{"id":786115,"date":"2026-07-08T03:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T03:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/786115\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T03:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T03:26:09","slug":"tuf-34-highlights-tina-black-stops-natalia-alves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/786115\/","title":{"rendered":"TUF 34 Highlights: Tina Black Stops Natalia Alves"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you know that the 34th season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF), coached by UFC Hall of Famers<\/a> Daniel Cormier and Michael Bisping, is currently airing on Paramount+ every Tuesday?<\/p>\n

Well, if not, I got you covered.<\/p>\n

In the fifth episode, Cormier\u2019s No. 1 women\u2019s pick and top Brazilian prospect Valesca Machado, better known as \u201cTina Black,\u201d scored a blistering technical knockout win over fellow countrywoman Natalia Alves in the second round of their quarterfinal matchup inside the Meta Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.<\/p>\n

Machado was the much more experienced fighter, and it showed almost immediately. In the first round, Alves \u2014 a grappling specialist \u2014 tried desperately to get the fight to the ground, but Machado shut down every takedown attempt and made her pay for it on the feet.<\/p>\n

By Round 2, Alves abandoned the grappling-heavy game plan and tried to strike with Machado.<\/p>\n

Machado completely took over, battering Alves on the feet and busting her up badly. At one point, Machado landed a stiff power jab that sent Alves running across the cage just to recover. \u201cTina Black\u201d kept pouring on the pressure, eventually overwhelming Alves with knees and punches until the referee stepped in.<\/p>\n

With the result, Machado moves on to the semifinal round, while Alves has been eliminated from the competition.<\/p>\n

Check out the finish below \u2014 and apologies for the music in the clip:<\/p>\n

Machado (15-4-1) is the clear favorite to win the entire show, which should not be all that surprising considering she is the most experienced women\u2019s fighter in the house.<\/p>\n

For whatever reason, UFC has been hesitant to sign her outright.<\/p>\n

\u201cTina Black\u201d is a former Contender Series alum<\/a>, former Invicta FC champion and current A1 Combat Strawweight champion. She is also riding a three-fight win streak and looks more than ready for the Octagon.<\/p>\n

As for Alves (8-0), she remains a very good prospect despite the rough showing. She is still only 25 years old, owns a 73 percent finish rate with four submissions and has already competed four times under the LFA banner.<\/p>\n

In episode six, a bad blood matchup goes down as Illimbek Akylbek Uulu collides with Sean Mora in the next quarterfinal fight.<\/p>\n

To checkout UFC\u2019s upcoming schedule of events click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Did you know that the 34th season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF), coached by UFC Hall of Famers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":786116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,40762,785,85,1396,355513],"class_list":["post-786115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-latest-ufc-mma-news","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc-news","tag-ufc-mma-social-media-videos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=786115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/786116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}