Brothers at Odds

Want to see our initial post? Click here for the UFC 326: Breakdown and Analysis

To start, let’s acknowledge the most important result of the night: I kicked Robert’s butt in the first-ever Brothers at Odds Battle of the Week. Raul “El Nino Problemo” Rosas smothered poor Rob Font for the better part of 15 minutes. Font had absolutely zero answer for Rosas’ takedowns and offered virtually no offense of his own. It was total domination. Not the most exciting fight, but I’ll gladly take the win. Chiwiwis, long long time! The main event also didn’t go the way either of us expected. Charles Oliveira was able to completely dominate Max Holloway on the ground for five rounds, taking away any real chance of a Holloway knockout. Disappointing from our perspective, but still a respectable performance by Charles. The co-main event went mostly as we expected, with Caio being much more effective on the feet than RDR, although RDR did hold his own at times. I definitely would have loved to see a fourth round.

There were some interesting moments and a few surprises on the rest of the card. Robert correctly picked Drew Dober to beat Michael Johnson, and the betting odds for that fight were wild. In the last 24 hours they flipped over 300 points, with Dober moving from just under +100 to over -200, which is crazy. Still, good pick by Robert there. One fight we were very wrong about was our Underdog of the Week, Ferreira. Rodrigues ended up sending Ferreira to the shadow realm in round one and got his revenge, and he made it look easy too. I’d honestly love to see a trilogy fight between those two eventually. Cody Garbrandt also picked up a bizarre decision against Xiao Long after Long had two points deducted for low blows. Cody definitely isn’t the same reckless fighter he used to be. I really thought that fight would be far more action-packed and end with a knockout for someone. We both picked Long, and honestly that might have panned out without the two-point deduction.

Tumendemberel put on a masterclass against Durden in both striking and grappling. It was an impressive performance and we both picked Tumendemberel to win, although he didn’t get the finish Robert was hoping for in his Ultimate Pick of the Week. In my opinion, the biggest disappointment of the night was the Donte Johnson fight. I really believed he was going to walk right through Brundage, but Johnson showed his inexperience by getting taken down early and then barely grinding out an uneventful split decision victory. He definitely has a long way to go before he’s ready for real competition. On the flip side, Montes was a highlight of the night. He easily dispatched Turcios, just as I expected, and secured another submission win for his resume. That was my other Ultimate Pick of the Week, and he really looks like he could become a contender in the featherweight division. Sumudaerji also made easy work of an unimpressive Aguilar, controlling the fight in both striking and grappling. For someone who is supposed to be a grappler, Aguilar tends to get outgrappled a lot – bad pick by Robert thinking Aguilar had a chance. Nurgozhay outpointed Tobias in a fight I honestly felt Tobias gave away. With a little more fight IQ he could have put Nurgozhay away. We both picked Tobias there, but I’m not expecting much from either guy moving forward. Lastly, Bellato made Fernandez look like the true rookie he is with an impressive first-round knockout. We both took a chance on Fernandez, but Bellato proved there really are levels to this game.

Overall I finished the night 6 for 12, while Robert went 5 for 12. But most importantly, I won the Brothers Battle of the Week. Starting 1-0 feels good. Rob Font was overwhelmed by Chiwiwis just as I expected, and I’m looking to make it 2-0 next week at UFC Fight Night: Emmett vs. Vallejos. The next Brothers at Odds Battle of the Week contenders will be announced soon. Cheers!

Let’s get this out of the way: I lost LONGTIME to my big brother, Chris. He demolished me in UFC 5 and in real life when Raul Rosas Jr. hugged Rob Font to a decision. Yes, I am the little brother by about a decade. Yes, I am aware that I just got whooped by an Unc in the same manner that I thought Chiwiwis would get whooped by Rob Font. Believe me, I looked in the mirror this morning and felt shame for the day I ever backed Rob Font in a fight at the age of 38 years old. But alas! I could not resist the temptation to challenege my brother when he wanted to choose Chiwiwis to win. I truly did believe that Rob Font had a chance to outstrike Rosas Jr. with his jabs and straights, but – to my absolute surpise and horror – it appeared that Rob Font had to take a dump all night long in that low stance and forgot how to strike. He sat in this hunched over, non-atheltic stance and seeminly refused to throw any strikes down the middle. He threw wide, winging shots that had no chance of landing before Rosas Jr. took him down over and over again. The man set his new takedown record on Super Unc Rob Font’s head. Props to Raul Rosas Jr. to the new record and the wresting skills! But this is MMA people. He does not do much with the wrestling or utilize his BJJ for anything but control time. I will definitely be fading Chiwiwis again sometime in the future. He is still on the UFC’s baby formula, which was exemplified by his lacking striking abilities and his lack of aggression in the grappling. He genuinely should have been able to finish Rob Font in some of those positions but he did not even try. That being said, Rob Font is now on my ban list unless he is fighting someone who has never heard the word: “Wrestling”.

As a whole, UFC 326 could have gone a lot better for the Brothers at Odds. Chris scored 50% of the fights correctly, whereas I scored about 41% of the picks correctly. Together, we do not even scratch 100% accuracy in our picks as two brothers. What do we call that again? Ahh yes, pathetic is the word I am looking for! We can – AND WILL – do so much better! I am motivated to come back stronger than ever after last week to dominate Chris and nail my slate of picks. But I do have to give props to Chris, both of his picks of the week fully came through and took home the W. Although Donte Johnson looked greener than grass in the cage and will get crushed by a well-rounded fighter in due time. Our UnderDAWG of the week, Brunno Ferreria, unfortunately got startched by a revenge powered super punch from Robocop. I do believe Brunno could have done the same to him again in a series of fights, but Gregory Rodrigues has certainly improved since their fight. Jesus Aguilar was not an honorable dog mention afterall, he will never recieve any semblence of belief from me every again after getting destroyed by Sumudaerji. He made Mitch Raposo look like the GOAT and that should never happen.

I am coming for all of your picks and your fighter of choice, Chris. Just like Liam Neeson – I do have a very particular set of skills, skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. As the guy who got absolutely demolished in Taken says, “Good Luck… and get good, Chris!”. I’m pretty sure that’s verbatum from the movie – but I was also confident Rob Font knew how to throw a jab, so what do I know!