Brothers at Odds

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Ahhh the taste of sweet victory! I defeated my brother, Chris, across the board: Robertson won in real life, Robertson won in UFC 5, and Erik Anders took home the dub over Brad Tavares. I truly believe that Chris’s hubris and overconfidence have led him down a dark path of destruction. At this point, he may never have the opportunity to truly get good. Especially after choosing Harry “why are you in the UFC” Hardwick as a high confidence pick against my boy Rahiki. Rahiki demolished Hardwick in every single way. I do not know if Chris can ever come back from that pick after Hardwick quit in the corner. 

Alongside the taste of victory is a nasty taste in my mouth… because I did not do as well as I would have liked to overall. I picked 7/14 fights correctly, while my brother Chris picked 9/14 fights correctly. Props to Chris on that small victory! This reality is truly unacceptable, and I will do my best to outperform him this upcoming week for UFC Fight Night: Evloev vs. Murphy in London. 

The night started off horribly when I believed that Sam Hughes would be able to put pace and pressure on Piera Rodriguez. That is the opposite of what happened. Sam Hughes seemed timid throughout the fight and fought on the back foot the entire time. I am not sure what happened to her mentality throughout that fight, but I can tell you one thing: she is never allowed to go by Sampage again. No rampaging occurred, which was an unacceptable reality. Mesquita was another notable win of the night – as well as Chris’s Ultimate Pick of the Week – so congrats to him on his call! Chris Curtis was an absolute horrible call on my part, and I have no excuse for such a terrible read. All the respect to Myktybek Orolbai! Speaking of horrible calls, You got absolutely smashed by the larger and more athletic Smith. Once I saw the faceoffs, I felt fear for my guy You. That fear was valid after all! My DAWG of the week did not hit, but it was a very close fight overall! Charles Johnson really impressed me with his grit, resilience, and fight IQ. Even after taking a bad KO loss to Alex Perez, he came in and found success against an aggressive and dangerous Bruno Silva. Props to him because I thought he was going to get knocked out! Cutelaba ended up being the true underdog of the night, and I wish I had more confidence in him prior to the event. The main event was an absolute clinic from Vallejos, and I was incredibly impressed with his power and precision. He is a prospect to watch for sure; a rematch between Vallejos and Silva would be the banger of bangers!

Next week, London is calling our names. I hear the shouts:

“Brothers! Brothers! Brothers…

Chris needs to get good.”

Yeah, I know. They could not be more right about that guy! We will see if he fights back this upcoming week with the UFC London card. Regardless of his efforts, I plan to be the one who is up 2-1 in our Brother’s Battle of the Week. 

It is with great difficulty that I write this. I am no longer undefeated in the Brothers Battle. Somehow, Robert managed to pick up a win when Gillian Robertson grappled her way to victory over Amanda Lemos. We are now 1-1. The fight was closed going into the third round after Lemos finished round two with an aggressive flurry. But Robertson absolutely dominated round 3 with her wrestling. I may have lost this battle, but the Brothers’ war is far from over!

In the main event, Vallejos obliterated Josh Emmet in round 1. I ended up picking Vallejos at the last minute, but I also thought Emmett had a chance to win if he could drag the fight out past the third round. However, he never got that chance. Vallejos is an impressive contender who could possibly run through the division as Topuria did. They really are so very similar. Moving on, Robert and I were both very confident that Delgado would win but the fight was very close. Thankfully, Delgado just squeaked out a split decision win over Andre Fili. To Robert’s satisfaction, Rahiki was able to stop Harry Hardwick after 2 rounds, although Hardwick really gave him a challenge. Robert and I both nailed our pick of Ion Cutelaba, who made easy work of Oumar with a round-one submission victory. We were both surprised by Charles Johnson coming back to form to beat our pick, Bruno Silva. Nice comeback by Johnson after a bad TKO loss in his previous fight. Orolbai made easy work of Chris Curtis in a grappling-heavy affair. Robert was way, way off picking Curtis there. What was he thinking?

Prior to that, however, I was once again tragically defeated in the “People’s” Brothers Battle of the week between Brad Tavares and Eryk Anders. I picked Tavares to win as I thought Anders’s cardio was a massive concern. However, Anders held up for 15 minutes and managed to steal a decision victory, much to my dismay. However, I did enjoy the fight between Manoel Sousa and Bolaji Oki. The fight was an absolute banger for 14 minutes before Oki Doki’s cardio failed him, and Sousa put him to sleep with a devastating one shot KO. My favorite fight of the night for sure. In other fights, Vitor Petrino picked up a decision win over Asplund, but did not get the finish I was expecting. Elijah Smith got an impressive submission victory over Su Young “You-Jitsu” You. Ask Robert to explain that one.

Wrapping things up, Bia Mesquita picked up an easy round one submission victory over Rendon as expected. Hecher Sosa and Luan Lacerda battled for an entertaining 15 minutes, with Sosa coming out on top. And Sam Hughes disappointed both of us in a decision loss to Piera Rodriguez. Hughes was losing from the very beginning and never battled back like we thought she would. Respect to Rodriguez for looking much improved.

Overall, I hit 9 out of 14, so I’m happy to improve from last week. I also hit both of my ultimate picks of the week in Mesquita and Sousa, which is huge! But now all I care about is getting revenge in next week’s Brother’s Battle for the Evloev vs. Murphy card. Robert Robertson, I’m coming for you!!!