MMA news updates

Instead of spamming the boards everytime I see some cool news, I’ll post it here. I’ll also keep track of prospects I like, new signings to ufc/dwcs/Bellator/etc.

* Edited at 05.02.2022, 4:44 PM ET *

Biaggio Ali Walsh, the grandson of Muhammed Ali is making his amatuer mma debut this Friday. Don’t expect much from him but cool to see he’s doing mma instead of boxing 

Oktagon 33 happens this Saturday. Funny enough, it starts right around the time ufc ends so if you want to buy the ppv (I think it’s 12 USD) I highly recommend doing so. Oktagon is a very solid promotion with high quality fights but this weekend has some very good fights on it. The prelims are great, with vets like cheik kone and former pfl fighter hatef moeil fighting in the prelims. But where this card really shines is the fantastic main card.

For the main card opener, we have David zawada’s first fight since his ufc release. They’re giving him 10-1 prospect, erhan kartal. Kartal is 10-1 with 7 ko’s 1 sub. His only loss came via a knee injury so likely could be undefeated if that hadn’t happened. His level of competition is not great, but if he beats a solid vet like Zawada (who I think should still be in the ufc), then we have a great new prospect to look out for.

The next fight is an awesome legends fight between karlos vemola and Michal Pasternak. While I can’t call either prospects, this is going to be an awesome fight between two respective legends in their countries. Vemola fought in the ufc 12 years ago when he was only 24, it wasn’t fully ready for it and was released after a 2-4 stint. Since that however, he has long been one of the best fighters on the European regional scene, going 22-2 (!) since his ufc stint, picking up multiple regional titles including the oktagon MW belt which he held until he had to vacate from injuries. He fights another legend in Michal Pasternak. Michal is a former ONE title challenger and while he hasn’t done anything too impressive, he’s seemed to have hit a career stride at 38, going 7-2 since his loss to Ivan shtyrkov (technically it’s 2-2 but he’s been fighting in wotore which is considered legit mma but is cataloged as exhibition) wotore is polish bare knuckle vale tudo where they fight in a moat(highly recommend looking that up, it’s as great as it sounds). Most recently, Pasternak had a very close split decisjon loss with former dwcs fighter, lukasz soldaski and then crushed a fan to get a win. 

The next fight is not so intriguing, but it features Christian eckerlin who is a massive star in Germany (forgot to mention, this is Oktagon’s first time in Germany, hence all the German talent). He’s fighting some short notice replacement Who he should beat easily 

The co-main is a great fight between stefan putz and the older Zawada brother, Martin. Martin is a long time regional vet who’s fought just about everywhere and now he comes to oktagon to fight one of the best fighters in the German regional scene. Putz is unfortunately too old for me to call a prospect (34) but he’s won multiple titles in Germany and was a 2 time challenger for m-1 global 205 belt. He is coming off of a loss to Viktor pesta (which probably would have got him noticed by big orgs) but, he was winning the fight until it was called off by a doctors stoppage. He’s an intriguing 205er because he is 6”5 and has a 78 inch reach. He’s going to look at weight class apart from Zawada. 

Finally, the main event. Oh man is this one crazy. Ivan buchinger vs Losene Keita. Buchinger is the oktagon double champ and has loooong been one of the best fighters to never go to a major org. He has disgustingly good bjj and has held titles for pretty much every regional promotion you can think of (oktagon,cage warriors, m-1, etc.) and he holds wins over guys like Stevie ray and mansour barnaoui. Standing in front of him however, is someone who I think has potential to be a stud. Losene Kieta is 8-0 with 4 ko’s and is the oktagon 155 IC. He carries an 11 fight winstreak stemming from his amatuer career where he went 3-0. He was born in guinea and left when he was 11 to go to Belgium where he’s been living and training since. He hadn’t fought anyone notable before joining oktagon, but when he did, man did he make a splash. He smacked around the #3 ranked fighter, scoring 4 knockdowns in a dominant first round ko. Then he fought for the interim belt against Ronald paradiser. He did get taken down a lot (which could be concerning against a grappler in buchinger) but he showed a great get up game and phenomenal cardio. Keita can wrestle but where he excels is on the feet. This dude has POWER, especially for someone with only 4 ko’s. He had paradiser knocked down at least 3 times and had him in trouble throughout the 5 round affair. His kickboxing is very clean and he has phenomenal striking defense. Just watching him strike, you can see the skill level. He carries tons of power in his shots but doesnt wind them up, he’s just that strong. He’s got very fast hand speed too and is a very technical striker. He can sometimes overcommit on a shot but the majority of the time he’s composed and tries to pick you apart. One thing he does very well that we don’t see people do, if when he gets a knockdown, he makes his opponent stand back up. This is very smart because he knows he’s winning on the feet and he knows he’s not the most comfortable in the ground, so he doesn’t give his opponent any advantage. This would be a great strategy when he’s fighting buki. Prospects i hype up almost always fall short on big situations, but if he beats buchinger, I can guarantee we will see him in the ufc. I already think he’s great but a win over buchinger, especially a dominant one, means he’s the real deal. Oh, and kieta is only 24, so weather or not he loses, he’s got a great career ahead of him 

* Edited at 05.31.2022, 8:44 AM ET *

Alright, if it wasn’t evident now, the ufc is DEFINITELY rebuilding womens bantamweight. They just signed another prospect in tainara Lisboa. She holds a 5-2 record with 3ko 2 sub and is a former two time Muay Thai champ. She’s green and a can crusher, and pretty old for how little fights she has (31) but she has an extensive Muay Thai background and is a finisher so I can’t complain; the division needs new fighters. Really don’t know her celing but she should be fun to watch. 

What is fascinating about her is she has a high level striking game but has started taking grappling very seriously. She recently gold medaled at a big bjj tournament this year and has two subs on her record 

Lastly, I do find it very strange they’re signing all these girls straight up and not signing them to dwcs. Cant complain tho, WBW needs fresh blood 

Very exciting that they are building this division up. 

Ya I wonder what re-ignited their interest in the division. That’s now 3 new women to the division 

It has to have something to do with the upcoming Peña vs. Nunes 2 match up. 

Maybe. I don’t even know if there’s a specific reason tho. It really does seem sporadic. Like these signings have all came within a week of each other. Unless they’re doing some kind of tournament… (pretty unlikely lol)

Holy **** insane news, jailton vs shamil abdurakimov September 10

That man is getting the fast track to contention lol

The Khamzat path

I was surprised they booked him so high up the food chain, especially at 265 but I suppose they’re very thirsty for new talent there. And, shamil is hardly a top 15 talent anymore, just has the number next to his name. This should be easy for jailton; likely gonna be a repeat of the blaydes fight 

* Edited at 06.01.2022, 8:57 AM ET *

So Ailin Perez is fighting zairah fairn. I hope that doesn’t mean the women for 135 are going to be fighting at 145… that would be a MAJOR disappointment. 145 should be scrapped, not rebuilta 


Edit: false alarm it’s at 135

* Edited at 06.01.2022, 9:38 AM ET *

LOL thanks. I just search em up and scour the internet for whatever I can find, be it interviews, social media posts, whatever. However, ive also known about buchinger and Keita for a while so that helps 🤣 

I also keep tabs on lots of fighters so I can see their career growth once I take note of them, which helps on retaining information about them

Ryan hall, in classic, typical fashion, has torn his acl completely and is out until 2023 🤦‍♂️ I wanna be mad but this is honestly peak ryan hall lol. This guy is always gonna be the biggest what if 

He said he had just agreed to fight august 13th too. Now I’m actually mad 😔 

Man, that sucks for Hall. At least since his style has never been built around physical abilities he should still be about as good once he's able to rehab