‘TUF 18’ Recap: Episode 12
Tonight’s episode will wrap the men’s semifinal round, as Team Rousey’s Anthony Gutierrez and Davey Grant battle for a spot opposite Chris Holdsworth at the Nov. 30 finale.
Episode 12 begins with Ronda Rousey and her coaching staff dropping by the house to cook the fighters some Armenian grub. Although Grant and Gutierrez would like to chow down on the delicious hunks of spit-roasted meat, they must taper their calorie consumption in order to make weight for their fight.
Advertisement
Up next is the coaches’ challenge, which will see Rousey square off with Miesha Tate in a rock-climbing competition. The first coach to reach the top of the wall will receive $10,000, and each fighter on her squad will get $1,500. Midway through the climb, the women are deadlocked, but Rousey takes a slight lead as they continue to ascend and narrowly edges Tate to the top.
“F--k you, bitch!” Rousey screams in ecstasy as she rings the bell
that signifies Tate’s defeat. The UFC champion continues to rub it
in on the way down, flipping Tate the bird and explaining that the
same result will come to pass when they meet at UFC 168.
Back at the fighter house, Gutierrez is chowing down on sandwiches and cheesy tortilla bombs. Though his teammates express concern that “Sharkbait” may not make weight, the Titan Fighting Championship vet is confident that he will hit the bantamweight limit.
After working out, Gutierrez steps on the scale at 150.5 pounds. Rousey advises him to be cognizant of what he is putting into his body so that he will not only make weight but also be at his best on fight day.
Later, Grant reveals to Holdsworth that he used to be known as “DJ Davey G” in the English club scene. After settling down and fathering children, however, Grant dedicated himself to his fighting career -- a decision that has served him well so far. Though Grant says that it is difficult to fight a teammate, he is nevertheless resolved to defeat Gutierrez and earn both a finals berth and his ticket home to England.
The morning of the weigh-ins, Gutierrez steps on the scale at 145.5. He must cut nine pounds in four hours in order to make 136. Grant, meanwhile, is feeling better at 140 pounds. With three hours remaining, Gutierrez jumps on the treadmill. An hour later, he checks himself at 143.5. Rousey and Baszler vow to stay on him and help him make weight, but Gutierrez will be cutting it close, to put it mildly. The 23-year-old wants to take breaks, but Rousey tries to talk him into more activity. Gutierrez alternates between the treadmill and the sauna for the final hour but nevertheless steps on the scale at 140 pounds in front of Keith Kizer.
Gutierrez has one hour to drop an additional four pounds, but the situation looks grim. The brutal process breaks the young man down, and he begins to weep in the sauna. He exits the sweat box and lies down on the cold tile of the bathroom floor before jumping in a cold shower. Though his team pleads with him to reconsider, Gutierrez tells them he is done cutting weight. Just as Cody Bollinger did ahead of his planned quarterfinal match with Gutierrez, “Sharkbait” has also quit.
Assistant coach Manny Gamburyan berates his pupil and tells him that as of right now, he does not deserve to be in the UFC. Gutierrez apologizes in front of the whole cast, and UFC President Dana White tells him to leave the gym. Grant is seriously disappointed that he has advanced due to forfeit, but he will nevertheless be the man to face Holdsworth at the live finale.
Though Rousey is highly distraught at the development, White tells her that it was ultimately Gutierrez’s shortcoming.
“This show weeds out the weak,” says White. “He is f---ing weak.”
Next time, Team Rousey’s Jessica Rakoczy will meet Team Tate’s Raquel Pennington in the show’s final episode to decide who will face Julianna Pena at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
Related Articles
