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The Ultimate Fighter Season 32 - Episode 2 Review
The second episode of The Ultimate Fighter Season 32 started off with a step in by the commission and ended with a vicious finish. It was a strong episode that has me pumped for the winner’s next fight. Let’s take a look at how we got there…
The episode started off showing Omran Chaaban and Shamidkhan Magomedov, the episode’s opponents, praying together, which is pretty cool to see. What other sport will have two guys pray together and then try to knock each other out? We then skip straight to Fight Day, which…if you know the show, that’s never a good sign for one of the fighters when this happens early on in the season. The show almost always dedicates a full episode to getting to know the fighters in the early episodes.
Lo and behold, the commission cannot clear Omran Chaaban of Alexa’s team due to a cold sore. This situation happened last season, as well. Both Alexa and Valentina agree that it was no one’s fault and they are looking forward to still having the fight in the future. I’m going to assume that a catchweight might be discussed due to the fighters already making weight. We’ll have to wait to find out, though, as it looks like the fight won’t be happening on TV for another couple of episodes.
With that fight not happening, we move on to Alexa’s next pick. She goes with the Middleweight Division and pits Giannis Bachar (Team Shevchenko and representing Greece) against Robert Valentin (Team Grasso and representing Switzerland).
In the featured time that Giannis gets, we are reminded that he was Valentina’s last pick, but is a vicious striker with a kickboxing background. He and his teammates seem to really enjoy Valentina’s coaching. It’s tough, but they feel like it is preparing them well for war. She continues to not offer water breaks and even takes them to a mountain to train in outside-the-box ways. It’s definitely tough training, but you can tell the team is feeling good about it.
Giannis spent time in the army in Greece and is fighting to give his wife and kids the life he feels they deserve. He dedicates all his free time to training.
Robert Valentin is an interesting person. He is a Nordic Pagan and has embraced the warrior spirit. He is shown sleeping outside in order to use the cold air to help his recovery. It is revealed that he almost had to stop fighting due to three knee surgeries. This caused him to go into a state of depression for a period of his life.
Robert is now training in Thailand and is working on his Muay Thai. This is interesting because he is shown throwing some hard strikes in practice. During the episode, he and others focus on his grappling and ground game. However, once I heard and saw his strikes during practice…my eyebrows went up.
The fighters are shown making weight and, during the face off, it’s clear that Robert will have a reach advantage. The opponents are shown having a pleasant conversation in the kitchen at the house the night before. Again - this was cool to see two guys who are about to go to war being pleasant to each other.
We get to Fight Day and the Tale of the Tape does, indeed, confirm Robert’s reach advantage. The fight starts and he immediately uses it. He throws a kick and some jabs to create the range. Giannis tries to rush in to close the gap, but Robert connects with an absolutely vicious elbow and gets the TKO victory in the first round. It’s a major highlight reel finish and I cannot wait to see Robert again.
After the fight, Giannis admits that he didn’t prepare for Robert’s striking, especially his elbows, as much as he should have. He expected more of a leg and ground attack. He also seems on the fence about continuing his career. Of course, any time you lose a big fight a little later in your career, you’re going to question things. It’s a tough spot.
Alexa gets to pick the next fight. It will be Kaan Olfi (Team Grasso) vs. Nathan Fletcher (Team Shevchenko) in the Featherweight Division. I will have coverage for that next week!
What did you think of Episode 2? Did Robert Valentin impress you, as well? What do you think Giannis should do with his career? Let me know at matt.tenhoeve@gmail.com. I will be back next week with thoughts on this week’s PFL and UFC shows. See you then!
