Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted July 25, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted July 25, 2023 (edited) Off to ‘Music City’ Nashville, Tennessee with this lot… ESPN MAIN CARD Cory Sandhagen vs Rob Font Jessica Andrade vs Tatiana Suarez Dustin Jacoby vs Kennedy Nzechukwu Gavin Tucker vs Diego Lopes Tanner Boser vs Aleksa Camur Ignacio Bahamondes vs Ludovit Klein ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMS Kyler Phillips vs Raoni Barcelos Jeremiah Wells vs Carlston Harris Billy Quarantillo vs Damon Jackson Jake Hadley vs Cody Durden Dennis Buzukja vs Sean Woodson Ode Osbourne vs Assu Almabayev I think that’s a really fun, strong card for a Fight Night. Of course, they’re out of the Apex and have to actually sell tickets to this so it’s got to be better than Apex dross. Top three fights are quality and there’s some decent stuff sprinkled throughout the rest of the card. It’ll do nicely. It won’t be the final bout order, it never is. I’ll edit as we go. Cory Sandhagen vs Rob Font tops this one. Really like the sound of this. And fair play, it’s a cracking save. We were supposed to get Sandhagen vs Umar Nurmagomedov here but Umar’s out. Gutted about that because I thought it was a really interesting fight and a massive step up for Umar. That’ll have to wait now. But as replacements go, they couldn’t have done much better than this. Especially given the short notice. Font was all set to face Song Yadong at UFC 292 later in August but there were reports that Song was hurt anyway. It all lined up and it’s like this fight was just meant to be. It’s still a 5 rounder but it’s gonna be at a Catchweight of 140lbs because Font’s camp is getting cut short by a couple of weeks. Sandhagen’s class. He’s been hovering around the top of the Bantamweight division for a few years now and has had mixed results. But he’s always there or thereabouts. And he’s been doing well for himself recently. He had those points losses to TJ Dillashaw and Petr Yan a couple of years ago but even then the TJ decision was debatable. Since then he’s beat Song Yadong and Chito Vera and he’s looked really good. The Chito win in March was a lot more one sided than I think a lot of people expected. Maybe the best overall performance we’ve seen from the ‘Sandman’ in the UFC to date. If you didn’t see the fight and you look up the result, don’t let the ‘split decision’ verdict fool you. How the one judge scored it for Chito I don’t know. Sandhagen clearly won. Set of bollocks on him as well. It’s been forgotten but he actually called out Merab Dvalishvili after that win. A fight that we’re not exactly seeing 135ers lining up to call for. Then with Merab injured, Sandhagen didn’t hesitate to sign for the Umar fight. Again, not a fight guys are campaigning for and it would’ve been a high risk fight against a guy who’s not established yet. He’ll fight any fucker. His attitude seems to be that if you think you’re the best in the division and you plan on becoming champion, you’re gonna have to beat everyone anyway. He’s looking for no easy routes. As a 36 year old Bantamweight, Font’s obviously no spring chicken. He’s got skills though and I love watching him. And on a good night, he can give almost anyone in the division a tough night. He’s had some rough fights in recent years. Those back-to-back 5 rounders against Aldo and Chito were brutal. He took a lot of damage in those fights, especially the Chito loss where he got all kinds of lumped up. He was on a hell of a run before those losses as well. He managed to string together a 4 fight winning streak over Sergio Pettis, Ricky Simon, Marlon Moraes and Cody Garbrandt. But those Aldo/Chito losses badly derailed him. He finally bounced back in his last fight though… That’s what happened the last time we saw Font. Him and Adrian Yanez threw down in a wild 3 minute shootout at UFC 287 in April and, as you can see, Font was quicker on the draw. About as good as a 3 minute fight gets. A fantastic bounce back for him. I’ve long felt like Font’s probably got the best jab in the division and it seemed like he couldn’t miss with it that night, and that ultimately led to the finish. Great little scrap but an even better performance and a much needed return to winning ways for Font. Love this. It’s not as intriguing as Sandhagen vs Umar would’ve been for me but it might actually be a more entertaining fight to watch. Not sure what the stakes are now. Sandhagen was saying not too long ago that he’d been told the Umar fight would be a #1 contenders match for the next crack at gold after Aljo vs O’Malley. But obviously there’s a lot of moving parts. For one, Aljo’s saying he’s moving up to 145 after the O’Malley fight, regardless of the result. Then there’s Merab lurking. And with Umar out of this show and this fight being a Catchweight now, it might change things. Still, Sandhagen’s ranked #4 now. Even with the Catchweight, an impressive performance here should see him well in the mix. Tremendous fight here either way. I’m definitely favouring Sandhagen but I wouldn’t completely write Font off either. Just thinking about both of their striking styles, I can’t see how this isn’t an absolute corker. Jessica Andrade vs Tatiana Suarez should be good. It was originally supposed to be Suarez against Virna Jandiroba but Jandiroba suffered a knee injury. This is an improvement. And it’s a bigger fight for Suarez as well. I like it. Andrade’s ace. One of my favourite female fighters in the game. Just a little bundle of aggression and, win or lose, never in a boring fight. She’s fallen on hard times lately though. She’s been finished in her last two fights, at both Flyweight and Strawweight. She got submitted by Erin Blanchfield in February, then Yan Xiaonan knocked her out in 2 minutes in May. That Yan KO loss was a bit of a shock. It’s been rough for the former champ. But true to form, here she is jumping straight back in with another tough stylistic matchup and on short notice! If there was a BMF title fight for women, Andrade should be getting a shot at it. Suarez finally made her Octagon return in February. After well over 3 years on the shelf and an absolute horror show of injuries. Proper feel-good moment seeing her get the win and you could see the relief on her face to finally get that first fight back over with. She’s still relatively young at 32 and she’s still undefeated at 9-0. Very interesting to see how far she can go now. Hopefully she can stay healthy now and we’ll find out soon enough. She’s got a hell of a story. The amateur wrestling background, missing out on the 2012 Olympics because she got cancer, then beating cancer, she has a first round submission win over current Flyweight champ Alexa Grasso etc. It’d be such a great story if she can go all the way. I was really looking forward to seeing her work her way up the Flyweight ranks. Initially I thought she’d make an interesting and different challenge for Valentina Shevchenko but a rematch with Grasso for higher stakes down the line would be cool as well. But she’s back at Strawweight here. Good fights there as well though. Bit torn on this one. Andrade could really do with a win here and I hate to root against her but Suarez as a fresh challenger at either 115 or 125 is much needed. Good fight this. Dustin Jacoby vs Kennedy Nzechukwu is alright. The Light Heavyweight division isn’t much cop these days but I don’t mind this as a middle of the pack pairing. Jacoby’s never gonna amount to much. He’s 35 now and coming off two losses but I’ve mostly enjoyed watching him during this UFC stint. He’s not shy about throwing down. I’m hoping Nzechukwu stays on the winning track here though. I’ve become a bit of a fan of him over the last few years. His come from behind stoppages over Carlos Ulberg and Danilo Marques in 2021 won me over. He had a couple of setbacks after that but he’s turned it around and is coming into this fight off 3 straight wins over Karl Roberson, Ion Cutelaba and Devin Clark. All finishes. I don’t see UFC gold in his future but I like him. Seems a good guy as well from bits I’ve seen. Gavin Tucker vs Diego Lopes is this card’s ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** and it’s got fuck all to do with Tucker. He hasn’t fought since March 2021 and even then he got sparked by Dan Ige in 22 seconds! He did beat Billy Quarantillo before that but he’s also 37 and coming off well over 2 years of inactivity. Nothing stands out in the memory about him either. My excitement for this fight is based entirely off the one fight I’ve seen out of Lopes. Says it all about the first impression he made on me. He jumped in on very short notice at UFC 288 in May, and took on undefeated Russian grinder Movsar Evloev. A man who’s not only gone unbeaten so far in his career, he’s been even harder to look good against. He’s been pretty much just dominating the opposition. Lopes came in and dragged an absolute banger of a fight out of him. Evloev got the decision in the end but Lopes made him fucking graft for it and was constantly threatening from all angles with submission attempts. They got FOTN and Dana even said after the show that Lopes would be getting his show and win money despite losing the decision. When you think about how bloody tight Dana is with paying fighters, that tells you all you need to know about how Lopes fought is arse off. Really looking forward to seeing him again after a full training camp. Tanner Boser vs Aleksa Camur. Don’t know. I haven’t exactly got a strong opinion on this but Camur looks a bit like a young Frank Mir so that’s that. Team Boser it is! Could swear Boser was on about retiring recently. I know he was having a pop at the way the UFC handled sponsorships and how the fighters get fucked over on those deals. Fair play to him for speaking up. I suppose if he is retiring soon, that’ll be why he’s not giving a fuck about being outspoken now. He’s had a rough run of results in the UFC. He’s gone 4-5 overall and 1-4 in his last 5. He dropped to 205 for his last fight and physically he looked great. Only to get stopped in 2 minutes by Cutelaba. It’s just not panning out at all for him. Forgot Camur even existed. I remember he came in off DWCS a few years back but lost a couple of fights in the UFC and vanished. He last fought in June 2021 dropping a split decision to Nicolae Negumereanu. He’s still only 27. No real memory of him but he’s got Mir-face so I hope Boser chins him. Ignacio Bahamondes vs Ludovit Klein should be an excellent fight to kick off the main card. Should be a really fun standup battle. Bahamondes is someone I quickly became a fan of when he came to the UFC a couple of years back. He’s never gonna go too far, right away he lost a split decision to John Makdessi in his debut. But it was a fantastic fight from what I remember of it. Then in his next fight… He pulled off one of the best knockouts in UFC history with a spinning kick KO against Roosevelt Roberts. Breathtaking finish. Shades of Edson Barboza vs Terry Etim from years earlier. He subbed Rong Zhu after that but then had a year plus layoff so lost any momentum he’d built. He came back in April and won on points against Trey Ogden. He looked decent but nothing spectacular. Hopefully he can build off that now the ring rust is gone. He’s still only 25 so he’s got some time. I don’t think his ceiling is particularly high at 155 but if nothing else he’s exciting to watch. Klein’s coming off a draw against Jai Herbert but had beat Mason Jones before that. He’s had his ups and downs but he’s a solid striker in his own right and has a bunch of headkick knockouts under his belt. I like this pairing. Kyler Phillips vs Raoni Barcelos is another one of those fights I get the FOTN vibes from. I say it all the time and I’m saying it again, the Bantamweight division is the dogs bollocks. These two aren’t ranked, will probably never crack the Top 15 and it just shows the depth at 135 when you see fights of this quality thrown together. Phillips is a really exciting fighter, all action, and has shown flashes of serious potential in my opinion. But he’s coming off a lengthy spell of inactivity now. He last fought in early 2022 when he submitted Marcelo Rojo. He also has a win over Song Yadong in a great fight which nobody seems to remember. Still only 28 as well. If he can stay active there’s a bunch of awesome fights you can make with him at 135. He’s got to get past Barcelos first though. It’s no gimme but I think he gets it done at this stage. He’s an exciting fighter but he’s 36 now and probably on his last legs. He’s gone 1-3 in his last 4 and just got knocked out by Umar Nurmagomedov in January. He’s up against it here and I think he’ll come out swinging to try and redeem himself. Jeremiah Wells vs Carlston Harris. Not bad. My memory is fairly vague on both but I remember Wells being a heavy hitter. He’s 12-2-1 now and currently on a 6 fight win streak. He knocked out Court McGee and Warlley Alves and took a decision off Matthew Semelsberger in his last fight in April. He’s also got a couple of knockouts in less than a minute on his record. Harris I’m a bit hazier on but he’s 18-5 and coming off a points win over Jared Gooden in March. He got fed to Shavkat Rakhmonov before that and got blitzed in a round but that’s been his only loss over his last 7 fights. Billy Quarantillo vs Damon Jackson could well steal the show. It’s one of a few fights on this card that has FOTN written all over it. Quarantillo has been a highlight of pretty much every card he’s been on since the UFC signed him. He’s been inconsistent results-wise but very consistent when it comes to delivering entertaining fights. If you never saw his barnburner against Shane Burgos from the MSG card in 2021, fix that. It got overshadowed by the Gaethje vs Chandler war the same night but it was an incredible fight that would’ve easily got FOTN honours on almost any other night. Pretty much all of Quarantillo’s UFC fights have been fun. Although not always for him. He got knocked out by a vicious knee from Barboza last time out so this is his attempt to rebound. Jackson is also trying to bounce back from his own crushing KO loss to Dan Ige in January. He had that great unexpected win over Pat Sabatini before that and has generally been decent to watch himself. Jake Hadley vs Cody Durden is a good fight but a bit of a heel vs heel matchup for me. Hadley’s a fellow Brummie but I just can’t warm to him. And Durden’s come across as a dick pretty much every time I’ve clapped eyes on him. A double knockout would be nice. But no, if I had to pick a side then I’d rather Hadley win. If for no other reason than it keeps the chances of Hadley vs Mokaev alive. Really wanna see that one. That’s how Hadley’s last fight ended on the London card back in March. A sickening body shot put Malcolm Gordon down and Hadley got the TKO about a minute into the fight. He immediately had a pop at Mokaev post-fight, bragging that he beat Gordon quicker and easier than Mokaev did. Now he’s up against another former Mokaev opponent in Durden. Mokaev breezed through Durden when they fought so I doubt Hadley will do better. But it’ll be interesting to compare here. Durden’s actually coming off a decent little stretch, to be fair. He beat Charles Johnson last time out and spoiled the debut of Carlos Mota before that. Might not be straightforward for Hadley but I’m hoping he wins and we see that Mokaev fight in the not too distant future. Dennis Buzukja vs Sean Woodson is a late patch up job. This is the fourth different opponent Woodson has been scheduled to face on this card. The original opponent was Steve Garcia, he got injured. Then it was Jesse Butler but the commission blocked it because he got slept by Jim Miller recently. Then newcomer Mairon Santos was announced as stepping in but was out almost just as quickly due to visa issues. I mean, fuck me. Fair play to Woodson for taking it all in his stride. I like Woodson. He’ll never be a contender but he’s been fairly consistent for exciting fights. His scrap with Julian Erosa back in 2020 was a real hidden gem and he also had a cracking body shot finish in other fight and knocked out Terrance McKinney on DWCS in 2019. Never seen Buzukja fight but I’ve been hearing his name quite a bit recently. He’s a Ray Longo fighter, so trains alongside Aljamain Sterling and Merab Dvalishvili, he’s 11-2 with 5 finishes and is on a 7 fight winning streak. Had a couple of gos at DWCS, lost one and won one, but never got his chance at the UFC until now. Of the four opponents they’ve had scheduled for Woodson here, Buzukja might actually be the most interesting to me. Ode Osbourne vs Assu Almabayev should be worth a look. I’ve always quite enjoyed watching Osbourne. He’s going nowhere but he usually provides at least a decent fight for his spot on the card. He’s 12-5-0-1 and coming off a split decision win over Charles Johnson. He just hasn’t been able to string together a consistent series of wins. His record is slightly misleading though. I remember even in some of his losses he’s had his moments. I recall him giving Manel Kape a tough fight before Kape came through with the finish. Almabayev makes his UFC debut here. He’s 29 years old, from Kazakhstan and has a record of 17-2 with 11 inside the distance. As usual, most of his opponents aren’t familiar names but he did win a decision off Zach Makovsky last year. There’s a blast from the past. Had no idea Makovsky was still at it. That’s Nashville T-E-Double N-E-Double S-Double E! Edited August 5, 2023 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted July 26, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted July 26, 2023 Fight Night? No Apex? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfogg1991 Posted August 4, 2023 Share Posted August 4, 2023 This will be the first time in ages I won't be watching UFC live, summerslam and the Jake Paul Vs Diaz fight are way more important and exciting. I'll check out the main card on Sunday though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted August 4, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted August 4, 2023 yeah, some tough ol' competition against the UFC this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfogg1991 Posted August 4, 2023 Share Posted August 4, 2023 5 minutes ago, Egg Shen said: yeah, some tough ol' competition against the UFC this weekend. Massively I can't see them doing great numbers this weekend. Second or third biggest WWE ppv of the year and then the boxing which will take MMA fans away from them. Dana is going to be raging mode dana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted August 5, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted August 5, 2023 here's Pebble Head giving his two cents... ...he must have read this thread for @wandshogun09'One to Watch' tip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted August 5, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 5, 2023 13 minutes ago, Egg Shen said: ...he must have read this thread for @wandshogun09'One to Watch' tip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted August 5, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 5, 2023 It’s getting none of the attention or hype because of this Jake Paul vs Nate Diaz circus but I’ve got a good feeling about this Sandhagen vs Font fight. Something about Paul vs Diaz isn’t clicking for me but I get the appeal to others. Sandhagen vs Font is easily the best actual fight this weekend though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panhead Posted August 5, 2023 Share Posted August 5, 2023 There's some decent stuff on here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce85 Posted August 6, 2023 Share Posted August 6, 2023 For some reason this isn’t showing up on the BT/TNT app. Anyone else having issues with the app and UFC content? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zebra Kid Mark Posted August 7, 2023 Share Posted August 7, 2023 I've been late to watch this show and I have only just finished it now but what an absolutely amazing show right up until the main where it turned into a bit of a one sided snooze fest. I love Sandman and I think he was just being safe so i will let him off but that main event was poor. My finger was hovering over the fast forward button many times during the fight, I did fight the urge to press it though. The rest of the show was incredible, I have never seen so many anaconda attempts on one show. I'm pretty sure every fight had at least one attempt of it. I'm not sure if Sandhagen has done enough to fight for the belt next, there are too many other people ahead of him. Personally I'd like to see him fight Yan again and try to avenge that loss before moving onto a title fight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted August 8, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 8, 2023 (edited) Only just got round to catching up on all this. On 7/25/2023 at 11:44 PM, wandshogun09 said: Cory Sandhagen vs Rob Font tops this one… Love this. It’s not as intriguing as Sandhagen vs Umar would’ve been for me but it might actually be a more entertaining fight to watch. Yeah, sorry about this. Echoing what @Zebra Kid Mark said, this was a belting show capped off by a surprisingly dull main event. Never would’ve predicted a Sandhagen vs Font fight to play out like that in a million years but what can you do? That’s sports. There were a few factors in why it played out the way it did though. 22 hours ago, Zebra Kid Mark said: I love Sandman and I think he was just being safe so i will let him off but that main event was poor. Yeah, Sandhagen said he completely tore his tricep in the first round. As lacklustre and shite as the fight turned out to be, knowing what Sandhagen was dealing with it’s amazing he was able to dominate Font for the next 20+ minutes. And when he started having success with the takedowns and realised he was able to control Font there, why change it? Had his arm not been knackered I think we’d have seen a much different fight. Obviously I think there’d have been more standup but even on the ground, I think Cory would’ve been much more aggressive with ground and pound and sub attempts. Given the injury he just did what he had to do to secure the win. Hasn’t stopped everyone shitting on him though and now suddenly the consensus is he’s a boring fighter. Despite the injury and despite the fact that his training camp would’ve been tailored for Umar Nurmagomedov then it got switched to Font on short notice. And he still dominated. But apparently he’s a pussy now. For having one boring fight 😂 And let’s be honest, it takes two to tango. At this level and with his experience, Font should’ve had answers for the grappling. I didn’t enjoy the fight but the onus was on Font to change how that fight was going and he couldn’t do anything about it. Can’t really fault Sandhagen. There’ll be better fights ahead. You’re right though, this wasn’t the type of performance that’s gonna have anyone clamouring to see him challenge for a title. I don’t know how true it is but I read a couple of tweets that Dana walked out in the middle of the fight. Dickhead. You know that doesn’t bode well for Sandhagen’s chances of bagging the title shot though. But what are the other options? Merab is the only name who stands out as deserving and he’s been way more consistently dull to watch than the Sandman. If O’Malley beats Aljo at 292 it’s likely gonna be a straightforward case of going straight into O’Malley vs Merab for the belt and they can play off Merab trying to avenge his buddy Aljo and play clips of him robbing O’Malley’s jacket 🤣 if Aljo wins then fucks off to 145 though, I think you have to go with Merab vs Sandhagen to crown a new champ. Tatiana Suarez doesn’t seem to have missed a beat since that massive 3+ year layoff. Came back earlier this year with a win over Montana De La Rosa up at Flyweight which was just a blowing off the cobwebs fight. Then here she drops back to Strawweight and easily beats former champ Jessica Andrade. Good stuff. Granted, Andrade is in a slump at the moment but considering all the time away, for Suarez to come back like this is impressive. Bad matchup for Andrade really. For a short fighter like her whose strength is in getting in close and throwing power shots, this was always gonna be a tough one because to get in that range to land her punches she’d have to get close enough for Suarez to clinch or take her down. Andrade stepping in here was admirable, she’s absolutely fearless. But it was a bad move coming off a couple of losses. Suarez is on the right track though. Really felt like the window was closing on her during all that time on the shelf but she’s back and hopefully she’ll stay healthy now. There was a different intensity to her here as well. After that first fight back in February it seemed like she was just relieved to get it out of the way. Here she seemed mega fired up after the fight like she wanted to make a proper statement. Interesting times ahead. Lots of talk about her potentially becoming a two-weight champion and it seems a bit early in her comeback for that talk but it doesn’t seem that far-fetched. She’s probably only a couple of wins at most away from a title shot now really. And looking at the champs in both weight classes, her and Zhang Weili is really interesting and she already has that submission win over Alexa Grasso. Honestly wouldn’t be shocked if they throw her in with Zhang next if Zhang beats Lemos in a couple of weeks. There’s only Yan Xiaonan as another option and, right or wrong, I wouldn’t be surprised if they bypass Yan just because Suarez is more marketable/has a better story as a challenger. Whatever happens, the women’s divisions in that weight range from 115-125 are more intriguing than they’ve been in some time, I reckon. Dustin Jacoby made short work of Kennedy Nzechukwu. Just over a minute into the fight it was all done and dusted… Bit gutted for Nzechukwu, to be honest. I’ve became a fan of the big lummox over the last couple of years and was hoping he’d be able to put a bit of a run together. Jacoby’s ended that though. Not much to say about this, short and bittersweet. Neither are really going anywhere but, in a division like Light Heavyweight where there isn’t much to get excited about, Jacoby’s at least usually in entertaining scraps. Diego Lopes delivered big time. It says it all about a fighter when everyone’s raving about him coming off a loss but that’s how good that Evloev fight was in his debut. The fact everyone knew Evloev was such a difficult fight made Lopes’ performance all the more impressive. Here we got to see him after a full camp and he didn’t disappoint. Came at the perfect time as well. At this point in the card we were coming off 7 straight fights that went to decisions. Good fights mostly but, still, Lopes getting a 90 second sub at this stage in the night was more than welcome. Got to put it in perspective. Gavin Tucker is nothing special. I heard him called a “prospect” a few times in the lead up to this fight but he really wasn’t. He’s 37 years old and was coming off a 22 second KO loss and a 2+ year layoff. This wasn’t some breakout win for Lopes but it was a W nonetheless. Now he’s got that first Octagon win in the bag, we’ll see how he does from here. Such an exciting fighter though. It’s early days but he’s got a bit of that Charles Oliveira quality for me where you can tell he’s a bit reckless but it just adds to the excitement and his style seems impossible to have a bad fight with. The possibilities are endless for fun fights at 145 as well. Tanner Boser vs Aleksa Camur didn’t do much for me, to be honest. One of the few dull spots on the card to me but Boser had a decent showing. Beat up Frank Mir Jr fairly comfortably over 15 minutes. Was a bit disappointed with the Ludovit Klein vs Ignacio Bahamondes fight. Not the fight itself, it was a good fight actually, it was more the result and how it played out. I’ve been high on Bahamondes from very early into his UFC run and thought he had a ton of potential. But this fight is making me reassess that. Klein gave him a bit of a lesson here and considering Bahamondes had a 8 inch height advantage and 3ins of reach on him, it was quite surprising just how easily Klein was able to close and control the distance. Klein’s a good striker himself so maybe I shouldn’t be shocked but I thought Bahamondes would do better than he did. Fair play to Klein though. This was probably his best performance yet in the UFC for me. Kyler Phillips vs Raoni Barcelos was a good all action fight. Never a dull moment. Really strong showing from Phillips, I thought, especially given the long layoff. Barcelos seems to be winding down but he didn’t look bad here. It wasn’t an easy return fight for Phillips on paper but he looked quality. Hopefully he’ll be able to stay healthy now and fight more regularly because he might be a bit of a darkhorse at 135. He’s already got a win over Song Yadong and he seems to have a well rounded game and a great pace and conditioning. We need to see more of him against established opponents but I get the feeling he could give a lot of guys problems if he can stay active now and start building some momentum. Carlston Harris had one of the best come from behind finishes I can remember in recent times. Lost the first two rounds, and in fairly dominant fashion, then pulls out the sub in the last round… Had Jeremiah Wells twitching all over the place as well. The old D-Von Dudley fish out of water sell! Nice win for Harris. Don’t see a big run ahead for him at 36 but he’s on a decent streak at the moment. When you look at his record he’s gone 7-1 in his last 8 and the only loss was to Shavkat Rakhmonov. Wells was on a winning streak coming into this one as well. Billy Quarantillo vs Damon Jackson was a cracker as expected. No way this wasn’t gonna be good. Quarantillo hasn’t had a dud yet and Jackson always sounded like a good dance partner for him from the moment this matchup was announced. Jackson had a good first round but I felt like Billy Q took over after that and his quality was better down the stretch. Real fun fight though. Happy to see Quarantillo win because he’s ace and the more he wins the longer he’ll obviously stick around. He’s class. Him against Diego Lopes wouldn’t upset me as both men’s next fight. Guaranteed FOTN. Cody Durden vs Jake Hadley was tremendous. If you skipped the prelims I’d urge you to at least seek this fight out. I find both quite unlikeable so this was heel vs heel for me but, credit where it’s due, it was a hell of a fight. Hadley getting sliced open in the first round set the tone and then that second round especially was nuts. Got to be up there with the best rounds of the year for me. Hadley surviving that deep anaconda choke then escaping and trapping Durden in a nasty inverted triangle/armbar combo was a crazy sequence… How either got out of that round I don’t know. Pace slowed slightly in the third (understandably) but it was still good. Durden just held up better down the stretch and rightly got the decision. Great fight. No FOTN was given but this was FOTN for me. And it was a card mostly full of good fights. Shame these two never got a bonus for this. Hadley’s said since that he had a horror show of a weight cut and that’s why he faded. Probably some truth to it, maybe a bit of excuse making as well. There’s a simple solution though, move up a division. This isn’t the first time Hadley’s had issues with the cut down to Flyweight. If you remember, he missed weight on DWCS and it was controversial that he was even given a shot in the UFC. Just move up. As for Durden, he seems a dick but that’s 4 wins on the trot now and a couple of good ones, spoiling the debut of Carlos Mota and now beating Hadley in a corker. Mokaev’s quick submission over Durden is ageing better with time. Sean Woodson is one of those fighters who gets little attention from MMA fans but he’s a joy to watch. Love watching him strike but he showed a bit more well roundedness here. And fair play, under the less than ideal circumstances with this being the fourth different opponent he was preparing for, it was a fantastic performance. Like he said in the post-fight interview, hopefully he can stay active now. There’s so many fun fights you can make with him at 145. Tough break for Dennis Buzukja in his debut. He gambled on himself jumping in on short notice and it didn’t pay off. Hopefully we’ll get to see him again soon off a full training camp. Assu Almabayev had a strong debut. He looked good here. Ode Osbourne is nothing special and seems to almost find ways to lose sometimes, but he’s got some skills and Almabayev just shut him down here and got the sub. Not sure about his claims that he’ll be UFC champ by 2025 but I like the confidence. Interesting addition to the Flyweight division. So yeah, 100% agree with Zebra. It really was a brilliant show right up until the main event. If that fight played out like everyone thought then this would’ve been an absolute home run of a card. A lot of decisions on the undercard and everyone loves finishes but this was proof that a lot of decisions doesn’t always mean a card is a slog. Most of the prelims were cracking fights. The best stuff on this one was on the prelims really. Edited August 8, 2023 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted August 9, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted August 9, 2023 went abit backwards on this one, watched the prelims then didn't get around to seeing the main show. Prelims were a decent bunch in their own right though, Hadley/Durden more than deserved some bonus money, excellent fight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted August 15, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 15, 2023 (edited) On 8/6/2023 at 10:26 AM, Bruce85 said: For some reason this isn’t showing up on the BT/TNT app. Anyone else having issues with the app and UFC content? Did you get this sorted in the end? I’ve only just got around to it. Apparently since BT Sports changed to TNT Sports all the coverage now will go through Discovery+. I just went to the BT Sport app and something came up saying about activating TNT Sports through Discovery+. I clicked it and from there it redirected me and was all straightforward. If you subscribed to BT anyway it’s just a case of a quick sign in process on Discovery and the TNT app is good to go. Not sure who else knew or didn’t know about this but it wasn’t really well communicated. I had to go looking myself for info so I’m guessing a lot of people won’t realise and will just think they can’t use the app anymore. You guys probably already know but just incase you don’t I’ll tag you in… @Egg Shen @Silky Kisser @Carbomb @WeeAl @David @Zebra Kid Mark @Panhead @Kfogg1991 Apologies if I’m forgetting someone. Edited August 15, 2023 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted August 15, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted August 15, 2023 Thanks for that @wandshogun09. I haven't used the app in a long time, just record (or try to) on the Sky Box. Got me thinking though, a subscription to discovery+, does that allow you to watch the TNT content? Can we do away with the £28 or whatever it is for the linear TV channel? 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.