10 Things I Like at UFC Vegas 46
Yes, despite all the changes, there are still 10 things I like about Saturday's debut UFC event of 2022
Saturday’s fight card underwent a few more changes on Wednesday, transforming into a 10-fight card where two of the contest now feature short-notice replacements and a switch in divisions.
Get ready for more of this over the next few months.
All last year, the UFC booked 13- and 14-fight cards because invariable, a couple fights were going to get scratched between the time they were announced and the time the action go underway. There were times when events had no changes, other times when it was only peripheral fights that were impacted, and a few different instances where big fights went by the boards for one reason or another, and d’you what?
We all survived and 2021 was a terrific year.
No one likes fights getting scratched or being shuffled to another event, but the main fights from this weekend’s card have remained intact, so we should still be fine once the fist actually start flying on Saturday.
The “Y’all Musta Forgot” Possibilities
Maybe it’s just me, but there seems to be a lot of people out here acting like Calvin Kattar ain’t shit and I don’t know what to do with it.
I get supporting your guy and believing in an individual fighter in a given matchup, but goddamn man, can we at least acknowledge somewhere along the way that Kattar is a bad dude who is even better than his record indicates, even though his record is pretty good?
Yes, last time we saw the New England Cartel representative he was getting busted up and left behind by Max Holloway, but the list of folks that have beaten Max Holloway in the last eight years only has two people on it, so that’s not exactly the best way to take the measure of a man like Kattar. Prior to that fight, he earned a pair of victories in 2020, mushing Jeremy Stephens’ nose into his face before out-hustling Dan Ige over five rounds. Before that, he dropped a three-rounder to Zabit Magomedsharipov where everybody and their grandma agrees if it went five, Kattar was getting the win.
All I’m saying is this is a dude that has earned his place in the Top 5 at featherweight and people are talking like Saturday is going to be a walk in the park for Giga Chikadze… and it might be, but it could also be a real “Y’all musta forgot!” moment for Kattar should he do what some seem to believe is impossible and get his hand raised.
Giga’s Golden Opportunity
While I don’t necessarily agree with Chikadze doing the whole “why didn’t the UFC wait to see what I do Saturday before making the next title fight” thing before this fight, he does have a golden opportunity to put himself in line for a title shot with a win this weekend.
Listen, we don’t know how bad Max Holloway’s latest injury is or when he’s due to come back, but what I do know is that Alexander Volkanovski isn’t someone that likes fighting once a year or sitting around for too long, and after fighting just once in 2021, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Australian champion looked to make a quicker-than-normal turnaround should he beat Chan Sung Jung in April.
And if he does, a victorious Chikadze could be the beneficiary.
Holloway is hurt. Brian Ortega just got thoroughly out-worked. Yair Rodriguez is coming off a loss. Jung’s got next, and Kattar is right behind him, with Chikadze poised to take his place in the rankings if he can pick up his eighth straight UFC win this weekend. It’s not an easy assignment, but should he get it done, he might end up getting that championship opportunity he was asking about later this year anyway.
Building the Gauntlet
On the whole, bantamweight is my favorite division at the moment, but if we’re talking strictly about emerging talent and the potential for really entertaining, compelling fights over the next year or two, it’s kind of hard to pick against the wave of fighters climbing the ranks in the women’s flyweight division, which is part of the reason I love the fight between Katlyn Chookagian and Jennifer Maia on Saturday.
This fight doesn’t really do a whole lot in terms of the title picture because both have lost to Valentina Shevchenko fairly recently and we don’t need to see either of them challenge for gold again. What we do need, however, is to get things clearly delineated in the Top 15 so that when the likes of Casey O’Neill, Erin Blanchfield, Miranda Maverick et al start working towards the Top 10, I don’t want there to be any way to question how good these veterans are and where they stand in the divisional hierarchy.
Chookagian and Maia are top-end contenders to me — amongst the five-to-seven best fighters in the division — and their rematch this weekend feels like a chance to really set in stone where each of them stands and how far up the ladder the members of the up-and-coming set are going to need to climb in order to face them, and what a victory over each would mean for any member of that collective.
This is why I like every event, watch every fight, and think about more than just what is right in front of me.
Potential Flyweight Scramble-fest
There is a very real possibility that Saturday’s flyweight clash between Brandon Royval (above) and Rogerio Bontorin turns into an entertaining back-and-forth grappling match, and I’m here for it.
Royval had a serious scramble session during his fight with Alexandre Pantoja last time out, and has generally been an entertaining transitional grappler since arriving in the UFC, while Bontorin’s best path to victory always resides on the canvas, although he’s a little more workmanlike. This is a critical pairing for each man, as Royval looks to snap a two-fight slide and Bontorin needs to get things moving in the right direction again in the flyweight ranks, having lost two straight at ‘25 as well.
It’s always weird to me when matchups like this — pairings between legitimate Top 10 talents — that fail to generate buzz and gain very little pre-fight traction because on Fight Night, Twitter will be alight with people singing the praises of the flyweight division and still maligning the UFC for thinking about shuttering the weight class heading into 2019, and yet few talk about these fights ahead of time. These two are very much in the mix in the 125-pound title chase and the winner will command an even greater presence in that conversation going forward.
Jake Collier, UFC Heavyweight
People can be real dicks some times, and I know this to be true because there are times when I can be a real dick, but this isn’t one of them.
When Jake Collier ended his two-plus-year hiatus two summers back, waltzing into the Octagon to face Tom Aspinall as a heavyweight, all kinds of people got off their jokes, having a chuckle about the former middleweight who morphed into a beefy heavyweight during his absence. It didn’t matter that a majority of the audience could likely identify with and understand gaining a bunch of weight following major surgery and during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, which was still just a few months into messing with everyone’s schedules and lifestyles.
All kind of people had jokes, but I loved it, and I still love Collier competing in the big boy ranks.
I’m never going to dock someone for losing to Aspinall, who I think has the talent to challenge for gold somewhere in the not too distant future. After that, Collier got into the win column with a victory over Gian Villante, and in his third assignment, he ran mostly level with Carlos Felipe, dropping a split decision to the Brazilian upstart who often seems to do things the judges appreciate.
I don’t think Collier is going to ascend too far beyond his “top of the lower end of the food chain” standing right now, but he was a solid prospect during his middleweight and light heavyweight days, and I happy to see him out there plying his trade.
He had all kinds of reasons to just call it a day, but instead, he’s back out there chasing his dream, maintaining his “win one, lose one” pattern in the Octagon, and looking to continue that on Saturday.
You may have jokes, but I’ve got nothing but love for Collier.
P.S. When I spoke to Collier ahead of his return two summer’s back, he said he intended to return to light heavyweight at some point. I don’t know if that still holds true, but it’s been seven months since his last appearance, and if he were going to shed some LBs and make his way back to 205, this would seem to be the point where that plan becomes evident.
Brito’s Entrance Exam
I know I said yesterday that I’m not sure Joanderson Brito is going to be the breakout star from Season 5 of the Contender Series like it feels people are expecting him to be given his main card placement and quality matchup this weekend, but at least we’re going to get a better sense of whether that’s going to be the case or not right out of the chute.
If you know me, you know I adore matchups like this, where the new arrival gets an instant litmus test against a skilled, experienced fighter that can halt their rise before it even gets started if they’re not fully prepared.
Bill Algeo is a terrific dance partner for the debuting Brazilian this weekend — a guy with 14 wins in 20 pro fights, a black belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu, and that has shared the cage with a litany of solid opponents throughout the years.
Only six people have beaten “Señor Perfecto” to this point in his career — two Ricardos in the UFC (Ramos and Lamas), two future UFC competitors back in the day (Jared Gordon and Shane Burgos), everyone’s favorite non-signing in DWCS history (Brendan Loughnane), and some dude named Dean Lavin early in their careers — which gives you a real good idea of where Brito would fit if he were to join that group this weekend.
Another Appearance for Ramiz Brahimaj
Brahimaj feels like one of the few Fortis MMA representatives folks haven’t been paying close attention to thus far in his UFC career, but I think that has the potential to change this weekend.
Most remembered from his debut against Max Griffin where his ear exploded and was left dangling from the side of his head, Brahimaj rebounded after getting his ear reattached to record a first-round submission win over Sasha Palatnikov in his sophomore appearance to advance his record to 9-3 ahead of this weekend’s showdown with Court McGee. He’s a well-rounded fighter from an outstanding camp, and a guy that looked like he needed to get his feet under him following his debut and he did just that the second time out.
I have a lot of time and respect for the crew at Fortis because I know what kind of coach, leader, and man Sayif Saud is, and the fact that Brahimaj has grown into being one of his chief lieutenants tells me a lot about what “The General” think about the welterweight.
This is a pivotal fight in his UFC career — a crossroads moment where he either takes a step forward and shows he’s ready to advance or takes a step back, making you wonder if he’s ever going to rise beyond the middle of the pack — and I’m genuinely curious to see how it plays out because I think he has talent, I know he has the mindset, and this is a perfect measuring stick opportunity on Saturday.
Charles Rosa’s Unwavering Self-Belief
When Rosa announced on his Twitter feed yesterday morning that he’d agreed to replace Gabriel Benitez across from TJ Brown on Saturday, he did so by declaring he’d signed a new four-fight deal (smart) and that he was “on my way to Vegas to continue chasing my dream of a UFC world title.”
Goddamn that kind of unwavering self-belief is impressive to me.
There are myriad reasons why I couldn’t be a professional fighter, but one of the chief ones is that I couldn’t do the whole “… and I’m going to be world champion one day” thing over and over again when the imperical evidence suggests otherwise. As I’ve joked before on Twitter, I would be the guy in the UFC promo pieces saying, “The best? I don’t think I’m the best (fill in division) fighter in the world, but I’m certainly not the worst. I do okay, right?” because I’m more of a pragmatist (I get it from my mom) about these kinds of things.
But here’s Rosa, a dude that has never won consecutive fights inside the Octagon, that has been competing in the UFC since the fall of 2014, saying with all earnestness and sincerity that he’s headed to Vegas this weekend to keep chasing that dream, because as long as their is oxygen in his lungs and an opponent across the cage from him, that’s what he’ll continue to do.
Whether you or I believe it’s realistic or not doesn’t matter, and no matter what we think, it’s hard not to respect that approach.
Bad Nickname vs. Good Nickname
Dakota Bush has a terrible nickname as far as I’m concerned. It’s sophomoric and crass, and while I would have laughed uncontrollably at it up until I was 17 or 18, it’s the kind of thing that just makes me shake my head and say, “C’mon man — grow up” now that I’m 43 years old and no longer think Dakota “Hairy” Bush is funny.
Viacheslav Borshchev has a good nickname in my books. It’s charming and playful, he leaned into it bye singing a little number following his Contender Series victory over Chris Duncan, and it’s a solid fit with his name as well. Call me old-fashioned and lame, but “Slava Claus” is a great nickname.
These two square off on Saturday and while their nicknames won’t have any influence on the outcome of the fight, there are times when simple little stupid things like this amuse me and give me something extra to enjoy about a fight card… and this is one of those times.
How Mad Everyone Gets with Cards Like This
I know this makes me sound like an anti-social dickhead (which, let’s be honest, I kind of am most of the time), but it honestly gives me so much joy seeing people get all bent out of shape when cards like this roll towards the Octagon.
Everyone acts like this is what the UFC wanted, as if the plan all along was to tease a bunch of bouts, have them fall apart, and then be forced to make do with the whatever is left and whomever is willing to fight on short notice. They post graphics of the number of changes to the lineup from Tapology, get cranky over unofficial bout orders as if those can’t change in a heartbeat, and generally act as if the myriad changes that have taken place were completely avoidable and wholly the UFC’s fault.
A few smart people remember that the fifth wave of the global pandemic that has been making the rounds for nearly two years is in full swing and producing positive tests at an alarming rate (though with less hospitalizations and milder symptoms, at least amongst the vaccinated) and that visa issues and injuries scuttle fights all the time.
Does it suck when a whole bunch of fights get scrapped and shuffled and whatnot? Sure.
Is it ever as big a deal as a portion of the MMA universe makes it seem on Twitter? Oh god no.
Settle down, kids — you’re still going to watch the fights and if you choose not to, it has nothing to do with Vanessa Demopoulos not fighting Silvana Juarez until next weekend.