKO)
– Charlene Gellner (0-3)
– Chelsea Bailey (1-0, 1 Sub)
– Claire Fryer (4-1, 2 KO/TKO)
– Danielle Taylor (1-0)
– Diana Rael (5-3, 3 KO/TKO, 1 Sub)
– Heather Clark (6-4, 2 KO/TKO, 3 Sub)
– Helen Harper (2-0, 1 KO/TKO, 1 Sub)
– Holly Cline (1-0)
– Jennifer Liou (2-0, 1 KO/TKO)
– Jessica Penne (11-2, 2 KO/TKO, 7 Sub)
– Jillian Lybarger (0-1)
– Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger (3-1, 1 Sub)
– Justine Kish (4-0, 2 Sub)
– Karina Taylor (1-4, 1 NC)
– Kathina Catron (4-3, 1 KO/TKO, 2 Sub)
– Kristi Lopez (1-0)
– Laura Salazar (1-0, 1 KO/TKO)
– Lisa Ellis (15-8, 11 Sub)
– Mandy Polk (0-0)
– Maria Andaverde (1-2)
– Melissa Myers (0-1)
– Michelle Ould (7-3, 2 NC, 2 KO/TKO, 2 Sub)
– Nina Ansaroff (6-3, 4 KO/TKO, 1 Sub)
– Paulina Granados (2-1, 1 Sub)
– Randa Markos (4-1, 3 Sub)
– Sarah Schneider (6-6, 5 Sub)
– Sharice Davids (1-1, 1 Sub)
– Tessa Simpson (3-1, 1 KO/TKO, 1 Sub)
– Tyra Parker (3-4, 3 Sub)
The News
1. Anthony Johnson’s big win over Phil Davis dramatically rose him up the UFC rankings to the number five slot. He was previously the 14th ranked fighter in the division.
2. A time and location have been set for the Bellator 118 weigh-ins. The weigh-ins are scheduled to take place this Thursday at 5 p.m. ET at the Social inside Revel Casino.
3. In unusual MMA News, James Gallagher won via submission in about a second. His opponent, Alex McCooke, immediately tapped out right when the fight started. Here’s the fight video.
4. The WSOF Canada 2 card on June 7 has it’s co-main event as it was announced yesterday that Josh Hill (9-0) will take on Mike Adams (7-2). The winner of that bantamweight fight will compete at a later date to crown the promotion’s inaugural champion at 135 pounds.
Hill was a major bantamweight prospect that lost a bit of steam when he lost in the quarterfinals of TUF 18. Adams has a submission win over former MFC lightweight champion Graham Spencer, but he is looking to rebound after losing two of his last three.
5. A trio of fights were added to the May 30 ONE FC 16 that features the promotional debut of Ben Askren. In a lightweight bout, Eddie Ng (7-1) will look to extend his five fight winning streak against Vincent Latoel (14-14-2), and two featherweight fights that pit Honorio Banario (8-3) against Jadamba Narantungalag (8-3) and Bruno Picci (3-0) against Major Overall (4-1) were finalized for the card.
Stuff I Enjoyed
1. Bloody Elbow’s Connor Ruebusch is one of the best striking analysts in the MMA blogosphere, and I become a little bit smarter after each article I read from him. Here’s his latest on Jon Jones’ outing against Glover Teixeira at UFC 172.
2. MMA Junkie posted a fun video where a few UFC fighters were polled on who they think could possibly fill Dana White’s shoes. My suggestion? Johnny Manziel, of course.
3. Trent Reismith of Bloody Elbow followed Jim Miller in the lead-up for his UFC 172 bout, and today, the first part of what he took from the experience was published. It looked into Miller’s current weight cutting process as well as what he did in past.
4. This is outside the realm of MMA, but earlier today, Gary Smith, an all-time great sportswriter, has retired from Sports Illustrated. S.L. Price of SI wrote a splendid pieceon Smith that is must-read for people that you know, enjoy sportswriting.
One Last Thing
Just days before his 81st birthday, country music legend Willie Nelson received a 5th-degree black belt in GongKwon Yusul, which, based on an investigation that I performed, appears to be a Korean-made martial art that is similar to MMA in that it provides a mixture of striking and grappling.