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wandshogun09

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  1. Saudi cardā€™s taking shapeā€¦ Thatā€™s the headliner. Also announced for that card; Sergei Pavlovich vs Alexander Volkov Johnny Walker vs Volkan Oezdemir Kelvin Gastelum vs Daniel Rodriguez Shara Magomedov vs Ihor Potieria
  2. Itā€™s almost timeā€¦ PPV MAIN CARD Alex PereiraĀ©ļøvs Jamahal Hill - Light Heavyweight Title Zhang WeiliĀ©ļøvs Yan Xiaonan - Strawweight Title Justin GaethjeĀ©ļøvs Max Holloway - BMF Title Charles Oliveira vs Arman Tsarukyan Bo Nickal vs Cody Brundage ESPN PRELIMS Jiri Prochazka vs Aleksandar Rakic Calvin Kattar vs Aljamain Sterling Holly Holm vs Kayla Harrison Sodiq Yusuff vs Diego Lopes ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMS Jalin Turner vs Renato Moicano Jessica Andrade vs Marina Rodriguez Bobby Green vs Jim Miller Deiveson Figueiredo vs Cody Garbrandt Alright, letā€™s get it out of the way. Yeah the poster is arse. Donā€™t know what they were thinking with that. Whatever. This is a stupidly stacked card. Thereā€™s been a load of whinging but anyone complaining and saying this is shite is talking complete bollocks. The main event wouldnā€™t have been my first choice, it wasnā€™t the UFCā€™s either, but the card as a whole is stacked to fuck. Every single fight on there except Bo vs Brundage could easily headline its own card, either on PPV or a Fight Night. Honestly think some fans were expecting Godzilla vs King Kong to headline. Those types were never gonna be satisfied. This is gonna be tremendous though. Alex Pereira vs Jamahal Hill is your 300 headliner. After weeks and months of crazy speculation and the UFC delaying the announcement because they were out of ideas, this is what they ultimately came up with. Certainly not a bad fight and if theyā€™d just announced it from the off, it still likely wouldā€™ve received some criticism but probably not nearly as much. The delays just fed the speculation and silly rumours from fans. Everything from McGregor to Khabib to Rousey to Lesnar were rumoured at one point or another. None of them were realistic except a McGregor fight but thatā€™s a discussion for another thread. Pereira vs Hill it is. Alex Pereira became Light Heavyweight champion back in November, stopping Jiri Prochazka in the UFC 295 main event at Madison Square Garden. Quite a career heā€™s having. Two-weight champ in GLORY Kickboxing and now, just 11 fights into his MMA career, heā€™s a two-weight UFC champ as well. OK, there were unique circumstances and he was fast-tracked into contention in both the 185 and 205 divisions. But whatever. He still had to win those fights and to notch wins over Strickland, Adesanya, Blachowicz and Prochazka in a 2 year span is nothing to be sniffed at. I was a little bit surprised they chucked Pereira on this card, to be honest. With UFC 301 being in Brazil just 3 weeks later, youā€™ve got to think Pereira was the guy they had in mind to main event that one originally. I still think Du Plessis vs Adesanya was the planned UFC 300 main event but whatever the delay is there, they decided to pivot to this for 300 and Pereiraā€™s no longer an option for the Brazil PPV. Shame. That card certainly needed Pereira more than this one does but they wanted to load this one up and here we are. The fight itself definitely makes sense. This was the fight to make in the 205 division. The current champion against the former champion who never actually lost the belt in the cage. It needs settling. State of it. Jamahal Hill won the vacant title back in January 2023, beating Pereiraā€™s close friend and mentor Glover Teixeira, in Brazil of all places, in what turned out to be Gloverā€™s farewell to MMA. It was on the cards for a while. Glover was 43 years old, had been through some rough fights and had already reached the pinnacle of the sport and surpassed most people's expectations by becoming UFC champion in 2021. The belt became a hot potato not long after that and, frankly, the title picture degenerated into a bit of a shambles. For about 18 months or so, I think the title was vacant as much as it was actually on someone! The one bright spot for the division in that period was Gloverā€™s feel-good title win and the epic war with Jiri Prochazka where Jiri won the strap. But Jiri getting injured and being forced to relinquish the gold fucked things up, then the Blachowicz vs Ankalaev fight that was supposed to crown a new champ going to a draw just muddied things further. When Jamahal beat Glover, as shite as it was to see Glover go out on a loss, there was at least a feeling of ā€˜well at least we actually have a champ again nowā€™. That didnā€™t last long thoughā€¦ Canā€™t make it up can you? Once again, the Light Heavyweight title had no owner. In the meantime, Alex Pereira moved up from Middleweight and beat Jan Blachowicz on points at UFC 291 in July. Then Jiri Prochazka announced he was finally healthy and ready to return. So yet another vacant title fight was set for MSG. And thatā€™s where it happened. Pereira knocked out Jiri and that was that. Finally, the 205 division has a champ. Like with any new champ, the talk quickly started about who his first title defence would be against. It would all come down to whether Hill would be healed up or not. If he wasnā€™t ready to go, it almost definitely wouldā€™ve been Magomed Ankalaev getting the shot at Pereira. But with Hill back, like I said, this is the right fight to make next. Although it seems a bit quick for Hill to be fully healthy. He sounds confident at leastā€¦ ā€œEverybody got this perception of Alex. Heā€™s not like you all think he is, Iā€™m like that. I see myself as superior everywhere. Superior striker, grappler, clinch worker, thinker. Iā€™m superior to him everywhere. Iā€™m truly just better than Alex is. Itā€™s not gonna go well for him. Build him up in your heads as big as you want to. He gets his ass whooped, every single way. Iā€™m knocking him the fuck out. Anybody who thinks heā€™s gonna outclass me is out of their fucking mind.ā€ - Jamahal Hill If looks could kill. That was literally right after Hill beat Glover. I donā€™t think Pereira liked it. The seeds were planted in that moment for these two to collide somewhere down the road. And with Glover retiring, it opened up 205 as an option for Pereira. I donā€™t think heā€™d have ever gone for Light Heavyweight gold if Glover was still active, no way those two wouldā€™ve fought each other. But with Glover out the way, it left the door open for Pereira to move up. Not quite sure how it goes. Given that theyā€™re both strikers and Pereiraā€™s the more decorated striker, you kind of have to favour him. Especially given Hillā€™s layoff. But I donā€™t know. As lethal as Pereira is offensively, he has those moments of vulnerability defensively and I find myself always half expecting him to get clipped. I hope he absolutely obliterates Hill though. Anyone whoā€™s seen him on Twitter will know how insufferable he is on there. Always crying about something and jumping on anything even slightly resembling criticism. If youā€™re not kissing his arse, heā€™s offended. Proper div. Plus, I like the idea of Pereira avenging Gloverā€™s losses. The last two men to beat Glover were Jiri Prochazka and Jamahal Hill. Pereiraā€™s already got one back for Glover. One down, one to go. Zhang Weili vs Yan Xiaonan is co-main. Saw a load of whinging and negativity and eye rolling when this was announced and, yeah, it doesnā€™t scream ā€˜biggest card of the yearā€™ but itā€™s a perfectly fine fight and should be exciting to watch for however long it goes. Zhangā€™s never in dull fights. Iā€™m never gonna complain about seeing her name on a card. Sheā€™s ace. Itā€™s a pretty cool fight as well. First time in UFC history that two Chinese fighters are squaring off for the gold. Zhang Weili will always be the first though. Chinaā€™s first ever UFC champion. Sheā€™s 24-3 with 19 inside the distance. Sheā€™ll always be remembered for that all timer of a 5 round war with Joanna Jedrzejczyk in 2020. The greatest womens fight in MMA history and itā€™s on the shortlist for me of my favourite MMA fights ever full-stop. If not for the couple of losses to Rose Namajunas, Zhang would be on a massive win streak right now. Sheā€™s coming into this fight off a successful title defence against Amanda Lemos at UFC 292 in August. Lemos somehow lasted the whole 5 rounds but it was a one sided mugging. Zhang battered her. Before that sheā€™d completely outclassed and submitted Carla Esparza. Before that she knocked out Joanna Jedrzejczyk with a brutal spinning backfist in their rematch. Beast. Never really been blown away by Yan Xiaonan but sheā€™s a decent enough fighter and sheā€™s certainly deserving of the title shot. Sheā€™s got a stronger case than anyone else in the division currently. I remember thinking she shouldā€™ve got the shot against Zhang last time but Lemos got it instead. Sheā€™s 17-3-0-1 with 8 finishes. She bagged wins over Angela Hill, Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Claudia Gadelha on the way up but had a couple of setbacks along the way. Her last two fights have solidified her case though. She beat Mackenzie Dern in their 5 round main event in October 2022. Then in May last year she was matched up with Jessica Andrade. I recall expecting Andrade to win that one and I thought if Yan was gonna win, sheā€™d probably have to do it in fairly dull fashion. Well, I was wrong. She knocked Andrade out in 2 minutes. She slugged with the slugger and came out on top. Easily the standout moment and performance of her career so far and absolutely the deciding factor in her getting this title shot. A finish like that goes a long way when it comes to these opportunities and it set up this China vs China clash beautifully. I expect Zhang to win. No doubt Yan will be mega motivated. Thisā€™ll very likely be her only crack at UFC gold. Her one bite of the cherry. And having been in Zhangā€™s shadow for years as far as Chinese MMA goes, this is her big chance to put herself in the history books. I think Zhangā€™s just that bit better than her everywhere. Make the most of Zhang while sheā€™s still around. She turns 35 this year, not old but for a Strawweight, sheā€™s getting up there around the age the lighter weight fighters typically start to taper off. I always forget and think sheā€™s younger than she is but itā€™s not gonna last forever. Iā€™m hoping she wins this fight decisively. If she does, I wouldnā€™t be against a ā€˜Superfightā€™ next. I know I always say thereā€™s too much division hopping and ā€œhot-shottingā€ the cross-divisional fights these days but Iā€™m certainly not gonna complain if we get something like Zhang vs Grasso or Shevchenko later in the year. Justin Gaethje vs Max Holloway is ***WANDā€™S ONE TO WATCH*** this time. Couldā€™ve been almost any fight on the card but this one really stands out to me. I donā€™t wanna jinx it but it really does have all the ingredients of a FOTY contender. And itā€™s almost upon us! The whole BMF belt thing I can really do without. Does nothing for me and this fight doesnā€™t need a cringey gimmick. But it means this gets 5 rounds and Iā€™m all over that. This fight has been criminally overlooked and not discussed enough for my liking. Itā€™s fucking Gaethje vs Holloway!! I think itā€™s kind of got lost in the shuffle since itā€™s been announced with Topuria dethroning Volk, AJ icing Ngannou, the stacked 299 card and all the other rumours and fights announced for 300. Thereā€™s been a lot going on but, still, this is a dream fight that I never really thought weā€™d see. And itā€™s happening while theyā€™re both still in good form. I actually saw some moaning even about this fight on social media. You believe that shit? Itā€™s two of THE most consistently exciting fighters in the game locked in a cage for 25 minutes and itā€™s gonna be incredible! Gaethje won the BMF bollox belt at UFC 291 in July, knocking out Dustin Poirier with a vicious headkick in the second round. It was the typical banger weā€™ve been conditioned to expect from those two. It didnā€™t match their epic first fight in 2018 but not many fights ever will, that still might just be my favourite fight in Lightweight history. It was a hell of a scrap though and Gaethje avenging that loss in the first fight mustā€™ve made it extra satisfying. Tied at 1-1 and with both fights being belters, theyā€™ve gotta do a trilogy decider before itā€™s all said and done. But for now, itā€™s this guy standing across the cage. Mad Max at 155 again and heā€™s been bulking up a little bit from a few pics Iā€™ve seen floating about. Not sure how thatā€™s gonna go for him really. I canā€™t see him gaining too much in terms of power and there is a chance it could hinder his speed a bit. Although maybe heā€™ll be a bit more durable with not having to cut so much weight. Not that his durability has ever been in question. Heā€™s notoriously tough. Heā€™s had 28 fights in the UFC and not only has he never been knocked out, heā€™s never even been knocked down! And when you look back over his record and the names heā€™s fought, thatā€™s an insane stat. Heā€™s fought Volk three times, Poirier twice, McGregor, Aldo twice, Zombie, Yair, Ortega, Edgar, Pettis, Allen, Kattar, Oliveira, Swanson, Stephensā€¦I mean, fuck me. Heā€™s spent hours in the Octagon with this lot and never been put down. But going up in weight against an animal like Gaethje, your chinā€™s gonna be put to the test regardless. Max is coming off a KO win over the Korean Zombie in August. A rare one punch finish for Holloway and it sent the Zombie into retirement. Absolutely buzzing for this. I was actually a little bit surprised when this fight got made. Iā€™d read rumours it might be a possibility but I donā€™t think I ever fully believed it. Thereā€™d been talk of Gaethje challenging Islam Makhachev for the Lightweight belt and Max was in the running to maybe get a title shot against Topuria at 145. But Islamā€™s still on the shelf and itā€™s looking like Topuriaā€™s gonna rematch Volk. So here we are. Iā€™m not mad at it. At all. Itā€™s funny but Iā€™ve read all sorts of talk like this is a terrible idea for Max and heā€™s gonna get killed and stuff. But it wasnā€™t long ago everyone was writing Gaethje off before he bashed Fizievā€™s face in and kicked Poirier in the head. I think too many people are reading into Maxā€™s last fight at 155 where he lost to Poirier and thinking that means heā€™s got no hope. But losing to Poirier in a FOTY contender doesnā€™t mean you canā€™t beat other 155ers. No doubt Gaethjeā€™s gonna be an uphill battle. He always is. But Iā€™m not looking at Max as a lamb to the slaughter here like many seem to be. And letā€™s face it, if Max isnā€™t getting the title shot vs Topuria, what else is there for him to do at 145 thatā€™s better than this? Heā€™s fought and beat almost everyone bar Volk and Topuria anyway. If he was ever gonna take a mad bastard fight at 155, now seems as good a time as any. Itā€™s gonna be fucking class! Charles Oliveira vs Arman Tsarukyan is a proper fascinating matchup. Shame itā€™s not a 5 rounder really but thereā€™s already 3 of them on this card, any more than that would be overkill. I love this fight though and, unless something has changed, itā€™s a title eliminator. When this fight was announced, Dana made a point of saying the winner would challenge Islam Makhachev for the title when he returns. So not only a mega intriguing clash of styles, itā€™s also got high stakes attached. Oliveiraā€™s ranked #1 at Lightweight, Tsarukyanā€™s ranked #4. And both have history with the champ. Oliveira got submitted by Makhachev in their title fight back in October 2022 but rebounded by absolutely steamrolling Beneil Dariush in a round at UFC 289 in June. He really couldnā€™t have bounced back any better than that. I remember thinking Dariush might be an awkward and potentially tricky fight for him coming off the loss to Makhachev but he dealt with him so impressively I felt stupid for doubting him. A real statement and one of his better performances in my opinion. People will understandably rate his wins over Gaethje, Poirier and Chandler highly and they were great. But he also took some punishment in those fights and had to scrape himself up off the canvas and come back to win. Against Dariush there wasnā€™t any of that. He never let him get a look in. Just smashed him up and, for once, he came out relatively unscathed. He was all set to rematch Makhachev at UFC 294 in October but was forced to withdraw due to a nasty cut on his eyebrow. Unfortunate but I kind of felt like it was a bit too soon for Islam vs Charles 2 anyway, to be fair. Tsarukyan also crushed Dariush in a round in his last fight. Poor Dariush, heā€™s getting twatted from all angles. Tsarukyan squashed him in about a minute on the Fight Night in Texas back in December. Heā€™s 21-3 with 14 finishes and has been threatening to break into the title mix for a while now. His climb has been a bit slow and frustrating but that Dariush win seems to have been his breakthrough moment. And being matched up with Oliveira now on a card like this, he couldnā€™t really ask for a bigger opportunity. He actually made his UFC debut against Makhachev back in 2019 when he was just 22 years old! Iā€™ve brought that fight up a fair bit on here in the past and even rewatched and reviewed it in one of the threads. It was a cracking fight. If you ever want an example of a great fight thatā€™s predominantly wrestling and grappling, Makhachev vs Tsarukyan is it. Makhachev got the decision but I remember being really impressed with Tsarukyan and, at 22 years old, you could tell he had a bright future and was gonna be worth keeping an eye on. Now here we are 5 years later and heā€™s one win away from a title shot against the same man he made his UFC debut against! Heā€™s leaving no stone unturned eitherā€¦ Charles is fucked. Nah, nice to see Fedor still putting work in and helping the next generation. This is such a cool fight. And it only being 3 rounds actually kind of makes it more interesting in a way. Iā€™m leaning towards Oliveira winning but it could be a really tough one. I feel like Tsarukyanā€™s not gonna be easy to submit but weā€™ve seen him rocked before and one thing we know about Oliveira is once he gets you hurt youā€™re probably done. Tsarukyanā€™s style could cause problems for Charles though. In a way this is a great fight for Charles to prep him for the Makhachev rematch because you know Tsarukyan is gonna be looking to grapple and put a pace on him. Iā€™m a bit torn on this really because Iā€™d be more into seeing Makhachev vs Tsarukyan 2 than Makhachev vs Oliveira 2 next. Just from a styles perspective I think itā€™s the more interesting fight. Butā€¦I just canā€™t root against Oliveira! Like I said, I think Oliveira wins but Iā€™m not that confident about it. Bo Nickal vs Cody Brundage opens up the PPV. To be honest, the least interesting fight on the entire card. I get why itā€™s here but it just feels like a shameless squash match so it looks out of place on the main card. Especially considering how many better fights are on the prelims. But the UFC machine is all in on Bo and heā€™s getting the rocket strapped to him. His amateur wrestling background speaks for itself. Heā€™s 5-0, all finishes, in his young MMA career. Itā€™s early days but heā€™s looked the business so far. Itā€™s all been low level but I donā€™t have a problem with that. No need to rush him. Heā€™s been talking some shit though. Heā€™s barely been in the door 5 minutes and heā€™s already been ruffling feathers and talking about fighting the likes of Adesanya, Pereira, Chimaev etc. Big talk when your best wins are Jamie Pickett and Val Woodburn šŸ¤£ he might well turn out to be everything heā€™s being hyped up to be but it remains to be proven. Weā€™ll see how he does as he goes through the levels. Doubt we get any answers here though because Brundage is dogshit. Says it all that heā€™s coming off a win via powerbomb KO and I still have no time for him. My main memory of him is that he constantly goes for failed guillotines. Itā€™s like he watched Poirier and all he learned was bad guillotines but ignored all the good things he does. He sticks out like a sore thumb on this card. Itā€™s the equivalent of putting a jobber in a featured match on WrestleMania. But we know why itā€™s here. Imagine being Cody Brundage and knowing that the only reason youā€™re on UFC 300 is because the matchmakers see you as the absolute easiest opponent for their boy to style on? Jiri Prochazka vs Aleksandar Rakic is a solid fight. This is Jiriā€™s attempt to try and bounce back from the Alex Pereira loss in November. Always worth tuning in for his fights. Heā€™s got that his unorthodox and weird style but heā€™s the type of fighter who seems to be able to drag something watchable out of pretty much any matchup, whoever heā€™s in there with. What makes this one intriguing is the return of Rakic. Heā€™ll have been out of action just short of 2 years by the time he steps into the Octagon here. We last saw him in May 2022, in an Apex main event against Jan Blachowicz. Early in the third round, Rakic blew his knee out and that was that. Blachowicz officially got the win via TKO and Rakic was taken out of the game with a torn ACL. Rakic was originally set to return in January at UFC 297, and it was gonna be a rematch with Blachowicz but Blachowicz pulled out and had to have shoulder surgery. Now heā€™s facing Jiri whoā€™s had his own battles with injuries. Hopefully they both make it to the cage here. Not sure how Rakic is gonna look. Heā€™s still only 32 and has a 14-3 record with wins over Thiago Santos, Anthony Smith and one of the most brutal headkick knockouts youā€™ll ever see against Jimi Manuwa. But heā€™s had a few lacklustre performances and, despite having potential, never seemed to fully get into his groove even prior to the injury. And coming straight back and diving in the deep end with Jiri is a big ask. I like it though. Should give us an idea where Rakic stands and, like I said, Jiri should make it entertaining and maybe force a different look out of Rakic. Calvin Kattar vs Aljamain Sterling is another quality fight. Again, wouldā€™ve been cool to see this over 5 rounds but it just shows the depth of this card. This is the long talked about Featherweight debut for Aljo. Itā€™s been a long time coming and heā€™s been quite vocal about the cut to Bantamweight being rough on him for a while. Understandably, he wasnā€™t gonna move up while he was champion at 135. But after losing the title to Sean Oā€™Malley back in August, and especially the way it went down with him getting knocked out, it was either try to get a rematch or finally make the jump to 145. I think heā€™s made the right call. At 34 years old, the cut to 135 was only gonna keep getting harder and I like the idea of him making a fresh start up at 145. ā€œI think itā€™s huge to come out and do something completely new on a historic card. This is what dreams are made of. Everyone wants to be on this card. Iā€™m at a new weight class, my new home, and hopefully I can do it in a big way. Ten pounds is a big difference for me. It changes what I do. So Iā€™m just excited to go out there and try something new and see what I can do in a brand new weight class. Iā€™m not necessarily trying to put on size. Iā€™ve already got the size comparison to all these featherweights. I didnā€™t realise I was relatively the same size as all these other featherweights. Imagine me making 135 so many times. I always knew I was getting tired for a reason. My bodyā€™s just not meant to be at 135lbs.ā€ ā€œI think itā€™s going to be a tough fight. Iā€™m excited because Calvin is a badass. And Iā€™m also excited because I get to see what I can do in this new weight class. Iā€™m not going to be the biggest guy but I know I can be just as strong. And I know Iā€™m going to have the gas tank to push, and I think thatā€™s going to be my weapon.ā€ - Aljamain Sterling Looking forward to seeing how he looks at 145. Aljo said he was offered 4 names for this fight and he chose Kattar because he was the highest ranked of those 4 names. Fair play. Heā€™s not looking to ease in gently at all so he must feel good about his chances at Featherweight. Kattarā€™s currently ranked #8 in the division so a win here would immediately catapult Aljo into the Top 10. Kattarā€™s looking to spoil the party though. Heā€™s looking for a bit of redemption himself here. Heā€™s gone 1-3 in his last 4 but it doesnā€™t really tell the whole story. The only decisive loss of the 3 was the beating he took off Max Holloway in 2021. The other 2 losses - one was a split decision against Josh Emmett that a lot of people had Kattar winning, the other was the loss to Arnold Allen which came about when Kattar suffered a knee injury. That was October 2022 and heā€™s been out of action and recovering since. Cool fight and Iā€™m intrigued to see how Kattar looks coming off the layoff and how Aljo looks up in weight. I think Aljoā€™s gonna be looking to grapple here, thatā€™s his strong suit, and that should make it interesting because we really havenā€™t seen Kattarā€™s ground game properly put to the test. And Kattarā€™s gonna be looking to do damage on the feet, especially with Aljo coming in off a KO loss. Good stuff. Holly Holm vs Kayla Harrison is happening. Really not sure what to expect out of this. I havenā€™t enjoyed watching Holm in fucking years now. Sheā€™s been absolutely bloody rotten to watch for ages. Iā€™m still not over the fact the UFC actually re-signed her to another SIX FIGHT contract a year or so ago. Why? I guess those Apex cards need main events, right? Sheā€™ll turn 43 later this year and it seems like sheā€™s never gonna retire. Sheā€™ll be having snoozers in the Apex long after weā€™re all dead and gone. Sheā€™s been living off the fumes of that Ronda Rousey KO from over a decade ago for long enough. Still, this is one Holm fight Iā€™m gonna have to watch. Although, typically, thatā€™s got nothing to do with Holm herself. The UFC debut of Kayla Harrison feels pretty big. On a history making card, Harrisonā€™s Octagon debut will mark the first time someone has fought in the UFC whoā€™s also won Olympic gold medals at 2 Olympic Games. She took gold in Judo in both the 2012 Olympics in London and the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Pretty cool. She made the transition to MMA in 2018 and has fought almost exclusively in PFL ever since. Iā€™ll admit Iā€™d reached the point where I didnā€™t think weā€™d ever see her in the UFC and I honestly wouldnā€™t have blamed her if she never made the jump. She seemed to have a nice little thing going over in PFL and was mostly beating outmatched competition. Felt like she couldā€™ve done that comfortably for the rest of her career and kept winning the tournaments and cashing cheques. But she suffered her first defeat in late 2022, losing to Larissa Pacheco on points in the tournament final. She returned with a win over Aspen Ladd in November and entered free agency. Next thing you know, Danaā€™s announcing that heā€™s signed Harrison and sheā€™ll be facing Holm at UFC 300! The news seemed to come out of the blue and PFL president Donn Davis has recently talked about being surprised and disappointed to lose Harrison. Thereā€™d been rumblings for ages of a potential Harrison vs Cyborg fight, which is probably the biggest fight you could make in womens MMA these days. But maybe it shouldnā€™t have been a shock she signed with the UFC. Harrison had appeared at a couple of UFC events and was specifically shown on camera. The UFC donā€™t usually do that unless theyā€™re confident a deal is gonna be made. Where the surprise and intrigue lies here though, is the weight. This is a Bantamweight fight and, as you can see in the pic above, Harrison is a big girl. ā€œI mean, 135 will challenge me in ways, like Iā€™m going to have to lose a piece of me to be able to fight at 135lbs. I think just structurally, I carry a lot of muscle. Iā€™m already kind of lean, so Iā€™m going to have to lose muscle. Iā€™m going to have to change my entire lifestyle.ā€ - Kayla Harrison Sheā€™s never fought below 145lbs in MMA and has mostly fought at 155. Obviously there is no womens 155 division in the UFC and it seems theyā€™ve finally abandoned womens 145 as well. So 135 it is. Although I donā€™t have a clue how Harrison is gonna do it and still compete. She won her Olympic gold medals as high as 172lbs. Knowing the work ethic you need to make it to Olympic gold medal level, I think she will actually make 135 by the time the weigh ins arrive. But at what cost? Thereā€™s no way sheā€™s gonna cut all that weight and still be able to go at her optimal pace and strength. Iā€™m kind of excited to see her in the UFC but I just get the feeling itā€™s gonna go tits up. Whether itā€™s in this fight or her next fight or what, I just donā€™t see it ending well. Iā€™d love to be wrong because we all know the Bantamweight division needs all the help and depth it can get. And a healthy Harrison could be a real shot in the arm and the closest thing the division has to a star these days. But I think sheā€™s just too big for 135. Weā€™ll see. I hope she at least wins this fight because Holm getting back in the title mix is something nobody needs to be seeing in 2024. Sodiq Yusuff vs Diego Lopes is gonna get lost in the shuffle on a card as deep as this but I love this pairing. Only thing I donā€™t like is one of them has to lose. But if I have to choose a side, Iā€™ve gotta root for Lopes. Genuinely think he mightā€™ve been my favourite addition to the UFC roster last year. Heā€™s been fantastic to watch. And to think, he only got in the UFC because Movsar Evloev needed an opponent on short notice. Lopes got the call and he didnā€™t disappoint. He lost on points but he dragged Evloev to the most entertaining fight of his career to date by far. He fought his arse off in defeat and gained a lot of fans right off the bat. In a sport like MMA where a big chunk of the fanbase are shameless glory hunters, for Lopes to get so many new fans from a loss says it all about how hard he fought. Heā€™s rebounded nicely from that loss as well, finishing Gavin Tucker and Pat Sabatini, both in the first round. Heā€™s got either FOTN or POTN in all 3 of his UFC appearances so far as well. Just one of those canā€™t miss fighters. Yusuffā€™s gonna be his toughest test since Evloev though. Heā€™s 13-3 and coming off a points loss against Edson Barboza in their cracking 5 round main event in October. He was giving Barboza hell early on but faded a bit down the stretch. Yusuffā€™s a solid fighter but the 2 times heā€™s stepped up a level - against Barboza and Arnold Allen - heā€™s lost. So if Lopes can beat him here, maybe heā€™s on that level? Jalin Turner vs Renato Moicano completely passed me by. Had no idea this was even booked until now. Yet another fun fight on a card jam-packed with them. Turner is 14-7 but there might be a case to be made that his last couple of losses shouldā€™ve been wins. He dropped split decisions to both Mateusz Gamrot and Dan Hooker last year. I canā€™t remember exactly how I scored those fights but Iā€™ve seen enough people saying they had Turner winning that thereā€™s probably at least some kind of debate there. If those decisions had gone in his favour, heā€™d be 16-5 now instead of 14-7, and heā€™d be on an 8 fight winning streak. Regardless, heā€™s coming off a win here. He jumped in on short notice in December and stopped Bobby Green in brutal fashion in a round. Moicanoā€™s coming off a decision win over Drew Dober in February but it was a bit of a disappointing fight given who was involved. I put that more on Dober though for having no answers for Moicanoā€™s grappling. The highlight of that one was Moicanoā€™s post-fight interview where he told us his 60-something year old Dad had just became a Dad again, then he called out half the division. Turnerā€™s name was included in the callout and here we are. Should be good. Jessica Andrade vs Marina Rodriguez is one of the weaker fights on the card and even then itā€™s perfectly fine prelim fodder. Andrade always brings it, almost to a fault. Sheā€™s probably lost a couple of fights she shouldā€™ve won partly because of her own aggression. Sheā€™s been easily one of the most consistently entertaining female fighters to watch over the years though. Whether it was the one punch KO over Karolina Kowalkiewicz, that scary slam KO on Rose Namajunas that won her the title, the nasty body punch that folded Katlyn Chookagian, sheā€™s always been fun to watch. Sheā€™s active as well. She fought 5 times in 2023 and it was a rough year. She lost 3 times in a row before finally snapping the losing streak at MSG in November by bettering Mackenzie Dern. Rodriguez is decent enough but Iā€™ve cooled off on her big time over the last year or so. I think I actually predicted her to win UFC gold one year in that Champions predictions thread weā€™ve got on here. Turned out her ceiling was lower than I thought back then. Sheā€™s coming into this fight off a win over Michelle Waterson in September. Itā€™s not gonna steal the show but Iā€™m expecting an enjoyable scrap out of this. Bobby Green vs Jim Miller then. Itā€™s gonna sound weird on a card as stacked as this but this is genuinely one of the fights Iā€™m looking forward to most on this show. For one, if this feels like it shouldā€™ve happened before then thatā€™s probably because these two have been booked to fight multiple times in the past. Itā€™s crazy these guys have been in the game as long as they have yet theyā€™ve never fought each other. But itā€™s not for lack of trying. Thisā€™ll be the FOURTH attempt to get this fight on. The first time they were meant to fight was UFC 172 in April 2014. So itā€™s a fight thatā€™s literally a whole decade in the making! A couple more attempts were made in 2021/22 but fell through. All 3 pullouts were on Greenā€™s side, so hopefully they wrap him in bubble wrap for the next few weeks. The main reason for my investment thoughā€¦ I love shit like this. Jim Miller making history! He beat Mac Danzig at UFC 100 and he beat Takanori Gomi at UFC 200. Now heā€™s set to fight at UFC 300. When itā€™s all said and done, heā€™ll always be the only fighter in UFC history to have fought at UFCs 100, 200 and 300. On top of that, Miller currently holds the records for most fights in UFC history, most wins in UFC history and most finishes in Lightweight history. Heā€™s never won the big one but heā€™s been an absolute soldier over the years. I was in attendance for his Octagon debut and that was 2008! I feel ancient and heā€™s still here going strong all these years later. Heā€™s gone 5-1 in his last 6 and all 5 wins were finishes. Thisā€™ll be his 56th pro fight and at one point he was saying the goal was purely to make it to UFC 300 and then retire. Heā€™s since changed his mind thoughā€¦ ā€œListen, at this point, 300 itā€™s important. Iā€™ve been talking about it for a few years. When I originally brought it up, this was probably four years ago, I wasnā€™t certain where I would be today. I feel like Iā€™m in a better place than I anticipated I would be. I was bringing it up to be like, ā€˜Hey, I was almost gonna retire at 200 so I might as well retire at 300.ā€™ But thatā€™s not the plans anymore. Iā€™m not planning on hanging them up just yet.ā€ - Jim Miller Wouldā€™ve been cool to see him kind of come full circle and get to retire and leave his gloves on the canvas at UFC 300. But I can see why he wants to ride this wave heā€™s on at the moment. Heā€™s arguably in the best form of his entire UFC run right now. Heā€™s said a lot of the retirement talk was when he was really struggling with Lyme disease and he thought his fighting days were numbered. Heā€™s in a better place with that now. At 40 years old, heā€™s not gonna have a ton more fights anyway but I canā€™t blame him for wanting to see how far he can ride this wave of momentum. In reality, heā€™s not gonna go much higher than he is now, which is why Iā€™d have liked to have seen him call it a day here rather than carry on until the losses start piling up. But thatā€™s a choice only he can make obviously. Iā€™m glad weā€™re finally getting to see this fight though. Two real veterans of the lighter weight classes, over 100 pro fights between them etc. Would be a shame if this ended up being a fight that got away. Deiveson Figueiredo vs Cody Garbrandt is actually jerking the curtain here. Madness. This could easily headline any Fight Night and would almost definitely make the main card on most PPVs. Here it sits kicking off the Fight Pass stream. Thereā€™s actually history here as well. These two were briefly booked to square off at UFC 255 back in November 2020 but Cody pulled out with a torn bicepā€¦ This was back when Figgy was the Flyweight champion and for some reason Cody was getting an underserved title shot even though heā€™d never even made 125lbs, much less won a fight in the division. It was ridiculous. He was getting that title shot solely off the back of his KO win over Raphael Assuncao. Admittedly it was a peach of a knockout but it was one win, in a different weight class, and before that heā€™d lost 3 fights in a row and was stopped all 3 times! When he finally did make his Flyweight debut, he got chinned by Kai Kara-France and scurried off back to Bantamweight. Heā€™s beat Trevin Jones and Brian Kelleher in his last 2 fights, first time Codyā€™s won back-to-back fights since 2016! Figgy finally moved up to 135 in December after struggling to make 125 for a while. He beat Rob Font on points in December and looked good doing it. Iā€™m not sure how far he can go at 135 but I was all for the move. As fun as the Moreno fights were, thereā€™s only so many times you can see the same fight. And 135 is an easier weight cut, with a bunch of fresh fights. As always whenever Codyā€™s coming off a win, people start getting silly and talking title shots and stuff. But Jones and Kelleher are low level wins. Cody packs a punch, as much as I dislike him I canā€™t deny that. But Figgy really should be winning this. Iā€™m hoping Figgy flattens him then gets either Chito or Yan next. And thatā€™s 300.
  3. I like this. Shit or get off the pot time for Murphy here. His progress has been at a snailā€™s pace but a 5 round main event against Barboza is a real litmus test.
  4. Theyā€™ve shuffled the bout order. I think itā€™s better now. Moving Dumont vs GDR down from the co-main to the prelims is probably a wise move. Nice to see theyā€™ve promoted my ā€˜one to watchā€™ Charriere vs Mariscal to the main card along with Valter Walkerā€™s debut. Looking at this card again now after the shuffle, all 6 fights on the main card interest me to some degree now. Which I donā€™t say often when it comes to these Apex cards. 8pm prelims start time doesnā€™t hurt either.
  5. You knew we wouldnā€™t stray from the Apex for too long. Last stop before UFC 300! ESPN MAIN CARD Brendan Allen vs Chris Curtis Alexander Hernandez vs Damon Jackson Morgan Charriere vs Chepe Mariscal Joshua Van vs Lucas Rocha Lukasz Brzeski vs Valter Walker Trevor Peek vs Charlie Campbell ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMS Court McGee vs Alex Morono Ignacio Bahamondes vs Christos Giagos Norma Dumont vs Germaine De Randamie Alateng Heili vs Victor Hugo Cynthia Calvillo vs Piera Rodriguez Jean Matsumoto vs Dan Argueta Cesar Almeida vs Dylan Budka Melissa Mullins vs Nora Cornolle Not the best and I know youā€™re all as sick of the Apex as me but like most of these cards, there is some stuff that should be worth checking in for on the Sunday morning. Itā€™ll do to pass a week before UFC 300 anyway. Brendan Allen vs Chris Curtis 2 is main eventing this one. The rematch. It was originally supposed to be Allen against Marvin Vettori but Vettori pulled out a few weeks out. In steps Curtis. Not the strongest main event but not a bad substitute. Completely forgot these two fought before, to be honest. It went down in December 2021 on a Fight Night headlined by Jose Aldo vs Rob Font. And funnily enough, Curtis stepped in for that one on short notice as well! It wasnā€™t ideal circumstances for either man really, Allen had two opponents drop out before finally getting in the cage with Curtis. I canā€™t remember much of the fight but Curtis wound up getting a TKO stoppage in the second round. Curtis has had a patchy run of results since these two first fought. Heā€™s gone 3-2-0-1 in his last 6 fights. He won a split decision over Marc-Andre Barriault in his last fight at UFC 297 in January. Canā€™t remember a lot about that one. Before that him and Nassourdine Imavov went to a No Contest due to a clash of heads. Gotta say fair play to him for jumping in here on short notice. Heā€™s already beat and finished Allen so in that sense he doesnā€™t have a ton to gain from this. But looking at it from a rankings perspective, Allen has got himself into a good spot now and is ranked #6 at Middleweight currently. So I guess itā€™s worth the gamble for Curtis. And itā€™s a fight he knows he can win because heā€™s done it before. Brendan Allen hasnā€™t lost since that first Curtis fight. Heā€™s won his last 6 fights in a row now, and finished 5 of them by submission. Iā€™m still not 100% convinced or sure where his ceiling is, I donā€™t see him troubling the very top guys at 185, but heā€™s easily in the best form of his career right now. I remember saying a while back that I felt like he was a bit of a darkhorse at 185 but I never really expected him to put it all together and string the wins together like he has recently. His lack of consistency was what was holding him back. But heā€™s doing good at the moment. Heā€™s coming off a submission win over Paul Craig in their main event back in November. Really strong performance from him that was. Before that heā€™d submitted Bruno Silva and Andre Muniz. Even going back to his UFC debut in 2019, he subbed Kevin Holland. Heā€™s been dangerous for some time but, I donā€™t know, I still donā€™t see him going much higher than he is right now. Heā€™s after redemption here. Good fight. Not sure what to expect really and the late switch with Curtis stepping in for Vettori makes it a bit more interesting. Going off both guys recent form, youā€™d fancy Allen to get the win and even the score here. But Curtis is kind of coming in with the pressure off because of the late notice. If he wins heā€™s 2-0 over Allen and shoots up the rankings. If he loses, well he took it on short notice. On the flipside, Allenā€™s gone from fighting a higher ranked Vettori to a lower ranked Curtis, so it doesnā€™t do anything for him rankings-wise. Itā€™s gonna be more of a step sideways than forwards. But no doubt heā€™ll be motivated to avenge that loss in 2021. And a win just adds to his streak and momentum. Even though it wonā€™t do much for his rank, it still strengthens his case in the title mix if he can kind of cancel out his most recent defeat. I quite like this fight, to be fair. Alexander Hernandez vs Damon Jackson should be decent at worst and has the potential to be really fun. Iā€™ve made no secret I donā€™t like Hernandez. Just never taken to him at all. But I donā€™t recall ever watching a fight of his and being bored. Heā€™s never gonna amount to much now. Heā€™s 14-7 and 1-3 in his last 4. And at 31, itā€™s not like heā€™s some young wet behind the ears prospect whoā€™s got loads of time and room to develop. He is what he is at this point in his career. But heā€™s a weird one. Heā€™s had his moments. Mad to look back at his record and remember he actually knocked out Beneil Dariush in 42 seconds! That was 2018 though and it seems his career already peaked then. He did beat Jim Miller last year as well though, and thatā€™s been Millerā€™s only loss during his late Indian Summer win streak. Like I said, he has his moments. Iā€™ll be rooting for Jackson though. Heā€™s grown on me a bit over time. Heā€™s 35 years old and 22-6-1-1. Heā€™s going nowhere but he always comes to scrap and heā€™s another one who, win or lose, I donā€™t recall ever being bored by. Heā€™s coming off back-to-back losses here so Iā€™d like to see him snap that losing skid and if he can do it at Hernandezā€™s expense, even better. Morgan Charriere vs Chepe Mariscal is ***WANDā€™S ONE TO WATCH*** this time. Wasnā€™t exactly spoiled for choice on this card but this one stands out to me. From the little Iā€™ve seen and know about both, I have pretty high hopes for this fight. Morgan ā€˜The Last Pirateā€™ Charriere is French, 28 years old and has a record of 19-9-1 with 14 wins inside the distance. He made his Octagon debut on the Paris card in September and he absolutely bossed it, finishing Manolo Zecchini with nasty body kicks in the first round. It was pretty much the perfect UFC debut, especially in front of a hot home crowd. Not sure where his ceiling is and heā€™s obviously had a bunch of losses already. But on that night at least, he looked the business. I remember @Egg Shen mentioning before that fight that Charriere is apparently a bit of a big deal in France and has a bit of that influencer thing going on. His fanbase is only gonna keep growing if he can keep putting in performances like that on the big stage. He previously fought in Cage Warriors and briefly held their Featherweight title. Looking back over his record, he went 5 rounds with Soren Bak in 2019 and lost a majority decision. Bak previously beat Paddy Pimblett and is still the last man to officially beat Paddy, although we all know Jared Gordon got shafted. Charriere also submitted current fellow French UFC fighter William Gomis back in 2016. Heā€™s up against Chepe Mariscal hereā€¦ Yeah, Chepeā€™s doing alright in life, isnā€™t he? He fights out of Elevation Fight Team, heā€™s 31 years old and has a record of 15-6-0-1 with 10 of his wins not requiring judges. He fought in Combate Global and LFA before making his UFC debut in June last year. And he had an absolutely batshit battle with Trevor Peek. I mentioned it above previewing the Peek fight but, honestly, if you wanna watch a goofy slugfest, youā€™ll enjoy that one. It was more Peek making it ugly, Chepe was clearly the better technically of the two and he won the decision. Fun one though. He followed that up with a win over Jack Jenkins at UFC 293 in September due to an arm injury. It wasnā€™t as wild as the Peek fight but it was exciting while it lasted. Looking forward to this one. I realise Iā€™m probably jinxing it now but even just based on the little Iā€™ve seen of both, I canā€™t see this not delivering. Joshua Van vs Lucas Rocha is gonna be fun. Van has been absolutely ace to watch in the fights Iā€™ve seen so far. Seriously, if you havenā€™t seen him fight yet, get that sorted. One of my favourite additions to the roster last year easy and one to watch in the Flyweight division going forward. This was supposed to be Jose Johnson against Rocha but he withdrew and Van stepped in. An improvement in my book. Vanā€™s making a habit of being the go-to guy to step in when someone drops out. Thisā€™ll be his 4th fight in the UFC and in 3 of them heā€™s jumped in to replace someone. Heā€™s only 22 years old and he has a record of 10-1 with 8 finishes. He made his UFC debut in June on short notice and put a beating on Zhalgas Zhumagulov in a really exciting but pretty one sided fight. Really gave the 5th Beatle a hiding. He then took a decision off Kevin Borjas in a tremendous fight on the prelims of the MSG card in November. Then in January this year, he stepped in again on short notice and stopped Felipe Bunes in another fun sprint. Heā€™s class. He was saying after that win that he wanted ā€œ6 or 7 fights this yearā€, which would surely be a record. Doubt heā€™ll squeeze that many in but I certainly wouldnā€™t complain about getting to see him fight 6 more times in 2024! Brazilā€™s Rocha makes his UFC debut here. Heā€™s 23 years old and already 17-1 with 14 inside the distance. Heā€™s coming off a knockout win on DWCS in October. I like the sound of this. Two young up and comers on winning streaks facing off. And the Flyweights generally bring it anyway. Lukasz Brzeski vs Valter Walker has my interest. If you didnā€™t know, Valter Walker is the younger brother of Johnny Walker. Although in that pic above, he looks more like Rob Van Dam to me šŸ¤£ I emphasise ā€˜younger brotherā€™ because I definitely canā€™t say ā€˜little brotherā€™. Big Valter is 6ā€™6ā€ and most likely cuts to make 265lbs. Heā€™s only 26 years old and heā€™s undefeated at 11-0 with 7 finishes. He actually went into the 4th round in his last fight in Titan FC last June, and got the stoppage. I think the UFC signed him after that and I remember he was originally supposed to debut against Jake Collier sometime last year but it got delayed. Now heā€™s facing Polandā€™s Brzeski whoā€™s 8-4-1-1 and coming off 3 straight losses and got brutally knocked out in his last fight. Think itā€™s clear theyā€™re trying to set Walker up with a bit of a showcase for his debut but Iā€™m fine with that as his intro to the big stage. Quite looking forward to seeing Walker, to be honest. Even if he turns out to be not that good, at least he might bring some of that Walker weirdness to the Heavyweight division. Trevor Peek vs Charlie Campbell might be worth a look. Peek is really not very good but heā€™s one of them mad throwback fighters who just swings like a caveman. Seriously, he looks like heā€™s been plucked straight from a UFC undercard in 2002. If you never saw his UFC debut against Chepe Mariscal and you fancy watching a silly, untechnical slobberknocker then Iā€™d highly recommend giving it a watch. Itā€™s not pretty but itā€™s highly entertaining. He came back in October and took a decision off Mohammad Yahya on the UFC 294 prelims, which I think I mightā€™ve missed actually. Heā€™s 9-1-0-1 now with 8 knockouts. Heā€™s not gonna go far but matched up right thereā€™s definitely fun to be had with him. He could be very useful in livening up these Apex cards actually. Heā€™s up against this fellaā€¦ Roadwarrior Charlie here. ā€˜The Cannibalā€™. Heā€™s 28 years old and a Longo-Weidman fighter out of New York. Heā€™s got a record of 8-2 with 6 by KO/TKO. He got knocked out by Chris Duncan on DWCS in 2022 but came back with a first round KO of his own on a Cage Fury card and then made his UFC debut back in September and stopped Alex Reyes in a round. Seen very limited footage of both but from what I have seen and looking at their records, this feels like it has the recipe for a proper wild scrap. Court McGee vs Alex Morono might be alright but Iā€™m not really feeling it. I think McGee is about ready to finish up. He turns 40 at the end of this year and heā€™s been looking like heā€™s on borrowed time in his last couple of fights. Heā€™s never been a contender but he was always kind of known for being tough and durable. In his first 30 or so fights, he only ever got finished once. Contrast that with now and heā€™s just been knocked out in the first round in back-to-back fights. Not looking good. Moronoā€™s nothing special but, despite him looking like the blank CAF template on the video games, he can scrap a bit. He took a bit of a battering off Joaquin Buckley in his last fight and heā€™s been stopped a few times himself over the years. Heā€™s got wins over Tim Means, Matthew Semelsberger and a washed up Donald Cerrone. Thatā€™s about as good as itā€™s got for him. I think this is a pretty fair matchup actually for where both guys are at in their careers. But if Court gets stopped again here, man, itā€™s probably time to do something else. Ignacio Bahamondes vs Christos Giagos could be fun. I quickly became a bit of a fan of Bahamondes early in his UFC run. Not that I expect him to necessarily rise to the top of the rankings or anything but heā€™s been exciting to watch pretty much from the get-go in his UFC stint. He lost by split decision against John Makdessi in a cracking fight in his debut then rebounded in his next fight with thisā€¦ Beautiful! Not quite as breathtaking as Edson Barbozaā€™s KO of Terry Etim but shades of it. Heā€™s from Chile, 26 years old and 14-5 with 10 finishes. Heā€™s coming off a decision loss against Ludovit Klein in August so Iā€™m hoping he can get back to winning ways here. Giagos is usually down for a scrap too so I could see this being a belter actually. Heā€™s 20-11, has lost 3 of his last 4 and was stopped in those 3 losses. Heā€™s the type of opponent that Bahamondes really needs to be beating and I think he will, but it should be good fun while it lasts. Norma Dumont vs Germaine De Randamie as co-main event is Apex all over. This is probably gonna be arse. In good and bad ways. The bad - itā€™s womens Bantamweight. Pretty much enough said, right? The division has gradually been getting worse and worse over the last few years and Amanda Nunes retiring has basically killed it dead. The good - Sandra Buttock is back! Sir Mix-A-Lotā€™s favourite fighter. I cannot lie and you other brothers canā€™t deny. Yeah, thatā€™s where the positives end though sadly. Dumontā€™s fights are generally awful to watch. Although saying that, her making Chelsea Chandler literally sprint away from her in her last fight in July was one of the funniest mid-fight moments in recent memory. To be fair, if thereā€™s any intrigue at all to this, itā€™s to see how De Randamie looks in her Octagon return. Itā€™s been a while. The fact sheā€™s in the Reebok kit in the pic above tells you how long sheā€™s been gone. She turns 40 just weeks after this fight and sheā€™s been inactive since October 2020 because she had a baby but thatā€™s a long old layoff in your late 30s. I didnā€™t think sheā€™d be back, to be honest. And she did leave us on a positive noteā€¦ That was her last fight. She submitted annoying gobshite Julianna Pena in the third round. Probably the most hilarious loss of Penaā€™s one hit wonder career. That was as pure a striker vs grappler matchup as you were getting in 2020 and Pena was the grappler. Yet she got subbed by a Dutch Kickboxer whoā€™d never submitted anyone before šŸ¤£ in fairness to GDR, she hasnā€™t had a bad career. It looks better in hindsight really. Obviously the bulk of her combat sports career was spent in Kickboxing, where she went 46-0 apparently. In MMA sheā€™s 10-4 but has wins over former champs Pena and Holly Holm and also has a win over current champ Raquel Pennington. I remember her having moments in the rematch with Nunes in 2019 as well, despite losing clearly on the scorecards. And of course, itā€™s forgotten now but she briefly held UFC gold when she became the first womens 145 champ, before being stripped of it for turning down a fight with Cyborg. Canā€™t see her doing much now at 40 and this fight is most likely gonna be shite but Iā€™m curious to see how she looks against Norma Dumptruck. Alateng Heili vs Victor Hugo. I donā€™t know. Alatengā€™s one of those fighters whoā€™s been on the roster for years and I canā€™t really remember anything about him. He made his UFC debut in 2019 and has gone 4-2-1 since with no real notable wins to speak of. Heā€™s 16-9-2 overall now and coming off a points loss against Chris Gutierrez in October. As for Hugo, this is his Octagon debut. Heā€™s 31 years old, 24-4 with 17 finishes and heā€™s on a 13 fight winning streak. Heā€™s coming off a kneebar finish on DWCS in October. Actually, Sherdog has his nickname listed as just ā€˜Strikerā€™ yet most of his finishes have been by submission and heā€™s subbed his last 2 opponents. Brazilian logic for you šŸ˜‚ Reminds me of when a young Vitor Belfort used to iron fuckers out and then be hoisted up on his cornermenā€™s shoulders chanting ā€œJIU-JITSU! JIU-JITSU! JIU-JITSU!ā€ Makes sense. Cynthia Calvillo vs Piera Rodriguez is a nothing fight. Not really sure why Calvillo is even still on the roster, to be honest. Donā€™t mean to be harsh and I donā€™t like to wish anyone out of a job but she hasnā€™t won a fight in 4 years, sheā€™s on a 5 fight losing streak, her fights are no good to watch and sheā€™s gonna be 37 this year. Thereā€™s no upside to keeping her around and itā€™s highly unlikely sheā€™s gonna get out of this rut and turn things around at this stage in her career. She actually got off to an OK start in the UFC but thatā€™s long gone now. Last time she actually won a fight was when she fought Jessica Eye in a main event (shudder). Rodriguez is Venezuelan, 31 years old with a record of 9-1. Sheā€™s coming off the first loss of her career, she got armbarred by Gillian Robertson last April. The only logic I can see for Calvillo still being around is a fight like this here. Calvilloā€™s on the way out, Rodriguez is hopefully on the way up. So I kind of get it. But even then, with the form Calvilloā€™s in now, does Rodriguez even gain much from a win over her? Jean Matsumoto vs Dan Argueta. Donā€™t have a clue on this. Never seen Matsumoto but on paper he sounds like a solid signing. Heā€™s Brazilian, 24 years old and undefeated at 14-0. He won a decision on DWCS in September and fought in LFA before that. Argueta also fought in LFA and was their Bantamweight champ for a minute. Heā€™s 30 years old with a 9-2-1 record and has had one of the weirdest starts to a UFC run I can remember. He was unbeaten when he signed, lost a decision to Damon Jackson in his debut, won a decision against Nick Aguirreā€¦then had 2 straight No Contests! Iā€™m sure thereā€™s other examples but I canā€™t recall one off the top of my head where someoneā€™s had back-to-back NCs. The first one he ā€˜subbedā€™ Ronnie Lawrence but it got overturned because Lawrence apparently didnā€™t tap. Then he lost a decision to Miles Johns only for Johns to get popped for PEDs, so that one also got overturned. Proper shambles. Wonder if Argueta can go for the hat-trick here and get a third straight NC? Cesar Almeida vs Dylan Budka. Fuck knows? Both are making their UFC debuts and Iā€™ve never seen either guy fight before. Almeida was actually supposed to have his debut late last year against Christian Leroy Duncan but pulled out injured. So here we are. Heā€™s 36 years old and only 4-0 in MMA. A late starter for MMA but heā€™s an experienced and seasoned striker. He went 47-8-1-1 as a Kickboxer, won 27 by knockout, fought in GLORY and actually went 1-2 in a trilogy with Alex Pereira. Heā€™s long in the tooth to be learning MMA now and fuck knows what his ground game is like, if it even exists! His first 3 fights in MMA were all quick knockouts, although he did go the distance and win on points in his last fight on DWCS in August. Weā€™ll see. Budka is stepping in on late notice, replacing Josh Fremd. Heā€™s 24 years old and 7-2 with just 3 finishes. Like seemingly every new signing these days, heā€™s from DWCS as well. He won by decision on there back in September. Not much more to say about this but I was looking forward to Almeidaā€™s debut last year so hopefully he makes it to the cage this time. Melissa Mullins vs Nora Cornolle is jerking the curtain. Havenā€™t seen enough of either to give a bollox. Mullins went by Melissa Dixon for her UFC debut in October but Marcel Dorff has her as Mullins now so I guess she got married? Sheā€™s 32 years old and from Coventry, so close enough to Brum that Iā€™ve kind of gotta root for her unless she turns out to be a twat. Sheā€™s undefeated at 6-0 and beat Irina Alekseeva on points in her first Octagon appearance. She had a decent performance from what I recall. Cornolle is French, 34 years old and 7-1 with 6 finishes. She made her UFC debut on the Paris card in September and beat Joselyne Edwards on points. All 3 judges scored it for Cornolle but I remember a lot of negative reaction to the decision. Barely remember the fight, nor do I really care, but the French crowd booed the decision despite the home fighter getting her hand raised. Speaks volumes really. Norma Dumont fight week!
  6. Absolutely zero interest in this then šŸ¤£ itā€™s actually not a bad card compared to a lot of the Apex ones.
  7. A Fight Night thatā€™s not at the Apex? Weā€™re off to Atlantic City, New Jersey. Sopranos territory! ESPN MAIN CARD Erin Blanchfield vs Manon Fiorot Vicente Luque vs Joaquin Buckley Chris Weidman vs Bruno Silva Nursulton Ruziboev vs Sedriques Dumas Bill Algeo vs Kyle Nelson Chidi Njokuani vs Rhys McKee ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMS Nate Landwehr vs Jamall Emmers Virna Jandiroba vs Loopy Godinez Julio Arce vs Herbert Burns Connor Matthews vs Dennis Buzukja Ibo Aslan vs Anton Turkalj Melissa Gatto vs Viktoriia Dudakova Andre Petroski vs Jacob Malkoun Angel Pacheco vs Caolan Loughran I quite like this. Itā€™s not as strong a card as some of the non-Apex Fight Nights weā€™ve had but there are some good fights on there, plenty of talking points and the main event should decide a number one contender. Being in front of a proper crowd always adds to the experience and with Blanchfield being from New Jersey and a few NY/NJ and North East fighters scattered throughout the card, the crowd should be well into it. That always helps. Erin Blanchfield vs Manon Fiorot headlines. I quite like it. Not expecting a FOTY candidate or anything but itā€™s a solid fight between two rising contenders in the Flyweight division and itā€™s almost certainly gonna end up being a title eliminator. Once everything shakes out with this upcoming TUF season and Grasso vs Shevchenko 3 is in the books, the winner of this fight is gonna be pretty undeniable as the next in line. Blanchfield is currently ranked #2 in the division, Fiorot is at #3. Literally the only names above them are the champ Grasso and her next opponent Shevchenko. So weā€™ve got a little mini four woman tournament on our hands here. This is a huge moment for the hometown girl. New Jerseyā€™s own Erin Blanchfield is just 24 years old and still relatively early in her career, sheā€™s just one win away from a title shot and here she is headlining a card in her own backyard. ā€œI have a lot of family in the city. Fighting in my home state, I mean, I was raised here, I went to school here, trained here my entire life in Jersey. So I think being a main event in Atlantic City would be so awesome. I feel like Iā€™d bring a crowd too. Everyone I know lives here, everyone I train with. So that would be super special. It would be something to remember.ā€ ā€œManon Fiorot, I feel like sheā€™s the only other girl that people think deserves a title shot too. I feel like me and her have been neck-and-neck, winning fights. Iā€™m really excited to go prove myself as the next title contender. Fighting five rounds, I feel like that fits my style really well and, prepping myself for a title fight, I think going five rounds is gonna be super beneficial.ā€ ā€œI feel confident that Iā€™ve done enough. I have competed against people at a high level. I feel like Iā€™ve beaten higher level fighters than Manon has and Iā€™ve kinda stated my case. If I have to beat up Manon to get that title, Iā€™ll do that too.ā€ - Erin Blanchfield Sheā€™s 12-1 in MMA now with the only blemish being a split decision loss to Tracy Cortez on an Invicta card back in February 2019. But Blanchfield wouldā€™ve only been 19 years old at that time and it was her 4th pro fight. She hasnā€™t put a foot wrong since and has put together a 9 fight winning streak. Her last 3 fights especially have raised her stock. The submission over Molly McCann was whatever as an actual win but it ended that little bullshit hype train the Meatball was building at the time and it was on a big card at MSG so it was the fight that got Blanchfield on a lot of peopleā€™s radars. She followed that up with a submission win over Jessica Andrade and a points win over Taila Santos. If it wasnā€™t for the fact Grasso vs Shev 2 ended in a draw, Blanchfield probably wouldā€™ve already been gearing up to challenge Grasso now. I think itā€™s one of those situations thatā€™s probably worked out for the best though. The more experience and cage time she gets before the title shot, the better her chances. Franceā€™s Fiorot has a similar record but sheā€™s a decade older. Sheā€™s 11-1 and also only has one loss by split decision. Hers came in her pro debut in 2018 against Leah McCourt on a Cage Warriors show. Sheā€™s been winning ever since. She made her UFC debut in 2021 and has gone 6-0 in the Octagon. But her only 2 finishes were against Victoria Leonardo (whoā€™s shite) and Tabatha Ricci (who was comically outsized). Since then sheā€™s taken decisions off Mayra Bueno Silva, Jennifer Maia, Katlyn Chookagian and in her last fight she scored the biggest win of her career to date over Rose Namajunas. That shouldā€™ve felt bigger than it did really. A win over a former UFC champion, and on home turf in Paris, yet it fell a bit flat. Itā€™s kind of been the story of Fiorotā€™s UFC run so far for me. She looks so strong and imposing in there but the performances never seem to match how she looks. That win over Rose in France shouldā€™ve been her big coming out party but it was all a bit underwhelming. Here we are then. Not sure how this goes. I donā€™t think Blanchfield has reached her potential yet. Thereā€™s clearly still improvements to make and I think her best performances are yet to come. And itā€™s hard to really gauge Fiorot because I donā€™t feel like sheā€™s been properly pushed in a fight in the UFC yet so I donā€™t know if itā€™s just that she hasnā€™t really got out of second gear yet or if what weā€™ve seen is all sheā€™s got. Theyā€™ve got about the same experience in MMA but youth is on Blanchfieldā€™s side. And of course, Blanchfield will have the home crowd advantage. But sheā€™s never gone 5 rounds. Fiorot has gone 5 rounds once early in her career when she won the EFC belt in South Africa. Iā€™d like to see Blanchfield get the win here. I think sheā€™s better to watch and, obviously at 24, thereā€™s more upside and future there. And itā€™d be cool if she can win impressively and really make a statement in front of the home NJ crowd. Her against Grasso later in the year could be a lot of fun and it would feel like such a fresh fight after years of Shevchenko monopolising the Flyweight title picture. Obviously Grasso has to get past Shev again first though. And thatā€™s the point, itā€™s actually really refreshing for the division to be in this situation. Doesnā€™t seem 5 minutes ago that Shev was on top and there seemed to be no end in sight and no interesting challengers for her. Now weā€™ve got a mini tournament and Iā€™m really not sure who wins either fight. Vicente Luque vs Joaquin Buckley is a cracking co-main for a Fight Night. Couldā€™ve easily seen this headlining a card itself. Weā€™ve had a lot worse. With Luque being Brazilian, I didnā€™t even realise but he was actually born in New Jersey so you know whose side the crowd will be on here. Although, to be honest, itā€™d be hard to root against Luque anyway. In a sport with so many dickheads, heā€™s always seemed like one of the good eggs. Luque was actually supposed to fight Sean Brady on this card originally but Brady is out. He was also previously booked against Ian Garry at UFC 296 in December but Garry withdrew with pneumonia during fight week. Luqueā€™s had no luck lately. Hopefully this fight goes ahead with no issues. Heā€™s coming off a 5 round points win over Rafael Dos Anjos in August here. A strong win, maybe the best of his career. But Iā€™m still uneasy about him fighting. That RDA win was his return fight after suffering a brain haemorrhage in his loss to Geoff Neal in 2022. I remember watching that RDA fight and wincing all the way through. Luque did fine but I had an uncomfortable feeling watching it. I know brain injuries are always a risk in combat sports so we canā€™t exactly take the moral high ground when we watch this shit for entertainment. But still, actually hearing the words ā€˜brain haemorrhageā€™ brings it home. I still donā€™t feel comfortable with this. Surely a bleed on the brain is instant retirement? But here we are. Joaquin Buckley is alright but heā€™s no great shakes really. Heā€™ll always be remembered for that ridiculous all timer of a KO against Impa Kasanganay a few years back, the kind of inverted enziguri kick. One of the craziest knockouts ever and it was so unique and unlikely that Iā€™d be surprised if we ever see it again. But aside from that, his best wins are Alex Morono, Andre Fialho, Abdul Razak Alhassan? When heā€™s stepped up a level against a Kevin Holland, Nassourdine Imavov or Chris Curtis heā€™s come unstuck. He had a decent 2023 though, with the Fialho and Morono wins. And the headkick KO on Fialho was Cro Cop-esque. Given both their styles this should be an exciting fight for however long it lasts but, yeah, Luque still fighting after that kind of brain injury doesnā€™t sit right at all. Chris Weidman vs Bruno Silva sounded like bad news from the second I saw it was announced. Just donā€™t see this ending well for Weidman at all. I hope Iā€™m wrong but itā€™s looked like itā€™s over for a long time now. I think even Weidmanā€™s finally coming around to the realisation that itā€™s time to call it a day as well now. Before his comeback fight in August he was talking about going on another run at the title and all sorts. Now heā€™s saying this might be his last fight. Remember this guy? Seems like an absolute lifetime ago now, doesnā€™t it? In 2013, Weidman was on top of the world. He was undefeated, he was the UFC Middleweight champion and he was the man who ended the legendary reign of Anderson Silva. A couple of years later it had all gone tits up. The beating from Rockhold in late 2015 kickstarted a downward spiral that Weidmanā€™s never recovered from. He went from 13-0 at the start of his career to going 2-7 in his next 9 fights. The shitshow culminated with that horrible leg injury in 2021 against Uriah Hall. It took 2 years of recovery and rehab and when he finally returned from that injury in the summer last year, he was talking a big game. He then lost to Brad Tavares. It was rough to watch. Weidman didnā€™t get knocked out but in some ways it was worse than that. Ring rust mightā€™ve played a part but Weidman just looked utterly shot to me. And you could tell he never had confidence in that leg. There was no explosion there and I donā€™t think he committed to one proper takedown attempt or even threw a kick with that leg. Whenever he wanted to kick, heā€™d switch southpaw. The injury was still clearly haunting him, which is understandable but doesnā€™t bode well for whateverā€™s left of his career. Like I said though, it sounds like Weidmanā€™s finally accepting that it might be time to knock it on the head. ā€œThis could be my last fight but Iā€™m going to kind of make that decision throughout the training camp, see how I feel, if my body can handle a hard training camp again. It might be the last one, it might not be. I still think Iā€™m top in the world but my bodyā€™s just taking a beating.ā€ ā€œThe reason why I took this fight pretty quickly is because it was offered and it was in Atlantic City. Thatā€™s where I started my career in Atlantic City. Because at the time, MMA wasnā€™t legal in New York. All the New York guys had to fight in Ring Of Combat in Atlantic City. I just think it would be pretty cool to go back there where it all started and see how I feel.ā€ - Chris Weidman Definitely sounds like heā€™s thinking of getting out, doesnā€™t it? Which is a massive turnaround from how he was talking before the comeback fight against Tavares last year. It would be fitting and a cool full circle thing if he ends his career where it started. And letā€™s face it, itā€™s been time for years. He was already in a horrible slump long before the leg injury. But I wouldnā€™t be surprised if he tries to hang on for one more at MSG at the end of the year. The matchmaking here feels a bit cruel. Weidman came back off a long layoff and got beat up by Tavares. So the matchmakers then decide to match him up with Bruno Silva, who knocked out Tavares not long ago? I know MMA maths is mostly shite and styles make fights etc. But considering Dana was publicly and loudly calling for Weidman to retire after that loss to Tavares, to then give him arguably a more dangerous fight seems a bit off. Got a bad feeling Weidmanā€™s getting chinned here. Not that Silvaā€™s a world beater or anything but heā€™s heavy handed, aggressive and tough enough that he went the distance with Alex Pereira. Heā€™s no contender but heā€™s no pushover and if Weidman comes in hesitant like he did last time, itā€™s gonna end badly. Nursulton Ruziboev vs Sedriques Dumas looks a bit out of place on the main card but whatever. Iā€™m kind of invested in it just because Dumas seems a complete cunt and Iā€™d love to see him get sparked. Heā€™s 28 years old and 9-1 with 6 finishes. Doesnā€™t sound too bad, unless youā€™ve actually had the misfortune of watching him fight. Heā€™s shite. Heā€™s coming off a couple of decision wins over Cody Brundage (whoā€™s even more awful) and Abu Azaitar (who was coming off a 2+ year layoff) and still failed to look impressive. Heā€™s mostly made the news for other reasons thoughā€¦ I remember even before his UFC debut, stuff came out about his previous brushes with the law. I canā€™t recall exactly what the list of crimes were now but I know one of them was domestic violence. The mugshot above is as recent as February. He got arrested again on felony battery charges and even streamed footage of his confrontation with the police. Proper arsehole. On a lighter note but also one that shows how much of a twat he is, he was also reportedly demanding to be paid by the media for interviews before his debut. He hadnā€™t even set foot in the Octagon yet and already wanted payment for things even champions and legends donā€™t get šŸ¤£ Yeah, I hope he gets flattened. And Ruziboev might be just the man for the job. Thatā€™s how his last fight ended. It was his UFC debut back in July and he obliterated Brunno Ferreira in just over a minute. Heā€™s from Uzbekistan, 30 years old and has a record of 33-8-2-2 with 31 finishes! Granted a lot of his opposition was probably questionable but thatā€™s a lot of fights and a lot of reps for a guy whoā€™s not long turned 30. Heā€™s currently on a 9 fight winning streak with all 9 finished inside the distance. Hopefully he continues that trend here and gets his 10th straight finish. Bill Algeo vs Kyle Nelson is a decent fight. Algeoā€™s been quite entertaining to watch from what I remember of him. His short notice UFC debut against Ricardo Lamas a few years ago was bags of fun. Heā€™s 18-7 now and has had mixed results but heā€™s coming into this one off a couple of wins over TJ Brown and Alexander Hernandez. Nelsonā€™s Canadian with a 15-5-1 record. He beat Fernando Padilla on that Mexican Independence Day card in September and took a decision off Blake Bilder before that. Nothing earth shattering but OK wins. Also just saw that his wife gave birth very recently so heā€™s got a lot to be motivated about coming into this fight. Chidi Njokuani vs Rhys McKee could be good. Chidiā€™s never gonna get a sniff of the title picture and is highly unlikely to ever be ranked but heā€™s been in some entertaining fights in the UFC in his relatively short stint. Seems a good guy too. He previously fought in Bellator and LFA and he got off to a positive start in the UFC. He scored a 16 second KO in his debut against Marc-Andre Barriault, then followed up with another first round stoppage against Dusko Todorovic. Heā€™s gone 0-3 since though. His gruesome battle with Gregory Rodrigues is one I wonā€™t forget anytime soon. Remember that shit? Chidi lost but he left our Greg with a scar to remember him by. Chidiā€™s last fight against Michal Oleksiejczuk was a wild back and forth one round shootout as well. The only fight of Chidiā€™s thatā€™s been shit in the UFC was the Duraev stinker. As for McKee, man, itā€™s just not working out is it? Poor sod just canā€™t get that first UFC win for love nor money. You might recall he got fed to Khamzat in his debut in 2020. That didnā€™t go well. He then lost to Alex Morono and got released. He went away, went 3-0 in Cage Warriors and won their belt, returned to the UFC in Septemberā€¦and lost to Ange Loosa. Itā€™s just not happening for him. Heā€™s still only young, 28 years old, but it just seems like heā€™s destined to never quite get over that hump. This is a winnable fight for him but at this point who knows? Nate Landwehr vs Jamall Emmers is ***WANDā€™S ONE TO WATCH*** here. Admittedly mostly because of Nate The Train but Iā€™ve quite enjoyed what Iā€™ve seen of Emmers as well. This was originally gonna be Landwehr against Pat Sabatini but that fell apart. I was hoping theyā€™d slot Billy Quarantillo in against Landwehr when Quarantilloā€™s fight on the Apex card the week before fell through but theyā€™ve gone this route instead. This will probably be a better actual fight to watch than Sabatini wouldā€™ve been anyway, to be honest. Landwehrā€™s must see TV. Win or lose, he always goes for it. I canā€™t remember a dull moment from him since he signed with the UFC. Mad little bastard. Heā€™s had some wild fights, the highlight for me being his barmy scrap with David Onama in 2022. If you never saw it, itā€™s well worth firing Fight Pass up for. Heā€™s coming off a decision loss to Dan Ige here. Emmers is 20-7 and has been alternating wins and losses for a while now. Heā€™s one of those fighters who has a patchy record but you watch him and think he shouldā€™ve done better. He actually beat Cory Sandhagen on a LFA card in 2017 and also took Giga Chikadze to a split decision in the UFC in 2020. His last fight was probably the highlight of his career so far. He got his first UFC finish, in just 49 seconds, at MSG, and stopped Dennis Buzukja in his own backyard. Heā€™ll be flying coming off that win, perfect timing for a fun fight with Nate. Wouldnā€™t be at all surprised if this steals the show. Virna Jandiroba vs Loopy Godinez is a fight that has real potential if they both decide to play to their strengths and grapple. Jandirobaā€™s BJJ is some of the best to watch in the womenā€™s game and Loopyā€™s shown herself to be a handful in the wrestling department. You know how it goes with these types of fights though, it could just as easily end up being a case of their grappling styles cancelling each other out and they opt to have a subpar striking match instead. Hopefully not. Hopefully they both come in looking to prove themselves the better grappler. Jandirobaā€™s 35 now and coming off a couple of decision wins over Angela Hill and Marina Rodriguez. Loopyā€™s 30 and has won her last 4 fights. She beat Tabatha Ricci in her last fight on the MSG card in November. This is her chance to really climb the ladder, Jandirobaā€™s ranked #5 as I type this. Solid enough fight and I like both. Only negative is one has to lose. Julio Arce vs Herbert Burns then. Arce vs Burns. ARSE-BURNS! I donā€™t know whether this should be in the MMA section, the Eat Clean thread or the Shitting Thread. Arse Burns. Best fight booking since Bang vs Kuntz way back. In all seriousness, this could be a sleeper. Neither are making a splash in the rankings or going on a run at UFC gold but I think it should be an exciting fight. Iā€™ve enjoyed watching Arce (behave yourself) in the fights Iā€™ve seen. His win/loss record is all over the shop but his headkick KO against Julian Erosa was magnificent and he does have a win over Dan Ige back in 2018. As for Burnsā€¦ Thatā€™s the last image we have of him. Big bro Gilbert had to carry him to the back after his TKO loss to Bill Algeo in July 2022. Not a good look. Burns got off to a good start in his career, he had a decent run in ONE and Titan FC, won on DWCS then scored first round finishes against Nate Landwehr and Evan Dunham in his first couple of UFC appearances. He then missed weight and got stopped by Daniel Pineda. Then came the Algeo loss. Both losses kind of played out similarly from what I recall. Burns seemed to just fold mentally when his initial grappling attacks didnā€™t lead to a submission. Iā€™ve seen Gilbert Burns say before that Herbert is actually the stronger grappler of the two but Gilbert is the harder worker. Thatā€™s probably on the nose, to be fair. He seemed to fade rapidly in those losses when it started getting rough in there. This should be a fun fight while it lasts regardless. Burns is a fast starter and heā€™ll bring it early, just remains to be seen if Arce can weather the storm. I like Arce (stop it), I think heā€™s tough enough to get through that opening volley and I see him taking over after that. ARSE BURNS! Connor Matthews vs Dennis Buzukja. Not really sure. Never seen Matthews and Iā€™ve seen limited footage of Buzukja. Matthews is making his UFC debut here. Heā€™s 31 years old and 7-1 with 6 finishes. He won his fight on DWCS in October to get this opportunity, after previously losing on DWCS in his first attempt in 2022. Buzukja is looking for his first UFC win here. Heā€™s 26 years old, 11-4 with 5 finishes and heā€™s a Ray Longo fighter out of New York. So heā€™s basically the home fighter here. I remember seeing a fair bit of positive reaction and buzz when he was signed but itā€™s been a disastrous run so far. Heā€™s gone winless, 0-2 since signing with the UFC. Lost a decision to Sean Woodson in his debut in August, then got chinned in 49 seconds by Jamall Emmers in his last fight. In his own backyard at MSG of all places. Ibo Aslan vs Anton Turkalj 2. Yeah, itā€™s a rematch. Obviously I never knew that. I just found out by accident now looking through these guys records. Apparently they fought in August 2020 on a Brave CF card and Turkalj won via second round submission. I just watched it now, the full fight is on YouTube. Seemed like there was a bit of beef going in and Turkalj stood over Aslan screaming after the finish. Then actually headbutted the cage šŸ¤£ Aslan was aggressive in the first round and landing some big shots, whereas Turkalj was just trying to clinch and contain him. Aslan won the first round clearly. Then in the second round, Aslan faded and Turkalj got the subā€¦ Thatā€™s been Aslanā€™s only career loss. Heā€™s Turkish, 27 years old and has a record of 12-1 with 12 knockouts. Heā€™s won 4 fights since then, all first round knockouts. Turkalj won a couple of fights after that win over Aslan, including his DWCS win in July 2022. In the UFC though, heā€™s gone 0-3. He got subbed in a round by Jailton Almeida, went the distance with Vitor Petrino but lost on points, then got knocked out by Tyson Pedro in a round in his last fight. When I started this thread I gave zero fucks about this but, knowing they have history and having watched the first fight, Iā€™m kind of looking forward to it now. Iā€™m hoping Aslan avenges that loss here. Turkalj hasnā€™t been much cop in the UFC and Aslan could have some fun slugfests with the right opponents. Kind of funny that the Turkā€™s only loss is to a man named Turkalj though. Melissa Gatto vs Viktoriia Dudakova isnā€™t setting the world alight but might be worth a look. Brazilian Gatto is 27 years old and 8-2-2 with 6 finishes. My only real recollection of her is when she absolutely folded Sijara Eubanks with a horrible body kick. But that was 2021. Sheā€™s been quite inactive. More recently sheā€™s dropped a couple of decisions to Tracy Cortez and Ariane Lipski. Itā€™s Dudakova that might make this worth a watch. Itā€™s early days yet and she might well turn out to be crap. But at 25 years old and undefeated at 8-0 with 6 finishes, time is on her side. She won her UFC debut against Istela Nunes after an arm injury, then beat Jinh Yu Frey in her last fight in October. That was a lacklustre fight and the most notable thing about it was Dudakova revealing post-fight that sheā€™d recently had staph infection on her arse. ARSE BURNS! Hopefully thereā€™s better performances to come. Andre Petroski vs Jacob Malkoun isnā€™t doing a lot for me. Not a terrible fight, itā€™s justā€¦there. Petroski is 10-2 and was on a nice little run of form until his last fight. He got steamrolled in a minute by Michel Pereira back in October. Before that heā€™d won 5 in a row including a points win over Gerald Meerschaert. Pereira really ran through him though. Weā€™ll see how he bounces back here. Malkoun is from Australia and I think heā€™s a teammate of Robert Whittaker. Heā€™s 7-3 and coming off a DQ loss to Cody Brundage in September. Memoryā€™s vague on it but I think he had Brundageā€™s back and threw an elbow that hit the back of the head, Brundage couldnā€™t continue and that was that. Malkoun got disqualified. My only other real memory of Malkoun is when he got iced by Phil Hawes in 18 seconds. So yeah, not good. Angel Pacheco vs Caolan Loughran. Donā€™t know what to expect out of this really. This is Pachecoā€™s UFC debut, heā€™s 32 years old, 7-2 with all his wins coming inside the distance and is coming off a decision loss to Danny Silva on DWCS in September. Not sure why heā€™s got a UFC contract off a loss on DWCS but here we are. I never saw the fight, maybe it was a banger? Itā€™s unusual a fighter gets in off a loss though so Pacheco mustā€™ve impressed in some way. Loughran is making his second Octagon appearance. Heā€™s Irish, 27 years old, 8-1 with 7 finishes and was the Cage Warriors Bantamweight champion. He ruffled some feathers in his UFC debut back in September. He went into Paris against Franceā€™s own Taylor Lapilus, and seemed determined to piss off the French at every opportunity. Proper heeling it up he was. The fight itself turned out to be a bit of a snoozer but, to be fair, I remember there being a bunch of pullouts and card changes going in and Loughranā€™s fight got patched together late in the day. Probably not the best fight to judge him on so weā€™ll see what heā€™s got here. Pass the gabagool!
  8. Bronze Bomber vs Big Bang in the worksā€¦
  9. Few fights worth checking out but I canā€™t be watching Corey Anderson main events. I donā€™t keep tabs on Bellator as much these days. Barring the odd show, I think pretty much all my Bellator knowledge comes from @Egg Shen posts on here. Only just twigged that Nate Kelly is the same kid from the Conor McGregor press conference years ago!
  10. Just catching up on this. New mythical fighter just droppedā€¦ Tybura vs Tuivasa was a pleasant surprise. Short and sweet, which is how all Heavyweight fights should go. Tai drawing blood within the first 20 seconds or so set the tone and seemed to bring out a sense of urgency in Tybura that mightnā€™t have been there otherwise. I picked Tuivasa in the poll thinking he might catch Tybura early but it was a silly pick really because this always had the feel of ā€˜if Tybura gets hold of him and takes him down, itā€™s a wrapā€™. And right enough, the first time Tybura got his arms around him, it wasnā€™t long at all before he got the takedown, took the back, then came the ground and pound and the inevitable choke. Textbook Tybura and the textbook way to beat Tuivasa. Not sure whatā€™s next for Tybura. Hopefully a trip to the barbers to get that monstrosity of a barnet sorted. Looking at the rankings, the only names that make some sense are guys coming off losses like Jailton Almeida or Sergei Pavlovich. Iā€™d say Ciryl Gane but Gane genuinely seems to think he deserves another title shot already. Tuivasa might wanna consider a different career path at this point. This was his 4th loss on the bounce and he was finished in all of them. The Bryan Battle vs Ange Loosa thing was odd. Just seemed like a standard time out for an eyepoke at first. Obviously any eyepoke is bad but this looked fairly tame compared to a lot weā€™ve seen. When it first happened it didnā€™t even cross my mind that Loosa wouldnā€™t be able to continue. If anything, it looked like Battle actually got the worst of the exchange due to the clash of heads just before the eyepoke. Next thing you know, the fightā€™s off. Loosa was all emotional and angry after, and who are we really to say, only he knows if he could see or not. But kicking off at Battle after was ridiculous when youā€™ve just told the doctor you canā€™t see, leaving him no choice but to stop the fight. Strange stuff. Best bit about this was Bisping getting caught on camera here. Donā€™t know what he was saying but he seems to be agreeing with Battleā€¦ šŸ¤£ OSP vs Nzechukwu lost me. I had little interest in it already but a round or so in I felt my attention wandering big time. Didnā€™t even seem that bad and it looked like it warmed up towards the end but by that point I just didnā€™t care. Not a good look for Nzechukwu this. If you canā€™t beat 40 year old OSP in 2024, somethingā€™s gone wrong. Christian Rodriguez vs Isaac Dulgarian was the fight I highlighted in the opening post and they didnā€™t let me down. Really enjoyed this, although all the talk in the fallout has been about the decision. It all comes down to how you scored that second round. Dulgarian won the first round 10-8. He came out like a man possessed and put an insane pace on Rodriguez. For a round, Dulgarian looked like the scariest prospect in the division. But he couldnā€™t maintain that pace and Rodriguez got back in it. And the third round, I had Rodriguez winning 10-8. He put a beating on Dulgarian that round. Itā€™s that middle round causing the debate. And it was one of those rounds where one guy has a bunch of control time and the other guy lands a few eye catching and damaging strikes. Iā€™d have to go back and score it properly but in real time I felt like Dulgarian won it. I get scoring damage over control but when itā€™s 4 minutes of control and only a couple of big strikes landed, I donā€™t think it outweighs that much control time. As with any close fight though, thereā€™s been cries of robbery. But I donā€™t have a major issue with Rodriguez getting the decision. Seems like this could be a rivalry going forward and I wouldnā€™t be surprised if they meet again down the road somewhere. Dulgarianā€™s already accused Rodriguez of cheating and being slippery. Rodriguez responded with thisā€¦ It was never gonna be a 5 round main event given both guys status and being fairly new but this fight really felt like it needed that extra couple of rounds to fully play out. Despite me thinking Dulgarian won, Rodriguez was clearly ending the fight stronger and it wouldā€™ve been interesting to see how a 4th and 5th wouldā€™ve gone. Skimmed through Chiasson vs Kianzad fully expecting it to go the distance but it was over in a round. Had no interest in it whatsoever, to the point I didnā€™t even know it was a rematch and completely left that out of the opening post šŸ¤£ At least this was over quick, I suppose. Iā€™d say I canā€™t see Chiasson going much further but the level at womenā€™s 135 is total dogshit so I wouldnā€™t rule out her chances of getting in contention at some point. Always a good time seeing Gerald Meerschaert get the W. He needed that coming off a shite 2023 where he went 0-2. Thought Meerschaert looked really good here. Yeah, Barberenaā€™s a good matchup for him style-wise, a tough brawler who tends to lose against strong grapplers. But I had a bad feeling Gerald might get dragged into an ugly scrap here so I was happy to see him play to his strengths and make the fight fairly easy. Obviously the level of opposition wasnā€™t the same but him now being tied with Anderson Silva for most finishes in Middleweight history is a cool stat as well. Also saw something that heā€™s got twice as many subs at 185 than the likes of Demian Maia, Rousimar Palhares and Rodolfo Vieira! Mike Davis looked good submitting Natan Levy but heā€™ll probably disappear for 2 years again now. Heā€™s obviously got some skills but itā€™s hard to give much of a shite when weā€™ve been conditioned to expect him to fight once every 24 months. Made me laugh when he kept saying in his post-fight interview ā€œThatā€™s four wins in a row! Four in a row!ā€ When those four wins have taken him almost 5 years. Chelsea Chandler vs Josiane Nunes looked awful from what I saw of it, which was admittedly not much. Jafel Filho completely rolled right over Ode Osbourne. Made him look like light work, got him down and subbed him in a round. As soon as they hit the mat it was clear as day Osbourne had fuck all for Filho in the grappling. Just a matter of time. Filhoā€™s looked a bit of a handful in his last couple of fights. If he keeps this up then Mokaevā€™s win over him is gonna age nicely. Really enjoyed the Danny Silva vs Josh Culibao fight. I was hazy on Culibao and it was my first time seeing Silva so I really had zero expectations going in but they had a really fun scrap. I kind of lost track of the scoring but I felt like Culibao would probably get the decision. Mildly surprised Silva got the nod but either way, Iā€™ll be checking his next fight out. I liked his boxing. Hopefully he makes weight next time though. Jaqueline Amorim had no trouble with Cory McKenna. I was rooting for McKenna but Amorim walking out to the Pride theme instantly got me conflicted. Looking back, this was always a rough matchup for McKenna style-wise. Her striking isnā€™t much good and she was giving up 9in in reach. Plus sheā€™s mostly a grapplerā€¦but Amorim is a much better grappler. There was no safe route to victory for McKenna. But still, McKenna getting tangled up on the ground within a minute of the fight starting didnā€™t seem like the smartest of ideas. Done and dusted in under 2 minutes. Referee Mike Beltran dropped a big bollock here. McKenna motioned like she was gonna tap but didnā€™t and Beltran shouted ā€œSTOPā€ causing Amorim to let up on the armbar for a second, then changed his mind and told them to keep fighting. Amorim managed to synch up on the armbar again and got the tap, which is the only thing that saved Beltran from harsher criticism. His fannying about there couldā€™ve potentially cost Amorim the fight. I kept seeing people say Amorim had to ā€œsubmit McKenna twiceā€ and even Dominick Cruz on the replays said McKenna tapped before Beltran initially jumped in. Maybe Iā€™m going crazy but I didnā€™t see it. She absolutely moved her hand like she was thinking of tapping but caught herself from what I could see. In the end the right woman won. But that was a major fuck up from Beltran there. Fortunately it ended up not unfairly changing the course of the fight but thatā€™s no thanks to him. The big Dr Robotnik looking wally. Nice return to the win column for Thiago Moises down on the Fight Pass bit. Strong showing all around for him. Ramirez did step in on short notice so maybe thereā€™s better to come from him but he looked well out of his depth here. Moises schooled him. Bossed the grappling which was no surprise, then chopped Ramirez down with nasty leg kicks later in the fight. A painful introduction to the Octagon for Ramirez. Liked the post-fight interview from Moises as well. I think heā€™s already pretty much found his level in the division but it was good to see a bit of fire out of him. Seemed like he came into this one pissed off with being so low down the card and had a bit of a chip on his shoulder and a point to prove. I liked his callout of Dan Hooker as well. Not sure thatā€™s the fight weā€™ll actually see but itā€™s a realistic one for Moises at least and could be a good fight. Yeah, inoffensive stuff this. Definitely a more enjoyable watch than it looked on paper going in.
  11. Yeah. I like my poster a couple of posts up better. And that took me 2 minutes tops. I know the posters donā€™t really matter in the big picture but the lack of effort there is hilarious to me. Also says it all how on a card with a bunch of the most popular fighters on the roster, 3 title fights and 12 current or former champions, the poster is only promoting the UFC brand.
  12. Doesnā€™t seem like 5 minutes since Mark Coleman was running into fire and saving his parents lives. Heā€™s already back in the gym!
  13. Yeah, the fight itself is probably gonna be a lot of fun. Especially if they decide to trade leg kicks. Martinez has been great to watch recently so, looking at it from his point of view, Iā€™m happy for him that heā€™s getting a big fight like this. But from the POV of being an Aldo fan, and Iā€™m much more of an Aldo fan than a Martinez fan, itā€™s definitely not the fight Iā€™d have chosen for Aldoā€™s comeback. Like you, Iā€™d rather he stayed retired but if he insists on coming back, this isnā€™t a fight I was clamouring to see. Apparently Cruz was the rumoured opponent at some point. Iā€™d have been more up for that, to be fair. Both are at a similar stage in their careers, both legends of the lighter weight classes, both former UFC and WEC champs that never crossed paths etc. Even at this point, I think itā€™d have been a cool fight. Kind of like when Big Nog fought Randy Couture years ago.
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