Written by LineStar contributor, combat sports enthusiast, and practitioner, Chris Guy. Instagram: @therealsethgeko | Twitter: @DadHallOfFamer

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Main Card

Amanda Lemos (+120) vs. Virna Jandiroba (-140)

Lemos: DK: $7.7k | Jandiroba: DK:$8.5k

Hello? Is this thing on? I feel like the Fresh Prince standing in the empty house in the series finale. I’ve never felt lonelier than I do now. The clicking of these keys seems to echo infinitely. It’s tormenting; I hear them in my sleep. I take solace in the hope that one day, these words will be discovered like King Tut’s tomb and their proper place among mankind’s great literary accomplishments given. The Great Gatsby wasn’t declared a classic until well after F. Scott Fitzgerald died in 1940, fifteen years after he wrote the classic. He died believing he was a failure. I continue typing, “click-clack, click-clack,” every word bringing me closer to such a fate. Yet, I don’t shun it; I welcome it.  

Is this the worst main event of all time? Jessica Eye vs. Cynthia Calvillo in 2020 still holds those honors. That main event is like Joe DiMaggio’s fifty-six-game hitting streak; it will never be topped. But this one is close enough to the front of the line to read the names on the jerseys. When it comes to physical attributes, this is a Pros vs. Joes matchup if I’ve ever seen one. Virna Jandiroba is the equivalent of the truck driver reliving his rec league glory years, and Lemos is the American Gladiator truck-sticking fools trying to climb that huge foam pyramid. This is The Averages Joes vs. Globo Gym. Speaking of Joes, Virna Jandiroba’s hands are sloppy Joes. On the feet, Jandiroba couldn’t hurt a feeling. She’s the complete opposite of explosive. Virna has underwater hand speed. They stall like driving a clutch. Her hands look like they're stuck in rush-hour traffic. And she moves painfully slow like the last bit of honey in the bottom of the jar. She moves like tree sap. But she has a special weapon.

She can look in two different directions at once like a hammerhead shark. Jandiroba was featured on the Discovery Channel last week. Jandi looks like Steve Buscemi is Mr. Deeds. She can’t see straight punches, only hooks. She’s like Vin Diesel in Pitch Black navigating around the Octagon. The only thing that puts fear in the heart of Virna Jandiroba is the DMV eye chart.  

“Can you read the fourth line, please?”

She starts sweating like Usher when Meek Mill isn’t at the Diddy party. Virna is the one kid whose eyes got stuck like that. Her eyes look like Kenny Smith’s legs – like they got crossed up in a pickup game. Fook snake eyes, a pair of dice roll Jandiroba eyes. Jandiroba is in talks with TLC to fill in for Left Eye on the reunion tour as Lazy Eye. Alright! Alright! You get it. Take out the trash-ass eyes. Get a job-ass eyes. Okay!Okay! Overall, Jandiroba’s stand-up is more like sit-down, and this bout wouldn’t even be sanctioned under kickboxing/Muay Thai rules. But this ain’t kickboxing or Muay Thai, and Jandi is a female Demian Maia on the mat.

Jandiroba is a Swiss Army knife when it comes to getting the fight to the mat. She is crafty with single legs and pulling guard off them. Once she gets hold of you, it’s like she welds herself to you and drags you down like an anchor. From the top, Jandi is like quicksand, the more you struggle, the deeper shit you get into. She tangles your limbs with hers, and it’s like untangling Christmas lights trying to work your way free. Virna is a back specialist, and I ain’t talking backiotomies. She has Aljo back control, and most of her thirteen career submissions are set into motion from the position. Jandi is 20-3 for her career and has one singular TKO/KO to go with her baker dozen subs. And that TKO didn’t come from strikes; it came due to an arm injury to her opponent after an armbar attempt.  

Jandiroba will have a ton of Fantasy value if she can relocate and survive the opening minutes of the fight. Weili Zhang dominated Lemos on the mat, and although Zhang is more physically gifted than Jandiroba, Jandi’s pure Jiu-Jitsu and submission game is better. Virna only averages less than two and a half SLpM. But she averages nearly two and a half takedowns per fifteen minutes, while Lemos defends takedowns at a fifty-seven percent efficiency/deficiency. And although Lemos has only been submitted once, it came by standing arm-triangle to Jessica Andrade. That’s a move you rarely see white belts get caught in. Virna can rack up control time, and if she can get the fight to the mat consistently, she will be a massive submission threat, especially in the later rounds when Lemos tends to gas.  

Amanda Lemos should come out rocking the Rick Vaughn haircut with the arrowheads in the back. She’s the UFC’s Wild Thing on the feet. “Juuuuust a bit outside.” You can catch her throwing one hundred-two mph fastballs over the backstop. Two and four-seamers are all she throws. I’ve never seen such a speed discrepancy on the feet like this before. Jandi throws underhand Beer League softballs, and Lemos is Randy Fookin’ Johnson sniping birds out of the air. This is a Michael Johnson with the gold shoes versus Kenny Smith (you thought it was over huh, Kenny?) in a foot race type of speed discrepancy. An NHRA dragster versus a city bus - stops and all.  And she has the power to match her speed. Lemos has so much power her feints are a significant strike. Like Nas only needs One Mic, Lemos only needs one punch, one punch. But none of that matters if she can’t stay on her feet.  

Lemos has that granny-in-an-earthquake takedown defense and the overall ground game of a pine box. When she’s on her back, she looks like Mason Rudolph with Myles Garrett on top of him. She couldn’t get Airikacal off her (shame on you if you know who that is). If/when Lemos gets taken down, she won’t be getting back up. This is the ultimate striker vs. grappler matchup, and each fighter will be A Stranger in a Strange Land in the other’s area of expertise, Lemos on the feet and Jandiroba on the mat. Lemos is 14-3 with eight TKO/KOS and three subs and averages three and a half SLpM. She will have a 50/50 shot at ending the fight in the opening seconds, but as the clock ticks, her chances to win will diminish gradually, then fall off a cliff come the championship rounds.  

Jandiroba will be the (-140) favorite, and Lemos will be the (+120) live-ass dog – live-ass for all of two rounds. After the ten-minute mark, the takedowns will likely become easier to land for Jandiroba. Lemos can shuck off one or two early attempts, but after that, it will be difficult for her to create space and defend. The play for Lemos is a TKO/KO finish. There is a path to a decision if the takedown well dries up on Jandi and Lemos picks her apart on the feet, but a decision will more likely favor Jandiroba controlling rounds with top control. The play for Jandiroba is a submission. She will likely secure back control multiple times and have several opportunities to finish with a rear-naked choke.

I know what you’re thinking: The best part of this main event is over. I appreciate the sentiment, homies.

“We ain’t your homies, pawtna!”

The main event dub streak now sits at three after Thug Rose handed Tracy Cortez her first UFC loss. Maybe now that it’s over, a homie can find some Coco Butter on the shelves at CVS (Rite Aid if you wanna be a Richard about it). This one is tough. It always seems when you take the grappler, they can’t score a takedown, and when you take the striker, they can’t stay on their feet. I’m gonna roll the Jandirobas and hope she can get the fight to the mat ASAP. Virna Jandiroba via rear-naked choke, round four. On wax.  

Props

Jandiroba: TKO/KO (+1600) Sub (+225) Dec (+240) 

Lemos: TKO/KO (+215) Sub (+1400) Dec (+500)

Winner: Virna Jandiroba | Method: Rear-Naked Choke Rd.4

Brad Tavares (+150) vs. Jun Yong Park (-175)

Tavares: DK: $7.2k | Tuttle: DK: $9k

“I like tuttles.” The Iron Tuttle is back. Jun Yong Park is part of the WKO starting five of my favorite fighters. He looks like a Ninja Turtle who fell off the wagon. My man looks like a married Ninja Turtle with a wife and kids. He’s an epilogue Ninja Turtle. He looks like a retired Olympic platform diver. But don’t let any of that fool you. If it wasn’t for judges, the Iron Tuttle would be riding a five-fight winning streak. Yes, even retired Ninja Turtles can get got and shaken down for their dubs at the infamous Valero in the middle of the Nevada desert. This time out, the Iron Tuttle will be up against Brad Tavares, a veteran foot soldier with scraps dating back to 2010 within the UFC. Looking at the main event, my hopes for an Iron Tuttle headliner seem more viable than ever. But Park will have to beat a guy who has faced every level of competition within the middleweight division, including four past/current champions.  

On the feet, the Tuttle has unassuming boxing. His hands sound like puddles when they land. The Tuttle can generate a ton of power with short, straight punches and devastating hooks. Everything the Tuttle does is subtle, from his slight head movement off the centerline when he exchanges to his short, choppy steps to set up angles. The jab is the Tuttle’s best weapon; he kneads your face like pizza dough, then hand-tosses you in the clinch after he has closed the distance. Although the Tuttle is a sneaky good striker, his specialty is old-school ground and pound from the top position where he beats on you like Congo drums. He’s the Travis Barker of pan flute bands from the top position, banging out crunchy little grooves with hammerfists and elbows. He beats you like a home invader while looking to finish you off with chokes.

The Tuttle’s special weapon is the guillotine choke. They use the Tuttle’s guillotine choke in Guantanamo Bay. He latches on and kinks your neck like a fookin’ bendy straw when he gets hold of you. The Tuttle has more Guillotines than Raekwon, the Chef, and them. Only Built 4 Korean Linx, the Tuttle uses guillotines not only to finish fights but also to defend takedowns, reverse position, and just to be a fookin’ Richard and disrupt your breathing. Overall, the Tuttle is a sneaky good grappler, even from his back. Trying to hold the Tuttle down is like cops trying to arrest someone on Meth. It takes the whole precinct to control the Tuttle on the mat. He has reverses like Uno cards and never lets his shoulders touch the mat.  

The Tuttle is 17-6 for his career with five TKO/KOs and six subs and averages four and a half SLpM to Tavares’s three and a half. Park also averages nearly two takedowns per fifteen minutes. But getting the fight to the mat won’t be easy. Tavares’s takedown defense is eighty percent for his career. This fight will remain close if the Tuttle doesn’t stay committed to his ground game. While he can stand and bang with anyone, the Tuttle usually separates himself from his competition on the mat. His value will be in strikes landed and possible control time with a good shot at a late finish. The Tuttle’s last three dubs came via submission, and Tavares’s two most recent losses came via TKO finish.  

Brad Tavares is like buying a car back in the day without power windows, no CD changer in the back, cloth seats, and hub caps instead of rims. He’s a stock fighter. But he’s reliable and will get you to the dance with plenty of room in the backseat. Na’h mean? Two fights ago, Tavares re-crippled Chris Weidman. He gave Weidman a lifetime of front row preferred parking and the master bathroom stall in any Valero. Unfortunately, that was his only dub in his last four fights. Most recently, my man got got by Deebo, had his bike stolen and was left with a black eye for his troubles. But he was highly competitive before his abrupt ending in the third round. It’s rare that Tavares isn’t competitive. In 2022, I thought Tavares beat the current Champ, Dricus Du Plessis.

Tavares is the veteran presence in the locker room. He’s like CP3 team-hopping to stay in the league. He’s Jake Taylor in the movie Major League just hanging on. I'll stop beating off the bush and beat on it. Is that how the saying goes? Anywho, Tavares is a “You shall not pass!” Gandolf gatekeeper and I don’t use that term as a pejorative. Fifteen years in the game is a massive accomplishment in this sport. Brad Tavares is a gatekeeper like Mr. Burns’s Dobermans. “Release the hounds!” He is a well-rounded fighter with no glaring holes in his game, and overall, he’s just good enough not to be good enough to beat the elite in the division. Tavares is 20-9 with five TKO/KOs and two subs. As you can see, one of the biggest knocks against him is his finishing rate. He has the finishing rate of a bottle of Jim Beam and dates that look like Raul Rosas Jr. “Chiwiwis!”  

The Tuttle will be the (-180) favorite, and Tavares will be the (+155) live dog. Tavares can win this fight if he can stay on his feet. He has tight, technical kickboxing and can out-point the Tuttle over fifteen minutes. But he won’t light up the Fantasy scoreboard while doing so. He has only landed one hundred strikes or more once in his twenty-four-fight UFC career, which came back in 2013. In an exclusive stand-up fight, the best you can hope for is Tavares to land between sixty to eight significant strikes with little chance of scoring a finish. The play for Tavares is a decision, and the play for Tuttle is a TKO/KO. You already know I didn’t come here to pick against the Iron Tuttle. Jun Yong Park via TKO, round three. Put it on wax.  

Props

Park: TKO/KO (+400) Sub (+700) Dec (+150) 

Tavares: TKO/KO (+700) Sub (+2200) Dec (+215)

Winner: The Iron Turtle | Method: TKO Rd.3

Seung Woo Choi (+120) vs. Steve Garcia (-140)

Choi: DK: $7.6k | Garcia: DK:$8.6k

Steve Garcia’s offspring were fighting like Targaryens a couple of weeks ago. Garcia claims Mel Costa, Shayilan, and Chase Hooper as dependents on his taxes. He received the Child Tax Credit after he son’d all those guys in his last three fights. You want a fookin’ sleeper, Steve Garcia is HIM. He’s that dude. Don’t let his looks fool you. He looks like he has been shot at and missed, shit at and hit. He looks like he has been through a lot and fights like he’s seeking retribution. This fookin’ guy is John Wick looking for the people who killed his dog. This guy has been one of the best-kept secret undercover sleepers since his debut in 2020. Just when you think he’s going to get his ass kicked, he turns the tables like interior decorators and pulls off some shit like Amber Heards’s housekeepers changing the bedsheets. Get ready for another Steve Garcia wild-ass five to ten-minute banger.  

Steve Garcia is on a helluva run. He ran over Chase Hooper like Pete Rose did the catcher in the All-Star game. He looked like a train, and Hooper looked like Matt Hughes. Most recently, he had Chris Tognoni hitting a switch to defend a takedown against Mel Costa after Garcia left Costa so out of his wits that Costa was shooting doubles on the ref. Steve Garcia is aggression over everything. He comes out like Johnny Storm made three shots in a row, and now he’s dunking from half-court. Garcia is all madness and no method. Hit that Gary Jules “Mad World!” Bad Kid, mAAd City. Garcia fights like 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Boom! He fights like he’s parked in the red. He comes out swinging like John Daly minus the mullet. Steve Garcia would chew his leg off to get out of a heel hook – chew his arm off to get out of an armbar like a fookin’ badger caught in a trap. Beez in the Trap. Buzz you like new recruits with shins upside your head, as soon as you hear that, “Ding! Ding!”  

Garcia is a chaos fighter who throws nothing but wild haymakers on the feet. And he usually takes an early ass-kicking before he starts finding his stroke. But dude is Hard to Kill like Steven Seagal and usually breaks opponents with insane pressure. Garcia is 15-5 for his career with twelve TKO/KOs, and... that’s it. Homie doesn’t bother with subs; he wants to knock your ass out. Garcia will be an all-or-nothing Fantasy option. He will either win by TKO/KO or lose by TKO/KO. His aggression and avoidance of technical and fundamental techniques leave him wide open for counters. In fact, his opponent, Seung Woo Choi, has Garcia’s kryptonite clutched in his fists.  

But Seung Woo Choi will have to pour gasoline on his boots because he’s about to walk through hell. He will have to turn that Woo into a Woooooo! On some Rick Flair shit. Turn that Woo into a Wu and protect his neck on some Wu-Tang shit. Hit that Cypress Hill “How I Could Just Kill A Man!” Because that’s what Choi will have to do to Steve Garcia to win this fight. But one thing working in Choi’s favor is his right hand. It was manufactured specifically to fit Garcia’s chin. His right hand comes as an accessory with Garcia’s action figure. At its most simplistic, this is a private school versus public school matchup. Choi is the square in this equation; he knows the difference between a salad fork and an entre fork. He punches with his pinkies up. He’s a prude striker. He colors inside the lines. He doesn’t sniff the Sharpies. Choi fights painfully inside the box and lacks creativity, but he has fast, straight, and technical boxing. His hands will have plenty of room to operate between Garcia’s wide haymakers.

The biggest knock against Choi is that he’s too technical to the point of looking robotic. He never seems to reach a flow state, a time when he’s fighting on instinct. The best fighters have a mix of technique and unorthodoxy – something that makes their style unique. Choi doesn’t have that. He’s straight up and down. But this matchup is tailor-made for his style. He can beat Garcia down the middle with superior hand speed all night. But-but, Choi lacks killer instinct, like he is squeamish and doesn’t like the sight of blood. In noine UFC bouts, Choi only has one finish. He is 11-6 for his career with six TKO/KOs, and... That’s it. No subs. It’s all stand-up with Choi.  

Steve Garcia is the (-140) favorite, and Choi is the (+120) live-ass dog. Choi will definitely be worth the Fantasy risk. Garcia will run right into some Choi right hands. The only question is, can he land a kill shot before Garcia’s pressure breaks him down? The play for both fighters is a TKO/KO finish. This might be the closest to a guaranteed finish on the card. And that’s because of Steve Garcia’s kill-or-be-killed style. I didn’t come here to pick against Steve Garcia. Steve Garcia via TKO, round two. On wax.  

Props

Garcia: TKO/KO (+120) Sub (+800) Dec (+750) 

Choi: TKO/KO (+180) Sub (+1800) Dec (+800)

Winner: Steve Garcia | Method: TKO Rd.2

Kurt Holobaugh (+115) vs.Kaynan Kruschewsky (-140)

Holobaugh: DK: $7.5k | Kruschewsky: DK: $8.7k

This card was supposed to feature Dan Ige vs. Chepe Mariscal as the co-main event, but Ige pulled some epic shit and stepped in against Diego Lopes on fifteen-minute notice at UFC 303. Then Mariscal was to fight Damon Jackson, and that fight fell through. Anywho, this fight gets a bump up from the prelims and should be a grimy little affair. Kurt “Don’t Call Him Kirk” Holobaugh won the Ultimate Fighter when he stuffed Austin “Old Mother” Hubbard into a cupboard last year and is currently on his third stint in the UFC. And Kaynan Kruschewsky, I know very little about other than if you stick a bat on the ground, put your forehead on the handle, and run around in circles for ten seconds, then squint at him, he kind of looks like a prequel Bobby Knuckles - like he played childhood Robert Whittaker in Whittaker’s biopic. I say all that to say: Who knows wtf will happen in this one?

Kurt Holobaugh reminds me of a throwback Matt Lindland, a grimy-ass mf. Lindland was famous for not bathing for the week leading up to the fight, so he would smell like swamp ass when he ground against you. You could douse yourself in tomato sauce, and it still wouldn’t get his stench off you. Holobaugh looks straight out of the Spike TV era of the UFC; he has an old MMA soul. He looks like the classic junior college wrestler turned MMA fighter. And my man rocks a skunk shart on his dome, and in my experience, kids with the skunk shart hairdo usually had to eat bag cereal, Vienna sausages, and ham olive loaf growing up, and they’re quite bitter and ready to swing on you at the slightest perceived affront.  

Kurt will combine respectable boxing and a Diddy top game with slick submissions, including triangle chokes and armbars from the bottom. That will be handy because his takedown defense is like orthopedic shoes and hip replacements. Check it: Holobaugh rocks a forty-six percent takedown “defense.” I don’t know if Kruschewsky can wrestle, but there’s a path to victory against Holobaugh from the top position as long as he uses heavy ground and pound so Holobaugh can’t throw up submissions. Holobaugh’s biggest advantage will be experience. He has been in the Octagon against some big names and far better talent than Kruschewsky has.  

Vitamin D deficient Bobby Knuckles is back after a first-round TKO loss in his short notice debut against Tree House of Horror Eddie Bravo, Elves Brenner. Homie face-flopped on the mat like he was trying to do a front flip off the low dive after a Brenner grazing left hook. He looked like McBain going in for a closer inspection to confirm that his shoes were tied, “On closer inspection, these are loafers.” I can’t say I was overly impressed with Kruschewsky in that fight. Something about him looks unstable, like Travis Brown. Brown always looked like he was rocked from the moment he stepped into the Octagon like he was on Bambi’s legs. Kind of rickety, like a Jenga tower. I get that same impression when I see Kruschewsky fight. And on top of a wobbly base, he has dial-up hand speed. I’m talking, his hands are slow like helmets and clubbed feet. But the good thing about setting the bar so low in a debut is that the only way is up. That’s a Life Uno reverse card right there.   

Kruschewsky is 15-2 for his career with four TKO/KOs and... I had to double check... noine submissions. I haven’t seen his ground game but he has five guillotines and four rear-naked choke finishes. And he isn’t a TLC scrub on the feet. He is technical and can outpoint Holobaugh if the fight stays standing. The ground games could cancel out or the advantage could go to whoever can get the top position first. 

Kruschewsky is the (-135) favorite, and Holobaugh is the (+115) live-ass dog. Maybe the oddsmakers know more about Kruschewsky than I do. One thing is for sure: he’s a finisher, having finished thirteen of his fifteen career dubs. The play for him is getting Holobaugh down, taking his back, and locking in a rear-naked choke. Holobaugh isn’t quite a killer, and he doesn’t crush a lot, but he has big-fight experience. As a straight-up dog pick and a high ceiling Fantasy option, Holobaugh has a ton of value. But something tells me there’s more to Kruschewsky than has met the eye thus far. Kaynan Kruschewsky via decision. Wax on, wax off.  

Props

Kruschewsky: TKO/KO (+350) Sub (+450) Dec (+275)  

Holobaugh: TKO/KO (+350) Sub (+700) Dec (+350)

Winner: Kaynan Kruschewsky | Method: Decision

Bill Algeo (-165) vs. Doo Ho Choi(+140)

Algeo: DK: $8.9k | Choi: DK:$7.3k

The Superboy is back. Although it’s been eight years since Doo Ho Choi won a fight. “Oh No! Mr.” Bill Algeo might be the wrong one you want to face when trying to get off the schneid. Now that I’m looking at it, you can call this the Kyle Nelson Sloppy Seconds Bowl. Choi was lucky to pull out a draw in his most recent bout against Kyle Nelson, and Algeo got TKO’d for the first time in his career against him. These two have Kyle Nelson heart tattoos on their lower backs. One of these guys will have a new name to add to the piece after this one. This will be another guaranteed stand-up banger, and although this card doesn’t have many sexy names, the matchups should produce fun scraps. 

I can’t help it, but when I see Doo Ho Choi, I see Baby Fark McGee Zax, “The greatest gangster this universe has ever seen, riiiight.” He may not be very “Super” anymore, but he still looks like a boy. Choi looks like he wears Thomas feety pajamas with Bluey underoos and sleeps in a racecar bed. He looks like he still puts baby teeth under his pillow – like he still gets free happy face pancakes at IHOP. But don’t get it twisted, Doo Ho ain’t one. You can call him Childish Gambino, but he’s still the last kid in the sandbox you want to pick a fight with. He’ll hit you with the ooh-op, the ol’ 1-2, and knock you out of your Lightning McQueen Crocs real quick. He’ll have you laid up in the nurse’s office with an icepack on your eye real fookin’ quick.  

Doo Ho Choi’s style is a lot like Seung Woo Choi’s. He’s a straight-up-and-down kickboxer with tight, straight punches. But he might be too fast for his own good. He relies so much on his hand speed that he never developed any defensive instincts. He could get in and get out with ease. But eventually, he ran into a level of competition that could neutralize and counter his speed. Choi is just too hittable. And he has freshman P.E. wrestling. He’s out here getting taken down by band geeks just trying to keep a 4.0 average. He rocks a fifty percent takedown average, and I don’t know if Algeo can wrestle, but it wouldn’t take much to get Choi to the mat. But Choi’s biggest red flag is that he has only fought once since 2019. And when he says he’s been in camp since then, he means sixth-grade camp. Choi is 14-4-1 in his career with eleven TKO/KOs and one sub.  

Whenever I think of Bill Al’s fights, I think of circuses and carnivals, clowns and bearded ladies, and Bill Algeo is the ring leader with a little flower that squirts water in his lapel. I don’t know what it is about his style, but it’s kind of unserious yet highly effective. Maybe it's because he’s so lanky and janky. His hands seem to extend forever like clowns piling out of a Fiat. His arms are so long they get tangled like old-school headphone cables. Unless you had zipper headphones. Or maybe it’s his Rex Kwon Do mall karate style. He’s Rex’s Danielson. This is the guy who used karate to get up and out of the mall and still goes back to shop, never forgetting where he came from. Or maybe it’s his cadence – that of the wavy-arm blow-up guy flopping around out front of the fifteen-minute oil change spot. Whatever it is, Algeo always puts on a show and is worth the price of admission.

Algeo’s major malfunction is a lack of power. Although he has long, accurate hands, they fray like iPhone charging cables. He has Tempur-Pedic hands – memory foam hands. It sounds like a Three Stooges scene when Algeo starts throwing hands, nothing but bonks, boinks, and cymbal crashes. Algeo has less power than the Amish people. His style is death by one thousand bops on the head. But Algeo uses his range well and reminds me of Bruce Leeroy. He can stand and bang with Choi, but I think Algeo’s best path to victory is on the mat. He is far from a takedown savant, but he has sneaky good Jiu-Jitsu and has more career submissions (seven) than TKO/KOs (four).  Algeo is 18-8 for his career and will be the higher output striker, averaging six SLpM to Choi’s just over four and a half. 

Algeo is the (-160) favorite, and Choi is the (+140) live dog. Choi can win this fight if any of the 2016 Choi is left in him. Back when he was in fight-of-the-year wars against the likes of Cub Swanson. He still has speed and will be the more technical striker against Algeo. The play for both guys is a decision, and both are solid Fantasy options. If Algeo doesn’t try to wrestle (and even if he does) this will play out mostly on the feet, and the pace will allow for high significant strikes. But I didn’t come here to pick against Bill Algeo. Bill Algeo via decision. Put it on wax.  

Props

Algeo: TKO/KO (+600) Sub (+500) Dec (+140)  

Choi: TKO/KO (+400) Sub (+2000) Dec (+350)

Winner: Bill Algeo | Method: Decision

Prelims

$7k Value Menu

Bruno Silva ($7.9k): Bruno Silva will be up against Tyler Durden’s little brother, Cody, this weekend. Cody fights like an anarchist, creating nothing but disorder and chaos in the cage while thumbing his nose at any resemblance of authority. Although Bruno Silva is no chump on the mat, this will be a wrestler vs. striker matchup. Silva is track six on the Chronic 2001, Xxplosive. Regarding physical attributes, this is a complete mismatch on the feet. Bruno’s hands are faster than your first time, and he has plenty of spinning and flying techniques that often change the tide of a fight in a blink. Bruno also has solid grappling, averaging over two takedowns per fifteen minutes. But Durden averages nearly five per fifteen minutes. Both fighters struggle to defend the takedown, averaging within the sixty percentiles. Durden will have to control the top position for fifteen minutes, and Silva can end the fight at any time on the feet. Bruno isn’t a high-output striker, but he’s won three in a row by finish. His upside is a finish, but his downside is limited striking output if he ends up on his back consistently.

Amanda Lemos ($7.7k): The potential for an early TKO/KO finish is worth taking a risk on Lemos. On the feet, this will be like a Little Leaguer stepping into the batters' box against Shohei Ohtani. Lemos’s speed and power will be overwhelming. And if Jandiroba struggles (even for a minute) to get the fight to the mat, this one will be over quickly. And every round begins on the feet, so Jandi will have to rinse and repeat, shooting singles and pulling guard for twenty-five minutes if she can’t get Lemos’s back and sink in a choke. This fight could look like Lemos vs. Dern, in which Dern struggled to get the fight to the mat, and Lemos dominated on the feet. The only problem is that Jandiroba has far better/more diverse takedowns than Mackenzie Dern. In that fight, Lemos only landed forty strikes in fifteen minutes.  

Doo Ho Choi ($7.3k): Win or lose, Choi vs. Algeo will be a stand-up clusterfook which should result in high striking stats for both fighters. Choi will be the far more technical/traditional striker, and his straight, clean punches will cause Algeo all kinds of trouble. The key for Choi will be closing the distance – getting inside Algeo’s long side kicks and floppy noodle punches. If he can close the distance consistently, his hand speed and short combinations will win the day. Choi will provide you with a stable Fantasy option that is almost guaranteed to put points on the board with only a small chance of being finished early.  

$6k Bathroom Clearance Rack

Brian Kelleher ($6.9k): Kelleher is the only item nearing its expiration date on the clearance rack this week. But he isn’t a bad option. Kelleher will face Cody Gibson, a nifty little striker and an all-around decent fighter. I could say the same about Kelleher, but Kells has a specialty. Like the Iron Tuttle, Kelleher is handy with guillotine chokes. This guy pulls more gillies than Dustin Poirier. Kelleher averages six guillotine attempts per fifteen minutes (fabricated stat), and Gibson is known for getting a little sloppy and leaving his neck exposed when he level changes. Kelleher is riding a three-fight losing streak, but he has faced nothing but killers in that span. He will be a long shot as a clearance option, but there is a path to victory for him. This will be a firefight from bell to bell, and anyone can get got in a firefight.  

Twenty-Twen-Twen Sleepers

Bruno Silva (Even): This card is filled with nothing but toss-ups. Silva will be an even-money dog against Cody Durden, but a dog, nonetheless. Silva is an athlete with explosive striking. Every moment spent on the feet will favor Silva, and he’s no TLC scrub on the mat. He lacks takedown defense, but he’s only been submitted once in twenty career fights. This will be a dog-eat-dog scrap from beginning to end, and Silva will have plenty of opportunities to finish the fight on the feet.  

Amanda Lemos (+115): This will be a coin-flip wrestler vs striker matchup. Head: Lemos finishes the far inferior striker Jandiroba on the feet. Tails: Jandiroba gets Lemos to the mat and dominates the top position with a shot at a finish if she can get Lemos’ back. Within the opening minutes, we will know who will win this fight. If Jandiroba can’t score an early takedown, she likely won’t be able to last long enough on the feet to secure them late. This is the female version of Bruno Silva vs. Cody Durden, an explosive athlete vs. a kid who played tee ball for only one year and got stuck out in right field.  

Pick ‘Em

Cody Durden (-120) vs. Bruno Silva (Even)

Winner: Bruno Silva

Method: TKO Rd.3

Jeong Yeong Lee (-195) vs. Hyder Amil (+165)

Winner: Jeong Yeong Lee

Method: Decision

Brian Kelleher (+190) vs. Cody Gibson (-230)

Winner: Cody Gibson

Method: Decision

Miranda Maverick (-225) vs. Dione Barbosa (+185)

Winner: Dione Barbosa

Method: Decision

Loik Radzhabov (-130) vs. Trey Ogden (+110)

Winner: Loik Radzhabov

Method: Decision

Luana Carolina (-100) vs. Lucie Pudilova (-115)

Winner: Luana Carolina

Method: Decision

Mohammed Usman (-150) vs. Thomas Petersen (+130)

Winner: Mohammed Usman

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 polic1