Valentina Shevchenko has her first finalist on The Ultimate Fighter 32.
In the opening bout of this season’s middleweight semifinals, Ryan Loder (6-1) used old-fashioned American wrestling to grind out a win over Finland’s Omran Chaaban (6-1). It was a hard-fought win for the Team Bullet fighter who advances to the finals with a shot to win a six-figure UFC contract.
He awaits the winner of the second middleweight semifinal bout between Team Alexa Grasso’s Paddy McCorry and Robert Valentin.
Loder stuck to the gameplan to secure his victory, waiting for the right chance to use his wrestling and ground the more striking-minded Chaaban. After a slow start, Loder took Chaaban down at the end of Round 1 to edge out a close frame, then did the same halfway through Round 2 with plenty of more time to work. Loder’s standup was good enough to keep Chaaban honest as he mixed in stiff leg kicks and a timely counter right.
A Round 3 charge from Chaaban had Loder retreating for much of the final five minutes, but Chaaban needed a finish to steal the win after falling behind on the cards. Loder weathered the storm and is now one more strong performance away from landing a UFC deal.
This week’s episode featured little drama outside of the cage, with everyone getting along after the conclusion of the quarterfinals. Giannis Bachar cooked a traditional Greek dinner for the entire house, and Loder praised his castmates for embracing diversity on the show and respecting each other’s culture and religions.
Next week, we find out who the first TUF 32 featherweight finalist will be as Team Grasso’s Kaan Ofli takes on Team Bullet’s Roedie Roets.
Plus, Grasso and Shevchenko face off in the season’s Coaches Challenge, which sees them shoot some hoops in front of WNBA star Kelsey Plum.
The Ultimate Fighter 32 airs live every Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
Following the season finale, Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko are set to face off in a flyweight championship trilogy bout at UFC 306 on Sept. 14 at Sphere in Las Vegas.
The finalists of the TUF 32 middleweight and featherweight tournaments will also compete for a six-figure UFC contract at the show’s live finale. A date for that event is yet to be announced.
Here are the TUF 32 rosters divided by team:
Team Grasso
Team Shevchenko
Featherweights
Middleweights
See the semifinal results below:
Middleweight
Ryan Loder def. Omran Chaaban via decision
Paddy McCorry vs. Robert Valentin
Featherweight
Kaan Ofli vs. Roedie Roets
Zygimantas Ramaska vs. Mairon Santos
See quarterfinal results below:
Roedie Roets def. Guillermo Torres via decision
Robert Valentin def. Giannis Bachar via KO (strikes) (R1)
Kaan Ofli def. Nathan Fletcher via decision
Omran Chaaban def. Shamidkhan Magomedov via technical submission (anaconda choke) (R2)
Zygimantas Ramaska def. Bekhzod Usmonov
Ryan Loder def. Tom Theocharis via submission (arm-triangle choke)
Mairon Santos def. Edwin Cooper Jr. via split decision
Paddy McCorry def. Mark Hulme via submission (guillotine choke) (R1)
