The Ultimate B-League

vladjarca · March 11, 2021

UBL 13: Platinum Defends - Perry vs. Price

PRESS CONFERENCE

Featuring our own: CEO - Whana Dite, UBL Welterweight Champion - Mike Perry & the challenger - Niko Price; UBL Flyweight Champion - Magomed Bibulatov & the challenger - Tim Eliott.

Whana Dite (Whana): Good evening, everyone. We're here to get hot and hyped for one HELLUVA card. These violent geniuses are here to answer any question that you'll throw at 'em.

Reporter ®: Whana, Hakeem got a title shot coming off a loss in the inaugural tournament, and now Price and Eliott are getting the same free second chance. Is this due to lack of challengers?

Whana: Lack of challengers? I've got MVP ready to go coming off two great W's in the company, on a 6 fight winning spree. At flyweight, we've got a tournament going on with tons of quality contenders. Magomed said he wants Elliott, I respect Magomed, so I gave him who he wanted, as he'll face whoever he'll have to in the following rounds, shall he beat Tim. At featherweight, Topuria wanted to fight Dawodu, I gave him Dawodu, do we think we lack contenders with guys like Barboza, Bektic and Chikadze? And Jeremy Kennedy, and Fili. And at welterweight, Mike Perry wanted Niko Price. Can you look Niko in the eye and tell him he's not worth a title shot?

R: Sorry about that. Now, about the fighters we've got here today. Magomed, you've taken quite some time off after winning the belt. Were you not feeling healthy?

Magomed Bibulatov (MB): You know, some champions see they're at the top and choose to fight once per year. I fought 8 rounds in one night to win my belt. And I am here, 7 months later, ready to defend. Congratulations to the fellow champions that have already defended, but I'm pretty sure I'm the only UBL champion that went through 8 rounds to get his title.

R: Fair enough. You stirred a bit of controversy when you named Tim as the first men you wanted to defend against, and more followed when Whana booked this fight. Why Tim Elliott out of all people?

MB: The division has many talented contenders, but most of them don't have a name as big as Tim Elliott. He is a fan favourite, he has an enjoyable style and he is a threat to anyone he faces. He's coming off loss, so what? Tim could come off 5 first round KO losses and still be dangerous, this is what I believe. So of course I want to fight him as soon as possible.

R: Tim, how do you feel to have this opportunity?

Tim Elliott (Tim): Great, really. I've been fighting my whole life at the highest of levels, and I can beat anyone on my day, everyone knows it. Time to show what I'm made off and cement my legacy, and also give the fans what they want to see, a great fight.

R: So you're feeling up for the challenge?

Tim: Yes, heeell yes. I've been working on some slick, slick takedowns, got some hard BJJ work done as well. I'm ready for anything he'll bring.

MD: We'll see that.

R: Mike Perry, you're coming off a great performance that earned you the belt, against Li.

Mike Perry (Perry): I was great, wasn't I?

R: Why did you call out Niko, who lost to Li.

Perry: Because he's a dog. I'm a dog. Raw dog. And I believe that MMA fans love seeing dog fights. And if the dog fight goes for 5 rounds, it's even better. Perry vs. Price is a match made in Heaven. It doesn't matter that he lost to Li, y'all know Price is the real deal. Unlike Li.

R: You didn't sound so respectful when you called him out post-fight, tho. Did you, like, start respecting him as you got ready for the fight?

Perry: I respect the fight that he's a dog. But he's still gonna get wrecked. But I believe he'll go out swinging, and I guess I kinda do respect that. So, maybe I respect him? Who cares, I'll slap him and demolish him anyway.

R: How did you feel when Mike called you out, Niko?

Niko Price (Niko): Annoyed when he got disrespectful, you know, but then I realized this guy is basically handing me over his belt. I'm not gonna get mad 'cause this guy wants to give me a title shot, I'm as game as it gets and when the fight ends this guy will wake up in the hospital and realize what a big mistake he's made.

Perry: Good, that's what I want. A fool that sees red and comes swinging. I'm getting the KO this time, no doubt.

Niko: You're getting KOed, buddy.

Perry: Good. High Kid Niko Price gonna smoke me, that's on record, awesome.

Whana: Alright, gentlemen, anymore questions? Nothing? Alright, let's have the staredowns.

The flyweights meet first. Magomed is wearing a nice suit, while Elliott is looking as if he's straight out the TUF house. They shake hands afterwards, as it seems it's strictly business between these two.

The welterweights go next. Perry puts his fist close to Niko's face during the staredown, and no one attempts a handshake. He also screams "SMOKE ME, NIKO, I'LL RAW DAWG YOU, CLOWN", as they leave the center of the stage, and Price laughs it off as they both leave the stage, and the broadcast ends.

vladjarca · March 12, 2021

UBL 13: PLATINUM DEFENDS - Perry vs. Price

15 September, 2021

Somewhere in Eastern Europe

Prelims:

BW: Stephen Loman vs. Shintaro Ishiwatari

W BW: Milana Dudieva vs. Cornelia Holm

LW: Ottman Azaitar vs. Loik Radzhabov

MW: #15 Bartosz Fabinski vs. Sharaf Davlatmurodov

W BW: #14 Reina Miura vs. Takayo Hashi

WW: #11 Sean Brady vs. #12 Lyman Good

MW: #8 Makhmud Muradov vs. #10 Tom Breese

Main card preview:

1. Lightweight Bout: #5 Rashid MAGOMEDOV (25-5-1, -180) vs. #10 Scott HOLTZMAN (14-5, +140)

Rashid is coming off 2 big wins, with the latest being in his UBL debut, when he KOed Lando Vannata in the 2nd round. He is mainly a counter striker with good unotrhodox, powerful strikes, who can defend against submissions and also smother with top control off knockdowns. Scott Holtzmann is coming off 2 defeats. He ended his 7-4 UFC run with a spectacular loss to Dariush, and lost in his UBL debut, getting KOed by a violent elbow. He is mainly a BJJ guy but doesn't really excel in any aspect of the MMA game, but he'll occasionally pull a rabbit out of the hat. Still, Rashid is the favourite in my book.

Prediction: Magomedov by decision.

2. Middleweight Bout: #4 Andrew SANCHEZ (12-6, +110) vs. #7 Eryk ANDERS (13-6, -150)

Sanchez is an ex TUF winner, coming off a loss in his UBL debut and a 6-3 UFC run. He lost by 1st round armbar to ex-champion Cummings in the inaugural MW tournament. He is mainly a wrestler who likes to ground and pound or smother from top control. He feels at home when in top control but can't do much else otherwise. He came in the UBL off a 5-5 UFC run and lost to current champion Karl Roberson in his UBL debut, by 1st round TKO. His style is similar with that of Sanchez, but he also desplays good power on the feet, despite not having great technique. When two grapplers with bad takedowns and good TD defence meet, we should expect a sloppy striking war. And Anders is surely the favourite in a sloppy striking war.

Prediction: Anders by 1st round KO.

3. Women's Bantamweight Bout: #1 Sara MCMANN (12-6, -290) vs. #7 Talita BERNARDO (6-5, +230)

McMann is a rugged veteran and an Oympic Silver winner in wrestling, who's making her UBL debut after a long 6-6 UFC run. She is a great wrestler who often manages to control position when on the ground, and lock in submissions. Also, she has good power in her hands and decent boxing. Talita got TKOed by Bethe Correia in the 3rd round in the inaugural W BW tournament. She's a great technical boxer who throws the occasional killer head kick. She's also a skilled grappler with great takedowns and quite good top control. Since she's better rounded and likely hungrier, I can't help but pick Talita as the favourite.

Prediction: Bernardo by 3rd round KO.

4. Flyweight Title & Tournament Quarter-Final: © Magomed BIBULATOV (19-2, -380) vs. #3 Tim ELLIOTT (16-12-1, +300)

Bibulatov is on a 5 fight winning streak, after he left the UFC after only 3 fights. He defeated Amir Abazi and Kara-France by UD to win the belt. He's a great wrestler that will always pretty much decide where the fight goes, with a good ground game and armed with a powerful head kick for when his grappling can seal the deal. His stand-up striking, submission defence and bottom control are his main weaknesses. Tim Elliott is pretty much a gatekeeper of the flyweight division and is coming off a UD loss to Kara-France in the inaugural FlyW tournament. He's a good wrestler as well, who likes to keep it close and violent, being one of the more fun wrestlers of the MMA world. Still, Bibulatov is expected to win "by murder" or "by whatever he wants", but Tim is always game and looking to get that upset W.

Prediction: Bibulatov by 3rd round submission.

5. Welterweight Title: © Mike PERRY (16-7, +340) vs. #2 Niko PRICE (15-5-2, -430)

Perry is a bad SOB, and a (raw) dawg. A proven savage, he almost started another trade war between the US and China in the build up of his fight with Xi Jinping, and got the upset W as a +430 underdog. Since then, he's been working on his boxing technique and is looking to KO someone to regain his KO artist moniker. He knows only a few things, but he knows them quite well: to punch, to punch hard, to throw the occasional kick and to stuff a few takedowns. Hybrid (or High Kid) Price beat Robbie Lawler by UD in his UBL debut, at hte inaugural WW tournament, and lost to Jingliang Li in the final of the tournament. He's a very well rounded fighter, but he loves keeping it standing, which might very well be the worst thing he can do against a fighter like Perry, as his grappling could surely earn him an easy W if he would choose to use it. But Perry was wise to choose him as an opponent, as Price will likely keep it standing, making this fight feel like a guaranteed barn-burner.

Prediction: Perry by 4th round KO.

Don't shy away from the fun, share thoooseee

Main card predictions:

LW: Rashid MAGOMEDOV vs. Scott HOLTZMANN

MW: Andrew SANCHES vs. Eryk ANDERS

W BW: Sara MCMANN vs. Talita BERNARDO

FlyW Title & Tournament QF: Magomed BIBULATOV vs. Tim ELLIOTT

WW Title: Mike PERRY vs. Niko PRICE

CageRage · March 12, 2021

Main card predictions:

LW: Rashid MAGOMEDOV vs. Scott HOLTZMANN

MW: Andrew SANCHES vs. Eryk ANDERS

W BW: Sara MCMANN vs. Talita BERNARDO

FlyW Title & Tournament QF: Magomed BIBULATOV vs. Tim ELLIOTT

WW Title: Mike PERRY vs. Niko PRICE

Majster_93 · March 12, 2021

Main card predictions:

LW: Rashid MAGOMEDOV vs. Scott HOLTZMANN

MW: Andrew SANCHES vs. Eryk ANDERS

W BW: Sara MCMANN vs. Talita BERNARDO

FlyW Title & Tournament QF: Magomed BIBULATOV vs. Tim ELLIOTT

WW Title: Mike PERRY vs. Niko PRICE

vladjarca · March 15, 2021

Big fights between UBL 12 and UBL 13:

Bellator

Cyborg beat Julia Budd by UD to defend her Bellator W FW Title.

Vadim Nemkov beat Yoel Romero by 3rd round KO in a Fantastic bout. The Soldier of God retired following this great bout <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/frown.png.e6b571745a30fe6a6f2e918994141a47.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

Lorenz Larkin beat Kemran Lachinov by UD.

Aaaand a small roster update before the show: Cody Stamann wanted to move back down to Bantamweight, while Andre Ewell would like to move up to FW, so both get their wishes. Also, I cut Said Nurmagomedov because of his old drug test failure (dunno why but I had the impression he won that bout, but it was a loss to Yahya actually, and cheaters that lose are not wanted in the UBL! Cheaters that win, thooo... $)

<div style="text-align:center;">UBL 13: PLATINUM DEFENDS - Perry vs. Price

15 September, 2021

Somewhere in Eastern Europe</div>

Prelims:

BW: Stephen Loman defeats Shintaro Ishiwatari by UD (30-27, 29-28 x 2).

W BW: Cornelia Holm defeats Milana Dudieva by Americana Submission @2:37, round 1.

LW: Loik Radzhabov defeats Ottman Azaitar by UD (30-27 x 3). Radzhabov calls out Thanh Le.

MW: #15 Bartosz Fabinski defeats Sharaf Davlatmurodov by UD (30-27 x 2, 29-28). This was Davlatmurodov's retirement fight, as he had announced prior. Fabinski calls out Andre Muniz. Dunno about that.

W BW: #14 Reina Miura defeats Takayo Hashi by KO @2:43, round 1.

WW: #11 Sean Brady defeats #12 Lyman Good by TKO @3:58, round 3. Brady calls out gah damn Yaroslav Amosov, saying he wants to challenge himself to jump to that next level. We might make that happen.

MW: #8 Makhmud Muradov defeats #10 Tom Breese by KO @2:24, round 2. Muradov says he wants to rematch Darren Stewart, belt or no belt. Alriiight?

Main card:

1. Lightweight Bout: #5 Rashid MAGOMEDOV (25-5-1, -180) vs. #10 Scott HOLTZMAN (14-5, +140)

Round 1: Holtzman's coming forward and they trade low kicks. They mostly circle around for the next minute, and then Rashid hits a jab-low kick combo. Holtzman shoots and drives Rashid against the cage, but Rashid defends the following TD attempt and circles out to the center, and pieces Holtzman up with a crunching left-right hook combo. Rashid gets aggressive, enters the pocket and hits 2 mean lefts and a powerful straight right. He keeps walking Holtzman down, gets touched by a counter jab but hits another big right. Holtz hits another counter jab and takes another low kick. Rashid keeps walking down his opponent, hitting a jab-low kick combo. Then, he hits three punches and another low kick. And he hits another big jab-overhand right combo as the round reaches the end. Great round from Rashid, 10-9, and Holtzman needs to change something.

Round 2: Rashid goes back at it, pressuring and hitting Holtz with a big right hook. But the following minutes see them both pretty much miss all they throw except a few weak jabs. Around the halfpoint of the round, Rashid connects another low kick and Holtzman's leg is looking bad. Rashid looks a bit tired, but still manages to connect with some good lefts and another leg kick. Holtz hits the occasional counter jab, but Rashid hits him with another jab-low kick combo. He hits another low kick, and it's round over. 20-18 for Rashid and Holtzman's legs might be compromised.

Round 3: Holtzman shoots right away and gets a single leg TD, ending up in guard! He hits a few small strikes, but a scramble starts, and Holtz is now up, pushing Rashid against the cage. He has to work a bit, but he gets a double leg TD, as Rashid pulls guard again. Holtz hits some small shots, and another scramble sees Holtzman turtled up, facing Rashid, with 70 seconds left in the fight. Rashid pounds on Holtz for the rest of the round. Still, it's definetly Holtz's round, and the fight ends with a 29-28 for Rashid on my scorecard.

Winner: Rashid Magomedov (UD: 29-28 x 3). Rating: Great.

Post-fight: Holtzman declares he thinks it's time to call it a carrer and leaves his gloves in the cage. Rashid says it was a tough, gritty fight, but he knew he'd get his hand raised by the end.

Rashid broke in the world LW rankings at #25.

2. Middleweight Bout: #4 Andrew SANCHEZ (12-6, +110) vs. #7 Eryk ANDERS (13-6, -150)

Round 1: They meet in the center, and Sanchez uses a left jab to set up A MASSIVE RIGHT HOOK TO THE JAW, BUT ANDERS LANDED A POWERFUL LEFT HOOK OF HIS OWN, AND SANCHEZ IS THE ONE WHO HITS THE FLOOR! Anders pretty much falls into side control, and throws some minor body shots, still too rocked to throw anythign significant. Anders eventually tries to lock in an arm triangle but can't get it, so he goes back to small strikes. Anders tries to mount, but a scramble sees Sanchez on top, in half guard. He hits some small shots for the remaining 80 seconds, and it's round over. Sanchez landed more while down, but Anders had more control time. I'll give it to Sanchez, tho. 10-9 Sanchez on my scorecard.

Round 2: They meet in the center again, and Sanchez misses his right hook, getting countered with a jab-hook combo. Sanchez connects with his next hook attempt, but Anders unleashes another hellish hook to the jaw that drops Sanchez! AND THE SHOTS HE THROWS TO HIS DOWNED OPPONENT ARE NO JOKE THIS TIME! THAT'S A TKO, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!

Winner: Eryk Anders (Hook & Pound TKO @1:03, round 2). Rating: Good.

Post-fight: Anders says this is what happens when two powerful warriors meet and he's glad he got the better of his opponent tonight. And then he drops some generic boring stuff.

3. Women's Bantamweight Bout: #1 Sara MCMANN (12-6, -290) vs. #7 Talita BERNARDO (6-5, +230)

Round 1: Talita starts boxing in style as always, coming in with a jab-straight right combo, while Sara hits some weak counterjabs. Talita repeats her earlier combo. Sara realizes boxing might not be a good idea, so she shoots and Talita's pulling guard. But she doesn't do much with the takedown, and after minutes of smothering, Herb Dean gets the ladies up. Talita hits a good straight and then a jab, and McMann dodges the follow up straight and clinches. She sweeps Talita nicely and ends up on top, in side control. She tries an armbar! But can't get it. And soon, the round is over. Sara surely won it with her top control. 10-9 McMann.

Round 2: Talita hits a left and then a straight right, and Sara manages to clinch. SARA MCMANN GETS TALITA DOWN WITH A BEAUTIFUL GRECO-ROMAN SLAM, ending up in side control. She hits Talita with short strikes early on, but she isn't quite active, so Dean gets them up with 100 seconds left in round 2. Talita hits some jabs and Sara isn't trying to throw anything in response. Talita hits a good straight right. And another one, as Sara was trying to get close. Last 10 seconds, and Talita hits a hook, and then a 4 punch flurry. Round over and it was likely another round for Sara McMann, 20-18.

Round 3: Talita comes in again with the straight right, and then with the right hook as Sara was trying to get close. Talita hits anothe straight right, but Sara clinches again. Sara gets Talita against the cage. Sara Usmans Talita for ages and Dean gets them back to the center with 2 minutes left. Sara avoids the big strikes and times a good takedown, ending up in Talita's guard again. She smothers and punches her until it's round over, and she surely got the W here. 30-27 for Sara McMann on my scorecard.

Winner: Sara McMann (UD: 29-28 x3). Rating: Poor.

Post-fight: Sara is glad to win on her debut and hopes she can give the fans a more fun fight in her next outing. I hope so too, Sara.

Sara went up in the world W BW rankings, from #14 to #12.

4. And now, time for the first title fight of the evening! FOR THE UBL FLYWEIGHT TITLE, A FLYWEIGHT TOURNAMENT QUARTER-FINAL BOUT:

Round 1: They touch gloves, and it's on. Tim misses with a left hook and gets stung with a right, but then he checks a low kick and hits a left hook. But then Tim misses a big left and gets stung with a left body kick. Tim keeps looking good, tho, dodging a big left to hit with one of his own. But Bibulatov throws him off with a feint and hits him with a good jab-hook combo. They're pretty much brawling with pillow hands, trading lots of punches, and it's quite fun and compeititive. But Bibulatov dodges a nice left and counters with a glancing high kick. Then they trade 1-2s again, and soon it's round over. Bibulatov landed more, so it's 10-9 for the champ.

Round 2: Tim comes out brave, walking down Bibulatov, who hits two counter lefts and dodges Tim's 1-2. Tim keeps pressuring and tries a left hook, but Bibulatov dodges and counters with a MASSIVE jab-right hook combo, AND ELLIOTT WOBBLES AND FALLS DOWN! BIBULATOV UNLEASHES MASSIVE SHOTS TO HIS DOWNED OPPONENT, AND MAZZAGATTI HAS SEEN ENOUGH!

Winner, AND STILL UBL FLYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD: MAGOMED "GLADIATOR" BIBULATOV (Hook & Pound TKO @1:33, round 2). Rating: Good.

Post-fight: "I have a lot of respect for this man right here, he is tough as a rock and has the heart of a warrior. But I am Gladiator, I fight anyone, I beat anyone. Whoever's next will get the same treatment - respect and beatdown."

Title prestige: up from 63 to 69. Bibulatov will face Hiromasa Ogikubo in the semi-finals. Bibulatov went up in the world FlyW rankings, from #6 to #4, while Tim fell off the rankings, from #23.

5. AND NOW, IT IS TIME FOR THE MAAAAAAAAAIN EVENT OF THE EVENIIIIIIIING! FOR THE UBL WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP OF THE WOOORLD!

Round 1: No touch, as expected. Perry hits a roundhouse body kick, Price hits a jab and a hook to the body. Perry misses a right hook and gets stung with a jab-left straight combo. Price then parries a head kick and manages to connect with one of his own, altho lacking power. They both miss some big punches after that. Price hits a good right-left straight combo, while Perry hits the classic jab-cross combo. Perry got cut above the eye, tho. Price dodges a hook and throws a spinning kick to the body. They miss with some more big strikes, then. And Price comes in with a jab-spin kick combo. We're in the last minute, and Perry misses A HUGE right hand, allowing Price to come in with a right to the body. Pissed off, Perry shouts at Price, "WHEN I LAND THAT RIGHT, YOU DROP, HIGH KID", and Price laughs a bit in response. They trade a few jabs and it's round over. Clean 10-9 for the challenger, Niko Price.

Round 2: They trade some jabs but again, defend well against the big shots. Perry hits a sharp 1-2 but gets stung by a good left hand. Then they both miss with some wild kicks. Perry tries to lure Price so he can counter him with some big shots, but it ain't working as he's missing those big counter punches. But he's also defending well against Price's big shots. Perry misses a cross and Price counters him with one of his own, reopening Perry's cut. But Perry manages to scratch Price with a head kick set up by a decent jab. But Price laughs it off and hits a jab-body kick combo. They trade some more jabs, and Perry is looking a bit tired now. Price hits another jab-body kick combo. More jabs land for both men, and Price is looking confident moving into the last minute. Both men dodge each others big strikes, and Price manages to hit a good right hand. They trade some more small shots while dodging the bigger ones, and Price is looking a bit tired as well by the end of round 2. A close round this time around, but Price outstruck Perry again, so 20-18 for the challenger.

Round 3: Perry misses again with "that right", and Price hits a jab-low kick combo. Perry shouts again, "INCHES FROM GOING TO SLEEP", but Price doesn't seem bothered by Perry's mind games. Price dodges another right and counters with a body kick. Looking tired, Perry clinches! Bad idea tho, as Price gets him against the cage. And he gets Perry in the Thai clinch! Price hits 2 small knees to the chest, but Perry mostly defends well and escapes, with 1 minute left. They miss some more haymakers, tho, and it's round over, with 0 strikes landed for Perry, which means he surely needs to finish Price if he wants to retain. 30-27 Price.

Round 4: They both look pretty tired coming into round 4. They miss some more strikes, and Price is surely looking more gassed than Perry. Still, they clinch, and Price hits Perry with a knee to the body, and then pushes him against the cage. He keeps him there for 2 minutes, hitting knees and dirty boxing him, and Perry finally escapes with 1 minute left. Well, well, Price misses with a massive big left and Perry counters with a left cross. But Price manages to clinch again and the round ends with Perry stuck against the cage again. 40-36 for Price, and Perry ain't winning unless he lands "that right", that's how I see it. Perry's ribs are as red as lobsters, Price messed those up in the clinch, but also from distance with his body kicks and punches. Money in the bank, as they say.

Round 5: They trade jabs and fall in a clinch. Price punches Perry in the clinch. Perry doesn't let Price push him around anymore, but again eats some punches in the clinch. And Price finally gets Perry against the cage again. Again, Price punishes Perry's arrogance and disrespect with tons of short strikes, and Perry finally escapes with 2 minutes left on the clock. Both warriors looks quite tired. PRICE MISSES A HOOK AND GETS COUNTERED WITH A CLEAN RIGHT, but it wasn't "that right"... Perry eats a jab but hitsa great right hook, AND PRICE IS STUMBLING, GOING BACKWARDS! PERRY HITS AN UPPERCUT, BUT IT DOESN'T LAND CLEAN, and Price snaps back into it. Price misses another big left, and Perry counters with a jab-right hook combo, but it ain't it, and the fight is f'n over... 50-45, sadly, for "The Hybrid" Niko Price...

Winner, AND NEEEEEEWWW UBL WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPION" NIKO "THE HYBRID" PRIIIICE! (UD: 49-46 x 3). Rating: Good (how was this only good, I do not konw <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/frown.png.e6b571745a30fe6a6f2e918994141a47.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> ).

Post-fight: "Whoever wants it, come and get it. I'm taking on all comers, I'm fighting anyone, I'm humbling anyone. Hope this ass-whooping got your mind straight, Perry. You know, guys, it's hard to feel like a champion when Mike Perry is the guy you beat for the belt. Screw the all-comers thing I just said, GIVE ME THE VERY BEST THIS DIVISION HAS!"

Title prestige: up from 64 to 67. Price went up in the WW world rankings, from #17 to #12, while Perry fell from #15 to #22.

Attendace: 4 400

Critical rating: 71

COmmercial rating: 75

FOTN: R Magomedov vs. S Holtzman

KOOTN: M Muradov vs. T Breese

SubOTN: C Holm vs. Milana Dudieva

Profit: + 651 470

Biggest paydays: Rashid Magomedov - 44 500, Scott Holtzman - 28 200, Niko Price - 26 900.

Title fights paydays: Mike Perry - 16 600, Tim Elliott - 11 700, Magomed Bibulatov - 10 000.

UPDATED RANKINGS:

<a href="https://imgur.com/tH3QAuo" rel="external nofollow">LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT</a>

<a href="https://imgur.com/Y3GmrPk" rel="external nofollow">MIDDLEWEIGHT</a>

WELTERWEIGHT

<a href="https://imgur.com/fDhx0kH" rel="external nofollow">LIGHTWEIGHT</a>

<a href="https://imgur.com/H0Uz0wL" rel="external nofollow">FEATHERWEIGHT</a>

<a href="https://imgur.com/YiQwQue" rel="external nofollow">BANTAMWEIGHT</a>

<a href="https://imgur.com/Y37Cmgl" rel="external nofollow">FLYWEIGHT</a>

<a href="https://imgur.com/JRdx39a" rel="external nofollow">WOMEN'S BANTAMWEIGHT</a>

<a href="https://imgur.com/d1HEnPn" rel="external nofollow">WOMEN'S FLYWEIGHT</a>

TOURNAMENTS:

HEAVYWEIGHT:

Tanner Boser vs. Ilir Latifi (UBL 15)

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT:

Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov © vs. Ryan Spann (UBL 15)

Da Un Jung vs. Rashid Yusupov

MIDDLEWEIGHT:

Karl Roberson © vs. Darren Stewart (UBL 15)

Brad Tavares vs. Dricus Du Plessis

BANTAMWEIGHT:

Ricky Simon © vs. Brad Katona

Jack Shore vs. Rani Yahya

FLYWEIGHT:

Magomed Bibulatov © vs. Hiromasa Ogikubo

Amir Albazi vs. Jordan Espinosa (UBL 16)

ROSTER UPDATES:

New signings:

LHW: Jonathan Wilson (12-3, LFA LHW Champion)

W FlyW: GAH DAM BULLETINA SHEVCHENKO (22-4) who lost the belt to Chookagian in the rematch but is coming off a KO win over Lauren Murphy.

Cut from the UBL: Milana Dudieva (13-9 BW), Takayo Hashi (16-9-1 BW)

Big fights outside of the UBL:

UFC

Kevin Lee beat Dan Hooker by 4th round KO.

Ketlen Vieira beat Raquel Pennington by SD.

Kelvin Gastelum beat Joaquin Buckley by UD.

Dani Ige beat Shane Burgos by 1st round TKO.

And of course, our prediction rankings!

Majster_93: 5/5; Total: 21/35 (60%).

CageRage: 4/5; Total: 49/95 (52%).

McDojoDelux: Total: 17/29 (57%).

rodrigoviolim: Total: 35/84 (42%).

legendaryhorseman: Total: 2/5.

Congratulations to both of you lads, especially to you Majster, for getting the 2nd 5/5 of this dynasty!

vladjarca · March 15, 2021

UBL 14: CRASH COURSE - Gillespie vs. Moicano

22 October, 2021

Somewhere in Eastern Europe

Prelims:

W BW: Stephanie Egger vs. Yuriko Okajima

FW: Gavin Tucker vs. Salman Zhamaldaev

WW: Nicolas Dalbu vs. Christian Lee

LW: Chris Wade vs. Akhmed Aliev

MW: Roberto Soldic vs. Vladimir Mineev

HW: #10 Francimar Barroso vs. Jared Rosholt

W FlyW: #10 Shana Dobson vs. #13 Victoria Leonardo

Main card preview:

1. Women's Bantamweight Bout: #2 Bethe CORREIA (12-6-1, -1000) vs. #8 Joselyne EDWARDS (9-3, +790)

Pitbull Bethe Correia made her UBL debut TKOing Talita Bernardo in the inaugural W BW tournament, and then got put to sleep VIOLENTLY by BW Queen Sarah Kaufman, in the 4th round. Obviously, at 38yo, she's not as great as she used to be, but she is still a quite good grappler, and has been working on her standing grappling and takedowns. On the ground, she can go toe to toe with most grapplers, and on the feet, she has good power in her hands likes to hit her low kicks. Joselyne Edwards got dominated by Bea Malecki in her UBL debut. Still, at 26 yo, she's a rising star and we believe she's capable of getting an upset, but more likely to lose. Still, Correia could use a win, while a win for Josie would be a potentially starmaking shock, so let there be fireworks!

Prediction: Correia by decision.

2. Heavyweight Bout: #2 Junior DOS SANTOS (21-10, -400) vs. #7 Ben ROTHWELL (38-15, +310)

After back to back TKO losses to Ngannou, Blaydes, Rozenstruik and Gane, an UD loss to Overeem was the last UFC fight of JDS's career as a fighter. Now that the pressure of fighting on the world's biggest stage is off, JDS has a newfound confidence and has been working hard on the grappling side of things, altho it is a bit late. Still, he is a very good boxer and is starting to become decent on the ground. Rothwell is doing just a bit better than Junior, as he's losing streak is only at 3 right now, losing to Tybura in his last UFC fight and to Pavlovich and Boser in the UBL. He's a heavy hitter who'll eventually look to ground and pound you if he can't knock your head straight off. Raise your glass if you think this fight won't last longer than 1 round.

Prediction: JDS by 1st round KO.

3. Heavyweight Bout: #8 Matt MITRIONE (14-8-1, -730) vs. #13 Daniel OMIELANCZUK (24-11-1-1, +580)

Sorry for being lazy, but here's a copy-paste of what I wrote for the UBL 10 card, when there two were initially supposed to meet.

After some violent losses, Mitrione broke his bad streak with a 1st round TKO win over Jared Rosholt in his UBL debut, back in April. He's a talented striker, with great power in his hands, but a declining chin. He's also a pretty good wrestler and if he gets on top and starts punching, it's bad for whoever's on the receiving end. Omielanczuk lost when challenging for the ACA HW belt in late 2020, and then got caught in an RNC in his UBL debut, against Evgeny Goncharov, on the same card where Mitrione fought. He is a decent grappler and has pretty good power in his hands, but him pulling off the upset win would surely not be appreciated by the UBL higher-ups, as Mitrione is obviously the bigger star and the one that actually has a chance to work himself into title contention. So, please, Daniel, be a sweetie and grab another L. Cheers!

Prediction: Mitrione by 1st round KO.

4. Heavyweight Title & Tournament Semi-Final: © Alexander ROMANOV (15-0, -260) vs. #1 Sergey SPIVAK (13-3, +200)

The "R" in "Romanov" stands for "READY TO BEAT, SMOTHER AND SMASH YOU". He dominanted Stefan Struve in his UBL debut and 50-45ed champion Sergey Pavlovich to win the belt. By the way, Pavlovich was on PEDs, but that didn't help, because Romanov is just built different. Aged 30, he's pretty much hitting his prime. He's a great wrestler with a very good ground game, and if you somehow keep it standing, he might not have the best technique, but his punches can knock out most HWs. Also, he loves to slam people, and he loves to choke people. Good luck fighting off this guy. Enter Polar Bear Sergey Spivak. He RNC'd Tanner Boser with ease in the inaugural HW tournament, and lost a competitive fight with Pavlovich (who was probably on PEDs but went under our radar because reasons). He bounced back with a TKO win over the beast they call "Tai Tuivasa", and now he's back to get the gold. Aged 26yo, he's hungry and working hard to become the best HW in the world. He's a power-striker, he's a good wrestler, he's pretty capable on the ground as well. This is a clash of titans, and whoever wins can probably hold his own against any "A" league HW with style and grace.

Prediction: Romanov by 5th round submission.

5. Lightweight Title Bout: © Gregor GILLESPIE (16-1, -420) vs. #3 Renato CARNEIRO (16-4-1, +330)

While Kevin Lee is becoming one of the best fighters on the planet, Gregor ain't doing bad either. He bounced back from the loss with 3 big wins, beating Bobby Green in the first round of the inaugural UBL LW tournament, then getting the UD over Fiziev for the belt, and then doing quick work, subbing Klose in the 1st round for his first defence. And this train of a man ain't slowing down, as he's wrestling and ground games are only getting better, while he remains elusive and fairly powerful on the feet. He's opponent, tho, is a BJJ ace, coming off 2 beautiful wins over Brent Primus and Vinc Pichel. Moicano has a quite similar skillset to Gregor, minus the takedowns, but with better submission ofence on the ground. It might be a rare occasion where Gregor might want to keep it standing, as 8 out of 16 wins of Moicano's career came via submission, and elite wrestler Brent Primus was the most recent victim of Moicano's vicious submissions. If Gillespie would try to keep the fight on the feet, close and dirty, he might be able to get the W, but in 5 rounds, I simply don't believe it's possible for 2 grapplers to not take the fight down, and on the ground, Moicano is too vicious to let Gillespie slip.

Prediction: Moicano Carneiro by 3rd round submission.

So come on lads, share those

Main card predictions:

W BW: Bethe CORREIA vs. Joselyne EDWARDS

HW: Junior DOS SANTOS vs. Ben ROTHWELL

HW: Matt MITRIONE vs. Daniel OMIELANCZUK

HW Title & Tournament SF: Alexander ROMANOV vs. Sergey SPIVAK

LW Title: Gregor GILLESPIE vs. Renato CARNEIRO

CageRage · March 15, 2021

Main card predictions:

W BW: Bethe CORREIA vs. Joselyne EDWARDS

HW: Junior DOS SANTOS vs. Ben ROTHWELL

HW: Matt MITRIONE vs. Daniel OMIELANCZUK

HW Title & Tournament SF: Alexander ROMANOV vs. Sergey SPIVAK

LW Title: Gregor GILLESPIE vs. Renato CARNEIRO

McDojoDelux · March 16, 2021

Main-Card Predictions:

W BW: Bethe CORREIA vs. Joselyne EDWARDS

HW: Junior DOS SANTOS vs. Ben ROTHWELL

HW: Matt MITRIONE vs. Daniel OMIELANCZUK

HW Title & Tournament SF: Alexander ROMANOV vs. Sergey SPIVAK

LW Title: Gregor GILLESPIE vs. Renato CARNEIRO

rodrigoviolim · March 16, 2021

Main-Card Predictions:

W BW: Bethe CORREIA vs. Joselyne EDWARDS

HW: Junior DOS SANTOS vs. Ben ROTHWELL

HW: Matt MITRIONE vs. Daniel OMIELANCZUK

HW Title & Tournament SF: Alexander ROMANOV vs. Sergey SPIVAK

LW Title: Gregor GILLESPIE vs. Renato CARNEIRO

Majster_93 · March 16, 2021

Main card predictions:

W BW: Bethe CORREIA vs. Joselyne EDWARDS

HW: Junior DOS SANTOS vs. Ben ROTHWELL

HW: Matt MITRIONE vs. Daniel OMIELANCZUK

HW Title & Tournament SF: Alexander ROMANOV vs. Sergey SPIVAK

LW Title: Gregor GILLESPIE vs. Renato CARNEIRO

vladjarca · March 17, 2021

More drug busts!

Loik Radzhabov was on PEDs in his fight with Azaitar! But it was a W, so we ain't cutting him. You know how it goes!

Big fights between UBL 13 and UBL 14:

Bellator

Khalid Murtazaliev beat Gegard Mousasi by 2nd round TKO to win the Bellator Middleweight Title.

Rampage Jackson beat Linton Vassell by UD, in what is a blesphamy given how bad Rampage looked the last time we've seen him.

Sergio Pettis beat Dominique Wooding by 3rd round KO in an Excellent bout.

<div style="text-align:center;">UBL 14: CRASH COURSE - Gillespie vs. Moicano

22 October, 2021

Somewhere in Eastern Europe</div>

Prelims:

W BW: Stephanie Egger defeats Yuriko Okajima by UD (30-27, 29-28 x 3). Following this win, Egger announces her retirement, aged 33, with a 7-3 record.

FW: Gavin Tucker defeats Salman Zhamaldaev by KO @1:30, round 1.

WW: Nicolas Dalby defeats Christian Lee by TKO @2:15, round 3. Dalby calls out Albert Tumenov, who's seemingly in high demand, as Jason Jackson also called him out a few months ago.

LW: Chris Wade defeats Akhmed Aliev by UD (29-28 x 3).

MW: Roberto Soldic defeats Vladimir Mineev by Armbar Submission @2:58, round 1. Soldic calls out Bartosz Fabinski.

HW: #10 Francimar Barroso defeats Jared Rosholt by RNC Submission @4:09, round 2. Following the victory, Barroso announces his retirement, with a 27-7-1-1 record, aged 41.

W FlyW: #13 Victoria Leonardo defeats #10 Shana Dobson bt RNC Submission @4:39, round 3. Leonardo calls out Tiffany Teo.

Main card:

1. Women's Bantamweight Bout: #2 Bethe CORREIA (12-6-1, -1000) vs. #8 Joselyne EDWARDS (9-3, +790)

Round 1: Edwards comes forward and smacks Correia with a straight right, but eats a left in the next exchange. Edwards keeps pushing forwand and hits Correia with a big cross. But as Edwards keeps pushing ofrward, she misses with another big cross and then gets countered with 2 jabs and a head kick that just got her. Correia then counters another right with a jab-low kick combo, and then she suddenly shoots on Edwards, getting the single leg TD. Correia is in guard, transitions to half guard and starts pounding with them fists until it's round over. Gotta be 10-9 for Correia.

Round 2: Correia dodges a hook and hits another jab-low kick combo. Edwards and as aggresive as in round 1, as she counters a missed hook by Correia with a hook to the body. But Edwards misses her next hook and gets countered with another jab-low kick combo. They keep throwing shy hands wihtout landing for a while, until Correia decides it's time to take it down once again, shoots and gets side control off the takedown! She pounds her from side control, and manages to land a few clean shots as the round was ending. 20-18 for Correia, maybe even 20-17 as Joselyne only landed that body hook for the whole round and was getting hit hard in the last seconds.

Round 3: Correia shoots straight away, and ends up in guard this time. She hits some strikes from there and passes to half guard as we enter the 3rd minute. She pounds Edwards for a while from there, and after a scramble in the last minute, Correia finds herself onto her opponent's back! She pounds on her with little power, tho, likely aware she has the W in the back and doesn't need to inflict more punishment to poor Josie. What a kind soul! 30-27 for Correia.

Winner: Bethe Correia (UD: 30-27 x 3). Rating: Decent.

Post-fight: *basic interview*

Correia moved up in the world W BW rankings, from #20 to #18.

2. Heavyweight Bout: #2 Junior DOS SANTOS (21-10, -400) vs. #7 Ben ROTHWELL (38-15, +310)

Rothwell seems to have about 25lbs on JDS.

Round 1: Rothwell tags JDS with a jab in their first exchange. JDS hits a jab but Ben blocks his right hand and fires back with a MASSIVE right hook and JDS HITS THE FLOOR <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/frown.png.e6b571745a30fe6a6f2e918994141a47.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Rothwell pounds on good old Junior until he is out cold, and it's all over <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/frown.png.e6b571745a30fe6a6f2e918994141a47.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

Winner: Ben Rothwell (Hook & Pound KO @0:56, round 1). Rating: Good <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/frown.png.e6b571745a30fe6a6f2e918994141a47.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

Post-fight: Rothwell invites everyone to his post-fight party and says he's glad to have got redemption for his 2016 UD loss to JDS. He says he's down for a trilogy if Junior manages to make the walk for it. Rothwell also announces that he's retiring after his next fight.

Rothwell breaks back into the world HW rankings at #16, while JDS falls from #9 to #21.

3. Heavyweight Bout: #8 Matt MITRIONE (14-8-1, -730) vs. #13 Daniel OMIELANCZUK (24-11-1-1, +580)

Round 1: Mitrione refuses the glove touch. Omielanczuk tags him with a shy jab, but eats a massive left headkick, and he's looking rocked on the feet. But he dodges Mitrione's big left follow up, and then they have a trade where they both miss their strikes. Mitrione pressures Omielanczuk and enters the pocket. He hits a jab-body punch combo. They can't land clean in the following exchanges, and Mitrione keeps pushing, but Omielanczuk dodges that big left that Mitrione wants to kill him with. They trade more nothing, and Mitrione finally catches a big left, but it ain't enough to rattle Omielanczuk. Still, Mitrione keeps pushing and hits a good body kick. Omielanczuk hits a counter left, but takes a low kick. Mitrione then hits a good jab-cross combo that lands hard, but Omielanczuk still stands. Mitrione unleashes another jab-jab-cross combo, and then sets up a good head kick with 2 jabs, and Omielanczuk is looking rocked, as we're in the last 10 seconds! But he defends well and it's round over. 10-9 Mitrione.

Round 2: Mitrione steps straight into the pocket and hits two lefts. He keeps pressuring and misses a big left. He hits a good right and then comes in with a big left hook, and Omielanczuk is on wobbly legs once more... BIG LEFT TO THE JAAW AND OMIELANCZUK'S DOWN! Mitrione follows up with big punches and Mazzagatti stops it!

Winner: Matt Mitrione (Smashin' TKO @1:28, round 2). Rating: Good.

Post-fight: Both fights announce their retirements post fight <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/frown.png.e6b571745a30fe6a6f2e918994141a47.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> . Mitrione retires aged 43, with a 15-8-1 record, while Omielanczuk was aged 39, with a 24-12-1-1 record.

4. And now, FOR THE UBL HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP, IN THE HEAVYWEIGHT TOURNAMENT SEMIFINAAALS:

Well, it's looking like Romanov has at least 35 lbs on Spivak, so good luck Sergey!

Round 1: Spivak hits a jab but misses the cross, and soon Romanov gets him in the clinch. He pushes Spivak against the cage. Underhooks in, and Romanov trips Spivak, ending up in his guard. Romanov throws some hands and doesn't allow Spivak to grab his hand. But Spivak works enough space to scramble, and comes out on top. as Romanov is now the one pulling guard. But another scramble starts, finding both men up, with Romanov grabbing Spivak's back. He gets Spivak down, on his hands and knees, AND HE LOCKS IN A REAR NAKED CHOKE! Looks like Spivak might need to work on his sub' defence...

Winner, AAAND STIIILL UBL HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WOOORLD: Alexander "KING KOOONG" ROMANOOOV (RNC Submission @3:44, round 1). Rating: Great.

Post-fight: Romanov is proud of this W and invites his next challenger to fight him ASAP. Boser and Latifi are both shown in the crowd, respectfully applauding Romanov's performance.

Title prestige: up from 64 to 66. Romanov goes up from #12 to #3 in the world HW rankings, while Spivak falls from #7 to #11.

Romanov will defend against the winner of Latifi vs. Boser.

5. AND NOW, IT IS TIME FOR THE MAAAAAAAAAIN EVEEEENT OF THE EVENIIIING:

Round 1: They touch gloves and Gillespie shoots soon after, and Moicano's pulling guard. Gillespie peppers small strikes and defends when Moicano tries to grab his arm. He can't advance, tho, so he hits more small shots, but the ref gets them back up due to lack of action, with 1 mintue left. Gillespie tries to shoot, but Moicano hits a left and tries a head kick, but Gillespie grabs the leg and takes Moicano down again, as he's sitting in guard. He hits more small shots and soon it's round over. 10-9 Gillespie.

Round 2: Moicano misses with the left and Gillespie shoots and ends up straight into side control. Gillespie pounds for minutes, and when he stops working, the ref gets 'em up, with 100 seconds left. But Gillespie shoots straight away and ends up in guard this time. But Moicano tries a guillotine! Nope, Gillespie escapes. A scramble sees them back up, with Moicano pressuring Gillespie against the cage, with 35 seconds left. But Gillespie escapes without taking any damage, and the round ends. 20-18 Gillespie.

Round 3: Gillespie shoots again and Moicano pulls guard. He pounds for a while and defends as Moicano has 2 attempts of grabbing his arm, and the ref gets them up for lack of action with 90 seconds left. But 4 seconds later, Moicano is back down, pulling half-guard, as Gillespie is just a wrestling god. He keeps pounding for the remaining minute. 30-27 for Gillespie, Moicano better lock in a swift sub' if he wants the belt. The fans are booing Gillespie's wrestlingish ways.

Round 4: Gillespie leaves Moicano time to throw some strikes but he defends against all, and shoots with speed. MOICANO PULLS GUARD AND HE'S HOLDING ONTO A GUILLOTINE! IT SEEMS IN DEEP THIS TIME! OH GOD! Is it in deep, tho? Finally, Moicano lets go after investing some effort into it. Gillespie punches Moicano for ages, and the ref gets them up with 20 seconds left. Moicano clinches before Gillespie can shoot, and soon it's round over. Clean sweep for the champion so far, 40-36 Gillespie.

Round 5: Moicano hits a left, but misses the right. Then, he comes forward with an uninspired combo that sees him miss all his shots and getting his leg caught by Gillespie. Aaand Moicano is in guard once again. He gets punched again, for a while, until the ref gets them up with 90 seconds left. Moicano lands a good right hand. But Gillespie shoots again and gets the takedown, and it is all over, damn it. 50-45 Gillespie.

Winner, AAAND STIIILL UBL LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WOOORLD: Gregor "THE GIFT" GILLESPIEEE (UD: 50-45 x 3). Rating: Average.

Post-fight: Gillespie congratulates Moicano for having the heart to do his best to be a problem up until the very last second. He calls him a real contender and says he can't wait to come back and defend again.

Title prestige: up from 68 to 73. Gillespie stands still in the world LW rankings, at #5, while Moicano moves up from #22 to #21.

Attendance: 2 473

Critical rating: 68

Commercial rating: 77

FOTN: A Romanov vs. S Spivak

KOOTN: B Rothwell vs. JDS

SubOTN: A Romanov vs. S Spivak

Profit: + 127 339

Biggest paydays: JDS - 71 400, Mitrione - 60 800, Romanov - 54 500.

Title fights paydays: Spivak - 31 800, Gillespie - 29 900, Moicano - 15 100.

UPDATED RANKINGS:

<a href="https://imgur.com/qgICuxA" rel="external nofollow">HEAVYWEIGHTS</a>

<a href="https://imgur.com/HqjWbAK" rel="external nofollow">MIDDLEWEIGHTS</a>

<a href="https://imgur.com/aWvnaLp" rel="external nofollow">WOMEN'S BANTAMWEIGHTS</a>

<a href="https://imgur.com/tid2N05" rel="external nofollow">WOMEN'S FLYWEIGHTS</a>

TOURNAMENTS:

HEAVYWEIGHT:

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT:

Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov © vs. Ryan Spann (UBL 15)

Da Un Jung vs. Rashid Yusupov

MIDDLEWEIGHT:

Karl Roberson © vs. Darren Stewart (UBL 15)

Brad Tavares vs. Dricus Du Plessis (UBL 18)

BANTAMWEIGHT:

Ricky Simon © vs. Brad Katona (UBL 19)

Jack Shore vs. Rani Yahya (UBL 19)

FLYWEIGHT:

Magomed Bibulatov © vs. Hiromasa Ogikubo

Amir Albazi vs. Jordan Espinosa (UBL 16)

ROSTER UPDATES:

New signings:

HW: Masazumi Narato (4-0 newgen, "national calibre kung fu fighter", King of Pancrase)

MW: Alex Pereira (6-1, Jungle Fight & LFA MW Champion)

LW: Gadzhi Rabadanov (17-4-2)

W BW: Megan Cawley (4-2)

Big fights outside of the UBL:

UFC

Jan Blachowicz beat Thiago Santos by SD (49-46 x 2, 47-48) to defend the UFC LHW Title.

Cody Garbrandt beat Matt Schnell by UD.

Alex Oliveira beat Wonderboy by 1st round RNC.

Marc Diakiese beat RDA by 1st round TKO.

Magomed Ankalaev beat Jimmy Crute by 3rd round TKO.

PFL

Lance Palmer beat Hatsu Hioki to by SD to win the PFL FW title.

And of course, our prediction rankings:

McDojoDelux: Total: 4/5; 21/34 (61%).

Majster_93: 3/5; Total: 24/40 (60%).

CageRage: 3/5; Total: 52/100 (52%).

rodrigoviolim: 2/5; Total: 37/89 (42%).

legendaryhorseman: Total: 2/5.

A mixed bag of results for them prediction rankings, and we've only got 4 cards left in 2021:

UBL 15: Colossal - Latifi vs. Boser (+2 title fights)

UBL 16: Full of Heart - Ray vs. Pichel (+ a title fight)

UBL 17: Defining Moment - Topuria vs. Barboza

& UBL 18: Bulletproof - Agapova vs. Shevchenko

I'll drop the preview for UBL 15 either later today, or sometime during tomorrow!

vladjarca · March 17, 2021

UBL 15: COLOSSAL - Latifi vs. Boser

12 November, 2021

Somewhere in Eastern Europe

Prelims:

BW: Felipe Colares vs. Raufeon Stots

MW: Kiamrian Abbasov vs. Salamu Abdurakhmanov

WW: Albert Tumenov vs. Shavkat Rakhmonov

MW: Magomedrasul Gasanov vs. Trevin Giles

HW: #14 Philipe Lins vs. Justin Tafa

W BW: #14 Raquel Canuto vs. Izabela Badurek

LHW: #14 Aleksei Butorin vs. #15 Nasrudin Nasrudinov

Main card preview:

1. Light Heavyweight Bout: #5 Devin CLARK (13-6, -240) vs. #10 Rafael CARVALHO (17-6, +190)

Clark managed to outgrapple Ed Herman to a UD win in his UBL debut, but lost to Ryan Spann in the QFs of the LHW tournament, in a title eliminator. For this bout, Clark went all in on his takedowns and ground game in his training camp, trying to make his smothering top control even more annoying, and taking his takedowns to a superior level. Besides his great takedowns and top control, he has good technical kickboxing, altho he does lack power and quality head movement. Rafael Carvalho built his name in his 7-4 Bellator run, where he won the Middleweight title and defended it 3 times before dropping it against Gegard Mousasi. He made his LHW debut against Vadim Nemkov, now an ex-Bellator LHW champion, and lost another LHW bout to Alex Polizzi before coming over to the UBL. Here, he debuted with a 1st round TKO win against ex-ONE champion Reinier de Ridder, but ended his losing spree in August, TKOing Maxim Grishin in less than 30 seconds. He is a high level muay thai fighter with great knees and unorthodox strikes. He has great power in his kicks and good technique, good wrestling and knows how to defend himself when taken down. Also, he loves throwing head kicks. It might be a classsic striker vs. wrestler match-up, but Carvalho's good takedown defence and high power might be enough to see the striker come out on top.

Prediction: Clark by decision.

2. Heavyweight Bout: #8 Roy NELSON (24-19, -550) vs. #11 Javy AYALA (11-9, +430)

Nelson just broke a 5 fight losing streak, with a 1st round Kimura win over Philipe Lins. Big country has a great ground game, but will usually look to throw haymakers and KO his opponents with his impressive power. This being said, he won his first bout against Ayala in 2017, in his Bellator debut, via UD. Ayala is a big bad boy who made his name in Bellator, with a 6-5 run that saw him win over guys like Roy Boughton, Sergei Kharitonov and Frank Mir. Ayala is a striker with good power and not much else besides his heart. Sadly, heart and power are not enough at this level, hence his shitty record. I expect to see Ayala drop hard.

Prediction: Nelson by 2nd round KO.

3. Middleweight Title & Tournament Semi-Final: © Karl ROBERSON (11-3, -400) vs. #3 Darren STEWART (13-6-1, +310)

Baby K fought a tough fight against Zak Cummings to win the belt, after a violent win over Eryk Anders in his UBL debut. Altho originally a kickboxer, he has been working hard on his wrestling, and more recently on his groun game, in order to be dangerous in every aspect of MMA. His best weapons right now are his ground striking and his wrestling, and his toughness makes up for his lack of conditioning. Darren Stewart TKOed Makhmud Muradov in the quarter finals of the MW tournament to earn this shot. He first met Roberson in his 3rd UFC bout, in 2017, and lost by 1st ground RNC. Since then, tho, he has come a long way, developing good defensive wrestling and BJJ skills, while honing his boxing and elusiveness when on the feet. Roberson will likely look to get Stewart down and outclass him as in their first bout, but it might not be as easy as it was back then. Still, Roberson surely remains the favourite.

Prediction: Roberson by decision.

4. Light Heavyweight Title & Tournament Semi-Final: © Dovletdzhan YAGSHIMURADOV (19-5-1, +100) vs. #4 Ryan SPANN (19-7, -110)

Dovletdzhan surprised many when he finished Cutelaba in the first round to win the UBL LHW title, taking his current streak to 9 straight Ws. He is a good boxer with good head movement, a good wrestler and also able on the ground. He also has a good thai clinch with mighty powerful knees. Basically, he has a bunch of ways to kill you, with the knees, the subs and the punches being the main threats, in this order. Spann surely expected a rematch with Cutelaba when he beat Clark to earn this title shot, but here he is, ready to fight Yagshimuradov. Spann is well rounded as well, and worked hard on his wrestling, but he has a pretty weak chin ever since he lost by violent KOs to Walker and Cutelaba. Still, he has powerful hands and good BJJ and grappling, with dangerous submissions and good positioning and sweeps when on bottom. Since Yagshi killed Ion, I have 0 doubt that he'll finish Spann too, but Spann also has enough power to be able to shock Yagshi just like Yagshi shocked Cutelaba. Expect fireworks.

Prediction: Yagshimuradov by 1st round KO.

5. Heavyweight Tournament Semi-Final: #5 Ilir LATIFI (15-8-1, -110) vs. #7 Tanner BOSER (20-8-1, +100)

Latifi broke his losing streak with a one sided beatdown of Stefan Struve, ending with a massive KO late in the 1st round. Latifi is a good, well rounded fighter, with great TD defence, great power when he boxes and dominant in the clinch, but his chin is a big weakness, as time and KO/TKO losses have taken their toll on him. Boser lost in his UBL debut to Sergey Spivak, and got a UD win over Ben Rothwell to earn a spot in the semi-finals of the tournament. Tanner is a good wrestler with good power in hsi hands and low kicks, and a tough chin, which might be his biggest asset in this fight. Still, I don't believe he has a good enough ground game to beat Latifi, and Latifi is also more dangerous on the feet, so I see Latifi as a clear favourite here.

Prediction: Latifi by 2nd round submission.

Share theeeeem:

Main card predictions:

LHW: Devin CLARK vs. Rafael CARVALHO

HW: Roy NELSON vs. Javy AYALA

MW Title & Tournament SF: Karl ROBERSON vs. Darren STEWART

LHW Title & Tournament SF: Dovletdzhan YAGSHIMURADOV vs. Ryan SPANN

HW Tournament SF: Ilir LATIFI vs. Tanner BOSER

Majster_93 · March 17, 2021

LHW: Devin CLARK vs. Rafael CARVALHO

HW: Roy NELSON vs. Javy AYALA

MW Title & Tournament SF: Karl ROBERSON vs. Darren STEWART

LHW Title & Tournament SF: Dovletdzhan YAGSHIMURADOV vs. Ryan SPANN

HW Tournament SF: Ilir LATIFI vs. Tanner BOSER

McDojoDelux · March 18, 2021

<div style="text-align:center;"><div style="margin-left:25px;"> Romanov some serious skills for a Heavyweight, really don't see anyone beating him anytime soon. Also that 1% lead on my total predictions I have over Majster_93 is just really funny to me for some reason will defiantly lose it sometime soon but I'm celebrating it while it lasts </div><img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/biggrin.png.929299b4c121f473b0026f3d6e74d189.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><div style="margin-left:25px;">. But predictions yes.</div><div style="margin-left:25px;"> </div><div style="margin-left:25px;">

</div><div style="margin-left:25px;">Main card predictions:</div><div style="margin-left:25px;">

LHW: Devin CLARK vs. </div><div style="margin-left:25px;">Rafael CARVALHO</div><div style="margin-left:25px;">

HW: </div><div style="margin-left:25px;">Roy NELSON</div><div style="margin-left:25px;"> vs. Javy AYALA</div><div style="margin-left:25px;">

MW Title & Tournament SF: </div><div style="margin-left:25px;">Karl ROBERSON</div><div style="margin-left:25px;"> vs. Darren STEWART</div><div style="margin-left:25px;">

LHW Title & Tournament SF: Dovletdzhan YAGSHIMURADOV vs. </div><div style="margin-left:25px;">Ryan SPANN</div><div style="margin-left:25px;">

HW Tournament SF: Ilir LATIFI vs. </div><div style="margin-left:25px;">Tanner BOSER</div></div>

CageRage · March 18, 2021

HW: Devin CLARK vs. Rafael CARVALHO

HW: Roy NELSON vs. Javy AYALA

MW Title & Tournament SF: Karl ROBERSON vs. Darren STEWART

LHW Title & Tournament SF: Dovletdzhan YAGSHIMURADOV vs. Ryan SPANN

HW Tournament SF: Ilir LATIFI vs. Tanner BOSER

rodrigoviolim · March 18, 2021

Main card predictions:

LHW: Devin CLARK vs. Rafael CARVALHO

HW: Roy NELSON vs. Javy AYALA

MW Title & Tournament SF: Karl ROBERSON vs. Darren STEWART

LHW Title & Tournament SF: Dovletdzhan YAGSHIMURADOV vs. Ryan SPANN

HW Tournament SF: Ilir LATIFI vs. Tanner BOSER

vladjarca · March 18, 2021

Big fights outside of the UBL:

UFC

Max Holloway beat Brian Ortega by SD (48-47 x2, 47-48) to win the UFC FW Title.

Cory Sandhagen beat Rob Font by UD (50-45 x 2, 49-46) to defend his UFC BW Title.

Sean O'Malley beat Dominick Cruz by 1st round KO.

Claudia Gadelha beat Weili Zhang by SD.

Bellator

Douglas Lima beat Curtis Millender by 1st round Armbar submission to defend his Bellator WW Title.

Valentin Moldavsky beat Cheick Kongo by UD.

Brett Johns beat Erik Perez by 2nd round Kneebar.

Ilima-Lei Macfarlane beat Bec Rawlings by 3rd round KO.

UBL 15: COLOSSAL - Latifi vs. Boser

12 November, 2021

Somewhere in Eastern Europe

Prelims:

BW: Raufeon Stots defeats Felipe Colares by UD (30-27 x 3).

MW: Kiamrian Abbasov defeats Salamu Abdurakhmanov by Kimura Submission @1:39, round 1.

WW: Albert Tumenov defeats Shavkat Rakhmonov by TKO @0:35, round 3. Post fight, Tumenov aknkowledges the callouts from Jackson and Dalby and says he's down to fight any of them.

MW: Magomedrasul Gasanov defeats Trevin Giles by UD (29-28 x 3).

HW: Justin Tafa defeats #14 Philipe Lins by KO @1:13, round 1.

W BW: #14 Raquel Canuto defeats Izabela Badurek by TKO @2:08, round 1.

LHW: #15 Nasrudin Nasrudinov defeats #14 Aleksei Butorin by UD (30-27 x 2, 29-28).

Main card:

1. Light Heavyweight Bout: #5 Devin CLARK (13-6, -240) vs. #10 Rafael CARVALHO (17-6, +190)

Round 1: Clark tries to grab Carvalho but gets hit with a quick jab followed up by a big right. Carvalho misses with another punch, as he's the one walking forward now. Clark fires two counter jabs as Carvalho hits 2 punches out of a flurry and misses the head kick follow-up. Still, Carvalho advances with confidence, gets touched with two weak jabs, and smashes Clark with two lefts and a right head kick! But Clark eats it like it's nothing! Carvlaho hits a roundhouse body kick, and then a cross. Carvalho looks extremely confident as we reach the halfway point of round 1. And he connects with a jab-head kick combo, and Clark is feeling it this time! CARVALHO JUMPS WITH A FLYING KNEE, but Clark partially blocked it! Clark's covering against the cage, AND A BIG RIGHT SENDS CLARK DOWN TO THE FLOOR! CARVALHO IS HAMMERING DOWN WITH HUGE RIGHTS! And that's it!

Winner: Rafael Carvalho (Smashin' TKO @3:26, round 1). Rating: Good.

Post-fight: You can see the hunger in Carvalho's eyes as he repeats his callout for Ed Herman, saying he wants another easy KO before he takes aim at the very top of the divison.

2. Heavyweight Bout: #8 Roy NELSON (24-19, -550) vs. #11 Javy AYALA (11-9, +430)

Round 1: Well, here's a surprise. Ayala shoots straight away and leaves Nelson pulling guard. But Ayala gets caught in a guillotine! He lasts in there for a while, but eventually taps, giving Nelson a quick W!

Winner: Roy Nelson (Guillotine Submission @0:42, round 1). Rating: Good.

Post-fight: Nelson reminds everyone that he's been fighting all his life, and now he feels it's finally time to call it a career. He says it was a pleasure fighting here in Europe, and he'll probably be back to corner his Roufusport mates. Big Country retires aged 45, with a 25-19 record.

3. Well, we got to this point pretty quick. AND NOW, IT IS TIME FOR THE FIRST TITLE FIGHT OF THE NIGHT! IN THE SEMIFINALS OF THE UBL MIDDLEWEIGHT TOURNAMENT, FOR THE UBL MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP:

© "BABY K" Karl ROBERSON (11-3, -400) vs. #3 Darren "THE DENTIST" STEWART (13-6-1, +310)

Round 1: Stewart comes in with hunger and hits Roberson with two lefts and a right hook. Roberson seems glad to be in another dog-fight. He hits Stewart with a left cross, but can't defend against his jab-cross combo, and now we see Roberson got a bad cut above the eye less than 30 seconds into round 1. Stewart gets pressuring the chammpion, but Roberson bobs & weaves out the way of Stewarts 1-2s. As he keeps getting pressured, Roberson hits 2 counterjabs but gets struck with a jab-straight right combo. Stewart is showing more patience, respecting Roberson's decent head movement. Roberson tags him with a counter jab and dodges another 1-2. Then does the exact same thing. Stewart now invites Roberson to the center, and Roberson comes, but they both miss all their strikes in the following 2 exchanges. Stewart then hits a left to the body, while Roberson barely connects with a quick right. They trade some more jabs it's round over. Close round, as both landed 10 significant strikes, but since Stewart dictated the pace and gave Roberson an ugly cut, he surely takes round 1. 10-9 for Stewart.

Round 2: They meet in the center and have some lackluster exchanges, with only a jab from Stewart landing in the first 80 seconds. Then, Roberson shoots on Stewart and ends up holding him against the cage. He manages to get him in the thai clinch, where he can hit some pretty good elbow strikes! But he only lands one elbow, from a bad angle, and Stewart wrestles free soon after. Stewart starts pushing again and misses quite a lot, until he catches Roberson with a good 1-2, repopening Roberson's cut. Stewart catches Roberson with a jab-jab-cross combo. Roberson is starting to look tired as we enter the last minute. Roberson seems off today, as he htis a jab but misses the hook to the body, and Stewart catches him with a slick jab-head kick combo. But Roberson counters the following roundhouse kick with a nice glancing head kick of his own! Too bad he already seems gassed, tho. Stewart misses some more strikes and it's round over. Surely Stewart's round, 20-18 for the challenger on my scorecard.

Round 3: They trade some nothing, and the Stewart counters a left cross with a jab and a body punch, and then he pulls Roberson into a clinch! But Roberson is the one who tries to push Stewart around, but can't do it! Stewart tries to pull guard! BUT ROBERSON STILL HAS ENOUGH IN HIM TO SLAM STEWART WITH STYLE, and kicks Stewart's legs for a while, and then allows him to stand up. A Roberson cross gets countered with a jab, and then Roberson shoots, getting Stewart stuck against the cage for the 2nd time. He smothers him for about 2 minutes, likely to recover some energy, and Roberson escapes with 50 seconds left in round 3. None of them lands anything significant in the remaining seconds, tho. Stewart still outstruck Roberson by a pretty serious margin, so it likely was his round. 30-27 for Stewart on my scorecard, altho it was a close round.

Round 4: Both lads clinch. Stewart tries to pull guard again, but Roberson doesn't let him. He tries to take him twice but fails, and Stewart tries to pull guard again. BUT ROBERSON SLAMS HIM AGAIN, and then hits that calf with power! He kicks at Roberson 3 more times before allowing him to get up. Both guys look tired now and Stewart is limping a bit. They trade a few jabs and Roberson hits a decent right. Roberson then dodges a right from Stewart and hits a right hook. Roberson dodges a hook now and hits a good left. But he gets cocky and misses a big left, and Stewart counters him with a jab-cross combo. And they miss some more strikes as the round ends. Another close round, but we gotta give it to Roberson this time, for the close striking exchanges and that violent slam. 39-37 for Stewart on my scorecard.

Round 5: Roberson hits a right and blocks a 1-2. And they both defend well in the following exchanges. Roberson misses a left cross and gets stung with a left hook. Stewart starts coming forward, like in the first 2 rounds, but misses his combos initially. Then, Stewart gets countered with a nice right but hits a good jab-cross combo. Roberson tried to kick the leg but got checked and stung with another jab-cross combo. Then, they trade some jabs and Stewart pieces him up with a 1-2. Stewart then misses a big right and Roberson counters with a quick jab-hook combo. And then, visibly exhausted, they both clinch up. They literally spend the last 2 minutes of the fight trying to take each other down from the clinch, which is really anti-climatic. And it is all over. Stewart obviously outstruck here, so it's his round, and it's 49-46 for the challenger on my scorecard. We had 3 really close rounds, tho, so the judges might have seen it differently.

Winner, AAAND NE...STIIILL UBL MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPION!?: KAAARL "BABY K" ROOOBERSOOOON (UD: 49-46, 48-47 x 2)! Rating: Decent. (Robbery of the decade?)

Post-fight: Stewart looks shocked, and the crowd boos Roberson as he gets his hand raised and receives his championship. Roberson tells everyone to look at Stewart's leg and at his weak grappling attempts, telling them that they might have been equal when striking, but he surely outdid him in every grappling moment. "If you don't agree, you do you, I do me, I keep being the champion, and get ready for many more <<AND STILL>>s!". Roberson did a great job riling up the crowd, and it looks like a heel was born tonight, in the UBL Middleweight division. ONTO THE FINAL!

Title prestige: up from 63 to 65. Roberson screwed the system and went up in the world MW rankings, from #18 to #14. It's a cold world.

Roberson will face the winner of Tavares vs. Du Plessis in the final.

4. NOW, FOR THE UBL LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP, IN THE UBL LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT TOURNAMENT SEMI-FINAAALS:

© Dovletdzhan YAGSHIMURADOV (19-5-1, +100) vs. #4 Ryan "SUPERMAN" SPANN (19-7, -110)

Yagshi looks like he put much more weight than Spann post-weigh-in.

Round 1: Yagshi comes forward, dodges Spann's counter and smashes him with a big straight right. He keeps pressuring and nothing lands in the next exchange, but after that, Spann hits two counter jabs and dodges Yagshi's 1-2. Now, in the center of the cage, Spann hits a good 1-2 but gets touched by a big right hook. Yagshi hits a jab-cross combo, and Spann answers with a nice 1-2 of his own. They smash each other with nice combos, as Spann hits a good straight right and eats a right cross. Yagshi gets pushing again, and he misses a lot of shots, but eventually hits a right hook after eating a counter right. In the center again, Yagshi hits a good left but gets smashed with a flurry from Spann, and then a right hook, AND YAGSHI LOOKS ROCKED! But he barely managed to move out the way of the right head kick that followed. Back into it, Yagshi eats a combo of straight punches but hits Spann with a great hook. They trade some nothing, AND AS WE ENTER THE LAST SECONDS, YAGSHI USES TWO JABS TO SET UP A MASSIVE STRIAGHT RIGHT THAT SMASHES SPANN'S JAW, AND THAT'S A GAH DAMN LAST SECOND KNOCK OUUUUUUUUUUUT! OH MY GOD!

Winner, AND STIIIIILL UBL LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WOOORLD: DOVLETDZHAN YAGSHIMURADOV (Straight Right From Hell KO @4:57, round 1). Rating: Great.

Post fight: Yagshi flexes as his belt is put around his waist. As the announcer approaches him for the post-fight interview, Yagshi stops him mid-sentence, taking his mic to share these wonderful words: "God made me great. Nothing more to say. I am champion, I am blessed. See you again in finals."

Title prestige: up from 61 to 62. Yagshi moved up in the world rankings, from #21 to #15, while Spann fell off the list, from #23.

Yagshimuradov will fight the winner of Da Un Jung vs. Yusupov in the finals.

5. AND NOW, IT IS TIME FOR THE MAAAAIN EVENT OF THE EVENING! A Heavyweight Title Eliminator, in the UBL Heavyweight Tournament Semi-Finals:

#5 Ilir LATIFI (15-8-1, -110) vs. #7 Tanner BOSER (20-8-1, +100)

Boser seems to have about 20 lbs on Latifi.

Round 1: They miss some big strikes early on, and a jab from Latifi is the only strikes that land in the 1st minute. As Latifi hits the 2nd jab of the fight, Boser catches him with a jab-cross combo. Nothing lands for another boring minute afterwards, and then Poser dodges a hook to strike Latifi with a solid right. Latifi starts pressuring but can only connect with the jabs initially, but eventually catches Boser with a good straight left. They trade some jabs and Latifi catches bosser with a left cross. Boser tries some big strikes, but Latifi just moves out the way and counters with jabs, and soon, round 1 is over. 10-9 for Latifi, as he pretty much picked apart Boser in the 2nd half of the round.

Round 2: Latifi comes forward and hits a jab-cross combo, but Boser smashes him with a great right hook! They both smile at each other following the exchange. Boser hits a left and dodges a 1-2 from Latifi, and Latifi starts pressuring again, hitting a jab-straight left combo. Latifi enters the pocket and hits another good jab-straight left combo. As Boser takes his eyes off Latifi for half a second, to look at his cornen, Latifi shoots and gets a single leg takedown! Boser pulls guard, and a scramble sees Latifi get to half guard. More scrambles happen, and eventually Latifi is able to get onto Boser's back! He fails with his RNC attempt initially, but Latifi eventually gets both hooks and locks the choke in tight, and Boser has to tap, and he does!

Winner: Ilir Latifi (RNC Submission @4:44, round 2). Rating: Good.

Post-fight: LATIFI RETIRES. OF COURSE HE DOES. REALLY!? I PUT YOU IN THE MAIN EVENT OVER TWO TITLE FIGHTS AND THIS IS WHAT YOU DO, ILIR? REALLY?

Thank God I managed to talk him out of retirement, huh. He'll challenge Alexander Romanov for the title in the final.

Latifi moved up in the world HW rankings, from #24 to #12.

Attendance: 4 703

Critical rating: 69

Commercial rating: 61

FOTN: D Yagshimuradov vs. R Spann

KOOTN: D Yagshimuradov vs. R Spann

SubOTN: I Latifi vs. T Boser

Profit: 537 283

Biggest paydays: Latifi - 74 300, Yagshimuradov - 53 300, Roy Nelson - 48 500

Title fights paydays: Spann - 29 000, Stewart - 14 000, Roberson - 6 800.

UPDATED RANKINGS:

HEAVYWEIGHT

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT

MIDDLEWEIGHT

BANTAMWEIGHT

TOURNAMENTS:

HEAVYWEIGHT:

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT:

Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov © vs. Da Un Jung / Rashid Yusupov

MIDDLEWEIGHT:

Karl Roberson © vs. Brad Tavares / Dricus Du Plessis (UBL 18)

BANTAMWEIGHT:

Ricky Simon © vs. Brad Katona (UBL 19)

Jack Shore vs. Rani Yahya (UBL 19)

FLYWEIGHT:

Magomed Bibulatov © vs. Hiromasa Ogikubo (UBL 19)

Amir Albazi vs. Jordan Espinosa (UBL 16)

ROSTER UPDATES:

New signings:

HW: Szymon Bajor (23-8, FEN HW Champion)

BW: Dominick Cruz BABY (24-4)

W BW: Kameyo Tamada (2-0 newgen, "high level judoka", JEWELS BW Champion)

Cut from the UBL: Izabela Badurek (8-7 W FlyW).

And now, let's see how the prediction rankings look with 3 more cards to go!

But first of all, I'd like to brag with my extremely accurate predictions: Roberson by decision, Yagshimuradov by 1st round KO & Latifi by 2nd round sub

Now, onto the rankings!

Majster_93: 4/5; Total: 29/45 (64%).

McDojoDelux: Total: 3/5; 24/39 (62%) - Agree with what you're saying about Romanov, I'm hoping he has a breakthrough year in the UFC a la Holland in 2020 He'll be fighting Espino on the main card of Whittaker vs. Gastelum! Also, looks like Majster went over today, as you predicted, but you have 3 cards left to settle the score, so good luck to all of you guys!

rodrigoviolim: 3/5; Total: 40/94 (43%).

CageRage: 2/5; Total: 54/105 (51%).

legendaryhorseman: Total: 2/5.

Might take a while until I come with the preview for UBL 16 as I'll make a press-conference to look into the rivalries of Steven Ray & Vinc Pichel and Kaufman & Moras!

vladjarca · March 19, 2021

UBL 16: Full of Heart - Ray vs. Pichel

PRESS CONFERENCE

Here's a little context, for start.

Steven Ray has been having a great year, going 3-0 in the UBL by August, with his most impressive win being against top grappler Brent Primus. But Ray had already called out Pichel after his second fight in the UBL, when he submitted Chris Wade on the prelims of UBL 3: Tumenov vs. Amosov. Pichel had already been booked, tho, against Renato Moicano Carneiro, who had already previously called him out. Pichel fought a good fight in his UBL debut against Moicano, almost finishing him in the 2nd round, but Moicano recovered and grappled his way to a split decision victory, which lead him to a title shot against the champion, Gillespie, and leaving Pichel looking like a gatekeeper that you have to go through to earn a solid spot in the upper side of the rankings. 2 months went by, and it was time for Ray's first big test - Brent Primus. Ray outclassed his opponent in all aspects and earned a hard fought decision win, and reminded everyone that he still wants a piece of the Vinc Pichel pie, as he was yet to face a dangerous striker in the UBL and wanted to prove he can hang with any type of fighter, even in the top 10 of the company. No bad blood, just sheer competitiveness. Now, here we are.

Sarah Moras and current UBL BW Queen Sarah Kaufman first met in the semi-finals of the Inaugural UBL BW Crown Tournament. Both were coming off dissapointing results in their most recent stints with other companies. Kaufman KOed Moras seconds into the 2nd round, after a dominating first round. She went on to beat Bethe Correia in the final for the Crown, and she called for a rematch with Moras in the post-fight, leaving the world baffled, as that fight was quite the 1-sided beatdown. Most people believe she simply wants an easy title defense, while others argue that Moras is simply the best grappler in the division and Kaufman wants to challenge herself by fighting her again. Both ladies had their next UBL fights at UBL 8, on the main card. After doing quick work of Vanessa Melo, submitting her with an Armbar in less than 3 minutes, Moras adressed the champion's callout. She claimed "everyone knows she just got caught", and seemed sure to have evolved enough to prevent such thing from happening again". "So Sarah Kaufman, defend and get me my rematch, girl", said Moras, and Kaufman did just that, winning in quick fashion, just like Moras, KOing challenger Lisa Verzosa in 2 minutes and 52 seconds. Aware of the message Moras sent her, Kaufman answers that she's up for any challenger and would love to face a high level grappler like Sarah Moras once again.

Now, let's get the conference going! We've got the 4 fighters, and as always, the boss, Whana Dite!

Whana Dite (WD): Good evening, everyone! We are here with 2 dangerous lightweight contenders and two of the top bantamweight ladies on the planet, and these are facts, not opinions. Ask away!

Reporter ®: Sarah K, you stated that you want to fight "Cheesecake" because she is the best grappler the UBL has in your division, but this statement came back before the UBL signed the veteran Sara McMann. Do you feel the statement still holds up?

Sarah Kaufman (Kaufman): First of all, I never said that, someone probably said that on the internet and people started acting like I said it. Second, I do believe Sarah Moras is one of the best grapplers that we have, and Sara McMann is also a good grappler, as she showed in her debut. And you know, many strikers don't like grapplers, they don't like fighting people that try to keep them stuck against the cage, or just win via top control, and things like that. And I'm not like that, I beat to high level strikers, in Bethe and Verzosa, high level grapplers, like Moras, and also fighters who can do both, like Leslie Smith back in the UFC. And all in all, I had problems against grapplers, most of my losses where against good grapplers, Ronda, Pacheco, Alexis Davis, Marloes Coenen. And I guess I just want to prove myself that thanks to all the hard work I've been putting in, now I can do it, I can beat this kind of fighters. So after the Moras fight, the McMann fight could be next, it's a fight I'd like.

R: Bea Malecki is another prospect that the UBL have been pushing, she'll fight on the main card on UBL 17. Do you have any thoughts on her?

Kaufman: I haven't really seen her fights before UBL, I know she got a nice RNC win in the UFC, and here, from what I've seen, she was dominant against some tough ladies. I guess with a win in her next fight she might be ready for a tougher fight or even a title shot, but we'll see. For now, I focus on the fight I've got coming up, and then Sara McMann would surely be above Bea Malecki on my list.

R: Ms. Moras, the champion has pretty much acknowledged you as one of the best grapplers in the division, how do you feel about it? Do you feel you are the best?

Sarah Moras (Cheesecake): I don't know, I might be, I see she's already thinking about Sara McMann who's a good wrestler. Maybe I'll go and defend against McMann after I win the belt? That would surely make me feel like the best grappler in the division.

R: Some people don't like that you get to challenge for the belt with a 7-7 record. What are your toughts on that?

Cheesecake: Didn't Mark Hunt fight for the heavyweight title years ago, with a record like 10-10? Isn't Mark Hunt literally a beloved legend, with a negative record? So I've had a bunch of losses. My wins simply shine brighter than the losses, if you ask me. I just made a girl tap in less than 3 minutes, has anyone ever beaten me in less than 3 minutes? Nope. And if you look at my losses, there are some big names on that list, and if you look at my wins, there are some big names there as well - Julianna Pena, Evans-Smith. All in all, I'm great, and my last performance proves that.

R: Vinc Pichel, you had some nice momentum coming off some good wins in the UFC, but you are quite the veteran in fight years, and many believe that the close loss to Moicano has pretty much stopped your chances of ever challenging for a title. Do you agree with that, or do you still believe you might be able to earn a title shot?

Vinc Pichel (Vinc): Man, I believe in my shot, you know? I lost a close fight, what can I do? Train and do better in this one, that's pretty much it. If I happen to win my way into a title shot, great, but the thing is I'm 39 and ranked #9. With the right fights, I have a chance. I'm beating Steven soon, and then I'll likely be about 2 or 3 wins away from a title shot, right? But I must beat Steve first.

R: Do you feel you got robbed in the Moicano fight?

Vinc: No, not really. He fought well, I had my chance to finish him, I failed to do so, that's on me. You can argue that could have been a 10-8 round, but a draw is still not a win, is it? I won't argue for a draw. I feel I'd beat him in a real fight, but he bit me under the unified rules, I won't argue that.

R: Any idea what could be next with a win in a main event?

Vinc: I need to perform. If I perform well under such a spotlight, good things will follow. But I'm not looking past this fight as of right now.

R: Steven, do you feel about this fight and your placement on the card?

Steven Ray (Ray): I feel great, I feel my efforts have been worth it, I feel glad I've gotten the opportunity to compete 4 times in a calendar year, and as Vinc said, now I must perform. I got the spotlight, now I gotta get the highlight performance, you know?

R: So you wanna make this fight a flashy one?

Ray: Absolutely. I wanted to fight a striker, I wanna put on a show and I want people to demand more when it's all over. Braveheart vs. Pichel from Hell, mark your calendars and believe the hype!

R: Gregor Gillespie is the only UBL fighter who already went 4-0 in 2021, and you, Sarah Kaufman and Ilia Topuria are the only ones who have the chance to equal this feat. How do you feel about that, Steven?

Ray: No disrespect to Sarah and Gregor, but you guys cheated, y'all fought twice in one night. I did 4 fight camps, Ilia's doing the same as me. I'm joking, obviously, fighting twice in one night is a great challenge and it's something I hope I can do too at some point. It's great, but I gotta get the W to reach that 4-0 record for 2021.

R: What do you think about this, Sarah, is the 4-0 in 2021 achievment something you've been thinking about in training camp?

Kaufman: Not really, but now that you say it, it would surely be nice. But it's a challenge, so I shouldn't look past Cheesecake.

R: Also, Vinc, Steven, Jim Miller and Gregor Gillespie are the only top 10 UBL lightweights who are not booked right now. Do you feel you could match up with any of them with a win?

Ray: Well Gillespie would be great, but I don't believe the road to him could be so short at this point. But I surely will be challenging for the belt by the end of 2022. Jim Miller could be a nice fight, but I'm thinking more of a top 5 opponent, no disrespect to Jim.

Vinc: I just beat Jim a year ago, and I've already told you about how I view my road into the title picture. I'll simply have to wait for the division to untie itself, or even fight some other guys, like Primus or Jury, or that Borys guy.

WD: Any other questions? No? Alright, let's do the staredowns.

The staredowns go on without any notable event, as the respect between all the fighters is obvious.

PREVIEW:

UBL 16: FULL OF HEART - Ray vs. Pichel

26 November, 2021

Somewhere in Easter Europe

Prelims:

LW: Nate Andrews vs. Islam Mamedov

LHW: Jai Parkhurst vs. Shiko Kahaya

WW: Miguel Baeza vs. Gadzhimurad Khiramagomedov

BW: Abdul-Rakhman Dudaev vs. Victor Henry

LW: #15 Thanh Le vs. Amirkhan Adaev

LW: #10 Sidney Outlaw vs. #13 Lando Vannata

BW: #9 Enrique Barzola vs. #10 Kai Asakura

Main card preview:

1. Flyweight Bout: #6 Sean SANTELLA (23-8-1-1, -300) vs. #11 Alex SILVA (9-6, +230)

Santella got his streak cut short when he ran into Jordan Espinosa in his UBL debut, losing the bout via UD. Santella is a pretty mediocre veteran, with good cardio on not much else. Alex Silva is coming off two losses by decision. He should make short work of Santella, as he's superior in most aspects of the grappling game and they are quite even on the feet.

Prediction: Silva by decision.

2. Flyweight Tournament Semi-final: #1 Amir ALBAZI (14-2, -500) vs. #3 Jordan ESPINOSA (16-8, +350)

Albazi came back from his loss to now-champion Bibulatov with a slick leglock win against Kai Kara-France, in the tournament quarter-finals. He is a great BJJ practitioner, with great submissions and control from the top. He's also a good wrestler, and has good elusiveness and powerful punches when on the feet. Espinosa good a UD win over Santella in his UBL debut, in the Flyweight Tournament QFs. He is a good wrestler that likes to grind his way to victory via top control, and I doubt it will work out for him against a BJJ playa like Albazi.

Prediction: Albazi by 1st round submission.

Sarah Kaufman defends her crown against the first women she faced in the UBL, Sarah Moras, who she defeated by 2nd round KO. Without a doubt, Sarah is the division's best striker, with killer kicks and powerful punches, rounded up with great TD defence, and good sumbission defence and scrambles. Also, her last 3 wins came via violent KOs, in dominating showings. Moras bounced back after her loss to Kaufman with a quick Armbar victory over Vanessa Melo. Moras is a good BJJ practitioner who also has a dominating clinch on the feet, but really shouldn't be too much of a threat for Kaufman.

Prediction: Kaufman by 1st round KO.

4. Light Heavyweight Bout: #1 Anthony SMITH (34-17, -650) vs. #7 Ed HERMAN (27-15-1, +510)

After his win over Devin Clark, Smith got KOed in the 1st round by a head kick from Dominick Reyes, and decided it's time to look for greener pastures, so now here he is. Aged 33, he's very much a veteran of the sport, going 2-2 in Strikeforce, 2-0 in Bellator and 9-6 in the UFC, earning himself a UFC title shot and Ws over the likes of Hector Lombard, Shogun Rua and Gustaffson. Lionheart Smith is a tough, well rounded fighter, with great submissions, great power in his fists and a great clinch game, with his weak takedown defence and control from the bottom being his main weaknesses. Ed Herman lost his UBL debut via decision against Devin Clark, but TKOed Julius Anglickas to bounce back in the winners column. He's a UFC veteran, fighting there since 2006 and building up a 13-11-1 record, altho the bigest name he's beaten was before his UFC days, as he defeated Glover Teixeira back in 2005. Herman is mainly a grappler with pretty mediocre takedowns but a good clinch and a great top control, which allows him to look for submissions from various positions. Still, Smith should be a level or two above him, so Lionheart should be able to triumph in his UBL debut.

Prediction: Smith by 1st round submission.

5. Lightweight Bout: #7 Steven RAY (26-9, -480) vs. #9 Vinc PICHEL (13-3, +380)

Ray is on a 4 fight winning streak, with 3 of those being in the UBL, against Myles Jury, Chris Wade & Brent Primus. He is a good grappler with great takedowns and well rounded wrestling control, and he also has some good power in his hands when fighting on the feet. Pichel came in the UBL following back to back wins in the UFC and lost a close split decision to Moicano in his UBL debut. He is a good boxer and most of his good grappling skills are defensive, altho he has been working and developing a decent submission game, that we are yet to see. Still, Ray's grappling skills will likely be too much for Pichel, making Ray a pretty clean favourite, altho Pichel does have his strikers chance, as we saw when he almost finished Moicano in the 2nd round of their bout.

Prediction: Ray by 4th round submission.

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Main card predictions:

FlyW: Sean SANTELLA vs. Alex SILVA

FlyW Tournament SF: Amir ALBAZI vs. Jordan ESPINOSA

BW Crown: Sarah KAUFMAN vs. Sarah MORAS

LHW: Anthony SMITH vs. Ed HERMAN

LW: Steven RAY vs. Vinc PICHEL

McDojoDelux · March 19, 2021

Main-Card PredictionsFlyW: Sean SANTELLA vs. Alex SILVA

FlyW Tournament SF: Amir ALBAZI vs. Jordan ESPINOSA

BW Crown: Sarah KAUFMAN vs. Sarah MORAS

LHW: Anthony SMITH vs. Ed HERMAN

LW: Steven RAY vs. Vinc PICHEL

Also on an unrelated note when I looked onto your thread and saw the word 'Press Conference' I got so confused and thought I was looking back at my thread for a minute

. Love the detail with the presser and great job as always.

rodrigoviolim · March 19, 2021

Main card predictions:

FlyW: Sean SANTELLA vs. Alex SILVA

FlyW Tournament SF: Amir ALBAZI vs. Jordan ESPINOSA

BW Crown: Sarah KAUFMAN vs. Sarah MORAS

LHW: Anthony SMITH vs. Ed HERMAN

LW: Steven RAY vs. Vinc PICHEL

CageRage · March 19, 2021

Main card predictions:

FlyW: Sean SANTELLA vs. Alex SILVA

FlyW Tournament SF: Amir ALBAZI vs. Jordan ESPINOSA

BW Crown: Sarah KAUFMAN vs. Sarah MORAS

LHW: Anthony SMITH vs. Ed HERMAN

LW: Steven RAY vs. Vinc PICHEL

Majster_93 · March 20, 2021

FlyW: Sean SANTELLA vs. Alex SILVA

FlyW Tournament SF: Amir ALBAZI vs. Jordan ESPINOSA

BW Crown: Sarah KAUFMAN vs. Sarah MORAS

LHW: Anthony SMITH vs. Ed HERMAN

LW: Steven RAY vs. Vinc PICHEL

vladjarca · March 21, 2021

Big fights between UBL 15 and UBL 16:

UFC:

Gilbert Burns beat Jorge Masvidal by 4th round Armbar Submission to win the UFC Welterweight Title.

Jessica Andrade beat Taila Santos by UD.

Sodiq Yusuff beat Chan Sung Jung by 1st round TKO.

Randy Brown beat Tyron Woodley by 3rd round KO.

Khamzat Chimaev beat Muslim Salikhov by UD.

UBL 16: FULL OF HEART - Ray vs. Pichel

26 November, 2021

Somewhere in Eastern Europe

Prelims:

LW: Islam Mamedov defeats Nate Andrews by TKO @1:44, round 3.

LHW: Jai Parkhurs defeats Shiko Kahaya by UD (30-26 x 2, 30-27).

WW: Gadzhimurad Khiramagomedov defeats Miguel Baeza by TKO @1:38, round 3.

BW: Abdul-Rakhman Dudaev defeats Victor Henry by UD (30-27 x 2, 29-28).

LW: #15 Thanh Le defeats Amirkhan Adaev by leg kick TKO @4:52, round 3.

LW: #10 Sidney Outlaw defeats #13 Lando Vannata by Kimura Submission @4:15, round 2. A great night for the LW division so far, as all the lads I was hoping to push got their Ws!

BW: #10 Kai Asakura defeats #9 Enrique Barzola by TKO @3:27, round 1. Kai Asakura calls out Jack Shore, who is scheduled to fight in Rani Yahya in the semi finals of the BW Tournament. Looks like Asakura has his eyes on the title picture despite losing in his UBL debut. Good attitude!

Main card:

1. Flyweight Bout: #6 Sean SANTELLA (23-8-1-1, -300) vs. #11 Alex SILVA (9-6, +230)

Round 1: They meet in the center and Santella hits a clean left, BUT SILVA ROCKS SANTELLA WITH A MASSIVE RIGHT HOOK AND KNOCKS SANTELLA DOWN! SANTELLA LOOKS HELPLESS AS SILVA IS RAINING DOWN HEAVY SHOTS, AND SILVA GOES FOR AN AMERICANA! He gets it! Santella tapped out, quick W for Alex Silva!

Winner: Alex Silva (Americana Submission @0:57, round 1). Rating: Good.

Post-fight: Silva praises his team and walks us through the finish. As the interview is abouot to be over, Silva says he believes this was his last pro MMA fight, and thanks everyone who joined him on this ride. He retires at 38 years old, with a 10-6 record, as an ex ONE SW champion and ONE FlyW title challenger. A remarkable legacy, despite what his record might suggest.

2. Flyweight Tournament Semi-final: #1 Amir ALBAZI (14-2, -500) vs. #3 Jordan ESPINOSA (16-8, +350)

Round 1: Albazi comes forward and hits two punches out of a flurry, and catches Espinosa with a hook in the following exchange. Espinosa is being pacient and dodges a big right, but then gets caught with a hard right cross. But Albazi seems to comfortable and his kick gets caught after an unispired combo! Espinosa gets the takedown and now sits in guard. BUT ALBAZI MANAGES TO SINK IN A GUILLOTINE! IT SEEMS TO BE IN DEEP! YUP, ESPINOSA TAPS, ANOTHER FIRST ROUND SUBMISSION IN THE FLYWEIGHT DIVISION, AND ALBAZI WILL CHALLENGE FOR THE BELT IN THE FINAL!

Winner: Amir Albazi (Guillotine Submission @2:47, round 1). Rating: Great.

Post-fight: Albazi also walks us through the finish, saying he likes to profit off each obvious opportunity that arrives. He warns Bibulatov that he's evolved a lot in the months that passed since their first meeting. shall they rematch, and warns Ogikubo his reign won't be long shall he beat Bibulatov in the other semi-final. "See you at the top".

Albazi moved up in the world FlyW rankings, from #13 ro #10, while Epsinosa fell off the list, from #23.

3. Now, in the lone title fight of the night, FOR THE UBL BANTAMWEIGHT CROWN:

Round 1: They do touch gloves. Kaufman hits a jab but Moras avoids the big right follow-up, and counters with two weak jabs, and then dodges another punch from Kaufman. Kaufman comes forward and hits a jab-body kick combo, and then connects with a right cross. Moras hits a counter jab but eats two lefts before checking the low kick that followed. Kaufman then connects with a nice straight right. Moras hits two more counter jabs but gets smashed with another good straight right. Kaufman then hits the jab but, misses the head kick. Still, Kaufman keeps coming forward and hits a jab-straight right combo, as Moras seems frozen. Moras pokes the bear with another jab, before getting caught with a jab-body punch combo. But Moras manages to defend against Kaufman's next combo, which ended with a head kick attempt, and Moras clinches with the queen! She struggles a bit, but manages to get Kaufman against the cage. But she fails with her trip takedown attempts, and Kaufman manages to gain control and move back to the center. As Moras gets close, Kaufman hits a jab-straight right combo, and that's it for round 1. 10-9 for the champion.

Round 2: Kaufman hits 3 quick punches and then a massive right cross, and Moras ain't movin', she is out cold. Who would have seen this coming?

Winner, AND STILL UBL BANTAMWEIGHT QUEEN: SARAH KAUFMAN (Killer Cross KO @0:20, round 2). Rating: Decent.

Post-fight: Kaufman is glad Moras actually got to use her grappling this time and she defended well, and she says she knew Moras realized she's in deep trouble when she couldn't take her down when she got her stuck against the cage. She thanks everyone at Tristar gym and invites the next challenger to try his luck.

Title prestige: up from 70 to 76. Kaufman went up int the women's P4P rankings, from #6 to #5, and remained #2 in the world W BW rankings, while Moras fell from #20 to #24.

4. Light Heavyweight Bout: #1 Anthony SMITH (34-17, -650) vs. #7 Ed HERMAN (27-15-1, +510)

Round 1: Herman's coming forward, and he eats a left hand but hits Smith with his right. They trade with caution for the following minute, with neither landing anything in the next 4 exchanges. Finally, Smith catches Herman with a hook to the body, but he eats two jabs and a right hook afterwards. They trade more nothing, and a hook from Smith gets countered with a jab-hook combo from Herman. Herman then hits a left hook to the body and dodges Smith's right hook. They trade some clean straights, and Smith counters a cross with a nice jab-cross combo. Smith starts pressuring, with 1 minute left, and eats 2 counter jabs while missing his 1-2. Herman is now coming forward, and he also eats 2 counter punches, but catches Smith with an unexpected head kick! But Smith is still composed, and the round ends before either can land anything. Unexpectedly close round, and I'll give it to Herman altho' it was razor close. 10-9 Herman on my scorecard.

Round 2: Herman's coming forward again, as he walks into two counter lefts and misses Smith with his big right. In the center, Herman hits 2 jabs and a good right hand. They then trade some nice hooks, and altho' Smith's seemed to have the stronger impact, Herman's punch got Smith a cut under the eye. They then cancel out each other's offense. Herman counters a cross from Smith with 2 jabs, but misses the hook. They smash eachother with some good straights, and Herman seems two start getting a bit tired as we reach the halfway point of the fight. They trade more nothin' for a while, and Herman catches Smith with a jab-straight right combo, and starts looking confident again. He comes forward, eats two counter lefts and misses a big right. Entering the last minute, Herman shoots for the TD, and gets it! Smith is pulling guard. BUT HE SEEMS TO HAVE A GUILLOTINE LOCKED IN! HE'S WORKING THAT GUILLOTINE, AND HERMAN LOOKS LIKE HE'S IN TROUBLE! WE'VE ENTERED THE LAST 10 SECONDS AND SMITH IS STILL HOLDING THE GUILLOTINE! AND THERE'S THE TAP, HERMAN TAPS OUT!

Winner: Anthony Smith (Guillotine Submission @4:54, round 2). Rating: Great.

Post-fight: With his head high, Ed Herman announces this was his last fight, and says he is honoured to fight Smith in his retirement fight and he's also proud with his last performance. Smith puts Herman over for a little while and says he's glad to start off a new chapter in his career with a W over a strong veteran.

Smith moved up in the world LHW rankings, from #14 to #13.

5. AND NEW, IT IS TIME FOR THE MAAAAAAAAIN EVENT OF THE EVENIIIING!

#7 Steven "BRAVEHEART" RAY (26-9, -480) vs. #9 Vinc "FROM HELL" PICHEL (13-3, +380)

Round 1: They touch gloves and get bangin'. Pichel hits a low kick, while Ray comes in with a jab-left cross combo. Ray then counters a hook with a jab-straight left combo. Pichel starts pressuring Ray. Ray hits a counter right and manages to dodge a dangerous right. Ray then hits a 1-2, but Pichel uses a left jab to set up A GOOD RIGHT HEAD KICK, AND RAY IS LOOKING ROCKED! BUT RAY DODGES THE VICIOUS RIGHT THAT FOLLOWED, AND HE'S BACK INTO IT! They trade some nothing, AND PICHEL DODGES A LEFT HOOK TO COME IN WITH A MASSIVE RIGHT HOOK, AND RAY HITS THE FLOOR! HE STARTS THROWING HAMMER FISTS, AND HE'S LANDING CLEAN, BUT RAY MANAGES TO SWEEP HIM OFF BALANCE! THEY SCRAMBLE AND THEY'RE BACK UP, and Ray is controlling Pichel's back. Pichel gets dirty boxed against the cage for more than a minute, and the ref separates them just before entering the last 10 seconds. Ray shoots but can only get Pichel back against the cage, and it's round over. Interesting first round, and it's gotta be 10-9 for Pichel, altho Ray looked good aswell. Ray is looking a bit shocked by Pichel's power.

Round 2: Pichel comes in early and lands three quick shots before hitting a beautiful straight right. But then he throws a wild combo, ending with a head kick, and Ray doesn't get touched and manages to clinch up! He uses dirty boxing in the clinch and then pushes Pichel against the cage. He keeps him there and occasionaly punches him for about 2 minutes, and the ref separates them with 75 seconds left. Ray shoots straight away and gets Pichel back against the cage, and dominates with dirty boxing until the end of the round. 19-19.

Round 3: Pichel hits two quick shots and misses the big right. Then he connects with a left but misses the big follow-up. He tries another spectacular combo that doesn't connect, and Ray hits a jab. Pichel comes with another left, but Ray avoids the head kick that followed, and countered with a decent right. Pichel misses another big right, but keeps pressuring and catches Ray with a head kick, but Pichel stands strong. Pichel hits another left & misses another head kick, and we're halfway through round 3. Ray manages to clinch with Pichel. He gets him stuck against the cage. And they dirty box for the remaining 2 minutes. Hard to judge this round, as Pichel outstruck by a big margin early, but got held and pieced up with dirty boxing for 2 minutes straight. I'm giving this close round to Ray. 29-28 for Ray on my scorecard.

Round 4: Pichel hits a jab-body kick combo. Then, they miss each other with some kicks and Ray shoots in and gets the single leg TD, as Pichel pulls guard! Ray hits a few weak shots from guard and advances to half guard, with 2 minutes left. Ray hits Pichel with left hands from half-guard for the rest of the round, surely winning round 4. 39-37 for Pichel on my scorecard.

Round 5: Ray wanted to shoot, BUT PICHEL CAUGHT HIM WITH A MASSIVE HEAD KICK AND RAY HITS THE FLOOR! PICHEL RAINS DOWN MASSIVE SHOTS! AND THE REF STEPS IN, IT'S OVER! DAMN!

Winner: VINC "FROM HELL" PICHEL (Kick & Destroy TKO @0:27, round 5). Rating: Good.

Post-fight: "Steven tried to give me hell early, but he saw that the hell my strikes bring simply burns harder than his, and he forgot his <<put on a barnburner>> promise and got wrestling. I didn't manage to finish him off in round 1, thank God I caught him in round 5 and ended the party. Still, this boy is going places so keep your eyes on him. This being said, I'm starting to tire out earlier than I used to despite of training just as hard. I'm not sure I'll be fighting again, so if that's the case, I'd like to thank everyone who ever supported me and the UBL for putting the spotlight on this old brawler. Thank you, everyone!".

Have no fear, as I talked Pichel out of retirement

Attendance: 2 747

Critical rating: 71

Commercial rating: 67

FOTN: A Smith vs. E Herman

KOOTN: S Kaufman vs. S Moras

SubOTN: A Smith vs. Ed Herman

Profit: + 280 457

Biggest paydays: Anthony Smith - 71 000, Ed Herman - 36 500, Sarah Kaufman - 31 200.

Title fights & Main event paydays: Steven Ray - 11 800, Vinc Pichel - 9 100, Sarah Moras - 3 800.

UPDATED RANKINGS:

TOURNAMENTS:

HEAVYWEIGHT:

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT:

MIDDLEWEIGHT:

BANTAMWEIGHT:

Jack Shore vs. Rani Yahya (UBL 19)

FLYWEIGHT:

ROSTER UPDATES:

New signings:

HW: Thierry Couturier (3-0 newgen, "national calibre jiu-jitsu"), Keung Kuk (2-1 newgen, "national calibre kick-boxer")

BW: Zviad Lazishvili (17-0, CES & LFA BW champion with 3 defences)

W BW: Hatsuyo Tochikura (4-0 newgen, "high level kickboxer"), Agnieszka Niedzwiedz (13-1, Invicta FlyW champion, but we bumping her up to BW).

Big fights outside of the UBL:

Bellator

Patricio Freire beat Tim Barnett by 3rd round Kimura Submission to defend his Bellator LW Title.

Jake Hager beat Gokhan Saricam by MD.

Gaston Bolanos beat Daniel Staus by 3rd round KO in a Fantastic bout.

Adam Borics beat Andy Main by 2nd round KO.

KSW

Antun Racic beat Reginaldo Vieira by 5th round Kimura Submission to defend his KSW BW Title.

Roman Szymanski beat Marian Ziolkowski by UD to win the KSW LW Title.

Damian Janikowski beat Albert Duraev by UD.

And of course, the predictions rankings:

rodrigoviolim: 4/5; Total: 44/99 (44%).

Majster_93: 3/5; Total: 32/50 (64%).

CageRage: 3/5; Total: 57/110 (52%).

McDojoDelux: 2/5; Total: 26/44 (55%).

Things looking interesting, and we have 2 more BIG cards to come before the rankings get reset - UBL 17: Topuria vs. Barboza & UBL 18: Agapova vs. Shevchenko! Preview comin' soon!

vladjarca · March 21, 2021

Preview time!

UBL 17: DEFINING MOMENT - Topuria vs. Barboza

17 December 2021

Somewhere in Eastern Europe

Prelims:

W FlyW: Katsue Hatanaka vs. Alejandra Lara

W FlyW: Natalia Silva vs. Mandy Bohm

FlyW: Blaine O'Driscoll vs. Bokan Masunyane

FlyW: #15 Jake Hadley vs. JP Buys

LHW: Shamil Gamzatov vs. Reinier de Ridder

W FlyW: Daiana Torquato vs. Silvana Gomez Juarez

FW: #11 Nate Landwehr vs. #12 Grant Dawnson

Main card preview:

1. Featherweight Bout: #9 Makwan AMIRKHANI (16-7, -250) vs. #14 Salahdine PARNASSE (14-1-1, +190)

Amirkhani is going through a quite rough patch. He left the UFC off a UD loss to Edson Barboza, got KOed by now ex-UBL FW champion Movsar Evloev, and then got outwrestled by Mirsad Bektic to take his losing streak to 3. It seems he's a mediocre wrestler with not much to give. Salahdine Parnasse came to the UBL as the undefeated KSW Featherweight champion, and got a tough test in his UBL debut, as he lost a clean decision to top 10 UBL FW Jeremy Kennedy. Parnasse is a good fighter all around, with plenty of room for growth, as he's only 23yo. He has great low kicks and good tehcnique on the feet, a good thai clinch with ruthless knees, he's amazing at giving his opponents problem off his back and can also sink in a few chokes. Hopefully he'll walk through Amirkhani with ease and force the Finnish Amirkhani into having a fun fight.

Prediction: Parnasse by 2nd round KO.

2. Middleweight Bout: #8 David BRANCH (22-7-1, +360) vs. #14 Andre MUNIZ (21-4, -460)

Well, Branch left the UFC off losses to great fighters in Jared Cannonier and Jack Hermansson, and made his debut in the UBL in a main event against Anderson Silva. Problem is Silva popped, so that bout is now a no contest. He's a decent grappler and not much else. Andre Muniz had a short 2-0 UFC run, where he beat current UBL MW Bartosz Fabinski by Armbar, and won by 2nd round Kimura in his UBL debut, against Trevin Giles. He's on a 7 fight winning streak, with only 2 of these bouts going to decision. He is a great BJJ talent, with a very well rounded ground game, and also good wrestling on the feet, altho his striking skills are quite mediocre. He does have a good Thai clinch, with good elbow and knee strikes. So yea, Muniz is the clear favourite and we expect him to win quickly.

Prediction: Muniz by 1st round submission.

3. Welterweight Bout: #7 James KRAUSE (29-8, -250) vs. #11 Jake MATTHEWS (17-6, +190)

Krause is coming off back-to-back UD wins, with the most recent being in his UBL debut, against Sean Brady. He has great submissions and good sweeps if he gets taken down, but the striking is the best rounded aspect of his game, as he has good power and technique in both punches and kicks. Unlike Krause, Matthews is coming off back to back Ls, getting TKOed by Perry and sub'd by MVP in his short UBL career. Since he still is a young prospect, hopes are still high for Matthews, as he has good technique in his strikes, a good wrestling clinch and a pretty good ground game as well, altho the does lack on the defensive side of things, with the scrambles being the only thing he knows how to do well off his back. It will surely be a close fight, and Krause is the favourite mainly because Matthews just got sub'd by damn MVP, suggesting that Matthews can be really vulnerable on the ground. We'll see how things go, tho.

Prediction: Krause by decision.

4. Women's Bantamweight Bout: #3 Bea MALECKI (6-0, -370) vs. #10 Chelsea CHANDLER (4-2, +290)

Malecki is an awesome prospect that the UBL has high hopes for. She got UD wins over Vanessa Melo and Josie Edwards in his first 2 UBL bouts. She has good top control and defense in grappling, but that's pretty much all the danger she poses. She also likes to seek the Thai clinch, but it's not as dangerous as she'd like her opponents to think. Chelsea Chandler won the Invicta BW title over Milana Dudieva before joining the UBL, where she got UD'd by fellow Invicta alumni Julija Stoliarenko. She's mainly a decent BJJ fighter with good sweeps and not much else, so it might not be a hard night at the office for Malecki. What can we do? We need a young title contender, so Bea, please don't dissapoint.

Prediction: Malecki by decision.

After appearing on the radar of most MMA fans with his 2020 2-0 UFC run, Topuria got picked up by the UBL andd got fastracked into the spotlight. He UD'd Daniel Weichel in his debut and got into the title picture instantly, beating the champion Movsar Evloev in his first defence, via majority decision. Not only that, but Topuria already defended back in September, getting Hakeem Dawodu to tap to an Americana in the 1st round. A champion at only 24 years of age, it's no wonder that the UBL hopes that Topuria will be one of its biggest stars for years to come. He's unbeatable on the ground, impossible to take down, he has the most dominant wrestling clinch you'll see from a featherweight anytime soon, he punches hard, he slams hard, he does whatever he wants in top control, scrambles mostly go his way and he also has some serious submission skills. The challenger, Edson Barboza, is a hardcore fan favourite, with flashy and efficient muay thai and powerful kicks. He himself is a very good grappler, with good options from the Thai clinch, but he will likely look to keep the bout standing. Sadly for him, his chin ain't what it used to be, so Topuria's punches might be a problem, altho Barboza's great head movement might prove to much for Topuria's boxing. He beat plenty of studs in his career, but right now he's coming off a single win, a 2nd round KO over Nik Lentz in his UBL debut.

Come share your predictions, guys!

Main car predictions:

FW: Makwan AMIRKHANI vs. Salahdine PARNASSE

MW: David BRANCH vs. Andre MUNIZ

WW: James KRAUSE vs. Jake MATTHEWS

W BW: Bea MALECKI vs. Chelsea CHANDLER

FW Title: Ilia TOPURIA vs. Edson BARBOZA

Majster_93 · March 21, 2021

FW: Makwan AMIRKHANI vs. Salahdine PARNASSE

MW: David BRANCH vs. Andre MUNIZ

WW: James KRAUSE vs. Jake MATTHEWS

W BW: Bea MALECKI vs. Chelsea CHANDLER

FW Title: Ilia TOPURIA vs. Edson BARBOZA

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