Team Tate blog: Chris Holdsworth on 'The Ultimate Fighter 18,' episode No. 2

Hopefully everyone got to see the first episode of “The Ultimate Fighter 18,” where I was fortunate enough to win my elimination fight to make it into the “TUF” house and I was picked as a member of Team Tate.

In all honestly, before I even knew Miesha Tate was going to be a coach because Cat Zingano‘s injury happened at the last second, I wanted to be on Ronda Rousey‘s team. Once I found out Miesha was coach, I still wanted to be on Ronda’s team, but I knew some people who had trained with Miesha, and I knew she was a cool girl and stuff, so at that point, I was like, “Alright, I’ll be happy with wherever I go.”

As we settled into the house, I was really getting the feeling that the adventure was just starting. I felt good to get that first fight out of the way, and now I knew there was a longer process ahead and potentially more fights. It was cool because I didn’t really know what to expect, but I did know a little of what to expect just from asking my teammate, T.J. Dillashaw because, of course, he was on an earlier season. I asked him before I came on the show what I should expect, what I should do. He have me a lot of good inside info that I think helped me feel comfortable with the whole process.

One of the things he told me was, expectedly, to be ready to fight to get in the house. But he also told me if I got through to try to fight first in the next round. Therefore, if you win, you have longer to try to get ready for the semifinals. You can just focus on your training. As you see later on in this episode, I was able to get myself another fight right away.

So the first time you really see me this season, I’m outside talking to the girls. I had to laugh when I saw that. I mean, you really didn’t know what to expect when you got to the house. You don’t know which girls have boyfriends. There are eight girls and eight guys in the house. Something’s bound to happen, right? I’m a guy! Of course I’m going to be attracted to the females in the house. So that’s how that went. I was just kind of checking all my angles and seeing what was up with all the girls.

Of course, after that first meeting, we all know what we’re there for. We’re there to win fights and win a contract. So once we had that initial exchange, that was pretty much it.

Thankfully for me, Anthony Gutierrez took things to a whole different level. I was laughing so hard when I saw those scenes with him hitting on the girls. We were pretty good friends even before the show, so when I saw that, I called him up right away and was like, “Dude, have you seen this episode?”

Ronda and Miesha

At the gym, the first clash between Ronda and Miesha was probably to be expected. Right away, I could see that Ronda was trying to get under Miesha’s skin. Ronda, she plays a lot of the psychological warfare games. She likes to get under people’s skin and let them know that she’s there and it’s her time. I kind of felt that.

Before I actually got to introduce myself to Ronda, she would just come in and kick us out of the gym or whatnot. But I’m a big fan of Ronda; I always have been. So to see all that, I honestly didn’t know what to expect. But after I did eventually get to talk to her, she’s so cool. She ended up coming to the house a bunch during the season. She treated her team really well, and she even treated some of us pretty well even though we were on the opposite team. So Ronda is actually a real cool chick. I think she was just trying to get under Miesha’s skin by playing that psychological warfare and saying, “I’m the dominant chick in this thing.”

After that drama, our team had to deal with the loss of Tim Gorman, which allowed the guy I beat to get into the house, Louis Fisette, to get back on the show – and on to my team! Honestly, I was a little upset about that at first. Before I knew exactly who was coming back, I asked Miesha because I knew Gorman was hurt and was going to have to leave. I asked Miesha, “Who are you guys bringing back?” She didn’t really tell me at first. Then she told me, and I was like, “Ah, come on.” But congrats to Louis. He ended up being a cool dude. At first I thought it was kind of messed up and he didn’t deserve to be in the house since he lost, but at the end of the day, they had to being somebody back, and I’m happy they brought back someone I beat. That shows he was a tough dude because they liked him and brought him back.

Julianna vs. Shayna and the opening-night buffet

Finally, it was time for the first fight of the regular season. I was really surprised it was going to be Shayna Baszler vs. Julianna Pena. One, I knew about Shayna way before the show. I followed her for a while, not only for MMA but also because she was active in the grappling circuits, too. That’s how I really knew about her, and I knew she was a beast. Meanwhile, the show was the first time I ever met Julianna, so right off the bat I thought, ‘Oh, man. Shayna is going to have her way with her.’ But once I saw Julianna train, I saw her determination and hard work and her mindset. I was like, “Wait a minute. This is going to be a good fight. She might get surprised.”

When Julianna finished her with a rear-naked choke, I was like, “Holy s—. This Julianna chick is legit.” Shayna was talking tons of crap. That surprised me because Shayna seemed cool, but I didn’t know she was going to talk that much s— about the whole thing. I knew she’d have to back it up once the fight came around. I think the episode might have made Shayna look cocky, but at the end of the day I guess she was just trying to sell the fight or just had that much confidence in herself. But my hat goes off to Juliana. She put on a great performance.

Overall, the win was a big morale booster for the whole team. Now, of course, we had control of the team selection. But also, Ronda picked that fight for a reason. She thought Shayna was going to destroy Julianna, and she tried to get under Miesha’s skin right away. Julianna was Miesha’s friend, and she was the top pick, but once she pulled off the upset, I saw a huge flip with Ronda where her whole demeanor changed, and she got really serious. She didn’t want that losing feeling to happen again. She wanted that control.

For us, I thought it was great for the team. We got control, and I got paired up with Chris Beal. That happened because when it came time for us to decide to pick someone to fight, I said, “Hey, I’m ready to fight. My weight’s good. I have no injuries. I want to fight.” I really wanted to fight first. I think the coaches wanted Josh Hill to fight, but when we all circled up, it turned out some of the guys wanted to wait a little longer for various reasons, but I said I was ready.

For Ronda to say that Miesha is a “p—y” for picking him because he had an injured hand or whatnot, come on. We’re in a competition. We all had injuries. Some people expressed them more or allowed them to be more noticeable, but I had injuries, too. I just wasn’t putting it out there like Chris was. His hand was hurt from the fight. Whatever. This is the fight game. You’re not a 100 percent all the time. So Ronda is kind of picking on Miesha for picking him first because he was hurt, but that’s the name of the game. He was their first pick, and everyone was on the chopping block.

One funny moment the show missed was everyone pigging out the first night in the house. Once we got in the house, we went all crazy on the refrigerator. Everyone was just baking pizzas and eating cookies. I thought they were going to show a little bit of that, but they didn’t. It’s funny because both the British guys were cooking up chicken and vegetables, and I was like, “Come on, guys!” Once they saw everybody going to town, they threw all that s— out and went right for it all. I thought that was pretty funny, but they didn’t show it. I was giving the Brits a hard time until they finally said, “F— it.”

Even though that first night I knew I wanted to fight soon, you still have to take a little time for yourself after a fight. I ate everything I could, but then I got right back on it the next day.

“The Ultimate Fighter 18? cast member Chris Holdsworth (4-0) blogs each Thursday exclusively for MMAjunkie.com. The bantamweight prospect takes readers behind the scenes of the FOX Sports 1-broadcast series, which airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET. Catch Holdsworth on Twitter at @holdsworth135.