10 Things I Like at UFC San Diego

From an important and exciting main event to some DWCS alums needing to prove themselves, Saturday's card has plenty to enjoy

For a card that lost not one, but two quality fights — Alexa Grasso vs. Viviane Araujo and Aspen Ladd vs. Sarah McMann — Saturday’s event in San Diego still has plenty to offer.

Now, it’s “plenty to offer” if you’re a guy like me that geeks out about newcomers and getting to see the sophomore efforts of hulking Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS) alums, but even if you don’t reside at the high end of the “How Obsessed with UFC Cards Are You?” spectrum with me, there are still plenty of things for you to enjoy about this weekend’s return to the home of the Channel 4 news team.

Here are the things I like.

* * * * *

The Meanness of Marlon Vera

Marlon Vera enjoys beating the shit out of people in the Octagon — it’s evident in the way he fights, but he also tells you as much in a bunch of the promotional video packages around this fight, including the excellent first part of The Journey put out by ESPN.

It’s not that I need fighters to be mean in the cage in order to appreciate them, but there is something about Vera’s even pace and affinity for controlled violence that resonates with me. This isn’t a guy that is going to look for an exit at any point, and the longer it goes, the happy he seems because it just means he gets to keep fighting. And he’s built to be in longer, tough fights too.

I’ve spent a lot of time this week watching old Vera fights and writing about “Chito” and while I’m thoroughly impressed by his development, what’s stands out to me more is how much I genuinely appreciate his “doesn’t always do the right things, but is game as all get out” style because I think more than being technically brilliant or having the most complete skill set possible, I think having that dog in you is crucial to championship success… and Vera is a dog, man.

A mean, vicious, junkyard dog that actively wants you to come into its yard, just so it can chase you down.

Dominick Cruz at Peace

I spoke with Dominick Cruz earlier this week — it was tremendous, as it always is with Dom — and I was really struck by how at peace he is with everything.

Aging fighters, especially those that once ruled their divisions and stood miles above their competition, often have trouble separating themselves from their past glory, previous forms, and the best days of their careers. They think a return to form is always on the horizon, coming in this next fight, but like the “Free Beer Tomorrow” sign behind the bar at the pub, that fateful day never seems to come.

Cruz isn’t experiencing any of that.

He’s comfortable with his place in the pantheon and not chasing past greatness. His only interest is this moment, this fight, and being the best he can possibly be on Saturday night, as a 36-year-old veteran fighting in his adopted hometown. He’s healthier than he’s been in years and enters on a two-fight winning streak, confident he can beat Vera, but not attached to the outcome.

It was refreshing to hear someone with his achievements, his legacy speak in this way on Tuesday, and I think it will serve him well this weekend.

Another David Onama Appearance

If you’ve been following along here for the last 10 months, you know I’m intrigued by Onama, who makes his third appearance of the year and fourth UFC start this weekend against Nate Landwehr.

The Glory MMA & Fitness rep looked very good in his debut up a division, short notice against Mason Jones, thrived in his first UFC appearance at featherweight against Gabriel Benitez, and then looked fine against Garrett Armfield last time out, all of which adds up to me wanting to keep seeing more from the talented 28-year-old. I think my podcast partner Harry Powell’s assessment of Onama is correct: he doesn’t quite know who he is as a fighter or how to utilize his weapons yet, and I’m curious to see if he can start to figure those things out, because he has useful weapons and a ton of promise.

Landwehr is a good test at this point — a half-crazy veteran with solid power, a little bit of a submission game, tons of experience — and how Onama looks on Saturday will go a long way to further refining my position on him as a prospect and my projections for him going forward.

Debuting Strawweights

Is it weird to have debuting strawweights Yazmin Jauregui and Iasmin Lucindo as the third fight on the main card? Yes, yes it is.

Do I still really want to see this fight? Yes, yes I do.

Jauregui is unbeaten, 23, and the Combate strawweight champ, while Lucindo is 20 years old and already has 17 fights under her belt. Both have undefined ceilings at this point, and while figuring out where their respective floors are at right now is important because it could be rough, I have no issue with the UFC bringing in young, unrefined prospects with room to develop and affording them the opportunity to do so in the Octagon.

I mean, this is what Bellator has done for years with collegiate wrestlers and everyone applauds them when they do it, so what’s the difference, other than a large portion of the fight-loving population just wants to hate everything the UFC does automatically?

If I had to offer a prediction on their futures right now, sight unseen as far as competing inside the Octagon goes, I would wager that both stick around and become roster mainstays, with Jauregui having a little more immediate success, while Lucindo hangs out in the lower third of the division for a bit longer.

A Tougher Test for Azamat Murzakanov

Azamat Murzakanov didn’t look great in his UFC debut earlier this year, but he still got the job done.

After starting well against Tafon Nchukwi, he slowed in the second and seemed exhausted at the end of the frame, only to come out and land a flying knee on Nchukwi that ended the fight less than a minute into the third round. The victory extended Murzakanov’s perfect professional record to 11-0, but also showed that he might not be someone that is ready to make a real run towards the top of the light heavyweight division right now.

Saturday night, “The Professional” steps in with Devin Clark in a bout designed to really established where the unbeaten Russian fits in the 205-pound ranks.

Clark is a known commodity and it takes a certain caliber of fighter to beat him. He’s solid everywhere, but not a world-beater either, which makes him the perfect measuring stick opponent for Murzakonov this weekend, because if the 33-year-old is to be someone that makes a little headway in this division, he should be able to handle a guy like Clark and he needs to get moving forward at a quicker pace.

Loopy Godinez’s Big Moment

Saturday night, Loopy Godinez faces the toughest test of her career when she steps in with Angela Hill in a 120-pound catchweight contest that closes out the preliminary card in San Diego.

The Mexican-Canadian might be the most promising and intriguing 3-2 fighter in the UFC at the moment, as the first of those two losses was a debated split decision in her debut and the other came up a division on a week’s notice in a fight where she was relatively competitive despite being outsized. Last time out, Godinez throttled Ariane Carnelossi, bullying the Brazilian who fancies herself a bit of a bully inside the Octagon and making it clear that she’s someone to keep tabs on in the 115-pound weight class.

This fight with Hill should tell us whether Godinez is ready to face Top 15 competition and in the early stages of a push towards the top of the division or still in need of a little more seasoning. The TUF 20 alum may have an 8-12 record inside the Octagon, but there have been several close, split decision losses in there, she’s always a tough out, and she’s easily the most experienced and skilled fighter Godinez has faced to date.

Every ascending talent has to pass a test like this in order to take the next step forward, and I’m eager to see how Godinez handles this assignment on Saturday night.

The Return of Martin Buday

As I said on Tuesday when discussing Buday as my Fighter to Watch this week, I’m always going to be intrigued by massive human beings that also aren’t giant, plodding behemoths with limited upside, and that’s what the Slovakian heavyweight is in my estimation.

Buday looked solid in his debut win over Chris Barnett — before the one errant elbow and everyone freaking out that people are now going to try to throw illegal blows that look inadvertent in order to avoid fighting the full third round when they’re already up on the scorecards no I will not let this go — and has another solid matchup this weekend against Lukasz Brzeski; more on him shortly. He feels to me like a guy that already knows how to use what he’s got to his advantage, but is still very much working on adding pieces to his game, and I’m curious to see what kind of developments he’s made since that first outing, after getting the UFC debut out of the way and having a little green in his pocket to fund this fight camp.

It only takes a couple good wins at heavyweight to land a date with someone with a number next to their name, and Buday already has one good win in the books. If he gets another one on Saturday, he’ll be closing in on the Top 15 and I’m always going to be interested in following someone in that position.

Another Fun Flyweight Engagement

Why do so many people feel the need to bring up how the UFC almost axed the flyweight division whenever they talk about a flyweight fight? It feels like that scene in Superbad where Jonah Hill’s character says to David Franco’s character, “Hey Greg, why don’t you go piss your pants again?” to which Franco responds, “That was like eight years ago, asshole!”

The whole “closing down the flyweight division” thing was four years ago… and it didn’t happen… and the division is currently thriving… so why the fuck do so many people feel the need to constantly point to that one thing that didn’t even happen four years ago? I mean shit, at least Greg actually pissed his pants…

(exhales)

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, Saturday brings another entertaining flyweight bout into our lives, as Ode’ Osbourne squares off with Tyson Nam in a matchup that is at the very least going to set the pace in the Fight of the Night race this weekend.

Osbourne is coming off a first-round knockout win over Zarrukh Adashev and has earned consecutive victories after dropping his flyweight debut to Manel Kape, while Nam is a veteran power hitter fighting for the first time since January 2021, and still searching for his first UFC flyweight victory.

This is a “speed versus power” pairing and it will be intriguing to see which side wins out because unlike last weekend’s TUF 30 heavyweight finale, this isn’t one of those instances where these two are really in different weight classes and the disparity between their size and power is as great… or is it?

Early Intrigue at Featherweight

There aren’t really any major stakes to the featherweight fight between Youssef Zalal and Da’Mon Blackshear, but I’ll be damned if it isn’t one I’m eagerly anticipating this weekend.

Zalal started his UFC career with three wins in seven months before scuffling to three straight losses and a long stretch on the sidelines. Blackshear is the CFCC bantamweight champ, taking a short-notice opportunity to get his foot in the door with the UFC, and does so on a four-fight winning streak. Both like to grapple, and I like grappling exchanges, so you can see why I’m intrigued by this contest.

Despite his struggles, I still think Zalal is someone that can have a long, entertaining career in the UFC, and Saturday could be Blackshear’s “David Onama Moment” where he looks good up a division in his impromptu debut, making his drop back down all the more interesting to look forward to in the future. For most people, this is probably a throwaway fight early in the card, but it should be entertaining and it wouldn’t surprise me if one or both of these men made a little noise over the next couple years.

DWCS Questions

Łukasz Brzeski and Josh Quinlan each earned stoppage wins during Season 5 of Dana White’s Contender Series.

Both that their victories overturned after testing positive for banned substances, which brought with it a fine and a suspension. Each is finally set to make their promotional debuts this weekend — Brzeski against Martin Buday, as previously mentioned, and Quinlan against Jason Witt in a fight that was pushed back from last weekend after previously ingested metabolites of some substance showed up in his system again last week.

They each have a great deal to prove after popping last fall, and this is the first step towards proving they truly belong at this level. I want to see them compete on Saturday because each impressed in their DWCS victories — Quinlan more than Brzeski — but I have a lot of questions, and the only way to get answered is to see them inside the Octagon against fighters like Buday and Witt that have established floors when it comes to fighting at this level.

It takes a lot to shake the “cheater” label in this sport, and this is the first step for each of them.