The Ultimate Fighter
THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER 19 REPORT 4/16: Penick's random thoughts on "Team Penn vs. Team Edgar" premiere
Apr 16, 2014 - 11:30:36 PM THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER 19 REPORT 4/16: Penick's random thoughts on "Team Penn vs. Team Edgar" premiere

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Another season of The Ultimate Fighter kicks off tonight on Fox Sports 1 with 32 middleweights and light heavyweights fighting to get into the house to be coached by B.J. Penn and Frankie Edgar. I'll be bringing some "virtual time" thoughts on the broadcast and the opening round fights here over the next couple of hours to close down our day-long UFC coverage today.

-We kick things off with a few fighters giving some typical cliché comments regarding what's at stake here, and Dana White throwing in the talking point that this is where they'll find the next group of stars.

-Dana set the stage for why Penn and Edgar are coaching this season. Edgar said he was fine giving Penn a shot here because Penn gave him his title opportunity.

-Interesting note, Edgar said he tried out for TUF's fifth season, which Penn coached. Penn reacted saying "no way!"

-Friends and family pile in to the TUF facility for the opening round fights. Looks like we'll have Tyler King, with his mother in tow, and Daniel Spohn, fighting for his family, up first. King was a former lineman in the NFL, the graphic noted.

-Spohn just lit King up. Knocked him down with a huge right hand as King rushed in, and landed two brutal strikes on the ground. King's mom looked on horrified as King was out for a bit. Ouch.

Daniel Spohn moves in to the house by KO

-Adrian Miles against Hector Urbina up next. Hard to get sucked into anyone's story from the outset here, though perhaps some of these will stand out once we get them into the house.

-Nice opening scramble between the two. Urbina was relentless on his takedowns, though Miles worked to his feet. Urbina then locked on a guillotine and pulled guard for the submission win.

Hector Urbina moves in to the house by guillotine

-Urbina after the win: "I just want to call everybody but y'all took my phone."

-Jake Heun is back after a failed bid to get into the house on TUF 17 last year. He has added pressure as he says he'd "look like an asshole" if they called him back and he lost again.

-Todd Monaghan, an "MMA preacher" is his opponent here.

-Heun: "It's a conscious decision to be a broke-ass fighter."

-Heun was doing a bunch of damage to Monaghan throughout the round, though he had a string of strikes land to the back of the head. Heun wound up taking his back in transition and throwing down strikes, but Monaghan stayed in it. Monaghan then pulled off an armbar out of nowhere and Heun had to tap.

Todd Monaghan moves into the house by armbar

-Heun said after the loss, "I'm done. That was my last shot."

-Kim Winslow announced it incorrectly as a TKO, and Monaghan corrected her.

-Cathal Pendred got a bye into the house. White said every fighter they tried to get to face him in that opening round got hurt, so they just moved him through. No surprise contestant, I guess.

Cathal Pendred moves into the house by default

-Roger Zapata is up next against Tyler Minton. Zapata's got a baby at home he sees on Skype, with Minton's wife coming along to watch his fight.

-Minton: "If I don't get into the UFC, I blew it. For me, not getting to the UFC is not an option."

-Zapata beat the crap out of Minton and scored a TKO win. Penn was impressed by Zapata's striking, but thinks he needs more power.

Roger Zapata moves into the house by TKO

-Bellator's inaugural Welterweight Champ Lyman Good got beat by Ian Stephens. This was essentially set up for Dana to take potshots at Good.

-White: "It's not gonna look good if the f***ing Bellator Champ can't make it into the house."

-White: "We can't have a f***ing guy in here anyway who can't f***ing stand up once he's taken down. You can't fight in the UFC if you can't f***ing defend a takedown or get up."

-That last quote is particularly amusing given what we saw Michael Bisping do tonight.

Ian Stephens moves into the house by decision

-Chris Fields is up next taking on Josh Stansbury. Stansbury did a bunch of damage early in the opening round. Fields had a solid chin and soldiered on, though. Conor McGregor was there in support of his fellow Cage Warriors vet. Stansbury scored a takedown but his knee popped out on him and the fight was halted. That's a crappy way to go out, but the UFC should give him another shot to get into the house on a future season, kind of like Myles Jury did.

Chris Fields moves into the house by injury TKO

-Anton Berzin vs. Cody Mumma up next. Jiu jitsu black belt vs. kickboxer with some ground skills, according to Dana. Mumma's got his wife and mother watching the fight, with differing levels of enthusiasm. Berzin scores a nice armbar after scrambling well off a takedown from Mumma.

Anton Berzin moves into the house by armbar

-Tim Williams, who lost to Dylan Andrews in the season 17 opening round, gets another crack at getting into the house. He reveals he had a brain aneurysm prior to his first ever fight and it delayed his MMA run.

-Serbian fighter Bojan Velickovic gets a passionate reunion with his girlfriend at the hotel after having not seen her for a month. His girlfriend, Zenja Draca, is a collegiate tennis player. Velickovic would be the first fighter from Serbia in the UFC if he makes his way there.

-We only get highlights of the fight. Williams picked up a win in the third round, which Velickovic shouldn't have even been sent out for. He was out on his feet after the second round, and the ref thankfully stopped it while he was standing real early in the third off some uncontested strikes.

Tim Williams moves into the house by TKO

-Matt Gabel vs. Eddie Gordon up next. Edgar notes that Gordon trains with Weidman. He grabs a front choke early, then lands some big strikes. He rag-dolled Gabel down. Back to highlights as they don't show the whole fight. Gordon beat Gabel up for what seemed to be a clear decision.

Eddie Gordon moves into the house by decision

-Next up is John Poppie, who says he suffers from bi-polar disorder and talks about the battle he has with that condition. He takes on Josh Clark. Interesting note, he said he'd lose his job if he gets in the house for this and his wife doesn't know that. More highlights. The fight went to a sudden victory third round. Clark scores the win with a third round triangle/armbar. He'll be losing his job, apparently.

Josh Clark moves into the house by triangle/armbar

-Patrick Walsh was up next against the very odd Doug Sparks, who walks around with polar bear ears and says he's half polar bear. I guess after nine years and 19 seasons you're bound to see just about everything, but yeah, that's just ridiculous.

-In the fight itself, Walsh scored a takedown, survived a guillotine attempt, then secured a kimura, rolled through with it, and forced a very pained tap from Sparks.

Patrick Walsh moves into the house by kimura

-Daniel Vizcaya and Matt Van Buren are up next. Odd stoppage in real time as Herb Dean stopped the fight as Vizcaya was going for a takedown, but he went out ever so briefly from a series of elbows by Van Buren.

Matt Van Buren moves into the house by TKO

-Kelly Anundson is up next. Here's a guess, he doesn't make it into the house (he just picked up a win at Bellator 115 a week and a half ago).

-His opponent is Corey Anderson, who is a wrestling coach and holds a 3-0 record into the show.

-We get highlights again in this one. Anundson did OK in the first round, but Anderson controlled much of what they showed and picked up the decision.

Corey Anderson moves into the house by decision

-Adam Stroupp vs. Dhiego Lima up next. His brother is Douglas Lima, who fights for Bellator's Welterweight Title this week. Lima takes a decision as we get highlights once again.

Dhiego Lima moves into the house by decision

-Here's the Nordine Taleb fight against Mike King. Taleb was on "TUF: Nations" house but got beat in the opening round. It's unlikely he's getting into the house here as he fought (and won) on tonight's "TUF: Nations" Finale card.

-Taleb and King put on quite the violent fight, with both of them landing several combinations and each doing quite a bit of damage in the opening round.

-King kept the pressure on in the second, but got taken down. He got to his feet, though and delivered a solid exchange. It was just a back and forth round again. Taleb evened things up to bring it to a third. I'm guessing he loses in the third, but everyone was impressed with his performance which gave him another chance on the TUF Nations Finale tonight.

-Taleb actually scored a knockdown early, but King caught him in a nasty looking kneebar that hyperextended Taleb's leg. He didn't tap though, and actually got to his feet. It looked like his kneecap had popped out. King got him back to the ground and nearly grabbed an Americana, but Taleb got out of it. King ended with strikes on top. Yeah, I absolutely see why they gave him another chance. Fun fight, and Taleb actually did pick up a win on tonight's TUF card, so good on him for taking advantage of his opportunity.

Mike King moves into the house by decision

-After the break, the coaches pick their teams.

-Dana lays out the season bonuses which everyone will be up for the season. Edgar wins the toss and takes first pick.


TEAM EDGAR

205 lbs.

Corey Anderson
Patrick Walsh
Matt Van Buren
Todd Monaghan

185 lbs.

Ian Stephens
Dhiego Lima
Eddie Gordon
Hector Urbina


TEAM PENN

205 lbs.

Anton Berzin
Josh Clark
Daniel Spong
Chris Fields

185 lbs.

Mike King
Tim Williams
Cathal Pendred
Roger Zapata

-Penn gets pick of first fight, he pits Cathal Pendred against Hector Urbina. Pendred's fresh as he didn't have to fight to get into the house. Pendred's been talked up a lot out of Cage Warriors in the U.K., so we'll see what we get from him next week.

-Quick season preview's up next and emotions are high from those in the house. Dana has to break something up at some point, and it sounds like some crazy judging and/or reffing issue sometime later in the season.

-It looks like it could be a solid season here. There's some decent talent, and some promising guys who have been hyped up prior to the season, particularly in Pendred. Penn and Edgar seem prepared to as coaches right now, but the house drama that seems on its way is not something I'll be anticipating.