UFC Fight Night: Rodriguez vs Caceres - Aug 6

[wandshogun09]

Next stop in the Fight Night calendar is Saturday 6th August.

 

 

FOX SPORTS 1 MAIN CARD

Yair Rodriguez vs Alex Caceres

Dennis Bermudez vs Rony Jason

Thales Leites vs Chris Camozzi

Santiago Ponzinibbio vs Zak Cummings

Trevor Smith vs Joe Gigliotti

Maryna Moroz vs Danielle Taylor

 

FOX SPORTS 1 PRELIMS

Court McGee vs Dominique Steele

Viktor Pesta vs Marcin Tybura

David Teymur vs Jason Novelli

Teruto Ishihara vs Horacio Gutierrez

 

FIGHT PASS PRELIMS

Cub Swanson vs Tatsuya Kawajiri

Chase Sherman vs Justin Ledet

 

Not the most stacked of cards, is it? But I do love that main event. It's no blockbuster but it's one of those fights I'm glad they've shone the spotlight on a little bit and given them five rounds.

 

So yeah, I'm a bit giddy about Rodriguez vs Caceres. Two of the most unorthodox and offensively creative fighters on the roster. Both have their own unique style of doing things and it's made them become two of my favourite undercard fighters to watch. So to see them get the main event treatment here is cool as fuck.

 

 

Yair Rodriguez is a fucking Tekken character. He's one of the most exciting prospects to come off The Ultimate Fighter in ages IMO. He won the featherweight tournament of TUF: Latin America, he's just 23 years old, 7-1 in MMA and a black belt in Taekwondo. I'm not hyping him up as some world beater, far from it, he's got a long way to go. He's still wet behind the ears really. But just purely from an entertainment point of view, you'll be hard pushed to find a fighter coming up who's as fun to watch.

 

 

His fight with Charles Rosa at UFC 188, if you haven't seen it, was amazing. And his flying switch kick knockout on Andre Fili at UFC 197 in April is a frontrunner for Knockout Of 2016 so far easy. He's quality.

 

 

Alex 'Bruce Leeroy' Caceres is MMA's tribute to Jim Kelly. Look at that afro! He's been in the UFC 6 years now. He first popped up on our screens on TUF 12: Team GSP vs Team Koscheck back in 2010. I remember thinking he seemed a bit of a cock on the show but he's won me over since then, he's grown on me. He's been one of those guys you can pretty much always count on to liven up the often dead prelims. He holds an MMA record of 12-8-1. So he's had a bumpy ride. But his style is so enjoyable to watch. The way he moves, strikes and grapples...he's just so all over the place and non-stop that it's going to be hard to have a boring fight with him.

 

So when you put that up against the ninja skills of Yair Rodriguez, surely two rights can't make a wrong?

 

 

Bermudez vs Jason has the makings of a wild barnburner. Although Bermudez wisely took a less reckless approach in his win over Kawajiri last time out, so maybe we're going to see a more strategic and reserved Dennis The Menace from here on out. I can see Rony Jason's aggression and in your face style dragging Bermudez into a scrap though. Just got a feeling they're going to bring the crazy out of each other.

 

 

Leites vs Camozzi should be decent. Camozzi's a tough battler, he'll hang in there and always gives it a good go but I see Leites being too much for him here. I think Leites can beat him on the feet and if it goes to the ground then Leites definitely has his way. It's a bad matchup for Chris 'Saturday Night Fever' Camozzi, I reckon.

 

Ponzinibbio vs Cummings could be the sleeper on this card. Ponzinibbio usually winds up in exciting brawls that end in finishes either for or against him. And Cummings is a really good grappler so there's a nice contrast in styles here.

 

 

Swanson vs Kawajiri gets the ***WAND'S ONE TO WATCH*** honours this time. Again, I really like this clash of styles. Swanson is unpredictable and constant offence in the standup and grappling. Kawajiri is the grinder who looks to suffocate you until you leave an opening for him to capitalise on. Could go a few ways, if Kawajiri can stamp his authority it might be one sided, but I see it being a good, competitive one.

 

There you have it. Nothing else on the undercard jumps out and grabs me, to be honest.

[Egg Shen]

feels like a ShoBox type card with that main event, love it though, i think they should give sorts of fights that main event status more often. Maybe put a few name veterans in the co-main slot but give the legit up and comers that 5 round main event.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

So this is on in roughly 12 hours... I pretty much forgot about it, due to being busy with work and also the total lack of discussion on it here. It's a ridiculously good main event on paper, Rodriguez and Caceres have been two of my favourite undercard guys for ages, especially Bruce Leeroy. Loved that guy since TUF.

 

Yair is obviously the star on the rise coming off that flying head kick on Andre Fili, but I've always wished for Caceres to have more success inside the Octagon. He's worked super hard to improve his game over the past 6 years while staying true to his unique style. I feel like he was robbed of a couple of victories in the Octagon- losing TWO points for a low blow when you hardly ever see points taken for it vs. Edwin Figeroa  and the unfortunate NC after getting done for pot- no matter who it is, I feel like getting fight results overturned for pot is ridiculous. Not like having marijuana in your system helps the slightest with winning the fight- unless you got high backstage right before fighting and felt less pain as a result, but even then you'd be all slowed down haha. Feels more like a "code of conduct" issue which might be worth a fine or something. The point of going on about all that is that, to me, he's only really come unstuck against Faber and Francisco Rivera in the last 5 years, much better than his record indicates after a rocky start to his UFC career. Would like to see him make the most of this showcase bout with the upset.

 

Not fussed about the rest really... Dennis Bermudez is pretty good, but I'm not a huge fan or anything. Used to be a bit of a Rony Jason fan, but inactivity and a couple of key losses took me off his bandwagon. Wouldn't be overly surprised if those two have a fun scrap though.

 

Then I need to go all the way down to the Fight Pass prelims to find a fight I'm into- Cub Swanson vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri should be sweet. Cub's looking to make a statement and I always enjoy Kawajiri.

[wandshogun09]

Santiago Ponzinibbio is usually in wild brawls. His fight should be decent.

 

And Maryna Moroz vs Danielle Taylor could be good. I quite like Moroz. She's a good little boxer, has solid submissions and she's a finisher (6 of her 7 wins were finishes). I don't know much about Taylor other than she's 7-1 and has avenged her 1 loss with a 5th round TKO.

 

But yeah, it's all about the main event for me.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

It has the feel that Cody Garbrandt vs. Thomas Almeida had pre-fight... I hope it doesn't end in the same manner. Big main event spot for two prospects, I was expecting some kind of crazy, multi round war, maybe even the full five- and having Cody dust him early was a bit like, "oh, that's it?"

 

Plus, fights like this, I like to see a lot of back and forth because it says a lot about the heart of a fighter when they're in tough spots. One prospect fight that went several rounds left a big impression on me. Didn't have the back and forth but I loved Rose Namajunes vs. Paige Vanzant. It'd be one thing if Paige was caught early in the RNC, people might say, "oh, she's hit her ceiling" "oh she just got caught" "oh she has a shit ground game". But seeing how tough Paige was, it really made me want to see her fight again knowing she'll give everything and not crumble the second it gets tough.

 

Does Yair have that in him? Correct if I'm wrong- and I'm prepared to be tonight- on heavy painkillers so I might talk shit here and there... has Yair been in trouble in the UFC yet? Trying to remember that Charles Rosa fight, I know it was a close fun one but I can't remember if he got rocked or anything.

[wandshogun09]

I haven't seen it in a while but yeah the Charles Rosa fight would be the one he was tested most in. Can't remember if he was ever in any trouble but if he has been in any bother in the UFC so far, that'd be the fight. I might give it another watch today if I get chance. I do remember him being in some awesome scrambles and pulling off some nifty reversals of position on the ground but nothing else stands out other than Yair throwing ninja shit.

[wandshogun09]

And Maryna Moroz vs Danielle Taylor could be good.

Sorry

 

Bit of a flat show but it had some bright spots.

 

I enjoyed the shit out of Rodriguez vs Caceres. Not a FOTY or anything but it was probably one of my favourite fights so far this year. Just love watching both of them and I'm glad they got the 5 rounds. It kind of saved an otherwise dull main card as well because the show wasn't much cop before the main event. Nice experience gainer for Yair as well. He's a long way off going for titles of course, but getting the 5 round experience under his belt early on can only be a good thing. Hopefully they don't rush Yair into fights he's not ready for though. If they're patient and don't throw him to the wolves right away, they could have that star for the Latino market that they've been craving.

 

I hope they keep Caceres around despite his less than stellar record. I think they will. Not sure how the one judge had it for Caceres though. Especially 4-1. What the fuck? Leroy fought hard but I thought Yair won no question.

 

Bermudez vs Jason was alright. Jason just had no answer for Bermudez's wrestling at all so the fight wasn't competitive enough to be really entertaining. But Bermudez's performance was excellent. He's got much better at not allowing himself to be dragged into brawls in his last couple of fights. It's not as exciting but it's getting him results and he's got nothing to prove as far as toughness is concerned after his wars with Stephens and Grice. I really like Rony Jason but he was simply outmatched here. He did better in the 3rd but it was too late. I love Bermudez's callout of Frankie Edgar. That's a great fight for the MSG show if they go with it.

 

Leites looked good, if unspectacular. Thought the crowd were a bit harsh booing the fight because Leites was working the whole time. Camozzi was just in quicksand. They love throwing him in with killer grapplers but I hope they give him another shot against a lower ranked guy who's more of a striker next time. Tough guy but he's out of his depth against the high level grapplers of the division.

 

Didn't think much of Ponzinibbio vs Cummings. First round was decent but it went downhill as the fight went on. The Ponz is usually good for an exciting fight but this wasn't one of his best. Glad he won though.

 

Moroz vs Taylor was the dud of the night. Proper shit. Surprised me because Moroz has been fun to watch in her previous UFC fights and Taylor looked like a scrapper in the pre-fight highlight. They just never fought.

 

The first three prelims were good fun though. Marcin Tybura's headkick was quality. That's two amazing headkick KO's in a week now with this and Krylov's KO at 201. Cro Cop would've been proud of those headkicks.

 

And I like this Ishihara bloke. Made quick work of it, scored a cool finish and had time to shout out to the ladies. Pretty fly for a Japanese guy. Yeah his post-fight interview was a mess but I like him. He's got a bit of a swagger to him which isn't typical of Japanese fighters (aside from the obvious Genki, KID and Gono).

 

Hit and miss show. Fun main event.

[ColinBollocks]

Main event was always going to be engrossing because you were expecting some 670 flip kick to the liver followed by a winding double elbow smash; both men tried to outdo each other with flashy, explosive offence.

 

Almost everything else I have forgotten, this morning. One of their least interesting Fight Night's in a while.

[Guy Bifkin]

I enjoyed the main, the Bermudez beatdown and the Tybura headkick but the rest was instantly forgettable. 

 

I love Rodriguez but wonder if he's a little too wild for the upper reaches for the division right now. Still he's only 23 with lots to learn. Future champ I think. 

[Keith Houchen]

I'm queer for Bruce Leeroy but even I was surprised when a judge gave him the nod. Bit of a flat event, I preferred the prelims but thoroughly enjoyed the main event.

[BigJag]

I missed this. Is it repeated on BT Sport?

[Egg Shen]

 

I love Rodriguez but wonder if he's a little too wild for the upper reaches for the division right now. Still he's only 23 with lots to learn. Future champ I think.

i think he's a little too wild full stop. You could probably argue that his unorthodox approach is his biggest strength, but id like to see him pick his spots more carefully, he wasted about 300 spinning attacks. Still, the future is bright.

 

Main card was fairly uneventful other than that. I missed the main prelims which appeared to be better than the main card so that sucked.

 

The two facebook prelims are worth your time if you didn't catch them though. Justin Ledet is a heavyyweight to keep an eye on, undersized but has real tight boxing, a proper shit talker too claiming he's in the UFC to show everyone how to really box. Could be a fun ride watching that guy.

[SNRN10]

I missed this. Is it repeated on BT Sport?

Thursday 00:30 BT Sport 2 [Full card now available on Fight Pass]