We're Back With Another LineStar Weekly Knockout!

Written by LineStar contributor, combat sports enthusiast, and practitioner, Chris Guy.

Instagram: @therealsethgeko & Twitter: @DadHallOfFamer

Damn. The MMA community took a massive L last Sunday night. Figuratively, the fight was over as soon as they signed the contracts. Literally, the fight was over as soon as Tyron Woodley came out in a stance like he was about to set a new personal record on the B-Dubs mechanical bull. It was evident very early that the Woodley who showed up on fight night was a Woodley all too familiar to MMA fans. He was a dead ringer for the guy whose whole career could be attributed to a right hand that constantly dug him out of holes that his incessant passivity dug for him.

Both of T-Wood’s fights against Wonderboy looked exactly like Sunday night. Except Woodley pulled out a draw and a suspicious Valero win after landing a Hail Mary right hand in each fight that saved Woodley from two lackluster decision losses and preserved his title. Go check out the Demian Maia fight; it’ll look familiar too.

So what can we take away from this debacle? You can’t always win in life, but you can choose how you go out. Always remember: You can tell how hard a person fought by how they fall. When you go out on your shield, you end up face down. When you go out retreating, you end up on your back. But when you don’t make a move at all, you end up with an I Love Jake Paul tattoo, begging for a rematch one minute after an opportunity you just squandered. Go out on your shield, homies.

Derek Brunson (+145 ) vs Darren Till (-175)

Brunson: DK: $7.4k | Till: DK:$8.8k

Dareen Till’s high striking I.Q. gained him acceptance into an exclusive group of nerds formed to battle the Alpha Betas, a fraternity of jocks, at Adams College. Till’s striking is elite, and his ability to manage range is in league with the best in the UFC. He’s able to attack from the outside and stay beyond the opponent’s reach while using subtle footwork to remain in a position to land counters. Pay attention to Till’s lead hand. A southpaw, Till doesn’t often use his lead hand traditionally as a jab. More often, he uses the lead hand to prod the opponent’s defenses, feint and illicit reactions, measures distance, and as a distraction like a viper using sinuous motion to hypnotize before it strikes.

It’s all to set up his piston-like left hand. Till’s offense relies heavily on his left hand, and he uses it as a multifaceted strike. He uses his left hand straight down the middle, as an uppercut, over the top, as a traditional hook, and as a counter when he slides out of the pocket. When opponents over pursue, Darren will turn the left hand into a counter elbow that opponents run right into. With the left hand comes the left round kick. Darren has a heavy left round kick that he throws to the head often, but he doesn’t use it in combination with his hands; it’s always a single shot.

Back to Darren Till’s high striking I.Q: It’s a gift and a curse. Till’s major malfunction is that he often overanalyzes and falls victim to paralysis by analysis. His I.Q. is so high that he spends too much time calculating and not enough time attacking. At times he will feint himself into inactivity and lose close rounds by getting outworked. If Till increased his output consistently, he would be a major title threat, but he’s too reliant on single strikes and poking and prodding with his lead hand instead of using it to jab to kick start attacks. As the fight goes on, you’ll notice Darren Till’s offense becomes very predictable and one-dimensional; his style becomes left-hand or bust.

Till has an excellent 18-3-1 professional record, including a 6-3-1 UFC record, but he has lost three of his last four bouts, the most recent L coming to Robert Whittaker a year ago. Against Brunson, Darren Till will have to make sure not to move in straight lines. He has to use lateral movement to make it difficult for Brunson to blitz him and push him up against the cage. Till’s takedown defense against the cage and in the open mat is pretty solid, but he isn’t dynamic on the mat. “The closed guard is dead in MMA”- Dean Thomas, UFC analyst, and veteran fighter. Darren tends to use the closed guard too much on his back, and all that does is ensure that you won’t get back to your feet. Darren has to keep the fight standing and at kickboxing range where he can land his nasty left hand.

Derek Brunson is 13-5 in the UFC since 2012, a quiet under the radar eighteen fights in the promotion. He’s on a four-fight winning streak, his last loss coming in 2018 to Israel Adesanya. When Brunson wins, he wins big with fifteen finishes in twenty-two career wins. The opposite is also true; when Brunson loses, he loses big. Five of his seven career losses have been via TKO/KO. Brunson is rarely beaten on the mat; his losses usually come on the feet to more technical strikers who can matador Brunson’s aggression.

Watch Brunson’s fight against Robert Whittaker. It’s only four minutes, but it encapsulates his entire career. He had Bobby Knuckles out on his feet after engaging recklessly and chasing Whittaker around the cage, pinwheeling his arms. Then, like Wile E. Coyote, he ran off a cliff and into a Whittaker right hand, and then a left, and then a head kick, and then it was a wrap. Wrap it up, B.

Offensively, Brunson is an underrated striker, but defensively he’s a Ben Askren, face down waiting to happen. A southpaw, Derek has an unassuming rear round kick that he uses to chip away at the body and legs. He throws his kicks as long-range attacks, leaning back and striking with an extended leg rather than landing his shin at a forty-five-degree angle like a traditional Thai short-range round kick. Also, Brunson’s left hand is a piston, and he almost exclusively fights from outside the pocket.

Derek Brunson has two ways to approach this fight, old school D.B. or new spin-off D.B. It’s like 90 Day Fiance and 90 Day Fiance The Other Way (that’s two weeks in a row). Spin-off Brunson showed up in his last two bouts against Edmen Shahbazyan and Kevin Holland. Brunson slow-played those fights and used his wrestling to control and dominate both Shahbazyan and Holland. Brunson actually KO’d Shahbahzyan twice, once at the end of the second round and once twenty seconds into the third round after Herb Dean turned into Doughboy from Boyz n the Hood, “wanna see a dead body?” Herb refused to stop the fight when Edmen was virtually out cold as the buzzer sounded. It was like hitting the snooze button for an extra minute of sleep. Shahbahzyan was caught in an Inception-type alternate reality; he got knocked out in a dream inside a dream of him getting knocked out. He woke up on a plane stuck on a layover sitting between Billy Mays and Michael Jackson with David Carradine serving cocktails and peanuts.

Old School D.B. wakes up and takes meteor showers and uses lava rocks as a loofah. Vintage Brunson will chase you around the cage like a serial killer swinging haymakers instead of kitchen knives. Weaponized chaos is old school D.B.’s best weapon. During chaotic exchanges, Derek is at his best and his worst. He can overwhelm and finish you, or his aggression gets exploited, and he’s the one waved off. His left hand is a fight changer, but his right hand falls to his waist, and he leads with his chin up in the air. Brunson also has excellent wrestling in the center of the Octagon or against the cage. If he locks his hands behind you and you meet the minimum height requirements, you’re going for a ride.

Against Darren Till, Brunson needs to implement a mixture of both versions of himself. He needs to create chaotic moments to open up his takedowns. Till is hard to take down in the open mat; Brunson will have to get Till retreating and use the forward momentum to press Till against the cage and work trips. Brunson tends to be inactive from the top position and is all too happy to win rounds by holding the opponent down and maintaining control. This time around, Brunson needs to use active ground and pound from the top to wear down Till because Brunson will likely have to make up for a disadvantage on the feet.

A lot is riding on this main event. The winning streak sits at eight and seventeen of the last eighteen after Giga Chikadze put on a striking Master Class against Edson Barboza last weekend. A dub here would tie the previous Weekly Knockout main event winning streak record and set up a monumental tie-breaker in two weeks. Darren Till will have the best shot at scoring a finish. If Brunson wins, it will likely be by accumulating top control time for the duration. For Darren Till to win, he has to finish the fight. Darren Till via TKO, round three.

Winner: Darren Till | Method: TKO Rd.3

Tom Aspinall (-250 ) vs Sergey Spivak (+200)

Aspinall: DK: $9k | Spivak: DK:$7.2k

I’ll keep this as short as this fight is likely to be. This one has a high likelihood of ending in the first round/early second, and if you wear your special Weekly Knockout decoder glasses, you can peep the spoiler below and who will receive a write up for sleeping on the job:

Kavips Yegres

It’s simple, Tom Aspinall is 10-2, and the only fights that went past the first round were his two losses. He is on a seven-fight winning/finishing streak, and all wins have come under a minute and a half except his last bout against Andrei Arlovski, which lasted a minute into the second round. Aspinall is a promising young heavyweight prospect that moves a lot like Ciryl Gane. His hand speed is possibly the best in the division, and his pure boxing is also. Aspinall uses intricate boxing techniques like shoulder rolls, stepping off at angles, and striking while moving in all directions. He mixes those boxing techniques with kickboxing hand/kick combinations, and he’s no slouch on the mat.

When I was a kid, I collected cereal box tops until I had enough box tops to send in for the prize on the back of the Lucky Charms. I would check the mail every day for four months until it finally arrived. That’s the kind of hand speed that Sergey Spivak is working with, cereal-box-top hand speed. He relies mostly on takedowns and heavy top control to chip away with intermittent ground and pound while hunting for submissions. The key for Spivak will be closing the distance and fighting in a phone booth against the cage. He has to test Aspinall’s cardio, as Aspinall has never seen the third round.

I’d be shocked like Marv from Home Alone if Spivak pulled this off. Like I was last week when I used elegant calligraphy to write off Gerald Meerscheart (I even made a shart joke), who went on to submit Makhmud Muradov in the second round. Tom Aspinall via TKO, round two.

Winner: Tom Apinall | Method: TKO Rd.2

Alex Morono (-135) vs. David Zawada (+115)

Morono: DK: $8.7k | Zawada: DK: $7.5k

As I’m writing this, fights are falling all around me, and I may get trapped in the rubble. The card is down to just ten fights after originally scheduled to have fifteen. This one right here will be an awkward banger. Both fighters have unique, awkward styles, and should lead to someone looking like they’re searching for a contact lens on the mat while the ref waves them off.

If you remove Alex Morono’s fight against Khaos Williams—which lasted three seconds longer than a shot clock violation—he’s a deceptively good striker who has faced tough competition with thirteen appearances in the UFC and accumulated an 8-4-1 record. He lost a competitive fight to the former lightweight champ Anthony Pettis in Pettis’s last UFC bout last December and rebounded this past May to TKO the Everlast heavy bag, Donald Cerone.

Morono has an active high output style and can surpass the one hundred significant strikes mark in a fifteen-minute bout. He bounces around the cage, maintaining good lateral movement, and is somewhat reminiscent of Joe Lauzon. Morono flares his elbows out in his stance, which Zawada can take advantage of with body kicks and punches from either stance. Morono has an educated lead hand, a double major, and uses it to manage distance and set up his cross. Butt Morono needs to engage on his terms, avoiding any prolonged exchanges in the pocket or anything resembling a firefight. Zawada will have a distinct power advantage, but Morono tends to hurt opponents with combinations and sneaky shots they don’t see coming.

David Zawada is a better fighter than his 1-3 UFC record would suggest. I thought Zawada's biggest mistake in his last fight was eating Taco Bell the night before and stopping at a Valero in the middle of the Nevada desert to use their facilities to deal with the aftermath. He was robbed against a very strong grappler and highly touted fighter, Ramazan Emeev.

Zawada is all power all the time, throwing heavy overhands and wide hooks while looking down at the mat. He makes fights ugly by inducing bleacher scraps in the clinch, on the feet, from his back, or top position. In the Emeev fight, Zawada was able to defend much of Emeev’s takedowns and showed a strong ability to get back to his feet when Emeev was able to get Zawada to the mat. He’s just scrappy and will continue to fight and stalk forward no matter what.

Morono has twelve finishes with nointeen career wins, and Zawada has finished fifteen of his seventeen career wins. Have one of these guys on your roster Saturday night. Zawada is a more vanilla striker with good aggression and will have a power advantage; Morono is a more diverse, awkward striker with better hand speed and slightly better output. Neither fighter will shy away from a firefight. David Zawada via TKO, round three.

Winner: David Zawada | Method: TKO Rd.3

Modestas Bukauskas (-155 ) vs Khalil Rountree (+130 )

Bukauskas: DK: $8.5k | Rountree: DK: $7.7k

Khalil Rountree is 1-1 against the Sloane brothers after fighting them both in an underground Muay Thai circuit in the late 80s in Bangkok, Thailand. Rountree defeated older brother Eric—the reigning kickboxing world champion at the time—by second-round TKO in dominating fashion. With his eyes set on vengeance for Eric's humiliating defeat, younger brother, Kurt, fought his way to the top of the rankings and challenged Rountree’s throne.

Rountree accepted Kurt Sloane’s challenge but with stipulations. The bout was to be fought in accordance with ancient tradition; the hands bound in cloth and dipped in glue and glass. Despite Eric’s protests, Kurt accepted the stipulations and fought the man the Thai people called “Tong Po” in what was potentially a fight to the death.

It was a back and forth affair, both men bloodied all over their bodies where the glass tore gashes in their skin. Ultimately, Kurt finished Rountree with back-to-back jumping, spinning roundhouses to the face. Khalil may have conceded revenge to Kurt Sloane, but that was not the end of Khalil’s chapter. He went on to fight for the greatest fight promotion the world has ever seen, the UFC. This weekend, Rountree will be making his eleventh UFC appearance after competing on The Ultimate Fighter.

Khalil Rountree has nasty classical Muay Thai and fights out of the Tiger Gym in Thailand. Rountree attacks the legs from either stance inside and out and uses an upright, squared stance that allows him to generate power with both hands, like having two crosses instead of a typical jab and cross. He uses basic combinations, mostly 2-3s (cross-hook) and 3-2s (hook-cross), and fires his left hand like Ken Caminiti firing a strike across the diamond from the seat of his pants. Rountree’s left hand is a missile, and his left round kick destroys anything left behind.

Rountree’s major malfunction is his lack of movement; he’s flatfooted and moves only in straight lines forward and backward. As a result, he tends to take a lot of damage and often finds himself suspended on a ladder fifty stories up in the air in a firefight. It will be important for Khalil to cut off the cage against Modestas Decimus Meridius, aka Modestas Bukauskas, and not get caught chasing Bukauskas around the cage.

Modestas Bukauskas reminds me of a mix between Dollar Tree versions of Andrei Arlovski and Alexander Gustafsson. His bilateral movement is similar to Gus's, and his short, heavy right hand is reminiscent of a young Arlovski. Modestas is 1-2 in the UFC and has an overall record of 11-4 with ten finishes, eight via TKO/KO. This is the perfect fight for Bukauskas; Rountree will force him to get out of his comfort zone and fight more aggressively, or he will get eaten alive by Rountree’s left leg and left hand.

Bukauskas has traditional European kickboxing, which barrows many traditional boxing techniques and mixes them with kicking techniques. He’s long and uses his jab well from the outside while constantly taking laps around the cage; he never stops moving laterally, looking for angles to engage and level change. His constant lateral movement also works against him, though. Oftentimes, Bukauskas doesn’t set his feet, rarely sitting down on punches, and tends to lack power because of it.

The key for Modestas will be closing the distance and pressing Rountree up against the cage to work trips to gain top control. Khalil will want to fight in the center of the cage, while Modestas should look to make him fight on the fringes. Bukauskas is coming off back-to-back losses and will be fighting with the added urgency of fighting for his job.

I like the chances of a finish for both of these guys. Khalil is also coming off of back-to-back L’s, and if he comes out and pushes the pace, this could turn into a Maverick and Ice dogfight. Complete coin flip. Modestas Bukauskas via TKO, round three.

Winner: Modestas Bukauskas | Method: TKO Rd.3

Luigi Vendramini (+120 ) vs Paddy Pimblett (-145)

Vendramini: DK: $7.9k | Pimblett: DK:$8.3k

This is a showcase fight for Paddy Pimblett. He’s a highly touted young prospect out of England with a 16-3 professional record and most recently fought for the Cage Warriors promotion. Pimblett is a slick, creative grappler with a Shaggy Scooby Doo haircut that helped him win Best In Show at Westminster a few years back. Paddy has a win against UFC veteran Julian Erosa and doesn’t lack cage experience, but no lights shine brighter than those of the biggest promotion on earth.

The problems I see for Paddy are physical; he looks flimsy, lacks sturdiness, and looks like he hasn’t reached his man strength yet at age 26. I bet Paddy brushes his teeth with his eyes closed. His strikes lack power and tend to bounce off their targets, and Pimblett mostly arm punches like the wavy arm inflatable guy outside of a carwash. On the feet, Pimblett lacks a solid base, fundamentals for building more advanced techniques, offensively and defensively. Fighting effectively with low hands is the privilege of elite strikers with an intense understanding of range, movement, and footwork. Paddy uses a low hand position with little ability to implement any of those things, and at this level, you have to have well-rounded skills to fall back on when your specialty doesn’t work.

But… if this kid gets top control, it’s only a matter of time until he takes your back and sinks in a rear-naked choke. Pimblett has seven career submission wins, including a flying triangle that he pulled off in a Cage Warriors title fight. Paddy likes to work underhooks against the cage to secure body locks and trips and relies on maintaining top position to win fights. Although he has a solid guard, Pimblett isn’t as good from his back when the fight wanes; he slows down and closes his guard, and takes heavy damage.

Luigi Vendramini will be Pimblett’s first UFC dance partner. Vendramini has a 1-2 UFC record and lost a close decision to the kickboxing specialist Fares Ziam in his most recent appearance. On the feet, Vendramini will have a serious power advantage and is overall the better striker. Boarding on wrestler striking, Vendramini uses basic combinations, mostly 2-3’s and 3-2’s, and tends to close the distance behind power hooks and right hands. He doesn’t put punches together very well—like we saw last weekend with Tyron Woodley—and tends to push them rather than snapping them. But Vendramini throws one hundred percent bombs and has brief periods where he says “F it,” and just starts throwing wild hooks all over the cage. He needs a big moment, a fight-changing strike, to change the tide in most of his fights.

Vendramini is no slouch on the ground, either. He has a power double in his back pocket to keep fighters honest, and he has a heavy top game. But the last place he will want to end up is on his back. Paddy’s just too good there, so Vendramini needs to sell out on defending takedowns and getting back to his feet at all costs. If Vendramini can keep the fight standing for long stretches, I think he can land something heavy and take control late.

Fantasy-wise, Pimblett has a ton of submission value, early and late, while Vendramini has finished all noine of his professional wins, five TKO/KO’s, and four submissions. I don’t see Vendramini scoring a finish though, if he wins, it will be a late comeback after surviving the first round from his back and taking Pimblett into deep waters late. If Pimblett wins, it’s likely to be by submission. Paddy Pimblett is the early (-140) favorite, and I’m feeling a little froggy right meow. Did you just say meow? Actually, on second thought...Paddy Pimblett via rear-naked choke, round three.

Winner: Paddy Pimblett | Method: Rear Naked-Choke Rd.3

Prelims

Highlighted Matchup

Jonathan Martinez (-155) vs. Marcelo Rojo (+130)

Martinez: DK: $8.6k | Rojo: DK: $7.6k

I don’t know where this fight will land on the card; it’s definitely worthy of being on the main card just before the co-main event but is scheduled to open the card as I write this. This is a cot damn banger. Marcelo Rojo is a guy most known for his weird-ass post-fight celebration. Homie turns into a baby dinosaur, like a Barney with rabies, and runs around the cage like it’s Jurassic Park. Maybe he’s going for a Raptor? Anywho, it’s the only reason I want to see him win by some form of finish.

Rojo made his way to the UFC via South America’s premier promotion, Combate Americas, which is like the Middle East’s Brave CF promotion producing plug-and-play fighters ready to compete at the UFC level. When you see fighters debuting from these promotions, you know they have relevant fight experience. Rojo drew the killer Charles Jourdain in his debut last March and was highly competitive until the final round when Jourdain took over with extreme aggression and overwhelmed Rojo with volume on the way to a TKO stoppage.

Rojo has aggressive Brazillian Muay Thai with heavy kicks and powerful short hooks. He uses a sneaky step-in right hook out of the orthodox stance, which is a clever way to close distance deceptively, and he goes to the body consistently throughout the fight with same-side liver/head combinations. Rojo operates within boxing range and likes to punctuate hand combinations with clinch-knees.

Jonathan Martinez is a Gus Fring striker who uses only one side of his body. A southpaw, Martinez’s power side attacks are lethal, but he tends to get too predictable because his lead side strikes aren’t effective in setting up his power strikes. He’s all left hands and left round kicks. Martinez’s left hand is a laser beam, though, and his left round kick is a fight ender anywhere it lands. Attacking up the middle is an often-overlooked tactic in MMA; up the middle strikes are almost always open in every fight, but few fighters take advantage. Jonathan attacks up the middle with snap kicks and standing knees that he throws as a counter to advancing pressure.

Martinez’s major malfunction is his output. From time to time, he inexplicably goes long stretches with little offense. If he stays aggressive throughout, I like his chances to score a finish. In his most recent bout against the OG Twenty-Twen-Twen spokesman, Wavey Davey Grant, Martinez got off to a fast start in the first round but slowed down drastically in the second and was KO’d with a nasty overhand left. For Martinez to take the next step in his career, he needs to learn to put combinations together and not rely on one-punch striking so much. Hand combinations will be the key for Martinez. If he fails to use them, Rojo will get inside and cause huge problems inside the pocket.

Martinez is coming in as a sizeable (-165) favorite, making Rojo a valuable underdog prospect. Not only can Rojo land something fight-ending, but he can also outwork Martinez and steal a close decision. I’m torn on this one… Jonathan Martinez via TKO, round three.

Winner: Jonathan Martinez | Method: TKO Rd.3

Twenty-Twen-Twen Sleepers

Twenty-Ten-Twen Sleeper

I scored a solid Twenty-Twen-Twen dub last weekend with Giga Chikadze after he put on a striking master class and dominated Edson Barboza. I felt like I committed a crime, and store security would stop me on my way out the door for stealing Chikadze at plus money. But I won't rub it in any longer because I know some of you probably face-planted a Jackson on Tyron Woodley on Sunday night.

Unfortunately, there are no Giga's on this card, and I don't have a whole lot of faith in these underdogs. Dalcha Lungiambula is a massive human being and has a ton of value against Marc Andre Barriault. Barriault is the better all-around fighter, but Dalcha can change the fight with one strike at any moment. The baby dinosaur, Marcelo Rojo, can cause Jonathan Martinez all sorts of problems with his output and ability to fight in the pocket. If he can survive Martinez's kicks early, Rojo can outwork Martinez throughout the fight and steal a decision, and has a long shot at a finish. I've gone back and forth on Luigi Vendramini all week. If Paddy Pimblett can't consistently get the fight to the mat, Vendramini can take over on the feet, throwing reckless bombs against a Pimblett who has serious problems defending volume on the feet.

Pick 'Em

Molly McCann (-110 ) vs. Ji Yeon Kim (-110 )

Winner: Ji Yeon Kim

 Method: Decision 

Jack Shore (-575 ) vs. Liudvik Sholinian (+390 )

Winner: Jack Shore

 Method: Decision

Julian Arosa (+150 ) vs. Charles Jourdain (-185)

Winner: Charles Jourdain

 Method: TKO Rd.2

Dalcha Lungiambula (+135) vs. Marc Andre Barriault (-165)

    Winner: Marc Andre Barriault

 Method: Decision

Thanks for reading LineStar Weekly Knockout! We'll be back next Thursday with another one. Until then, good luck and support your local MMA Gym.

About Me

My name is Chris Guy, and I’m an avid combat sports enthusiast and practitioner. I’ve been a fan of MMA since the early 2000s when Limewire was still around, and I downloaded Bas Rutten’s Big Book of Combat. In 2004, I started training Muay Thai at City Boxing in San Diego, CA. I competed as an amateur for many years, and I've also dabbled in Jiu-Jitsu. I follow many different disciplines, such as Combat Ji-Jitsu, Muay Thai, Glory Kickboxing, Boxing, and MMA.

I’m equally as enthusiastic about the craft of writing, and in addition to writing about combat sports, I also write short fiction and music. I hope to bring unique prose to sports writing, and along the way, encourage people to not only become Martial Arts fans but to also become Martial Artists themselves.

In the future, you may see me refer to the Thunderdome; it's an ode to the old Mad Max movie and refers to the world-class training facility I built in my one-car garage. It's complete with throw dummies, wrestling mats, heavy bags, and six months' worth of Chef Boyardee cans from when I thought the world was going to end back in March. I hope you enjoy my work, and if you don’t, the Thunderdome has an open door policy.

Check out my Podcast The Whiskey (S)ick Podcast on Apple and Spotify. Parental Advisory Warning

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