TUF Season 32 BreakDown: Schevchnko VS Grasso (Updated Every Tuesday)

 Written By: Danny Albers 

Season 32 of The Ultimate Fighter pits one of the greatest female fighters of this generation Valentine Schevchenko against Mexican champion Alexa Grasso. A rematch between the two is set to take place as Grasso beat Schevchenko by submission on the first go around. There is a lot of mutual respect between the two fighters, so the typical shit-talking antics that TUF has been known for in the past is left out. Instead, we have a batch of some of the more skilled International fighters of all time, with over 10 countries being represented. This competition promised to be as competitive as the rivalry their two coaches have been engaged in. Let’s break down each fight from season 32. 

Episode 1: I thought season 1 started off with a bang on the first episode with an impressive featherweight fight. Guillermo Torres from Mexico was fighting for team Grasso. Beside an impressive figure, the man was an olympic wrestler for Mexico. He fought Team Valentina’s Roedie Roets from South Africa. Roets has a wrestling background, but believed that takedown defense and striking was going to carry him in this fight. It was a really close fight, but Roets sneaked out a 3-round unanimous decision victory. Torres was one of the more talented competitors that lost in the first round, so this was an impressive introduction to Roedie Roets. 

Episode 2: The second fight at middleweight was one of the more exciting fights of the season so far. Team Grasso looks like they got a great talent in Robert Valentin, the Swiss Viking fighting out of Thailand. He knocked out his Greek opponent Giannis Bachar with a vicious elbow in 18 seconds. This was a really heartbreaking episode. It began with Robert Valentin talking about how he has no family, or nobody to love him, just fighting. So he built up this Viking warrior persona to give him purpose so he didn’t think about calling it quits. You also see the trials and tribulations a fighter goes through after a vicious knockout loss. Giannis Bachar was seen breaking down in the kitchen having to be consoled by the other members of the house. It was a difficult scene to watch. 

Episode 3: The fights roll on after Omran Chaaban had a cold sore that wasn’t healed. So we were introduced to Liverpool’s Nathan Fletcher. Fletcher is coming out of the same fight gym as Paddy Pimblet and Molly McCann. He has some incredible submission skills. But his opponent is Kaan Ofli. The Australian fighter is one of the more impressive in the competitions and on Team Grasso. Fletcher held his own in the fight, but was far too cautious. Kaan kept the pressure up and dominated this fight in only 2-rounds. Fletcher admitted that he felt Kaan was the best fighter in the competition, and was excited to test his skills against him. 

Episode 4: Omraan Chaaban from team Grasso prepares for dangerous Russian wrestler Shamidkhan Magomedov. Aware that his opponent is going to rely on grappling and takedowns, Chaaban practices counters and kicks to keep the distance. Chabban has been training out of Ireland and has developed really clean striking. The fight begins as expected as Magomedov takes Chaaban down and puts in a deep leg lock. Chaaban makes it out of the round. He came into the second round feeling like he needed a finish to win the fight. He manages to lock in an anaconda choke of Magomedov using his length and chokes out the Russian. 

Episode 5: Zygimantas Ramaska fighting out of Team Shevchenko prepares for the featherweight showdown with Team Grasso’s Bekhzod Usmonov. The coaches and Dana White felt like this was going to be a war because of the aggressive style from both fighters. These guys are both tough, and come from the bare knuckle world. Both men were searching for a finish. Zygimantas Ramaska won by unanimous decision in a really close bloody scrap. Dana White came up to both men to congratulate them. Usually, that means both men probably earned themselves a UFC contract however far they make it in this competition. Dana White is looking for exciting fighters above all else, and these two men showed they are two of the most exciting fighters in TUF history. 

Episode 6: Tom Theocharis was fighting an uphill battle against American Ryan Loder. Loder is a collegiate wrestler who’s spent the better portion of his 20s coaching MMA fighters and college students how to wrestle. He began MMA at 29 when he realized he was mowing down MMA guys who were coming to his gym. So he began to train in Sacramento with UFC Hall of Famer Uriah Faber. Theocharis is from Ontario, having been the understudy to the late great Elias Theodoreu. Theocharis is known for his electric finishing power, and tried to neutralize the immaculate wrestling of Loder. But Loder didn’t need long at all to take the Canadian Spartan down and submit him. Ryan Loder looks like an early favorite to win the competition.

Episode 7: A featherweight bout between wrestler Edwin Cooper Jr. of Team Schevchenko and Mairon Santos of Team Grasso. Cooper was a lot more active on the feet. Cooper’s wrestling made him look inactive in the 2nd round. In the third round Cooper had the edge, but he didn’t do any real damage to Santos. So Santos was awarded the split decision victory. Both men came from LFA and have a lot of potential to grow into solid UFC main roster guys.