Former contestant Roxanne Modafferi reviews TUF 32: Team Grasso vs. Team Shevchenko

Many fans watch The Ultimate Fighter for the drama of a reality show. Another good reason to watch that is often overlooked is that it adds a little bit of background and personality to the faces we see in the UFC. It makes fight cards more interesting to know fighters on the undercard, which is where people start. If they rise through the ranks and get big fights on the main card, it’s even cooler to follow their journey. TUF makes it easier to remember, especially if they have a hard-to-pronounce name. For example, “Hey, that’s the guy with the cool hair from Uzbekistan on TUF who almost punched his teammate in his underwear.”

The latest season was TUF 32: Team Grasso vs. Team Shevchenko, and was worth the time to watch. The characters were unique and the fights were good. The Ultimate Fighter started on Spike TV highlighting a lot of drama, which added an entertainment element that kind of faded after the move to FOX Sports. The producers started telling the cast members in meetings, “Try to tone down the inappropriate drama. If it’s there, that’s fine, but we have a reputation, and we want to look good on FOX” (although now it’s ESPN+). Rather than encourage the fighters to get drunk and pee on each other’s sushi, the producers get footage from the fighters’ hometowns, training, and families, and have the fighters tell their backstories and interviews. They started with footage looking like cheap home video, but now the production quality has improved. The TUF 32 cast was particularly interesting because almost everyone is from outside the USA.

TUF 32 best moments

Here are some things that stood out to me during The Ultimate Fighter 32.

• Seeing Roedie Roet’s hometown footage of South Africa, where he grew up on a family farm.
• Seeing footage of Lithuania and hearing Žygimantas Ramaška’s story, since we don’t often get fighters from that country.
• Everything about Robert Valentine from Switzerland, who has Norse runes and the anime Naruto tattoos. He quotes, “the old Nordic gods are crying for violence” and also “victory or Valhalla.”
• Robert Valentin knocking out his opponent with an elbow in the first round when he came in hard and fast.
• A knee bar attempt amidst a crazy battle that didn't turn out the way anyone thought.
• Kaan Ofli’s story of being an Australian who relocated with his wife to Bali, Indonesia.
• A complaint was made about a fighter throwing an unprotected elbow in training  (Ryan Loder and Edwin Cooper), which is a legitimate issue that most people aren’t aware of. People’s fights can get canceled through needless injury in the gym by careless training partners.
• The fights at the end of the episodes were all good and exciting, with fighters going for finishes as much as they could
• The coaches were cordial to each other and didn’t bicker, but obviously had a rivalry, which made Alexa and Valentina appear classy on TV.

The Ultimate Fighter season 32 had exciting fights and memorable characters and was an overall great season.

Roxanne Modafferi competed on The Ultimate Fighter Season 18 and has a unique perspective on the show.