UFC Buenos Aires: Magny vs Ponzinibbio - Nov 17

[wandshogun09]

On Saturday 17th November, it's the UFC's debut show in Argentina. 

FOX SPORTS 1 MAIN CARD
Neil Magny vs Santiago Ponzinibbio 

Darren Elkins vs Ricardo Lamas

Khalil Rountree Jr vs Johnny Walker

Cezar Ferreira vs Ian Heinisch 

Guido Cannetti vs Marlon Vera

Cynthia Calvillo vs Poliana Botelho

 

FOX SPORTS 1 PRELIMS
Michel Prazeres vs Bartosz Fabinski

Alexandre Pantoja vs Ulka Sasaki 

Humberto Bandenay vs Austin Arnett

Hector Aldana vs Laureano Staropoli

 

FIGHT PASS PRELIMS
Devin Powell vs Jesus Pinedo

Nad Narimani vs Anderson Dos Santos 

 

Not the deepest card and at first glance I wasn't keen, but there's some good stuff there. 

 

Magny vs Ponzinibbio should be a really good fight. I like that they've given these guys 5 rounds to work with, if need be. Ponzinibbio was the obvious choice to headline this show, I think he was the first Argentinian to fight in the UFC, although I might be wrong. He's definitely the most successful. He's a proper contender. 26-3 record, riding a 6 fight win streak, and 8-2 in his last 10. It's a shame he's been sidelined all year because he had a great 2017 going 3-0 over Nordine Taleb, Gunnar Nelson and Mike Perry. Hopefully he makes it to fight night here because the timing for his return is perfect with it lining up with this Argentina event. They've done him no favours though. Magny is 21-6, and a really skilled all-rounder. He has wins over the likes of Carlos Condit, Kelvin Gastelum, Johny Hendricks and Hector Lombard. He last fought in May so he's been more active as well. Tough homecoming for Ponzy but I'm really looking forward to this fight. 

 

Darren Elkins vs Ricardo Lamas could be an awesome fight. You never know which Lamas is going to show up but if he's on for this then it's got FOTN written all over it. Elkins is going to bring it regardless. He's 34 years old, 24-6 with wins over Michael Johnson, Dennis Bermudez, Godofredo Pepey and Chas Skelly. But he's best remembered for the absolutely insane comeback KO he pulled out of nowhere against Mirsad Bektic. If you had to sum up Elkins in one word - TOUGH! He lost his last fight to Alexander Volkanovski, who's a beast, so a win over Lamas would be a great way to get back on track. Lamas is 36, 18-7 record and coming off back-to-back losses to Bektic and Josh Emmett. He's had some good wins over the years and was a fringe title contender for a while but he's never quite gotten himself over the hump. 

 

Khalil Rountree Jr vs Johnny Walker is ***WAND'S ONE TO WATCH*** this time. A fight that might not immediately grab you by the bollocks. I was originally only half interested in this, purely to see Rountree back in there. He's 7-2-1 and never really got on my radar until he absolutely wrecked Paul Craig (who I saw as a real prospect) last year. Then in his last fight at UFC 226 in July, he only went and knocked out kickboxing legend Gokhan Saki in about 90 seconds! Huge win for him. So yeah, I want to see what he can do. Can't see him making huge waves but 205 is wide open as far as contenders go. DC's probably never coming back down from heavyweight now, so after Jones vs Gus 2 there's not much going on. All these new blood light heavies like Rountree, Cutelaba, Rakic, Reyes, Oezdemir, Smith etc need to step up over the next year or so. And speaking of new blood at 205, I can't say I was familiar with Johnny Walker. Not seen him before but looking him up he's 26 years old, 6'5" so a good sized LHW, he's Brazilian but fights out of Southampton, England. 14-3 record with 13 finishes. From his pictures he looks like a Muay Thai guy. Fought on Dana's Contender Series in August. Sounds like my kind of fighter and I think him and Rountree should make for an explosive fight. Wasn't that arsed about this, now I'm well up for it. 

 

Cezar Ferreira vs Tom Breese is a fight I'm into. Ferreira was seen as a potential breakout star for Brazil coming off the first TUF Brazil years ago. The look, the killer grappling, being Vitor Belfort's protégé, then winning the TUF tournament. It seemed the sky was the limit with him but he's pretty much settled into the midcard and never quite became what people expected. Still a bit of a monster but just not the future star many had him pegged as. He's a fucking unit regardless, a 3rd degree BJJ black belt and, despite the robotic striking, he has that raw power on the feet that always makes him dangerous. Breese is from my neck of the woods in Birmingham, 27 years old, 11-1 record, BJJ black belt. He was training at Tristar under Firas Zahabi for a while but don't think he is now. His UFC highlight so far is bashing up UKFF favourite Cathal Pendred back in 2015 but he's had a lot of injury problems he last couple of years. He was out nearly two whole years from mid 2016 but looked great on his return in May, stopping Dan Kelly in a round. Interesting one this because Breese is more of a ground fighter but I doubt he wants to play that game with the man known as 'Mutante'. 

 

Guido Cannetti vs Marlon Vera could be a decent little scrap. I've liked Vera when I've seen him. He's Ecuadorean, a BJJ black belt, 11-5-1 record. If you remember Vera it's most likely from the Brad Pickett fight where he TKO'd Pickett and sent him into retirement. He's also beat Brian Kelleher and managed to take John Lineker the distance. No world beater but he's a solid, hard nosed scrapper. Can only vaguely remember Cannetti though. 8-3, he's had a patchy UFC run and been subbed in 2 of his last 4. 

 

Cynthia Calvillo vs Poliana Botelho pits two of the strawweight division's brightest prospects against each other. Calvillo is Mexican/American, she's 6-1 and got peoples' attention last year when she jumped in on short notice and rattled off two submission wins on back-to-back PPVs within about 4 weeks over Amanda Cooper and Pearl Gonzalez (and her bionic bosoms that nearly got the fight cancelled). Dana was raving about her at the time. She then went into enemy territory and decisioned Joanne Calderwood in Glasgow before suffering her first loss, a decision to Carla Esparza last December. Botelho is Brazilian, 7-1 with 6 knockouts, black belt in Muay Thai and has won her last 5. Good fight this. Bit of a grappler vs striker battle and I really think they both have some potential. Especially Botelho. 

 

Michel Prazeres vs Bartosz Fabinski is another solid fight not many will give a fuck about but it might be good on the night. Prazeres is one of those fighters who just plugs away on the prelims to no fanfare whatsoever but he's put together a very respectable 25-2 record with wins over Zak Cummings, Desmond Green, Josh Burkman, Gilbert Burns and Mairbek Taisumov. His only losses were to Kevin Lee and Paulo Thiago (remember him?!). He's a BJJ black belt and a real tricky opponent to deal with, short and stocky with a right weird shape to him but perfect for a strong grappler. He's 37 now so not bags of time left but a good fighter. Fabinski is Polish, 14-2 and like Prazeres is also a bit of an unsung gatekeeper. He's coming off 7 consecutive wins and beat Emil Meek in July. Nice piece of matchmaking here between two of the more overlooked guys in the 170 division. 

 

Maryna Moroz vs Ariane Lipski at flyweight rounds out the card. 'Iron Woman' Moroz is Ukrainian, 27 years old, 8-3 record, she's a striker but has shown a good submission game. Subbed Joanne Calderwood in her UFC debut but has lost her last couple of fights. She's moving up from strawweight for this. Ariane Lipski is making her Octagon debut here. She's Brazilian, 24 years old, 11-3 on a 9 fight streak with a nice mix of submissions and knockouts fitting of a woman nicknamed 'The Violence Queen'. She was the KSW flyweight champion. Exactly the kind of signing the flyweight division needed. 

 

Devin Powell vs Jesus Pinedo is just there really but I'll touch on it. Powell reminds me of that Southern nerdy guy on TUF 6, Blake Bowman. Proper country bumpkin looking fucker. Awful chest tattoo as well. Anyway, he's 9-3 and a BJJ black belt. Another one. Lots of black belts on this card. Pinedo is 15-4-1 with 11 finishes and is only 22 years old. Might be worth a look at him. 

 

Enrique Barzola vs Nad Narimani was nearly my one to watch actually. It probably won't get much love but I think this could be a cracking little fight. Barzola is Peruvian, 15-3-1, trains at ATT and coming off 4 wins. He's had a few losses but never been finished. Narimani is British, 11-2, making his UFC debut here but he's best known for beating Paddy Pimblett to become the Cage Warriors 145lbs champion last year. He never lost that belt. Just for beating Pimblett, I like Narimani already. 
 

So yeah, not the most loaded of cards but if you dig a bit deeper there's plenty to sink your teeth into there. 

[Egg Shen]

That Devin Powell tattoo is a thing of beauty.

 

[wandshogun09]

Quick reminder that this is tomorrow. Looks a good little show as well, I think. 

This is worrying though. Cynthia Calvillo missed weight and looked terrible on the scales. Fucking mental to see the states some of these fighters be in just 24 hours before they go in a cage and fight. 

 

[Keith Houchen]

On 10/21/2018 at 4:55 PM, Egg Shen said:

That Devin Powell tattoo is a thing of beauty.

 

Time to add it to this thread!

 

[Egg Shen]

that Calvillo weigh in may be the worst one yet, how can they let her fight tomorrow? insane.

[WeeAl]

A great win there for Ponzinibbio. He really put Many through the wringer and was throwing with power deep into the fourth. He's certainly in line for a title eliminator fight next, along with the likes of Usman/Covington. 

Lamas stopping Elkins was just what the doctor ordered for Lamas. I like Elkins, and he's as tough as old boots so I wanted him to get the win here, but Lamas was the better man on this night. 

Johnny Walker, holy shit what an athlete this guy looks to be. 6 feet 6 and doing backflips after the win, completely emptying Rountree with that big elbow. He's going to be somebody to watch at 205, and I think he might find it hard getting opponents now after that, especially with his reach resembling a Condor.  

[wandshogun09]

Yep. Johnny Walker. Fuck. Me. What a debut. That elbow. Christ. I said in the OP there was something about this guy that had raised my interest. He looked great here in the short time we got to see him. Mega calm and relaxed for his UFC debut, showed a bit of personality even mid-fight and once he sprung into action he looked an absolute monster. The sound that finishing elbow made from the Thai clinch was insane for the short distance it travelled and Rountree was out cold and stiff as a board. Seems a fun character as well. Had to laugh at his overexcited pleas to Dana to put him in the video game. But yeah, we have another prospect at 205 on our hands. Can’t wait to see him again. 

I think it’s time everyone stopped with the ‘205 is weak’ line of thinking now. Over the last year there’s been some legit fresh talent emerging. You’ve got an experienced guy but a new face in the contender mix in Anthony Smith but then a bunch of fresh faces in Dominick Reyes, Aleksandar Rakic, Ion Cutelaba, Volkan Oezdemir, Tyson Pedro, Khalil Rountree, Paul Craig, Justin Ledet and now Johnny Walker. It might take a little while for it to be reflected in the title picture and that’s why the division still seems shallow but I really think some of these guys who are the 205 prospects of today are the 205 main eventers of tomorrow. 

Rest of the card was pretty good, I thought. 

Pleased with Ponzinibbio winning. Really like him but I had my doubts on this fight because of his layoff and Magny is no pushover. But Ponzy looked real good here. Definitely deserves a title eliminator next but the division is pretty loaded at the moment so he might be waiting a while. Maybe give him the winner of RDA/Usman and have the winner of that vs the winner of what I assume will be a Woodley vs Covington title match? 

Disappointed in the result of Lamas vs Elkins, to be honest. Never really warmed to Lamas and I like Elkins but it was a solid showing for Lamas. 

Was a bit disappointed with how Calvillo vs Botelho went for similar reasons. Something about Calvillo bugs me and I liked what I’ve seen of Botelho so far. This derails her progress which is a shame, especially losing to a weight misser. But Calvillo can probably do that to a lot of girls. She seems a right handful if she gets off to a strong start and is able to get her grappling going. 

Prazeres cutting straight through Fabinski was a bit of a surprise. I fancied him winning but fully expected a tough, gruelling 15 minute battle. Prazeres steamrolled him. 

Good card on the whole. Johnny Walker stole the show for me though.