Trevor Wells, who suffered a cold sore flare-up that delayed his TUF 31 fight with Timur Valiev earlier this season, was good to go on episode four of The Ultimate Fighter 31.
The fallout from the delay, however, came down to weight cutting — would the fighters be required to cut weight again after already doing so, successfully, once previously?
We’re recapping each episode of The Ultimate Fighter 31 — spoilers lay ahead if you’re not up-to-date with the show.
UFC President Dana White opts to leave it to coaches Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler to hash it out and come to a decision. On the McGregor side, the thinking seems to be to push for the originally scheduled weight, 135. Chandler clearly feels it’s unfair that his fighter, Valiev, had to cut weight again for something outside of his control.
After losing the first three fights of the season, McGregor brings in Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson. “There’s a lot of pressure on these young kids,” McGregor notes. He calls Thompson one of “the best distance management practitioners in the game.”
One of the major improvements in recent Ultimate Fighter seasons has been the show downplaying the drama, and putting the spotlight on the fighters and their home lives. Of course, with TUF 31, half the cast is comprised of former UFC fighters looking for another shot in the company.
Rather than giving them the newbie treatment, it might have been nice to focus on their prior UFC run and what went wrong. In the case of Valiev, it would have been lovely to know what the hell the UFC was thinking when they cut the talented Dagestani fighter off a single loss.
That might be asking a little much, however. So we get Valiev talking about training in Thailand.
Conor being Conor no-shows the meeting with Chandler to discuss weight, and a catchweight of 144lbs is set in his absence. Chandler then takes a call from Dana White, relaying that Conor offered 142lbs. Chandler, with a sigh, accepts.
Wells says he believes he’s better than Valiev in all areas. He expects to throw more volume and land more shots, and even believes he has better wrestling than the Dagestani fighter.
Ahead of the fight, we learn that Wells is adopted, and has spent his whole life in the same home in Temecula, CA. He was led into fighting after being beat up by an older kid at school. “I am broke as a joke, so I need to win The Ultimate Fighter” says Trevor.
The latest TUF 31 fight starts out with Wells pressing, while coach McGregor hollers “your space! Beautiful!” Valiev soon has a leg, and in true Dagestani fashion, chain wrestles his way to a takedown. One hook goes in, and suddenly Valiev has a body triangle on from the back. Wells stands up, carrying a Valiev-shaped backpack’s full weight.
Wells fights one hand, while Valiev tries to get under the chin with his other arm. Valiev finally slips off, and they break, with Wells going back on the attack. But it’s Valiev throwing a spinning attack, and later an overhand right and a spinning back fist. Just as Valiev appeared to be finding his flow, a kick lands low on Wells. He doesn’t take much recovery time however.
Wells and Valiev battle it out on the feet for the remainder of the round. In the second, Valiev is just quicker to the punch, even setting up a combo with a spinning back first. Moments later, he’s landing a takedown. Wells believed he was better in all areas ahead of the fight, but the opposite appears to be true. Valiev has worlds of time on top, and eventually makes it to mount, dropping nasty elbows and punches. Wells, to his credit, manages to reverse. He gets in a few blows and a knee to Valiev on the way up — but Wells needed a finish there, and he didn’t get it.
No third round was required, as the judges had seen enough after two. Valiev gets the win. If you had any inkling of who Timur Valiev is, this result wasn’t much of a surprise.
McGregor believes there should have been a third round, but congratulates Valiev nonetheless.
