The first card of the week had to come second in this week’s tandem OTR offerings because Friday’s championship pairing wasn’t revealed until last night.
But now that we know who will be throwing down in the quest to become the inaugural women’s flyweight champion, it’s time to take a look at the emerging talents to watch on this weekend’s initial event.
This is the Ultimate Fighter 26 Finale Edition of On the Rise.
Given that she was considering taking a break from fighting to go back to school when tryouts for this season of The Ultimate Fighter were announced, it’s safe to say things have gone pretty well for the 28-year-old Montano.
The Fit NHB product entered the competition as the 14th seed, but has strung together upset wins over Lauren Murphy, Montana De La Rosa and Barb Honchak, all by decision, to arrive as one half of the initial pairing to battle for the UFC
women’s flyweight title. In addition to logging a great deal of time in the Octagon during her three tournament wins, Montano has also prepped for championship fights in the past, as each of her last two appearances before the show were five-round title fights.
After starting the year with a loss and being unsure about continuing her career, Montano has rattled off three straight impressive performances and stands on the precipice of history. With one more victory, she will etch her name in the record books as the first UFC women’s flyweight champion.
Montano isn’t the only Cinderella at this ball, however, as Eubanks has followed a similar underdog path to join her in the Octagon for Friday’s championship main event.
A Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, the 12th-seeded “SarJ” showcased her submission skills in her opening round victory over fifth-ranked Maia Stevenson in the opening round and then showed off her power by knocking out perennial Invicta FC contender DeAnna Bennett in the quarterfinals before upsetting top seed Roxanne Modafferi to advance to the finals opposite Montano.
Having come up on the mats alongside a host of familiar names and established talents like Dominick Cruz, Phil Davis and Mike Easton, the 32-year-old Eubanks has been able to make a quick ascent since turning pro in April 2015, collecting a pair of victories and learning a great deal from setbacks to current UFC fighters Katlyn Chookagian and Aspen Ladd along the way.
For the first time all season, she enters Friday’s championship bout as the higher seed, but you can be sure she’ll carry the same underdog mindset and toughness she’s shown throughout the competition into the cage this weekend as she tries to become the first UFC women’s flyweight champion.
Sean O’Malley
“Sugar” Sean set the Octagon ablaze this summer with his first-round knockout win over Alfred Khashakyan on the second week of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series.
One of several promising, young upstarts from the MMA Lab to be on the lookout for, the 23-year-old bantamweight is a bundle of excitement and swagger when he’s in the cage, happy to take one to land one and confident that his shot is going to put his opponent down. Tall for the division and sporting a mop of curls reminiscent of Charlie Brenneman back in the day, O’Malley has rattled off eight straight victories to start his career, collecting six first-round stoppages and only going the distance once.
This weekend, the charismatic upstart squares off with Terrion Ware in his toughest test to date. A 31-year-old veteran with a ton of experience under his belt, Ware is the most seasoned foe O’Malley has faced thus far, but if the John Crouch pupil can continue his winning ways and deliver another memorable performance, we could see “Sugar Sean” get a serious push in 2018.
