Sam's Recap
1) Karlos Vemola vs. Mike Massenzio: That was a new Karlos Vemola that went out there on Saturday. I do believe that he has found his natural weight class at 185. Mike Massenzio also proved something to us as well, he cant hang with any UFC caliber fighter at any level. Sure he won the first round but Vemola absolutely destroyed him in the second. I see Massenzio getting cut after this loss.
Possible Matchups for Vemola: Costa Philippou would show if Philippou can hang with good grapplers and if Vemola can hang with some good strikers.
2) Nick Denis vs. Roland Delorme: This was an incredible fight. Denis looked like he was easily going to dispatch Delorme but Delorme has one hell of a chin. After being rocked from some punches, Delorme got smashed with a powerful knee straight to the chin from Denis. That knee would have knocked out most bantamweights, which is amazing considering the fact that Delorme was already hurt. Delorme caught him with some counters, wobbled Denis and went in for the kill. He submitted Denis with 1 second to go by rear naked choke. It was an amazing comeback, erasing everyone’s memory of Denis’ 22 second KO.
Possible matchups for Delorme: After showing that he has some very good BJJ and an awesome chin, he showed that he could make a name for himself in the UFC. I would like a fight with him and Vaughan Lee, who recently came off a very impressive victory over Kid Yamamoto.
Possible matchups for Denis: This was a devastating loss for Denis. He came in this fight riding a 22 second KO and a lot of hype, due to the former. He would need a rebound fight so someone like Azamat Gashimov, who had to pull out of his fight with Alex Soto, would be a good rebound fight for Denis.
3) Dennis Bermudez vs. Pablo Garza: Bermudez really impressed me in this fight. His wrestling proved too strong for Garza and he clearly worked a ton on his submission defense. Garza had a few submission attempts that looked really good but Bermudez wiggled his way out of it. The main thing that I would tell Bermudez to work on is his up-kick defense; Garza caught him with quite a few up-kicks that actually seemed to hurt him. Besides that, Bermudez really impressed me all around.
Possible matchups for Bermudez: After his dominant win over Garza, Bermudez showed that he clearly has potential. Perhaps a fight with Jason Young would show which one of these guys has the chops to take a step up in competition.
Possible Matchups for Garza: Garza really disappointed me. I thought that he would win in the standup with his huge reach and win with his superior submissions. Nam Phan is also coming off a big loss to Jimmy Hettes so this fight would show who still has the skills to stay in the UFC.
4) Danny Castillo vs. John Cholish: In this rather lackluster affair, Castillo still has yet to impress me. He was never able to mount very much offense against the more inexperienced fighter in Cholish. Although the cards were all 30-27, the fight was closer than those cards show. Although Castillo is slowly, but surely, establishing himself as a contender, I never really see him making it there.
Possible matchups for Castillo: I think that Danzig would be a really good lightweight matchup to show who is ready to move up the ladder. Danzig looked really good in his last fight and Castillo needs a bigger name if he really wants to receive title contention talks.
Possible matchups for Cholish: Although the loss was bad, he still has the chops to hang in there with mid-tier fighters for some time. A matchup with Yoislandy Izquerdo, who is also coming off a loss, could be good due to the fact that his standup started off impressive against Reza Madadi.
5) Louis Gaudinot vs. John Lineker: This was an awesome fight. They went toe-to-toe from the opening bell. It was one of those fights where neither guy was going to knock each other out so, why not swing for the fences? Gaudinot proved that flyweight truly is his natural weight class and that he has one hell of a chin. After narrowly winning the first round based on a late takedown and some ground and pound, he was almost finished by Lineker but you can never count Gaudinot out, he came back and choked him out with a guillotine.
Possible matchups for Gaudinot: After showing off his skills at 125, Gaudinot’s next matchup could be Darren Uyenoyama who had to pull off this card due to injury in the Dodson fight. This would be a very explosive and exciting matchup.
Possible matchups for Lineker: After losing his fight to Gaudinot, Lineker is in deep waters, especially considering the fact that he also didn’t make weight. Fellow loser, Tim Elliot, would make an amazing flyweight matchup as both these guys are tough as nails, swing for the fences, and are coming off losses, this would make the most sense.
6) John Hathaway vs. Pascal Krauss: Both of these guys came off of some very long layoffs, but it didn’t really show in either fighter. Hathaway really impressed me with his standup and I thought that Krauss had the distinct ground advantage but Hathaway showed us that he truly is a complete fighter and that he will be a title contender in the future.
Possible matchups for Hathaway: Brian Ebersole would pose a great threat to Hathaway and vice versa. Ebersole is climbing the ranks and Hathaway is a huge prospect in the UFC, could be a good handing of the torch fight.
Possible matchups for Krauss: Krauss, although underwhelming, did better than a lot of people thought. Che Mills is also coming off a very underwhelming performance. Grappler vs. Striker matchups always have a good draw.
John Dodson vs. Tim Elliot: I’m sure people are saying that Dodson had a very underwhelming performance, but I don’t think that it was Dodson who looked bad, I think it was Elliot being underestimated coming into the fight. People thought that Dodson was going to run over Elliot, myself included, but Elliot proved that if he almost beat a title contender, then he also has the skills to eventually prove himself as a contender in the 125 pound weight division.
Possible matchups for Dodson: Dodson proved that he is one of the top contenders in the flyweight division with his hard-fought decision win over Timothy Elliot. I think that a fight against either the loser of McCall and Johnson or actually have the fight with Darren Uyenoyama to show who would have a title fight with the champ (inevitably Joseph Benavidez) at 125.
Possible Matchups for Elliot: Look up at possible matchups for John Lineker. That would be FOTN for sure!
Tony Ferguson vs. Michael Johnson: Wow. Johnson seriously impressed me in this fight. His standup was extremely superior to, who most believed had that advantage, Tony Ferguson. Johnson easily cruised to a unanimous decision victory. I truly do believe this fight has shown that Johnson is improving in every fight, rapidly, and that he should have a better opponent in his next fight.
Possible matchups for Johnson: Sean Sherk (remember him?) always brings a tough fight. He is also a big name, considering the fact that he used to be the champ. I actually think that Johnson could win this fight too. Sherk tends to standup with guys that he shouldn’t strike with. This could be a huge stepping-stone for Johnson if he ever wants to make big moves in his career.
Possible Matchups for Ferguson: This fight showed that Ferguson will never make it anywhere in the upper-echelon of the sport. He is a standup guy and got dominated by a wrestler, in the standup. If you can’t beat a guy with what you are best at, against a guy who is supposed to be worse than you, at your own game, that’s not good. A fight for Ferguson next could possibly be Takanori Gomi, if he wants a rebound fight, or even Yves Edwards for a rematch, which was very entertaining, and a controversial decision. But honestly, I don’t really care all that much for Ferguson.
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