Sarah Moras of Kelowna, B.C., is one of four Canadians competing on The Ultimate Fighter 18. She will be writing weekly blogs for sportsnet.ca to share an inside perspective about what went on inside the gym and house on TUF 18.
So episode two starts out as we are pulling up to the house. I was pretty excited, but mostly I was exhausted. It was a long day waiting to fight and then fighting, but I was so stoked and I was happy with the room I ended up in.
Even though I had already fought both the people in my room — Raquel Pennington and Julianna Pena — it was cool. It was a room with only two other people in it rather than a room of five people, and I didn’t have a bunk bed. I was so ready for this moment. I was excited to train, excited to fight, just really excited for it all.
Talking trash with Timmy
Timmy Gorman is so funny. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone like him before. I’m not even sure how the topic came about, I think us females were curious if the men (and boys) in the house had ever trained with any females before.
Being a female we are use to going with guys all the time, but most of us girls don’t train with many other females, and most of the guys are in the same boat. There aren’t many of us females out there and I don’t think most of the guys had any idea what to expect from us.
So Tim and I sort of started to talk trash to each other. He was saying I couldn’t submit him and I know I can. Obviously he knew I could submit him and he didn’t want to be proved wrong on TV so he gets ‘injured’. It seems like a pretty big coincidence…. Just kidding!
Watch The Ultimate Fighter 18 every Wednesday on Sportsnet 360 and get weekly episode recaps on sportsnet.ca
On the first day of practice I didn’t even notice that Tim left to talk to Miesha Tate and Bryan Caraway. Around the house I did notice that his foot was black and swollen. I thought he broke his foot to get in the house. He kept saying it was his leg and the swelling just went down to his foot. I didn’t really think much of it.
Then, Timmy then finds out his hamstring got torn off the bone. The doctor tells him four to six months rehab! OMG! And he was just walking around and he fought with this injury to get into the house. He is insane!
Props to him for doing that and fighting with that injury to get into the house. One of the hardest lines to draw with training and fighting is to know when to let yourself recover and take time off from injuries.
With all that said, I would have had a hard time living with Timmy for six weeks. That would have driven me nuts, although replacing him with Louis Fisette, I don’t know which one is better.
Shayna talks the talk
I didn’t really talk to Shayna Baszler much at this point in the house, so I can’t really say how she was at this point in time, but I always thought she was super cool. It’s funny watching this show and I can see how everyone has a problem with her. She sounds so cocky, but I think she is just really that good.
Most people watching this haven’t seen her fight before and don’t know what she is talking about, but she is seriously a legend and legit. And to be honest, everyone thinks the way she talks, you kind of have to think that ways, but when you say it everyone gets all offended. I might change my mind when I see all the stuff she was saying about me behind my back though.
Julianna on her looks
Julianna was talking about looking good and getting done up like a girl and being feminine, but still being a fighter. I don’t have a problem with Julianna but I don’t think anyone really cares about that. Most female fighters don’t look like Cyborg and right now the most famous female fighters are very pretty.
So… I’m in the shower, those a-holes when Julianna busted into the bathroom to put makeup on for her “confessional” in the middle of me taking a shower! Then, she starts to talk about interesting stuff that people would want to watch on TV. So there’s me in the shower while it’s all going on. At least the world now knows I’m hygienic.
Julianna vs. Shayna
Raquel and I are chilling in our bedroom and she asks me what I really think is going to happen in the fight. I answered truthfully at the time. After seeing her get ready and thinking about the fight, I had to do another interview, and I thought Julianna might just take this fight.
I knew that when I fought Julianna, she didn’t give up she didn’t tap out when I broke her arm. She kept fighting and she’s got a lot of fight in her and I didn’t think Shayna would expect that. Of course they aired on the one where after watching it I get a message from Julianna calling me a “B#@#$”. I think she was only semi angry at me for saying that.
Basically everyone thought Shayna was going to win, but Julianna just comes out swinging. It was crazy and when Julianna won, I was pretty happy. I knew one of the favourites was out of the competition, and someone I had already beat and finished is still in the competition instead. I was pretty stoked.
Ronda creates some drama
Ronda breaks into our training session telling us to get out. Honestly I think it’s funny. I would probably do the same thing in that situation. For some reason with females that stuff creates drama instead of something to laugh about.
Behind the scenes…
— Anthony Gutierrez said Cody Bollinger and him were supposed to fight if Miesha’s team won, but Miesha ends up picking Chris Holdsworth vs. Chris Beal. Miesha and Bryan were going to go with Cody and 30 seconds before she announced the fight she changed her mind.
— In the hot tub Shayna says, “It’s like we are all just chilling in a bath now.” For some reason the hot tub wasn’t that hot and we were all crowded in a warm tub. They probably should have included that whole bit, because it doesn’t really make much sense otherwise.
— I got to love the subtitles with Davey Grant and Mike Wooten (both from England). It cracks me up. I wonder if as the season goes on they will slowly stop with the subtitles as the world begins to understand their language, the same way it happened in the house.
Next week’s episode looks crazy! I want to talk about what is shown in the preview, but I best wait until next week.
You can follow Sarah on Twitter @sarahcheesecake or like her Fan Page.