UFC Abu Dhabi: Sandhagen vs Nurmagomedov - Aug 3 ??

[wandshogun09]

Back in Abu Dhabi and this is both one of the strongest Fight Nights ever and one of the most depressing. Don’t be scared homie.

ABC MAIN CARD
Cory Sandhagen vs Umar Nurmagomedov 

Shara Magomedov vs Michal Oleksiejczuk  

Marlon Vera vs Deiveson Figueiredo 

Tony Ferguson vs Michael Chiesa

Mackenzie Dern vs Loopy Godinez

Joel Alvarez vs Elves Brener  

FIGHT PASS PRELIMS
Alonzo Menifield vs Azamat Murzakanov  

Mohammad Yahya vs Kaue Fernandes 

Shamil Gaziev vs Don’Tale Mayes

Guram Kutateladze vs Jordan Vucenic 

Viktoriia Dudakova vs Sam Hughes

Jai Herbert vs Rolando Bedoya

Sedriques Dumas vs Denis Tiuliulin  

 

Yep. A right mixed bag. On the one hand you’ve got two of my favourite fight bookings of the year in the two big Bantamweight fights on the main card. On the other hand…the ghoulish Diaz and Ferguson fights slapped on there. A card of two halves. It’s definitely pretty stacked by Fight Night standards though, isn’t it? Both in fight quality and name value. All of those main card fights are ones you’d have expected them to whack on a PPV so getting them on a Fight Night here is cool. 

And oh yeah, an added bonus for us is that we get the lovely UK friendly start time. According to the UFC website, it’s an 8pm main card kickoff, so probably 5pm for the prelims. Get in!

 

 

Cory Sandhagen vs Umar Nurmagomedov headlines this bad boy and I’m all about it. This fight was actually supposed to main event a Fight Night card in Nashville last August but a shoulder injury took Umar out. I was gutted at the time because it was the step up fight we’d all been waiting to see Umar in, his toughest test yet, his first main event, first 5 rounder and so on. Sandhagen ended up facing Rob Font that night and won on points but, as it turned out, he suffered his own injury in the fight and has been out ever since. At this point I guess it made sense to just pick up where they left off and rebook the fight. I’m glad they did. Fair play to Sandhagen though. He’s ranked #2 at Bantamweight currently, Umar’s ranked #10. So it’s not like a win here does anything for Sandhagen rankings-wise. But it’d be another win, against an undefeated guy on the rise and a win over a Nurmagomedov, which can’t hurt.

So yeah, last time we saw Sandhagen he beat Font by decision. It was a surprisingly dull fight but Sandhagen did pick up an injury (torn tricep) in the first round of that fight and still made the best of a bad situation and dominated the rest of the fight one-armed. Now after a year out, he’s taking a bit of a risk here. I don’t think he’s getting enough credit for it really. It’s not like there’s a long line of 135ers calling out Umar anyway. So for the #2 ranked guy to accept a fight like this, especially after a layoff, it’s ballsy. There’s been too many times we’ve seen fighters reach a certain level in the rankings and then they just wanna protect the number next to their name and only wanna fight the champ or really big names. Sandhagen could’ve pushed for a rematch with Petr Yan (ranked #4) or even sat back and waited for whoever the champion is after the inevitable O’Malley vs Merab fight. But I guess, having already lost a year, he just doesn’t wanna sit out any more. And when you consider we don’t even have a date for O’Malley vs Merab yet, it probably wouldn’t have been a good idea to try and wait. Still, gotta give Cory his due. He’s not sitting on his ranking, he’s defending it. And against a #10 who hasn’t tasted defeat yet. It might feel like one of those ‘high risk, low reward’ matchups but, much like Poirier vs Saint Denis, if he wins this fight I think he’ll probably be next in line for the title shot.

“The Dagestanis kind of have this aura of being these superhuman people. And that’s not true. They are just doing things that people haven’t picked up on yet. I have a really good and smart team of coaches to help me navigate that.”

”I think as long as I work my ass off, I could definitely get a finish in this one. I want this fight to be one that, like, drops peoples jaws. I want people to be like, ‘Wow, Cory is that good? I didn’t know Cory could grapple like that. I didn’t know that he could fundamentally break someone down in striking the way that he did.’ I mean, people have seen that from me before, but they haven’t seen my high high-level grappling. So I’m really excited to show that. I also think that the additions I’ve made since the elbow’s been hurt, are going to play a big factor in this. I definitely added some heat onto a lot of the things that I’m doing.” - Cory Sandhagen

He definitely sounds well up for it, despite the gap between them in the rankings. Sandhagen’s a really interesting guy to listen to. Which is a rare thing from fighters these days. He’s actually intelligent and listening to how he views his career and MMA in general, as well as breaking down his own style and how it matches with opponents, he’s not like a lot of the meatheaded, ‘controversy for clicks’ twats who get all the media attention these days. I’ve found myself moving away from watching fighter interviews altogether in recent years but Sandhagen’s one of a few who I’ll still listen to.

Umar Nurmagomedov is a bit of an enigma. He’s 28 years old and undefeated at 17-0 but it feels like we still know so little about him. We haven’t seen him put in any real danger, haven’t seen him in many bad positions, haven’t seen him go into a 4th or 5th round. His progress has been quite slow and a lot of that’s been because of injuries, layoffs and inactivity. This step up feels long overdue at this point. Hopefully he can stay more active now and start building some momentum because, from what we have seen, he looks the real deal. We last saw him in March, beating UFC newcomer Bekzat Almakhan by decision. He pretty much dominated from my memory of it but, even that, facing a debuting fighter on short notice wasn’t ideal. That aside his UFC career has consisted of wins over Sergey Morozov, Brian Kelleher, Nate Maness and Raoni Barcelos. Decent wins but it feels like he should’ve been much further along in his career by now. Again though, the lack of consistent activity is what’s stalled his progress. This Sandhagen fight is exactly what he needs to break through into that upper echelon at 135 though.

Might seem like a lofty prediction at first glance, and it certainly was very optimistic when he originally tweeted that back in 2021. But right now in 2024, Umar’s on track to achieving it. He’s got a hell of a test in front of him here and I’m not sure if he’s up to it or not. But this is the moment of truth for him. If he beats a fighter the calibre of Sandhagen, he’s right in the thick of the title shot conversation. Seriously, say he beats Sandhagen, the #2 ranked guy in the Bantamweight division, it wouldn’t be crazy to see him thrown right into a title fight. Especially if he puts in a strong performance and wins impressively. The fact he’s undefeated wouldn’t hurt in the promotion either.

Very interesting fight. Whatever happens here, at the very least it feels like we should finally know a lot more about Umar when this fight is all done and dusted. Looking at the top of the division, assuming it’s O’Malley vs Merab next because it has to be. After that, the more I think about it the more I think this is definitely gonna end up being a title eliminator. The other top ranked 135ers - Yan’s got more work to do, Chito’s just lost to the champ, Cejudo just lost to Merab, Figgy’s still new in the division. It pretty much has to be the winner of this fight challenging the winner of O’Malley vs Merab. The one darkhorsey, wildcardy, x-factor could be Jose Aldo but I’m not sure he’s sticking around and he’d probably need at least another big win anyway. Yeah, I think the title shot is up for grabs here. So a fascinating fight in its own right, but also likely has high stakes as well. Buzzing for this one. Hopefully they both make it to the fight.

 

Shara Magomedov vs Michal Oleksiejczuk has been thrown together and shoved into the co-main spot just 2 weeks before the show. As you do. It’s how things are now, isn’t it? Not sure why it’s suddenly in the co-main event spot though. I get that Luque vs Diaz fell off the card but surely Chito vs Figgy should’ve got the bump? Whatever. It’s probably gonna be a fun fight. Style-wise, they match up nicely for some chaos in the striking and on first impressions it’s got the feel of a crazy one round shootout ending in a vicious KO either way. We’ll see though. You never know how these last minute cobbled together fights are gonna play out.

There’s been a lot of hype on Shara Bullet and opinions seem to range wildly from ‘he’s a big prospect’ to ‘he’s complete dogshit’. Like with most of these things, I think it’s somewhere in the middle of those extremes. He’s got the kind of style that’s pretty much always gonna either make for exciting standup battles or he’s gonna get schooled in the grappling or subbed. It hasn’t happened yet but give it time. It’s coming. He’s one of those rare Dagestani fighters who can’t grapple. Maybe I’m being harsh. I’m sure he’s got something resembling a ground game, but he hasn’t shown it yet and the glimpses we have seen weren’t good.

That’s how his last fight ended. He knocked out UFC newcomer Antonio Trocoli on the Saudi Arabia card in late June. It wasn’t all plain sailing but he found the finish in the third round and it was his first stoppage in the UFC. He showed a little bit of defensive wrestling but overall I wasn’t convinced he’s gonna amount to much. And he benefitted massively from a rare error on Marc Goddard’s part when Shara blatantly grabbed the fence to stop a takedown and got away with it. Somehow Goddard never penalised him for it and he went on to score the KO. Shara’s still undefeated, 13-0 now with 11 by knockout. I think that first loss isn’t too far away though. But with the right opponents, there’s fun to be had. And this one’s definitely along those lines.

Poland’s Oleksiejczuk is kind of cut from the same cloth as Shara. All standup, all aggression, all power, not much in the way of a ground game. He’s 19-8-0-1 with 15 finishes, 14 of them by KO/TKO. He’s got a whack on him but he’s definitely got his flaws. He’s looked better since dropping to 185 but the results haven’t been going his way lately. He’s gone 1-3 in his last 4 and has been submitted in the first round in his last two fights by Michel Pereira and Kevin Holland. Even then though, he dropped Holland early. And that Holland fight was also a last minute thing where they just chucked it together a few weeks before show time. Coming off back-to-back losses, you wouldn’t have thought Oleksiejczuk would risk it taking another short notice fight now but here we are. I guess the potential reward is worth the risk and if he can hand Shara his first loss, it’ll be a nice scalp for him. Probably not gonna be a pretty fight but could be a very short and explosive one. Looking forward to it.

 

Marlon Vera vs Deiveson Figueiredo is ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** for Abu Dhabi. Shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone who’s been reading my posts lately. Ever since Figgy moved up to Bantamweight, I’ve been banging on about wanting to see every single combination of Figgy vs Chito vs Petr Yan. This is volume one of what will hopefully be a series of bangers between those 3 little madmen. Can’t really go wrong any way you mix and match that lot, can you? If I have one gripe with this, it’s that I wish it was 5 rounds. Luque vs Diaz getting 5 rounds while this gets 3 is a crime, in my opinion. But looking at the positives, the glass half full way to view this is that 3 rounds might actually make for more of an all-action dogfight because they won’t have it in the back of their minds that they might need to conserve energy for those later rounds.

Chito is looking to redeem himself here. He got outclassed and beat up by Sean O’Malley in their title fight at UFC 299 in March. He proved his toughness but that‘s about as positive as it got for him. His durability wasn’t ever in question. He lasted the full 25 minutes but O’Malley put a beating on him. Shame really. I like Chito and was hoping he’d knock the pink out of O’Malley’s hair. And despite what the UFC propaganda machine kept telling us, I actually felt like Chito was the more popular ‘star’ that fight week. Unfortunately he just couldn’t get the job done when it mattered. Fun fighter though and he’s had some good wins over the likes of Edgar, Font, Cruz and Munhoz. His recent losses to O’Malley and Sandhagen have pretty much confirmed where he sits in the pecking order at 135 though. He’s never gonna be ‘the guy’ but he’s always gonna bring excitement and, matched with the right opponent, there’s still a lot of fun to be had. This is absolutely one of those matchups for me.

“I’m figuring out how to get back to that title conversation. The best way to do that is to go to Abu Dhabi and fucking rip this man apart. They said ‘What about Figueiredo?’ I said, ‘Fuck yeah’. He’s a former champion, undefeated in the weight class, why not put another former champ in my collection of heads? He’s been having success but I would say he’s beaten big names in the division that probably don’t have the drive that I still have. I’m taking this just as seriously as I was taking the title fight. I’m going to get in there and fucking let this motherfucker know we’re on my time! If I have to dig deep and fucking go to the basement and pull all the demons out, we’ll bring them.” - Chito Vera

Doesn’t sound like the loss to O’Malley has deterred him or knocked his confidence at all. And to be fair, a win over another popular name like Figueiredo would be a hell of a way to bounce back. I’d go as far as to say, if he beats Figgy it might just be Chito’s best win to date. I can see why a fight like this would have him fired up. Figgy’s got that same kind of aggression and dog in him so you’d think it’ll be a fight right up both men’s alley. An interesting note on Chito, he’s reportedly switching up his training for this one. He’s still training with Jason Parillo and some of the RVCA guys but Chito’s apparently set up his own gym in California near his home that will be focused around him. That doesn’t always pan out for the best but we’ll see. He’s still with Parillo so it’s not a complete overhaul but maybe a few tweaks were needed. He specifically said the change was made in order to “avoid bullshit and politics” so there must’ve been something negative going on in his training camps.

Figgy’s back. Fresh off his submission win over Cody Garbrandt at UFC 300 in April. As a Figgy fan and an admitted Garbrandt hater, it was a very satisfying fight to watch and kicked off the 300 card on a real positive vibe. It’s going well for Figgy since he finally made the jump up to 135. It was a big talking point throughout his last few fights at Flyweight that he was having a lot of trouble making 125 towards the end there. I still think it hindered him massively in a couple of those Moreno fights. The move to 135 was inevitable but while he was champ and getting that PPV cut, I didn’t blame him soldiering on at 125. Once he lost that 4th fight with Moreno though, I was happy to see him sack it off and move up in weight. He’s gone 2-0 as a Bantam so far. A points win over Rob Font in December, followed by the sub over Garbrandt in April. He’s on the right trajectory but at 36 years old, time is of the essence. He’ll be 37 in December, that’s pretty much a pensioner in the lighter weight classes. He doesn’t have bags of time left in the game and probably only has a handful of fights left competing at a high level. So he’s looking to cram in as much as he can and max out the big wins, moments and paydays over the next 2-3 years or so. He’s ranked #6 already, so a win here over #4 ranked Chito will put him firmly in that mix for the gold. My ideal scenario is for the winner of this fight to face Yan towards the end of the year. Yan’s gone on record saying he’s looking at a November return so the winner of this against Yan on the MSG card or something would be ace. But we’ll see how it plays out. For now, I’m just chuffed we’re getting this fight.

 

Tony Ferguson vs Michael Chiesa. Again, why? If they insist on still trotting the likes of Ferguson and Nick Diaz out there, why not put them against each other? This isn’t quite as depressing to me as Luque vs Diaz just because at least neither of these guys are coming in after a brain bleed or a 3 year layoff. But it’s not far behind. And who knows what state Fergie’s brain is in these days? Hopefully these two mostly grapple. Because, in all fairness, there’s probably still an entertaining and very watchable fight to be had if they go that route. I suspect it’s gonna be hard to watch though.

You know the score with Ferguson by now. I’ve never even been a fan of him particularly. At times I’ve thought he’s seemed a right prick and he’s never exactly been what you’d call likeable. But even still, it’s been sad to witness his decline. Looking back it was always on the cards. Even at his best, so much of his game was him relying on his chin and toughness and his ability to just absorb and soak up punishment and somehow come through finishing it with a D’Arce choke or something. It’s part of what made him so exciting to watch but there’s obviously a limit and a cost to be paid for fighting like that long term. It’s crazy to think now that just a few years ago, as late as 2019/20, the MMA world was clamouring for Ferguson vs Khabib. That seems ridiculous now but you had to be there, didn’t you? Back then, that was THE fight at 155 and it got away. And since then, Ferguson’s went on one of the sharpest declines I can recall in all my years watching this shit. He came into 2020 as the guy everyone wanted to see face Khabib, here we are 4 years later and he’s on a 7 fight losing streak and was finished in 4 of them. That horrible beating he took off Justin Gaethje was the final straw and it’s been downhill ever since. Seeing him fed to fucking Paddy Pimblett in his last fight and losing to that bellend was the worst. Even with the flaws Ferguson always had as a fighter, I’ve zero doubt that, at any time before 2020, he would’ve diced Paddy up something fierce with elbows and strangled his bloody carcass into unconsciousness. I’d usually say that when you start losing to guys you’d have butchered in your prime, it’s time to stop. But it’s been time to stop for a while now where Ferguson’s concerned. If there’s a glimmer of hope here, Chiesa’s never been an imposing striker, he’s never finished anyone by KO or TKO, he’s on a 3 fight losing skid himself and he hasn’t fought in over a year. Hopefully that at least limits the chances of Ferguson getting sparked. Maybe it will be a grappling match. That’s the best possible scenario. But man, if Ferguson does get knocked out by Chiesa, the plug has to be pulled. An 8 fight losing streak and you get knocked out by someone who can’t break an egg? At that point, everyone around him needs to step in and save him from himself.

 

Mackenzie Dern vs Loopy Godinez is a decent little fight. Bittersweet because I like both and they’re both coming off losses. Don’t really wanna see either fall further into a slump but that’s the game. One of them is gonna get back to winning ways, the other is gonna fall further behind. Speaking of ‘behinds’…Mackenzie Dern has lost her last couple of fights now and she’s 1-3 in her last 4. You know the UFC would love to have her as champion or at least get her into title contention but every time she gets close, she hits a wall. She got smacked about and stopped by Jessica Andrade on the MSG card last November, then she lost a decision against Amanda Lemos on the Volk vs Topuria card in February. That was a good fight but Dern took a bit of a hiding, if I’m remembering it right. Just can’t see her ever smashing through that ceiling or putting a consistent run of wins together at this point. Loopy’s not on as bad a run but she’s been facing a lower level of competition overall compared to who Dern’s been in with. Loopy’s 12-4 and coming off a points loss against Virna Jandiroba in March. She was on a 4 fight win streak before that though. Not sure how this goes. It feels like a winnable one for Dern and if she can make it more of a grappling match she’ll obviously have an advantage. But they’ve both been kind of hot and cold in form at times. Hopefully it’s a good fight either way.

 

Joel Alvarez vs Elves Brener is a fairly late addition to the card and a cracking one. Really like the sound of this. Hopefully Alvarez makes it to the cage this time though. He’s pulled out of a couple of fights this year so far. He last fought on the London card in July 2023, beating Marc Diakiese by submission. It wasn’t without some controversy though, a clash of heads started the finishing sequence. Alvarez is 20-3 now and has won 5 of his last 6 with the only loss being to Arman Tsarukyan. He’s an entertaining fighter to watch from what I remember of him and in 23 pro fights he’s only been to a decision once. Brener’s 16-4 and coming off a points loss against Myktybek Orolbai at UFC 301 in May. It was a good fight though and Brener was 3-0 in the UFC going in so not a disaster. Brener made a fan of me with his come from behind stoppage of Guram Kutateladze in their bloodbath last summer. Think him and Alvarez should match up perfectly.

 

Alonzo Menifield vs Azamat Murzakanov isn’t doing much for me but might be alright. Menifield’s seemed a good guy in the bits and pieces I’ve seen of his interviews and stuff over the years so I always kind of wanna see him do well. He actually got off to a decent start in the UFC, scoring a first round knockout over Paul Craig in just his second fight in. It’s gone wonky since though. He’s 15-4-1 now and got iced by Carlos Ulberg in just 12 seconds in his last fight on the St Louis card in May. Things can only get better after a night like that, right? Murzakanov is a weird one. He’s unbeaten at 13-0 with 10 wins coming inside the distance but he’s also 35 years old and hasn’t been that active. He’s beat Tafon Nchukwi, Devin Clark and Dustin Jacoby so far in the UFC. He was scheduled to face Khalil Rountree in December, which would’ve given us a better idea of what he’s about, but pneumonia forced him out. This feels like the type of matchmaking where they’re cutting their losses and looking at Menifield as a sacrificial lamb to feed to Murzakanov but you never know. Neither are spring chickens and Murzakanov is largely untested and coming off a 16 month layoff. That plus it’s 205 and fuck knows?

 

Mohammad Yahya vs Kaue Fernandes is whatever. Both have fought once in the UFC so far and both would probably rather forget it. Yahya faced Trevor Peek at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi and lost on points. Can’t even remember if I saw that fight. If I did then nothing sticks out in the memory about it. He’s 12-4, was the UAE Warriors champ and made history as the first Emirati fighter to compete in the UFC. Brazil’s Fernandes is a Nova Uniao fighter and 8-2 with 6 finishes. He lost a decision in his UFC debut against Marc Diakiese and it was absolutely rotten to watch. A shit fight is always a bad first impression but when you lose a shit fight? Disaster of a debut. Oh well, it can only get better for these two, I guess.

 

Shamil Gaziev vs Don’Tale Mayes. The piss break match. The snack break match. The getting a drink break match. There’s always something better to do than watch low level Heavyweight MMA. This’ll be shite. I gave Gaziev a chance until I watched, sorry I mean endured, his main event against Jairzinho Rozenstruik back in March. Turns out he’s just another big lumbering slug. One of the worst fights of the year so far easy and Gaziev’s own performance was embarrassing, to be honest. He was 12-0 coming in, which makes me wonder how bad those first 12 opponents must’ve been. Because he was wank against Rozenstruik. Got knackered after one round and somehow it dragged on until the end of the 4th round, where Gaziev basically quit on the stool between rounds and Marc Goddard mercifully called the fight off. Mayes is coming off a points win over Caio Machado in April that I had no recollection of but, looking back at the thread for that event now, I was surprisingly positive about it. Described it as looking like “a fairly entertaining sloppy brawl”. Probably wasn’t very good but my expectations would’ve been rock bottom for that one so anything better than rancid would’ve been a pleasant surprise. Yeah, skip this. Even with the early start time, don’t subject yourself to this shite.

 

Guram Kutateladze vs Jordan Vucenic is a late switch up and might actually be an improvement. Kutateladze was scheduled to face Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady, which was a fight I was really into anyway, but Al-Selwady pulled out injured. In steps Corby’s Vucenic making his UFC debut on just a week’s notice…

I’ll be honest, I don’t think I’ve actually seen him fight before. I’ve definitely heard his name and he looks familiar but my following of MMA promotions outside the UFC is sadly lacking these days so I probably haven’t seen him fight. Just from reading bits and looking him up on Sherdog though, he sounds like a great addition to the roster. He’s 28 years old, 13-2 with 8 finishes and he’s the former Cage Warriors 145lbs champ. Looking at his record, he’s gone 1-1 with Ireland’s Paul Hughes, who’s just signed with PFL and is one of the top fighters outside the UFC. He’s also got a 5 round decision win over Morgan Charriere and he’s coming off a quick submission win in his last fight in July. He’s got a tough debut ahead of him here though. Kutateladze’s been frustrating to follow with all the setbacks and inactivity but he can be a handful. He won a razor close decision over Mateusz Gamrot in his UFC debut, lost a razor close decision in a banger against Damir Ismagulov and got stopped in an absolute bloodbath by Elves Brener. They were all great fights but all had big gaps in between and I came away from all of them thinking ‘if only this fucker could stay healthy’. And once again, it’s been another year since he last fought and now he’s facing a last minute replacement. Prick can’t catch a break. This is instantly one of the highlights of the card now for me. Curious to see how Kutateladze looks coming back off another layoff and I’m looking forward to seeing Vucenic’s debut.

 

Viktoriia Dudakova vs Sam Hughes. No expectations for this but we’ll see. Russia’s Dudakova is 25 years old and currently undefeated at 8-0 with 6 finishes. So far, so good. But the couple of her fights I’ve seen haven’t blown me away. She made her UFC debut in July last year against Istela Nunes but it was over in just 34 seconds when Nunes posted her arm as she was taken down and broke it. The old Shogun Rua vs Mark Coleman 1 finish. Shitty way for Dudakova to win her debut but a win’s a win, I guess. She followed that with a lacklustre and pretty unimpressive points win over Jinh Yu Frey in October. The jury was out for me on Dudakova’s potential going into that one but the fact she didn’t look better against Frey - who was 38 years old, 11-9 and on a 3 fight losing streak - it doesn’t exactly scream ‘hot prospect’, does it? Hughes isn’t any better than Frey either. She’s 8-6 and coming off a one sided decision loss to Yazmin Jauregui on the Mexico City card in February. She’s been on the roster over 3 years now, has fought 8 times in the UFC and I can’t recall ever thinking she looked good. If Dudakova doesn’t look impressive in this one, any kind of prospect talk can go in the bin going forward. These are the kind of fights that any up and comer who’s got legit potential should be winning in style.

 

Jai Herbert vs Rolando Bedoya feels like a fight that would’ve been targeted for UFC 304 in Manchester originally but never quite made the cut so it’s been pushed back a week to this card. Neither are going anywhere really but it’s not a bad fight. Herbert’s 36 now and has a 12-5-1 record. Hasn’t had the best of UFC stints but he’s certainly had a couple of ‘moments’. If you recall, his UFC debut against Francisco Trinaldo is the fight that ended with Herbert getting knocked out and led to the Dan Hardy vs Herb Dean cageside handbags. A more positive moment though, was Herbert’s fight against Ilia Topuria in 2022. Yeah, OK, Herbert got ironed out in the end but he did have that moment where he almost beheaded Topuria with a headkick. That’s aged well. If nothing else, he can always look back on that fight and tell the grandkids he almost KOd the champ. In all seriousness, Herbert’s alright, some solid striking but he’s probably not gonna be on the roster much longer. I’d have liked to have seen him do better being a Midlands fighter but a combination of a limited skillset and him probably getting to the UFC a bit too late have limited his potential. Bedoya’s 27 years old, from Peru and has a record of 14-3 with 7 finishes. He’s gone 0-2 in the UFC so far, dropping decisions to Khaos Williams and Song Kenan. He was on an 11 fight winning streak before that though. He’s Chute Boxe affiliated so I should like him but I barely remember him.

 

Sedriques Dumas vs Denis Tiuliulin is a nothing fight. This fight was briefly booked for the Saudi show in June but Dumas pulled out for some reason which I can’t be arsed to look into. We really didn’t need this rebooked, did we? Could happily go the rest of my life without ever clapping eyes on these two ham and eggers again. Can’t stand Dumas. For one, he’s a shitty fighter. He’s 9-2 and has a couple of crap decision wins over Cody Brundage (another useless jobber) and Abu Azaitar (who was coming off a massive layoff at the time). We last saw Dumas in March getting eyepoked and stopped by Nursulton Ruziboev in a round. Usually I’d feel bad for a fighter losing as a direct result of getting poked in the eye but sod this prick.

Yeah, as bad a fighter as Dumas is, it seems he’s an even shittier person. At least one of these was a domestic violence case and I’ve seen pictures his ex girlfriend’s mum posted of her daughter’s bruised face. Complete arsehole. It’s nothing compared to beating women but he’s also came across as a proper twat in the snippets I’ve caught of him on the MMA side of things as well. Just a horrid little cretin. Needless to say, I’ll be rooting for Tiuliulin here. Problem is he’s a bit of a no hoper himself. He’s 36 years old with a record of 10-9-1, is coming off 3 straight losses and was finished in all of them. Expectations aren’t high for this but I’m Team Tiuliulin all the way.

 

 

 

Abu Dhabi Dern…

Edited July 27 by wandshogun09

[Egg Shen]

The main card has like an Affliction feel to it. A mixture of top level relevant fights and random fights between legends who are way down the wrong side of the hill. There'll probably be some depressing moments but i'm all for it, makes for an interesting night of fights.

[wandshogun09]

Helwani explaining how the whole thing with Nick Diaz ending up on this card went down…(Diaz talk is about 9 mins in) 

 

Edited June 24 by wandshogun09

[wandshogun09]

Well the Vicente Luque vs Nick Diaz fight is (mercifully) off.

For the best. Could happily do without the whole “bout will be rescheduled at a later date” bit. Seen a lot of comments on Twitter with people joking that the ‘travel issue’ is probably that Diaz never realised where Abu Dhabi is and that he won’t be able to smoke weed there. As silly as that sounds, it probably is actually what’s happened here ?

Oh and Shara Magomedov vs Michal Oleksiejczuk has been added just 2 weeks out. And for some reason it’s listed as co-main now. Surely Chito vs Figgy should get that spot?

Redone the poll so if you voted before, you’ll have to do it again. Soz. 

Edited July 21 by wandshogun09

[Egg Shen]

Great to see, a well earned call up:

 

[Dzeko10]

1 hour ago, Egg Shen said:

Great to see, a well earned call up:

 

Interested to know people's opinion on him? He's from my town, so naturally everyone loves him and glad to see him finally get the call up. 

[wandshogun09]

23 hours ago, Dzeko10 said:

Interested to know people's opinion on him? He's from my town, so naturally everyone loves him and glad to see him finally get the call up. 

I’ve added a bit in the opening post about that fight now. Don’t recall seeing him fight but I’m intrigued. Throwing him straight in with Kutateladze is a bit of a baptism of fire but I like it. Gives a nice little boost to the prelims. 

[wandshogun09]

Sandhagen for WrestleMania 41…

 

[Egg Shen]

On 7/26/2024 at 10:08 PM, Dzeko10 said:

Interested to know people's opinion on him? He's from my town, so naturally everyone loves him and glad to see him finally get the call up. 

Not a strong opinion on him either way but ive seen him fight in Cage Warriors a few times. Well deserving of a callup, 9-1 in CW with his only loss being to Paul Hughes. Holds a win of Morgan Charriere too, and he's doing well in the UFC. Good to see.

[Dai]

Looking foward to this one. Do we think Tony can pull it out of the bag and beat Chiesa? Tony bizarely appeared on my BBC Sports app yesterday with a piece about how he is not thinking of retirement. Is this Fergusuon decline the saddest in UFC history? Hes provided so many great fights through the years, so its bad to see how far hes falllen. Even though Chiessa hasnt won a fight for 3 and a half years, I unfortunately see it as very likely he will submit Tony.

[Egg Shen]

It's between Ferguson and Penn for the saddest fall of truly elite level fighers. Tony's is more frustrating because BJ Penn had a bit of a reputation of skirting by on natural talent rather than work ethic, BJ may have been more competitive if he'd changed his approach. Tony is still putting the effort in and still losing badly, it simply just isn't there anymore and it's like he doesn't realise it.

Watch him win tonight ?

[Zebra Kid Mark]

This will be the first show in a long time that I will get to watch live and I am very excited for it. 

It looks like I am the only one in the poll who went with Chito, I am starting to doubt myself now. I thought Chito would be too big for Figgy despite Figgy having the edge in skill.

 

 

[Egg Shen]

Ive got Figgy, especially in a 3 rounder.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah don’t forget the early start time…

Haven’t given this card any thought really since I knocked together the opening post. It’s a cracker though, especially being on so early. It says it all about how down I was on that Vicente Luque vs Nick Diaz fight that I’m looking forward to this a lot more since that fight dropped off. 

Sandhagen on points but I’m really not sure on this. While Umar has looked legit so far, we just don’t know enough about him and this is quite a step up for him. Such a great fight, maybe the best fight to get basically zero discussion on here ever. Whatever happens, unless it ends in 30 seconds or something mad, it feels like we’re gonna learn a lot about Umar in this one whether he wins or loses. And the winner of this is probably gonna be right at the front of the line to get the next title shot against the winner of O’Malley vs Merab next month. The timing could work out perfectly. 

Oleksiejczuk by KO. Yeah, fuck it. It’s based on little more than pure gut feeling but sod it. Shara’s been fairly entertaining to watch so far and I won’t be surprised at all if he wins this one. They’re both kind of the same in that they’re pretty much all striking and little to no grappling. It’s gonna be a dogfight and, I don’t know, I just think Oleksiejczuk has the heavier hands. It’s the kind of fight that is good for Shara style-wise and it’s one he can definitely win. It’s the strong grapplers he’s really gonna struggle with. But I’ve got a feeling Oleksiejczuk wallops him here. Shara’s game is very kick-heavy and I can definitely see him just staying at kicking range and playing target practice. But I reckon Oleksiejczuk gets to him at some point. 

Figgy by decision for me as well. Sorry Zebra. Can’t believe we’re just hours away from this fight. I’ve been calling for it from almost the nanosecond Figgy decided to move up to 135 but it doesn’t seem like 5 minutes since it was announced and here we are already. It’s snuck up on us quick. I’ve been surprised how negative most fans on social media have been about this fight. I love it myself. It’s probably my favourite fight on the card. I’m leaning towards Figgy though. I like Chito but I just can’t get past the fact that he often lets big chunks of rounds slip away and then relies on one flurry in the last minute. He does that a lot and it’s paid off in the past but I think everyone’s wise to it now and I don’t see Figgy falling into that trap. To be fair though, maybe with this only being 3 rounds we’ll see a more aggressive Chito and less of him holding back for the last minute burst of offence. I just hope it’s a good scrap. They’re definitely capable of it and I’ve come around to the thinking that it’s gonna be a better fight over 3 rounds than it would’ve been as a 5 rounder. Outside chance that Figgy could backdoor it into a title shot off this as well depending on how this and Cory/Umar go. 

Chiesa by submission but, really, fuck knows with this. Almost feels like a coin flip at this stage. I’ve just got zero confidence in Ferguson in 2024 though. Chiesa’s not on the best of form himself and is coming off a long layoff. It’s probably about as winnable a fight as they could give Tony on paper right now and if there’s some comfort then at least Chiesa’s not some massive puncher. But even still. The fact I’m still favouring him says it all about how shot my confidence in Tony is. He’s 40 years old and coming off 7 straight losses, for fucks sake. And he’s back up at Welterweight for this which I’m not sure is a good or bad thing. Just feels desperate at this point. Surely if he loses an eighth straight fight tonight they’ve gotta cut ties?

 

Abu Dhabi Dern Day? 

Edited August 3 by wandshogun09

[Panhead]

Man, I sure hope Tony's team hide all of his left hand gloves.