Unfortunately, week eight of Contender Series lost the Bulaid vs Visconde fight a little over an hour before the card started. This left us with four fights. As a result, this felt like a 50/50 night. We got to see two of the top prospects outside the UFC get awesome finishes and earn UFC contracts. However, the other two fights were a bit ugly. Escuza avoided a no-contest ruling with a generous refereeing decision. The heavyweight fight was gross.
Aieza Bertolso vs Camila Reynoso
The Prospect Vault team has been very high on Bertolso, and she showed exactly why today. Every fight starts on the feet. However, Bertolso didn’t let this one stay there long at all. After testing out a few jabs at range, Bertolso tossed Reynoso and got on top, where she does her best work. As soon as Bertolso established a dominant position, she immediately started hunting a submission. She locked in a d’arce choke pretty quickly, and it was wraps from there. It took a while to get her squeeze right. After some adjusting, Bertolso kept the d’arce lock in and jumped the choke like you would a guillotine to get the tap.
With her height and length, Bertolso is going to be a huge problem at strawweight in the UFC. Like a couple others this season, I could see Bertolso climbing the rankings right away. At 25, she still has so much room to grow. I am very excited for her debut. I think her dominance will continue in the UFC.
Ian Escuza vs Luca Borando
As everyone expected, this fight was violent from the moment it started. Escuza went straight for Borando, and it paid off. They got in close, and it looked like Escuza hurt Borando with a knee to the body before tossing him to the ground. Borando worked his way back up. However, another knee to the body hurt him again. Escuza did land an illegal knee to a grounded opponent in the finishing sequence, but the ref deemed it inconsequential.
Escuza is exactly who his record says he is. I wasn’t sure if a step up in quality and the big stage would temper his aggression, but clearly it didn’t. With such a quick finish, it is still hard to say how he’d fare against a better fighter in an extended fight, but at the very least, we are getting guaranteed violence with Escuza.
Adama Diop vs Zaurbek Sabanov
This fight was so ugly. Somehow, the first fight to get out of the first minute was the heavyweight bout. Sabanov started off well and is clearly the better striker of the two. He cracked Diop early, but Diop walked through it and started looking for takedowns. Diop got Sabanov down twice. Both times, Sabanov got up quickly. When they finally separated and got back to space, Sabanov was already exhausted. Come the start of round two, and you could tell Diop just wanted it more. He was willing to work through his fatigue. Diop found the standing TKO finish against the fence.
Heavyweight is such a funny division because there is no way Diop should be able to have a successful UFC run. However, who knows? From what I’ve seen, I think someone will defend takedowns, not gas after 6 minutes, and finish him on the feet. However, one punch at this weight class is all you need. At the very least, Diop has some dog in him.
George Staines vs Loai Abushaar
George Staines was our highest-ranked fighter who will appear on Contender Series for the rest of the season. He showed just how good he is tonight. The fight didn’t stay on the feet for long. In the time it did, Staines landed some heavy leg kicks. He quickly started grappling to take the fight to his world, and Abushaar couldn’t get away. Abushaar worked his way up to two takedowns. On his second mat return, Staines slammed Abushaar into the canvas. Abushaar’s head hit the canvas hard. From there, Staines finished easily with some ground and pound.
In my opinion, Staines is up there with Bilal Hasan, Akbar Abdullaev, Sean Clancy Jr., and Marcos Degli as the best fighters on Contender Series this season. On the feet, he might not be the most dangerous puncher, but his full striking arsenal is so clean, and he has elite grappling to back it up. We saw Staines at a height disadvantage tonight, and that won’t be the case most of the time. That said, I think we will usually see more of his striking in fights before he gets his grappling going. I have a hard time seeing most unranked lightweights beat this guy, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get big opportunities in the near future.
