'The Ultimate Fighter 29,' Episode 8 highlights

By Matthew Wells |

July 20, 2021 9:50 pm ET

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This season, teams consist of bantamweight and middleweight fighters coached by featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski and former title challenger Brian Ortega.

If you missed the previous episodes, check out those highlights below:

Continue reading for the highlights of the eighth episode, which streamed Tuesday on ESPN+.

Spotlight on Gilbert Urbina

Tale of the tape:

Age: 25
Professional MMA Record: 6-1
Height: 6’3″
Reach: 74″
Weigh-in weight: 185.5 lbs.

Urbina lives in Mercedes, Texas, where his fighting family was raised. His brother Hector Urbina is a fellow “TUF” who competed on season 19 and went on to have three fights in the UFC. His other brother, Elias Urbina, was on season 23 of “TUF” and also competed on Dana White’s Contender Series. Gilbert hopes to follow in his brothers’ footsteps while learning from the ups and downs of their careers.

Unfortunate injury

Miles Hunsinger was going through a regular training session with his Team Ortega teammates ahead of his upcoming bout against Urbina.

After throwing a left kick to Tresean Gore during a light sparring session, the strike landed awkwardly, causing hyperextension that left his knee unstable.

Hunsinger got his knee checked out by a physical therapist who told him there was a tear in his knee, but went to get an MRI to be sure.

When he returned to the fighter house, he put on his best poker face to hide the injury to his knee, as to not tip off the rest of the competitors he had a weakness that could be exploited.

The diagnosis of his injury was a grade 2 MCL strain, an injury that could be competed on, but with a very high risk of causing further significant damage. Hunsinger returned to speak with Ortega and the coaches to help make the best decision on how to proceed.

After moving around a little bit to test his mobility, he ultimately decided that the right decision was to pull out of the fight.

A replacement is chosen

Micheal Gillmore was not picked to enter the house initially.

He was brought in to meet with Dana White about potentially replacing Hunsinger. The meeting was brief as White was impressed with his story, so he was welcomed into the fighter house as a replacement.

The two teams were lined up inside the Apex gym for Hunsinger to make the announcement of his injury and for White to officially bring in Gillmore to Team Ortega to face Urbina.

Spotlight on Micheal Gillmore

Tale of the tape:

Age: 34
Professional MMA Record: 6-3
Height: 5’11”
Reach: 74″
Weigh-in weight: 185.5 lbs.

Gillmore is from Lansing, Mich. He decided to quit his job to stay in Las Vegas on his own dime just in case an opportunity presented itself to enter the fighter house. His gamble paid off as he became an injury replacement and immediately found himself in a fight just a couple of days later.

Urbina vs. Gillmore – Round 1

The action started quickly as Urbina caught a low kick from Gillmore and scrambled to jump on his back. Just seconds into the fight, Gillmore was fighting off a rear-naked choke attempt. After dropping down to the mat, he was able to free himself of the submission attempt, but Urbina landed a few heavy strikes while on his back with a body triangle still locked in.

Gillmore continued to search for an escape, but Urbina maintained control of his back and began landing more punches as the pair were on the mat in front of Gillmore’s coaches. After throwing a couple of elbows to the shin of Urbina, which his coaches encouraged, Gillmore left an opening for Urbina to attempt another rear-naked choke, and this time, he wouldn’t escape.

Urbina secured the submission victory with just over two minutes remaining in the first round, evening the season series at four wins a piece for each team.