411’s The Ultimate Fighter 23: Team Joanna vs. Team Claudia Report 5.18.16

The Ultimate Fighter 23: Episode Three
Welcome to episode five 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 Andrew Sanchez (7-2 MMA) defeated Team Joanna’s Myron Dennis (12-4 MMA) to take a 3-0 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 Lanchana Green (2-1 MMA) battling Team Joanna’s Helen Harper (4-1 MMA). Also, Carla Esparza visits and trains with Team Joanna, while they teased that Abdel Medjedoub will receive a call from home, which may cause him to abandon the competition.

* We start with Team Claudia’s training, and get to meet Lanchana Green, who will be fighting today. She got beaten up as a kid and decided that she never wanted that to happen again, which led to her to a life of martial arts. She plans to keep her distance and strike, keeping the fight on the feet because Helen Harper likes to finish with ground and pound. Claudia is doing a lot of one on one with Green, trying to strengthen her ground game.

* Joanna brings in Carla Esparza to work with her team, which has to be awkward considering that Joanna owned her when she won the title. Esparza has a lot of respect for Joanna, and is honored to be here as a guest coach. Helen Harper is all fired up about the fight, and says she will win. Esparza works on catching kicks for takedowns and various throws to get a striker down. Joanna thinks highly of Harper, and her chances to win. Harper knows Green is a great striker, but doesn’t feel she’s got a lot of MMA experience.

* Back at the house, Helen Harper discusses that an ex-boyfriend beat her up, which is why she got into the marital arts, she wanted to learn to protect herself. She gets a bit emotional talking about it, and admits that at the time she was in denial. But now she looks back and realizes that it made her a stronger person and feels that now, she can survive anything.

* A TUF producer meets with Abdel Medjedoub, his wife contacted them and stated that she needed to talk with him. We get a ton of censoring a she flips when they tell her they are going to record the call. Dana speaks about this, and says they normally do not allow this, but she said it was an emergency. She claims he did something prior to leaving for the show, and is so upset that she will leave him if he doesn’t come home. Abdel won’t say what he did, other than it was a bad thing and it too personal to discuss. He speaks to her on the phone, and again says he did bad things, and that he doesn’t deserve her

* Some of the team comments on the situation, noting that they do not know what the deal is but that they know she wants him to leave the show. Claudia arrives and sees the mood is off, and wants to know what happened. Abdel speaks with her, saying he lost his wife and that he will talk more later on.

* WEIGH-INS: Helen Harper weighs in at 116, while Lanchana Green’s weight is not given, which is odd. I assume she made weight, because of she didn’t, they would have made a production out of it.

* FIGHT DAY: Both ladies prepare for the fight; Harper meditates while Green spars and gets loose.

* It looks as if this will go two, maybe three rounds.

Strawweight Bout – Team Claudia’s Lanchana Green (2-1 MMA) vs. Team Joanna’s Helen Harper (4-1 MMA): ROUND ONE: Green has a 3-inch reach advantage, while Harper has the experience (MMA wise) advantage. They both rush to center cage and immediately try to get their distance. Both land early, and are working at a quick pace. Green tries to clinch as they both land knee strikes. Harper presses along the cage, looking for a takedown, but Green defends well. Green switched position and escapes. Harper takes it back to the cage, her team keeps yelling for takedowns, but Green again defends well. Harper keeps position as Green lands some knees and a good right hook on the exit. After a brief exchange, Harper fails on the takedown and green lands some good shots from the top before they get back up. Back to the cage, they trade some knees as Harper keeps looking for a takedown, but cannot get it. Green lands with leg kicks, and then a left hook as the round ends. SCORECARD: Green 10-9.

ROUND TWO: They come out aggressively again, with both landing solid strikes. Good leg kick from Green, but Harper clips her and takes her to the cage. She digs for the takedown, but Green again shows good defense and lands some hammer fists. They separate; Harper looks completely frustrated here but finally gets the takedown center cage. She works from half guard, but Green does well tying her up and not allowing her to do much damage. Harper lands some short strikes and is mostly accumulating riding time. She finally gets mount and as green bucks, Harper lands more strikes, nothing major but enough to keep position. Green can’t escape, but Harper doesn’t have enough to put her away from here. More strikes from Harper, and finally lands a good elbow as the round ends. SCORECARD: 19-19

ROUND THREE: Final round here, as again both come out aggressively, looking to set the pace. Both land solid stuff as Harper takes it to the cage and looks for that takedown. Green punches her way out of that, and then lands some good body and leg kicks. Harper is chasing with her strikes, but gets it back along the cage. She works for a trip and tries to pull Green down, finally gets her down but Green pops right back up. Harper has her from the back and eats a few elbows, so she switches position and green separates and works the leg kick following a combo. Harper is looking busted up as green is finding a home for her strikes. Green keeps working body and leg kicks to try and keep separation; Harper takes her to the cage and desperately rags her to the mat. She works from half guard, but Green works her way back to her feet and separates. Good right over the top and a leg kick by Green, counter by Harper, who again shoots in the final 10-seconds, and the round ends on the feet. Close final round. SCORECARD: Green 29-28

OFFICIAL RESULT: Lanchana Green via unanimous decision (29-28 across the cards)

* The fight and the performance of both ladies impressed Dana.

* Team Claudia is now up 4-0 in the overall competition. They celebrate, and Claudia refuses to shake Joanna’s hand. Green says their confidence is off the hook right now.

* Helen Harper is devastated by her loss, her team tries to console her, but it doesn’t help. She says she did everything she could. Joanna says they will keep doing their thing, and while they are 0-4, she is proud of Harper.

* Joanna and Claudia argue prior to the pick of the next fight. Claudia comes off way better than Joanna in these exchanges.

NEXT WEEK: Team Claudia’s Eric Spicely LHW (8-0 MMA) faces Team Joanna’s Elias Urbina LHW (3-0 MMA). Abdel Medjedoub meets with Dana about continuing on the show.

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, 1-0 TUF)
* 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)
* Elias Urbina LHW (3-0 MMA)
* Helen Harper SW (4-1 MMA, 0-1 TUF)
* 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)