UFC Fight Night: Yusuff vs. Barboza

The official Tapology discussion thread for the event!

Yusuff vs. Barboza
Edson Barboza
Barboza has fought the who who’s in the UFC , Sodiq is going to get outclassed on the feet

Maia vs. Araujo
Jennifer Maia
Viviane is going to make it look competitive for 1 round , after that Jennifer is going to steal the last 10 minutes with pure boxing

Martinez vs. Yanez
Adrian Yanez, TKO
Martinez is going to sleep

Cháirez vs. Lacerda
Edgar Cháirez
We all know lacerda tapped that last fight

Rodriguez vs. Saaiman
Christian Rodriguez
While Cameron is the better striker , I think if this fight gets to the ground it’s gonna be a long night for Cameron . RODRIGUEZ IS TOO SAVY WHEN IT COMES TO THE GROUND WORK . I could see him subbing saaiman

I saw a highlight of him on YT after a long time and decided to watch one of his older fights ( the hooker one). 
One of the most brutal beatdowns in a cage i have ever seen. Hooker stood until he could stand no more, and at the end Barboza beat hooker's body so much that to me it looked like he was starting to feel bad about it. 
I really hope that we are about to witness a career ressurgence of Edson where he goes in a crazy winning streak. 

Saaiman is no joke on the ground either... His wrestling seems really good and while he's on top, he seems to be really aware of what he's doing. 

Definitely see why Saaiman is the underdog, Rodriguez is just as legit.

+Rodriguez has fought a pretty tough road to even be here and Saaiman has been slowly built against cans and almost lost a DEC to Mana Martinez in a pretty sloppy fight on Saaiman's end.

* Edited at 10.09.2023, 10:13 PM ET *

Probably because CRod dominated Rosas Jr, who, at the time, had a lot of hype. I agree with you that Saaiman should be the favorite.

Alekseeva vs. Dixon
Irina Alekseeva, SUB, R2
People should watch Dixon's only good win against Zheleznyakova who is very good. Its sort of a fluke. She got dominated on the feet, but basically just fell into mount and get a very premature stoppage from the ref before the round ended. Now does it say a lot that Zheleznyakova got mounted yeah, but its wmma this happens a lot. Irina isnt exaclty much better, but I imagine its even on the feet but grappling is a clear difference. But who knows either way Dixon is not really a good favourite

It's Rosa still paying dividends. Overhyped in what could be expected of him considering his inexperience and youth he lost to Rodriguez. His backers had two paths they could take. Admit they were wrong about him or transfer a good amount of his hype to Rodriguez and say it's because the latter was unexpectedly good. Most people wont admit when they're wrong and here we are.

Elkins vs Brown  
Elkins SUB RD 3

This is a pretty tough one to call. Elkins has never really been the best in any area, hes just a guy whos tough as **** & never gets tired. Elkins has made a whole career off of homer simpson ing his way to wins & while it is very fun to watch, it is not a sustainable style for mma; theres only so much punishment you can take before you are not able to mount comebacks anymore. Now, elkins has not gotten to that point yet, but his skills are very much in decline. He still has never ending cardio, insane sub defense, and durability (somewhat), but he has a lot of wear & tear on him. Elkins has a ton of scar tissue on him so every time he gets hit, he immediately opens up. Elkins is also a lot slower & lost athleticism due to his various injuries and damage buildup. His durability is weird; elkins can still take a lot of punishment but when he faces someone who is a good striker, he gets blown out of the water. He made cub look a career best; it was really sad watching elkins get absolutely toyed with on the feet. He can still take a punch but he looks lost out there. His reflexes are so bad & he just doesn’t have it anymore. Elkins still has his wrestling & cardio but even that isn’t what it used to be. His cardio looked weirdly really bad against tristan connelly but then he seemed fine against JSP so not sure what to think there. However, despite elkins being ancient & having a lot of wear and tear, he still does have skills. Its not like he is losing to everyone with a pulse, he just very clearly cant compete with the top of the division anymore; everytime he faces someone below his level, he drowns them like he used to do in his prime. And honestly, I think TJ brown is one of those guys elkins can beat. Brown is a very weird case, his overall skillset is honestly really solid. He has skills in every area of mma, the problem is that he doesn’t know how to mix these skills together. Tj brown just doesn’t know how to fight. His kickboxing is pretyt solid, he swings hard & has some really nice combos. I like his leg kicks & his hooks are super powerful. However, Brown is an offensive force but has very poor defense. He doesn’t check leg kicks himself, he drops his hands constantly, and he just has very poor defensive awareness at all times. One thing brown does consistently well is wrestling. Brown has been wrestling his whole life & is pretty good at getting takedowns. He is fast with his shot & mixes in his attempts well. However, while he is good at getting takedowns, keeping people there is another story. Brown does have good bjj but he doesn’t care about winning minutes. Instead, brown will jump on any sub opportunity he gets, whether he has to give up top control or not. Similarly, brown can also be reversed or swept easily, an elkins special. He also has poor defensive awareness, often times getting subbed himself; I will never forget managing to lose to a guillotine in half guard after dominating jordan griffin for the whole fight. The cherry on top is Brown mixes all these skills but doesn’t pace himself. The result is he pushes a pace he can’t maintain, eventually gassing out and getting finished. I think he will get the better of elkins early, but elkins grappling is going to grind out brown & he gets finished. Brown could finish elkins but he is way too unreliable to back here. I have to take the vet who doesn’t go away over the talented but extremely flawed fighter who has managed to lose some extremely free fights. 

Lisboa vs Oliviera  
Lisboa SUB RD 2 

The ufc always makes questionable wmma signings but ravena oliviera has to be among the worst ever. I mean there are bad girls, and then theres this chick. I am so unimpressed with what ive seen out of ravena. Just looking at her record on paper is enough to know she isn’t ufc level. She has fought only girls making their debuts & the one person with experience was a 43 year old boxer (12-27 btw) who hadn’t done mma in 3 years & was already on a three fight L streak. There isn’t much tape on ravena but what is available is laughably bad. Her striking is nonexistent; yes, she throws with all her power but there is no technique at all. She leans back to **** her punches & then throws the most telegraphed overhand you will ever see. No defense, no footwork, horribly off balance when she throws, she is just a horrendously bad striker. I think whats even more pathetic is her grappling. I know it was a while ago & only her second fight but ravena put on what might be the worst mma fight ive ever seen. She stood & traded with this can for about a round (with some horrendously low level striking) until she got taken down. She was able to reverse into top control, but somehow managed to get ezekiel choked from the bottom. I mean, talk about an amateur level loss; seeing that was just laughably pathetic. I genuinely don’t know why the ufc signed this girl. Shes not attractive & her skills are horrendously bad so idk what she offers to the ufc. Now Lisboa on the other hand, I was actually very impressed with. She had the combat sports background but her level of competition was terrible & there was almost no tape so we had no idea how she would look. Now, it should be taken with a grain of salt since she fought JRC but lisboa looked skilled everywhere. For someone with a supposed high level muay thai background, i think her striking technique is very bad. However, she at least throws powerful straight punches at a high clip so that makes her better than most wmma fighters. I really didn’t like her lack of head movement tho. However, I think her aggressive striking is enough for her to get by. What really surprised me is Lisboa’s grappling. Normally these strikers who go to mma have a very hard time adapting but Lisboa has taken it head on. She is a blue/purple belt (I believe) & in her time before the ufc she was competing (& winning) in regional and national bjj tournaments so she is working on that. She doesn’t shy away from grappling in mma & it appears to be pretty good. She knows how to defend a takedown & understands how to submit people so that is impressive. I think lisboa is a lock here. Her skills are better everywhere & oliviera looks like a tin can to me. The only thing off putting about lisboa is that she has no head movement, other than that she has oliviera covered everywhere & i feel confident she gets a finish. 

McKinney vs Marrotte  
McKinney KO RD 1

There were a million other options the ufc could've gone with other than marrotte. I am happy they are trying to build up mcKinney again but this is another squash match. As an MA native, I am happy to see another Cartel guy in the ufc. However, Marrotte is just going to be another nick fiore. Hes a guy with a decent record but is nowhere close to ufc level. Marrotte took 3 years off during the pandemic & is 2-0 since coming back. As is typical with your prospects out of new england, marrotte’s record is filled with cans. There isn’t a ton of recent footage but all I needed to see was his fight with dan dubuque to know how this fight is going down. It is from 3 years ago so maybe his skills have improved but that was a horrible performance. He went life & death with this random guy. He looked tired after round 1 & was just brawling with this guy. His striking is wild & he has no defense at all; just a walking punching bag. He is incredibly slow as well, watching him shoot takedowns after being rocked was so funny. He is so slow with his actions you could tell he was going to shoot before it even happened. We all know what we are getting with mckinney at this point. He is very good in round 1 & then loses the fight. The sadykov fight was very eye opening as mckinney dominated round 1 but barely did anything (he held body triangle for 4:30) & still just gave up and quit in round 2. Obviously his cardio is bad but that fight showed its gotta be a mental thing as well. One thing I noticed is Mckinneys striking looks very good against low level fighter & horrible against people who can actually strike. Just look at the wild difference in his fights with breeden & sadykov. Obviously, they are two vastly different fighters but mckinneys whole disposition is different in those fights. Against breeden he was ultra confident & walked through him. Striking looked very sharp and he lit him up. Then against sadykov all he wanted to do was wrestle & it looked like he had never taken a striking class in his life. Being that Marrotte falls into the can tier, mckinney should have his way with him on the feet. Someones defense being that bad is a nightmare when fighting mckinney. Mckinney can also take him down & sub him easily if he wants to as well. Its a matter of when and how mckinney wins this fight, not if.
Alekseeva vs Dixon
 Dixon KO RD 2

This is such a bad fight. Alekseeva is such a weird ass signing by the ufc. She was not well known outside the ufc nor was she ever impressive in her fights. Her tape is incredibly bad. For starters, she doesn’t even look like her tapology photo. Irl she has short hair, is very tall, and tatted everywhere; totally disgusting to look at. I felt the same way watching her fights, like ive been catfished. I'm watching her fight & all I can think is how did she make it here. Her “striking” is just her flailing her arms swinging wildly. We saw it was effective against egger who has no idea how to strike but I highly doubt that strategy works on anyone else. Dixon is not a good striker either but at least she has some technique. However, in low level wmma we’ve seen that aggression and pressure wins you more fights than it should. Despite being called russian rhonda, alekseeva does not appear to have any judo background at all. She hasn’t shown any resemblance of a takedown nor has she shown any awareness in the clinch. Her cardio is also very bad, having about 1.5 rounds in the tank before she death gasses. She also doesn’t seem to care about cutting weight; she is a repeat offender with weight misses & seemed to not even attempt to make weight in her debut. Im still shocked she pulled that kneebar out of nowhere, there is no way she will be able to do that again. Dixon im really not impressed with either. She is fighting cans & looks very unathletic but, at least she is fighting people with pulses. Alekseeva’s tape is so bad I can’t justify picking her. Dixon is pretty bad but I just have to have faith here.

Gutierrez vs Alatengheili 
 Gutierrez DEC 

Yet another mismatch. Both these guys were getting different opponents & are now facing one another. I really am not that impressed with gutierrez overall game but heili does not have the tools to beat him. Well, on paper i guess he does but there is a big skill difference between the two. Heili has had a very strange career. He lost a lot early & has figured things out. He has quietly gone 4-1-1 in the ufc but he has to have one of the most uninspiring winning records in the ufc. For starters, his wins are all against very low level guys & he wins these fights by doing just the bare minimum. His striking is not horrible but for some reason he just doesn’t throw anything. He always gets outlanded by his opponents & misses a ton of shots. Since moving to fight ready he has improved his striking but, the bad qualities are still there. Heili’s hands have looked a lot better tho, Fight Ready has helped him improve his technique & man does he hit hard. Despite having fought two cans, heili has looked insanely powerful; every strike he lands is hurting his opponents badly. However, Heili still is very inaccurate & gets hit a lot in his fights. Its very annoying because hes better than a lot of the people hes fighting, but his fights are always so close because he misses a lot & is hittable. Its very odd because heili is honestly a punching bag at times yet he is the most durable human ive ever seen; the beatdown casey kenney put on him was nothing short of unholy & yet heili just tanked every shot. Even danaa was touching him up badly. Another very weird quality about heili is that he is a wrestler, yet doesn’t use it ever until the third round. Its not a gameplanning thing either, he just refuses to wrestle at all until round 3. In round 3 all he wants to do is wrestle, heili almost completely stops striking altogether & tries to take you down. Its annoying because he is a pretty solid wrestler but just completely disregards it until the end of the fight. Against gutierrez, it could be a path to victory. Chris has solid tdd but is clueless off of his back so if you can track him & get him down, heili could absolutely win rounds. The only problem is that hes not gonna do anything until round 3. I think chris is going to put a hell of a beatdown on heili. Heili is super hittable everywhere & chris is going to punish him with body and leg kicks. Heili will pressure him but is very inaccurate so I think chris will be fine. I would pick ko but heili is so durable on top of chris not being a great finisher. If there isn’t a finish, i think heili is going to receive an ass whooping equal to the kenney fight. His legs and stomach are going to get sniped by chris’s kicks.


Yoder vs Ducote  
Ducote DEC 

A pretty big mismatch, not much needs to be said here. I obviously am not going to watch tape on a 35 year old woman with a .500 record, that says all you need to know right there. The only memory I have of yoder is that she made jihn yu frey look like prime Muhammad Ali, again speaking to her skill level right there. When frey is bombing right hands & hurting you with them, that is a sign you should retire. Ducote has been very dissapointing to me since joining the ufc. She struggled a lot fighting in the wrong weight class for years & after moving to 115 she had been looking phenomenal. Ducote got thrown in the top 15 right away & while she has looked bad, she has also not gotten easy matchmaking. The hill fight was really disappointing but on second rewatch she did better than i thought. Don’t get me wrong, she still got outclassed but when watching the fight she was defending a lot, just Angela Hill’s pressure and output was preventing her from doing anything. Losing to loopy isn’t that bad either. Ducote actually won a round off of her & then lost to the better striker. This is the definition of a tune up tho. Ducote is way better than yoder ever was. She is going to dominate with her low kicks & jab. I honestly would not be surprised if we see something like a leg kick ko just because of how hittable yoder is.

* Edited at 10.10.2023, 12:22 AM ET *

Yusuff vs Barboza 
Yusuff DEC 

Such a good main event right here. Edson vs a striker is pretty much guaranteed fireworks, especially one like sodiq who is not afraid to stand and bang. Sodiq is an underrated fighter; he is very inactive, only fighting once a year & when he does fight, it usually doesnt get talked about much. Watching his fights, he is really good but there is no flashiness to what he does. Sodiq is one of the most basic fighters ive seen, and I mean that in a good way. Sodiq’s striking consists of jabs and hooks to the head and body, and lots of leg kicks. Its not very diverse striking but he is so good at the basics. Sodiq walks you down from beginning to end, pumping the jab and throwing hooks. What makes his striking standout is his power. Whenever he lands it has a big effect on people. One downside of sodiq’s style is he misses a lot. He has very good cardio so it doesn’t affect him, but he will miss a lot of the shots hes throwing. One thing I don’t like about sodiq is his chin. He has great recovery but he has been rocked quite a few times in the ufc. I really worry about that when facing someone like edson. Even though he is effective, I just really dislike the visual of yusuff missing on his shots. Again, it gets evened out by his crazy power but its frustrating to see him whiffing so much in exchanges. Then on the other hand we have edson who is one of the flashiest strikers of all time. Edson was one of the pioneers of the leg kick & you could even say hes mastered it. His leg kicks are so vicious & he will attacks you with every type of kick imaginable. Edson has great hands too. Really hes just a master of mma striking; hes been around the game for so long and has so many different tools up his sleeve. Edson may be old and has a lot of mileage, but his striking and reflexes are still so crisp. Edson is all flashy and dynamic while yusuff is very basic but also very talented. Yusuff is a leg kicker himself, so I imagine he is aware of what edson brings to the table. I think he will check enough & throw leg kicks himself in this fight. I worry when he exchanges with edson. Yusuff gets a little wild when throwing down & has been rocked multiple times in the ufc so he will have to be careful as edson is a very good counter striker & could absolutely put his lights out. However, I think the jab and the pressure of yusuff is what wins him this fight. Edson is very good on his backfoot, but yusuff is going to stay on him at all times. I think Yusuff’s power is going to help a lot; when people feel his power they become very passive. I would not be totally surprised to see a yusuff ko here; he has the power to do it & edson’s durability isn’t what it used to be. However, I mostly see this being a close decision. Yusuff is going to have to go through hell but I think he can do it against an aging veteran.

Maia vs Araujo 
 Maia DEC 

Who cares. I really don’t know why this is the co main over yanez and martinez. I have really under estimated maia in the ufc. The jessica Eye performance was really disappointing to watch & it left me with a bad image of Maia. But rewatching that fight she actually dominated eye and it wasn’t nearly as close as I thought it was. Her other losses in the ufc have all been against girls in the top 5 so shes really not that bad. Her last two fights shes played the role of gatekeeper & she taught vet lessons to moroz and oneil. Her boxing is really clean, especially for wmma. I wish maia would grapple offensively more because her grappling is pretty high level. She is a black belt & when she uses grappling she has been able to win rounds through control. I have tried to give araujo the benefit of the doubt her last couple fights but she has been looking really bad. Ive always liked how physical she is & she has been able to brawl without getting tired. Araujo has historically been very hard to take down as well. However, her age has really been showing lately. Araujo cuts a ton of weight to make 125 & being 36 that cut can’t be easy. Her cardio is very strange; she went 5 rounds with grasso & survived lee in an insane war, but then shes also death gassed after 2 rounds with chook and was completely shot after 3 minutes with ribas. The ribas fight was very concerning to me. I thought araujo would do what barber did to ribas, use her physicality to bully her, instead she pulled guillotine during takedown attempts and seemed to be done after the first round. Idk if it was a bad weight cut, if shes washed now, or what but that was not a good look at all.

Martinez vs Yanez  
Yanez KO RD 2 

This is such a good fight; two really talented prospects with similar styles who are looking for a statement. Martinez was really bad when he debuted but improved a lot. Despite the winstreak he has struggled to have consistently good performances, even against low level comp. Yanez was one of the hottest rising prospects but got fraud checked against rob font. While he did get put on a highlight reel, theres a few things to keep in mind. First, he did get embarrassed but imo that was way too big a push, going from tony kelley to an established top 5-8 veteran in 2 fights. Rewatching yanez’s tape hes not nearly as bad as I remember thinking. I was really harsh on him before (and after) he fought font but he is actually really good. His boxing is very clean. He has a sharp jab and his best weapon is his hooks. Hes so good at making openings for them & coming in with hooks. Yanez gets hit a lot with his style but his head movement is not that bad. The problem is that he rolls with all of his shots, while he can slip some, he is human so he does get hit. Especially with how much he pressures he is bound to get hit. Yanez is also very susceptible to head kicks which is something he will have to watch against martinez. Yanez has shown a really good chin & while font isn’t known for his ko power, he put everything he had into that punch, so i’m not worried about yanez being chinny; if anything, that loss hopefully made him realize what he needs to work on. On the feet, Martinez prefers a much more technical fight. He strikes at a high clip but he needs to be the one controlling the pace. Like most factoryx products, martinez is a very heavy kicker with limited boxing. He has a good jab and will throw punches but his boxing is lacking. He doesn’t have a ton of power in his hands & he does a lot of feinting and hand play rather than boxing. Martinez is a very heavy leg kicker, attacking all parts of your body but mostly the legs. I think Yanez’s jab and pressure is going to give him a lot of issues. We’ve seen martinez really struggle when guys get in his face & make the fight ugly, that is exactly whast yanez does every fight. He is going to walk martinez down & cut off the cage. His jab is going to do a lot of work & he is very good at firing his hooks off of kicks from the opponent. Yanez will have to be careful with his head movement because martinez loves to throw knees in exchanges or head kicks. I also think the durability difference will be big here. While yanez gets hit a lot, he is very durable. Martinez’s punches are not super powerful, its his head kicks and leg kicks that get you. Because of this, I don’t think yanez is going to respect martinez’s striking. On the other hand, I don’t think martinez can eat punches from yanez. Martinez has never had a great chin & yanez hit like a truck. This is a really close fight since martinez has more tools on the feet, but I think yanez’s style is going to give martinez a lot of issues.

Periera vs Petroski 
 Periera KO RD 3

This is an unfortunate one because I was really looking forward to fading pereira in his MW debut. I have always thought he was bad but at 185 he isn't nearly the man he was. However, Petroski is one of the most sus prospects in the division currently. He does have talent & is 5-0 in the ufc, but the guys hes fighting are awful & his performances leave a lot to be desired The most worrying thing in petroski’s game is his striking. His technique isn’t horrible but he doesn’t understand the nuances of striking. Petroski isn’t technical & just swings wild hooks with all his power; he tries to take your head off instead of taking his time and fighting technical. As a result, he misses a lot of his shots & slows down a lot due to missing all these full power shots. When he lands he can hurt you badly, but he is so inaccurate. Petroski also leaves himself open to be countered & is off balance when he throws these bombs. He was in thailand for a few weeks when he took this fight so maybe he will have made some changes but I doubt anything significant in such a short time frame. Petroski’s grappling is so good. He is a high level wrestler, utilizing that cage wrestling style that we see so often from the renzo gracie philly guys. Petroski has very good wrestling, being able to wrestle out in the open as well which is something we don’t see many guys do. He also has high level bjj & is able to smoothly transition on the ground and get to dominant positions. However, as good as his grappling is, if hes not getting a finish he usually is not racking up a ton of significant control time. Imo periera is not that good & at 185 he is not going to have nearly as much success. His cardio may be better due to not cutting weight but he is not going to have a huge size advantage & he was already having close fights with people at 170. Periera is an athletic specimen and has the most wild, dynamic striking as a result. While he is flashy, he leaves himself to be hit all the time. Even though he could get hit with a shot from petroski, i give the striking to periera pretty significantly. Petroski just has too many holes defensively & is too willing to brawl. Periera will be able to hit him with his best shots. If petroski is able to get periera down this will be very interesting. Nobody has been able to get him down at 170, but fighting people his own size may cause his tdd to be worse. If petroski gets him down I could see him completely dominating this fight. Not only because his skills are so good, but I havea  feeling that being on bottom & having to defend will kill periera’s cardio. Speaking of cardio, I actually think periera’s is much better. I know he is a notorious gasser, but going up a weight class will make the cut easier. It really all depends on his dynamic moves & if he wants to just spam them. Petroski has really bad cardio; every fight he is wheezing past round 1 and just his last fight he was going toe to toe with gm3. Unless Petroski has been taking some supplements in Thailand (EPO) I think he is going to fall into the chaos of periera & end up gassing out. I think the periera fade will be coming very soon but Petroski has too many holes and I hate that hes on short notice with his already very poor cardio.

Chairez vs Lacerda  
Chairez KO RD 1

I decided to give lacerda the benefit of the doubt one last time & of course he made me look dumb. My logic was spot on; lacerda is most definitely the better fighter but he just cannot compete at the ufc level. Chairez is a decent fighter but imo he is still a regional level fighter in terms of skill. Lacerda looked good last time, he was staying composed & using his wrestling to control chairez in the early rounds. However, he was doing good until he didn’t. He went for a takedown & fell right into Chairez’s classic guillotine. It was just like the figgy fight, lacerda was definitely the better fighter but he just somehow finds a way to lose every single fight. Now, hes turning around in less than a month (and has to cut weight again, theres just no way I can back him here. Even if I really do think he has better skills than chairez, he is just so bad he can’t win. I think hes gonna do some dumb dhit and get koed here.

Ceerod vs Saaiman  
Ceerod DEC 

The peoples main event this weekend; this is a very anticipated matchup between two very good prospects. Ceerod is a very unassuming fighter. He doesn’t look very imposing but is absolutely terrifying in the cage. Watching his tape, I noticed Ceerod allows his opponent to dictate where the fight takes place. Meaning that him and saaiman are going to stand and bang. Ceerod has really sick striking; he uses all of his limbs as weapons & throws with bad intentions. I love how hes always mixing in something like elbows or knees with his combos. The best way to describe his fight style is that he just doesnt give a ****. He doesn’t care who you are hes just going to throw down & try to hurt you. Ceerod’s biggest weakness is his tdd. Its very weird tho because imo his grappling might be the best part of his game but he doesn’t use it much offensively. Ceerod can be taken down but he is slick as hell on the mat. His bjj is very good & he was able to reverse JSP who is a massive 145er. Its just really weird because he won’t use it offensively. Then we have saaiman who has shown a lot of promise. However, his fights are just weird. Not that he looks bad but his fights are all just weird. Saaiman is a slow starter, which isn’t a horrible thing but its how he starts off thats weird. In all his fights its like he has to re-learn what hes doing on the fly (if that makes sense). For example, Saaiman is actually a very good wrestler but in his debut he was allowing koslow to take him down every time. Even when they would separate saaiman would light him up & then allow himself to get taken down. He was able to reverse position every time but its just so weird to see him not defend. He had a similar thing on dwcs, dropping the first round to JWK before waking up. JWK was piecing him up with a dynamic kicking attack. Saaiman was eating the shots but not getting his own off. In the later rounds he turned on & melted JWK with his pressure. But once saaiman wakes up, he is a beast. His striking is weird because he doesnt actually throw combinations, instead he will throw a kick or a 1-2 but never more than 2 strikes in an exchange. Its very weird but he just pours on the damage in the later rounds. He is very good at finding openings & has a ton of power. With both guys being strikers, i expect this to be a close fight. I lean ceerod because he has better defense & a longer reach. Saaiman is a force to deal with but i think ceerod’s diverse striking will allow him to outpoint saaiman. Would not be shocked with an upset as saaiman is very good, I just think this is too soon for him at this point. 

Odds are a sign that people give Ceerod a lot of credit for being brutally dominated in the first round, but winning the 2nd and 3rd rounds against a considerably tired Rosas Jr. after the pace he had in the first 5 minutes of fight. Cameron Saaiman is a dynamic kickboxer and has good grappling skills, although his Kozlow and Mitchell managed to get takedowns Cameron got reversals and the most dominant positions on the ground (yes those 2 are Alaska FC fighters, but grapplers after all). Rodriguez is mostly a striker and Saaiman shows excellent chin against a fighter who may be low level but there is no doubt that Mana Martinez has huge KO Power for 135 pounds (dropped Davis once and scored 2 Knockdowns against Ronnie Lawrence) I see Saaiman winning the fight and by a fairly wide margin. Rosas Jr. is a fighter with a lot of time to evolve (he is 19 years old) and his defeat more than matchup issues was due to his desperation to break the record of Most Younger UFC Champion, he doesn't prove anything yet but I don't think it's a failed project either. The odds are a clear example of people trying to Hype a Ceerod-Rosas rematch when both are contenders and that seems more fantasy than reality to me: Rodriguez is not a bad fighter, but I don't see him as above average in the bantamweight division and 135 division has a very broad roster and a very long path to reach the top 15. For his part, Saaiman seems to me to have the maturity and weapon to soon reach the Top 15, since his fight in DWCS we see interesting things from him and this fight It's a key matchup so that he ends up fighting a fighter like Said Nurmagomedov or Cody Stamann in the near future.

Elkins UFC record is same as Brown's record in general. Just saying. 

Including Irina and Saaiman in a parlay is a good bet. I think the lines of that fight and the Martinez vs. Yanez fight should be flip flopped w/ Martinez being the favorite. He's beaten Said while Yanez's best win is Tony Kelly. I honestly think Martinez will be a top 5 bantamweight while Yanez's ceiling is probably somewhere between 6-8. I am throwing this out there cause Guitz name usually gets thrown around w/ them, so I think Guitz ceiling is #12, but I may be wrong

I like Rodriguez, but I think his ceiling is probably top 5 while I think Saaiman can legitimately be champ since he's only 22

Tony Kelly is a better win for Yanez than the war with Davey Grant? 
Especially now since Grant should be on a 3 fight win streak currently, and Tony Kelley hasn't fought since n was dropped outta the UFC.

+ you want Jonathon Martinez to be a favorite because he beat a wrestler in Said? You know that Yanez doesn't wrestle right? This is not even remotely the same type of fight.

Yanez has showed wayyy more shades of effective striking and effective defense on the feet by far which is where the fight will take place. Martinez is a slow paced rangey leg kicker in the striking, Yanez will pick him apart on the feet. 

* Edited at 10.10.2023, 4:27 AM ET *

Said isn't a wrestler lol, if anything he's the exact opposite of what classic dagestani wrestlers are. his wrestling both offensively and defensively isn't any good but he gets by by having pretty good BJJ and on top of that, his cardio is nowhere near good enough to support constant grappling exchanges for more than a round maximum

Said is a striking dagestani with a very high emphasis on kicks

* Edited at 10.10.2023, 4:49 AM ET *

Yusuff vs. Barboza
Sodiq Yusuff, TKO, R4
Just my thoughts in brief on this card. Looks like a good one. Sodiq should win this. He will be faster, and is not going to duck into a knee like BillyQ and we know Barboza does not like being pressured. He can also mix in wrestling and I think Barboza will fade by the later rounds where Sodiq will take over.

Maia vs. Araujo
Jennifer Maia, DEC
Should be a close decision for Maia with better cardio, boxing and wrestling.

Martinez vs. Yanez
Jonathan Martinez, DEC
I have a sneaky suspicion that Yanez is over rated, I have felt this for a while. Almost losing to Davey Grant did not change my mind on that and Font winning was no surprise. In fact if you look at who Yanez has beaten it's not that inspiring. Martinez has under rated boxing, wrestling, and I think his leg kicks and head kicks will be a problem for Yanez. I could be wrong and Yanez could change my mind but I am going with Martinez here.

Pereira vs. Petroski
Michel Pereira, TKO, R2
Petroski has poor striking and Pereira up a weight class could be interesting with more power and cardio. His distance and range management is really good. I don't see Petroski being able to take and hold Pereira down and I think he gets blasted on the feet

Cháirez vs. Lacerda
Daniel Lacerda, DEC
I have a feeling about this one. I thought Lacerda would win the first fight, and I felt he was on the way to doing that. More measured, less reckless and looked like he was beginning to deal with Chairez on the feet. I strangely think that this one could go do decision and that Lacerda finally wins 2 of 3 rounds to get his first win

Rodriguez vs. Saaiman
Christian Rodriguez, DEC
Rodriguez is the truth. I am surprised it took people this long to realize this. And as good as Saaiman is I think he is not ready for CRod yet. Better wrestling and grappling wins here I think

Elkins vs. Brown
Darren Elkins, DEC
I think TJ will find Elkins hard to break and his takedown defence is poor. Unless he finishes Elkins early he is likely to get grinded out in the latter half of this fight

Lisboa vs. Oliveira
Tainara Lisboa, TKO, R2
I think Ravena is not good. And I think Lisboa is very dangerous with good striking which will be too much for Ravena. I think this fight finishes

McKinney vs. Marotte
Terrance McKinney, SUB, R1
McKinney, submission, round 1

Alekseeva vs. Dixon
Melissa Dixon, DEC
Irina is horrible. Dixon wins this. I cannot believe that Egger lost to her

Gutierrez vs. Alatengheili
Alatengheili, DEC
I think Gutierrez was exposed last fight and his wins have not been fantastic. AH is the better wrestler and I hope he uses it here

Yoder vs. Ducote
Emily Ducote, DEC
Ducote should be a lock but my first fight of the night picks are usually wrong

Cameron Saaiman my lock of the week, took him at +142, but Rodriguez is a solid fighter too. This will be a very competitive fight. 

Yusuff vs. Barboza
Sodiq Yusuff, DEC
50-45

Maia vs. Araujo
Jennifer Maia, DEC
30-27

Martinez vs. Yanez
Jonathan Martinez, DEC
29-28

Pereira vs. Petroski
Michel Pereira, DEC
29-28

Cháirez vs. Lacerda
Edgar Cháirez, TKO, R1
1 minute fight

Rodriguez vs. Saaiman
Cameron Saaiman, DEC
30-27

Elkins vs. Brown
Darren Elkins, SUB, R3
you live you die you live again. Elkins in last seconds

Lisboa vs. Oliveira
Tainara Lisboa, DEC
29-28

McKinney vs. Marotte
Terrance McKinney, TKO, R1
16 seconds

Alekseeva vs. Dixon
Melissa Dixon, DEC
29-28

Gutierrez vs. Alatengheili
Chris Gutierrez, DEC
30-27

Yoder vs. Ducote
Emily Ducote, DEC
29-28

McKinney vs. Marotte
Terrance McKinney, SUB, R1
100% a finish incoming here for McKinney. Unless Marotte could find his way out of McKinney's onslaught and take it to the later rounds and tire him out, I don't really see any other way for Brendon to pull the "W." Terrance McKinney wins by Sub via RNC in RD 1 I believe.

Pereira vs. Petroski
Andre Petroski, DEC
I see a RD 3 finish or DEC win for either fighter here. Betting man would easily go with over 2 1/2 for this. But honestly I'm siding more with Petroski on getting this done. His resume is better than Pereira's I believe and can see them both tired and weary but making it to the score cards by the end of this.