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

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Main Card

Petr Yan (-310) vs. Deiveson Figueiredo (+255)

Yan: DK: $9k | Figgy: DK:$7.2k

Petr Yan had a VH1 Behind the Music-like rags to riches and back to rags rise to the title and subsequent fall. He rose like a phoenix, winning seven straight fights on his path to the belt, then crashed like a River Phoenix in a gutter outside a seedy club after overdosing on success. But after losing three straight and four of five, Yan got back on his Demolition Man shit like Simon Phoenix, beating Song Yadong in his most recent bout. Yan fell on hard times. But hard times create hard people, and when your game is Survival of the Fittest, there’s always a war going on outside. Petr Yan is so back!   

Deiveson Figueiredo had a similar title run after his owner fed him after midnight in 2020. Figgy transformed from a Mogwai to a Gremlin and won the featherweight belt the same year Yan won the bantamweight belt. Since then, Figgy has only lost to one man, Brandon Moreno. After moving up to bantamweight, Figgy has won three straight fights, beating a former world Champion, Cody Garbrandt, and a recent title challenger, Chito Vera. A win for Yan or Figueiredo would mean taking one big step closer to losing to the winner of Merab vs. Umar. 

Legend has it that Yan is still defending Merab takedowns a year after their fight. Yan famously defended thirty-noine of fifty takedowns that night. Yan defended half as many takedowns as he had significant strikes. And even though Yan was officially taken down eleven times, Merab couldn’t hold him down like Ma$e and Puff. You could throw a country song at Yan: His dog could die, his wife could leave him, and you could repo his Ford F-250, and you still couldn’t get Yan down. Gravity can’t get Petr Yan down. Amid an 11.0 earthquake, Yan would ride the pavement waves like the Silver Surfer and hang ten. Defensively and offensively, Yan’s wrestling is the most underrated part of his game. Yan has sneaky wrestling because he doesn’t use traditional means of relocating the fight to the mat.   

Yan uses petty squabbles on the playground trips to get fighters to the mat. Yan has trips like suitcases – trips like Autumn. Yan stays trippin’ like wifey when she catches you using those hand towels with the fancy embroidery that aren’t to be used like hand towels but yet hang next to the fookin’ sink. Yan’s special move is the Luka Euro-step trip. We used to call that shit a travel back in my day. Yan will jump-stop into an inside trip behind his striking as the opponent covers up to defend. His M.O. is using trip takedowns to steal close rounds. But he doesn’t put much effort into maintaining top control because his striking is among the best in the division.   

On the feet, Yan has headhunter awards like an Ohio State linebacker – like Dolph Lungren rocking a necklace made of ears on some Universal Soldier type-ish. Yan’s striking was engineered in a black site bioweapons lab. He uses stance switches like Raiden teleports to stay in the pocket even while under attack. Yan loiters in the pocket like 90s kids at the mall. Elite Security has to kick him out at closing. You see old people wearing Sketchers Shape-ups power walking around in circles when Yan finally decides to leave the pocket. Counters are Yan’s best weapons on the feet. He uses cover-and-return counters to catch opponents at the end of their punches before their hands can return to a defensive position. And Yan’s hand speed is faster than the cameraman zooming in to get Mike Tyson’s ass out of frame after that backstage interview.   

Yan will have the overall striking advantage on the feet, but Figgy will have the power advantage. The grappling will be close to a dead heat like a Chick Hicks, The King, and Lightning McQueen photo finish. Yan out-strikes Figgy at a rate of five SLpM to three. And they both average over one and a half takedowns per fifteen minutes. But Figgy rocks a fifty-eight percent takedown defense like teal turtle necks in 90s JC Penny’s portraits to Yan’s eighty-five percent. That could be the deciding factor in close rounds. 

Singlet Figueiredo is a thing. Lately, Deiveson Figueiredo has been hitting takedowns like Cleon, Skip, and Curtis, hitting licks on Brinks trucks. “Man, you blew the whole muhf**king truck up!” Figgy can blow a whole muhf**king cult following up if he beats Petr Yan. Not even your political opposition denies reality more staunchly than Yan sycophants. The arena was too cold... The mat was slippery... He saw Mike Tyson’s ass backstage... It never ends. I’m sorry, Yan fans; you know I love you. While I’m on some petty shit, let me get Figueiredo’s major malfunction out of the way first: He gets on his Diddy-shit and looks for an Usher to escort him to the nearest exit when shit goes sideways. He ain’t Michael Chandler fighting off rear-naked chokes until the last pinhole of air in his kinked neck is cut off. And nearly winning the fookin’ fight after getting his ass kicked for the first twenty minutes. Nah, you can break Figgy.   

Against Yan, Figgy will have to be like MJ after the White Sox years and get back to his striking and what got him to the Last Dance after taking a brief hiatus to wrestle. I don’t see him out wrestling Yan for significant stretches. Figgy will have to trust his hands. And that shouldn’t be hard because he has hands like Voltron shoulder missiles. He cracks like pavement. He cracks like Bobby and Whitney. He cracks like Tyson’s ass backstage! Yan will be the more technical striker, but Figgy’s natural-arcing long punches will give him a one-punch power advantage. Figgy hasn’t had to rely on his striking since moving up to bantamweight. But that will have to change against Yan.  

Figgy is a dual-finishing threat. He’s 24-3 with noine TKO/KOs and noine subs. Club-and-subs are always live with Figgy. Yan is almost strictly a finishing threat on the feet. He’s 17-5 with seven TKO/KOs and one sub. If Chandler and Oliveira can go five rounds, this fight can too. I think the play is a decision one way or another. Yan has never been finished, and Figgy has only been finished twice in twenty-eight career fights. Yan will be the (-275) favorite, and Figgy will be the (+225) live dog. Figgy can win this, but he will have to jump into the fire with his striking. This fight will have to look more like the high-paced Moreno fights than his last three bouts. 

We’re streaking-streaking meow. Bones Jones picked Stipe’s carcass clean last weekend and increased the main event dub streak to three. And four seems well within reach. This fight means far more to Yan than it does to Figgy. Yan can’t afford to lose this one if he plans to get back to a title fight. Petr Yan via decision. Put it on wax.     

Props

Yan: TKO/KO (+200) Sub (+2000) Dec (+110) 

Figueiredo: TKO/KO (+900) Sub (+1400) Dec (+500)

Winner: Petr Yan | Method: Decision

Xiaonan Yan (-200) vs. Tabatha Ricci (+170)

Yan: DK: $8.8k | Ricci: DK: $7.4k

Xiaonan Yan has no relation to Petr Yan. They’re related like step-siblings in a Brazzers production. But she’s a savvy little striker like Petr Yan. Her motto is: You miss every punch you don’t throw. Yan is a high-output striker and a low-output grappler. She will be the striking half of this striker vs. wrestler matchup. Tabatha Ricci, aka Baby Shark, is a great white on the mat but a guppy on the feet. The physical attributes will be reversed. Both will be Strangers in a Strange Land in the other’s world.   

After getting dominated for three rounds against the Champion, Weili Zhang, Xiaonan Yan nearly fooked around and stole the fight on some Michael Chandler type-ish. She had a Khalil Rountree-like title fight performance in a loss. Her biggest asset is that she has that Brandon Moreno dog in her. Yan is Chinese, but she fights like a Mexican. Mackenzie Dern and Weili Zhang had Yan in the worst positions imaginable and couldn’t finish her. The full mount, crucifixes; Yan survived like Gloria Gaynor. Yo! Hit that shit! Oh, no, not she. Xiaonan Yan will survive! Yan’s overall grappling is a “Needs Improvement,” but she’s a Houdini escape artist when it comes to submission defense. Yan rocks a sixty-two percent takedown defense, but she hasn’t been submitted in nearly fifteen years.   

Against Tabatha Ricci, Yan’s path to victory will be on the feet. Yan’s best weapon is volume. She never stops throwing. Someday, when rigor mortis kicks in, she will KO the mortician. Her combinations never end like the number pie. She has volume like Troy Polamalu's hair. Yan is a hermit in the pocket, on some Unabomber type-ish. But her major malfunction is her power. She has power like in the 1700s. That’s that candlelight power. She has that one if by road, two if by sea power. Yan has to dim her display because her hands operate only on low power mode. Yan is 18-4 with eight TKO/KOs and one submission. Her KO of Jessica Andrade last year was her first finish in the UFC in eleven bouts. The play for Yan will always be a decision.    

Tabatha Ricci is the type to make you take her ex-husband's last name. She’ll hyphenate your ass real quick. But most people reading this wouldn’t consider that to be a bad tradeoff, “Hell, I’ll tattoo that shit across my chest, homie!” Hey, I ain’t your homie, Chief. Ricci will straight bully you in the clinch and on the mat. She non-binaryhandles you (manhandles you, if you want to be a Richard about it) on the mat. Ricci averages three takedowns per fifteen minutes, but she only has three career submissions and one within the UFC in eight fights. Her major malfunction is that she is a position-over-submission-and-damage fighter. 

Check that. Her major malfunction is her striking. She isn’t a TLC scrub on the fee. But she is severely limited. Ricci is a typical wrestler striker minus the Chandler right hand. I liken her striking to Cap’n Crunch without the crunch berries. That red box shit grandma always had in her cupboard for when you would visit. Ricci is like Corn Flakes instead of Frosted Flakes. The Pop-Tarts without the frosting on top. Those wack ones at Sprouts – all dry and shit. But what Ricci lacks in variety, she makes up for with output. She averages over four and a half SLpM compared to Yan’s just under five. Ricci goes for it even when she is out-gunned. But overall, Ricci’s majorest malfunction is that she lacks Killer Instinct like Sega Genesis (IYKYK). She doesn’t finish fights. And as a consequence, she is always in razor-close scraps.   

Yan will be the (-195) favorite, and Ricci will be the (+165) live-ass dog. Not only can Ricci win the fight with her wrestling, but she can also be a sleeper Fantasy option. She landed over one hundred strikes in her previous fight; the second time she has eclipsed the mark. She can strike for volume, score takedowns, and accumulate control time. But the fight will likely be won/lost on the feet. Yan has more weapons, and Ricci’s grappling isn’t nearly as dangerous as Yan’s past opponents, Dern and Weili. This could be a fight in which both fighters land one hundred strikes or more. Xiaonan Yan via decision. On wax. 

Props

Yan: TKO/KO (+450) Sub (+2500) Dec (-120) 

Ricci: TKO/KO (+2000) Sub (+1300) Dec (+225)

Winner: Xiaonan Yan | Method: Decision

Song Kanan (+150) vs. Muslim Salikhov (-175)

Kanan: DK: $7.7k | Salikhov: DK:$8.5k

Yo! Hit that Run the Jewels “Legend Has It!” Legend has it that Kenan Song once fooked around and almost KO’d Ian Garry. Garry was a follow-up shot or two away from being Ian Machado-Song Garry. But there’s no “Almost TKO/KO” statistical category on Sherdog or Tapology records, and Song took an old-fashioned TKO loss that night. But the point is, Kenan Song can catch you slippin’ if you get to fookin’ around, thinking shit’s sweet. Muslim Salikhov will have to fight the urge to belly laugh like Charlie Murphy and his crew when he steps into the cage thinking just that. This should be a low-key little stand-up banger, and the winner will be streaking like Frank the Tank with two straight dubs.    

I feel like Adam Sandler in 50 First Dates when watching Kenan Song fights. Except it’s 50 First Rounds. I forget who he is by the end of the first round, and every subsequent round is like watching him fight for the first time. I keep forgetting like Michael McDonald. Yo! Hit that shit! I keep forgetting that things will never be the same again. There’s nothing that stands out about Song. He’s a technical striker, but he doesn’t have anything that strikes fear in his opponents. He’s like the orange Otter Pop left over after all the other colors are gone. Homie is the peaches n’ cream in the Quaker Oatmeal variety pack – they always give you the most of the wackest flavor. If Kenan Song were in the MLB, he’d bat .243 with six home runs and thirty-two RBIs for the year.

With that being said, you still can’t look past him like Lizzo sitting in the front row. He has that generator during a blackout power – that backup power. He has enough power to get him by until the lights turn back on. Song looks good against busters and super mid against good fighters. Where does Muslim Salikhov fit in? He’s Muslim in the Middle – dead in the middle of a buster and a good fighter. This will be known as the Battle of Mids. Song will be the more traditional kickboxer, but Muslim will be the more diverse striker with added wrinkles to his game. Song is 22-8 with noine TKO/KOs and noine subs. None of those submissions came within the UFC, but three TKO/KOs did. Song will have the edge in volume; he averages four and a half SLpM to Salikhov’s under three and a half. He can outwork Salikhov and steal close rounds, while Salikhov will have to depend on big moments to steal them.   

What do you tell a Kung Fu Panda with two black eyes? Nothing. Jalin Turner already told him twice. Turner left Salikhov with panda eyes when the two met in February. That was the fight that made me take a step back and reevaluate Muslim Salikhov. He rebounded from the first-round TKO loss to Turner with a suspicious decision dub over “The Ponz” Santiago Ponzinibio. Salikhov isn’t a traditional striker. He relies on spinning attacks to set the foundation for his striking. He has more spins than “Hot To Go.” That shit doesn’t even make sense, but my three-year-old daughter rocks to it. Salikhov has more spins than the carousel Cowboys fans have been riding for the past thirty years. My man is out there doing Tony Hawk 900s in the cage. Salikhov sets up his hands by throwing spinning back-kicks. When you start anticipating them, he turns the back-kick into a back-fist. When you start acting a little paranoid that some spinning shit might be lurking around the corner, he opens up with short hooks and overhands.   

But Muslim’s special weapon is his peninsula fade. NASA uses satellite images of it to warn about climate change. WKO life lesson #52: Don’t fook with Russians with a peninsula fade. The more a Russian looks like a pastry chef, the more badass he is. Like Fedor. Salikhov lays a base coat of kicks before his hands add a glossy finish. He’s at his best when he can use more kicks than punches. But, sometimes, he can be lured into firefights in the pocket, and that’s when Salikhov is vulnerable. Salikhov is 20-5 with thirteen TKO/KOs and two subs. Without a finish, Salikhov is a Fantasy bust. He doesn’t strike for volume and has a career-high of sixty-three strikes landed in a three-round bout. 

Salikhov will be the (-170) favorite, and Song will be the (+140) live-ass dog. This will be an FX Nip/Tuck affair and could come down to the busier fighter, which will most likely be Kenan Song. Salikhov will need knockdowns and visible damage to steal rounds. Both fighters have been finished four times in their careers. I would give Salikhov a slightly better chance at scoring a finish, but I think the play is for a decision one way or the other. Complete toss-up... Give me the dog: Kenan Song via decision. On wax.   

Props

Salikhov: TKO/KO (+200) Sub (+1800) Dec (+175) 

Kenan: TKO/KO (+550) Sub (+1800) Dec (+300)

Winner: Kenan Song | Method: Decision

Volkan Oezdemir (+200) vs. Carlos Ulberg (-240)

Oezdemir: DK: $7.3k | Ulberg: DK: $8.9k

Your worst nightmare is cruising past wifey’s yoga class on your way to Zumba and seeing Carlos Ulberg in an LA Fitness onesie teaching downward dog. Your worst nightmare is Carlos Ulberg within one hunnid square miles of your ol’ lady. This guy is the Bernie Madoff of stealing Bettys. He runs a Betty stealing Ponzi scheme. For the younger WKO generation, he’s the Sam Bankman-Fried of stealing Bettys. If he was ever convicted, Carlos Ulberg would serve consecutive life sentences for Betty thievery. And Volkan Oezdemir is the complete opposite. He looks like Krang’s body. You’d let your ol’ lady go on a Carnival cruise with Oezdemir and wouldn’t think anything of it. Their outward appearances are the perfect metaphor for this matchup. Everything about Ulberg’s style is pretty, and everything about Oezdemir’s is ugly. This will be a style clash and somebody is getting got.   

Carlos Ulberg is a technical kickboxer with some of the fastest hands in the light heavyweight division. His hands draft off each other like NASCARs. When he throws a 1-2, the cross drafts behind the jab and slingshots past. This guy combines the elements LE (length) and SP (speed), the hidden structures on the periodic table. In his last bout, Ulberg knocked out Alonzo Menifield so fast I dropped a nug, and when I looked up, the fight was over. And Ulberg had already stolen a Betty from the first row. Menifield literally ran across the cage and rammed his face into Ulberg’s fist. It went down as a twelve-second KO. After dropping his debut, Ulberg has won six in a row and is riding a five-fight finishing streak like a bear costume at a bachelorette party.    

Ulberg will have a massive speed advantage against Oezdemir. He will also have a range advantage. Ulberg fights long, using long-range kicks and a nasty jab to dominate the fringe of the pocket. Oezdemir will have to take big risks to close the distance. And Ulberg’s fast, straight punches will beat Oezy down the middle all night. But where Ulberg doesn’t want to get stuck is in the pocket. Oezdemir is one of the craftiest pocket strikers in the division, and Ulberg’s long strikes aren’t built to hot box in the pocket. Ulberg is 10-1 with seven TKO/KOs and one sub and averages nearly seven and a half SLpM compared to Oezdemir’s just under five. 

Yo! Hit that 2Pac “Don’t Go To Sleep!” Don’t go to sleep on Volkan Oezdemir. This guy has stupid hands. Oezdemir’s hands are so stupid they showed up at a Diddy Halloween party dressed as Justin Beiber. His left hand is Cosby, and his right is Diddy; he can sleep you with both. They call Oezdemir Lil’ Oezy Vert because he’s a trap. The Alopecia Preacha has been baptizing people in the UFC for a while now. But because he looks like the NOLA King Cake Baby, people continue to sleep on him. Speaking of babies, maybe they sleep on him because he’s soft as baby shit on the mat. He just smears and gets all over the Octagon when he gets taken down. It doesn’t even take a bad day to get Oezdemir down. I haven’t seen much of Ulberg’s ground game, but if he can wrestle at all, there’s a clear path to victory, putting Oezdemir on his back.   

But Oezy will chop a fella to mozzarella on the feet. He throws nothing but little King Koopa hatchets in close range. His short hooks and overhands are tight like jar lids; he never over-extends and keeps his strikes short to the target. His special move is a jumping lead hook. He leaps into a left hook like Roy Jones Jr. Oezdemir can use the short lead hook almost like a jab. In his last bout, he used that left hook to leave Johnny Walker stiffer than that jaundiced sock you used to hide from your mammy. Yeah, I know: Johnny Walker is like the town drunk; everybody has knocked him out. Oezdemir is one of the best pocket strikers in the heavier-weight classes because he does the small things. He moves his head off the centerline with each punch and chokes up on his punches when fighters tend to get wide with theirs.   

Oezdemir is riding a two-fight winning/finishing streak. For his career, Oezdemir is 20-7 with thirteen TKO/KOs and two subs. The play for him is a TKO/KO. Ulberg was TKO’d by Kennedy Nzechukwu in his debut. Ulberg relies only on maintaining distance to defend. If Oezdemir can get inside consistently, he will test Ulberg’s chin. Ulberg is the (-260) favorite, and Oezdemir is the (+215) live-ass dog. Oezdemir will have to survive Ulberg’s speed early and look to change the tides in the pocket mid to late. The play for both fighters is a TKO/KO. Somebody’s range will win the day. At the end of the day, when it’s all said and done, speed kills. Carlos Ulberg via TKO, round two. You know what to do with it. Put it on wax.  

Props

Ulberg: TKO/KO (+130) Sub (+800) Dec (+240)  

Oezdemir: TKO/KO (+500) Sub (+1600) Dec (+500)

Winner: Carlos Ulberg | Method: TKO Rd.2

Mingyang Zhang (-340) vs. Ozzy Diaz (+270)

Zhang: DK: $9.1k | Diaz: DK: $7.1k

This is as close to a guaranteed one-round scrap as you can get. Mingyang Zhang is Mr. 100%. He has a one-hunnid percent finishing rate, including eleven TKO/KOs and six submissions. He also has a near one-hunnid percent finished rate. Of his six career losses, he was finished in five of them. Only one of his twenty-three career fights didn’t end for better or worse in a finish. This guy is the real-life Bohdi from Point Break, swimming out to a tsunami-sized wave, knowing he isn’t coming back. And Ozzy Diaz is a Neil Magny walking – he's been hanging out with that little dweeb from The Sixth Sense. He’s a dead man walking. There’s a better chance of you dropping a doodie and flushing without looking at your work than this one going the distance.   

Mingyang Zhang is synonymous with overkill. The ass-whoopin's he deals out look like crimes of passion - like he knew the victim. When this guy starts swinging, he doesn’t stop until nothing is left. He dismembers opponents with punches. Desecration of a corpse, war crimes type-shit. His special move is kicking a man when he’s down. This guy is like MacGruber, throwing you off a cliff, shooting you with a machine gun on your way down, and, finally, hitting you with a bazooka once you’ve reached rock bottom. “F**k you, dude!” This guy is Frank Castle, the MMA version. His debut against Brendson Ribiero was an old-fashioned 1800s duel while double-fisting uzis, the extended clips curving like elephant tusks. On some Harvey Dent type-ish, Mingyang flips a coin before every exchange. Bruce Buffer spends more time in the cage introducing the fighters than this guy spends fighting.   

But all that aggression comes at a price. His defense is like James Harden on the Rockets. He’s a cherry picker who waits at the other end of the court for an outlet pass instead of getting back on D. Head movement: None. Footwork: None. Hand Guards: None. Zhang’s only defense is offense. Against Ribeiro, Zhang was nearly KO’d multiple times before he eventually landed a kill shot on Ribeiro. And that fight lasted just over a minute and a half. Fook the Fantasy stats, Zhang’s value is in a TKO/KO finish. If the fight goes to a decision, Zhang doesn’t want to win.   

Ozzy Diaz, clear your browser history, homie. My man, Ozzy, looks like Create-A-Fighter Cain Velasquez. Like when you used to have to create Jordan in NBA Live to play with him. Diaz is sixty-four-bit Cain. I’ll give him those N64 graphics, but not quite Dreamcast. Diaz looks straight off the Tough Man circuit – like he’s been scrapping at county fairs while in line for the petting zoo. Diaz will be at a massive power and speed disadvantage against Zhang. Diaz’s hand speed is like old-school Heinz ketchup bottles. But he has a little swag on the feet that Zhang doesn’t have. Swaggy Diaz. Diaz’s striking isn’t as stiff and upright as Zhang’s, and Diaz is better at using his range. The key for Diaz will be using his jab to stay outside of Zhang’s wild combinations. Zhang operates within close quarters, and the onus will be on Diaz to not engage Zhang in wild 50/50 exchanges.   

Diaz is 9-2 for his career with seven TKO/KOs and two subs – another one hunnid percent finisher. This will be Diaz’s UFC debut after a 2022 appearance on the Contender Series in which he faced Joe Pyfer and was TKO’d in the second round. Mingyang will be the (-310) favorite, and Diaz will be the (+255) flea-ridden dog with hotspots all over his limbs. This isn’t a complete write-off in flowing medieval script, but it’s close. Diaz can win this fight if he can avoid Zhang’s extended exchanges in the pocket and drag the fight into the second and third rounds. Zhang has only seen a second round twice and a third round once. Survive and advance; that’s the game plan for Ozzy. The play for both is clearly a TKO/KO. Mingyang Zhang via TKO, round one. Wax on, wax off.   

Props

Zhang: TKO/KO (-185) Sub (+600) Dec (+800)  

Diaz: TKO/KO (+450) Sub (+800) Dec (+1400)

Winner: Mingyang Zhang | Method: TKO Rd.1

Prelims

$7k Value Menu

Who the fook are these guys? This card is going down in China and is filled with debuting Asian fighters. There’s minimal tape on most of these guys and little to no stats. This will be the most difficult Fantasy and Pick ‘Em week of the year. Good fookin’ luck! 

Volkan Oezdemir ($7.3k): Here's a familiar face. Oezdemir can beat Carlos Ulberg. The power advantage will belong to Oezy, and this will come down to a battle of range and who can dictate it. Oezdemir’s advantage will lie in the pocket. Ulberg is a long striker with a decided speed advantage, but Oezdemir can negate that if he can slip & rip on the inside. Oezdemir has won three of his last four and finished his last two fights in the first round. If he can survive Ulberg’s speed early, Oezy can chip away and steal the fight late. This fight is almost guaranteed to produce a finish. Oezdemir is one of the better-finishing threats on the Value Menu this week. But he will also be an all-or-nothing option. He will get got or do the getting. 

Tabatha Ricci ($7.4k): Ricci isn’t a finisher, but she is a sneaky Fantasy scorer. She can strike for volume, averaging over four and a half SLpM. And she can rack up takedowns and control time, averaging three takedowns per fifteen minutes. Ricci has eclipsed the one hundred strikes mark twice in her career and is coming off a career-high one hundred one strikes in her most recent bout. Even if she can’t get Xiaonan Yan to the mat consistently, Ricci will keep pace on the feet. This could turn into a high-output kickboxing match, and even in a loss, Ricci can put up respectable striking stats. 

Nikolas Motta ($7.5k): Put one in the air. Want the smoke? It’s in Nikolas Motta’s name. This guy isn’t as good as I originally thought, but he can crack like Meek’s cheeks. Defensively, Motta is a liability on the feet. But offensively, this guy has a little Shogun Rua in him. No Diddy. His opponent, Maheshate, will be the more technical striker, but he lacks defensive prowess as well. Maheshate’s major malfunction is a lack of head movement. Plus, he stands tall in the pocket. That’s a Big L and 2Pac Deadly Combination. This will be a guaranteed firefight, and it’s a coin flip who will walk away from the flaming wreckage like Will and Martin in Bad Boys. 

$6k Bathroom Clearance Rack

Jose Ochoa ($6.8): First and foremost, this guy is a MexiCAN. Ochoa is a high-pace/high-output dynamo. He will be up against the highly touted Lone’er Kavanagh, who had an impressive first-round TKO on the Contender Series. My man, Kavanagh, looks straight off a 90s sitcom. Ol’ Boy Meets World looking-ass. But homie has some serious striking skills. I’m just not sure he’s ready to go to war with a firestarter like Ochoa. Ochoa is 7-0 with six TKO/KOs and one sub. He will turn this fight into a clusterf**k real quick. Ochoa never stops throwing hands and feets and could push a pace that Kavanagh isn’t used to or prepared for. Ochoa could be a better Fantasy option than most of the Value Menu options. Even in a loss, Ochoa will throw up some solid striking stats.   

Twenty-Twen-Twen Sleepers

Jose Ochoa (+280): Copy and paste. I think Ochoa’s pace could be a problem for Lone’er Kavanagh. Barring an early finish, Ochoa can steal close rounds with output. He will likely be the fighter pushing the pace, putting Kavanagh on his heels from the opening bell. This will be the first fight of the night, and Ochoa could prove to be a flipper. Both fighters will be making their debuts, so neither will have the advantage of having fought under the bright lights before. Ochoa has some of that Brandon Moreno dog in him. And I think he can make this fight ugly and uncomfortable for the more traditional striker, Kavanagh.   

Kenan Song (+155): You know it’s an ugly card when Kenan Song is a Twenty Twen-Twen Sleeper. Song will be the higher output fighter against Muslin Salikhov. If he can avoid getting knocked down or giving Salikhov any big moments, he can steal this fight by being the more active fighter. Plus, Song has some sneaky power. This fight has 29-28 split decision written all over it.  

Volkan Oezdemir (+205): Oezdemir has some of the best pocket striking in the division. He can make Ulberg miss and get inside, where he will have a massive advantage. Also, Ulberg has a suspect gas tank. Never forget his debut, in which he gassed out in the first round trying to finish Kennedy Nzechukwu. Ulberg has major pacing problems; he either comes out too fast or settles into a slow pace that leaves plenty of room for a more active fighter like Oezdemir to steal rounds. If this fight goes to the late second and third rounds, Oezdemir will have a good shot at finishing Ulberg. And exacting revenge for all the homies whose Bettys Ulberg has stolen over the years.   

Pick ‘Em

Cong Wang (-1000) vs. Gabriella Fernandes (+675)  

Winner: Cong Wang 

Method: Rear-Naked Choke Rd.2 

Jieleyisi Baergeng (+125) vs. Su Young Wu (-145) 

Winner: Jieleyisi Baergeng 

Method: Decision 

Kiru Sahota (-110) vs. Dong Hun Choi (-110)  

Winner: Kiru Sahota 

Method: Decision 

Ming Shi (+265) vs. Xiaocan Feng (-330) 

Winner: Ming Shi 

Method: Decision 

Nayamjargal Tumendemberel (+160) vs. Carlos Hernandez (-180) 

Winner: Carlos Hernandez 

Method: Decision 

Lone’er Kavanagh (-360) vs. Jose Ochoa (+280) 

Winner: Jose Ochoa 

Method: Decision 

Long Xiao (-130) vs. Quang Le (+110) 

Winner: Long Xiao 

Method: Decision 

Maheshate (-205) vs. Nikolas Motta (+175) 

Winner: Maheshate 

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.