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

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Main Card

Brandon Moreno (-170) vs. Amir Albazi (+150)

Moreno: DK: $8.5k | Albazi: DK:$7.7k

Don’t cry for me, I’m already dead – Barney Gumble. 

Sometimes, the hardest thing to do in life is turn the page – accept the fates of your favorite characters and begin a new chapter, lest you become Anne Wilkes, with an axe poised overhead, demanding your favorite author rewrite their fates. How could you do Bobby Knuckles like that? Place him in the chair of a demented orthodontist and reset his lower teeth with a forearm across his jaw. And Max? Just months after recording the most iconic KO in UFC history, you do him like that? - asleep with his eyes open. They say when you die with your eyes open... What does the epilogue have in store for us? A Brandon Moreno loss, his third in a row, within seven days of losing two GOATs on the same night? The ax comes down - once, twice. 

Name a more brutal sport than this in which your favorite athletes can achieve a higher terminal velocity after a fall from the top. The highs are Hunter S. Thompson pulling up in the Red Shark in front of the Flamingo, and the lows are the equivalent of the depths that bish in the Ring crawled up from. But that’s also what makes this sport so great. No other has more at stake – every second spent in the Octagon is a risk, carnal.  

(Turns the page) 

It’s been a while since we’ve seen the little Mogwai, Amir Albazi. It’s been over a year since he lobbied for a dub against Kai Kara-France. My man set up multiple NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and funded the judges with dark money, an Albazi Super PAC. Albazi used mail-in ballots to steal the decision. His most recent dub is nothing more than an extremist conspiracy theory. They’ve spent the last year trying to impeach Albazi’s last dub. But he’s still standing here screaming f**k the Free World! WKO Rule #2, just below “Never bet on OSP,” is “Never apologize for a dub." Albazi remains undefeated in the UFC with a 17-1 career record. 

A dud is a dub, but major malfunctions can be exposed even in victory. I realized I was watching Albazi through a pair of lager colored beer locs. All wasn’t what it seemed. I liken him to a Betty who loses her eye brows when it rains – like a Picasso, his features are little off. Homie is a ten in the club and a five in the Uber. He’s like getting home and finding out her name is Kaitlyn. He looks like Tracy Cortez at the bar and Amir Albazi in the morning. Homie has very technical skills but they’re almost too technical. I don’t see dangerous when I see Amir Albazi fight. He can finish non-ranked fighters with the quickness, but I think he’ll struggle within the top ten.  

Albazi is good at using his wrestling to disrupt the flow of fights and make shit awkward. Awkward, like bumping your favorite 90s R&B/Rap artists since the Diddy Files dropped. Awkward, like seeing your ex, and she’s dating a chef at Chili’s, and you’re still working the omelet station at HomeTown Buffet. He can front run on the mat and submit low-tier fighters, but when he couldn’t get Kara-France down, Albazi struggled. His striking is too one-dimensional to rely on it entirely. He went from a submission Basquiat to a point wrestler. Albazi is more position-over-motion of the ocean. Yo! Hit that Aaliyah “Rock The Boat!” If the boat ain’t a rockin’, the Jehovah's Witnesses stay a knockin’. This is how I see the Moreno fight shaping up. Moreno has never been finished. I see Albazi using his wrestling to steal rounds with control time. 

But don’t get it fooked up like Deion’s toes. Albazi is from Iraq, so he is used to being blamed for shit he didn’t do and fights with a chip on his shoulder, a fookin' Boulder, Colorado on his shoulder. He has Original Recipe crispy kickboxing and sneaky hand speed. But his overall style travels along the wrestler striking spectrum, and he doesn’t quite have the dynamic Michael Chandler right hand to cover distance. Brandon Moreno is the better striker. Moreno is more diverse, utilizing kicks, and he has a boxer’s jab. Albazi averages under three SLpM to Moreno’s just under four and averages just over one and a half takedowns per fifteen minutes, the same as Moreno.   

There’s a term in combat sports: Fight like a Mexican. The Mexican style of fighting is synonymous with going out on your shield. There are only two ways for a Mexican to leave the cage or ring, victorious or in a body bag. Mexican fighters are known for making up gaps in skills with pure heart. Brandon Moreno has that Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom heart, still beating in a MF’s hand after it’s torn from his chest. You can stake it, fillet it; you can hit it with the Five-Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique, and it goes right on beating. Someday, Brandon Moreno will be buried in a Heart Shaped Box. Hit that Nirvana! No matter what you do to him, Moreno’s heart will go on, on some Celine Dion type-ish. This MF has more heart than a deck of cards. 

And often times, that’s the difference between victory and defeat for Moreno. He’s rarely the better, faster, or more explosive athlete. He makes up for his deficiencies with being unbreakable. He can simply overcome more pain and adversity than his opponents. That’s why he is a two-time World Champion with two stoppages over Deiveson Figueiredo. Moreno can compete with Albazi anywhere Albazi wants to take the fight. Both fighters struggle defending takedowns, Albazi averaging a forty percent takedown defense to Moreno’s sixty-three percent. Moreno can use his striking to set up takedowns and flip the script on Albazi, who is used to be the superior wrestler/grappler.  

The red flag for Moreno is that he’s lost two in a row and didn’t look like himself against Brandon Royval in his most recent appearance. It looked like he had lost a step. Albazi could be getting Moreno at the right time, at the beginning of the downside of Moreno’s career. Moreno will be the (-160) favorite, and Albazi will be the (+135) live-ass dog. In his last two bouts, both five-round main events, Moreno landed over one-hunnid significant strikes; he can strike for volume. Albazi was out-struck by Kara-France noinety-nine to forty-three, his only five-round fight, and has a career-high of sixty-eight. Without a submission, Albazi's Fantasy value is minimal. The play for both fighters is a decision. 

Last week... I don’t know how you had it scored, but I had Max up 2-0. It could have easily been 1-1. Max was looking good. His jab was causing Topuria problems early and often. But it only takes Topuria one shot to change the tide of any fight. My only question about this one is, what will Albazi look like after over a year outside of the Octagon? You can improve a lot in that span. But I have to ride with the Mexican, the former two-time champion. Brandon Moreno via decision. Put it on wax.  

Props

Moreno: TKO/KO (+350) Sub (+800) Dec (+140) 

Albazi: TKO/KO (+1400) Sub (+900) Dec (+225)

Winner: Brandon Moreno | Method: Decision

Rose (+110) vs. Erin Blanchfield (-140)

Rose: DK: $7.8k | Blanchfield: DK: $8.4k

Erin Blanchfield is still running face-first into Manon Fiorot punches - has been since their main event matchup back in March. She plays chicken with punches and never turns the wheel even a fraction of a degree. I mean, there is no head movement, and then there is Erin Blanchfield no head movement. Where the f**k is Edmond Tarverdyan when you need him? Head movement! Head movement! Erin Blanchfield is Mrs. Pacman eating all the punches and setting new high scores. She has head movement like squinting to see the bottom line on the eye chart at the DMV. She runs into punches like birds fly into windows. She should be the spokeswoman for Windex. Against Manon Fiorot, it looked like Blanchfield glitched. Her corner had to hit the reset button, take her out, and blow on her like an NES cartridge. The whole fight looked like a like a gif, the same three seconds stuck on repeat.   

But I digress. Erin Blanchfield is still a bad mother-shut-your-mouf. At least she is when she can implement her wrestling. Whether on the feet or the mat, Blanchfield’s style is pressure. She pressures you like when the bills are due. She has that peer pressure, pressure. Blanchfield rocks First Team All-Shelly Marsh honors. Her brother rolls around the playground with impunity like he has Secret Service protection. Erin Blanchfield will double-leg a sniper’s bullet. She is a bully. She will cut the rubber bands in your G.I. Joe’s stomachs and dress up your X-Men in Barbie clothing. Blanchfield is the female Sid from Toy Story, mixing and matching your parts with those of past opponents once she gets you to the mat. Ass-whoopin' over position; that’s Blanchfield’s style. You can criticize her striking, but you can’t criticize her aggression and willingness to take risks. When the bell rings, Blanchfield goes for it.   

Yo! Hit that Bone Thugs and 2Pac “Thug Luv!” And pour me a little bit of that Thug Passion, baaybeeey. One part thug, one part lady; that’s that Thug Passion. Rose Namajunas went from Rose Bone, to Thugs N’ Roses, to Chappell Rose. She’s turning back the clock like daylight savings time. If she ain’t a GOAT, who is? To be a GOAT you have to beat a GOAT, and she did that... four times. She has two dubs over Joanna and Weili Zhang. There is nothing left for her to do. So, why is she still doing it? Because she can. Legacy. A second title at a different weight class is undeniable. In life, become undeniable. They say don’t fly too close to the sun, but Rose is already approaching Mercury. 

This fight is simple for Rose. She has to trust her grappling. Her grappling has always been criminally underrated, especially her anti-wrestling. Rose has Elvis Presley defensive grappling chops. She was submitted early in her career by Carla Esparza, but that was ten years ago. No one has submitted her since or even come close. Blanchfield averages two takedowns per fifteen minutes, and Rose’s takedown defense is just fifty-noine percent. That isn’t a good look. But Blanchfield didn’t record a single takedown in her last two bouts and forty minutes of cage time. She put up an Aaron Judge 0-3 against Manon Fiorot and went 0-14 against Taila Santos. Blanchfield’s wrestling seems to have a defined ceiling. Rose can stay upright by keeping off the cage and using volume to keep Blanchfield's head ringing like Dr. Dre – keep her nodding like a yes-(wo)man. 

Blanchfield will be the (-130) favorite, and Rose will be the (+105) live-ass dog, shitting and pissing value all over your freshly Swiffer’d floor. And Rose ain’t the first dog that shitted on your linoleum floor! Three hundred and sixty-five; that’s the number of days out of the year that Rose dominates the striking. As long as she trusts herself. Sometimes, an imposter Rose, a Coachella hologram of Rose, shows up in her stead, and she fights apprehensively. But I think Blanchfield’s aggressive style will bring the dog out of Rose. The play for both fighters is a decision. This has split-decision written all over it like chagrin written all over the faces of Topuria haters last weekend. Rose via decision. Bust out the pumpkin spice Yankee candles and put it on wax.  

Props

Rose: TKO/KO (+650) Sub (+1600) Dec (+180) 

Blanchfield: TKO/KO (+1600) Sub (+450) Dec (+140)

Winner: Rose | Method: Decision

Derrick Lewis (+150) vs. Jhonata Diniz (-175)

Lewis: DK: $7.6k | Diniz: DK:$8.6k

This one will be a Nat Geo two-part special presentation – two walruses battling for a spot on an iceberg. For the first time in four straight fights, Derrick Lewis won’t be fighting a grappler. Instead, he’ll be up against a former Glory kickboxer Jhonata Diniz. They use Diniz’s hands to mine lithium, and they use the radioactivity in Derrick Lewis balls to power the entire West Coast. The UFC thinks they’re slick. They're still holding out on a Lewis vs. Rozenstruik main event. But I’m a Cowboys fan, so I can hold out hope even against dire odds.   

Jhonata Diniz looks like a reimagining of Al Capone – like a more gangster Al Capone. I like my gangsters to not get indicted on federal charges and sent to prison. In many ways, Diniz is a gradient Derrick Lewis – they just moved the slider to the left. They both have sneaky hand speed for big guys and are rare heavyweights who can instigate a firefight. Diniz’s hands sound like Lizzo cannonballs from the Olympic platform, perfect tens across the board when they land. A one-hundred-square-mile radius is turned into a splash zone. They have to set up tsunami sirens in Iowa when this guy starts throwing bombs. Diniz generates so much power because he is anchored to the floor. Homie plods around the cage like he’s rocking cement shoes. He has Bigfoot footwork. Diniz leaves prints embedded in the mat like T-Rex's. They can recreate Diniz’s fights based on the footprints he leaves behind in the Octagon. But the slow, plodding style allows Diniz to sit down heavily on all his punches, and when he lands, people burst like pipes in the winter. 

The red flag for Diniz is his ground game. His ground game’s level map is almost entirely blacked out. He sent out some explorers late in his last bout against Karl Williams, and it wasn’t pretty. He looked completely lost on the mat. They had to call his parents over the intercom, and security held him in a little room until they showed up. Don't completely rule out Derrick Lewis turning into Khamzat Chimaev early and trying to get Diniz to the mat. Diniz’s ground game might not come into play in this fight, but it will in the future. Diniz is 8-0 with seven TKO/KOs and averages four SLpM compared to Lewis’s two and a half. Diniz’s superior output will allow him to steal close rounds if neither can score a finish.   

Derrick Lewis’s balls overheat after every fight like his radiator went out. His balls take decades to cool down like nuclear reactors. Nobody has caught more bodies inside the Octagon than Derrick Lewis. Yo! Hit that 50 “I’ll Whoop Your Head Boy!” Derrick Lewis has a higher body count than Odysseus in the Odyssey. He’s a production factory of ass-whoopin's. He sells ass-whoopin's in bulk. Derrick Lewis is the Costco of ass-whoopin's – no membership required. This guy racks up frequent ass-whoopin' miles. He has a 750 ass-whoopin' rating and qualifies for a black card. Lewis can buy a fookin’ island with all the ass-whoopin' miles he has racked up over the years. There isn't a man on earth or an extraterrestrial within the Milky Way who Derrick Lewis can’t knock out.   

The good news for Lewis is that he won’t have to worry about spending energy defending takedowns. He can get back to throwing hands and that sneaky lead leg high kick. It ain’t pretty, Lewis’s high kick. Lewis is oddly nimble for his size and won’t hesitate to throw some flying scissor kicks just to remind you that shit ain’t sweet. It’s actually quite bitter. Lewis’s Fantasy value is single-pronged; his value will always be in a TKO/KO finish. Without a finish, Lewis is a Fantasy dud; he doesn’t strike for volume. Lewis’s career-high striking total is just fifty-three, and that came almost ten years ago. It’s TKO/KO or bust when you sign D. Lewis to a fight night contract.   

Diniz will be the (-170) favorite, and Lewis will be the (+150) live-ass dog. Lewis is a perennial live-ass dog. A Hamilton on a Lewis TKO/KO is always in the mix. But without a finish, Diniz will run away with the punching stats and, subsequently, the judges’ scorecards. Diniz is the far more technical kickboxer, whereas Lewis needs to draw him out into a street fight. I’m not sure I see that happening, though. I say all that to say this: I think there’s some value in playing a decision for Diniz. He can definitely finish Lewis, but I can see this shaping into a slow-paced kickboxing match after the first round. It always hurts picking against Derrick Lewis. Jhonata Diniz via decision. Put it on wax.   

Props

Lewis: TKO/KO (+215) Sub (+2800) Dec (+750) 

Diniz: TKO/KO (-120) Sub (+2000) Dec (+700)

Winner: Jhonata Diniz | Method: Decision

Caio Machado (-150) vs. Brendson Ribeiro (+130)

Machado: DK: $8.5k | Ribeiro: DK: $7.7k

Brendson “Don’t Call Him Brandson” Ribeiro has a Death Wish like Charles Bronson. His fights are like the ball dropping on New Year's Eve: 10... 9... 8... All he’s missing is the frozen Richard Clark (Dick Clark if you want to be a Richard about it) talking head sitting cage side in a fishbowl. His fights are the last ten seconds on the shot clock. The entire fight is the two-minute drill. Ribeiro is a master at the no-huddle offense. Ribeiro has twenty-two career fights, and, for better or worse, sixteen of them ended in the first round. Recently, it’s been for the worse, as Ribeiro has lost two in a row. As has his opponent, Caio Machado. This is a walking papers scrap. Loser goes to the PFL or Bellator. The stakes are high, like they marinated in the Thunderdome for an hour before throwing them on the grill.   

Brendson Ribeiro fights like he’s running the one hundred meters. He doesn’t get paid by the hour. His fights are usually quicker than military showers. On the feet, Ribeiro swings like he’s drowning; he flails. His corner has to throw the lifesaver into the cage when he gets to winging wide haymakers. Wendy Peppercorn jumps into the fookin’ cage when Ribeiro starts slangin’ hands. This guy plays Russian Roulette with only one chamber empty. That's that Chamber Music. Hit that Wu-Tang shit! Ribeiro’s arms are longer than DMV lines – longer than Pinocchio’s nose while reading the news. His hands earn a free international flight with the flyer miles they rack up on the way to the target. And if he gets hold of you, you’re gonna have a bad time. He throws you in the air and hammerfists you on the way down. He tosses you like old-school trashmen. He tosses you like Jazzy Jeff. Tosses you like salads. Wait... whut? No Diddy.   

Ribeiro is 15-7 with noine TKO/KOs and six subs. He will have a clear advantage on the mat, but he can’t be trusted to take it there like Magomed Ankalaev. He likes to bang and only level changes during emergencies. Ribeiro is a dual threat on the mat; he can submit you or TKO/KO you with heavy ground and pound. Ribeiro is 1-2 in the UFC and two of those fights ended in the first round. His Fantasy value will be a finish. Without one, he will likely be a Fantasy dud. He only landed seventeen significant strikes, while recording three takedowns in his last bout. He’s like the Yankees who rely on the home run to score and can’t manufacture runs.   

Caio Machado lost to Don’tale Mayes in his last bout, and that’s not a good look like Bronny in the NBA. I mean, Don’tale Mayes was out there stylin’ on him. Hotdogging, putting his hands behind his back like Roy Jones. Don’tale Mayes is out here catching strays. He’s just chilling, watching Ida’s Kitchen, and a WKO stray lands in his lap. Machado’s major malfunction is that his hands are like minivans in the fast lane. People honk and drive by, flipping his hands the bird.  

“Hey! Get out of the fast lane, buddy!” 

“I ain’t your buddy, pal!” 

People tailgate his fookin’ hands. His hands are slow, homies. And Machado seems to do just enough to lose. He’s a walking D+. Machado looks like he’s the best fighter at his gym and doesn’t get tested enough. Overall, his style is technically wild. He looks like a technical striker, but he gets out of pocket like Gold Diggers. Hit that Kanye shit! And he has head movement like he’s wearing one of those dog lampshades around his neck.   

Machado is 8-3 with four TKO/KOs and two subs and averages six SLpM compared to Ribeiro’s three. If he can keep the fight standing, he can win rounds with his volume. But Mick Parkin took Machado down three times, and Parkin’s wrestling isn’t as explosive and technical as Ribeiro’s. Machado will be the (-150) favorite, and Ribeiro will be the (+130) live-ass dog. I think Ribeiro is the more dangerous fighter with a higher Fantasy upside. But Machado can put up better striking stats, barring an early finish. He landed seventy-six strikes in his first two UFC bouts and over one hundred on the Contender Series. He’s a more reliable scorer, but Ribeiro is an early finishing threat. I struck out on dogs last week, but I won’t stop picking them. Brendson Ribeiro via rear-naked choke, round two. On wax. 

Props

Machado: TKO/KO (+180) Sub (+800) Dec (+275)  

Ribeiro: TKO/KO (+350) Sub (+650) Dec (+550)

Winner: Brendson Ribeiro | Method: Rear-Naked Choke Rd.2

Mike Malott (-270) vs. Trevin Giles (+220)

Malott: DK: $9.2k | Giles: DK:$7k

Mike Malott, aka the Canadian Psycho, went from Patrick Bateman to Jason Bateman real quick in his last bout against Neil Magny. My man disappeared like Evan Tanner with a minute left in the fight. Homie fell off a cliff like Gavin Escobar. Flat Earthers site Mike Malott in the third round as their most convincing evidence. He could’ve won a gold medal in the Olympics for that dive – a perfect ten. As it turns out, Malott is good at being the Diddy but not at being the Meek. Malott looked like he put in his two weeks' notice between the second and third rounds and said, “F**k it. I ain’t doing shit. What are they gonna do? Fire me?” I didn’t have Hamilton on a Malott submission... Yeah, I had a Hamilton on a Malott submission. And I’m still bitter.  

Again, I digress. All that’s old shit, and we’re bout that new shit here at the WKO. Malott vs. Giles should be a crunchy little undercover banger. Trevin Giles is perplexing. He is really good, but finds ways to lose. He’s got some of that Tony Romo in him. He looked good in the first round against the Apocalypto savage Carlos Prates in his last bout and was winning the fight up until he got KO’d. Kind of like Max last weekend. They call Giles “The Problem,” but his last two opponents had the solution. Giles has been finished six times in the UFC, and he was probably winning at some point in all of them. He even had Dricus Du Plessis rocked for a second. 

Giles’s major malfunction is his hand speed. It’s too fast for his own good. He went through training mode and put all his attribute points into hand speed. His hands leave comet trails when he throws. His hands have rice rocket exhaust and sound like a John Deere lawnmower when he floors them. His hands have governors like rental cars. But other than hand speed, he lacks everything: footwork, head movement, and any kind of defensive prowess. Also, Giles needs to let his hands go. If they come back to you, they’re yours. If they don’t, it never was. Hit that DMX “Let Me Fly!” Giles just doesn’t let his hands go enough. He has no feel for the flow of the fight and seems to chug along at the same half-speed regardless of the scenario. But he has sneaky power and has been in the cage with some real killers.   

If third-round Mike Malott shows up in the first round, it might be an early night for him. He looks like he rocks bathrobes and Hush Puppies in public. But that bathrobe is tied with a black belt. But after about fourteen minutes, that black belt turns back into a white belt. Before his debut, I thought Malott was more of a striker than a grappler. But the opposite is true. This guy’s list of submissions is longer than a BJ’s restaurant menu. Homie is 10-2 with four TKO/KOs and six subs – a one-hunnid percent finish rate. In four UFC bouts, Malott has dominated opponents on the mat. He went straight Pat Bateman, flexing in the mirror on Magny while in the top position for nearly three full rounds. Yo! Hit that MJ "Man in the Mirror!" But then Mike Malott turned into Mike Malittle; he got reversed with a minute left and straight-up played dead like a bear attack.   

Malott also has slick stand-up but lacks power. I would give Trevin Giles the edges on the feet. His hand speed and power will cause Malott problems. Malott is no TLC scrub on the feet, but his path to victory will be putting Giles on his back. But that won’t be easy. Giles rocks a seventy percent takedown defense and is generally hard to get to the mat. After the Magny fight, I don't know what to think of Malott. He was exposed like birthday suits. And after his betrayal, I have trust issues now.   

“It didn’t mean anything. I just gassed. I swear. It’ll never happen again. I was hanging out with Paulo Costa, and he brought boxed wine... The next thing I knew, Magny was on top of me.” 

I’ve heard it all before. Fool me once... Malott will be the (-260) favorite, and Giles will be the (+215) live-ass dog. I’m pumping the brakes on Malott. I think this fight will be closer than the odds suggest. Both fighters can’t be trusted like farts after a Taco Bell run. Giles can not only win this fight, but he can finish Malott. I like playing Giles for a TKO/KO and playing Malott for a decision, riding out top control for fourteen minutes and surviving until the final bell. Fantasy-wise, there will be a ton of value in Giles as a low-tier option with a real chance to score a finish. His career high is only seventy significant strikes, but he creates a lot of potential fight-ending moments. Dammit. I’m stuck on this one. The dogs have been dogging me lately. Mike Malott via decision. Wax on, wax off.   

Props

Malott: TKO/KO (+240) Sub (+215) Dec (+350)  

Giles: TKO/KO (+600) Sub (+1800) Dec (+450)

Winner: Mike Malott | Method: Decision

Prelims

$7k Value Menu

Alexander Romanov ($7.9): This guy is a great white swimming around the Octagon. At least for the first five minutes he is. Romanov fights are like a Final Destination installment – anything can happen, and anyone within the vicinity can get got. Romanov will be up against Rodrigo Nascimento, whose specialty is also wrestling. This one will come down to who can score the first takedown. Romanov rocks a twenty-eight percent takedown defense to Nascimento’s seventy-six. But Romanov averages over four takedowns per fifteen minutes compared to Nascimento’s just over one. Romanov has the far more diverse takedown arsenal and vicious ground and pound if he can get Nas to the mat. 

Brendson Ribeiro ($7.7k): Ribeiro is a high-risk/high-reward Fantasy option this week. If he uses his ground game, he can submit his opponent, Caio Machado, or finish him with heavy ground and pound. He could even fook around and get a triple-double on the feet. But he’s gas, dip, and no brake. There will be equal odds that he gets got on the feet for him scoring a finish. Go watch his debut against Mingyang Zhang. It was a four-minute war filled with nothing but 50/50 exchanges. Ribeiro will provide one of the few finishing threats at the $7k price level this week, but he will be all or nothing if he can’t get Machado to the mat.   

Garrett Armfield ($7.6k): Sidey vs. Armfield will be an undercover banger. Armfield is a solid all-around fighter who can stand and bang and relocate the fight to the mat, where he has slick grappling and ground and pound. He will be up against “The Boy with the Dragon Tattoo” Serhiy Sidey, who is a mother-shut-your-mouth on the feet. This guy has nasty striking, using a steady mix of hands and kicks and sneaky elbows when in close range. Sidey will have the advantage on the feet, but Armfield can flip the script and ground Sidey like punishment. Armfield averages over five and a half SLpM, and Sidey averages just over five. Even if Armfield can’t get the fight to the mat, this should be a high-volume/high-pace banger on the feet and should result in solid significant strikes for both fighters. Armfield has been finished three times via submission but never by TKO/KO.   

Dustin Stoltzfus ($7.3k): You know it’s an ugly week for the Value Menu when you see Dustin Stoltzpus... I mean, Stoltzfus’s name. This guy reminds me of a True Value brand Dan Henderson, minus the H-Bomb right hand. People seem to melt when Stoltzy gets them to the mat. Stoltzy will be up against Marc-Andre Barriault, a solid all-around fighter. The striking edge will go to Barriault, but he likes to operate within the clinch and chip away with dirty boxing. That will play right into Stoltfus’s wrestling. Stoltzfus averages two and a half takedowns per fifteen minutes, and Barriault rocks a sixty-seven percent takedown defense. The red flag for Stoltzfus is that he relies on the top position to land significant strikes. If he can’t get Barriault to the mat, he won’t bear any fruit Fantasy-wise.   

$6k Bathroom Clearance Rack

The clearance rack is empty this week, homies. No partially moldy, consume within 24 hours options this week.    

Twenty-Twen-Twen Sleepers

Trevin Giles (+205): I could be overestimating Trevin Giles. When you expect the world from him, he delivers Preston, Idaho. But I’ve never seen Giles straight-up quit in the middle of a fight as we saw Mike Malott do with a minute left against Neil Magny. Giles has superior hand speed and sneaky power.  I think he will have the edge on the feet if he comes out aggressive as he did against Prates in his last bout. Giles was winning that fight, and Prates is now scheduled for a main event slot in two weeks. The key for Giles will be staying on his feet. Malott has fought as low as lightweight, and Giles began his UFC career at middleweight. Giles should have a size advantage, and he’s used to scrapping with monsters like Roman Dolidze (who Giles beat), Dricus Du Plessis, and Gabriel Bonfim.   

Derrick Lewis (+150): You already know. This goes without saying. Nobody in the history of the UFC has more TKO/KO finishes than Derrick Lewis. And this is guaranteed to be a kickboxing match for however long it lasts, so Lewis won’t have to worry about being taken down.  

Victor Henry (+110): This guy is really good. He beat Raoni Barcelos in his debut and most recently beat Rani Yahya. Henry is a slick striker who can operate out of both stances, and he will be the more technical striker against Charles Jourdain, who has fallen on harsh times, dropping two fights in a row. This will be a nip/tuck competitive fight on the feet, and I’m a little surprised Henry is the dog. Henry averages nearly eight and a half SLpM and landed over one hundred strikes in all three UFC wins. His volume will give him the edge in close rounds. Play this one for a decision.    

Pick ‘Em

Marc-Andre Barriault (-200) vs. Dustin Stoltzfus (+170)  

Winner: Marc-Andre Barriault 

Method: Decision 

Aiemann Zahabi (-120) vs. Pedro Munhoz (+100) 

Winner: Pedro Munhoz 

Method: Decision 

Ariane Lipski (+190) vs. Jasamine Jasudavicius (-230)  

Winner: Jasmine Jasudavicius 

Method: Decision 

Charles Jourdain (-125) vs. Victor Henry (+110) 

Winner: Victor Henry 

Method: Decision 

Jack Shore (+210) vs. Youssef Zalal (-250) 

Winner: Youssef Zalal 

Method: Decision 

Alexander Romanov (-115) vs. Rodrigo Nascimento (-105) 

Winner: Alexander Romanov 

Method: Decision 

Serhiy Sidey (-160) vs. Garrett Armfield (+135) 

Winner: Serhiy Sidey 

Method: Decision 

Chad Anheliger (+160) vs. Cody Gibson (-185) 

Winner: Cody Gibson 

Method: Decision 

Jamey-Lyn Horth (-220) vs. Ivana Petrovic (+180) 

Winner: Jamey-Lyn Horth 

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.