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UFC Vegas: Barboza vs Chikadze - Aug 28 🇺🇸


wandshogun09

Who wins and how?   

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Pretty good show, Giga is very much the real deal. I think he needs another few more wins before he starts talking about a title shot, he's jumping the queue if he thinks he should get Max or a title shot next. Great win though, he's got a really unique style.

Brian Battle winning was pretty much as expected. I'm looking forward to seeing who he gets next,

Hiestand vs Pretty Ricky was an absolute barn burner, I had Ricky winning it just but I wouldn't have been surprised to see it go the other way.

I hope both Battle and Ricky aren't buried on the prelims now, I'd like to see them fight on a main card of a fight night going forward.

Kevin Lee really has not lived up to expectations. He can't even beat an unranked guy, I hope he's not cut because he's fun to watch and he's a name, but he's probably on a pretty good contract that the UFC will struggle to justify keeping him on the books.

GM3! What a boy! The absolutely slowest starter in the sport but if he gets you on the ground you are in trouble. I loved that win.

 

 

 

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Giga Chikadze has arrived then. Good fight and a huge win for him. Blasting through Cub Swanson in seconds in May was impressive but Swanson had seen better days. This was a Barboza who was finally looking himself at 145 and was coming off a great win over Shane Burgos. Chikadze putting him away in that fashion was a big statement. It’s weird because he really crept up on everyone. Like I said, his first few fights in the UFC weren’t anything spectacular. He looks right at home now though. Remains to be seen how he looks against a strong grappler but most of the top boys at 145 currently are predominantly strikers so he’s came along at a good time. I liked the Holloway callout but I can’t see that happening yet. Last I heard, the plan is to reschedule that Holloway vs Yair Rodriguez fight for November anyway. Maybe we get Chikadze vs Zombie now. That seems like the most logical matchup to make next, I think.

I said before that I didn’t watch any of this TUF so went into the two finals with zero knowledge of the 4 guys involved. Battle vs Urbina was alright, bit sloppy at times but enjoyable enough and Battle turned it up in the second round and got the submission. Quite liked him on first impressions. I guess the logical next fight for him is to book him against the guy who was originally supposed to face him here. Gore wasn’t it? Rebook the real final in a few months. It’s only right.

Really enjoyed the Bantamweight final between Turcios and Hiestand. Excellent fight, competitive throughout, mad scrambles. Really fun battle. Split decision but I think the right man won. Turcios was getting taken down a lot but he was so active and attacking off his back that I thought he was still winning for me, on constant activity and inflicting damage. Both fought well though and hopefully Hiestand gets another crack at it in the UFC as well. First time seeing both and I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for both of their fights going forward. Especially Turcios. I can tell I’m gonna like him. Shades of early Clay Guida mixed with present day Brandon Moreno on first watch.

Daniel Rodriguez vs Kevin Lee was just the latest example of Lee failing to live up to the hype (largely unwarranted hype, in my opinion). When Sean Brady dropped out and this fight was made almost 100% of the reaction I saw was people acting like Rodriguez was a nobody who wasn’t even worthy of facing Lee, Lee deserved a bigger name etc. Anyone who’d actually watched Rodriguez fight knew he wasn’t to be slept on. Lee’s just floundering at this point. I probably always sound like I’m hating on him but it’s not the case. He grew on me a long time ago, I like him. But I’ve long felt like he’s simply nowhere near as good as most MMA fans think he is/want him to be. I’ve read some arguments that he’d dominate a 165 division and maybe that would be the ideal weight class for him, but I’ve seen nothing to suggest he’d dominate there. You’d likely still have guys like Dos Anjos and Iaquinta moving to that division and they’ve both schooled him already. I’m always baffled by the belief in him. I don’t know if it’s that he talks a good game going into fights or that the memories of him doing well against prime Ferguson and nearly decapitating Gillespie distort peoples’ opinion and make them forget his flaws, or what. But I’ve never been convinced he ever thrives in any title picture in his weight range. Nice win for Rodriguez though. Lee’s a name and has mixed with some top level opposition so it’s a good scalp for him. Especially on short notice.

First time seeing Andre Petroski and he looked good. Put in a strong performance and topped it off with the late TKO. Don’t know enough about Gillmore though to really judge how good this was. All I do know about Micheal Gillmore is that his parents don’t know how to spell Michael.

Gerald Meerschaert! What a pleasant surprise this was. Honestly, as much as I wanted him to win, I had a bad feeling about this one. Muradov has looked lethal in his first few UFC fights and he’d taken all of them on short notice. This was the first time we were getting him on a full training camp and I thought he might prove too much for Gerald. First few minutes were confirming my fears as well. Muradov was putting it on him, looked very sharp and Gerald looked shaky, was getting tagged repeatedly and shooting for awful slow takedowns. I was expecting him to plop down again like the Khamzat fight any minute but he weathered it and didn’t just survive the round, he started landing some good stuff late in the round himself. Then came out in the second and…

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Beautiful! What a turnaround. I think a lot of this was his toughness but also just experience. This was Gerald’s 47th MMA fight. A less seasoned fighter likely would’ve folded after that first few minutes but he was able to stay calm and composed and gut through to turn things around. Great stuff. Probably the best win of his career to date for me, to be honest.

That Abdul Razak Alhassan knockout was brutal. 17 seconds.

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Alhassan’s record is ridiculous. 11-4, all 11 wins by first round knockout, 7 of them in less than a minute. What the fuck? He’s got his flaws, as that recent 3 fight skid showed, but as knockout artists go he’s got to be one of the most dangerous in the Middleweight division. Di Chirico had never been knocked out before either.

Turman vs Alvey was shit. As Alvey fights pretty much always are. Dana’s already come out and said Alvey will get another chance, despite not winning a fight in his last seven! I think we’re stuck with him forever. He must have some dirt on Dana. He must have. They’ve let fighters go for much less. Yet this fucker stays around no matter what, and usually on main cards. Even though he’s mid 30s now, his fights are cack and he never wins. It’s baffling. Saw this tweet earlier…

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About sums it up. I don’t wish anyone out of a job but when they’re letting younger, more entertaining fighters go, who aren’t coming off a 7 fight stretch of no wins, it’s crazy how this guy sticks around no matter how many losses and snoozers he has.

Dustin Jacoby looked good making short work of Darren Stewart. I thought Stewart had a lot of potential at one point but it’s not working out for him at all. Jacoby’s fun though. I don’t think he’ll climb too far up the ladder, even in a weird division like 205, but there’s plenty of entertaining scraps to throw him in.

Not a bad show. 

Edited by wandshogun09
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Great write up.

Sam Alvey must be on a ridiculously low contract in order for him to survive the chop after that long of a skid.

Gilmore really showed absolutely nothing on the show, he was brought in as a short notice replacement, got taken down straight away and lost via a submission with out putting up much of a fight. There were other TUF alums who were more deserving of his spot on the card but I think Dana has a soft spot for him because he quit his job and stayed in Vegas when he didn't get on the show the first time round. Dana loves that kind of fighter,

Dustin Jacoby looked great, he deserves a main card fight night spot now, surely? I was surprised to see him on the prelims. Also I was surprised they didn't rebook him against Ion Cuteleba seeing as the first fight ended in a draw.

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On 8/30/2021 at 4:19 PM, Zebra Kid Mark said:

Great write up.

Sam Alvey must be on a ridiculously low contract in order for him to survive the chop after that long of a skid.

Gilmore really showed absolutely nothing on the show, he was brought in as a short notice replacement, got taken down straight away and lost via a submission with out putting up much of a fight. There were other TUF alums who were more deserving of his spot on the card but I think Dana has a soft spot for him 

Gilmore took this slot on real late notice too. Im sure we'll see a few more TUF alums debut soon enough, especially given the current circumstances. Liudvik already got the call for this Saturday.

As for Alvey. Its just baffling at this point. Dana White pointed to Alvey's willingness to fight as a reason for keeping him around but so countless better fighters have been let go off much shorter losing streaks. 0-6-1. Its mental. Turman had 2 points deducted here and Alvey still lost a decision😄 Maybe Alvey lets Dana have a go on his super model wife from time to time?

oh, and ive said it before, but im done with the Apex. I know its easier and it saves a lot of money for the promotion but im over it. The whole look/aesthetic is boring.

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For reference, Darren Stewart was released from the UFC after Saturdays loss on the back of a 3 fight skid, in the same division as Alvey, and 5 years his junior and not to mention having a much more fan friendly style than Stroppy Sam 🤯

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