UFC 275

Tape Study Notes

UFC 275

Glover Teixeira vs Jiri Prochazka

Glover finally did it! Glover is the light heavyweight champ of the world and it’s been quite a journey for him. I remember when he was Chuck Liddell’s training partner and Chuck was singing his praises. He had some visa issues that delayed his UFC career and it’s really too bad. He has now won 6 in a row and it’s been in impressive fashion. He came out against Jan and was not going to be denied. His wrestling was on point, but more than anything his will to win that fight and his pure strength was on display. If he comes with that same attitude of, I’m getting this take down no matter what like he did against Jan, then Jiri is in big trouble. His chin still holds up and he can still get takedowns when rocked. He has power in his hands and has brutal ground and pound. That fight with Anthony Smith was one of the biggest beat downs of all time. Anthony picking up his own teeth. Brutal stuff. On top of that he has some of the best submissions in the game. Couple that with the young studs he has in his training camp and you have a very dangerous 42 year old champ.

Jiri is 13 years younger than the champ. He’s a long tall striker. Has an 80 inch reach which is good for a 4 inch reach advantage here. He’s on a massive 12 fight winning streak, but he’s only had 2 ufc fights. His last 10 fights have all been by tko. Dude has real legit power. He is a little wreckless in the ring. Throws jump knees, spinning strikes and he’s just very unorthodox. Beating Volkan Ozdemir and Reyes in his first two UFC fights is impressive and finishing them is what got him the title shot. He is yet to show he can defend takedowns and his bjj is also unproven

This fight is going one of two ways. Either Jiri knocks Glover out or Glover gets the takedown and submits Jiri. Almost no way does this fight go 5 rounds. I have faith in Glover one last time. Jiri has the power, but he is hitable and I don’t think he can defend the takedowns. This is a decent matchup for Glover…… even though he can most def get knocked out.

Valentina Shevchenko vs Taila Santos

Valentina has been one of the most dominant champion the UFC has to offer. Her only losses in the UFC are to Amanda Nunes at a higher weight class. She’s on an eight fight winning streak including wins over Andrade and JJ. She’s a striker and has been able to outclass everyone she’s faced in the division on the feet. The area she’s really improved in is her wrestling. She has a real knack for timing takedowns. She took down Andrade repeatedly and dominated on the ground. Everyone knows that Andrade is no joke either.

Santos is 17-1. Her last loss came during her first fight in the ufc. Idk if the debut jitters got her but she is a better fighter than what she showed in that split decision loss to Mara Borella. She proved that in her next four fights by beating Wood, Molly McCann, Gillian Robertson, and Roxy. Santos is extremely strong and has some serious grappling. Watching her dominate Wood like that was seriously impressive. She’s young and athletic. A serious prospect, but she is in for a tall order against Valentina.

Taila is good, but idk who she wins this fight. Valentina has looked so good I just don’t see her losing anytime soon. Valentina wants another shot up a weight class and knows she has to win to get that chance. Valentina by 3rd round finish

Weili Zhang vs Joanna Jedrzejczyk

Weili is 32 years old and she is 21-2 in her career. She is the former ufc champ and looked dominant. I really didn’t think we would see her lose anytime soon. Then she ran into Rose. Her road in the ufc has not been an easy one. She went through tecia Torres, Jessica andrade and Joanna before losing to Rose Twice. She is very strong, has excellent stand up and is just good everywhere. She is now training with Henry Cejudo and he is helping her with the mental aspect of the game and obviously wrestling. Her last fight with Rose was super close. Split decision loss for Zhang and she proved the first fight was a bit flukey.

Joanna is returning after 2 years away from the sport. She’s returning to avenge her last loss. Joanna lost to Zhang by split decision in 2020. Joanna lost 4 of her last 6 fights, but they were to Zhang, Valentina, and Rose twice. Joanna is a striker and throws with MASSIVE volume. Her combinations are beautiful. She struggles with takedowns, but never accepts bottom. She constantly works back to her feet. She has excellent cardio and she uses it as a weapon.

This is a very very close fight and I expect it to go similar to their first fight. I favor Zhang ever so slightly. She has a bit more power and has been the more active fighter. Zhang we know is 100 percent committed to fighting. Joanna? I’m not so sure. She seems happy with her fake boobs and being a semi celebrity. Don’t think that that means she’s no longer tough, because Joanna has been in some of the best fights the ufc has had. Zhang by Dec

Rogerio Bontorin vs Manel Kape

Bontorin reminds me a lot of John linker. He is short stocky and throws bombs. One thing I love that Bontorin does is he attacks the calf. He is a basic fighter who throws looping hooks and calf kicks. He is extremely strong and has the ability to get takedowns, but likes to stand and bang. Meat and potatoes fighter. He had a grappling heavy approach against Royval and it largely worked. UFC judging doesn’t value control time or takedowns unless there is movement toward ending the fight. Royval hit him with the harder strikes and nearly had him in some submissions and it was enough for Royval to get the split

Kape had a TON of hype behind him coming in to the ufc and he lost 2 in a row. Granted it was against very good competition. He lost to Pantoja and Nicolae. He bounced back from those losses with 2 first round finishes over ode osbourne and zhalgas. Kape is super athletic and super skilled. He has the ability to be a true contender in this division. Kape likes to strike, but he has a wrestling background and is a very good grappler. He was supposed to fight Sumudaerji, but that fight got canceled last minute due to an atypical drug test for Kape. He is actually still not licensed by the athletic state commission, but is allowed to take this fight.

Very interesting fight. On the feet I think Kape will have a power advantage along with a speed advantage. Grappling is where it gets interesting. Who will get the better of the grappling? And I lean Kape in that department as well. This is Kapes fight to lose. Was he on steroids? ls he still on steroids? Who knows. I like Kape by finish here

Jack Della Maddalena vs Ramazan Emeev

Maddalena is 11-2 with an 11 fight winning streak. He hasn’t lost since 2016. And avenged one of his losses with a first round tko. He has 9 tkos and one sub on his record. Man does not go to decision. He’s 25 years old and is fighting out of Australia. He’s got good striking with good power and like he said “he knows when to turn it on” I like his approach to the sport and his attitude. Maddalena said he’s not going to cherry pick opponents and wants to face the best in the world. He said he knows Emeev will try and wrestle him and he’s ready for it.

Emeev may not be exciting but he wins. He smothers guys, is willing to be a counter striker. Very safe. Forces guys against the cage and breaks them. He let us down in his last fight against Danny Roberts. He lost a split decision that I actually thought he won. He was able to land takedowns against Roberts, but wasn’t able to hold him down. Emeev has decent standup of his own as well.

This is a very close fight. Emeev doesn’t have a great ufc record and hasn’t fought the best comp in the ufc either. I said when Jack beat Loosa that this would be a fighter I would be betting going forward. If Danny Roberts can beat Emeev than so can Jack. I lean the over as well

Brendan Allen vs Jacob Malkoun

Brendan Allen is coming off a submission win over Sam Alvey. Before that he had the  big upset loss to Chris Curtis. We all know Curtis is no joke and there’s no shame in that loss. Allen has great grappling (once it’s on the ground) and has heavy hands. He’s also very big, has a good frame for the weight class. He now trains out in Singapore with Andre Fialho, Greg Rodriguez and a really good camp. It’s also rumored guys go out there to get on the juice. Who knows? Allen said in his last fight that he needs to start winning cause kids are expensive. Not sure I love to hear that, but the move to Singapore shows his dedication.

Jacob Malkoun is as tough as they come. He trains with Robert Whittaker who was also supposed to be on this card. Malkoun is a grappler. In his last 2 fights he’s landed 14 takedowns. He’s relentless in his pursuit and has some good ground and pound.

Malkouns only shot is to takedown Allen and neutralize his submission game. Allen is the better striker and he’s got more power in his hands. On the ground Allen has the better submissions and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some crazy grappling exchanges. I like both of these guys a lot, but I got Allen by tko here

Choi Seung-Woo vs Joshua Culibao

Choi is a Korean prospect that came into the ufc with only 1 loss. The ufc gave him evloev and Gavin tucker right off the bat. He losses to both of them, but there is no shame in that. He came back and won 3 in a row. His last two over zalal and Erosa. He lost his last fight by sub to Alex Caceres. In that fight he had Caceres hurt badly, but threw an illegal strike and that gave Caceres the time to recover. After that he dropped him again. He blew that fight. He’s tall for the division at 6 foot and he hits very very hard. He will go for takedowns when he has to but he prefers to stand and trade. He doesn’t have the highest output. Relies on his power and he has massive power

Culibao is 9-1-1. He’s 1-1-1 in the UFC with his loss coming to Jalin Turner via ground and pound, his draw coming to Charles Jourdain. In that fight we saw Culibao win rounds 1 and 2 before getting beaten down to a 10-8 round in the third. His win came in his last fight against Shayilan. Culibao has really good footwork and head movement. He throws a ton of leg kicks and has really clean striking. Showed good balance and tdd with some good submission attempts as well

I think the line is about right for this fight. Choi is a -225 favorite and I tend to agree. I won’t be betting this one though

Hayisaer Maheshate vs Steve Garcia

Maheshate is 23 and up until this week the UFC only provided one name for the guy.  He’s a Chinese prospect who is 6-1 on a 5 fight winning streak. He is the 14th ranked welterweight in China. He trains at the ufc academy in Shanghai and prior to his DWCS fight I actually couldn’t find any tape on him. He’s a big guy for the division with a huge frame. He was rocked multiple times in his DWCS fight. He battled back and landed nice strikes of his own including a knee that I’m shocked didn’t lead to a ko.

Steve Garcia got into the ufc as a bantam weight. He since moved up to light weight where he lost to violent Bob Ross. He was undersized in that fight and showed bad fight iq as well. All I can remember is him throwing punches backwards while Bob Ross had his back taken in a body triangle. Even though he was undersized and his power didn’t seem to translate he said he liked fighting at light weight. He got rocked and dropped twice in his last fight against an opponent that never should have been in the UFC.

This fight reminds me a lot of Maheshates DWCS fight. It’s a guy who’s going to come in aggressive and Maheshate should be able to land some counters while weathering the storm. Close fight, but winnable matchup for the young Chinese prospect

Andre Fialho vs Jake Matthews

Andre Fialho is fighting again and we are going to see another KO here. Jake Matthews never lived up to his hype. He’s 3-2 in his last 5 with his 3 wins coming to as low of competition as you can get in the UFC. Fialho is staying in shape and keeps racking up quick wins. This should be another one

Kang Kyung Ho vs Danaa Batgerel

Kang is 34 years old and was on a 4 fight winning streak before losing to Yahya. He tends to be in close fights. 4 of his last 7 fights went to split decision. And his fight with Yahya was close as well. I thought he won the fight. He’s low output on the feet, but mixes in wrestling well. He’s recorded 19 takedowns in the ufc and 5 reversals. Very strong for the division. He has some power in his hands. Good striker

Danaa is a good striker in his own right and has massive power in his hands. Danaa was looking good in his last fight before getting caught by a spinning back fist that knocked him out cold. Have to hope he’s not coming back to fast from a knockout like that

This is a very close fight vs very similar opponents. I like Danaa to be a bit more active and win most exchanges on the feet and the ground

Liang Na vs Silva Gomez Juarez

If you haven’t watched Na’s UFC debut against Carnelossi then go ahead and stop reading this right now and look it up. That first round was one of the best rounds of fighting you can watch. She dropped Carnelossi and then they scrambled in a back and fourth fight. She ultimately gassed out and lost in the second round. Well rounded strong fighter with power for the division

Juarez is just not UFC caliber. She’s decently well rounded, but if pushed can quit. I don’t think she belongs in the ufc

Na gets her wel deserved first win in the UFC and it will be by finish

Ramona Pascual vs Joselyn Edwards

Pascual got a real tough opponent in Nunes in her UFC debut and she came in on short notice. She had to cut a massive 20 pounds in less than a week for that fight. She vowed to correct her rookie mistakes and come back much better. She’s a good wrestler and is big for the division. Trains at syndicate

Edwards is 10-4 losing her last two fights to rosa and Rose Clarke. She is another one who is good everywhere. She’s a tall girl at 5’8 and uses her size well. She is primarily a striker. Finished a bunch of fights early in her career but I see her more as a decision fighter. Trains at kings mma

This is a good fight. I like the slight dog in Ramona. I think she has the grappling edge