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The Ultimate Fighter Season 32 - Episode 7 Recap
By Matt ten-Hoeve
July 16, 2024
The episode opens up with Edwin Cooper Jr. explaining to his teammate that he thinks his fight against Mairon Santos will be easy. We quickly are reminded of how much Edwin has been drinking, but Dana White explains that he’s been drinking less since the conversation Edwin had with Bekhzod, his teammate from back home (shown last week).
The show quickly goes to Edwin’s fight prep and a pep talk he gets from Valentina. Valentina believes that Edwin has the power and experience advantage. She feels that Edwin has been able to add a lot of skills during training. Edwin agrees and feels that he is truly ready for his opponent, Mairon Santos.
Back at the house, Mairon Santos is talking to his teammate about how he ended up coming to America and fighting in LFA (which is featured on UFC Fight Pass). We get an inside look at Mairon’s life in Brazil. His mom shows off where he grew up and all the medals and trophies he has won. She gets emotional talking about his success. She fully supported his move to the United States to chase his dream. That dream brought him to Las Vegas where he delivers food and walks dogs in order to afford his training and to support his wife.
Mairon trains at Xtreme Couture, but has adapted to Alexa Grasso’s training well on the show. He’s learning to not always rush with a lot of punches. Alexa and Diego Lopes are working on him wearing Edwin Cooper Jr. down, as they feel that Edwin loses energy in the second round. Mairon feels that his cardio and striking gives him the advantage over Edwin, who he feels is a one dimensional wrestler. He predicts a first round finish.
Back at the house, Edwin is looking at family photographs. His grandfather has been a mentor to him all his life. He also gets a ton of support from his girlfriend. He feels that he has always had what he needed in life thanks to two hard working parents.
Edwin trains out of Jackson Wink in New Mexico. He grew up wrestling before transitioning to MMA. We get some highlights of Edwin in LFA, which showcases his ground game nicely.
The weigh-ins are pretty early in the episode (about 20 minutes in). Both fighters make weight (Mairon almost missed) and Dana White breaks down the fight as being tough for both fighters. The tale of the tape shows Edwin has a slight height advantage with Mairon being the much younger fighter.
The first round starts and both guys are rushing in and throwing. Mairon lands a nice combination, so Edwin goes for a takedown and gets it. Edwin lands a few punches on the ground and then rides Mairon’s back as Santos tries to stand up. Mairon is able to stand up briefly, but Edwin brings him back down. Edwin doesn’t do much with the positioning and Mairon is able to stand up and break free late in the round. They trade some shots and Mairon whiffs on a big kick to end the round.
In between rounds, Valentina’s team is telling Edwin to keep the pressure on and to be aware that Mairon is going to look to be more active. Alexa’s team is telling Mairon to, at the very least, make sure he gets to a third round.
The fighters trade some blows to start off the second round. Mairon is being more active and doing a nice job with feints. He lands a couple of really nice shots through Edwin’s guard. He starts to mix in some leg kicks, as well, but shows a lot of worry over Edwin’s takedown abilities. He’s defending them well, though. Edwin starts to throw a nice jab, but Mairon is returning fire. Mairon is doing a nice job of mixing it up and landing on all parts of the body. Mairon’s leg kicks are opening up other nice shots that he is landing on Edwin. Edwin goes for a takedown, but Mairon defends it beautifully. His confidence has really grown throughout the round. The round ends and the ref tells the fighters to stay ready for a third round, which is sure to come after Mairon was able to control the second.
A third round is confirmed and the two teams are urging their fighters to focus on their strengths. It all comes down to the last five minutes!
The third round starts off similar to the second with both men throwing and feinting. Mairon lands a nice left hook, but Edwin is able to shake it off. Edwin is throwing, but missing while Mairon is making contact…until Edwin lands a nice blow to Mairon’s midsection. Edwin goes for a takedown shortly after that, but Mairon fights it off. After some circling, Mairon defends another takedown attempt and lands a nice uppercut as Edwin rushes in. Edwin shakes it off and goes for another takedown, which is blocked. They sprawl a little bit before standing back up and throwing jabs at each other. Both corners are going crazy and screaming instructions. Edwin goes for another takedown and is able to grab a leg. Mairon is doing his best to fight it and does. Edwin is able to finally land a takedown within the final minute, though. He doesn’t keep Mairon down long, but has him wrapped up against the cage. They stay wrapped up until the bell. Whew…this is going to be a close one!
Valentina, Alexa, and Dana discuss the fight in a talking heads recap segment. It’s clear that Edwin won the first round. It’s clear that Mairon won the second round. However, the third round is not very clear. Both fighters had their moments.
The judges awarded the fight to Mairon Santos by split decision. I had it that way, as well, but it definitely was close. Mairon celebrates and is thrilled with the big win. Valentina gives Edwin some tough love about the second round, but feels that Edwin won the fight.
Next week, the episode will feature the last first round fight of the season - Paddy McCorry from Team Alexa vs. Mark Hulme from Team Valentina. Dana White describes it as a striker vs. grappler matchup and the face off gets a little bit chippy as the episode ends.
Thank you for reading the recap for Episode 7 of The Ultimate Fighter Season 32. Let me know what you have been thinking of the season at matt.tenhoeve@gmail.com Next week, we’ll learn the winner of McCorry vs. Hulme and also find out the matchups for the next round. See you then!
