MMA / recap

What a crazy night of fights, so many underdog wins. Definitely one of my worst picks-wise. Sorry guys, such an unpredictable sport. A lot of terrible performances from fighters that should've won in my opinion. On to the next! PICKS: 7-6 :( POSSIBLE BETS : 3-8 ;( PRELIMS JULIO ARCE VS JULIAN EROSA: This fight went mostly how I expected it to go. Erosa put up a good fight early on. As I said in my breakdown, just sheer volume and precision can very likely bring the finish for Arce. Once Julio found his timing , it was all over. Beautiful headkick finish. I would like to see him fight a ranked opponent next. As for Erosa, I would imagine that's it for him in the UFC, I believe that's four losses in a row. Zak Cummings vs. Trevin Giles: Giles really under performed here. I think he was just looking for an easy win and trying to cruise. He was landing the better cleaner shots for the most part. His output and effort were pitiful though. Didn't try any of his own offensive wrestling and didn't try to really finish Cummings till the last round. As I said in my breakdown, I knew Zak would have a submission advantage. He just wanted it more, especially in the end. Zak stunned Giles just enough to grab onto the choke and get the tap. Nice win. Patrick Cummins vs. Ed Herman: As I said, do not bet this fight, it can go either way and both guys are really inconsistent. Like we all thought, Patrick came out hunting for the takedowns and Ed came out hunting for the head. Herman's game plan worked out better for him on the night. Grazed Cummins with a knee that set him off balance and finished with some good strikes. Grant Dawson vs. Mike Trizano: Very happy with Dawson's performance here. I am telling you guys, this kid is someone to look out for. His striking is definitely not where it needs to be, but that will hopefully improve as he gains experience. His style is very reminiscent of Khabib in my opinion. Obviously, he isnt near that level or caliber yet. I am just saying the styles are very similar. Grant marches forward and forces the grappling no matter what you throw at him. When he does get a hold of you, he is absolutely relentless, always trying to drag you down or take your back. If he does lose position, he is right back on to you. Trizano started off defending well and having success on the feet like I thought he would. I knew Dawsons grappling would eventually be too much but I thought Trizano would be able to hang on till the end of the fight. Guess not, great win for Grant, Trizano will be back. Michel Pereira vs. Danny Roberts: This fight was just hilarious. I said Michel was terrible going in, and I still stand by that. His style is just ridiculous. I guess Roberts just isn't capable of dealing with a fighter that gets in his face. I wont take away from the finish though, absolutely sick flying knee followed by the straight that puts Danny out cold. Absolutely shameful performance by Danny, great debut for Michel......I guess. Desmond Green vs. Charles Jourdain: I picked Green to win by decision and he did, but this was a pretty bad performance by him in my opinion. After securing the first round, I feel like he wanted to just cruise through the rest of the fight. He lost the second round in my opinion, and he was losing the third round till he stole it back with like 3 or 4 consecutive takedowns at the end. This was a great showing by Charles Jourdain honestly. Despite losing, he was WAY smaller than Green in there yet Desmond couldn't hold him down. Charles also looked way better on the feet and at some points was literally chasing Green down, hunting for the finish. Desmond didn't show me anything impressive to make me think he has a chance at being a top lightweight. As far as Charles, I really look forward to seeing him compete again, hopefully at featherweight. I think he can do really good work there. Sijara Eubanks vs. Aspen Ladd: I picked Ladd to win by decision here and she did. Great fight and performance for both girls. Back and forth action the whole way through. Aspen did a lot better in the grappling than I thought she would. Not sure who Sijara should fight next. I would like to see Aspen fight Holly Holm like she was originally scheduled to, only if Holly loses her upcoming fight obviously. I think that fight is VERY interesting. MAIN CARD Austin Hubbard vs. Davi Ramos: This fight didn't go how I thought despite me picking Ramos to win. I was extremely confident he would get a finish here. Although I think he won all three rounds, Hubbard did really well especially since this was his debut against a really tough guy. He was hanging with Davi on the feet and defended himself well on the ground. That's more than a large majority of Ramos's opponents can say. I would like to see Ramos go up against a real tough test in his next opponent, whoever that may be. Nik Lentz vs. Charles Oliveira: One of the few fights that went exactly how I predicted it would go. I said Charles finishes within the first 2 rounds and he did. It could have been a knockout or submission, he was in control of this fight the whole time. I still think he is just a gatekeeper though, he will constantly finish guys outside of the top 10, and get finished himself by bigger name matchups. Vicente Luque vs. Derrick Krantz: Another fight that went exactly the way I predicted, Luque wins in the first. Krantz started off really strong though and almost had Vicente in some trouble. However, Luque's experience shined through. Just like all his other fights, as soon as he found his shot it was night night. I would like to see Luque fight Zaleski dos Santos or Santiago Ponzinibio next, I think that either of those could potentially be a fight of the year candidate. Or if he is willing to come back rather quickly, take the Lawler fight. I would like to also see Derrick Krantz get another shot, he has a lot of heart and Luque is a tough task for anyone, especially making their UFC debut. Megan Anderson vs. Felicia Spencer: Haha, another joke of a fight. Its one thing to get outgrappled by Holly Holm for 3 rounds in your UFC debut. Its another thing to get tapped out in less than 3 minutes by a girl that is making her UFC debut with half the professional experience you have. Megan looked like the girl in the gym that has been kickboxing for ten years who decides to show up to MMA sparring one day. That's my recap of this fight. As soon as Felicia got a hold of her it was all over. Anderson had nothing for her as far as grappling defense, absolutely nothing. Also as far as I am concerned, she is 0-2-1 in the UFC. Getting a fight called off because your toe nail cut the eyeball of your opponent one minute into a fight isn't a win in my opinion. Megan needs to get her grappling skills up to par, because if she doesn't get favorable matchups, I could see her losing to almost anyone that has a solid grappling game in the UFC. Shameful. Ian Heinisch vs. Antonio Carlos Junior: This fight went how I thought it would go in my prediction, I just didn't pick the right fighter. Antonio came out strong just how I said he would, and got this fight to the ground easily just like I thought he would. I expected his jiu jitsu attack to be too much for Ian when it hit the ground, that's why I picked him. However, Ian defended really well. Sure enough, just as I said, if the fight got into the 2nd and 3rd Heinisch could take over and steal the fight or find the finish. Antonio was gassed after he couldn't get the finish early. This ended up costing him because he lost the last two rounds and Heinisch gets it done via decision. Rafael dos Anjos vs. Kevin Lee: Man this fight pissed me off so much. I lost a lot of money on Kevin, I was so confident he was going to win. His betting line actually moved so much on the day of the fight he went from being the underdog to the favorite, so clearly a lot of other people thought he would get it done too. All Kevin could talk about in the lead up to this fight was how good he feels and what great shape he is in. Turns out he shows up in worse shape than we have ever seen him in. The fight itself was pretty close the first two rounds. But when I saw Kevin in the third round, I knew if he couldn't find the finish it was all over. If a fighter goes out there and gives it his all for the entire fight, and it just isn't enough, I can live with it. But on such a big stage: UFC main event, I cant deal with a fighter quitting. Especially after they consistently brag about their conditioning. When Kevin went for that big takedown in the fourth and couldn't get it, he put it in his mind that he was done. He immediately turtled up and fell to his back quickly. Then he gave up position so easily. On top of all that, he basically just let RDA put his arm in position for the choke. When the choke was starting to come on, instead of tucking his arm in and answering the phone while trying to turn into your opponent like your supposed to, Lee just extends his arm out all the way making the choke even tighter and taps pretty quickly. He showed no heart in this fight at all. That's what made the difference. RDA made him work for every takedown that he scored and refused to stay down or let him rest. Whereas Kevin easily gave up takedowns and position since the beginning of the fight. 170 is no place for him, RDA was probably one his most favorable matchups at welterweight. He should go back to 155 and if he can sort out his conditioning, heart, and fight IQ I could still see him having success there. As for RDA, props to him, I underestimated him. He did what he was supposed to do, he knew that if he could drag Lee to deep waters he could win, and he was right. I still see him as a gatekeeper in this weight class at best though. Even with this win, I don't see him going on a title run at this point in his career. AS ALWAYS, THANKS FOR READING GUYS! LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THOUGHT OF THIS FIGHT CARD AND HOW THE FIGHTS PLAYED OUT IN THE COMMENTS!