UFC Fight Night on ESPN+ 29: Benavidez vs. Figueiredo II (7/18/2020) - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UFC Fight Island)

[Elsalvajeloco]

UFC Fight Night on ESPN+ 29: Benavidez vs. Figueiredo II 
July 18, 2020
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UFC Fight Island)

UFC Flyweight Championship: Deiveson Alcântara (125) vs. Joseph Benavidez (125) (vacant) - Alcântara, SUB (rear naked choke), R1 (4:48)
Jack Hermansson (186) vs. Kelvin Gastelum (186) - Hermansson, SUB (heel hook), R1 (1:18)
Marc Diakiese (156) vs. Rafael Fiziev (156) - Fiziev, DEC (unanimous)
Ariane Lipski (126) vs. Luana Carolina (126) - Lipski, SUB (kneebar), (1:28)
Alexandre Pantoja (125) vs. Askar Askarov (126) - Askarov, DEC (unanimous)

ESPN/ESPN+ Preliminary Card:
Roman Dolidze (206) vs. Khadis Ibragimov (206) - Dolidze, TKO (knee and punches), R1 (4:15)
Grant Dawson (150) vs. Nad Narimani (150) - Dawson, DEC (unanimous)
Joseph Duffy (155.5) vs. Joel Alvarez (156) - Alvarez, SUB (guillotine choke), R1 (2:25)
Brett Johns (136) vs. Montel Jackson (136) - Johns, DEC (unanimous)
Malcolm Gordon (135) vs. Amir Albazi (136) - Albazi, SUB (triangle choke), R1 (4:42)
Davi Ramos (156) vs. Arman Tsarukyan (156) - Tsarukyan, DEC (unanimous)
Carlos Felipe (261) vs. Sergey Spivak (240) - Spivak, DEC (majority)

Event Bonuses ($50,000)
Performance of the Night: Ariane Lipski
Performance of the Night: Deiveson Alcântara
Fight of the Night: Marc Diakiese vs. Rafael Fiziev

Edited July 19, 2020 by Elsalvajeloco

[Elsalvajeloco]

 

[Elsalvajeloco]

 

[Elsalvajeloco]

 

[Elsalvajeloco]

 

[Elsalvajeloco]

 

[Jiji]

I feel for Brett Johns a bit here. Yes, he lost two fights in a row but to two of the very best in his division in Aljo and Munhoz. He won his most recent fight and he still is in the middle of the prelims on a show lacking a lot of proven UFC fighters with few exceptions.

Gastellum and Hermansson should be absolutely wild for however long it lasts. That will be entertaining as all hell. 

So I take it the positive tests for Figueiredo were from his first bout with the virus not a second case of it?

[Elsalvajeloco]

8 minutes ago, Jiji said:

I feel for Brett Johns a bit here. Yes, he lost two fights in a row but to two of the very best in his division in Aljo and Munhoz. He won his most recent fight and he still is in the middle of the prelims on a show lacking a lot of proven UFC fighters with few exceptions.

Gastellum and Hermansson should be absolutely wild for however long it lasts. That will be entertaining as all hell. 

So I take it the positive tests for Figueiredo were from his first bout with the virus not a second case of it?

I'm pretty sure it is just like Jamel Herring's recent positive test. He tested negative and then positive again three weeks after he had it. Then tested negative again.

Speaking of guys stuck in the prelims, I'm surprised Davi Ramos is down there. He seems to be good for pure grappling domination. This just appears to be, "Hey, these two guys both lost to Islam Makhachev recently...lets put them together."

My dark horse pick for fight of the night is Diakiese vs. Fiziev. That's gonna be great. Got my fingers crossed.

[Elsalvajeloco]

 

[Elsalvajeloco]

[Elsalvajeloco]

Ariane Lipski almost ripped another woman's leg off.

[AxB]

That was a very unusual way to go into a leglock. I'm pretty sure Carolina was under the impression she actually had a dominant position right up until she found she had her knee join on backwards.

[Elsalvajeloco]

2 minutes ago, AxB said:

That was a very unusual way to go into a leglock. I'm pretty sure Carolina was under the impression she actually had a dominant position right up until she found she had her knee join on backwards.

Guilherme Cruz tweeted video of her being helped out of the octagon by her cornermen trying to place all the weight on her good leg. Yeah, that's a good nine months off right there.

[Elsalvajeloco]

Rafael Fiziev throws 170% into every strike. Absolute ferocity.

[Elsalvajeloco]

Okay that's the Rafael Fiziev I've been waiting to see: The guy who looked like the Terminator in ROAD FC.

[John E. Dynamite]

The MMA leglock metagame has been due for a change for a long, long time. Here you go.

[Death From Above]

Well that title fight was an absolute demolition.

[John E. Dynamite]

That was your favorite actor in a horror movie making it to the last scene and getting their fuckin' brain cut out.

[Elsalvajeloco]

I would call Joseph Benavidez the Bennie Briscoe of MMA, but he would have to be competitive in these fights to get that honor.

[John E. Dynamite]

7 minutes ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

I would call Joseph Benavidez the Bennie Briscoe of MMA, but he would have to be competitive in these fights to get that honor.

It's a fun list, the MMA Karl Malone/Dan Marino/Ty Cobb (Mike Trout, eventually)/Hirooki Fucking Goto List - don't know if Bennie Briscoe is my boxing pick, but I know what you mean . I still think Benavidez has to be the best MMA fighter to never win a proper championship. But I'll listen to arguments for John Fitch, Chad Mendes, Chael Sonnen. Cro Cop and Condit if you count them.

[AxB]

Even though he's not a guy from Team Alpha Male, Benavidez has that Team Alpha Male thing of being good enough to get into the bigtime fight, but looking like he doesn't belong once he gets there.

[Elsalvajeloco]

 

[Elsalvajeloco]

2 minutes ago, John E. Dynamite said:

It's a fun list, the MMA Karl Malone/Dan Marino/Ty Cobb (Mike Trout, eventually)/Hirooki Fucking Goto List - don't know if Bennie Briscoe is my boxing pick, but I know what you mean . I still think Benavidez has to be the best MMA fighter to never win a proper championship. But I'll listen to arguments for John Fitch, Chad Mendes, Chael Sonnen. Cro Cop and Condit if you count them.

I don't know if Chael would be on my list. Chael's 2nd UFC run before the fights against Anderson was very short compared to his run previous where he was a pretty decent fighter with terrible submission defense. TRT Chael was a good fighter, but he didn't have the sustained run of a being the #2 guy like Fitch and Benavidez. 

[Elsalvajeloco]

23 hours ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

My dark horse pick for fight of the night is Diakiese vs. Fiziev. That's gonna be great. Got my fingers crossed.

YEAHHHH!

 

[Jiji]

2 hours ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

Guilherme Cruz tweeted video of her being helped out of the octagon by her cornermen trying to place all the weight on her good leg. Yeah, that's a good nine months off right there.

I think I blew out my knee watching that submission. Holy shit. Lipski put herself into a calf slicer to get it, lol. Their proficiency on the ground was about what we'd expect but ouch.