UFC Fight Night: Vera vs. Cruz

The official Tapology discussion thread for the event!

Martin Buday vs Kamil Minda is the most fixed match I've ever come across on youtube. Buday walks around on the outside in a circle for 9 minutes of the fight, doing absolutely nothing instead of walking forward and clinching which he always does otherwise. Minda then grimaces and clutches at his face for no reason and falls to the ground and turns away from Buday as the latter jumps down on him and starts to hammerfist til the ref steps in.

That said I think Buday is actually a prospect at HW and he might have a 40 lbs advantage in this one, and an advantage in pretty much everything else as well, striking, striking defense, clinch work, grappling.

Vera vs. Cruz
Dominick Cruz, DEC
Close fight, I don’t trust Chito Vera’s takedown defense. I think Cruz can get some takedowns and steal rounds to win a decision. Wouldn’t be shocked with a Vera W though

Meerschaert vs. Silva
Bruno Silva, TKO, R2
Gerald is probably going to sleep here

Brzeski vs. Buday
Łukasz Brzeski, DEC
Brzeski is a good fighter man. I was really impressed with him his last fight against Potter, sucks he got suspended. There's something about Polish Heavyweights though. Buday is great. I mean the guy made Chris Barnett almost die of exhaustion. Lmao. I think this is gonna be a brawl, and I wouldn't be surprised if my prediction is wrong.

Hill vs. Godinez
Angela Hill, DEC
Man I might go with almost every underdog on this card. I truly believe at least one if not two decisions Angela had had against her in her last four losses. The woman is a very good striker and has a solid chin. Godinez might take a round with her Wrestling but she's gonna have to either submit Hill or she has better done a lot of stand up training this camp. I see this going the distance and Hill finally being the rightful winner.

Had no clue Blackshear is on this card! Letsss goo!

* Edited at 08.07.2022, 11:07 PM ET *

Meerschaert vs. Silva
Bruno Silva, TKO, R2
This is kind of a nightmare marcyl

Blackshear lost to Kris Moutinho by decision?  Oh boy...  I know that was earlier in his career but damn that also means it was also early in the career of Moutinho as well.  

Nunes vs. Calvillo
Cynthia Calvillo, DEC
Well I thought I was picking Underdogs throughout this card but I was wrong. Cynthia albeit three straight losses to me is a tough first opponent for Nunes moving up a weight class. She's a phenomenal Grappler and quite truthfully not to bad of a stand up artist either. I think the extra ten pounds doesn't help Nunes stamina either I mean face it, she isn't in her early thirties anymore. I think the added pressure of having a double champ of a Wife doesn't help either (Yes, I said PRESSURE, because I don't care what anyone says that would definitely bring some pressure on ANY significant other, not saying they're not happily married) I'd be happy if she pulls it off. But Cynthia is due for one, she's quick, and I think she takes the decision. Nunes's stand up is pretty good though and that ten pounds WILL help her power... im definitely not saying she doesn't have a good chance.

U ****s into bad vibes??  ***!!?!!?!?!??

Clark vs. Murzakanov
Devin Clark, TKO, R3
Another underdog. Being Undefeated is beautiful and all but Tafon was getting the better of Azamat until he hit that KO in the third round in the last fight. Doesn't seem to be a very accurate puncher and I'm wondering how the gas tank is because Devin Clark looked fresh, rejuvenated and his Striking looked a ton improved in his last fight against William Knight being a solid Wrestler already. I see this fight going back and forth a ton and possibly the distance but I don't think Azamat is as good as his record says he is. We shall see.

Oh I think I get it now….

@depmode22 he's not very good, I just have enjoyed him as a fighter ig.

He's fought tough competition and a solid REGIONAL fighter. 

@depmode I lived in Hartford, CT for awhile and when Bellator was pushing Mike Kimbel; I knew he was way too green so when Blackshear beat him I was kinda a fan.

* Edited at 08.08.2022, 12:35 AM ET *

I really like Devin Clark as the dog here. Clark is vastly underrated and huge for the weight class, and Murzakanov was getting picked apart by Nchukwi and would've lost if Nchukwi didn't have such a **** chin

Do you think he’s good enough to beat Youssef? I really like Youssef in this matchup because he’s faced way better competition and survived everything that Topuria threw at him on the ground, so that just makes me think that he’s going to be able to negate anything Blackshear throws at him. The only thing I’m worried about though is if Zalal shoots for a lazy TD and Blackshear is able to lock in a guillotine. 

Why can't he just control him on the ground for 3

The reason why I don’t think he can is because Zalal has shown to have a decent grappling game and also we haven’t really seen Zalal taken down and controlled apart from the Topuria fight where he was still having some good back and forth scrambles. Maybe I’m putting too much stock in that fight but the fact he was able to survive Topuria on the ground makes me think it would take a very high level wrestler/grappler who’s on Topuria’s level or close to it to keep him controlled on the ground. But who knows because this is Zalal’s first professional fight at BW (he’s fought at BW as an amateur) so anything could happen, but I just think Zalal has shown to have a very good gas tank along with having the experience edge and size advantage here. 

EDIT: Just rewatched the Zalal vs. Topuria fight and Zalal escaped so many submissions that were locked up and even reversed Topuria many times, so I don’t know how Blackshear is going to lock up a sub apart from Zalal gettting caught in a guillotine (because he will shoot TD’s even on high level grapplers lol). Like Rah alluded to though he could get controlled for 3 rounds but I doubt that will happen since he showed to have a very good grappling game as he was reversing every failed submission attempt Topuria threw up. I think Zalal should coast to a clear 30-27 or 29-28 UD this week. Also I’d like to mention Zalal is only 25 and he took a year off after fighting decent - to very good comp so we will see some improvements in his game, but I wanna see how Zalal’s gas tank holds up in this new weight class though. Still I think he should be fine as this is a good welcome fight for him in the BW division, he just needs to be very weary on the ground as Blackshear’s record indicates he can find submissions late in a fight. 

* Edited at 08.08.2022, 2:11 AM ET *

Lots of kos happening Clark will be one of them.