Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko both have a finalist.
Team Bullet’s Robert Valentin (10-3) scored his second quick finish of the season, forcing Team Grasso’s Paddy McCorry (4-1) to tap out to a leg trap Americana in the first round. The finish came after Valentin caught McCorry with a head-and-arm throw out of nowhere before smoothly transitioning to the fight-ending submission.
The Ultimate Fighter 32 middleweight finals are now set, with Valentin moving on to fight Team Bullet’s Ryan Loder for a UFC contract and a TUF tournament crown.
Switzerland’s Valentin was one of the most experienced fighters coming into the season and he was the first middleweight fighter drafted by Grasso to join her team. The pick slightly irked Shevchenko, with whom Valentin had previously trained.
When it came time to fight, Valentin lived up to the hype. He needed less than 30 seconds to knock out Giannis Bachar with a monster elbow, and then he made short work of teammate and friend McCorry in the semifinals.
Loder, representing U.S.A., also impressed on his side of the bracket, having submitted Tom Theocharis in the quarterfinals before cementing his TUF 32 finale spot with a gutsy decision win over Omran Chaaban.
Next week, we find out who Team Grasso’s Kaan Ofli meets in the featherweight finals. His teammate Mairon Santos is supposed to fight Team Bullet’s Zygimantas Ramaska, but lingering injuries threaten to cost him the opportunity.
Should Ramaska be unable to compete, the opportunity will go to either Team Grasso’s Guillermo Torres or Team Shevchenko’s Edwin Cooper Jr.
Another Shevchenko fighter, Nathan Fletcher, learned on this week’s episode that he is unable to step in as a replacement after suffering a fractured fibula in his quarterfinal loss to Ofli.
The Ultimate Fighter 32 airs live every Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
Following the season finale, Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko are set to face off in a flyweight championship trilogy bout at UFC 306 on Sept. 14 at Sphere in Las Vegas.
The finalists of the TUF 32 middleweight and featherweight tournaments will also compete for a six-figure UFC contract at the show’s live finale. A date for that event is yet to be announced.
Here are the TUF 32 rosters divided by team:
Team Grasso
- Guillermo Torres (Mexico) (7-1)
- Kaan Ofli (Australia) (10-2-1)
- Bekhzod Usmonov (Tajikistan) (11-4)
- Mairon Santos (Brazil) (13-1)
Featherweights
- Robert Valentin (Switzerland) (10-3)
- Paddy McCorry (Ireland) (4-1)
- Omran Chaaban (Finland) (6-1)
- Tom Theocharis (Canada) (9-5)
Team Shevchenko
Featherweights
- Roedie Roets (South Africa) (7-1)
- Zygimantas Ramaska (Lithuania) (9-2)
- Nathan Fletcher (England) (8-1)
- Edwin Cooper Jr. (USA) (6-1)
- Shamidkhan Magomedov (Russia) (7-1)
- Mark Hulme (South Africa) (12-3)
- Ryan Loder (USA) (6-1)
- Giannis Bachar (Greece) (9-2)
See the semifinal results below:
Middleweight
Ryan Loder def. Omran Chaaban via decision
Paddy McCorry def. Robert Valentin via submission (leg trap Americana) (R1)
Featherweight
Kaan Ofli def. Roedie Roets via submission (guillotine choke) (R1)
Zygimantas Ramaska vs. Mairon Santos
See quarterfinal results below:
Roedie Roets def. Guillermo Torres via decision
Robert Valentin def. Giannis Bachar via KO (strikes) (R1)
Kaan Ofli def. Nathan Fletcher via decision
Omran Chaaban def. Shamidkhan Magomedov via technical submission (anaconda choke) (R2)
Zygimantas Ramaska def. Bekhzod Usmonov
Ryan Loder def. Tom Theocharis via submission (arm-triangle choke)
Mairon Santos def. Edwin Cooper Jr. via split decision
Paddy McCorry def. Mark Hulme via submission (guillotine choke) (R1)