-Yes.
-Previously on the "Ultimate Fighter"...
-Team Cormier got off to a fast start...
-Keep that pressure... -...as Melissa Amaya
and Christian Strong claimed the first
two semifinal spots.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Whoo! -Then the skilled Brazilian
grappler Gigi Canuto took out Pakistan's Anita Karim
with a quick first round TKO,
giving Team Bisping their first win.
Now, Bisping looks to even the score
as 21-year-old prospect Mehemmedeli Osmanli takes
on veteran fighter Artem Belakh of Team Cormier.
-Artem was my first pick. He can do it all.
-Who will move one step closer to becoming
the next Ultimate Fighter?
-It's time!
♪♪
-Cormier!
♪♪
-Michael "The Count" Bisping!
♪♪
-I'm so sorry. -It's part of the game.
-Yes, but you're -- you're a fucking amazing person, so...
-Next time. -It's a bad day for me.
I never, like, performed like this.
I'm gonna come back more stronger,
and inshallah, in the future,
maybe we have a rematch again.
-I'm very, very happy about my win, you know?
Um, it was kind of like 1,000 pounds off of my shoulder,
you know, to -- to win and especially to win that fast.
Um, just super grateful to be here and super grateful to show,
you know, all of the girls in the house
that they should be worried.
♪♪
-Are we jumping? -Yeah, let's do it.
-I'll do it if you do it. I told you.
-We're going together, girl.
-Anna comes up to me and she's like,
"We need to celebrate your win."
Like, so we decided to just jump in the pool.
I don't know how to swim.
[ Laughter ]
-Alright, we ready? -Oh!
Ah!
-Alright, one...
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. -Ah.
-One, two, three
All: Sausage!
-Ah!
-Love, Anna. She's holding up like a dream.
Like she -- she's been having fun.
It's been like nothing but very, very cool, you know?
And putting her, you know,
burdens aside to make me feel good about my win.
And I really appreciate that.
-Hi. -Artem, we're coming
to join you.
-I'm married, I'm married. -No, stay.
-Stay. -No, no, no.
[ Indistinct conversations ]
-[ Laughter ] -You're a girl's girl.
Come on.
-Girls, they like my sisters here.
Or I don't know how I can say, but I'm already has a wife.
-"I'm married, I'm married."
I -- I respect. I respect that.
-He said, "My wife would kill me."
That's great. -"My wife."
He said, "No, no, no, no."
You're a good man, Artem. Good man.
Very respectful. -Congratulations.
-He said my wife would kill me. -Single.
-This is gonna be on TV.
-No. He said no.
♪♪
-There you go. Let's fucking go.
So this one's a bit of a wild card
because Artem's a really good fighter,
and we kind of wanted him on our team.
He's big for the weight class.
He's experienced. He's very crafty.
He's a great striker.
-How you doing, Mehemmedeli?
-But Mehemmedeli, this man
has the potential to walk
through this entire competition and make it look easy.
Mehemmedeli. [ Man shouts ]
Nice work.
I'm telling you, this guy's the future.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Beautiful takedown by Mehemmedeli.
-Oh, nice elbows from him.
-That's it. That's it. -And takes the tap.
Sensational finish from Mehemmedeli Osmanli.
Wow. -He's unbelievable.
The confidence is through the roof.
He's got a great personality.
His fighting style is ridiculous.
He can do it all.
We are very confident going into this matchup.
Finish it. Nice.
Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam.
Yeah!
-Is that coffee?
-Where are you from?
-I was born in Kazakhstan, but I'm Russian.
The most important people in my life, it's my mother.
I was born when my mother was 17 years old.
She was a young mother. She is really the best.
We move to Russia.
I go to the school, and all the time, I need to protect my
small sister and my small brother.
I was born in Kazakhstan, and I know what it means street fight.
I'm from Kazakhstan. Live inside Kazakhstan
around 18 years, and moved to Russia.
-Oh, shit. -Yeah.
I live in Russia.
I live in Thailand. I live in Ireland.
Okay.
-Bangtao nice, nice, so nice.
You can go to spar. -Mm-hmm.
-And, uh, you can kill someone.
-They don't care? -Yeah. Don't care.
Yeah. Everybody come to Bangtao. Many, many people you can fight.
Hard.
-A lot of people get hurt?
-Yeah. Yeah. If you want a hard spar, go.
-You go there.
-You live in Thailand? -Four years.
But now I eight months live here in Vegas.
I moved to Las Vegas 2025.
It was so struggle, and I spent all my money for American Visa.
I bring my family.
I bring my wife to America, and life is difficult.
I trained in Las Vegas, in BKMMA gym.
I trained in syndicate.
I'm just going to sparring with UFC fighters.
I start spar with Merab.
-He started to rage on the feet!
All time after training, I go and do deliveries.
I worked on DoorDash, work on moving.
But it's not enough for life in America.
I'm just try and survive
and try to find some way for UFC.
-Go in there.
-I fight in LFA versus Vinicius Pieres.
-Belakh looks like he already has the size advantage.
-On short notice. He was champion.
-Nice stick jab by Belakh.
-He try and defend title against me.
And I dropped him last minute.
-Oh! -Belakh, big punch.
-Pushed the champion on his back.
-I never give up. I followed my dream.
-Artem Belakh!
-I'm just born for be winner.
34th season The Ultimate Fighter.
-Here's one key thing that I want you to understand, son.
You got to be ready to fight at a high pace right now
because he's gonna pressure.
I know you said you have time,
and I know you don't want to rush,
but we only have 10 minutes.
So when he comes, you're gonna have to match his energy.
You need to start on the front foot.
Try to back him up.
Mehemmedeli Osmanli, he's tough.
I'm nervous about this one.
And he wasn't fighting in some trash organization.
He's fighting in one of the better organizations
over there in the Middle East, and he is destroying dudes.
He's in tremendous shape.
Good striking, mean. Yeah, he's good, man.
Because he's a southpaw, right,
and we are told that when you fight a southpaw,
this lead hand is not as effective, right?
So what does he start with every time? He starts with this.
Every time.
Or he starts with this, and he starts with this.
It's almost predominantly -- it's almost predominantly
backhand to start.
He never starts with a jab and a right or jab --
-Sometimes -- -Yeah, he does this.
But it's always -- it's like mostly this back leg.
So be very cognizant of that back side.
Yes, that. That's what I need.
Because guess what. This is very effective.
But the moment you step outside, look at that.
It kills.
Artem was my first pick. He's got a really good skill set.
Trains at Syndicate with John Wood,
who was on my staff last year.
Main training partner with Merab.
Main training partner with Petr Yan at Tiger Muay Thai.
He's a very dangerous guy, very dynamic in his striking.
-Don't always shift this way.
Sometimes you go, right?
-Yeah. Yeah. Just make sure. Oh, yeah.
Just don't always go... Yeah. Yeah.
This is power side. Yes, good.
-For Artem to win this fight, he's got to be creative.
He's got to get Mehemmedeli going backwards.
Not let him set the pace. Here's the problem.
Artem told me, "I don't want to rush."
I'm like "Well, it's only a 10 minute fight.
You have to kind of fight faster than you're used to fighting."
Now when I want to go off to the other side, I clear, circle.
Now I'm ready. Now we can fight again, right?
I don't want you to press me back.
You train with Merab? -Yeah.
-He always make you go back, huh?
Fuck that. No, Merab. So here.
Yes, good, good, good, good.
Step turn, step turn. Good. Go. Yes.
And then kick. Go. Yes. When you go...Good.
-Nice, Artem. Don't rush. Take your time.
Right? It'll come.
It'll show itself as he's going backwards.
But if you rush, you're over swinging
and you put yourself in a bad position.
The one thing about Artem,
though, is he's very, very, uh, strong willed.
And we'll see how that plays out.
You're a veteran. You've fought everywhere, right?
Go beat this kid. I say, Artem, go get it done.
I trust you.
You told me yesterday multiple times,
"Don't worry, coach."
I trust you.
Right? You got this. Let's go, let's go, Artem.
[ Applause ]
-Your whole family's still in Azerbaijan?
-Oh, no.
Not only MMA,
...never be
...bad person, you know?
-Are you all still very close?
-Yeah.
-Yeah. That's cool.
You'll bring him with you to the finals?
[ Grunting ]
Yeah.
-You gonna train tomorrow or take a day off?
Start tomorrow?
-Yeah.
-Yeah. Not hard fight?
I like that, yeah.
♪♪
-Man, what the fuck are we doing?
-They want us to run at the top of that?
-As soon as I get out of the van,
what was going through my mind was,
what the hell are we doing right now?
-All right, guys, here we are.
Adrenaline mountain.
I thought it'd be good for us to get out of the gym,
break up the monotony, get some fresh air.
We're gonna go for a nice little run.
Enjoy the nature. Some peace and quiet.
Be careful. There is mountain lions.
There is rattlesnakes.
I know some of you people come from countries
where there's a lot of that stuff.
But if you see a mountain lion, do not run away.
Okay? Stand, make yourself bigger.
Maybe we'll attack it. Maybe we'll take it down.
Maybe we'll wrestle it.
-I don't want to die. I don't know what's going on.
Possums, snakes, ratatouille,
whatever you name it is out there.
Elephants, tigers, dragons.
Fucking around, and I'm like,
something out here will kill me, 100%.
-Ready? -Yes.
-Let's go.
[ Cheering ]
-If you want, we can go back to that boring,
stale little gym, and we can...
We can jog on the treadmill, you ungrateful bastards.
Come on, let's go.
One of the hardest parts about going through a training camp,
and certainly a process like The Ultimate Fighter is
every day essentially is Groundhog Day.
It's always the same.
You walk in the gym, you put the wraps on.
It's the same faces, the same scenario.
So we wanted to get outside,
take a run through all the trails,
give them some vitamin D,
allow them to visualize, and just break it up.
We're still going to work hard. We're still going to push them.
But as I say, it's just a mental break
from the monotony of the gym
and the same old routine every single day.
♪♪
-Man, it is so good to be outside of the house,
to be in the sunshine,
to run and burn some of these freaking calories off.
-You know, just get out of the mundane,
like training and coming to the house and then training again.
So they were very nice to take us to the mountains, you know.
-Let's go!
-Who's that? Ali? Ah.
I love how he's always first, he wants to lead the way,
super competitive every time.
He wants to be out in front.
Let's go, Ali! Come on brother. My man.
Champion shit. Let's go.
Whoo!
-To experience nature, especially as an athlete,
you know, I think being connected to nature
is definitely very important.
-All right. Good work, guys.
Nice to get out of the gym, get some fresh air.
It's good for your mentality.
It's good for, you know, a break.
Ali, I love the smile on your face.
I love the way that you're nodding your head.
I love the way that you're trying to be first.
Okay? That's the mentality you need.
Do you want to win this show?
Do you want to build a life for yourself?
Do you want to become a legend in this sport?
It's all there at your fingertips
if you're willing to work hard enough for it.
Round of applause to everyone here today.
Best of luck to everyone that's still got fights coming up.
Let's go. Let's get a "Team Bisping."
In the middle here.
All right, "Team Bisping" on three.
One, two, three.
-Team Bisping!
-You look like a malnourished kid.
Yeah?
-Dense bones.
Oh, man.
-Artem, Micaias was saying that he was fucking heavy.
He's gonna feel like shit.
-Then that's when you're gonna go?
-You're gonna just fucking...
Exactly.
♪♪
-I don't know why my body make this shit,
but I'm professional, I can make 135.
Ah!
-Artem struggled with the weight.
And those are some hard weight cuts for these guys.
-Artem was very heavy the morning of the weight in.
He was seven over.
For Artem to approach it the way that he does,
where he just puts his head down and goes to work,
tells me how mentally strong he is.
Problem is I didn't know that the weigh ins were so close
to Michael's training time.
-Daniel Cormier. -What's up, dawg?
-Well, the training times are 10:00 to 12:00 for us.
We're going to be there in a minute,
and you guys have to leave. It's as simple as that.
-No, we're not leaving, Mike.
We are not going to have this kid restart their sweat.
-No, no, no, no. We have a set of rules, DC.
I'll see you shortly.
-I've got a guy cutting a massive amount of weight.
I didn't want them to interfere with his weight cut.
So yeah, I kind of was asking him not to come in
and locking him out.
-It's locked. -You sure?
-Yeah.
♪♪
-They've locked the doors.
Alright. They've locked the doors.
There is absolutely no way
we're not training in there right now.
DC, why are you being unreasonable?
-I'm being unreasonable? -You are!
You know, as a pro, I cannot take these guys out
of here to finish his weight cut.
It's gonna stop the sweat.
They will not be able to get the sweat going again.
-Daniel, we had an agreement.
-You know you make the weight as close to the scale time
as you possibly can.
Please. You can train, I just... We're almost done.
-You got to get the fuck out, is what you got to do.
-No, no, I cannot do this to this kid.
-All right, all right. Don't ask me for anything.
-Here's the issue. -You told me we're gonna
train somewhere else, so it's okay.
-I'm asking you to train somewhere else.
As a gentleman and as a friend, I'm asking you.
-And you may have your wish.
I love DC, and he's just playing games.
It's mind games.
He's trying to disrupt our schedule as much as possible,
but I think mainly it's just because Daniel's
just used to getting his own way.
If the shoe was on the other foot...
-I would definitely do it.
-...and you were walking in here to have a training session,
and you get to the gym where it's scheduled,
agreed upon, and some guy's saying,
"You're not training here." -Who said that?
-You to me right now in front of all these cameras.
-I'm asking you.
-That's precisely what just happened!
10:00 till 12:00 is our training time.
-Sorry, guys. My apologies.
-When I do weight cut,
it's important because if you not make weight, Dana,
and nobody give you a chance.
Something's happened in this weight cut.
I don't know what's happened.
My body give more water.
♪♪
-You're a pound and a half under.
-How much?
-Like a pound and a half under.
Give him a little water. Put some clothes on this man.
Not as usual.
-Here. What are these, shorts?
[ Speaking indistinctly ]
-Whoa!
♪♪
-To the scale, Artem Belakh.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Artem is an experienced fighter.
He has 11 wins in his 13 professional bouts,
and nine of those are finishes.
♪♪
He's aggressive, he's a good striker, good grappling,
and he is not afraid to go toe to toe with anyone.
-134.5.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-To the scale, Mehemmedeli Osmanli.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Mehemmedeli the youngest bantamweight in the competition,
but he already has more professional wins
than any other male fighter in the house.
♪♪
The kid finished 10 of his 12 wins,
and he's riding a nine fight win streak.
This kid is a killer.
-136.
-Aaah!
-Guys, hang on, hang on. -Slow down, slow down.
-You don't want to do that.
[ Indistinct shouting ]
-Your whipping's coming tomorrow, Mehemmedeli.
Your whipping's coming tomorrow. You don't need to rush it.
He is scared.
I have never seen such bad behavior.
This is a show. This is a show.
-He's a real fighter.
-I've never seen a show like this.
-Aaah!
Come on!
-This guy is a showman. He's a showman.
You know this is a show.
-Aaah!
-Listen. Listen.
You're making fools of yourselves.
You're grown -- You're grown men.
But shut the fuck up and let the fighters do their thing.
-I not feel pressure.
I feel confidence, and, uh, nobody can, uh, can beat me.
It's, uh...It's impossible.
♪♪
[ Indistinct talking ]
♪♪
-Meow! Meow
-Respect Artem.
-I think Ali is young and wild. I've never seen him fight.
So it's the youth speaking, I think.
-Oh!
-Hey, shut your fuckin' mouth.
-What's up with this guy? -Ali is a showman.
And when you're going to fight some people,
it brings out the animalistic side.
And I love that in a fighter. This man loves to compete.
He is born to do this.
-[ Squealing ] -Shut up!
-Stop, stop, stop, stop!
-Bitch! -Shut your fuckin' mouth!
Shut the fuckin' mouth, bitch!
-Look at me. Look at me. Hey, save your energy.
[ Indistinct shouting ]
Stop, stop.
-Stay focused.
♪♪
-Let's go, boy. Let's go, Artem.
[ Applause ]
-Yes, look at that smile. And that's genuine.
You know, because some people like to pretend.
♪♪
-Let's go. Come on.
[ Applause ]
-All right, buddy, this is it.
♪♪
-Oh, you want to fight in Azerbaijan if you win?
-Yeah. -Okay.
All right.
-Let's go, Artem. Let's go.
♪♪
-♪ When I step into that light shining bright ♪
♪ Got that confidence flowing all day, all night ♪
-I'm so excited. I can't wait.
All my emotions you will see in cage.
♪♪
-Let's go, Artem.
♪♪
Let's go, Artem.
♪♪
-All right, gentlemen, this fight
will consist of two five minute rounds.
If after two rounds, the judges have scored a draw,
we will go to a sudden victory overtime.
You ready to fight? Ready? Let's do it.
-Nice, Artem!
-Up, up, up, up.
Get the underhook. Get the underhook.
-Don't -- -Stay in there. Stay in there.
Stay in there. Stay in there.
Split him down the middle with the left.
Put the left knee -- Put the right knee inside.
-You're good. -Nice job.
You're in control. You're in control.
Beautiful. -Nice knee, Artem. Nice.
-Nice. -Break off.
-Nice knee, Artem.
Good knee, Artem.
-Off the fence.
Watch that trip, get the underhook.
-Claim that a little bit. You can touch his head.
-Don't take the shot. Oh, yes. Yes.
Underhook. Get off the fence. Get off the fence!
-Let's go. Bounce off now, buddy.
-Keep the head position, Artem.
You got it. Stay head position. Nice.
-Circle, circle, circle, circle.
-Good. -Yeah, yeah.
[ Indistinct shouting ]
-Careful, careful.
-Oh, nice.
-Yeah. -Oh!
-Touch him, zip him.
-Let's go.
-Oh, oh!
-All right.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
-Look at that shit. Look at that shit.
-Good! -No, no, no, no, no!
Hey! Swing the arm. Swing --
There you go. Off the fence.
-Let's break off now.
-Nice.
Good.
-You got to take him down. Step, step, step.
-Right there, too. There you are.
-Away from the fence. Away from the fence.
-Up, up, up, up, up, up.
Fight the hands, fight the hands.
He knows.
Okay. He's tired. He's tired.
-Don't forget about the body.
-He's scared.
Nice! -Get the head down!
Punish him! -Punish him!
That's it.
-You got him!
[ Indistinct shouting ]
-Congrats. Great fight.
Great fight. Good job, kid.
-Why'd he wrestle so much?
He just wrestled the whole time.
-My coach! -Ah! Come on.
-That's all he did, was wrestle.
Like why? Why?
♪♪
So the fight is going, and Artem lands these
nice combinations.
He's close. He's tight.
We told Artem back him up, control him.
I even said to Artem, I said, "Well, it's going to be
a stand up fight, and that favors you."
He goes, "Absolutely, stand up fight favors me."
We get in the fight, and all he does is wrestle.
-Artem is a striker, and his whole game plan
was to wrestle against Mehemmedeli.
Right? And I don't understand it.
-Yes, yes, yes!
-We did no wrestling to prepare for this fight.
We did stand up because we thought we had
the better stand up fighter.
It's all he did.
He took shot...
-Yes, yes, yes.
-...after shot...
...after shot.
[ Indistinct shouting ]
-Mehemmedeli did what he was supposed to.
He got back to his feet.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
He's got separation.
And he went to work on the feet.
-It was the most mind boggling thing
I've seen in a really long time.
It was nothing we did during training.
-There you go.
-He kind of sent the message to Artem
that he couldn't hold him down,
that he was going to get back to his feet
if he did take him down.
He's tired. He's tired.
Ah!
And once again shoots a takedown.
Mehemmedeli sees it coming a mile away.
Sprawled. Defends.
[ Indistinct shouting ]
Takes the back.
Locks in the choke.
♪♪
[ Cheering ]
Chokes him out. First round stoppage.
Unbelievable performance.
-I will take belt. Believe me.
-This is why we do "The Ultimate Fighter."
We want to give up and coming guys like Mehemmedeli
a chance to show us what they have.
And he did exactly that. He definitely made a statement.
He went in there. He put on a show.
The guy showed no fear, has a big personality
and well-rounded skills.
I am excited for his next fight in the semifinals.
-Good job, kid. Great work. -Thank you.
-Mehemmedeli is good.
He's like way better than I thought he was initially.
-Winner and advancing to the semifinals,
Mehemmedeli Osmanli.
-♪ For swelling, pain on broken machines ♪
♪ And now it's my time ♪
It is what it is.
Shit happens sometime. I still here.
I still continue training.
I can find my opportunity.
I'm still ready.
-Good job, baby.
-I think he's a good fighter.
He's found his moment.
But no excuse. Today, it's not my day.
I congrats this guy.
-He's a very good fighter. He's a good fighter.
But he ain't supposed to beat you like that.
He ain't supposed to beat you like that.
I will not accept that. I refuse.
I will not accept that.
-I hope we meet again.
[ Cheering ]
-Bro, you were so much better, and he's a good fighter.
He is a very good fighter.
You made it look easy.
-Come on!
-He reminds me of Conor McGregor
when Conor McGregor was coming up.
He really does. I mean, he's got it all.
He's got a tremendous look.
His skill set is so fan friendly.
Everyone loves to watch somebody like that compete.
You made everyone back home proud.
Your family, your parents, everyone.
Baku, Azerbaijan. Good for you, man.
I love everything about him.
I am so glad he's on our team.
-So midway through the quarterfinals,
It's all even at two and two.
Each team has one strawweight and one bantamweight
in the semifinals.
Now we move on to the next strawweight fight.
♪♪
-All right. From Team Bisping, the one and only...
...Natalia Alves!
-[ Cheers and applause ] -Let's go, Natalia.
And of course, she will be taking
on none other than Tina Black.
-Tina Black.
[ Applause ]
We got this Brazil on Brazil action.
We got this Brazilian on Brazil action.
Hey, she's a killer.
-It's time to see what Cormier's number one
strawweight pick is made of.
Tina Black is a Uriah Faber protege
and the current champion in his A1 Combat promotion.
Natalia Alves recently joined the Fighting Nerds
down in Brazil and is undefeated as a pro, 8-0.
These are two high level fighters
and two of the best Brazilian strawweight prospects out there.
Let's see who's gonna earn the next semifinal spot.
-On the next episode of "The Ultimate Fighter"...
-What did he do? -...Bisping resorts to trickery
to get information on Cormier's fighter.
-So Tina's coach at home, Urijah Faber, text Bisping
and says, "You guys get Tina Black?"
Michael says yes,
lied to Uriah to get a background on Tina.
That mother-- -Nothing more.
-Then it's a Brazilian showdown as Team Cormier's
resident bad girl Tina Black...
-Tina Black is ready to go fight in this competition
and, honestly, win this competition.
-...takes on Team Bisping's
undefeated prospect Natalia Alves.
-Whoo!
-But will a hard weight cut bring Natalia's
Ultimate Fighter journey...
-[ Groans ]
-...to an untimely end?
-Ah! -Shh!
-116. -116.
-116.5. -That's not good.
-She's gonna shave her head.
-That's not gonna be a half pound.
-If I shave my head, we still got a fight?
♪♪