UFC Paris: Moicano vs Saint Denis - Sep 28 ??

[wandshogun09]

We’re heading back to France…

ESPN MAIN CARD
Renato Moicano vs Benoit Saint Denis 

Nassourdine Imavov vs Brendan Allen 

William Gomis vs Joanderson Brito

Kevin Jousset vs Bryan Battle

Morgan Charriere vs Gabriel Miranda

Fares Ziam vs Matt Frevola

ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMS
Ion Cutelaba vs Ivan Erslan

Oumar Sy vs Da Woon Jung

Ludovit Klein vs Roosevelt Roberts

Taylor Lapilus vs Vince Morales

Dariya Zhelezniakova vs Ailin Perez

Daniel Barez vs Victor Altamirano

Nora Cornolle vs Jacqueline Cavalcanti

Bolaji Oki vs Chris Duncan  

 

First off, take no notice of the bout order. It’s not finalised and I’ll edit as we go. Not bad at all that card. I dig the main event, there are a couple of other fights I like the sound of and a few prospects I’m interested to see again. The last two Paris cards have had great crowds as well so that always helps. And on top of everything else, this’ll be on at a nice early time for us! 

 

 

Renato Moicano vs Benoit Saint Denis tops the bill in France this time. Cracking fight. Was fully expecting the main event of this one to be Ciryl Gane against some big plodding slug so I’m more than happy with a Lightweight headliner like this. As I type this, Moicano’s ranked #11 and BSD’s at #12 on the UFC’s website. So both are knocking on the door of the Top 10 of the 155 division. Looking forward to this.

Moicano’s been around for a long time now and, at 35 years old, I think it’s fair to say he’s on the final stretch of his career. Although there are exceptions, you don’t typically see fighters do too well from 35 and up, especially in the lighter weight classes. So Moicano’s at that stage in his career now where he’s looking to max out whatever time he’s got left and get the biggest fights possible for the most money he can get, before time runs out. It’s also probably why he’s become much more vocal over the last couple of years. He’s been a decent fighter for years but that’s not always enough unless you’re absolutely exceptional. Moicano isn’t. He’s good but not good enough that he’s gonna catch on and stand out purely on his skills alone. So he’s started talking more and it’s kind of working. He’s definitely more popular now than he’s ever been before. For me, his schtick is already getting old. I can’t remember who I was talking about it with on here recently but one of you at least agrees. Can’t blame or knock him for trying but his whole thing of just saying “MOTHAFUCKA” over and over again and banging on about loving the USA and wanting to be a cop and shoot the bad guys…it’s not really hitting the spot for me. It was amusing the first time but it seems like he’s run out of material already and that’s all he’s got. Most fans are lapping it up though so he’s gonna run with it. Mothafucka. But yeah, good fighter and he’s coming off 3 solid wins. He deserves this spot. But I don’t think he goes any higher than this. There’s a reason Paddy Pimblett seems desperate to fight Moicano and it’s because he’s entering that phase of his career where he’s basically gonna be a stepping stone for younger guys on the rise. And that’s what I think the matchmakers had in mind when they put this one together.

Benoit Saint Denis is on the path to redemption here. He’s 28 years old and coming into the prime of his career, he’s an exciting fighter with a crowd pleasing style and he was looking like a possible future title contender before running into Dustin Poirier at UFC 299 in March. He’d lost his UFC debut but was on a 5 fight winning streak heading into that Poirier fight, with all 5 fights not making it to the judges scorecards. It seemed clear to me that the UFC were high on him as well, just from the way guys like Rogan were talking him up and stuff. I definitely got the sense that the UFC higher ups were looking at that as BSD’s big breakthrough fight and, with Poirier coming off that brutal headkick KO loss to Gaethje, they probably thought he was on the decline and ripe for a surging up and comer like BSD to catch at the right time. Wrong. Poirier gave a big ‘fuck you’ to the lot of them and stopped Saint Denis in the second round of a really fun scrap. I was as happy as anyone to see Poirier win that fight but, like when any prospect loses, the ‘fraud check’ bollocks started to get thrown at Saint Denis. Shite. Yeah, it was a step up and he came up short. But I don’t need to tell any of you that losing to Dustin Poirier doesn’t make you a fraud. That’s just wally talk. Especially when you see how well Poirier fought against the champ Islam Makhachev in his next fight. And it’s not like Saint Denis didn’t have his moments against Poirier. He was giving him all he could handle that first round. Poirier’s an absolute dog and he can put anyone away in that kind of fight. It’s not a loss Saint Denis can’t come back from. There were positives to take from it and he’s still the right side of 30. Writing him off as a fraud after a fight like that is cobblers.

So yeah, really good fight. One of the better Fight Night headliners of the year for me. I’m actually hoping this goes into the later rounds. We’ve only seen Moicano do 5 rounds once and he took a beating off Rafael Dos Anjos. And Saint Denis has never gone longer than 3 rounds and has actually only ever gone the distance once. His last fight with Poirier was scheduled for 5 rounds but was over in 2. I feel like the matchmakers think this is a good rebound fight for Saint Denis. I don’t think they’d have booked this as his bounce back fight after Poirier unless they fancied him winning. They can say they don’t root for certain guys all they want but, let’s face it, they’re not having BSD headline in France to lose, are they? They want him back on track and in the mix. If you just look at Moicano’s recent record you might think it’s a dangerous rebound fight for Saint Denis, and it is to an extent. But while he’s on a 3 fight win streak, he didn’t look amazing against Drew Dober in February and then came very close to getting knocked out by Jalin Turner at UFC 300 in April. He only survived that because Turner let him off the hook by trying to do the old Mark Hunt walk-off KO and failing to follow up. So on paper, you might look at this and think the guy coming off 3 wins should be favoured over the guy coming off a KO loss. But I can definitely see why the matchmakers probably like BSD’s chances here. Either way, I’m expecting an entertaining fight out of this and you know the French crowd is gonna be red hot for this one. 

 

Nassourdine Imavov vs Brendan Allen is co-main. Not the worst fight but isn’t doing anything for me really. It’s Imavov. Just can’t get into his fights at all. He’ll probably get a decent crowd response here because he’s French but I’m just really indifferent to him. He’s 29 years old, 14-4-0-1 and coming off a TKO win over Jared Cannonier in June. It was a bit of a controversial stoppage though. Usually I disagree with the ‘early stoppage’ talk but I did feel like Cannonier was a bit hard done by. Imavov beat Dolidze in a 5 round Apex snoozer before that as well. Yeah just not convinced by him. Says it all that he was losing to a 40 year old Cannonier who was coming off a year layoff until the dodgy stoppage saved him. As for Allen…

There’s his last fight. Unofficial and off the books of course. For some reason him and Marvin Vettori got into it at a casino after a PFL event recently. The video shows Allen giving him a clump and some reports say he knocked Vettori flying into a roulette table, other reports say Allen rushed him and Vettori dropped him. Who knows? Who cares? They were supposed to headline a Fight Night in April but Vettori pulled out. Allen ended up beating Chris Curtis on points in their entertaining rematch instead. No doubt him and Vettori will be rescheduled at some point. For now though, I just hope Allen beats Imavov. Allen seems a bit of a knob but he’s way better to watch than Imavov. Him knocking Imavov back a few steps is the best result for us all here. Allen’s on a solid little run as well. 24-5 now, on a 7 fight win streak with 5 finishes and he’s currently ranked #7. Imavov’s at #4, which is really a damning indictment on the Middleweight division. Yeah, hopefully Allen stops his little climb.

 

William Gomis vs Joanderson Brito is leaving me cold. And it’s not Brito’s fault. I just can’t be arsed with Gomis at all. Absolute dullard from what I’ve seen so far. He’s French and he’s fought on the first two Paris cards but I can’t even remember the French crowds showing him too much love. His UFC run so far has consisted of a majority decision over Jarno Errens, a split decision over Francis Marshall and then a TKO via ‘body kick’ over Yanis Ghemmouri that was clearly a bollock strike. People say Mokaev was boring but he looked like Wanderlei Silva compared to this fucker. Don’t know why they’ve saddled Brito with this. He’s the complete opposite. He’s 17-3-1 with 15 finishes and he’s coming off his best win to date over Jack Shore in May. It was a doctor stoppage due to a cut on the leg, which was odd. But that wasn’t Brito’s call and he was giving Shore all kinds of problems even before that. This feels like a step backwards for Brito. Odd matchmaking but needless to say I hope he gets something watchable out of it and, most importantly, a win.

 

Kevin Jousset vs Bryan Battle is whatever. Might be alright but it’s not particularly grabbing me. Not familiar enough with Jousset to really give a bollocks but maybe this’ll be the fight to change that. He’s French so he’ll have the crowd support and that might bring the best out of him. And also, he’s in with a guy I am familiar with so that makes it easier to gauge his performance. He’s 31 years old, 10-2, on a 5 fight win streak and coming off a points win over Song Kenan in December. Battle is also 10-2, won TUF a few years ago and has had mixed results in the UFC since. The highlight so far has been his 14 second KO over Gabe Green in front of his hometown crowd in Charlotte. His last fight ended on a No Contest due to an eye poke though.

 

Morgan Charriere vs Gabriel Miranda wasn’t the initial plan. Charriere was all set to face AJ Cunningham in what sounded like a bit of a squash match but that’s off and Miranda steps in on short notice. Memory’s hazy on Miranda. He’s been on the roster since 2022 but he’s only fought twice in that time. Got stopped in his debut by Benoit Saint Denis but I remember it being a good scrap while it lasted. Then he bounced back with a quick submission win over Shane Young at UFC 293 in Sydney last September. So a year out and jumping in on late notice here. Charriere’s obviously gonna be the crowd favourite. At 19-10-1he doesn’t have the best win/loss ratio but he’s one of the more entertaining fighters the UFC has ever had out of France. He’s a former Cage Warriors champion and looked great in his UFC debut on last year’s Paris card, folding Manolo Zecchini with a nasty body kick in the first round. He then lost a split decision to Chepe Mariscal in April but it was the FOTN and really fun to watch. I don’t think anyone’s got UFC title contention expectations when it comes to Charriere anyway, a loss here or there in an good fight isn’t gonna make a big difference. This’ll probably be exciting for however long it lasts.

 

Fares Ziam vs Matt Frevola is the obvious likely show stealer for me. Ziam’s gone under the radar but he’s a solid fighter and I’m glad he’s getting a decent name on a main card, and in front of a home crowd. He’s 27 years old, 15-4 with 9 finishes and he’s currently on a 3 fight winning streak beating Michal Figlak, Jai Herbert and Claudio Puelles.

‘Steamrolla’ Frevola is 34 years old and fights out of New York as part of the Serra-Longo fight team. He’s 11-4-1 now and he’s had a few bad setbacks but he’s one of those fighters I’m always happy to see on a card. Very rarely a dull moment. He had that disastrous 7 second KO loss to Terrance McKinney a few years ago and his response was to go on a 3 fight streak of wild first round knockout wins over Genaro Valdez, Ottman Azaitar and Drew Dober. Seriously, if you’ve got a spare 10-15 minutes to kill before this card, give those fights a watch. All of them are one round bangers. Unfortunately it all came to a crashing halt in his last fight. He fought Benoit Saint Denis on the MSG card in November and got headkicked into oblivion in 90 seconds. This is his attempt to rebound but he’s gonna be in hostile territory here. Should be a fun one.

 

Ion Cutelaba vs Ivan Erslan. Not a clue on this. You pretty much know what you’re getting out of Cutelaba. He’s not that good but he doesn’t really know how to fight any other way than mindless aggression. Entertaining 205ers are thin on the ground these days so, as meatheaded as he is, he’s alright by me. He’s 17-10-1-1 now, it’s going nowhere, but I’ve very rarely been bored watching him. Christ, he even made Ankalaev look exciting for a couple of fights! He’s lost 4 of his last 5 now though so he could really do with a win here. Erslan is making his UFC debut. He’s Croatian, 32 years old and has a record of 14-3-0-1 with 11 finishes, 10 by knockout. Looking at his record, not much stands out other than he’s fought a lot in KSW and he’s wildly inconsistent. He’s gone 2-2 in his last 4 but he’s coming off a 54 second KO in his last fight in February. No idea what to expect out of him but this feels like it could be total chaos.

 

Oumar Sy vs Da Woon Jung is gonna be worth a look. Sy looks the business so far. He’s 28 years old, undefeated at 10-0 with 8 finishes and he’s a Light Heavyweight that actually might be worth getting excited about. Imagine that? Not sure how the bout order is gonna shake out but if they don’t put this on the main card I think they’re missing a trick.

Sy’s one of the better prospects they’ve signed in a while and definitely the best prospect they’ve had out of France in probably ever. He made his UFC debut in May and subbed Tuco Tokkos in a round with ease. Not a stellar win but he got royally fucked about going in with opponent changes. Think Tokkos was the third scheduled opponent and Sy dealt with him like he was nothing. Jung’s nothing special. He’s 15-5-1 and coming off 3 straight losses. Make no mistake this is a fight that’s been designed to add to Sy’s highlight reel and I expect it will go that way. We’ll see though.

 

Ludovit Klein vs Roosevelt Roberts is an OK fight but a bit of a weird one. Feel like Klein should be further along than this by now. Granted this wasn’t the original matchup, Klein was supposed to face Nikolas Motta here. But, again, feels like Klein should be past that level at this point. Oh well. Maybe it’s just a case of him wanting to stay active and just taking any fight. He’s 22-4-1 now, hasn’t lost since 2021 and has gone unbeaten in his last 6 fights. Some decent wins in there as well over the likes of Mason Jones, Ignacio Bahamondes and Thiago Moises. He’s never gonna be a UFC champion or probably even a top contender in a division as loaded as Lightweight but I think he’s a tad underrated myself. I feel like you could throw him in with pretty much any of the strikers at 155 and you’d at least get a good fight out of it. Roberts isn’t terrible but he’s struggled to find consistency. He’s 12-4-0-1 and previously fought in the UFC between 2018-21. He went 4-3-0-1 in that stint and was let go after getting spin kicked into oblivion by Bahamondes. He went away and won a couple of fights in the LXF and Eagle FC promotions then was brought back to the UFC late last year…only to miss weight then get armbarred in a round by Mateusz Rebecki. Not ideal. This feels like they’re feeding him to the wolves again to me.

 

Taylor Lapilus vs Vince Morales has been thrown together just over a week out from the show. Bit underwhelmed, to be honest. I get them wanting to get Lapilus on the card but the rumour for weeks was that he’d be facing Brazilian prospect Felipe Lima here. To the point it was actually reported as a done deal by a lot of the French MMA media. I even wrote about it in here and had it as my ‘one to watch’ ? Oh well. This’ll do, I guess.

A homecoming for Lapilus. Despite still only being 32, he’s been around the block a few times at this point. You might remember he had a previous stint in the UFC in 2015/16 where he went 3-1, but was oddly let go coming off a win. He then went away, won a bunch of fights and picked up Bantamweight titles in the GMC (Germany), TKO (Canada) and Ares (France) promotions. He returned to the UFC on last year’s Paris card and beat Caolan Loughran on points. He then dropped a decision to Farid Basharat but rebounded with a win over Cody Stamann in June. He’s 20-4 now and has won 7 of his last 8 fights. Morales has traveled a similar path and is making his return to the Octagon here. He fought in the UFC between 2018-22 and went 3-5 before being released after a dud against Miles Johns. He’s since gone 5-0 outside the UFC, including a trip to Rizin last year, and has finished 4 of his last 5 opponents. Not bad. Can’t say I’m buzzing for this after being cock teased with the Lima fight but it’s nice to see a guy like Morales earn his way back in.

 

Dariya Zhelezniakova vs Ailin Perez is a nothing fight. Zero interest in it. Zhelezniakova is Russian, 28 years old and 9-1 with 5 finishes. She fought for the Ares promotion before signing with the UFC and made her debut in March, beating Montserrat Rendon by decision. Perez is Argentinian, 29 years old and 10-2. She’s won her last 3 fights in the UFC but it’s been against absolute bottom of the barrel opposition. All anyone talks about is her shaking her arse, that’s her gimmick to make up for her lack of entertainment and skill in the cage. She’s no Norma Dumont.

 

Daniel Barez vs Victor Altamirano. Might be decent actually. Only seen Barez once and it was his UFC debut last year where he got subbed in a round by Jafel Filho. I remember that being a really fun round of action though and Barez was giving Filho real issues before he got caught. He’s 35 years old, Spanish and has a 16-6 record with 13 finishes. Altamirano’s 33 with a 12-4 record. He got a couple of wins early in his UFC career but has since dropped a couple of back-to-back decisions to Tim Elliott and Felipe Dos Santos.

 

Nora Cornolle vs Jacqueline Cavalcanti 2 then. The monster rematch the world’s been waiting for. Yeah, apparently they fought back in July 2021 for a show called FFA Challenge and Cornolle won by decision. That was Cavalcanti’s MMA debut and her only loss to date. She’s 8-1 now. She’s Portuguese, 27 years old and has gone 2-0 so far in the UFC with decisions over Zarah Fairn and Josiane Nunes. Cornolle’s French, 34 years old and also 8-1. She’s coming off a vicious stoppage win over Melissa Mullins. She was supposed to fight Germaine De Randamie here but GDR dropped out. Yeah, no expectations for this and I will not be reviewing the first fight before the rematch, if it’s OK with you.

 

Bolaji Oki vs Chris Duncan could be good. Oki came into the UFC earlier this year with a decent amount of buzz around him. He’d fought on DWCS last summer and looked really impressive and I read nothing but positive things about him before his UFC debut in February. It wasn’t the strongest debut though. He won a split decision over Timmy Cuamba and the fight and Oki’s performance didn’t exactly wow anyone. But in fairness, Oki’s original opponent fell out and Cuamba stepped in really late in the day so it probably wasn’t a fair reflection. He’s 9-1 now with 6 finishes and the only loss was on points in his MMA debut back in 2018. We’ll see how he looks here. I saw his DWCS fight and he looked sharp and like he had a lot of potential so I think there’s better to come than he showed against Cuamba last time. Scotland’s Duncan is 31 years old and 11-2 with 8 finishes. He got off to a decent start in the UFC but it all went tits up in his last fight when he got strangled in a round by Manuel Torres on the Mexico City card in February.

 

 

Bonjour!

Edited September 28, 2024 by wandshogun09

[wandshogun09]

This is how the card and bout order is shaping up according to Marcel Dorff.

Odd to say the least. I don’t have a huge problem with it but Cutelaba vs Erslan and Jousset vs Battle on the main card while Oumar Sy, Ludovit Klein and Bolaji Oki slum it on the prelims looks off to me. Morgan Charriere is looking for a new opponent after AJ Cunningham withdrew. Oh and apparently the Taylor Lapilus vs Felipe Lima fight (which was my ‘one to watch’) is either off or was never 100% confirmed in the first place. Shame. 

[Egg Shen]

bloody hell, not another one:

 

 

[wandshogun09]

This is a decent card but I’m not really feeling it that much. The early start helps though…

[Egg Shen]

Beautiful

[wandshogun09]

I usually make the votes visible in the polls on these threads but somehow didn’t this time. I’ll admit though, I got the main and co-main completely wrong here.

Renato Moicano beat the absolute dogshit out of Benoit Saint Denis. I think most people were thinking Saint Denis was gonna get back in the win column here. I was one of them. Wrong. I’m still not convinced this means Moicano’s on some run at the title now but this was a hell of a performance and win for him. It just seemed like Moicano got off to the perfect start, getting the takedown right away, and BSD couldn’t have had a worse start. And Moicano just never let him get in it for the whole first round. And that’s all this was. The beatdown was all in the first round.

All that damage from just a 5 minute spell is nuts. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone look so messed up on the stool after one round. To BSD’s credit, he somehow toughed it out and even won the second round. But he was fucked and just looking at the state of his eye, you knew he wasn’t gonna survive the next 4 rounds. He needed a finish and quick but Moicano had damaged him so much in that first round he just never seemed to have that burst of aggression in him after that. As anti-climactic as the ending was, the doctor stopping it was definitely the right call.

In a mad twist though, it’s come out since the fight that Moicano had came into the fight with a bad shoulder injury, which he aggravated towards the end of the first round.

Makes sense now why he kind of took his foot off the gas and ‘let Benoit off the hook’ in that second round. Who knows how the fight would’ve played out had it gone into the later rounds? I guess that’s why Moicano was so aggressive right out the gate in that opening round. He knew his shoulder wasn’t gonna hold up so went all in on going for the kill early. Good thing for him it paid off and he basically already took Benoit out of the game in that first round because it could’ve got bad for him if his shoulder messed up later and Benoit was still in it and dangerous.

Once again, could’ve done without Moicano’s post-fight bit and all the political stuff. His schtick has gotten old quick for me, just shouty bollocks and rambling. His best line was during the post-fight show when he was doing the desk bit with Bisping, Karyn Bryant etc. He was talking about Dan Hooker being Top 5 in the rankings, seemed confused by it and said “Unbelievable. That’s like seeing a turtle in a tree” ? The call-outs of Hooker and Paddy Pimblett made sense, either sounds good to me. But surely Moicano’s gonna be out for a while now with that shoulder.

Imavov vs Allen was a bit of a mess. What a way for Allen’s win streak to come to an end. Thought he looked awful here. He got Imavov down and got that first round in the bank just by maintaining top position the whole round. After that it all went to shit. To think he’d been moaning that they should’ve been main event. He wanted a 5 rounder but he was sluggish and knackered by round 2 here.

This pic basically sums up most of the Middleweight division in 2024. Just sloppy shite. Imavov rightly won and he does have spells in fights where he actually looks alright. But I was really disappointed in Allen. He seems a bit of a dick but I thought he was a bit better than this. Might as well book that Allen vs Vettori fight now. Unfinished business there. No doubt that’s an Apex main event coming to a screen near you soon. Imavov, fuck knows? Think he was ranked #4 coming in so he’s up there now. Although I don’t know where he fits in. There’s been talk of DDP vs Strickland 2 (ugh) for the strap and obviously the winner of Whittaker vs Chimaev is gonna be in the thick of the convo. Who does that leave Imavov with? Doubt Izzy fights him. Maybe Borralho?

I’ll admit I barely watched Gomis vs Brito. Been burned by Gomis too many times to give a shite so I was distracted with other things during a lot of the fight. From what I saw though, it looked better than the usual Gomis bollocks and I’m guessing Brito is the reason for that. Might actually give this a proper watch when I get chance though, seeing a lot of people say Brito should’ve got the decision, some outright saying he was robbed and even the French crowd were booing their own man getting the decision. I didn’t pay enough attention to score it or give a proper opinion on the scoring either way but I’m seeing a lot of disagreement with that decision. Gomis might be on the shittest win streak in UFC history at this point. Iffy decisions and dodgy stoppages galore.

Bryan Battle gave no fucks. Bashed up Frenchman Kevin Jousset, in France, then went all Brock Lesnar at UFC 100 post-fight.

Quite refreshing, to be honest. Too many times you’ll see a fighter get booed and they’re so desperate to be liked they start licking arse in the post-fight interview and telling the crowd ‘you’re booing me but I love you guys and this is an awesome city’ for the cheap pop. Battle went on the offensive and told them all to piss off. I liked it.

Morgan Charriere was one of the standouts on the card. Looked really good and that left hook KO as Miranda spun off the throw attempt was lovely.

Think I said in the opening post that I don’t think Charriere’s ceiling in the Featherweight division is that high and I stand by that. But man, he’s fun. He’s got the kind of fighting style, look and personality that’ll probably keep him on the roster for a long time and obviously he’s perfect for the France cards, or Europe in general. Getting the crowd singing the national anthem in the post-fight interview was a new one. Think they were even singing it unprompted in of the prelims as well.

Fares Ziam vs Matt Frevola was predictably fun. No FOTN bonus was awarded on this card but this would’ve got it for me. Ziam still got a POTN bonus though, and scored a legit Knockout Of The Year contender in the process. Look at this shit, will you?…

Fuck me. Absolutely devastating knee. Ziam was looking good before that as well. Yeah, Frevola’s no top contender but he’s a tough guy with a bit of a name who’s had some decent wins. Ziam getting a win like this on home turf could be just the thing he’s been waiting for. Mad to think he’s been in the UFC for 5 years now, he’s been just another name on the card for all that time but this was a finish that might see him finally break out from the pack now. I don’t expect him to put a dent in the rankings or anything, at 155 he’s not gonna go much higher than this. But at least he might get some better name opposition and better card placement now. Tough break for Frevola. His last couple of fights now he’s been flattened by Saint Denis and Ziam. Think Longo needs to keep him away from French opponents from now on.

Cutelaba was Cutelaba. Typical kind of goofy but pretty entertaining fight. Thing with Cutelaba though is, although he’s wild and aggressive which makes him fun to watch sometimes, he‘s also midcard for life. He’s kind of a decent barometer to throw these debuting guys in with. Didn’t see much out of Erslan here to make me think he’s got much of a future. Tough bastard clearly, but not much else.

Oumar Sy got the job done and stays undefeated. Couple of slightly shaky moments and I’ve seen a few criticisms but I still think he’s got a lot of potential. A lot of great fighters breeze through the competition on the way up but a lot of them had these kind of fights on the way up as well. We’ll see in time but I think he looks solid so far. He’s 28, which is still quite young for 205, so he’s got some time yet.

Ludovit Klein extended his unbeaten streak to 7 but it wasn’t the best performance from him. Not bad but it was a bit closer than I expected and, if anything, you could argue this was a better look for Roosevelt Roberts in defeat than it was for Klein in victory. Obviously a win is always better than a loss but considering Roberts took the fight on short notice and was the underdog who most thought was gonna get his arse kicked, he did alright.

Taylor Lapilus looked good, probably the sharpest he’s looked since his UFC return. In fairness to Morales, he did step in on short notice here but it was pretty evident he was out of his depth against Lapilus here.

Ailin Perez subbing Dariya Zhelezniakova in a round was a pleasant surprise. She’s still shite but thankfully it was over quick. I was fully expecting a 15 minute snoozer. Perez is rotten though. Even as a connoisseur of the female buttock, her making shaking her bum her whole personality is boring as fuck. This was cunty as well…

And seconds later she was hugging Zhelezniakova and being all nice. ‘Soz about choking you and then shoving my arsehole in your face love, let’s be friends’. She’d missed weight for this fight as well, which makes her over the top celebrations all the more cringe. Apparently her and Tracy Cortez have been having a pop at each other so that’s probably happening at some point. Who cares?

Really enjoyed the Barez vs Altamirano fight. Bit of a hidden gem on the prelims but the Flyweights rarely disappoint for me. Fun scrap though, with both having their moments, but I was happy to see Barez come out on top and pick up his first UFC win.

Thought Jacqueline Cavalcanti battered Nora Cornolle in their rematch. It wasn’t close and I don’t know how the one judge scored it for Cornolle, or why Cornolle was acting like she won before the decision was announced. Cavalcanti rightly got the decision in the end but I’ve got no idea how a judge can find 2 rounds in that fight to give to Cornolle. Fights like this are why split decisions can be misleading. I get the feeling a lot of fans now don’t even watch the fights and just go off little clips on social media and base their opinion on fighters off reading records on Wiki or Tapology or something. But a split decision doesn’t necessarily indicate a fight was close. It can mean that but a split can just as easily come about because one of the judges was daydreaming about their wank later and ticked the wrong box on the scorecard.

Don’t know how many saw it but Chris Duncan’s first round submission over Bolaji Oki in the curtain jerker was wild. Duncan was committing to the guillotine, Oki was fighting it, then right as Oki seemed to be out of danger and his head popped out, he’d clearly gone to kip.

Don’t recall seeing a finish quite like that. It seemed to catch both Duncan and the ref off guard as well. He must’ve went out right as he was escaping the choke. Nice win for Duncan but a proper shite start to Oki’s UFC run. He came in with a bit of buzz and some expectations on him from bits I was reading before his debut earlier in the year. Now he’s 1-1, the win was lacklustre and now he’s been put to sleep like this. 


Yeah, fun card that. The stuff I expected to be good was good but even the stuff I was expecting to be awful like the Ailin Perez fight at least had the good grace to be short. The French crowds are great. The UFC is 3 for 3 now on electric crowds for their Paris cards. Reminds me a bit of when they started coming over here regularly in 2007 when Bisping was on the rise coming off TUF and the crowds were batshit no matter what the card was. It helps that they’ve got a few popular and marketable French fighters on the roster though. Went tits up for BSD in the main event but on the whole it was a good night for the French.

[Egg Shen]

Really enjoyed this one. Wand. you summed it up quite nicely. French shows are great.

A Moicano/Pimblett TUF season is a no brainer for me. Paddys called for it, the actual fight makes sense, plus it would actually make for some entertaining TV.

[wandshogun09]

1 hour ago, Egg Shen said:

A Moicano/Pimblett TUF season is a no brainer for me. Paddys called for it, the actual fight makes sense, plus it would actually make for some entertaining TV.

Plus it could work with Moicano’s injury. I’d imagine he’s gonna need surgery and he’s gonna need time to recover. So his next fight’s probably a bit of a way off anyway. Might as well film TUF in the meantime. 

I wouldn’t watch it myself. Between not being able to stand Paddy, Moicano’s stuff’s getting old and just my general apathy towards TUF these days, I just can’t be arsed. But I’m sure it would appeal to more people and attract more interest than most of their seasons over the last bunch of years. 

Edited September 30, 2024 by wandshogun09

[Panhead]

That Ziam knee was truly a thing of beauty. Good lord.