Brian Ortega is pitching a shutout so far on The Ultimate Fighter 29.
Team Ortega’s Tresean Gore (3-0)* used a steady striking game to take a two-round decision over Team Volkanovski’s Ryder Newman (3-1) in the second middleweight bout of the season, leaving Alexander Volkanovski without a win through three episodes.
The wrestling of Newman never materialized as he struggled to close the distance with Gore and ate a steady diet of leg kicks. As the fight progressed, Gore opened up on the feet, beating Newman to the punch with his jab and finding a home for his right hand. With the win, Gore knocked off Team Volkanovski’s top middleweight pick, just as his teammate Liudvik Sholinian beat top bantamweight pick Mitch Raposo in the previous fight.
Leading into the bout, there was some concern on Newman’s side as his Xtreme Couture teammate from outside of the show, Miles Hunsinger, had been drafted to Team Ortega. However, Gore assured Newman that any talk between himself and Hunsinger was mostly personal and that Hunsinger didn’t give him any trade secrets.
Gore, an American Top Team product who counts Douglas and Dhiego Lima among his training partners, now advances to the next round of the TUF 29 middleweight tournament.
It was again Volkanovski’s turn to pick the next fight and he chose his No. 2 bantamweight pick Dustin Lampros to fight Team Ortega’s last bantamweight pick, Vince Murdock.
Here are the first-round results so far:
Andre Petroski def. Aaron Phillips via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 4:42
Liudvik Sholinian def. Mitch Raposo via decision
Tresean Gore def. Ryder Newman via decision
On next week’s episode, Team Volkanovski’s Dustin Lampros fights Team Ortega’s Vince Murdock in a bantamweight bout.
(*TUF bouts are considered exhibitions and fighters’ pro records will not be changed by the results on the show)
Season 29 of The Ultimate Fighter is being coached by UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega. A bout between the two is being targeted for UFC 266 on Sept. 4.
The finalists of the TUF 29 middleweight and bantamweight tournaments will compete for a six-figure UFC contract at a finale event with a date still to be announced.
Here is the TUF 29 roster divided by team:
Team Volkanovski
Middleweights
Bryan Battle
Ryder Newman
Aaron Phillips
Gilbert Urbina
Bantamweights
Brady Hiestand
Dustin Lampros
Mitch Raposo
Ricky Turcios
Team Ortega
Middleweights
Tresean Gore
Miles Hunsinger
Kemran Lachinov
Andre Petroski
Bantamweights
Daniel Argueta
Vince Murdock
Josh Rettinghouse
Liudvik Sholinian
Advancing to Round 2: Petroski, Sholinian, Gore
Eliminated: Phillips, Raposo, Newman