After debuting in conjunction with Freedom 250 at the White House, TUF 34 has shifted to its usual Tuesday slot on Paramount+ and Rogers SportsNet (Canada), with bantamweights and women’s strawweights in the spotlight.

This week, Team Bisping had Mehemmedeli Osmanli on deck, looking to get them on the board at bantamweight. Bisping calls him “unbelievable” and adds that his fighter’s confidence is “thought the roof.”

“We are very confident going into this match-up.”

Osmanli is taking on Team Cormier’s number one pick, Artem Belakh. He’s a Kazakhstan-born Russian.

Mehemmedeli Osmanli, an Azerbaijani, reveals his father was once a millionaire, but when he was young, the family lost their fortune due to mistakes his father made. They sold their house, their car, and were left with next to nothing; his uncle stepped up to help him out. At 21, he’s the youngest fighter on the show.

Coach Bisping takes his team outside for a run, noting that in training camp, “every day is like Groundhog Day,” and it’s a break from the “same old routine every single day.”

Belakh struggles with his weight ahead of his first TUF fight, and winds up 7lbs over the morning of weigh-ins. Cormier is in the gym trying to get Belakh to sweat it out, and Team Bisping shows up for their assigned time. That leads Cormier to lock them out, as he refuses to force Belakh to halt his cut. Bisping confronts him, they talk it out, and Cormier gets to use the gym a little longer.

Both fighters make weight in the end. They get a little heated at face-offs, with Cormier suggesting Mehemmedeli Osmanli is scared, while “The Count” calls him a “real fighter.” Things get out of hand with Osmanli throwing an empty water bottle and hollering “b*tch” and “shut the f*ck up” when members of Team Cormier chirp at him. Bisping has to calm him down.

Balakh says he feels his time is coming. “Now is the cherry on the cake. I just love to fight, I just love competing.”

Artem Belakh vs. Mehemmedeli Osmanli

The fourth fight, and second bantamweight scrap, of The Ultimate Fighter 34 starts off with some clinchwork up against the cage. Osmanli and Belakh reverse positions, and both have their moments. It’s Osmanli who starts getting his striking going partway through the round, leading coach Cormier to tell Balakh that he needs to take the fight down. He certainly gives it his best effort, but Osmanli scrambles, frees himself, and then puts Balakh in a bad spot, taking the back and raining down punches. The hooks go in, the choke goes in, and the tap to the rear-naked choke comes soon after.

Cormier complains that his fighter “just wrestled the whole time” during the fight. “That’s all he did, was wrestle. Why? Why?” Beforehand, they felt a stand-up fight would favor Artem. Even Bisping is confused by his approach.

Dana White says that Mehemmedeli showed no fear, and “made a statement” with his performance.

Next Up on TUF 34

Bisping picks the next fight, and it’s Natalia Alves vs. Tina Black – an all-Brazilian match-up. Black trains with Urijah Faber, while Alves is part of The Fighting Nerds.

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