Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted June 20, 2025 Paid Members Posted June 20, 2025 (edited) Back to Abu Dhabi we go… ABC MAIN CARD Robert Whittaker vs Reinier De Ridder Petr Yan vs Marcus McGhee Shara Magomedov vs Marc-Andre Barriault Asu Almabayev vs Jose Ochoa Nikita Krylov vs Bogdan Guskov FIGHT PASS PRELIMS Said Nurmagomedov vs Bryce Mitchell Muslim Salikhov vs Carlos Leal Davey Grant vs Da’Mon Blackshear Amanda Ribas vs Tabatha Ricci Ibo Aslan vs Billy Elekana Mohammad Yahya vs Steven Nguyen Martin Buday vs Marcus Almeida Another lovely UK friendly start time for us! It’ll be 5pm prelims, 8pm main card I’m guessing. Really like the card itself a lot as well. That top three fights there are about as strong a top three as I can remember in a long time for a Fight Night. Probably be a couple more fights added yet as well. Good stuff. Robert Whittaker vs Reinier De Ridder is a cracking headliner, especially for a Fight Night and especially with it being aired in UK prime time. Perfect. Love this fight. On paper it’s a big step up for De Ridder. Whittaker is at #5 in the Middleweight rankings, De Ridder’s sitting at #12 currently. So obviously, this is a massive opportunity for him. A win here puts him right in the Top 5. And for a guy who only made his UFC debut in November, not even a year later he could be in that Top 5, which is pretty incredible. It will feel legit if he beats Whittaker as well. He’d have earned it at that point. Whittaker’s not gonna go quietly though. He’s been at the top of the 185 division for close to a decade now. Looking back through his record, he moved up to 185 in 2014. I’d say he was around about and mixing with the top of the division by 2016/17 when he beat Derek Brunson and Jacare Souza. Since then he’s beat Yoel Romero twice, Darren Till, Jared Cannonier, Kelvin Gastelum, Marvin Vettori, Paulo Costa and Ikram Aliskerov. His only losses at Middleweight until recently were against Israel Adesanya and Dricus Du Plessis. He’s one of the very best in the weight class and has been for years. But he’s coming off a crushing (literally) loss here. He came up against Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 308 in October and ended up locked in a horrific face crank which forced him to tap just three minutes into the first round. It was always gonna be a dangerous fight but I think I picked Whittaker to win based on how Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns were able to weather Khamzat’s early storm and have some success late when he’s more human. There’s always that early risk with Khamzat though. It was a brutal loss. Nobody had ever done that to Whittaker before. Nobody had ever just steamrolled him like that. It looked like his jaw got mangled on the night, I think that was most people’s first thought. But I remember Whittaker saying after that it basically just crushed his teeth inwards, which somehow sounds even fucking worse in a way. Whittaker’s a tough bastard and he’ll be healed up and game for this one. But even though he’s still only 34, he’s fallen at that last hurdle a few times now and it’s starting to look like he’s never gonna get that belt back. Maybe he’ll prove me wrong. I’d love it if he did because he genuinely seems like one of the few good eggs we have left in MMA. But to even get there again he’s gotta get past this guy first… Reinier De Ridder has been a breath of fresh air in the Middleweight division for me. I’ve been moaning about 185 for a while now and I haven’t exactly been subtle about my complete apathy towards most of the division. Adesanya became a bit dull towards the end of his reign, Strickland becoming champ was the absolute shits, Khamzat was inactive and then for a while it seemed like every other Apex main event was some crappy and uninteresting Middleweight fight. Whittaker was one of the few 185ers I was still arsed about and Du Plessis and his goofy style was becoming entertaining enough. De Ridder coming in late last year was just the shot in the arm the weight class needed though. And he’s been great to watch so far. He’s really making up for lost time since getting out of his ONE contract. He was vocal about ONE not keeping him active enough, that’s no longer an issue. After signing with the UFC he immediately fought three times in his first six months in the promotion! Subbed Gerald Meerschaert in November, subbed Kevin Holland in January, then scored a TKO over undefeated prospect Bo Nickal in May. Then no sooner had he derailed Bo, this Whittaker fight was being announced. De Ridder is not fucking about. Fantastic bit of matchmaking this. Although I’m torn on it. Can’t ever actively root against Whittaker but I can’t deny there’s more excitement in a De Ridder win. And with Du Plessis vs Khamzat coming up in August, De Ridder against the winner is a fresh fight either way and I’d love to see either one. Whereas if Whittaker wins, it’d be a rematch either way and he already lost decisively to both DDP and Khamzat. It’d be a harder sell to put Whittaker in a title fight, even with a win here. Actually, if Whittaker wins, I think we’ll see either Nassourdine Imavov or Caio Borralho get the next shot. Those two are rumoured to be fighting each other so whoever wins could slot in there. I think it’s safe to assume though, if De Ridder beats Whittaker, and especially if he finishes him, he’s gonna be the nailed on #1 contender at that point. Petr Yan vs Marcus McGhee is ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** on this card, feels like it’s coming completely out of left field but I actually like it. I realise that might sound a bit hypocritical after I moaned so much about how they matched Jose Aldo up in his last few fights but those were really unappealing fights and there was always a sense that Aldo only had few fights left and they were wasting them. This is different though. I don’t think Yan’s retiring anytime soon plus McGee has been fun to watch and could make for a very entertaining fight with Yan here. Sod it. I’m in. We last saw Yan on the Macau card in November, where he beat Deiveson Figueiredo in a banger. It wasn’t FOTY but it was on the shortlist for me as a runner up. Definitely one of my favourite fights of 2024. Thought it was a really strong performance from Yan as well. Probably his best since he beat Cory Sandhagen back in 2021. He was actually calling for a fight against Umar Nurmagomedov after that Figgy win. I’d have loved to have seen that. Maybe they’ll still meet down the road. Kind of feels inevitable. This’ll do nicely for now though. McGhee’s 35 years old already so it’s not like he’s a spring chicken or some young prospect. I’ve liked what I’ve seen though. He’s 10-1 with 9 finishes, 8 by KO/TKO. He’s gone 4-0 in the UFC so far with 3 not making it to the judges. But make no mistake, this is a huge jump in levels for him. He stopped Journey Newson, JP Buys and Gaston Bolanos in his first three fights in. Then he beat Jonathan Martinez on points on the MSG card in November. But that’s his best win to date and, while I definitely felt like he deserved the win, he was taken the distance and I remember Martinez having him hurt with leg kicks late in the fight. That’s something you know Team Yan will have been watching and it’s something he could definitely exploit. This could be a good one though. I expect Yan to win but I could see McGhee getting on a few peoples radars here. It’s a step up for him but at 35 he needs that. If he’s not gonna step up now, when will he be ready? Now he’s in with a former champ, the current #3 at Bantamweight, and it’s sink or swim. I like it. Shara Magomedov vs Marc-Andre Barriault is nothing special but could be a decent standup scrap. It’s all Shara Bullet can do, isn’t it? If the opponent is willing to stand with him, you can get a fun fight out of it. He’s got no grappling to speak of though and I’m surprised his opponents in the UFC haven’t really committed to exposing that weakness yet. Barriault will most likely stand and trade though. If he was smart he’d probably try to grapple a bit here. To keep Shara guessing if nothing else. I said “if he was smart” though and I’m not convinced he is. He seems quite content to just engage in mindless brawls from what I remember of him. It worked out for him in his last fight. He brutally knocked out Bruno Silva at UFC 315 in Montreal in May. Scary finish and Silva had to be stretchered out. You never like to see that. Barriault had lost three in a row going into that fight as well. As for Shara, he just suffered his first defeat at the hands of MVP on the Saudi card in February. He’d gone 15-0 prior to that. It was a typically shit MVP fight as well. Not his worst but definitely lacklustre and I remember Shara looking like shite. Barriault’s aggressive style is probably more up his alley so hopefully he’ll force the action. Asu Almabayev vs Jose Ochoa is a late card switch. Was supposed to be Almabayev against Ramazan Temirov but Temirov went and failed a drug test. Ochoa is a really strong replacement though. Might even end up being a better actual fight. He’s Peruvian, 24 years old and has a record of 8-1-0-1 with all his wins coming inside the distance. He made his UFC debut on the Macau card in November and lost a competitive decision to Lone’er Kavanagh. But considering Kavanagh was the guy coming in with the hype, Ochoa gave a very solid account of himself and it was one of those fights between two young prospects where you come away thinking both have bright futures. Ochoa fought again on the Atlanta card in June and looked very sharp in his knockout win over Cody Durden. Almabayev’s from Kazakhstan, 31 years old and 21-3 with 12 finishes. He was on a 17 fight winning streak before losing to Manel Kape in their Apex headliner in March. He got badly poked in the eye, which does put a bit of an asterisk next to the loss for me, but it was a pretty uninspiring performance from Almabayev regardless. Hopefully Ochoa can drag something exciting out of this. Nikita Krylov vs Bogdan Guskov is whatever. Not an awful matchup but it’s not grabbing me by the bollocks either. Krylov’s going nowhere at this point. Not that he was ever a contender. He’s 33 years old and has a 30-10 record. So a lot of reps. At a glance he’s got some decent wins on his record. But if you know the context, you know the Alexander Gustafsson he beat in 2022 was far from the same guy who took Jon Jones to the wire in 2013. He’s coming into this fight off a first round knockout loss to Dominick Reyes at UFC 314 in April. Guskov’s from Uzbekistan, 32 years old and 17-3 with all his wins coming inside the distance. Haven’t been blown away by him so far and he’s yet to get that signature UFC win. But he’s gone 3-1 since signing and is coming off three wins on the trot now. Said Nurmagomedov vs Bryce Mitchell then. Never saw this one coming. Bryce is dropping down to Bantamweight. That loss to Jean Silva in April must’ve spooked him even worse than we thought. Saw a quote from him the other day saying he felt like Silva was way bigger than him in the cage and he realised there and then he should probably be at 135. Not sure it’s the right move. The knee-jerk reaction after a loss is often to drop down a weight class but it’s not always the answer. Bryce is a decent fighter, a twat but a decent fighter. But I think he’s simply found his ceiling. Cutting more weight on its own isn’t gonna magically fix the holes in his game if he doesn’t actually address those specific holes in his game. And let’s be honest, the last thing Bryce’s pea-sized brain needs at this point is more dehydration. But here we are. He’s Bantamweight Bryce now. Said’s a decent first test for him. 18-4 record and has shown glimpses of potential but he’s also got his flaws and isn’t particularly consistent. If Bryce is gonna make a fresh start and put together any kind of meaningful run at 135, he can’t be losing fights like this. Muslim Salikhov vs Carlos Leal should be enjoyable. Salikhov’s been one of my undercard favourites for a few years now. He was never gonna be a contender in the UFC and I knew that, just always liked watching him do his thing. He’s 41 years old now and, if his Wikipedia page is accurate, between Kickboxing and MMA he’s had 225 pro fights! That’s a lot of miles on the clock and at 41 he’s gotta be close to hanging the gloves up now, surely? Although saying that, he’s still busting out shit like this… That was his last fight on the Macau card in November. Just wiped poor Song Kenan out in the first round. He took a decision win off Santiago Ponzinibbio before that as well. Not huge wins and Ponz is shopworn now but, still, not bad for a 41 year old, 200+ fight veteran. Not as familiar with Leal but from what I remember he’s been fun to watch in his couple of fights so far in the UFC. He lost a close decision to Rinat Fakhretdinov in his debut in October, then bashed up Alex Morono in a round in March. He’s a decade younger than Salikhov at 31 and has a record of 22-6 and 13 finishes. Tough bastard from the little I’ve seen. Could be a rough old scrap this. Davey Grant vs Da’Mon Blackshear is just there really. I used to be automatically buzzing anytime I’d see Grant’s name on a card because you knew you were pretty much guaranteed at least one banger. I’m just not sure he’s that guy anymore. Not knocking him. He’s gonna be 40 in December and he’s been in a bunch of wars at this point. It’s understandable he’s winding down. His last couple of fights haven’t been great to watch though. He’s coming into this fight off a lacklustre points win over Ramon Taveras and lost a split decision to Daniel Marcos before that in another dull fight. Prior to that he’d been on a five or six fight run of absolute belters. Blackshear I have no real opinion on one way or another. Aside from that rare twister finish in 2023, he’s done very little of note in his UFC run. He’s 17-7-1 now and on a three fight win streak, to be fair. Can’t say any of it sticks out in my memory though. Amanda Ribas vs Tabatha Ricci is inoffensive enough but it’s just filler really. Not expecting much from it. Ribas is really struggling at the moment. She just can’t string the wins together or find any kind of consistency and it’s been that way for a while now. She had a solid start in the UFC racking up wins over Mackenzie Dern and Paige VanZant along the way, then she hit a wall and she’s never quite recovered. In her last eight fights she’s gone 3-5 and been bouncing back and forth aimlessly between Flyweight and Strawweight. She comes into this fight off back-to-back losses, a decision against Rose Namajunas last year and then she got subbed by Dern in their rematch in January. I like her but it’s going nowhere. Ricci’s 11-3 and just lost to Yan Xiaonan on the Macau card in November. Instantly forgettable fight. Macau was one of my favourite cards of 2024 and Yan vs Ricci was probably the only dull part of it. Wasn’t a fan. Sounds harsh and shallow but if we’re honest Ricci only gets talked about because of her looks. Her weigh in pics might not be boring but her fights pretty much always are. Ibo Aslan vs Billy Elekana I’m neither here nor there on. Not in love with it, don’t hate it, no real opinion one way or the other. It’s just kind of there. Inoffensive prelim fluff. Aslan’s Turkish, 29 years old and 14-2 with all 14 of his wins coming by knockout. Definitely heavy handed but also quite limited from my vague recollection of him. He just got subbed in under three minutes by Ion Cutelaba in his last fight in February. Elekana is 30 years old and 7-2. All I’ve seen of him was his UFC debut in January and he got guillotined by Bogdan Guskov in a fight I barely remember. Yeah. Mohammad Yahya vs Steven Nguyen. Dunno. Don’t remember much about Yahya and what I do remember isn’t good. He’s 12-5 and has gone 0-2 so far in the UFC. Lost a decision to Trevor Peek in his debut, then got chinned in a round by Kaue Fernandes in his last fight nearly a year ago. I vaguely remembered Nguyen. He’s fought once in the UFC but it was back in March 2024. So I went back to the thread for that card and apparently he had a bit of a banger on the prelims against Jarno Errens. He lost but I was very positive in the thread about how good the fight was at the time. He’s 9-2 with 7 finishes. Martin Buday vs Marcus Almeida has just been casually plopped onto this card a couple of weeks out. Notable only because it’s the UFC debut of BJJ legend and multi-time world champion Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida… It’s came a bit out of nowhere for me. Never even saw any rumours or rumblings that he might be coming in but here we are. He’s 35 so I guess it’s kind of now or never. Don’t really know what to think. He’s obviously a decorated grappler with medals coming out of his arse. But in MMA he’s only 5-1 and it’s taken him since his debut in 2021 to get those six fights done. So he’s not been the most active. Don’t think I’ve actually seen any of his MMA fights but they were all in ONE, his sole defeat came on points against Reug Reug in August 2023 and he bounced back with a quick submission win in his last fight in November. Fuck knows? Buday’s a big lump, no fun to watch. He’s been on the UFC roster since 2022 and done nothing memorable. But he’s 15-2 and mostly keeps winning somehow. We’ll see. Us lot suffering through 15 shit Fight Nights to get one of these good ones… Edited July 24, 2025 by wandshogun09 Quote
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted July 14, 2025 Author Paid Members Posted July 14, 2025 Bollocks. Quote
Bruce85 Posted July 14, 2025 Posted July 14, 2025 That’s a shitter, wonder if they get a replacement for Pico. If they find some regional journeyman for him at the last minute it might be an easier debut for him. The Bellator guys haven’t had the best debuts lately. Quote
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted July 24, 2025 Author Paid Members Posted July 24, 2025 This is Saturday. Just updated the opening post and poll with the Evloev vs Pico cancellation. The card’s taken a big blow losing that one but there’s still enough to like on there. Early start time doesn’t hurt either… Quote
Dai Posted July 24, 2025 Posted July 24, 2025 Whittaker/RDR is one of those "impossible to be bad" matches, surely. Can never root against Whittaker, so hoping/expecting him to get the win. To be fair, this is a cracker of a Fight Night. Quote
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted July 26, 2025 Author Paid Members Posted July 26, 2025 God he’s painfully thick ? “I thawt yew spaykin Araybic”. Quote
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted July 26, 2025 Author Paid Members Posted July 26, 2025 Reminder this kicks off at 5pm… Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted July 26, 2025 Paid Members Posted July 26, 2025 De Ridder is a big boy for 185 Quote
Dai Posted July 26, 2025 Posted July 26, 2025 Yeah he looks way bigger doesnt he. 6'4 middleweight. I then thought "Doesnt mean anything, Bobby has fought loads of people that size", then I went to check his wiki, and that isnt the case as all but Izzy and Chimaev have been his height. Quote
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted July 28, 2025 Author Paid Members Posted July 28, 2025 Pretty enjoyable show all in all, I thought. Reinier De Ridder scored easily the biggest win of his career over Robert Whittaker but it wasn’t easy. It’s funny, since Saturday I’ve seen takes ranging from ‘Whittaker was robbed’ all the way to ‘Whittaker is shot to shit and needs to retire immediately’. It was definitely a close fight and I wasn’t sure which way it was going before the result was announced. To be honest, I kind of felt like Whittaker edged it myself but it wasn’t like I was sat glued to the TV with pen and paper scoring it. I’d have to sit and watch it again on my own to score it properly but it felt like a fight that really could’ve gone either way to me. Never had any problem with De Ridder getting the nod. I need to know how in the actual FUCK De Ridder stayed awake after that! That was absolutely flush on the jaw and had De Ridder’s head rolling about like his neck was made of jelly. That’s a KO shot if ever I’ve seen one but he ate it and then he survived Whittaker’s follow ups on the ground as well. Couldn’t believe he came through the other side of that. Let alone went on to win the fight. The ‘Whittaker’s shot’ stuff, I’m not sure about that. Seen a lot of that on social media, even from people who know their stuff, so maybe there’s something to it. But I don’t know. I guess him looking so winded and gassed for a lot of the fight is a factor in that talk but I don’t know. In real time I just put that down to him eating all those knees to the body and then after he walloped De Ridder with that massive punch, an adrenaline dump maybe. But maybe there’s more to it. I didn’t think it live but, again, I wasn’t exactly studying and analysing everything like a lot of these guys do. Regardless, I wanna see De Ridder against the winner of DDP vs Khamzat. I think he loses to either of them but I wanna see it either way. DDP vs De Ridder especially could be hilarious because they both fight like cartoon characters. No idea what Whittaker does now. He’s kind of fought everyone already. Unless they do Whittaker vs Strickland. And I can’t stand the thought that Strickland might beat him if he is significantly declining. I can see that fight getting made though. Wouldn’t be surprised if they try to get Whittaker to do a quick turnaround for the Perth card in late September. He shouldn’t do it but I can see them trying. Petr Yan vs Marcus McGhee was really good. Thought it was quality apart from the last bit of the last round where Yan just decided to end a cracking fight by holding McGhee against the fence and kneeing his legs. But whatever. Yan looked sharp here and, despite clearly not being on Yan’s level, McGhee didn’t embarrass himself in defeat. He landed some nice stuff, it just seemed like every time he did Yan would one up him. Saw this little exchange after the fight… Would feel a bit weird a guy getting a title shot off a win over Marcus McGhee and I was actually hoping for a Yan vs Umar fight next. But looking at the rankings, as strong as the Bantamweight division is, we’re at the point where Merab’s running out of interesting challengers. If he beats Sandhagen in October then he’s gonna be taking an extended stay in Rematch City for a while. Saw something the other day about Umar having his next fight booked and it’s a five rounder. I’m guessing it’s gonna be against Mario Bautista. So he’s out of the running for now. So I can see Yan being next for the winner of Merab vs Sandhagen. Either way it’s a rematch but at least there’s been a few years passed since he fought those guys. Shara Bullet vs Barriault was a scrap and a half. Proper blood and guts back and forth dogfight. I’ve been critical of Shara and no doubt I will be again but when he’s matched up with the right opponent he can be so much fun to watch. Also once again shows how much of a dullard MVP is that him and Shara just had a bit of a nothing fight and Shara’s straight back to fun fights again immediately after. Styles make fights, and MVP’s style doesn’t really gel with anyone. This was entertaining though. Shara’s still massively flawed and limited but there’s always gonna be fun to be had with him. Barriault’s game as fuck as well. Shite UFC record but he’s the type of fighter they’ll keep around and give more leeway to despite losses. Almabayev vs Ochoa was a bit of a snoozer. Almabayev seemed content to just get top control and wait for the rounds to end. Ochoa was trying to make something happen from the bottom but couldn’t get anything going. Frustrating to watch. There’ll be better fights to come from Ochoa but I was disappointed to see him stifled like this. Bogdan Guskov steamrolled Krylov without much bother at all. Not sure what to take from this because Krylov’s had big spells of inactivity and this is twice in a row now he’s been chinned in the first round. And while Guskov’s on a nice little four fight win streak, he hasn’t been beating the best of opposition. Still, any 205er that’s not boring is alright with me. I’d like to see Guskov against someone better/more in form next though. Put him against Dominick Reyes or something. Thought Bryce Mitchell vs Said Nurmagomedov was an enjoyable fight. Seen a bunch of comments saying it was boring but that must be coming from fans who just hate all grappling and can’t tell the difference between grapplers who just sit and chill in half guard and the grapplers who actually try to make something happen. These two were just good enough to shut a lot of each others stuff down but I thought it was good. Some of the reversals were great and even on the feet you had Said dropping Bryce with that knee early. Good win for Bryce but I’m not convinced he’s gonna do much at 135 based on this. I feel like a lot of the success he had in the grappling here was down to Said getting reckless and leaving himself open. Looking at the top of the Bantamweight division there aren’t many guys I see Bryce actually beating but we’ll see. Muslim Salikhov straight up murdered Carlos Leal in cold blood. Smoked him. 42 seconds and that was a wrap. I say it all the time but I love watching Salikhov. Obviously at 41 years old and after a shitload of fights he won’t ever go any higher but, at a certain level, he’s great to watch. This is back-to-back legit highlight reel knockouts for him. Leal’s looked like a tough sod in his previous UFC fights as well but Salikhov absolutely clobbered him, looked like it caught him directly in the middle of the forehead and snapped his head and neck right back. Nasty KO. I liked Salikhov calling out Wonderboy as well. That makes sense for both at this stage in their careers and the old ‘King Of Kung Fu’ vs the UFC’s Karate Kid. Get it booked. Was happy to see Davey Grant pick up another win. It wasn’t looking good in that first round and Blackshear was having success with the grappling, but Grant turned it around and and was able to mostly keep it on the feet after that and he clearly took the second and third rounds. Not the barnburner a few of his past fights were but he’s gonna be 40 in December and it’s probably for the best he doesn’t have many more of them. Tabatha Ricci getting a rare finish wasn’t how I expected that one to end. Gotta say though, I like Amanda Ribas and I know she’s only 31 but it might be time to start thinking about a different career path. Apparently she’s gotta have a titanium plate put in her face because something got broken. Bless her but it’s going nowhere isn’t it? Constantly bouncing between weight classes and neither one of them is working out for her. She’s gone 2-5 in her last 7 and she’s on a three fight losing streak. Doesn’t seem to have improved and she’s now been finished and hospitalised by a decision merchant in Ricci. Not a good sign. Did get a chuckle out of Ricci calling for a “shitle tot” after though. Anyone remember when Thiago Alves said that on a PPV way back when he was after the GSP fight? Steven Nguyen put a horrible beating on Mohammad Yahya. Can’t even remember how many times he dropped him, looked like a complete mismatch. Ref probably could’ve stopped it at the end of the first round really but Yahya came out and took five more minutes of punishment before they finally waved it off for the eye injury. And look at the bastard state of it… Christ. Nguyen proper fucked him up. Yahya isn’t cut out for the UFC. All I can say positive about him is he’s tough and has heart. But they’re not really the things a fighter wants to become known for. Skill-wise, he just doesn’t have it. He got badly chinned in his previous fight as well. Looking forward to seeing more of Nguyen though. This was just an extended squash match but I recall his debut fight last year being a banger. Definitely not a boring fighter. Hopefully he gets a better opponent next time. Was only half watching the Buday vs Buchecha curtain jerker but saw enough to know it was shite and that Buchecha shat the bed. Looked awful, to be honest. It’s not like I ever have high expectations when grapplers come into MMA, it doesn’t always work out well. But Buchecha being 35 and inactive just adds to that. Wasn’t expecting much and he still somehow underdelivered. Good show. Now we gear up for back-to-back Apex cards for the next two weekends… Quote
Dai Posted July 28, 2025 Posted July 28, 2025 Enjoyed the main card too. Glad I dont check social media, if the two takes on the RDR/Whittaker fight were "Whitaker was robbed" and "Whitaker is shot". It was clearly a razor close, 50/50 match up, so you have to be crazy to scream robbery in this one. As for Whittaker being shot, he was just in a super competitive, 50/50 match with a 6'4 giant and nearly finished him. Not sure on what planet that makes you shot. LIke you said, an insane amount of knees to the body, a much bigger guy, trying to get the finish after the knockdown will get you gassed pretty quick. Wasnt like he was dying on his arse in R5 either. Watching it I thought it was clear R5 was the one to decide it, and neither guy really did a whole lot in it, so whatever way it went you could have no complaints. Agree with the rest of your thoughts. Saw lots of potential in Ochoa too, and looking foward to seeing what he does in his next fight with a full camp. Quote
Bruce85 Posted July 28, 2025 Posted July 28, 2025 I really want to see RDR vs DDP next, it will be like 2 people playing ufc 5 on the Xbox who have no idea what the controls are and just push random buttons. In all seriousness though, it was a good fight and really close to call. I had it 2-2 going into the 5th and thought RDR did just about enough to take the round but it could have gone either way it was that close. The Whittaker got robbed comments are nonsense. The rest of the card was enjoyable enough, having a uk friendly start time and a live crowd (and no orange face goblin) definitely helped my enjoyment. Id like to see Yan vs O’Malley in a 5 round match next but id have no problem giving Yan a title shot. That eye though ? Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted August 1, 2025 Paid Members Posted August 1, 2025 De Ridder has been one of the better cross-over success stories in recent memory. Just goes to show a poor debut doesn't define a run. Great to see. Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted August 1, 2025 Paid Members Posted August 1, 2025 Anyone upset by this? Quote
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