“I wanted to come out starting a little faster than what I did, but he came out hard and I knew he was going to, but took a good blow to the leg and put him out,” Heiderman told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.

Heiderman (7-0) had planned to work his own leg kicks in the fight, but Brady fired them off as well catching Heiderman off-guard.

“He came out hard throwing some hard low leg kicks, and he called it in the right. He’s like ‘you can’t take too many more of those’ and he was right,” Heiderman told Cageside Press.

“So I knew I had to do something. My game plan was to kick as well, but he beat me out the gate. I’m a guy that kind of starts slow, and finishes strong. That’s where I shine and that’s what I did.”

Even when Brady went down, verbally submitting on the way to the canvas, Heiderman wasn’t completely sure that the fight would be stopped.

“I didn’t know he was going to tap like that. I was definitely ready to cover and start ground and pound or work for a submission,” he said.

Following the fight the respect for Brady was still there.

“I knew he was just a brute of a guy. I knew it was going to be a dogfight of a fight,” he said.

“I just got to sometimes bite down on my mouthpiece and go get the win.”

Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Jordan Heiderman above.

The post Jordan Heiderman Recounts Final Sequence That Scored 6-Point Win Over Brady appeared first on Cageside Press.

Julianna Pena will have fighters facing one another in the heavyweight semis. She’s had experience with that, facing a teammate, Sarah Moras, during her own stint on TUF.

Jordan Heiderman will face Zac Pauga in one of the heavyweight semifinals. But there are bigger problems for Pena, however — one of her fighters smells of alcohol during practice. Pena pulls Helen Peralta aside, who says she had a few shots because she was upset at being eliminated from the tournament.

Peralta then returns to the TUF house, and defends her choice to drink prior to practice to Laura Gallardo, who she has determined ratted her out. “Why would you go tell the coaches behind my back, I just don’t get it?” Gallardo actually apologizes, but while Peralta insists that she was only hurting herself, showing up to practice with a few drinks in you is not a good look.

Perhaps the biggest shock, however, is that this is practically the first drama of the season (prior to Peralta’s foible, there was Juliana Miller being upset that Bobby Maximus was friends with fighters on the other team, but that barely qualifies). And rather than smashing doors and urging teammates to let her bang, they hug it out.

The coaches’ challenge also arrived on Episode 9 of TUF 30, entitled “Bring You Lunchbox.” It’s axe throwing, and Amanda Nunes gets out to a sizable lead, 18 to 10 after four rounds. Another round, and it’s 24 to 10. Pena needs three bullseyes in a row to win, and that’s not happening.

“I’m not throwing axes, I’m throwing bombs, and when it really matters, and when it really counts is inside that octagon when we fight again,” Pena says afterwards.

Zac Pauga gets a birthday cake next, as Team Pena sing him Happy Birthday. He’s 34, and a heavyweight, so he can have his cake and eat it to. What’s more wild about this? Prior to 2016, this clip wouldn’t have been able to air (without royalties being paid), because Warner/Chappell Music (WMG’s publishing arm) held a frankly invalid copyright claim on Happy Birthday, a song that dates back to 1912 in its modern form. It was finally struck down in 2016, as part of a class-action lawsuit against against the company, who had raked in millions of dollars every year for a song they didn’t even legally own the lyrics to.

History lesson over. The fighters weigh in, Heiderman at 247, Pauga at 244. Pena brings in her fighter’s own coaches, rather than corner against one of her own. That, apparently, is a first in TUF history.

The Ultimate Fighter 30: Jordan Heiderman vs. Zac Pauga

The pair start out trading, with Pauga having more success, landing his jab several times. Pauga holds center, Heiderman has his back to the fence, circling. Pauga mixes in some kicks, and his corner is flat-out loving what he’s doing early: showing patience, picking his shots, and mixing in low kicks. Heiderman, losing on the feet, looks to flip the script with a takedown attempt. Pauga doesn’t make it easy; Heiderman has a body lock and throws Pauga to his knees, but he’s right back up, and they break. Pauga fires a spinning back fist and a knee to the body in the final minute, forcing Heiderman to backpedal. He caps off the round with a front kick.

Round two saw Pauga put Heiderman away early. A left hand rocks Heiderman in the opening minute, and he immediately goes into defense mode. A couple of follow-up strikes, and Heiderman goes down. The ref waves it off — and Zac Pauga is going to the finals!

Official Result: Zac Pauga def. Jordan Heiderman by TKO

Next week will be the first women’s flyweight semifinal.

The post The Ultimate Fighter 30, Episode 9 — And Your First Finalist Is appeared first on Cageside Press.

It’s a fitting intro for an episode entitled “Crush Your Dreams.” But this week, the focus is back on the heavyweights.

Coach Julianna Pena calls Jordan Heiderman “my viking,” and he certainly looks the part. He’s confident in his wrestling ahead of his match-up with Chandler Cole; Pena cautions him not to keep his chin too high and to keep his guard up. Especially given Cole has a heavy right hand.

Heiderman is a steelworker who gave up a decent job to commit to The Ultimate Fighter. He refers to his gym as more of a club, not even a real team. Previously, he had been training just a couple of times a week.

For those in need of a refresher, heavyweight Chandler Cole was injured earlier in the season, a bicep tear. Luckily, he’s been able to fight through it. In his day job, Cole is a corrections officer. His motivation for getting to the UFC is to show that it doesn’t matter where you come from, you can succeed. Cole says he grew up poor, sometimes not eating at the end of the month when food stamps ran out.

He’s also a wrestling coach at his local high school back in Coeburn, Virginia.

Cole is concerned that coach Amanda Nunes will have him go too hard in training, given his injured arm. “I trust ya’ll, I just don’t want to hurt myself either,” he tells her. “You have to deal with it. I feel like you’re going to be fine when you step in the cage,” Nunes tells the camera.

The Ultimate Fighter 30: Heiderman vs. Cole

For his size — he’s a chubby, Chris Barnett style heavyweight — Chandler Cole has no issue firing a head kick early against Heiderman. Both men mix in some low kicks; Cole lunges in with his right hand. Cole comes over the top with a right hand off a low kick, setting it up well. Heiderman is reacting, rather than attacking, and while his low kicks are crisp, he doesn’t get his hands going much in the first half of round one. Cole’s corner tells him to “surprise” Heiderman, somewhat giving away the surprise by calling for it. Heiderman fires a push kick, then Cole lands a spinning wheel kick to the jaw that rocks Heiderman! Cole can’t seem to follow up and they wind up in a heap on the ground for a moment.

“I need you to focus,” Pena tells Heiderman between rounds. He’s still shaking off the cobwebs from the looks of things.

In round two, Cole breaks out the spinning back kick again early, to the body this time. Nunes tells him not to play; his corner urges him to “just keep touching him up.” Cole fakes and feints a few spinning attacks without pulling the trigger. He leads with a low kick and misses with a right hand. Heiderman is firing single jabs, not setting them up. Two minutes in, he adds a leg kick to the mix. Heiderman’s hesitancy to pull the trigger is a big concern. He starts putting short combos together late in the round, with Pena screaming “again, again, again” over and over. Cole fires a high kick.

They’d head to a third after a close second round. Cole gets his hands going early, and uncorcks a calf kick. Cole and Heiderman start trading, and Cole drops him! Heiderman gets back up, and hurts Cole! Cole shoots, Heiderman stuffs it, Cole goes down, turtles up, and eats a ton of hammer fists before the ref calls it! Great comeback by Heiderman, who nearly lost it after the second.

Official Result: Jordan Heiderman def. Chandler Cole by TKO, Round 3

Dana White admits after the fight that he thought Chandler Cole had the win after two rounds. That may bode well for him getting another look from the UFC, despite being eliminated from the tournament.

“I was preparing the entire time for three rounds. I wanted a dogfight, and that’s what I got,” Heiderman said following the bout.

Next week, it’s the final women’s flyweight bout of the opening round: Brogan Walker vs. Hannah Guy. For those that missed it, Guy is the girl that beat Bellator darling Valerie Loureda last year.

The post The Ultimate Fighter 30, Episode 7 — Heavyweight Hopeful Mounts Comeback appeared first on Cageside Press.

Heavyweight is always in need of bodies, and TUF 30 will look to provide a few options to the UFC. There are some strong prospects, a UFC champion’s brother, and a returning veteran among the mix. All will compete for the title of The Ultimate Fighter under the tutelage of Julianna Pena and Amanda Nunes.

Here’s our look at the full field of heavyweights who will enter the TUF house this year.

Nyle Bartling, 29-years-old, 6-0

Bartling came into MMA off a solid wrestling pedigree. He grew up wrestling. He was a three-time state qualifier and claimed the district title three times. Outside of wrestling his freshman year for Ohio State, he wrestled his last three years of college for the University of Nebraska. His wrestling has translated very well and he is most likely the best wrestler among the TUF 30 cast. What will hold him back is his striking. Bartling has a lot of holes on the feet but hasn’t had to worry about it yet since he’s had his way with opponents so far.

Where a lot of heavyweights struggle the most is off their back and Bartling is the guy to put you there. Unlike a lot of other big men Bartling has the grappling to go along with the wrestling. His wrestling base and overall ground game, despite the lack of striking, will take him far.

The post The Ultimate Fighter Season 30 Cast Breakdown: The Heavyweights appeared first on Cageside Press.