Contender Series 2023: Week 9

The official Tapology discussion thread for the event!

 

@AyyLmaonnaise 

Will you be posting your write-ups/thoughts related to each match for this event? Just started following Tapology a few months ago, but always appreciate your detailed write-ups and insight. 

Yeah I’m finishing that up rn 

Oh **** Lucas rocha missed weight by 5 pounds

Fight is off

* Edited at 10.02.2023, 12:49 PM ET *

Damn dude's listen as 5'2, still missed weight lol

@Ay you think Raimond has a bad gas tank? I didn’t think he looked like the pinnacle of fitness in his fights but idk, his last fight against Impa was a pretty grueling grappling battle that I thought he clearly won, and Impa was overweight in that fight as well. Just curious if you had examples cause I had thought it looked decent but haven’t watched all his fights to be fair

Honestly the only thing making me hesitate at all is Ruffy training where he does but he doesn’t seem to fight super intelligently like other fighters from Fighting Nerds do, he has a bit more wild of a style

@AyyLmaonnaise 

  5 pounds !? Thats crazy, was he even trying?
I would like to hear if he has any excuses for it. Unless is some serious medical issue that impacted his preparation i don't see the ufc giving him more opportunities

I remember how pissed everyone was with michell pereira when he missed weight against Wonderboy and he was missing weight by 3 pounds if i remember correctly.

@meluka he slowed down really badly in the nakashima fight. Against McGuire he was able to win round 3 but he was very tired & kept getting himself taken down. When you force him to wrestle he seems to get tired much faster

@vic he’s a young kid so probably grew a lot for the weight class. He might have to be at 135 

* Edited at 10.02.2023, 1:45 PM ET *

Talha is an assesine… in my opinion, one of the best Contenders of the season, Bellato is so good, but Talha is THE MAN 

Talha and U2.5 rounds 🎯

Opportunity of a lifetime and u miss by 5 pounds, he knew he was gona get KOd

Oh great, who in the hell are they gonna find a replacement in this hour?

Yeah Talha has fought really good competition too so far, not to mention tons of Experience as Amateurs, IMMAF world Champion, I am little scared tho as he's undersized for a LHW and Bellator is a massive LHW, I hope Talha gets signed, so does Gadzhisulov, Bellato is Ufc calliber too, it sucks we have arguably 2 best LHWs in this DWCS season fighting each other ans only one can get signed

@IznKara 

You know, that fact always bothers me. If you have two guys who are both clearly UFC caliber fight each other, then people will complain about only one of the two to get signed instead of both. And if you get one guy is UFC caliber and put him against a can crusher, people will STILL complain about how the "fight is just to make him look good" schtick. Like goddamn! WHAT DO YOU WANT PEOPLE!?

Not necessarily, sometimes they have two cans fight each other and one get signed that's even worse, like how it was for that Turkish LHW who destroyed Fellow Can Brazilian LHW, both are pretty bad I have seen some of Ibo's fight, he was destroyed by Turkalj who himself is getting screwed in UFC every fight, its better to not have two absolute best fight each other in DWCS imo

Bellato vs Talha 
 Talha KO RD 1

I feel bad for bellato. This is his second shot on dwcs and now he has to fight one of the best prospects in his weight class. Bellato’s flaws are evident, but I think he is actually a decent fighter & could beat some guys in the ufc. Bellato is a pretty well rounded fighter. He isn’t amazing anywhere but has skills everywhere. His striking has improved a good amount but his defense is lacking. Offensively he isn’t bad; he throws pretty hard and has decent boxing & muay thai skills. His defense is pretty bad tho & he doesn’t have the greatest chin. Where bellato is best is his grappling. I think his takedowns are pretty solid, he is strong and has good technique. He does his best work against the cage but will sometimes wrestle in the open. What I really like about his grappling is that he will not accept bottom position & tries to get up instead of playing guard. I am a pretty big fan of bellato’s bjj. He is very good at chaining sub attempts together & has a very active guard. In his most recent fight he didn’t rush anything but in the past he has given up top control for submissions. His last fight was horrible to watch but at least it showed improvements in his game. It was not a performance that wowed me but he is at least learning to pace himself and use his control. Im still not sure his cardio is very good. Despite going 5 rounds, he was able to control the pace as much as he wanted so he didn’t have to use a lot of energy. In his last dwcs fight he started to slow down once petrino made the fight ugly. Overall, Bellato is a well rounded fighter with skills everywhere, but he is not outstanding anywhere. Talha on the other hand, is very impressive to me. He was a 3x immaf world champ & a 1x immaf europe champ, going 12-0 as an amateur. As a pro, he has manhandled everyone hes faced, going 6-0 with all wins inside the distance. He has looked unbelievably dominant thus far btu there are a few concerns. First, he is small for the weight class, hes only like 6”0 & has fought at 185 a few times. He has the strength & skill to compete at 205 but he is undersized which could cause him issues as he rises up the ranks. The other issue i have is his striking. Its serviceable for now but he has to improve it. He hits very hard but his shots are a little sloppy & he really only throws overhands and hooks. He also has a bad habit of leaving his chin up before he throws a shot; a good striker will be able to capitalize easily. However, I think he is fine here. I give bellato the advantage since he is bigger & has better technique but he is also pretty hittable. Talha’s grappling is very very impressive. His shots are very good & he gets you up to the cage & just grinds you out. He does the dagi style wrestling & keeps doing takedown after takedown until he gets you where he wants. Once on the ground he has lethal gnp or he will look to find a submission. On the ground I think he is going to manhandle bellato. The only other question I have about talha is his cardio. He doesn’t seem like he fights at a pace that will make him gas but he is running through everyone so quickly that it does make you wonder. However, I think its really just because he is that good that nobody has been able to last longer than a round with him as a pro. 

Torres vs Silva 
 Torres KO RD 2

I think both these guys are weird choices for dwcs. Torres isn’t bad but im not really sure how to feel about him. He has a crazy record on paper but the majority of his wins are against low level south american regional guys. He does have a win over rodrigo vera, a win that is not only aging well but torres actually had a very impressive showing in that fight. He used a diverse striking attack to confuse vera. He was picking him apart from everywhere & had vera guessing on every striking exchange. I can’t find footage of it but I am very curious as to how torres lost to hernandez. Its very concerning to me because hernandez is the only ex ufc fighter torres has fought & he lost. Not only is it a loss, but hernandez wasnt even a good ufc fighter, so it is concerning. My guess is he got outwrestled. What I like about torres is his striking attacks; he is always mixing up his combos & attacks all parts of the body. I like his footwork too, hes constantly switching stances and maneuvering around the octagon. What I don’t like is how easily he lets himself get backed up to the cage. He has been able to evade his opponents but someone who knows how to cut off the cage will give him issues. I also dont like how hes going to decision against guys with losing records, especially inexperienced ones like 4-5 or 1-2. He is beating these guys with ease but still i really think he should be getting a finish; its not the worst thing in the world tho. Torres' ground game is also very bad. He cant wrestle or grapple at all. I don’t like a lot of torres’ overall game but I do really like his striking. I think he has the power to ko people but he just doesnt seem to commit to it fully. I think his combos are very clean & i like how he never throws the same combo; its always something different. Silva is also a weird choice for dwcs. Sure, his record looks great. Hes on a big winstreak, has an impressive record, and has a ton of first round finishes but, im really unimpressed on his tape. The first red flag actually comes just from looking at his record. Silva fights out of Astra Fight Team, a gym known for producing guys with insanely padded records (just look at their gym page). They bring these guys up through their own promotions (aspera fc) so even though he has wins that look good on paper, im not sure the guys hes fighting are putting up their best efforts, so to speak. Silva doesn’t have a ton of tape but what’s out there is not very impressive. Silva’s game is very simple; on the feet his two weapons are hooks and calf kicks. His kicks are pretty powerful but he will throw them naked & goes to the well a little too often. His hooks are also pretty powerful but thats really all he has to offer on the feet. Torres is a much better striker in pretty much every way imo. Sure, silva has a ton of power but he is predictable, torres knows how to use all his weapons & is constantly making you think of what hes going to throw next. One thing that does worry me here is silva is not afraid to wrestle. Im not impressed by his technique but he is aggressive with his attempts. Torres has not shown me that he can wrestle well at all, so this is worrisome. Silva doesnt do much on the ground, he usually just wet blankets you or does his special heel hook. Dropping for a heel hook when you have top control does not work at the ufc level & if he does that torres is going to immediately try to get back up. However, if he just spends minutes sitting on his back then torres will lose. Im not totally blown away by torres but I do not trust this astra fight team product. 

Gadzhiyasulov vs Medina 
 Gadzhiyasulov KO RD 1

This is a pretty linear one; gadzhiyasulov wins. Anyone who follows the regional scene knows that the bolivian mma scene is garbage. They have tried to assimilate into bigger scenes but it has not worked at all; their scene simply isnt up to par. Watching his tape, Medina is clearly very low level. He looks so incredibly slow & doesnt look like he knows how to strike. His reactions to whatever his opponents are doing is so slow. Medina is also super unatheltic; he is very flabby and is not a natural athlete. He has very poor striking, no cardio, no grappling, and just does not look like a fighter than can compete at the world stage. In his most recent fight, he finally faced someone with a pulse (4-2) and it was horrible. For starters, worst 4-2 guy ive ever seen; no idea how that dude he fought has any wins. Second, I thought medina lost 1 & 3 but got gifted a decision since the fight took place in his hometown. He got outwrestled and dropped badly, even death gassing in round 3. He got eyepoked and quit so it went to a tech decision. I could go on about what I like about gadzhiyasulov but ill keep it short and simple since this is so one sided. Now, Gadzhiyasulov is far from perfect in fact, there were actually a few things I really don’t like about him. First, his head movement & more specifically his head movement when throwing in the pocket. He doesnt move his head that well when at range & when hes throwing down he often has predictable head movement. I also really do not like how easily he lets himself get back up to the fence. Despite these flaws, you can clearly see the difference in skill. Magomed has slick striking; he is constantly switching stances and has a really diverse striking attack. He mixes in kicks and punches very well & hits pretty hard. He attacks the body and legs a lot which i like. He is also very good at mixing his takedowns in with his striking; he doesnt telegraph & his shots are very quick. His wrestling is pretty good but compared to medina he will look like khabib. We have seen a lot of these chalky hyped up favorites lose this season but I struggle to see what medina can do outside of a lucky punch. His striking is horrible, hes so slow & unathletic, he cant wrestle, he has 2 rounds of cardio, i just simply dont know how he can win this fight. 

Ruffy vs Magomedaliev  
Magomedaliev KO RD 2 

Ruffy is a very exciting fighter but also a flawed one. His technique is very good, couple that with insane natural power & he is an offensive force. Ruffy has a kick heavy game but has crazy power in his hands as well. He is actually pretty technical but his defense is hilariously bad. He always hands his hands down & chin up, relying on head movement and footwork to evade shots. He can defend some shots but still gets hit a lot; his shoulder rolling to avoid punches is just begging to get him koed. His chin isnt the best either, as he has been dropped many times before. He is always live for a ko but i think he is outclassed here in terms of skill. Magomedaliev is a weird choice for dwcs, not because hes bad but hes 33 and been around for a while so hes more of an established talent than a prospect in my eyes. Raimond’s lone loss came 5 years ago to nakashima in which he got dominated for three rounds. Nakashima gave him issues with low kicks and forward pressure, as well as mixing in wrestling late when raimond gassed out. Since that fight he has looked much better. Raimond is a striking dagi; he doesnt have a ton of output but he throws very quick, very powerful strikes. He likes to fight technical but once he finds his range he is going to tear you apart. Raimond likes to keep his distance with kicks. He throws a lot of low kicks to the legs but also has a question mark kick he favors & some body kicks as well. He has a decent jab and very powerful straights; i have seen him put people out cold with one punch multiple times. Raimond’s clinch game is vicious; he throws loads of knees and elbows in the clinch & throws them with serious power; he honestly has one of the better clinches ive seen from a fighter on the regional scene. His wrestling is decent but not very good. Although i do like how scrambly he is when he does get taken down. Raimond’s cardio is also very bad; he has about 9 good minutes in him and then he gets very tired; his cardio goes even quicker when hes forced to wrestle. Ruffy looked very tired after 7 minutes with torres so idk but raimond has a track record of slowing down. Im gonna go with raimond but im not blown away by him; I just dont like ruffys defense but wouldnt be shocked if he wins this fight.

* Edited at 10.02.2023, 2:21 PM ET *

Torres vs. Silva
Victor Hugo Silva, TKO, R2
Braziiiil lala lala lala la la ( Don't let the record choose for you this dude hasn't lost in 9 years )

Gadzhiyasulov vs. Medina
Magomed Gadzhiyasulov, TKO, R1
No need to comment.

Ruffy vs. Magomedaliev
Raimond Magomedaliev, SUB, R2
Magomedaliev is going to eat this dude, unlucky matchmaking go next.

Bellato vs. Talha
Murtaza Talha, SUB, R1
Talha takes down and strangle the big dude

@AyyLmaonnaise 

interesting Silva shady thing with the gym and fights, but I think even if they try to get him easy opponents Torres hasn't fight difficult ones neither, so imma trust Brazil

@ClassB4Cash 

that is a valid point. However, I was more impressed with the performances of torres. I also like that he beat Rodrigo vera (and looked good while doing it) who is a legit opponent. That win alone is enough to sway me to torres

@AyyLmaonnaise 

Thanks a lot!! Very comprehensive and insightful write-ups as always