Up until this point, Valentina Shevchenko has evened the score with Alexa Grasso and her team. The Ultimate Fighter Season: Season 32 coaching matchup is now the same at the bits. Team Bullet’s Ryan Loder (6-1) made it three wins apiece after defeating Team Grasso’s Tom Theocharis in this week’s middleweight matchup.
This week’s TUF: Season 32 could have been a whole lot different for the fighter. To name one reason — Edwin Cooper Jr. Drama between housemates is a commonality, especially if combat sports are the case. Team Bullet’s Giannis Bachar had quite a breakdown during the preliminary weeks of the reality series. Now, TUF fighters express concerns about the drinking habit of Cooper Jr.
That guy is drunk 24-7, man…If Shevchenko knows that, she’s gonna kill him.
Omran Chaaban, middleweight, via TUF: Season 32 In-House footage (@espnmma)
It’s Bullet again to the fodder with The Ultimate Fighter finding yet another drunk notorious. No, not Conor McGregor! Everyone saw him run rampant with his brazen coaching during TUF: Season 31. This time, it’s Cooper Jr. who has courted controversy from housemates for being drunk at regular intervals. He did offer up his side of the story.
[No] I didn’t hit hard…It ain’t hard! Heh…There’s nothing going on beside getting ready to train, getting prepared for my fight.
Edwin Cooper Jr. [speaking after the incident] via TUF: Season 32 In-House footage (@espnmma)
This episode also featured Cooper’s fellow housemates complaining about his verbose character in-house. Bekhzod Usmonov – Cooper’s teammate at Jackson-Wink MMA, pulled him aside to counsel him about his drinking. Ryan Loder has quite the standout performance; however, Cooper Jr. could have been very detrimental to it all. Consequently, he did get caught up in more drama.
Valentina Shevchenko rages after teammates almost come to blows
Valentina Shevchenko and rival for undisputed gold Alexa Grasso have completely polarizing yet opposite natures. At least, that is the running consensus among the MMA community. Alex Grasso is the sweet-face flyweight champ who goes hardcore and mean-faced during training. Meanwhile, Shevchenko is usually hard-shell on the outside. But visit her social media pages; there’s a very friendly character within.
Stern Valentina Shevchenko acts peacemaker between Ryan Loder and Edwin Cooper Jr. (Source: agfight.com/wisportsheroics.com/X)However, Valentina Shevchenko had to put on her mean streak disciplinary face at this week’s The Ultimate Fighter Season: Season 32. Loder got into an altercation during training with teammate Edwin Cooper Jr., and his drinking habit irked him beyond measure.
Cooper Jr. angered Loder after he caught him with a non-padded elbow during a sparring session. Although the 31-year-old tried to shrug off the accident, Coach Shevchenko had to step in to get her fighters back on track.
During the night’s broadcast of episode 6, Ryan Loder didn’t receive a blow in full force. Nevertheless, it was so near to his matchup that a cut could have stalled the middleweight in this week’s win. It’s now back-to-back wins for Shevchenko, with Loder joining featherweights Roedie Roets and Zygimantas Ramaska in the semi-finals.
As for Cooper Jr., he squares up against Mairon Santos in the final featherweight matchup of the quarterfinals next week. The Ultimate Fighter 32 airs live every Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET (ESPN+). While the season end will probably see a title affair, the season itself is clamoring with drama.
