Brothers at Odds

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Click here for the UFC Fight Night: Adesanya vs Pyfer – Breakdown and Analysis

It sure does feel good to win! Poor little Robert was feeling so good after Adesanya appeared to outpoint Pyfer in round 1. I admit I was a bit concerned myself, especially with Adesanya blasting Pfyer with calf kicks. But Adesanya somehow faded hard in round 2 and Joe Pyfer capitalized for an epic TKO victory! Ah, the sweet taste of victory is so good! It’s sad to see Izzy’s career end like this but it was an easy pick in my opinion. This brings me and Little Bobby to an even 2-2 on Brothers Battles. Soon I shall take the lead and never look back! Long time!

The co-main event was epic as well, with Alexa Grasso putting away Maycee Barber with an absolutely vicious left hand that sent Barber to the shadow realm. Grasso then locked up a choke with ridiculous speed just to make sure Barber was done. Honestly, one of the most brutal finishes I’ve ever seen. I was happy to see Grasso get the win. In the fight before that, Michael Chiesa won his retirement fight, choking out Niko Price in a minute. He made it look way too easy. Congrats to Chiesa on a great career. 

Before that we saw Larry N. Douglas demolish Julian Erosa in round 1. I really saw this one coming. Douglas has deadly power in his hands and Erosa likes to get punched too much. I don’t know what my brother was thinking here. He needs to get good ASAP! But respect to Robert for picking Belgaroui to beat Abdul-Malik. That was a pick-em fight in my opinion but Belgaroui looks like he could be a contender with good takedown defense and elite striking. He could become the new Alex Pereira. 

This next fight should have been my ultimate pick of the week. It was maybe the ultimate pick of all time! Terrance McKinney only knows chaos. In 25 fights, he has never gone to a decision win or lose. He’s only seen round 3 once in his career. This fight was no different as McKinney knocked out Nelson in 24 seconds. I regret not calling this fight to go under 1.5 rounds as my ultimate pick of the week. But I did pick McKinney to win under 2 rounds so not too shabby. 

Prior to that was a crazy fight with Bahamondes hurting Musayev badly in round 2 and threatening to finish the fight before Musayev got away with an egregious fence hold to stop a takedown followed up with an illegal headbutt. Some of the worst refereeing I have ever seen. But I guess Musayev did what he had to do to win. Can’t fault him for that. However, that referee should be banned from the sport. 

Another very satisfying moment from the night was hitting my underdog of the week in Lance Gibson Jr. Gibson was a huge underdog against Chase Hooper but I felt like Hooper was going to have a tough time implementing his jiu-jitsu skills against a good wrestler like Gibson and boy was I right! Hooper had nothing to threaten Gibson with and paid the price in the clinch when Gibson blasted him with an elbow followed by a head kick. Love seeing the underdog come through!

Tyrell Fortune also picked up a nice win for both of us although it was closer than we expected. Even Bruce Buffer and the judges got confused and accidentally announced Marcin Tybura as the winner which had us baffled. Thankfully things were corrected and Fortune was announced as the rightful winner.

I wrongfully picked Gabriella Fernandes to beat Casey O’Neill and even worse I foolishly picked Fernandes as my ultimate pick of the week. Big error on my part. I really thought Fernandes’ size would give O’Neill problems especially considering O’Neill was coming off a massive layoff. But respect to Robert and Casey O’Neill for the win. 

To wrap things up, Navajo Stirling stayed undefeated picking up an easy TKO victory over Bruno Lopes. Adrian Yanez almost put Ricky Simon away late in round 3 but ran out of time resulting in the fight being judged as a decision. Finally Alexia Thainara started off the night right handily defeating Bruna Brasil by decision. 

While I did miss my ultimate pick in Fernandes the bonus parlay did hit with Thainara, Stirling and  Chiesa all winning plus the McKinney/Nelson fight ending well before round 2. Very nice to hit that! So with the Simon/Yanez fight ending in a draw I’m going to give myself credit for 9.5 out of 14 picks this week. I’ll take it! But the most significant victory was defeating Roberto in the Brothers Battle when Pfyer came back to put Adesanya away in round 2. Robert’s spirit is now broken long time. I don’t see him making a comeback anytime soon. Poor little guy. 

We’re gonna keep it short for next week’s card as we take some time to celebrate Easter. However we will still provide picks for the two main events Renato Moicano vs Chris Duncan and Virna Jandiroba vs Tabatha Ricci. We will be back in full for UFC 327. Cheers!

 

Well… this one stings. How the mighty have fallen! Not gonna lie, I really thought I had this week locked up after round 1 of the main event. Watching Israel Adesanya pick apart Joe Pyfer early had me feeling GOOD. The calf kicks were landing, the striking looked precise, and I was already preparing my own Victor’s Verdict in my head. And then… disaster struck. Adesanya completely lost his patient approach in round 2 and Pyfer hit him with a semi-truck of a TKO. Just like that, the entire night flipped and so did the Brothers Battle. Everything hinged on that final fight: our Brother’s Battle and my opportunity to beat Chris in the number of correct picks!

Brutal. I was speechless and Chris was shouting with joy. Now somehow I’m the one writing this while my brother celebrates like he just won the UFC belt himself. We’re tied 2-2 now, but don’t get it twisted… this war is far from over. It has only just begun.

The co-main event should have been my underdog of the night because I felt very good about Alexa Grasso. What was I doing picking Julian “no juice left” Erosa to survive against a powerful puncher like Douglas? Alexa Grasso absolutely DESTROYED Maycee Barber with her superior boxing skillset. Barber crumbled and Grasso snatched up her neck without hesitation. The follow-up choke was remincient of Grasso’s submission against Valentina. Some would call it unneccesary but I think you have to fight until the ref calls you off. With how long the fights were allowed to go on the entire card, I do not blame Grasso for putting a stamp on the fight. Superb, beautiful mixed martial arts! Barber truly did like all of her hopes and dreams were crushed, so I feel for her on that front! Overall, I did get quite a few picks right. Michael Chiesa going out with a submission win over Niko Price was a great moment. Clean, quick, and exactly how you’d want to end a career. Respect there, even though he is a total UFC industry plant. And I’m also taking my victory lap on Belgaroui over Abdul-Malik. TI had high levels of confidence that Abdul-Malik was overrated and unproven, especially against an elite level striker. Good takedown defense, sharp striking — Belgaroui is definitely someone to keep an eye on moving forward. The rest of this card was chaos. Terrance McKinney doing what he always does and ending a fight in seconds? Yeah, that checks out. 24-second knockout… absolutely deep fried Kyle Nelson. I never should have trusted his chin and believing he could weather McKinney’s storm was a big mistake on my part.

The Ignacio Bahamondes vs Musayev fight was beyond frustrating. Between the fence grab and the headbutt, that fight felt like it got completely hijacked when it could have been called as a TKO in favor of Musayev. Hard to feel good about any read there when the officiating plays that big of a role. My brother deserves big credit for nailing his underdog with Lance Gibson Jr. beating Chase Hooper. Chase Hooper is another UFC Industry Plant – one who has horrific striking. Tyrell Fortune, my pick of the night, came through with the W (even if the judges and Bruce Buffer tried to give me a heart attack announcing the wrong winner). That whole moment was ridiculous. And shoutout to Casey O’Neill for proving me right because her striking pressure resulted in an epic finish. End of the day, I went 8/13, which honestly isn’t bad… but when your brother goes 9/13 and steals the Brothers Battle because of one fight, that’s what sits with me. Adesanya folded and took my victory with him. But just like every good rivalry… this isn’t over. We’re tied 2-2 now. I’ll be coming back for blood on the next full card. Enjoy it while you can…