UFC Vegas: Ribas vs Namajunas - Mar 23 ??

[David]

On 3/28/2024 at 2:00 AM, Egg Shen said:

Remember the Pearl at the Palms shows in Vegas? Put them back in there if they have to stay in Vegas, a little cauldron like atmosphere, with proper fans watching.

Oh yeah, I remember those shows. I actually attended my first-ever UFC at one of those, I think. The crowd was mainly made up of people who'd been comped by various hotels, but it was a pretty good atmosphere from what I can remember.

[wandshogun09]

It’s been a long week for various reasons and I mostly missed this show. Wasn’t gonna bother watching it after I caught spoilers in the week but I’m sick as a dog at the moment and not gonna be leaving the house anytime soon so I finally stuck this on.

Yeah, Namajunas vs Ribas was shite. I know Rose had that stinker with Esparza but I thought that was more of a styles thing, it certainly wasn’t typical of her. But I really thought this fight was almost tailor-made for Rose to shine in. Ribas is that combination of being aggressive and reckless with not much in the way of defence. As much as I like Ribas, I thought Rose would, and should, totally school her here. If not a finish then a clear decision where she just outclasses her throughout. I thought they both looked bad though. Maybe Ribas was a bit hesitant with it being her first 5 rounder. But Rose hasn’t looked on form to me in some time now. It’s hard to fathom that this is a woman who scored first round, title winning knockouts over prime Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Zhang Weili…and here she is going 5 rounds in a competitive fight with Amanda Ribas. At this point I think it’s fair to say she’s lost a step. Completely lost track of the scoring in this one. Even being practically bed bound I found my attention fading. Seen a fair few comments that Ribas should’ve won or was robbed and stuff. I felt like Rose probably won but, like I say, I wasn’t exactly giving the fight my undivided attention.

Not sure what’s next for Rose, after her last few fights, I’m not looking forward to whatever it is. I know she was talking about rematching Fiorot but that does nothing for me. We don’t need to see that again, especially so soon. And regardless, surely the winner of Blanchfield vs Fiorot is next up for a title shot, not pissing about with Rose. I think the other name she mentioned Maycee Barber makes more sense for Rose next. Why was Trevor Wittman not in Rose’s corner as well? I must’ve missed the news is that a permanent split? That seems like a bad move, especially with dopey Pat Barry now the lead voice in the corner talking bollocks. Oh I could really do without that incessant “I’M THE BEST” shit from Rose as well. Especially when she’s putting in dross performances like this. 

The Karl Williams vs Justin Tafa co-main went pretty much exactly as I feared it would. Tafa’s got no wrestling and Williams is all wrestling but not much of a finisher. This was always the most likely way for it to go sadly. Didn’t take long for me to start skimming through. I knew Tafa would never go far anyway because he’s literally just a slugger with no grappling. But he’s alright for a fun brawl every now and then if he’s matched up with the right opponent. But seeing Williams blanket and go to decisions with the likes of Brzeski, Sherman and now Tafa doesn’t exactly give me high hopes for his future either. Nearly pissed myself when he mentioned Stipe post-fight. Thought he was calling him out at first but it was just for some fireman’s BBQ thing ? but yeah this fight was rotten. Rancid stuff.

The Shahbazyan fight was fun while it lasted and it was nice to see him get back in the win column. Even then though, Dobson still had him rocked for a minute there. Shahbazyan did well to come back from that though and get the finish himself.

Mightn’t seem like much, and yeah it was only a win over AJ Dobson. But I think this could potentially be a bit of a turning point for Shahbazyan psychologically. He’s always been a dangerous striker but I always got the impression he’s a bit of a front runner. This was the first time I’ve seen him face adversity and actually respond well and win. It’ll probably amount to nothing and he’ll lose to some middling 185er next, but it did kind of feel like he might’ve exorcised a bit of a demon here at least.

Payton Talbott is definitely gonna be someone we need to keep an eye on. This was my ‘one to watch’ and it didn’t disappoint. Based on what I’d seen of Cameron Saaiman and how Talbott had slightly shaky spells in his debut against nothing happening Nick Aguirre, I thought this was a significant step up for Talbott and I wasn’t sure he was up to it. Needn’t have worried.

Some finish that. Talbott looked fantastic here. And I saw Saaiman as a solid prospect, I still think he might be. Talbott looked great here though. Maybe the Aguirre fight was Octagon debut nerves. Not sure how far Talbott can go but I really liked what I saw here. The jumping knees, the body punching, the big elbows in close. Then the knockdown and finish. Beautiful stuff. Really exciting times ahead. Even if his ceiling ends up not being particularly high, throwing him into that mix in an already stupidly loaded Bantamweight division, there’s so many great fights to make.

Youssef Zalal had quite a return to the Octagon. Steps in on short notice and, not just beating Quarantillo but submitting him.

Good stuff. He looked better than I remember from his first UFC stint, maybe just a case of him maturing a bit as a fighter. This was a strong performance and maybe the best win on his record to date. Fair play. He gambled on himself stepping in and it paid off.

Fernando Padilla looked good breezing through Luis Pajuelo in the main card opener. Not much else to say. It was too short to read much into. But it was a sweet finish and a great way to kick off the main card.

Julian Erosa vs Ricardo Ramos was always gonna be entertaining but I didn’t expect it to be over that quick.

Erosa needed that coming off being on the wrong side of a couple of quick finishes himself.

Jarno Errens vs Steven Nguyen was the type of fight that makes it difficult for me to just outright skip these cards. This was a belter and I went in with no real expectations good or bad. These two really went for it though.

Cracking fight. If you skipped the prelims (and I wouldn’t blame you because I nearly did too) this fight is worth going back to. Well deserving FOTN winner.

I watched Zheleznyakova vs Rendon because I always like to at least give newcomers a chance before I dismiss them as shite Apex fodder. Didn’t enjoy it much though. Was mildly surprised Zheleznyakova got the decision but it wasn’t like I was scoring it properly. Not in any rush to see either fight again, to be honest.

That Andre Lima vs Igor Severino fight…Jesus Christ. It’s all understandably been overshadowed but it was a really good fight before the ending. I was enjoying it a lot and thought both were looking like great additions to the Flyweight division. Especially liked the way they were trading elbows in close quarters. Then for some reason, Severino decides to turn into Hannibal Lector in the second round.

Vile.

Can’t even say it was a desperation move, Severino was controlling the round prior to that and the fight was still very much up for grabs. This was one of those Golota-Bowe or Yan-Aljo mid-fight decisions that just completely baffled me. Not that I’d ever think there was a right time to bite someone. And the position they were in, there was no question it was deliberate. There was no accident, he was stood there just chomping away on Lima’s arm.

Gotta say as well, I don’t usually mind Brendan Fitzgerald but he was doing my head in here. He seemed surprised the fight was stopped and was actually trying to argue Severino should’ve just got “a stern warning” at one point! Even after they showed the close up of the bite mark and there was no doubt, Fitz backtracked a little bit but was still banging on about warnings and shit. Then as Lima was walking to the back Fitz is going “Fun fact! Tyson bit Holyfield once, was warned, it continued, then it was ended after the second bite. This one, straight after the first.” What are we doing here? A man bit someone in a professional fight. Someone was BITTEN for fuck’s sake!

Severino’s been released immediately. I’ve seen quotes from him since showing remorse and apologising. He said he got hit with an elbow and doesn’t remember anything after that, that he was fighting on autopilot. I’ve seen people say sacking him is harsh because he’s only 20 years old etc. It’s a real shame because he showed before the bite that he’s definitely got talent and potential. And being so young, he could have a bright future. But I don’t have a huge problem with them cutting ties. There’s no place for biting. The problem is that you know it’s double standards. If a big name who the UFC makes money off bit someone, I doubt they’d get more than a fine, and maybe not even that. Maybe Severino will be back someday.

Mick Parkin stays undefeated but, again, I’m just not rating him. Any legit prospect worth their salt would’ve beat a big slug like Mo Usman in more impressive fashion than this. Not even necessarily finish him but you should be looking better than this. Awful fight. So far in the UFC he’s beat Jamal Pogues, Caio Machado and now Usman. All lifeless plodding decisions. Maybe he’ll improve as he steps up, let’s face it he’s gonna have to. But so far, not a fan.


Yeah, a decent card let down by the last two fights.

Edited March 30, 2024 by wandshogun09

[Jesse]

I think there's something to be said for harsher action early in the career like this. I don't doubt what you said about the UFC letting someone off if they're a bigger name making them money pack of hyenas that they are. But it would be a different situation between young fighter on his debut doing something like this, showing themselves to be a massive liability, to be told to hop on their bike and maybe re-considered in the future if they've got their head straight. Versus someone with more history in the company, with a lot of sensible fights behind them, where maybe it is more fair to give them the benefit of the doubt that it was a break in conscious action.

 

Again, you've probably got the right of it and it would come down to how much money you're currently making them. I don't think they've made a harsh decision by cutting him but I am a massive softie and he seems genuinely contrite since so I'd love to see him redeem himself somewhere and build a career back up.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah, good points. I think where the harshness comes in for me isn’t him getting sacked, it’s that the commission has withheld his purse on top of that. Maybe that’s fair enough but it feels like getting released was enough of a punishment. To then not pay him anything as well seems a bit much.

Also saw quotes from Severino saying his family has had abuse and his mum has received death threats over this, which is obviously not on. Just a shitty situation for all involved. For what it’s worth, Andre Lima doesn’t seem to be holding any ill will towards Severino. Shite tattoo aside, he’s said this since the fight last weekend…