My UFC Vegas 96 Recap! Caio Borralho Is A DAWG & Michael Morales Is A Problem!

Fight Night of the year? UFC fight night caner versus bajalo is officially in the books and it is time for me to give my full card recap and Analysis ladies and gentlemen this Not only was an outstanding card from top to bottom this might have been Fight Night of the Year this might have been the best fight night that we have seen thus far here in 2024 this had everything you were looking for Not only was it a spectacular main event we had the tough finales we had prospects showing out we had some upsets this card had absolutely everything from top to bottom I cannot praise this card enough cuz I know that we're usually very critical when it comes to the uh UFC Apex events this might have been the best one that they've ever put together in terms of the Apex events and just lived up to the height man this was an outstanding card because here on my channel uh in my live streams we were all very positive about this Apex card I'm like this is not your traditional Apex card they got the tough finales we have some really great scraps on here these prospects are in some great positions uh to shine bright that they did and we have a lot to discuss the time codes are down below so check those out if you're a real want watch the whole thing let's hop into this Bang Bang Wang with the violent KO starting with our very first fight of the evening between Wong Kong and Victoria Leonardo this fight pretty much played out exactly how I saw it going look I've dubbed her bang bang Wong man she is an absolutely devastating Striker on the feet not only does she have good striking overall but it's the power it's the speed the footwork the timing I mean if you're standing in front of her it's going to be an absolute nightmare for every single person inside this inside the division and look I she called out Casey O'Neal and I tweeted it out live I said look if I'm Casey O'Neal I'm pretending I didn't hear that call out I'm wanting no parts of bang bang Wong man the the the speed the timing it is Elite inside of the division and not just that in terms of women's MMA she is injecting a ton of excitement uh into the sport I I'm really glad that not only did she show out but get a spectacular finish like that because she started off the night in a very impressive fashion and then she's like look what the hell you doing putting me on the prelims opening up a fight night I should be on the main card and look we got a fight night coming up in November in China she absolutely needs to be on that card she has all of the makings of being a future star inside the UFC I cannot praise her enough because I I thought coming into this fight look Leonardo she's kind of a little you know heavy on the she she's just very St she doesn't really move a lot and I'm like that's going to be a problem kind of waiting forward like that not a lot of head movement just kind of walking towards bang bang Wong I'm like you're going to get knocked the hell out so that's kind of how I saw this fight playing out incredible performance by Wong and not just that way to start off the night huge performance we need to get her on the fight night in November going down in China moving on we have Calvicante out points Nunes Jacqueline uh calvan and josanne Nunes this fight played out very similar to kind of what I anticipated I went with uh calv aany to get this thing done and I figured look Nunes is very very very good she has good power she's got you know she she moves forward she has like that peekaboo kind of style but again when you're facing a long rangey opponent that understands how to utilize range even though I think Jacqueline didn't do the best job at times maintaining range when she was keeping Nunes at Bay she Nunes became very predictable she was getting desperate leaping and loading in with those shots I just saw Jacqueline you know kind of picking her apart at range and and it played out very similar to what I was anticipating but again Jacqueline's got some things to clean up because even though she won this fight she was not throwing the jab enough she was not utilizing her front kicks up the middle which were doing a a number on nunz taking away some of the air you know punishing her to the body which again when you have that range Advantage you got to utilize your longrange weapons but again good performance by Cal the candy because Nunes in my opinion she she's a tough fight in this division she's tough she's durable she has incredible power good victory uh by calvan way to get it done moving on we Christmas came early with a Slava Klaus W have VAV borov and uh James laop Slava Claus man delivers I thought that he was maybe going to be able to get this done by finish but we got to see how tough James is man this was an absolutely spectacular fight this is one of the best fights of the night back and forth anytime we get to see Slava fight you're in for a treat because he has really really good head movement really good kickboxing overall he's just a very very good Striker and you got to see James is tough as tell man the guy's durable he was he started to kind of pour it on in the later rounds someone you know said it was 30 to 27 Bor that's not a good scorecard I had it 29-28 Slava winning rounds one and two but I thought round three pretty clearly went to James right I know that borov landed some good uh some good power shots but uh James started to come on strong in that third round started to kind of pour it on him but man V I'm happy for Slava because he's a guy that not only does he have a funny walk out I mean it's Christmas time every time this guy fights with the walk out but he's got good timing he's fun on the feet he's getting better and better and better and I think again he's had a he's had a tough go in the UFC he's been in there against some some tough opposition and his last fight against Chase Hooper he got caught with a shot he was worried about the takedowns I think that was kind of you know in the back of his mind and if you get rocked by Chase Hooper and you're you're trying to shake off the cobwebs and you're scrambling around on the ground that's a disaster waiting to happen so I I don't hold some of these losses over borov like maybe some other people do I think the guy is a very very good fighter he's got good striking he's fun to watch big win uh for Slava cuz he he definitely needed to get that one Reese destroys Medina done moving on we have Zachary Reese and um and Medina this was one of the Shockers of the night to me I think a lot of us thought look Zack Reese he's just levels above Medina which he is and he showed that last night but he's all of his finish all of his fights have basically been a first round finish and Medina showed that he is durable and tough as hell but again the skill the skill Gap was just it was significant in my opinion and that was kind of what I anticipated coming into this fight which is why I went with Zack ree I thought he was going to get a finish but we saw how tough Medina is those kicks to the body by Rees were nasty I actually think look would it have been great to see Rees get a finish of course but I think that he's going to learn a lot from this this is the first time I think he's went three rounds right I mean outside of him getting you know the only loss he's had in his career he got Batista bombed by Cody Brundage I believe right so that was you know a kind of a weird scenario there but outside of that everything's been a fast finish and what we've seen from Fighters you know that's not exactly a realistic timeline for your career to always go in there and get a first round finish so when you can go the distance when you can kind of get pulled into a a fight where you start to get a little tired things are going your way but now you're like this guy's still coming after me what do I do and we got to see Zach re shoot for takedowns do what he needed to do to get the job done I was actually very impressed with Zachary ree because Medina I mean he showed he is tough as hell but again we learned a lot about Reese in this fight that he can go 15 minutes he can find a way to win and even though he was teeing off on the feet he resorted to the grappling one on control time late in the fight and just basically dominated the thing from start to finish um you know Medina was more or less a moving heavy bag and he took everything Reese had in the kitchen sink I don't know crazy fight kind of a crazy fight the fact that Medina was able to eat all those shots moving on uh Fire Marshall out paces Denis Francis Fire Marshall and Dennis bazuko I uh bookia I went with Francis Marshall to get this done and this was a this was an interesting fight look Francis Marshall had to step in on short notice bookia was supposed to be uh taking on Danny Silva I originally picked Danny Silva to win the fight I thought his boxing was going to be a little bit too much for Dennis but again I just don't have a lot of confidence in Dennis bazooki I know he's got a good team behind him you know he trains with Alaine Sterling he's got some good coaches some good training Partners but to me the skill just isn't there with some of these other guys in the division and I just saw Francis fire Marshall who's a guy that's now training down at American top team he's got great uh great training Partners great coaches behind him and he already had a really good skill set Francis Marshall's pretty well rounded he's got good grappling he's got really really good pace and pressure and I was like look I think Francis Marshall is going to put it on him um and again we saw Francis Fire Marshall man can't sleep on the dude because I think he's a name that people uh in the in the MMA world are going to have to start getting familiar with GM3 spoils the party moving on Gerald Mard and Edmund shabazian this was the Shocker of the night right and I feel like we all you know it's so hard to trust Edmund shabazian I thought Edmund was going to get this done and he was doing exactly what I anticipated in the first round early on there just keeping Gerald at range anytime Gerald tries to you know shoot a takedown keep him on the back heels so that way you can kind of you could back up keep him at range keep him at the end of your strikes and Edmond was doing a really really good job of that and then he hurt Gerald and for whatever reason played right into the game of of the veteran gm3 and went right to the ground with him played his game game Gerald Mard he was definitely hurt right he definitely got rung by that shot but he does a great job of alling you to sleep and bringing you into this game like oh I'm so hurt come on down man come finish me and then he finds a way to survive and then the next thing you know Gerald mirart the guy who the guy Edmond's taking no damage and he's standing up there pounding because he lost Geral mir's beat to a Pulpit got his head in the air like I won man like it's Geral mirart is just he's it's it's kind of spectac the guy like finds a way to win and pull off these submissions over these guys and it's just it's crazy to the point where I ruled out gm3 in this fight I really did I I thought Edmund was like okay he's finally got back on track he's you know training at extreme Couture he's got a good camp behind him he's going to be patient he's going to pick his shots which he was doing all of that and then for whatever reason played right into the game and Gerald mirart I would have gotten right back to my feet I would have been like nah I'm not playing this game [ __ ] around and got caught man gm3 great performance and great win uh to pull that off by Gerald mirar moving on we have Michael Morales Michael Morales is a stud uh and Neil Magny uh I picked Michael Morales to win this fight I thought it was going to be by decision though I wasn't sure that he was going to be able to get Neil Magny out of there because we haven't seen Michael Morales in quite some time I think it's been about a year he he's taken some time the guy's only 25 years old one of the most uh one of the most look forward to prospects in my eyes inside the UFC you know out of Ecuador this guy is spectacular he has really really good takedown defense we saw saw Neil Magny clinched him up very early he was able to get away that nasty spinning elbow that dropped Neil Magny he's got good timing good speed he's got really good striking and as I told you in uh in my full card prediction video I said look this guy's got good grappling man he just hasn't been able to Showcase it yet and you got to see it a little bit last night I know that it didn't really hit the deck and we get to see a bunch of scramblers or any or scrambles or anything but you saw up against def fence how he understands what's going on there and at range he's got some nasty leg kicks he's got good he's got really really good hand speed man he was ferocious last night and that was kind of my question is we've seen Morales look really good and really sharp but I I I said decision because I'm like look Ian Gary landed some really good leg kicks on Magny and he was dropping them and hurting him really bad but he wasn't able to get him out of there and I saw Morales as a guy who's very kind of methodical this slow approach to where he kind of picks you apart not last night not last night he came out there with a point to prove did the whole Spider-Man pose on the cage I like this guy a lot man he's now not only did he get a huge TKO victory over Neil Magny last night he's going to have a ranking next to his name because Magny was ranked 12 um you know coming into the fight so big victory for Michael Morales I'd like to see him get a quick turnaround I'd like to see him fight again this year I think that you know I know the sphere cards already booked out I would have loved to have seen him on a big platform like that but again we need to see this guy before the end of the year I'd like to see him get another fight in there's a lot of fun stylistic matchups for him at 170 keep your eye on Michael Morales man this dude's legit Santos impressively wins TUF Finale moving on we have Marian Santos and um Ken uh offley he's awfully good man but last night he found out Santos is that good man that dude Mari and Santos I picked him to win this fight you know he did exactly kind of what I was expecting and he's got really really really good footwork he's got really good timing he's got really good low kicks and he's just so polished for a young Prospect man he's got good timing he's well coached you could tell a guy that well coached they're just very defensively responsible they're very technical they pick their shots he's never he's never over swinging on things he's never out of position he's just always in a good solid typ position Landing good shots because offley came out very very aggressive and I was like that's kind of a smart move try to put the young Santos on his heels try to you know see if you can catch him off guard and overwhelm him and we just saw Santos man he dug his feet in he stayed patient weathered the early Onslaught and just picked his shots he started attack in that lead leg he started throwing those shots up the middle some uppercuts some hooks he just started to mix it up and ultimately just picked him apart I mean you really got to see how good Maran is huge win not only did he win you know the ultimate fighter but he really put the whole division on notice I mean a guy like this that's you know a prospect on the rise that comes in and gets a finish like that in the finale of tough very very very impressive I'm excited to see uh how he does in the UFC now because look it's a stack Division and I think that he has the skill set to go out there and compete with just about everybody in the division so we'll see man because again once you get into the UFC it's a totally different ball game but that is an incredible Victory he's patient poised composed very impressive uh Victory by Santos moving on uh the other Ultimate Loder dominated to win TUF Finale Fighter finale we had Ryan loer and Robert Valentine I got this one wrong I thought Robert Valentine was going to be able to get this thing done I thought that the first round was going to look the way it did I figured that loader was going to get the fight to the floor he was going to wear on Valentine a little bit but Valentine would survive come out aggressive in the second round and get a finish but loer just had other plans man his pace and pressure did not stop and can we just say you know people want to [ __ ] on grappling and I know maybe at times it's maybe not the most entertaining thing that was some outstanding scrambles and grappling exchanges in the first round between uh loer and Valentine I mean you know it was loader was on top and then Valentine was reversing looking for submissions and we just had back and forth scrambles and it was a very very high level first round and then in the second round Ryan loader immediately foot on the gas not giving Robert any room or space to operate and get some of the Striking off because we've seen Robert Valentine on tough man this dude has really really ferocious striking and that's where I thought I'm like look maybe loader gets a little tired after a grapple heavy first round to where we see Robert get to space and land some good shots loer never gave him a chance he never let him breathe he just a Relentless pace and not only that getting Robert in such a dominant position in the second round I mean he had him mounted he had his arm trapped I mean it was a nasty nasty nasty finish by Ryan loer nothing worse that look if you knock someone out like I mean that's wild right you're like wow I knocked him out or if you beat a guy to a pulp and it's like wow you battered him for five rounds I don't know what's really worse honestly you know if if it's that or if it's getting mounted in a position to where you're basically crucifixed your arms are trapped you're stuck on the bottom and you like can't get up like you're trying to to Buck forward you're trying to get up and you just can't you got a guy that has you pinned down to no matter what you do you can't get out of it and the dude's just crushing you with elbows from the top nasty violence uh there by Ryan loader that was an impressive Victory and look I know people are going to be like oh the grappling the grappling that was a great performance by Ryan loer and that was an impressive uh we had saw some very impressive grappling exchanges from these two gentlemen that was an outstanding fight great performance by Ryan loer backto back tough match UPS both end uh and finish spectacular Ricci Squeaks by AGAIN moving on um tabi thei and Angela Hill I told you I I picked taviari but what I what I mean by I told you I didn't feel confident in my pick but I said look if it could it's going to go to a split decision and tabii is going to get the nod and look tabichi if you go to a split decision with her you're losing it's just a fact you could you could clearly win two rounds but as long as she gets one you're losing by split this decision like tabat the's dating Callum Walsh the UFC's trying to push her like you got to go in there and dominate her you got to go in and win all three rounds that you got a finish her that's the way it's going to work in order to beat tabi thei but look I thought you know people are being very critical in terms of of of the way the fight played out in terms of the decision that was made look Angela hill we know what she is she's a veteran she's got good striking she's got good timing she has actually you know sometimes the the strikes look a little lethargic but they land she was Landing a good right hand at last night against REI but Tabitha striking looked pretty good I thought that her striking actually looked a little bit tighter a little bit cleaner than what it has in the past but it was that pressure she put on Angela in the first round I mean she that first round was impressive by Tabitha she had a really really Relentless Pace she was put pushing her up against the cage she was Landing some good shots and I'm like ah is she going to be able to keep that pace for three rounds and we saw her start to slow down so again I can see why people are saying Angela won this fight but you just knew Tabitha the way she was going to mix in the gra mix in the clinch work mix in some of the you know the Striking and kind of just blend anything together I was like she's going to get this thing du by split decision and sure enough there it is so again good performance by Tabitha RI I thought Angela Hill looked pretty good as well she knew that you know Tabitha was going to try to Grapple her with her but again REI if you go to Split Decision you're losing to REI Borralho goes to battle with Cannonier moving on uh the main event fight of the night man I I don't think that there's any uh you know there's really any question I mean I know Bor Chev that was a good fight there but Kyle Bal and Jerry caner I I I I don't have enough positive things to say about Kyo uh in this video man I I could go on for for on and on and on about this guy because look we've seen inside these Apex Main Events what the UFC has been doing they take these these guys that have been around in the rankings for a while you know that maybe maybe they're a top five guy like Jared or we've seen you know jarino Rosen strike and Shamil gaziev we've seen Jack Hermanson and Joe Piper to where they give these highly touted prospects who are on the rise who are starting to really build some momentum they give them a huge opportunity in an apex main event to take on a ranked guy and it hasn't went well for the for the guys on the on the rise not only did we see Kyo Balo win a an impressive uh you know decision last night he almost finished Jared caner and he had to bite down and fight his way through that thing I mean we've seen guys where you know these other guys're they're getting put on the back heel by the veteran and they're just not able to get it done and we saw Kyo he wasn't going anywhere he was kind of starting out in that pretty karate stance and Jarry can andir started to attack the legs Jared started to kind of get to him a little bit with with switching stances and throwing some of the combinations and then we saw Kyo adjust we saw him start to land that jab at at will the left hand eventually followed later in the fight which really hurt Jared badly the leg kicks of Kyle were nasty and the way that he realized he's like look I'm not just going to be able to sit on the outside and kind of do what I've done you know so far in my MMA career and especially in the UFC where he's kind of just ran through everybody he got put in an allout War last night with jerro caner where it was going to be a dog fight and I think he knew that coming in he tucked his chin he bit down and he fought and that is what that is one of the most commendable things about a prospect because we've seen these guys man they get thrown into a dog fight and you kind of see it just the veteran tends to take over not last night Jared had some good moments I thought Jared actually looked pretty good but the biggest thing and the reason that I picked Kyo to win this fight is I think I can't remember if I said finish or decision but I definitely picked Kyo to win the fight I said the speed was going to be a factor this speed was going to be a factor I'm actually surprised we didn't see more grappling from Kyle I know he's got very good striking and he kind of wants to you know be Mr exciting and Mr fun which again he has the Striking to be able to hang with a lot of these guys but I thought that the grappling was going to be a route that he could explore to where he was going to have an advantage over caner and you saw that late in the fight I mean caner to me he looked knocked out and then he fell kind of hit the ground and I don't know if it woke him back up because then he kind of was there but it looked like he was knocked out and then Kyle was looking for the armed triangle Canon ear you know just kind of fighting through it makes it to the judge's scorecards but unbelievable I mean the judges had it 49 45 49 45 and 4846 so again I thought it was either 3 to1 Kyo coming in to the uh to the final round or I could have seen where someone could have had it two to two but nonetheless man the speed of Kyo the durability cuz he showed he's tough he's well-rounded fighter and the fighting nerds man they're on the map I got my fighting nerds glasses on man now these guys are these guys are spectacular they got Mauricio rufy Carlos prz Kyle Balo I mean Jean Silva they're on the map they're Sensational Fighters they're well-rounded they have outstanding defense the way that Kyle was just kind of getting that guard up and then shoulder rolling and kind of doing a little bit of a Philly shell there and rolling with a lot of the shots caner was throwing I can't say enough about Kyo this morning man I I mean he just looked spectacular he looked spectacular and I know it could have been maybe a little cleaner here and there whenever you get thrown into the Shark Tank in the UFC you break in okay you get your big victory over Paul Craig now you got Paul Craig now you got to fight a top contender in the division and what happens sometimes it doesn't it hasn't really went a lot of these guys way or they get really tested and we saw not only did we see Kyo tested we saw him get the better of Jer Jerry caner so nonetheless outstanding performance by Kyle Balo I thought that was one of the better fight nights of the year but I want to hear from you all down in the comments like this video um subscribe to the channel help your boy out I would appreciate it see you next time