A fighter can have all the talent in the world, but it doesn’t matter if they don’t perform to their fullest in competition.
That appeared to be the case on episode 11 of The Ultimate Fighter 18 when Kelowna, B.C.’s Sarah Moras took on her Team Tate teammate Julianna Pena.
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Watch The Ultimate Fighter 18 every Wednesday on Sportsnet 360 and get weekly episode recaps on sportsnet.ca
Moras had defeated women’s MMA legend Tara LaRosa to earn a spot in the house and submitted Peggy Morgan to advance to the semifinals, while Pena topped Gina Mazany to get on the show and finished tournament favourite Shayna Baszler in the quarterfinals.
The two women had fought in the main event of Conquest of the Cage 11 in April 2012 with Moras winning by submission and severely injury Pena’s arm in the process.
Pena was hoping to avenge her loss and Moras wished for history to repeat itself, which is what most fighters in the house thought would happen.
THE FIGHT
Pena was able to use aggression to her advantage and after neither woman landed anything too damaging on the feet she took Moras down to the ground.
Moras was active off her back, throwing short elbows, punches and shifting her hips to look for armbars, but Pena’s top game was strong.
In the second round, Pena took Moras down again and nullified her active guard. She eventually started landing some solid ground-and-pound including a big elbow that busted Moras open. Then, Pena locked in a guillotine choke — a move her and Roxanne Modafferi had been drilling in practice leading up to the fight — that forced a tap from Moras.
“It wasn’t me in there. She did a great job. She got me,” a bloody and teary-eyed Moras said. “I deserve to be here; I should’ve [expletive] won that. I’m pissed off with myself.”
Many of Moras’s fellow competitors thought she could have performed better than she did.
“That wasn’t the same Sarah that we’ve seen fight or that I’ve trained with or anything like that. I mean congratulations to Julianna for the way that she performed. She showed up and she put on the fight that she needed to to advance. There’s not a whole lot you can say to it,” the girls’ Team Tate teammate Raquel Penington said.
Miesha Tate tried her best to remain objective as both fighters prepared for the bout, so as not to appear like she was playing favourites.
“It was hard to watch but I’m happy for Julianna because she’s one of the hardest working girls I’ve ever worked with,” Tate said.
Pena has become the black sheep of the TUF house this season, but Modafferi, who’s known as one of the friendliest personalities in MMA, was happy to see her win.
“It was just so exciting and I was just so proud of her and she finished with the secret move we had been practising,” Modafferi said of Pena’s guillotine. “But I felt bad for Sarah. She did her best; she fought really hard.”
UFC president Dana White liked what he saw from Pena.
“Sarah was laying on her stomach and you could see the blood on the mat and I think that got into her head a little bit,” White said. “What was a ballsy move by Julianna was to go for that choke. She had the top position the entire time … but she snapped that choke in. I was really impressed with Julianna.”
Pena will face the winner of Jessica Rakoczy vs. Raquel Pennington at the TUF 18 Finale on Nov. 30 in Las Vegas.
“I said I believed in myself. I went in there with vengance and I got the victory,” Pena said. “I’m really happy. The work’s not over. This is the first day of the rest of my life but I think I did good and I’m really happy for myself.”
On the next episode
Tensions are high and bragging rights are on the line when coaches Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate face off in a rock climbing coaches challenge.
Then, Davey Grant and Anthony Gutierrez get set to battle in the last men’s semifinal tilt, but weight issues come into play that puts one fighter’s dreams of fighting in the finale in jeopardy.
