Contender Series 2023: Week 8

The official Tapology discussion thread for the event!

Can't find much of any tape on Mario Piazzon, he has fought absolute cans as well, no idea why he is getting this call 

Cannon fodder for Soldatkin 

Rakhmonova vs. Kareckaite
Ernesta Kareckaite, DEC
kazakhstan vs lithuania. that might be a first

He trains with Jailton Almeida, Jailton said he's good. 

@Higor 

"he trains with Almeida, Almedia says he is good" he trains with him, what is he supposed to say? He sucks? lmao

@MWRSports 

let's see bro

de Oliveira vs. Madrigal
Vinicius de Oliveira, TKO, R2
Yayy Vinicius is perfect for contender series, such a fun style, kill or be killed almost. he was beating on Taleb until he got caught, and Taleb is as good as it gets for a prospect. War Oliveira !

Burlinson vs. Barlow
Justin Burlinson, SUB, R2
Burlinson should be a considerable favorite here.

Oliveira vs. Madrigal
Vinicius Oliveira, TKO, R1
I see this as possibly a lock of the card tbh.

* Edited at 09.20.2023, 5:34 AM ET *

Silva vs. Pacheco
Danny Silva, DEC
I like this fight, I wouldn´t say any guy is anything special right now, but they are the kind of fighters who should be sign with a good win here. I am big fan of Silva´s striking, specially his boxing where the way he works his body really shines. Pacheco is a good gritty dude who carries good power but isn´t really technichal. In this fight I expect Silva to go the distance via his superior striking skills.

Oliveira vs. Madrigal
Vinicius Oliveira, TKO, R2
This to me is the actual main event of the card, with two bantamweights who will 100% bring the heat. Oliveira is a must watch striker who throws a lot of feints while showing a lot creativity. He has really good BJJ and can produce a lot of high level scrambles while hunting for submissions. He can be a bit overconfident sometimes like in the Taleb defeat, but he is certainly one of the best bantamweight prospects currently. Madrigal is a decent prospect himself, but he is levels below anything Oliveira does, specially on the ground. He would have a better chance against any other bantamweight this season as this is a terrible matchup for him. I expect Oliveira to find the finish at some point in the fight

Sora is out of this fight with an injury

Barlow vs. Forest
Raheam Forest, DEC
Barlow only fought 2 guys with winning records i think hes gonna get exposed by forest who actually fought good competition

Kareckaite vs. Judice
Ernesta Kareckaite, DEC
Judice hasnt fought anyone with a winning record

Barlow vs. Forest
Raheam Forest, TKO, R2
This is a fun fight where I am surprised by tapology pick favoring Barlow by so much right now. Forest to me is the better fighter, if he had not had that mistake against Radtke he would have been the one facing Blood Diamond a few weeks ago. He is a volume fighter with a lot of power with him always looking for the finish. He is a decent physical wrestler, being able to hold top position just by raw strength where exerts really powerful G&P. The big question marks are cardio and fight IQ. Barlow is a really good striker too, but he is on the technichal side. He is really explosive and has a few highlight reel KO´s. His ground defense is a big issue and I also have questions regarding his cardio. With that said, I think Forest will take the fight to the ground, where he will have the clear advantage. I expect him to find the finish if the fight gets there

Soldatkin vs. Piazzon
Alexander Soldatkin, TKO, R1
This is a difficult fight to disclose as there is almost no tape on Piazzon. The only video people have been able to fight is his debut and he looks as rough as you can expect a debuting heavyweight to look. Maybe Jailton is right and he has really improved, but I wouldn´t count on it. Soldatkin, has a lot more experience against decent oposition, so he should be nice depth for the division if he gets signed. He is an athletic fighter who has the tools to finish the fight in every area of the game, and he should be able to find a finish in this fight

Barlow vs. Forest
Raheam Forest, TKO, R2
Ah yeah, two boys from the state of Tennessee. I'm gonna go Forest due to his last several fights being against people with better records, and usually when you're this early into your career you can tell a lot about a fighter when it comes to their record.

Soldatkin vs. Piazzon
Alexander Soldatkin, TKO, R1
Soldatkin has more wins over competent opponents and non-cans. I feel confident calling for a knockout like everyone else seems to due to how volatile Heavyweights at this level are.

Silva vs. Pacheco
Danny Silva, DEC
Seems like Danny has more meaningful wins over people. A few losing records sure but not like Angel's two wins over can Zack Schroeder. Silva's height also implies he's gonna have more reach.

Kareckaite vs. Judice
Ernesta Kareckaite, DEC
IDK man, I'll tend to bet for these European chicks more often for some reason.

Oliveira vs. Madrigal
Vinicius Oliveira, DEC
Noticeable experience gap in favor of Oliveira

Oliveira vs. Madrigal
Vinicius Oliveira, TKO, R1
lok dog was pretty much made for dwcs. He only knows how to have bangers & has an insane highlight reel. Super dynamic striking & he is just a physically imposing human in general; I was so impressed watching him, for lack of a better word, just bully yushino who is a solid fighter. The one caveat of lok dogs style is the defenze; he fights with his hands down & has been clipped before. He isn’t chinny but he can be put out bad. However, they are giving him skmeone very easy. Madrigal is a boxer who doesn’t grapple (unless you engage first). He has a decent resume but when you watch him fight it is not impressive. He just has basic boxing technique is there to fight. Lok dog should run through him; one of the best guys this season

* Edited at 09.21.2023, 12:32 PM ET *

Barlow vs. Forest
Raheam Forest, TKO, R1
Danny Barlow might be one of the most naturally gifted fighters I’ve seen; super long frame, crazy atheltic, insane natural power, and overall just looks like he was made for mma. The problem, is that hes 100% talent & 0% refinement. His striking is fast and powerful but you can see he doesn’t really know how to strike, he just uses his athleticism. Barlow doesn’t jab despite having an 80 inch reach, instead he just head hunts. He throws the occasional 1-2 & sometimes a flying knee or switch kick, but those are far & few between. His volume is bad as well, again, just throwing single shots at a time & just headhunting. Barlow fights in a quasi-karate stance, he tries to bounce around & stay light on his feet, but it looks weird because I’m not sure Barlow actually knows karate. As a result, he has this awkward stance where he keeps his hands very low at all times. Overall, I think Barlow is insane talented but he has no refinement at all; he is just a talented guy who has poor training. Forest in the other hand is someone I love. You see the ammy career & it is off putting, but what I like is forest is constantly improving. He went from jobber to legit fighter all through hard work. You can see the improvements in every fight. First, forest couldn’t grapple. So what did he do? He got in the lab and improved. Now, he has very dynamic bjj and will willingly go to the mat. However, a caveat is thag he is still a novice on the mat. For example, he rocked Chuck buff badly & instead decided to shoot a td, resulting in him losing the fight. I’m feeling lazy so won’t go fully in depth but I think forest is better everywhere, he just has to make the right decisions in there & he can easily beat Barlow

Soldatkin vs. Piazzon
Alexander Soldatkin, TKO, R1
Soldatkin is another Walt Harris to me. He looks elite round 1 then his cardio declines & he becomes a very average, low level heavyweight. In round 1, he looks like a beast. Very light on his feet & has good striking. Soldatkin loves spinning back kicks but has good standup. He has pretty good wrestling for a hw but nothing special. What should be noted is while his comp looks good, open fc is a pretty corrupt org that just brings in Brazilians to be fed to Russian talent, so not sure how much weight we can actually put into his winstreak. Then, anyone who has seen Soldatkins last fight knows how bad it is. Now, in all fairness, he did fight a very weird, very unique fighter. Sehic is a tin can but you can’t fight him normally due to his style; sehic is a 6”9 86 inch reach heavyweight, except he’s a bjj guy. Sehic is just hw ryan hall & will literally imanari roll among other things. Round 1, Soldatkin took him down & laid on top on sehic while he tried to do bjj. Round 2, Soldatkin was exhausted. He didn’t do much but the pop in his punches was gone. He did score a knockdown but immediately went to the ground with sehic & got reversed. Then, it was looking like an upset was brewing until sehic literally just quit the fight, citing a shoulder injury. So, Soldatkin won the fight but it was really not that impressive & if anything, left a very bad taste in my mouth. Now, despite these flaws Soldatkin should win. This guy he’s facing is a can crusher of the highest order & from the one fight I could find, seems like your average low level hw. Soldatkin should run through him & while I think he has skills, I actually do not think Soldatkin goes that far. He is very good riund 1 but once he faces someone durable he will get exposed hard

Silva vs. Pacheco
Danny Silva, DEC
Don’t get why either guy is getting a shot here. Silva trains with cub Swanson so that’s probably why. This other guy I am baffled why he got signed. Only fought cans & his tape is not that impressive. Pacheco was getting his ass kicked by Vilson before he landed a flying knee out of nowhere & got a finish. He has only fought scrubs & seems very low level. Silva is decent but again, not sure why he was chosen. I thought his “loss” to kawihae was a horrible decision & I thought silva won very clearly. Silva is all aggression all the time; like most of Cubs fighters, silva has very good cardio & is always pushing the action. He is not a good striker but he at least comes to fight. I’m not sure what to expect here but give me silva to win by aggression

Kareckaite vs. Judice
Ernesta Kareckaite, DEC
“We do not care” - mike tomlin

@AyyLmaonnaise 

Plus, you can tell Pacheco is especially bad, given the fact that his rankings say he's the no. 2 fighter ranked..........in Minnesota of all places. And that's it apparently. Not ranked in the midwest. Nope. Just **********in' Minnesota...........it's at this moment you can tell this fight will not be close.

Soldatkin vs. Piazzon
Alexander Soldatkin, TKO, R1
Alexander by brutal round 1 knock out

LOK DOG!!  So glad to see him get a chance to join the big roster. The guy is wild but damn is he exciting. He was giving Ali Taleb a DOG fight. 

I hope for a a big KO R1 and a contract

Oliveira KO R1
Forest KO R2
Soldatkin KO R1
Silva DEC 
Kareckaite DEC 
On a side note i just now figured out that tapology doesn't give a "perfect" prediction from DEC wins. So i am still on the Hunt for my first perfect.