Season 20 of The Ultimate Fighter features UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis and the first man to challenge his title, Gilbert Melendez as the coaches for eight women’s strawweights who will be competing in a 16-woman bracket for a chance to become the first ever UFC women’s strawweight champion. The show airs Wednesday nights at 10pm on FOX Sports 1. Here is an introduction to the strawweights competing in the tournament on Team Melendez… Angela Hill is a Muay Thai striker who went into the TUF tournament with a professional mixed martial arts record of 1-0 and was ranked the #16th seed in the tournament, thus putting a chip on her shoulder. Being ranked #16 in the bracket, she automatically went to Team Melendez when coach Anthony Pettis selected Carla Esparza as his first pick for Team Pettis. Hill is a talented striker but has great holes in her wrestling, which Esparza quickly exposed in their elimination round bout en route to securing a standing rear naked choke victory to advance to the quarter finals of the tournament. Hill showed potential, so when she eventually makes her Octagon debut, it will be interesting to see how much she has improved since her time in the TUF house. Heather Jo Clark was the most-disliked fighter in the TUF house, being involved in most of the trouble, generally triggered by her teammate Angela Magana. However, it was Magana who came across as villainous to the fans watching at home. Clark was the third pick by coach Gilbert Melendez to be on Team Melendez, which automatically sent Felice Herrig to Team Pettis, as Clark was ranked #11 in the tournament bracket and Herrig was ranked #6. Clark had previously faced Herrig in a brutal three round battle which she lost via split decision, and she went into the rematch in their elimination round bout with vengeance in mind. Unfortunately, she fought with a serious knee injury and lost a unanimous decision after two one-sided rounds for Herrig. Clark is a very tough fighter and I will be interested to see how she does inside the Octagon when she is free of injury. Angela Magana was the fourth and final pick of coach Gilbert Melendez to be on Team Melendez, automatically sending Ireland’s Aisling Daly to Team Melendez. Magana was ranked as the #12 seed in the tournament, while Daly was ranked #5. Magana got the better of Daly in the first round, but went on to lose the second and third, ultimately getting stopped via strikes as she faded in the sudden victory round. She dropped from the flyweight division down to strawweight for a chance at the inaugural UFC 115 pound title and came up short, but it’s a safe bet that we’ll be seeing her inside the Octagon shortly, likely in the season’s finale. She admitted to being a “manipulative bitch” and went on to prove to be so, as she stirred up most of the drama in the TUF house. Usually, the negative remarks Magana would make about Heather Jo Clark were how viewers at home felt about her. Predominantly a striker training out of Tiger Muay Thai in Thailand, Magana has been rounding up her game and it will be interesting to see whether or not she’ll have a future in this division. Emily Kagan is ranked the #15 seed in the tournament and was automatically sent to Team Melendez when coach Anthony Pettis selected Joanne Calderwood with his second pick, ultimately pitting the two ladies together for the elimination round bout in the tournament. After two rounds of action, Kagan lost the bout via majority decision on the judges’ scorecards and was eliminated from the competition. The Jackson-Winklejohn MMA product has an official professional mixed martial arts record of 3-1, which she will likely be carrying with her to her Octagon debut in the shows upcoming season finale. Tecia Torres went into the tournament and TUF house as an undefeated fighter with a record of 4-0, and was selected as the first pick by Gilbert Melendez to be on Team Melendez, automatically sending Canada’s Randa Markos to Team Pettis, as Torres was ranked the #3 seed in the tournament and Markos #14. Torres went into the tournament coming off a unanimous decision victory over Felice Herrig at Invicta FC 7 and was set to challenge Carla Esparza for her 115 pound title before the UFC announced their new women’s strawweight division. Torres fought Markos in the elimination round of the tournament and after three closely contested rounds of action, she lost via unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards. Fortunately for her, she was not depressed for too long, as a knee injury to Team Pettis’ Justine Kish forced her out of the tournament and left a slot open, which Torres was chosen to fill. Ultimately, she had to go from Team Melendez to Team Pettis, which stirred up some drama in the TUF house. Replacing Kish in her elimination round bout against Australia’s Bec Hyatt, Torres won a closely contested unanimous decision after two rounds of action and moved in to the quarter-finals, where she will be facing Carla Esparza, the opponent she had previously been preparing for. Training out of American Top Team in Coconut Creek, FL, Torres is a well-rounded mixed martial artist who, along with Esparza, was pegged as one of the favorites to win the tournament. Rose Namajunas was the second fighter to be picked by coach Gilbert Melendez to be on Team Melendez, automatically sending Australia’s Alex Chambers to Team Pettis. When the two squared off in the tournament’s elimination round bout, Namajunas got her hand raised via rear naked choke in the first round of action and advanced to the quarter finals, where she is set to face the undefeated Joanne Calderwood. Namajunas is a very well-rounded and versatile mixed martial artist with a professional record of 2-1 and a 12-second flying armbar victory under her belt. The lone blemish on her resume came in her last bout, in which she lost a unanimous decision to fellow cast-mate Tecia Torres. Najamunas, known to many as UFC veteran heavyweight Pat Barry’s fiancé, undoubtedly has a future in the UFC’s strawweight division, regardless of the outcome of this tournament. Bec Rawlings was automatically sent to Team Melendez when coach Anthony Pettis selected Justine Kish as his fourth and final pick. Kish was ranked #9 in the tournament, while the Australian was ranked just one above her at #8. Due to a knee injury forcing Kish out of the tournament, Rawlings instead ended up facing #3 seed Tecia Torres after Torres was given a second chance following her unanimous decision loss to Randa Markos. It was a closely contested elimination round bout, but after two rounds of action, it was Torres who got her hand raised via unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards. Rawlings is a tough fighter with solid boxing skills and great submissions who once challenged Carla Esparza for her Invicta FC strawweight title and gave her some serious trouble on the feet, but couldn’t stop the takedowns of the wrestler and ultimately lost a unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards after five rounds of action. She is a fighter who shows great promise and I believe the promotion will use her as one of their keys to helping the UFC grow overseas in Australia. Heading into her Octagon debut, Rawlings will be carrying with her an official pro record of 5-3. Lisa Ellis was automatically sent to Team Melendez when coach Anthony Pettis selected Jessica Penne as his third choice for Team Pettis, and with a professional mixed martial arts record of 15-8, she was the most experienced fighter heading into the tournament and TUF house. She showed mental weakness early on in the show and seem to have accepted defeat before even stepping foot inside the cage for her elimination round bout against Penne, which she ended up losing via rear naked choke submission early on in the very first round of action. Ellis is the wife of another TUF alumni, Eddie Ellis, and as far as her future with the UFC, I would say it is a coin-flip. She will likely get one shot, and if she looks as poor as she did on the show, I doubt she will be given a second chance.
