UFC Fight Pass: Struve vs Volkov - Sep 2

[wandshogun09]

Back in the Netherlands on September 2nd. 

FIGHT PASS MAIN CARD
Stefan Struve vs Alexander Volkov 

Siyar Bahadurzada vs Rob Wilkinson

Marion Reneau vs Talita Bernardo

Leon Edwards vs Bryan Barberena 

 

FIGHT PASS PRELIMS
Darren Till vs Bojan Velickovic 

Mairbek Taisumov vs Felipe Silva

Michel Prazeres vs Mads Burnell

Rustam Khabilov vs Desmond Green

Francimar Barroso vs Aleksandar Rakic

Zabit Magomedsharipov vs Mike Santiago 

Bojan Mihajlovic vs Abdul-Kerim Edilov 

Andrew Holbrook vs Thibault Gouti 

 

Nothing special but some decent stuff there and at least it'll be on at a convenient time for us being in Europe. 

 

Struve vs Volkov then. Fuck me this is going to look like two giraffes having a scuffle. Struve is 7'0", Volkov is listed at 6'7". Can see this being a lot of fun actually. Struve doesn't really do boring fights and Volkov is a good striker so it should be a crowd pleaser. I've always liked Struve but I can't help thinking all the wars and knockouts early in his UFC career have caught up to him. He's only 28 but he's taken a shitload of punishment already. Got a feeling he's in for some more here but I'd like to see him pull out a win at home. 

 

De Randamie vs Reneau should be decent enough. When you look at this though, I just shake my head. In her last fight in February, De Randamie became the first ever UFC women's featherweight champion. She then vacated the belt to avoid fighting Cyborg. That's the truth of it. She announced she was moving back down to bantamweight. Now here she is, co-maining on Fight Pass. She gave up a world title for this. I know she was most likely getting smashed by Cyborg but it's still a weird situation. Oh well. She's fighting Marion Reneau now. Reneau isn't a world beater, and she's 40. I expect De Randamie to win. But you never know, I guess. Reneau does have a good submission game. She subbed Jessica Andrade once upon a time. And De Randamie is no grappler. 

 

I'm looking forward to Khabilov vs Green just because I like Khabilov. He's 21-3 and a really good fighter with wins over Jorge Masvidal and Yancy Medeiros on his record. He's won his last four but he's been inactive so far this year. Desmond Green is 20-5 and beat Josh Emmett in his UFC debut in April. 

 

Edwards vs Barberena is this card's ***WAND'S ONE TO WATCH***. I've become a bit of a fan of Leon Edwards. And not just because he's a fellow Brummie. I think he's a good fighter who's actually a little bit underrated IMO. His submission over Albert Tumenov was a bit of an eye opener and he's also got a KO over Seth Baczynski. He's coming into this one off 3 wins on the bounce. Barberena is best known for ending Sage Northcutt's run as an undefeated prospect. He's a solid fighter with submission skills and he's tough. I could easily see these two stealing the show. 

Elsewhere on the card...

• Saparbek Safarov. He's the nutter who came in on short notice earlier this year and had a wild as fuck brawl against Gian Villante. He got battered but he was fucking granite tough. Just insane and never stopped bulling forward. I've mentioned that fight a few times on here and if you haven't seen it, get that sorted. Not one for the purists but well worth a look. 

• Nick Hein. You might want to avoid this fight. Hein has been in the UFC for what feels like an age and I couldn't tell you one fight of his I enjoyed. Seems a nice chap but he's dull as dishwater to watch. Every fight looks the same, they all go the distance and you never remember them once they're over. 

• Siyar Bahadurzada is back. He came into the UFC with a lot of hype a few years ago. He knocked Paulo Thiago (remember him?) out cold in seconds in his debut and everyone believed the hype that this guy was a killer. Then it all fizzled out. Injuries and losses piled up and to be totally honest, I forgot he was even still under contract until I started this post. 

That's your lot. 

[Chunk]

Tickets for this range from 47 to 177 euros.

I know we say it all the time but 45 quid to sit in the Gods for this card is an absolute joke.

 

[wandshogun09]

This is live on BT Sport at 8pm on Saturday, by the way. 

[OzExile]

On 7/25/2017 at 10:53 PM, Chunk said:

Tickets for this range from 47 to 177 euros.

I know we say it all the time but 45 quid to sit in the Gods for this card is an absolute joke.

 

Welll - you get around 7 or 8 hours of fights on most UFC cards. Granted not many people want to sit there that long.  Isn't it about 40 quid to go and watch 90 mins of Championship level football? 

[Egg Shen]

11 hours ago, OzExile said:

Welll - you get around 7 or 8 hours of fights on most UFC cards. Granted not many people want to sit there that long.  Isn't it about 40 quid to go and watch 90 mins of Championship level football? 

it is, when you break it down like that the prices dont seem so bad.

I was planning on going out Saturday but i may stay in and watch this instead.

[WeeAl]

According to MMAfighting.com, Talita de Oliveira will replace Germaine de Randamie on this show.

[Chunk]

I can't get over how shit this card is. Nothing on it scores more than 5 out of 10 on the interest-o-meter.

Absolute wank. Two thirds of the fighters I couldn't pick out of a lineup and about 10 of the names don't even sound familiar. 

[OzExile]

Like most Fight Night cards this year to be fair. I'm spewing about the Sydney card - which has fuck all so far on Nov 18.  The week before, you have perhaps the best Fight Night card of the year (on paper) in Virginia.  Think its been a very bad year of match making indeed. 

[wandshogun09]

I don't think it's been a bad year for matchmaking. Generally I think it's been a strong year for fights if you look back over the cards. This one is weak though there's no two ways about it. I like Struve vs Volkov and there's a couple of other fighters I like watching on there but it's a thin card even for a European one. Even comparing this to the last couple of UK cards is night and day. 

Worth remembering as well that Joe Silva stepped down as matchmaker this year. 

[Guy Bifkin]

The best I can say about this one is you have two excellent British prospects in Till and Edwards on the card. 

[Chunk]

How much is this a missed opportunity in terms of it being the first card since the Mcgregor fight and a few non MMA fans might've been persuaded to check out what the UFC is about?

Probably not a big factor and, to be fair, the fights could still deliver even if the name value isn't there. (And name value means nothing if you're new to the sport).

[Paul2j]

It's a mediocre main card, but the prelims are excellent. Huge prospects in Edilov, Magomedsharipov and Rakic; Khabilov vs Green is a solid scrap; and Taisumov vs Silva should be all kinds of fun. Till is a legitimate prospect too - the best set of prelims in Europe I can remember.

The card is short of ranked fighters but a load of the names above will likely break their respective top 15s in the not so distant future. The winner of Edwards vs Barberena should be ranked also - which is an under-rated fight.

[wandshogun09]

I'm always sceptical about these 'huge prospects' though. Even if they've got good records, who have any of them beat? Even Till, I like him and he's undefeated but I haven't seen anything about him that blows me away or particularly makes me think he's going to be a breakthrough guy. He's young so he's got time, but I don't know if I'm buying him as this shining prospect. I don't get that feeling I got when I first watched Max Holloway or Dos Anjos or Rory MacDonald. 

Of the names you've mentioned I hope Rakic goes on to do something. 205 needs new blood more than maybe any other division. There's been a few light heavyweights that have come on the scene recently and turned heads. Volkan Oezdemir, Tyson Pedro, Dominick Reyes, Ion Cutelaba, but they can always do with more. Hopefully this lot will go from strength to strength and all hit the top of the division around the same time. Although Oezdemir is clearly going to get there first. 

But yeah, not saying none of the names you mentioned will break through. But we've heard so many times that 'this guy coming in is a legit prospect' and they often flop. I try to reserve judgement now until I see them on the big stage. 

[AdamTH17]

Fun way to spend an evening that.

Thought Leon Edwards looked sound enough. Surprised by how well his wrestling managed to nullify Barbarena for the first round, and did well to recover from being rocked in the second. Fan of both those guys so would have been happy with the result going either way. Reneau vs Bernardo was a fucking weird one. The grappling exchanges in the opening and closing rounds were great! Really fun, technical transitions from both women, but when the fight stayed standing it was a tough watch. The overall quality of both women in those exchanges was laughable to say the least, the fact that Reneau couldn't put this girl away really doesn't look good for her. Siyar/Wilkinson was a lovely scrap whilst it lasted, staying on the feet for the most part and both being equally rocked at times. Fun fight. Really enjoyed Volkov/Struve too! Volkov looked really good as the fight went on, was able to take some of Struve's best shots on the chin and keep going, until he got his range and timing down and started firing off with some really tidy sequences. The big bastard got opened up massively on his cheek and still kept throwing. What's Hunt up to next? I'd love to see that fight go down.

Clocking in at just over two hours as well made this card a thoroughly enjoyable one.

[Ross18]

I thought it was a great card from top to bottom. A lot of people were quick to try and shit on it. But for me it delivered.

If you don't know Zabit Magomedsharipov it's time to change that. The guy was a killer in ACB and looked fantastic on his debut. Even throwing in a showtime kick. Edilov had an impressive debut as well. But a bit of controversy with him as he's aligned with Kadyrov. 

Taisumov killed Silva with a one shot KO. Great showing from him. Hope he can put a run together. Had some injury problems. Hope thats all behind him because I can see giving a few guys in the 155 division problems. 

Solid performances from both Brits too. Like both Till & Edwards. Hope they get a step up in competition next.

Main event was really fun. Volkov got a nasty cut in the first but didn't let that stop him. Walked forward and laid some bombs on Struve. 

Haven't mentioned every fight. But think I enjoyed them all. Well worth a watch.