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LOS ANGELES -- When Carla Esparza and Jessica Penne agreed to spend several weeks of the summer sequestered in a house with 14 fellow mixed martial artists, they didnt do it because it sounded like fun. They joined the cast of the upcoming season of "The Ultimate Fighter" because their sport is growing in ways they never imagined just a few months earlier. After years of training, sacrificing and getting punched for little more than personal satisfaction, they embraced the chance to showcase womens MMA to a new audience, even if it meant living in what Esparza called "a combination of a prison and a sorority." "Were getting an amazing opportunity I never thought I would see," added Penne, who was fired from her job as a boxing instructor during her stint on the show this summer. "In this sport, you go through people not taking you seriously, not being able to pay your bills because youre chasing a dream," Penne said. "It gets really difficult. Its a crazy, up-and-down life, but I feel lucky to be able to do something I love every single day. Not many people get the opportunity to do that. Ill suffer while I can to chase my dream." When the UFC added an entire 115-pound womens division this year, the promotion decided to use its long-running reality television show to pick a champion for the first time. The UFC signed most of the worlds top strawweights out of the Invicta FC womens promotion and filmed them living and training together in Las Vegas. The results air on Fox Sports 1 starting Wednesday night, culminating in the title fight Dec. 12. "It was a good experience," said Esparza, a wrestler from Redondo Beach. "I wouldnt trade it for anything in the world, but I dont know if I would do it again." The visibility of womens MMA has skyrocketed in the last two years with the ascent of Ronda Rousey, the UFCs undefeated bantamweight champion and a budding movie star. Rouseys charisma and MMA skills were the main reasons UFC President Dana White reversed his long-standing reluctance to promote female fighters, and Rousey has become arguably the UFCs biggest star. With Rousey topping a thriving bantamweight division, White decided to double down on womens MMA. Suddenly, 115-pound fighters who had barely made any money after years in their sport had the chance to become reality-TV stars and eventual fighters in MMAs biggest showcases. "I had no clue that this was even going to be possible," Esparza said. "I started off fighting for pennies. I thought I was going to fight for a couple of years. It wasnt something I could survive on. I was just fighting because I love it." "Through all my years of training and competing, I never thought of it as my profession," Penne added. "It was just something that I loved to do. I enjoyed and just never really thought of it in that way. I think Ronda did a great service to womens MMA and gave us that catapult to be taken seriously." The UFC appointed lightweight champion Anthony Pettis and top contender Gilbert Melendez as the coaches. Melendez has been a supporter of womens MMA since he taught his first all-women jiu jitsu class in 2004, and his wife, Keri Anne, competes in muay thai. "I was never like, Oh, theyre girls," Melendez said. "Theyre all gamers. A lot of guys fight for so many reasons besides trying to be a true champion. Some of them fight for what it brings to them. These ladies fight straight because they like it." The strawweights needed the UFC, but the worlds dominant MMA promotion also needs them. Even White acknowledged "The Ultimate Fighter" had grown stagnant and repetitive after 19 seasons of the same formula. Most seasons showcase up-and-coming fighters from regional promotions trying to break into the big time -- and usually failing. The 20th season showcases most of the worlds best fighters in the 115-pound weight class, and a title awaits at the end. "The Ultimate Fighter" hasnt featured this much top-end talent since mens flyweights and bantamweights joined the promotion three years ago in a season that featured current bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw, John Dodson and Dennis Bermudez. "I think there will be a couple of stars coming out of this season that can help the company," Melendez said. "And they can use it." Wholesale Adidas Stan Smith . The International Ice Hockey Federation says Pavlovs avoided a two-year sanction because he acted "without significant negligence in failing to verify the safety of the supplements he was taking. Adidas Stan Smith Clearance . Span, Danny Espinosa and Adam LaRoche had two hits apiece as Washington won the final two games of the series. The Nationals improved to 3-7 against Atlanta. They increased their division lead over the Braves to 1 1/2 games. http://www.cheapstansmithuk.com/ . Hes just beginning to get similar results. The right-hander struggled after winning the honour in 2008 and 2009, but a retooling of his game has begun to pay off and has the San Francisco Giants thinking about the Lincecum of old. Adidas Stan Smith Sale . On Saturday, the paths of Drew Tate and Kevin Glenn cross again as opposing quarterbacks. Adidas Stan Smith Sale Uk . Quarterback Drew Willy appeared to injure his throwing hand on the third last play of practice Thursday.TORONTO -- J.A. Happ is finding new success at the end of the season. The Toronto Blue Jays havent shared in his good fortune. Happ struck out seven over seven-plus innings of work on Wednesday, staking Toronto to a 3-0 lead before the Blue Jays lost to the New York Yankees 4-3. The left-hander has lowered his arm slot when he throws, giving his fastball more movement and more break to his off-speed pitches. "It obviously feels a lot more than it actually is," said Happ. "Whenever you change that up an inch or two seems like a foot. Today I felt good and for the most part maintained that slot. From a stuff standpoint it was similar but I think I had a little bit of an easier time repeating pitches and kind of using everything. It felt a little more smooth." Happ gave up four hits, three walks and just one run but earned a no decision as New York scored three runs off the Blue Jays (69-82) bullpen in the eighth inning for a 4-3 lead. The victory snapped a four-game losing streak for the Yankees (80-72), who are now 2 1-2 games out of an American League wild card spot. Toronto, meanwhile, has lost six of its last eight games. "I thought he was tremendous," said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons of Happ. "He was a different guy tonight. Hopefully thats a start. Hes got to feel good about that. "We pissed it away but hes got to feel good about that outing." Yankees starter Phil Hughes allowed four hits, including one home run, and two runs in 3 1-3 innings and has not won since July 2. Left-hander David Huff (3-1) allowed one run in 3 2-3 innings of relief to pick up the win. Mariano Rivera -- who is retiring at the end of the season -- pitched 1 1-3 innings to earn his 44th save of the season and escaped a ninth-inning jam by striking out J.P. Arencibia with runners at second and third to end the game. The Blue Jays took their three-run lead into the eighth inning on the strength of home runs in the fourth inning by Colby Rasmus and Ryan Goins, the first of his major-league career. Happ was replaced by left-hander Aaron Loup after Brendan Ryan led off the eighth with a double. Curtis Granderson followed up Ryans hit with a single and right-hander Steve Delabar replaced Loup, immediately striking out Alex Rodriguez. Robinson Cano then singled in a run and Alfonso Soriano doubled in another run. That set the stage for former Blue Jay Vernon Wells to double in two runs and give the Yankees a 4-3 lead. "I hung a split to Cano and he got out in front and hit it pretty hard," said Delabar. "To Soriano I thought I made a good pitch down and away and he got the head to it and I hung another pitch to Vernon." Delabar said he was disappointed for Happ. "He pitched a great game today," said Delabar. "Were down theere trying to give him as much support as we can.dddddddddddd. Then to come in and not get the job done its a slap in the face. Couldnt feel worse." Rivera retired Brett Lawrie on a grounder to end the bottom of the eighth after Rajai Davis singled against David Robertson and stole second. Adam Lind led off the ninth against Rivera with a single and Kevin Pillar pinch ran for him. Rasmus followed with a single to move Pillar to second. Left-handed hitter Munenori Kawasaki batted for Moises Sierra and his attempt at a sacrifice bunt resulted in a force at third. First baseman Lyle Overbay -- also a former Blue Jay -- got the out by playing in on Kawasaki. "That was a great play," said Rivera who has allowed only 26 sacrifice bunts in his career, 11 by left-handed hitters. Gibbons defended the decision to have Kawasaki bunt against Rivera and the Yankees defence. "Hes a pretty good bunter," said Gibbons. " First and second we wanted to get the tying run to third base. Its tough to get a lot of hits in a row against Rivera. Overbay is more aggressive than most of them. If you get it down the third-base line they give it to you there. It was too much in front of home plate." New York manager Joe Girardi had faith in his teams ability to handle a sacrifice bunt in a close game. "I felt confident about it when they put Kawasaki in to bunt, cause (Riveras) such a great fielder, you figure hed make something happen," said Girardi. Goins moved the runners to second and third with a grounder to bring up Arencibia who struck out, extending his hitless slump to 0-for-16. "Tonight was a big game for us," Rivera said. "Being down 3-0 in the eighth inning and coming back to score four and being able to hold it, its a huge game, huge. "Great to see our guys put those kind of at bats together. We were able to put some runs on the board, enough to win the game." Toronto took a 3-0 lead with one out in the fourth on two homers. Rasmus hit a 2-1 pitch to right with one out for his fourth homer since returning from the disabled list on Sept. 13. His 22nd homer of the season scored Brett Lawrie who led off with a double. Huff replaced Hughes and gave up a two-out homer to Goins on a 3-2 pitch. Notes: Attendance at Rogers Centre was 24,247...The Blue Jays 2-0 win on Tuesday was the 10th time this season the Yankees have been shut out, the most in a season since 1991 when they also were blanked 10 times. ....The Blue Jays will start RHP Todd Redmond (3-2, 4.10 ERA) against New York RHP Hiroki Kuroda (11-11, 3.13 ERA) in Thursdays series finale. ...The game will wrap up the Yankees 10-game trip that also included stops in Baltimore (3-1) and Boston (0-3). ...The Blue Jays travel to Boston for a three-game series starting Friday. ' ' '