Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted May 17, 2025 Paid Members Posted May 17, 2025 (edited) Off to WCW land for this one. Badstreet USA. Atlanta GA… ESPN MAIN CARD Kamaru Usman vs Joaquin Buckley Rose Namajunas vs Miranda Maverick Edmen Shahbazyan vs Andre Petroski Cody Garbrandt vs Raoni Barcelos Cody Brundage vs Mansur Abdul-Malik Alonzo Menifield vs Oumar Sy ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMS Paul Craig vs Rodolfo Bellato Michael Chiesa vs Court McGee Malcolm Wellmaker vs Kris Moutinho Cody Durden vs Jose Ochoa Ricky Simon vs Cameron Smotherman Phil Rowe vs Ange Loosa Vanessa Demopoulos vs Jamey-Lyn Horth It’s OK but I think this is one of the weaker non-Apex Fight Nights we’ve had recently. That’s probably gonna be overlooked because Usman’s return feels like pretty big news but beyond that main event and a couple of highlights on the undercard, there’s not much to this one. Oh well. If nothing else at least there’ll be a real crowd in attendance. It’s always Fuck The Apex! Kamaru Usman vs Joaquin Buckley is our headliner for this one. They actually tracked down Usman! Not sure what to think about this really. I kind of like the fight in that it’s a big name and former champion returning against one of the new wave of Welterweights. But the other way of looking at it is it’s Usman coming off a series of losses and a lengthy layoff and Buckley again facing another ageing, fading fighter. I don’t know. He’s back! Kamaru Usman’s obviously one of the best ever at 170. He had a strong reign as champion and I’ll forever have a soft spot for him for going 2-0 over Colby Covington and stopping him getting his grubby hands on UFC gold. Then you throw in the two wins over Jorge Masvidal, who I can’t stand, including chinning him in spectacular fashion the second time, and also stopping Sean Strickland in their mostly forgotten fight years back…yeah, Usman’s alright in my book. He’s been out of the game for a while now though. We last saw him in October 2023 when he stepped in on about a week’s notice, up in weight, to face Khamzat Chimaev of all people! This was coming off back-to-back losses to Leon Edwards as well. The ballsiest of ballsy moves. I remember fully expecting Khamzat to steamroll him. Usman coming off losses, going up in weight, on short notice, against Khamzat? It sounded like a recipe for disaster. But Usman surpassed what anyone expected of him. He got dominated in the first round but he did what most others couldn’t, he survived Khamzat’s opening round onslaught. From there he got back in the fight and I’m sure I actually had him winning the second and third rounds. Think I had it a draw on the night with Khamzat getting a 10-8 for the first round. The judges saw it for Khamzat and he got the decision but Usman certainly never embarrassed himself. Based on his unexpectedly strong showing, I remember a fair bit of chatter after the fight about Usman potentially going for a proper Middleweight run. It seemed to make sense but for whatever reason, I’m guessing injuries, Usman was inactive for the whole of 2024 and is only just coming back in mid 2025. At 38 years old, obviously far from ideal. And he’s staying put at Welterweight. Buckley’s been on the rise for a bit now and has worked his way up to a #7 ranking. He’s just turned 31 years old, has a record of 21-6 with 15 by knockout and he’s on a six fight win streak. But like I said, him facing another guy who seems to be heading for the retirement home isn’t the best. He’s on a streak but his last couple of wins were over a 41 year old Wonderboy Thompson who was 1-3 in his last 4 coming in, and 36 year old Colby Covington who was coming off getting schooled by Leon Edwards and then a year layoff. So yeah, he is coming off a string of wins but I’m not sure how impressed we should really be and I don’t really buy him as a top contender in the same way I do some of the other younger guys trying to take over the top of the division like Garry, Shavkat, Brady and obviously the new champ at 170 Maddalena. Buckley’s rise up the ranks feels a bit smoke and mirrors and I was kind of hoping to see him against someone who’s been more active and in form next. But whatever. I did enjoy seeing him beat up Covington on that Tampa card in December. That’s always a good time. He actually called out Usman after that one. Which, again, kind of made sense because Usman’s a big name in the division, but it also felt a bit like Buckley’s actively targeting these fading guys now, which isn’t a great look. I saw a stat recently that said Buckley’s never won a fight in the UFC against someone younger than him. Which is kind of hilarious. Usman responded to the call-out on his podcast… “It’s a great fight. He’s very aggressive, he’s strong, he’s athletic, and I like that. Every now and then, that warrior spirit, you need to exercise it. That’s where we come from. You want to get in there and feel like you got into a fight. I’ve been in a couple where I wasn’t touched and I got out of there, in the back, still adrenaline going, feeling like I need to burn off some energy. But hopefully, if he does his homework, everything comes together, it’s going to be an incredible fight.” “I’m tired of all the talking. I had to take a little bit of a sabbatical but now I’m back from that sabbatical. That’s right. You heard it right. Your boy is back.” - Kamaru Usman Here we go then. Usman’s making all the right noises but the jury’s out for me until we actually see him back in there and see how he looks after a round, two rounds or into the later rounds if it goes that long. At his age, with the layoff, with the losses, with the well documented knee problems, I’m just not sure what we’re getting here. And for all my doubts about whether Buckley’s quite as good as some are believing based off a winning streak against older guys coming off losses, he’s still the younger, fresher man with less miles on him, he can punch and he’s been active. After a 20 or so month layoff, this is undeniably a tough return fight for Usman. I like him so I’d love to see him come back with a win but, with recent results - Leon looking bad, Belal losing the title to JDM etc - it kind of feels like that old guard is being phased out now. I get the feeling this is gonna be another example of that. Still wish Usman would’ve decided on a permanent move to Middleweight after that Khamzat fight, to be honest. Rose Namajunas vs Miranda Maverick as co-main? Poor. For a co-main event of an ‘on the road’ Fight Night, this is piss poor. Considering the last one in De Moines had a De Ridder vs Nickal co-main and still had Jeremy Stephens vs Mason Jones further down the card, this Apexy shite is unacceptable so high up a card when you’ve got actual ticket buying fans in attendance. No doubt Rose was one of the best fighters in the Strawweight division in her day. Beat Joanna Jedrzejczyk twice, beat Zhang Weili twice etc. But that feels like a lifetime ago now. I haven’t enjoyed a fight of hers in years. She just looks completely detached from the sport and almost disinterested. When you consider this is a woman who scored first round knockouts over Joanna and Zhang back in the day, now fast forward to last year and she’s being taken the distance by Amanda Ribas and Tracy Cortez. Not good. Granted, it’s up a division at Flyweight but still. She’s still only 32 but it seemed like she checked out years ago and is just going through the motions now. She’s coming into this fight off a decision loss to Erin Blanchfield in November, which was another snoozer. Maverick’s 27 years old, 15-5 and on a 4 fight win streak. Those four wins were against absolute ham and eggers though and she went to decisions with all of them. Yeah. This one’s probably going to the judges. Maverick seems nice enough but I just don’t particularly rate her. She deserves the step up here but it just doesn’t hold any interest for me. Feel like I say this before every Rose fight these days but she really should be winning this in impressive fashion. At her best she stops someone like Maverick all day long. But I just know this is going the distance and, while I think Rose wins fairly clearly, I’m not 100% confident at this point. Which says it all about how far Rose has fallen off. I think she’s still got the physical skills, it just seems like she’s not fully committed mentally like she once was and it shows in her performances. Edmen Shahbazyan vs Andre Petroski is whatever. Might be decent but I’m not particularly fussed, to be honest. Never know what to expect from Shahbazyan. He came in young as this hot prospect scoring all these quick finishes but then he had those three consecutive losses to Brunson, Hermansson and Imavov and he’s never quite got back on track. He hit his ceiling harder than maybe any up and comer ever has. And even since then, yeah he’s had some wins but whenever he’s came up against a tough, experienced grinder he’s been found out. We saw it in the Fluffy Hernandez and Gerald Meerschaert fights as well. He’s coming into this fight off an easy TKO win over Dylan Budka. I think it’s clear he beats those types all day. It’s when he steps up he struggles. I’m not sure where Petroski sits in the pecking order but, on paper, he seems to have the skill set to give Edmen problems. He’s 13-3, on a three fight win streak and a strong grappler. He could get chinned early but I get the feeling if this goes deep, Petroski has the kind of game to possibly break Shahbazyan the way some other grinders have. Cody Garbrandt vs Raoni Barcelos is ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** this time. Says it all about how deep the Bantamweight division is when even fights like this between fading and/or older guys are still really fun matchups. I like it. I’ve made no secret over the years that I’m not a fan of Garbrandt. Good fighter at his peak but that was so long ago now it almost feels irrelevant in 2025. People still cling to that (admittedly great) performance against Dom Cruz but that was one night and it was all the way back in 2016. He’s gone 3-6 in the nine years since that fight. We last saw him at UFC 300 last April, where he got subbed by Figgy in the Fight Pass curtain jerker. Don’t know why he’s been out since then or what he’s been doing but, erm, he’s resurfaced looking like this… An eye tattoo and braids? Midlife crisis at 33? Fuck me ? What’s this wally playing at? In all seriousness, yeah, he’s far from his peak at this point and he’s coming off a loss and a layoff. But one thing I will say for him, he’s never really in boring fights. He’s scored some legitimately awesome knockouts over the years and he’s also been on the receiving end of a few as well. He’s got that mix of being dangerous offensively but also vulnerable defensively that usually makes his fights very entertaining to watch. Barcelos is 38 now, which is pretty much an OAP when it comes to the lighter weight classes. But he’s got a respectable 19-5 record and he proved last time out that there’s still some fight in the old dog yet when he derailed previously unbeaten Payton Talbott at UFC 311 in January. Cody Brundage vs Mansur Abdul-Malik might be worth a look. Rare I say that about a Brundage fight but I’m interested to see Abdul-Malik back in there. He’s 27 years old and undefeated at 8-0 with a 100% finish rate. Fought on DWCS last August. Made his UFC debut in September, stopping Dusko Todorovic in a round. Then scored a second round TKO over Nick Klein in his last fight in February. Looks the part so far. I vaguely recall him being in some trouble early against Klein but he obviously responded well and ended up finishing Klein. If you’ve been reading my opening posts then you probably know by now that I don’t rate Brundage at all. He’s 11-6-0-1 and going absolutely nowhere. He’s coming off a first round TKO win but it was over Julian Marquez, who appears to be pretty shot now and was never great to begin with. Basically, if you’re any good, you’re not losing to Brundage. So while a win here for Malik doesn’t do a ton for him, a loss to Brundage would basically completely end any kind of hopes or buzz for him. Malik should win and win convincingly, I reckon. Alonzo Menifield vs Oumar Sy is alright. Not counting the days or anything but it’s a decent fight. Menifield’s a guy I’ve enjoyed watching at times in his lower-mid spot on these cards but he’s 37 years old and kind of floundering. He’s 16-5-1 and coming off an iffy split decision win over Julius Walker back in February. It got FOTN and it was a fairly entertaining sloppy brawl, as I recall, but I wasn’t even sure Menifield should’ve got the decision. And before that win he’d been knocked out in back-to-back fights by Carlos Ulberg and Azamat Murzakanov. Pretty clear what the matchmakers are going for here. Sy’s undefeated at 11-0, 8 inside the distance, and he’s a guy they probably wanna build up for the French market. This seems like it’ll be kind of fun but also likely a bit of a record pad job for Sy. Maybe I’m wrong but that’s how it feels to me. Paul Craig vs Rodolfo Bellato was supposed to go down on the Burns vs Morales card at the Apex in May but Bellato pulled out of the fight actually during the live broadcast due to herpes of all things. Nice. It’s back on for Atlanta so we’ll see if Bellato can make it to fight night without coming down with knob-rot or something. Sort yourself out Roddy. Can’t pretend I’m arsed about this. Craig’s 37 years old, in a three fight losing slump and is 1-5 in his last 6. Times are hard. We last saw him losing a lacklustre decision to Bo Nickal on the MSG card last November. Bellato’s 29 years old, 12-2-1 with 11 finishes and he’s coming off a draw against Jimmy Crute at UFC 312 in February. He did have an incredible, crazy slugfest against Ihor Potieria in his UFC debut, which he won, but that was 2023. Fuck knows but at this stage I’ve got no confidence in Craig, especially against heavy hitters, and it seems like Bellato has a bit of a whack on him. Michael Chiesa vs Court McGee, man, this card almost feels like it should be held at an old folks home. I mean, Chiesa’s 37 and McGee’s 40. They’re not old men by normal standards. Fuck, I’m gonna be 40 myself in July! But in terms of ‘fighter years’ and mileage, these are senior citizens. Just feels like both have stuck around forever. Chiesa’s 18-7 and coming off a couple of submission wins over Tony Ferguson (fuck sake) and Max Griffin. McGee’s 22-13 and got a first round submission over Tim Means via neck crank in October. He’d lost three in a row before that so it was a bit of a feel-good win. But I don’t know man. Just feels like these guys should’ve moved on ages ago. Malcolm Wellmaker vs Kris Moutinho will be worth a look. Wellmaker made his UFC debut on the Kansas City card in April and arguably stole the show with his highlight reel knockout over Cameron Saaiman. Hell of a KO and what a way to make your UFC debut. He’s 31 years old and undefeated at 9-0 with 7 coming inside the distance. Looks good so far, although we need to see more of him before properly rating him obviously. Moutinho returns to the UFC for the first time since 2022. If he’s remembered at all, it’ll be for getting fed to Sean O’Malley in 2021 when ‘Suga’ Sean was on the climb. I’ve seen a lot of moaning about them bringing him back here and I get it to an extent. He’s not very good. But in fairness to him, he’s gone 5-0 with 5 finishes since the UFC let him go a few years ago. It’s not outrageous that they’re giving him another shot. Although, this does feel like them setting up Wellmaker for another showcase win. Cody Durden vs Jose Ochoa could be a sleeper on this card actually. Wouldn’t be surprised if these two get some bonus money. Never warmed to Durden, seems a bit of a cock, but credit where it’s due, he’s had some really fun scraps. Win or lose, he brings it. I remember loving his fight with Jake Hadley especially. And him and Bruno Gustavo Silva had a corker back in July which ended with Durden getting knocked out. He bounced back with a ninja choke submission over Matt Schnell in September but then lost a decision against Joshua Van in another belter in his last fight in December. Ochoa I’m much less familiar with but I liked his UFC debut. He fought Lone’er Kavanagh on the Macau card in November, it was both their debuts but all the talk and buzz going in was about Kavanagh. I felt like Ochoa gave a really solid account for himself though. Kavanagh ended up winning on points but it was one of those fights where you come out thinking both guys are gonna be great additions to the division. That Kavanagh fight was Ochoa’s first loss as well. He’s 7-1-0-1 now and still only 24 years old. We’ll see and Durden’s a tough test, but time is on Ochoa’s side. Ricky Simon vs Cameron Smotherman is a late card switch. Was supposed to be Simon against Charles Jourdain, which was my ‘one to watch’ on this card. So of course the fight I was most looking forward to goes tits up almost the nanosecond we enter fight week. Typical. This could still be decent though. That’s how Simon’s last fight ended. He ironed out Javid Basharat in BRUTAL fashion in the first round of their fight on the Seattle card in February. Legitimately an early contender for Knockout Of The Year for me. About as clean a one shot KO as you’re gonna see in any division south of 170. That win would’ve been even sweeter for Simon as well because it snapped a three fight losing streak. He’d had those wins over Raphael Assuncao and Jack Shore a few years ago and then hit that 0-3 slump which was rough and killed off his momentum. That Basharat KO stopped the rot big time and he’ll be flying coming into this one. Smotherman steps in on less than a week’s notice. He’s 27 years old and 12-5 with 7 finishes. Beat Jake Hadley in his UFC debut in October but then dropped a decision to Serhiy Sidey in his last fight in May. Phil Rowe vs Ange Loosa is, just, whatever. Don’t hate it, don’t particularly like it, can’t say I have much of an opinion on it or a fuck to give one way or another. Nothing against these guys but they’re both going nowhere. New York’s Rowe’s 34 years old, 10-5 with all 10 wins coming inside the distance. Had a decent start to his UFC career but he’s lost his last couple to Neil Magny and Jake Matthews by decision and hasn’t fought in a year now. Loosa’s 32 years old from the Congo and he’s 10-4-0-1 with 6 finishes. Like Rowe, he started alright but his last two fights were a No Contest due to an eye poke and a points loss against Gabriel Bonfim last July. Maybe I’m being harsh and it’ll be better than I’m expecting but it feels like a fight that should’ve been on an Apex card to me. Vanessa Demopoulos vs Jamey-Lyn Horth. Nothing. Not a single fuck to give. This was supposed to be Horth against Tereza Bleda. That’s off, Bleda’s out, Demopoulos in. They’re both going absolutely nowhere. Prelimers for life. Demopoulos is 36 years old with a record of 11-7 and she’s coming into this fight off back-to-back losses to Jaqueline Amorim and Talita Alencar. Canadian Horth is 35 years old and 7-2 so far. She’s gone 2-2 since signing with the UFC and she’s coming off a decision loss against Miranda Maverick in December. ATL then. I miss The WCW. Edited June 10, 2025 by wandshogun09 Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted May 17, 2025 Paid Members Posted May 17, 2025 Genuinely think Buckley sends Usman into retirement here. Quote
Paid Members Carbomb Posted May 17, 2025 Paid Members Posted May 17, 2025 Three Codys on the card, and no time for any of them. Quote
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted May 23, 2025 Author Paid Members Posted May 23, 2025 Paul Craig vs Rodolfo Bellato, which was scrapped from the Burns vs Morales card last weekend during the broadcast, has been rescheduled for this card. Bellato had herpes. Enjoy your dinner. Quote
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted June 10, 2025 Author Paid Members Posted June 10, 2025 It’s fight week. So of course, my ‘one to watch’ is down the shitter. Charles Jourdain’s out of the fight with Ricky Simon. It’s gonna be Simon vs Cameron Smotherman now. Card as it stands… Quote
Paid Members Carbomb Posted June 10, 2025 Paid Members Posted June 10, 2025 (edited) I'd like for Ricky Simón to go on a little bit of a run for the belt - he's got a win over Merab, so it'd be good to see either Merab avenge the loss, or win in a competitive match for a trilogy. It's the only loss he can really do anything about now, I think. Edited June 10, 2025 by Carbomb Steve Bull Quote
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted June 13, 2025 Author Paid Members Posted June 13, 2025 Is this a bad angle, edited or is Cody Garbrandt really starting to get that Hulk Hogan hair? Fucking Pennywise the clown looking wanker ? Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted June 13, 2025 Paid Members Posted June 13, 2025 I know we are talking about morale being low amongst the fan base right now (including me) but this is a real sleeper card. It's gotten better as its closer with the late additions and whatnot. Interested in most of this. Quote
Paid Members ReturnOfTheMack Posted June 13, 2025 Paid Members Posted June 13, 2025 11 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said: Is this a bad angle, edited or is Cody Garbrandt really starting to get that Hulk Hogan hair? Fucking Pennywise the clown looking wanker ? 'Howlin' Mad Murdoch is looking good. Quote
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted June 13, 2025 Author Paid Members Posted June 13, 2025 Big Francis is in the house! Quote
Paid Members Bus Surfer Posted June 14, 2025 Paid Members Posted June 14, 2025 (edited) Oooh that's nice to see and surely the first time he's been back under the banner in some respect since everything blew up with Dana? Sorry to hijack the thread with other nonsensical bits, but the giddy idiot in me is imaging the scenes if they ended up stripping Jones and somehow Turki, Dana and PFL manage to work out some deal to do Francis v Aspinall as the heavyweight title fight. The 2 guys Jon Jones avoided. It writes itself. Edited June 14, 2025 by Bus Surfer Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted June 14, 2025 Paid Members Posted June 14, 2025 Yeah, that would be tremendous. It's all quiet on the Ngannou front in the PFL, I haven't heard them even tease an opponent or return in ages. You never know? The whole Jones-saga is boring and played out, I just want to see Aspinall back in there. This shit is also contributing to the black cloud that's looming over the sport at the moment. Of course it's not the only thing, add in The Trump Effect, Dana White seeming abit disinterested, Apex shitness and a few other things. Its a shit cocktail. Quote
Dai Posted June 14, 2025 Posted June 14, 2025 Agree that this looks a great card for a Fight Night. Id say it actually has way more 'names' than most PPV's these days. Even into the prelims theres some recognisable names. Speaking of, my head cant process that Chiesa and Court McGee are fighting in 2025. They seem like the last of a bygone era of when people actually watched TUF. Actually, thinking of it, the last PPV had Gastelum and Pena who I class as part of that generation, so theres still a few dangling on by a thread. Quote
Gooner Posted June 14, 2025 Posted June 14, 2025 It looks a good card on paper, I'll record and check it out at some point tomorrow. I'm torn on the main event but I'm going to go with Usman winning on points and Namajunas doing likewise in her fight against Maverick. Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted June 15, 2025 Paid Members Posted June 15, 2025 7 hours ago, Dai said: Chiesa and Court McGee are fighting in 2025. They seem like the last of a bygone era of when people actually watched TUF. Chiesa is only 37, but I get your point It doesn't help that he retired once already. Quote
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