UFC Saudi Arabia: Adesanya vs Imavov - Feb 1 ??

[wandshogun09]

Back to Saudi Arabia with this lot…

ESPN MAIN CARD
Israel Adesanya vs Nassourdine Imavov 

Shara Magomedov vs Michael Venom Page 

Sergei Pavlovich vs Jairzinho Rozenstruik

Said Nurmagomedov vs Vinicius Oliveira 

Fares Ziam vs Mike Davis  

ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMS 
Muhammad Naimov vs Kaan Ofli

Shamil Gaziev vs Thomas Petersen

Terrance McKinney vs Damir Hadzovic

Jasmine Jasudavicius vs Mayra Bueno Silva

Bogdan Grad vs Lucas Alexander

Hamdy Abdelwahab vs Jamal Pogues

 

Seen a lot of positivity towards this card but, I don’t know if I’m just being a grumpy cunt, I’m not as high on it as most seem to be. It’s alright. There is some stuff I like on there and for a Fight Night it’s very solid. But I don’t know, I’m not the biggest Izzy fan and an Imavov headliner is never gonna do it for me. Not sure if that’s the proper bout order but it’s how Marcel Dorff’s got it for now so I’m going with it. I’ll update it when the inevitable pullouts, replacements and shuffles start.

On a positive note though, one thing that always makes a card more appealing is an early start time. From what I’m reading the prelims start at 2pm UK time, with the main card kicking off at 5pm. That always helps.
 

 

Israel Adesanya vs Nassourdine Imavov is your Saudi headliner. Not in love with this, to be honest. I think it’s the Imavov factor more than anything, just can’t really get into his fights. He’s not awful but he’s bang average to me. He’s currently ranked #5, which is a bit of an indictment on the Middleweight division, so they kind of had to give him something big. I was a bit surprised Izzy’s taken this fight though. I got the feeling he’d only be after big names or title fights at this stage in his career, didn’t think Imavov would appeal to him as an opponent but here we are. I guess he’s locked out of the title picture at the moment though so it’s not like he’s in a position to pick and choose. 

Gonna be weird seeing Adesanya in a non-title fight actually. I had to go back to his record to check and this’ll be his first non-title fight since the Anderson Silva fight all the way back in February 2019! Christ. Of course, he’s coming into this one off that submission loss to Dricus Du Plessis in their title fight at UFC 305 in Perth in August. That was a really good fight actually, very competitive and both had their moments but DDP got to him in the 4th round and that was that. To be fair, him getting that title shot in the first place felt a bit off considering he’d lost the belt to Sean Strickland in his previous fight and had done nothing to warrant another crack at the gold. So it’s right that he’s in a non-title fight now. They can’t just keep giving him another shot. I’m sure Izzy was hinting at being close to retirement after that DDP loss. He’s 35 now and between MMA and Kickboxing, he’s got some miles on him. So it’s understandable. That’s another reason I was a bit surprised to see he’d accepted this Imavov fight. He must have just decided to go all in on one last attempt at regaining the title, and he knows he’s gonna have to earn his way back into that position at this point. If he loses to Imavov, he’s well and truly out of the title race for the foreseeable future and might as well just take some fun fights to close out his career. So this is an important one for him.

Like I said, I’m completely apathetic to this guy. There’s obviously worse in the division but that’s not exactly a compliment. Middleweight is arse these days outside a small handful of the top guys. The fact Imavov’s been able to get into the Top 5 says it all. For those unfamiliar, he’s French by nationality, born in Russia, 29 years old and has a record of 15-4-0-1 with 10 of his wins coming inside the distance. Notable wins include Joaquin Buckley, Roman Dolidze, Jared Cannonier and Brendan Allen. Not awful but, I don’t know, just not convinced by him. And even those wins, the Cannonier stoppage was dodgy and those Dolidze and Allen fights were dogshit. Just don’t really rate Imavov. He’s shown little glimpses of looking decent in certain fights but it never lasts and most of the time his fights descend into a right sloppy mess. He’s been mostly coming out on top though so they’ve had to move him up the ladder and here we are.

Izzy should be winning this. Even at this stage with him being 35, coming off losses and starting to make noises about retiring. The difference in skills and big fight experience alone should be enough to get him through against Imavov. But we’ll see. You just never know. While I’m not a huge fan of this matchup itself and it’s not exciting me, it will tell us a lot about where Izzy’s at in 2025. If he loses this fight, it’s safe to assume he’s on a significant decline. I think the one-sided loss to Strickland was an indicator of that but losing to Imavov would almost be the death knell for his hopes of reclaiming that title. He’d have a lot of work to do to claw his way back at that point and, at 35, I just get the feeling he wouldn’t be arsed to do it. Let’s face it, his legacy is pretty much set. I think most look at Adesanya as the #2 Middleweight of all time behind Anderson Silva. But he needs to win fights like this if he’s gonna stick around at a high level. I saw him talking about wanting to fight Khamzat Chimaev recently though and I really don’t think that goes well for him. If he looks good here and schools Imavov, I wouldn’t be surprised if we get Izzy vs Khamzat sometime over the next year. It’s a big fight which I think they wanted to make back when Izzy was champ but Khamzat’s issues and health problems put it on the backburner. I could see it happening this year though and I get the feeling that could be the final nail in Adesanya’s time as a title contender/champion.

 

Shara Magomedov vs Michael Venom Page could be a fun Fight Night co-main event. They’re both basically all striking, you can see why the matchmakers paired them up. Although, like I always say, you never really know what you’re getting out of MVP. There’s always just as much chance of a nothing happening staring contest as there is a viral KO moment with him. I’m hopeful that he’ll let loose a bit here though, safe in the knowledge that Shara’s not exactly a grappling threat.

Still not sure about this guy. Don’t get me wrong, he’s been entertaining to watch. Still undefeated at 15-0, 12 by knockout, 4-0 in the UFC so far. He’s off to a solid start. But there does seem to be a bit of smoke and mirrors about the whole thing which doesn’t quite sit right. I’ve said it before but the few little glimpses we’ve had of his grappling, it hasn’t looked good at all. But they just keep throwing him strikers. In the UFC so far he’s fought Bruno Silva, Antonio Trocoli, Michal Oleksiejczuk and Armen Petrosyan. All predominantly strikers apart from maybe Trocoli. But Trocoli’s shite and even then he was a last minute replacement. I seem to remember Oleksiejczuk, who’s basically just a heavy handed slugger with almost zero ground game, was able to take Shara down. Doesn’t bode well for when he faces someone who can actually grapple. Shara’s striking game relies on a lot of kicking. That’s obviously his main strength and he uses it to dictate the distance as well as do damage. But to be fair, he’s been stopping guys with his hands recently. This from his last fight was fantastic…

Knocked out Petrosyan with fucking rotating spinning backfists! Don’t recall ever seeing that one before. Thing of beauty. As much as it might seem like I’m negative on Shara, there’s no denying he’s fun to watch. He actually called out Israel Adesanya after that win. Which I wouldn’t have hated as the headliner for this card, to be honest. But I get the feeling the UFC wanna protect him a bit and rushing him in with Izzy right now might’ve undone that. I liked the callout though. He’d called out the corpse of Nick Diaz after his win over Oleksiejczuk, which was ridiculous. So at least he’s started aiming higher than that now.

Not sure what MVP’s got left at this point. He’ll turn 38 in April and, despite being an ‘attraction’, he’s done relatively very little with his MMA career when you look back at it. Turned pro in 2012 and despite his popularity and the hype, he’s never won a major title and he’s come unstuck a few times against top competition. He’s not total shit, I’m not saying that. But I’ve never bought into what the PR machine’s been selling. Always seemed like for every insane highlight reel KO, there’d be a snoozer that went the distance and was the absolute drizzling shits. He’s managed to put together a semi-decent record, 22-3, but even his best wins were in terrible fights. He finally signed with the UFC last year and made his debut in March, beating Kevin Holland on points in a bit of a lacklustre fight. Then in June, he lost on points to Ian Garry in another nothing fight. Yeah, not sure what to make of this one. On paper, it seems like a cool fight. But you can’t rely on MVP to actually deliver a cool fight. I’m hoping that Shara also being pretty much all striking will bring out the best of MVP but we’ll see. Call me crazy but I actually wouldn’t be surprised if MVP tries to exploit Shara’s lack of grappling here. MVP’s sketchy there as well but he’s still probably better than Shara on the mat and he did just beat Carlos Condit in a grappling competition recently. Could be one of them where everyone’s expecting this Tekken style battle on the feet then MVP switches up.

 

Sergei Pavlovich vs Jairzinho Rozenstruik is one of three Heavyweight offerings on this card. Fuck sake. The matchmakers really do hate us, don’t they? To be fair, this one isn’t bad. I’m actually interested to see Pavlovich back in there. Mad how quickly a fighter can lose their monster aura. Wasn’t all that long ago Sergei was knocking heads off and seen as probably the most dangerous puncher in the division. In late 2023 he was 18-1 with 15 knockouts and the only loss was to Alistair Overeem. He rattled off a streak of KOs over Derrick Lewis, Tai Tuivasa and Curtis Blaydes and got himself in position to challenge for the interim title on the MSG card. Then Tom Aspinall wiped him out in a minute and that was that. If he’d bounced back with a KO win himself that would’ve probably rehabbed his image somewhat but he then got soundly outpointed by Alexander Volkov on the last Saudi card in June. He didn’t just lose, he got completely shut down. Now he’s got his work cut out but it’s Heavyweight. We all know that division kind of exists in its own little bubble and operates on its own set of rules. At Heavyweight, you’re never more than one or two big KOs away from getting a big fight or a title shot. Rozenstruik’s coming off a couple of wins and has got a ton of experience but it’s a winnable fight for Sergei, I think. Unless his head’s completely fallen off now after those Aspinall and Volkov losses, I think he can still get back in the mix. Whatever happens, hopefully this is all done and dusted inside a round.

 

Said Nurmagomedov vs Vinicius Oliveira could be a fun one. If Said makes it through camp, that is. Not sure what to think of Said. He’s been on the roster since 2018 but never seems to progress or move up the ladder at all. And that’s because he’s just not active enough on a consistent basis to build any kind of momentum. He’s 18-3 and coming off a quick submission over Muin Gafurov in his last fight. But that was UFC 294 in October 2023. He had 3 fights scheduled in 2024 that all fell apart. I don’t think he’s got a complete enough overall MMA game to go too far in a shark tank division like Bantamweight anyway really but all the stops and starts don’t help. Oliveira’s 29 years old and 21-3 with 18 of his wins not making it to the judges scorecards. He made his UFC debut in March with that incredible flying knee KO against Benardo Sopaj and followed that up with a bit of a flat decision win over Ricky Simon in June. Not sure how good Oliveira is but he’s off to a decent start. Hopefully Said makes it to the cage this time.

 

Fares Ziam vs Mike Davis is ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** on this show. It’s not exactly a deep card with loads of quality but I really like the sound of this fight. Ziam’s French, still only 27 years old despite being on the roster for 6 years now and he has a record of 16-4 with 10 finishes. For the longest time he’s just been another guy on the cards. Easy to get lost in the shuffle in a division like Lightweight and it’s not like Ziam was making any real waves. He hasn’t got a bad record though. He’s on a 4 fight streak now with wins over Michal Figlak, Jai Herbert and Claudio Puelles in there. Not amazing but decent enough. His last fight is where he really turned some heads though…

And almost took one clean off. He knocked Matt Frevola out cold with a beautiful knee in the third round of a POTN winning fight. The fact this was on home soil in Paris must’ve made the win all the more special for him. Not sure he builds on that win. He was looking good before that KO but I’m not sure how good he actually is or what his ceiling is. I’m not convinced he goes much further but time will tell, I guess. It was undoubtedly the best win of his career so far and, at 27, who knows? He’s still got some time. As for Davis, time is something he can’t afford to waste any more of. He’s only 32 but he’s spent so much time sitting on the shelf over the years. He’s been in the UFC since 2019 and has only had 5 fights in all that time. The annoying thing is he seems to have some potential. He was the first man to beat Mason Jones and when he does fight he looks good. Then he vanishes for a year. He subbed Natan Levy in his last fight in March and was going “That’s four wins in a row” after. But those 4 wins took him almost 5 years! We’ll see. If he makes it, this should be fun. Not getting my hopes up though.

 

Muhammad Naimov vs Kaan Ofli. Don’t know. Naimov’s from Tajikistan, 30 years old and 11-3. Looks a decent fighter from what I remember but I’m still pissed off about his dodgy win over Nathaniel Wood a few fights ago where he got away with a bunch of cheating from groin strikes to fence grabbing to glove grabbing. Dirty bastard. He fought on the last Saudi card in June and got subbed by newcomer Felipe Lima in a good fight. Barely remember this Ofli bloke. He’s Australian, 31 years old and 11-3-1. He was on the most recent season of TUF and made it to the finals in August but got brutally knocked out by Mairon Santos, which is the only footage I’ve seen of him.

 

Shamil Gaziev vs Thomas Petersen. Vomit. Vomit in a cage this is. Yeah I can say right now, I will not be watching this. As well as being too old to stay up all night, fights like this are usually a big part of why I watch these cards on Sunday these days rather than live on the Saturday. It means you never have to sit through and subject yourself to this dross again. So they put this shite on one of the few cards I’ll be watching live at a decent time. Typical. Gaziev’s 34 apparently (birth certificate, please) and 13-1 with 11 finishes. Doesn’t sound too bad unless you’ve watched the big dollop. They actually stuck him in a main event last March against Rozenstruik and it genuinely might’ve been the worst fight of the year. Horrible. And to top it off, Gaziev got knackered and quit on the stool between rounds. He then won a decision against Don’Tale Mayes on the Abu Dhabi card in August. A card I watched live due to it being on a Saturday evening UK time and I still actively skipped Gaziev. Petersen’s 29 (birth certificate, please) and 9-2 with 8 finishes. He’s 1-1 in the UFC so far. Lost a decision against Jamal Pogues, won a decision against Mohammed Usman. That gives you an idea of the level we’re dealing with here. Yep. I’ll be doing something else for 15 minutes while this is on. 

 

Terrance McKinney vs Damir Hadzovic is OK. Hopefully Hadzovic shows up. There’s a few of these sick note guys on this card. Hadzovic hasn’t fought since the London card in July 2022. To put that in perspective, that was the night Tom Aspinall suffered the knee injury against Curtis Blaydes. Feels like a lifetime ago now. Hadzovic lost a decision to Marc Diakiese that night and he’s 1-3 in his last 4. At 38 years old and with all this inactivity, my hopes aren’t high. McKinney’s 30 and has a record of 15-7. Not a future title challenger and certainly not without his flaws but one thing he’s not is boring. In his 22 pro fights, win or lose, he’s never gone to a decision. He’s only gone into a third round once! Live by the sword, die by the sword. He got slumped in 37 seconds by an Esteban Ribovics headkick in his last fight so he’s gonna be looking to redeem himself here.

 

Jasmine Jasudavicius vs Mayra Bueno Silva isn’t setting the world alight but it’s not that bad by women’s 135 low standards. Jasudavicius is Canadian, 35 years old with a 12-3 record and she’s coming off three straight wins. Nothing amazing about her record but she’s coming off a nice submission win over Ariane Da Silva on the Edmonton card in November. As for Bueno Silva…

That’s how we last saw her. She had a rotten 2024, to be honest. And at the start of the year it looked like it could be a big one for her. She had a shot at the vacant title at UFC 297 in January against Raquel Pennington and I remember really warming to her in the buildup. For one, she kept having a pop at Julianna Pena so she instantly got in my good books with that. But she was also refreshingly honest about the state of the division and even admitted that nobody gave a bollocks about her vs Pennington but that she’d change that. I liked the honesty and really hoped she could inject some life into 135. But her and Pennington went out and had one of the worst fights of 2024, and Silva lost. Then in June, she suffered that cut against Macy Chiasson and lost via doctor stoppage. Sad thing was I recall that actually being a better fight than I expected but Silva just couldn’t catch a break last year. Expectations aren’t high for this but, as much as I moan about the division, I do kind of like these two so I hope they have a surprisingly good fight.

 

Bogdan Grad vs Lucas Alexander. Not a clue. I’ve seen very little of Alexander and fuck all of Grad. Sherdog it is. So Grad is Austrian, 29 years old and has a record of 14-2 with 11 finishes. Only name I recognise on his record is Tom Nolan and Nolan knocked him out in just over a minute on DWCS back in 2023. Grad won a couple of fights after that and got another shot at DWCS in August and won a split decision. Alexander is Brazilian, also 29 and he’s 8-4 with 3 knockouts. He’s 1-2 in the UFC so far and has been finished quick in both losses. Sounds like a nothing burger.

 

Hamdy Abdelwahab vs Jamal Pogues. It’s Heavyweight, it’s almost certainly gonna be rotten but, against my better judgment, I’m actually kind of intrigued by this one. Just to see how big Hamdy looks. I don’t know if anyone remembers Hamdy now but he did actually fight in the UFC once back in 2022. The first ever Egyptian fighter in UFC history, to be exact. He was also a Greco-Roman wrestler who actually competed at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Anyway, in his UFC debut he beat Don’Tale Mayes by split decision (which in itself doesn’t fill you with optimism for his potential) but immediately flunked the USADA test and it was overturned to a No Contest. He was undefeated at 5-0 going in so that’s his first blemish. He’ll have just turned 32 by the time he enters the Octagon here, so still quite young for Heavyweight. But coming off 2 years on the shelf. Looking back at the thread for his UFC debut, it seems both me and @Egg Shen quite liked him, despite his rawness and some rookie mistakes. We’ll see how he does. The layoff might well be a factor here but Pogues is fucking shite so if Hamdy’s got anything about him he should still win without too much bother.

 

 

More Turki sandwiches in February anyone?

Edited February 1, 2025 by wandshogun09

[wandshogun09]

This is tomorrow, by the way. There’s been a few card changes. Ikram Aliskerov vs Andre Muniz got binned and Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady had fights scheduled with Jordan Leavitt and Bolaji Oki which both fell apart. All these guys are off the card now.

Here’s the (hopefully final) bout order.

Main card’s alright actually. I don’t hate any of the 5 fights there. And a 2pm prelim kickoff never hurts. I’ll just have to go for a 20 minute shit or something when Gaziev vs Petersen is about to start. 

[Bruce85]

I had it in my mind that the prelims started at 7pm so glad I check in here! 
 

Not a bad card overall, sod all on tomorrow so a bag of Doritos and a couple of cans of beer will suffice. 
 

Ive gone for Izzy in the poll but not 100% confident on that pick, I watched the DDP fight back recently and thought Izzy struggled on the ground. If Imavov can get him down it could be a long night but I think Izzy will have too much on the feet. 

[Zebra Kid Mark]

The card looks quite good, however there are quite a lot of names I don't actually recognise on the prelims. The 3 main fights look great though.

I will definitely be watching live as I also don't have anything on tomorrow so it's on an ideal day. Part of me wishes the main card started a little bit later though. It means I have to be home from 3pm and there's very little chance I am going outside after the show ends.

I'm excited!

UFC Saturday evening. Royal rumble first thing Sunday morning after I wake up.

[Egg Shen]

yeah Zebra, the main card has you covered. Cracking 5 fight card.

[wandshogun09]

1 hour ago, Zebra Kid Mark said:

Part of me wishes the main card started a little bit later though. It means I have to be home from 3pm

Main card starts at 5pm if that works for you. Main event should be around 7pm. 

[Zebra Kid Mark]

2 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

Main card starts at 5pm if that works for you. Main event should be around 7pm. 

Oh yea, but I'll be watching from 3pm, I can't miss Gaziev vs Petersen after your glowing review 

[wandshogun09]

The usual fight day stuff…

[Zebra Kid Mark]

That show was an absolute slog to get through watching live and not being able to fast foward through the fluff between each fights. It also didn't help that the majority of the fights were pretty dire.

MVP beating a top middleweight as a bloated up welterweight was very impressive despite the fight being pretty boring. He definitely deserves a top welterweight bout after that.

I did not see Izzy losing at all. Despite his impressive resume, I have never been impressed by Imavov after each of his fight, he's never wowed me, this time he looked good. I was truly shocked at that result.

[wandshogun09]

Well fuck me…

There’s been a sense for a while now that Adesanya’s lost a step or two, especially since the loss to Strickland, but I didn’t think he’d fallen this far. To be fair, Imavov did look better than I expected but I just don’t think this happens to the Izzy of a couple of years ago. Even the way Imavov caught him at the finish, he obviously did his homework and recognised to pounce in that moment when Izzy switches stance with his hands low. He threw in that transition and it paid off big for him. But those are shots a prime Adesanya would usually avoid. Think back to the finish in the first Whittaker fight when Izzy’s leaning back with his hands down and dodging Whittaker’s punches and killing him with the counters. Granted that’s 5+ years ago but that’s my point. Izzy of 2025 just doesn’t seem to have the reaction times he did in 2019. It’s like he was relying on reflexes here that he just doesn’t have anymore. With his style, that kind of defence was always gonna fade as he got older and a bit slower. If anything it’s surprising it’s taken until his mid 30s for it to catch up to him. Seen people saying his chin is gone but, while his durability probably isn’t what it was in his younger days, I feel like it’s more an issue of him just not being able to get out of the way of the damaging shots like he used to.

Honestly don’t know where Adesanya goes from here. He’d been hinting at possibly retiring after the Du Plessis loss, now this happens? He’s lost 3 in a row, been finished in back-to-back fights and he’s 35 years old. I thought this was a very winnable fight for him. I expected he’d win this one and probably get one last crack at the gold later in the year against whoever’s champ after this DDP-Strickland-Khamzat thing plays out. I thought he’d lose to whoever the champ was but I at least thought he’d get there. As it turns out, he couldn’t even get past this Imavov hurdle. Really felt like an end of an era type loss. The final nail.

As for Imavov, he’s definitely surpassed what I thought was his ceiling. Never thought I’d say it but I couldn’t even argue with them giving him a title shot next. He’s on a 4 fight winning streak and he’s now coming off knocking out Adesanya. Him against either DDP or a rematch with Strickland would be weak as piss title fights as PPV headliners but it’s pretty hard to deny him at this point. Not sure where he slots in though because Dana’s already named Khamzat as next in line and that’s definitely the bigger and more sellable fight. Imavov’s in a funny spot though because, although he’s got a good case for a title shot now, he’s probably looking at a long wait. But any other fight he might take in the meantime is gonna feel like a step backwards coming off KOing Adesanya. His best bet might be to just sit tight and stay within reasonable distance of making weight, ready for when Khamzat inevitably fucks up or gets sick again. You know it’s coming.

MVP vs Shara Bullet did nothing for me. I always say my expectations going into MVP fights are low because it quite often turns into these kind of point fighting, almost fencing type battles. I find him so annoying to watch because he’s clearly got skills and he’s certainly capable of watchable fun fights. But I’ve been burned too many times now to expect much. He won the fight clearly, no disputing that. But I’ve seen a lot of people jizzing over his performance and I don’t get it. Shara looked shite, and that’s obviously partly to MVP’s credit. But he was there to be hit the whole fight and MVP made him look slow as shite, yet he never really stepped it up. I get he didn’t have to but it’s one of the reasons I just can’t take to his style.

I picked Shara to win, I feel stupid for that now, but looking at how the fight played out, this really could’ve been a showcase style-wise for MVP and I felt like he kind of wasted it by not pulling the trigger. I just don’t really get the hype. He’s not a prospect, he’s nearly 38 years old. And he’s only ever been this highlight reel creating Tekken character people make him out to be when he’s in with bottom rung or washed up opposition. He’s had 3 fights in the UFC now, all 3 went the distance and all 3 were pretty shite. Yet next time he gets a fight announced you’ll see the same ‘OMG MVP’s fighting ???’ type stuff. I don’t get it. He should stay at 185 though. He’s gonna be way quicker than all these guys and the division is weaker than 170 so he’ll go further. Wouldn’t mind seeing MVP vs Paulo Costa next, just for the LOLs. But honestly, that’d probably be arse as well. Not a good look for Shara at all this. I always thought the guy to hand him his first loss would be the guy who fully committed to exposing his lack of ground game. Here he was given a pure striker, which should’ve been his wheelhouse, and he got shown up.

Pavlovich vs Rozenstruik legit almost put me to sleep. Not like I was expecting a FOTY contender or anything but I thought it would at least be watchable. Awful fight. I can understand Pavlovich going more the grappling route just because it’s clearly Rozenstruik's weakness. Pavlovich had no real issue getting the takedowns, the problem was there didn’t seem to be much urgency at all to do significant damage once he got him down, no real attempts to force a finish or even really advance position. I get that Pavlovich was coming in 0-2 in his last couple and just needed a win by any means necessary. But Rozenstruik offered zero threat to him once he was down yet Pavlovich seemed content to just sit stagnant in half guard doing the bare minimum for big spells. Hopefully this was just him trying to get back in the win column via the path of least resistance and he’ll be back to his old self now. But I’m not confident. Seems like he’s lost a lot of his swagger and self belief since Aspinall walloped him.

Vinicius Oliveira got a strong win over Said Nurmagomedov. Good fight as well. Both faded as it went on but Said definitely looked worse for it. Guess that’s what happens when you fight once in a blue moon though. I like Oliveira and I didn’t mind his callout of Umar Nurmagomedov post-fight but I don’t think that one goes well for him at all. Everyone seems to think Umar’s been ‘exposed’ now or something, conveniently forgetting he was in there with Merab. And he still fought well in defeat. If Oliveira came into a fight with Umar with the kind of gas tank he had here, I think he’d be in trouble. Although, in fairness to Oliveira, apparently he came in with a rib injury which no doubt would’ve hindered him. Can’t see that Umar fight happening anyway. Umar’s probably getting a bigger name. Give Oliveira someone in that 10-15 range in the rankings.

Really enjoyed the Fares Ziam vs Mike Davis fight. What a battle. Oliveira vs Nurmagomedov got FOTN but I’d have given it to these two, to be honest. Some really fun grappling exchanges and Davis was looking like a handful at times. Just makes it all the more frustrating that he hardly ever fights. Ziam’s a tough bastard though and he definitely got the better of it overall. How he got through this calf slicer, I don’t know…

But he looked good here on the whole. I knew he was a big 155er but I didn’t realise just how big he is for the weight class until I saw a pic of him next to Imavov that’s floating around today. He looks just as big, if not bigger than Imavov, who’s a Middleweight. And at 27, he seems to have grown into his frame and found his man strength now and it’s obviously working for him. Saw a quote from Dana saying Ziam should get a Top 15 opponent next. Can see them giving him Grant Dawson but I’d love to see him welcome Rafael Fiziev back to the Octagon. Fiziev’s saying he’s good to go so why not? As for Davis, he’ll probably go back into hibernation for 2 years now.

The prelims weren’t much to write home about. Naimov vs Ofli was a chore to sit through. Naimov rightly got the decision but I really didn’t enjoy it and I came out of it not really giving a fuck if I ever see either fight again. Almost killed my enthusiasm going into the main card but luckily Ziam vs Davis was next up.

Funnily enough, Shamil Gaziev of all people probably had the highlight of the prelims ? after all my slagging that fight off, he sat Thomas Petersen down early with a one punch KO…

I made a point of skipping this live as well, was getting my trainers on and just heading out the door to take my daughter to the shop, when I heard the commentators reacting to the knockout. Thought this one had ‘15 minute plodder’ written all over it and no doubt Gaziev will return to that sluggish form next time out. This fight being done and dusted in a round was a pleasant surprise though. Of the three Heavyweight fights on the card, this actually ended up being the best of them. The horror. 

Terrance McKinney continues to maintain his run of never going to a decision. That’s 23 fights now and, win or lose, he’s still yet to see a judges scorecard. Crazy. He rolled right over Hadzovic here. Got to think that’s it for Hadzovic now. Coming up on 39 years old, barely fights, 1-4 in his last 5, comes back after a 2+ year layoff only to get squashed in a couple of minutes?

Jasmine Jasudavicius clearly beat Mayra Bueno Silva on points. Not sure where Silva goes from here. She’s proper shat the bed over the last year or so. This was supposed to be a fresh start dropping back down to Flyweight and she got pretty much shut down the whole fight and looked knackered and demoralised for much of it. Find Jasudavicius quite likeable. Seems a bit dopey and her lacking power hurts her a bit but she at least always seems to be trying to make something happen. This should get her a top ranked opponent. At 35, there’s no point messing about. I’d chuck her in with Jessica Andrade (currently ranked #7) and see what’s what.

Bogdan Grad had a decent debut. Wasn’t a mind blowing performance and Lucas Alexander isn’t a guy I’m familiar enough with to fully rate this win. But I liked Grad’s aggression and he got the finish, the $50K POTN bonus and 30% of Alexander’s purse for the weight miss. Not a bad first night in for him.

Big Hamdy finally got back in there in the curtain jerker and, well, it wasn’t good. He got the split decision but it was a shit fight and I lost track of scoring due to completely losing interest and barely paying attention after a round or so. Rotten. Seen some robbery talk and Jamal Pogues is bellyaching about it as if he got mugged but, from what I saw, neither of them did enough to gripe too much if the scorecards went against them. It was a shit fight and both had shit performances so if the judges were shit as well then they were just trying to fit in. I’ll give Hamdy a bit of a pass because of all the time on the shelf, we’ll see how he looks next time. But your first two UFC fights being split decisions against Don’Tale Mayes and Jamal Pogues? Not a great look, is it?



Yeah, pretty uneventful show outside the main event drama. Main card was better than the prelims but even then, the Pavlovich vs Rozey and MVP vs Shara fights nearly killed it dead for me. If it wasn’t for the convenient start time I’d have fast forwarded through a lot of it. Oh well, at least we’ve got a ‘stacked’ 312 to look forward to next weekend…

Edited February 2, 2025 by wandshogun09

[Cousin Jim Bob]

Bit tough on MVP there Wand. I know it didn't look pretty but it looked easy and was a good win for him when he was walking in as an underdog. Shara had absolutely no plan B though and was made to look pretty bloody stupid after the hype he has had lately from the UFC.

 

I wouldn't hate a MVP Vs Izzy fight being announced tbh. Although it could very well end watching two guys bounce on there toes, looking at each other for the whole fight.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

I watched this show in a bit of a weird way due to the time difference. Happened middle of the night here Down Under, woke up yesterday morning and managed to fit in the co main and the main in the hour before the Royal Rumble. No way was I bothering with the stupid pre-shows they do. I did notice when I flicked it to the co-main that the canvas was quite bloody, so I assumed I'd missed some insane fights in the undercard. Not quite the case.

Seeing Izzy get put out was deflating. Thought he looked really good in the first round before just getting caught early in the second. I guess there was a nice little uppercut in R1 that Imavov landed that was a signal of things to come. And then there was that eye poke right before the finish-but Adesanya looked okay after it. I think he just got caught and the poke was happenstance.

The co-main... I didn't like MVP at all when he debuted. Never watched his Bellator run, so what I saw was a guy with Anderson Silva level arrogance giving a performance far below what Anderson used to do in the fight with Kevin Holland. I thought he was much better in this one. He had moments of explosion and excitement against a tough opponent. An okay fight, and I'm slightly more impressed by Page. Feels weird to call someone other than Montel Vontavious Porter "MVP".

Back to the opening prelim to watch the rest!

Well, the blood and excitement sure wasn't from the opener. How did Abdelwahab win that? He was advancing, sure, but Pogues was the one actually being active and landing some shots. Not a good fight though.

Good finish for Bogdan. Okay, we're warming up...

Nice win for Jasudavicius. Slightly more entertaining than the first fight, but not by a lot.

McKinney came out like a buzzsaw. Very good.

Shamil with the walk-off KO! Always liked him.

Naimov looked like a killer for the most part. Had no idea who Ofli was, it's rare I don't know an Aussie fighter. He was tough, but didn't show a lot. Maybe Naimov's just that good. Credit for surviving, I guess?

Main Card

Ooh, so THAT'S where all the blood came from! Really good fight. The prelims had a couple of good finishes, but this was probably the first fight where I was like, "Okay, that was actually good! Ziam seems to be a beast, but credit to Mike Davis for hanging in there and creating a couple of tricky situations. How TF did Ziam handle that calf slicer attempt so easily?! I definitely would've tapped to that.

Great, gritty win for Oliveira! Nurmagomedov looked super dangerous early with the spinning kicks and fists and all that jazz, but Oliveira just kept pressuring until Nurmagomedov wilted. Then he got tired from the pace and they were both fucked, but still trying. I really liked the opener, but yeah, this was FOTN worthy.

And my watch of this Fight Night ended with Pavlovich vs. Rosenstruik. What an awful "main event" of a UFC card. Outside of a couple of very brief flurries, about as boring as heavyweight MMA gets. Even referee Mark Smith wasn't having it.

 

 

Edited February 3, 2025 by Shane O' Mac Version 2

[Dai]

MVP used to be a far better watch as he was fighting much worse opposition, so his attacking bursts were always a threat and very entertaining in his Bellator. Against better competition and his age getting up there, that threat and enjoyment isn't really there any more. 

 

Rozenstruik has been cut after this stinker with Pavlovich. Seems very harsh to me, as he is in the top 10 in the rankings and 3-2 in the last five. Seems a pretty clear message from Dana, this. Not sure how Arlovski stuck around for so long despite having stinker after stinker, and surely on alot more dough that what Rozenstruik was. 

[Carbomb]

Think Arlovski had built up a lot more good will with White over the years, though. He was an OG, had a good history and reputation, plus he was still winning quite a few in his later years, even though he was boring.

EDIT: Bloody hell, just checked his record. He was on a four-win streak after losing to Aspinall, then lost four in a row to Rogerio de Lima, Don'Tale Mayes, Waldo Cortes-Acosta, and Martin Buday! He should've retired after that. 

Edited February 4, 2025 by Carbomb
Bebeto

[wandshogun09]

On 2/2/2025 at 9:03 PM, Cousin Jim Bob said:

Bit tough on MVP there Wand. I know it didn't look pretty but it looked easy and was a good win for him when he was walking in as an underdog. Shara had absolutely no plan B though and was made to look pretty bloody stupid after the hype he has had lately from the UFC.

It’s just years of frustration and the way people talk about him not matching what I see when he fights more often than not. Even since Saturday I’ve read suggestions for MVP’s next fight being described as ‘fireworks’ and ‘a banger’. If we’re using Bonfire Night terms to describe his fights then it usually turns out looking like a cheap sparkler in the drizzle. When you actually look back at his career, there’s been more boring fights than exciting fights. Especially when he’s faced anyone of actual substance. And Shara might’ve actually been one of the best fights on the whole roster for him to shine in on paper. And while it wasn’t that bad and I might’ve been a tad harsh, if this is how he looks against a pure striker who’s seemingly the most likely style of opponent for him to have a good fight against, it doesn’t fill me with much hope for his future fights. 

Dai’s summed it up well here…

21 hours ago, Dai said:

MVP used to be a far better watch as he was fighting much worse opposition, so his attacking bursts were always a threat and very entertaining in his Bellator. Against better competition and his age getting up there, that threat and enjoyment isn't really there any more. 

And even in Bellator, he had some absolutely awful fights. I remember genuinely buzzing for the Paul Daley fight and it turned out shit. Same with the Douglas Lima rematch. Granted, it takes two to tango and those guys have to shoulder some of the blame for how those fights turned out. But the common denominator often seems to be MVP. He’s been in too many of these rotters now, I’m all out of benefits of the doubt at this point. I remember not too long ago I kept seeing people calling for MVP vs Wonderboy. I get why that feels like a natural matchup to make given their styles and similar age, but Christ I hope it never happens. It’s got ‘nothing happening staring contest’ written all over it.

21 hours ago, Dai said:

Rozenstruik has been cut after this stinker with Pavlovich. Seems very harsh to me, as he is in the top 10 in the rankings and 3-2 in the last five. Seems a pretty clear message from Dana, this. Not sure how Arlovski stuck around for so long despite having stinker after stinker, and surely on alot more dough that what Rozenstruik was. 

Definitely harsh. He was going nowhere but he was a decent gatekeeper and there’s way, way worse still on the roster and in that division especially. Nothing against the bloke but how’s Tai Tuivasa still around, for example? He’s on a 5 fight losing streak, was finished in 4 of them, and lost to Rozenstruik in his last fight. Yet the guy who beat him just got sacked and Tai’s not only still on the roster, he’s somehow still in the Top 10! Make it make sense.

Also just seen Gaziev’s closing in on the Top 10 now. He’s moved up to #11 in the rankings after his win on Saturday. Moves up to #11 for knocking out - checks notes - Thomas Petersen. His UFC record consists of wins over Petersen, Don’Tale Mayes and Martin Buday and a loss to Rozenstruik (yeah him again) where he quit on the stool between rounds in one of the worst fights of 2024. That’s your #11 ranked Heavyweight in the UFC right there! 

Edited February 5, 2025 by wandshogun09