Bellator 234 and UFC Sao Paulo were both this past weekend. Let’s get right to the rundown.
HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from Bellator 234 and UFC Sao Paulo
Bellator 234
GOOD- Austin Vanderford vs. Grachik Bozinyan
This was a nice and solid fight. Vanderford won the decision with three 29-28 scorecards from the judges, having won the last two rounds. Good win for Vanderford.
GOOD- Haim Gozali submits Artur Pronin
Gozali kept going for submissions but Pronin was able to escape them until late in the first round when Gozali locked in a heel hook that Pronin had to tap to. I like the tenacity from Gozali and the defense from Pronin was nice as well. Good win for Gozali, who announced his retirement after the fight. That’s a great way to wrap up his career.
GOOD- Aviv Gozali submits Zaka Fatullazade
Haim’s son Aviv continued to impress here, as he came out aggressive and took Fatullazade down quickly and then locked in an anaconda choke to get the submission win less than a minute into the first round. Good win for Gozali.
GOOD/BAD- Sidney Outlaw vs. Roger Huerta
The story of this fight was the takedowns of Outlaw, he had several of them throughout the fight that Huerta couldn’t stop. The BAD comes from the fact that you knew exactly what the end result was going to be not even halfway through the second round. Huerta couldn’t stop the takedowns but Outlaw couldn’t do much after he got them as Huerta would defend fairly well. It’s no fault of either fighter really, but this wasn’t a very exciting fight.
GOOD- Linton Vassell stops Sergei Kharitonov
Kharitonov was one-dimensional in his attack and Vassell made him pay. He started hurting him in the first round, but it was in the second round where he really took it to him, landing a bunch of unanswered strikes from on top to force the stoppage. Good win for Vassell.
UFC Sao Paulo
GOOD/BAD- Markus Perez vs. Wellington Turman
The best thing I could say about this fight is that it was solid. It wasn’t great by any means and it had some dull moments, but it was fine. Turman won the decision, good win for him.
BAD- Antonio Arroyo vs. Andre Muniz
This was a bad and dull fight. There were literally long stretches where nothing happened. Once it was after a Muniz takedown and another where both fighters just started at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Muniz won the decision, good for him I guess.
GOOD- Charles Oliviera stops Jared Gordon
Things were even early until Oliviera caught Gordon with a nice counter right hand then a big uppercut to end the fight about a minute and a half into the first round. Good win for Oliviera.
GOOD/BAD- Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Paul Craig
This was a really close fight, as evidenced by it being ruled a split draw. They went back and forth but there was also stretches where not a lot happened, especially the second round and large parts of the third round. With this being a split draw, it’s almost as if it never happened. That’s disappointing in and of itself.
BAD/GOOD- Jan Blachowicz vs. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza
There was a lot of clinch work in this one. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but it’s usually not a good thing. This was one of those five round fights that would have felt too long if it were three rounds. Blachowicz won the split decision. I thought he won by clear decision but I might be wrong. I don’t plan on rewatching this so I’ll just say I was wrong. Jacare’s light heavyweight debut didn’t go so well. Nice win for Blachowicz, I guess.
Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.comand you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank
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