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411’s The Ultimate Fighter 23: Team Joanna vs. Team Claudia Report 6.01.16

June 1, 2016 | Posted by Larry Csonka

The Ultimate Fighter 23: Episode Seven
Welcome to episode seven 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 Eric Spicely (8-0 MMA) defeated Team Joanna’s Elias Urbina (3-0 MMA) to take a 6-0 advantage in the series. Dane White was not impressed with Spicely, saying, “that fucking guy is terrible and he’s going to win.” This week, Team Claudia’s Amanda Cooper SW (1-1 MMA) faces Team Joanna’s Jamie Moyle SW (3-1 MMA). Joanna’s smack talk at the fight announcement annoys Team Claudia. In training, Joanna tries to keep her fighters motivated. Khalil Rountree struggles through the anniversary of his father’s tragic death, while Amanda Cooper gets emotional as she reads through letters her family and friends wrote for her before she left to enter the competition. Later, both teams head out for a night on the Vegas Strip, enjoying one of the town’s most popular variety shows.

* Team Claudia is not pleased that Joanna said that Amanda Cooper will be an easy fight. They are now extra motivated to run the table. Jamie Moyle wants to get the first win for Team Joanna and get their team back on track. Joanna brought in TJ Dillashaw to help her team. “Hi guys, I brought you TJ Dillashaw” was her greeting to the team, it may have been the accent, but it was funny to me. Moyle really appreciated Dillashaw being there right before her fight. She’s not training against Cooper, she’s training what she does well and plans to make that enough to win. Dana says that Joanna is struggling with the losses, and that it’s taking the toll on her team. Rountree says he is still working through his knee injury, but is trying to stay positive because he could be brought back.

* But back at the house, Rountree is outside crying, as today is his father’s birthday. His father, who was a road manager for groups like Boyz to Men, New Edition, Another Bad Creation, passed away when he was two. He usually makes a cake on this day and walks around and talks to his father. Being in the house has made it tough, and he almost forgot about the day. His father was robbed by a group of guys, who attacked him and shot him when they went to his hotel to try and take his things.

* Amanda Cooper puts over Jamie Moyle, and says she has wanted the fight and has been working for the fight to prove herself. Joanna feels Cooper will do well, but has to work on the little details. Cooper says she is a purple belt in BJJ, and hasn’t been able to work her striking as much because she had a torn ACL for her last three fights. Cooper keeps mentioning the sweep, and they are either keeping the set up going for that, or it will come crashing down. We shall see.

* Cooper reads letters from home that were given to her to take in the house. She says she needs this to help her get through the show and to make her feel good. Her father was a boxer, and got them into the sport to stay in shape, but he helped her get into MMA through that. She just wants to accomplish her dreams.

* Three days before the fight, the house prepares to go out. Dana says that this is a special outing, because they love the cast and how hard they have worked. They had a party bus, Claudia arrived to go with them and was dressed nicely (I believe the technical term is FOINE), which Joanna was in regular clothes and seemed rather grumpy. Ashley Cummins did a little performance on the bus’ stripper pole and everyone drank. They went to see the “Absinthe” show in Vegas. Two of the male fighters had to do a striptease for Jamie Moyle; and a good time was had by all…

* WEIGH-INS: Amanda Cooper liked to dress up and did so for the weigh-ins. Moyle weighed in first at 115.5. Cooper, after some issues with her dress and mic pack, weighed in at 115.

* FIGHT DAY: Both fighters arrive, and they go through their usual warm up routines and get last minute instructions from their coaches.

* It looks as if this will go two rounds.

Strawweight Bout: Team Claudia’s Amanda Cooper (1-1 MMA) vs. Team Joanna’s Jamie Moyle (3-1 MMA): ROUND ONE: Moyle has a slight reach (1-inch) advantage, while Cooper is two-inches taller. They came out trading, and both ladies landed well; Moyle wasn’t afraid to get in the pocket and trade with Cooper. Cooper was doing a good job of keeping the fight on the feet, and fighting off Moyle’s takedown attempts. Cooper got separation and was starting to use her striking advantage to stay away and land clean shots. Moyle was missing more than landing here as Cooper was starting to mix things up with some kicks. To hr credit, Moyle kept closing in and landing a bit and finally got the takedown. She got half guard and worked for side control as Cooper tries to use a kimura to stop that. Cooper gave her a fair bit of issues from the bottom, so Moyle didn’t do as much damage as she needed to in order to steal the round. Fun round. SCORECARD: Cooper 10-9

ROUND TWO: Cooper started to land first, still mixing in some kicks, but those kicks allowed Moyle to take her down. She worked from half guard, but Cooper was fighting well from the bottom and also landing the more solid strikes. Moyle got to side control, stood up and Cooper was able to make her way back up. That was a wasted opportunity for Moyle. They worked along the cage, and Cooper started to land some good knees and strikes, busting Moyle open. Cooper found a home for the right elbow, and they went to the mat with Cooper on top. Cooper kept working rights to both levels as Moyle couldn’t push her off. Cooper then got side control and rained down with elbows and hammer fists. Moyle kept trying to fight out, but Cooper was all over her. Moyle managed some up kicks, but the round ended with Cooper on top and dominating. SCORECARD: Cooper 20-18

OFFICIAL RESULT: Amanda Cooper via majority decision

* Dana feels there was an argument for a third round. Cooper says she needs to work on things, but is happy with the win. Team Joanna feels it should have gone to a third round, as her coaches say that the judges do not know fighting. She asks the judges, “why did you do this to her?” and called one of them an idiot.

* Dana says Team Joanna was pissed, and felt they had the right to be upset. He again says it should have gone to a third round. Nonetheless, Team Claudia moves to 6-0.

* At the fight pick, Claudia says there are no easy fights, while Joanna still claims Cooper did not win.

NEXT WEEK: Team Claudia’s Abdel Medjedoub LHW (3-0 MMA) faces Team Joanna’s Josh Stansbury LHW (7-2 MMA). Josh Stansbury was in a season 19 elimination fight, and broke his leg as he was in a fight to get into the house. He is looking for redemption. Also, Cory Hendricks gets injured in training and turns to alternative medicine to recover

TEAM CLAUDIA
* Kate Jackson SW (7-2-1 MMA)
* Abdel Medjedoub LHW (3-0 MMA)
* Amanda Cooper SW (1-1 MMA, 1-0 TUF)
* Eric Spicely LHW (8-0 MMA, 1-0 TUF)
* 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)
* Ashley Cummins SW (3-3 MMA)
* Jamie Moyle SW (3-1 MMA, 0-1 TUF)
* Elias Urbina LHW (3-0 MMA, 0-1 TUF)
* 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)