UFC Fight Night: Santos vs. Ankalaev

The official Tapology discussion thread for the event!

I'm just glad I don't have to put much effort into trying to figure out Roberson vs Rountree since I'm off to work for the end of the card. Just have to pick a winner on Tapology, not touching it betting-wise.

Alex Caceres   vs.   Sodiq Yusuff  

I would be a lot more confident on Yusuff here apart from one thing: How often and how easily Fili was able to drag Sodiq to the mat. I don't like that. I don't like that at all. Caceres is a better grappler than Fili by quite a margin. I rate him as a better striker, too. Yusuff has also never faced a choke threat as good as Caceres.

I also don't think Sodiq is a better striker than Choi. He has better forward pressure and ring generalship and throws higher count combinations, but he doesn't have more power nor greater hand speed, and he defo doesn't have Choi's kicking game. After getting floored by Choi, Alex was able to recalibrate his distance, didn't eat the kitchen sink a second time, and started landing shots of his own.

Perhaps in a state of oblivious ******ation, I'm going to pick Caceres here. I see this fight panning out as Yusuff marching Alex down and forcing the fight, ultimately, into clinch exchanges on the fence, where he will get reversed, or get taken down and either controlled or subbed. I guess everybody thinks that Sodiq will box the living bejeesus out of Yusuff, but on that point I submit these stats for your consideration:

Sodiq's striking accuracy is 48% and his SLPM is 5.43. He throws a lot but a lot misses. And I personally believe his power is overrated. Meanwhile his sapm is over 3, and his striking defence is 58%. He does get hit, and he's chinny to boot--which really doesn't look good to the judges.

Cacere's striking defence is rated at 68%. He lands at 61%. He absorbs under 3 PM, and has 78% TDA against Sodiq's 68% TDD--which again, has come against guys who are not the wrestling/grappling threat Caceres is, and he was taken down multiple times by Fili.

Caceres, Sub R2.

* Edited at 03.10.2022, 3:07 PM ET *

I don’t hate that pick; once I get to taping it i might switch as well. Sodiq is a guy with good potential but I feel like he struggles to get it going sometimes. He’s got some very high level striking but I don’t really like his chin and, like you said, his tdd isn’t all that great. Caceres has a hideous record but has started to put things together. One thing I noticed is he’s actually a decent striker in his own right; definitely not the same level as sodiq but it’s nothing to scoff at. And then obviously Caceres has the grappling advantage 

* Edited at 03.10.2022, 3:25 PM ET *

Anyone else notice that DraftKings removed the Russian fighters off the betting card

@Cschulz100 if they did that for political reasons yeah, I'm boycotting them. Those guys have nothing to do with any of this ****. It's the equivalent of burning Dostoevsky books. Completely ********.

Crap, it looks like they did pull it from all sports books. I just googled it. Must be for political reasons. That sucks, these athletes have nothing to do with the war. 

I'm looking at Ankalaev on Draftkings SB right now. 

Azamat and Ankalaev are both still on MyBookie as well  

* Edited at 03.10.2022, 4:00 PM ET *

I have a FanDuel & DraftKings account and neither Ankalaev or Azamat Murzakanov can be bet on. Damn

That’s ridiculous. Virtue signaling is truly a ******** concept

I’m talking about the DK sports book not DK fantasy 

@HiDefff Thanks for the info… maybe mine will update later. I didn’t mean to monopolize the chat

I haven't had any issues with the couple of books I use but that's hilariously ******** if they did that. Like Putins going to call of the war because he can't bet his ****** rubles on Ankalaev

Especially since those rubles aren't worth their weight in paper.

You guys capped the main event yet? Santos is up to +507 at one of my books. Not caring about what should happen is how I won money on Dobson so I have to decide the line here.

Just saying, at some point it gets ridiculous.

Only 11 so far for the Tapology Survivor game 81 if anyone wants to jump it

https://www.tapology.com/forum/threads/65530?page=1#post-1028393

It’s kind of justified. Aside from that triangle choke from Craig, ankalaev has looked practically flawless. On the other hand he’s fighting old, beat up Thiago santos who is barely fighting on two legs and lost two rounds to Johnny walker. 

Good card. Don’t feel like I have any locks

When you're dealing with a heavy handed (even if washed) ranked light heavy weight, there's always the punchers chance. I think much crazier things have happened in this sport than if Santos KOs him. It's also a little concerning that you tap with 1 second left in a fight you were clearly winning. But with that said I agree with mayo he's looked pretty great in all aspects aside from that and the line is probably justified. 

I agree Santos is kinda shot. The thing is even though fighters are beating Santos none of them seem to run through him. I had money on Rakic and had to sweat the entire fight even though he pulled it off.
Maybe they were just scared of his power though, Ankalaev seems like a supremely confident fighter whenever I watch him.

I want to see Ankalaev vs Jiri for the belt eventually.