Lightweights: Richie Smullen,
Luis Peña, Joe Giannetti and Thailand Clark.
Episodes
Episode 1: Good Day for a Fight (April 18, 2018)[4]
Season 27 begins as MMA stars Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier captain teams of undefeated lightweight and featherweight fighters competing for a UFC contract.
Team Cormier wins the coin toss for the 1st pick and the fighters were picked in the following order:
Coach
1st Pick
2nd Pick
3rd Pick
4th Pick
5th Pick
6th Pick
7th Pick
8th Pick
Cormier
Tyler Diamond (FW)
Bryce Mitchell (FW)
Richie Smullen (LW)
Luis Peña (LW)
Joe Giannetti (LW)
Brad Katona (FW)
Thailand Clark (LW)
Ricky Steele (FW)
Miocic
Kyler Phillips (FW)
Suman Mokhtarian (FW)
Mike Trizano (LW)
John Gunther (LW)
José Martinez Jr. (LW)
Jay Cucciniello (FW)
Allan Zuñiga (LW)
Dulani Perry (FW)
With control of fight selection for the first matchup, coach Miocic chooses his No. 4 pick John Gunther (6–0) to take on Team Cormier's No. 5 pick Joe Giannetti (6–0) in a lightweight matchup.
Joe Giannetti defeated John Gunther via technical submission (guillotine choke) in Round 1
Team Miocic retains control of fight selection, and with a featherweight bout up next, Miocic selects his No. 1 pick Kyler Phillips to fight Team Cormier's No. 6 pick Brad Katona.
Stipe Miocic gets creative and pranks Cormier, redecorating the opposing team's locker room with photos of himself including a naked photo. Cormier then shows his own business to Miocic and his team.
Thailand Clark has a heated exchange with Cormier over training too hard during practice and he needs to relax or leave.
Brad Katona defeated Kyler Phillips via majority decision in Round 2.
With this featherweight win, Cormier is in control and picks his first lightweight fight: José Martinez vs. Luis Peña.
Episode 3: Pressure Makes Diamonds (May 2, 2018)[6]
Dulani Perry gets on his teammates nerves and his loud-mouth, cocky attitude rub them the wrong way while in the TUF house and in the team van on the way to the gym.
After cutting weight, Luis Peña becomes irritable and has choice words for Suman Mokhtarian whose greeting at breakfast was too loud for him.
Luis Peña defeated José Martinez Jr. via unanimous decision in Round 2.
Cormier announces the next featherweight fight: Bryce Mitchell vs. Jay Cucciniello.
Due to an obligation in his home state of Louisiana, Cormier leaves Cain Valequez in charge of his team and cornering the upcoming fight.
After his fight, Luis Peña suffers a foot injury and has to go the doctor. The x-rays show a fracture to the distal second
metatarsal fracture, so has to wear a splint for 4–6 weeks and is out of the competition. However, Dana White tells him, "Heal up, and you'll be in the finale.
Bryce Mitchell defeated Jay Cucciniello via unanimous decision in Round 2.
With Team Cormier, now 4–0, Dulani Perry of Team Miocic voices his frustration to them.
Cormier announces the next lightweight fight: Mike Trizano vs. Thailand Clark.
Since they're 4–0, a Luis Peña and Tyler Diamond from Team Cormier decide to get inside the heads of the Team Miocic fighters by changing their TUF Undefeated sign in their locker room to "defeated", much to the dislike of assistant coach Marc Montoya.
During grappling practice, Suman Mokhtarian injures his right knee and gets help from the UFC Performance Institute where the trainer is worried about his
meniscus and the soft tissue around his knee. Team Cormier assistant coach Deron Winn walks in the trainer's room and makes several joking remarks about Suman's condition. His comments continue outside the locker rooms at the gym and tempers flare.
Mike Trizano defeated Thailand Clark via TKO (punches) in Round 2.
With Miocic in control of the fight pick, he announces the next featherweight fight: Suman Mokhtarian vs. Ricky Steele.
Trying to get in his possible opponents' heads, Team Miocic fighter Dulani Perry talks trash to Team Cormier, asking whoever wants to fight him, to step outside.
At separate times, Jay Cucciniello and John Gunther, both Team Miocic fighters who lost their first-round matches, sought out Dana White to ask him to take the injured Luis Peña's spot in the competition.
Ricky Steele defeated Suman Mokhtarian via unanimous decision in Round 2.
Back in control, Cormier announces the last preliminary lightweight fight: Richie Smullen vs. Allan Zuñiga.
After his fight, Ricky Steele doesn't feel well and comes back to the TUF house donning crutches. Along with injuring his feet, his head still hurts. When he refuses medical treatment, Cormier forces him to see a
neurologist, who tells him he has symptoms of a
concussion and he cannot clear him for the next fight.
For medical reasons (cramping legs), Richie Smullen was not able to compete and was medically disqualified. Dana White is not amused and suspects a mental issue to be the reason of his calf cramps. He takes a look at the hurt Smullen and, seeing that Smullen can barely stand, declares Team Miocic's Allan Zuñiga as the official winner.
Cormier announces the last preliminary featherweight fight: Tyler Diamond vs. Dulani Perry.
Richie Smullen returns from the hospital and the blood test showed that the reason why he couldn't feel his legs is that his muscles broke down.
Enzymes went into his bloodstream and then into his kidneys. It's caused by over-training.
With Luis Peña and now Ricky Steele out of the competition due to a concussion, there are two spots open. Team Miocic fighters, Kyler Phillips, Jay Cuccinello and John Gunther are itching to replace them and get back into the tournament.
Suman Mokhtarian receives bad news from the doctor and his
MRI results showed an
ACL tear and, needing surgery, he's out of the competition.
Tyler Diamond defeated Dulani Perry via submission (guillotine) in Round 2.
After the fight, Dana White calls in both coaches and asks who they want back into the tournament. Since Dana isn't interested in Cormier's remaining fighters, it's up to Miocic and he picks Jay Cuccinello and John Gunther to receive another shot and continue in the competition.
Miocic and Cormier announces the semi-final fights:
Both coaches take their teams out for a break from the TUF house by taking them to Exotics Racing where they get to put the pedal to the metal down the racetrack in their choice of a
Lamborghini,
Porsche, and
Ferrari.
During training, Cormier brings in his training teammates, UFC fighters
Luke Rockhold and
Max Holloway to give his fighters advice while in the sauna.
The fighters decide to host a talent show at the TUF house. And despite John Gunter and Mike Trizano fighting each other, they steal the show with their comedy routine.
Mike Trizano defeated John Gunther via unanimous decision in Round 3.
The next semi-final fight is featherweights Brad Katona vs. Bryce Mitchell.
TUF 15 winner
Michael Chiesa pays a visit to the UFC gym to impart some wisdom he learned during his time on the show to Team Cormier.
The fighters are treated to watching
UFC on Fox: Emmett vs. Stephens and Miocic and his assistant coaches bring pizza and drinks while Cormier gives his team a shout out while broadcasting the fights.
Brad Katona defeated Bryce Mitchell via submission (rear naked choke) in Round 3.
The next semi-final fight is lightweights Joe Giannetti vs. Allan Zuñiga.
Miocic and Cormier go head-to-head on the ice while playing hockey in this season's coaches challenge. Dana White sets up the challenge at
City National Arena, the practice facility of the
Las Vegas Golden Knights, where they will compete in a hockey shoot-out. With the help of the Golden Knights assistant coach
Ryan Craig and announcer
Shane Hnidy, the coaches will take turns as goalie and shooter trying to score on each other. The coach who shoots first gets 10 chances to score as many goals as possible then swap positions. The second coach then gets a chance to beat the first coach's score to determine the winner. The winning coach will get $10,000, earning each fighter $1,500. Miocic wins the coin toss and elects to be the goal tender and blocks more than half of Cormier's shots while Cormier, even though he's not used to being on ice skates, blocks the last 7 pucks in a row and wins only by one blocked shot.
Cormier and his assistant coaches visit the fighters at the TUF house with an
Xbox One and a mini trophy to have a
UFC 3 video game tournament. Joe Giannetti and Luis Peña get to the finals and Peña wins the last match in three rounds.
Joe Giannetti defeated Allan Zuñiga via submission (rear naked choke) in Round 1.
The next semi-final fight is featherweights Jay Cucciniello vs. Tyler Diamond.
Episode 12: Blood, Sweat, and Tears (July 4, 2018)[15]
Cormier holds a team dinner at the TUF house, where his fighters enjoy a meal cooked by his
personal chef Joe Zanelli along with help from designated "
sous chef" Bryce Mitchell.
Jay Cucciniello defeated Tyler Diamond via TKO (strikes) in Round 3.
The TUF finale is set:
Lightweights: Mike Trizano vs. Joe Giannetti.
Featherweights: Brad Katona vs. Jay Cucciniello.
Tournament bracket
Lightweight (155lb) bracket
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Mike Trizano
TKO
Thailand Clark
2
Mike Trizano
UD
John Gunther*
3
José Martinez Jr.
UD
Luis Peña
2
Mike Trizano
SD
Joe Giannetti
3
John Gunther
1
Joe Giannetti
SUB
Joe Giannetti
SUB
Allan Zuñiga
1
Allan Zuñiga
DQ
Richie Smullen
—
* Peña was pulled from the competition due to a fractured foot and was replaced by Gunther.
Featherweight (145lb) bracket
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Kyler Phillips
2
Brad Katona
MD
Brad Katona
SUB
Bryce Mitchell
3
Jay Cucciniello
2
Bryce Mitchell
UD
Brad Katona
UD
Jay Cucciniello
3
Suman Mokhtarian
2
Ricky Steele
UD
Jay Cucciniello *
TKO
Tyler Diamond
3
Dulani Perry
2
Tyler Diamond
SUB
* Steele pulled out due to a concussion and was replaced by Cucciniello.
Legend
Team Miocic
Team Cormier
UD
Unanimous Decision
MD
Majority Decision
SUB
Submission
(T)KO
(Technical) Knock Out
DQ
Disqualification
The Ultimate Fighter 27 Finale
The Ultimate Fighter: Undefeated Finale
The poster for The Ultimate Fighter: Undefeated Finale
The featherweight and lightweight finals of The Ultimate Fighter: Undefeated took place at the event.[2]
A middleweight bout between
Brad Tavares and
Israel Adesanya headlined the event.[17] On June 7, it was announced that Tavares was dealing with a foot injury, but his team announced that he was still competing in the fight.
Thiago Santos was announced as the replacement if Tavares was to pull out.[18]
At the weigh-ins,
Julian Marquez weighed in at 190 lb, four pounds over the middleweight limit of 186. He was fined 30% of his fight purse and the bout proceeded at a catchweight.[21]
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses:[23]
Fight of the Night: Alex Caceres vs. Martín Bravo
Performance of the Night: Israel Adesanya and Luis Peña
Reported payout
The following is the reported payout to the fighters as reported to the
Nevada State Athletic Commission. It does not include sponsor money and also does not include the UFC's traditional "fight night" bonuses.[24]
Israel Adesanya: $112,000 ($56,000 win bonus) def. Brad Tavares: $56,000
Mike Trizano: $30,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus) def. Joe Giannetti: $15,000
Brad Katona: $30,000 ($15,000 win bonus) def. Jay Cucciniello: $15,000
Alex Caceres: $84,000 ($42,000 win bonus) def. Martín Bravo: $25,000
Steven Peterson: $20,000 ($10,000 win bonus) def. Matt Bessette: $12,000
Gerald Meerschaert: $36,000 ($18,000 win bonus) def. Oskar Piechota: $14,000
^ Marquez was fined $3,600, 30 percent of his purse for failing to make the required weight for his fight with Alessio Di Chirico. That money was issued to Di Chirico, an NSAC official confirmed.[24]