UFC Vegas: Grasso vs Araujo - Oct 15 🇺🇸

[wandshogun09]

Feel like a broken record but…Apex again 😏

ESPN MAIN CARD
Alexa Grasso vs Viviane Araujo 

Cub Swanson vs Jonathan Martinez

Dusko Todorovic vs Jordan Wright

Raphael Assuncao vs Victor Henry 

Misha Cirkunov vs Alonzo Menifield

ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMS
Mana Martinez vs Brandon Davis

Nick Maximov vs Jacob Malkoun 

Joanderson Brito vs Lucas Alexander

Piera Rodriguez vs Sam Hughes

CJ Vergara vs Tatsuro Taira 

Mike Jackson vs Pete Rodriguez 

 

I quite like this actually. Not stacked or anything and the main event isn’t the best but there’s plenty to sink your teeth into throughout the card overall. By Apex card standards, I think this is alright. Not sure about the order yet, we’re just under 2 weeks out from the show so that probably means about 24 reshuffles to come.

 

Alexa Grasso vs Viviane Araujo tops the bill. Not ideal as a headliner and no doubt it’ll be shat all over as fight week approaches. I actually don’t mind the fight itself though. It just seems a bit off as a main event but whatever. It’s not a bad fight at all. Seen some cries of ‘worst main event ever’ on social media but that’s shite. We’ve had a lot worse.

Grasso is Mexican, 29 years old with a record of 14-3. Not exactly a big finisher, only 5 of her wins came inside the distance and most of them were pre-UFC. But she’s been pretty consistently exciting to watch from what I’ve seen of her. She made her MMA debut in 2012 and knocked out her first two opponents in a combined 27 seconds. Which pisses all over my ‘not a finisher’ theory but, like I said, as she’s stepped up in levels against tougher opposition, the fight ending power doesn’t seem to be there. She went through Invicta, picking up 4 more wins, and won her UFC debut in 2016. She was 9-0 at that point but then suffered her first loss dropping a decision to Felice Herrig. She had mixed results after that but won a couple of fun fights against Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Randa Markos along the way. Then in September 2019, she did the impossible…

She dragged Carla Esparza to a FOTN on a card in Mexico City! It was a really fun fight from what I remember. But she lost a majority decision. I vaguely recall thinking there was a solid argument for Grasso getting the decision that night. Might have to rewatch it soon. Regardless, Grasso moved up to Flyweight after that loss and she’s been on a roll since. She’s gone 3-0 at 125lbs with points wins over Ji Yeon Kim and Maycee Barber where she showcased her boxing. Then in her last fight in March, she submitted Joanne (formerly Calder) Wood in a round.

Araujo’s Brazilian, 35 years old and 11-3 with 7 finishes. She’s had some alright wins during her UFC stint over the likes of Alexis Davis, Roxanne Modafferi and Montana De La Rosa. OK wins. But nothing outstanding and she’s never really wowed me in any of her performances. She’s not a bad fighter, I just think she found her level a while ago and, at 35, it’s very unlikely she goes on some late career surge now. She lost a lifeless decision to Katlyn Chookagian last year but a lot of women have had that pleasure. She also lost to Jessica Eye a few years back, which isn’t a good sign.

There we are. Like I say, it’s not a bad fight. Just feels like it’s getting higher billing than it deserves. But like the Dern vs Yan headliner the week before, it kind of makes sense in terms of showcasing the ‘A side’, which in this case is Grasso. She’s someone the big wigs behind the scenes probably see as a future contender, plus she’s Mexican and she’s usually in entertaining fights. Doesn’t hurt to have her test the waters in her first 5 rounder. She’s ranked #5 now and the four women above her have already been through the Shevchenko meat grinder once. It’s looking like they might be doing Shevchenko vs Santos 2 on the Brazil card in January but I’ve got a feeling they’re holding off on announcing that until they see how this fight goes. A win for Grasso here, especially if she gets a finish or has a really strong showing, could put her in a great position to challenge for the gold as the only fresh face in the Top 5. Granted, all roads lead to a Shev pasting but what can you do? And to be fair, Val looked a bit more human against Santos last time and she’s 34 herself now and has a lot of miles on the clock. I wouldn’t really fancy Grasso’s chances but, who knows, the timing could be good for her. She’s got to get past Araujo first though.

 

Cub Swanson vs Jonathan Martinez should be fun. Enjoy Cub while he’s still around. He’ll be 39 in November and, with the way he fights, there’s surely not gonna be too many more left in him. In all the years he’s been around though, I honestly can’t recall a fight of his that bored me. Seems a top lad as well and I really like the matchmaking here. Martinez should be a good dance partner for him but it’s also a sensible matchup where they’re not feeding Cub to some absolute killer.

Swanson is 28-12 now with 17 finishes and a bunch of wild scraps on his record. The obvious one being his FOTY candidate with the ‘Korean Superboy’ Doo Ho Choi in 2016. A fight that’s since gone into the Hall Of Fame. Then you can throw in the forgotten 3 fight run of corkers against Poirier, Siver and Stephens in 2013/14, his first round KO over some guy called Charles Oliveira, his fight with Takaya in WEC. Even in more recent years, he had that cracking scrap with Kron Gracie in 2019, Kron’s been in no rush to get back to MMA since then. Cub’s still dangerous. His last two knockouts over Daniel Pineda and Darren Elkins showed that. Martinez is a decade younger at 28 and he’s the kind of fighter that’s most likely gonna meet Swanson head on. He’s 16-4, on a 3 fight win streak and is 5-1 in his last 6. The only loss recently was when Davey Grant decked him early last year in an enjoyable slugfest. Can’t see anything other than another FOTN contender here. Swanson’s definitely operated at a higher level and I’d expect him to get a win from this. He has been inactive 10 months but I think at this late stage of his career, as long as he’s staying sharp in the gym, him giving his body a rest is probably a good thing.

 

Dusko Todorovic vs Jordan Wright. Got a feeling someone’s eating canvas here. Todorovic is Serbian, 11-3 with 10 finishes. Wright is a Texan, 12-3-0-1 with all his wins coming inside the distance. Add to that, both guys losses have almost all been them getting finished as well. I’d say there’s a high chance this fight ends violently. Todorovic’s only loss that actually went to a decision was a 3 round slobberknocker with Gregory Rodrigues last year. Not sure how this one goes. Feels very much like a ‘whoever lands the first big shot’ thing. They’ve both lost 3 of their last 4 as well so it’s either gonna make them both a bit more cautious because they’re just trying to secure the win, or they’ll come out throwing heat for the same reason. I think it’ll be the latter. Even if they start off trying to pace themselves, once one of them gets clipped they’re almost certainly gonna revert to the default setting of swinging like maniacs until someone hits the deck.

 

Raphael Assuncao vs Victor Henry is a bit of a weird one but a fight I’m oddly intrigued by. Assuncao’s been around forever now. One of the unsung kind of pioneers of the lighter weight classes. He has wins over the likes of Jorge Masvidal, Joe Lauzon, Pedro Munhoz, Marlon Moraes and Rob Font. He’s even got a couple of split decisions over current Bantamweight champ Aljamain Sterling and the top contender TJ Dillashaw! Not a bad CV at all. But as it stands now in 2022, he’s 40 years old and coming off 4 consecutive losses. He hasn’t won since 2018 and he’s barely even fought the last few years. Between a battle with COVID and a fucking car crash, he’s had a shitter of a last few years. That brutal one punch KO he suffered against Cody Garbrandt in 2020 probably killed his chin off for good. That was absolutely devastating. He’s got stopped again by Ricky Simon last year as well. It’s proper last legs stuff.

Victor Henry isn’t much younger at 35, no spring chicken, but he’s way less beat up and shopworn than Assuncao. He’s 22-5 with 14 finishes, has pre-UFC wins over Anderson Dos Santos and Kyler Phillips and trains with Josh Barnett. He made his Octagon debut at UFC 270 in January and beat Raoni Barcelos on points. He was like a little whirlwind in that fight from what I remember of it. Reminded me a bit of peak Clay Guida from the mid 2000s with his relentless pace. If that’s typical of his style then this just seems like a terrible matchup for an ageing Assuncao coming off a load of losses and being knocked out. It’s one of those fights again where, on the one hand you want Assuncao to snap the losing streak. But on the other hand, that’ll probably just convince him to keep fighting and nobody really needs to see that at this point.

 

Misha Cirkunov vs Alonzo Menifield. Anyone need a jar opening? Just looking at these two, it looks like a match lifted straight from the midcard of an 80s WWF show. Mental old Vinny Mac would be all over this. When it comes to actual fighting, they’re midcard at best as well. Cirkunov’s 15-8, he had a couple of solid submission wins over Nikita Krylov and Ion Cutelaba at the start of his UFC run but since then, aside from his Peruvian necktie finish against Jim Crute in 2019, he’s done fuck all of note. He’s coming off 3 straight losses now as well. He was only really losing to decent-good fighters before but he just got subbed by bang average Wellington Turman in his last fight so that doesn’t bode well. I like Menifield, to be fair. Seems a good guy the few times I’ve watched his interviews. Got off to a strong start going 9-0 with 9 finishes and knocked out Paul Craig in his second UFC outing. He dropped right off though and his record currently stands at 12-3. We last saw him in June making short work of that Askar Mozharov weirdo. I don’t have particularly high expectations for this but it’s one of those powerhouse fights where the ingredients are certainly there for some fireworks if they’re both feeling it.

 

Mana Martinez vs Brandon Davis is prelim filler but could be very enjoyable prelim filler. Martinez is 26 years old and has a record of 9-3 with 8 knockouts. He fought mostly in LFA and Fury FC early in his career and scored a quick TKO over eventual TUF winner Ricky Turcios on a Fury card back in 2018. He got stopped himself in a failed attempt at DWCS in 2020 but got another couple of fast finishes and wound up in the UFC anyway. He beat old man Guido Cannetti on points in his debut. My point of reference for Martinez though, is his last fight against Ronnie Lawrence at UFC 271 in February.

He lost the decision that night but, seriously, if you missed that fight and you’ve got 15 minutes to kill, there are worse ways to spend that time. Fantastic fight. Not FOTY material or anything but if I had to put together a proper ‘Best Of’ compilation of fights this year, Martinez vs Lawrence would absolutely make the cut. Davis is 32 with a 14-9 record and trains under UFC veteran and shit tattoo connoisseur Alan Belcher. He’s never been anything special, to be honest, I mostly remember him as the guy who got tied in knots by Zabit a few years ago.

Twister never looked that painful when I was a kid. He did take Giga Chikadze to a split decision in 2019 apparently but I have zero recollection of that fight. He got released from the UFC off the back of that loss, went away and picked up 4 wins in a promotion called Gulf Coast MMA and returned to the UFC last October. Only to be TKO’d in 2 minutes by Danaa Batgerel. I’m thinking Martinez gets the job done here just on account of him being younger, fresher and, well, better.

 

Nick Maximov vs Jacob Malkoun should be worth a gander. Maximov’s one of those guys who came in with a bit of hype because of his unbeaten record but, really, mostly because of his affiliation with the Diaz brothers. He hadn’t had any notable wins before appearing on DWCS in 2020 but he impressed enough to get in the UFC and wins over Cody Brundage and Punahele Soriano were a good start to his run on the big stage. He was 8-0 going into his last fight against Andre Petroski in May and…

8-1 now. Yeah, it didn’t go well. He got put to bed with a deep anaconda choke just over a minute into the first round. Sounds harsh but I was sort of happy to see it. Maximov’s a guy I kind of took an instant disliking to, for no real reason other than him seeming a bit of a twat and always coming off like he’s trying hard to act and talk like a Diaz. Bit cringe. He’s only 24 though so maybe he’ll grow up a bit. Malkoun is 27, fights out of Sydney, Australia and is currently 6-2 in his young MMA career. He’s a teammate of Robert Whittaker which no doubt opened some doors for him. I’m not sure he’s ready though. He beat Abdul Razak Alhassan last year, which isn’t a bad win for a guy in his 6th fight. But the two times he’s stepped up a level - against Phil Hawes and Brendan Allen - it’s gone tits up. I’d have to favour Maximov myself but I’d like to see Malkoun get the W.

 

Joanderson Brito vs Lucas Alexander got thrown together late in the day. Brito was all set to face Melsik Baghdasaryan on this card but the Armenian withdrew. Bit hazy on Brito. A quick refresher on Sherdog was needed. He’s Brazilian, 27 years old with a record of 13-3-1 and 11 finishes. Lost a decision to Bill Algeo in his UFC debut in January but bounced back in style with a 40 second TKO win over Andre Fili in April. Alexander is making his first Octagon appearance here, and on late notice to boot. He’s also Brazilian, also 27 and he’s 7-2 so far.

 

Piera Rodriguez vs Sam Hughes is a nothing fight really. Rodriguez is Venezuelan, unbeaten at 8-0 with 5 knockouts. Won a decision on DWCS last October. Then beat Kay Hansen on points in her UFC debut in April. Hughes hasn’t had much of a UFC stint. I actually vaguely remember quite positive reactions to the news of her signing with the UFC a while back but she immediately lost her first 3 fights and that was that. She has clawed it back somewhat, or at least kept her spot on the roster, with a couple of wins over Istela Nunes and Elise Reed in her last two fights but I don’t think she cuts it any higher than that type of level. Rodriguez should be winning this if she’s gonna go on to do anything of note. It’s the MMA equivalent of feeding a journeyman to an upcoming boxer.

 

CJ Vergara vs Tatsuro Taira is a fight I’m looking forward to, purely to see Taira back in there. Vergara’s 10-3-1 and, according to Sherdog, trains or has trained under old school UFC vet Pete Spratt! There’s a blast from the past. He’s 10-3-1 with 6 knockouts and is coming into this fight off a split decision win over Kleydson Rodrigues in May. Like I said though, Taira is where my interest is here.

He’s only 22 years old, undefeated at 11-0 with 8 finishes and came into the UFC as the Shooto Flyweight champion. Of course, all his pre-UFC wins were over in Japan and I’m way out of the loop with the scene over there now. Only name on his record that immediately jumps out is Yoshiro Maeda (challenged Miguel Torres for the WEC belt way back) but he’s 40 now. Regardless, Taira made his UFC debut in May and beat Carlos Candelario by decision. A big finish obviously would’ve been nice as his introduction to the UFC but it was still a really impressive debut. From memory it was the kind of smooth, complete performance that made you forget this kid is only 22 years old. Early days of course but he’s definitely one to keep an eye on.

 

Mike Jackson vs Pete Rodriguez then. Deary me. Why they keep persisting with this Jackson jabroni baffles me. He’s genuinely terrible. Made his professional MMA debut in the UFC and got rolled over by Mickey Gall in less than a minute. Beat CM Punk on points in one of the worst fights in UFC history, then it got overturned to a No Contest because he was smoking weed. That’s 2018. He doesn’t fight again, doesn’t go away and redeem himself picking up wins on smaller shows, fuck all. Then inexplicably gets brought back to the UFC this year, yeah after 4 years of doing nothing, and ‘beats’ Dean Barry by DQ in another shit and weird fight full of fouls and sloppiness. Why did they bring him back at all? Plus he’s 37 now. It’s not like he’s got any upside or has shown anything resembling potential or development. He was a photographer who took a few fights and was clearly only in the UFC because they thought he was so shite that even CM Punk could beat him and they’d finally get the moaning wanker a win.

Turns out he was still leagues above Phil Punk. But it really shouldn’t have lasted this long. He’s arse. I think this matchmaking says it all though. Pete Rodriguez is only 4-1 but he can definitely whack. All 4 wins came by first round knockout, 2 of them in under a minute. His only loss so far came in his UFC debut in January. But that was a short notice fight against Jack Della Maddalena, who looks a bit of a beast so far. And I remember Rodriguez making a good scrap of it the short time it lasted. I think it’s clear the UFC have set this up to get Jackson ironed out. Hopefully it happens and we never see him stinking up these cards again. But if that is what the powers that be are planning, it begs the question why bring Jackson back in the first place? He was crap back in 2018 and did nothing, literally nothing, in the 4 years since to suggest he was worth bringing back.

 

Not bad. 

Edited October 14, 2022 by wandshogun09

[Egg Shen]

Mike Jackson has some shit on Dana White, i'm sure of it.

[WeeAl]

The main event is a perfectly fine fight, but a totally uninspiring choice for a main event of a show. For a start, there's at least two other fights on the card (Askarov/Royval and Swanson/Martinez) that I would be way more interested in watching play out over five rounds. 

[Egg Shen]

...Rodriguez/Magny too

[wandshogun09]

47 minutes ago, WeeAl said:

The main event is a perfectly fine fight, but a totally uninspiring choice for a main event of a show. For a start, there's at least two other fights on the card (Askarov/Royval and Swanson/Martinez) that I would be way more interested in watching play out over five rounds. 

That’s the thing. I get what they’re doing. Grasso is ranked #5 at Flyweight and she’s kind of marketable given her style, Mexican blood and her looks. She could be in line for title contention with a win here so they need to start highlighting her a bit more really. Nothing against Araujo but it’s her as the opponent that knocks points off it for me. But then again I can’t think of another obvious option they could’ve gone with against Grasso here. Purely as which fights I wanna see more though, Askarov vs Royval would’ve been the one to make 5 rounds for me. That would’ve been a cracking headliner. Swanson vs Martinez as well but to a lesser degree because, like Araujo, Martinez just doesn’t feel like he belongs in that spot. And Magny vs Rodriguez, I get the shout @Egg Shen and I wouldn’t hate it as a Fight Night main event but the prospect of a 5 round Magny fight is the stuff of nightmares. I’d actually rather Grasso vs Araujo on top than that. 

Edited September 27, 2022 by wandshogun09

[Panhead]

Big fan of Grasso 😍 She's had some entertaining fights too like. 

[Egg Shen]

[wandshogun09]

Daniel Rodriguez is out of the Magny fight.

 

[wandshogun09]

And there goes Royval vs Askarov, my ‘one to watch’.

Between this and Rodriguez vs Magny falling apart, this card is looking so much weaker now than when I originally knocked up the opening post. They need to wrap Cub in bubble wrap for 24 hours. 

[Egg Shen]

pwp

[Egg Shen]

updated card...

actually think 10-11 fights is about right for the Apex.

[Egg Shen]

the people's main event.

[wandshogun09]

Shite that I’ve gotta root for someone with what looks like tattooed on sideburns but that’s what it’s come to. Jackson is the turd that won’t flush. 

[wandshogun09]

Grasso vs Araujo was a decent enough fight with some nice exchanges but never truly caught fire. Araujo was game but just didn’t really have much for Grasso on the feet, and that’s where the bulk of the fight played out. She just ate too many shots and when it was over I felt like Grasso had taken a wide decision.

Right woman absolutely won and the scorecards seemed about right to me. Wasn’t a bad fight but wasn’t Grasso’s best and wasn’t really the kind of performance that’ll get people clamouring for her to get a title shot anytime soon. She can’t be far off anyway though and a fight or two more can only help. I said before that I thought the UFC were holding off on announcing Valentina Shevchenko’s next fight until seeing how this fight went. I think we’ll be seeing Shevchenko vs Santos 2 now. Can’t really think of anything obvious for Grasso next though. It’s a shame really but I really think if Grasso had some legit knockout power, she’d probably be a bit of a star. She lands her shots and she’s always down to scrap but there doesn’t seem to be much venom in her hands as she’s advanced in her career, and gone up to Flyweight.

Martinez vs Swanson was bittersweet. Always shit seeing Cub lose but Martinez put in the best performance of his career. A pretty complete performance, went to the body at the end of the first, then the leg kicks in the second round were nasty.

Didn’t even realise Cub was dropping to 135 for this until we were in fight week but that’s his fresh start down the pan already. Not sure what’s next for Martinez but this was his fourth win in a row and the biggest name win of his career to date. He should get something decent off the back of a win like this. The Dominick Cruz callout made sense but I’m not sure Cruz goes for it. As for Cub, there’s one obvious fight to me. A fight I’ve wanted to see for ages and one that it’s kind of surprising has never happened before. Tell me you wouldn’t be all over a Swanson vs Zombie fight? Apparently the UFC are planning to head back to Korea for a card in February and it’s supposed to be the Zombie’s farewell fight. I can’t think of a guy on the roster who would make for a better choice than Cub. Unless they’re gonna bring Leonard Garcia back just for the Zombie to style on one last time, Cub is the fight to make.

Dusko Todorovic vs Jordan Wright turned into the slobberknocker it was always gonna be. Todorovic lives for brawls like this and, he might not look like your typical scrapper but so does Wright. He had a good first round but ultimately got dragged into a bomb fest and it was very entertaining to watch.

A return to the win column for Dusko and they rightly got FOTN. Wright might be gone now though. He’s lost and been finished 3 times in a row now, 1-4 in his last 5. Never in a boring fight as far as I recall but he’s just not cutting it. Only utter dullards like Sam Alvey can stack up the losses like that and stay on the roster. Todorovic isn’t gonna amount to much but he’s always fun to watch and will always inject some much needed life into these Apex cards.

Raphael Assuncao getting the win was actually a pleasant surprise. I quite like Victor Henry but this was a feel-good result for the old veteran after a really crappy 3 years or so, in and out of the cage. And it’s not like Henry was a soft comeback fight for him. I’m pretty sure this fight was made with the matchmakers seeing it as an opportunity to build Henry up with a win over an established and respected name. Assuncao wasn’t having it.

A win and performance like this at 40 is good going. Happy this got bumped to the main card as well. It shouldn’t have ever been on the prelims.

Alonzo Menifield kicked off the main card with a bang.

Brutal stuff. Neither are going very far, even in a weird division like 205. But this feels like it’s over for Cirkunov. That’s 4 losses on the bounce now, stopped in 3 of them, a loss to shitty Wellington Turman in there and now he’s just been bludgeoned by Menifield in 90 seconds. It’s not looking good for him. I like Menifield so was happy to see him pick up another win but I can’t see him doing much either. He’s always got that capability to switch the lights out early though so he’s decent value for where he sits in the LHW pecking order. He couldn’t have sounded less arsed in the post-fight interview though. Christ, he sounded down in the dumps.

Mana Martinez vs Brandon Davis was alright but I felt like Martinez should’ve got him out of there really. Krause going nuts in the corner was a bit much for me. I often feel like a lot of these cornermen are playing to the cameras trying to create their ‘moment’ and it’s a bit cringe. But the actual point of his message was probably right. Martinez showed 2 or 3 times he could hurt Davis and every time he sort of stepped off and gave him the time and space to regroup. Still got the decision so it’s hardly a huge negative but something he’ll probably have to address because it could cost him in the future. Almost did here, to be honest. Didn’t really get how the one judge had it for Davis. He took the third round but definitely lost the first two in my opinion. Just goes to show, if you get the chance to end a fight jump on it because some of these judges are fucking senile.

Really didn’t enjoy that Malkoun vs Maximov fight. Only thing I liked about it was the result because I find Maximov quite boring and unlikeable. Malkoun didn’t do much to make this any less boring himself though. And the fight as a whole didn’t exactly convince me that either has a particularly bright future. They’re not bad fighters in the sense that they will beat guys and make them look bad. But I don’t see either going far and they’re not much good to watch. Even with the kind of dramatic opening round here, with Maximov’s early knockdown and then the injury late in the round, it just felt like a nothing fight. Malkoun not being able to make more of a statement or look more impressive against a very average and hurt Maximov doesn’t fill me with hope for his future fights either. Shite. I’ll probably skip both mens next fights.

Joanderson Brito is a guy I’m gonna have to keep more of an eye on. I remember he lost his debut and I kind of dismissed him as nothing special but maybe I was wrong. He’s since stopped Andre Fili in 40 seconds, which is no joke. Now he’s subbed Lucas Alexander in 2 minutes.

Granted, I’d never seen Alexander before so I don’t know how impressive this win was for Brito. But after a shaky start, he’s well back on track now and he’s not fucking about in there. We’ll see what his level is as time goes on but he’s looked really good in his last couple.

Tatsuro Taira remains undefeated. Looked good again here and improves to 12-0 with 9 finishes. At just 22 years old, the potential there is off the charts. Maybe the best Japanese prospect to enter the UFC since Horiguchi came in years ago. I know that’s high praise but I’ve got a good feeling about him. Already kind of fights like a seasoned pro and he’s really just a kid. Nice to see him get his first UFC finish here as well. Hopefully they step him up gradually, he’s got plenty of time.

Oh and Pete Rodriguez murdered Mike Jackson in cold blood in the Fight Pass opener.

Surely that’s finally it for Jackson in the UFC? Absolutely rotten fighter and this result felt inevitable to me from the second the fight was announced. Not like I’d even seen much of Rodriguez but just based off his losing effort against Maddalena, and having seen how shite Jackson is, I just knew how this one was ending. This tells us nothing new about Rodriguez that you wouldn’t already know if you watched the Maddalena fight. But it was satisfying to watch.

 

280 next! 

Edited October 16, 2022 by wandshogun09

[Egg Shen]

Zoned out during that main event so no opinion on it really.

Moment of the night for me was Assuncao, what a great performance. Always felt a bit sorry for Assuncao, for years he was the forgotten man at 135, always close to the top but had little fanfair, then he got killed by Garbrandt and went on a horrible skid. Always felt he never got his just rewards for how good he was. This was a great comeback against a guy was expected to lose too. He looked great.

Speaking of looking great, Jonathon Martinez, holy shit. Cub dropping down so late into his career seemed a bit of a desperate move to recapture glory, it was a mistake. Martinez looked like a beast in there.

And again, speaking of beasts. Joanderson Brito! I dunno how far that guy can go on that form, but good luck surviving the first round.

Not sure what happened to Maximov but he has the worst poker face i've ever seen in MMA. I don't think i've ever seen anyone wince like that, I started to think he was looking for the corner to pull him out but they weren't having any of it. I have a bit of a soft for Jacob Malkoun though, reminds me of someone like Court McGee. Not very athletic, just works hard and makes the most of what he's got. Always like those type of fighters.

Mike Jackson will probably get one more.

Fuck the Apex.

Edited October 18, 2022 by Egg Shen