By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
UFC Fight NIght: Ortega vs. Rodriguez was yesterday and featured some
good fights and an unfortunate injury. Let’s get to the rundown.
UFC Fight Night: Ortega vs. Rodriguez
GOOD- Lauren Murphy vs. Miesha Tate
They trade some crisp strikes early until Murphy gets a takedown.
Nothing much comes of it and they land more strikes until the first
round ends. The second round starts with some more crisp striking.
Murphy gets another takedown but again, nothing much comes of it. They
trade more strikes and sprawls. The left side of Tate’s face is
starting to swell. The third round opens with more striking exchanges.
Neither woman can land a takedown. They exchange in the clinch for a
while and the fight ends. Murphy wins the decision and improves to
16-5 while Tate falls to 19-9 and has lost 4 of her last 5 fights.
Good win for Murphy.
GOOD- Shane Burgos vs. Charles Jourdain
Jourdain fires out some kicks early. Burgos gets a takedown and locks
in a neck crank but Jourdain fights through it. They fight in the
clinch for a bit before the first round ends. The second round starts
with another Burgos takedown and submission attempt. Jourdain defends
well, though, and the round ends. The third round opens with another
striking exchange. Jourdain starts smashing Burgos with punches and
knees and elbows. However, Burgos survives the round and we go to the
judges, who give Burgos the Majority Decision. Burgos improves to 15-3
while Jourdain falls to 13-5-1. Good win for Burgos.
GOOD- Matt Schnell submits Su Mudaerji
After trading some strikes early in the first round Schnell got a
takedown and went to work. However, Mudaerji reversed and they spent
the rest of the round going back and forth, both men looking good and
grappling hard. The second round saw some big striking exchanges, with
Mudaerji hurting Schnell with some massive strikes. A big right hand
and a huge elbow later. Then another one. A third monstrous elbow and
Schnell was staggering like a drunk. He fired back, though, with some
big right hands of his own. Another big right and Mudaerji’s hurt.
Schnell gets a takedown and drops some elbows on him. Schnell still
dropping bombs on him but Mudaerji sweeps into guard but gets caught
in a triangle choke. Mudaerji won’t relent and Schnell puts him to
sleep and gets the crazy comeback win almost four and a half minutes
into the second round. Schnell improves to 16-6 with 1 No Contest
while Mudaerji falls to 16-5 and has his 3 fight winning streak
snapped. Wild ending and good win for Schnell.
GOOD- Li Jingliang stops Muslim Salikhov
They trade early in the first round until Salikhov gets a takedown.
They exchange more strikes until the round ends. The second round
opens with them trading more strikes until Li gets a takedown of his
own. Nothing much comes of that, though. Later, Li staggered Salikhov
with a big right hand. Salikhov tries for a takedown but Li sprawls
and nails him with another huge right that drops him and Li drops
elbows on Salikhov until the referee is forced to jump in to stop the
fight a little over four and a half minutes into the second round. Li
improves to 19-7 while Salikhov falls to 18-3 and has his 5 fight
winning streak snapped. Good win for Li.
GOOD- Amanda Lemos submits Michelle Waterson
They both start with some kicks before mixing in some punches.
Waterson gets a takedown but there’s not a lot going on in this first
round. The second round sees Lemos open up with some nice strikes.
Waterson shoots but gets caught in a guillotine and taps not quite two
minutes into the second round. Lemos improves to 12-2-1 while Waterson
falls to 18-10 and has lost 4 of her last 5 fights. Good win for
Lemos.
BAD- Yair Rodriguez stops Brian Ortega by Injury TKO
They trade strikes early, both landing well until Ortega gets a
takedown. Rodriguez is trying to lock in an armbar but Ortega
separates his shoulder pulling his arm free and the fight’s over a
little over four minutes into the first round. A disappointing end to
a good card, to say the least. Rodriguez improves to 14-3 with 1 No
Contest while Ortega falls to 15-3 with 1 No Contest, with all 3 of
those losses coming in his last 4 fights. However, the other two
losses are to Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski. It sucks to have
a fight end like that but what can you do? Good win for Rodriguez.
*************
Bloomberg is reporting that Disney is raising the price of ESPN+ from
$6.99 a month to $9.99 a month, starting next month. That’s an
absolutely absurd price hike that comes shortly after they raised the
price of the UFC pay-per-views by $5 to $74.99. This is pure greed by
Disney, who sets the prices. Dana White has complained in the past
about how all this stuff is up to Disney.
Considering that Disney’s stock price is lower than it was during the
pandemic and hasn’t been this low since 2016 and inflation and the
cost of living increasing and all that, it might not be the best move
to be price gouging like this.
My new fantasy book is now out. It’s called Kingdom of Zarias: The Steep
Price of Revenge. It’s the second book in my Kingdom of Zarias
series and follows the adventures of the Summers siblings as they seek
revenge for the wrongs inflicted on them. This book also introduces
lots of other characters as the scope of the world continues to
expand. There’s lots of action, magic, and monsters in the Kingdom of
Zarias. It’s like a tabletop game in novel form. It’s on Amazon,
Barnes & Noble, and many other places. If you’re interested, I would
greatly appreciate it if you would check it out and support me. Here’s
the link to my book- My
Book Thank you very much, have a good day.
Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at
hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank.
Thanks for reading and have a good day.
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