UFC 322: Maddalena vs Makhachev - Nov 15 🇺🇸

[wandshogun09]

Back in the Big Apple, back in MSG…

PPV MAIN CARD
Jack Della Maddalena©️vs Islam Makhachev- Welterweight Title 

Valentina Shevchenko©️vs Zhang Weili - Flyweight Title 

Sean Brady vs Michael Morales

Leon Edwards vs Carlos Prates

Beneil Dariush vs Benoit Saint Denis

ESPN PRELIMS 
Bo Nickal vs Rodolfo Vieira

Roman Kopylov vs Gregory Rodrigues

Erin Blanchfield vs Tracy Cortez 

Malcolm Wellmaker vs Ethyn Ewing 

ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMS
Gerald Meerschaert vs Kyle Daukaus

Chepe Mariscal vs Pat Sabatini

Angela Hill vs Fatima Kline

Baisangur Susurkaev vs Eric McConico Jr

Viacheslav Borshchev vs Matheus Camilo

 

 

Love the look of this. It’s not the most stacked card they’ve ever done at MSG but it’s a pretty strong lineup and the top three fights are quality. Not sure on the bout order yet. This is how it looks currently on the UFC website, I’ll update it as it takes shape. There’ll probably be a couple more fights made yet but I don’t expect anything majorly significant to be added now. 

 

Jack Della Maddalena vs Islam Makhachev is our MSG headliner this year. A stark contrast to the pointless waste of everyone’s time that was last year’s MSG main event of Jones vs Stipe. This is the good stuff. Two guys in their absolute prime and kind of a champion vs champion thing despite Makhachev no longer holding the physical belt. He never lost it in the cage so it’s champ against champ in my eyes. Even the poster promotes that with both clearly holding belts. Regardless, this is a fantastic fight on paper. JDM’s rise to UFC gold wasn’t one I really expected, at least not just yet, but here we are. He’s firmly established himself as the real deal at this point. And Makhachev coming up in weight to go for a second division’s title is a big deal. I’m still a bit disappointed we’re not getting Makhachev vs Topuria next but I’m not gonna complain about a fight like this at all.

First defence for Australia’s Jack Della Maddalena here. He took the title from Belal Muhammad at UFC 315 in Montreal back in May. I was really unsure how that one was gonna go. We hadn’t seen a lot of Maddalena against top competition going in. It was literally just the Gilbert Burns fight but, even then, he struggled with the grappling in that one before rallying with the late finish. And then he was inactive for over a year after the Burns win. By fight week I was favouring Belal to retain the belt, just thought Maddalena would have major issues with Belal’s grinding style and his wrestling. But JDM put on a show. Belal didn’t wrestle as much as I expected and, even when he tried, Maddalena did better at defending against that than I expected going in. Was a more entertaining fight than I think most thought it would be as well. A bit too one-sided for the FOTY talk for me but it was fun to watch.

Talk about seizing an opportunity. Maddalena wasn’t even originally supposed to fight Belal for the title. If you recall, at the time all signs were pointing towards a Belal vs Shavkat title fight and Maddalena was actually booked to headline the London card in March against Leon Edwards. It was only when it became clear that Shavkat wasn’t gonna be recovered from whatever injury he’s got that they had to shake things up. Maddalena took the chance and ran with it. He’s 18-2 now and just turned 29 years old in September. He’s in a great position and time in his career to really go on a run if he can keep winning.

A lot of the intrigue with this fight is gonna centre around Islam Makhachev though. One of the best fighters in the game right now pound-for-pound, 27-1 record, on a 15 fight winning streak and was the Lightweight champion with wins over Arman Tsarukyan, Dan Hooker, Charles Oliveira, Alexander Volkanovski twice, Dustin Poirier and, erm, Renato Moicano under his belt. Quite a run he’s had. But the x-factor here is him stepping into the unknown territory of the Welterweight division. I’ll be honest, as great a champ as he was at 155, I was a bit deflated with how the reign ended. It seemed like we were right on track to seeing Makhachev vs Topuria. Those two seemed to be on a collision course and, with Topuria moving up to Lightweight, it felt inevitable that those two would meet. But then Makhachev vacated the belt and decided to move up to Welterweight. Lots of ducking accusations from Topuria followed. I don’t know what to think. It’s not like Makhachev’s avoided tough challenges in the past, fuck, look who he’s fighting here! But the timing of him hopping divisions when he did seemed a bit odd to me. It wasn’t as if Makhachev moving to 170 was a thing people had been really talking about or clamouring for previously. Nor was it something Makhachev himself was making a lot of noise about. But Topuria comes up to 155 and suddenly Makhachev’s desire to go to 170 becomes this urgent thing? Not saying it’s an outright duck, maybe the fight will still happen down the road. But Makhachev’s big Lightweight run ending on a squash match defence against late replacement Moicano and then relinquishing the belt before we could get to see the epic clash with Topuria was a huge disappointment for me. Oh well, at least we’re still getting a great fight. If he was doing a Jon Jones and swerving Topuria to try and drag…Nick Diaz out of cobwebs or something, I’d be much more negative.

How does this bastard go? I don’t have a strong feeling myself. It’s difficult to call because we’ve got no idea how moving up a weight class is gonna affect Makhachev. And for someone with such a strong grappling base, facing opponents who are bigger and, in theory, stronger could be tougher up at 170. But who knows? Maybe he’ll be stronger himself and have more energy with the extra weight? I read something, when it was first announced that he’d be moving up, that he was struggling to put weight on. But more recently his team have been saying the move to 170 is probably permanent and they don’t think he’ll be back at 155 again. So I guess they must feel like his body’s responding well to the added weight now.

JDM seems fired up…

“I’m gonna go for it. Obviously, the best-case scenario would be a finish. I can see it happening and I can see it blowing the roof off MSG. Taking out the pound-for-pound No.1 with no doubts, a finish would be the dream.”

“It’s hard to expect anything. It’s gonna start on the feet and we’ll go from there. I think he’s gonna try and mix it up. I think he’s probably gonna try and get on the wrestling early, I’d imagine, looking back on the Belal fight. He probably sees that Belal’s mistake was maybe not getting on the wrestling early. I expect in the first round we’ll be getting into at least some grappling exchanges.”

“I expect the best Islam. I expect him to be more filled out, stronger. I think the weight will probably be better for him. It’s a big fight, a big challenge, a dangerous opponent, so I couldn’t really be more motivated. But obviously, yeah, the dream would be to get the finish over Islam and then a big PPV in Perth against another top challenger.” - Jack Della Maddalena

I think he’s probably spot on with his read on what Makhachev’s looking to do in this fight. No doubt Makhachev’s striking has improved over the years. He’s not the same guy who got slept by Adriano Martins back in 2015. Over the last few years we’ve seen him drop Oliveira, knock out Volk and trade with Poirier and do well. He’s not just the typical Dagestani grappler. But that was his original bread and butter and, given Maddalena’s strengths in the striking, you’d think Makhachev will be looking to take him out of his comfort zone here. At least mix things up. It’d be stupid to just stand and strike with a guy like JDM when that’s obviously JDM’s best chance of winning. Maddalena did well shutting Belal’s takedown attempts down and his overall grappling has definitely come on, no doubt his work on the mats with Craig Jones is a big part of the reason for that. But Belal didn’t really push the wrestling as persistently as I thought he would. I think Makhachev will, so we’ll see how that plays out. Cracking fight. Could go on and on but I’ll leave it at that for now.

 

Valentina Shevchenko vs Zhang Weili is easily one of the best women’s fights the UFC have made in years, in my opinion. Much like the main event, this is pretty much champion vs champion even though Zhang’s not wearing the Strawweight strap anymore. Feels like this one has been coming for a while but they both seemed content doing their thing in their respective weight classes. But with Shevchenko at 37 years old and Zhang at 36 years old, the window was closing on getting this done so I’m glad they’re making it happen before it’s too late. Definitely a more interesting fight than anything else either could do in their divisions.

Shevchenko’s been dominating the Flyweight division for almost eight years now, minus that blip against Alexa Grasso, which she later avenged. She won the vacant belt in 2018 and went on a streak for years on end. The contenders weren’t always the best but she was racking up the title defences without much resistance. Around 2022/23 I did think she was finally slipping. She had that dodgy decision over Taila Santos in Singapore, which most had Santos winning, then she suffered that shock upset loss to Grasso in her next fight. After pretty much a lifetime in combat sports, it made sense that she had to slow down at some point. I thought that was the time. But she’s since gone on to dominate Grasso and reclaim her belt, then she comfortably beat Manon Fiorot in her last fight. I really thought Fiorot was gonna be a real challenge for Shevchenko just because of her strength and physicality. But Shev beat her without much bother really. I guess the talk of her decline was premature. At 37 she’s got to be on borrowed time, but for now she’s still good enough to stay on the throne.

Zhang’s basically been the Strawweight equivalent of Shevchenko over the last few years. If not for those back-to-back losses to Rose Namajunas in 2021, Zhang would currently be on a whopping 26 fight winning streak. And even the second Rose loss was a close decision. She’s one of the few fighters these days who seems pretty much universally liked. You never hear a bad word about her. She’s China’s first ever UFC champion and she was one half of the greatest women’s fight in MMA history, in my opinion, against Joanna Jedrzejczyk back in 2020. An absolute stone cold classic that would rank highly among my favourite fights ever full-stop, not just the women’s side of things. Since the second loss to Rose (also at MSG), Zhang’s won five in a row which included a spinning backfist KO over Joanna in their rematch, submitting Carla Esparza and then one way traffic decisions over Amanda Lemos, Yan Xiaonan and Tatiana Suarez. Even before the Suarez win last time, there had been a few rumblings that Zhang was considering going up to Flyweight. She’s always been a professional and made weight but you have to think that cut to 115lbs has gotten harder in her mid 30s. And just from a legacy perspective, if she was ever gonna go after a second division’s gold, it’s almost now or never. Let’s face it, there really wasn’t anything left for her to prove at Strawweight. She finally vacated the belt and made the move.

Love this fight. Not sure how exciting it’ll be to watch, it might be, but you never know with Shevchenko. But I’m just glad this is happening. There were other options. If this fight never materialised then Shev would’ve almost certainly defended against Natalia Silva next. And if Zhang stayed at Strawweight, I assume she’d be gearing up to defend against Virna Jandiroba or Mackenzie Dern. Perfectly fine fights. But this is way preferable, isn’t it? Really interested to see how Zhang looks at Flyweight. She did have a cup of coffee at Flyweight early in her career but we’re going back to 2016 for that and she was obviously operating on a much lower level back then. Here she’s not just going up in weight, she’s doing it against the dominant champ at that higher weight. But if she wins, what an incredible achievement that would be. There’s no win at Strawweight that would boost her legacy at this point like becoming a two division champ and beating Shevchenko would. That’s big. Especially at this late stage of her career. And even for Shev, for the longest time she’d just been going through the motions. This feels like a fight she can sink her teeth into. Champ vs champ at MSG! If you’re a fighter and you can’t get up for that, it’s probably time to call it a day. Really looking forward to this one. I’d love to see Zhang pull it off.

 

Sean Brady vs Michael Morales is a very interesting one to me. Got added to the card relatively late in the day and it’s not a pairing I think anyone really saw coming. But I think this is happening mostly because Brady just wanted to get another fight in before the end of the year. Against anyone. He had that dominant win over Leon Edwards on the London card in March, just schooled him in the wrestling then finally submitted him in the later rounds. A big win for him over a former champion. So understandably, he wanted to keep the ball rolling and capitalise on that momentum. There was a fair bit of talk of him fighting Ian Garry and they were supposedly pencilled in at some point to headline the Vancouver card in October. But Brady claims Garry was dragging his feet and didn’t want it. Who knows? I’ve read conflicting stuff on it. Definitely seems like Brady was getting frustrated though and just wanted to get back in there.

“I took this fight because fighters fight. And there’s literally no other options. From what the UFC told me, this is it. This is the only guy I could fight or else I wasn’t fighting until next year. I’ve been trying to fight. No matter what, we’re gonna have to fight all these guys regardless. Michael Morales is a great fighter, he’s 18-0, he’s gonna be around for a long time, he’s young. So whether I fight him now or later, I’m gonna have to get to him eventually. So fuck it, I’ll get him out of the way now.”

“Coming off beating Leon, and then I go and I take this risk of fighting this young up and comer, once I beat him, I’m undeniable for the title shot after that. That’s what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna become undeniable so they have to give me the title shot.” - Sean Brady

I get his logic. Although I’m not sure it’s gonna work out quite how he thinks or hopes. On paper, he’s deserving of the title shot now. If it wasn’t for Islam Makhachev moving up a division to challenge Jack Della Maddalena, we might well be gearing up for a Maddalena vs Brady title fight right now. I just wonder whether, by the time all these Welterweight fights currently booked play out, will the landscape at 170 have changed to where Brady’s kind of left out in the cold? Theoretically, by then you could have Shavkat back in the mix, plus we’ve got Belal vs Garry and Leon vs Prates in key fights. Not to mention if Makhachev wins the title, how does that affect everything? There’s a bunch of ways this can go. But of course, Brady derailing a young, undefeated guy like Morales certainly wouldn’t hurt his argument to be next in line. Not sure where I stand on Morales. He’s only 25 years old and has that perfect, shiny, unblemished record. But he hasn’t blown me away so far. He’s stopped Neil Magny and Gilbert Burns in his last two fights, both in the first round, which is pretty impressive. But I don’t know. Magny’s a gatekeeper and Burns seems to be reaching the end of the road now. Morales clearly has potential, he might well be for real. But this feels like a huge step up for him and I feel like it might be coming a bit too soon. We’ll see. Good fight though.

 

Leon Edwards vs Carlos Prates is gonna be my choice for ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** at the Garden. A lot of times I’ll highlight a fight that I think might steal the show and be a crazy war. This isn’t that. Leon Edwards isn’t exactly known for having bangers. But I’m highlighting this because, for me, outside the main event it’s probably the most interesting fight on the card. This feels like a ‘must win’ for Leon. It’s not like they’re gonna sack him if he loses here but a third loss in a row is gonna be a bastard to bounce back from. And Prates is a dangerous guy to be fighting at the best of times, let alone when you’re coming in off losses and the pressure is on.

Leon’s 2024/25 couldn’t have been more opposite to his 2022/23. He was riding high and at the peak of his powers back in ‘22. Scored that barmy headkick knockout against Usman to become champ, then beat Usman again to solidify it, then schooled Covington. He was flying coming into 2024. Since then it’s all gone to shit though. Lost the title to Belal Muhammad in Manchester. Then in what was supposed to be his rebound fight, he got absolutely squashed, demoralised and submitted by Sean Brady in London. Disaster. To go from champ to that kind of fall-off in such a relatively short time is insane. It was one of those fights that felt like bad news the second it was announced to me. Just style-wise it felt like Brady was all wrong for him. And it didn’t help when the promotion started for the fight and Leon was completely dismissive about Brady. After the Belal loss, you’d have thought he wouldn’t be taking anyone lightly but it seems no lessons were learned from that. Frustrating. 

Prates has been one of the breakthrough fighters at Welterweight over the last couple of years. Burst into the Octagon in early 2024 and quickly rattled off four straight knockouts in his first year in the UFC. And it wasn’t like he beat bums. His third and fourth KOs were over Li Jingliang and Neil Magny. Genuinely looked like he was on the fast-track towards a title shot in 2025 but he ran into Ian Garry in April and got derailed. He wasn’t stopped, he lost on points, but it was a pretty lacklustre and flat performance from him and seemed to really cool the hype on him. He bounced back in style in his last fight in August though…

One of the best knockouts of the year that. Just wiped Geoff Neal the fuck out with one second to go in the first round. The perfect response to the Garry loss, to the point everyone seems to have forgotten that the Garry fight even happened now. Amazing what a highlight reel knockout can do for you. Really not sure how this one goes though. I’m guessing a lot of fans are gonna pick Prates because he’s coming off that KO and Leon’s coming off two bad losses. But it’s worth noting that this is a completely different style of fight for Leon than Belal and Brady were. His style is much more suited to do well against strikers than grapplers. So, on paper at least, this is a better matchup for Leon. You look at his record and this will actually be the first time Leon’s faced someone who wants to strike since the Nate Diaz fight back in 2021. Since then he’s faced Usman, Usman, Covington, Belal and Brady in a row. All wrestlers. Prates is obviously a threat and Leon can’t afford to be having those lapses in focus and concentration in this one. But based on Prates’ loss to Garry, I think this is a fight Edwards can absolutely win. Guess a lot will depend on how badly headfucked he is or isn’t after those Belal and Brady losses.

 

Beneil Dariush vs Benoit Saint Denis is a decent enough fight. Always feel like Dariush is older than he is. Guess it’s the grey hair. He’s 36, so no spring chicken, but I always think he’s 40 plus. It’s probably partly down to him seeming like he’s been on the roster forever as well actually. He made his UFC debut all the way back in 2014. He was 6-0 at the time, he’s 23-6-1 now. He’s had his ups and downs. Some solid wins over the likes of Carlos Diego Ferreira, Jim Miller, Drew Dober etc. And he actually beat Tony Ferguson (although shot to bits at that point) and Mateusz Gamrot. He’s had his moments. He’s coming into this fight off a decision over Renato Moicano in January. He badly needed that win after being stopped early in back-to-back fights against Charles Oliveira and Arman Tsarukyan. It was nice to see him return to the win column but he’s back in the fire here. 

Benoit Saint Denis is coming off a decisive submission win over Mauricio Ruffy on the Paris card in September. He’s had his own highs and lows in the UFC. He got proper battered by Elizeu Zaleski Dos Santos in his Octagon debut in 2021. Lost on points but it really should’ve been stopped. I recall the ref getting a ton of backlash for not waving that one off. Benoit took a bad beating. He rebounded nicely with five straight stoppage wins, which rehabbed his image and reputation to the point many were fully expecting him to beat Dustin Poirier when they were booked for March 2024. Didn’t pan out. Dustin chinned him, then Benoit got beat to a bloody pulp by Moicano in his next fight and that was that hype train fully off the tracks. He’s came back this year with submission wins over Kyle Prepolec and the Ruffy win I mentioned above. And here we are. Not sure what to make of it. On a good night, Dariush can beat a lot of these guys. I think he might be the better fighter here overall. But he’s also shown vulnerability early in fights, maybe a bit of a slow starter, and Benoit’s aggression and being a fast starter could be a problem for him in that regard.

 

Bo Nickal vs Rodolfo Vieira is an interesting one. It’s clear Bo was a bit of a pet project for the UFC from the second he came in. Every now and then you’ll get a prospect debut and it’s obvious they’re one of the ‘chosen ones’ for whatever reason. The promotional machine gets behind them and the matchmakers try to give them favourable matchups on big cards. Tends to happen more with the American, amateur wrestling standouts as well. Bit of star spangled favouritism. That’s what was happening with Bo for a bit. Never was it more obvious than when they put his fight with Cody Brundage, a true ham and egg sandwich, on the main card of UFC 300. That fight stuck out like a sore thumb on a stacked main card like that. I never fully bought into it with Bo though. He looked alright but not the big time player they were forcing him as. He somehow went the distance with a washed up Paul Craig on last year’s MSG show and, for some reason, the UFC chose then to just stop babying him. He was thrown in with Reinier De Ridder in May and got absolutely crushed. It felt like it was needed. Bo was getting way too cocky for what he actually was doing in the cage. He needed a humbling. This isn’t a soft bounce back fight either. Vieira’s no world beater but he’s not a pushover either. BJJ world champion, 11-3 in MMA etc. He’s tougher than most of the guys Bo was facing prior to the De Ridder loss.

 

Roman Kopylov vs Gregory Rodrigues is one of those fights that I was sure had already happened for some reason. I feel like I get this weird deja vu for at least one fight on every card these days. But yeah, turns out this fight hasn’t happened before and it should be a fun one. Kopylov’s 34 with a record of 14-4 and 12 knockouts. He’s got some powerful striking, particularly his kicks, but he’s been found lacking a few times now and comes into this fight off a points loss to Paulo Costa in July. Rodrigues is surprisingly the younger man at 33 and he’s 17-6 with 14 of his wins coming inside the distance. He’s had his setbacks but he’s pretty much always fun to watch. He just brutally sparked Jack Hermansson at UFC 317 in June. This should be a good scrap. Both like to strike. Although I feel ‘Robocop’ could make this a much more straightforward fight if he decides to go the grappling route here, I don’t think Kopylov’s ground game is up to much really and Rodrigues could probably exploit that. Whether he wants to remains to be seen though. Can see him just opting to slug it out and then it’s basically really just a coin flip.

 

Erin Blanchfield vs Tracy Cortez 2 then. Not a fight I’m expecting much from. Probably won’t be very exciting to watch. Neither are known for being particularly entertaining fighters to watch. But I guess the rematch angle gives it a little bit of something at least.

They crossed paths on an Invicta card back in February 2019. Never seen it, maybe I’ll actually give it a watch before this rematch? Maybe. Cortez won a split decision and I’ve read a few times that it was a bit of a controversial one. Blanchfield was only 19 at the time and just three fights into her career. So not something to base too much on. But I’m kind of curious to see how that fight went because I can’t really picture the current version of Blanchfield losing to the current version of Cortez. Whatever. Blanchfield’s gone 10-1 since that loss, taking her to 13-2 overall, and she’s coming off the biggest win of her career over Rose Namajunas last November. Albeit in a rotten fight to watch. She was supposed to headline the Apex against Maycee Barber in May but that was a complete shambles. Barber missed weight, Blanchfield agreed to still fight, and then the next night Barber had a seizure backstage and dropped out of the fight literally seconds before the walkout. Madness. Cortez is 12-2 with her most notable wins being over Viviane Araujo and Jasmine Jasudavicius.

 

Malcolm Wellmaker vs Ethyn Ewing is a last minute change and now the third scheduled opponent Wellmaker’s been matched up with on this card. It was originally supposed to be Wellmaker vs Serhiy Sidey but Sidey got injured. Then Cody Haddon stepped in and has now dropped out on the Thursday of fight week, apparently due to injury. How you get injured two days before the show baffles me but here we are. Glad they’ve managed to keep Wellmaker on the card. I like what I’ve seen so far. It’s a bit of a weird one because he’s undefeated at 10-0 with 8 finishes, 6 in the first round, but he’s already 31, so not old, but he’s not the mega young prospect you might initially think he is. He’s off to quite a start though. Hasn’t been beating great opposition so far but it’s early days. What’s made him stand out is the way he’s been ending fights.

There he is absolutely starching Kris Moutinho last time out on the Atlanta card in June. Like I said, not the strongest of competition. Moutinho’s gotta be up there with the worst fighters on the entire roster. But Wellmaker dealt with him like the jobber he is so you can’t fault his performance. And Wellmaker did wreck Cameron Saaiman in similar fashion in his fight before that, his UFC debut, and Saaiman was considered a decent prospect himself not long ago. So there’s that. Both his first two UFC fights have ended via brutal one punch knockout, which you don’t see that often from Bantamweights. Obviously there’s a long way to go but so far, so good. Ewing’s 27 years old with a record of 8-2 and 7 by KO/TKO. He’s on an eight fight winning streak and literally just fought on the 7th Nov, scoring a first round knockout on Urijah Faber’s A1 Combat show. So not ideal but they’ve done well to keep Wellmaker on the card and at least Ewing has just fought and will be sharp. Not like he’s rolling in off the sofa. 

 

Gerald Meerschaert vs Kyle Daukaus. Pretty good prelim filler here. Always gonna have time for a Meerschaert fight. This’ll be fight number 58 for him! He’s got a record of 37-20, 35 of his wins came inside the distance, 29 came by submission. In 57 career fights he’s only gone to a decision 8 times, which is pretty crazy. He’s looking a bit knackered now though sadly. He was never a contender or anything but he’s really been struggling of late. He’s coming into this fight off three straight losses and was just stopped in a round by Michal Oleksiejczuk in his last fight in August. Not looking good. He turns 38 in December and he’s obviously got a lot of miles on the clock. Hopefully he’s not gonna fight too much longer. Daukaus returned to the UFC on the Shanghai card in August and did this…

Put Michel Pereira out just 43 seconds into their fight. Quite a re-debut. His previous UFC stint from 2020-22 wasn’t the best. He went 2-4-0-1 in that run. He did have a cracking forgotten fight with Brendan Allen from what I remember but it fell on the same night as the all out war between Dustin Poirier and Dan Hooker so it understandably got overshadowed. Daukaus got released in 2022 and went away to Cage Fury FC, where he racked up four wins and became their Middleweight champ. He’s 32 years old now and 16-4-0-1. I don’t expect him to go on some run at the title now but we’ll see how he does. He couldn’t have wished for his return to go any better. Hope he loses this one though. Can’t root against the old bloodhound.

 

Chepe Mariscal vs Pat Sabitini could be a decent fight. I enjoy watching Mariscal a lot in general. Just not sure I like this particular matchup for him. Just think Sabatini’s likely to grapple the bollocks off him. He turns 35 a few days before this show so no spring chicken for a Featherweight, and he’s never gonna make a dent in the rankings, but he’s a tough night’s work for the middle of the pack guys at 145. Especially ones who might lack a bit in the wrestling department. He’s 20-5 now and coming off a dominant points win over Joanderson Brito in April. Before that he subbed Jonathan Pearce. I’m rooting for Mariscal though. Hoping he can pull it off. Consistently in entertaining fights, he’s 33 years old with a record of 18-6 and 10 finishes. He’s currently on an 8 fight winning streak and has beat the likes of Jack Jenkins, Morgan Charriere, Damon Jackson and Ricardo Ramos in the UFC. Can’t remember how his wrestling is though so I’m a bit unsure about this one.

 

Angela Hill vs Fatima Kline is just there really. Kind of a cool veteran vs up and comer clash, I guess. Don’t even know what to say about Hill anymore. She’s 40 years old with an 18-15 record, for fuck’s sake! Yet somehow, she still keeps hanging on. Every time I think she’s done, she wins a fight I expected her to lose and stays on the roster. She very rarely gets finished, when she loses it’s usually by decision. So that probably helps. But I think she’s benefitted from being well liked backstage as well. I remember seeing her sitting in on those fighter meetings with Megan Olivi and stuff on Embedded in the past. She’s done the analyst stuff occasionally as well. I think she’s generally figured in as part of the furniture at this point. She can’t have many fights left now though. Surely? She lost to Iasmin Lucindo last time out. Now they’re throwing her in with another young rising prospect? Kline’s the much younger and fresher fighter at 25 years old and she’s a New Yorker so this is a big moment for her. She’s 8-1 with 5 finishes and her only loss so far was against Jasmine Jasudavicius which was a short notice fight and up a weight class. She’s never lost at Strawweight. She looks good and she’s actually ending fights which you don’t see a lot of at 115lbs. She’s coming off back-to-back finishes here. She should be beating a last legs Hill at this stage in both their careers.

 

Baisangur Susurkaev vs Eric McConico Jr. Nothing significant here but I’m kind of looking forward to seeing Susurkaev back in there. He made his Octagon debut at UFC 319 in August on just four days notice after winning on DWCS earlier that week. He wanted on 319 just because Khamzat was fighting for the title on that card and they’re friends and teammates. He got his wish and submitted Eric Nolan in the second round with relative ease. He’s 24 years old and now 10-0 with 9 finishes. The knock on him going into his debut was that he had a padded record. A valid criticism but, to be fair, he looked good in his debut. A padded record doesn’t necessarily mean he doesn’t actually have legit skills. We’ll find out where his ceiling is soon enough now he’s in the UFC, I suppose. McConico’s 35 years old and 10-3-1 with 7 finishes. He made his UFC debut in February and got stopped by Nursulton Ruziboev but came back with a split decision over Cody Brundage at the Apex in August. Not sure if I actually saw either of those fights but if this Susurkaev kid has anything about him, he should probably be dealing with a guy who went to a split with Brundage, right?

 

Viacheslav Borshchev vs Matheus Camilo got chucked on the card about a week out. Camilo was supposed to fight on the Aspinall vs Gane undercard the other week so he’s been in camp anyway. Can only assume Slava Claus was training and on weight as well if he’s up for jumping in on this kind of notice. A week’s notice is zero actual training camp so he had to have been in the gym when the call came. I like Slav but he’s very limited. He’s 33 years old with an 8-6-1 record and he’s pretty much solely a striker. He’s lost three of his last four fights and comes into this one off a 55 second submission loss to Terrance McKinney in June. Camilo’s 24 years old with a record of 9-3 with 6 finishes. He made his UFC debut in May and got subbed by Gabriel Green.

 

NYC…

Edited November 14, 2025 by wandshogun09

[Bruce85]

Surprised there isn’t a bit more (any) chatter for this card with it being this weekend. 
 

A very good looking card with a very tasty main event. Would I rather see Islam V Topuria, yes, but I think this is a very interesting fight and isn’t a give me for Islam and I think it will be close fight. I think that’s partly due to how Islam fights, I don’t think he’s going to just chain wrestle and look to take JDM down. I think Islam has better striking than people give him credit for and I think he will stand with JDM to start with. We saw Belal struggle to get JDM down, and I know Islam is a better grappler but the move up in weight makes this interesting. 
 

If JDM can stuff the takedowns, I can see him picking Islam apart on the feet but that’s a big IF. Islam has improved and is no slouch in the striking department, it’s just how he fairs at a higher weight class if if can’t get JDM down and he walks through his strikes. 
 

I’ve had a few beers but I’m  going out on a limb here but I think Weili is going to put on a clinic and make Shevshenko look very ordinary and batter her for a very easy KO finish. As great as Shev has been, I feel she’s on borrowed time and has got by the last few fights as he opposition haven’t been at elite level. I know Weiili isn’t much younger but I feel she’s still in her prime and is getting this fight at the right time. 

I also think Leon is in for another rough night… 

[wandshogun09]

On 11/11/2025 at 11:40 PM, Bruce85 said:

Surprised there isn’t a bit more (any) chatter for this card with it being this weekend. 

I’m buzzing for this card but I didn’t wanna keep repeatedly posting in here if nobody else was posting 🤣 I’m starting to think the UKFF is done with MMA. Fair enough the Apex cards coming and going with little to no discussion but a card like this being met with total apathy and silence on here is sad to see.

On 11/11/2025 at 11:40 PM, Bruce85 said:

I’ve had a few beers but I’m  going out on a limb here but I think Weili is going to put on a clinic and make Shevshenko look very ordinary and batter her for a very easy KO finish.

That’s a bold prediction but I like that you’re sticking your neck out. I’d be surprised if she stops Shevchenko myself, she hasn’t been finishing Strawweights in her last few defences and, although I agree Shev’s on the decline, I still think she’s a superior fighter to Tatiana Suarez, Yan Xiaonan and Amanda Lemos. I’m not sure how Zhang’s gonna look at Flyweight. Maybe she’ll be more explosive and powerful with an easier weight cut but there’s also a chance her strikes might not be as effective at 125lbs. Jury’s out for me. Not sure who I’m favouring, to be honest. 

[Carbomb]

1 hour ago, wandshogun09 said:

I’m buzzing for this card but I didn’t wanna keep repeatedly posting in here if nobody else was posting 🤣 I’m starting to think the UKFF is done with MMA. Fair enough the Apex cards coming and going with little to no discussion but a card like this being met with total apathy and silence on here is sad to see.

To be honest, it's all the Trump shite that's put me off. I've still interest in MMA, but barely - and my only real way of keeping up is your reports and the odd clip on YT when a fight turns out to be a banger or controversial.

[Dai]

Not hugely buzzed for the main event as its still JDM. Not exactly a big name or an established champ. From what I remember, Belal had a truly insane game plan in the JDM fight where he didn't even attempt a takedown in the first 2 or 3 rounds, didn't he? Maybe my memory is off on this, but I seem to remember being flabbergasted by him not attempting a takedown in the first half of he fight. 

Think Islam will win handily. Can't see size being an issue, and it's still only JDM that he's fighting. The resume for him is nothing special, and to be honest I can't fully believe he's a champ headlining an MSG show. Islam isn't going to make the same mistake Belal did, and will win fairly handily I predict. 

 

Edit; I am going for Zhang by decision too. I'm in the same boat as others in thinking Shev has been on the decline ever since the Grasso fights, and Zhangs last fight was a super tough one (on paper) against Suarez. Suarez was in fine form and looked super dangerous and Zhang won comfortably. Shev hasn't had an impressive win in years. Even though the ages are the same, it still feels like Zhang is in her prime and Shev is already well into the decline. 

Edited November 13, 2025 by Dai

[thevestofdeanambrose]

Sorry Wand don't post in here much but still love your write ups, read them religiously every event and still watch 95% of UFC shows!

Really looking forward to this at the weekend! 

[Kfogg1991]

Oh I can't wait for this one I'm so excited 

 

Predictions 

JDM (heart wants it more than head)

Weili KO/tko 

Pratas 

Brady 

BSD 

Five minutes to the presser let's go

[wandshogun09]

16 hours ago, Carbomb said:

To be honest, it's all the Trump shite that's put me off. I've still interest in MMA, but barely - and my only real way of keeping up is your reports and the odd clip on YT when a fight turns out to be a banger or controversial.

I hear ya. I think it’s turned a lot of people off. Can’t stand it myself but I’m determined to not let the cunts stop me watching my favourite sport. Bollocks to ‘em. It’s gonna be hard with a sodding White House card coming in 2026 but I’m gonna actively try to avoid as much of the political shite as I can next year. Considered coming off Twitter because it’s a cesspool for that stuff but I find it handy for keeping up with news and fight announcements. Just gonna have to be a lot more active with the block and mute buttons on there. 

15 hours ago, Dai said:

Not hugely buzzed for the main event as its still JDM. Not exactly a big name or an established champ. 

Think Islam will win handily. Can't see size being an issue, and it's still only JDM that he's fighting. 

The disrespect.

I think JDM’s ace. Not saying he’ll win because he’s shown weakness in the grappling and I think Islam will be more persistent/successful in that area than Burns or Belal were. But it’s not like JDM’s some scrub either. And Makhachev’s improved enough in the striking where he might stand a bit more than people expect with JDM. And JDM’s no joke in the striking. In the end, I do think Makhachev’s grappling is gonna be the deciding factor in this. But as big and strong as he’s looking physically in recent pictures, we’ve never seen him fight at 170 before so fuck knows really? I think he’ll be fine but you never know.

15 hours ago, Dai said:

Edit; I am going for Zhang by decision too. I'm in the same boat as others in thinking Shev has been on the decline ever since the Grasso fights, and Zhangs last fight was a super tough one (on paper) against Suarez. Suarez was in fine form and looked super dangerous and Zhang won comfortably. Shev hasn't had an impressive win in years. Even though the ages are the same, it still feels like Zhang is in her prime and Shev is already well into the decline. 

Shev’s definitely on the decline but I’m not sure I agree that Zhang’s still in her prime. I don’t think she’s as far gone as Shev but I don’t think Shev’s completely shot either and her being the established Flyweight here against Zhang who’s a Strawweight coming up, that might offset some of Zhang being closer to her prime anyway. I think it’s a more interesting fight than many are making out. Also not sure about Suarez looking in fine form or looking dangerous against Zhang. And I was picking Suarez to win going into that fight. Zhang won clearly but I didn’t think Suarez looked good at all, not in that fight or in her win over Amanda Lemos last time out. If anything, Suarez is looking like she’s on her last legs after all the injuries and setbacks, so I’m not sure how impressive a win that was for Zhang really, as good as she looked in her own performance.

I don’t know. I don’t think either of them are in their prime but they’re not far enough removed from their primes that this isn’t still a good and worthwhile fight. They’re not at that Jones vs Stipe point where it would’ve been great years ago but has gone well past its sell by date. This is probably the latest they could’ve left Shev vs Zhang before it got to that stage though so I’m glad it’s happening now.

Don’t get me wrong, I actually agree with both your picks. I’m favouring Makhachev and Zhang myself. Just not sure it’s gonna be as easy and straightforward as some seem to think. Maybe I’m wrong. It’s happened before, plenty of times. It’ll be pretty significant if they do both win tomorrow night though. I read something recently that this is the first card where two champions have moved up to challenge the champ in the weight class above. If they both pull it off it’ll be pretty cool. 

[Dai]

Fair point about Suarez, but going in to the fight with Zhang I meant she was in fine form going in to that fight. It was only two fights I guess so not a huge amount should be read in to how good a Suarez it was that Zhang beat.

Compare that to Shev. I've just had a gander of her record. Pretty much all her best work was pre covid. Post covid, there's been not much at all in the way of memorable stuff. So five years away from her best stuff. 

I also agree though that it's still absolutely the fight to make, and does feel bigger than anything else they could be getting up to. 

 

I agree JDM is not a scrub, but his record is paper thin. 2 fights ago he had a split decision win again Kevin Holland on a Fight Night card, and before that was decent stuff against unknowns. I know it's not the be all and end all, but compare that to Islams super impressive record, and I don't think the size question is big enough to think this is gojng any other way than an Islam win. 

Edited November 14, 2025 by Dai

[wandshogun09]

Fight day then. I typed this yesterday but didn’t get around to posting it. 

We’ve been on about the lack of discussion in the MMA section lately and I realise this isn’t likely to reignite that. But…I’m watching the first Erin Blanchfield vs Tracy Cortez fight. Why am I doing this? I know it’s not gonna be much fun to watch. Yet here I am. All I can say is I’m off work sick, my wife’s at work, the kids are at school and it’s absolutely pissing down with rain outside. Fuck it.

So these two crossed paths in Invicta back in February 2019. They were both very early into their MMA careers. At the time, Blanchfield was just 19 years old and 3-0. Cortez was 25 and had a 4-1 record. Not a lot else to it. No backstory. Just two young, green fighters trying to kickstart their careers. I like to go back to first fights whenever there’s a rematch if I get time. I probably wouldn’t have bothered with this one if I was working. Especially with this fight being so long ago now and so early into both women’s careers that it shouldn’t really mean much in regards to the rematch. But while neither have been having barnburners in the UFC over the last few years, I rate Blanchfield significantly more than Cortez. So I was curious to see how this looked. Plus I’ve barely ever watched anything from Invicta so I’ll give this a go.

Erin Blanchfield vs Tracy Cortez

Invicta 34: Porto vs Gonzalez

February 15th 2019

Kansas City, Kansas

Commentators are some bloke called TJ De Santis (a name I’ve heard but don’t know where and I can’t be arsed to look it up) and Strikeforce/EliteXC/Bodog veteran Julie Kedzie, who I remember being decent on colour. Skimmed through some of the show and it seems they’ve got the lovely Laura Sanko in the role Megan Olivi fills on UFC shows now. Production looks really good for what is basically a UFC feeder league.

De Santis says this is a ‘reserve bout’ for a four woman Flyweight tournament. Apparently the Vanessa Porto vs Pearl Gonzalez main event on this card was for the vacant belt, and the tournament was to determine the next number one contender. What the fuck was going on over there if they had no champ or top contender before this show? Anyway…

Round 1: Very sloppy and amateurish attempts at striking from both to start here. Especially from Blanchfield. Kind of to be expected given that she’s a grappler and was so early into her MMA career here but, still, terrible striking on display here early. Cortez isn’t a lot better but at least she appears to be trying to put some power behind hers. Blanchfield’s just pushing really weak and slow arm punches out there. You could take a thousand of them in your sleep and they probably wouldn’t wake you up. Cortez takes her down and Blanchfield immediately looks ten times more comfortable. She’s setting up an armbar from the bottom within seconds of them hitting the mat.

Cortez is in some danger here but she’s just about surviving. Blanchfield keeps working for it but she’s kind of hampered by the fence. They’re stuck in this stalemate for almost all of what’s left of the round. Blanchfield trying to complete the armbar, Cortez defending it and just waiting for the round to end. Cortez now has Blanchfield stacked up against the fence, still stuck defending the armbar, and she’s grinding her knee into Blanchfield’s face.

Is that even legal? It’s not a knee strike but it’s still a grounded opponent. I don’t know. Cortez finally breaks free and they’re back on their feet but there’s only about ten seconds to go. Nothing happens and that’s the first round in the books. Blanchfield 10-9 for me. Not much action but Cortez spent most of the round defending what Blanchfield was doing. If you’re on the defence for the bulk of a round, I have a hard time thinking you won that round.

Round 2: Blanchfield shooting straight in for a takedown right away this time but no joy. It was a bit of a poor initial shot in response to Cortez catching her with a punch. But Cortez defends pretty well from there and actually manages to get the upper hand in the clinch and grappling for the rest of the round, which surprises me a bit. Even a green and inexperienced Blanchfield should have the advantage in the grappling here. It’s no fun to watch though this. Cortez is just holding her against the cage and kneeing the thighs. Cortez finally takes her down late in the round and immediately finds herself tangled up and trying to avoid the same armbar position she found herself in for most of the first round. Final seconds of the round…

Too little, too late. The round ends and it’s clearly Cortez 10-9. Blanchfield just never got going at all that round until the very last seconds with that attempt at a Kimura. So I’ve them a round apiece going into the third.

Round 3: Cortez landing some punches early and, oddly, initiates the grappling again. Why? It’s clear Blanchfield is no threat on the feet. And while Cortez isn’t great herself, she’s got the edge in the striking in this one for sure. Why would you take the path of most resistance? I’d like to chalk it up to inexperience but I don’t know. She’s never seemed the brightest bulb on the porch. This is a woman who once cut some of her hair off to make weight, then held the hair she cut off in her hand on the scales anyway. Anyway, yeah, her insistence to grapple has backfired and Blanchfield has taken her down. First time Blanchfield is in top position in this fight. This is what she’s been waiting for. She’s already passed the guard and there’s still about three minutes left in the round. Blanchfield with full mount. Not good for Cortez at all. Some soft ground and pound. Man, striking really isn’t Blanchfield’s thing, is it? But it was enough that it’s opened up the door for the arm triangle!

Disaster for Cortez. That decision to shoot for a takedown and clinch up early in the round has turned out to be a very bad one. Again, she’s kind of hindered by the cage. She can’t get the right angle on it and she’s lost the position. She briefly takes Cortez’s back but loses it and Cortez gets out of there and she’s back up with about 30 seconds left on the clock. Both look knackered. Cortez throwing some shite punches that reflect that. They clinch up again and that’s it until the round ends. That’s that. Not the best fight but they were both inexperienced so whatever. Obvious Blanchfield 10-9 so I’ve got her winning 29-28 overall.

Winner - Tracy Cortez by split decision.

I disagree. And Cortez looked as surprised as anyone there. Well, at least one of the judges got it right. I can’t find the full scorecards anywhere now but I can only assume it came down to that first round. The other rounds were clear. Cortez took the second, Blanchfield took the third. They must’ve just lazily scored the first round for Cortez because she was technically ‘on top’. But again, what does that matter when she’s been forced on the defence for the majority of the round? Blanchfield needed the judges from the Alexander Volkov vs Jailton Almeida fight the other week here. It’s not the worst robbery you’ll ever see but I don’t agree with the scoring myself. I’d always heard it was a bit of an iffy decision and watching it for the first time now, I have to agree. Doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme. It was early enough in both their careers that it wasn’t gonna define either of them. But that was Blanchfield’s only loss for ages until she dropped a decision to Manon Fiorot last year. You know that loss stung being the first and being a dodgy decision. She’ll no doubt be motivated to right the wrong in the rematch.

I think Blanchfield should win this time. I mean, I had her winning this first fight as a 19 year old rookie and I think she’s definitely the better fighter of the two now six years later. Still one dimensional but that dimension should still be enough to beat Cortez. Never been convinced by Cortez myself. Seen she’s been all over the place on social media this week and was claiming the other day that she didn’t even know Islam Makhachev was on this card. Yeah, alright. Course you didn’t. Either she’s made that up thinking it makes her look cool and above it all, or she’s actually just full-on dumb. Haven’t seen or heard much of Blanchfield and I guess that’s a good sign. She’s focused on winning the fight not gaining followers or getting likes. I know this is coming off shitty but I don’t even dislike Cortez. I just don’t get the impression she’s fully invested in MMA. Always feels like she’s got one foot in and one foot out to me. Neither are great to watch but I’m hoping Blanchfield gets the win here because 1) I feel like she got a raw deal with the judging last time and 2) I think she’s more likely to actually make some noise at the top end of the Flyweight division. Hopefully this is a good fight but I’m not holding my breath or anything. 

Edited November 15, 2025 by wandshogun09

[Dai]

Maybe the knee on the face is the same as when you can put your head in the other person's face, as long as its not striking when doing it and just rubbing.

Not the fight I thought you would have picked to rewatch, and it's not exactly got the juices flowing for that match. Blanchfield is a big favourate at the bookies for it, so they agree with your point of view. 

[wandshogun09]

5 minutes ago, Dai said:

Not the fight I thought you would have picked to rewatch, and it's not exactly got the juices flowing for that match. Blanchfield is a big favourate at the bookies for it, so they agree with your point of view. 

Yeah it was just because I was off work sick yesterday, had the house to myself which is very rare these days, and it was hammering down with rain so I wasn’t going anywhere. It’s the only rematch on the card as well so thought I’d give it a chance. Wasn’t very good. I’d like to say it was all just because they were both so green but I’m not expecting tonight’s rematch to be much better really.

Couple of cool pics from the weigh in…

Not sure what the deal is with Shev and those big goofy glasses. She’s barely taken them off all week.

Going Makhachev, Zhang, Brady, Leon and Dariush for my main card picks. 

[Dai]

This is actually a belter of a main card, isn't it? Probably the strongest main card I can think of for months and months. Even most numbered shows these days have some shite on it, but all 5 fights here are class. You have the Edwards and Brady fights which have a lot of importance and should be good watches, and then the Dariush/BSD opener which is better than most Fight Night headliners these days. 

 

Same picks as Wand, only with BSD picking up the win. 

[Bruce85]

Going for: 

Makhachev, Zhang, Brady, Prates, and BSD for the main picks. 
 

Hyped for this one now! 

[wandshogun09]

6 hours ago, Dai said:

This is actually a belter of a main card, isn't it? Probably the strongest main card I can think of for months and months. Even most numbered shows these days have some shite on it, but all 5 fights here are class. 

Really is. I completely forgot until yesterday that Brady vs Morales is happening. That’s a great fight and it’s going under the radar purely because of how strong overall the main card is. Might not be a barnburner but I think it’s a very interesting fight. Brady’s a tank but Morales is a bit of an unknown quantity for me. He’s looked good so far but I’m not sure how good he is. But he’s young, he’s undefeated and he looks huge for 170. It’s a really risky one for Brady to take given the position he was already in. Ballsy and I get his logic for taking the fight but it could backfire.

Found out why Shev’s been wearing them glasses. Apparently they’re some meta bollocks gimmick. This has creased me though…