UFC Vegas: Brunson vs Till - Sep 4 🇺🇸

[wandshogun09]

So who’s getting tickets to thi…oh. Yep. After all the talk of this being in London and them filling up the card with UK and European fighters, it’s back in Vegas. Smashing.

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Derek Brunson vs Darren Till

Tom Aspinall vs Sergey Spivak

David Zawada vs Alex Morono

Khalil Rountree vs Modestas Bukauskas

Luigi Vendramini vs Paddy Pimblett

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Ji Yeon Kim vs Molly McCann 

Jack Shore vs Liudvik Sholinian

Charles Jourdain vs Julian Erosa

Dalcha Lungiambula vs Marc-Andre Barriault 

Jonathan Martinez vs Marcelo Rojo

 

Guessed the bout order for now. What’s it matter anyway, you know it’s gonna change a million times between now and fight night anyway. Really like this card. Definitely would’ve went to this if it was over here. Best UK card we’ve had in a while and it’s in Vegas. Typical.

 

Derek Brunson vs Darren Till headlines. Would’ve been a nice main event for London. Oh well. This one’s taken ages to actually get confirmed. Till had a broken collarbone earlier this year, which took him out of a scheduled April headliner against Marvin Vettori. It finally got made official a few weeks ago and here we are. There’s actually a little bit of history here. Nothing serious but they’ve gone back and forth on Twitter a couple of times and talked about fighting each other.

Not a fan of Till but “big fat bollock of a man” killed me. Especially because it was aimed at Brunson who doesn’t appear to have an ounce of fat on him. That was late last year and obviously nothing came of it. Till’s had quite a run of bad luck, to be honest. He fought Robert Whittaker on Fight Island last July and lost a competitive and fairly close fight by decision. Since then he’s had fights with Jack Hermansson and Marvin Vettori fall through. Hopefully this one goes ahead. Till’s had his ups and downs but he’s still a ‘name’ in the division and that combined with him being a gobshite means he’s always probably just one big win away from being back in title contention. Adesanya’s expressed interest in fighting him before as well so that helps his cause. If Izzy goes 2-0 over Whittaker, it’s not like he’s got a ton of interesting challengers left. So the winner of a fight like this might be closer to a shot than we think. Brunson would deserve it anyway, to be fair. Yeah, he got wrecked by Adesanya last time they fought but that was 3 years ago and he’s gone unbeaten since. He’s started to become a bit of a prospect killer lately as well. Edmen Shahbazyan and Kevin Holland were the talk of the town at 185 for a bit and there was real buzz on both. Brunson shut that talk right down by completely dominating both in his last two fights. A big win over Till here would be his fifth win in a row. I wouldn’t be against him getting the next crack at the winner of Adesanya vs Whittaker 2 if that happens. Interesting fight here though. Till talks a big game and he is a good fighter but he can be frustrating to watch at times. He’s got a tendency to wait too long to pull the trigger and that lack of urgency could cost him if it rears its head again here because Brunson doesn’t piss about. Good fight. I’m rooting against the Brit here though. Just can’t warm to Till, never have, he’s a helmet. Brunson seems a good guy and it’d be nice to see him get that title shot. He’s worked hard to get back there.

 

Tom Aspinall vs Sergey Spivak. Looking forward to this. It was supposed to be Aspinall vs Sergei Pavlovich but Visa issues took Pavlovich out and here we are. To be fair, Spivak’s the same kind of test. It’s early days for Aspinall anyway but this is a bit of a step up. He’s turned quite a few heads since coming to the UFC. Watching Heavyweight MMA, it’s not that often you get new faces come along who seem worth getting a bit excited about. So when a guy like Aspinall surfaces, it understandably gets people talking. He’s only 28, which is practically a baby in the Heavyweight division. He’s from Manchester, England. Let’s be honest, England hasn’t had a genuine Heavyweight in MMA who could make waves since…when?

He’s a big old lump at 6’5” and not far below the 265lb limit. He’s a BJJ black-belt. And he has a MMA record of 10-2 with all 10 wins being finishes. The two blemishes - one was a submission very early in his career, the other was a DQ after he threw a downward elbow. That was 2016. He’s won and finished 6 fights on the trot since. He signed with the UFC in 2020, made short work of shitehawk Jake Collier and Alan Baudot. Then in February he got his first big name opponent and submitted the legendary Andrei Arlovski. Not bad going. On top of all that, he seems a top bloke as well. Hard not to root for him. Just being realistic though, some of the talk I’ve seen has been a bit much. I’m seeing people talk Aspinall up as if he’s the champ in waiting but his best win to date is over a faded Arlovski. I like him and he’s clearly a more promising Heavyweight than most of the knuckle dragging no hopers we see come through. But some people see a bit of potential and get silly with it. So far, so good. But there’s still a long way to go. Spivak’s 26 years old, 13-2 and coming off 3 straight wins. He’s come up short a couple of times but he’s shown flashes of promise in a division where not that many of the new blood do. He beat Alexey Oleynik last time out and also scored a dominating submission win over Tai Tuivasa a couple of years back. This is probably the toughest test for Aspinall to date. It’ll be interesting to see how Aspinall tackles this one.

 

David Zawada vs Alex Morono. Bit hazy on both of these two. I know I’ve seen them both before but I’m drawing a blank on Zawada especially. Vaguely recall him from his submission win over Abubakar Nurmagomedov a couple of years back but that’s about the extent of my recollections of him. He’s German, nicknamed ‘Sagat’ and he’s 17-6 with 15 finishes. Morono I’m bit more familiar with just because he’s mixed with some more big names. He’s 19-7-0-1 and is coming off the biggest win of his career to date, a first round TKO over Donald Cerrone in May. He also fought Anthony Pettis in December, losing on points, and has solid wins over Max Griffin, Josh Burkman and Kyle Noke on his record. He’s stepping in on late notice here though, filling in for Sergey Khandozhko. 

 

Khalil Rountree vs Modestas Bukauskas. Not sure about this. Should be fun to watch but fuck knows how it plays out. Wasn’t Rountree on about retiring a couple of fights ago? Bit surprised to see him still plugging away. He’s only 31 but he seemed pretty set on hanging it up if I remember right. He’s had a funny old career. You look back and he’s actually had some great moments. Knocked Paul Craig out in a round, in Glasgow of all places! Knocked Kickboxing pitbull Gokhan Saki out in about 90 seconds. Put on that Muay Thai masterclass against Eryk Anders that had Rogan rubbing one out under the announcers desk. When he’s been on form he’s looked like a potential contender. But for almost every win there’s been a loss following it. He’s been so inconsistent. And some of those losses were vicious. He’s up against another hitter here as well. Bukauskas is 27, from Lithuania with a record of 11-4 with 10 finishes. Mostly knockouts. He fought mostly on the UK scene before signing with the UFC and was the Light Heavyweight champion in Cage Warriors. He’s also coming off a couple of losses though and got completely wiped out by Jimmy Crute not long ago. Proper up in the air on this. Really feels like anything could happen here.

 

Luigi Vendramini vs Paddy Pimblett. The day has arrived. Paddy the Twat is in the UFC. It’s been talked about and seemingly been on the cards forever but it’s finally happening now. Never liked him, always thought he seemed a dickhead and him having the cheek to wear the Sakuraba shorts is pretty much blasphemy in MMA. But he’s a good fighter and he’s a gobby little prick so he’ll no doubt stir things up and create some drama in the UFC.

He’s from Liverpool (incase you missed him mention it), 26 years old, former Cage Warriors champion with a record of 16-3 with 12 finishes. The grappling is his strong suit but he’ll mix it on the feet as well. Just can’t stand him though and I hope his UFC career flops. He’s already chatting bollocks about Khabib “only ever beating 3 decent fighters” or some shite and bickering with fans on Twitter like a teenager. I dread to think what he’ll be like if he does well in the UFC and starts getting more visibility. He seems like the type who it won’t take much before he’s wishing death on someone on social media or saying something homophobic etc. He’s a right wally. Can’t remember that much about Vendramini and he’s lost 2 of his last 3 fights. On the face of it, seems like the UFC trying to give Paddy a nice debut win but Vendramini’s also a BJJ black-belt so it could be a fun ground battle. I’d love to see Pimblett come in all cocky and get choked out in his debut.

 

Ji Yeon Kim vs Molly McCann. Decent enough. Not gonna pretend I’m that arsed but it’s an alright fight. Kim’s South Korean with a 9-3-2 record. She went the distance in losing efforts with Alexa Grasso and Antonina Shevchenko but she did batter Nadia Kassem with a body shot in between those losses. I like her for that alone because Kassem pulled a cheap move where she faked a glove touch and then threw a strike, seeing Kim fold her with a body punch after that was sweet. ‘Meatball’ Molly really could do with a win here. She’s 10-4 now and coming off back-to-back losses. One of them was against Taila Santos who I really rate as the darkhorse of Flyweight and a future contender but still, losses are losses. She was on a decent little 3 fight streak not too long ago but it’s all fizzled out lately. A third consecutive loss here would be hard to bounce back from.

 

Jack Shore vs Liudvik Sholinian. Been a bit of a fuck about getting here. Shore was originally set to face Said Nurmagomedov in a Wales vs Dagestan battle of prospects on this card but Said dropped out. They brought in undefeated LFA champ Zviad Lazishvili as a replacement but within days he’d also pulled out with an injury. In steps Liudvik Sholinian. Hopefully that’s the last of the changes. Shore is 14-0, 12 came inside the distance and he’s a BJJ black-belt and former Cage Warriors Bantamweight champ. He’s gone 3-0 in the UFC so far but hasn’t been able to get off the prelims yet for some reason. Sholinian is Ukrainian with a record of 9-1-1 and was on the latest season of TUF apparently. I’m none the wiser but on late notice, there weren’t many options and it’s a big opportunity for the newcomer. Bit shitty for Shore though. As the hot prospect who was already booked for this card, he’s expected to win this but the circumstances are far from ideal. Hopefully he gets a nice win and can finally start making some progress up the card.

 

Charles Jourdain vs Julian Erosa. Yet another late switch up. We were supposed to get Jourdain against Lerone Murphy here, a fight I was really looking forward to but this card just got shagged dry with fights getting binned left and right. This is a decent backup but not as good as the Murphy fight. Oh well. Jourdain’s got the look of someone with real potential but just hasn’t quite put it all together yet. He’s 25 years old, a BJJ black-belt and a former two weight champ in the TKO promotion in Canada. He had a corker of a fight with Marcelo Rojo back in March, and got the stoppage in the third round. But he’d had a bit of a hot and cold run in the UFC prior to that. Couple of split decisions in there muddying the waters but he’s got a lot of upside and he’s only getting better. Erosa is 25-9 and coming off a vicious first round TKO loss to Seung Woo Choi in June. Before that he was putting together a nice little win streak. Probably be a fun one this. Their styles match up well on paper and Erosa will be looking to get back on track with a strong showing.

 

Dalcha Lungiambula vs Marc-Andre Barriault. Not doing much for me this but it could be a pleasant surprise. Lungiambula was a two weight champion for the EFC promotion in Africa. He’s 36 years old and 11-2 with 6 finishes. Looks dangerous in the clips I’ve seen but my only real memory of him is when he got kicked in the gob and stopped by Ankalaev. He came back with a points win over Markus Perez in January this year but I don’t think I saw that fight. Barriault was also a double champ in the TKO promotion in Canada. He’s 12-4-0-1 and, to be honest, has mostly bored me when I’ve caught his fights. I think that’s the reason for my indifference here. To be fair, he got a finish in his last fight in March but prior to that I’ve found him dishwater dull. Hopefully this exceeds my expectations.

 

Jonathan Martinez vs Marcelo Rojo. Was a bit gutted about this because it was supposed to be Martinez vs Nathaniel Wood but Wood’s out with a broken hand. Still, Rojo’s a nutcase and a fun replacement. It should be wild. Martinez is coming off a knockout loss against Davey Grant but he’d scored nice wins over Thomas Almeida and Frankie Saenz before that. He usually brings it. Even in defeat that fight with Grant was a hell of a scrap. And Rojo’s a little madman. Never gonna be a world beater but he’s in that same mould as Michel Pereira for me. You never know what he’s gonna do next and it makes for edge of the seat viewing. He mightn’t go far but not everyone’s gonna be a contender, there’s always room for a lunatic like this in any division. He had that loss to Charles Jourdain in March but it was a brilliantly chaotic fight and, in fairness to Rojo, he’d stepped in on short notice. Not ideal for his UFC debut and again here, he’s jumping in as a substitute. Regardless, this should be a lively one.

 

How’s about that then? 

 

Edited September 1, 2021 by wandshogun09

[Egg Shen]

I hope Shore/Nurmagamedov lands on that main card. Shore's UFC run seems to be going quietly under the rader but its probably helping him bed in properly. Cracking fight.

Volkan stepping into an Ankalaev fight after that KO to Jiri is absolute madness, the suds on that guy. I aint fancying his chances.

[wandshogun09]

6 minutes ago, Egg Shen said:

I hope Shore/Nurmagamedov lands on that main card.

Definitely deserves a main card spot. It might get one yet. Like I said, my order there isn’t official. Even if it’s high up on the televised prelims it’ll be a step up. His first 2 UFC fights were both the very first prelim on Fight Pass. They had him jerking the curtain both times.

I’m with you on Volkan as well. Got a feeling this one’s ending badly for him. He has had a year off since that Jiri KO, which was probably a wise move because it was a bad one. But coming back against Ankalaev just sounds like bad news to me. 

[Egg Shen]

 

[Egg Shen]

ignore that, Paddy has said it isnt true.

[wandshogun09]

Pimblett’s been having a right whinge about that and demanding an apology but something must’ve went on because Vendramini’s own manager confirmed that they were offered a different opponent.

Don’t really get why the UFC would be offering a new opponent if they didn’t think Paddy was out. I’ve never known Marcel Dorff to tweet bullshit either, usually if he reports something you can count on it. I think his information was legit but something changed and the fight stayed intact. Whatever though, balls to Paddy. 

[Egg Shen]

Yeh its a weird one. Paddy's being having a right pop at Marcell too even after he issued an apology. Ive seen a lot of MMA media run to Marcell's defence, including Jon Anik. I dont quite understand why Pimbletts so angry about it?

[wandshogun09]

Cause he’s a dickhead. He’s acting like he’s been victimised or has suffered in some way because someone tweeted that a fight was off when it wasn’t. He’s a weirdo and it just makes me think there must be something to it.

Fuck, Marcel’s pinned tweet is always a thing with all the current UFC cards scheduled and the fights listed (it’s a godsend for me keeping up with the card changes for the opening posts) and he won’t even add a fight to that unless it’s either confirmed by the UFC themselves or by one of the fighters involved. This is how he’s currently got UFC 267 listed;

No Sterling vs Yan 2 on there despite it being all but confirmed and even the likes of Helwani have tweeted it’s on this card. But he’s still not added it to this because it hasn’t been made official by the UFC or either camp yet. The man’s a stickler for getting stuff confirmed before running with it. He’s one of the most reliable around.

It’s a nothing story in the end but it’s a shame the guy’s apparently had some stick over this. Again, I will piss myself if Paddy gets strangled after all this time and talk leading to his eventual UFC debut. 

[Egg Shen]

you can tell that from the response backing him.

Im thinking that perhaps a replacement was being put in place in case Pimblett didnt make the fight (there is talk of potential visa issues) and the actual details got lost in translation somewhere. 

...imagine if he does pull out now though😄

[wandshogun09]

Yeah, Pimblett is even more of a cunt than I thought. Fully pulling for another Italy victory over England on the 4th. 

[Egg Shen]

yep, few media sources have picked up on it too. Think its best Paddy stays away from social media for a while.

[wandshogun09]

4 minutes ago, Egg Shen said:

Think its best Paddy stays away from social media for a while.

I don’t think that’s gonna happen. Today…

[wandshogun09]

Someone from UFC HQ definitely gave this twat a phone call yesterday and told him to pipe down. Still couldn’t resist offering people out to come to his gym and ‘spar’ if they’ve got a problem though.

Love the way he’s acting like he’s been hard done by here, and been “dragged into” the drama. Proper bellend this one. Hasn’t even debuted yet and there’s already been a bunch of stuff out there of him retweeting tweets telling refugees to ‘go back where they came from’, ones of him calling people “fags” and even that one yesterday calling someone a slut. Absolute weapon. I’ve gone from just finding him really annoying to wanting to see him get fucked up and his UFC stint be a complete and utter flop. 

[wandshogun09]

Well there goes my ‘one to watch’. Said Nurmagomedov’s out. Can’t have fucking anything can we?

 

[Egg Shen]

never heard of Lazishvili, but he's 12-0 and is the current LFA Champ so sounds like Shore's getting a solid replacement. These Georgian fighters aint messing around either.

Our good friend Marcell Dorff posted on twitter to expect more changes to this card in then next few days.

Edited August 21, 2021 by Egg Shen