Brothers at Odds

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Overall, a solid night going 7/12 (tied with Chris) but definitely one I’m gonna learn from. I’m not gonna lie… I regret flip-flopping to Jiri. I really bought into the “soon-to-be dad power” narrative and thought he’d rise to the moment. But man… not being able to finish a clearly compromised fighter? That was disappointing. That’s not championship-level urgency, and it cost me. My pick AGAINST Costa? Yeah… that deserves punishment. I completely misread that fight. Costa came out looking like Super Costa – the power was real, the pressure was there, and most importantly… the cardio held up. That version of Costa at 205 is a PROBLEM. Credit to Chris on that pick, but I’m not letting him off easy… that should’ve been his UnderDAWG of the week and he fumbled it with LOOPY hah!

Josh Hokit was one of my best picks of the fight for me and he cashed BIG time! That was a GOAT-tier heavyweight fight – nonstop action, chaos, middle fingers… everything you could ask for. Absolute cinema. Reyes vs Walker… what a trash heap. Straight up disappointing. Both guys fought scared the entire time and it turned into one of those fights where you’re just sitting there wondering who even won. Chris and I both needed violence… and instead we got 15 minutes of hesitation. Brutal. Cub Swanson though… WOW. What a retirement performance. To go out there at 42 and look that fast, that dangerous, that dynamic? Insane. So much respect to Cub and everything he’s done for the sport. That was the perfect sendoff and I can’t wait to see what he does as a coach. My DAWG of the week… yeah we’re not gonna talk about it too much! Terrible pick on my part. But at least it wasn’t as bad as Chris picking Loopy Godinez… WHAT was that? Suarez absolutely handled her. That was domination. Pitbull man… he looked rough. Like he forgot how to block a punch. Pico’s athleticism, length, and speed were just way too much. That was a tough watch.

Then we hit my favorite stretch of the night… a FOUR FIGHT RUN. Holland, Gamrot, Suarez, Padilla – CASHED. Chris picked against ALL of them and got absolutely cooked. Just like I did to Chris in UFC 5 for our Brother’s Battle in one of the greatest wins of all time, Kevin Holland handled business in the cage. That near submission was INSANE – I was on me feet thinking it was over. Respect to Randy Brown for surviving, but Holland was in control. Gamrot and Suarez were as safe as it gets. I had full confidence in the grappling and experience, and they both made it look EASY. Straight dominance. Padilla… keep an eye on that name. His clinch work, pressure, and pace are a serious problem for that division. Watching him walk Mederos down was beautiful. Relentless. Opening the card, Radtke showed exactly what veteran experience looks like against a younger, less polished fighter in Prado. Clean win, high energy like always. Love watching that guy fight. Now… the real tragedy of the night – mostly for Chris, but a little for me too. Gastelum vs Luque. I said it all week: TWO outcomes. Gastelum decision or Luque submission. My Pick of the Week. And Luque went out there and did EXACTLY that – cracked Gastelum on the feet and locked up a nasty submission. Luque at this weight class? Just like Costa… he looked incredible. But man… I can’t even lie, I’m crushed. I leaned Gastelum decision heavier and really thought that was the safer side. Still, I knew Luque was live for that sub and it showed. Chris though… you have to feel for the guy! Not only did he lose the Brother’s Battle in real life… he also lost his DAWG of the night AND his Ultimate Pick. Gastelum moneyline… and to lose it like THAT? That’s pain. Chris will get there one day… but that day is FAR away.

Well another event is under our belt and I have to admit this one wasn’t easy. I’ll start with the Brothers Battles of the Week between Kevin Holland and Randy Brown. This was pretty much a pick’em fight but I was pretty confident Randy Brown would use his size and strength advantage to defeat Holland. However to my dismay Holland came into this fight in excellent shape and had Brown reeling from the start. Holland was able to take Brown to the ground and landed the better shots overall for 3 dominant rounds. He even came close to putting Brown out with a choke in round 2. Brown was able to escape but the choke seemed to drain all his power and he never bounced back. Congratulations to Robert for picking this one correctly. I believe the Brothers Battle record still stands 4-3 in my favor. Time to make it 5-3 next week!

The main event was as epic as it could possibly be! I had picked Ulberg to win and I knew this fight wasn’t going to the judges but I definitely didn’t see it going down like that! In storybook fashion Ulberg overcame a severe knee injury to KO Jiri in round 1. Jiri knew Ulberg was hurt but he couldn’t bring himself to put his opponent away. Ulberg miraculously found a way to land a perfect counter hook and separate Jiri from his consciousness. A legendary title win for the ages! Unfortunately due to the injury we probably won’t see Ulberg defend the title anytime soon. 

The co-main event, aka the “People’s Brothers Battle” between Murzakanov and Paulo Costa was an absolute delight. Robert and I were in a heated debate about this fight and would have made it the true Brothers Battle if Murzakanov was in UFC 5. Well Murzakanov is definitely not getting added to the game now since Costa completely obliterated him. All week long Robert was how Murzakanov was going to “smesh” Costa easily. But Paulo showed there really are levels to this game and Murzakanov is several levels below him. As I expected Costa was the faster and far more athletic fighter and was improved by a move to light heavyweight. Once round three started Murzakanov was already gassed as usual. Costa made him pay with a thunderous head kick that sent Murzakanov to the shadow realm. Long time. 

Before that was the “fight of the night” and maybe even “fight of the year” between Curtis Blaydes and Josh Hokit. Both guys gave absolutely everything they had and had each other hurt several times. They both came so close to finishing each other more than once! I cannot recall another heavyweight fight with that much action. I really thought Hokit would KO Blaydes and he almost did so in round one. The only thing that saved Blaydes was Hokit’s short reach. Hokit just came up short on a lot of follow up shots. Blaydes fought back hard and had Hokit on his heels but to both guys credit they fought through the fatigue and put on a performance that will never be forgotten. Curious to see how Hokit does in his next matchup. The heavyweight division is in desperate need of fresh contenders. 

Dominick Reyes won a very boring and disappointing decision over Johnny Walker. Both guys were way too tentative and afraid to pull the trigger. I was so incredibly confident that this fight would end in a KO for someone but neither guy was willing to take the chance. However before that Cub Swanson perfectly capped off a great career with a nice KO win over Nate Landwehr. Even at 42 years old I expected Cub to be the more athletic and fresher fighter and he proved that to be true, landing sharp quick strikes that Landwehr couldn’t keep up with. As someone who has been watching MMA since the WEC days it was nice to see an old veteran like Swanson get one last victory. 

Aaron Pico finally got his first UFC victory over the durable veteran Pitbull Freire. Pico proved he belongs in the big game and really overwhelmed Pitbull with pacing, striking and takedowns. I considered taking Pitbull as an underdog but Pico bounced back nicely from a KO loss in his UFC debut. I will be curious to see who the UFC matches him up with next. 

Mateusz Gamrot absolutely dominated Ribovics to my surprise. I really thought Ribovics would give Gamrot trouble and would at least threaten Gamrot with volume. But Gamrot looked better this time around and was able to avoid standing with Ribovics by utilizing his standard wrestling strategy. Ribovics was no match for Gamrot on the ground and tapped out in the middle of round 2. Suarez versus Godinez went pretty much the same way. Godinez did have Suarez briefly hurt in round one with a glancing shot and followed up nicely with an opportunistic takedown. However Suarez turned things around shortly after that and used her elite wrestling to drag Godinez down and locked in a submission in round two. A couple of disappointing picks for me right there. Respect to Gamrot and Suarez for their grappling mastery. 

The Mederos and Padilla fight was interesting with Padilla seeming to land better strikes throughout. Mederos again showed that he has crisp striking and decent grappling defense but Padilla’s pace and forward pressure was too much for him to handle. However some questionable judging resulted in this fight ending in a draw. I picked Mederos to win but even I can admit Padilla got robbed. 

Prior to that was supposed to be my ultimate pick of the night in Kelvin Gastelum taking on Vincente Luque. I was so extremely confident that Gastelum would make easy work of Luque especially considering Luque was moving up a weight class and Gastelum’s iron chin. I thought Gastelum would control where the fight took place and cruise to an easy decision win. I definitely did not foresee Gastelum getting dropped by Luque in round one and tapping out to a choke soon after that. I was absolutely completely stunned. I’m still stunned lol. Respect to Luque. 

In the opener Charles Radtke dominated Francisco Prado for the majority of their 15 minute battle but Prado did have me sweating when he locked up a tight guillotine choke in round three. Radtke is tougher than the average man because that choke was locked in tight for a minute but “Chuck Buffalo” was able to fight through adversity and come through with a solid decision victory as I expected. 

So overall on picks I went 7 for 12 which in hindsight isn’t terrible, but honestly I feel like I did so much worse than that. The Gastelum loss really hurt. I thought he was a lock to win. However, my night was kind of saved when Paulo Costa smashed Murzakanov to break Robert’s heart and at the end of the day this is really all about beating my brother after all. Get good kid.