Melendez did not like TUF 20 seeding or Torres decision
Gil Melendez: “That was a tough start for Team Melendez with my number one pick going down, but I thought Tecia won that fight.”
The Ultimate Fighter is normally made of relative unknowns. TUF 20 however is unique in the show’s history – for the first time, a majority of the top 10 fighters in the division are in the house. The winner of the season doesn’t get a UFC contract, the winner is the UFC women’s strawweight champion.
As a consequence, a unique bracketing format was designed. First, the fighters were ranked 1-16. The coaches were not given the ranking, but asked to choose the fighters based on their own impressions. Then when one coach picked a fighter, her chosen opponent was placed on the opposite team.
TUF 20 top 16 official rankings
1. Carla Esparza
2. Joanne Calderwood
3. Tecia Torres
4. Jessica Penne
5. Aisling Daly
6. Felice Herrig
7. Rose Namajunas
8. Bec Rawlings
9. Justine Kish
10. Alex Chambers
11. Heather Jo Clark
12. Angela Magana
13. Lisa Ellis
14. Randa Markos
15. Emily Kagan
16. Angela Hill
Team Pettis vs. Team Melendez brackets
Carla Esparza (No. 1) vs. Angela Hill (No. 16)
Joanne Calderwood (No. 2) vs. Emily Kagan (No. 15)
Randa Markos (No. 14) vs. Tecia Torres (No. 3)
Jessica Penne (No. 4) vs. Lisa Ellis (No. 13)
Aisling Daly (No. 5) vs. Angela Magana (No. 12)
Justine Kish (No. 9) vs. Bec Rawlings (No. 8)
Felice Herrig (No. 6) vs. Heather Jo Clark (No. 11)
Alex Chambers (No. 10) vs. Rose Namajunas (No. 7)
It would appear on paper that Anthony Pettis made the far wiser picks. If you weight the fighters according to their ranking, with the #1 ranked fighter getting the most points (16) and the lowest ranked fighter receiving just 1 point, then Team Pettis is ahead, 85 to 50, before the first fight.
On Wed fans saw the first fight, and the highest ranked pick on Team Melendez, #3 seeded Tecia “The Tiny Tornado” Torres lost to Team Pettis’s unheralded Randa Markos.
At a post broadcast media event Melendez said he was not thrilled with the new seeding format, thought the rankings were off, and thought Torres won.
“I did not like that,” said Melendez as transcribed by Dave Doyle for MMAFighting. “Considering it’s a competition, I’m told its a competition, you lose a coin toss and you get to choose when and who. I only got to choose who.”
“I was happy with my first pick. But seeing the matchup she got, I knew that Markos wasn’t the 14th seed. I knew [Markos] was one of my top-six picks. I saw one video and it had one of my buddies grapple with her. And I know right there that she was top six. I would have had different seedings.”
“I totally scored it for Torres. I thought she controlled things. I thought she got taken down at the end, I thought in the final couple seconds she let Markos advance and she didn’t get off on the ground and pound like she did in the second round. That was a tough start for Team Melendez with my number one pick going down, but I thought Tecia won that fight.”
“I understand it. You hear one [seed] and you’re like, ‘that wouldn’t have been my number one pick.’ I would have did something different. For that part I wasn’t too thrilled about it, but you know, whatever, it’s not my show, its theirs, and you roll with the punches.”
So what do you think UG? What do you think about the rankings? The bracketing format? Team Melendez’s chances??!?
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Image via CombatLIfestyle