Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted March 1 Paid Members Share Posted March 1 (edited) Apex… ESPN MAIN CARDTai Tuivasa vs Marcin Tybura Bryan Battle vs Ange Loosa Kennedy Nzechukwu vs Ovince Saint Preux Christian Rodriguez vs Isaac Dulgarian Pannie Kianzad vs Macy Chiasson Gerald Meerschaert vs Bryan Barberena ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMSMike Davis vs Natan Levy Josiane Nunes vs Chelsea Chandler Ode Osbourne vs Jafel Filho Josh Culibao vs Danny Silva Cory McKenna vs Jaqueline Amorim Mitch Ramirez vs Thiago Moises Chad Anheliger vs Charalampos Grigoriou Yeah, not great. Standard Apex stuff. Subpar Heavyweight main event, crappy 205 fight, dogshit women’s Bantamweight fight on the main card. It’s like there’s a checklist for these cards and this one ticks all the boxes. There are some fights worth tuning in for, but as the card stands currently they’re on the prelims. The card is probably gonna get shuffled, and it should do really, but at the moment the prelims are better than the main card for me. Regardless, this is a ‘watch on Sunday with your thumb on the fast forward button’ card, isn’t it? Tai Tuivasa vs Marcin Tybura is your fat boy main event. Another Heavyweight headliner at the Apex. Really not feeling this. Somehow these two are still ranked in the Top 10 - Tuivasa is at #9, Tybura’s at #10 - but that just goes to show how weak the division is these days. I don’t even dislike these guys, but it just feels dead as a main event to me. A man on a 3 fight losing streak vs a man who got obliterated in a minute in his last fight. Yet here we are. Big Tai is popular and seems a fairly likeable chap. That’ll be the main reason this fight has been given top billing. But man, he’s struggling big time at the moment. He turns 31 years old actually on the day of this fight. By Heavyweight standards he’s still quite young. But it just feels like he’s gone as far as he’s ever gonna go. He’s 14-6 now, with 13 knockouts. And of his 6 losses, he’s been finished in 5 of them. If nothing else, at least his fights hardly ever go the distance. He went 9-0 at the start of his career and I instantly took a liking to him just because of his friendship and ties with the legendary Mark Hunt. In the UFC his most notable wins are over Derrick Lewis and Andrei Arlovski. Beyond that you’re looking at Augusto Sakai and a shot and retiring Stefan Struve. So yeah, hardly a stellar record. He did bash up both Greg Hardy and James McSweeney though. I’ll always have a soft spot for him for that. But he’s really in desperate need of a win here. He comes into this fight off the back of 3 straight losses to Ciryl Gane, Sergei Pavlovich and Alexander Volkov. All 3 of them finished him as well. He badly needs to stop the rot here but they haven’t exactly given him a layup… Tybura’s nothing special but he’s experienced and does have the tools in his locker to potentially give Tuivasa real problems here. He’s 38 years old now, with a record of 24-8 and 15 finishes. He’s beat some of the same names as Tai like Arlovski, Struve and Hardy. He’s also got wins over the likes of Sergey Spivac, Ben Rothwell, Walt Harris, Alexandr Romanov and Blagoy Ivanov. And he’s gone 5 rounds with Fabricio Werdum. Not a Goldberg 98 run by any means but it’s enough to show he’s definitely no pushover. He has shown susceptibility to being clobbered early though. In his last fight in July, Tom Aspinall wrecked him in just over a minute. No shame losing to Aspinall but Augusto Sakai sparked him in 59 seconds years ago as well. Not necessarily saying he’s chinny or anything. It’s Heavyweight and the margins for error are so small when you’ve got men this big throwing hands. But he’s definitely open to being clipped early. That’s that then. I feel like I’ve been overly negative on this one but I can’t fake enthusiasm for these shite Heavyweight main events. There’s definitely a scenario I could see playing out here where it’s a fun one rounder ending in a vicious KO. That’s always on the table with the big lads. And between Tai’s power and him coming in needing a win, plus Tybura being 38 and coming off a quick KO loss…it wouldn’t shock me if Tai wallops him early doors. But if Tybura’s smart he’s gonna look to make this messy, drag Tuivasa about, lean on him, exploit his lack of grappling and basically play the long game. Take him into deep waters. Could make for a horrible fight to watch. I think it’s safe to assume the matchmakers are hoping for a Tuivasa win here. He’s a finisher, he’s a bit of a character and he’s got a fanbase. They’re probably looking at Tybura as a very winnable fight to get Tai back on track but I’m not sure. I don’t have much faith in either of them, to be honest. I’d rather see Tai win because the way he wins is more likely to ensure a decent fight. If Tybura wins it’s probably gonna be in a much more dull manner. Bryan Battle vs Ange Loosa as co-main event? I don’t even dislike the fight but this as co-main, even at the Apex, is weak. I know it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme on these Apex cards but, even on a shallow card like this, there are a couple of better fights on there which I would’ve preferred to see in this spot. Whatever. Like I said, it’s not a bad fight. Battle won TUF in 2021 and beat Tresean Gore and Takashi Sato early in his UFC run but I never really enjoyed watching him. Him losing that snoozer against Rinat Fakhretdinov didn’t help. But he’s won me over in his last couple of fights, to be fair. Him sparking Gabe Green in seconds in front of his home crowd in Charlotte last May was tremendous. One of those moments that, whatever happens going forward, it’s undoubtedly gonna be a highlight of his career when it’s all said and done. He followed that up with a submission over AJ Fletcher in September. Loosa’s 10-3 with 6 finishes, no world beater but I’ve quite enjoyed the fights of his I can remember. He’s coming off a win over Rhys McKee, also beat AJ Fletcher and has a pre-UFC win over John ‘Doomsday’ Howard. Went the distance with Jack Della Maddalena on DWCS a while back as well. Yeah, it’s alright this. Not setting the world alight but what does on these cards? Kennedy Nzechukwu vs Ovince Saint Preux is just…whatever. Can’t really muster up a single fuck to give. I don’t dislike either of them but Nzechukwu looks like he’s already found his level and OSP’s looked done for some time now. Nzechukwu is 12-4 and coming off a quick TKO loss to Dustin Jacoby in August. He was on an OK little 3 fight win streak before that and he did have that crazy come from behind KO win over Carlos Ulberg a few years back. Likeable big sod, but even in today’s 205 landscape, I just can’t see him going any further than he is now. OSP looks about as washed up as it gets though. He’ll be 41 in April, has a 26-17 record, is 1-3 in his last 4 and even the lone win was a split decision over shot to shit Shogun that many thought he lost. Big Kennedy really should be winning a fight like this at this stage of both of their careers. If he loses to this version of OSP he might as well just pack it in. Christian Rodriguez vs Isaac Dulgarian is ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** on this card. A fight that will probably go under the radar unless you’ve seen them before. This is a cracking fight on paper. Best fight on the card for me. Two darkhorse prospects in the Featherweight division facing off relatively early into their UFC careers. Rodriguez is 26 years old with a record of 10-1 and 7 finishes. His only blemish so far is a decision loss to Jonathan Pearce in 2022. Since then he’s rattled off 3 wins and in his last 2 fights he’s derailed the hype trains of 2 undefeated young prospects when he handed both Raul Rosas Jr and Cameron Saaiman their first career defeats. The Saaiman fight was fantastic as well, if you never saw it it’s worth a watch. He’s one to keep an eye on. As for Dulgarian… That’s how his UFC debut ended in August. Crushed poor Francis Marshall in a round. Wrecked him. It was my first time seeing Dulgarian and I remember him looking really good. He made enough of a first impression on me that when I saw his name on this card, and especially matched up with Rodriguez, I was instantly looking forward to it. He’s 27 years old and undefeated at 6-0 with all 6 wins coming inside the distance. Definitely the standout fight on the card for me this. Both look promising so don’t be surprised if they meet again further into both of their careers, regardless of the result here. Pannie Kianzad vs Macy Chiasson. Ergh. It’s women’s Bantamweight. What more needs saying? You don’t need any further proof how utterly shite this division is than looking at the rankings and seeing these two are in the Top 10 🤣 Kianzad is #6 and Chiasson is #10 as I type. Going through the motions, Kianzad is 16-7, has lost 2 of her last 3 and is coming off a points defeat to Ketlen Vieira on the London show last July. And Chiasson won TUF a few years ago, is 8-3 and hasn’t been seen since September 2022 when she got brutally folded and left curled up in the foetal position by an Irene Aldana upkick. Think about that, Chiasson was on a milk carton all of 2023 and is coming off a loss…yet here she is, after 18 months of inactivity, and she’s still in the Top 10. Says it all really. Gerald Meerschaert vs Bryan Barberena sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Neither are in the rankings, both are coming off losses but who gives a shite? These two come to scrap, both are tough as they come, both go for the finish. Big fan of this. I think we’ll all be rooting for this fella though… Good old Gerald The Bloodhound is back. He’s 36 years old now and this’ll be his 53rd pro MMA fight. Enjoy him while he’s still knocking about. He’s coming into this fight off back-to-back losses to Joe Pyfer and Andre Petroski. He had a crap 2023. But to be fair, the Petroski fight was a close and fun one from what I remember. He’s still got some scraps left in him. He’s going no higher and he’s on the home stretch of his career at this point but he’s quality. Pretty much the definition of a ‘live by the sword, die by the sword’ fighter. Of his 35 career wins, 33 are finishes. He’s only gone the distance 7 times in a 52 fight career! Barberena’s a couple of years younger and has almost half the amount of fights but he’s got a fair few miles on him. His wars with Vicente Luque, Matt Brown and Robbie Lawler were tremendous but he’s coming off 3 straight losses now. On paper, this is a very winnable fight for Meerschaert. We’ve seen Barberena’s grappling deficiencies get exposed recently by both Rafael Dos Anjos and Gunnar Nelson. There’s a definite blueprint for Meerschaert to follow. But he also loves a dogfight and, while that wouldn’t be the smart move here, it wouldn’t shock me if ‘Bam Bam’ drags him into an ugly brawl. Just sit back and enjoy it. Mike Davis vs Natan Levy is alright, I guess. Can’t say I’m that fussed though. Davis just doesn’t fight enough for me to give a bollocks. If you’ve got a good memory, you might recall the night he destroyed a badly outmatched Thomas Gifford in 2019… The knockout itself was vicious enough but that came at the end of the third round. There was nearly 15 minutes of a prolonged, drawn out slaughter prior to that KO punch mercifully putting him out of his misery. Davis was out well over a year following that win, finally came back in January 2021 and handed Mason Jones his first loss, then took another nearly 2 years out, outwrestled Slava Claus in October 2022…and disappeared again until now. I mean, Christ. He’s only 31, he’s not old. But fuck me, fighting 3 times in nearly 5 years is insane. Levy’s 8-1 and coming off wins over Genaro Valdez and Mike Breeden. But, while he’s been nowhere near as bad as Davis for it, he’s also been out of action for over a year. Just don’t know what to make of this one. Josiane Nunes vs Chelsea Chandler is nothing special but might be alright. By womens 135’s rock bottom standards, it’s actually not that bad. Nunes hasn’t bored me yet, to be fair. She’s not amazing or anything but she’s a little slugger for a 5’2” Bantamweight. She’s 10-1 with 7 knockouts, she’s on a 9 fight winning streak and her only loss to date was way back in 2013, in just her second pro fight, against Taila Santos. No shame in that. She’s not long turned 30 as well. Hasn’t beat anyone very good yet but in a division where there’s so little to be positive about, at least she fucking tries to make fights exciting. That’s all I remember of Chandler’s last fight. She lost a decision to Norma Dumont in a fight that was so dull the highlight was when Chandler turned her back and literally sprinted away from Norma and her bionic buttocks. Looked comical. Aside from that, Chandler’s also just turned 30, she’s 5-2 and fights out of Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu in Stockton, California. 209 representing, Diaz brothers affiliated and all that. Not expecting a great deal from this but we’ll see. Ode Osbourne vs Jafel Filho is a fight of no real significance, just prelim filler, but it could be decent actually. Osbourne is one of those going nowhere ham and eggers that I usually enjoy watching. For his spot on the cards, he’s usually in fairly entertaining fights. He’s 12-6-0-1 now and coming off a submission loss to a debuting Assu Almabayev in August. He’s had his moments in fights. I vaguely remember him giving Manel Kape a tough scrap before Kape got to him and finished him. He just hasn’t been able to find that consistent form and string wins together. Filho’s 15-3 with 14 finishes and fights out of the once great Nova Uniao camp in Brazil. To be fair, I’ve liked what I’ve seen in his first couple of UFC outings. He was fed to Muhammad Mokaev in his debut and, while he got subbed late in the fight, he did give Mokaev a scare with a nasty kneebar. He bounced back in his last fight in July, submitting Daniel Barez in a really fun back and forth 3 minute sprint. I know it’s not saying that much on a shallow card like this but this might just be the sleeper on this show for me. Josh Culibao vs Danny Silva. Don’t know. Culibao’s one of those guys who’s been on the roster for a while but I don’t really remember much about. He’s fought 6 times in the UFC but none of it jumps out in the memory. Nothing bad is springing to mind, he’s just one of those guys who blends in and doesn’t really stand out for whatever reason. He’s 11-2-1 overall now and coming off a points loss against Lerone Murphy on the London show last July. Silva’s making his UFC debut here. He’s 27 years old, 8-1 with 5 knockouts and was fighting in LFA before winning his fight on DWCS back in September. Cory McKenna vs Jaqueline Amorim is OK. Not expecting a barnburner or anything but it could be a decent fight if they play to their strengths and grapple. If they decide to strike it’s gonna be shite because it’s neither of their strong suit from the footage I’ve seen of both. I’ll be rooting for McKenna. She’s basically the Welsh version of Joanne Wood to me as far as likability and ‘you’d never guess they’re a fighter’ factor goes. Sadly, like Wood, I don’t expect McKenna to go too far in the Strawweight division. She’s only 24 though, so time is on her side, I guess. She trains out of Team Alpha Male and she’s 8-2, coming off a couple of wins over Miranda Granger and Cheyanne Vlismas. Amorim is 27 years old, reps American Top Team, was LFA champ and she’s 7-1, coming off a TKO over Montserrat Conejo in August. I’d probably favour her in this one but she did lose to Sam Hughes so that’s giving me doubts on her potential. Fuck knows. Mitch Ramirez vs Thiago Moises is a late change. Moises was originally booked against Brad Riddell but Riddell pulled out. Ramirez got the call and this is his UFC debut. Never heard of him but looking him up now, he’s 31 years out and trains out of Syndicate MMA. His record is 8-1 with 7 finishes and his lone loss came against Carlos Prates (who recently won his UFC debut) on DWCS back in August. He rebounded with a first round TKO win on a LFA card in December. This should be a decent first test for him because Moises has mixed with some strong opposition. He’s got wins over Bobby Green, Michael Johnson and Alexander Hernandez and also survived to the 4th round before being subbed by Islam Makhachev in their 2021 fight. He’s coming into this fight off a stoppage loss against Benoit Saint Denis on the Paris card in September. Chad Anheliger vs Charalampos Grigoriou is a complete blind spot for me. Barely remember anything about Anheliger. A quick look at Sherdog to refresh my memory and apparently he’s Canadian, 37 years old and has a 12-7 record. He’s coming into this fight off back-to-back losses and got subbed by Jose Johnson in November. Grigoriou is making his Octagon debut. He’s from Cyprus, 31 years old and has a record of 8-3 with 6 knockouts. Looking at his record, his 2021 stoppage loss to Christian Rodriguez stands out. He’s coming into this fight off a quick TKO win on DWCS in August. Yep. Apex 🤢 Edited March 14 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted March 1 Paid Members Share Posted March 1 Very Apex-y this one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted March 14 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 14 If this card was a haircut… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted March 16 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 16 Couple of things I like on this card but, on the whole, even the Euro friendly start time isn’t polishing this turd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panhead Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 Always good to see our Gerry on there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 Meh, it is what it is, as a ruddy-faced bald man is known to say. They're obviously keeping these events around as a way to do two things: Burn the fight obligation for fighters who aren't really good enough for a PPV card Give up & comers somewhere to get some wins before they push them to the main card I personally don't mind it. I'd rather these fights were all bundled together on an Apex card where I know I can give it a miss rather than have them stinking up legit cards I want to see. As usual, I'll have it on the iPad while I'm working, but I'll likely make a point of watching the main event and the Barbarena/Gerry fight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 Surely you've missed the biggest point as to why they do them? They get paid a shit tonne of money to show it on TV, and pay next to nothing for production costs and payouts. If the TV Network is happy with the ratings/content, which they clearly are, then it will never stop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 Well, yeah. We've all discussed that point before, but I'm meaning from a product point of view. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 This turned out to be a very fun card. The first half of the main card were all good, watchable matches. I zoned out of the OSP fight, but even the third round of that was pretty good. Battle/Loosa end was bizarre. In terms of how it looked and how he reacted, then it was the weakest eye poke stop I think Ive ever seen. There was the smallest reaction after it happened from Loosa, no pain at all by the looks of it. Just bizarre. Ugly scenes at the end too, and I somewhat agree with Battle. You cant end the fight like he did and then 2 minutes later square up to him and threaten to kill him. Main was good, as no one wanted to see this go five rounds. A shame Tuivasa couldnt get it done, but his ground game still seems awful after all these years in the UFC. Was an entertaining 1 round scrap though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted March 20 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 20 (edited) Just catching up on this. New mythical fighter just dropped… Tybura vs Tuivasa was a pleasant surprise. Short and sweet, which is how all Heavyweight fights should go. Tai drawing blood within the first 20 seconds or so set the tone and seemed to bring out a sense of urgency in Tybura that mightn’t have been there otherwise. I picked Tuivasa in the poll thinking he might catch Tybura early but it was a silly pick really because this always had the feel of ‘if Tybura gets hold of him and takes him down, it’s a wrap’. And right enough, the first time Tybura got his arms around him, it wasn’t long at all before he got the takedown, took the back, then came the ground and pound and the inevitable choke. Textbook Tybura and the textbook way to beat Tuivasa. Not sure what’s next for Tybura. Hopefully a trip to the barbers to get that monstrosity of a barnet sorted. Looking at the rankings, the only names that make some sense are guys coming off losses like Jailton Almeida or Sergei Pavlovich. I’d say Ciryl Gane but Gane genuinely seems to think he deserves another title shot already. Tuivasa might wanna consider a different career path at this point. This was his 4th loss on the bounce and he was finished in all of them. The Bryan Battle vs Ange Loosa thing was odd. Just seemed like a standard time out for an eyepoke at first. Obviously any eyepoke is bad but this looked fairly tame compared to a lot we’ve seen. When it first happened it didn’t even cross my mind that Loosa wouldn’t be able to continue. If anything, it looked like Battle actually got the worst of the exchange due to the clash of heads just before the eyepoke. Next thing you know, the fight’s off. Loosa was all emotional and angry after, and who are we really to say, only he knows if he could see or not. But kicking off at Battle after was ridiculous when you’ve just told the doctor you can’t see, leaving him no choice but to stop the fight. Strange stuff. Best bit about this was Bisping getting caught on camera here. Don’t know what he was saying but he seems to be agreeing with Battle… 🤣 OSP vs Nzechukwu lost me. I had little interest in it already but a round or so in I felt my attention wandering big time. Didn’t even seem that bad and it looked like it warmed up towards the end but by that point I just didn’t care. Not a good look for Nzechukwu this. If you can’t beat 40 year old OSP in 2024, something’s gone wrong. Christian Rodriguez vs Isaac Dulgarian was the fight I highlighted in the opening post and they didn’t let me down. Really enjoyed this, although all the talk in the fallout has been about the decision. It all comes down to how you scored that second round. Dulgarian won the first round 10-8. He came out like a man possessed and put an insane pace on Rodriguez. For a round, Dulgarian looked like the scariest prospect in the division. But he couldn’t maintain that pace and Rodriguez got back in it. And the third round, I had Rodriguez winning 10-8. He put a beating on Dulgarian that round. It’s that middle round causing the debate. And it was one of those rounds where one guy has a bunch of control time and the other guy lands a few eye catching and damaging strikes. I’d have to go back and score it properly but in real time I felt like Dulgarian won it. I get scoring damage over control but when it’s 4 minutes of control and only a couple of big strikes landed, I don’t think it outweighs that much control time. As with any close fight though, there’s been cries of robbery. But I don’t have a major issue with Rodriguez getting the decision. Seems like this could be a rivalry going forward and I wouldn’t be surprised if they meet again down the road somewhere. Dulgarian’s already accused Rodriguez of cheating and being slippery. Rodriguez responded with this… It was never gonna be a 5 round main event given both guys status and being fairly new but this fight really felt like it needed that extra couple of rounds to fully play out. Despite me thinking Dulgarian won, Rodriguez was clearly ending the fight stronger and it would’ve been interesting to see how a 4th and 5th would’ve gone. Skimmed through Chiasson vs Kianzad fully expecting it to go the distance but it was over in a round. Had no interest in it whatsoever, to the point I didn’t even know it was a rematch and completely left that out of the opening post 🤣 At least this was over quick, I suppose. I’d say I can’t see Chiasson going much further but the level at women’s 135 is total dogshit so I wouldn’t rule out her chances of getting in contention at some point. Always a good time seeing Gerald Meerschaert get the W. He needed that coming off a shite 2023 where he went 0-2. Thought Meerschaert looked really good here. Yeah, Barberena’s a good matchup for him style-wise, a tough brawler who tends to lose against strong grapplers. But I had a bad feeling Gerald might get dragged into an ugly scrap here so I was happy to see him play to his strengths and make the fight fairly easy. Obviously the level of opposition wasn’t the same but him now being tied with Anderson Silva for most finishes in Middleweight history is a cool stat as well. Also saw something that he’s got twice as many subs at 185 than the likes of Demian Maia, Rousimar Palhares and Rodolfo Vieira! Mike Davis looked good submitting Natan Levy but he’ll probably disappear for 2 years again now. He’s obviously got some skills but it’s hard to give much of a shite when we’ve been conditioned to expect him to fight once every 24 months. Made me laugh when he kept saying in his post-fight interview “That’s four wins in a row! Four in a row!” When those four wins have taken him almost 5 years. Chelsea Chandler vs Josiane Nunes looked awful from what I saw of it, which was admittedly not much. Jafel Filho completely rolled right over Ode Osbourne. Made him look like light work, got him down and subbed him in a round. As soon as they hit the mat it was clear as day Osbourne had fuck all for Filho in the grappling. Just a matter of time. Filho’s looked a bit of a handful in his last couple of fights. If he keeps this up then Mokaev’s win over him is gonna age nicely. Really enjoyed the Danny Silva vs Josh Culibao fight. I was hazy on Culibao and it was my first time seeing Silva so I really had zero expectations going in but they had a really fun scrap. I kind of lost track of the scoring but I felt like Culibao would probably get the decision. Mildly surprised Silva got the nod but either way, I’ll be checking his next fight out. I liked his boxing. Hopefully he makes weight next time though. Jaqueline Amorim had no trouble with Cory McKenna. I was rooting for McKenna but Amorim walking out to the Pride theme instantly got me conflicted. Looking back, this was always a rough matchup for McKenna style-wise. Her striking isn’t much good and she was giving up 9in in reach. Plus she’s mostly a grappler…but Amorim is a much better grappler. There was no safe route to victory for McKenna. But still, McKenna getting tangled up on the ground within a minute of the fight starting didn’t seem like the smartest of ideas. Done and dusted in under 2 minutes. Referee Mike Beltran dropped a big bollock here. McKenna motioned like she was gonna tap but didn’t and Beltran shouted “STOP” causing Amorim to let up on the armbar for a second, then changed his mind and told them to keep fighting. Amorim managed to synch up on the armbar again and got the tap, which is the only thing that saved Beltran from harsher criticism. His fannying about there could’ve potentially cost Amorim the fight. I kept seeing people say Amorim had to “submit McKenna twice” and even Dominick Cruz on the replays said McKenna tapped before Beltran initially jumped in. Maybe I’m going crazy but I didn’t see it. She absolutely moved her hand like she was thinking of tapping but caught herself from what I could see. In the end the right woman won. But that was a major fuck up from Beltran there. Fortunately it ended up not unfairly changing the course of the fight but that’s no thanks to him. The big Dr Robotnik looking wally. Nice return to the win column for Thiago Moises down on the Fight Pass bit. Strong showing all around for him. Ramirez did step in on short notice so maybe there’s better to come from him but he looked well out of his depth here. Moises schooled him. Bossed the grappling which was no surprise, then chopped Ramirez down with nasty leg kicks later in the fight. A painful introduction to the Octagon for Ramirez. Liked the post-fight interview from Moises as well. I think he’s already pretty much found his level in the division but it was good to see a bit of fire out of him. Seemed like he came into this one pissed off with being so low down the card and had a bit of a chip on his shoulder and a point to prove. I liked his callout of Dan Hooker as well. Not sure that’s the fight we’ll actually see but it’s a realistic one for Moises at least and could be a good fight. Yeah, inoffensive stuff this. Definitely a more enjoyable watch than it looked on paper going in. Edited March 20 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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