Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted February 14 Paid Members Posted February 14 (edited) Back at the Apex. I don’t think I’ve ever left it this late to get a thread up but, yeah, this is tomorrow… ESPN MAIN CARD Jared Cannonier vs Gregory Rodrigues Calvin Kattar vs Youssef Zalal Edmen Shahbazyan vs Dylan Budka Ismael Bonfim vs Nazim Sadykhov Rodolfo Vieira vs Andre Petroski  ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMS Jose Delgado vs Connor Matthews Angela Hill vs Ketlen Souza Rafael Estevam vs Jesus Aguilar Gabriel Bonfim vs Khaos Williams Vince Morales vs Elijah Smith Valter Walker vs Don’Tale Mayes Julia Avila vs Jacqueline Cavalcanti  I’ve paid zero attention to this card until I started knocking this post together but I actually think it’s alright. There’s some shite on there, there always is on these things, but for an Apex card I think this is OK. That main and co-main are better than most we get at the Apex and there are a few little gems here and there on the undercard. It’ll do for a skim through on Sunday.   Jared Cannonier vs Gregory Rodrigues then. You know what, for as much moaning about Middleweight Apex headliners as I do, I actually don’t hate this one. For an ageing 185er, in fairness to Cannonier he’s been one of the more watchable guys in the division. And we all love ‘Robocop’ Greg, don’t we? Nice to see him getting his first UFC main event. Even if it is just at the Apex, considering some of the shitehawks we’ve had headlining these cards, it’s long overdue that a fan friendly fighter like Rodrigues got his face on a poster. So yeah, Cannonier is gonna be 41 in March and going by recent results it’s looking like he’s winding down. He’s got wins over Strickland, Vettori, Brunson, Hermansson and even an older, fading Anderson Silva on his record. He challenged Israel Adesanya for the title a couple of years back. He’s still currently ranked #7 in the division. He’s never been the guy but he’s been a solid fighter and decent to watch. He’s hit a rough patch in his last couple of fights though, losing back-to-back against Nassourdine Imavov and Caio Borralho. No shame in it, those two are looking like contenders themselves now, but it’s never good losing two on the bounce. And especially when you’re north of 40 years old. The odds don’t favour him to turn it around at that age but we’ll see. It’s all diminishing returns anyway really because he’s never gonna be the champion so he’s already gone as far as he can go. Not sure how long he’s planning to stick around but still taking fights like this, it’s a tough way to make a living. Robocop returns! Ol’ Barack ObaMMA. Definitely a UKFF favourite and, again, it’s nice to see him getting a bit of spotlight. He’s not even ranked at the moment, so being matched up with the #7 guy is a huge opportunity for him. He turns 33 just 2 days after this fight. So no spring chicken himself but still the significantly younger man here. Although saying that, it’s not like he doesn’t have some miles on him either. He’s been in some scraps. Most notably, that barmy dogfight with Chidi Njokuani in 2022, where Chidi did THIS to him… …and Rodrigues not only absorbed it, he came back to win the fight by TKO. And he was already calling for another fight within about a week of that! With an open letterbox of a gash on his forehead. He’s nuts. A proper throwback for me to the wild west days of MMA. Of course making as much money as possible has to be the main priority, but you can tell Rodrigues is a guy who’s in it for the love of the game as much as anything. He’s 16-5 now and on a 3 fight winning streak but, make no mistake, this is a step up. He’s never gone 5 rounds either so that could be something to consider. Especially against a guy like Cannonier who’s now a seasoned 5 round fighter. Despite Cannonier’s age and dodgy recent form, he’s definitely the more experienced of the two when it comes to 5 round fights and level of opposition. Rodrigues’ most recent wins were over Brad Tavares and Christian Leroy Duncan. Decent enough but, like I say, Cannonier’s a former title contender and has been in with pretty much all the top Middleweights of his era. It’s a step up for Robocop, no doubt. At the same time, he’s younger and Cannonier’s been in some long gruelling fights recently. His last 5 fights were headliners, 4 of them went the full 5 rounds and the one that didn’t, Cannonier got stopped in the 4th round. He’s gone 2-3 in that spell and now he’s in his sixth straight 5 rounder. Fair play to him, at 40 years old he’s putting the graft in and I don’t think he gets much respect for it. But it’s gotta be taking its toll now and I feel like Rodrigues might just be catching him at the right time. Although, again, Cannonier’s recent losses were against guys who are now on the cusp of title shots themselves. So maybe I’m looking at it all wrong and this is a step down for Cannonier? Either way, it should be a good fight.  Calvin Kattar vs Youssef Zalal is ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** and a real potential banger of a co-main event that’s gone under the radar. I completely forgot this was even booked until looking the card up just now. But this is a quality fight. In my opinion it’s a better fight than most Apex main events we see these days, to be honest. Kind of like the main event, it’s a bit of a crossroads clash between a guy who was once up there in the mix with the top names in the division, and a younger guy on the come up who’s looking for his big break. I like it. Calvin Kattar’s 36 now, he’ll be 37 next month. Pretty long in the tooth for a Featherweight. At one point he was being talked about as a bit of a darkhorse at 145. He had a patchy record but the nights when he was on, he genuinely looked like a potential threat to anyone in the weight class. With hindsight that might sound silly but that was the feeling at the time when he was beating Shane Burgos and Jeremy Stephens and Dan Ige. He’s never been the same since that bloody horrible beating he took off Max Holloway in January 2021 though. It felt brutal at the time but looking back at it now, it seems like that was a career altering hiding he took that night. He did bounce back and looked good in his win over Giga Chikadze but he’s lost 3 fights on the trot since then. We last saw him getting chucked about by Aljo Sterling at UFC 300. So it’s been not far off a year of inactivity for him now on top of the losing streak. Not the ideal time to be paired up with this guy… Morocco’s Youssef Zalal is on a totally different trajectory in his career than Kattar is currently. He’s on the way up. He’s 28 years old, 16-5-1 and on a 6 fight winning streak with all 6 wins coming inside the distance. He did have a previous stint in the UFC a few years ago which didn’t pan out so well. But to be fair, he was in his early 20s then and he did go the distance in a losing effort against some chap named Ilia Topuria in Topuria’s UFC debut. After being released by the UFC in 2022 following 3 losses and a draw, he went away and rebuilt himself. He won 3 fights and was brought back to the UFC last year. And he went an impressive 3-0 with 3 finishes in 2024. Submitted Billy Quarantillo and Jarno Errens, then in November… He put in what was probably the best overall performance of his career to date and scored maybe his best win yet, walloping Jack Shore with a devastating knee (which Shore somehow ate without going to sleep, to his credit), then finished him with the arm triangle seconds later. Really strong showing for Zalal which capped off a pretty much perfect year and UFC return for him. He deserved a big fight after the year he had and giving him a co-main against Kattar isn’t bad at all. Yeah it’s only an Apex card but it’s all moving in the right direction for him. And it’s Zalal’s chance to get himself into the rankings. Kattar’s sitting at #10 on the UFC website as I type this, so another win for Zalal here would get him on the ladder and set him up for someone inside the Top 10 next. Like the headliner though, on paper it’s a step down for Kattar so maybe this’ll be Zalal’s ceiling and Kattar can claw something back. It is feeling like everything’s favouring a Zalal win but we’ll see.  Edmen Shahbazyan vs Dylan Budka isn’t setting my world alight. I’m just so far past expecting much from Shahbazyan at this point, I can’t get up for his fights. He came in with some buzz initially. He was really young, he had the link to Ronda Rousey back when she was still a presence in MMA and he was wrecking his early opposition in double quick time, not unlike his mentor Rousey when she was coming up. In 2020 he got derailed about as hard as any prospect ever has when he went from being undefeated to losing 3 straight fights. And not just losing, there was a real sense that he’d been exposed in those losses to Brunson, Hermansson and Imavov. He’s never recovered from it. He’s still only 27 now but the shine came off years ago and he’s been all over the shop results wise. He’s coming into this fight off a submission loss to Gerald Meerschaert in August. Barely remember this Budka bloke. He’s 25 with a 7-4 record. Won a fight on DWCS in 2023 but has gone winless in the UFC so far, losing to Cesar Almeida and Andre Petroski.  Ismael Bonfim vs Nazim Sadykhov could be the sleeper to steal the show actually. The Bonfim brothers have gone off the boil a tad since making a bit of a splash when they first debuted but they can both be fun to watch with the right opponent. Ismael’s 29 years old and has a record of 20-4 with 13 finishes. He scored that crazy flying knee KO on Terrance McKinney in his UFC debut but got battered by Benoit Saint Denis in his next outing. He’s since rebounded with a points win over Vinc Pichel in a fight that I don’t recall being anything to write home about but it got him back in the win column. Sadykhov’s 30 and 9-1-1 with 8 finishes. He trains out of Ray Longo’s gym in New York and he’s a pretty exciting fighter from what I remember. Hasn’t fought since late 2023 but he went to a draw against Slava Claus in a belter at MSG that night. I think him and Bonfim could be perfect opponents here for an exciting scrap.  Rodolfo Vieira vs Andre Petroski is OK but a little bit of a nothing fight for me. Just two guys who I see on cards who are kind of white noise to me for whatever reason. Probably being harsh but their fights just come and go and all blur together in my head. Vieira’s grappling credentials speak for themselves - multi-time BJJ world champ etc - but he’s been a bit hit and miss in the UFC. He’s 10-2 now and coming off a couple of submission wins but the two times he’s stepped up (against Fluffy Hernandez and Chris Curtis), those were his two losses. At 35, he’s not gonna be making huge gains now so he is what he is at this stage in his career. Petroski’s a grappler himself, although definitely not as decorated as Vieira. He’s 12-3 in MMA and coming off a couple of decision wins. On paper, this looks like a Vieira win just based on grappling being both guys bread and butter and him being on a higher level. Who knows though, right? When you start mixing everything together things can go bad fast. Vieira should probably be winning this fight though.  Jose Delgado vs Connor Matthews is a bit of a mystery to me. Not familiar with either of them. Delgado’s making his UFC debut, he’s 26 years old and 8-1 with all 8 wins not requiring the judges scorecards. He’s on a 5 fight winning streak and is coming off a KO victory on DWCS back in August. Matthews is making his second walk to the Octagon here. He’s 32 years old, 7-2 and got stopped by Dennis Buzukja in his debut on the Atlantic City card last March. Not a lot else I can say about this other than it was originally scheduled to open the main card, which seems odd unless I’m missing something. Maybe Delgado’s some little beast or something.  Angela Hill vs Ketlen Souza isn’t grabbing me but might be worth a look. Hill’s going nowhere. We know that. But I kind of admire her for somehow managing to stick around so long despite having a near 50/50 record. She’s 40 years old now and a dismal 17-14 in her career. If you just count her UFC fights she’s 11-14 overall. A losing record. In fairness, there has been a few key fights where decisions went against her which I thought she won. From memory I think I had her beating Claudia Gadelha and Michelle Waterson years ago, which would’ve been biggish wins for her at the time. But still, she’s been floundering from day one and she’s still somehow here, 11 years after appearing on TUF. Fair play, I guess. I think we all smell what the matchmakers are cooking here though. Souza is 29 years old, 15-4 and coming off a stunning knockdown and first round submission over Yazmin Jauregui on the big Sphere card in September. She doesn’t really have any standout wins besides that but putting her in against a 40 year old with a losing UFC record does feel like they’re hoping to get Souza another win and finally put Hill out to pasture. Fuck knows though. Despite her erratic win/loss record, I’ve counted Hill out a few times and she’s ended up winning a fight when I didn’t expect her to and living to fight another day.  Rafael Estevam vs Jesus Aguilar. Had to look these two up because I knew I’d seen both but I’m hazy. Estevam hasn’t fought in over a year so that’ll be why I hardly remember him. He’s Brazilian, 28 years old, trains out of Nova Uniao and he’s unbeaten at 12-0. He made his UFC debut back in November 2023 and beat Charles Johnson on points. I know I’ll have seen that fight but I can’t remember it. Very decent win in his debut that though. Just a shame he then missed all of 2024 and couldn’t build off that momentum. Aguilar’s Mexican, also 28 and he’s 11-2 with 8 finishes, mostly submissions. Although I do recall him scoring an absolute corker of a 17 second KO against Shannon Ross at UFC 290 in July 2023. He got subbed by Tatsuro Taira in his UFC debut but he’s gone on a 3 fight winning streak since then. This might be decent actually.  Gabriel Bonfim vs Khaos Williams is another potential under the radar fight. Both Bonfim brothers on this card. From what I recall, Gabriel looked like the slightly more promising of the two but they’ve both already been derailed in the UFC now. He’s 27 years old and 16-1 with 15 inside the distance. He suffered his first defeat at the hands of Nicolas Dalby in late 2023 but got back to winning ways with a decision over Ange Loosa last year. As for Khaos… That’s how his last fight ended. Wiped out poor Carlston Harris with a heavy shot just 90 seconds into the first round. He’s quite fun to watch when he shows up but unfortunately he’s been in and out and not always that active during his UFC stint. He’s still only 30 and he’s 15-3 overall in his career. Looking back at his record, he came into the UFC in 2020 and immediately sparked Alex Morono in 27 seconds and then Abdul Razak Alhassan in 30 seconds. Quite an introduction but it’s fizzled out a bit over the years, either through losses or just not staying busy. Don’t see him ever going very far but I’d like to see him fight more frequently. This feels about as close to an old school style vs style matchup as it gets in 2025. You have to assume it’s gonna come down to Bonfim’s BJJ vs Khaos’ right hand.  Vince Morales vs Elijah Smith. Dunno. Morales is a guy who’s been in and out of the UFC and fought a bunch of times but I barely remember a single thing about him. He’s 34 years old now, 16-8 and coming off a decision loss against Taylor Lapilus on the Paris card in September. That was his return to the UFC. He’d had a previous run that didn’t work out and he was let go in 2022. Went away, won a few fights and came back. Only to lose to Lapilus. I think he stepped in on short notice for that one though, in fairness. If I have any interest in this fight at all, this is kind of cool. Elijah Smith is the son of Gilbert Smith, who competed on TUF back in 2012 and briefly fought in the UFC after that. So the Smiths make history here as only the second ever father/son duo to fight in the UFC. The first being Randy and Ryan Couture. Elijah’s just 22 years old, 7-1 with 5 finishes and he’s coming off a points win on DWCS in his last fight. It’d be nice to see him get the win here with his old man in the corner.  Valter Walker vs Don’Tale Mayes. Ugh. Not a single bastard card can go by without a big steaming dollop of Heavyweight shite thrown into the mix, can it? This will almost certainly be awful. I guess if there’s a saving grace, at least they’ve put it on early enough in the card that it’ll be easy enough to just pretend it never happened. Valter is, of course, the younger brother of the weirdly wonderful Johnny Walker. I was actually quite looking forward to seeing Valter in the UFC when he first signed but he immediately went out there and lost a fucking abysmal turd of a fight with Lukasz Brzeski in his debut and it killed any enthusiasm dead for me. He came back at UFC 305 in August with a quick heel hook finish against Junior Tafa but he was already on my shit list by then. Seems a bit of a knob as well. Just the vibe he gives off to me. He should win this one though if he’s got absolutely anything about him, because Mayes is terrible. He’s 11-7-0-1 and coming off a points loss against Shamil Gaziev. He’s crap. A total jabroni. A ham and egger. But I’m still not confident Valter beats him. That says it all.  Julia Avila vs Jacqueline Cavalcanti kicks off the Fight Pass stream. Nothing special about this. I quite like Avila. I remember watching interviews with her early in her UFC career and she seemed really likeable in a nerdy way. Plus how do you not root for someone with ‘Raging Panda’ as a nickname? She’s not great though. She’s 9-3 now and got thoroughly outclassed and submitted by Miesha Tate in her last fight. And that was over a year ago in December 2023. At 36 years old, she’s not gonna be going on a run now. Cavalcanti is 27 years old, 8-1 and on a 6 fight win streak. Again, feels pretty obvious what the matchmakers were going for when they put this fight together, doesn’t it? Out with the old, in with the new. It’s not like Cavalcanti’s had any really outstanding wins herself yet but she’s clearly on the ascent in her career whereas Avila’s on the way out.   Me looking at the Apex in 2025… Edited February 14 by wandshogun09 Quote
Bruce85 Posted February 14 Posted February 14 I thought there was a card this weekend but hadn’t seen a Wand post so assumed there wasn’t! This looks like a decent little card (for an Apex). Quote
Zebra Kid Mark Posted February 15 Posted February 15 1 hour ago, Bruce85 said: I thought there was a card this weekend but hadn’t seen a Wand post so assumed there wasn’t! This looks like a decent little card (for an Apex). Same, I wasn't sure if there was a card so my first place to check was the UKFF to find Wand's post, when I couldn't find it I went to a website called Google as a backup. I'll cherry pick the prelims but I will watch the whole main card. It's a shame that it's in the Apex, this is a pretty decent card that would be even more elevated if it was in front of a live crowd. 2025 and we are still in the Apex. I know they use it for convenience and to save on costs but surely holding it in a 3000 seater casino in Vegas wouldn't be too much hard work. With the price they charge for tickets these days it would surely mitigate any costs they occur in hiring the venue and setting it up with their production. Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted February 15 Paid Members Posted February 15 After the renovation work at the Apex there will be more of a crowd in there apparently, 1000 seats im reading. I would love for it to have that Hard Rock/small casino size feel to it. Right now its dead air and Michael Bisping trying to fill it with his constant waffle. Quote
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted February 15 Author Paid Members Posted February 15 Yeah, if they tart it up a bit and get a proper crowd in that would help to a degree. But I don’t know. There’s never gonna be an atmosphere in that warehouse like there was in those cool venues like the Hard Rock back in 2006. Anyway, here’s all the fight day graphics… I didn’t actually watch video of the face-offs so I’m just going off the pictures. Was Rodrigues wearing high heels or something? More of a size difference between him and Cannonier than I expected. Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted February 15 Paid Members Posted February 15 Any value in Kattar here at 3/1? Feels like he's being completely written off Quote
Dai Posted February 19 Posted February 19 If there was any tarting up of the Apex, then it certainly didnt look like it from the shots they showed on the TV. Nor did it make any difference to the atmosphere, as it was still dead there. Didnt enjoy the Kattar/Zalal fight, and it didnt live up to expectations. Theres only so much of the elusiveness that you can watch before it gets boring, especially when the opponent just lets it happen for most of the fight. Then the last round just seemed to be Zalal running away. Bad. The main event, though, was a great scrap. Cannonier withstood some huge attacks in that first round, and you had the feeling that Robocop didnt have much of a chance when the fight went to the second round. He was still dangerous to be fair, but clearly not as much as he was in Round 1. Very good main. Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted February 19 Paid Members Posted February 19 The Apex rennovations ain't been done yet, think its more closer to the end of the year Quote
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted February 21 Author Paid Members Posted February 21 (edited) Only just got around to catching up on most of this. Jared Cannonier just proved that 5 round main event experience is real. That and his toughness got him through this one. Because it was looking dicey for him early. I ended up picking Rodrigues in the poll. Partly wishful thinking, partly just because Rodrigues was the younger and relatively fresher man and partly because I was a bit taken aback by the size difference at the weigh in face-off and thought Robocop might just end up bulldozing him. The early exchanges seemed to be backing that logic up as well with Rodrigues dropping him and looking so strong and powerful. That 5 round seasoning and experience against top guys is something you can’t buy or teach though and Cannonier weathered it and took over to the point Rodrigues looked like he was flagging a bit as early as the second round and Cannonier completely overwhelmed him as it went on. Loved the finish from Cannonier, especially that horrible body shot he threw in there. With Rodrigues already badly struggling by that point, that body shot must’ve just completely sapped his energy bar to pretty much zero in an instant. Thing is, who the fuck do you even put Cannonier in with now? He’s not gonna be getting a title shot but he’s already fought everyone above him in the rankings except Du Plessis and Khamzat, and they’re gonna be fighting each other. So he’s either gonna have to fight someone below him in the rankings or he’s gonna have to rematch somebody. If he’s gonna fight down in rankings then I wouldn’t hate Cannonier vs Costa. Or even give him the winner of the Allen vs Hernandez fight on the Seattle card tomorrow night. If he’s gonna rematch someone, I wouldn’t be surprised if we get Cannonier vs Strickland 2. I’d have no interest in that but it’s not like they’ve got a ton of options for Strickland now. Yeah, Zalal vs Kattar was a frustrating watch. Really expected an action packed fight out of these two and it just never happened. Zalal obviously won and on paper it’s his biggest name win to date. But he won’t have done himself any favours with this performance. Seeing a load of backlash against Zalal and people saying he’s a boring fighter and all that. But I’ve never seen him fight like this before. It’s unfortunate that his first dull performance came in his biggest fight yet because that’s unfairly gonna be his reputation for a while now. Reminds me a bit of Mario Bautista beating Aldo in a snoozer a few months ago. Bautista was never usually a boring fighter at all but with the step up in levels against Aldo, maybe he thought that was the only way he could win. Weird fight though. It was like Zalal was fighting the perfect counterstriking fight…but just forgetting to do the actual striking a lot of the time. He was evading Kattar’s shots and walking Kattar into his own striking range, but instead of punishing him coming in, he’d circle away and create distance again. He did some good stuff and it’s also worth noting that it takes two to tango and Kattar was shite here. But it was kind of baffling to watch Zalal fight like this when you’ve seen his last few fights. He’s entered the rankings at #12 now. Be interesting to see who they match him up with next. Edmen Shahbazyan steamrolled Dylan Budka early. It looked like the Shahbazyan we saw early in his career when he was just smashing opponents quick. But that’s probably because Budka is basically the same level as the guys Edmen was facing back then. Shahbazyan’s always capable of this early. My confidence in him was gone a long time ago though. No doubt he’ll face someone half decent again and be back to losing. I read that Budka’s already been given his walking papers. Nazim Sadykhov put a beating on Ismael Bonfim. Fun fight for the 5 minutes it lasted. Ending was an anti-climax though. Shame we didn’t get to see more of this. Beautiful and that was the beginning of the end. Not sure what happened with the doctor stoppage. Don’t know if Bonfim told them he couldn’t see or if there was a miscommunication with the language barrier or what. But clearly the doctor saw something in Bonfim’s reactions and that was enough to pull the plug. Sounds weird but I kind of felt bad for Sadykhov. He was looking really sharp early, especially considering he was coming off a layoff, and the way this ended meant he never got that clean decisive finish. Hopefully he gets another fight booked soon. Petroski vs Vieira was pretty much the fight it looked like on paper but I kind of liked it more than I thought I would. Wasn’t a barnburner but I found myself quite enjoying it in spells. Thought this would be a favourable matchup for Vieira though and it didn’t really play out like that. Petroski was better at stopping the takedowns than I expected. Solid win for him. Hard to see where Vieira goes from here. He wins a couple then loses one, rinse and repeat. And at 35, he’s just clambering aimlessly through these Apex fights at this point. Jose Delgado made short work of Connor Matthews and it was a welcome change of pace following a couple of dull decisions in the Hill/Souza and Estevam/Aguilar fights. Wasn’t familiar with either going in but it was a decent little fight the short time it lasted. Angela Hill is gonna stick around forever isn’t she? 40 years old, 18-14 record yet every time it seems like she’s finally on the way out, she wins one of these close fights. And there’s always enough shit fighters in the division that she’ll probably be able to win just enough to still be getting booked on Apex cards into her 50s at this rate. Not even sure she won this one. I wasn’t paying close enough attention to really agree or disagree with the decision. Not like Souza looked much good herself. Saw Cannonier saying after the show that Angela Hill should be in the Hall Of Fame. Nothing against the woman but if you let a fighter like her in then you can make a case for Sam Alvey and all sorts. I don’t wanna live in a world where that’s a reality. Gabriel Bonfim choked Khaos Williams ALL the way out. Jesus Christ… Poor bastard was seeing ghosts. Based on the Dalby loss I don’t see Gabriel’s ceiling being all that high but he’s a problem with them chokes at a certain level. I think he’s the better of the Bonfim brothers anyway. Elijah Smith had a tough time with Vince Morales at points but got the win in his debut. This was one of those fights that will be a great experience builder for a 22 year old like Smith. Morales was going all out for the sub but Smith got through it. Good fight. Saw Valter Walker breezed through Don’Tale Mayes with another first round heel hook. That’s back-to-back early heel hook finishes for him now. I literally had my finger hovering over the fast forward button when he locked that in 🤣 Maybe he’ll wash the bad taste of his awful debut fight away yet. He probably won’t go much further but at least he’s finishing some fights quickly at the bum level, I guess. Hit and miss show as these Apex shows tend to be. Had its moments though I and did enjoy the main event, despite the result not being what I was hoping for. Edited February 21 by wandshogun09 Quote
Shane O' Mac Version 2 Posted February 23 Posted February 23 Trying to keep my streak alive of watching all the UFC shows in 2025 and being firmly back in my MMA fandom. Which, unfortunately, means watching Apex shows. Something that I wish pissed off with the rest of the COVID restrictions, the fights completely lack atmosphere and I genuinely think it has a negative effect on the fights. With no crazy crowd cheering them on, I feel like the fighters are a little more conservative and less bloodthirsty in general. It certainly seemed to be the case with this card. The main event was fun but the rest... just kinda there really. The Bonfims were good value for a short time, I guess. That co-main was super frustrating, watching Zalal literally running the clock down for the last 2 minutes of the fight. I watched this on a Sunday afternoon a little hungover from Saturday shenanigans, so I don't know if that clouded my judgement. But definitely not the most fun UFC card I've watched. Didn't get to watch it live because last weekend was taken up with AEW Grand Slam in Brisbane. Tomorrow, it's Cejudo vs. Song catch up time! Quote
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