Written By: Caleb
After the incredible weekend that was UFC 299, we snap back to reality as we head to the well known UFC Apex for a Heavyweight showcase between fan favorite, Tai Tuivasa & Poland’s own, Marcin Tybura.
This fight night card kicks off at 3:00PM CST on ESPN+ and features an opening bout between DWCS alum, Charalampos Grigoriou & fellow bantamweight, Chad Anheliger. Grigoriou is coming into Saturday night fresh off an electric first-round TKO against Cameron Smotherman on Dana White’s Contender Series & aims to make a statement in his official UFC debut. However, the knockout artist will have his work cut out for him as his opponent, Chad Anheliger, has never been knocked out in his MMA career & doesn’t plan on it happening this weekend.
Next we see a Women’s Strawweight bout between prospects Jaqueline Amorim & Cory McKenna. While Amorim looked impressive in her last fight, scoring a KO/TKO victory over Montserrat Ruiz, it will certainly be a difficult task taking out her opponent on Saturday. Cory McKenna has had a promising start to her UFC career, showcase a strong grappling base & aims to dominate her next opponent in a similar wrestling-heavy fashion.
We move on to see a Lightweight bout between the always dangerous, Thiago Moises & UFC newcomer, Mitch Ramirez. Ramirez is making his UFC debut on short notice & will need all the magic possible in order to take out someone like Moises. While I want to root for the underdog, Moises is skilled everywhere and will look to make quick work of the debutant come fight day.
Next on the card we see featherweight Josh Culibao taking on Danny Silva. Culibao has proven he has great durability & I can see him stretching this fight out for 15 minutes to secure a victory over the young prospect. Then we move to the Flyweight division where submission specialist, Jafel Filho takes on than favorite, Ode’ Osbourne. His vibrant personality and friendly attitude makes it hard to hate Osbourne however he has long struggled in the grappling department & might have trouble should this fight hit the ground.
The main card kicks off with middleweight veterans, Gerald “GM3” Meerschaert facing off against Bryan Barberena. Both fighters have proven they can hang with the best in the world at 185 pounds but are certainly at the tail-end of their UFC journey. This fight could go in either direction but GM3 recently seems to be performing at a higher level than Barberena & I can see him finding one of his signature submissions should the fight hit the ground.
One other fight to note is a high-level featherweight fight between the talented prospect, Christian Rodriguez & highly skilled & hyped contender, Isaac Dulgarian. C-Rod has proven he belongs in the UFC, notching wins over the likes of Raul Rosas Jr. & Cameron Saaiman to name a few. However- Isaac Dulgarian has the MMA community behind him as he looks to be one of the more talented prospects at 145. With little to no resistance from his opponents, Dulgarian has amassed a record 6-0 in his professional MMA career, all by way of first-round finish. However, the frightening prospect has much to prove as we still do not know if his cardio will hold up should he see a second or even third round. Moving on we see a legend in Ovince Saint Preux take on the heavy-handed, Kennedy Nzechukwu. The veteran “OSP” is certainly in the final stages of his MMA career and this matchup does not help slow down his envitable retirement. Nzechukwu should be able to take out OSP relatively easily as long as he is smart in his game-plan & avoids rushing into the pocket.
The Co-Main event features rising Welterweight contender, Bryan Battle versus Ange Loosa. This is a fairly even matchup on paper and could go in either direction. Battle has strung together a nearly perfect UFC record, losing only one fight to Rinat Fakhretdinov in 2022. With dangerous submissions and KO power, Battle has all the tools to win on Saturday. Loosa however is no walk-in-the-park for any fighter as he is very durable & is a strong wrestler with nasty ground-and-pound attacks. Either way, this one should be a high-level MMA fight bound to produce fireworks throughout the scheduled 15 minutes of octagon time.
The main event features Heavyweight fan favorite, Tai “Bam Bam” Tuivasa squaring off against Poland’s own, Marcin Tybura. Tuivasa has had a bittersweet rise in the UFC, at one point putting together a 5-fight KO streak before going on to drop his next three fights in a row. I believe this is primarily due to the level of competition in the UFC’s heavyweight division combined with Tuivasa’s ceiling. Tai is a talented fighter however he has consistently said he is never going to be a wrestler & only wants to “bang it out” on the feet. While Tai is talented enough to be a UFC fighter, I doubt he posses the desire to learn the necessary skills required to push into the elite category. After defeating Derrick Lewis at UFC 271, Tai almost did himself a disservice as winning forced the UFC to put him against the absolute top of the division where the skill-gap was simply too much for Tuivasa. I believe he makes a big comeback on Saturday against an aging Tybura who has been knocked out already in his career. It’s a shame we won’t get a proper Tuivasa “Shoey” in an arena filled with screaming fans but it still will feel great seeing Bam Bam get back in the win column.
Photo: Getty Images
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