As fans it is hard to ask for a better card than we had last weekend. 2 title bouts with arguably the best male and female fighter of all time, the fastest knockout of all time, got to watch Rockhold ruin that pretty face of his, and Diego Sanchez fingered Michael Chiesa’s butthole. Unfortunately, for every Ying, there is a Yang. This Sacramento card is filled to the brim with fights that should be early prelims at best. The Main event is a number 1 contender fight between a disgraced former champion and a far too young to be this high in the rankings fighter who seems like she may die at every weigh-in. As great as this ESPN deal has been for fight coverage, it has forced far too many cards, with one nearly every weekend now.
I am only looking forward to 2 fights on this card, Urijah Faber vs Ricky Simon and Ryan Hall vs Darren Elkins. Other than that, it feels like a bunch of filler fights that hopefully someday we’ll look back on when someone is getting title shot talks, and can bring up as wins over tomato cans. The most we can hope for are some tough battles between some lesser known names that are trying to vault themselves into UFC relevancy. Often times when cards seem lackluster, it brings out the most in their fighters who are looking to continue to have enough money to eat food every day.
Let’s get into the picks and pray that this card will deliver something noteworthy and some cash:
Main Card
Germaine De Randamie vs Aspen Ladd Bantamweight Bout
This glorified featured prelim is your main event of the evening. Germaine De Randamie was the former featherweight champion after a controversial win over Holly Holm, she then refused to fight Cyborg because of her failed PED tests in the past. Randamie is riding a 4 fight winning streak that includes Raquel Pennington in her return to bantamweight. Aspen Ladd is a 24 year old MMA prodigy looking to bring some fresh blood into this tired division. She has an impressive record of 8-0 professionally with 3 of those wins being in the UFC. She is one of the few fighters who started her career in MMA so she is incredibly well rounded. Although Ladd definitely is less experienced than Randamie, I think she is a far better fighter and will get win in this fight and likely fight Amanda Nunes next.
Aspen Ladd by Decision -163 2 units
Urijah Faber vs Ricky Simon Bantamweight Bout
The pioneer of small men fighting is back, Urijah Faber wanted oh so bad to get on this Sacramento card and his wish was granted. He went out on a high not with a Unanimous Decision win over Brad Pickett, but for some reason has decided to come back to rep his home town. Faber hasn’t been very good since 2014 when he got his first UFC title shot, his second title shot was a gimmick. The man was a WEC legend bringing in the lighter weight class to the UFC when they merged. Faber is up against Ricky Simon, a young prospect who was the LFA bantamweight champion before coming to the UFC. Like Faber, Simon comes from a wrestling background and added the other tools after college when wrestling was no longer viable. As much as I want Faber to win, I don’t think he has it in him to compete with Simon and will get overwhelmed and gassed early.
Ricky Simon by 2nd Round TKO -275 3 units
Josh Emmett vs Mirsad Bektic Featherweight Bout
Here we have a matchup that should at least be an exciting watch. Josh Emmett has crazy one punch knockout power and at any moment he can unleash it. I bet on him in his last fight and he was getting picked apart until he scored a 3rd round knockout with 45 seconds left over Michael Johnson. Mirsad Bektic has been a highly touted prospect for some time having only one loss in a fight with Darren Elkins that Bektic was winning for 2 rounds then got knocked out in the 3rd (sounds vaguely familiar). Bektic seems to get better every fight where Emmett looks like he is on the opposite trajectory. Even though Emmet threats to KO Bektic at any moment, I don’t think he will have what it takes in this fight to land what he needs and will fall to the Bosnian.
Mirsad Bektic by Decision -175 1 unit
Karl Roberson vs Wellington Turman Middleweight Bout
I have been flip flopping a ton on this fight. Karl Roberson has some dangerous hands coming from a kickboxing background. He has 2 wins in the UFC over Jack Marshman and Darren Stewart but has lost to 2 guys with strong BJJ backgrounds. He comes up against Wellington Turman who is a fill in fighting on a month’s notice comes in as a slight underdog. This is his first fight in the UFC but has been tearing up the Brazilian promotions for the last 5 years. If you are going to take underdogs in any fights on this card, this is definitely one that I recommend. Turman can submit on a moment’s notice and hasn’t been finished in his career.
Wellington Turman by 3rd Round Submission +100 1 units
Marvin Vettori vs Cezar Ferreira Middleweight Bout
This is an interesting matchup for the first bout on the main card. Marvin Vettori is a young prospect out of Italy having already compiled a 12-4-1 record at only 25 years old. In his last bout he took Israel Adesanya to a split decision (I thought Vettori won), and the bout before that was a majority draw. He is very talented with 10 out of his 12 wins being finishes, and 8 of those are submissions. Cezar Ferreira’s record is all over the place. The man has beaten Thiago Santos, Anthony Smithe (the most recent LHW Challengers), and Jack Hermansonn who is near a Middleweight Title shot. On the other side of the coin he has lost to CB Dolloway, Sam Alvey, and Elias Theodorou who have been career journeymen. He is an extremely talented BJJ practitioner but has never been too much in the standup game. I think Vettori takes this one fairly easily with both his youth and far more well rounded game.
Marvin Vettori by Decision -163 2 units
Prelims
Mike Rodriguez vs John Allan Light Heavyweight Bout
This fight has the largest line out of anything else on this card. Mike “Slow” Rodriguez is the heavy favorite over John Allan who is making his UFC debut as a replacement for Gian Villante. It is often easy to tell when the UFC is cultivating what they hope to be a future star by giving them a good matchup that should give them an easy path to victory. I see this fight in that exact light and believe that Rodriguez should walk through Allan pretty easily.
Mike Rodriguez 2nd Round TKO -425 3 units
Andre Fili vs Sheymon Moraes Featherweight Bout
Andre Fili has been in the UFC for quite some time now making his debut in 2013. He has always looked like he could make a run in the future but it looked like any time he’d take a step forward he’d take a step back right after. This is a big opportunity for him to come in and right the ship and create a little momentum moving forward. Sheymon Moraes is another young name in the UFC looking to make a statement on this card. His only losses in his career are against Sodiq Yusuff, Zabit Magomedsharipov, and Marlon Moraes who are all incredible fighters with Marlon having had a 135 title shot. I think Fili will come short yet again in his attempts to get into the rankings and Moraes is poised to make some noise and a name for himself.
Sheymon Moraes by Decision +111 1 unit
Julianna Peña vs Nicco Montano Bantamweight Bout
Julianna Peña is back from maternity leave to see if she still has it in the 135 division. Her last fight was a submission loss to Valentina Schevchenko which is not terrible because there is a decently strong argument that Valentina is one of the best female fighters of all time. She is up against the former paper flyweight champ Nicco Montano. I hate champs that won’t fight, I hate it so damn much. I understand she had a weight cutting scare for her last bout, but she was scared to fight everyone and hasn’t fought since the TUF finale when she won the belt in the first place. That being said, let’s take mommy Peña over Montano because I think she is a true fighter and will take it to her hard and often.
Julianna Peña by Decision -150 2 units
Darren Elkins vs Ryan Hall Featherweight Bout
It took us so long to get to the second fight I am excited to see in Sacramento. Darren “The Damage” Elkins was on his way to glory with a 6 fight winning streak till it was ended by Alexander Volkanovski (the likely next featherweight title shot) and a loss afterwards to Ricardo Lamas. The man has been fighting in the UFC for 9 years, which is a feat within itself considering how often Dana likes to cut people. He is looking to bounce back against Ryan “The Wizard” Hall, arguably the best BJJ expert on the whole roster. Dana hates Hall. It’s obvious. Hall immediately goes to the 50/50 position whenever he has the opportunity and never wants to exchange on the feet. His fight against Gray Maynard is in the UFC hall of shame with Ngannou vs Lewis. That being said, I fucking love this guy. He is an absolute weirdo and gets on Dana’s nerves like very few can. In this matchup of the best nicknames of the night I am taking Ryan Hall to win because it is like fighting a python, he will get a hold of you and ruin one of you appendages until you tap.
Ryan Hall by 2nd Round Submission -104 2 units
Early Prelims
I am calling these early prelims even though they aren’t explicitly said to be because these would never make a normal prelim event.
Liu Pingyuan vs Jonathan Martinez Bantamweight Bout
Jonathan Martinez by Decision +217 .5 unit
LIvinha Souza vs Brianna Van Buren Strawweight Bout
Livinha Souza by 2nd Round Submission -175 1 unit
Benito Lopez vs Vince Morales Bantamweight Bout
Benito Lopez by 3rd Round TKO -253 2 units
That’s all folks, a long night of fights ahead of us tomorrow. I am confident that it will be entertaining for how much I have shit on it in this blog and anyone I have spoken to. People need to make a name for themselves and these people also know Dana White. There is only one way to make that man happy and that’s swinging for the fences and not letting it go to the judges. That is always the bright side of these no name cards, you’ll get the finishes your primal self wants to see, and hopefully make some new favorite fighters along the way. I am signing off, let’s see if I can keep my record above .500.