UFC Winnipeg: Burns vs Malott - Apr 18 🇨🇦

[wandshogun09]

Ha, this is tomorrow…

PARAMOUNT+ MAIN CARD
Gilbert Burns vs Mike Malott

Kyler Phillips vs Charles Jourdain 

Jai Herbert vs Mandel Nallo

Jasmine Jasudavicius vs Karine Silva 

Thiago Moises vs Gauge Young 

PARAMOUNT+ PRELIMS
Dennis Buzukja vs Marcio Barbosa 

Robert Valentin vs Julien Leblanc

Tanner Boser vs Gokhan Saricam 

Melissa Croden vs Darya Zheleznyakova

JJ Aldrich vs Jamey-Lyn Horth 

Mitch Raposo vs Allan Nascimento 

John Castaneda vs Mark Vologdin 

Jamie Siraj vs John Yannis 

 

Not much to this one. If we’re being honest we’ve had Apex cards that looked stronger than this going in. But whatever. It’s a Canada card full of Canadians. There are some decent fights on there, couple of debuts I’ll be keeping an eye on and at least the crowd should be invested. Worth a skim on Sunday. Not gonna whinge too much because the cards have actually been quite fun lately.

 

Gilbert Burns vs Mike Malott headlines. Yeah. Is it any wonder why I haven’t been in a hurry to knock this post up? I like Burns a lot, seems a great guy and he’s been a very good fighter over the years. But it feels like he’s on his last legs at this point. And Malott? They don’t make ‘em any blander than Mike Malott. Nothing against the bloke but there’s just fuck all to talk about there. He’s plain, dry, flavourless Ryvita in MMA fighter form. They keep trying with him though and here he is headlining a card in front of a home crowd. This is his chance to get in the rankings. He’s unranked, Burns is at #11.

Yeah, just not sure what Burns has left now. He’s gonna turn 40 in July, he’s 22-9 and he’s coming into this fight off a four fight losing streak. There was a time a few years back when he was legitimately one of the top Welterweights in the game. He was never gonna be the champion, there was always that one guy he couldn’t beat. But he was always in and around that mix at the top end of the 170 division. Beat Gunnar Nelson, Demian Maia, Tyron Woodley, Wonderboy Thompson, Neil Magny and Jorge Masvidal. And he was one of those guys who had that reputation that he’d step up and take fights against anyone, regardless of ranking or status. He genuinely didn’t seem to give a fuck and it was quite refreshing. He was the first guy to really give Khamzat Chimaev a test as well back in 2022. First guy to take Khamzat the distance and, while he clearly lost that fight, he made a scrap of it and had a few moments. Fought for the title in 2021 but lost to Kamaru Usman. He’s clearly been on the slide the last few years though. In his last four fights he’s lost to Belal Muhammad, Jack Della Maddalena, Sean Brady and Michael Morales. OK, all top guys. But losses are losses and it’s been three whole years now since Gilbert got a win. At nearly 40, it’s gonna be hard to come back from that. His last loss was rough as well…

He got beat down and stopped in a round by Michael Morales at the Apex last May. Fair enough, Morales has turned out to be one of the scariest rising contenders in the division. But Burns offered basically no resistance and got walked through, which never usually happens to him. He suffered concussion issues after that loss, which is why we haven’t seen him for the best part of a year.

“The Michael Morales fight was a weird one. Half of me thought that I quit. And then I rewatched it, I had a concussion. The guy was huge and hit me really hard. I was like, okay I didn’t quit. I wasn’t out but I fell and my head got swollen very big, next day bigger. And then the swelling went off and I was good for a week or so…and then I think it was International Fight Week, I got a flight to Vegas. On that flight, it kind of came back. My head was exploding when I got there. I went to the PI, did a bunch of tests, still had a concussion. Felt nauseous, throwing up, and then we had to readjust all the protocol again. Started doing hyperbaric chambers, going to the diet supplementation again. After that it was a month and a half and I was back in training.”

“I am turning 40 this year. As I am getting older, what drives me is that I know I can still do better. I’ve been 12 years in the UFC. This is going to be my 25th fight. Fought the best of the best. All this experience that I have, it’s time to use it. Because I want to prove to myself that I can still do this on the highest level. I still believe I can perform against these young guys, but I need to work my butt off.” - Gilbert Burns

Sounds grim. We hear the word ‘concussion’ so much that you almost become desensitised to it but when you actually stop and think about your brain rattling around and swelling up like that, it’s fucking terrifying. I hope I’m wrong but I feel like he’s kind of deluding himself in that second paragraph there. It’s something no fighter ever wants to accept but, at 40, your best days are behind you and they’re never coming back no matter how much you “work your butt off”. It does kind of amuse me though how people talk about Malott like he’s some promising young prospect. He’s gonna be 35 himself this year.

Malott‘s the home fighter here. Hailing from Burlington, Ontario, Canada. He’s 13-2-1 with 11 of his wins coming inside the distance. Made his UFC debut back in 2022 (on the same card that Burns fought Khamzat actually) and stopped Mickey Gall in a round. Had a couple of wins after that and then ran into Neil Magny. From what I remember, Malott was winning that whole fight and appeared to be cruising to a comfortable decision win when he inexplicably fell to bits in the last minute or so and Magny subbed him with 15 seconds left on the clock.

Disaster. It’s been his only loss so far in the UFC but it’s the main thing that sticks in the memory about him for me. He bounced back with wins over Trevin Giles and Charles Radtke and then beat Kevin Holland on points in his last fight on the Vancouver card in October. Easily the biggest win of Malott’s career to date but, even that, it was a mess of a fight and not exactly a ‘clean win’ for Malott considering he blasted Holland in the bollocks a couple of times and it clearly altered the trajectory of the fight after that.

What do we make of this then? Not the best is it? They’re obviously trying to set this up as Malott’s big breakthrough moment in front of a Canadian crowd but I hope Burns wins. And I think he very well could. As much as I’ve said above that I think he’s pretty close to done, I’m so unconvinced by Malott that I think Burns could still win this one. And while Burns is coming off those four losses, Malott is a significant step down from those four guys. In that sense, this should tell us a lot about what Burns has left in the tank. Because it’s one thing losing to Belal, or JDM, or Brady, or a monster like Morales. It’s another thing entirely losing to Malott. That would suggest Burns is fully washed up to me, especially if he looks bad in defeat as well. We’ll see. But if Burns isn’t completely shot to bits, I absolutely think this is a fight he can still win. But pushing 40, four fight losing skid, concussion problems and a year layoff? Yeah, I’m not exactly confident.

 

Kyler Phillips vs Charles Jourdain could be a really exciting fight if they’re both up for it. At one point I think both were seen as decent prospects but patchy form and hot and cold results have knackered that up. Both are still only 30, so they’re far from the scrapheap, but I don’t see either suddenly finding the consistency to become a contender in a loaded division like Bantamweight. Nothing wrong with that either. Not everyone can be a title threat. They’ll provide fun fights here and there regardless and I think this could be one of them. Jourdain is Canadian so he should be fired up to fight at home again. He’s 17-8-1 with 15 finishes and submitted Davey Grant in a round in Vancouver back in October. He subbed Victor Henry before that as well. Both wins bagged him POTN bonuses. And to be fair to Jourdain, that Henry fight was his debut at 135. So for all my talk of inconsistency, that was up at 145. At 135, he’s currently 2-0. We’ll see how it goes. Phillips is 12-4 and coming off back-to-back decision losses to Rob Font and Vinicius Oliveira.

 

Jai Herbert vs Mandel Nallo is Winnipeg’s ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** here. Try and say that ten times. There isn’t much to choose from on this card but I am actually looking forward to this. It’s Nallo’s UFC debut. I knew I recognised the name so looked him up and he fought a bunch of times in Bellator a few years ago. Wasn’t a world beater there, won some, lost some. But he scored some big knockouts and one of them is obviously why his name was stuck somewhere in my memory. I’m pretty sure it was this one…

Fuck me! Anyway, depending on where you look, Nallo’s nickname is either ‘Mango’ or…’Rat Garbage’. OK then. He’s Canadian, trains out of Tristar (they’re still going?), he’s 36 years old and has a record of 14-3-0-1 with 14 not making it to the scorecards. He’s currently on a five fight winning streak and finished all five of those fights in the first round. Fought on DWCS in September and knocked out Samuel Silva in about three minutes. At 36, of course he’s no spring chicken. Time is of the essence. But he seems like an entertaining fighter and if he was ever gonna have a bash at the UFC, it’s now or never really. Herbert is from Wolverhampton, turns 38 a few weeks after this fight and he’s 13-6-1 with 10 finishes. Very mixed results in the UFC. His most memorable moment was when he blasted and actually dropped Ilia Topuria with a headkick in their fight in London back in 2022, but even then, it was a fleeting moment of success and Topuria came back and absolutely waffled him into an unconscious heap the following round. Herbert comes into this fight off a split decision loss against Chris Padilla on the March 2025 London card. So he’s been out over a year now. He’s primarily a striker so him and Nallo should have at least a solid stand up fight for as long as it lasts. Timing and recent results would suggest Nallo is probably gonna have a successful Octagon debut but you never know.

 

Jasmine Jasudavicius vs Karine Silva is whatever. Not the worst fight but it’s not grabbing me either. Canada’s own Jasudavicius returns to home soil here to try to rebound from her devastating loss against Manon Fiorot back in October. She’d been on a solid five fight win streak prior to that, was coming off a first round submission over former champ Jessica Andrade and was put in with Fiorot, who was the #2 ranked Flyweight at the time, and given home field advantage in Vancouver. Had she won that fight, I genuinely think she might’ve got a title shot.

Didn’t exactly pan out. Fiorot, who had mostly been a decision machine in the UFC to that point, decided that then would be the time to absolutely blitz someone in the first round. What a bitch. Seriously, felt bad for Jasmine. I doubt she’d have had anything to trouble Valentina Shevchenko with had she got the title shot anyway but what a way for it all to go up in smoke. Faceplanted in front of your home crowd in a minute and change? Ruthless. She’s already 37 as well. It’s not like she’s got a ton of time to climb back into contention. She might never get there again. If she loses this fight, she can probably forget about it. Brazil’s Silva is 32 years old with a record of 19-6 and 17 finishes. Unusually high finish rate for a female Flyweight that. I remember enjoying her first few UFC fights actually. She busted out a couple of quick submissions and I remember her mangling Ketlen Souza’s leg with a gruesome kneebar. She’s gone off the boil a bit of late though, dropping decisions to Viviane Araujo and Maycee Barber in two out of her last three fights.

 

Thiago Moises vs Gauge Young. Dunno. Moises is going nowhere. When I looked him up I was amazed to see he’s still only 31 years old. Feels like he’s been on the roster for donkeys years. He actually main evented a Fight Night against Islam Makhachev back in 2021, which seems mad looking back. Survived into the fourth round as well before being subbed. He’s been all over the shop results-wise over the years. He’s 19-9 now and was last seen getting knocked out inside a round by Jared Gordon last May. Barely remember Gauge Young. He’s only fought twice in the UFC, lost a decision against Evan Elder in his debut, then won a decision against Maheshate Hayisaer on the Shanghai card in August. I’m hazy on him. He’s 25 years old and 10-3 with 7 finishes.

 

Dennis Buzukja vs Marcio Barbosa is another one I’m only half vaguely familiar with. Seen Buzukja a few times. He’s 28 years old, 12-5 with 6 finishes, fights out of New York and he’s a Ray Longo guy. Hasn’t fought since August 2024 for some reason though. And he was floundering then. He’s gone 1-3 in the UFC so far and lost a split decision to Francis Marshall last time out. Barbosa is making his Octagon debut here. He’s Brazilian, 27 years old and 17-2 with 16 inside the distance. He’s on a four fight winning streak, all four ended in the first round, including his first round TKO win on DWCS last August. Doesn’t sound like the worst signing.

 

Robert Valentin vs Julien Leblanc. Never seen Leblanc before and this’ll be his UFC debut. But just looking at it on paper, this feels like the matchmakers basically booking a squash match for Leblanc his first night in. He’s Canadian as well so a showcase win wouldn’t hurt as an introduction to the UFC. He’s 34 years old, 10-2 with 8 finishes, on a five fight win streak and stopped his last three opponents. Switzerland’s Valentin is 31 and has a 10-6-0-1 record. And he’s been a 100% pure jobber in the UFC so far. Winless. He’s gone 0-3, was finished in two of them and got bashed up in just over a minute by Ateba Gautier last time out. Basically, if you’ve got anything about you, anything at all, you really shouldn’t be losing to this guy.

 

Tanner Boser vs Gokhan Saricam. Heavyweights. Kind of enough said really. We just had that unexpected Hokit vs Blaydes banger. That’s our quota filled now, we’ll probably have to wait another three years for another good Heavyweight fight. Boser is making his return to the UFC here. He had a ten fight stint that lasted from late 2019 to summer 2023 and went 5-5 in that time. Most notable opponents were Ciryl Gane and Andrei Arlovski and he lost to both by decision. His last couple of UFC fights were at 205 and he left on a points win over Aleksa Camur in August 2023. He’s only fought once since, back up at Heavyweight, stopping Vinicius Moreira on a UAE Warriors card back in June last year. He’s Canadian, 34 years old and now 22-10-1 with 14 finishes. Saricam’s Turkish, 35 years old and 11-2 with 8 finishes. This is his UFC debut but he previously fought in Bellator. A quick scan of his record tells me he beat Kiril ‘Baby Fedor’ Sidelnikov in 2022. There’s a fat, doughy, underwhelming blast from the past.

 

Melissa Croden vs Darya Zheleznyakova is just prelim filler but whatever. Croden is Canadian so it makes sense having her on this card. She’s 35 years old with a record of 7-3, all finishes. Fought in LFA previously and made her UFC debut in Vancouver in October and got the late TKO win over Tainara Lisboa. She fought again at the Apex in December and lost on points to Luana Santos. Can’t even remember if I saw either of those fights though so fuck knows? Russia’s Zheleznyakova, AKA the ‘Iron Lady’, is 30 with a 10-2 record, 5 by KO/TKO. She’s 2-1 in the UFC so far. Comes into this fight off a decision win over Melissa Mullins in their rematch on the Azerbaijan card in June. She’d previously lost to Mullins in the Ares FC promotion.

 

JJ Aldrich vs Jamey-Lyn Horth. Nothing. No fucks to give. Going through the motions…Aldrich is 33 years old, 14-7 and beat Andrea Lee on points in her last fight in March 2025 at the Apex. She’s been in the UFC since 2016. 2016. Two thousand and sixteen! It’ll be a whole decade in December. And I couldn’t have told you anything about her record if I hadn’t gone onto her Wiki page. And I must’ve watched a bunch of her fights over the years. Zero memory whatsoever. Nothing against the woman but that is some astounding mediocrity. Horth’s Canadian, 36 years old and 9-2 with 5 finishes. She’s coming off a couple of wins here and scored a first round TKO over Tereza Bleda last time out in December.

 

John Castaneda vs Mark Vologdin might be worth a look on the Fight Pass bit. It’s Bantamweight, very rare the 135ers are bad to watch. Castaneda is 34 years old and 21-8 with 14 finishes. Hasn’t fought in a year now for some reason. He dropped a split decision against Chris Gutierrez last April. Lost on points against Daniel Marcos in his fight before that as well, so 0-2 in his last two here. Vologdin’s making his UFC debut. He’s Russian, 25 years old and 12-4-1 with 10 not seeing the judges scorecards. Oddly, he lost a unanimous decision on DWCS in his last fight yet here he is. Anyone see that? Considering there have been fighters who didn’t get a contract after a win on DWCS, it’s a bit of an odd one, unless there was some kind of controversy?

 

Jamie Siraj vs John Yannis jerks the curtain and was thrown together pretty late in the day. Think it was announced about a week before show time. Guessing these two were training anyway when the call came. I’ll give this a go. It’s the UFC debut of Siraj and I saw a bit of positivity to the announcement of his signing. Never heard of him myself but he’s Canadian, 31 years old and has a record of 14-3 with 11 finishes. Hasn’t beat anyone of note and I see he got spin kick KO’d by ex UFC fighter Diego Brandao just last year. Not great. He’s won two fights by submission since then. Yannis is also 31, he’s 9-4 with 5 coming by KO/TKO and got subbed in a round by Austin Bashi in his UFC debut back in August.

 

The end 🍁 

Edited April 17 by wandshogun09

[Egg Shen]

Yeah, dont hate this. If if it was at the Apex id probably skip it but I like it witg a crowd, especially with lots of hometown fighters on, this is how it should be on a show like this.

On the subject of Vologdin, his fight went viral if you remember. Fight of the Year type stuff on the Contender Series, both guys got contracts.

 

[wandshogun09]

Ahh makes sense then now on Vologdin! Vaguely recall something about that doing the rounds on Twitter but didn’t put Vologdin’s name to it. I’m obviously fine with DWCS losers getting contracts if they’re having bangers. 

[Dai]

The top half of this card delivered, which is all you can hope for on these shows. I cant remember anything from the two fights before the Herbert fight, which says it all about them. That Herbert KO was class though, and mirrored the Jiri KO from last week quite a bit. Great stuff. The Jourdain fight was a very good, high energy scrap too, and Malott finished the fight as perfectly as possible. It was a bit plodding to begin with, but when he started letting his hands go. Burns just couldnt cope with the power. Looked like they were huge power punches, even though it didnt look like he was throwing them with full force either. That initial combination with the uppercut was lethal too. 

[wandshogun09]

This came and went. Not bad, not great, just there.

Mike Malott got it done in the main event. He looked good, looked huge in there on the night and got the finish in what was the biggest name, highest profile fight of his career to date. Might sound harsh but I’m still not convinced though. You can’t fault him, he turned up and did his job about as well as you could have expected him to. But I don’t think it tells us much really because Gilbert Burns was clearly way past his best. Not Malott’s fault. He could only fight the version of Burns that showed up and sport is all about timing. It just so happened that Burns’ time was up.

Gilbert Burns retiring was the main story coming out of this card. I was happy and kind of relieved to see Burns call it a day after. Unless he’s got some dark secret that he’s hidden really well over the last decade plus, he’s one of the good guys in a sport full of cunts. Nobody has a bad word to say about him, from other fighters to media who have dealt with him to fans who’ve met him. Just a class act. Everyone likes Gilbert. Except the arsehole crowd in Winnipeg apparently. I get they were gonna cheer for the Canadian, of course they were. But booing Burns and then chanting “Fuck you Gilbert” during the fight? I thought Canadians were meant to be the nice version of Americans? Burns had quite a run. Took on all comers, sometimes probably to his detriment. Fought for the title, gave Khamzat probably his hardest fight to date etc. Luke Thomas raised a good point this week, that MMA was Burns’ second career. He was a BJJ world champion first. He did well. Sad to see him go out on a stoppage loss but I don’t think he would’ve retired if he’d won. It’s for the best. Hopefully he sticks to it. From what he’s been saying since the fight, it genuinely seems like he’s had enough and seems to recognise that, at this point, carrying on now would just be him fighting purely for a paycheque and he doesn’t wanna do that.

Saw Burns talking the other day about going into MMA management and it sounds like he’s looking to battle for fighter’s rights and pay. He said “Those fights have to happen with Hunter Campbell, Sean Shelby and Mick Maynard. I know already it’s not going to be peaceful every single time.” So expect him to become an enemy of Dana and co in the not too distant future.

Jourdain vs Phillips was fun as expected. Was never gonna be anything less than at least good was it? Don’t even have much to say other than, if you’re familiar with these two, it was pretty much exactly as you’d picture a fight between them. Frantic pace, lots of movement and energy, lots of action. Phillips had some good takedowns but didn’t do a whole lot with them and I felt like Jourdain was the one doing a bit more damage whenever he had the chance. That ended up paying off for him on the scorecards.

Jai Herbert vs Mandel Nallo was about as wild as a two minute fight gets. What a rollercoaster of a fight. Tremendous come from behind finish for Herbert as well.

That’s after being rocked and wobbled more than once himself, then dropping Nallo out of nowhere, then Nallo surviving and going for leg locks and shit, then Jai finally put him down for the finish. Madness. Two guys who looked like they had the exact same build just trying to behead each other in there. It was always gonna be enjoyable given both of their striking, which is partly why I highlighted it in the opening post, but it surpassed even my expectations. Felt a bit bad for Nallo, UFC debut on home soil, comes within nanoseconds of getting the finish, only to get walloped like that. Bullshit that these two never got a bonus. It was short but I’d probably have given this FOTN over Jourdain vs Phillips myself.

Was happy to see Jasmine Jasudavicius get back in the win column at home. After getting faceplanted by Fiorot in Vancouver last time out, it would’ve been rough if she’d lost twice in a row in Canada. Didn’t pay close attention to this, it didn’t look much good, but felt like a really close one to me by the end. Wasn’t a split but Jasmine must’ve just scraped it on all three scorecards. Sadly, at 37, I think she’s already maxed out her potential.

Marcio Barbosa was the standout of the prelims by far for me. Maybe the whole card. What a fucking knockout! So beautiful I had to gif two angles of it…

Dennis Buzukja couldn’t have hit the deck harder if he’d been shot by an actual bazooka. Barbosa knew it was a wrap the second it landed as well. Instantly raised his hands and started walking off. Not a ton you can take away from this, Buzukja hasn’t been doing too well in the UFC and hadn’t fought in a long time. And it was over in just over a minute so we didn’t get to see much of Barbosa at all. But as an introduction, he couldn’t have dreamed of a better one. Interested to see who they match him up with next. Featherweight is full of tough tests and potential bangers for him. Definitely gonna be making a point to look out for his next fight.

Gokhan Saricam absolutely smoked Tanner Boser. And to add insult to injury, Herb Dean kicked Boser in the head for good measure.

Never change Herb. You big dopey klutz. Worst return to the UFC imaginable for Boser that. In Canada as well. Nice debut for Saricam though. It’s Heavyweight so it’s probably not gonna amount to anything. It’s not like he looked particularly impressive before the finish here. But definitely not a bad way to end your Octagon debut.

Castaneda vs Vologdin was a fun little scrap. Shame the fouls detracted from it, although they ended up saving Vologdin from a loss due to Castaneda getting a point deducted. So it worked out for Vologdin in a fucked up and painful way. A draw is better than a loss anyway. First time seeing Vologdin and based on this and hearing about that belter he’s supposed to have had on DWCS, he’s clearly gonna be a fun addition to the roster. Can’t see him doing too well but he’s someone they’ll probably keep around if he keeps putting on fights like this.

[Dai]

First time seeing that Barboza KO. Nasty stuff! Reminded me of the Jonny Hendricks KO of Fitch.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah, sure there was another one like that fairly recently. Think it was me and you who talked about it but can’t remember who it was giving or receiving the KO for the life of me.

Got it @Dai it was Punahele Soriano vs Uros Medic from January 2025.

And while we’re on the subject, the Hendricks vs Fitch KO…

Edited April 25 by wandshogun09

[Dai]

Couple of belters! I assume even for the Sorianno one we mentioned Hendricks too. Speaking of, I'm sure the Kampman KO that Hendricks did had a similar feel to it, where the person getting KO'd just falls like an oak tree.

Edited April 25 by Dai

[wandshogun09]

9 minutes ago, Dai said:

Speaking of, I'm sure the Kampman KO that Hendricks did had a similar feel to it, where the person getting KO'd just falls like an oak tree.

Yep.

Mad thing is, that was the last finish Hendricks ever had. That’s November 2012, he fought until November 2017 and not only never knocked anyone out again, he went 4-7 in his next 11 fights. In fairness, some of that was down to the ridiculous toughness of some of the opponents. I remember he had Condit hurt a few times but he wouldn’t go away. And there was the 50 combined minutes of war against Robbie Lawler in their two fights. But it’s always funny to me how he went from knocking people dead to not being able to stop anyone seemingly overnight. Lots of PED rumours at the time and it does kind of ring true. Memory’s hazy now but didn’t he try to accuse GSP of juicing in the buildup to their fight but then got all weird when GSP demanded extra drug testing? Always thought Hendricks behaviour was suspicious there, and his subsequent drop off in form only made it look worse in hindsight.

Keep meaning to rewatch GSP vs Hendricks actually. From time to time I still see it mentioned as ‘one of the worst robberies ever’ and my memory of it never lined up with that. I remember it being close but no robbery. Maybe a rewatch would be interesting. I might do a thread soon revisiting random old fights like that. 

[jimufctna24]

4 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

But it’s always funny to me how he went from knocking people dead to not being able to stop anyone seemingly overnight. Lots of PED rumours at the time and it does kind of ring true. Memory’s hazy now but didn’t he try to accuse GSP of juicing in the buildup to their fight but then got all weird when GSP demanded extra drug testing? Always thought Hendricks behaviour was suspicious there, and his subsequent drop off in form only made it look worse in hindsight.

Keep meaning to rewatch GSP vs Hendricks actually. From time to time I still see it mentioned as ‘one of the worst robberies ever’ and my memory of it never lined up with that. I remember it being close but no robbery. Maybe a rewatch would be interesting. I might do a thread soon revisiting random old fights like that. 

Hendricks's decline was largely attributed to IVs being banned in late 2015, which helped fighters rehydrate and perform well after extreme weight cuts. However, IVs could also be used to mask PED use, which is why there was so much controversy over Mayweather being given a waiver by USADA to use a IV before his bout with Pacquiao. 

Iirc, I watched GSP vs Hendricks twice, once live, once a few days after it occurred. Live, I scored the fight 48-47 to Hendricks. However, I scored the fight 48-47 to GSP upon the rewatch a few days later. However, the consensus today appears to be that Hendricks won, and I also despised Hendricks at the time (I never really warmed to him), so I can imagine I would score it to Hendricks if I watched again today. 

[Dai]

I think Hendricks and Barao either just had bad timing, or there was something in the USADA timing. With the IVs, I'm sure I remember seeing lots of bad pictures of Hendricks weighing in, so if he was gaining such an advantage from IVs then that would have had a massive impact. I'm sure he missed weight loads after the ban too.

[jimufctna24]

1 hour ago, Dai said:

I think Hendricks and Barao either just had bad timing, or there was something in the USADA timing. With the IVs, I'm sure I remember seeing lots of bad pictures of Hendricks weighing in, so if he was gaining such an advantage from IVs then that would have had a massive impact. I'm sure he missed weight loads after the ban too.

Correct. 

After the IV ban, Hendricks got sparked by Wonderboy in the opening round, then missed weight twice for his next two bouts at welterweight, both of which he also lost. Hendricks then moved up to middleweight, where he lost two out of his three fights at that weight, and somehow managed to miss weight for one of those bouts. 

Whether Hendricks was using the IVs to mask PED use in addition to recovering from extreme weight cuts is unclear. What is clear Hendricks was very reliant on IVs to be a top fighter, perhaps more so than any other notable UFC fighter. Without the IVs, Hendricks would show up to welterweight fights completely drained and still sometimes miss weight. Even at middleweight, where Hendricks would naturally give up a lot of the size advantage he had at welterweight, he would still seemingly struggle to cut weight effectively and again show up to fights drained. 

Edited April 25 by jimufctna24