10 Things I Like at UFC Vegas 56

From the final two pairings to the opening bout of the night and everything in between, Saturday's fight card has plenty that piques my interest

I’m not going to come here and try to convince you this is a can’t-miss card because we all know that isn’t the case.

It’s a decent card, with a few interesting fights, and a couple fighters that I’m really excited to see back in the Octagon, plus a few more that I’m curious to see for the first time. But as always, I know I’m an outlier when it comes to these things, and I’ve given up on giving people the hard sell each and every weekend because frankly, few people genuinely want to listen to me pitch them on watching six-plus hours of fights one Saturday after the next for the next dozen weeks.

But what I will do is what I always strive to do: give you all the information I can so that you can decide for yourself which fights you want to make sure to check out, which fighters you want to pay attention to going forward, and what elements of this weekend’s fight card in Las Vegas are important to track in terms of future impact and developments.

I’m done trying to convert people, but I’m never going to stop sharing as many insights and thoughts as I can to help you make the most informed choice possible.

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Active Heavyweights

Saturday’s headliners Alexander Volkov and Jairzinho Rozenstruick have competed a combined 11 times since the start of 2020. By comparison, the seven fighters ahead of them in the rankings — the top six contenders and heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou — have fought 31 times total.

I know it’s tougher to make fights at the top of the division and when championships are involved, but I also love the fact that these two men — and a couple of the others stationed ahead of them, to be fair — have maintained active schedules throughout their careers and especially over these last couple years when it feels like more and more top heavyweights are spending long stretches on the sidelines.

And it’s not like they’re just fighting warm bodies either. Both Volkov and Rozenstruick have consistently faced Top 15 competition, alternating between fighting backwards and getting a victory, and fighting forwards and catching a loss through their last few fights.

While good health certainly plays a part in things, it’s also just their openness and willingness to step in there and stay active that earns them my respect, because while I completely understands the position maintained by someone like Stipe Miocic, at some point, I kind of need you to fight if you want me to back your case for a championship opportunity.

At least these dudes are out here trying to grab wins every four-to-six months, building resumes filled with Top 15 assignments.

Tough Outs Fighting Tough Schedules

Dan Ige is another competitor with a strong strength of schedule.

The Hawaiian, who takes on unbeaten prospect Movsar Evloev on Saturday, enters on the first two-fight losing skid of his career, but has been building a quality “this dude just fights everybody” kind of resume since arriving in the UFC at the start of 2018. Here’s the list of his opponents, in chronological order from the outset of his UFC tenure:

Julio Arce
Mike Santiago
Jordan Griffin
Danny Henry
Kevin Aguilar
Mirsad Bektic
Edson Barboza
Calvin Kattar
Gavin Tucker
Chan Sung Jung
Josh Emmett

The only guy on that list to not register at least one UFC victory is Santiago, and the stretch from Aguilar on is just a constant string of tough, competitive fights, and Ige won four of seven during that run.

For all the time we spend getting wrapped up in rankings and arguing about who fits where in the division or how good individual fighters are, we should probably spend a little more time giving praise to dudes like Ige that forge their reputations by taking on the toughest competition available every time out.

I Want to Know More About Zarrukh Adashev

Adashev has looked progressively better in each of his first three UFC appearances, and I’m curious to see if that continues this weekend when he steps in opposite Ode’ Osbourne.

He got sparked in his short-notice debut against Tyson Nam, and then fought better in going the distance with Sumudaerji in his sophomore showing before registering his first victory last time out against Ryan Benoit. While he faded a little in that fight, it was as a result of a foot injury, so I’ll give him a little leeway and eagerly await seeing what he can do on Saturday.

Do I think he’s a future contender or even someone that will soon challenge for a place in the Top 15? I do not, but there is still value in fighters that can deliver solid fights and be fixtures in the middle of these divisions, and I would like to find out if Adashev is capable of being one of those guys in the flyweight division.

Fighter I Can’t Quit: Alonzo Menifield

I know that Menifield is 4-3 in the UFC, has a maximum of seven minutes of energy stores built up heading into a fight, and probably is never going to morph into the fighter I envisioned when the cracked Dashawn Boatwright in eight seconds to earn his UFC deal, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to sell my property on Zo Island at this point.

The DWCS grad (Class of ‘18) is a prototypical athlete working to become a fighter, sporting gnarly power but a limited understanding of how to deliver it to the target outside of “see him, punch him.” He’s 34 years old now, so it’s unlikely that there is going to be too many more major leaps forward in development, but the fact that Menifield works with “The General” Sayif Saud and the crew at Fortis MMA will also keep me on the hook a little bit longer because Saud is one of the best at getting his fighters to be the absolute best version of themselves possible.

Saturday’s fight with Askar Mozharov (if that’s even his real name) is intriguing on a number of fronts, and could become the moment I have to go into receivership for my place on Zo Island if he loses, but for now, I’m still here for him.

I still want to believe.

Strawweight Veterans Return

As I said yesterday, I’m genuinely happy to see both Felice Herrig and Karolina Kowalkiewicz back in action this weekend, even if it is against once another, which means one of them is mostly likely going home with another loss tacked on their record.

Each has been through a litany of issues over the last couple years and at 37 and 36 respectively, it wouldn’t have been surprising at all if each just opted to call it a career and recede into the next phase of their lives without making the walk to the Octagon one more time. But they are, together, because they’re both bad asses that want to go out on their own terms — or at least try to — and while I worry about injuries and further mental anguish from catching an L this weekend, deep down in my soul, I want each of them to get that one last victory that brings them whatever kind of closure they need.

I hope this is a competitive fight and not one that leaves me feeling sad, but knowing this sport as intimately as I do, I’m honestly a little worried that it’s going to be the latter and not the former on Saturday.

Fighters That Know Who They Are

If you read my work regularly or listen to me yap on my podcasts or the SevereMMA shows I pop on from time-to-time, you’ve heard me talk about fighters “knowing who the are” and how I’m always impressed by those types.

Damon Jackson is one of those guys.

The 33-year-old featherweight veteran is a grappler, and while his hands are serviceable, he’s not out here trying to win boxing matches against anyone. He’s throwing hands so that he can get inside or until he can get inside, and then he’s looking to do work on the canvas, because that’s where he’s most comfortable and most dangerous.

We went through an era not all that long ago where everyone wanted to be a generalist and be pretty good at as many things as possible, which led to a dreadful period where Demian Maia threw hands more than he grappled and I momentarily wasn’t all the keen on watching Maia compete. Thankfully, Maia got back to what he does best, I got to resume enjoying his appearances, and more and more fighters (and coaches) got back to focusing on really accentuating what those fighters do best, and we’re all better off for it.

Jackson is an excellent grappler, and I want to see him grapple; I don’t want to see him stand.

Thankfully, he knows he’s an excellent grappler and plays to those strengths, which means we will all get to enjoy watching him work for takedowns, advance positions and hunt for submissions on Saturday.

The Return of Jeff Molina

I’ve already talked about “El Jefe” plenty this week — here and here, plus here, and there is more to come on OSDBsports on Friday — so I’ll keep this one short and sweet:

Molina is someone I’m high on as a prospect, and I’m excited about every chance I get to see a fighter like that compete, regardless of the opponent, though a competitive matchup like the one he’s got with Zhalgas Zhumagulov this weekend is an added bonus.

Big Test for Erin Blanchfield

I love that Blanchfield is matched up with JJ Aldrich this weekend and not another member of the younger set in the flyweight division or one of the tenured ranked fighters.

This is the right step forward for the 23-year-old rising star following her win over Miranda Maverick and the kind of fight that should be informative and instructional about where the New Jersey native stands in her development, fits in the division at the moment, and can reasonably be projected to climb in the next 12-18 months.

Aldrich showed in her fight with Gillian Robertson that you can’t be coming after her with whack-ass, no-setup takedown attempts and little else; she’s too experienced, too sharp, too crisp to get trapped into playing that gave and can make you pay if that’s all you bring to the table. She’s got a real clean one-two, good conditioning, and she’s been in there as the “more experienced fighter facing an emerging talent” before, and you best believe she has zero interest in being on the wrong end of that type of fight again this weekend.

I really should do a quick list of my Top 25 prospects in the UFC, but even without putting an official list together, I feel comfortable saying this: Blanchfield is near the top of that list, and maybe the top prospect overall, and you really should pay close attention to this fight on Saturday.

A Handful of Question Marks

This is going to sound ridiculous to some people and probably forced to the “no one can be interested by this stuff” set, but I’m genuinely curious and keen to see a handful of these “I have no idea what to expect from them” competitors step into the Octagon on Saturday.

Karine Silva feels like she’s positioned as a hopeful breakout fighter, but I’m not sure she can be that long term.

You could tell me just about anything about Askar Mozharov at this point and I wouldn’t doubt any of it.

Benoit Saint Denis took an hellacious beating last time out and kept coming forward, but is he more than just stupid-tough?

Rinat Fakhretdinov is 20-2, riding a big long winning streak, and I have no sense of whether he’s someone to pay real close attention to going forward or some dude that has been throttling weekend warriors in Russia for the last decade.

Most people aren’t going to pay those four much attention, if any, but I’m truly fascinated by them all and want to learn more about them this weekend.

Coffee & Combat

The main card starts at 1pm PST.

The prelims are listed as starting at 10am PST, which means the early prelims — including the Blanchfield-Aldrich tussle — starts before that, so probably at 9am PST.

I’m a simple man with simple tastes, and getting to start my Saturday with a hot cup of coffee and one of my favourite prospects in the sport kicking off an event sounds like a pretty nice way to spend the morning and afternoon.

Plus, with the 1pm PST main card start time, we should be done by 4pm, 4:30pm at the latest, which means a Saturday night on the deck, with a fire, some nibbles, and a nice bottle of wine is in order.

Now… what should I drink?