UFC Fight Night Vegas Post Fight Analysis

Hello fight fans! Welcome back from a week off. UFC Fight Night took place this weekend at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada and flags are back!!!

Trivia (answer at end)

This past weekend Drew Dober became the king of TKO’s in the lightweight division. Who did he surpass?

Alexander Hernandez vs. Bill Algeo

Recap: In the opening round, the two fighters fought like they were fighting for points with Algeo coming out on top. There were a lot of leg kicks from Algeo, and Hernandez would come in, throw one punch, and come back out. I would have liked to see Hernandez stay in and throw in more combos rather than go right back out into Algeo’s range. In round 2, Hernandez came out with a lot more intention as he knew that he lost the first round. He was looking faster and throwing more body shots. He was doing well until Algeo dropped him with his left with 1:40 remaining. Hernandez recovered in a clinch, but he wasn’t able to do enough the rest of the round to come out ahead. To start the last round, Hernandez tried to take a different approach and grapple but Algeo displayed his takedown defense. The fight was back and forth punches and kicks with Algeo throwing in more combos. Hernandez got in some good punches, but they didn’t seem to phase Algeo who has a chin on him. At the end, all three judges scored it 30-27.

What’s Next: Hernandez was going back and forth between the Featherweight and Lightweight divisions and has finally found the former to be his home weight class so we’ll be seeing more of him as he tries to climb up the ranks. Algeo called out Billy Q, Kron Gracie, Fauci, Elon, and Zuck. All great callouts and I’d love to see Fauci get a well-deserved ass whooping.

Drew Dober vs. Ricky Glenn

Recap: What a great comeback by Drew Dober after his last fight where he lost within 1 minute from a TKO. Glenn looked a bit stiff and once Dober found his rhythm he became more aggressive and his punches were connecting. Oh boy does Dober have power and Glenn really looked weak and defenseless against it. After Glenn grabbed Dober’s glove, around halfway through the round Dober found Glenn’s chin with his left overhand that snapped Glenn’s head to the side and dropped him to the floor. Dober went in for some ground and pound before the ref stopped the fight. Let’s add another TKO to Dober’s record.

What’s Next: With this TKO against Glenn, Dober takes the reins with the most TKO’s in the Lightweight division. He didn’t call anyone out but I can see him fighting more guys in the top 15. As for Ricky Glenn, I’d say don’t grab onto your opponents gloves (such a blatant grab) and keep working as he’s coming off two losses and a draw.

Alex Morono vs. Joaquin Buckley

Recap: This is Buckley’s second fight at Welterweight (was fighting at Middleweight and looked small) and he’s looking like he found his weight class home as he slowly picked apart Morono for three rounds. Buckley opened the first round by charging Morono and going for a single leg takedown. Morono, who is a BJJ black belt, defended the takedown and clipped Buckley. The rest of the fight was mostly stand up with Buckley having more output and showing his power with his punches. Morono is a solid and odd fighter with good movement, but he just couldn’t get past the power of Buckley. The third round turned into a bit of a dogfight with Morono fighting with everything he had left in the tank but again, Buckley overpowered him and came out ahead with the judges scoring the fight 30-27, 30-27, and 30-26.

What’s Next: Buckley called out for a main event in the APEX against Kevin Holland. Even though this is only his second fight in the Welterweight division, I think he presents a good case for that as he’s been in the UFC for three years, this was his 11th fight in the UFC, and he’s won 7 of those fights. If that fight happens, you know what I’ll be doing Saturday night (as if I’ll be doing anything else other than watching UFC). For Morono, I wouldn’t count this guy out. He’s a BJJ and Tae Kwon Do black belt with a very odd fighting style so I can see him having strong fights as he makes his way up.

Joe Pyfer vs. Abdul Razak Alhassan

Recap: Pyfer opened the round by shooting and getting Alhassan in a standing head and arm triangle but lost it as he rushed. Then the rest of the round was a slugfest. Power vs. power where you could hear almost every strike exchanged between the two throughout the APEX. Pyfer did a great job mixing up his striking and takedowns as well as not rushing in too fast when he started connecting hard with Alhassan against the fence. In round 2, Alhassan attacked Pyfer’s lead leg a bit more and was causing damage but that didn’t matter because a little over a minute and a half in, Pyfer body slammed Alhassan to the ground, got him in a head and arm triangle, and put him to SLEEEEEP . . . literally. Alhassan tapped with his fist (bad idea) and the ref did the right thing and let the fight keep going until Alhassan’s body went limp.

What’s Next: Pyfer is 3-0 in the UFC and wants to renegotiate a new contract. I’m not sure what kind of money he’s looking for, but I think he needs to prove himself a bit more. Respect though for calling out what he wants. As for future opponents, Alan Jouban brought up Caio Borralho and Lionheart brought up Chris Curtis. I like both opponents as I think they’d test Pyfer, but I’d like to see one more fight before he starts fighting guys in the top 15 so let’s see a Borralho fight.

Grant Dawson vs. Bobby “King” Green

Recap: HOLY CRAP!!! LET’S GO BOBBY GREEN!!! Bobby Green has fought a lot and has never been ranked and this was finally the fight for him to break into the rankings. Grant Dawson was ranked #10 and undefeated and Bobby Green knocked him out with a straight left in 33 seconds. I think people get caught up in the fact that Green is a fun fighter and is in it for the money and forget that he’s a good fighter. He has a tricky fight style where he keeps his hands down at his hips which makes it hard to read for his opponents and he’s quick on defense. He’s also fought tough competition. He beat Tony Ferguson in his last fight (say what you want but even though Ferguson is on his way out he still had to beat a legend), he was picking Drew Dober apart before he got caught (he also came back from surgery before this fight), and he fought Makhachev on short notice. I couldn’t be happier for him. He wants the big money fights and this has truly set him up for just that.

What’s Next: Green wants to be the most active fighter this year and finish the year off in Las Vegas in December. In his post fight show, he mentioned that he’d like to fight Dan Hooker (which I think would be a banger but Hooker is recovering from a few “scratches” . . . cough cough . . . a broken arm . . . cough cough . . . a fractured skull). Some other options that come to my mind though for those big money entertaining fights, despite the fact that they’d be a HUGE jump, would be a BMF fight against Gaethje, a fight against Poirier since he hasn’t fought in a while and is a bit stagnant in the division, or Chandler if McGregor can’t pass his USADA testings. Gaethje is unlikely as he wants another title shot but Poirier has said he wants money fights now so fingers crossed! As for Dawson, this Lightweight division is stacked so what I want to see is how he comes back and rebounds after this fight. Going undefeated and then losing in 33 seconds to an unranked fighter has got to be a big blow to the ego.

Trivia Answer

Dustin “Diamond” Poirier

Until next time fight fans!

BMF

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