UFC Vegas: Dern vs Yan - Oct 1 ??

[wandshogun09]

Another Fight Night. Another trip to the Apex.

ESPN MAIN CARD
Mackenzie Dern vs Yan Xiaonan 

Randy Brown vs Francisco Trinaldo 

Raoni Barcelos vs Trevin Jones 

Sodiq Yusuff vs Don Shainis 

John Castaneda vs Daniel Santos 

Mike Davis vs Viacheslav Borshchev 

ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMS
Alexey Oleynik vs Ilir Latifi 

Joaquim Silva vs Jesse Ronson

Brendan Allen vs Krzysztof Jotko 

Maxim Grishin vs Philipe Lins

Julija Stoliarenko vs Chelsea Chandler

Randy Costa vs Guido Cannetti 

 

Not in love with this card but it’ll do, I guess. After a couple of weeks with no UFC, this’ll probably go down a little bit better than it usually would. Not amazing but there’s stuff scattered throughout this one that should be worth a look.

 

Mackenzie Dern vs Yan Xiaonan tops this one. Not gonna pretend I’m counting the days to this fight. I don’t hate it though. It’s nowhere near some of the scraping the barrel shite we’ve been subjected to as Fight Night headliners in the past. At this point I think Dern in the odd 5 rounder is fine. It’s Yan as the opponent which is leaving me a tad cold but I’ll deal with it. I’ll get over it.

Dern’s 29 years old and she’s 12-2 with 7 submissions. She entered MMA in 2016 with a fair bit of buzz as a BJJ world champion and black-belt. Started off in LFA and Invicta before being snapped up by the UFC after her 5th fight. There were high hopes but she didn’t wow anyone with her uninspiring split decision win over Ashley Yoder in her UFC debut and, although she made short work of Amanda Cooper in her next outing, she’d missed weight going in. And it wasn’t a one-off. At this stage, Dern was undefeated at 7-0 but in only 7 fights she’d already missed weight 3 times. She suffered her first loss in 2019, a decision to Amanda Ribas, and then took time out to have her baby. She returned in 2020 and was on fire. She rattled off 4 straight wins, 3 were first round submissions and she got 3 POTN bonuses. Not only that, she seemed to have gotten the weight cut figured out as well. The mini streak came to an end last October though, when she lost her first 5 round main event to Marina Rodriguez. It was a pretty good fight and Dern certainly had her moments but it was a clear Rodriguez win. Dern has since bounced back with a points win over Tecia Torres at UFC 273 in April.

Yan Xiaonan is 33 and has a record of 15-3-0-1 with 7 knockouts. She’s got decent UFC wins over the likes of Angela Hill, Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Claudia Gadelha. But I remember sod all of any of that and I know I must’ve seen those fights. Overall she’s had a bit of a forgettable run. I was a bit shocked when I looked her record up and saw 7 wins by knockout but they all came pre-UFC. She’s been a full-on decision merchant on the big stage. Not a bad fighter, just nothing remarkable or outstanding about her. She’s coming off back-to-back losses here as well. Lost a split against Marina Rodriguez in March and before that she got beat to a bloody pulp and TKO’d by Carla Esparza last year. So the timing seems a bit odd for her to get her first main event. You know what this is though. They’re no doubt hoping Dern shines here and can get back in the race towards a title shot. It’s not like they’ve protected her or given her soft matchups but I think they’d definitely like her to get in the title mix. I would as well, to be honest. Strawweight is a fun little division at the top end. If she can level up a bit there’s some really good fights to make with her and the top contenders. We’ll see how she looks here. I remember her cardio flagging in the Rodriguez fight as it went on so it’ll be interesting to see if she’s made the necessary adjustments here and see how she does if this one goes long. Not the best of main events but an intriguing test for Dern.

 

Randy Brown vs Francisco Trinaldo as co-main seems a bit weird but, like the headliner, I kind of like it as a bit of a litmus test for Brown. He’s a guy I’ve enjoyed watching on the undercards and prelims for a few years now. He showed flashes of legitimate potential a few times but wasn’t really able to find consistency until fairly recently. He’s 15-4 with 11 finishes now and has won 5 of his last 6. Hasn’t been beating a who’s who but wins over Khaos Williams, Cowboy Oliveira and a TKO over Bryan Barberena isn’t too shabby. At 6’3” with a 78in reach, he’s a big fucker for Welterweight as well. Trinaldo is a hurdle many a promising up and comer has fallen at though. At 44 years old, he’s still plugging away and going strong. He’s also won 5 of his last 6 and he’s coming off a couple of wins. You look back over his career as well, he’s got a better record than I think a lot of people realise. Wins over Paul Felder, Bobby Green, Jim Miller, Ross Pearson etc. He’s no pushover. Tough bastard as well. In 36 fights and 10 years in the UFC, he’s never been knocked out or TKO’d. I’m not even sure if he’s been knocked down! He probably has been but nothing is jumping out in my memory. He is beatable, you have to have something about you but he is beatable. But it’s like he’s made of stone or marble or something. Hard as fuck.

 

Raoni Barcelos vs Trevin Jones could be fun. Really like watching Barcelos. Everyone was on his dick for a while but he’s lost a couple of decisions recently and, typical of fickle MMA fans, the bandwagon emptied. He looked great in a few of his earlier UFC fights though. Put a serious beating on Khalid Taha, beat Said Nurmagomedov, I remember the Kurt Holobaugh fight and finish being impressive. He looked the business until recently. But he’s 35 now. He’s exciting to watch but he was probably never the hot prospect everyone briefly thought he might be. Just a bit too long in the tooth. A welcome addition to the middle of the pack in the fantastic Bantamweight division though. I don’t recall much of Jones and he’s coming off some losses himself. He’s 13-8-0-1. I remember him looking great in stopping Mario Bautista a while back but it seems he’s struggled against pretty much anyone better than that.

 

Sodiq Yusuff vs Don Shainis. Not the original plan. Yusuff was supposed to fight Giga Chikadze on the Sandhagen vs Song card but Chikadze dropped out. Sucks for Yusuff. That would’ve been a nice opportunity for him, Chikadze was on a roll and being hyped up before the Kattar loss. Now he’s in with a guy who’s making his UFC debut. I guess Yusuff just wants in there after going through a full training camp for Chikadze. These late switch ups are always a risk though. New kid Shainis is 12-3 with 10 finishes and is on a 5 fight winning streak. He’s the Cage Titans Featherweight champ and the Fighting Alliance Lightweight champ. This one’s at 145.

 

John Castaneda vs Daniel Santos. Quite looking forward to seeing Castaneda back in there actually. Old ‘Sexi Mexi’ as he’s also known. He’s 19-5 with 14 finishes, had a bit of a hit and miss run prior to signing with the UFC and lost his Octagon debut against Nathaniel Wood. He’s since rattled off back-to-back finishes over Eddie Wineland and  Miles Johns though. Bashed up Wineland in a round but Wineland’s career was on its arse by then and he’s since retired. I thought he looked great against Johns though. And I was starting to rate Johns going into that one. Castaneda broke him down, hurt him on the feet and finished it with a sweet arm triangle. Not as familiar with Santos but he’s a Chute Boxe guy so you know I’ve got a soft spot there. He’s 8-2 with 5 finishes but is coming off a points loss in his UFC debut against Julio Arce in April.

 

Mike Davis vs Viacheslav Borshchev is ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** here. Slava Claus is coming to town. This could be a corker actually. This card isn’t exactly heaving with mouth watering matchups but this one has really caught my eye. Davis is a fighter who really looks like he could be a problem but we just haven’t seen enough of him. He’s 9-2 overall, 8 finishes and the only losses have been against Gilbert Burns and Sodiq Yusuff. No shame there. And it’s still relatively early in his career in terms of number of fights. The main issue with Davis has been inactivity. Some on here will probably remember Davis for the time he slaughtered a badly outmatched Thomas Gifford back in 2019…

The knockout was brutal enough but that came in the dying seconds of the third round. There was nearly 15 minutes of GBH prior to that. A drawn out battering that was actually quite uncomfortable and disturbing to watch the longer it went on. Davis missed well over a year of action following that win though, various injuries and weight cutting issues kept him on the sidelines. He finally came back in January 2021, handed Mason Jones his first loss in a really good scrap…and hasn’t fought since again. So another 22 months out! Hopefully he makes it to the cage this time.

Slava Claus should be bang up for this. I actually dipped into DWCS earlier this year and it just so happened to be the episode with this sod on. Instantly became a fan. I think it’s clear he’s not going far in a loaded division like 155. He’s 6-2 with 5 knockouts but he got exposed big time by Marc Diakiese in his last fight. He can definitely whack, and his body shot stoppage in his UFC debut was ace. But Diakiese wasn’t playing that game and just wrestled the arse off him for the full 15 minutes. Proper demoralising stuff. He had nothing on the ground. So yeah, my expectations for him going forward aren’t high and there’s an obvious blueprint for Davis to follow here that could make this very straightforward for him. But I can’t see this looking like the Diakiese fight myself. I think Davis is gonna wanna make a big statement after the layoff. I sense fireworks. Another one of those fights that you see booked and realise just how deep that Lightweight division really is.

 

Alexey Oleynik vs Ilir Latifi is a clash of two of my favourite Heavyweights. Neither of which were ever gonna amount to much really in the UFC but I’ve always liked both and they’ve had fairly interesting careers. At 45 years old, Oleynik’s surely approaching the finish line of his career. This’ll be his 78th MMA fight. SEVENTY EIGHT! He’s had 60 wins, finished 55 of them, submitted 47 of them, with 14 via Ezekiel choke! At one point earlier in his career he ended 4 consecutive fights with the Ezekiel. Crazy. He’s also partial to scarf chokes and neck cranks.

Basically, you do not wanna be on the mat with this bastard. Not a bad list of names on his resume either. While he’s never been a contender or a big player in the division, he’s beat some guys who absolutely were in that bracket. Wins over the likes of Fabricio Werdum, Mark Hunt and Mirko Cro Cop are his standouts! He comes into this fight off a first round scarf choke submission over Jared Vanderaa in April. He got a POTN bonus for that and also snapped a shitty 3 fight losing skid in the process.

Forum favourite Ilir Latifi stands in his way though. Just a tank of a man. He’s no spring chicken himself at 39 years old but he hasn’t had nearly the amount of miles on him. He’s 15-8-0-1 and he also got a much needed win last time out over Tanner Boser, after a 3 fight losing streak of his own. That was over a year ago now though. He had maybe the weirdest MMA debut ever in 2008 when his fight with Blagoy Ivanov ended in a No Contest after those two big lumps somehow broke the ring less than a minute into the fight. Bit of an odd fight this and I’m not really looking forward to seeing either lose at this stage but it’ll be interesting to see how they match up. I’d have to favour Oleynik myself, even now in the twilight of his career. But can Oleynik choke a man with no neck?

 

Joaquim Silva vs Jesse Ronson. Pure filler. Barely remember either and looking at their records, I can see why. Silva’s 11-3, has lost 3 of his last 4 and has barely fought the last few years. Got knocked out by Nasrat Haqparast in 2019, disappeared, resurfaced last year and got clobbered by Ricky Glenn in 37 seconds. Ronson’s 21-11-0-1 and has won only once out of his last 5 fights. He did get a submission win over Nicolas Dalby in his UFC debut in 2020, cut a promo talking shit after and then proceeded to get himself popped by USADA. He came back from his suspension in April, only to get submitted by Rafa Garcia.

 

Brendan Allen vs Krzysztof Jotko then. Fucking Jotko again. The male Katlyn Chookagian. Just does fuck all for me. He’s 24-5 and has fought in the UFC since 2013, 16 times, and all I remember is he occasionally does a spinaroonie when he wins. His fights pretty much always go the distance and they’re no fun to watch. Like Chookagian, he’s effective enough to where he wins a lot more than he loses, but Christ he’s a dullard. He even dragged Gerald Meerschaert to a stinker last time out in May. Ruined Gerald’s little win streak as well, the prick. Hopefully Allen chins him here. I’ve got time for Allen. He’s the total opposite to Jotko, really fun fighter to watch. He’s 19-5 with 15 finishes and comes in off a couple of wins over Sam Alvey (Ha!) and Jacob Malkoun. He also beat Punahele Soriano in 2021 and Kyle Daukaus in 2020, in a couple of forgotten gems. And also subbed Kevin Holland back in 2019. Still only 26 as well. He’s had some setbacks and there’s a very real likelihood that Jotko just shuts him down and nullifies him to a shite 30-26 decision but I’m hoping Allen can make something happen and end the misery here.

 

Maxim Grishin vs Philipe Lins is just there. Not arsed. Grishin’s Russian, 38 years old with a record of 32-9-2. He did actually have a few notable pre-UFC wins. He subbed Alexander Volkov on a M-1 show back in 2010 and TKO’d Trevor Prangley in 2014. Also got stopped by Ankalaev in 4 rounds in 2016. Had an alright little run in the PFL. He’s knocked about a bit. Hasn’t blown me away in the UFC though. He’s gone 2-2 so far. Wins over Gadzhimurad Antigulov and William Knight, losses to Marcin Tybura and Dustin Jacoby. Lins is kind of the Brazilian version of Lins. He’s 37 with a 15-5 record. Had a stint in Bellator and got stopped in a round by Vadim Nemkov, did actually win the PFL tournament in 2018 but has gone 1-2 in the UFC. Nothing happening fight on paper but maybe they’ll match up well.

 

Julija Stoliarenko vs Chelsea Chandler. Nothing special but might be alright. Stoliarenko will probably never amount to much but she’s grown on me the short time she’s been in the UFC so far. She’d just won the Invicta belt when she made her Octagon debut but then swiftly lost 3 fights on the trot. She had a really fun scrap with Julia Avila in there but a loss all the same. She finally got her first UFC win in July, subbing Jessica Rose Clark in under a minute with a nasty looking armbar.

?

She then casually talked about being willing to snap limbs if need be and at that point she got me as a fan. Chelsea Chandler makes her debut here. She’s 28 and from Stockton, California and trains at Cesar Gracie’s. Home of the Diaz brothers. She’s 4-1 with 2 finishes and all her fights have been in Invicta. Haven’t seen her fight and can’t find much else out there on her.

 

Randy Costa vs Guido Cannetti might be fun. Costa’s a funny one though. He’s shown little glimpses of real potential but it just hasn’t translated to consistency in getting results in the cage. He’s mega aggressive which makes him exciting to watch, but I think it’s worked against him at times as well. Especially in the loss to Adrian Yanez last summer. He was looking fantastic in the opening round of that fight but couldn’t keep up that blistering pace and Yanez toughed it out and wound up folding him with a nasty body shot. Costa then got stopped by dickhead Tony Kelley in December. So that’s two losses on the bounce, taking him to 6-3 overall. Not the best. This is a fight he should be winning though. Cannetti is 42 years old and 9-6 in MMA. He stopped Kris Moutinho last time but Moutinho is cack. Cannetti had lost 3 straight before that and I’ve never thought much of him. If Costa loses this it’s not looking good for him.

 

Again, it’ll do. One step closer to UFC 280. 

Edited September 30, 2022 by wandshogun09

[WeeAl]

I noticed the thread title and thought, I don't care what Wand says, there's no way the UFC have booked McKenzie Dern Vs Petr Yan in a Good Housekeeping Match. 

[wandshogun09]

[Egg Shen]

they put a lot of effort into that event poster didn't they

[wandshogun09]

On 9/25/2022 at 9:43 AM, Egg Shen said:

they put a lot of effort into that event poster didn't they

I was gonna say, gives me a headache just looking at it. 

[Egg Shen]

[David]

Confirmed NOT Covid related, for anyone wondering.

[Dai]

What's the rumour about doing this then? She's being very cagey in her replies? Is it just to piss Ebb off even more by having literally no one making noise at the Apex? 

[Egg Shen]

?

no reason given yet, Dana will probably let people know at the media scrum after tonight's Contenders show.

[wandshogun09]

I did see this earlier. Fuck knows?

[WeeAl]

2 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

I did see this earlier. Fuck knows?

I haven't even the faintest idea what that tweet is trying to say. 

[wandshogun09]

? me neither really. Some gimmicky virtual reality bollocks as far as I can tell.

9pm start time for the prelims. Latest bout order.

Edited September 27, 2022 by wandshogun09

[Egg Shen]

i may have skipped this but the 9pm start time works nicely for me

[Egg Shen]

here's Dana White's response to why the event will be closed off to the media:

[Bus Surfer]

Nothing official has come out but Amy Kaplan who has been tweeting about this all week has apparently stated she's been told Mark Zuckerberg has bought out the event and that's why there will be no fans or media. Something to do with VR has been talked about. 

Hasn't there been talk that Zuckerberg has been training MMA recently too? 

This is all very odd.