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UFC Vegas: Yusuff vs Barboza - Oct 14 🇺🇸


wandshogun09

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Apex again but, you know what, I actually really like this one.

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ESPN MAIN CARD
Sodiq Yusuff vs Edson Barboza 

Jennifer Maia vs Viviane Araujo 

Jonathan Martinez vs Adrian Yanez 

Michel Pereira vs Andre Petroski 

Christian Rodriguez vs Cameron Saaiman 

ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMS
Darren Elkins vs TJ Brown

Tainara Lisboa vs Ravena Oliveira

Terrance McKinney vs Brendon Marotte

Irina Alekseeva vs Melissa Dixon

Chris Gutierrez vs Alateng Heili

Emily Ducote vs Ashley Yoder  

 

I think that’s a cracking card myself. Alright the quality dips big time as you go down the card but that’s standard. By Apex standards this is really strong. Don’t quite know what to expect out of that main event but it intrigues me. And Maia/Araujo aside, on the whole I like that main card a lot. Can’t see McKinney getting an opponent now but Big Marcel’s still got him down vs TBA. We’ll see. Good stuff though. As usual I’ll update this post as we go.

 

 

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Sodiq Yusuff vs Edson Barboza tops the bill. Little bit of a weird one but I like it. I’ll never moan about getting to see Barboza fight. And I like Yusuff, although his inactivity means he’s coming in with pretty much zero momentum here. Still, they’re both in the rankings. Looking at the UFC website now, Yusuff’s currently at #11, Barboza sits at #13. So they’re knocking on the door of a Top 10 spot. Featherweight’s in a bit of a weird phase right now where you’ve got Volkanovski on the throne as the dominant champion, Holloway as the clear second best in the division beating everyone else, then guys like Allen, Yair and Ortega who’ve lost to one or both of Volk and Holloway. Aside from Ilia Topuria, it feels like the title picture is up in the air at the moment. A standout performance or two from anyone in the rankings could see them jump the line, especially if they’re a fresh challenger.

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‘Super’ Sodiq is finally back in action. He’s 30 years old, Nigerian and has a record of 13-2 with 7 finishes. He’s one of those fighters who’s seemed like he has potential for a while but has just lacked that signature win or moment to really establish himself in the contender mix. The gaps between fights haven’t helped. He fought once in 2020, once in 2021, twice in 2022 but hasn’t fought now in a whole year. On top of that he’s had some bad luck. He was supposed to fight Giga Chikadze last time out, which would’ve been a decent breakthrough opportunity for him as Giga had been mixing at a fairly high level. But Giga pulled out and Yusuff got late replacement Don Shainis instead. Not ideal but Yusuff dealt with him in style, submitting him with a guillotine in just 30 seconds. So he didn’t lose anything facing a late substitute, but he didn’t really gain anything either. A win over Chikadze would’ve been a step forward, squashing Shainis was more of a step sideways. Hopefully he can stay more active now, whatever happens here. At 30, he’s still got time to put a run together. I’m not sure how far he can go. His biggest step up so far was against Arnold Allen in 2021 and he lost on points. That’s his only loss in his last 9 fights though and Allen’s no joke himself. We’ll see. Like I said, I’d just like to see him in there more regularly. In recent times he’s became known more for his humorous fight breakdown videos than his actual fighting. The videos are fun but it’s time to crack on now. This should be a tough test as well.

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That’s what 37 looks like if you’re Edson Barboza. Definitely eats his chicken and broccoli. Love watching Barboza. Purely as a striker, he’s one of the most fun fighters to watch on the roster for me. He’s not without flaws. At times in the past it’s seemed like he’s as vulnerable defensively as he is dangerous offensively. But when he’s feeling it and really letting loose, there’s few I enjoy watching strike more in MMA. Especially his kicks. His spinning kick knockout of Terry Etim way back in 2012 is still probably my favourite KO in UFC history. His jumping knee KO against Beneil Dariush in 2017 is up there as well. And even his last fight against Billy Quarantillo in April, he busted this out…

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He’s ace. He’s never gonna win UFC gold, obviously. Highly unlikely he even challenges for it at this point. But he’s just one of those names I see on a card and instantly know there’s at least something worth tuning in for. Enjoy him while he’s here as well. 37 years old for a Featherweight is a good innings. He’s already outlived the lifespan of the average 145er, truth be told. He’s 23-11 now and 3-5 in his last 8. But you look at some of the names he’s lost to - Khabib, prime Ferguson, Gaethje, prime Cerrone. He fought almost everyone at 155 before he even dropped to 145. Then you look at some of his wins over Anthony Pettis, Gilbert Melendez, Paul Felder, the beating he put on Dan Hooker, the aforementioned knockouts over Dariush and Etim. When he’s on, he’s fucking lethal.

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Good fight. Not sure how I see it going, to be honest. For one, Barboza is a bit too hot and cold and inconsistent to really have any confidence in predicting how his fights are gonna play out. But also, Yusuff’s a bit of a mystery as well. It’s been so long since I saw him fight and nothing really stands out in the memory about the fights of his I have seen. I have this vague memory of thinking he looked promising but I can’t even tell you what his fighting style is. He had that quick sub last time but most of his finishes came by KO/TKO. He’s kind of like his previous opponent Arnold Allen in that respect where he wins these fights but doesn’t really look spectacular in any one area. Maybe the best is yet to come. That’s why I like this matchup. If he’s lacking, Barboza will probably find him out. And it’s Yusuff’s first 5 rounder (if they need that long) so, coming off a year on the shelf, it’s a bit of a baptism of fire. Looking forward to it.

 

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Jennifer Maia vs Viviane Araujo is shite. Don’t know if this’ll stay as co-main but it’s the only fight on the main card that I don’t like. Just never rated Maia and never got into her fights. She’s a little brick shithouse, she’s strong and she’s gone the distance with Valentina Shevchenko but the only time I remember her looking half decent was when she bulldozed Joanne Wood in a round a few years back. She did hand Casey O’Neill her first loss on the London card in March and she beat Maryna Moroz before that in what I recall being an absolute rotter. Araujo’s no better. She’s 11-5 and coming off back-to-back decision losses against Amanda Ribas and Alexa Grasso. She was Grasso’s stepping stone to the title shot against Shev actually. She did go 5 rounds with Grasso, so that’s aged alright. But she really hasn’t done anything of note. Plus she’ll be 37 in November, Maia just turned 35. It’s not like there’s even any upside or future in either of them. Just a filler fight. The only fight on this main card with that authentic Apex stench.

 

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Jonathan Martinez vs Adrian Yanez is ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** here. Really like the sound of this. One of those fights that just has FOTN written all over it. Martinez is a guy who kind of went under the radar for me until recently but he’s been putting together a nice little run of wins recently. I think the first time I took notice of him was his corker against Davey Grant a couple of years ago but I enjoyed that more as a Grant fan. Martinez got knocked out that night but it was a cracking fight to watch and he hasn't lost since. He’s won 5 in a row now and has finally started to break through to that next level. He stopped Cub Swanson with leg kicks about a year ago, then in March he outpointed Said Nurmagomedov in a fantastic fight. He’s 18-4 now, in the best form of his career and he’s not even 30 yet. He’s up against an undercard favourite of mine though.

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Adrian Yanez has been consistently so much fun to watch since entering the UFC in 2020. He came in off DWCS and has been absolute must see TV for me every time. Just look at the bonuses. He’s fought 6 times in the UFC so far and he got either a POTN or FOTN cheque for 5 of them. He’s a bonus machine. He’s trying to rebound here though. After winning his first 5 fights in the Octagon, he suffered his first setback in April when Rob Font sparked him in a wild 3 minute shootout. True to form, even in defeat Yanez was exciting as fuck. It was about as good as a 3 minute fight gets but it highlighted some real weaknesses in Yanez’s game. Notably the jab. He’s had issues with it before but Font is possibly the best jabber in the Bantamweight division and he took full advantage and exploited that weakness perfectly. I expect Yanez to be his same old self here and it’s gonna be great to watch. Him and Martinez seem like they match up nicely for some fireworks. I don’t see Yanez getting too far at 135 though sadly. It’s just too strong a division and he doesn’t have enough in his overall box of tricks. But there’s so many awesome fights to be made with him in that division it’s insane. This is just another one.

 

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Michel Pereira vs Andre Petroski is another fight I like the sound of. Was supposed to be Pereira vs Marc-Andre Barriault but no sooner had I made this thread, Barriault pulled out. Typical. We haven’t seen Pereira in a while. He last fought in May 2022, winning a split decision over Santiago Ponzinibbio in the FOTN. The knock on Pereira was always that he was too flashy for his own good, too concerned with ‘getting his shit in’ rather than fighting smart and too inconsistent. But he’s actually on a 5 fight winning streak now. The only lack of consistency recently has been that he’s not been fighting regularly. And that’s been his own fault. He was all set to face Wonderboy at UFC 291 in July but he came in 3lbs heavy and the fight got binned at the last minute. So he’s moving up to 185 now. For the best. Especially when you see how fucking big he looks next to current Middleweight champ Sean Strickland here…

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Didn’t realise just how big Pereira is. No wonder he had problems making Welterweight. It’ll be interesting to see how he looks here. He has fought at 185 in the past but that was earlier in his career against lower level opposition. They’re not giving him a layup here either. Petroski is 10-1 with 8 finishes, he’s on a 5 fight winning streak and he’s coming into this fight off a decision win in a fun fight against Gerald Meerschaert at UFC 292 in August. I think this could be a trickier fight for Pereira than Barriault would’ve been, just because of the styles. I think Barriault would’ve been much more likely to have played Pereira’s game and got caught up in a wild fight. Whereas Petroski is probably just gonna look to grapple the arse off him. I can’t really recall seeing Pereira have to deal with a relentless grappler much. That combined with him moving up in weight could make this a tough one for him. You never know how an individual fighter’s style is gonna mesh with Pereira’s though, just because he’s such a weirdo. Hopefully it’s a good fight. 

 

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Christian Rodriguez vs Cameron Saaiman is currently scheduled to kick off the main card. They were actually supposed to fight at UFC 290 in July but Rodriguez picked up an injury and was forced to withdraw. Glad it’s back on because I really like this pairing. A battle of prospects. Rodriguez is 25 years old, 9-1 with 7 finishes and trains out of the Roufusport academy. Home of notable MMA names like Anthony and Sergio Pettis, Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley and…CM Punk. Rodriguez looks solid. His only loss was on points to Jonathan Pearce but he’s bounced back in style and momentarily derailed the hype of Raul Rosas Jr before it even got fully going at UFC 287 back in April. That wasn’t the result the UFC wanted but Rodriguez didn’t show up to lose and took a fairly clear decision win. Saaiman is South African and just 22 years old with a nice shiny undefeated record of 9-0, 7 inside the distance. He beat Steven Koslow and Mana Martinez in his first two trips to the Octagon. My main takeaway from those fights was that he looked promising but was committing fouls left and right. I didn’t think it was on purpose, just errors in judgment. But he finally got a ‘clean’ win in July, stopping Terrence Mitchell (Rodriguez’s replacement) in a round. This could be an excellent fight. You don’t often see the matchmakers just bite the bullet and pair two young prospects off like this so early on. But I like it.

 

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Darren Elkins vs TJ Brown should be worth a look. Elkins fights usually are. Anyone who’s seen him fight won’t need reminding that he’s tough as nails. But it’s getting to the point now where it’s becoming a bit uncomfortable to watch.

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He lost a decision to Jonathan Pearce in his last fight in December. He also lost a whole bunch of blood. As per. Honestly, I think a stiff breeze would have him looking like Ric Flair in a War Games match at this point. He’s 39 years old now and he’s been through the wars. He’s about 97 in fighter years. His nickname is ‘The Damage’ but he seems to take it more than dish it out. Even in his wins. Who can forget that mental comeback KO he scored against Mirsad Bektic years ago? He’s been out 10 months and you’d hope that’s because he’s being smart and recognised he needs a break. But no. He fucked his knee up in that Pearce fight so he’s been forced to the sidelines. Now he’s back. Brown’s a winnable fight for him but I don’t know with Elkins anymore. He’s game as fuck but I don’t know. Brown’s coming off a submission loss to Bill Algeo in a tremendous, already forgotten gem, from April. No world beater but he’s a few years younger and a lot less banged up than Elkins. I’ll watch it. Through my fingers and from behind the sofa maybe, but I’ll watch it.

 

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Tainara Lisboa vs Ravena Oliveira. Not a clue. Lisboa is a former Muay Thai champion and has gone 6-2 with 6 finishes since switching to MMA. She got submitted by Bumcheeks Dumont in her MMA debut back in 2016 but she’s clawed it back and is currently on a little 4 fight win streak. Made her UFC debut in May and subbed Jessica Rose Clark. I have fuzzy memories of her looking OK but Clark isn’t much good so that win didn’t tell us much. At 32 years old, Lisboa’s not gonna have time to become a well rounded mixed martial artist so I can’t see her going too far. But then again, it’s women’s 135. In a division that shallow you just never know. Oliveira is making her first Octagon appearance here. Never seen her but Sherdog says she’s 26 years old and 7-1-1 with all her wins being finishes and she’s on a 7 fight winning streak.

 

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Terrance McKinney vs Brendon Marotte is a last minute addition. McKinney was originally supposed to fight Chris Duncan on this card but Duncan pulled out with visa issues and, to be honest, I wasn’t expecting McKinney to stay on the card. As the show got closer, I just didn’t see them finding a replacement on such short notice and expected them to just try to rebook the Duncan fight for another card. But here we are. McKinney’s always exciting to watch. He’s wildly inconsistent in terms of results but he always brings it. He’s got to be one of the most active fighters currently on the roster as well. This’ll be his 4th fight so far this year. He’s coming off a quick TKO win over Mike Breeden in August but got finished in his 2 previous fights. Marotte steps in for his UFC debut on less than a week’s notice. He’s 26 years old and 8-1 with 5 finishes. He’s won his last 3 and is coming off a first round submission win in August for a promotion called Combat Zone MMA. That’s about it on him. Probably gonna be another quick McKinney KO but maybe this guy’s got something. Just noticed looking at McKinney’s record (16-4) that he’s never actually never been to a decision. He’s 20 fights into his career and all of them have ended either with him finishing the opponent or getting finished himself.

 

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Irina Alekseeva vs Melissa Dixon is another fight I’m pretty much going in blind on. Alekseeva made her UFC debut in April, subbing Stephanie Egger in a round with a kneebar. She’s 33 with a 5-1 record and nicknamed ‘Russian Ronda’ due to her extensive background in Judo. Unfortunately, she overshadowed her own UFC debut, like a twat, by missing weight by 4lbs and seemingly not giving a bollocks.

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Between the big weight miss and the rancid post-fight McGregor strut, I instantly took a bit of a disliking to her. So I’ll be rooting for Dixon here. Never seen nor heard of her before but looking her up now I see she’s from Coventry. Gotta root for the Midlands girl. She’s 32 years old and undefeated at 5-0 with 3 wins via KO/TKO. Her last couple of fights were in the Ares promotion in France but she’s been inactive almost a year now.

 

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Chris Gutierrez vs Alateng Heili has been slapped together from the remains of two cancelled fights. Gutierrez was originally booked against Montel Jackson on the Dawson vs Green card a week earlier but Jackson pulled out. And Heili was all set to face Rani Yahya on this card but the Brazilian dropped out. So the matchmakers did the right thing and threw this one together. Both guys still get paid (probably peanuts) and at least their training camps weren’t for nothing. Gutierrez is coming off a points loss to Pedro Munhoz in April but was on a nice 8 fight unbeaten run before that. Capped off by knocking out Frankie Edgar in Frankie’s retirement fight. That Munhoz loss stopped any momentum he was building though. Alateng Heili hasn’t fought since last September. He beat Chad Anheliger on that mad clusterfuck Nate Diaz vs Tony Ferguson card. Can’t say I remember much at all about him.

 

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Emily Ducote vs Ashley Yoder is nothing happening, curtain jerky cack. Easy skip material. Ducote’s a former Invicta champ and scored a brutal headkick finish against Danielle Taylor to win the belt but she hasn’t had the best of starts in the UFC. She beat Jessica Penne in her debut but didn’t exactly shine. Since then she’s dropped decisions to Angela Hill and Loopy Godinez. She’s 12-8 now and it just doesn’t seem to be happening for her. She’s got no excuse to be losing this one though. Yoder’s awful. She has a record of 8-8, has lost 4 of her last 5 and hasn’t fought since July 2021. She’s 35 years old as well. She was crap enough before, I dread to think how she’s gonna look after a 2 year layoff. If Ducote’s ever gonna become anything, she really should be winning this fight convincingly. Expecting a ball-achingly dull split decision sparring match though.

 

 

Back to the Apex we go. 

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Edited by wandshogun09
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I still take issue with this, I just dont see the issue. Tognoni may have jumped in quickly, but as soon as that right arm dropped I think he had every right too. At that point Lacerda had completely stopped fighting a deep choke, he was done and temporarily went out, he only woke up because Tognoni prompted Chairez to let go of the choke. 

Dominic Cruz on commentary clearly had a bit of an agenda here too, he attacked Tognoni on commentary like he was incompetent, thought he was bang out of line.

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Unfortunately not watching this one live because I've had my COVID booster today and I'm feeling absolutely shite however I fucking had no idea Pereira was fighting and he's up there as one of my favourite fighters as the mad cunt is always throwing shit no other human would even consider to in a fight

 

This card isn't great but the main card isn't bad so I'll check it out along with the last two fights on the ksi and Logan Paul card just cos I'm so desperate too see both of them get knocked out cold 

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Enjoyed the shit out of this.

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Barboza vs Yusuff was a really good fight. Didn’t really know what to expect just because it had been a while since we saw Yusuff and my memory was a tad hazy on him. Not to mention this was his biggest fight to date and he’d never gone 5 rounds before. He looked a beast in that opening round and, watching that, I really thought he might just overwhelm Barboza and either run away with it on the cards or just wear Barboza down and get the finish. We’ve seen Barboza get dominated in some of his past fights (the Khabib/Bryce fights spring to mind) and the way the first round played out here, it started to resemble those fights. But Barboza did well to not just stay in the fight but actually turn things around and make the comeback over the next few rounds.

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Don’t think I’ve ever seen Barboza turn a fight around like that before, as much as I’m a fan he’s always seemed a little bit of a front runner to me. But this proved otherwise. Yusuff seemed to fade and get a bit disillusioned at times but, even though he lost the decision, I think this fight will do more for his stock than pretty much all his previous ones. He was likeable but fairly forgettable before but this was the kind of fight that sticks in the memory. Wasn’t a FOTY contender but it was a belter all the same. And even just going 5 rounds with an established and dangerous opponent like Barboza, he’ll probably have learned more in this fight than any other. His first UFC main event, he went 5 rounds for the first time, showed heart surviving that spinning kick etc.

I wanna see Barboza vs Yair!

Viviane Araujo vs Jennifer Maia…skipped it. Don’t regret it. No idea why this was co-main.

When did Jonathan Martinez become such a lethal leg kicker? Christ. Maybe he’s always been one but I don’t recall seeing him look this devastating with them before he stopped Cub Swanson with them last year. Now here he is again just destroying Adrian Yanez with them.

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Nasty. You could see from the first couple he landed that Yanez really didn’t like them and it was gonna be an issue. And Martinez didn’t let up until Yanez’s leg was toast in the second round. Martinez has really snuck up on everyone but he’s looked a right handful his last few fights. He deserves something big next time. Ballsy of him calling out Merab post-fight but not much chance of that happening. Plenty of fun matchups for him at 135 regardless. Best division in the UFC easy at the moment for me. As for Yanez, I don’t know where he goes from here. That’s back-to-back stoppage losses now. Again, plenty of cracking fights to make with him but he’s in a rough spot now.

Michel Pereira had just about the perfect Middleweight debut. Just bulldozed a tough guy in Andre Petroski in a minute.

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Didn’t really tell us that much. It was too short a fight to read anything into it and Pereira’s so unpredictable he’s always got the capability to end a fight early. But this was ideal really as his fresh start up at 185. Kind of washed the bad taste from his weight miss and subsequent cancellation of the Wonderboy fight at 170. I don’t see him making a splash in the upper end of the rankings but I’m looking forward to seeing more of him at 185. Definitely a healthier division for him and you never know. 185 is more shallow than 170 and Pereira looks like he’s got the size to compete with anyone at the weight plus he’s probably gonna be quicker than a lot of them. Like I said, I don’t see him wrecking shop but I do think 185 is a much better fit for him, for his physical health and in terms of matchups.

Loved the Christian Rodriguez vs Cameron Saaiman fight. Just tremendous stuff from both. Perfect main card opener and it was one of those rare matchups between legit prospects where you can see bright futures for both. It’s a shame Rodriguez badly missed weight for this because it’s put a dampener on what was probably his most impressive showing to date. This was such a good fight though. And they’re both still young enough that I won’t be surprised if they meet again down the road, maybe for higher stakes.

Darren Elkins vs TJ Brown was another fantastic fight. Elkins is always worth watching and this was a typical Elkins type fight. Non-stop, gruelling, fast paced, scrambling like fuck and of course he bled. Just another day at the office for old Damage Darren. Loved this fight. If you skipped the prelims you missed a fun one.

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Chuffed to see Elkins come back from the layoff and get the submission. It’s a shame they never got any bonus money for this. On most cards, especially your standard Apex card, this would be your FOTN. This probably was my personal FOTN, to be honest. 

Terrance McKinney did what he does. Made short work of last minute replacement Brendon Marotte.

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20 seconds is all it took. Never a dull moment, win or lose. Still don’t see him having much of a future at 155. He just doesn’t have enough about his overall game and seems a bit too much of a front runner. But he’s bags of fun to watch. Got to be one of the fastest starters on the roster. He’s on about rebooking that fight with Chris Duncan (his original opponent for this card) before the end of the year, which would be his 5th fight this year.

Was happy to see Melissa Dixon get the win in her UFC debut. Partly because she’s from the Midlands but mostly just because I took an instant dislike to Irina Alekseeva in her debut a few months back. Not a bad performance from Dixon here, bit of a shaky start but she had a strong second and third round and gave Alekseeva a bit of a hiding.

Didn’t catch the first couple of Fight Pass prelims but did see a picture from the curtain jerker. Apparently Emily Ducote gave Ashley Yoder a whole new set of eyebrows…

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😫

Really enjoyed the show all in all. Looked good on paper and the fights I expected to deliver did. No complaints.

Roll on Saturday and 294! 

Edited by wandshogun09
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The main event was really good. Not sure how Edson survived that onslaught. Easily one of the top comebacks of the year. Good stuff.

Love a good leg kick, so the Martinez fight was a good un too.

 

Cruz instead of Felder knocks it down a mark, but still a few solid momets on this one.

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