Great night of free fights! I’ll quickly run through the
main card. First off Brad Pickett is a phenomenal talent. We all already knew
it but he looked to reach a new level. He even seemed to have much more power
in his punches than normal. We were very impressed. Damacio Page is a great
fighter but he has firmly established that he cannot hang with the big dogs
anymore. I think he is a perfect gatekeeper for 135.
John Maguire looked pretty good against DaMarques Johnson. I
would not agree with everyone else saying he is the future of 170 but he could
have a lot of success in the UFC. Johnson at this point should be cut. I have
enjoyed watching him fight but at this point he cannot contend with the
mid-tier guys.
Dennis Siver looked great against Diego Nunes. They both did
a good job but Siver was just more effective and dictated the pace. From here I
see Siver fighting another very high level fighter at 145. Nunes stays
relatively in the same spot. Featherweight is not a super deep division and he
is a top talent.
Siyar Bahadurzada looked great by KOing Paulo Thiago in
about half a minute. Thiago has never been KOed or even rocked and Siyar put
him out as bad as we have ever seen. The good thing for Siyar is that other
fighters can’t really use this fight to help prepare for him because it was so
short but it’s bad for us who predict fights for the same reason. Not sure Siyar’s ceiling but he looked great.
Thiago is struggling bad these days and might need a few tune-up fights to earn
a spot up top again.
Brain Stann…what can you say? The dude is a monster on the
feet. His ground and pound looked scary strong and he was never in trouble for
a second. Sakara is one of the fighters with great skills that just can’t seem
to put together for a long winning streak. Stann has the potential to beat
anyone however his lack of skills on the ground limits him from ever winning a
title; like we saw when he fought against Sonnen. But he should fight Michael
Bisping next. Sakara should stick around because he always has exciting fights
but he will never achieve greatness.
Gustafsson looked great against Thiago Silva. He pretty much
won 90% of that fight. However, he did not look at dominant later on in the
fight. He seemed to be hesitant to finish since he was up on the judge’s
scorecards. Gustafsson has the potential to be a champion but he is not ready
to handle either Rashad or Jones yet. But can he in the future? Yes, but not
yet. Thiago Silva needs to be lowered down a peg. He can handle any mid-tier
guy but falls short against elite level fighters. I think his style is just to
sloppy to be able to handle the more technical fighters.
Overall, good card of free fights featuring some very
promising young talent.
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