wandshogun09

Slaphead Makhachev sighting.

Just looked back at the UFC 200 thread on here. 74 fucking pages!! Times have changed… Obviously there was more to talk about with 200. McGregor vs Diaz 2 initially being planned for it, Holm vs Rousey 2 being rumoured at one point, Aldo returning coming off that disastrous 13 seconds against Conor in his previous fight etc. Then there was the whole madness with Jon Jones getting USADA’d and fucking up the Cormier rematch leading to Anderson Silva stepping in at the eleventh hour. There was a LOT going on. And of course, Brock Lesnar coming back against Mark Hunt was a massive talking point on here in 2016. Goes without saying, on this forum, any time a big pro wrestling star makes the jump it’s gonna get more attention. But still, 74 bastard pages. And here we are on UFC 300 fight day and we’re only on page 2.

McGregor was on James Corden’s podcast apparently. Genuinely can’t think of much I’d wanna listen to less than this shite.

Turns out Mark Coleman will be wrapping the BMF belt around the winner of Gaethje vs Holloway.

Nightmare fuel. Yeah it’s gonna happen isn’t it? Pennington vs Holm 3 here we come.

Kayla Harrison made 135. It’s weird but the most intriguing aspect of this fight to me was whether she’d make weight or not. So this fight has almost already peaked for me now. The fight itself, I’m not expecting much from it. Hopefully it’s better than I’m picturing it but the prospect of a 40-odd year Holm who hasn’t had an enjoyable fight in years vs a badly weight drained Harrison…it doesn’t fill me with optimism. Hope I’m wrong and Kayla absolutely bulldozes the dullard but it feels like of all the great fights on this card, this one has the highest chance of shitting the bed.

Funny timing this thread being bumped. You’ve all most likely seen this already but this popped up in my YouTube recommendations the other day. Matt Cardona and co going through the entire Hasbro line. Initially stuck it on in the background while I was doing bits and bobs around the house but quickly got swept up in it. Brought back so many memories. Even touches on the rarities/prototypes and stuff like Rhythm & Blues Greg, Mega Maniacs Brutus and this beauty… Just noticed that channel has similar episodes on the Jakks Bone Crunchers, LJN, Bend ‘Ems, WCW (not Galoob) and ECW as well. Don’t know when or if I’ll ever get around to watching all of them and they don’t hold the same sentimentality as the Hasbros for me because I never had any of them bar a few of the Jakks BCAs. But I really enjoyed this Hasbro one.

Again, slow as fuck getting around to this. Between real life shit going on and spending a fair old chunk of the spare time I did have this week watching WrestleMania, this wasn’t high on my list of priorities. Just finally caught up. Allen vs Curtis 2 turned out to be a very entertaining fight, once again marred by talk about the judging after. I’ll be honest, I had Curtis winning myself. Wouldn’t call it a flat out robbery like a lot of people are but I felt like he won 3 of the 5 rounds (although I can’t remember which now). I’d have to rewatch, maybe Allen winning 48-47 wouldn’t be an outrageous scorecard. But I felt like Curtis got a raw deal here. And the one judge scoring it 49-46 Allen must’ve been smoking crack because what the fuck? Like I said though, it’s a shame all that shite has detracted from what was a really enjoyable fight. I said in one of the recent event threads that the Fight Night main events had really been a bit shit so far this year but this was a welcome change from that. And for all my moaning about it in the past, this was actually a Middleweight main event at the Apex that was an exception to the rule compared to the usual dross we get served up. Allen calling out DDP and Strickland post-fight seems like a waste of time. He’s definitely not getting the next title shot and I can’t see Strickland being interested in rematching him at the minute either. Looking at the rankings, Allen’s at #6 now but he’s been very fortunate to get the win here and I really can’t see his climb up the rankings going much further at all. The logical next fight for him is surely either rebooking that Vettori fight that was supposed to go down on this card, or maybe do Allen vs Cannonier. Those two are ranked just above Allen currently at #4 and #5 so either of them would make sense. Not sure what should be next for Curtis. Wouldn’t mind seeing Allen vs Curtis 3 when Allen inevitably gets derailed and sent back on his way down the ladder a few rungs. They’re 1-1 now and this was close enough, debatable enough and exciting enough to warrant a trilogy decider somewhere down the road, I reckon. Was well happy to see Damon Jackson and his new Turkey bought hairline get the win over twat face Alex Hernandez. Very satisfying. It was a gruelling, competitive fight but one I felt like Jackson won. I wouldn’t have had a huge problem if Hernandez got the nod, it really could’ve gone either way. But again, how the one judge had it 30-27 Hernandez baffled me. Was he sat cageside with dark glasses, a white stick and a golden retriever? Had a feeling that Chepe Mariscal vs Morgan Charriere fight was gonna be a fun one and they absolutely didn’t disappoint! There’s a reason I had this highlighted as my ‘one to watch’ even when it was on the prelims. Cracking fight. Was actually pleasantly surprised these two got FOTN. Well deserved, in my opinion, but in situations like this where it’s a choice between a fun main event and a banger prelim, they tend to favour the higher billed fight. I fully expected Allen and Curtis to get the bonus but I’m glad these guys got it. In the short time they’ve both been on the roster, they’ve already cemented themselves for me as ‘must see’ fighters. Not saying either are future champions, or even title contenders, but they’re gonna be can't miss viewing regardless and they’re both great additions to the Featherweight division. Shame this fight was wasted on the Apex. Imagine this in front of a Mexican or French crowd? Ignacio Bahamondes delivered big time with the only finish on the main card… Been saying for a while that he’s always worth tuning in to watch. Such an entertaining fighter. If I could choose his next fight, Daniel Zellhuber on the Sphere card for Mexican Independence Day wouldn’t upset me. Almost a guaranteed banger. Charlie Campbell and Trevor Peek had a fun scrap in the main card opener. Solid performance from Campbell, thought he looked quite sharp here and was clearly the better fighter of the two technically. But what Peek lacks in technique he almost makes up for in toughness. Campbell probably would’ve got the stoppage against most opponents at this kind of level but Peek is granite durable, almost to a fault. Very enjoyable fight. Alex Morono vs Court McGee just kind of came and went. Didn’t look like the worst fight ever but I didn’t really get into it. Felt like a prelim plucked from a card a decade ago. Just didn’t grab me. Morono won, which seemed like about the result you’d expect in 2024. Saw some talk that McGee should’ve won but I didn’t really take enough notice to keep track of it. McGee just looks done, to be fair. This was his third straight loss on the bounce and he turns 40 this year. Inspirational story with beating heroin addiction and stuff but it’s probably time to start thinking about an exit strategy from MMA. The Lukasz Brzeski vs Valter Walker fight temporarily cured my insomnia last night when I first tried to watch most of this show. Literally sent me to sleep. I skimmed through it today and thought it was the drizzling shits. I feel like we got catfished here. Not that I ever expected Valter to take the UFC by storm and rule the Heavyweight division. But he at least looked exciting in the clips I’d seen when he got signed and he seemed to have some of the same wonderful Walker weirdness his brother has. Which is something that the Heavyweight ranks can always do with, in my opinion. He just looked fucking awful though. Genuinely terrible. Mad thing is I thought Brzeski looked even worse somehow. I had Walker winning but it wasn’t pretty and, to be honest, it was such a shitty fight I felt like neither deserved to be called a winner. Can’t wait to not watch both of their next fights. Norma Cheeks fight was predictably shit. Never expected anything more from this. Dumont gets the W though and moves to #9 in the rankings. Somehow Germaine De Randamie was still ranked going into this fight, despite being inactive for well over 3 years before this fight. That’s the Bantamweight division in 2024 for you! A dull points win over a 40 year old who hasn’t fought in 3+ years gets you a Top 10 spot. Not sure what’s next for either of these two. Maybe Dumont can fight Miesha Tate or something? Although I fear that’s got ‘Apex headliner’ written all over it. Nice win for Jean Matsumoto in his Octagon debut… It’s just not happening for Dan Argueta in the UFC though. He came into the UFC undefeated and has gone 0-2-0-2 since. Came into this one off back-to-back No Contests and was giving Matsumoto all he could handle throughout the first and second rounds. Put a frantic pace on him and was wrestling the bollocks off him. Only for Matsumoto to lock in the guillotine and get the tap with literally one second left in the round! Cesar Almeida got there in the end and it was a nasty finish from him but it wasn’t the most convincing or promising performance for his UFC debut. He was obviously the way better striker and he did manage to keep getting back to his feet when he was taken down. But Budka controlling him so much and taking him down a bunch of times doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence for when he comes up against better opposition. Maybe I’m being harsh. He made the transition from Kickboxing to MMA late and, in fairness, this wasn’t the ideal style opponent for his debut but he got the job done regardless. Calling out Weidman after was a bit surprising. Again, not the best of styles to face if you don’t wanna be repeatedly taken down. Or poked in the eyes. Wasn’t paying a lot of attention to it but Nora Cornolle wrecked Melissa Mullins in the Fight Pass opener. Christ. From the bits I was half watching and listening to it seemed like Mullins was doing alright in the first round but that knee to the body just turned it around and all I can say is Mullins was lucky those headkicks landed with the foot instead of the shin, otherwise she’d have been napping on the canvas. Don’t see either amounting to much really and them both missing weight for this fight won’t do them any favours. But it was a good finish. Mixed bag of a show really but having a couple of fights as entertaining as Allen vs Curtis 2 and Mariscal vs Charriere is better than we usually get on these Apex cards, isn’t it? Few stinkers like Dumont vs GDR and Valter Walker’s fight dragged it down unfortunately but there were a couple of fights and finishes that made me not totally regret giving it a look. Onto 300 we go!

Akebono and Sakuraba. Sakubono.

Yeah, I was more familiar with his stints in MMA and K-1 than his Sumo career. Definitely agree with Egg that there did seem to be an element of exploitation to it where they’d routinely roll him out there in fights they knew he had pretty much no hope in. But that was the way they did things over there at the time. I’ll never forget Yuji Nagata basically being used as a human sacrifice and getting fed to Cro Cop and Fedor in his first 2 (and last 2) MMA fights. Akebono had quite a mad career when you think about it though. Huge success in Sumo obviously but even beyond that, he fought the likes of Royce Gracie and Don Frye in MMA, he fought in K-1, he competed at a WrestleMania, he wrestled Brock Lesnar in Japan etc. That led me to look up more of Akebono’s pro wrestling section on his Wikipedia page and he did more than I thought in wrestling. He wrestled everywhere from All Japan to New Japan to NOAH to Hustle to Dragon Gate.

Fight week Kayla Harrison in the UFC kit is something I never really thought we’d see. Will she make 135? I think so. But the question is at what cost? I really hope it works out for her because Bantamweight is in dire need for something new. And the alternative, a Holm win, probably sees her get another title shot. Especially as she’s already 2-0 over the current champ. Pennington vs Holm 3 anyone? Anyone at all? Yeah, thought not.

Yep.

I don’t know. I think it’s absolutely gonna be somewhere in between those extremes. It definitely has the potential to be one of the greatest shows ever but those kind of cards have to have pretty much everything click and go right. The chances of that are always slim just because of the unpredictable nature of MMA. I know MMA fans generally have short memories but for this to be THE greatest show of all time it’s gonna have to beat some stiff competition. 290 last year for example, 189 was an all timer, Pride had some epics etc. But on the other end of the scale, I can’t see it being a complete anti-climax either. Any card that has a crew of routinely exciting fighters like Oliveira, Pereira, Zhang, Miller, Figgy etc on there - not to mention a fight like Gaethje vs Holloway - is gonna be at least very good, if not way beyond that. I would be shocked if it’s a bad card with that lot on there, because none of them seem to know how to be boring. The ingredients for a dud aren’t really there with those lot. I think fans going in expecting the GREATEST CARD OF ALL TIME!!! and for every fight to be a Lawler vs Rory 2 thriller is just setting themselves up for disappointment and nothing is gonna please them. My thinking is it’s gonna at least be better than your average PPV. Anything more than that is a bonus. While we’re speculating, what colour do we reckon the canvas is gonna be this time? Will they even bother with that? Do we see a return of the piss coloured mat from 200?

Oof…starting to feel real now fellas!

I think I like that better actually.

Not a bad idea. I do dip into the threads on here for Raw and Smackdown from time to time anyway and it did help that Mania had all those pre-match video packages that kind of brought me up to speed on what was going on. Maybe I’ll ease myself in with the old ‘Big Four’ first. Maybe I’ll see you lot in the SummerSlam thread!

Even better than Night 1. Honestly thought I’d probably skim through most of this and just watch the main event in full but I ended up watching the lot. Drew McIntyre vs Seth Rollins was the ideal opener really. Didn’t outstay its welcome and it was all action, no messing about. Without even knowing their history or following the story going in, I liked the little post-match bit with Drew and Punk as well. Then the twist of the MITB cash in and Punk’s smug dickhead smirk when Drew lost. The Street Fight was the match I was least into on the whole show but, even then, Snoop Dogg on commentary was a laugh and I really wasn’t expecting to see Paul Ellering! Bubba Ray Dudley can piss off though. Can’t stand that big sack of wank. LA Knight vs AJ Styles was alright. Had its moments. Although, the “YEAH” bollocks was starting to grate very quickly on me. I get it’s obviously his catchphrase but it’s a bit of a shite one. This was my first time seeing Knight and the “YEAH” thing got old quick in the same way “WHAT?” did with Austin 20-odd years ago. Also, AJ looks…different these days, doesn’t he? Think ‘AJ’ must stand for “All the Juice” now because he definitely looks like he’s hit the sauce. Between his age and his build these days, I was pleasantly surprised he can even still move how he does and still do his springboard stuff. Physically though, not how I remembered him looking at all. I know it’s a bit of a drastic comparison and I hope his story ends happier than theirs did but looking at him here reminded me of the bloaty, chemically enhanced versions of Eddie and Benoit we saw in their later years. Really liked the Logan vs Orton vs Owens 3 way. Stupidly fun match. First time seeing Logan wrestle and, while I think both Paul brothers are annoying divs, it can’t be denied how impressive Logan is given his lack of experience and time in wrestling. Crazy how he can look so comfortable and competent in there with so few reps and so little ring time. Loved the chemistry between Orton and Owens as well. Not a clue if or how long they’ve been linked on TV or whatever but I thought they were great together here. Not a pairing I’d have ever imagined working so well but it really does. Orton barking at the Prime bottle wanker before RKOing him on the table was tremendous. Had zero expectations for the Bayley vs Iyo Sky match. I knew of Bayley but wasn’t overly familiar with her and I’d never seen Sky wrestle. Genuinely was half thinking this might be a bit of a piss break thing to ‘calm the crowd down’ before the main event. But it was a cracking match, to be fair. And Cody vs Roman was just incredible stuff. Whole thing was brilliantly done. To be honest, this was my first time watching a 2 night Mania and I wasn’t keen on the idea of it being 2 nights going in. But it worked a treat here, I thought. I think Night 1 really added to the story and the drama of the whole thing. And while I said I felt the main event on Night 1 was a bit too long, this match wasn’t much shorter but it didn’t drag at any point for me. Only thing I would’ve changed would be to swap Taker out for Austin but that’s a minor thing. The way the match built and built and Roman being such a prick was really well done. And then that final stretch was something else. Cody getting the win was so satisfying and such a feel-good moment. And that’s coming from someone who’s literally just tuned in for Mania itself and missed all the build up and context. Can only imagine how great a payoff this was for people who followed the story all the way through. Brilliant. The celebration after was class. Proper Bret at WrestleMania X vibes. Only way it could’ve been better would’ve been if Dustin was in there as well and, of course, if Dusty had lived to see it. If you weeeel! Could’ve really done without Triple H and fucking Brother Love being in the show closing moment though. Thoroughly enjoyed both nights. Can’t see me devoting time to watch regularly again but it’s good to see they can still create the old magic when they really want to. I didn’t think it was the ‘best WrestleMania ever!!’ and all that and granted I missed about a decade of Manias from 30-40 so I’m not the best to judge. But overall, this was up there for me with some of the best Manias. Doesn’t top 17 but there was very little on both nights that I thought was bad, most of it was really good and the bits that mattered most were bloody fantastic. Put it this way, I’ve not watched wrestling properly in probably 15 years. In the last 48 hours I’ve spent about 7 or 8 hours watching something I used to love but something I thought I was over. And I don’t regret a minute of the time I spent watching it.

Hey, I wasn’t complaining.

OK this is gonna be TL;DR for most so apologies. And excuse me for being completely clueless on current wrestling. But I actually watched this. First time in forever. Barely knew who anyone was or what was going on but I stuck with it. My nephews love their wrestling and they’ve had the Network set up at mine for ages so they can just log in when they stay over. The younger one (7) stopped at ours last night and him and my boy had WrestleMania on earlier. My son can’t sit still for too long so the novelty wore off quick for him. He dipped in and out but fully tapped out after the Rey tag. I think he only stuck around that long because of the masks and colourful outfits. I ended up sat with my nephew watching the rest and I’ve gotta admit, I really enjoyed it. Don’t know if that was mostly because I’ve been away from it for so long or what. But it felt big time, it felt fresh and it mostly held my attention and entertained me. I think watching with my nephew definitely helped though because he was so enthusiastic about everything that it was infectious. It mightn’t have kept my interest as much if I was watching on my own. I enjoyed it enough that I’m considering watching Night 2 after work tomorrow. Can’t remember the last time I came out of a wrestling show wanting to watch the next one. So there’s that. I know it’s technically only half a WrestleMania but it’s the first full show I’ve watched in years and years. I think the last thing I watched off a WrestleMania would’ve been Steve Austin’s return match against Kevin Owens a couple of years ago. But even then it was literally just that match. Before that? I’m probably going back to that Angle/Rousey vs Triple H/Stephanie match whatever year that was. I remember watching Sting vs Triple H as well but, yeah, it’s literally just been certain, specific stand-alone matches that have piqued my interest and pulled me in. Racking my brain trying to think what the last full Mania show I watched was and I can’t even remember. Honestly think it might’ve been in the 20s! Few thoughts from a very lapsed fan returning for one night only (maybe two)… Rhea Ripley absolutely oozes star quality. Not news to any of you but this was my first time properly seeing her, outside of horny sods posting her arse all over Twitter. I’ve seen her bumcheeks that much I didn’t even know she had a face until recently! I’ve caught just enough talk of her on here to know she’s a big deal but never actually watched her in action. Thought her and Becky had a really good match. Fair play to Becky for putting in a shift like that despite being sick. Thought Rhea was ace though. She looks different and unique enough to the other women to really set herself apart. Not usually into comparisons but my first impression was that it’s almost like she’s taken all the best elements of Sensational Sherri and Chyna, mixed them, updated it, but combined it with more athleticism and actual wrestling. The old multi-man ladder match is still a thing at Mania then? Have they actually done this every year since those MITB matches started! Genuinely didn’t know who most of this lot were. Obviously I knew R-Truth and Miz and was aware of New Day but that was it. I couldn’t even tell you most of these guys names now but it doesn’t matter. It served its purpose. Particularly enjoyed the aeroplane spin spot with the ladder. Nice to see Truth come out on top. And not just because he’s one of the only ones I recognised. Can’t believe Rey Mysterio is still at it! Great to see and he still looks good. Had to look up his age, he turns 50 in December! When he signed with WWE in 2002 he’d already had so many knee injuries and surgeries I thought it’d be optimistic to think he had even a 5 year run left in him. To see him still going 22 years later is insane. Given his style, his longevity is incredible. Who’d have guessed his career would last long enough that he’d be wrestling his son at WrestleMania? I’d never seen any of the others wrestle before, just Rey, but I thought this was alright. Nothing amazing but decent enough. Oh and Dom looks like such a sleazy, punchable little prick. A far cry from the innocent little chubby kid from when Eddie was claiming to be his Papi. Heard Cole say Rey beat Dom at last year’s Mania as well. How long has this feud being going? The Uso vs Uso match was shite, wasn’t it? I thought I might be missing something and that maybe it was one of those matches where you really needed to follow the storyline going in for context. But looking at a few comments on here, seems I’m not alone in thinking this was the worst thing on the show. That Six Woman Tag - I didn’t have a fucking clue what was going on watching the entrances 🤣 the two Japanese women looked ridiculously cartoonish. The one with the bright purple hair dancing about was the best though. Right team defintely won here. I knew Jade Cargill must be a big deal because she’s somehow made her way onto my Twitter timeline a fair bit recently despite me not really following any wrestling accounts. It was clear as day she was THE star in this match. The crowd reaction when she finally tagged in was great. Really liked Bianca as well. I don’t know if it’s even realistic, whether it’s already happened, whether they’re on the same brand (is the brand split even still a thing in 2024?) or what, but I feel like Rhea Ripley vs Jade Cargill is the match to make for next year’s Mania. That’s coming from someone who never watches obviously but that just feels like the one. Let them both just bulldoze the opposition for the next 12 months and make it your female Brock vs Goldberg or something in 2025. Loved the Sami Zayn vs Gunther match. Considering I’d seen literally sod all of either of these two in WWE, it was a bit strange at first seeing this match given such high billing. To me anyway. I genuinely only knew Zayn from his El Generico days on the indies, obviously I knew he was in WWE and who he was and stuff but it’s a bit of a headfuck to me seeing him in such a prominent position at WrestleMania when my points of reference to him are of him wearing a cheap looking mask and getting chucked about in CZW or whatever in the TWC days. He’s done alright for himself. And Gunther? I’d heard the name and knew of him, but… That’s what I knew him from. That’s it. A meme. Usually seen in response to Rhea Ripley arse tweets funnily enough. He’s lost some timber since that pic! But yeah, this match was right up my alley. Loved the contrast in styles and I think if I was gonna start watching more regularly again, Gunther would quickly become one of my favourites. What a shithouse, mouthing off at Sami’s wife in between stomping his head in. The bastard. Did him and Samoa Joe ever have a match? If not, why not? If so, when and where? I need to see it. Match of the night for me. The type of match that makes me remember why I used to love this shit. Main event was a bit too long for my liking. I liked it but it felt like they could’ve accomplished the same thing in half the time and the match probably would’ve been better for it. It felt odd to me a tag match headlining Mania but I had to keep reminding myself this was only Night 1. Love seeing how popular and how big of a star Cody has become. Again, stuck record but I’ve been out of the loop so long and I only know how big he’s gotten through reading bits and pieces on here. But the last time I used to dip in and out of WWE semi-regularly, Cody was teaming with Ted Dibiase Jr! I think the last time I properly watched him wrestle was that bloodbath he had against Dustin in AEW years ago. The snippets I do catch of him, he always seems a good egg. Similarly, my memories of Roman Reigns are from the Shield days. Thought he was class back then so it was cool seeing him again. And even Rock, I found him so much more entertaining here as a heel than I expected to. But yeah, 40-odd minutes was a bit much for me. The bad guys winning and the way it affects the stips for Roman vs Cody tonight was a nice touch. Adds a little twist and actually made me wanna see what happens next, which is the whole point isn’t it? Job done. Cody’s gotta win against the odds tonight now surely? My rekindled love of wrestling almost certainly won’t last beyond this week but whatever. It’s been fun.

Back to Brazil and it’s a main/co-main combo right out of left field… PPV MAIN CARD Alexandre Pantoja©️vs Steve Erceg - Flyweight Title Jonathan Martinez vs Jose Aldo Anthony Smith vs Vitor Petrino Michel Pereira vs Ihor Potieria Paul Craig vs Caio Borralho ESPN PRELIMS Joanderson Brito vs Jack Shore Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs Iasmin Lucindo Elves Brener vs Myktybek Orolbai Jean Silva vs William Gomis ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMS Joaquim Silva vs Drakkar Klose Mauricio Ruffy vs Jamie Mullarkey Dione Barbosa vs Ernesta Kareckaite Ismael Bonfim vs Vinc Pichel Alessandro Costa vs Kevin Borjas It’s gonna get shat on but after loading up on 298, 299 and 300, they were never gonna keep that run of ridiculously stacked PPVs going indefinitely. This card obviously pales in comparison to that lot but I actually quite like this. There’s enough there to sink the teeth into, the undercard actually has some darkhorse bangers and the Brazilian crowd is gonna be into it, which always adds to it. Alexandre Pantoja vs Steve Erceg is your Rio headliner. Yeah, not a fight I saw coming, much less main eventing a PPV! But I don’t have a problem with it. There’s been crying and criticism about this booking on social media but I think it’s clear that the original plan was for Alex Pereira vs Jamahal Hill to headline this card, with a Pantoja title defence as co-main. But all the bellyaching from fans about UFC 300 not being stacked enough, plus fights like DDP-Izzy being delayed, meant they had to rob Peter to pay Paul and here we are. The fight itself kind of came a bit out of left field. Erceg challenging for the title this early into his UFC career feels a bit weird. It’s got a hint of Rocky vibes about it for me, the champ giving a relative unknown a shot at the gold etc. But I don’t mind this. Should be an entertaining fight whatever happens. It’s been satisfying seeing Pantoja reach the pinnacle of the Flyweight division. There were times when I thought he’d never get there. Not for lack of skill or anything like that. It just seemed like he was destined to never get his opportunity while he was still young enough and in his physical prime. Especially when we were in the middle of that endless Moreno vs Figgy series. It really felt like we were gonna end up seeing an old school pro wrestling Best Of 7 Series between those two and Pantoja might just age out waiting for his chance. But thankfully he got the shot last summer and became King Of 125 in a blood and guts FOTY contender win over Moreno. “I fought with all the division. I fought with the No. 1 (Royval) two times, the No. 2 (Moreno) three times, No. 3 right now is Amir Albazi, who has an injury. I fought Kai Kara-France before, Manel Kape, Alex Perez, Matt Schnell. I fought everyone.” “I think Erceg is so lucky because all of these things happened. He’s coming fresh for this fight because he didn’t fight the No. 8 or No. 6 or No. 4 like me. I needed to fight with all these guys and I had a lot of wars with Kape, Moreno, Royval. I lost a couple of years of my life in those fights and this guy Steve comes so fresh. He didn’t fight the guys at the top of the division but all the fighters in the Flyweight division are very good. He has good boxing, good Jiu-Jitsu. It’s going to be very interesting for me.” - Alexandre Pantoja It’ll be cool to see him get this moment. He defended the belt successfully in December with a solid win over Brandon Royval. But the fight itself was, surprisingly, a little bit of a letdown. In Pantoja’s defence though, it was a letdown because he dominated. He did nothing wrong. Royval just wasn’t able to make it competitive enough for it to really catch fire. This is gonna be a career highlight for Pantoja though. Getting to return to Brazil as the UFC champion of the world, defending his title on home soil. It’s gonna be pretty special for him. He turns 34 just before this fight. Not old by any normal measure but, as a lighter weight class fighter, mid 30s is typically when a fighter’s peak starts to fade a bit. Pantoja’s still going strong. He’s shown no signs of slowing down just yet. But there’s an expiry date on every fighter’s prime, no matter how good they are. Every single one of them. So Pantoja’s gotta max out whatever he can get out of this title run. The paydays, the moments, the legacy builders, all of it. It’s a shame this card is probably gonna do about 4 buys. Pantoja’s gonna be lucky if his PPV cut is enough to get him a chippy tea and a pint. The challenger… Deal with it. ‘Astro Boy’ Steve got the call, he answered. He’s Australian, 28 years old and has a record of 12-1 with 8 of his wins coming inside the distance. He signed with the UFC just last year and has gone 3-0 in the Octagon since. He’s coming into this fight on an 11 fight winning streak. Certainly a good start to his career but it does feel like this title shot came out of nowhere. When a new fighter shows up in the UFC, I think it’s quite common that a lot of fans don’t get really familiar with them until they’re 3 or 4 fights in. Just because there’s so many cards these days, people tend to cherry pick what fights to watch, and a lot of these new guys start on the prelims. There are obviously some examples where a fighter comes in and instantly makes a splash but, in general, they come in with little to zero fanfare and either work their way up or fizzle out. There’s probably a decent sized chunk of the MMA fanbase that hasn’t even seen Erceg fight yet. So I can understand why there was a puzzled reaction to this fight being announced. Even me, I have seen Erceg fight, I am familiar with him and I was surprised myself, so I get it. But at the same time, fans have been moaning about the Flyweight title picture being endless rematches for the longest time now, at least this is a completely fresh matchup. That’s how Erceg’s last fight ended. He brutally sparked Matt Schnell on the Rozenstruik vs Gaziev card at the Apex back in March. That’ll be the main thing that’s earned him this title shot. The two most realistic options were Erceg or Muhammad Mokaev. I hear all the arguments for why Mokaev should’ve got the shot and I get it. He’s ranked higher and if he’d been put in this spot against Pantoja I’d have been absolutely fine with that too. But I don’t think there’s some grand conspiracy against Mokaev or anything. I think it’s a simple case of the matchmakers looking at both options, Erceg was coming off that highlight reel knockout over Schnell whereas Mokaev fought on the same card and won a fairly unconvincing decision in a boring fight against Alex Perez. That’s it. Mokaev’s time will come. He’ll probably get a big fight on this Manchester card everyone’s talking about and, if he wins that, he could well challenge the winner of Pantoja/Erceg by the end of the year. Mokaev’s 23, what’s the rush? Erceg actually called out Brandon Moreno after that Schnell KO and I remember thinking that seemed a bit too optimistic at the time. Who would’ve guessed he’d be going one better than that? I like it. On paper it looks like a tick over title defence just to keep Pantoja busy. It looks maybe like a nice run of the mill homecoming defence for him to send the Brazilian fans home happy. But, is it? I actually think the kind of unknown element of Erceg adds to the intrigue here. We really don’t know how good he is yet. Just because a lot of fans aren’t familiar with him doesn’t necessarily mean he doesn’t belong at this level. The fights of his I’ve seen so far, he’s looked good. He’s barely put a foot wrong in his career so far, so who are we to doubt El Dandy? “I think Pantoja has had a couple of wars but nothing crazy. It’s not like he’s going out there and fighting like Justin Gaethje every fight or anything. He’s grappling a little bit and I don’t think his chin has looked to wear out in any way. I think this is gonna be the best of him versus the best of me.” “The Brazilian fans will want to kill me. That’s how this is gonna go. I’m coming to beat the champion in his hometown, the crowd will be telling me that I’m gonna die. Same as afterwards. When I have that belt, security will have to usher me away because they’re gonna be throwing bottles at me. I’ll have to get on a plane and get out of there fast!” - Steve Erceg He’s been fun to watch so far, good boxing. Although, despite that brutal Schnell KO, he’s not typically a massive puncher from what I’ve seen and that was only the second knockout win of his career. Obviously if Pantoja can turn it into a grappling match he’s gonna have the advantage over pretty much anyone in the division. But he’s also been known to get dragged into wild standup battles as well. You’ve got to favour Pantoja just based on their track records, Pantoja’s experience and him seemingly having a more well rounded overall game. But Erceg might be a live underdog. This is a massive opportunity for him with relatively little to lose. I don’t think anyone’s really expecting much from him so he’s free to just let loose and do his thing. And even if he loses, he’s early enough in his career that he’s got time to work his way back. If Pantoja loses, that could be it for him. The risk is all on Pantoja really here. Fair play to him for taking a fight like this and giving a guy like Erceg a shot. Because, although Erceg is a lower ranked guy, there’s not that much known about him, he’s on good form, he’s younger and it’s definitely a risk. Jonathan Martinez vs Jose Aldo then. Yeah, I said the main event came out of the blue, who the fuck saw this one coming?! Not only did I not expect to see Aldo back in the UFC, if he was going to return then Martinez certainly isn’t the fight I would’ve guessed he’d be coming back for. But here we are. In March it was announced. The King Of Rio returns! Let’s be honest, Aldo never fully retired in the first place. We last saw him in the Octagon back in August 2022 at UFC 278. The same night Leon Edwards shocked the world. Aldo got shut down by Merab Dvalishvili that night en route to a lacklustre decision loss. Merab did his thing and he had a strong performance but it was one of the worst fights of Aldo’s career to watch. I was saying it constantly at the time but I really wasn’t a fan of that booking in the first place. Aldo was coming off 3 straight wins over Chito Vera, Pedro Munhoz and Rob Font at the time and they had a PPV coming up in Brazil. To me, it was an absolute no brainer to do an Aljo vs Aldo title fight in Rio. But the UFC went with a less deserving, inactive and broken down TJ Dillashaw instead. Still baffles me. So Aldo lost to Merab instead and retired shortly after. Talk about going out with a whimper. It was far from a fitting end to such a legendary career. Looking back, it was probably a hasty decision. Maybe a combination of Aldo becoming disillusioned with being passed over for the title shot, plus his wife gave birth to their son around the same time. I think he just wanted to get away for a bit. But if you look back at those fights before he lost to Merab, he was still looking really good. Now it’s undeniable he’s lost a step from the absolute prime. But a Jose Aldo who’s lost a step is still a few steps ahead of most of the roster. It’s not like he was embarrassing himself out there by any stretch. And like I said, he never completely retired from combat sports… He actually fought 3 times in 2023, albeit in the Boxing ring rather than the Octagon. He won an exhibition in February, went to a draw with Jeremy Stephens in April, then won a decision in July. So while he’s been gone from the UFC almost 2 years, it’s not like he’s been sat around doing nothing and getting out of shape. Actually, despite being ‘retired’, in 2023 he was more active than he’d been in a few years. The last time he’d fought 3 times in a year prior to that was 2019. So he’s been keeping himself in shape and staying sharp. Probably never really left the gym for a significant length of time since the Merab loss. He turns 38 in September. I’m under no illusions that it’s coming to an end and any fight now could well be his last. But while I was conflicted on his return when it was first announced, I’ve warmed to the idea the more I’ve thought about it. His legacy is already set. He’s a Hall Of Famer, a true pioneer and a real legend. The word ‘legend’ gets thrown around willy nilly these days but Aldo is absolutely one of them. Maybe the Featherweight GOAT. It can’t be stated enough how much he raised the bar in the Featherweight division, and the lighter weight classes in general, when he burst on the scene in WEC and started wrecking shop. I’m actually happy he’s back now. Leaving MMA on a dull loss to Merab would’ve been shite. I like Merab but that just wasn’t a crowd pleasing fight and, even if he still goes out on a loss, Aldo deserves to at least finish up with a fun fight. Even if this is it, he loses to Martinez and he’s one and done in his return, getting to fight in Brazil against a striker is a better way to go out than getting stifled to a UD loss by Merab in fucking Utah of all places. Martinez sounds bang up for this fight as you’d expect. Massive opportunity for him… “I think it was after sparring one day, my manager called me and he was like, ‘Do you want to fight Jose Aldo?’ I didn’t hesitate at all, I said ‘Yeah, let’s do it!’ It was pretty crazy. I had to let it sink in a little bit. It’s a huge name. I know he’s been boxing and stuff. I feel like he’s gotten better. He’s been looking good. I’m excited to see that version.” “I was a fan, I used to watch him. My parents used to watch him when he was in the WEC. But it doesn’t faze me, I don’t get excited like that. It’s just another guy in there. I’ve gotta go in there and show him that I’m better than him. To me, I think they like this matchup because it’s the two kickers in the division. Out of all the Bantamweights, I kick a lot and he used to, maybe he’ll bring it back this time.” “Boo me or cheer for me, it doesn’t bother me. Them booing isn’t gonna get in my head or nothing like that. I’m actually gonna have some noise, which is way better than fighting in the quiet Apex.” - Jonathan Martinez Love the little dig at the Apex at the end there! 🤣 Looking back over his record, 6 of his last 7 fights have been at the Apex. No wonder he’s craving some noise! Even deafening boos and death threats are gonna sound like music to his ears compared to the crickets and tumbleweed he usually experiences at the UFC warehouse. Kind of feel bad for Martinez. There’s not gonna be a soul in the arena, barring his corner, who isn’t baying for his blood here. And pretty much every single person watching at home (not named Martinez) is gonna be rooting for Aldo as well. I actually like Martinez but I’m gonna be the same. It’s not the fight I’d have chosen for Aldo’s return, I think Aldo’s just at that stage now where he should be fighting exclusively against more established names and/or fellow legends. I saw some reports that Dominick Cruz was the original plan as Aldo’s opponent here and that would’ve been more my thinking too. But purely as a matchup of styles, I can’t see how Martinez doesn’t make for an exciting fight with Aldo. And he’s on a 6 fight winning streak so, from his point of view, he absolutely deserves a big fight. He’s coming into this fight off wins over Cub Swanson, Said Nurmagomedov and Adrian Yanez. And he dismantled both Cub and Yanez with crippling leg kicks. So he’s a fighter cut from the same cloth as Aldo in that respect. Yeah, they could’ve put together a more suitable and juicier fight for Aldo’s return, I’m in total agreement there, but just enjoy it for what it is. It should be a hell of a fight for however long it lasts. Anthony Smith vs Vitor Petrino is a decent fight. Not setting the world alight but what is at 205 these days? This is alright. Gotta give Smith his credit where it’s due. He’ll literally fight any fucker, won’t he? He’s 35 years old, coming off a bad knockout loss and this’ll be his 57th pro fight. And he’s currently ranked #10 in the Light Heavyweight division. You could forgive a guy like that for wanting to sit on his ranking and look for favourable matchups but he genuinely seems to just accept every fight that’s offered. I see fans shit on him a fair bit these days for whatever reason but you can never accuse him of ducking tough fights. There was a time a few years back when he was legitimately in the title picture as well. He was never gonna actually become champion but he was in that mix of top contenders. He actually beat and finished Alexander Gustafsson, in Sweden, in 2019. A win I think a lot of people have forgotten about. Of course he battered washed up versions of Shogun Rua and Rashad Evans along the way, subbed Volkan Oezdemir, knocked out Hector Lombard etc. But it seems like the peak of his career is always gonna be that he went 5 rounds in a losing effort in his title shot against Jon Jones. In the last few years the best it’s gotten for him has been a couple of wins over Ryan Spann and a doctor stoppage TKO over Jimmy Crute. We last saw him getting wiped out by Khalil Rountree in December. Now he’s straight back in there with another heavy hitter… Vitor Petrino is undefeated at 11-0, with 8 of those wins not requiring judges. He’s only 26 years old, he’s built like a WWF Hasbro and he’ll have the support of the crowd here being at home in Brazil. He got a TKO finish on DWCS back in 2022 and that got him in the door of the UFC, where he’s gone 4-0 since. He hasn’t been properly tested yet, in my opinion. There’s positives to take from what we’ve seen so far. He’s finished fights early and late. So he’s not necessarily just one of those musclebound freaks who fades after a round or so. But his UFC run so far has gone - Anton Turkalj, Marcin Prachnio, Modestas Bukauskas, Tyson Pedro. Not exactly a murderer’s row, is it? Although it’s still relatively early in Petrino’s career so it’s fine. I had fairly high hopes at one point but I’m not so sure now. Maybe he can still go on to be a force but I didn’t think he looked too good against Pedro last time out, and that was a Pedro who retired straight after. I just felt like Petrino should’ve won that fight more convincingly and impressively than he did. This fight with Smith should be a good barometer because, while Smith’s clearly slowing down, he’s mixed with enough established names, at various levels, that we should learn something about Petrino here. I think it’s clear what the matchmakers had in mind when they booked this. To see a veteran who’s coming off a rough stoppage loss immediately get matched up with an undefeated fighter 10 years his junior…you know what it’s about. Feels like they’re trying to push Smith into that analyst role permanently with matchmaking like this. But you never know. If Petrino’s gonna become something though, he really can’t afford to be losing a fight like this. Michel Pereira vs Ihor Potieria sounds like all kinds of fun! This was supposed to be Pereira against Makhmud Muradov, which was a pretty cool pairing in its own right. Muradov dropped out, Potieria has stepped in. I think this is actually a better fight! Pereira is can’t miss viewing and, since moving up to Middleweight especially, has looked a right handful recently. I always get the feeling he’s about to hit his ceiling but, for all the criticism he received early in his UFC run, in fairness I think he’s done a good job of finding the balance between keeping elements of that wacky style that brought him to the dance, but keeping it in check just enough so that it compliments his performance rather than hinders it. I think cutting down to 170 played a big part in holding him back, to be fair. He finally moved up to 185 last year and has since breezed through Andre Petroski and Michal Oleksiejczuk in about 2 minutes combined. He’s on a 7 fight winning streak now. I don’t see him making waves in the title picture but who the fuck knows? It’s not like Middleweight is loaded with talent. Potieria jumping in here was a bit of a surprise actually. It had been announced that he’d be fighting Shara Bullet on the Saudi card in June so you wouldn’t have thought he’d be an option but here we are. And according to Marcel Dorff, as I type this Potieria vs Shara is still on for Saudi! Of course it’s gonna depend on how banged up Potieria is coming out of this fight though. Potieria’s Ukrainian, 20-5 with 15 finishes and, win or lose, hasn’t had a dull moment yet in the UFC. He looked good beating Robert Bryczek in February and lost a barmy back and forth battle with Rodolfo Bellato before that in December. This has potential to be a really crazy fight. Paul Craig vs Caio Borralho is currently scheduled to kick off the PPV. Funny one this. Not a bad fight and Craig fights always have the potential for something goofy happening. But I don’t know, I’m not really feeling it and I’m blaming most of that on Borralho. Just find him so frustrating to watch. He’s one of those fighters who seems to have all the physical attributes and he’s definitely got some skills, but I always feel underwhelmed by his performances. It always feels like he could do more but just doesn’t. He’s 15-1-0-1 now, is on a long unbeaten streak and that lone loss was all the way back in 2015. But at 4-0 in the UFC, he’s yet to have one real standout performance. Maybe there’s better to come and other gears he can tap into but so far, every time I’ve watched him it’s left me feeling cold. Hopefully Craig can drag something more watchable out of him and give us a different look. He’s kind of floundering now though. He’s 36 years old and has lost 3 of his last 4. He’s got those wins over Jamahal Hill and Magomed Ankalaev up at 205 that have obviously aged well. But he’s just so inconsistent. We last saw him getting submitted by Brendan Allen in their main event back in November. Joanderson Brito vs Jack Shore is a cracking fight. It might not be the most stacked card names-wise but there are some cracking fights and this one stands out to me as one of the front runners to bag that FOTN bonus. Happy to see them get a main card spot as well. Both have spent the majority of their UFC careers on the prelims for some reason. Both deserve better than that. This should be the perfect way to start the PPV. A lighter weight class fight between a couple of exciting fighters, and a Brazilian is involved so you know the crowd is gonna be red hot for it. Brito’s been entertaining to watch every time I’ve seen him. He’s a Chute Boxe guy, what do you expect? He’s 16-3-1 with 14 finishes and coming off a sweet ninja choke submission over Jonathan Pearce in November. Before that he rattled off 3 straight first round finishes over Andre Fili, Lucas Alexander and Westin Wilson. You dig further back in his career and he also beat Diego Lopes on DWCS and knocked Chepe Mariscal out in 44 seconds on a LFA card. He’s ace. One of the more under-appreciated guys in the 145 division for me, and I think that’s mostly because he’s been put on cards that no-one really pays attention to. Good to see him getting some shine here. Wales’ Jack Shore in the unlikely role as villain here. I’ve become a fan of ‘Tank’. Seems a top lad and I’ve enjoyed his podcast ‘Tank’d Up’ the few times I’ve caught it on YouTube. I remember there being a decent amount of buzz around him when he signed with the UFC a few years ago. He came in undefeated and still in his early 20s but he’d already got off to a really strong start and had a good run in Cage Warriors, winning and defending their Bantamweight title. He made his UFC debut in 2019 and won his first 5 fights but, oddly, couldn’t get off the prelims for love nor money. It was weird. He was clearly a real prospect and they do usually push the UK/European prospects a bit, especially when they’re young and unbeaten, if for no other reason than they can use them on the European Fight Nights in prominent positions. But Shore just wasn’t climbing for whatever reason. Then he suffered his first defeat against Ricky Simon in July 2022 and that was that. The perfect shiny undefeated record gone. He moved back up to Featherweight for his last fight on the Edwards vs Usman 3 undercard last March, and he looked great subbing Makwan Amirkhani. Now he’s finally getting that main card treatment! I think that’s mostly because they wanted to feature Brito but whatever. This is a good opportunity for Shore to make a statement. Going into hostile territory and taking a Brazilian fighter out on a PPV main card would be a significant step in the right direction. Really looking forward to this fight. Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs Iasmin Lucindo is OK. Not amazing or anything but should be a decent enough watch. It’s another one of them though, where the matchmakers are clearly trying to feed the veteran to the young up and comer. I get it and it’s the way combat sports have always been. Just sucks that it’s someone like Kowalkiewicz being used as cannon fodder. That’s likely the plan anyway. Whether it goes down like that remains to be seen. And to be fair, Kowalkiewicz has done a hell of a job resurrecting her career over the last couple of years. She went from beating Rose Namajunas and going 5 rounds with prime Joanna Jedrzejczyk at MSG, to going on a horrendous 5 fight losing streak, to now somehow turning things around to where she’s coming into this fight off 4 consecutive wins. Granted those 4 wins have been against low level opposition but it was looking like she was completely finished not too long ago. She’s done well to recover. She’s 38 now though and can’t have many more fights left in her. And here she is up against a 22 year old Lucindo! I’ve quite liked the little I’ve seen of Lucindo so far. She’s 15-5, which isn’t an amazing start, but she made an instant fan of me in her UFC debut with that banger against Yazmin Jauregui. She came up short in that one but has since bounced back with wins over Brogan Walker and Polyana Viana. Sadly I think Karolina’s little win streak is coming to an end here. Just a feeling but maybe I’m wrong. Elves Brener vs Myktybek Orolbai is ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** for Rio. Might seem a bit of an odd choice but it immediately jumped out to me off the undercard and I wanted to highlight it. It’s not even like I’ve seen a great deal of either yet but that’s kind of the point. These days the UFC roster is such a revolving door that it’s rare newcomers really stand out. These two have for me though. Brazil’s Brener is obviously gonna be the crowd favourite. He’s 26 years old, a Chute Boxe fighter and has a record of 16-3 with 14 inside the distance. He made his Octagon debut at UFC 284 in Perth last February. The undercard of the first Makhachev vs Volkanovski fight. Brener took a split decision off Zubaira Tukhugov that night and I barely noticed him. When he was matched up against Guram Kutateladze in July I honestly thought he was a sacrificial lamb. I really rated Kutateladze (still think he could have a future) and fully expected him to bulldoze Brener. And for a bit he was bulldozing him. He was battering him, split his head wide open with elbows (see the pic above) and looked well on his way to victory. Brener just refused to go away though and scored a crazy come from behind knockout late in the fight. Then on the São Paulo card in November… He had Kaynan Kruschewsky literally do the Flair Flop! I remember we talked about it at the time but it was a weird looking shot that ended it. Didn’t even look like Brener put that much power behind it but it just caught Kruschewsky in that sweet spot around the temple/ear area and that was that. He completely faceplanted. It’s mad but, after a really forgettable debut, in just two fights Brener has completely changed my opinion on him. He showed insane toughness and heart in the Kutateladze fight and fight ending, game changing power in both fights. He’s a ‘must see’ fighter for me now and speaking of ‘must see’… Myktybek Orolbai is from Kyrgyzstan, 26 years old and is 12-1-1 with 11 finishes. He trains with Team Alpha Male and is currently on a 7 fight winning streak. I’d never seen or heard of him before his UFC debut in November. And even then, he just seemed to pop up out of nowhere and jumped in on short notice as a last minute replacement. I remember doing a little bit of digging at the time and seeing a brutal uppercut KO from him just a few weeks earlier on a LFA card. I was instantly on board and looking forward to seeing what he could do in the UFC. His debut didn’t disappoint… Just fucking brutal. Almost twisted Uros Medic’s head right off his neck. To come in on less than a week’s notice and do that was impressive. Of course it helped that he fought not long before that so he was still in shape. But he just came in and dealt with Medic in such a calm and matter of fact way. He looks like someone worth keeping an eye on and I love this matchup for both. Orolbai has shown he has knockout power and a dangerous ground game. And Brener is an absolute dog with KO power himself and zero quit in him. My initial feeling is that Orolbai’s wrestling might tip the odds in his favour but fuck knows really. Feels like it could be a barmy one. Jean Silva vs William Gomis will be worth a look. Nothing to do with Gomis, like, but give it a watch anyway. Anyone who saw Silva’s UFC debut in January knows what I’m on about. He’s the guy who took about a month to walk from the locker room into the Octagon on his entrance. I exaggerate obviously, but he took his sweet time. He then proceeded to smash up an outmatched Westin Wilson and stop him inside a round. He then screamed “D-VON…GET THE TABLES!”… Yeah, I made the last bit up. It was a memorable debut though. And that’s not often the case on Apex cards. He’s 12-2 now with 11 finishes, mostly knockouts. Hard to take much from his debut because Wilson is shite and basically stood there with his chin out just asking to be tagged. And Silva didn’t hesitate. Haven't thought much of Gomis so far. He’s only 26, he’s 13-2 and he’s unbeaten so far in the UFC. Sounds good but the fights themselves have been lifeless and the last one against Yanis Ghemmouri was a dodgy win that ended on a kick to the bollocks but was still ruled a TKO win for Gomis for some reason. Not a fan. Looks like Silva will be fun to watch regardless though. He seems to be just that right mix of punching power, aggression and having a bit of a screw loose that you have to tune in for his fights. Hope he chins Gomis. Joaquim Silva vs Drakkar Klose is just filler really but could be decent. Silva’s 35 years old now, has a record of 13-4 and he’s gone 2-3 in his last 5 fights. Pretty much just a journeyman but he’s not bad. He’s definitely had his moments. Even in defeat, he had Arman Tsarukyan badly rocked for a minute in their fight last June. He got back in the win column in December with a decision over Clay Guida. Klose fought on the same card in December and scored maybe the most spectacular knockout of 2023… Poor Joe Solecki got powerbombed into oblivion. Temple first off the canvas. Shades of Rampage Jackson in the Pride days. Klose is alright. Like Silva, at 36 he’s never gonna climb the ranks or really amount to much but he’s not bad to watch. I remember him having a cracking forgotten gem of a fight with Christos Giagos years ago and of course he got knocked out by Beneil Dariush in their slobberknocker. He’s also got a win over Bobby Green and is coming into this fight on a 3 fight win streak. These two are far from scrubs, they’ve just kind of found themselves lost in the shuffle in a loaded Lightweight division. Mauricio Ruffy vs Jamie Mullarkey jerks the curtain. Never seen Ruffy, this’ll be his UFC debut, but he’s Brazilian, 27 years old and 9-1 with all 9 wins coming by KO/TKO. He won his fight on DWCS in October and was talking a big game after, saying he’s gonna be UFC champion one day etc. Everyone has to start somewhere though and Mullarkey is the first hurdle. He’s somehow still only 29 but fuck me he’s got some miles on him. He’s 17-7 now and has been on the wrong end of some vicious stoppages. He got done in 2 minutes by Nasrat Haqparast last time out. He’s a scrappy fucker and game to throw hands with anyone but it seems like he already found his level a long time ago and this is it for him now. He’ll win a fight here or there then get clobbered, rinse and repeat. If Ruffy is as good as he’s talking himself up as, he really should be winning a fight like this in spectacular fashion. If he loses at this level, that ‘future champ’ talk is gonna look absolutely hilarious in hindsight. Dione Barbosa vs Ernesta Kareckaite is a complete mystery to me. Never seen either but - surprise, surprise - they’re both off DWCS. Both early into their MMA careers as well and this’ll be both their UFC debut. Barbosa is Brazilian, 31 years old but only 6-2 in MMA. So a pretty late starter. She trains out of Kings MMA and I’ve seen Cris Cyborg tweeted about her, giving her the stamp of approval. Kareckaite is Lithuanian, 25 years old and undefeated at 5-0-1. She won her fight on DWCS against Carli Judice in September by split decision and I’ve read a few times that it was a bit of a corker. I’ll give this a chance. Ismael Bonfim vs Vinc Pichel could be a slugfest actually. They were originally booked against each other on the São Paulo card in November but Bonfim came in well over the 155lb limit and the fight got binned at the eleventh hour. Hopefully none of that this time. It’s a shame how fast Bonfim has kind of fizzled out. He had such a fantastic debut on the last Rio PPV in January 2023. If you remember his flying knee KO over Terrance McKinney, you’ll know what I mean. One of the best knockouts of last year easy. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to build on that momentum because he ran into Benoit Saint-Denis in July and got overwhelmed and choked. Bonfim’s still only 28 and has a solid record of 19-4 with 13 finishes. It’s not all doom and gloom. I hope he gets back to winning ways here anyway, because Pichel seems a bit of a bellend. That was part of his little outburst after his last fight. Mark Madsen played to his strengths and outwrestled him and he cried about it. 30+ years into the UFC being a thing and fighters who can’t wrestle are still bitching when wrestlers wrestle. Not sure what we’re getting here. That Madsen loss was over 2 years ago, Pichel hasn’t fought since and he’s 41 years old now. Bit of a scrapper as I recall and he did beat Jim Miller a few years ago. But with his age, the layoff and his limited skillset, it feels like a fight that’s been designed to get Bonfim back in the win column. Alessandro Costa vs Kevin Borjas. Actually think this might be a bit of a sleeper. Haven’t seen enough of either to be confident about it but if their last fights are typical of them, it should be good. Costa’s Brazilian, 28 years old and 13-4 with 10 finishes. He’s gone 1-2 in the UFC so far but he lost a really good fight against Steve Erceg last time out. That loss could age beautifully if Erceg pulls off the upset on this card. Before that, Costa stopped Jimmy Flick. And Borjas is Peruvian, 26 years old and 9-2 with 8 knockouts. He made his UFC debut on the MSG card in November and lost a decision to Joshua Van but it was an absolute belter that would’ve got FOTN on almost any other card. Looking forward to seeing both of them back in there. RIO 🇧🇷👊

What a shambles this has turned out to be. Four fighters missed weight. All them fucking Easter eggs, I suppose. • Alex Hernandez missed weight for the co-main. He’s being fined 20% but the fight is going ahead at a Catchweight. • Cynthia Calvillo also missed weight. Her fight with Piera Rodriguez has been scrapped. Gotta think Calvillo is a goner now. She was already on a 5 fight losing streak, then comes in 3lbs over the Strawweight limit? Not good. • Both Melissa Mullins and Nora Cornolle came in 2lbs or so heavy for their fight against each other. It’s going ahead at a Catchweight. • Alateng Heili dropped out of his scheduled fight against Victor Hugo a few days ago. Octagon newcomer Pedro Falcao steps in. • The card’s been reshuffled. The Lukasz Brzeski vs Valter Walker fight has been demoted back down to the prelims for some reason and they’re going with a 5 fight main card. Hopefully that’s it now and all this goes ahead as planned. This is the latest bout order. Didn’t realise this card had an early start time for us either. 8pm prelims isn’t bad.