411’s The Ultimate Fighter 23: Team Joanna vs. Team Claudia Report 5.11.16

The Ultimate Fighter 23: Episode Three
Welcome to episode four 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’s Tatiana Suarez (3-0 MMA) defeated Team Joanna’s JJ Aldrich (2-1 MMA) to take a 2-0 advantage in the competition. They kept control of the fight selection, which did not make Joanna happy. We also have more shit talk and drama between Claudia and Joanna. This week we will see Team Claudia’s Andrew Sanchez (7-2 MMA) vs. Team Joanna’s Myron Dennis (12-4 MMA).

* Dana discusses that Joanna is a very competitive person and is not happy about being down 2-0. Joanna tells her team that they only lost due to stupid mistakes, and she admits that she got mean with them at practice. Joanna pts them through a hard practice, and says that they are acting school kids, like pussies. She then tells the team if they don’t want to work hard and fight hard, to make a vacation out of this. She will show Claudia that she is wrong. Joanna then explains that she’s worked hard since she was 12, and says that she worked for everything that she has. Some of the team took it as motivation, while some were sad pandas.

* Back at the house, Team Joanna tried to motivate themselves in a huddle and they plan to fuck some people up. Team Claudia was not impressed by this, with Andrew Sanchez says that they were showing fear by doing this in the house. Claudia arrived with her team to put on a Brazilian BBQ for the house. Claudia wants her team to know that she believes in them, and that she is with them.

* Team Claudia trains, as we get some background on Andrew Sanchez. Claudia knows that his opponent, Myron Dennis, is a tough opponent but feels her fighter is a complete fighter and will win. Sanchez is walking around at 200 pounds, and admits he is smaller than most of the guys, but has speed and technique that will make up for the size disadvantage.

* At Team Joanna’s practice, they invade right when Team Claudia was to finish with Rountree wearing a referee shirt and blowing a whistle. Claudia thought it was funny, but Joanna bitched at her to get out, move faster and get their shit out. Claudia doesn’t give a shit about Joanna’s bitching. She also thinks Joanna is compensating for not being confident. Team Joanna practices, and we learn a bit about Myron Dennis as he trains.

* Back at the house, Andrew Sanchez is chill and plays guitar. We then see him working out with Amanda Cooper, who he has become friends with. She’s fun, competitive and a good person to be around. Myron Dennis had “dinner with his wife,” which was him eating steak with her picture. They got married in November and have a kid on the way. Sanchez arrives and plays some tunes for him. He was actually married before and has three kids from that marriage.

* Weigh-ins! Myron Dennis weighs in at 204.5. Andrew Sanchez weighs in at 200. Dennis goofs around at the stand off, getting wet down and grooming his beard. Sanchez was surprised by this, and feels that Dennis is not that confident.

* Back at the house, the fighters hang out and discuss being kicked in the balls. This of course led to a water balloon attack from team Claudia. And a good time was had by all.

* This is going at least two rounds, judging by the time left.

* Fight day! Both guys go through the usual warm-ups. Age, reach and height are all basically even; Dennis seven more MMA fights than Sanchez.

Light Heavyweight Bout: Team Claudia’s Andrew Sanchez (7-2 MMA) vs. Team Joanna’s Myron Dennis (12-4 MMA): ROUND ONE: Dennis came out aggressively, looking to set for his striking advantage. Sanchez took him right down and worked short strikes along the cage. Sanchez has nice control from top, keeping Dennis grounded and working the half guard. Even when Sanchez opens up and gets a bit sloppy with top control, Dennis can’t do anything to advance to a better position. Sanchez is landing enough to keep them grounded and to constantly frustrate Dennis, who simply has no answer. Dennis manages to pull Sanchez to guard, but eats some choice elbows for his trouble. With 1:30 left, Dennis finally makes it back to his feet, but gets tripped back down 15-seconds later. Sanchez smothers Dennis to finish off the round. SCORECARD: Sanchez 10-9

ROUND TWO: Sanchez shot early, and they went to the cage and Dennis managed to keep things on the feet. We get a lot of circling and throwing from both, but neither man landing much of anything here. Sanchez lands a few leg kicks, tries to shoot and pulls Dennis down. It was a poor shot in reality, but Dennis has shit defense for takedowns and an even worse ground game. Sanchez again controls with ease, working the short strikes and maintaining the control from half guard. He has Dennis center cage, giving Dennis less to work with in terms of trying to escape. Dennis did manage to connect with an up kick, but Sanchez dropped back into the guard. Dennis finally kicked him off and got back to the feet. Sanchez rushed him to the cage, and got another takedown with 35-seconds to go in the round. He again smothered Dennis to finish the round. This was an easy win for Sanchez. SCORECARD: Sanchez 20-18

OFFICIAL RESULT: Team Claudia’s Andrew Sanchez via unanimous decision

– Team Claudia is now 3-0 in the competition, and maintains control of picking the fights.

– Sanchez had a dance party with his team, noting how close they have gotten and how great the vibe is for them. Team Joanna’s locker room was basically silent, because Dennis failed. Dennis said he wanted to get his team the win, but Sanchez did a great job.

NEXT WEEK: Team Claudia’s Lanchana Green SW (2-1 MMA) faces Team Joanna’s Helen Harper SW (4-1 MMA); Carla Esparza visits and trains with Team Joanna, Abdel Medjedoub receives a call from home which may cause him to abandon the competition.

TEAM CLAUDIA
* 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)
* Andrew Sanchez LHW (7-2 MMA, 1-0 TUF)
* Tatiana Suarez SW (3-0 MMA, 1-0 TUF)
* Cory Hendricks LHW (3-0 MMA, 1-0 TUF)

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