Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted December 23, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted December 23, 2020 (edited) Back on Fight Island and itās a rareĀ Wednesday Fight Night. ESPN+ MAIN CARDMichael Chiesa vs Neil Magny Warlley Alves vs Mounir Lazzez Ike Villanueva vs Vinicius Moreira Roxanne Modafferi vs Viviane Araujo Matt Schnell vs Tyson Nam Lerone Murphy vs Douglas Silva De Andrade ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMSOmari Akhmedov vs Tom Breese Ricky Simon vs Gaetano Pirrello Su Mudaerji vs Zarrukh Adashev Dalcha Lungiambula vs Markus Perez Jerome Rivera vs Francisco Figueiredo Mike Davis vs Mason Jones Umar Nurmagomedov vs Sergey MorozovĀ Victoria Leonardo vs Manon FiorotĀ Ā Solid card as it currently stands. Bout order will probablyĀ change as they always do. But for a midweek Fight Night, thereās enough there to sink the old teeth into. Losing Edwards vs Chimaev (again!) sucks arse but what can you do? Still some fights I like on this one. For now anyway.Ā Ā Michael Chiesa vs Neil MagnyĀ is the substitute main event then. Itās no Edwards-Chimaev but itās notĀ a bad fight this. Yeah, Magny can be dull to watch at times but, with the right opponent, heās OK. And I quite like this matchup. Chiesa has looked a right handful since moving up to Welterweight and I think heās got a style that could make for a more watchable fight out of Magny. Theyāre both on good form at the moment as well. Chiesa has rattled off wins over Rafael Dos Anjos, Diego Sanchez and Carlos Condit since moving to 170. And Magny has beat Robbie Lawler, Rocco Martin and Li Jingliang in his last 3. Canāt really knock the matchmaking here and whoever wins should be on the fringes of the title picture against one of the top players in the division. Good fight. As far as I know itās a 5 rounder now. Ā Warlley Alves vs Mounir Lazzez. Could be worth a look this. At one point Alves was one of the betterĀ Brazilian prospects in MMA. He won TUF Brazil 3 in 2014, went 10-0 at the start of his career and itās been forgotten now but in 2015 he actually handed Colby Covington his first loss, submitting him in under 2 minutes. š By 2016 though, heād gone right off the boil. Heās 13-4 now and heās lost 2 out of his last 3. The skills are in there but itās just not really been panning out for him for whatever reason. Lazzez came into the UFC in July with a bit of buzz around him. The story of his signing is pretty ridiculous. Apparently, Dana Whiteās sonās friend, who lives in Abu Dhabi, kept pestering Dana to sign him to fight on Fight Island because he was popular in the region. So Dana did. Yep, thatās it. Just like that, Lazzez was in the UFC. In fairness, he does look a good signing on merit. Heās 10-1 with 8 knockouts and weathered the storm of Abdul Razak Alhassan and came out with a W in his Octagon debut. Seen a few highlights of him and, whether he goes far or not is anyoneās guess at this early stage. But he looks like heās going to be fun to watch regardless. Ā Ike Villanueva vs Vinicius Moreira. Canāt say Iām that arsed but it could be one of those fun, sloppy undercard brawls. Villanueva already had one with Chase Sherman in May that I remember being a lively one. These two are going nowhere though. Villanueva is 17-11. Heās got no business in the big leagues really and I doubt heāll be there that long. But he might be good for a couple more low level slobberknockers yet. If nothing else, heās a ākill or be killedā type. Of his 17 wins, 14 have ended by knockout. And of his 11 losses, he was stopped in 10 of them. Actually, looking him up now, Moreira is 9-4 and has never gone past the second round. Yeah, this probably wonāt be the fight to go and grab a snack. Ā Roxanne Modafferi vs Viviane Araujo. Eh, itās alright I guess. Not too fussed really. Just donāt enjoy watching Modafferi much. She seems nice enough but I canāt really get into her fights for whatever reason. Sheās got a bit of an awkward style and it doesnāt really lend itself to entertaining fights. Especially if itās more of a standup affair. Sheās 38 years old now with a record of 25-17. Not sure how much longer she wants to do this. Sheās coming off a win over Andrea Lee in her last fight so, judging by her recent win one/lose one form, sheās due another loss here. I think that might be the case anyway, to be honest. Araujoās giving up a lot of experience here, sheās only 9-2, but despite only being a few years younger, sheās way fresher and sheās looked pretty dangerous in a couple of the fights Iāve seen. Sheās also been more consistent recently, going 6-1 in her last 7. Ā Matt Schnell vs Tyson Nam. This is a fight theyāve been trying to make happen for a while now. Iām sure I previewed this 2 or 3 times in 2020 only for the fight to never materialise. Hopefully it will this time because itās a really fun one on paper. Schnell is 14-5 with submission wins over Louis Smolka and Jordan Espinosa. He got knocked out by Alexandre Pantoja in his last fight so heās trying to rebound here. Iāve liked the little Iāve seen of him though. Especially in the grappling. Nam is 19-11-1 now. A tough Hawaiian coming off a quick KO over Zarrukh Adashev in June. Adashev is a former GLORY Kickboxer so it was pretty impressive for Nam to put him away in the fashion he did. He also had a really good fight, albeit a losing effort, with Kai Kara-France before that. And of course, his shock upset knockout years ago of then Bellator champ Eduardo Dantas was incredible at the time. Always had a soft spot for Nam and him and Schnell should match up nicely. Ā Lerone Murphy vs Douglas Silva De Andrade. Decent fight. Havenāt seen a whole lot of Murphy but from what I have seen he looks a pretty good prospect. Heās 29 years old out of Stockport, England. Undefeated at 9-0-1 currently and he knocked out Ricardo Ramos in a round in July. Only blemish so far is a draw with Zubaira Tukhugov. He looks good but the rest of his career has been on the UK scene against names Iām unfamiliar with. Which is why Iām looking forward to this because Douglas Silva De Andrade isĀ an experienced and skilled fighter with a 26-3-0-1 record whoās been in with Petr Yan and has wins over Renan Barao and Marlon Vera. Easily the trickiest test of Murphyās career yet so we should get a proper look at what heās about here. Ā Omari Akhmedov vs Tom Breese. Pretty solid matchup here. Brumās Breese has had a real up and down last few years. He came into the UFC in 2015 with so much promise. He was unbeaten, training at Tri-Star in Canada under Firas Zahabi, heād won his first couple of UFC fights. From 2016 on though, things went wonky. A split decision loss to Sean Strickland seemed to start a downward spiral and he spent the bulk of the next few years injured and inactive. Heās only fought 3 times in 4 years. Hopefully thatās behind him now though, he did get 2 fights in in 2020. Which is a minor miracle given how ballsed up a year itās been. I was made up to see his jabtastic performance in his last fight against KB Bhullar in October. And when I say ājabtasticā... You donāt see that often. Was all over in less than 2 minutes and Breese got a POTN bonus in the process. Akhmedov, as always, is going to be a tough nut to crack but itās one I think Breese should win. I mean, Akhmedov is coming off a loss to a Chris Weidman whoās been allergic to wins for years. Surely Breese can beat him. Ā Ricky Simon vs Gaetano Pirrello got patched together after Brian Kelleher dropped out. Theyāve been trying to make a Simon vs Kelleher fight for months nowĀ but it seems doomed. Simon is 16-3 and is probably mostly known as the guy who got clobbered by old man Urijah Faber.Ā I think heās better than that though.Ā His performance against Rani Yahya probably stands out as his best overall to me. He also has wins over Merab Dvalishvili, Ray Borg and Montel Jackson in the UFC and is a former LFAĀ Bantamweight champ. Pirrello is the newcomer. Heās from Belgium, 28 years old with a record of 15-5-1 with 14 finishes. Only name I recognise on his record is Arnold Allen and Pirrello lost that one back in 2014.Ā Ā Su Mudaerji vsĀ Zarrukh Adashev. This is another change up. Theyāve been trying to get Adashev in there with DWCS Jeff Molina for months now but it seems doomed. Molina got COVID this time and inĀ steps Mudaerji.Ā Adashev is a former GLORY Kickboxer whoās also fought a few times in Bellator in the past. Made his UFC debut in June and got stopped in about 30 seconds by Tyson Nam. Bit of a shocker given his striking experience but, in fairness, heād stepped in on very late notice. Interested to see him back with more prep time. Mudaerji is no easy replacement though. Havenāt seen a ton of him but Iāve thought heās looked impressive the couple of times I have seen him. Heās 24 years old, 13-4 and comes into this fight fresh off a 44 second KO over Malcolm Gordon in November. Ā Dalcha Lungiambula vs Markus Perez. Fuck knows? Not very familiar with Lungiambula. Heās 35 years old with a 10-2 record and was a two weight champion in the EFC promotion in Africa. Looks dangerous in the clips Iāve watched but my only real memory of him was when he got kicked in the gob and stopped by Magomed Ankalaev. Perez is so-so. 12-4 and coming off a couple of losses. Havenāt really got a strong opinion one way or another on this fight. Ā Jerome Rivera vs Francisco Figueiredo. A fight Iām intrigued by solely because itās the debut of another Figgy. Yes, Francisco is the younger brother of current Flyweight champ Deiveson. He doesnāt have the impressive resume of his little big bro yet, he has a pretty averageĀ 11-3-1-1. But, like his brother, it seems heās not keen on going to the scorecards. 10 of his 11 wins came inside the distance. Rivera is 25 with a 10-3 record, 7 via submission. He made his UFC debut in September and got stopped by Tyson Nam. Ā Mike Davis vs Mason JonesĀ is ***WANDāS ONE TO WATCH***Ā this time. Jones finally has his Octagon debut sorted. Looking forward to this. JonesĀ has been one of the better prospects on the UK scene for a while. HeāsĀ Welsh, 25 years old, undefeated at 10-0 with 7 finishes and was a double champion atĀ Welterweight and Lightweight in Cage Warriors. Hasnāt been beating a whoās whoĀ but heās looked the part so far.Ā The announcement of him signing with the UFC came in October and here we are.Ā I donāt remember much about Davis,Ā apart from this... Some of you might remember theĀ utterly brutal beating he put on poor Thomas Gifford back in October 2019. A sustained and thorough thrashing was dished out.Ā One of the more disturbing fights to watch in recent memory. Donāt recall much else about Davis but heās 8-2 with all his wins being finishes and his only losses were against Gilbert Burns and Sodiq Yusuff. No shame there. Could be a tough test for Jones actually. Ā Umar Nurmagomedov vs Sergey Morozov could be a bit of a sleeper. This was meant to go down at UFC 257 but got brought forward a few days for some reason.Ā Two UFC newcomers facing off against each other. Nurmagomedov is Khabibās cousin, 25 years old, undefeated so farĀ at 12-0. Hasnāt beat anyone youād know yet but so far, so good. He was originally supposed to debut against Nathaniel Wood but the death of his uncle/Khabibās father understandably saw him take some time off. Morozov is from Kazakhstan, 31 years old, 16-4 record and he was M-1 Globalās Bantamweight champion.Ā Ā Victoria Leonardo vs Manon Fiorot.Ā Never heard of either of them. Both making their UFC debuts. Quick bit of info. Leonardo is 30, Venezuelan born in New Jersey, 8-2 with 5 finishes. She was on DWCS in November and has also fought in Invicta, Bellator and LFA. Fiorot is replacing an injured Natalia Silva. SheāsĀ French, 30 years old, was the EFC champion in South Africa and has aĀ record of 5-1 withĀ 4 knockouts. Her only loss was a split decision in her MMA debut against Leah McCourt.Ā Ā The end.Ā Edited January 15, 2021 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panhead Posted December 24, 2020 Share Posted December 24, 2020 That gif is amazingš Ā I'm always excited to see Matt Schnell. He's got fans in the Panhead house.Ā Ā Just wanted to say @wandshogun09, your write ups are phenomenal. I can't believe you do this stuff for free. I legit think of you as not only an MMA journalist, but one of the best ones. I've shown my friends and family your threads when we've been discussing UFC too. Thanks for doing these write ups.Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted December 24, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted December 24, 2020 agreed Panhead, ive seen much worse on legit MMA sites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted December 24, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted December 24, 2020 Cheers @PanheadĀ but Iām nowhere near a journalist. I enjoy doing these threads regardless and it really isnāt as much effort as youād think. The only ballache this year has been keeping up with all the card changes and last minute pullouts. But I find doing these threads handy for keepingĀ me up to date on everything as well as giving us somewhere to chat about each show.Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Posted December 24, 2020 Share Posted December 24, 2020 Will add my appreciation for the write ups also. Have been reading them for years, and are a great help in getting me interested and up to date with the events. Its often a thankless task, but there must be plenty of people such as myself who read every one of them, mostly without adding any comments personally, so Ill thank you on behalf of all those people š Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted December 24, 2020 Share Posted December 24, 2020 This place would be a disorderedĀ mess if it wasn't for Wand and Ebb. Kudos to both.Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zebra Kid Mark Posted December 24, 2020 Share Posted December 24, 2020 1 hour ago, jimufctna24 said: This place would be a disorderedĀ mess if it wasn't for Wand and Ebb. Agreed. Reading Wand's write up is part of the UFC experience for me, with out it I genuinely wouldn't know where to go to get a detailed unbiased write up on the fights. Also why do they insist on putting Legends like Condit and Pettis on the prelims, I get they want to make way for new blood but you've got to get eyes on the show first, former main eventers/champions should always be on the main card of a fight night show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted December 25, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted December 25, 2020 although its all on the same channel, have to assume its just to get a certain audience ofĀ people tuning in that tad bit earlier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted December 25, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted December 25, 2020 Condit vs Brown mayĀ well end up on the main card yet. The bout orders never seem to get finalised until very late in the day now, so when I knock theseĀ opening posts up a month out or whatever take no noticeĀ of theĀ order itās in. Itāll change and no doubt thereāll be pullouts and shuffling the order around yet.Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfogg1991 Posted December 25, 2020 Share Posted December 25, 2020 I'm surprised it's not been discussed before now but not for 1 single second can i get my head around the reason Dana has put Mike Jackson on this show after he went in there against CM punk and embarrassed himself and the sport (As alot of none MMA fans were tuning in to watch punks fight) In the post fight presser Dana clearly said he will never be seen in the UFC again and we all watched and unanimously said "yeah alright that makes sense" What makes it even more confusing is they are about to do a mass firing session from now until Jan-Feb because the roster is so full yet he gets allowed back in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted December 25, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted December 25, 2020 the Jackson thing is weird but it could be a case of them owing him fights? Whatever, Dean Barry seems to have got himself a bit of a soft touch for a UFC debut because Jackson doesn't seem to be anywhere near UFC calibre.Ā Did Jackson even embarass himself? i thought it was more a case of Dana being upset that Jackson had prolonged Punk being in the octagon instead of just getting rid of him.Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfogg1991 Posted December 25, 2020 Share Posted December 25, 2020 8 minutes ago, Egg Shen said: the Jackson thing is weird but it could be a case of them owing him fights? Whatever, Dean Barry seems to have got himself a bit of a soft touch for a UFC debut because Jackson doesn't seem to be anywhere near UFC calibre.Ā Did Jackson even embarass himself? i thought it was more a case of Dana being upset that Jackson had prolonged Punk being in the octagon instead of just getting rid of him.Ā I would argue he defiantly embarrassed himself. He has trained and aspired to be a UFC fighter for i'm guessing a good number of years. He goes in there with the worst excuse of a "fighter" I would argue we have ever seen high up on a main UFC PPV and he showboated to the crowd way more times than he did attempt to finish the fight. Like i said that sort of thing would normally just be cringy and MMA fans would just think what a cunt. However this is a one of sort of situation where another WWE wrestler is making the jump to MMA but unlike Brock has 0 training or history in anything that would help you in this sport. Punk was put high on the PPV for the only reason that pro wrestling fans will buy the PPV and watch there guy against this nobody. Jackson was handed a unbelievable gold dust opportunity on a plate and he fucked it up for himself and made the sport (to some people i need to stress) look like a joke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted December 25, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted December 25, 2020 (edited) Jackson probably enjoyed the limelight a little too much, but heĀ was a part time fighter himself and he was brought in to lose. Cant fault him for enjoying himselfšĀ Edited December 25, 2020 by Egg Shen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted December 29, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted December 29, 2020 from some Swedish news site... Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted December 29, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted December 29, 2020 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.