411’s The Ultimate Fighter 23: Team Joanna vs. Team Claudia Report 4.27.16

The Ultimate Fighter 23: Episode Two
Welcome to episode one of the Ultimate Fighter 23. This season, we will see UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk and No. 1 contender Claudia Gadelha as the coaches for the season. 16 fighters, 8 strawweight and 8 light heavyweight, will compete this season to earn a UFC contract. Last week, Team Claudia won the coin toss, and she picked the first fighter in team selection, so Joanna picked the fight for this week. This week’s fight is Team Claudia’s Cory Hendricks (3-0 MMA) vs. Team Joanna’s Khalil Rountree (4-0 MMA). Cory Hendricks had a bad contusion on his foot following his victory to get into the hoarse, which could hurt him here. Also of note, Cory Hendricks and Khalil Rountree are friends and training partners outside of the house.

* We get highlights from last week, as well as the confirmation that Joanna and Claudia do NOT like each other. We see the fighters make their way into the house, and many of them discussing how awesome the house is; this is a big deal to a lot of the fighters, who admit that they are low level and the fact that the money isn’t good until you really make it in the sport. There was some drama with Abdel Medjedoub, who was the last in and did not want to sleep in the final room, which was with four women. The issue is that he is married and a Muslim, and didn’t want to disrespect his wife and religion. Cory Hendricks ended up switching beds with him

* Cory Hendricks gets more focus, as he is getting his feet checked out by the orthopedic surgeon. He has contusions, but no fractures; he has been instructed to not use that foot. He informs the doctor that he has to fight in six days, so Hendricks knows he has to be cautious, but he loves to use his kicks.

* Claudia is happy with her team, and meets with them and announces that she and her team are splitting them (men and women) to maximize training. She also feels that the men are too big for the women, and will rely on her coaches to help with the training of the entire team. Claudia comes across as a caring coach, and the team seems to like her already.

* Team Joanna comes to train, and we have some tremendous back and forth between Joanna and Claudia. Joanna tells Claudia to leave, and respect the champion before she makes her “go back to the jungle.” These women do NOT like each other. Joanna keeps telling Claudia that she’s the boss. Claudia feels Joanna is a bully, and is not here to play games. Dana says he hopes that there are no issues before the actual fight.

* Joanna is very excited to coach, she wasn’t sure what to expect and was a bit nervous, but is happy. She plans to teach and treat everyone the same, she trains with men and feels that training with bigger, stronger and even faster men helped her become a champion. Joanna is more physically active as a coach, while Claudia (on day one) was more verbal. That is in no way a criticism, just an observation on day one.

* Cory Hendricks and Khalil Rountree discuss being from the same team, strawweight Jamie Moyle is also from Syndicate MMA. They all discuss having to fight, and want to show that two men can handle busies, fight, and still be teammates after their fight. This moves into background information on both guys, as well as their training montages. Claudia is concerned about Cory, de to his feet and the fact that he can’t go hard in training. He got a lot of treatment and massage work done to help his recovery. Rountree was a 300 pound black kid who was into punk rock and not accepted in his community, who lost weight and got into MMA after watching the Ultimate Fighter with his brother.

* Side story, Team Joanna’s Helen Harper is upset because she’s sick and has had to sit out of training. Rountree gave her a pep talk.

* At weigh-ins, Joanna is there wearing her strawweight title belt and trying to mind fuck Claudia. Joanna then talked shit to her boxing coach, who doesn’t even speak English. This led to another Joanna vs. Claudia argument in the hallway. Claudia keeps saying that Joanna did not beat her, and says Joanna needs to thank the judges. Joanna then said, “you may be #1 but fuck you, I’m the champion.” She also added that she did respect Claudia, but not any more. Joanna stared her down at one point, and Claudia said, “I know I’m beautiful, you don’t have to look all the time.” I want to see these two kill each other in July. Anyway, both fighters weighed in at 204.

* Back at the house, Helen is getting worse and is in the kitchen and is shaking. She feels like she will pass out, so Rountree was there again to help out and take her to her room. She was then taken to the doctors. Turns out she was dehydrated, and was given an IV. She thinks she will be better, and is happy because she can have her coffee. She thinks everyone has been nice to her, and will get back to training in a day or two.

* Fight day! Hendricks and Rountree lay on the floor in the house, and discuss the fight. They know they have to do it, but both don’t want a bloody war with their friend and teammate. Dana gave the “MMA is not a team sport” talk, and said that this is something guys in the sport have to do to be great. Dana also popped in to announce the $25,000 bonuses for the season (two for performance, as well as a fight of the season). Going into the fight, Rountree looks beats like and healthy. Cory has been limited, and has the foot injury. We’ll see what happens here.

Light Heavyweight Bout – Team Claudia’s Cory Hendricks (3-0 MMA) vs. Team Joanna’s Khalil Rountree (4-0 MMA): ROUND ONE: Cory’s left foot has a sleeve brace on it, which is about all he could have on it for some protection/stability. Good back and forth exchanges early, Cory takes it to the ground but Rountree gets up along the cage. He gets separation, both landing solid shots and then Rountree stuffs a shot and Cory lays on his back, but Rountree doesn’t want any of that shit. They both connect with strikes, Cory shoots and takes Rountree down, gets his back and looks for the choke. he doesn’t have it fully under the chin, but it finally slides under and Rountree has to tap. That was a good, but more importantly, a quick victory for Cory.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Team Claudia’s Cory Hendricks @ 2:43 of round one (submission)

– Both guys embrace post fight; Rountree took the loss well.

– With the victory, Team Claudia takes control of the fight pick.

– Claudia and Joanna talk shit after the fight.

NEXT WEEK: Team Claudia’s Tatiana Suarez SW (3-0 MMA) will face Team Joanna’s JJ Aldrich SW (2-1 MMA). We then get some clips from next week’s episode, including Claudia and Joanna talking more shit.

TEAM CLAUDIA
* Tatiana Suarez SW (3-0 MMA)
* Andrew Sanchez LHW (7-2 MMA)
* Kate Jackson SW (7-2-1 MMA)
* Eric Spicely LHW (8-0 MMA)
* Amanda Cooper SW (1-1 MMA)
* Abdel Medjedoub LHW (3-0 MMA)
* Lanchana Green SW (2-1 MMA)
* Cory Hendricks LHW (3-0 MMA, 1-0 TUF)

TEAM JOANNA
* JJ Aldrich SW (2-1 MMA)
* Josh Stansbury LHW (7-2 MMA)
* Jamie Moyle SW (3-1 MMA)
* Ashley Cummins SW (3-3 MMA)
* Myron Dennis LHW (12-4 MMA)
* Helen Harper SW (4-1 MMA)
* Elias Urbina LHW (3-0 MMA)
* Khalil Rountree LHW (4-0 MMA, 0-1 TUF)