UFC Fight Night: Luque vs. Muhammad 2

The official Tapology discussion thread for the event!

I stopped watching since the apex apparently has the discount Internet but that's definitely not a good look. Did they say he wouldn't continue to cut? 

Honestly though he's going to have to look absolutely horrible when I watch it back/at face off for me to cash out with him as a top ticket. But I got that weeks ago at -400 I might think about it harder if i got in at -800. 

Yeah watched it back he didn't look that bad. I mean Definitely not good lol, but not as bad as arce last week. Or ****, even croom this week making weight. 

One of the way in guys said on the live stream that they're moving the scale so they can do the Face-Offs but he's going to weigh in off-camera so he's probably going to end up making the weight. Well see. 

He accepted that he missed weight. From how he looked, if he tried to cut anymore weight he would have died. Dude looked like total **** on the scales. Hopefully it’s like arce last week and he just cruises 

A lot of the time fighters who look **** on the scale rehydrate anyway and don't do anyway near as bad as expected 

klose made weight. Not sure why he put himself through that but good that he madenit

* Edited at 04.15.2022, 2:44 PM ET *

it looked like something went down backstage at the face-offs, curious to see if dudes swung at each other


Update: haven't seen anything on the internet, I will say the most intense face-off today was Baez vs Fialho, thought something went down there. Disregard

* Edited at 04.15.2022, 3:38 PM ET *

Lazzez vs. Loosa
Ange Loosa, TKO, R2
Loosa lands a big kick, finishes him on the cage refs steps in.

Clark vs. Knight
William Knight, TKO, R1
Loser goes home, Knight crumples Clark with huge Hooks in the first.

Länsberg vs. Kianzad
Lina Länsberg, DEC
Dec Split 29-28x2, 28-29

Klose vs. Jenkins
Drakkar Klose, TKO, R3
Late TKO, Right Hand to ground and pound finish.

García vs. Ronson
Rafa García, DEC
Dec Split 29-28x2, 28-29

Barnett vs. Buday
Martin Buday, TKO, R2
TKO Round 2, body shot to GNp

Ogden vs. Leavitt
Trey Ogden, DEC
30-27 Uni for Odgen. Leavitt doesn't get close to a sub.

Hughes vs. Nunes
Sam Hughes, DEC
Split Dec 30-27,29-28, 28-29

Alateng vs. Croom
Heili Alateng, TKO, R3
Late and odd Ground and Pound TKO elbows punches.

Luque vs. Muhammad II
Vicente Luque, DEC
Split Dec 48-47x2 Luque, 46-49 Belal. Controversial fight. great fight.

Borralho vs. Omargadzhiev
Gadzhi Omargadzhiev, TKO, R2
Two bangers they expect to end it in the first, Gadzhi takes over and TKO's Caio from half back mount.

Fialho vs. Baeza
Andre Fialho, TKO, R1
Slugfest and a left hook ends Baeza's night.

Bueno Silva vs. Wu
Mayra Bueno Silva, SUB, R3
Rear Naked Choke, different levels.

Sabatini vs. Laramie
Pat Sabatini, TKO, R1
Laramie is cool but I think Sabatini on a different level, quick work. Huge Right hand sends Laramie down, hammerfist finish for Sabatini.

I'll give you he was slow moving and a little wobbly, but his physical body didn't look all sucked out. Like croom was. Croom looked like 145 Conor on the scale. 

Laramie looked bigger than I expected also. Pat still bigger for sure but I thought he'd look giant next to him. 

Didn't expect ciao or baeza to be considerably bigger as well. 

And knight with a 30lb weight advantage? Against a guy who gets hurt in most his fights? I'm changing my pick 

* Edited at 04.15.2022, 3:45 PM ET *

Even money on an 13-0 Russian named gadzhi.. seems like a no brainer

Seems ALOT like the jailton almeida dwcs fight. +200 underdog because other guy undefeated Russian. But jailton was wayyyyy bigger and went full dagestani, on the Dagestani. 

I will say, I don't watch tape for the most part, So I say they're at least 20% of the time I just pick without knowing anything

Gadzi vs Caio is one of those fights for me, I watch one or two fights for both, But it's not the most inform thing

* Edited at 04.15.2022, 4:21 PM ET *

I don’t think I watched tape to pick a fight for a decade at least 

The most tape I watch, Is free fights on youtube sometime, And highlights on youtube. I'm not a big fan of homework. I rather watch live sports with MMA, Boxing and Rugby being my favourites to watch

Back in school I got a 2 hour detention for not doing a whole semester of homework, 

* Edited at 04.15.2022, 4:31 PM ET *

I watched a little of the two of them before I decided it was too close to waste time diving deep. But I was slightly leaning ghadzi. But the face offs was a big enough size difference for me to switch my pick on it. 

Nice to see everybody made weight that said. William Knight that boy is thicccccc🤣

* Edited at 04.15.2022, 5:23 PM ET *

Anyone got faceoff pics

Devin Clark vs William Knight 

Clark DEC 

Yeahhhhhh this fight is greasy. I really really really do not rate knight at all. I think hes absolute garbage but there are a few things playing in his favor here. First off, he doesnt have to cut any weight. This mf weighed in at 251 pounds; I do not understand how he makes 205. Not only is he gonna be bigger, but clark has god awful striking. He just brawls on the feet and is very hittable. Even in fights that hes winning, hes having some trouble on the feet like when he fought alonzo meinifeild. If it stays on the feet, Clark is liable to get koed 100%. His striking and subsequent defense just isnt there. Now, hes got a solid chin but knight does have some good power. That being said, Clark can still land on him because knight’s striking defnese consists of him blocking punches with his face. I think Clark will win through his wrestling. Even with the 30 lbs weight advantage, knight just has no tdd. He cannot wrestle very well and, even if hes able to offer some resistance, he will eventually get taken down. Clark has been able to notch tds on guys with pretty good tdd like meinfield and stosic. It will be interesting to see how the weight class makes a difference but i think knight is the type of guy that clark can beat with ease. Even though i dont like his chin, if hes been able to survive getting koed by the other cans hes fought, he should be fine. He also looked huge at the weigh ins despite knight being much heavier. 

Lina Lansberg vs Pannie Kianzad 

Kianzad DEC 

Im not going to lie, I really didnt watch any tape on this fight. Lansberg is an OG but hasnt fought in forever and just isnt that good. Shes pretty low volume and is coming off of a bug layoff. Pannie is a grinder. She likes to work in the clinch and all of her fights are way more competitive then they should be. I think this fight is gonna suck but give me pannie even though i think shes overrated. Also, so weird that the two have fought each other before. 

Drakkar Klose vs Brandon Jenkins 

Klose KO RD 3 

I was so confident in Klose but as the fight gets closer (no pun intended) ive lost more and more faith in him. Hes an older fighter who hasnt fought in almost 2 years and got koed in his last fight. He also suffered a near (and i feel he honestly msy retire soon) career ending injury against jeremy stpehnes and has said hes still feeling the effects of that. This already concerned me and then he goes out to weigh in, and just looks like absolute death and barely makes weight. Then we get to the faceoffs and i can see that jenkins looks huge compared to him. All of this being said, the skill gap between the two is insane, I am just worried that the drakkar klose that the line movement is seeing may not be the same person he was after that neck injury. I feel this could also be a arce vs santos situation where i get nervous about the favorite, and then they just cruise. If Klose looks anything like he did in his last fight (yes i know he lost) i think he honestly might ko jenkins. Jenkins is known as the human highlight reel and to his credit, he does have some pretty flashy kos but, its against super low level competition. Not to mention, all ailments aside, Klose is by far the best person hes ever fought and way better than rong zhu, who absolutely dominated jenkins from pillar to post. I mean that fight was an absolute beatdown; he got dominated on the wrestling and got brutally koed in quite the late stoppage. Klose does have to be careful because, while jenkins may be bad, he does throw some crazy strikes and Klose has shown to be quite hittable. Klose is better in every aspect tho. On the feet, he feints a ton and has a very diverse array of attacks. He likes to work the legs a lot and his right hand is absolute money. He throws it very quickly and hes able to generate some solid power when it connects. Hes also a pretty good wrestler and as we saw against zhu, he could dominate jenkins there. I dont really think the rough cut will affect Klose’s gas tank because hes got pretty awesome conditioning but you never know. My only worry about this fight is how hes going to look after this very rough patch of inactivity but if he comes in even looking half as good as he did before, I expect him to dominate jenkins. Even if he looks like a shell of himself, I think he will still win pretty easily barring a freak ko from jenkins; jenkins is far from ufc level. 

Rafa Garcia vs Jesse Ronson 

Garcia DEC 

This fight is just super weird to me. Both guys are in the ufc because they took short notice fights. Garcia has been something of a glass cannon. He will have a good performance like his last fight or when he fought nasrat and had a good showing on short notice; and then he will go out and lose to a guy like gritz. Overall, hes not a bad fighter, just really inconsistent. Im not too sure what that issue was against gritz because he hasnt gassed out in other fights, trains at team elevation, and has gone 5 rounds before. His striking is okay; he had some success against nasrat and did hurt gritz pretty badly but he is a little sloppy on the feet. His wrestling is pretty good and i like his ground game too. For ronson I dont really know what to think. He randomly got back into the ufc on short noitce as a pretty big dog. He won the fight but it became a no contest because of roids. Now, ronson has been denying that hes a cheater but im pretty sure he has taken steroids before (and likely still is). Hes not a very flashy striker but he carries some pretty good power. In a lot of his wins, the fight will be decently competitive and then he lands a good punch and drops his opponents. Garcia has shown that hes pretty hittable so far in teh ufc, but hes never been finished before and hasnt really shown chin issues. That being said, I would be careful on the feet if i was him because no one was really expecting him to drop and sub dalby. That brings me to another point; Ronson has fought at WW before and looked pretty big at faceoffs. Granted, ronson is a natural 155er so this shouldnt cause too many problems. Even though he has 7 subs, I dont really think ronsons ground game is all that good. Hes been caught in some tight subs and ive seen him taken down many times before. I think garcia will win but again, its so hard to tell with this fight. Probably going to end up switching my pick a lot. 

Chris Barnett vs Martin Buday 

Buday KO RD 1 

Now this is a funny one. Im not really that impressed with buday but hes getting quite the easy fight here. First off, hes going to be massive compared to barnett. Theres not a crazy reach discrepancy (only 2 inches) but hes 7 inches taller than barnett. This is not good for barnett because it means hes not going to be able to land his taekwondo kicks; i genuinely dont think hes tall enough nor does he get enough air to reach up there. This is also evident from the last 6’4 person he fought in ben rothwell. Granted, rothwell is way better than buday and that fight was also short notice, but barnett had nothing for rothwell. Oddly enough, Ive seen barnett land some decent strikes and ive even seen him suplex people before, but i really dont think he can do anything his theatrics. He will be able to land punches with ease, but no kicks. I say this because buday has horrendous striking defense. I thought he just got caught on dwcs but after watching his regional fights its just actually that bad. He has limited head movement and, as i said earlier, im just not that impressed with him but he should win because of the size discrepancy. He doesnt seem to have crazy power for a HW yet hes been able to ko his opponents with relative ease. He does have some pretty good knees in the clinch and that actually where hes comfortable. When hes not striking. He works his opponents in the clinch. He has some wrestling and was able to get a sub pretty easily, but i wouldnt say his wrestling is realy that great. He probably could implement it against barnett but i think hes gonna be fine striking with him.

Trey Ogden vs Jordan Leavitt 

Ogden DEC 

I actually like this fight. Both guys have pretty similar styles so i think it should be a good fight. Im personally not that high on leavitt. I really like his creativity on the ground but hes not very good everywhere else. His wrestling is okay actually but he gives up takedowns constantly because hes so comfortable on the ground. I think this lack of tdd is whats going to cost him here. Despite fighting pretty awful competition, in every fight i see, once ogden gets a takedown his opponents dont usually get back up. He seems very supprsive on top and we did see leavitt lose to puelles in the same fashion. He got taken and held down because he is too comfortable off of his back. Now, its not like all ogden has to do is get takedowns and win because, as i said, leavitt is quite creative on the ground. Hes always looking for submissions and has done some pretty tricky things thus far. Ogdens sub defense is queationable to me; he has a bunch on his record but hes been subbed by nick browne (not a bad loss but browne isnt really a crazy finisher) and thomas gifford twice. The thomas gifford losses really scare me but I feel as it could be a similar situation to someone like don madge (three losses all to the same guy) where ogden just couldnt beat him. On the feet, its ogden all day. Hes not an incredible striker but hes got much more variation than leavitt does. Leavitt has some god awful stirking actually; very low volume and just really doesnt look like he knows how to throw punches. His leg kicks are pretty pathetic too; very readable and dont seem to do all that much damage. As long as hes the one getting takedowns and can pass leavitts guard, I think this should be an easy win for ogden. 

Istela Nunes vs Sam Hughes 

Nunes DEC 

Another super low level fight. Hughes might be one of the worst female fighters on the roster. I really dont think she does anything well. She isnt good at striking and is very hittable, shes been hurt badly multiple times, and she has horrible tdd. Granted, shes fighting solid comp but still. Im not very impressed with istela nunes either. I do want to cut her some slack because she fought a tough fighter after a 3 year layoff but she didnt look great either. However, I think she should cruise here. Its hard to be fully confident because neither fighter is very good but sam is not a wrestler and as long as her opponent isnt engaging in the ground game, nunes should be fine. Shes got great muay thai and has some awesome head kicks. Ive also seen her throw some wild strikes like flying head kicks and flying elbows and the few kos that she has have been pretty violent. Her main weakness is that she has absolutely 0 grappling but sam hughes hasnt even landed a takedown because she sucks. I will say tho, nunes lack of grappling is quite concerning. I think if she does get taken down, she could actually be in jeopardy.

Alatengheili vs Kevin Croom 

Croom SUB RD 2 

This is a crazy low level fight, neither guy is ufc caliber imo. Ive been going back and forth on who wins but after seeing weigh ins, im going with croom. He comfortably made weight and im pretty sure hes now one of the tallest active BWs on the roster. I dont know how the cut is going to affect his gas tank and chin but i dont really think the latter will be much of an issue because heili has some god awful striking; both guys do actually. I dont necessarily trust crooms gas tank either. On the feet I think im going with croom despite both guys being terrible on the feet. Croom is going to have a big reach advantage and he has some really weird movement/striking that I think could throw off heili. Heili’s striking is pretty much just boxing with leg kicks. He is quite low volume and gets hit like crazy (croom does too actually). Heili also does not block body shots at all; you can just work his body all fight and he just eats it. Heili has some wrestling in his back pocket, but hes only ever used it in the third round of his fights and just has questionable fight iq in general. He could win through wrestling but im not even sure if he will impose it. Also, croom has some bjj; its pretty low level and he makes a ton of mistakes, but heili is nowhere near the grappling level of kelleher or caceres so i think croom will be okay on those fronts. I also like that croom trains at glory. Even though hes low level he at least has a good coach. I think hes gonna do some weird **** and catch heili in a sub

Vicente Luque vs Belal Muhammad II 

Luque KO RD 3 

As much as I hate belal, I have to give credit where its due. He has improved as a fighter. Granted, he is boring as **** but he is skilled. Hes got a very high fight iq and because of this, he is able to create the best gameplans for his opponents. However, I dont really know what his gameplan is gonna be. On the feet, vicente is flat out the better striker. Belal is no slouch himself but Vicente is on of the best brawlers in the ufc. Through 17 ufc fights, hes maintained a 54% striking accuracy which is very impressive. This is scary for belal because luque hits like a truck. I also do not think belal has a great chin; for someone whos only been koed once (by luque) hes been hurt on many occasions. His power is something else. I also dont think he will respect Belal’s striking because Belal is not a ko threat. Even if he was, Luque has one hell of a chin. Belal is a very good wrestler, and luque has a weakness to wrestling but im not sure how well he will implement it. I know he dominated wonderboy and all that but how good is wonderboy really at this point in time? Belal hasnt really done that to anyone else in the ufc and wonderboy, despite being an elite striker, has an admittedly poor ground game and a fading takedown defense because of his age. Even if he does wrestle, I think luque has improved his tdd a lot recently. Hes also got a killer ground game, more specifically his darce choke. He knows how to set it up and if he gets you in the sub, youre not getting out. I do question Luques cardio a little bit as hes never been 5 rounds before but sanford has good cardio training so im not too worried. 

Caio Borralho vs Gadzhi Omargadzhiev 

Omargadzhiev DEC  

I dont really know who wins this fight. Both guys seemed pretty promising from dwcs but im not really sure where they are in relation to skill. For caio, I like how well rounded he is. On the feet, he stands in a karate stance and looks to pick his opponents apart. Hes got a good arsenal of punches and kicks and he likes to throw counter flying knees. Hes also a judo brown belt and a bjj black belt. I dont really like how he took the third round off in his first dwcs fight. Especially because ghadzi is always pressuring, you cant be trying to cruise even when you think youre winning the fight. For Gadzhi, its a little harder to get a read. I do take pause when i see an undefeated russian who hasnt fought for the major orgs in russia (ACA,M1,FNG, etc.), especially because gadzhi hasnt fought the greatest competition. Caio hasnt fought the greatest competition either but i couldnt even really find fights on gadzhi. I could only find his dwcs fight, and his most recent fight outside the ufc. However, in these two fights, he absolutely destroyed his two opponents from start to finish. Now, this is typical for an undefeated dagestani, but again, I dont really know how good he is because of the level of competition. However, in the tape that i did see, I was very impressed. Firstly, he trains at MMA factory and you can see that influence in his standup. On the feet, he bounces around similar to that of imavov or gane. He uses teep and oblique kicks a lot, and im just a fan of his striking overall; its always good to see dagestani’s with good standup. Now on the ground he looks like a total beas, but again, I have to see how he does here. Hes pretty good at slipping punches into a takedown and once he gets a takedown, I have not seen either of his opponents be able to get back up. I was also happy to see that he pulled off a creative submission because that shows that he too has knowledge in bjj. Overall, I dont really know who wins; both guys are very well rounded and both guys are also young. This could be very competitive or completely one sided for each fighter. 

Miguel Baeza vs Andre Fialho 

Fialho KO RD 2 

This is my pick for FOTN. On paper, Baeza should destroy Fialho. Hes the more complete fighter everywhere. Baeza has good cardio and good volume, he hits very hard, and hes also got a solid ground game. He is a black belt, however his wrestling isnt that great. Hes able to get takedowns but hes not a wrestler by trade. Despite this well rounded skillset, Baeza does have some problems. Mainly being his striking defense; this dude is so hittable. Hes got a good chin and has only been koed once, but hes been hurt on multiple occasions and you cant just rely on a good chin to help you, you also need defense and movement. Now, Fialho is an interesting case. Hes a solid fighter but hes essentially a boxer, not an mma fighter. He doesnt really have good ground game, his tdd is pretty solid but i dont think baeza will shoot, and his gas tank is questionable. I think he has improved it because he went from looking like he was about to die in LFA to looking okay in the pereira fight. He lost the last two rounds but i thought that was more to pereira being better than his gas tank; he didnt seem to slow down just that pereira started to get a read on him. However, Fialho has some ridiculous power and a great chin to boot. This dude is not afraid to take a shot to get a shot and i think that could be problematic for baeza because of his striking defense. If he starts to tee off on Fialho, I could see him getting caught, much like when he brawled with Khaos. I think its a shot in the dark, but im gonna go with the dog here.

Mayra Bueno Silva vs Wu Yanan 

Bueno Silva DEC 

Bueno silva annoys me so much; shes a very skilled fighter but has absolutely 0 fight iq. Shes kind of like a worse jennifer maia. She has a high level bjj game but only uses it when her opponents engage with her on the ground. Its so annoying because she could win so many fights if she just wrestled or at least tried to be the initiator on the ground. Like jennifer maia, if you take her down, she really doesnt do anything off her back and is too content to lie there. Instead, she likes to stand and bang despite not being a great striker. Despite these pitfalls, bueno silva is an okay fighter and definitely better than yanan. Yanan has had a pretty long layoff and i could have sworn she tore her MCL less than two months ago. If thats true, thats pretty concerning because shes gonna be on one leg basically. Yanan likes to go for takedowns occasionally, shes attempted at least one each fight. Bueno silva has pretty solid tdd but if yanan is to land a takedown, or even engage on the ground, then silva could get a submission. However, i think its likely gonna take place on the feet and bueno silva is gonna win because yanan is pretty ****. Bueno silva has also only lost to good competition.

Pat Sabatini vs T.J. Laramie 

Sabatini SUB RD 1 

I really dont think this one will be close. Laramie is a pretty decent fighter but i do not like this matchup for him. What he does well is wrestle and he also has a great gas tank. However, he is too reliant on his wrestling to win and i think thats gonna cost him here. In his two most recents fights, hes shown some pretty questionable awareness on the ground. Against daniel swain, even though he won the fight, he kept walking into leg lock attempts. ONce he made his debut, he thought it would be smart to takedown a guy with 20 first round guillotines. Seeing this against someone with the bjj of sabatini is quite concerning. Sabatini is a beast of a prospect; he has a wrestling background, is a renzo gracie black belt, pan am champ, and a combat sambo silver medalist. Basically hes better than laramie at his own game. Sabatini can wrestle well and is absolutely deadly on the ground. If hes walking into all these sub attempts from lower level guys (minner has some nice bjj but hes a lower level fighter than sabatini) i cant help but see him getting subbed quickly by pat. Emmers is a perfect example of why you dont want to make mistakes on the ground with pat. He went to the ground with sabatini and got subbed within a minute. Sabatini is a solid striker too. Its not where hes the most comfortable but hes gotten kos and dropped people before. He is also a black belt in tang soo do so he has some kicks in his arsenal. FInally, laramie has been on a decently long layoff and has started a construction business so you can see fighting isnt the only thing on his mind. He also is very small for 145 while sabatini is a decently big 145’er. 

Mounir Lazzez Vs Ange Loosa 

Loosa KO RD 2 

This might be a long shot of a pick but im a fan of loosa. This is one of the best fights on the card imo; both guys are always in exciting fights. Lazzez is a rangy kickboxer and loosa is an aggressive muay thai fighter who also likes to wrestle a lot. Lazzez is going to be the bigger guy (in terms of height and reach) and likes to keep the distance with front kicks. Hes also got a good use of elbows and he can brawl when he needs too. One thing i really dont like from him is his striking defense; it is really bad. Even in his fights outside the ufc, he gets touched up a lot. Granted, he has a good chin but loosa hits quite hard (despite being a decisonator). Lazzez also has some wrestling and while its not super high level, he has a surprising amount of success with it. For loosa, im a really big fan of his striking. His combos are so satisfying to watch because he throws so fast. I dont really like loosa’s striking defense either, but he too has a good chin. I think the biggest difference here will be the wrestling of loosa. While Lazzez has some good wrestling, I have seen him taken down before. Considering he’s mainly a striker, hes actually a pretty good wrestler. His tdd looks great and hes got some good scrambles. Even though john howard isnt that great, he was able to dominate him with it throughout the fight. If lazzez tries to take ange down, I dont think he will have much success because ange’s tdd looks really good from the tape ive seen. Im also not totally sure just how good lazzez is. The alhassan fight was sick but that wasnt the same version of alhassan and then getting destroyed in his next fight isnt the best look. His competition outside of the ufc isnt that great either. I will say, this is a much winnable fight for him than zaleski was and if it stays on the feet, he will be able to make it competitive but, im going with the underdog here.

This is a step up for both guys. It will be very interesting