The Ultimate Fighter returned for another week, airing the fourth episode of Season 31, with Team McGregor prospect Trevor Wells facing highly-touted Team Chandler veteran Timur Valiev. Read our recap of Episode 4 below.
The Negotiations
The episode featured the delayed bout between Timur Valiev and Trevor Wells, which was previously cancelled the day of the fight due to Wells suffering from cold sores, which meant the commission could not medically clear him. Cody Gibson faced Mando Gutierrez in their place, giving Wells time to recover.
However, the big issue was whether the two men would have to cut weight again in such a short time, which would be somewhat unfair for Valiev, who already cut weight and did not get to fight from no fault of his own. Throughout Episode 4, we saw Dana White, Conor McGregor, and Michael Chandler going back and forth, negotiating whether a catchweight would be used.
Read our recap of The Ultimate Fighter 31: Team McGregor vs. Team Chandler Episode 5 here.
Dana left it to McGregor and Chander to agree. Still, both parties had differing opinions, with Team McGregor arguing for no catchweight because they believed it would benefit the smaller Wells. Chandler wanted the fight to go ahead at Featherweight. However, the real stumbling block for Team McGregor was McGregor failing to even show up to negotiations.
Chandler stuck his ground, offering a catchweight of 144 pounds so that the fight was not at another official weight class, even though it made a minuscule one-pound difference. Dana eventually stepped in, helping the parties to agree on fighting at 142 pounds.
Everything You Need to Know About The Ultimate Fighter 31: Team McGregor vs. Team Chandler
TUF House and Training
We didn’t get much TUF House or training footage, but we saw an excellent scene where Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson assisted with a Team McGregor training session. McGregor and Wonderboy were full of praise for each other’s striking ability, with their movement and distance management being amongst the best in the sport.
The Fighters
Timur Valiev (18-3-0, 2-1-0, 1NC UFC) has quite possibly the best record out of the entire TUF 31 roster, with extensive experience across WSOF, PFL and the UFC, including wins over Chris Gutierrez, Martin Day, and Raoni Barcelos. He also has a no contest against Trevin Jones in the UFC, and his last bout was a unanimous decision loss to Jack Shore over a year ago.
Following that loss, he was surprisingly cut from the UFC roster and now gets to earn his place on the UFC roster once again. Born in Dagestan and training out of Tiger Muay Thai in Phuket, Thailand, it comes as no surprise that Valiev has an incredibly high wrestling pedigree and has managed to round out his skillset training at one of the best striking gyms in the world.
Trevor Wells (8-3-0) enters the TUF House with solid experience in top regional promotions such as Combate Global and the LFA. Like many other Team Quest fighters, training out of Dan Henderson’s California Team Quest facility, Wells brings a high wrestling pedigree and relentless cardio.
Find the entire PFL 6: Aubin-Mercier vs. Romero fight card and start times here.
The Fight
The fight opened up with Wells landing some good strikes, but Valiev quickly initiated a grappling exchange and managed to take his back along the cage. Valiev maintained control for several minutes with a body triangle locked in before Wells managed to counter and get away. From there, the two men mostly went back and forth on the feet, with Valiev seemingly securing the round with his diverse and high-volume kicking attack.
Valiev opened the second round with much of the same, utilising kicks to the head, body and legs of Wells, constantly scoring points and preventing Wells from putting together any consistent offence. After some good counter hooks from Wells, Valiev initiated the wrestling again, securing a dominant position and landing some near-fight-ending elbows. Towards the end of the round, Wells managed to counter and get back to his feet eventually, but it was too late.
Once again, the Team McGregor fighter performed well and took it to the veteran. Still, once again, Team Chandler came out on top, with Timur Valiev securing a unanimous decision victory. Towards the end of the fight, he looked gassed and was lucky there was no third round. Nevertheless, he moves on to the semi-finals.
Next week, the #3 ranked Team McGregor prospect Carlos Vera will face off against #2 ranked Team Chandler veteran and TUF 27 winner Brad Katona, who happens to train out of SBG Ireland with McGregor.
Read our recap of The Ultimate Fighter 31: Team McGregor vs. Team Chandler Episode 3 here.