The Ultimate Fighter 23 Finale Discussion Thread

Fighters are weighed in and we're set for the second of three UFC events this week. 

This one has a surprisingly-deep card. Check out some of the gems on there. 

The action kicks off on UFC Fight Pass at 7pm ET before switching over to FS1 at 8pm for the rest of the card. 

Enjoy!

@legacy Really? I mean, I thought Gadelha won their first fight in a close fight (was also annoyed during that one about the amount of eye rakes Joanna committed if memory serves well), but I think this one is pretty clear. From about the last 15 seconds of the 2nd round through the end of the fifth Joanna was essentially in control, with a few moments from Gadelha. Don't see how you can score the third for Gadelha as her only offense was a takedown or two that ended up amounting to nothing since she couldn't hold Joanna down, nor did Gadelha do any damage while on top.

As a NY'er who has a chance to go to the first UFC event at MSG......please put Joanna Champion on the card. 

But damn, JJ is looking invincible. I hardly see her losing against anyone except maybe to a power striker who'd have a KO chance (like Andrade maybe).I can't see any girl outstriking her and if Claudia could not submit her, I don't think another will, especially since said girl will have to be strong enough to take her down.

* Edited at 07.09.2016, 1:35 AM ET *

well we saw things different I think Gadelha took the 3rd, she hit harder and worked the takedowns, she controled most of the fight and landed 2 knockdowns, joahana only started working until Gadelha burned her  gas tank. to me she looked better of the both

Props to Gadelha. Put up an incredible fight. Just couldn't keep up the hellish pace she set at the start. Joanna is a monster. 

yeah, Gadelha totally won the first fight, but she lost this one, for sure. as a brazilian and fan of both, maybe it's for the better, how crushing would it be both RDA and Gadelha losing their belts in sequence like this? hehe

I think people underestimate how good Joanna's grappling is (especially defensively), she's never been in any threat of being submitted (her UFC opponents have 18 submissions wins between them, so that's saying a lot) and keeping her down is a taxing affair (which is what caused Claudia to gas out).

The fact that Claudia controlled her (controlled, barely, nothing more than that) doesn't mean that if Claudia "gets better cardio" she wins the fight. In order to beat Joanna, she needs to find a way to actually mount offense on Joanna once she's got her down, that way Joanna will lose steam too. What happened tonight was basically, Joanna getting taken down and Claudia "defending" Joanna's escapes and standup attempts. Joanna was moving her hips, pushing up and down on the head and doing all the right things to make that Claudia could only get her down and hold her for a bit. That ****s your cardio and that won't change if they fought 15 times.

In a 3 round fight, I think Claudia wins more times than Joanna, but there's a reason they're called the championship rounds. In a 5 round fight Joanna wins 10 times out of 10 against this version of Claudia and I'm not sure there's a lot she can improve except for tightening things up here and there, while as Joanna's imrpoving quite a lot from fight to fight and if she just "tightens up some things" (her TDD for instance, which is pretty good despite what happened tonight) she becomes close to unbeatable until something special happens in this weight class.

If you look at the fights on a whole, Joanna's toughest fight to date was Létourneau (and I think that was mainly because Joanna kind of gassed out trying to end her fast and broke her hand). And that's because Létourneau has tools everywhere, not just a good ground game.

* Edited at 07.09.2016, 1:46 AM ET *

I think the only SW fighter in the UFC that could possibly beat JJ is Jessica Andrade.

Alexa Grasso might have an outside shot.

Am I the only one who thought that Claudia didn't get "robbed" in their first fight? I watched it closely a few weeks back. JJ clearly won round one, and Claudia clearly won the third. You could make a case for either fighter in the second round, honestly. 

I agree with Yoss that Claudia has a good shot of winning three round fights against her, but I think that first fight truly could have gone either way.

I'm looking forward to the winner of Rose/Karolina against Joanna. I'm not sure anyone beats Joanna, or if anyone but Joanna beats Claudia in the division. 

I don't see what Andrade has for Joanna at the moment. The way Andrade smashed Penne was impressive but Penne was pretty easily clinching her and hitting her with knees when she tried and that would probably get Andrade murdered against Joanna. Suarez in a few fights is probably the most likely to give Joanna problems, although if her striking doesn't improve that may not happen.

@dtrain I didn't think it was outright robbery. It was a close fight, I just thought that Claudia edged the 2nd round. Could've gone either way, I just had it 29-28 Gadelha. The first fight was extremely close, so to me, it was nearly a draw, but on a 10-9 system, I had Gadelha. So no, not a robbery, just a close fight where a great many saw Gadelha edging it.

Well she lost. But I am not ashamed for believing my friend would win and betting.

She needs to change camps if I am keeping it 100% honest.

@Zarog Yeah, I respect that. You could make a solid case for either.

Someone said this on Twitter, and I agree with it: I wouldn't mind seeing a trilogy fight between Joanna/Claudia even if Claudia's 0-2, and Lawler/Rory is in the same boat.

@HD You think Michigan Top Team with Daron Cruickshank and Randa Markos could be a viable option?

@dtrain, I agree with @zarog. No robbery, but I scored it for Claudia and I just think that more times than not the judges would give that fight to Claudia and given how the first 3 rounds of tonight's fight went, I think it's safe to say that Claudia's the better fighter (or at least can score the most points) for 3 rounds.

By the way, the fact that I scored the fight for Claudia says a lot because I've been super hyped about Joanna since I saw her murder Sexton on CW so I was already bias towards her.

I don't think it was a robbery, I can see how some people would score the fight for Joanna, but my personal impression was that the Claudia won the fight (or at least a draw if you give Joanna 10-8 for almost finishing in round 1).

* Edited at 07.09.2016, 2:15 AM ET *

Mighty Mouse mentioned to me that she could come by to Matt Hume's.

Maybe Michigan TT would work. Or even going to TriStar.

@Yoss That makes a lot of sense, and I especially agree with the 3 round/5 round aspect of it. But like you said, that's what championship rounds are for. And it proves that overall, JJ is the better fighter, as she's able to perform better on the highest stage of the sport. 

No disrespect to Claudia, because like you said, she probably wins three round fights more often than not against JJ. I was saying earlier, I think Claudia beats any other woman in the division, even in a five-round fight. JJ's just too good. 

I was already a big fan of JJ, but I'm becoming a big Claudia fan as well.

@HD Dude, you know Mighty Mouse? That's awesome. How many fighters do you know?

know him? not really, we chat off and on but nothing to big.

I know a few. Mainly pro boxers. But a few UFC Fighters.