We're Back With Another LineStar Weekly Knockout!

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

Instagram: @therealsethgeko & Twitter: @DadHallOfFamer

Hello? Is this thing on? I’m likely talking to myself right meow. Most people saw the title Ketlen Vieira vs. Miesha Tate and quickly ushered this email into the trash bin without even opening it. They say integrity isn’t how you write when everyone reads what you wrote but rather how you write when nobody reads what you wrote. I'm reminded of a quote that was painted on the walls of the wrestling gym at my high school: "Those who stay will become Champions."

Main Card

Ketlen Vieira (-120 ) vs Miesha Tate (+100)

Vieira: DK: $7.9k | Tate: DK:$8.3k

It was a proverbial war when the two worst main events in UFC history faced off last month. Aspen Ladd vs. Norma Dumont came in as the slight favorite to upset the reigning, defending worst main event of all time, Cynthia Calvillo vs. Jessica Eye. It was a knockout/drag-out slobber knocker, a humdinger of a back and forth battle that featured both main events having to dig deep to stave off unconsciousness. In the end, Aspen Ladd vs. Norma Dumont was too much; they pushed a slow, boring pace that very few at this level can keep up with, and Cynthia Calvillo vs. Jessica Eye eventually wilted under the lack of pressure.

Just weeks after wrapping the dubious distinction around its waist, the new wackest main event of all time will put its title on the line against a very non-dangerous mandatory challenger, Ketlen Vieira vs. Miesha Tate.

The upstart duo is on a meteoric rise to the title and will be entering this bout with momentum firmly on its side. Ketlen Vieira will be experiencing her first main event coming off a decision loss to Yana Kunitskaya, a fight in which Vieira landed a total of seven strikes over the course of fifteen minutes. Seven. Not Seven as in Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, “What’s in the box!?” but seven as in, five, six, and seven. As in a touchdown and an extra point. As in, if you get two more sevens just like it, it’s called a jackpot.

The wackest main event of all time hopefuls will also be boasting on its side a Miesha Tate who will be fighting for just the second time in five years. Tate is coming in off of a dub against Marion Reneau, but the same questions that surrounded her return fight remain relevant before Tate’s first main event since UFC 200. How much does she have left in the tank? Has the sport passed her by?

(Vieira vs. Tate) vs. (Ladd vs. Dumont), a highly unanticipated matchup none of us has been waiting for with absolutely nothing at stake but the moniker, the worst main event of all time.

But before I go any further, I must pay homage where it is due. Miesha Tate is a former World Champion, future UFC hall of famer, and pioneer of women’s MMA. She retired from the sport in 2016 after briefly holding the bantamweight belt when she beat Holly Holm in miracle comeback fashion. Meisha is an OG in women’s MMA and became known over the years for her gritty, grimey wrestling style.

In the fight against Holly Holm, Tate was picked apart for twenty-three minutes, unable to relocate the fight to the mat. But with only a minute and a half remaining, she took advantage of a Holm mistake and got her to the ground. She wasted no time getting Holms back and submitting her with a rear-naked choke. Her grappling made her the only possible formidable foe for Ronda Rousey early in Rousey’s career. But she lost twice to Ronda.

Tate’s biggest weakness was, and still is, her striking. Meisha has international economy hands, arriving on or before January 1, 2022. When her strikes finally arrive on your doorstep, they look like the box Ace Ventura kicked down the hallway and delivered to room 311. Should the fight go to the mat, it will be an elite grappling showcase featuring world-class wrestling vs. world-class Jiu-Jitsu. But if the fight stays on the feet—as many fights between two high-level grapplers tend to do— it will feature Shaun T boxing vs. Billy Blanks kickboxing. Not so high-level. It will be a battle for top position; whoever achieves it and maintains it will win the fight.

Many would call Ketlen Vieira the female Corey Anderson or Curtis Blaydes, many meaning me. In addition to only recording seven significant strikes in her last bout that went the distance, here’s another innocuous Vieira stat: she once had four takedowns and only recorded thirteen significant strikes in a fight that also went the full three rounds. She’s the epitome of lay and pray. Ketlen only has one submission win in seven UFC bouts with a 5-2 record, but she has lost two of her last three.

Without takedowns and top control, Vieira struggles. Her standup is rudimentary and stiff, complete with pushing punches and a lack of movement. She does have sneaky power and sometimes looks the part of a decent striker, but don’t let that fool you. Tate will have a slight edge in the standup, mostly because she moves her head off centerline and attacks at awkward, unorthodox angles.

The key for Vieira will be creating damage. She racked up top control time against Kunitskaya in her last bout, but Kunitskaya out-struck Ketlen from her back, and the judges awarded Kunitskaya the dub for at least trying to do something to damage her opponent. If Vieira watches some old-school Tito Ortiz or Mark Coleman or GSP fights and learns how to incorporate strikes into her control from the top, she could be a serious force. But that has yet to be seen.

We’re streaking once again after Max Holloway survived some early scary moments and beat Yair Rodriguez last weekend. This one is as tough as any main event to put on wax. I think a finish favors Tate, possibly late, but I can also see Vieira using her size and strength advantage to control Miesha from the top for twenty-five minutes. Bust out the pleather, whips, and Yankee candles and put it on wax; Miesha Tate via decision.

Winner: Miesha Tate | Method: Decision

Michael Chiesa (+135) vs. Sean Brady (-165)

Chiesa: DK: $7.3k | Brady: DK: $8.9k

In a lot of ways, this matchup isn’t much different than the main event and features two high-level grapplers with suspect stand-up. Michael Chiesa is the definition of a horizontal fighter; he’s a position over submission pressure grappler with eleven career submissions and zero point zero TKO/KO’s. If Michael Chiesa KO’s you in a dream, he wakes up and apologizes.

I have to give the customary Michael Chiesa striking disclaimer: Chiesa’s striking is awkward and stiff, he has a very upright stance that rarely deviates from the centerline, he’s predictable, his arsenal consists entirely of circling with passive jabs from the outside and occasional 1-2’s, he leads with his face, over commits and crowds his punches, doesn’t manage distance well, moves only in straight lines, doesn’t turn his punches over, and he doesn’t defend leg kicks (or much of anything).

Chiesa wants to get the fight to the mat and methodically outmaneuver his opponents and hunt for submissions. He is relentless when he gets hold of you, willing to hold on to a body lock for an entire round if that's what it takes to get the takedown. Chiesa doesn’t use much energy with ground and pound and is mostly a position grappler, counting on the opponent making a mistake during prolonged grappling exchanges.

The problem for Chiesa against Sean Brady is that what Chiesa is good at (grappling), Sean Brady might be better at. The stand-up edge will go to Brady both technically and power-wise, but Brady is a massive dude who is well known around MMA circles to have one of the best choke squeezes in the game. So where can Chiesa win the fight? I don’t know. Chiesa is facing a classic Catch-22, slept if he keeps it standing and slept if he takes it to the mat.

Speaking of Sean Brady, Protect Ya Neck if you find yourself within a one hundred yard square radius of Sean Brady. This guy will jump on your neck and roll you into a mounted guillotine if you ask for your cheesesteak without onions. Brady is a Philly native who will crack your ass like the Liberty Bell at the drop of a sautéed pepper. Mr. Brady’s guillotine choke is well-traveled gym lore. Rumors of heads mounted on Sean Brady’s wall and rugs fashioned from the bodies covering every square inch of Brady’s hardwood floors have been circulating around MMA gyms for years. Many have claimed Brady’s living room looks like the inside of the Predator’s ship when Danny Glover scraps with the Predator in the final showdown.

But seriously, Brady’s guillotine choke is a fight-changer at any moment. He tapped Christian Aguilera with one arm. This guy just needs to get his arm around your neck, and it’s a wrap. He hunts for the choke in every position, standing or on the mat. He’s the literal definition of a choke artist, and the incomparable Wu-Tang Clan has announced the title of their comeback album is “Sean Brady Forever.”

On the feet, Brady is a classic wrestler striker with heavy power shots but limited technical abilities. He throws heavy single shots and looks to level change off them. Although I think he’ll have an advantage on the feet, Brady’s top game is his bread and butter, and he dominates specialized grapplers with stifling top pressure. It’s hard for opponents to create room to force scrambles while constantly having to defend chokes.

Brady is riding a two-fight finishing streak and has a perfect professional record of 14-0, including 4-0 in the UFC. Chiesa has a better finishing percentage, but all but one of his submission wins came as a lightweight. His only finish in the welterweight division was against Carlos Condit in 2018. Brady’s value will be in an early submission and amassed top control time, while Chiesa’s value will be in a possible late finish if he’s able to get the fight into the third round, where Brady has shown signs of slowing down. On wax, throw up the W; Sean Brady via decision.

Winner: Sean Brady | Method: Decision

Rani Yahya (-105) vs. Kyung Ho Kang (-115)

Yahya: DK: $8k | Kang: DK: $8.2k

This is a certified grappling banger. If you ran into Rani Yahya at the Sprouts olive bar and he took the last of the jalapeno-stuffed green olives, you’d likely feel compelled to talk ish. And you’d quickly find yourself cheesing, unconscious on a spiritual journey, riding shotgun in a black Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am through space on a mission to save the galaxy and the King’s bodacious daughter. Don't let his looks fool you; Rani Yayha is a veteran contract killer. Yayha has eighteen fights in the UFC and five in the WEC, which served as the UFC’s second promotion that featured the lower weight classes back in the day. He has an excellent 12-4-2 UFC record and is a perennial sleeper.

If you’ve never heard of Rani Yahya, it’s likely because he’s mostly a one-trick pony, and his style often makes for grimey three-round drawn-out grappling matches. I think of him as a smaller Demian Maia without the overhand left on the feet. Very few fighters in the stacked bantamweight division can roll and survive with Yayha on the mat. He only runs into trouble when he struggles to score takedowns and is stuck standing for the duration. His career record is 27-10-2 and features zero point zero career TKO/KO’s and twenty-one submissions. That tells you all you need to know about Yayha’s striking.

Rani wins fights in two ways, with chokes and top control. He is a patient submission-over-position grappler who slowly, methodically works his way into position to hunt for his specialty, head-and-arm chokes. Yayha will be facing the power wrestler/grappler Kyung Ho Kang, and the key for Yayha could be his guard and ability to remain active from his back.

Kang is 6-2-1 in the UFC dating back to 2013. I don’t ever remember seeing Kang fight, and I haven’t missed a UFC since UFC 37.5. Yes, 37.5. The main event was Vitor Belfort vs. Chuck Liddell. That’s a lot of PPVs I didn’t buy if you know what I’m sizzlin’. Kyung Ho is a top control position-over-submission wrestler who wins fights by controlling his opponents on the mat. He’s riding a three-fight winning streak, his last loss coming to Ricardo Ramos in 2018.

There isn’t much to Kang’s game; he has one objective, close the distance and score takedowns. He relies on the fence to work trips from the clinch and doesn’t focus much on causing damage with ground and pound. Everything is about control with Kang, and the fight will come down to who can initiate and secure the takedown first. Yayha will have the better guard and diverse submission attacks from his back, and Kang is more dependent on maintaining the top position. If this turns into a takedown stalemate, I’ll be in the attic cheesing.

Complete toss-up. Rani Yayha will provide the better submission threat, but Kang has eleven subs in seventeen career fights. The problem for Kang is that Yayha has only been sub’d once in thirty-seven career fights, and that was back in 2006. In the end, I think Kang will be able to control Yahya on the mat for long stretches and eke out a decision. Kyung Ho Kang via decision. On second thought, give me Rani Yahya via arm triangle, round two.

Winner: Rani Yahya | Method: Arm Triangle Rd.2

Taila Santos (-360 ) Joanne Wood (+270 )

Santos: DK: $9.2k | Wood: DK: $7k

This is a fight that could go a long ways in determining a possible future sacrifice to Valentina Shevchenko. Taila Santos is an aggressive Brazilian Muay Thai striker with solid trip takedowns and heavy top control. Santos has a crazy 18-1 professional record with ten TKO/KO victories and two submissions. She reminds me a lot of Miguel Baeza on the feet but with better hands.

The strange thing about Taila Santos is that she consistently has the advantage on the feet but decides to initiate takedowns and win fights with top control. Basically, she takes the easy route, and I think that’s because she knows she has a limited gas tank and needs to run some time off the clock before punting. But when you see her let her hands go, you ask yourself why the hell she doesn’t just keep it standing and knock this girl out so I can take a quick Mary Jane break? When she starts throwing hands, you start ducking and slipping and rolling in your living room.

Joanne Wood’s striking is the opposite; her striking is like Texas in the winter, no power. She throws dainty little punches and lead-leg snap kicks, and that’s pretty much her full arsenal. Unfortunately, Joanne is like the MMA Tony Romo, most known for folding under pressure. Every big fight she has had in her twenty-one-fight career, she lost. She has nifty spinning attacks and tight, technical kickboxing, but she lacks physical power and has trouble gaining her high-level opponents’ respect. The upside for Joanne is that she’s a high output striker who can win close decisions by out-working her opponents, and such instances have been a staple of her career.

I don’t see a finish for either fighter, but if you find yourself with a Fantasy gun to your head, give Joanne Wood a look. She’s coming in as a big underdog but averages nearly six significant strikes per minute. Wood could out-work Santos and has recorded over one hundred twenty strikes in each of her last two fights. But on the other hand, if Santos decides to go full Green Goblin and starts lobbing bombs at Joanne, she definitely has the power to finish the fight. But don’t count on it; Joanne has never been TKO/KO’d. Taila Santos via decision.

Winner: Taila Santos | Method: Decision

"Wavy" Davey Grant (+240 ) vs Adrian Yanez (-310)

Grant: DK: $7.1k | Yanez: DK:$9.1k

*Fight Of The Night*

 Finally, an absolute banger. If you miss this fight, you’re a Buster: Buster Douglas, Buster Olney, Buster Posey, Dave & Buster. Yanez was one of my 2020 sleeper horses, and I plan to ride him into the ground like we're at Santa Anita. Yanez is one of the best counter punchers in the promotion. May a higher being smite me down if I’m lying. I’m still typing, homies.

Adrian Yanez’s style is like mini Jorge Masvidal with a slicker pocket presence. His timing is unreal; he has the hand speed to wait for his opponent to engage and beats them to the punch. Yanez uses subtle slips in the pocket and rarely relinquishes it even when he’s under attack. Like choking up on the bat, Yanez is quick to the target with tight, short combinations and steps off at angles to find openings.

Shadowbox feints are mimicked punches thrown with the intent to get a reaction and not to land. They also act as a kind of kick-start to build momentum on your punches, adding extra speed. When you see Yanez shadowboxing in front of his opponent, he’s probing them to find an opening to attack.

I don’t want to sound like Yanez is unbeatable; he has holes. His biggest weakness is that he camps out in the pocket, surviving solely on filtering Elk dung through his socks to extract the water for sustenance. The key to beating Yanez is to use feints to draw out his counters and to counter his counters. This is chess. Adrian will lose some fights as he develops, but I think he’s a guy you’ll see in the top ten/top five at some point in his career. In fact, I hope he does lose some fights; I have no scientific measure of proof, but I think you grow twice as much from a loss than you do from a dub.

Wavey Davey, you so crazy. This dude is wild, off the leash dropping doodies in your petunias. Davey is awkward, like wiping left-handed, and reminds me of a smaller version of Jack Hermansson. He uses a wide variety of kicks, including spinning heel kicks to the calf, power teeps, and snap kicks up the middle. Grant uses wide punches and will reach into the back seat like he’s looking blindly for the CD case to load up on his power shots. His finishing move is a three-quarters shovel punch that he throws at an upward angle from his waist with either hand. His opponents never see it coming. Davey’s punches come from every angle like a minute hand. Grant will use both stances and is extra sneaky using a step-in right hook out of the orthodox stance. He steps forward with the rear foot while throwing a hook at the same time. It’s a clever way to close distance.

Grant’s biggest strength doubles as his biggest weakness. His wide low punches leave him vulnerable up the middle, and he doesn’t have much head movement to supplement his lack of a traditional hand guard. I was left rolling around in the dirt at Santa Anita after riding Davey Grant into the ground in his last bout against Marlon Vera. Vera dominated Grant and had Grant doing the Boot Scootin' Boogie two-step out on his feet multiple times during the fight.

You’ll find Davey Grant on the clearance rack stashed in the back of the store by the restrooms when it comes time to put your Fantasy roster together. Homie has Ralph Wiggum stupid power and has turned some of my Jacksons into Grants right before my eyes on multiple occasions. At the opening, he’s nearing the (+250) range, and you know that’s where the magic happens. Yanez, though, he’s a finisher as well. He's 3-0 in the UFC with three TKO/KO’s, and he scored a TKO on The Contender Series to earn his spot on the roster. I’m putting the classic win-win into play. I’m picking Yanez to win but will be dropping an Andy Jack on Wavy Davey. Adrian Yanez via TKO, round three.

Winner: Adrian Yanez | Method: TKO Rd.3

Prelims

Highlighted Fighters

Loma Lookboonmee (+140) DK: $7.4k

Holy Muay Thai Batman! Lookboonmee’s Muay Thai is art personified. She is a world Muay Thai champion from Thailand, and she has the typical Tong Po style striking. Loma’s style is rare in the UFC, a pure Muay Thai style doesn’t always transition well, but what Wonderboy represents for Karate in MMA, Lookboonmee can be for Muay Thai in MMA. She’s still young in her MMA career with only a 6-2 professional record, but the UFC thought enough of her to give her Angela Hill in her debut.

The question is Loma’s ground game. She has an impressive win against a solid wrestler in Jinh Yu Frey; Loma only gave up one takedown and showed urgency getting back to her feet in that fight. But we haven’t seen Loma for extended periods from her back, and Lupita Godinez will look to drag Loma to the mat every chance she gets. Godinez will have to be careful, though, because the Thai have sneaky leg sweeps and clinch trips, and Lookboonmee is more than capable of scoring takedowns of her own.

The next step in Loma’s evolution as a mixed martial artist is increasing her pace and overall output. She ends up in close decisions against opponents she completely dominates on the feet because she lets them hang around by allowing too much dead air between her attacks. I like Loma as an underdog against Godinez because I think Godinez will struggle to get Loma to the mat consistently, and Loma will dominate the stand-up.

Luana Pinheiro (-425) DK: $9.3k

Luana Pinheiro is a (-400) favorite for a reason; she’s going to TKO Sam Hughes. All seven of Pinheiro’s most recent bouts have ended in the first round. Other than her last fight, a DQ win against Randa Markos, Pinheiro is riding a six-fight first-round finishing streak. Luana howls at the moon; she’s wild, almost to her detriment. She puts all her nugs in one cargo pocket and swings for the fences right out the gate. She pushes an impossible pace in the first round, throwing wild kicks and punches and heavy ground and pound from the top, but it begs the question; can she keep the same pace if she can’t end the fight in the first round? I don’t know, but I’m not sure we’ll find out in this fight.

Twenty-Twen-Twen Sleepers

Twenty-Ten-Twen Sleeper

You already know what time it is; it’s Wavy Davey Grant time. I’ve hit on Davey two out of three times this year as a heavy underdog, and he’s back in familiar territory against Adrian Yanez. Davey has the awkward striking and sneaky power to cause anyone problems on the feet, but what he was known for before he started knocking people out was his ground game. I think this fight is perfect for Grant to mix in some groundwork and try to get Yanez out of his comfort zone. At (+240), Grant is in that magical odds range where Jacksons turn into Ulysses Davey Grants right before your eyes.

Joanne Wood is also coming in as a massive underdog at (+270). Likely, Taila Santos will look to take Wood down and control the fight from the top position, but if she struggles to do so, Wood can outwork Santos on the feet. Taila's striking is too judicious at times, and the low output allows fighters to hang around in fights that shouldn’t even be close. Wood can consistently hit the one hundred significant strikes mark and can steal this one if she can keep it standing. 

Pick 'Em

Tucker Lutz (+115 ) vs. Pat Sabatini (-140 )

Winner: Pat Sabatini

 Method: Decision 

Rafa Garcia (-125 ) vs. Natan Levy (+105 )

Winner: Natan Levy

 Method: Rear-Naked Choke Rd.2

Loma Lookboonmee (+140 ) vs. Lupita Godinez (-170 )

Winner: Loma Lookboonmee

 Method: Decision

Terrance McKinney (-105 ) vs. Fares Ziam (-115 )

    Winner: Terrance McKinney

 Method: Rear-Naked Choke Rd.3

Cody "Tyler" Durden (-105 ) vs. Qileng Aori (-120 )

    Winner: Qileng Aori

 Method: TKO Rd.2

Shayilan Nuerdanbieke (+225 ) vs. Sean Soriano (-285 )

    Winner: Sean Soriano

 Method: TKO Rd.2

Sam Hughes (+315 ) vs. Luana Pinheiro (-425 )

    Winner: Luana Pinheiro

 Method: TKO Rd.2

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