Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted June 13, 2025 Paid Members Posted June 13, 2025 (edited) Off we go to Jeff Jarrett country. Nashville, Tennessee hosts this dollop of shite… ESPN MAIN CARD Derrick Lewis vs Tallison Teixeira Wonderboy Thompson vs Gabriel Bonfim Calvin Kattar vs Steve Garcia Nate Landwehr vs Morgan Charriere Austen Lane vs Vitor Petrino Junior Tafa vs Tuco Tokkos ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMS Chris Curtis vs Max Griffin Jake Matthews vs Chidi Njokuani Lauren Murphy vs Eduarda Moura Kennedy Nzechukwu vs Valter Walker Mike Davis vs Mitch Ramirez Fatima Kline vs Melissa Martinez So let me get this straight. I stop previewing Apex cards because they’re fucking rancid. So now they’re taking what’s essentially an Apex card on the road in front of an actual crowd. I can’t escape this bullshit. I’ll give it some slack. There are a couple of fights I really like on this and the main event has potential to be a fun bombfest. But, looking at this, it does feel like Apex-itis might be starting to infect these ‘proper’ Fight Nights in front of crowds now as well. Derrick Lewis vs Tallison Teixeira then. Heavyweight Fight Night main events should be illegal. To be fair, I guess this one isn’t as bad as a lot of fights in the fat boy division. It just feels really weak as a headliner, especially in front of a real crowd. We’ll see what happens but I’m not particularly looking forward to this. Lewis is ranked #10 as I type this, Teixeira is at #14 despite only fighting once in the UFC. That right there tells you there’s a serious problem with the Heavyweight division. If you can fight one time and you’re already in the rankings, there’s a big time issue with the depth of the division. A win for Teixeira here would immediately fast-track him into the Top 10. Not sure what to think about the ‘Black Beast’ at this point. Everyone loves Lewis but it’s felt like he’s just been treading water for a long time. He’s 40 years old now, 3-5 in his last 8 and the only wins were over lower level schlubs. You have to go back to 2021 to find an actual quality win from Lewis and that was the night he uppercutted Curtis Blaydes into the nosebleeds. In the four years since, his only wins have been over the likes of Chris Daukaus, Marcos Rogerio De Lima and Rodrigo Nascimento. Every time he’s stepped in with anyone better than that over the last few years, he’s lost. He hasn’t fought in over a year now either. That Nascimento win was his last fight and that was May 2024. He was supposed to fight later in the year but pulled out due to medical issues. Don’t know what to expect from him. He’s never seemed like the most dedicated guy to the sport. He comes off so laid back and disinterested most of the time and just rocks up on fight week for a payday and pisses off again. He wouldn’t get away with it in almost any other division but Heavyweight is such a mess he’s been able to plod along for years this way and has had a decent level of success. It does feel like it’s probably coming to an end soon though. Tallison Teixeira in a main event already. Already in the rankings. Just his second fight in the UFC. Yeah. The Heavyweight division exists in its own bubble. It’s that same old thing where he looks the part. He’s only 25 years old, which is practically a baby in the Heavyweight division, he’s 6’7”, he’s undefeated at 8-0 with a 100% finish rate. It all sounds promising on paper. But we’ve been down this road so many times, especially at Heavyweight. A guy will come in, looks like a monster, has an unbeaten record, is knocking everyone out then just fizzles out or gets badly exposed and plummets into obscurity. Time will tell on Teixeira but I refuse to get excited about these big fuckers anymore. That’s how Teixeira’s Octagon debut went. He smashed up Justin Tafa in just 35 seconds at UFC 312 in Sydney back in February. Nothing you can really read into that because Tafa isn’t much good. But it was obviously a strong debut and a good first impression. He dealt with Tafa the way a legit prospect would. Now he’s getting a step up. They’re not messing around with him. I like that in a way. Sod it. Throw him in there and see what happens. If there’s one thing the Heavyweight division desperately needs, it’s new blood. What do we think of this then? My hopes aren’t high really. There’s always the worry with the big lads that the fight goes long. Usually that’s a disaster and the whole thing descends into an ugly, uncoordinated mess. I don’t wanna jinx it but I get the feeling this one isn’t lasting too long though. But either way it’s kind of a shitty result. If Lewis wins, I’m always happy to see that, but it just derails one of the only fresh young guys in the division. And if Teixeira just wrecks Lewis, well that’s shite as well. I’m kind of leaning towards that though. We haven’t seen enough of Teixeira for me to be confident in it and Lewis is absolutely the more tried and tested of the two. But I don’t know. I just feel like Lewis is kind of checked out at this point. Well, even more than usual. I could see Teixeira getting him out of there early. Let’s just hope it’s short and sweet either way. I’ve got zero desire to watch any Heavyweight fight last longer than about 8 minutes unless it’s one of the small handful of top tier guys. One round slugfest would do nicely here. Wonderboy Thompson vs Gabriel Bonfim isn’t really doing it for me. Just feels like they’re trying to put old Wonderboy out to pasture at this point which, I get it’s the nature of the sport, but it’s still a bit of a shitty feeling when it’s one of the good guys. Maybe I’m wrong and he’ll look great here but I feel like the intention of the matchmakers is to use him as a stepping stone for the younger rising Brazilian. Wonderboy’s 42 years old now. Should probably lose the ‘boy’ part of his nickname. Change it to ‘Wonderchap’ or something. He’s 17-8-1 in MMA but he’s got way more miles on him than that would suggest. He started Karate at 15 years old and I don’t think he’s stopped competing in martial arts or combat sports since. And it’s not just the number of fights, it’s also the training camps, the sparring, the weight cuts, the injuries. It’s a lot of wear and tear on the body. And now he’s at a stage in his career where he’s 1-4 in his last 5 fights and he just got knocked out and slumped by Joaquin Buckley in his last fight in October. In fairness, you look at the guys he’s been losing to in his last few losses, aside from Buckley he’s lost to Shavkat, Belal and Burns. But still, at 42, it’s all trending downwards. He can’t have many fights left. Bonfim’s the much younger man at 27 years old and he’s 17-1 with 16 finishes. He hasn’t mixed with as high a level of competition as Wonderboy has over the years but he’s obviously the younger, fresher man and he does have a style which, on paper, isn’t good for Wonderboy. Bonfim’s a submission specialist, 13 of his 16 finishes were subs, he’s coming off choking Khaos Williams all the way out etc. I’m not convinced he goes too far but he’s definitely a dangerous opponent for a striker like Wonderboy. You can see what the matchmakers are going for here. Calvin Kattar vs Steve Garcia is easily one of the best fights on this card. Really like the sound of this. Kattar was thought to be one of the standout new breed of Featherweights not too long ago before he ran into the wood chipper known as Max Holloway and took what’s seemingly become a career altering arse kicking. He bounced back by battering Giga Chikadze but has gone 0-4 since then. Rough times. He’s got skills, his boxing is good and he’s tough. But he’s really struggling to get results. And at 37, the ship has sailed. Still, there’s fun fights to be had and I think this is one of them. Kattar’s last fight with Youssef Zalal in February was one I expected good things from but it turned out really flat. I think this will be more exciting though because Steve Garcia only seems to know how to fight one way. He came into the UFC as a Lightweight and he was going nowhere, went 1-2 and got brutally sparked by Maheshate Hayisaer. He dropped to 145 in October 2022 and hasn’t looked back. He’s gone 5-0 since, all by KO/TKO. He’s a bit wild and I can’t see his style working as he moves up in levels but it’s very entertaining to watch. He stopped Kyle Nelson last time out in September with a brutal elbow if I’m remembering right. He was supposed to fight Edson Barboza in February but it fell apart. And here we are. A step up for Garcia based on who Kattar’s been in with but I think he might just be catching Kattar at the right time. Nate Landwehr vs Morgan Charriere is the easiest choice ever for ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** on this bastard. It’s a no brainer. On a card like this, this fight stands out like a burst of neon colour in a sea of fucking beige. You just can’t go wrong with this. Neither are gonna be title contenders in the UFC, neither are about to make a splash in the Featherweight rankings, but you can pretty much always rely on these two to deliver a fun fight. And throwing two guys like that together just feels like a recipe for absolute chaos. Nate The Train is back. He’s actually from Tennessee as well so the crowd is gonna be into this one big time. Our first dose of the mad bastard in 2025. We last saw him at UFC 310 in December, losing by TKO to the Korean Superboy. I think everyone was expecting a barmy scrap out of that one but Superboy just looked so sharp and ended up putting a beating on Nate. Tough loss but Landwehr is the kind of fighter who’s always up for a dogfight. He’s had losses before and it’s never seemed to deter him. I say it all the time but if you never saw his fight with David Onama in 2022, get on that immediately. Trust me. Charriere’s kind of similar. Patchy record of 20-11-1 but he’s pretty much always entertaining and he’s got a strong following in France so he’s always a good fit for those cards, or European cards in general really. He just lost to Nathaniel Wood on the London card in March but, regardless of the result here, he’s almost guaranteed to be on that next Paris card in September. I think him and Landwehr match up perfectly. Almost feel like them both coming off a loss could make for an even better fight as well. Bit more pressure on both to not drop another loss here so I can see them going out there and looking to make a real statement. Austen Lane vs Vitor Petrino is a Heavyweight fight that, and I know I’m probably jinxing it now, I actually don’t mind. Don’t expect either to amount to much overall but, purely as a standalone matchup, this could be fun. Lane’s a bit shit and one-note but he’s a slugger and you need a few of them at Heavyweight. Problem is, he’s a slugger who seems to come out on the worse side of slugfests more often than not from what I’ve seen. He’s 13-6-0-1, he’s gone 1-3 in his last four and all three losses were by KO. He got slept in brutal fashion by Mario Pinto last time out in March. For Petrino this is his Heavyweight debut. He went 11-0 at 205 initially, looked like someone to keep an eye on, then got subbed by a washed up Anthony Smith last year and that completely derailed any hype. Then he got walloped by Dustin Jacoby in December. Disaster. So this is meant to be his fresh start. We’ll see. Both coming off bad knockouts, both badly need a win. Junior Tafa vs Tuco Tokkos was originally scheduled to go down on the Sandhagen vs Figgy card in May but injuries scuppered it. I guess they just had to rebook this one, right? In fairness, as low level as this is, Tafa at least does go for the finish. He’s 6-3 and all his wins have came by knockout or TKO. Also has some Kickboxing and Boxing experience. He’s not great but I don’t remember being bored by him yet. When it comes to the shitty modern day Light Heavyweight division, you almost just have to be grateful for that. Tokkos is 10-5 with 8 finishes and has gone winless in his couple of UFC appearances so far. Chris Curtis vs Max Griffin. Ah, I don’t care. It might sound harsh but I just don’t care. Not awful fighters but they both kind of feel like they’re just taking up space on the roster. Just bumbling around aimlessly from one fight to the next. Curtis has had his moments, I guess. Finished Joaquin Buckley a few years ago, finished Brendan Allen. Those wins were OK. Nothing special but decent enough. At this point though he’s 37 with a record of 31-12-0-1 and he’s coming off back-to-back losses. We last saw him in January getting stopped by Roman Kopylov. He was moaning about the stoppage because the ref stepped in with one second to go. But honestly, from what I remember he was well on his way to a points loss regardless. And Griffin? He’s 39 years old with a 20-11 record and coming off a submission loss to a last legs Michael Chiesa. Griffin’s been on the roster since 2016. He’s fought 17 times in the UFC. Can you remember anything of note from his UFC stint? Exactly. Jake Matthews vs Chidi Njokuani is another fight that’s…OK…but just doesn’t move me at all. We’re way past the point now where Matthews is looked at as any kind of prospect. He came into the UFC really young, he’s been on the roster since 2014 now and he’s still only 30 years old. But while he looked kind of promising early, he fizzled out and found his level years and years ago. He’s 21-7 now and is coming off a couple of wins. But they were so forgettable. And Chidi? He’s alright. Likeable guy and he actually had a great start in the UFC with a couple of quick knockouts and then even losing that bloodbath to Robocop Rodrigues. He went on a three fight losing skid but he is coming off three wins now, to be fair. He stopped Elizeu Zaleski Dos Santos in March but that was one of those rotten Apex cards I completely skipped so fuck knows how he looked overall. I dunno. I don’t hate this but I don’t care if I miss it. Lauren Murphy vs Eduarda Moura is complete nothing happening filler. Murphy’s gonna turn 42 a couple of weeks after this fight and hasn’t fought since January 2023. Two and a half years on the shelf at 40-odd? Far from ideal. I never particularly rated her before the layoff so I’m really not expecting much now. I vaguely recall her getting battered for three rounds by Jessica Andrade in that last fight as well. She’s 16-6 with wins over a past it Miesha Tate and Joanne Wood but we’re going back years for those wins and even then they weren’t massively impressive. Moura’s 31 years old, 11-1 with 9 finishes and coming off a win over Veronica Hardy on the MSG card in November. Hasn’t beat anyone of real note yet but she’s big, physical, considerably younger than Murphy etc. If she’s ever gonna be a contender at Flyweight, she shouldn’t be losing to older, inactive fighters like this. Kennedy Nzechukwu vs Valter Walker. Not arsed. I do actually kind of like big Kennedy. He’s probably not got a very high ceiling but he seems a good guy and he’s started mopping up some of the useless fat slugs since he moved up to Heavyweight so I’m all for that. He’s stopped Chris Barnett and Lukasz Brzeski since moving up to HW late last year. OK, these aren’t great wins but at least he’s ending fights quickly and violently. Isn’t that what Heavyweight is supposed to be about? Somewhere along the line, the UFC’s big boy division became synonymous with plodding split decision borefests. At least by low level Heavyweight standards, Nzechukwu is more watchable than most in that cesspool of a division. Johnny Walker’s not so little brother Valter is 27 years old and 13-1. Nothing outstanding about him and his UFC debut against Brzeski was one of the worst fights I’ve seen in recent years. He’s rebounded with back-to-back heel hook finishes over Junior Tafa and Don’Tale Mayes though, whatever that’s worth. Mike Davis vs Mitch Ramirez is a filler fight I’m neither here nor there on. At one point I thought Davis might be someone to keep an eye on but he’s had such a stop/start career and fights so infrequently that I just don’t think he’ll ever put a significant run together. In a division like Lightweight, you need to stay active and he just doesn’t. In fairness, this is a rare relatively fast turnaround for him. He fought Fares Ziam on the Saudi card in February and lost on points in a bloodbath. Before that though he was fighting very sporadically. Barely remember Ramirez. He’s fought once in the UFC, back in March 2024, and he got battered and stopped by Thiago Moises. He got chinned by Carlos Prates on DWCS in 2023 as well. Davis should be dealing with a ham and egg sandwich like this without too much bother. Fatima Kline vs Melissa Martinez. Not feeling it but I’ll give it a look for Kline. Think she might actually be a decent prospect at Strawweight. She’s only 24 years old, 7-1 with four finishes and her only loss so far has been against Jasmine Jasudavicius (who’s in good form at the moment), which was a fight Kline took on short notice and it was up at Flyweight. She returned to Strawweight for her last fight in January and got a TKO stoppage over Viktoriia Dudakova. Not an earth shattering win but it’s not like we see a lot of finishes at 115lbs either. One to watch. Mexico’s Martinez is 27 years old and 8-1. Can’t say I remember much at all about her but similar record to Kline. She’s coming off a points win over Alice Ardelean but hasn’t really fought anyone of note. So yeah. Me still ending up previewing Apex cards, even when they’re not at the Apex… Edited June 26, 2025 by wandshogun09 Quote
Bruce85 Posted July 8, 2025 Posted July 8, 2025 (edited) It’s amazing what a good UFC event can do, after the high that was 317 and a bit of a break in the schedule I’m actually looking forward to this one. Enough recognisable names on the card that should make it at least a little bit exciting with a live crowd. As much as I like Lewis, the heavyweight division is screaming out for new blood so hopefully Teixeira blitz’s him in 30 seconds and really makes a statement. With Jones out the way, I’m hoping we can see Aspinal go on a Goldberg like run and just smash through all challengers and make up for lost time. With Tom having wins over half the top 10 already you feel if Teiexira can put a few wins together he could find himself in a title fight next year. With that said, watch Lewis win a 50-45 snooze fest now. Edited July 8, 2025 by Bruce85 Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted July 11, 2025 Paid Members Posted July 11, 2025 Yeah, decent this. Been focussing on boxing all week so slept on it, I think this delivers though. I don't see this going more than 60 seconds ^ Quote
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted July 12, 2025 Author Paid Members Posted July 12, 2025 Yeah, I was a bit negative in the opening post but, I don’t know whether it’s the little break we’ve had since 317 or what, but this looks better to me now it’s almost upon us. I’m never confident in Heavyweight main events delivering but we’ll see. Lewis vs Teixeira seems like a fight that shouldn’t be dull but who the fuck knows with the big lumps? And speaking of big lumps, look at the size of Vitor Petrino before his Heavyweight debut! Doesn’t necessarily mean a lot obviously but I’m interested to see if he does any better up in weight. Now he’s not cutting weight, he could be more durable and more powerful. And the talent pool at Heavyweight is more shallow anyway so he could potentially go a bit further. Then again, this is the guy who got subbed by a shot to bits Anthony Smith so… On the flipside, Junior Tafa has been trimming down apparently. Again, not much to read into that. He’s not very good and knocking the cake on the head alone isn’t gonna fix his skill deficiencies. But it’s a start. Quote
Zebra Kid Mark Posted July 12, 2025 Posted July 12, 2025 I'm more excited for this card now than I was a couple of days ago, it does have a few crowd pleasers such as Kattar and Landwehr, and although he never sets the world on fire, Wonderboy is a top baby face so it is always easy to cheer for him and I do enjoy watching him. Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted July 12, 2025 Paid Members Posted July 12, 2025 1 hour ago, wandshogun09 said: On the flipside, Junior Tafa has been trimming down apparently. Chris Curtis is dropping down a division too. Curtis weirdly came into the UFC at 185lb despite fighting most of his career at 170lb, guess he had a bit of success and decided to stay at Middleweight. Quote
Bruce85 Posted July 14, 2025 Posted July 14, 2025 I enjoyed that card, didn’t set the world alight but after some of the dross we’ve had this year I thought it was a really easy watch. I know it’s been said time and again but having a live crowd rather than the apex makes such a difference. Seen very polarising opinions on the main event, either people saying worst early stoppage ever or that it’s fair as Teixeira grabbed the fence to pull himself off the canvas which is against the rules so should have been stopped. I don’t think he was out and he was trying to defend himself but he took some big shots and pulling yourself up by the fence isn’t a great look for the ref so can see it both ways. I thought the co-main took awhile to get going but came alive towards the end of the second. I wasn’t scoring closely but I definitely felt like Wonderboy did enough to take the last 2 rounds. That gash on his shin was disgusting, I don’t do well with stuff like that and it made me feel faint looking at it! Thoughts on the rest of the card: Katter looks like he’s slowed down loads and is on the decline. Not sure how far Garcia can go but thought he looked solid here and gave Katter very little to work with. Win or lose Nate the train is great fun to watch. Cutting out the biscuits has done nothing for Tafas hope, he looked gassed after about 30 seconds. Conversely, the biscuits seem to have worked wonders for Petrino, he looked in great shape and put in a good performance. Dont leave your leg out there for Walker, that was a nasty heel hook! 3 in a row is a crazy stat, you know he’s gonna look for that in his next fight. A good show that’s kept my positivity for the UFC going, looking forward to 318 now. Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted July 15, 2025 Paid Members Posted July 15, 2025 Justin Tafa will be cut surely, he's amongst the worst fighters on the roster. Quote
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