Contender Series 2021: Week 1

The official Tapology discussion thread for the event!

Hood vs. Brzeski
Lorenzo Hood, DEC
Ik Hood has only beat cans but I see potential in this guy. And upsets are usual on the Contender Series.

Fletcher vs. Damiani
Leonardo Damiani, SUB, R2
AJ Fletcher is Nadia Kassem, but a man.

What, you mean AJ Fletcher is the greatest Australian female striker of all time??? 

Does anyone else think that Contender series 2021 looks better than 2020

@Bronco I think everyone agrees that there’s much better talent this year since they really went international. Lots of guys competing who I would’ve understood if they got signed straight to the UFC.

 Actually really exited about this fight as his UFC debut has been a long time coming but this is honestly a great start and should build his hype. He’s the LFA Flyweight champion at this current time and won it by beating Nate Smith in a 5 round bout by UD (Smith went practically 3 rounds with Jimmy Flick while defending lots of his submissions and is a former wrestler). Prior to this he has a weird submission over Lloyd Mckenny who was arguably winning with his wrestling before the ref reset the fight to a weird position causing Victor a favorable submission. Before that he also had wins over Chris Ocon (SD), Joao Camilo (UD), and the rest of his pro wins coming against sub 500 fighters. His boxing is very “unorthodox” with lots of head movement and “interesting” combinations but yet still effective. His best attribute, his BJJ, is also part of his worst attribute. His BJJ while being very high is something he is a little to confident in as he never defends the take down because he believes his BJJ is that good. Sadly for him in fights against a heavy wrestler allows for a close fights as his opponent can get take downs at will without expending any energy and being completely effortless. This came into play against his highest level opponent in former UFC fighter Jarred Brookes. In this fight, against the much smaller brookes, he didn’t defend any takedowns and got completely mauled and looked clueless against Brookes with no answer for his wrestle heavy approach and by the time he did defend it he was to fatigued and got choked out in the second by rear naked. He didn’t seem to much from that loss though as in his next fight he still didn’t seem to defend the takedown and looked in trouble at times. Even with this huge gap in his game I still see him beating Vinicius Salvador as all his wins are on the feet using his hands and shows very little ground game. As for how Victor wins I can see him testing his boxing in the first and either getting a KO in round one and if Vinicius doesn’t go out I see him submitting him in round two as this does seem like a gimme fight for Victor. As for his future I’m really looking forward to it as he’s been fun to follow all the way since his amateur days in the first LFA event. Along with this he had a very fun fight style that could make for some fun matchups in the flyweight division and his talents and story could even capture the average fans approval. Can’t wait for this win and final prediction is Victor first round KO. 

Hopefully I did ok at the analysis he’s probably one of my favorite fighters so had to try it out. 

* Edited at 08.01.2021, 10:55 PM ET *

If that's Victor's game, then I'm definitely putting cash on Candelario. The guy outworked Aldo's BJJ coach a few years back on the first season of the contender series.

Murzakanov vs. Scheffel
Azamat Murzakanov, TKO, R2
Murzakanov looked nasty; speed, power and ground game. Scheffel just showed me he has a nice chin and decent kicks.

Lopes vs. Brito
Joanderson Brito, TKO, R1
Brito comes to kill, watching his film was a treat. Throws to kill and goes for slick chokes off of his back also. Really wondering what people see in Lopes, his film was lackluster to me..

Altamirano vs. Candelario
Carlos Candelario, DEC
Both look like solid fighters, Candelario is relentless on the feet and the ground with nice combos. Really like Altamirano's record and wins tho. 50/50

Fletcher vs. Damiani
Leonardo Damiani, DEC
Watched 5 whole seconds of highlights, Fletcher got dropped with a WEAK spinning backfist... not picking him regardless after witnessing that.

Brzeski vs. Potter
Łukasz Brzeski, TKO, R2
Lukasz cardio could be a problem but i think he'll be able to throw Potter around the first round and tiring him out enough for a 2nd round GNP finish.

* Edited at 08.29.2021, 10:34 AM ET *

I wonder what % of people who's gained a contract from this show are still currently signed to the ufc. It cant be high right? it feels like nearly everyone who got signed last season all lost there first ufc fights.

The cosce brothers are dog****, and a few fat heavyweights that have come from there are poor, but there have been many good fighters come from the show 

holy shiet guy 

Bahamondes and Adrian yanez looked insane in there last fights 

I hope khusein can at least get another fight on contenders series. Was really looking forward to see if his 23-0 record is legit

I also really hope Khusein can get another fight on one of the contender series cards this year. Fingers crossed. Was so excited  to see him fight when first announced.
Still, some good fights to look forward to watching!

Fletcher vs. Damiani
AJ Fletcher, SUB, R1
Slight edge on Fletchher, Damiani is solid enough to win in this spot, but I see it more likely for Fletcher.

Fletcher vs. Damiani
AJ Fletcher, SUB, R2
Kind of a can crusher sage. But I've trained at AJ's gym before and his head coach is legit. So even though he has mostly unimpressive names on his record, I'll lean him here by club n' sub.

* Edited at 08.30.2021, 9:15 AM ET *

Murzakanov vs. Scheffel
Azamat Murzakanov, TKO, R2
The

Where can I bet on the Contender Series fights?  Azamat Murzakanov and AJ Fletcher are locks.  I don't know about the other two fights though. 

Most of the bigger offshores have them. -325 and -160 for those two

Fletcher the can crusher is a lock? Smh