UFC Vegas: Luque vs Dos Anjos - Aug 12 🇺🇸

[wandshogun09]

Another Saturday night at the Apex…

ESPN MAIN CARD
Vicente Luque vs Rafael Dos Anjos 

Cub Swanson vs Hakeem Dawodu 

Khalil Rountree vs Chris Daukaus 

Polyana Viana vs Iasmin Lucindo 

Tafon Nchukwi vs AJ Dobson 

Josh Fremd vs Jamie Pickett 

ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMS 
Marcus McGhee vs JP Buys

Terrance McKinney vs Mike Breeden 

Francis Marshall vs Isaac Dulgarian 

Martin Buday vs Josh Parisian 

Montserrat Conejo vs Jaqueline Amorim 

Da’Mon Blackshear vs Jose Johnson 

Juliana Miller vs Luana Santos 

 

 

Not that bad a card. Certainly far from the worst we’ve seen when it comes to the Apex. Strong main event, although I’ve got mixed feelings on that which I’ll get into. Couple of other fights and fighters I’m interested in scattered about as well. It’ll do for a Fight Night. Passes a week before 292. As always I’ll try and keep on top of the zillion card changes and edit this post along the way.

 

 

Vicente Luque vs Rafael Dos Anjos is your all Brazilian main event. Good fight. Too good for the Apex, to be honest, but I’m not complaining. Both are out of the title race at the moment, Luque’s ranked #10 at Welterweight and RDA’s not even ranked at 170. He’s still ranked at Lightweight for some reason even though he’s pretty much said himself he wanted to be taken out of the rankings and just wants fun fights at this stage of his career. This definitely fits that criteria. A fun matchup for the sake of a fun matchup. Fine by me. I‘m a bit conflicted on this though.

We haven’t seen Luque since August last year and he got stopped by Geoff Neal. I wondered why he’d been out so long since. Well apparently he suffered a brain haemorrhage from that loss to Neal. So he’s been on medical suspension for a year and has had to go through all the tests and procedures to get cleared to fight again. Obviously he’s been given the green light here but it’s a scary situation. Hopefully he’s gonna be OK but coming straight back in a 5 round fight against someone like RDA seems a bit rough. He’s a good fighter and was on a strong run for a bit there before the back-to-back losses to Magny and Neal. But just hearing the words “brain haemorrhage” is terrifying. He’s only 31, he’s got a lot of life to live. I know there’s always risk for any fighter stepping into the cage but, still, it brings it home when you hear something like this. Bit of an uneasy feeling about it, to be honest.

Dos Anjos has been one of my favourite fighters for years. Badass. A prime candidate for a BMF title fight if they’re gonna persist with that shite. He turns 39 in October and he’s clearly on the home stretch of his career, but what a run he’s had. He’s fought every fucker, never ducked a tough fight, became UFC champ despite nobody thinking that was on the cards for him at the time. Has wins over the likes of Anthony Pettis, Donald Cerrone x2, Benson Henderson, Nate Diaz, Robbie Lawler etc. A bunch of losses as well but he’s fought pretty much all the top guys in his weight range, a lot of them in their primes, and he’s at least been competitive with most of them. He’s at the point now where he’s not gonna be beating top contenders and his days of being in the title mix are over. It’s a shame that fight with Islam Makhachev got away despite being signed a couple of times but as time’s gone on I think it’s clear how that one would’ve played out. Would’ve been a good test for Makhachev at the time when he was on the way up though. RDA’s still got some left in the tank though. He’s 3-1 in his last 4 and coming off a submission win over Bryan Barberena. He absolutely dominated Renato Moicano last year as well. And even the loss, he got stopped late by Fiziev but people forget RDA was mega competitive the first 4 rounds.

So yeah. On paper it’s a good fight. Usually I’d be buzzing for this. But I’m not sure how to feel about it given the nature of Luque’s layoff. Of course he’ll have gone through all the tests and shit and he’ll have had to get full medical clearance. But I don’t know. It’s hard to get too excited for this fight knowing what we know. Just got a bad feeling about it. We’ve seen concussions sideline fighters and even end careers prematurely before (TJ Grant and Chris Holdsworth immediately spring to mind), so someone suffering a brain haemorrhage and coming back at all, let alone as soon as the suspension is up is worrying. Especially in a fight like this. If Luque was gonna come back at all you’d think the least they could do would be to give him a bit of a gimme his first fight back. Just ease him back in slowly and see how he looks. But no. Straight back in a 5 rounder. RDA’s a machine as well, even at this late stage of his career. And when you look at the beating he put on a guy like Moicano as recently as last year, it just doesn’t feel like a good idea. I’ve put a right downer on this one, haven’t I?

 

Cub Swanson vs Hakeem Dawodu is a decent fight. Always got time for a Cub fight. What a scrapper. This’ll be fight 42 of his career. He turns 40 in November. Hell of an innings for a fighter in the lighter weight classes. He’s coming off a loss to Jonathan Martinez via leg kick TKO. It’s winding down. I was actually hoping him and the Korean Zombie would be paired off in a fun double retirement match. A WEC dream match that we never got to see. But they’ve decided to feed the Zombie to Max Holloway instead. This should be an entertaining enough matchup though. Dawodu’s 13–3-1 with 7 knockouts, went 9-0 in Kickboxing, 42-5 in amateur Muay Thai etc. Hasn’t looked amazing in the UFC but he’s done alright. Has wins over Julio Arce, Zubaira Tukhugov and Mike Trizano. Got dominated by Movsar Evloev and soundly beat by Julian Erosa in his last fight. He’s treading water at this point but he’s not bad to watch with the right opponent. I reckon old Cub can drag something out of him.

 

Khalil Rountree vs Chris Daukaus is ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** this time. Not a whole lot to choose from on this card but it’s an interesting one actually. We all know about Rountree. Never gonna trouble the top contenders but, pound-for-pound, he’s got to be one of the most purely violent fighters on the entire roster. When he flips the switch and really lets loose, it’s scary to watch. There’s just something about the way he goes for the kill that I’ve only seen in a handful of fighters. Wanderlei Silva, Robbie Lawler and Melvin Manhoef being a few that spring to mind. Rountree actually has links to Wandy as well and even has a tattoo of the Wand Fight Team logo!

All makes sense now, doesn’t it? The knock on Rountree has always been inconsistency but, to be fair, he’s won his last 3 in a row now and has looked good in those fights. Daukaus is actually where a lot of the intrigue lies for me here though. This’ll be his Light Heavyweight debut. Not a move I ever really expected him to make but he’s been floundering at Heavyweight and has been knocked out in his last 3 fights. Rozenstruik chinned him in just 23 seconds last time out! Not good. So Daukaus had to change something. And it kind of makes sense. He’s got plenty of bodyfat he can shed but he’s got a lot of weight to drop. Probably a move he should’ve made a while ago though. His 205 debut coming against Rountree is a bit of a baptism of fire though so we’ll see how it plays out.

 

Polyana Viana vs Iasmin Lucindo is a nothing fight in terms of relevance or rankings but I think it should be fun to watch all the same. Neither have bored me yet. I’ve seen less of Lucindo but she instantly made a fan out of me in her UFC debut last summer. She lost a decision to Yazmin Jauregui but it was an absolute corker of a fight. She bounced back in April with a points win over Brogan Walker. She’s only 21 as well. Currently 14-5 with 10 finishes.

Mamacita! 😍

Viana’s not the best fighter but, again, far from boring. She flattened Jinh Yu Frey in just 47 seconds in her last fight in November. She’s 13-5 now with all 13 wins coming by knockout or submission. Not your typical Strawweight. Granted, it’s all been fairly low level. She won’t be sparking Zhang Weili anytime soon. But in a division where the vast majority lack power and/or aggression, it makes a nice change to see someone go for the kill the way she does. She’ll not go far though. Just too inconsistent. Whatever happens I can see this being all action for however long it lasts. Viana doesn’t fuck about and just based on the limited footage I’ve seen of Lucindo, she’s not shy about getting stuck in either.

 

Tafon Nchukwi vs AJ Dobson. Don’t know. Don’t particularly care. Nchukwi’s 28 years old from Cameroon. One of those fighters who looks ace but the book’s not as interesting once you get past the cover. He’s 6-3 and coming off back-to-back stoppage losses to Carlos Ulberg and Azamat Murzakanov. Dobson isn’t doing much better. He’s 6-2-0-1 and coming off a couple of decision losses. Literally nothing else to say about this one. They’re both going nowhere.

 

Josh Fremd vs Jamie Pickett is whatever. Typical Apex card filler. Fremd is 10-4 with 8 finishes. Got off to a shite start in the UFC going 0-2 initially. He finally got his first Octagon win last time out, submitting Sedriques Dumas. I was quite happy about that because Dumas is a cunt. Pickett’s coming off getting fed to Bo Nickal in Bo’s UFC debut in March. He’s lost 3 on the trot now and was stopped all 3 times so this feels like a win or go home situation for him.

 

Marcus McGhee vs JP Buys. Don’t really know enough about these two to give a bollocks one way or the other. McGhee stepped in on short notice for his UFC debut in April and submitted Journey Newson. He’s 7-1 with 7 finishes after that one. Buys has been on the roster for a couple of years now. Came in off DWCS. Seems like getting a UFC contract was a curse for him though. He’s gone 0-3 since, been stopped in two of them, now he’s been out of action for over a year. His wife and fellow UFC fighter Cheyanne left him in that time as well, for current UFC Middleweight Roman Dolidze if the rumours are true. He’s surely due a change in luck. It’s been L after L since the UFC signed him.

 

Terrance McKinney vs Mike Breeden is decent. Was supposed to be Breeden against Lando Vannata but that’s out and McKinney’s jumped in on late notice. Ballsy move really. He’s coming off back-to-back losses, was finished in both of them and has gone 1-3 in his last 4. Taking a fight on short notice at this point seems like a huge risk. But I guess it gets him brownie points with Dana and the matchmakers or whoever, and he is an exciting fighter so they’ll probably keep him around a while yet regardless. Breeden’s 10-5 with 8 knockouts and has gone winless in his first couple of trips to the Octagon. Got stopped by Alexander Hernandez and decisioned by Natan Levy.

 

Francis Marshall vs Isaac Dulgarian. Dunno. Seen little of Marshall and none of Dulgarian. Marshall looks good, to be fair. He’s only 24 years old and 7-1 with 5 finishes. He’s coming off his first loss, a split decision against William Gomis in April but I remember him looking handy in his stoppage win over Marcelo Rojo in his UFC debut in December. Dulgarian AKA ‘The Midwest Choppa’ is 27 years old and unbeaten at 5-0 with 5 finishes. Might be decent.

 

Martin Buday vs Josh Parisian. Fucking kill me now. Just two big, fat, nothing happening slugs. Buday’s 31 apparently (I’m gonna need to see the birth certificate) and has a record of 12-1 with 8 finishes. Doesn’t sound that bad on paper but he’s been complete arse to watch from what I remember. He’s coming off a couple of rancid decision wins over Jake Collier and Lukasz Brzeski. And Parisian’s cack as well from my vague memory of him, I’ve tried to block it out. 15-6 overall, 2-3 in the UFC and he’s gone L-W-L-W-L in there. And it’s not like he’s been fighting good opposition. The best fighter he’s fought in the UFC so far was probably Don’Tale Mayes. Yeah. Nowt to see here.

 

Montserrat Conejo vs Jaqueline Amorim is just there but I’m kind of interested to see them both back in there. It’s been a while since we saw Conejo. She’s Mexican, 10-2 and trains at Kings MMA. She stepped in on late notice in her UFC debut and beat Cheyanne Vlismas on points in a crappy fight. Then she got chinned in 35 seconds in her next fight against Amanda Lemos. That was July 2021 and we haven’t seen Conejo since. There’s two things I remember about that loss to Lemos. One, I recall thinking it was a bit of a harsh and premature stoppage. And two, the fucking look she gave the ref after…

🤣 She was not happy. Amorim is making her second UFC appearance here after an unsuccessful debut in April. She came in undefeated, 6-0 with 6 first round finishes, and she’d just won the LFA belt. There wasn’t a ton of hype on her but it definitely felt like she was being fed a showcase debut against nothing happening Sam Hughes and her measly 7-5 record. But Hughes went and beat her by decision. So both are coming in looking to redeem themselves here.

 

Da’Mon Blackshear vs Jose Johnson. Not familiar enough with either really. I’ve seen Blackshear once or twice but nothing is particularly jumping out in the memory. He’s 13-5-1 with 10 finishes and has gone 1-1-1 in the UFC so far. Finally got his first Octagon win in June, stopping Luan Lacerda. Johnson is making his UFC debut here and he’s stepping in on short notice, filling in for an injured Brady Hiestand. He’s 15-7 with 10 finishes and coming off a points win on DWCS a year ago.

 

Juliana Miller vs Luana Santos is another nothing fight on a card pretty full of them. Maybe it’ll be better than I think though. Miller’s 3-2 now and she’s a funny one. She won TUF last year and looked pretty good in her performance in the finals, dominating and eventually stopping Brogan Walker. But then she followed that up by getting beat up for 15 minutes by Veronica Hardy on the London card in March. I just remember Miller looking awful in that fight and bearing in mind Hardy had been inactive for 3 years going into that one, it’s even worse. Santos is making her UFC debut here. She’s 23 years old with a record of 5-1 with 3 submissions. That’s about all there is out there on her. 
 

That’ll do.

Edited August 10, 2023 by wandshogun09

[Kfogg1991]

Why are they continuing to do the shows at the apex surely it's not beneficial now the world is back to normal 

[wandshogun09]

8 minutes ago, Kfogg1991 said:

Why are they continuing to do the shows at the apex surely it's not beneficial now the world is back to normal 

Me…

12 minutes ago, Kfogg1991 said:

Why are they continuing to do the shows at the apex surely it's not beneficial now the world is back to normal 

David in 3, 2, 1…

[Egg Shen]

Close the thread.

[Egg Shen]

Here's your Apex bullshit...

[wandshogun09]

Start times are slightly earlier. I’m not feeling it really. I don’t know what it is, it’s not even a bad card just can’t really get up for this one. 

[Egg Shen]

just watched the prelims for this, what a cracking little set of fights. First round finishes galore...and having DC on the call rather than Michael Bisping makes the Apex a lot more tolerable. Bisping is the shits.

I'm avoiding the results because i'm gonna probably watch the main card tomorrow, but good luck picking bonus winners on this thing.

[wandshogun09]

Only just fully caught up on this.

Luque vs Dos Anjos wasn’t a barnburner but I’m kind of glad it wasn’t a dogfight given Luque was coming back from the brain haemorrhage and layoff. I was still wincing whenever RDA landed a punch but it was mostly clinching and wrestling anyway.

Fair play. I found it a bit uncomfortable to watch but can’t help but be happy for him. Probably the best win of his career as well. RDA’s not the force he was but he’s far from shot and Luque was able to beat him in the kind of fight RDA usually does well in. Seen him calling out Poirier though and that would be the kind of war I feared this might be. There’s no other way for Poirier to fight. Not sure how realistic that is anyway.

Must admit I completely lost interest in the Swanson vs Dawodu fight after about a round or so. Just couldn’t get into it. Gotta be the first time I’ve ever zoned out of a Cub fight. Seen a lot of moaning about the judging and even Cub said post-fight he thought he lost. Don’t know and I can’t see me rewatching it. Happy to see him get the win regardless. Even if he shouldn’t have got the decision. Seeing his wife and kids cageside, I guess the judges just couldn’t bring themselves to disappoint them…

Cub can’t have many fights left now. Still think there’s a couple of fun fights for him. This just didn’t catch fire. Despite the ‘Mean’ Hakeem name, Dawodu isn’t a guy I associate with great fights. If there’s anything left of the Zombie after Holloway smashes him up in Singapore, I’d be good with Cub vs Zombie in a double retirement fight.

Khalil Rountree killed another one. And I think it might be time for Chris Daukaus to consider another line of work.

🫣 This was supposed to be Daukaus’ fresh start at 205. Rountree wasn’t laying out any welcome mats, he just laid Daukaus out instead. Brutal. Don’t know where Daukaus goes from here. That’s 4 losses in a row for him now, all by knockout, 3 of them in the first round. Giving him Rountree as his introduction to 205 seemed a bit rough when it was announced and those concerns were proven right. I liked Rountree calling for a main event next. Why not? In an era where Holly fucking Holm is a perennial Fight Night headliner, there’s no reason why Rountree isn’t worthy of at least an Apex main event spot. Fuck it. Loved him saying he wanted a 5 rounder because he feels like that’ll be the “next challenge” for him. I think the challenge is gonna be finding someone who can last 5 rounds with him! Not that he’ll win them all but his style is such that either he’s gonna spark you or you’re gonna have to stop him. I can’t even picture what a 25 minute Khalil Rountree fight would look like.

Iasmin Lucindo continues to impress. OK, Polyana Viana is no contender but Lucindo looked good here and at just 21 years old I think she’s got bags of potential. She had that banger against Jauregui in her debut, lost but it was such a good fight it actually felt like she came out with her stock raised. Since then she’s beat Brogan Walker on points and now this submission over Viana. Not groundbreaking wins but it’s all experience. And given her age, there’s no rush anyway.

Marcus McGhee looks decent. Won his debut on short notice and follows up with a first round KO.

Can’t grumble at that. What an absolutely awful few years it’s been for JP Buys though. Since signing with the UFC he’s gone 0-4, been stopped in 3 of them and to top it off his wife (fellow fighter Cheyanne Vlismas) left him. He was coming off a big layoff here as well and almost gets Flair Flopped in 2 minutes. Poor get. He’s probably gone now. At just 27, it seems like he’s on the scrapheap already.

Terrance McKinney back in the win column with a quick stoppage. The commentators were jizzing over it but, I don’t know, Breeden isn’t much good and this is what McKinney does. He’s a notorious fast starter. It works well for him to a certain level but I don’t see him putting some run together off the back of this. Exciting to watch though and I liked the body shots.

Isaac Dulgarian made a good first impression. Proper battered Francis Marshall to a first round TKO.

Marshall had looked good from what I’d seen of him before this and, at 24, I think he was considered a solid prospect. So for Dulgarian to come in and take him out like this was quite impressive. Improves to 6-0, 6 finishes. Might be worth keeping an eye on.

Even the Heavyweights didn’t shit these prelims up! I was dreading this fight and my thumb was hovering over the fast forward button from the start but fair play, Martin Buday came to scrap and got the the first round kimura sub.

Jaqueline Amorim looked much better here than she did in her UFC debut. Poor Conejo just never got a look in really. I have vague memories of her grappling being her strong suit but she couldn’t cope with Amorim on the ground here. Even when Amorim did get taken down, I liked the sweeps and she got the finish in the end.

Da’Mon Blackshear stole the prelims and maybe the show altogether with his twister finish!

Beautiful. Only the third submission via twister in UFC history and he joins Korean Zombie and Bryce Mitchell in the record books. Seen he’s stepping in at 292 now so 2 fights in the span of a week. Don’t blame him trying to capitalise on the momentum but it’s a risky one.

Luana Santos had a decent UFC debut. Wasn’t pretty but she got the first round finish and you don’t see that very often at Flyweight.

Messy but to be expected from a Judo style fighter who’s still learning on the job. She got it done regardless. Juliana Miller has been a right flop since winning TUF though. She looked dominant in the finale but she’s been crap ever since.

OK card. Prelims were better than the main card though and I feel like I’ve said that a few times lately.

Onto 292.

Edited August 16, 2023 by wandshogun09