Alexa Grasso misplaced a head-to-head matchup with Valentina Shevchenko, however her crew got here out on high on this week’s episode of The Final Fighter 32.
Shevchenko handily beat Grasso on this season’s Coaches Problem, this time comprised of a basketball taking pictures contest, solely to see her lone featherweight semifinalist fall in disappointing trend. Staff Grasso’s Kaan Ofli (10-2-1) barely wanted a minute to safe a guillotine choke on Staff Bullet’s Roedie Roets (7-1) and advance to the TUF 32 finals.
Australia’s Ofli was well-prepared for Roets’ wrestling, which was on full show simply seconds in as Roets instantly tackled Ofli to the mat. Ofli scrambled to his toes, solely to be taken down once more, however he was fast to note Roets in a weak place. he wrapped the South African fighter in a decent guillotine to earn the tap-out victory in Spherical 1.
Ofli now awaits the winner of the opposite featherweight semifinal between his teammate Mairon Santos and Staff Bullet’s Zygimantas Ramaska.
Within the Coaches Problem, Grasso and Shevchenko had been challenged to see who may rating extra in a basketball competitors, with the rivals taking pictures on the similar time and incomes factors from totally different spots on the court docket based mostly on distance. Available to supervise the competition was Las Vegas Aces star Kelsey Plum.
The coaches had been competing for a $10,000 prize, plus $2,000 for every of their eight fighters.
The competition received ugly quick because it turned clear that neither fighter had a lot familiarity with taking pictures a basketball, although Shevchenko and her crew ultimately realized her greatest technique was to easily pile up factors from the shortest-distance shot. By the point Grasso tried to attain from the spots that had been price extra, Shevchenko was already constructing an insurmountable lead. The previous champion even capped her win off with an extended shot to just about double up Grasso 33-17 after 4 brief quarters of motion.
In different drama, semifinalist Ramaska is worried that he gained’t be capable of compete attributable to a facial fracture from his first battle. After seeing two docs, he was instructed there’s a powerful probability that he can battle, however viewers gained’t know for certain till battle night time rolls round.
Subsequent week, Staff Grasso teammates Paddy McCorry and Robert Valentin face off for a spot within the middleweight finals.
The Final Fighter 32 airs stay each Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
Following the season finale, Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko are set to face off in a flyweight championship trilogy bout at UFC 306 on Sept. 14 at Sphere in Las Vegas.
The finalists of the TUF 32 middleweight and featherweight tournaments can even compete for a six-figure UFC contract on the present’s stay finale. A date for that occasion is but to be introduced.
Listed here are the TUF 32 rosters divided by crew:
Staff Grasso
- Guillermo Torres (Mexico) (7-1)
- Kaan Ofli (Australia) (10-2-1)
- Bekhzod Usmonov (Tajikistan) (11-4)
- Mairon Santos (Brazil) (13-1)
- Robert Valentin (Switzerland) (10-3)
- Paddy McCorry (Eire) (4-1)
- Omran Chaaban (Finland) (6-1)
- Tom Theocharis (Canada) (9-5)
Staff Shevchenko
Featherweights
- Roedie Roets (South Africa) (7-1)
- Zygimantas Ramaska (Lithuania) (9-2)
- Nathan Fletcher (England) (8-1)
- Edwin Cooper Jr. (USA) (6-1)
Middleweights
- Shamidkhan Magomedov (Russia) (7-1)
- Mark Hulme (South Africa) (12-3)
- Ryan Loder (USA) (6-1)
- Giannis Bachar (Greece) (9-2)
See the semifinal outcomes beneath:
Middleweight
Ryan Loder def. Omran Chaaban through choice
Paddy McCorry vs. Robert Valentin
Featherweight
Kaan Ofli def. Roedie Roets through submission (guillotine choke) (R1)
Zygimantas Ramaska vs. Mairon Santos
See quarterfinal outcomes beneath:
Roedie Roets def. Guillermo Torres through choice
Robert Valentin def. Giannis Bachar through KO (strikes) (R1)
Kaan Ofli def. Nathan Fletcher through choice
Omran Chaaban def. Shamidkhan Magomedov through technical submission (anaconda choke) (R2)
Zygimantas Ramaska def. Bekhzod Usmonov
Ryan Loder def. Tom Theocharis through submission (arm-triangle choke)
Mairon Santos def. Edwin Cooper Jr. through break up choice
Paddy McCorry def. Mark Hulme through submission (guillotine choke) (R1)
