UFC Sacramento: Hernandez vs Rodrigues - Aug 22 🇺🇸

[wandshogun09]

This has to be THE latest I’ve ever got a thread up for a UFC card. Life’s just got in the way of everything lately. They’re going back to Cali tonight…

PARAMOUNT+ MAIN CARD
Anthony Hernandez vs Gregory Rodrigues 

Serghei Spivac vs Vitor Petrino 

Reinier De Ridder vs Roman Dolidze 

MarQuel Mederos vs Mason Jones 

Carli Judice vs Jeisla Chaves

Anthony Wint vs Terrance Chatman 

PARAMOUNT+ PRELIMS
Jamall Emmers vs Lerryan Douglas 

Shamil Gaziev vs Kennedy Nzechukwu 

Nasrat Haqparast vs Chris Padilla 

Ryan Kuse vs Marcio Barbosa 

Gauge Young vs Stan Dorsainvil 

Jackson McVey vs Wes Schultz 

Shanelle Dyer vs Elise Reed 
 

 

Not a killer card or anything but it’ll do. I love the main event, I’m hoping De Ridder can get back on track so I’m invested there, Mason Jones delivers better than Amazon Prime and there’s a couple of guys on the prelims who made an impression in their debuts last time (Douglas/Barbosa) so I’m looking forward to seeing them back out there. Worth a skim over your Sunday fry up.
 

 

‘Fluffy’ Hernandez vs ‘Robocop’ Rodrigues is a cracking main event. You can never guarantee how any fight is gonna play out but I’d be surprised if this isn’t at least fun and it has the potential to be more than just that. Really like this pairing and I forgot it was even booked until earlier this week. Now it’s upon us. Glad these two are getting a headline spot and especially on a card in front of a proper crowd. All the ingredients for a banger are here. Let’s see how it plays out.

Bit of a home game for Hernandez here. He was born in California and trained out of there most of his career. He’s 32 years old, 15-3-0-1 with 12 of his wins ending before the final buzzer and has notable wins over Brendan Allen twice, a submission win over BJJ world champ Rodolfo Vieira and finishes of Edmen Shahbazyan, Roman Kopylov, Michel Pereira and Roman Dolidze. Not too shabby. But he’s coming into this fight off the back of that TKO loss and all around awful showing against Sean Strickland on the Houston card in February. The loss itself wasn’t the end of the world, and it really hasn’t aged too badly considering Strickland went on to win the title and beat Khamzat in his very next fight. But Fluffy’s performance itself was complete dogshit and that felt much more damaging than who he lost to. He was on an eight fight winning streak going into that fight and had some real momentum but the way he just sort of wilted so rapidly under Strickland’s pressure was alarming. It was clear he needed to drastically change something up after that loss. He’s decided to switch his training up. And look who he’s working with now…

Yep. Fluffy is apparently going by the phrase “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” and has been training with his old buddy old pal Strickland at Xtreme Couture in Vegas for this fight. Interesting. It’s certainly a different look for Hernandez but I’m not really sure what it’s gonna do for his overall game. Fluffy strikes me as almost the ultimate front runner. If he can get his game going early, it’s hard to stop him. But if you can halt his momentum and put him on the backfoot before he can get the ball rolling, he kind of loses heart. I don’t think that can be trained out of him. We’ll see though. Maybe the change of scenery will do him good.

“I had to make some adjustments. Train with better guys, sharpen some shit up and make sure that I’m not doing dumb shit. It was great, man. It was a fucking blast. It kind of re-sparked that love for martial arts for me. I was kind of getting sick of Sacramento anyway. So going out there was fucking exciting, it was new, it was fun. A lot of the guys I fought and there’s a lot of new hungry guys and they’ll take your head off if you fucking let them. So for me it was about jumping in the fire and having to sharpen all my tools with guys with multiple layers, you know what I mean?”

“I’m focused on Gregory Rodrigues right now, that’s all I can think about. He called me out, so it’s like, if you think you can take me out, perfect. Let’s fucking do it. I know he’s dangerous. I’m not sleeping on him. I know he’s a really cool guy, I’ve met him before. But at the end of the day, this guy’s got to take care of his family and so do I. So let’s fucking get it.” - Anthony Hernandez

Brazil’s Rodrigues is 34 years old with a record of 19-6 and 15 inside the distance. Oddly enough, he’s a BJJ black-belt and supposed to be a really good grappler but you wouldn’t really know by watching most of his fights. Only 3 of his 19 wins have came by submission, yet he’s scored 12 knockouts. The bloke just loves to throw hands. He’s been on the roster since 2021 now and amazingly this is only his second UFC main event. In an era when there’s a card almost every weekend and when we’ve seen some absolute dross headliners, why would you not have guys like Rodrigues, who are pretty damn reliable for delivering slobberknockers, regularly headlining these things? He did lose his last main event, he got stopped in the fourth round by Jared Cannonier in February last year at the Apex. But it was a good old scrap and Robocop certainly had his moments. Since that loss he’s rattled off three straight wins. He brutally knocked out Jack Hermansson last June, beat Roman Kopylov on points at MSG in November, then in March this year he sparked Brunno Ferreira in under two minutes, avenging his 2023 loss to Ferreira.

And we’re set. Both made weight. We’re good to go. Looking forward to this one. Not sure how it’s gonna go but I’m kind of leaning towards Rodrigues myself. Grappling is Fluffy’s go-to main strength but I’m not sure he’s better than Rodrigues there or how effective he’ll be. And on the feet, I think Robocop wins that battle all day. I think he’s the better striker and he’s definitely got the power advantage. The most likely path to victory I see for Fluffy is if he can drag it into the later rounds and maybe just outlast Rodrigues. Like I say, we did see Robocop start strong against Cannonier but then Cannonier finished him down the stretch. Problem is, Fluffy’s probably gonna have to take a beating to drag it late and that’s never a smart gameplan. Plus, again, I’m not sure Fluffy is wired to gut through and weather that initial storm to get to the later rounds. Then there’s his weakness to the body shots. Yeah, I’m talking myself into a Robocop win here. Hopefully it’s a good fight either way though.

 

Serghei Spivac vs Vitor Petrino is co-main event. For some reason. These bout orders since the Paramount deal kicked in are always head scratchers to me. I’d have thought the De Ridder fight would be in this spot but no. Whatever. Can’t say I’m feeling this one. Spivac is far from the worst Heavyweight in the UFC but that’s not exactly a ringing endorsement either. He’s 31 years old, 18-6 with 15 finishes and he’s more of a clincher/grappler. He was one of the guys who squashed Greg Hardy during his failed UFC run so I kind of have a soft spot for him. But it’s been very hit and miss overall. He’s got submission wins over Derrick Lewis and Marcin Tybura but he’s came up short when he’s stepped in with an Aspinall, Gane, Jailton or Waldo. He’s coming off a decision over Ante Delija in a rotten fight now. Petrino is on a three fight win streak but I’m not convinced. He certainly looks the part. He’s probably the best example of “if a look/physique won you a title this guy would rule the world” since Cheick Kongo years ago. But you watch him and it’s really nothing special. He’s gone 3-0 since moving up to Heavyweight but it’s a ‘streak’ over Austen Lane, Thomas Petersen and Steven Asplund. The Asplund win was alright but it’s hardly a reign of terror is it? Yeah expectations aren’t high for this.

 

Reinier De Ridder vs Roman Dolidze is an interesting one but it’s crazy how quick all the buzz around De Ridder completely evaporated isn’t it? He came in with a bit of hype from his run in ONE and then immediately blasted through four straight wins in the UFC within less than a year in the promotion. With that kind of activity and then the fourth win being over Robert Whittaker, it wasn’t a surprise when people started talking about him being close to a title shot. It felt like a Du Plessis vs De Ridder title fight was inevitable and it would’ve arguably been the most spectacularly goofy title fight in UFC history. Then it all went tits up. DDP got rinsed by Khamzat and then De Ridder somehow lost to Brendan Allen of all people. I think we all chalked that one up to De Ridder being burnt out from the constant back-to-back fights, plus Allen was a late replacement. OK. But then De Ridder looked shite in his next fight, losing on points against Caio Borralho in March. At this point the train has come right off the track and De Ridder has some serious work to do. Dolidze isn’t a bum but he’s nothing special and he’s coming off back-to-back losses himself here. I think De Ridder should beat him but I thought he’d school Brendan Allen and look how that turned out.

 

MarQuel Mederos vs Mason Jones is gonna have to be ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** this time. And no disrespect to the man but it’s nothing to do with Mederos. He’s 29 years old, 11–1-1 with 6 by KO/TKO and he’s coming off a draw against Chris Padilla on the Miami card in April. He’s fought in the UFC four times now, I probably saw all four fights and I can’t remember shit about any of them. Never a good sign. Yet still, I’m highlighting this purely because it involves Mason Jones.

We last saw him on the London card in March and he beat Axel Sola by decision in a batshit FOTY contender. I’m not sure I’d have it at number one but it’d be right up there at the top of the list, if I had such a list. And even his fight before that, he stopped Bolaji Oki in another corker. He’s just one of those rough, scrappy, hard nosed sods whose style doesn’t really allow for boring fights. It’s almost MMA blasphemy to compare anyone to Robbie Lawler or Dustin Poirier but Jones is kind of in that mould for me as far as just being so aggressive that you’d really have to go out of your way to somehow have a bad fight with them. Jones was exciting to watch in his first UFC stint but results didn’t go his way. This time around he seems much better prepared. Not sure how far he can take this run but it’s definitely gonna be fun to watch.

 

Carli Judice vs Jeisla Chaves. Again, looks a bit odd on the main card. Judice is 27 years old and 6-2 with 5 by KO/TKO. She’s had her moments from bits I’ve seen, to be fair. She had a couple of really nice back-to-back finishes last year with a headkick over Yuneisy Duben and a beautiful knee to the body against Nicolle Caliari. But as much as they looked cool, they were over low level opposition. Then she beat Juliana Miller last time out but only managed a decision. I don’t know. Chaves is Brazilian, 29 years old and undefeated at 8-0 with 4 via strikes. She won a split decision on DWCS last September then made her UFC debut in June against Duben and again won by split decision. Not filling me with anticipation this but I might give it a chance.

 

Anthony Wint vs Terrance Chatman opens up the main card. No clue. Octagon debuts for both. Wint is 30 years old, unbeaten at 7-0 with 6 finishes and he looks like he’d be really good at opening jars. Seriously, seen a couple of pics on Twitter of his photo shoot in the UFC shorts and he’s built like a Hasbro. He literally just fought on DWCS in early August and got a TKO in just 34 seconds. Chatman doesn’t even have an age listed on Sherdog or Tapology. He’s 5-1 with 4 finishes and coming off a win by TKO via leg kicks in July. He lost his fight before that by split decision. Don’t know enough about either to give any real insight but my hunch is that Wint is the guy they wanna highlight here. Just a hunch.

 

Jamall Emmers vs Lerryan Douglas could be worth a look. Emmers is 37 years old now, so no spring chicken. He’s on decent form recently, he’s 22-8 and beat Gabriel Miranda and Hyder Amil in his last two fights. He’s had a right mixed bag of results overall though. As for Douglas, this’ll only be my second time seeing him but the first was definitely memorable…

He fought Julian Erosa on the Seattle card in March and, as you can see there, he went to town on Erosa and stopped him inside a round. Whole thing lasted about three minutes and it’s really not much to base an opinion on. We obviously need to see much more of Douglas. But Christ, as a first impression, it did the job on me. If he keeps swinging like a lunatic like that going forward he’s probably gonna 1) end up with a 50/50 win/loss record and 2) be must see TV regardless. Wild little bastard.

 

Shamil Gaziev vs Kennedy Nzechukwu. Sick of moaning about the Heavyweights at this point but I’m really not looking forward to this bollocks. Maybe it’ll be a pleasant surprise but don’t hold your breath or anything. Gaziev’s 36 with a record of 14-3 and he’s been knocked out in his last two fights by Waldo Cortes Acosta and Brando Pericic. Just a big plodding, lumbering slug of a man. Nzechukwu is 34 and 14-6-1. I didn’t mind him for a while really, I think that started with that come from behind KO win over Carlos Ulberg years ago, which is still Ulberg’s only loss. But the goodwill on that ran out a long time ago and the fact is big Kennedy’s just not very good. When he moved up to HW I thought that might be a better fit for him but in his last two fights he’s been heel hooked by Valter Walker and then went to a draw with a useless Marcus Buchecha in an abysmal fight in December. Wank.

 

Nasrat Haqparast vs Chris Padilla is just making up the numbers. Not particularly arsed about it but it’s not a bad fight. We haven’t seen Haqparast since the Aspinall vs Gane undercard back in October, when he got absolutely wasted by a Quillan Salkilld headkick. One of the scariest knockouts in recent memory easy. Haqparast was out for ages, an uncomfortably long time, one of those knockouts when it’s genuinely a relief when the guy is finally able to get up and walk out of the arena on their own power. It’s good he’s taken some time off after that one but, man, it was such a terrifying KO you always worry about a fighter coming back from that. Padilla’s 17-6-1 with 14 finishes and he’s unbeaten in the UFC so far. He beat Jai Herbert and Ismael Bonfim but went to a draw with MarQuel Mederos last time out.

 

Ryan Kuse vs Marcio Barbosa is gonna have my attention. Never heard of Kuse. Looking him up he’s making his UFC debut, he’s 32 years old and he has a record of 10-2 with 7 finishes. A quick scan through his record and I see he lost a split decision to Cameron Smotherman (the guy who did the Flair Flop on the stage at the UFC 324 weigh ins earlier this year) back in 2024. Since then he’s only fought twice but he’s won both and he’s coming off a TKO win in April. It’s Barbosa I’m interested in. If you didn’t see his UFC debut on the Winnipeg show in April, he did this…

One of the best one punch knockouts of the year by far for me that. A beauty. Poor Dennis Buzukja was out cold before he hit the deck and then his head bounced off the canvas a couple of times which is always rough to see. Barbosa is 28 years old and 18-2 with 17 finishes. We didn’t get to see him long last time but he came in the door with a bang. Definitely looking forward to seeing more of him if his debut was typical of his style. Could be a great addition to the Featherweight division.

 

Gauge Young vs Stan Dorsainvil is a late change. Was supposed to be Young against Kody Steele but that went down the pan. Stan ‘The Drill’ Dorsainvil jumps in on short notice. Never seen nor heard of him before but apparently he’s 26 years old and 5-0 with 4 inside the distance. Not much out there on him but he’s coming off a third round TKO on a LFA card in May. Gauge ‘Gee Money’ Young is also 26 and he’s 11-3 with 7 finishes. He actually fought Quillan Salkilld on DWCS back in 2024, lost but did manage to go the distance. He lost his UFC debut against Evan Elder but has bounced back with a couple of wins over Maheshate Hayisaer and Thiago Moises.

 

Jackson McVey vs Wes Schultz goes down in a clash some (me) are describing as ‘the most Wayne’s World fight in UFC history’.

McVey AKA ‘The Moose’ is 27 years old and 7-2, all finishes. He went 0-2 and got subbed both times after debuting in the UFC but he did finally get in the win column and did us all a favour when he strangled Sedriques Dumas in about two minutes last time out in April. Schultz is 30 years old, 9-3 with 8 finishes and he’s 1-1 so far in the UFC. Got chinned by Damian Pinas in his debut, then subbed Ben Johnston on the Perth card in May. Party on Wayne McVey, party on Garth Schultz.

 

Shanelle Dyer vs Elise Reed kicks off the night on the prelims. Nothing to really go out of your way to see but Dyer’s British and I vaguely recall thinking she looked decent in her UFC debut on the London card in March. She’s 25 years old and 7-1 with 5 wins coming by KO or TKO. Her only loss was on DWCS last September but she got straight in the UFC off the back of it anyway. She stopped Ravena Oliveira in the second round on the Evloev vs Murphy undercard at the O2. Reed’s been knocking about on the roster since 2021 now and she’s going nowhere. One of those fighters who just alternates between wins and losses nearly every fight and sticks around for years for some reason. She’s 33 years old, 8-5 and she lost to Denise Gomes by TKO in May 2025 and hasn’t fought since. Dyer needs to be winning fights like this without much bother if she’s gonna go on to bigger things.

 

 

Better late than never. That’s UFC Sacramento…

Edited August 22 by wandshogun09

[Egg Shen]

Great work wand. good little card.

[Dai]

Hell of a come down for RDR. Needs something impressive in this one to stay relevant. Think it was the Allen fight where he somehow gassed himself after one round of dominant top control/pedestrian stand up (cant remember which it was).

[Dai]

You know what was weird, seeing Robocop main event a show in a packed out arena. Just felt completely wrong, as I just feel like hes an Apex main eventer at best.

Fluffy looked like shit, I thought. A really one dimensional, sloppy, crap performance. One that only works if you have the gas tank to take it into deep waters, but it was actually Fluffy who was gassed by R4. If a Robocop calibre guy can figure you out and be fairly comfortable in victory, then thats not a good sign. It felt like a Poundshop Cain Velasquez performance, where the world class attributes just weren't there.

 

The Jones fight lived up to expectation too, what a cracker! Another fight exactly how you described him, Wand. He reminds me of Gaethje in this one too. Have to give all the credit to Mederos too. I was like you and had no clue who he was, but he took everything Jones threw at him and didnt wither in the slightest. He looked fresh as a daisy at the end of it, which is crazy when you thjnk of the pace of the fight.

RDR had an early Christmas present. An absolute disaster of a gameplan by Dolidze. Leg locks always leave you exposed to head strikes, so to do that immediately when RDRs gas tank has been called into question, and allow yourself to be that vulnerable and not bail on it when it didnt work, just seems crazy.

 

[Carbomb]

I just watched a "reduced" version of the fight where they cut out as many seconds of no action as possible. It was still a shit-ton of action. I have to disagree with @Dai - whilst it was definitely a clear win for Robocop, I don't think Fluffy looked like shit; there were some moments when it looked (to anyone who didn't know the result) like he might pull off a comeback. He always looked "live", and that flurry at the end of R2 looked like it could have potentially ended a match against most other guys. Even when he was getting the worst of exchanges, he was getting the odd dig in that looked like it could reverse the momentum. I get the feeling he went to the grappling well a bit too often - Robo was defending against takedowns perfectly for most of the fight, and he seemed to have got Hernandez' timing down by the second half, because those leg kicks were doing a ton of damage. Striking-wise, Fluffy was having a bit more of an effect, but obviously Rodrigues was better than him in that department.

For me, personally, I'd say Fluffy looked very much outclassed, rather than shit - it was a mid to upper-midcard performance - but he showed durability and a fair bit of heart. I agree with Dai about the gas tank - even though he was still up for the scrap towards the end, he looked like his conditioning wasn't going to hold up. The spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak, if you weel. And yeh, he was quite sloppy in a lot of places; I wouldn't go so far as to say "one-dimensional", but rather "two-dimensional way too late in the game".

It was a very enjoyable fight, though - I'm surprised @wandshogun09 hasn't posted anything about it yet.

[Dai]

Fair points, and to be honest I cant really remember it by this point. I think my main reasoning behind saying shit rather than outclassed was because Robo has always been on the edge of the Top 15 rankings for years, at least in my memory he has. He's never been top 10 I dont think. For Fluffy, who I think was in the mix at certain points in maybe getting a title shot, then to be getting outclassed and figured out by a mostly unranked fighter could be classed as 'shit'. 

 

[Carbomb]

2 hours ago, Dai said:

Fair points, and to be honest I cant really remember it by this point. I think my main reasoning behind saying shit rather than outclassed was because Robo has always been on the edge of the Top 15 rankings for years, at least in my memory he has. He's never been top 10 I dont think. For Fluffy, who I think was in the mix at certain points in maybe getting a title shot, then to be getting outclassed and figured out by a mostly unranked fighter could be classed as 'shit'. 

 

Yeh, that's more than fair. Depends on what measure you use, I suppose.

I think the reason I prefer to use "outclassed" is purely down to Fluffy just being up for it, and always having a go, even though it became clear early on he was no match for Rodrigues. Bear in mind, Robocop wasn't able to put him away, either.

"Shit" is a term I'd reserve, personally, for absolute bums like Mike Jackson and Westin Wilson. But I do get where you're coming from; the logic is sound.

[wandshogun09]

On 9/1/2026 at 1:47 PM, Carbomb said:

It was a very enjoyable fight, though - I'm surprised @wandshogun09 hasn't posted anything about it yet.

Seriously, it’s taken me two weeks to get around to this. I never watch Fight Nights live anymore unless they’re in Europe or China like last week’s but I’m usually able to catch up on the US ones in the week. Not lately 🤣 with the kids being off school I’ve barely had time to shit let alone watch fights. Didn’t help that I saw spoilers for this as well. It sounded like a decent show though so I was determined to get it watched at some point. Finally done it.

Enjoyed the Robocop vs Fluffy fight a lot. It was never gonna be boring. I did have a feeling Rodrigues was gonna come out on top by the time fight week rolled around though. Fluffy’s a good fighter but it feels like people overrate him a bit. He had that hot streak a few fights ago and looked a handful and it seems like he’s been kind of living off the fumes off that in the eyes of a lot of fans ever since. But when I thought of this fight and how their styles match up, I had a hard time seeing where Fluffy really had the advantage. Going in I felt like the grappling could be competitive but Robocop was more legit there. I felt like the striking could be competitive but Robocop would be both the better striker and more powerful. And I always felt like Robocop would be the tougher guy, more durable and more willing to bite down and get into a war if needed. Whereas we’ve seen Fluffy wilt under pressure in the past. Fair play to Fluffy here, he hung in there and didn’t fold like I thought he might. I saw him lasting the full five rounds as almost a moral victory in a way. But there was no doubt Rodrigues had won when it was over. I was really happy to see Rodrigues get his first main event win here. Even sweeter that he went into the hostile territory of Fluffy’s backyard here to do it as well. Love a bit of Robocop. He’s been great to watch over the years and this kind of felt like a bit of a reward. Fully aware this is probably as good as it gets for him. He won’t be beating the tippy top guys at Middleweight. But he’s a perfectly serviceable Top 10 guy. 

What next for Rodrigues? I know he called out DDP after and I do think that could be a fun fight to watch. I just can’t see it being next. Looking at the rankings, I think Robocop vs Joe Pyfer would be good and I’d love to see Robocop chin the prick if possible. But it seems like they wanna give Pyfer the big push and, with him coming off that Adesanya win, they’ve probably got bigger plans for him. Maybe Robocop fights Adesanya? Izzy’s below him on both lots of rankings but it’s a big name and winnable for Rodrigues at this stage so he’d probably jump at the opportunity. Maybe do Fluffy vs Cannonier or something.

Petrino vs Spivac…yeah, again why was this co-main? Utter shite. You’d hope they’d think twice about giving fights like this such high billing in future but you know we’ll be seeing more of it. I don’t think I’ve ever been as depressed by one turn of phrase watching MMA than I was when Bisping said to Petrino “you’ll probably be in the Top 10 on Monday morning” in the post-fight interview. And sure enough, he’s at #8 on both sets of rankings now. I saw the other day that it was the anniversary of the Fedor vs Cro Cop fight. How far the Heavyweight division has fallen.

Was happy to see Reinier De Ridder get back in the win column and especially in such a decisive way getting the first round finish. It was badly needed after those last couple of losses. Fresh start at 205 is off to a good start but I’m really not convinced this LHW run is gonna work out for him long term. For one, I don’t really see Dolidze as a proper 205er anyway. He did fight there pre-UFC (so did De Ridder) but in the UFC he’d only had one fight at 205 before this and it was against the empty shell of Anthony Smith. This was basically two Middleweights fighting without the weight cut, so I’m holding fire on De Ridder’s prospects at 205 for now. It was a solid start though. Like @Daisaid though, Dolidze was goofy as fuck for pulling guard and going the leg lock route so early here. Dolidze has had success with leg locks in the past, using them to lead to ground strike finishes himself. But why invite a ground exchange with a fresh De Ridder, especially when you’re leaving your head exposed to ground and pound? Negative Fight IQ from Dolidze there.

MarQuel Mederos vs Mason Jones was a hell of a scrap. At this point we’ve all come to expect it out of pretty much any Jones fight but Mederos more than held up his end of it here. He completely surpassed my expectations. I fully admit that, going in, if anything I felt like this was a step backwards for Jones coming off that FOTY contender win over Axel Sola in London. I saw this fight announced and I was thinking ‘Mederos? Why?’ Like I touched on in the opening post, I barely remembered Mederos at all despite being pretty sure I probably saw all, or at least most, of his four previous UFC fights. I thought it was a bit odd that Jones was being matched with him here because I was sure coming off that win over Sola that it would bag Jones a bit of a name fight next. But all credit where it’s due, Mederos stepped it up here and in one fight he’s completely changed my opinion on him.

I can only assume Mederos is one of those guys who fights better when there’s pressure and he feels some danger and a bit under threat, because this was an awesome fight and a great performance from him. I was gutted to see Jones lose here. Really felt like he was building some serious momentum since returning to the UFC with the Jeremy Stephens win and then back-to-back bangers against Bolaji Oki and then Sola. This has obviously derailed all that but he’s been so exciting you know the matchmakers probably love him so I can see them still giving him good fights. I wouldn’t mind seeing him take the rest of the year off now though. He’s had three wars in less than 12 months now. Probably be a good idea to just rest up for a bit, enjoy Christmas and come back fresh in the new year. No doubt he’ll probably be back out in 6 weeks or something though.

Thought this was cool from Mederos…

It’s amazing how one night, one performance, one result against the right opponent, can totally change perceptions of a fighter. I went from seeing Mederos as a non-descript prelim filler guy who I was completely indifferent to, to him almost forcing me to become fan overnight. We’ll see what he does from here. There’s a possibility that this was just the ‘Mason Jones factor’. He’s got a habit of dragging guys into wars they don’t usually have. Also the fact Mederos brother died the week before this fight could’ve brought something extra out of him. Crazy that he still even fought under those circumstances. But I’m interested in Mederos for now, and I never was before. Hopefully they give him something good next and we’ll see if he can build on this win.

Carli Judice continues to be one of the more watchable fighters in the women’s Flyweight division. She’s had some really nice finishes in the UFC, although her only managing a decision over no hoper Juliana Miller last time wasn’t the best. This was a return to form though. Stopped Jeisla Chaves in under two minutes with a filthy teep to the gut…

Strickland should be able to do this by now considering how many teeps that prick throws per fight. Obviously I know Judice is fighting far inferior opposition compared to Strickland’s. Chaves looked like a scrapper in the pre-fight video package but Judice absolutely folded here there. Good stuff. Although I’m very sceptical about where Judice’s ceiling is. The finishes have been cool but they’ve all been at a fairly low level and that Miller fight really didn’t fill me with confidence. Hope she proves me wrong because the division could really do with new blood, and especially a finisher.

Anthony Wint had no bother with Terrance Chatman in the main card opener. Had zero thoughts on this going in. Heavyweight and two guys I’d never heard of? Yeah, I wasn’t exactly invested. Still no real thoughts post-fight either. Wint looked alright and he’s a monster physically. He definitely looks the part. But Chatman was arse (trying a Kimura from the bottom in half guard in 2026?) so the win didn’t tell us much. And I’ve already seen quotes from Wint saying he doesn’t even like fighting, that’s it’s “one of the stupidest things you can do with your life” and he just enjoys competing. In some ways that’s a perfectly normal and healthy mindset to have but it just makes me think he’s one of those guys who’s gonna completely fold as soon as he faces real adversity. We’ll see but it doesn’t exactly sound like his heart is in it and that can be just as dangerous as being hooked on fighting.

Jamall Emmers got the quick win over Lerryan Douglas. Really disappointing from Douglas. I highlighted him in the opening post as someone worth looking out for and he did have a really entertaining debut against Erosa. Emmers came out and smoked him in a round though. He’s decent, to be fair, I was just hoping Douglas would turn out to be a bit better than this. Apparently Douglas suffered a broken orbital from the finishing punch as well. Rough night at the office.

I was dreading Gaziev vs Nzechukwu, as I do most Heavyweight fights outside the top few ranked guys these days. But mercifully, it was over in about a minute, before it had the chance to become shit…

Not sure what Nzechukwu was doing here though, basically turning the wrong way in trying to avoid Gaziev’s punch 🤣 seemed to have no cage awareness or defensive timing at all. All the survival instincts of that one dopy wildebeest you see just standing in front of a lion, long after its mates have all fucked off. But that’s Heavyweight MMA in 2026 for you. These two are going nowhere.

Marcio Barbosa made short work of Ryan Kuse. Barbosa is quickly becoming a prelim favourite of mine. Reminds me a bit of Figgy when he was on the rise and just brutalising the opposition. This wasn’t anywhere near as aesthetically pleasing a finish as his one shot demolition of Dennis Buzukja last time, but he still showed he’s got that fight ending power. He was supposed to fight Danny Silva here, which could’ve been fantastic but Silva dropped out with something serious, a blood clot I think it was. Hopefully he makes a full recovery and hopefully Barbosa gets a better opponent next time.

Really enjoyed the Stan Dorsainvil vs Gauge Young fight. Didn’t have any expectations going in, had never heard of Dorsainvil and he was stepping in on short notice. I liked him. Nice win for him, especially with the less than ideal circumstances, and I’ll be keeping a look out for his next fight after this.

Not a lot to say about the Wayne’s World lads fight but Jackson McVey got the first round finish with a nasty knee to the old bread basket…

Beautiful. Completely missed the little bit of trivia that Schultz actually had a win over McVey in the amateurs when I did the rushed opening post. So a bit of revenge for McVey here.

Shanelle Dyer looked pretty good again in the Fight Pass opener. The Strawweight division, and the women’s game in general, badly needs more strikers so she’s a welcome addition. I don’t see her going too far and this was only Elise Reed she beat up. But she’s getting stoppages in a division that doesn’t typically have a ton of finishers so she’s alright in my book.


Yeah, wasn’t bad this. Would’ve been better if I could have watched it in less than a fortnight spoiler free but that’s on me. In closing, it appears hell actually froze over in Sacramento.

Anyone who knows their MMA history knows there’s a lot going on here. A lot of water under the bridge and a lot of fences mended and beef squashed. I know Cruz has had both of them on his podcast over the last year or so but I think this is the first time I’ve seen Faber and Dillashaw together since TJ had the nasty split from Alpha Male years ago. Nice to see them all together here. Three of the best ever in the lighter weight classes and their stories are all so intertwined. 

Edited September 5 by wandshogun09

[Dai]

A couple of success stories in the post MMA careers with Cruz and Faber, which is sadly few and far between when you think about it. Cruz has a nice commentary gig, and you still see Faber in the corner a decent chunk of time. Did TJ do a retirement match, or just do it low key? Can't remember, but fair play, its been nearly four years now and hes stuck to it, which you also cant say that of many fighters either. 

[wandshogun09]

4 minutes ago, Dai said:

Did TJ do a retirement match, or just do it low key? 

Not as such but the Aljamain Sterling fight in October 2022 turned out to be his retirement fight after the fact. I don’t think he intended it to be his last fight at all going in but he’d been plagued by injuries and, if you remember, his shoulder injury was what led to him getting finished by Aljo that night. He announced he was retired a few months later if I recall right. Not sure what he’s doing now but I think he stays fairly busy helping fighters out in the gym and has some supplements business going. 

[Egg Shen]

16 hours ago, Dai said:

Cruz has a nice commentary gig, and you still see Faber in the corner a decent chunk of time. 

I think Faber has always been a very savvy businessman, at one point I believe he owned a whole street which his Alpha Male fighters lived in, I'd imagine he set himself up nicely for the future.

 

[wandshogun09]

Yeah Arse Chin’s always seemed like one of the more switched on fighters in the game. Especially from the era he came from when it was even harder to secure your financial future than it is now. Out of all those names from that era, he’s gotta be one of the ones doing the best these days. Financially and health-wise. 

[Egg Shen]

Yeah, he completed the game did ol' Urijah.