UFC Vegas: Dern vs Ribas 2 - Jan 11 ??

[wandshogun09]

First card of 2025 and what a surprise…it’s at the Apex.

ESPN MAIN CARD
Mackenzie Dern vs Amanda Ribas 

Santiago Ponzinibbio vs Carlston Harris

Abdul Razak Alhassan vs Cesar Almeida

Chris Curtis vs Roman Kopylov 

Austin Bashi vs Christian Rodriguez

Punahele Soriano vs Uros Medic

ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMS
Jose Johnson vs Felipe Bunes

Marco Tulio vs Ihor Potieria

Thiago Moises vs Trey Ogden

Jacobe Smith vs Preston Parsons

Ernesta Kareckaite vs Nicolle Caliari

Magomed Gadzhiyasulov vs Bruno Lopes

Viktoriia Dudakova vs Fatima Kline

Nurullo Aliev vs Joe Solecki   

 

 

Yeah, standard Apex bollocks. The UFC starting the year as they mean to go on, I guess. Not much to get excited about there but it’ll probably be received a little bit more warmly than usual just because there’ll have been a whopping 4 week break between UFC cards by the time this gets underway. That’s how Marcel Dorff has the bout order currently. Like always, I’ll update as we go.

 

Mackenzie Dern vs Amanda Ribas 2 is our first UFC main event of 2025. Kicking off another year at the Apex. Smashing. This was originally supposed to be co-main on the Buckley vs Covington card in Tampa in December but got moved here, presumably because they had nothing else to headline this one. Completely forgot these two fought before and I don’t really have any recollection of the first fight but here we are. The rematch is on.

They first fought back in October 2019 and Ribas took the decision victory that night. It was actually the first loss of Dern’s career as well, she was 7-0 going in and had some real hype around her. That loss derailed her for a bit. They’ve both had their ups and downs since, to be honest. Not like this fight is particularly relevant or significant in the Strawweight mix at the moment. Dern is ranked #6 and Ribas is ranked #8 as I type. So they’re actually not miles off getting in the conversation, I guess. And it’s not like the division is mega deep so a couple of impressive wins could see one of them in contention. Especially if Zhang Weili is still champ because both of these two would be a fresh matchup for her. They’ve got some work to do though.

Dern took some time out to have a baby just before that first loss to Ribas. She’d been undefeated going in but she did have a lot of issues with missing weight. Out of her first 7 fights, she missed weight in 3 of them. After having her baby though, she came back in much better shape and hasn’t missed weight since. She was on decent form after the Ribas loss as well. She won her next 4 fights and got a couple of 5 rounders in but she has ran into a few more losses since, including back-to-back beatings off Jessica Andrade and Amanda Lemos in late 2023/early 2024. She’s 14-5 now and coming into this one off a decision win over Loopy Godinez in August.

Ribas followed up that 2019 win over Dern by beating Randa Markos and Paige VanZant. Not amazing wins but Paige was obviously a biggish name at the time so Ribas subbing her was good for her profile. She got bashed up and derailed in her next fight by Marina Rodriguez though and that kicked off a run of inconsistency that she’s never been able to recover from. She’s spent the last few years bouncing between Strawweight and Flyweight and has alternated between wins and losses in her last bunch of fights. She’s coming off a points loss to Rose Namajunas in March here. That was up at Flyweight, now here she is back down at Strawweight. Just seems like she’s floundering with no real direction.

Not a great fight and certainly not ideal as a 5 round main event but what can you do? It’s a silly bit of meaningless trivia but this fight would’ve actually made more sense on that Tampa card in December because the first fight in 2019 was actually in the very same arena in Tampa, so it would’ve been a kind of cool little full circle thing. But whatever. It’s Apex fodder. We’ve definitely had worse than this but it’s fucking shite that they’re still persisting with this Apex bollocks in 2025. I got it during the COVID madness and lockdown because it was the only way they could still crack on with shows. But that was 2020/21. We’re still doing this shit 5 years later?

 

Santiago Ponzinibbio vs Carlston Harris is alright. Perfectly fine Fight Night filler. But I’m not too keen on watching Ponz these days. He’s 38 now, 29-8 and has lost 4 of his last 5 fights. There was a point a few years ago when he actually didn’t seem too far off a title shot. Remember that? He was on a 7 fight winning streak which included knockout wins over Gunnar Nelson and Neil Magny but injuries plagued him, he had scheduled fights with big names like Kamaru Usman and Robbie Lawler cancelled, then he got chinned in a round by Li Jingliang and that started the downward spiral. He’s been on the decline ever since and he’s coming into this fight off losses to Kevin Holland and Muslim Salikhov. At pushing 40, he’s not turning this around is he? He might get the odd win here or there but the peak was over in 2018 and it’s been diminishing returns ever since. This is one he might still be able to win though. Harris is no great shakes. He’s 37 years old himself, with a 19-6 record and is coming off a nasty first round KO loss at the hands of Khaos Williams.

 

Abdul Razak Alhassan vs Cesar Almeida might be fun. Haven’t been blown away by Almeida so far. I was kind of intrigued to see him when he debuted just because he went 1-2 with Alex Pereira in their Kickboxing days. He hasn’t been great to watch in the UFC up to now but if anyone can drag him into a shootout, it’s probably Alhassan. He’s never gonna go any higher, he’s 39 now with a 12-6-0-1 record. He is what he is at this stage. Just too long in the tooth to develop into anything more than he is currently, but not everyone’s gonna be a contender. What he is though, is a fucking devastating finisher and KO artist. All 12 of his wins came by knockout, 11 of them inside a round, 7 of them in under a minute! He’s not a high level, well rounded fighter but he’s a terrifying puncher in that lower-mid level at Middleweight. Almeida got wrestled to a points loss by Kopylov last time. So I’m sure he’ll welcome being matched up with a striker here. But he might wanna try and grapple himself at least for that first round. Why risk trading bombs with a fresh Alhassan? Nothing good usually comes from that.

 

Chris Curtis vs Roman Kopylov is a decent fight. We haven’t seen Curtis since April, which is unusual for him because he’s normally quite active. He lost a split decision to Brendan Allen in their 5 rounder last time out. Good fight and I remember thinking Curtis should’ve got the decision, to be fair. He was supposed to fight in October but broke his foot. I’ve mostly enjoyed watching Kopylov during his UFC stint. He was on a nice little 4 fight, 4 finish streak until recently and was looking like a bit of a darkhorse for the 185 division before he got subbed and derailed by Anthony Hernandez back in February. He’s since won a split decision over Cesar Almeida in June in a bit of a dull fight where Kopylov just exploited his lack of grappling. That one felt like a case of Kopylov just needing to get back in the win column by any means necessary. Hopefully he’ll be back to his usual more aggressive self here because there’s a fun fight to be had here.

 

Austin Bashi vs Christian Rodriguez feels like kind of weird matchmaking but whatever. Never seen this Bashi chap but I’m reading he’s only 23 years old and he’s undefeated at 13-0 with 8 finishes. Not a bad start to his career at all that. He’s coming off a submission win on DWCS in September and this’ll be his UFC debut. Rodriguez is 27 with a record of 11-2. He got subbed by Julian Erosa in his last fight in July but he was putting together a little run of derailing prospects prior to that loss. In 3 straight fights, Rodriguez handed Raul Rosas Jr, Cameron Saaiman and Isaac Dulgarian the first losses of their careers. I don’t know why the matchmakers love putting unbeaten prospects up against C-Rod but here we go again!

 

Punahele Soriano vs Uros Medic. Solid enough for the Apex. I remember thinking Soriano might have a fairly decent career ahead of him a few years ago but it hasn’t panned out at all. He went 8-0 initially and, while I never saw UFC gold in his future, I thought he might carve a nice midcard run out of it bagging a bunch of bonuses along the way. Kind of like a Matt Brown type career. At just 32 though, he’s gone 2-4 in his last 6 and looks pretty much washed up. He beat Miguel Baeza last time out but that doesn’t give me much confidence because Baeza burned out even younger and quicker than Soriano did! Medic’s 10-2 and coming off a crushing KO win over Tim Means in April. Haven’t seen enough of him yet but he’s probably got more about him at this stage than Soriano does. We’ll see. Hopefully it’s a good fight either way.

 

Jose Johnson vs Felipe Bunes. Dunno. It’s Flyweight so it’s got a decent chance of being watchable but I’m not really familiar enough with either of them to give a ton of insight. ‘No Way’ Jose (yes that’s his actual nickname, I didn’t make that up) is 29 years old with a record of 16-9 and 11 finishes. He lost on points to Asu Almabayev last time out. Looking at his record now, the only thing I remember him for is when he got subbed via twister by Da’Mon Blackshear in 2023. That’s it. Bunes is Brazilian, 35 years old and 13-7 with 10 not making it to the scorecards. He made his UFC debut on last January’s Apex card and got stopped by Joshua Van.

 

Marco Tulio vs Ihor Potieria. Fuck knows? Tulio’s making his Octagon debut here and I’ve never seen or heard of him before. Looking at Sherdog, he’s Brazilian, 30 years old and 12-1 with 9 finishes. He’s coming off a spinning back kick TKO on DWCS in August. As for Potieria, he’s surely on thin ice here. Usually in wild and entertaining goofy scraps but he’s 20-7 and has gone 2-5 in the UFC so far. And he’s just lost back-to-back fights. Not looking good.

 

Thiago Moises vs Trey Ogden is whatever. Might be worth a look but if you miss it who cares, right? Can’t believe Moises still hasn’t hit 30 yet. It seems like he’s some grizzled journeyman who’s been on the roster donkeys years to me. He’s 29 until March though. He’s been a bit inconsistent over the years but he’s decent enough. Has wins over Michael Johnson, Bobby Green and Alexander Hernandez. He also lasted to the 4th round against Islam Makhachev back in 2021 before Makhachev strangled him. He’s no contender in the UFC but he’s certainly no scrub either. He lost a decision to Ludovit Klein in his last fight in June. Can’t say I remember much about Ogden at all. He’s 18-6-0-1 and coming off a couple of wins over Kurt Holobaugh and Loik Radzhabov, which isn’t too bad.

 

Jacobe Smith vs Preston Parsons is now ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** on this card. It’s a last minute switch, Parsons was originally scheduled to fight Andreas Gustafsson but Gustafsson dropped out. In steps Jacobe Smith and he’s the reason I’m highlighting this fight.

He turns 29 just after this fight and has a MMA record of 9-0 with 7 by KO/TKO, 6 of them in the first round. Apparently he’s a big time amateur wrestling standout out of Oklahoma State and, like many accomplished wrestlers making the transition to MMA, got his start with American Kickboxing Academy in California. He’s since moved to Fortis MMA but Daniel Cormier, who’s been part of the furniture at AKA forever, speaks very highly of Smith.

“I feel like Cobe is getting very close to being able to do everything inside the Octagon and, when that happens, every Welterweight in the world better watch out.” - Daniel Cormier

He fought on DWCS in October, stopping his opponent in the second round. His fight before that he knocked a guy out in just 21 seconds (So Solid Crew) on a Fury FC card. We’ll see if he lives up to the hype before long but just reading up a bit on him, I’m definitely a lot more interested in his debut now. Parsons isn’t anything special. He’s 29 and has an 11-5 record with 9 submissions. He’s fought in the UFC multiple times now and I barely remember any of it. He lost to Oban Elliott last time out on the Manchester card in July. So yeah, wouldn’t have given two shits about this but a little bit of digging and I’m all in now.

 

Ernesta Kareckaite vs Nicolle Caliari. Most likely piss break stuff this. I’ll go through the motions. Kareckaite’s Lithuanian, 26 years old and 5-1-1. Her nickname is ‘Heavy Handed’ despite her only ending 2 of her fights inside the distance. Made her Octagon debut at UFC 301 in May and dropped a decision to Dione Barbosa. I remember watching that because I’d read going in that Kareckaite’s fight on DWCS was fun. The Barbosa fight was shite though. Caliari is making her debut here. She’s 28 years old and 8-2 with all her wins being finishes. But the only names I recognise on her record (Kay Hansen and Syuri Kondo) are also her only two defeats. So take from that what you will.

 

Magomed Gadzhiyasulov vs Bruno Lopes. Not a single clue. Only seen Gadzhiyasulov once and I can’t really remember it. He beat Brendson Ribeiro on points on the Saudi card in June. I know I watched that whole card but I’ve got zero recollection of that fight. He’s 31 years old and 9-0 with 6 finishes. Lopes is making his UFC debut. He’s also 31 and he’s 13-1 with 11 inside the distance. He’s coming off a stoppage win on DWCS back in August. Looking at his record, he’s also got a quick TKO win over UKFF favourite Gregory ‘Robocop’ Rodrigues way back in 2014! Whatever that’s worth 11 years later but there we are.

 

Viktoriia Dudakova vs Fatima Kline isn’t anything to write home about but I might give it a chance. Dudakova’s 25 years old and 8-1 so far. Pretty much given up on any talk of her being much of a prospect after she suffered her first defeat to Sam Hughes in August. Fair enough it was her first loss and by split decision but if you’re legit, you’re not losing at that level or even being extended to a split decision. I’m kind of interested to see Kline again though. She’s 24 years old, 6-1 and she’s also coming off her first career setback. She lost a decision against Jasmine Jasudavicius in July. The difference is Kline had stepped in on very short notice for that fight and it was up at Flyweight. And she still gave a decent account of herself in defeat. She’s back at Strawweight here so we’ll see how she does with an actual training camp and back in her own weight class.

 

Nurullo Aliev vs Joe Solecki is another late card change. Was supposed to be Aliev against Yanal Ashmouz but that’s out. In steps Solecki on about a week’s notice. I was quite interested in seeing Aliev back in there so I’m glad they found him a replacement. You mightn’t remember now but Aliev made his UFC debut back in February 2023, beating Rafael Alves on points. Not sure why he’s been inactive since but being on the shelf nearly 2 years is never ideal. I don’t remember much about his debut other than a vague recollection of being quite impressed. I do remember seeing the reactions to his win from people on the streets of Tajikistan though. Crazy scenes. He’s still only 25 and he’s 9-0. So despite the layoff, he’s still got time to put a run together. Solecki’s whatever. Not a bad fighter and certainly a decent substitute on late notice. But he’s coming off a couple of bad losses. He got powerbombed into unconsciousness by Drakkar Klose in Dec 2023, then got dominated to a decision loss by Grant Dawson in June.

 

 

Happy New Year…

Edited January 5, 2025 by wandshogun09

[Bruce85]

You think they’d wanna start the year off strong but christ this isn’t it. As you said it will be a bit better recived after a 4 week break but not much on the card to grab the eye, other than Derns bum.  
 

It’s card like this that have left me a bit burnt out from the UFC. I used to watch every card on a Sunday morning but have completely skipped a few this year. 

[wandshogun09]

18 hours ago, Bruce85 said:

not much on the card to grab the eye, other than Derns bum.  

There you go, no reason to watch this card now ?

[neil]

I'm the guy in the bottom left

[wandshogun09]

29 minutes ago, neil said:

I'm the guy in the bottom

Lucky bastard. 

[wandshogun09]

UFC newbie Andreas Gustafsson out, UFC newbie Jacobe Smith in. I’ve updated the opening post and this is my new ‘one to watch’. Smith sounds like someone to keep an eye on. 

 

[Egg Shen]

and we back!

 

[wandshogun09]

Sums it up. That should’ve been the opening post, to be honest. Just that fact. Would’ve saved some time. 

[wandshogun09]

Fatima Kline vs Knobbs and Saggs. Who wore it better? 

[wandshogun09]

It’s been a while and I still can’t say I’m feeling this one but here’s the usual card graphic, start times and all that bollocks…

[Egg Shen]

I'll be watching. It's probably through lack of fights since Christmas but there's some good looking stuff on this

[Dai]

Thought this was a solid little card. Some good fights and some great KOs.

- Dern/Ribas was a decent little main event. Dern is always interesting when the fight goes to the ground. It was a great end sequence to get the submissions. Solid stuff, but nothing to show me that Dern wouldnt get dominated by both Weili or Suarez if that fight ever happens.

- Soriano with a great KO, which reminded me of the Jonny Hendricks KO of Fitch from back in the day. I wonder if @wandshogun09's powers of gif making can go back that far and show us how similar it was to this one.

- The Bashi and Kopylov fights were decent viewing, then you had a cracking Almeida/AlHassan scrap, with an early potential KO of the year. During the course of a year there arent THAT many KOs where your jaw literally drops, but this was certainly one for me. Great stuff.

[Egg Shen]

I went in with all good intentions, but seeing the Apex setting and hearing Michael Bisping constantly babble on on commentary (he is the shits, especially at the Apex) killed my enthusiasm quickly. I didn't even watch the main and co-main. 

Still there were high spots, Kopylov/Curtis was tremendous. As were the Aleida and Smith KO's.

[Dai]

2 hours ago, Egg Shen said:

I went in with all good intentions, but seeing the Apex setting and hearing Michael Bisping constantly babble on on commentary (he is the shits, especially at the Apex) killed my enthusiasm quickly. I didn't even watch the main and co-main. 

Still there were high spots, Kopylov/Curtis was tremendous. As were the Aleida and Smith KO's.

Both definitely worth a watch, but I know how much you despise the Apex! 

 

Strange to focus on Bisping when Cruz was there too. He automatically makes anyone a hundred times better. You've reminded me now of a really stupid analogy than Dom did which talked about filling a pillow case with soap, which sums him up. 

[Egg Shen]

My biggest gripe with Bisping is that he doesn't shut up.