Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
The Ultimate Fighter Season 32 - Episode 4 Recap
Episode 4 of The Ultimate Fighter Season 32 picks up with the opponents of Episode 3 returning to the house. Kaan Ofli, the winner of last week’s fight, comes back and sits down with Nathan Fletcher, who he defeated. They sit and talk about the fight with both men giving the other respect. Fletcher admits that he needs to be more urgent when he fights, which is what I recommended last week. This was a cool scene, as you don’t get to see fighters interact behind the scenes shortly after fighting each other too often.
The show then cuts to Robert Valentin offering to help coach Team Alexa. Both Alexa and the team seem fine with this and buy into what he is showing them. Valentin has been an interesting watch this season and I’m curious to see how it goes with his next fight and beyond.
We then switch to this week’s fighters. It’s the fight that got delayed a few weeks ago due to Omran Chaaban’s cold sore. He is featured first and we learn that he is representing Finland on Team Alexa. He trains in Ireland, though, and has Cage Warriors experience. He talks about how he tries to be an all-around fighter, but his strength is in the stand up, which is backed up by the highlights being shown.
There is a short scene with Omran discussing how it doesn't matter that he and his opponent are both Muslim. There is respect outside of the cage, but a fight is a fight. He knows his opponent’s tendencies and he plans to use them to get the victory.
Omran’s opponent, Shamidkhan Magomedov, is a Russian and the first pick for Team Valentina. He talks about how having a wife and a child has changed his mindset a bit. He now fights for them instead of just to fight. He usually trains in Dagestan and then finishes his camp in New Jersey. His New Jersey gym is about a 25 minute drive from me - pretty cool!
Magomedov watches some film on Omran with Valentina and they plan to take him down as much as possible.
We get an emotional moment with Omran where he talks about his father passing away when he was young. After that, a lot of things fell apart. His mom started having mental health issues and his family was taken advantage of. This made him want to fight.
We then see Valentina take her team to a casino for a fun night and good food, while Alexa takes her team to the UFC Performance Institute for a recovery day. Alexa talks a little bit about how she has a lot of respect for Valentina despite Valentina not giving her full credit for her victories. It’s nice to get a little bit of talk from one of them about the other as the UFC is trying to get this fight going.
Both fighters make weight. We get a good look at the height and reach advantage that Omran has. With him being a striker, will that work to his advantage? We don’t have to wait long to find out, as the fight is next.
In the first round, Magomedov got an early takedown and then controlled the entire first round. Not a ton of action, but his control won him the round pretty clearly. In between rounds, Team Valentina calls for more of the same. Alexa calls for more action from Omran.
In the second round, we get both things. Omran is more active but Sham gets control. Sham gets a hold of a leg lock and we get an inside look at Dana thinking the fight is done. However, Sham doesn’t crank it and Dana questions why. Sham not cranking it allows Omran to reverse and slip a choke on to get the win. Wow! This was a huge come from behind win with Sham having complete control for almost the whole fight before the choke.
Omran’s length may pose an issue for other fighters later in the season after this huge win. For Magomedov, he had complete control and listened to his corner well. However, a bit more action could have gotten him the win.
Next week, we are back to the Featherweight Division with Team Valentina’s Zygimantas Ramaska vs. Team Alexa’s Bekhzod Usmonov. Dana says it’s going to be an all out war. We’ll see next week!
