Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted October 1, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted October 1, 2023 (edited) Up next…we return to the Apex. ESPN MAIN CARD Grant Dawson vs Bobby Green Joe Pyfer vs Abdul Razak Alhassan Alex Morono vs Joaquin Buckley Drew Dober vs Ricky Glenn Bill Algeo vs Alexander Hernandez ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMS Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs Diana Belbita Johnny Munoz Jr vs Aoriqileng Kanako Murata vs Vanessa Demopoulos Nate Maness vs Mateus Mendonca Montana De La Rosa vs JJ Aldrich Definite Apex feel about this one and I’ve seen the card getting slated all over social media as ‘the worst Fight Night ever’ and all that shite. It’s not a great card but, Christ, MMA fans have such short memories. This is nowhere near the worst. There’s not a ton to like about this card but a couple of those fights there alone instantly rank it above those nights they dished up Norma Dumont vs Aspen Ladd and Jessica Eye vs Cynthia Calvillo headliners 🤢 One thing that kind of helps this show is it’ll be coming after a 2 week break from UFC programming. Anyway, this is the bout order as it stands right now, according to Big Marcel on Twitter. I’ll update it as we go. Grant Dawson vs Bobby Green headlines. Not a bad fight but I’m not really feeling it as a main event. Can’t really complain considering some of the fuck awful Apex main events we’ve been served up in the past but this just feels a bit weak to me. Whatever. Like I said, it’s not the worst fight. Passes another week until 294, doesn’t it? Grant Dawson is a bit of a funny one to me. He’s been quietly putting the wins together and has worked his way into a #10 ranking at Lightweight so you can’t say he hasn’t earned a bit of shine. On paper he’s got a good record of 20-1-1 now and hasn’t actually lost since 2016! He’s on a 12 fight unbeaten streak with the only ‘blemish’ in that period being a draw with Ricky Glenn a couple of years back. But I don’t know. Despite his long tenure on the roster I’m still not sure quite how good he really is. It’s not like he’s been beating a who’s who of 155. It’s been solid but not spectacular. The grappling is his bread and butter and he does do some nifty stuff in there. Like this back take in his last fight against Damir Ismagulov… Love that. The speed he got that hook in was crazy. He’s got some skills. But his best wins to date are Ismagulov, Mark Madsen, Jared Gordon and Leonardo Santos. And 40 year old Santos was beating him, as I recall, before Dawson scored the come from behind finish. Dawson’s got some ability, no denying that. But I’m not sure how much further he can go. I suppose the good thing is, now he’s in the Top 10, we’re gonna find out sooner rather than later. I think my main problem with Dawson though, is he’s been calling out Tony Ferguson after some of his recent fights. In 2022/23, that’s just not a good look. If you’re on a winning streak and you’re so confident in your skills, why are you calling out a ghost who can’t buy a win these days? Just instantly soured me on him. Speaking of Ferguson… Bobby Green just submitted Ferguson in his last fight at UFC 291 in July. Before that he had that No Contest with Jared Gordon due to a clash of heads. Before that he’d been stopped by Drew Dober and Islam Makhachev in back-to-back fights. Hasn’t been the best stretch of Green’s career but, to be honest, he’s never really been known for his consistency. You have to go back years through his record to find a winning streak of any real length of time. Decent fighter, experienced and crafty, and if he can keep this on the feet he should do well. He’s the way better striker here. But when you look at his record, most of his best wins don’t really hold up to scrutiny. He’s beat some decent names but Clay Guida’s been clinging on forever, Al Iaquinta had one foot out the door and Ferguson’s absolutely shot. You’ll notice pretty much every time he’s stepped up a level, against someone who’s on form, he’s lost. That’s your 5 round main event then. I haven’t exactly done a good job hyping it up but it’s not my job to, is it? 😂 As I said, I don’t even dislike the matchup itself. It’s just not really clicking for me as a headliner. Even taking into account the low standards of Apex headliners. Something about it just isn’t doing it for me. I think it’s partly that I don’t like either all that much so there’s no-one for me to root for and I’m not really invested in it. But also, while I don’t hate the pairing, it feels a bit odd considering Dawson’s on a long streak and Green’s 3-4-0-1 in his last 8. The timing just feels a bit wonky and Dawson’s #10 and fighting down against a guy who’s not even ranked. It’s 155 though and most of the bigger names are either tied up or wouldn’t be interested in fucking around with Dawson anyway. It’ll have to do. Joe Pyfer vs Abdul Razak Alhassan is ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** here and should be fireworks for however long it lasts. I know you never know with MMA and I don’t wanna jinx this into being a nothing happening sparring match, but I really can’t see how this doesn’t end with one of them horizontal. I’ll be a bit surprised if it makes it out of the first round, to be honest. Pyfer’s 11-2 with 10 finishes and he’s a guy the UFC seem quite high on. He came in off DWCS last year and you could tell right away that Dana and co had a bit of a stiffy for him and it showed when he was given a complete squash match in his debut against no hoper Alen Amedovski. A guy who was coming in off 3 straight losses and had just been stopped quick in his last 2 fights. To the surprise of no-one, Pyfer had no trouble TKOing him inside a round. He looked good but it was one of those wins that never told us much at all. It was a showcase debut and nothing more. I thought they were gonna baby him after that and give him the ‘Pimblett treatment’ but in fairness they haven’t. In his next fight in April he was thrown in with UKFF favourite Gerald Meerschaert, a 50-odd fight vet and a real finisher. And Pyfer put him away in a round as well. Impressive. Now they’re throwing him straight back in the fire with Alhassan… And he doesn’t fuck about. There he is murdering poor Claudio Ribeiro in his last fight back in January. Talk about a finisher. Alhassan is nicknamed ‘Judo Thunder’, which is funny to me because I don’t remember much Judo being used in any of his fights. He’s all about the knockout. He’s 12-5 now and all 12 wins came by KO, 11 in the first round, 7 in under a minute! He’s 38 years old now and he’s never gonna be in the title mix but when it comes to separating opponents from consciousness, he’s a black-belt in that shit. About as pure a knockout artist as there is on the roster. The thing with Pyfer is that he’s looked good so far but all we’ve really seen is that he’s got a dig on him. He likes to slug it out and it’s worked for him. If he’s got other tools in his locker though, this might be the time to bring them out because I don’t think it’s wise to get into a bombfest with Alhassan. Part of me wants to see Pyfer switch it up and show a more well rounded game here but, fuck it, I really just wanna see chaos. Alex Morono vs Joaquin Buckley is alright. Morono can scrap a bit. I was completely apathetic to him for the longest time and I think a lot of it had to do with just how bland and nondescript he looks. Combine that with him never showing any personality and his fighting style not being flashy or outstanding, I just found him beige. He’s still not a name I get giddy about seeing on a card but he’s won me over a little bit. Tough guy and he doesn’t shy away from a hard fight. He’s 23-8-0-1 now and coming off a submission win over Tim Means in May. Also has wins over Mickey Gall and the shell of Donald Cerrone. He’s one of those fighters who doesn’t get the juices flowing but with the right opponent he can be fun to watch. I think Buckley should make for an entertaining matchup with him. That’s how his last fight ended. Buckley channeled his inner Cro Cop and just flattened Andre Fialho with a bastard of a left high kick. He needed something like that as well coming off 2 straight losses to Chris Curtis and Nassourdine Imavov. I don’t think Buckley’s ever going much higher than he is currently but he’s usually good for something watchable in the midcard like this. He’s had some big knockouts during his UFC stint, including that bonkers kick against Impa Kasanganay a few years ago that, purely for style points and innovation and the shock factor, might just be THE greatest knockout in UFC history for me. Drew Dober vs Ricky Glenn could be fun. Dober fights generally are. Win or lose, he’s really become one of the UFC’s more consistently entertaining fighters to watch over the last couple of years. He was on a nice little 3 fight win streak recently with finishes over Terrance McKinney, Rafael Alves and Bobby Green. All stupidly fun fights as well. Sadly it came to a crashing halt in his last fight in May when Matt Frevola decked him in another exciting one round shootout. Never a dull moment and I don’t expect anything different here. Glenn’s actually been on the roster since 2016 but I’m really hazy on him. He hasn’t been the most active fighter in recent years but he’s got some OK wins over some blasts from the past like Dennis Bermudez and Phillipe ‘Next GSP’ Nover who I completely forgot existed. Glenn suffered a bad knockout in his last fight though. Christos Giagos faceplanted him in April, had him doing the Flair Flop and all sorts. Bill Algeo vs Alexander Hernandez opens up the main card. Should be good. I’ve found Algeo a lot of fun to watch during his UFC stint. Right from his FOTN winning losing effort against Ricardo Lamas in his Octagon debut, win or lose, I don’t recall seeing a dull fight out of him. He choked out TJ Brown in his last fight in April in a belting fight. Wasn’t FOTY material or anything but it was a corker that deserves an honourable mention when the talk of best fights of the year comes up in a few months. I hope it’s another W for him here because I can’t stand Hernandez. He’s always come across as a bit of a prick to me and the fact he had the audacity to beat Jim Miller in February just makes me dislike him even more. Fuck him. In all seriousness though, I’m expecting a good fight here. Wouldn’t be surprised if they end up getting the FOTN bonus. Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs Diana Belbita is just there really. Neither are going anywhere at this point. Kowalkiewicz is hanging on and Belbita seems like she’ll never amount to much. Sounds harsh but I just can’t see her putting it all together and going on some run. She’s Romanian, 27 years old and 15-7 in MMA. In the UFC she’s 2-3 with the only wins being over Hannah Goldy and Maria Oliveira, who are shite. And the losses were to Molly McCann, Liana Jojua and Gloria De Paula. Yeah. She’s going nowhere, is she? 😍 Karolina Kowalkiewicz turns 38 about a week after this fight. It’s been well documented she’s had a rough few years in the UFC so it’s been nice to see her turn things around a bit and put a few wins together recently. There was a time when she was right in the title mix. Came into the UFC undefeated and beat Rose Namajunas to earn a crack at the gold. She came up short in the all Polish battle for the belt against Joanna Jedrzejczyk but there was no shame there. Joanna was in her prime back then and Kowalkiewicz had her moments in the fight. From 2018 to 2021 she was in a right slump though. She lost 5 in a row, got beat up a lot and took a lot of damage and seemed to take the slump really hard. She took a break and has since came back to win her next 3 fights. It’s been at a low level. Wins over Felice Herrig, Silvana Gomez Juarez and Vanessa Demopoulos aren’t exactly earth shattering. She’s not going on a run at the belt again but it’s been nice to see her winning fights. This is a fight I still think she can win but it’s all delaying the inevitable sadly. She can’t have many fights left. Johnny Munoz Jr vs Aoriqileng might be worth a look. I’m always gonna recommend an Aoriqileng fight though. Love the mad little bastard. He’s never gonna amount to much but I love watching him fight. He instantly made a fan out of me in his UFC debut a couple of years back with that nutty fight against Jeff Molina. If you never saw it and you’re at a loose end, get Fight Pass fired up and give it a watch. Trust me, you won’t regret it. One of my favourite ‘under the radar’ fights in recent years. He lost that Molina fight, lost to Cody Durden, won a couple of fights, then got stopped by Aiemann Zahabi in his last fight in June. Really hoping he can bounce back to winning ways here. Can’t remember much of Munoz though so I’m not sure how winnable this is for Aoriqileng. Munoz is 12-3 and has had a right up and down UFC run so far. One of those win one, lose one situations. He lost to Daniel Santos last time so I guess that means he’s due a win here. Hopefully the ‘Mongolian Murderer’ breaks the cycle and hands him a second straight loss. Kanako Murata vs Vanessa Demopoulos is whatever. Complete filler. Not sure what to make of Murata. It’s been so long since we last saw her I forgot she was even in the UFC. She last fought in June 2021 and lost to Virna Jandiroba that night. I remember it being a really rough fight for her and she suffered an arm injury. I don’t know if that’s the sole reason she’s been out so long or what. I like the Sakuraba inspired mask though. She’s still only 30 years old. She’s got some time. She’s 12-2, predominantly a wrestler and she fought in RIZIN, Invicta and Pancrase before the UFC came calling. Held the Invicta belt briefly, choked Angela ‘Vinegar Tits’ Magana (remember her?), beat Randa Markos in her UFC debut. She was on an 8 fight win streak before that Jandiroba loss. Demopoulos is really nothing special. She’s 35 years old and has a record of 9-5. Lost to Kowalkiewicz last time out, lost to JJ Aldrich, scraped a split decision over last legs Jinh Yu Frey. She’s not much good. If Murata has any hope of putting a run together, this is a fight she needs to be winning. Providing the ring rust isn’t too bad, she shouldn’t be losing this one. Nate Maness vs Mateus Mendonca sounds decent enough. Maness is 14-3 and coming off a couple of losses but one of them was against Umar Nurmagomedov and he managed to go the distance in that one. Before that he had wins over Tony Gravely, Luke Sanders and Johnny Munoz Jr. I’ve only seen Mendonca once, his UFC debut in January, and he lost a decision to Javid Basharat. Can’t say I remember much about that fight but Basharat looks promising so no shame there. Mendonca was unbeaten before that, trains with Charles Oliveira, scored a 48 second KO on DWCS and is 10-1 overall with 7 inside the distance. Not bad. Got a feeling this fight could be a bit of a darkhorse bonus winner. Montana De La Rosa vs JJ Aldrich is jerking the curtain. Most likely skipping this one. They’ve both been on the roster long enough now to where something should stand out in the memory about them. But no. Nothing. De La Rosa was on TUF back in 2017. She’s gone 5-4-1 since and is 12-8-1 overall. Comes into this one off back-to-back losses to Tatiana Suarez and Maycee Barber. And Aldrich has been under contract since 2016. She’s gone 8-5 since and she’s 12-6 overall. She beat Liang Na in August but dropped consecutive losses to Ariane Lipski and Erin Blanchfield prior to that. Just…nothing. Me finishing up this post… Edited October 8, 2023 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted October 1, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted October 1, 2023 Yeah not bad offering at all. If this had a stronger main event I don't think people would be complaining. I do like to see a new name elevated to main event though, so nice to see Dawson in there. No complaints from me other than the location. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zebra Kid Mark Posted October 2, 2023 Share Posted October 2, 2023 Yea the card isn't the strongest but definitely not the worst card of all time. It's not even the worst card of the year. It's good for an apex show. Chris Gutierez stock has fallen massively, it's crazy that he was on a bit of a run and had a massive win over Frankie Edgar, one loss and he's on the prelims of an apex show. Rough stuff. I love Bobby Green so I can get behind a Bobby Green main event even if he isn't on that much of a run. Grant Dawson is a weird one for me, I know for a fact I have seen him fight numerous times and I know he has a great record but I couldn't tell you off the top of my head any of his previous opponents, that's how forgettable he is as a fighter. From looking at his record he has missed weight a few times so that has probably stopped the UFC getting behind him despite his winning streak. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted October 3, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted October 3, 2023 6 hours ago, Zebra Kid Mark said: Chris Gutierez stock has fallen massively, it's crazy that he was on a bit of a run and had a massive win over Frankie Edgar, one loss and he's on the prelims of an apex show. Rough stuff. Yeah, he's the betting underdog here too. I even had to look if it was the same Chris Gutierez when i saw the fight on paper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted October 3, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 3, 2023 Speaking of Gutierrez, he’s got a different opponent now. Montel Jackson is out, Alateng Heili is in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted October 3, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted October 3, 2023 Can't help it - any time I hear/read the name "Montel": Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted October 5, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted October 5, 2023 (edited) Lads, I can't catch up these days. Between life getting in the way before and after I went away on holidays, it's been an absolute pain in the arse trying to get caught up on all the wrestling, sport and all that carry on. The last UFC card I got watching was before Holloway/Zombie. I haven't been able to make time to go back and watch any of that stuff in between. I'm not even going to try now, I'm just going to reset and maybe catch what handsome Drew does this weekend. Hopefully Dawson wind here too, as we know Bobby Greene's ceiling, but at least we'll be able to get a bit more of an idea where Dawson stands in the pecking order. Edited October 5, 2023 by WeeAl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted October 5, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 5, 2023 Ion Cutelaba’s gone and turned up as Eddie Hearn for fight week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted October 7, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 7, 2023 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted October 7, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted October 7, 2023 Exactly the same feelings as you do Wand, about Lins and Morono. Both just feel like templates for create-a-fighter in a video game mode. Find the two of them dull as dishwater. Luckily enough both are paired with exciting fighters here. I've a feeling that main card could be looking at 3 first round KO's. I've gone and fucked it now, but there's some potential for fireworks in most of those fights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted October 7, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted October 7, 2023 Buckley was shitting on Morono at the press conference saying its pretty much impossible to promote a fight against him because he doesn't give you anything to bounce off of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted October 7, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 7, 2023 Wouldn’t be an Apex card without a fight getting binned during the show, would it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted October 11, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted October 11, 2023 Did anyone actually watch this event? Probably the longest an event has gone on here without someone discussing the results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted October 11, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted October 11, 2023 Nah skipped it, watched Bellator instead. Felt a bit of burnout after that so just checked the results and watched some highlights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Posted October 11, 2023 Share Posted October 11, 2023 1 hour ago, Carbomb said: Did anyone actually watch this event? Probably the longest an event has gone on here without someone discussing the results. I did. Not much to say on it really. The Apex really does bring these shows down. Dober looked pretty good, as did Buckley. For a 30 second R1 KO, youd expect it to be really memorable, but it was just sort of an OK straight left that floored Dawson. Not much of a wow factor to it, despite it being very impressive. The other two main card fights, Ive already forgotten them. I think Razak had a rotten display, but like I said I cant even really remember it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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