UFC Vegas: Magny vs Prates - Nov 9 ??

[wandshogun09]

Apex again…

ESPN MAIN CARD
Neil Magny vs Carlos Prates

Gerald Meerschaert vs Reinier De Ridder

Cortavious Romious vs Gaston Bolanos

Luana Pinheiro vs Gillian Robertson

Mansur Abdul-Malik vs Dusko Todorovic

ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMS
Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs Denise Gomes

Elizeu Zaleski Dos Santos vs Zach Scroggin

Charles Radtke vs Matthew Semelsberger

Cody Stamann vs Da’Mon Blackshear

Tresean Gore vs Antonio Trocoli

Melissa Mullins vs Klaudia Sygula 

 

 

Not the best, not the worst. Don’t know how legit that bout order is. I’ve got a feeling they might shuffle this up and at least move the Garbrandt fight up to the main card but I actually hope they leave the prick on the prelims. Couple of alright fights lower down the card and a couple of debuts that might be worth checking for. 

 

 

Neil Magny vs Carlos Prates then. Bit of an unexpected headliner but I don’t hate it. There’s always talk of fighters having to take the ‘Magny Test’, there’s no question he’s become the gatekeeper of the Welterweight division at this point. If you’re at 170 and you’re coming up through the ranks, at some stage you’re gonna cross paths with Magny before you can go any further. Now it’s Prates turn to take the test. As I type this, Magny’s just about in the rankings, he’s at #15 currently. So this is Prates chance to get a number next to his name.

The ultimate gatekeeper. At 37 years old and after 40+ fights, I’m not sure how much longer Magny’s gonna keep fighting. But he’s a guy I think everyone respects for his willingness to fight literally any fucker. When this fight got announced I saw people joking that Magny doesn’t even read his fight contracts or bout agreements, doesn’t even look at the name they’re offering him, he just signs the contract and gets to work. It sounds silly but it does seem like that’s pretty much what happens. You look back over his record and he’s 29-12 and has been on a win one/lose one merry go round for a while. But you look at the names he’s fought and you could never accuse him of cherry picking opponents. He’s fought everyone from veterans to prospects to nondescript guys who don’t really offer anything if he beats them. He genuinely doesn’t seem to care who’s in the other corner. Over the years he’s got wins over the likes of Robbie Lawler, Carlos Condit, Johny Hendricks, Hector Lombard and Kelvin Gastelum. And it’s not like he’s just a stepping stone who loses to every up and comer they throw at him. If you’re lacking somewhere, Magny’s probably gonna expose that. Even as recently as January, he derailed Mike Malott, who the UFC were trying to build up for the Canadian market. He’s coming off a loss here though. He got stopped in a round by Michael Morales in August. His previous few losses were against Ian Garry, Gilbert Burns and Shavkat Rakhmonov. So that’s the type of level of opposition it takes to pass the ‘Magny Test’. Although with Magny getting older now and Morales ending him in a round, I do wonder when it’s all gonna catch up to him.

Carlos ‘The Nightmare’ Prates is from São Paulo, Brazil, 31 years old and has a record of 20-6 with 18 of his wins not making it to the judges scorecards. It’s all happening quickly for him. He fought on DWCS last summer and only made his UFC debut in February. And here we are 9 months later and he’s already got his face on a poster and getting the spotlight of his first UFC main event. The matchmakers must be high on him and if you’ve watched his last few fights, you can see why. He knocked out Trevin Giles in his debut, stopped Charles Radtke with a nasty knee to the body in his next fight in June, then at UFC 305 in August…

He obliterated Li Jingliang. A strong performance overall, then he capped it off with that knockout. He’s exciting to watch, no doubt. Although I’m still not sure quite how good he actually is. That Jingliang fight was being looked at as a step up going in, and it was to an extent. But Jingliang was also coming off a 2 year layoff so it’s hard to know how much of a factor that was in how it all played out. Magny should hopefully be able to ask some more questions of him and maybe provide some answers. There was a bit of talk of Prates possibly fighting MVP after that Jingliang win but obviously nothing came of that. I think I actually prefer him taking the trusty old Magny litmus test right now anyway.

Intriguing one. Like I said, Magny’s the perennial barometer at 170. He found his level years ago and, while he won’t beat legit top contenders, he’s got enough about him to get wins over big names who are slipping in form or ‘prospects’ who might not quite have it. A few fighters have fallen at the Magny hurdle. But 37 years old and coming off getting chinned in a round, I don’t know. Prates might well be catching Magny at the right time. He’s on a 10 fight winning streak with 9 finishes and he’s coming in with momentum and confidence in his power. As always though, the 5 round factor could be big. Prates has never gone past 3 rounds and he’s only gone the distance a few times in his career. Magny might have to weather an early storm (and I’m not sure he can) but who knows how Prates will hold up if it goes deep into the later rounds?

 

Gerald Meerschaert vs Reinier De Ridder is ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** this time and it was an easy choice. Obviously, Meerschaert is a long time forum favourite so it’s no surprise that I’m highlighting a fight of his. But this is mostly about De Ridder’s UFC debut. Definitely one of the bigger signings the UFC have made in the last few years. Although I’m really not convinced it’s gonna work out too well for him. 

A BJJ black-belt and former double champ in ONE…yet they’ve got him debuting at the Apex? Whatever. I’m happy to see him in the UFC. I don’t know what’s going on with ONE anymore. I can’t say I follow them, I dip in for certain fights and specific fighters these days. But ONE seems to be having a lot of issues and De Ridder’s run there was weird with him barely fighting at all towards the end there. He’s back to regular activity now though, having fought twice so far this year. He got stopped by Anatoly Malykhin in their rematch in March, then won a fight on a UAE Warriors card in July. He’s 34 now and 17-2. He could still have a bit of a run in him yet. I’m not sure how he’s gonna do in the UFC but, let’s face it, it’s not like the Middleweight division is stacked with killers. There’s some interesting matchups to be made.

“I’m looking forward to getting in there. Every fighter wants to fight in the UFC. It’s been asked a lot of times over the years so it’s very cool to finally be there. Of course, it was clear I wasn’t going to keep going with ONE but there were different options. I’m getting to the later stages of my career so this was the moment to either go get it or never do it again. I had to go to UFC.”

“I went through every stage of a fighter’s career. I went from unranked to title challenger to two-division champion and it always got some traction. People liked it and respected it. But now I just started all over again. So I go fight unranked again in the UFC and it’s a bigger deal than becoming a two-division champion in ONE. It’s funny.” - Reinier De Ridder 

I saw some criticism of the matchmaking here. ‘Why have they got De Ridder in the Apex against an unranked guy?’ type stuff. The Apex point, yeah, I wholeheartedly agree. But I’m absolutely fine with Meerschaert as the opponent. I really like it actually. De Ridder’s just getting back on track, throwing him straight at high ranked opponents out the gate mightn’t have been the best move. Meerschaert’s no world beater but he’s tough and experienced as fuck, always goes for the finish and won’t shy away from the grappling. Really looking forward to this. If I could’ve picked De Ridder’s debut opponent myself, I might’ve gone with this.

 

Cortavious Romious vs Gaston Bolanos. Not a clue. Never seen this Romious chap before. Sherdog tells me he’s 30 years old, 9-2 with 7 finishes and coming off a points win on DWCS in August. Bolanos is 32 with a 7-4 record. He’s a former Kickboxer who made the switch to MMA and fought exclusively in Bellator before making his UFC debut last year. He beat Aaron Phillips in his debut but got smashed up by Marcus McGhee in his last fight in January.

 

Luana Pinheiro vs Gillian Robertson is a bit of a weird one timing-wise. Pinheiro has lost her last two fights and was finished in both of them by Amanda Ribas and Angela Hill. So they’ve matched her up with Robertson who’s won her last two fights? She stopped Polyana Viana in January and then sent Michelle Waterson into retirement in June. I don’t really get the logic in this matchmaking but who cares? Think Robertson should probably be winning this. Neither are amazing fighters but I’ve really not rated Pinheiro much from bits I’ve seen. And while Robertson’s no future champ or anything, I do think she’s got a bit more about her and her grappling should give her the edge here, I reckon.

 

Mansur Abdul-Malik vs Dusko Todorovic. Dunno. Abdul-Malik’s making his UFC debut, fresh off a TKO win on DWCS in August. He’s 27 and undefeated at 6-0, all finishes. Todorovic is 30 years old, 12-4 and has been out of action since UFC 286 in London back in March 2023. He lost to Christian Leroy Duncan that night via knee injury so that’s why he’s been out so long. Vague memories of him but he’s a heavy hitter from what I recall and it sounds like Malik is as well so this could be explosive.

 

Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs Denise Gomes feels like a case of the matchmakers thinking ‘out with the old, in with the new’ to me. Kowalkiewicz is 39 years old now, Gomes is 24. The fact Kowalkiewicz was just matched with 22 year old Iasmin Lucindo in May and lost that one backs that up as well. I like Kowalkiewicz but I think she’s reached that point now where she’s gonna be booked as a stepping stone. If she gets wins against some of them, so be it, but they’re not seeing any future there. She’s basically Andrei Arlovski at this point, but with a straighter nose and a prettier face. She was on a 4 fight win streak before the Lucindo loss, to be fair. But it just feels like the end is near. Gomes is much less experienced at 9-3 and she hasn’t mixed with the type of opposition Kowalkiewicz has in the past. But she’s younger, she’s fresher and she’s dangerous. For a Strawweight she packs a punch. Of her 9 wins, 6 have come by KO/TKO and she did wreck Yazmin Jauregui in 20 seconds not too long ago. Hopefully Kowalkiewicz doesn’t suffer the same fate but we’ll see.

 

Elizeu Zaleski Dos Santos vs Zach Scroggin then. Not a clue on this. Was originally gonna be Dos Santos vs Nicolas Dalby in a rematch of their 2015 bout. Dalby’s out though. Shame. Was actually quite looking forward to it. Quite like Zaleski Dos Santos, to be fair. He’s no world beater but he does have a stoppage win over Sean Strickland so he’s always gonna be in my good books. He also battered Benoit Saint Denis back in 2021 in a fight that went the distance only because the ref was absolutely inept. It should’ve been stopped. ZDS turns 38 a few days after this show though. He’s no spring chicken now. Never heard of Scroggin but he’s the younger and fresher man at 28 and he’s unbeaten at 7-0 with 5 finishes. Risky jumping in on short notice like this against a tough veteran but that seems to be pretty much the only way to get in the UFC these days. It’s either step in on short notice or go the DWCS route.

 

Charles Radtke vs Matthew Semelsberger. Can’t pretend I’m arsed. Radtke’s fought a few times in the UFC now and all I remember is him getting folded by a knee to the body from Carlos Prates. He’s 9-4 now. Semelsberger’s been alright to watch at times, in fairness. He had a couple of sub-20 second KOs early in his UFC run that have stuck in my memory but he’s on horrible form at the moment. He’s 11-7, on a 3 fight losing streak and 1-4 in his last 5. Even by today’s standards, he’s surely on the chopping block with another loss here.

 

Cody Stamann vs Da’Mon Blackshear is whatever. Just making up the numbers stuff. Neither are the worst fighters you’ll see but they’ve both been lost in the shuffle big time in the deep waters of the Bantamweight division. Stamann turns 35 the day of this show, he’s 21-7-1 and coming off back-to-back decision losses to Douglas Silva De Andrade and Taylor Lapilus. Blackshear’s 30 with a 14-7-1 record and also coming off 2 straight losses, although he was sparked out cold by Montel Jackson in just 18 seconds last time out. Blackshear was only the third fighter in UFC history to win a fight via twister, so he’s got that on his CV. It’s not looking good for him now though.

 

Tresean Gore vs Antonio Trocoli. Don’t know what to make of this. Gore had a little bit of buzz around him at one stage when he was coming off TUF a few years ago but not much has happened since. He’s 4-2 now and he’s been inactive since 2022 for some reason. He submitted Josh Fremd in his last fight and I do remember that being a brutal guillotine.

Fuck! I remember thinking Fremd’s head might actually pop off. Aside from that though, I don’t recall being particularly impressed by Gore. I never watched the season of TUF he was on so all I had to go on was his first couple of UFC fights, which he lost to Bryan Battle and Cody Brundage. OK, the Battle loss hasn’t aged too badly but getting knocked out by Cody BUMdage is never a good look. Trocoli’s 12-4-0-1 and got stopped by Shara Bullet in his UFC debut in June. He’s had a right stop/start career so far with PEDs and Visa issues all over the place. He’s apparently dating Mackenzie Dern though so he landed on his feet somehow.

 

Melissa Mullins vs Klaudia Sygula. Fuck knows? Mullins is from Coventry, so close enough to Brum that I’m kind of rooting for her. After seeing her get wrecked by Nora Cornolle in her last fight in April though, my expectations aren’t high. She’s 33 years old and 6-1. Sygula is making her Octagon debut here. She’s Polish, 25 years old and also 6-1. I don’t recognise any of the names on her record but she’s on a 6 fight win streak, whatever that’s worth. Hasn’t lost since her MMA debut.

 

 

A-P-E-X.

Edited November 9, 2024 by wandshogun09

[Egg Shen]

Well that's pwp:

 

[wandshogun09]

Good. Balls to him.

Seen Nicolas Dalby’s out of the Zaleski Dos Santos rematch as well. Some fucker called Zach Scroggin is stepping in against ZDS. 

[wandshogun09]

Another fight down. Ricky Turcios vs Benardo Sopaj is off due to a Turcios medical issue. Meerschaert vs De Ridder has been promoted to co-main, where it should’ve been all along.

[Egg Shen]

Its pretty poetic that the 100th Apex show has turned out to be a bit of a disaster

[wandshogun09]

Got a feeling our Gerald might spoil the debut of De Ridder tonight. Looking at the poll I’m the only one feeling that way but, I don’t know, the closer it’s getting the more I’m swaying that way. You never know with Meerschaert, he could just get steamrolled and the fact his grappling is his bread and butter means he might be a bit too willing to play with fire on the mat here. But I think he might spoil the party for RDR here.

Thinking Prates stops Magny in the main as well. Could get interesting if Magny can drag him into deep waters but I’m not sure we get that far. 

[Egg Shen]

yeah, i've got a sneaky feeling Magny drags him deep.

I hope De Ridder wins, I still like it when these top fighters from other promotions come over. Still gives a bit of a nostlagic vibe from the old Pride/Strikeforce type days.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah same. As much as I don’t wanna root against Meerschaert, and I definitely won’t be gutted if he wins, Middleweight badly needs some new blood and although De Ridder’s been around a while, he’s a fresh face in the division and him winning is the more interesting outcome for 185 going forward. Just think it’d be the Middleweight division all over if he comes in and shits the bed, at the Apex of all places, in his debut. 

[wandshogun09]

Apex 100.

[Zebra Kid Mark]

So Prates is quite good then isn't he? That shot that put Magny's lights out was a bit strange, I watched it about 10 times and it's crazy that a brushing shot could put his lights out like that. I know he called for the Jack Della fight, but I would like to see him fight Ian Garry instead.

RdR vs GM3 was a nice watch. The debut of RdR kind of reminded me of Alex Perreira's first few fights, he got the job done but he didn't look amazing doing it, he looked very beatable but his style is so awkward I can imagine a lot of people will struggle to figure him out.

Abdul-Malik looks a very very good prospect. Excited to see more of him.

[Dai]

The main two fights were fun, which is all you can ask for in these Apex shows. As you say, that KO punch looked very unimpressive. There was one like this a few months back but I can't remember who it was. Bizarrely it makes the win seem a bit forgettable, which it really shouldn't. 

De Ridder looks great, I thought. Really put the pressure on and broke GM3s gas tank and will for the Finnish, making it look easy. 

[Egg Shen]

Bit of a shame De Ridder and Gerald didn't get the FOTN bonus, enjoyed that. You don't see many fights play out like that these days, guess if it ain't a slugfest you don't get a look in though.

Bolanos/Romious was good too.

[wandshogun09]

Thought this card was a lot of fun. Much more enjoyable than it looked on paper. Always helps when 8 of the 11 fights on the card have finishes. Still saw some moaning about the ‘pacing’ but that’s what happens when you get a load of fights ending early, they’ve got to fill that airtime with waffle and video packages. Watching the next day with the benefit of being able to skip through all that, this card was a breeze to watch.

Carlos Prates might just be the breakthrough fighter of the year. That’s 4-0 this year, all finishes, and now back-to-back knockouts over Li Jingliang and Neil Magny. Seen a lot of confusion about the knockout itself, including some dopey talk that Magny ‘took a dive’. Fuck me. Zoom in on the gif here and you can see the shot hits Magny around the temple and snaps his head to the side. 

I don’t get what’s so baffling. Yeah it wasn’t a flush connection on the chin or something where a KO is instantly obvious. I can see how you might wonder what happened watching in real time because it’s all happening fast and the live camera angle was different. But the replays clearly showed Prates tagged Magny good around the ear/temple area and those shots are notorious for fucking guys up. Especially when you factor in the small MMA gloves and that you’ve got Prates throwing the punch who’s clearly a big hitter, based on this and previous fights. It doesn’t take much when you get a puncher like that catching someone in that spot.

That Fighting Nerds team have been on fire this year. I liked the callouts of Jack Della Maddalena and Geoff Neal. Think he’s probably more likely to get the Neal fight out of those two but we’ll see. There was also a bit of talk going into this show of him possibly fighting Michael Morales. So there are a bunch of exciting options. I’d be up for any of them.

Echo the love for De Ridder vs Meerschaert. Really enjoyed it. The striking wasn’t pretty, as you’d expect, but it felt like a bit of a throwback to when a couple of grapplers would just throw down in the hopes that an opportunity in the grappling would open up which they could dive on.

De Ridder got there in the end but it wasn’t always plain sailing. Not convinced De Ridder goes too far myself. I think it’s gonna be very matchup and style dependent. This was always gonna be the kind of fight he’d have a good chance of shining in just because Meerschaert is always game to mix it up in the grappling with anyone. But even here, De Ridder looked very sloppy in a couple of the attempts to get Gerald down. Couple of the Judo throw attempts especially failed miserably and I’m sure that cost him in at least one of the Malykhin losses in ONE. If he comes up against anyone he can’t take down, he’s gonna struggle. But then 185 is mostly arse so he could have a decent run. Quite like him though and he’s a fresh face in a division which badly needs some new blood. Interesting listening to his post-fight comments urging up and coming fighters to avoid signing with ONE at all costs.

Bolanos vs Romious was an enjoyable fight. Bit of a wild and weird one. Definitely had Bolanos winning and I’m not sure about Romious. He was all over the place at times here. But both went for it pretty much nonstop so it was pretty entertaining to watch.

Lost interest in the Gillian Robertson fight about halfway through. Didn’t even look like a bad fight really just didn’t grab me. Thought she won comfortably from what I saw, Pinheiro didn’t seem to have much of an answer for the grappling.

A 12-6 elbow to the arse crack and a series of upkicks to the tits?

Mansur Abdul-Malik had a strong debut. Todorovic was coming off a layoff and knee injury so maybe that had a part to play but Abdul-Malik looked like trouble from the very first exchange. He’s clearly got some frightening power. The knee he dropped Todorovic with which led to the finish was vile. Caught a couple of clips of his post-fight media stuff and thought he came across well. Looking forward to seeing him again.

Denise Gomes beating Karolina Kowalkiewicz was predictable at this point. Always sad to see Kowalkiewicz lose but I’m just grateful Gomes never chinned her. She showed glimpses of her power at times but never found the killshot. Saw a clip of Kowalkiewicz talking about the loss and she was saying something like ‘don’t worry, I’m not retiring’. I wish she would though. It’s not like she’s getting wrecked out there but at 39, it’s all downhill from here.

Zaleski Dos Santos, Charles Radtke and Da’Mon Blackshear all got quick first round finishes. Not a lot to say about any of them other than they were quite refreshing to watch compared to the usual Apex undercards which feel like they’re mostly decisions where little of note happens.

Tresean Gore nearly ripped Antonio Trocoli’s head off with the standing guillotine. Nasty stuff. He’s got a filthy guillotine. I mentioned the brutal one he put Josh Fremd away with in the opening post, he had a massive layoff, comes back and here we are again. Hopefully he can stay healthy now and stay busier in 2025. Not working out for Trocoli at all. He had a bunch of delays even making his UFC debut thanks to PED and Visa issues, he finally makes it to the cage and he’s gone 0-2 and been knocked out and subbed in back-to-back fights.

Melissa Mullins didn’t give Klaudia Sygula a warm welcome to the UFC at all. Battered her. Sygula stepped in as a replacement and Mullins did miss weight, so there’s that. But Sygula didn’t look much good to me here and I don’t think that was all down to the short notice/weight miss. She seemed to have nothing for Mullins once it hit the mat and got beat down and stopped in the second.

Pretty sure Mullins landed the first ever legal 12-6 elbow there as well. So history was made in this of all fights. 


Yeah, fun card.

Edited November 12, 2024 by wandshogun09

[Egg Shen]

Oh yeah, was happy to see Gore win well again. I followed him through TUF but he'd been an absolute bust since, I think there's something there.