The UFC Vegas 122 The “preliminaries” were embarrassingly awful.
“But Andrew,” UFC die-hards who don’t know about the fight shout back, “Six finishes in seven fights! It’s always the cards you least expect to be exciting!”
From an entertainment standpoint alone, the early fights were useful. A quick KO is a quick KO, a clip to make the rounds on social media. My criticism is not aimed at the results, but at the actual fighting skills and characteristics of the athletes and their suitability for the game. To be honest, there were several fights here that felt like an amateur-level event, rather than the sport’s biggest stage designed to find the best fighters in the world.
Let’s break it down from start to finish.
Ernesta Kareckaite vs. Melissa Gatto was not a memorable fight for good or bad reasons. It happened. The next match was presented Alice Pereiraperhaps the only truly good women’s bantamweight prospect in the entire sport, ranked #15. Darya Zeleznyakova.
That was the high point and it’s all downhill from here.
Allen Fry Jr. vs. RJ Harris may have ended in a first round knockout, but it was bad MMA offensively. Neither man showed skill or physicality should expect a UFC fighter. Harris walked forward and threw like counter punches were illegal, while Frye Jr. wobbled around awkwardly until Harris stepped on him with a right hand.
The game would have been at home in the parking lot of a Midwest bar.
One time later, famously not-good Brendson Ribeiro submitted Felipe Franco with a closed-guard guillotine choke in two minutes. The funny thing is, Ribeiro is known as a kickboxer, but he only wins UFC fights against lightweights who have never been in a jiu-jitsu class.
Anecdote: I have been training with Team Alpha Male for over ten years. I learned guillotine tricks the first time Uriah Faber and Joseph Benavidez. I’m pretty good at this move, and when I teach it in an MMA context, I always start by saying, “When you’re trying to guillotine in the cage, you have to do it on your own accord. You can’t hang around your neck and hope you can choke as the other guy slams you to the canvas—you’re never going to get caught.” someone good you do.”
Franco confirmed that it was not good.
Next was Niko Priceanother retirement struggle. I will not say a single bad word about the “Hybrid” which was legal back in the day. Unfortunately, “his day” ended around 2019.
His opponent, Leon Shahbazyan? There’s a fighter I’m happy to consider less than UFC quality. In two UFC fights, he didn’t land a single punch and looked horrified at the shots. Really, he fights like a jiu-jitsu purple belt forced into the Octagon at gunpoint. Price — age 37 after a series of severe knee injuries and countless brutal losses — struck him with absolute ease.
Next up was the best match of the “Preliminaries”, two really skilled and talented fighters in a good division. Unfortunately Ismael Bonfim showed a real disrespect for the sport and a general lack of professionalism by dropping an astonishing eight pounds.
fortunately Francisco Prado kicked ass, but massive weight cuts are a staple of regional MMA.
Finally Julius Walker the square Gerald Meerschaert in a fight that is emblematic of the UFC’s current roster woes. Walker is a great athlete who signed with the UFC just 6-0. As a result, he has the physical tools but not the technical skills, and it’s hard to develop that experience in the cage in a division where everyone has striking power. Meanwhile, “GM3” has the same problem as Niko Price: He’s been in the game too long. 19 years and 60 professional matches take their toll on everyone.
The result? A vaguely sad knock and Apex’s second retirement of the night.
It’s never been less about making the UFC roster, not when the undercards like it UFC Vegas 122 is completely satisfied with cheap thrills. The featured athletes were old or inexperienced … and definitely disposable. While the main card was a significant step up, the first half of the night was indistinguishable in quality from random fight events around the world.