Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted February 28, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted February 28, 2022 (edited) Once again at the Apex in Vegas for this. ESPN+ MAIN CARDThiago Santos vs Magomed Ankalaev Marlon Moraes vs Song Yadong Sodiq Yusuff vs Alex Caceres Khalil Rountree vs Karl Roberson Drew Dober vs Terrance McKinney Bruno Silva vs Alex Pereira ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMS Matthew Semelsberger vs AJ Fletcher JJ Aldrich vs Gillian Robertson Trevin Jones vs Javid Basharat Damon Jackson vs Kamuela Kirk Sabina Mazo vs Miranda Maverick Cody Brundage vs Dalcha Lungiambula Guido Cannetti vs Kris Moutinho Tafon Nchukwi vs Azamat Murzakanov Not in love with this card but it’s far from the worst we’ve had. Some decent stuff on there and a couple of bangers. It’ll do. As far as I can tell, this bout order is correct as I type this. No doubt there’ll be a million changes before it actually happens though. Thiago Santos vs Magomed Ankalaev then. Bit of an old guard vs new blood clash at 205. Got a feeling this’ll be a bit of a coming out party for the Russian myself. I really like Santos and he seems like one of the few real genuine good eggs we have left in MMA but he really hasn’t looked at the races lately. Rewind back around this time 3 years ago and he’d just knocked out Jan Blachowicz, he’d walloped Jimi Manuwa in an all out slobberknocker before that and he was about to challenge Jon Jones for the gold. He gave Jones one of the toughest defences of his title reign as well, going to a split decision in a fight a fair few had Santos winning. They both came out banged up though. Santos knees were screwed. Torn meniscus on both legs, torn ACL, PCL, cracked tibia. I think he went into the fight with some of it which makes his performance all the more impressive. But going 5 rounds with Jon Jones obviously didn’t help matters and the injuries only worsened. He underwent surgery on both knees after that fight and missed well over a year of action. He returned in late 2020 and, to me, he’s never looked like the same fighter since. He did buzz Glover Teixeira in their fight but everyone rocks Glover don’t they? And then usually lose. Santos was no different and Glover rallied back to submit him in the third round. After that he lost a decision to Aleksandar Rakic and just looked really flat. Then in his last fight he finally got his first win since the layoff, a decision over Johnny Walker. But it was surprisingly dull and Santos probably only got the win because John Kavanagh had Walker doing a bad Wonderboy impression that didn’t fit, and Santos was just slightly busier. It was one of those fights though, where neither came out looking good. Really disappointing fight given who was involved. But again, on Santos’ side of it, I think it’s a case of him just not being right since the injuries. I don’t know whether it’s all just the physical toll of it or if it’s a mental thing now where he’s not confident on his legs anymore. But he looks a shell of the 2019 version of himself to me. I’ve bigged Ankalaev up a few times on here. I’ve predicted him to do big things. I even backed him to be champ by the end of this year in that MMA Champions 2022 (or whatever it’s called) predictions thread on here. Might be way off on that but we’ll see. I’ve got a good feeling about him. He’s not particularly flashy and he doesn’t stand out like some of the other new breed of Light Heavyweights we’ve seen emerge but I’ve felt like he’s the darkhorse of the division for a while now. The division’s needed new faces for a long time and when we finally got that cluster of new 205ers come in, understandably it was the likes of Johnny Walker, Dominick Reyes and Jiri Prochazka that turned heads the most. Walker and Reyes have fizzled out big time. Jiri’s getting his crack at the belt in June. But while they’re not my personal favourites of the group, it’s always been Ankalaev and Rakic who I’ve thought would likely go the furthest. Ankalaev’s 29 years old now, 16-1 with the only blip being when he got submitted in the very last second of a fight he was winning against Paul Craig. He comes into this fight off wins over Volkan Oezdemir, Nikita Krylov and Ion Cutelaba in his last three. Good wins but he’s mostly gone under the radar. The Cutelaba fight was the most memorable, he proper battered him. But he’s outpointed Krylov and Oezdemir since and didn’t blow anyone away. He just goes about his business and gets the W. Remains to be seen how he does at the next level and I don’t think beating this version of Santos will even tell us that much because it’s a 38 year old damaged goods Santos. But it’s still the fight that could potentially catapult him into the title picture. A main event against a respected name in the division who’s mixed with the best in the division, it’s the breakthrough opportunity he’s been after and he’s probably catching Santos at the perfect time. I’ve probably jinxed Ankalaev now and he’ll go and get sparked here. Wouldn’t upset me to be wrong, I’d love to see Santos look his old self again. But I just get the feeling he’s ripe for a beating here and we’ll see a bit of a changing of the guard. Think my prediction for the LHW belt this year was that Jiri beats Glover in June, then Ankalaev takes the belt off Jiri later this year. 205’s such a tough one to predict though now Jones is off the grid. Really does feel like any of the Top 5 or so guys can beat each other on a given night. Heart’s saying Santos, head’s fully expecting Ankalaev to give him a hiding. Marlon Moraes vs Song Yadong could be an absolute belter. It’s mental to me how Moraes has plummeted over the last couple of years. You look at him now coming off 3 straight stoppage losses and it’s hard to believe this guy was a legit contender not that long ago. That’s the current champ right there, Aljamain Sterling, just as rigamortis set in. Moraes did that in just over a minute. Knocked out Jimmie Rivera, subbed Raphael Assuncao, was giving Henry Cejudo all he could handle in their title fight before it all went tits up. He’s now 1-4 in his last 5. The win was over Jose Aldo, which you’d think would be a massive moment in his career but it was treated like Aldo won the decision by fans, media and even Dana, so he never exactly got to bask in it. The 4 losses were all by TKO as well. He’s had a rough time. I really hope he can get back in the win column here. Nothing even against Song Yadong but Moraes is too good for his career to be on its arse like this. I think the ship’s clearly sailed on him going for titles but, still, he’s better than this. Even his last fight against Merab Dvalishvili, he was giving Merab hell early before getting chinned himself. He just can’t seem to catch a break. Yadong’s a bastard of a fight to be thrown in when you’re in a slump as well. 24 years old, 18-5-1-1 record and coming off a big finish over Julio Arce. He’s been talked about as a future player for a bit now but hasn’t quite got there yet. An impressive win here for him could be his breakout moment. As well as Moraes’ one way ticket out the door. Sodiq Yusuff vs Alex Caceres. Good stuff. I like both of these two. I think Yusuff has a lot of potential. He’s coming off a points loss to Arnold Allen but before that he’d won 6 on the bounce including wins over Andre Fili, Gabriel Benitez and Mike Davis. Nothing earth shattering but he was on the right track. That Allen loss was a setback but he’s still only 28, not the end of the world. Old Bruce Leroy’s a tricky little fucker though. At 19-12-1 he’s never gonna be challenging for belts but he’s knocked around and he’s got experience. Had his moments beating Sergio Pettis and giving Urijah Faber a good fight years ago. And he’s on a nice little 5 fight streak now, which is the most consecutive wins he’s put together since signing with the UFC in 2011. He’s finally finding some consistency over a decade in! From what I’ve seen I would favour Yusuff here but Caceres is nobody to sleep on. Khalil Rountree vs Karl Roberson. No real opinion on this. I never quite know what to make of Rountree. One fight he’ll look like a killer, the next he just looks like he can’t be bothered. I could swear he was on about retiring not that long ago as well. What happened there? He last fought in September, snapping a 2 fight losing skid, and snapping Modestas Bukauskas’ leg for good measure… As Terry Silva said in Karate Kid 3, “if a man can’t stand he can’t fight”. Can’t have been fun. Bukauskas has obviously been on the shelf since, and the UFC sacked him after this loss and injury as well. Which is nice. Can’t say I recall much of Roberson. It’s mostly the losses I remember and he’s coming off back-to-back submission defeats to Marvin Vettori and Brendan Allen. Not panning out for him at all but Rountree is just so up and down that I’m not confident one way or the other on this. Drew Dober vs Terrance McKinney is a late switch up. Was meant to be Dober vs Rick Glenn but Glenn dropped out. This is a definite upgrade for me. Dober’s a guy I never used to be keen on but he’s grown on me over time. Bashing up Alex Hernandez helped. He’s had a rough patch recently though, got schooled by Islam Makhachev about a year ago and then lost to Brad Riddell after that. The Riddell fight was a cracker though. One of the forgotten gems of 2021 for me. And McKinney’s looked great so far in the UFC. 12-3 overall now, has won his last 5 in a row, all first round finishes and 3 of them in under 20 seconds! Knocked out Matt Frevola in his UFC debut (in 7 seconds) then submitted Fares Ziam on the Islam Makhachev vs Bobby Green undercard the other week. Quick turnaround for him here and it’s a decent step up in competition so it’s an interesting one. You’d think Dober should be able to ask more questions of him but we’ll see. Should be good. Bruno Silva vs Alex Pereira is ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** this time. Should be fireworks. I’d never heard of Silva before his UFC debut last year but he’s quickly made a fan of me. I remember looking him up before his debut and seeing him clobbering Alexander Shlemenko on an M-1 card and my interest was immediately piqued. He made his UFC debut in June and has already gone 3-0 with 3 finishes inside the Octagon. Got POTN for 2 of them and the other was an absolutely horrifying display of ground and pound against Wellington Turman. He’s 22-6 now, 19 knockouts and on a 7 fight winning streak. I like him. Pereira’s probably gonna get most of the attention here though. There he is knocking out Andreas Michailidis in his UFC debut at MSG in November. Couldn’t really ask for a more spectacular debut. Of course, he’s mostly known as the guy who ironed out Israel Adesanya in a Kickboxing match back in 2017. As soon as he signed with the UFC, the talk was all about a possible rematch with Adesanya down the line. Makes sense if he keeps winning. I remember posting after his debut that I’d love to see him against Bruno Silva but I had a feeling the UFC matchmakers wouldn’t go for it. I expected them to try to protect Pereira a bit and fast track him to the Izzy fight but here we are. Love this fight. I’m guessing a fair chunk of the MMA fanbase will be picking Pereira by highlight reel KO here. But this is a dangerous fight for him. Silva doesn’t play around and Pereira’s giving up a lot of experience in MMA. If Silva gets him down, his ground and pound is nasty and could end any talk of the Adesanya fight quick. Gonna be a fun one. Matthew Semelsberger vs AJ Fletcher. Dunno. I’ve liked what I’ve seen of Semelsberger so far. He scored a peach of a 16 second KO against Jason Witt last year and a 15 second KO against Nick Diaz protégé Martin Sano later in the year. 🤣 he’s had losses sandwiched in between but I like him. He goes for it. Never heard of this Fletcher bloke but Sherdog tells me he’s 9-0 with 8 inside the distance and scored a flying knee knockout on DWCS in his last fight in August. On paper this actually sounds like a potential show stealer but we’ll see. JJ Aldrich vs Gillian Robertson. OK fight, nothing special. Aldrich isn’t exactly leaping out in my memory but I know I’ve seen some of her fights. She’s a training partner of the champ Rose Namajunas, she’s 10-4 and coming off decision wins over Cortney Casey and Vanessa Demopoulos. Robertson is jumping in on late notice, filling in for Ariane Lipski. She’s 10-6 and coming off that submission over Priscila Cachoeira where cheating bastard Cachoeira tried to poke her eye out. Don’t think Robertson will ever go too far up the ladder at Flyweight but I’ve always enjoyed watching her fight. Really aggressive grappling. Trevin Jones vs Javid Basharat might be worth checking out actually. Jones is 13-7-0-1 and coming off a submission loss. Can’t remember much of him but he’s had a really inconsistent run in terms of wins and losses. And his best win (TKO over Timur Valiev) got overturned to a No Contest because he failed the silly weed test. Basharat’s making his Octagon debut here. He’s 26 years old, from Afghanistan but now lives in London, unbeaten at 11-0, all finishes. He scored a late submission on DWCS in October to get in the door here. Never seen him but quite looking forward to seeing his debut now. Bit odd that they never just pushed this fight back a week so he could debut on the London card but whatever. Damon Jackson vs Kamuela Kirk isn’t doing much for me. Jackson’s 19-4-1-1 and has got about a bit. He’s fought in LFA, PFL, Bellator, KOTC and is currently on his second stint in the UFC with notable wins over Mirsad Bektic and Charles Rosa. My main memory of him is when Ilia Topuria fucked him up though. Not a bad fighter, just very unremarkable. Don’t recall seeing Kirk fight before. He’s 12-4 and took a decision off Makwan Amirkhani in his UFC debut in June. Sabina Mazo vs Miranda Maverick. Not bad, not amazing, just there really. Maverick was looking pretty good in her first couple of UFC fights but she’s dropped 2 decisions now in her most recent fights. Seem to remember she got schooled quite convincingly by Erin Blanchfield last time out. She’s stepping in late here, replacing Mandy Bohm. And Mazo, I remember reading good things about her when she signed with some hyping her up as someone to keep tabs on. But she really hasn’t knocked my socks off so far. She’s 9-3, has also lost her last 2 and got subbed by Mariya Agapova in October. Maybe I’m being harsh. They’re both still only 24 so they’ve got some time yet. Cody Brundage vs Dalcha Lungiambula. Can’t say I’m that arsed. Brundage is 6-2 and lost his UFC debut to Nick Maximov back in September. Lungiambula has a cool name and looks like a killer but he hasn’t fought like one the times I’ve seen him. Only thing that stands out in the memory about him for me is when Ankalaev front kicked his face off a while back. Hopes aren’t exactly high. Guido Cannetti vs Kris Moutinho. Nothing fight. Cannetti is 42 now with an 8-6 record and is coming off 3 straight losses. Proper last legs stuff this. You have to assume he’s a goner with another loss here. Unless he also knows whatever dirt Sam Alvey’s got on Dana. Apparently he’s been in the UFC since 2014! I must’ve seen at least a couple of his fights in all that time but I honestly can’t say I have one single memory of him. Moutinho the much younger man at 29, with a record of 9-5. You’ll probably remember him as the green haired, late replacement punching bag in Sean O’Malley’s last fight. Tough guy and seemed likeable enough but he got battered in that one. If he loses to old man Guido here then the future doesn’t look bright. Tafon Nchukwi vs Azamat Murzakanov is one I’m quite interested in actually. Nchukwi’s from Cameroon, 6-1 with UFC wins over Mike Rodriguez and Jamie Pickett. He also TKO’d William Knight on DWCS. It’s the UFC debut of Murzakanov that’s got my attention here though. He’s undefeated at 10-0 with 8 finishes, won the BRAVE 2019 Grand Prix tournament (whatever that’s worth) and scored a quick TKO on DWCS last summer to get in the door. He also crushed Andre Muniz in just 50 seconds on a show in Russia in 2016. Muniz has gone on to do well in the UFC, including snapping Jacare’s arm and retiring him. So that win’s aged well. Time will tell how good he is but he’s certainly off to a strong start. The end. Edited March 8, 2022 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted March 8, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted March 8, 2022 This is one of the better Fight Nights for in a while. Maybe not the entire thing, but I cherry picked my favorite 5-6 fights and just watched, its one hell of a mard. Adding Terrence McKinney against Drew Dober is a big win, that's a great fight. Silva/Perreira is just utter madness, thats going to be violence. Im inteterested to see Kris Moutinho again, I think he's been given a bit of a gimme though. Like you @wandshogun09, zero recollection of Canetti? Song/Moraes and Leeroy/Yuseff tremendous fights also. Moraes and Leeory are big underdogs too. If i bet on them though, they'll definitely lose. I think the main event will rubber stamp Ankalaev as a force in the division too, I expect him to breeze past Santos. Like this alot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted March 8, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted March 8, 2022 To be fair, I think Moutinho's owed a bit of a gimme - he stepped in at the last minute for a match he had almost no chance of winning. This is probably the UFC's way of returning the favour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted March 12, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 12, 2022 The more I look at this card the more I like it. Especially the main card. All 6 fights are really solid. Not as into Rountree vs Roberson as the rest but it’s one of the better Fight Night main cards we’ve had in a while in that there’s nothing dragging it down like an Alvey fight or something in the middle. Looking forward to the main event and Moraes vs Yadong, Yusuff vs Leroy and Dober vs McKinney are all really fun fights on paper. That Pereira vs Silva fight is the one for me though. Can’t wait for that. Prelims aren’t the worst either with the debuts of 3 undefeated finishers in AJ Fletcher, Javid Basharat and Azamat Murzakanov. Good stuff throughout. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted March 12, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted March 12, 2022 Yeah, that main card is a low key 'banger' as the kids would say. Full of crowd pleasers. Shame its at the Apex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zebra Kid Mark Posted March 12, 2022 Share Posted March 12, 2022 It's a very strong card on paper. Marlon Moraes seriously needs a win, he is ranked 10 and has lost 3 in a row and his last win was in 2019 in that Aldo fight. How he is still ranked 10 is crazy. I know he has lost to savages but there should be a cut off from when your last win was. On that logic Conor should also be no were near the rankings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted March 12, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted March 12, 2022 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted March 12, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 12, 2022 Bit of an earlier one as well, Fight Pass prelims kick off at 9. Well up for this now. Gone with Ankalaev on points and Yadong by stoppage in the poll. I think they’re pretty safe picks. But I’m actually fancying Bruno Silva to derail Pereira. Wouldn’t be shocked if Pereira wins but I just think Silva’s MMA experience could be the difference and if he goes for more of a takedown/ground and pound approach then it could be a miserable and painful night for Pereira. We’ll see and I’m expecting fireworks in that one but there’s still so many questions on Pereira for me and Silva has looked a right handful in his last few fights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted March 12, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted March 12, 2022 Yeh i think everyones drinking the Pereira cool-aid and are discounting Silva's chances, but thats only because Silva is a gun slinger himself. Its going to be a wild fight. I hope Moraes still has something left in the tank, if he does he should beat Yadong, but it feels all faith in him has gone. I fully expect Ankalaev to stop Santos in the main event, maybe late on, but i think it'll end up being a bit of a painful beating. Going Dober to beat McKinney too. Based purely off not knowing how McKinney looks of a fight goes past a round, and Dober is battle tested at a high level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted March 12, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 12, 2022 I’ve got a feeling Silva might surprise people in this one and try to take Pereira down. It’s the obvious route to take against a Kickboxer who’s still new to MMA, the path of least resistance. And although he’s got no submissions on his record and hasn’t shown much of his ground game in the UFC yet, Silva is supposedly a BJJ black-belt. How legit that is, who knows, but I do know that he can cause serious damage if he gets the ground and pound going. Pereira won’t want any of this… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfogg1991 Posted March 13, 2022 Share Posted March 13, 2022 This card turned out to be pretty damn good overall However this main event was as frustrating and dull of a main event that we have had in ages IMO, both guys barely threw anything, no sense of urgency or drive. Just boring and stupid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zebra Kid Mark Posted March 13, 2022 Share Posted March 13, 2022 8 hours ago, Kfogg1991 said: This card turned out to be pretty damn good overall However this main event was as frustrating and dull of a main event that we have had in ages IMO, both guys barely threw anything, no sense of urgency or drive. Just boring and stupid The last main event to be that boring was probably Santos vs Walker. I know Santos has had some great fights over the years and he is as tough as they come, but since his knee op, he has had some incredibly boring fights. Dober vs Mckinney was awesome for as long as it lasted. I wanted Mckinney to win as he is exiting and the division needs some fresh blood but Dober did well to rally against the early onslaught, I think Dober needed the win a lot more than Mckinney so I can't begrudge him a victory here. They both have such a fan friendly style. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted March 13, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 13, 2022 (edited) The main event was definitely a letdown. I wasn’t really expecting an amazing fight, to be honest. As we’ve said countless times, Santos hasn’t looked good for a while and Ankalaev, aside from the couple of wild fights with Cutelaba, isn’t known for being in particularly exciting fights either. How I pictured this was that Santos might have a decent start, Ankalaev would chip away at him, Santos would fade as it went on and then Ankalaev would take over and put a bit of a beating on him. Either getting a wide decision or a late stoppage. Ankalaev didn’t look all that himself here though. It’s a win over a good name in the division but it’s one of them where it doesn’t feel like his stock really got raised much. He didn’t look awful but this was his big chance to really make a statement. His first UFC headliner and he was in with an established name and former contender who was on the slide. Instead he got dropped by a faded Santos and then did just enough to get the decision. I still think he’s got potential but based on this performance, I think my prediction of him becoming champ this year might be off. Don’t get me wrong I think he’s skilled enough to beat Glover or Jiri on a good night, but after this I’m not convinced he even gets the shot anytime soon. This didn’t scream #1 contender, did it? I can see them possibly Jon Fitching him as long as possible now until someone beats him. 13 hours ago, Kfogg1991 said: However this main event was as frustrating and dull of a main event that we have had in ages IMO 4 hours ago, Zebra Kid Mark said: The last main event to be that boring was probably Santos vs Walker. Close but this monstrosity from 2 weeks later was even worse for me… Ketlen Vieira vs Miesha Tate wasn’t a lot better either. Or Jack Hermansson vs Sean Strickland from last month. Yeah this was a dull fight. I’m not gonna defend it. But we’ve definitely had worse and at least it had a few little bursts and spells of action. A knockdown etc. Ladd vs Dumont had fuck all. Anyway, sod all that. The rest of the card was excellent. Although I could’ve done without Song Yadong KOing Marlon Moraes… Moraes hits the deck again! You’ve got to think that’s it for him in the UFC. What happened? A couple of years ago he was legitimately one of the top guys at 135. Knocked out Sterling, subbed Assuncao etc. I remember he was briefly linked to a fight with Petr Yan at one point a couple of years ago and people were buzzing and genuinely seeing it as a great competitive fight. That must’ve only been about 2019/20. Imagine if they booked that now? It’d be looked at like a human sacrifice. It’s not a Barao fall from grace but it’s up there. Everything seemed to be going well until that Cejudo fight. He hasn’t been right since. Even the Aldo win he wasn’t quite the same explosive guy we saw previously. This was his 4th loss on the trot, he’s gone 1-5 in his last 6, and all 5 losses were knockouts or TKOs. Moraes took his gloves off in the cage immediately after the fight. Only 33 years old but I think it’s clear he’s done at the top level. Shame. Always liked him, as a fighter and he seems a nice guy. It’s a cruel sport. All the talk going in about him revamping his camp and locking himself away from family during camp and stuff had the feel of a last desperate attempt to spark some life back into his career. And he still got ironed out. Wouldn’t be surprised if he does retire but when the disappointment wears off I could just as easily see him being picked up by Eagle FC or something. He’ll probably be fighting the ghosts of Barao or BJ Penn or something by the end of the year. As for Song, he looked good but it’s hard to rate the performance really because Moraes dropped off a cliff a while ago. I liked him calling out Dominick Cruz though. Not sure if Cruz will go for it at this stage, he’s probably eyeing bigger names like Aldo or Edgar but I’d watch it. That Cruz vs Alpha Male rivalry just won’t die, will it? Enjoyed Sodiq Yusuff vs Alex Caceres. I always do enjoy Bruce Leroy’s fights though. Something about his laidback style I’ve always dug. Lost track of the scoring here. I agreed with Sodiq getting the nod but I felt like it was a tad closer than the judges had it myself. I hope they keep Caceres around forever though. Khalil Bastard Rountree! Everyone knows he’s got to be one of the most inconsistent and unpredictable fighters on the roster. You just never know what you’re getting from one fight to the next with him. Sometimes he just doesn’t show up. I bet Karl Roberson wishes he didn’t show up for this one though. Jesus wept, man! Set about him like he caught him in bed with his wife or something. So that’s 2 fights in a row now Rountree has brought the pain. If you remember he kicked Modestas Bukauskas’ knee backwards last time out. Be interesting to see if he can actually build on this momentum for once or do we now get him typically losing lifeless split decisions or something. I hope he can find some consistency because when he’s on, there’s few more exciting to watch these days. Takes me back to the days of the Chute Boxe lot handing out beatdowns. Drew Dober vs Terrance McKinney was an absolutely barmy 3 minutes. This has overtaken that mad Frevola vs Valdez fight for me now as the nuttiest one rounder so far this year. McKinney must be one of the fastest and most lethal starters in the game right now. His last bunch of fights proved that. So when he dropped Dober within seconds I thought it was a wrap. Dober and his massive concrete jawline said otherwise though. He wasn’t having it. It was a card that had a few big comebacks but this one was ridiculous. Think it was Ebb mentioned wanting to see how McKinney would hold up later in a fight. Obviously this never went long but Dober was durable enough to survive that initial storm and we saw what happened. In fairness, McKinney jumped in on late notice as well and he clearly didn’t embarrass himself. He’s definitely developing a reputation of being ‘must see TV’ now. Dober’s granite though. Alex Pereira vs Bruno Silva was a brutal fight. Not quite the crazy bombfest it had the potential to be but still a really fun, hard hitting scrap that gave us a better look at Pereira and what he might be capable of. I loved how game Silva was, he was going for it in the exchanges. Mixed in a few takedowns but not as much as I thought he might. Although, Pereira did pretty well limiting that as well, to be fair. Silva’s hard as nails because some of the shots he absorbed in this fight, to the body and head, were fucking horrible. This was ideal really if you’re a Pereira fan. People have understandably been getting a bit carried away and excited about him but it’s worth remembering this was only his 6th MMA fight. Silva was able to push him, test his grappling a bit, land some shots on him and was tough enough to survive and go the distance. It was valuable and much needed cage time for Pereira. Already seeing some backlash with twats going ‘LOL this guy was calling out Adesanya?’ But while he’s not ready for the title mix yet, he’s getting his name out there and gaining MMA experience to go with his striking experience. He might never get there but he’s gonna be fun to watch regardless. No idea who he fights next though. Few bits from the prelims; Quite liked Javid Basharat. Never saw him on DWCS but I thought he looked good here. Interested to see more of him. Cool moment post-fight as well with him not knowing how his brother got on fighting the same night in another promotion and Felder telling him he won. Some nice submissions from Miranda Maverick, Damon Jackson and Cody Brundage in their fights. Was especially happy to see Maverick back to winning ways. She looked really good at the start of her UFC run but struggled lately so it was nice to see a return to form here. Even our nothing happening Guido Cannetti managed to shine, bashing up Kris Moutinho, and quicker than O’Malley did it. Highlight of the prelims though was Azamat Murzakanov pulling this late flying knee KO out of his arse from nowhere… What a way to make your UFC debut! Rightly got a POTN bonus for that. As did Yadong, Rountree and Brundage. Fair enough. But Dober and McKinney getting sod all extra is bollocks. Pereira and Silva too. Should’ve been some extra bonuses given out last night, I reckon. If you don’t want guys fighting like the lads in the main event, maybe give these guys some more incentive. Quality show, shame about the main event. Edited March 13, 2022 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panhead Posted March 13, 2022 Share Posted March 13, 2022 That Rountree body kick was brutal. I love watching these kind of Fight Nights on a Sunday morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted March 13, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 13, 2022 16 minutes ago, Panhead said: That Rountree body kick was brutal. He’s got form for it as well. He did this back on TUF… 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.