UFC Fight Night: Ankalaev vs. Walker 2 tonight 01/13

[jipped genes]

Light Heavyweight	Magomed Ankalaev	vs.	Johnny Walker
Lightweight	Jim Miller	vs.	Gabriel Benítez
Bantamweight	Ricky Simón	vs.	Mario Bautista
Middleweight	Phil Hawes	vs.	Brunno Ferreira
Heavyweight	Andrei Arlovski	vs.	Waldo Cortes-Acosta

Good card all in all.

Remember the 1st fight with Magomed and JW? Eye poke and a NC. So these guys get a 2nd chance to dice it up. Mag had a draw with Jan Blanchowicz before his fight with JW. Both are strikers. JW has put together a 3 fight win streak before the eyepoke. I look forward to this one.

Miller vs Benitez Miller won his last outing vs a low level guy. He lost vs Alex Hernandez before that. Both were in 2023. They are feeding him another guy In Benitez that is tough and will stand and strike. Benitez has KO power but gets reckless and can be taken down and TKO'd. Should be a fun fight to watch.

Simon vs Bautista Striker vs grappler. Simon prefers to stand and bang while Bautista is a really good sub guy. a year or so ago I saw him land a reverse triangle/armbar sub that was real pretty. He also has heavy hands but Simon is the much better striker and has good TD defense.

Hawes vs Ferreira is also a good one. Hawes can wrestle and throw power shots that could decapitate a child (not that he would) also very heavy top pressure in wrestling and elbows are really good. Ferreira won his 5 in a row by KO/TKO before loosing his last one via KO. I like Ferreira in this one. Hawes is a beast in the 1st round but gasses, he also lost his last 2 via KO/TKO. Anyway, I think someone will nap in this one.

Arlovski vs WCA, Arlovski has not been a force since 2015 when he beat Frank Mir. But he is a name so they give him a guy with 4 low level fightis in the UFC. WCA won 3 of those, but they were all no names. Arlovski has a shot but has lost his last 2 vs unranked guys.

​

 

[MR. BMJ]

Yea, not a super exciting card, but i'm not doing anything tonight and will try to watch it. Actually, I need to check to make sure what time it starts, LOL!

Walker looked pretty impressive in his 3 prior fights, but he was getting picked a part some by Ankalaev in their first fight before it was stopped. I'm wondering if he made any changes for this fight. Their first fight was super weird, lol. Ankalaev look meh when he fought Jan, but Jan has a style that can do that I guess. This is probably the best fight on the card, but I also like....->

Simon/Bautista. Simon got picked apart in his last fight, but had a pretty good record prior to that, still does I guess. Bautista is a pretty good fighter skirting on the chance to break into the top guys.

The other fights I hope will be decent.

 

[jipped genes]

Light Heavyweight	Magomed Ankalaev	def.	Johnny Walker	KO (punches)	2	2:42
Lightweight	Jim Miller	def.	Gabriel Benítez	Submission (face crank)	3	3:25
Bantamweight	Mario Bautista	def.	Ricky Simón	Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 29–28)	3	5:00
Middleweight	Brunno Ferreira	def.	Phil Hawes	KO (punches)	1	4:55
Heavyweight	Waldo Cortes-Acosta	def.	Andrei Arlovski	Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28)	3	5:00
Welterweight	Preston Parsons	def.	Matthew Semelsberger	Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27)	3	5:00
Bantamweight	Marcus McGhee	def.	Gastón Bolaños	TKO (spinning wheel kick and punches)	2	3:29

Pretty good night of fighting. Magomed is a beast and got a $50,000 bonus to boot. Walker is an incredible fighter but his chin is suspect.

WAY TO GO OLD MAN JIM MILLER! Plus a $50K bonus. GB is a gate keeper that is dangerous. Jim is just so crafty. This was a great fight.

Bautista vs Simon. I was rooting for Simon at first but switched, the heart of Bautista and the willingness to trade made this a fun fight.

Brunno has incredible power for an undersized guy in the division. Also those throws! Hawes got put into the netherworld. Look forward to seeing more of this guy. I am thinking Hawes will be looking for a job.

WCA vs Arlovski, this was prety much a "meh" fight. WCA was clowning and Arlovski stuck to his game plan. I can tell you the crap WCA was doing did not endear him to any fans. A few moments of slam-bangery but for the most part 1 or 2 shots and back out.

Parsons manhandled MS on the ground. In the standup MS is the better striker but if you cannot keep it standing...

Congrats to McGhee, he beat Bolonos who I have had the pleasure of training with and hung out and watched the first Whit vs Izzy fight where Izzy won the belt. I was rooting for him but McGhee is a freaking mutant!

• Fight of the Night: No bonus awarded.
• Performance of the Night: Magomed Ankalaev, Jim Miller, Brunno Ferreira, and Marcus McGhee

 

[MR. BMJ]

Solid post-fight analysis...I can't add anything else, and you covered great like always

It was good to see respect between JW and Ankalaev after the fight. JW is such an awkward fighter to stand in there with. I think if he calms it down a little and gets better with the fundamental techniques of standup, he will get much better. I think he should keep some of his stuff in the fight, but he gets a little sloppy at times and it opens him up for shots or to possibly fatigue if it were to go to later rounds. Ankalaev landed 2 bombs on him, especially the follow-up punch.

Can't not cheer for Jim Miller, he did super well. If I were him, i'd try to get on the UFC 300 card, and then make it 50 fights in the cage, then end it there. That would be an amazing accomplishment. It was good to see him end it with a sub, despite winning the fight everywhere.