By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
UFC Fight Night: Almeida vs. Lewis was this past weekend and featured
some interesting fights. Who won and who lost? Let’s get to the
rundown.
UFC Fight Night: Almeida vs. Lewis
GOOD- Elves Brener stops Kaynan Kruschewsky
Brener starts off with a few kicks. Kruschewsky fires off a flurry of
punches but Brener comes back with a combination of his own and a
stinging leg kick. Brener smashes Kruschewsky with a big left hook
that makes him face-plant and this fight is over just over four
minutes into the first round. Brener improves to 15-3 and has won 5
straight fights while Kruschewsky drops to 15-2 and has his 4 fight
winning streak snapped. Good win for Brener.
GOOD/UGLY- Caio Borralho vs. Abus Magomedov
Not much happens in the first round. Borralho does get poked in the
eye by some outstretched fingers from Magomedov. I’m so sick of this
junk. There should have been an immediate point deduction and
Magomedov should have been warned that if he sticks his fingers
straight out at his opponent again, whether he connects or not, it’s
an automatic disqualification. You don’t need to fight that way. There
is inherent danger to almost every sport. Obviously some are more
dangerous than others. However, there’s no room for outstretched
fingers. That’s not a valid fighting technique, it’s a cheesy way to
try to stop your opponent from getting in close to you by threat of an
eyepoke. If you can’t fish-hook or hit below the belt why in the hell
is this garbage allowed? And it is allowed because they don’t deduct
points right away, they don’t disqualify you, they don’t do anything.
And I don’t know if it’s because the UFC is too lazy or just doesn’t
give a damn but this is ridiculous.
Back to the fight, the second round begins with the fighters trading
kicks and punches. Magomedov still has his damn fingers outstretched
and if the referee gave a damn he would either deduct points or just
outright disqualify him. No excuses. Anyway, both fighters are
connecting well but Borralho’s volume is higher as the second round
ends. The third round starts with them trading punches. A huge body
shot from Borralho drops Magomedov and Borralho rides out the final
minutes on top as the fight ends. We go to the judges to render their
verdict. Borralho wins the decision to improve to 15-1 with 1 No
Contest and has won 12 straight fights while Magomedov drops to
25-5-1. Good win for Borralho.
GOOD- Don’Tale Mayes vs. Rodrigo Nascimento
Nascimento starts with punches while Mayes responds with kicks. Mayes
connects with a nice elbow. Nascimento fires back with a big elbow
strike of his own. Things slow down towards the end of the first
round. The second round begins with both men firing away. They fight
on the fence for a while but things have slowed down a bit and the
second round ends. The third round starts with both fighters
continuing to exchange punches. They fight in the clinch and on the
fence for a while before the fight ends. We go to the judges to render
their verdict. Nascimento wins the decision to improve to 11-1 with 1
No Contest and has won 3 straight fights while Mayes drops to 10-6
with 1 No Contest. Good win for Nascimento.
GOOD- Nicolas Dalby stops Gabriel Bonfim
They start off swinging, with Bonfim mixing in some kicks. Bonfim
continues throwing kicks as Dalby pushes forward. They go to the
ground and Bonfim ends up on top. He’s dropping some big elbows and
hammerfists as the first round ends. The second round begins with both
men slugging it out until Bonfim gets another takedown. Dalby gets up
quickly but is taken back down. They scramble and Dalby is back to his
feet. Dalby lands some hard elbows as they fight on the fence. Dalby
pours it on, elbows and knees flying at Bonfim, who comes back with
uppercuts but gets blasted by more powerful knees and drops. Dalby
pounces on him with punches to force the referee to jump in to stop
the fight a little over four and a half minutes into the second round.
Big comeback win for Dalby, who improves to 23-4-1 with 2 No Contests
while Bonfim drops to 15-1 and suffers his first professional defeat
after winning 15 straight fights. Good win for Dalby.
GOOD/BAD- Jailton Almeida vs. Derrick Lewis
Almeida gets a quick takedown and mounts Lewis, who eventually stands
up but gets taken back down again and mounted. Almeida tries for a
submission and lands some elbows as the first round ends. The second
round begins with Almeida getting another quick takedown and moves to
mount, where he stays for the rest of the second round. The third
round starts with Lewis stuffing a few takedowns but eventually
Almeida gets him down and moves to mount. The referee calls for more
action but we don’t get much and the third round ends. The fourth
round opens with Almeida getting a takedown and moving to mount.
Almeida lands some punches and the fourth round ends. The fifth round
begins with Lewis taking Almeida to the fence with some punches before
getting taken down again. Again, the referee calls for more action.
Lewis eventually stands up but gets quickly taken back down. The fight
finally ends so we go to the judges to render their verdict. Almeida
wins the decision to improve to 20-2 and has won 15 straight fights
while Lewis drops to 27-12 with 1 No Contest.
It was smart strategy for Almeida but man, it was boring to watch. I
don’t want to go too much further because I don’t want to insult
anyone or be too negative but this never should have been a 5-round
fight. I don’t care if it’s the main event, don’t do it. As a general
rule I don’t think heavyweight fights should be 5 rounds anyway. I
suppose you could have the title fights be 5 rounds but nothing else.
I don’t think many people want to see that. I’ll just end it there,
again I don’t want to be too negative.
*************
Raquel Pennington (15-8, 5 straight wins) and Mayra Bueno Silva
(10-2-1, 1 No Contest) will fight for the vacant UFC Bantamweight
Championship at UFC 297 on January 20, 2024. Julianna Pena would have
been in the fight except she’s still recovering from an injury. This
fight is interesting and keeps the division moving, which I’m always
in favor of.
My new epic fantasy book is out. It’s called Kingdom of Zarias: The End’s
Beginning. The exciting epic fantasy series Kingdom of Zarias
returns with the 4th book in the series. After the harrowing events of
Book 3 the residents of the Kingdom of Zarias continue on their paths.
Serena Summers continues to learn and grow as a fighter, desperately
seeking to become stronger before she loses anyone else in her life.
Daniel Summers discovers new parts of the world that open his eyes to
just how little he truly knows. A new hero, Lamar Abeers, arrives to
join the fight against evil. Plus, Zach Summers, Tiana Highsmith, and
Xavien Ekens continue their journeys with their friends, and a new
ruler of Vhaharen is crowned. The world has found a little peace.
However, that peace is only temporary. In a shocking act of violence,
the monstrous villain Galren strikes from the shadows and changes the
world forever. This is Book 4 in the series. There’s lots of action,
magic, and monsters in the Kingdom of Zarias. It’s like a tabletop
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places. If you’re interested, I would greatly appreciate it if you
would check it out and support me. Also, here’s the link to my
Compendium book about the Kingdom of Zarias series- KoZ Compendium 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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