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Zane Simon & Eddie Mercado are here to breakdown this Saturday’s, May 21st, UFC Vegas 55: ‘Holm vs. Vieira’ Fight Night event. The guys will have hot takes, possible next fights, as well as reactions to the overall event.

Bloody Elbow fight expert, Zane Simon is here, joined by his co-hort, Eddie Mercado. We recorded for you on Saturday, May 21st, 2022, with a breakdown of the UFC Vegas 55: ‘Holm vs.Vieira’ 11-bout Fight Night event; which was simulcast in English & Spanish on ESPN+/ESPN from the APEX Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Join us to hear the noteworthy details.

June M. Williams

The guys have hot takes, possible next fights, as well as reactions to the overall event in the player above, or they can be caught on our Bloody Elbow Presents YouTube Channel or any of our BE Presents Podcast Network.

The UFC showcased a Bantamweight contender’s bout this weekend at their UFC Vegas 55 Fight Night event featuring the return of former Champion, Holly Holm against her Brazilian contender, Ketlen Vieira.

‘The Preacher’s Daughter’, former professional champion boxer, kickboxer and division champion, oddsmaker and fan favorite, entered the Octagon tonight ranked #8 in the women’s pound-for-pound rankings with a 14-5 UFC record, as well as the notable distinction of having dethroned Ronda Rousey back at UFC 193. Ketlen ‘Fenômeno’ Vieira, currently ranked #5 in the division, with an impressive 13-1 UFC record, fully intended to grapple her way to a victory, nonetheless.

Due to what was an insanely close and controversial split decision upset by Vieira, the Apex center was silenced when the judges scores were read, but only for a moment, before the crowd reigned down intense, sustained boos in response to Holm’s unexpected loss. Scores were 48-47, 48-47, and 47-48 for the No.5-ranked Vieira, now 13-2. The No.2-ranked Holm fell to 14-6.

In our welterweight co-main event we had Brazilian Michel ‘Demolidor’ Pereira, the former Serbian Battle Championship WW Champ with a 27-11 record, including 17 finishes, take on Santiago ‘Argentine Dagger’ Ponzinibbio, holding a 28-5 record, including 21 finishes (15 of which were via knockout).

Pereira used his size advantage, accompanied with a strategy of punches and kicks, followed up by a sweet right hand to the head to open a bout that would turn into an exhausting, bloody, back-and-forth war between him and the Ponz. In this Fight of the Night Performance the Brazilian closed out the final round strong with a flurry of successful strikes. Many are calling it a tough fight for the judges to call; scores were 30-27, 29-28, 28-29 for Pereira, now 28-11, The No.14-ranked Ponzinibbio falls to 29-6.

There were nine other bouts on the card, which included several exciting finishes. The most noteworthy, besides the co-main, occurred when Chidi Njokuani defeated Duško Todorović with a first round knockout from a standing right elbow to the head earning him a POTN bonus. The other POTN bonus performance was earned over the course of almost a full three rounds when 22 year old Chase Hooper overtook Felipe Colares with strikes, after a few close but unsuccessful sub attempts.

For all the results, reactions and much more detail on the main card, and plenty of tidbits about the prelims, be sure to hit play on the show to hear what our fight experts, Zane and Eddie, have to say!

Overall, this now 11-bout card saw three exciting first round finishes, four thrilling KO/TKO’s, two sweet submissions, and five hard-fought decisions; three split. Rounding things out, our PERFORMANCE BONUSES were awarded to: Michel Pereira/Santiago Ponzinibbio – FOTN. Chidi Njokuani/Chase Hooper – POTN…

embed infographic on bonuses from espn+ post-fight show

Here’s a look at the UFC VEGAS 55 fight card with full results & updated fight records —

Official UFC Scorecards

ESPN+ MAIN CARD | SAT MAY 21

11. Ketlen Vieira (13-2) vs. Holly Holm (14-6) — via split decision (48-47, 48-47, 47-48)

10. Michel Pereira (28-11) vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio (28-6) — via split decision (30-27, 29-28, 28-29)

9. Chidi Njokuani (22-7) vs. Duško Todorović (11-3) — via KO at 4:48 of Round 1

8. Tabatha Ricci (7-1) vs. Polyana Viana (12-5) — via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

7. Jun Yong Park (14-5) vs. Eryk Anders (14-7) — via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)

ESPN+ PRELIMS
6. Joseph Holmes (8-2) vs. Alen Amedovski (8-3) — via submission (rear naked choke) at 1:04 of Round 1

5. Jailton Almeida (16-2) vs. Parker Porter (13-7) — via submission (rear naked choke) at 4:35 of Round 1

4. Uros Medic (8-1) vs. Omar Morales (11-3) — via TKO (strikes) at 3:05 of Round 2

3. Jonathan Martinez (16-4) vs. Vince Morales (11-6) — via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

2. Chase Hooper (11-2) vs. Felipe Colares (10-4) —via TKO (strikes) at 3:00 of Round 3

1. Sam Hughes (7-4) vs. Elise Reed (5-2) — via TKO (strikes) at 3:52 of Round 3

Sunday, May 22nd: check out our video production of the show, with enhanced graphics and infographics to accompany the guys’ commentary, on our Bloody Elbow Presents YouTube Channel right here:

At that time, results, relevant tweets and links to posts, as well as timestamps will have all been edited into this post for your reading & listening convenience.

Be sure to follow Zane – @TheZaneSimon & Eddie – @TheEddieMercado; and follow @BloodyElbow on twitter as well, for all the latest in MMA happenings.

If you enjoy our shows, give us a shout out in the comments here on Bloody Elbow, and give us a “like”, share & subscribe on your BE Presents Podcast platform of choice: SoundCloud, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn, OverCast, Player FM, & Amazon Music – For previous episodes of the show, check out our playlists on any of our BE Presents channels.

Join us again for another episode of ‘6th Round’ in TWO WEEKS, on Saturday, June 4th, for UFC Vegas 56: ‘Alexander Volkov vs Jairzinho Rozenstruik‘!

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT… EDDIE TALKED TO MICHAEL ‘THE COUNT’ BISPING NOT TOO LONG AGO, CHECK IT OUT!

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Ketlen Vieira edged out Holly Holm at UFC Vegas 55. On Twitter, pro fighters reacted to the win.

In a close affair, Ketlen Vieira managed to beat another former champion at UFC Vegas 55. After going five rounds against Holly Holm, the Brazilian got the nod from two judges and picked up a split decision victory. On Twitter, pro fighters reacted to the main event.

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Ketlen Vieira feels ready to take on former champion Holly Holm at UFC Vegas 55’s main event.

It will be a battle of styles at UFC Vegas 55’s main event. On one side, rising contender and jiu-jitsu black belt Ketlen Vieira wants to establish herself as a viable challenger to the women’s bantamweight title, but first she needs to defeat former champion and dangerous striker Holly Holm.

In an interview with Ag Fight, Vieira was not afraid to reveal her gameplan, which should not come as a surprise to her opponent or any MMA fan. Predictably, Ketlen intends to neutralize Holm’s dangerous striking by taking Holly down and making use of her strongest asset, her Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

“I’m more relaxed now,” Vieira said. “To face an athlete like Holm, it makes me a little nervous, but I’m focused and really prepared for this fight. This fight is a classic clash of styles. She’s a really good striker, both at boxing and kickboxing. Just like I’m really good at what I do. I’ll try to implement my strategy in the best way possible. I always say that getting where she has gotten is what motivates me. She’s a former champion, but if I do what we practiced, if I listen to Andre (Pederneiras, Nova Uniao’s head coach), we’ll have a great chance of getting this win.

“I’m more matured now,” Vieira said. “I’m taking it one step at a time. I’m focused on her (Holm) and I don’t want to think about what comes next. There will be no belt if I don’t beat her first. I’m focused on her and then we’ll think about what’s next. You can expect an aggressive Ketlen, very driven, who wants to make her fans proud.”

In her last outing, Vieira (12-2) defeated another former champion in Miesha Tate, back in November 2021, by unanimous decision. The victory made the 30-year-old recover from a unanimous decision defeat to Yana Kunitskaya, in February of the same year.

Now, Vieira is expected to take on Holm at UFC Vegas 55’s main event, on May 21. The card is scheduled to take place at the UFC Apex, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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The UFC is accused of feeding Diaz to a shark.

Nate Diaz has long been the owner of one of the most fractious relationships out there when it comes to fighters and the UFC. By now it seems clear that Diaz is intent on seeing out his ZUFFA owned contract and plying his trade elsewhere.

The UFC playbook in this situation is to offer a fighter a new contract and, if they turn it down, sit them on the sidelines for as long as possible, thus hurting the fighter’s ability to earn and making it more likely they will agree to the UFC’s terms.

When the UFC does offer a contract-rebel a fight, it’s likely to be one that is stacked against that fighter’s favour. That way, after the quarrelsome fighter loses, the UFC can enjoy a stronger hand at the negotiating table.

Those tough fight-ending contracts have an added benefit for the UFC, too. If a fighter looses poorly in the last fight on their deal, then it’s likely they will command less money from whatever promotion takes them next. The UFC likely believes this spiteful tactic will also hurt the rival promotion’s ability to sell that fighter as a UFC calibre talent.

Former UFC flyweight and bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo hinted that he thinks this is the scenario we are seeing play out with Nate Diaz, who is rumoured to be facing Khamzat Chimaev next—who happens to be the hottest prospect in MMA.

“Yeah, right now the UFC, I think they want, they want to feed him to a shark,“ said Cejudo when discussing the matter with The Schmo (ht sportskeeda). “That’s why they’re trying to kill… Because Diaz knows that there’s so much money to be made outside the UFC, that he doesn’t even care what millions they’re gonna end up giving him.”

Cejudo added that he thought Diaz leaving the UFC would be good for everyone, including the fighters who are left under Dana White’s purview.

“I do believe that Nate leaving the UFC is just going to generate more money for fighters, and kind of giving that leverage to fighters like: Hey man, it’s not the UFC , is not the only place where you can make a good living.”

Diaz remains one of the most popular figures in the sport, despite having only six fights since 2014. During that span, which included multiple year-plus lay-offs, Diaz has beaten Michael Johnson, Conor McGregor, and Anthony Pettis. His losses are to McGregor, Masvidal and—most recently—Leon Edwards.

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What was looking like a clear win for the former UFC heavyweight champ turned into a nightmare scenario.

Eagle FC 47 is in the books, and let’s just say that the top two fights ended in ways that nobody wanted it to end.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos suffered a shoulder injury after throwing a punch early in the third and final round of his main event bout against Yorgan de Castro. It looked as if JDS was up two rounds to nil after ten minutes, working his jab and forcing de Castro to switch to southpaw after multiple leg kicks rendered Yorgan stationary. De Castro had some decent moments here and there, usually on the front foot when looking to pressure the Brazilian, but by the end of the second round it was clear the kicks were taking a toll.

And yet, for the 38-year-old dos Santos, it was his body that broke down on him. His shoulder went and you could see the frustration on his face as doctors tried to pop the shoulder back into place, and eventually the fight was called off. De Castro gets the biggest win of his career, while JDS has dropped five straight.

As for the co-main, it was a shitshow. Hector Lombard knocked Thiago Silva down seconds into the opening round, but Silva survived that early scare. In round two, the stupidity went into overdrive. Silva dropped an exhausted Lombard with a shot on the inside, and after the knockdown he threw an illegal knee to Lombard’s head. Lombard was given time to recover but ultimately he did not continue. Lombard probably could’ve continued but that was the ending that fight deserved. Instead of a DQ, we get a no contest, which means the respective lengthy winless droughts for both men continues. Lombard is 0-6 (2 NCs) in his last eight fights, whereas Silva is winless in his last three and is approaching four years since he last had his hand raised in an MMA fight.

The rest of the card featured violent knockouts from Maki Pitolo (who sent poor Doug Usher into retirement) and Akhmed Aliev (on poor Darrell Horcher, who got famously beaten up by Khabib and now beaten up in Khabib’s promotion), as well as a really easy night’s work for Bellator’s Islam Mamedov against Zach Zane, who had no business being anywhere in Mamedov’s vicinity.

Eagle FC 47 results

Yorgan De Castro def. Junior dos Santos via TKO (shoulder injury) at 0:35 of Round 3

Hector Lombard vs. Thiago Silva ends in No Contest (illegal knee by Silva) at 1:44 of Round 2

Maki Pitolo def. Doug Usher via TKO (punches) at 0:30 of Round 1

Andrew Sanchez def. Gabriel Checco via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Akhmed Aliev def. Darrell Horcher via KO (punch) at 0:30 of Round 1

Islam Mamedov def. Zach Zane via submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:50 of Round 1

Ronny Markes def. Reggie Pena via verbal submission (knee injury) at 1:21 of Round 2

Roosevelt Roberts def. Alexandre Almeida via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Paulo Silva def. Sean Soriano via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Adi Alic def. Shawn Bunch via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Dylan Mantello def. Dennis Hughes via TKO (doctor’s stoppage) at 5:00 of Round 2

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Join us today on Bloody Elbow for live results and discussion as Eagle FC 47 goes down in Miami, Florida from the FLXCast Arena.

The Khabib Nurmagomedov-run promotion has a big heavyweight fight in the main event between former UFC champion Junior dos Santos and fellow ex-UFC fighter Yorgan de Castro. In the co-main event, ex-Bellator champion Hector Lombard heads up to 205 lbs to take on former teammate Thiago Silva in a fight that definitely exists.

Several familiar fighters such as Andrew Sanchez, Islam Mamedov, Ronny Markes, and Roosevelt Roberts populate the rest of this 11-fight card.

You can watch this show live and for free, but there’s only one way to do it – through FLXCast. You have to sign up for it, but once you do you’ll get every bout from start to finish. Did I mention that it’s free? Yeah it’s a pretty easy set-up once you sign up. The card kicks off at 6pm ET/3pm PT. Discuss away!

Full Card

Junior dos Santos vs. Yorgan De Castro

Hector Lombard vs. Thiago Silva

Maki Pitolo def. Doug Usher via TKO (punches) at 0:30 of Round 1

Andrew Sanchez def. Gabriel Checco via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Akhmed Aliev def. Darrell Horcher via KO (punch) at 0:30 of Round 1

Islam Mamedov def. Zach Zane via submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:50 of Round 1

Ronny Markes def. Reggie Pena via verbal submission (knee injury) at 1:21 of Round 2

Roosevelt Roberts def. Alexandre Almeida via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Paulo Silva def. Sean Soriano via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Adi Alic def. Shawn Bunch via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Dylan Mantello def. Dennis Hughes via TKO (doctor’s stoppage) at 5:00 of Round 2

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“Nobody ever touched my face, and all the time he go down, people cannot compare me vs. Charles Oliveira.”

Khabib Nurmagomedov has only been retired one year but some fans think Charles Oliveira is already well on his way to surpassing him as the UFC lightweight G.O.A.T.

Oliveira, 32, is on an eleven-fight winning streak with recent stoppage victories over Michael Chandler, Dustin Poirier, and Justin Gaethje. He also holds multiple UFC records including the most submissions (16) and the most finishes (19) in the promotion’s history, so it’s easy to see why he is held in such high regard and why so many fans think the Brazilian is destined for G.O.A.T. status.

Oliveira is the self-proclaimed “chosen one”, after all, but Nurmagomedov would like to remind everyone that the 32-year-old is far from invincible and has accumulated a lot of damage in his last few fights.

The fact that Oliveira gets hit, while Khabib rarely left the Octagon with a bruise on his face, is the key difference between the two fighters and why Nurmagomedov feels comparisons are uncalled for.

“He impresses me a little bit, but every fight he goes down,” Khabib said during a recent interview with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto (h/t BJPenn.com). “This is a little bit bad for him, every fight he goes down, a couple times. Last fight was how many, two, three knockdown? With Michael Chandler, with Dustin Poirier, with Justin Gaethje, he always goes down.”

“Nobody ever touched my face, and all the time he go down, people cannot compare me vs Charles Oliveira, he tap [lost] in UFC eight times, please, come on. Jim Miller, Anthony Pettis, Holloway, Felder, like, it was Charles Oliveira, it was not Khabib. If you wanna deserve name like greatest lightweight, you have to beat Islam, Beneil, couple more guys, and then we can talk.”

There’s also the fact that Khabib retired undefeated while, as the Russian stated above, Oliveira is no stranger to defeat and has been finished several times throughout his UFC career.

Nurmagomedov may feel the comparisons are unwarranted but there’s no denying both men are tremendously talented and will go down in history as two of the greatest fighters to ever compete in the UFC.

Oliveira was stripped of the lightweight title after missing weight by half a pound at the UFC 274 weigh-ins but went on to defeat Justin Gaethje via first-round submission. The Chute Boxe fighter is currently #1 in the UFC lightweight rankings and #4 in the UFC men’s pound-for-pound rankings.

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After holding the top spot of Forbes’ highest-paid athletes in 2021, Conor McGregor is no longer on the top-ten list for 2022.

In 2021, Conor McGregor held the top spot of Forbes’ highest-paid athletes of the year to become the first MMA fighter to receive such a distinction. Instead of fight purses, it was bolstered mostly by the sale of his ownership stake of Proper Twelve whiskey, which reportedly earned him around $ 150 million.

But for 2022, things took a drastic turn for “The Notorious.” Based on Forbes’ new list, the new name at the top is football star Lionel Messi, whose net earnings are reported to be around the $ 130 million range. McGregor, on the other hand, is not even part of the top ten as he drops to number 35.

According to Forbes, the former UFC champ-champ earned $ 43 million, with $ 10 million from endorsements and $ 33 million supposedly coming from just his second loss to Dustin Poirier in 2021. (Note: Forbes’ 12-month period is from May 2021 to May 2022, so this only included the July 2021 bout to Poirier, while the January 2021 loss was on last year’s list)

The lone combat sports athlete on the top ten list is Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who sits at the number eight spot with a reported $ 90 million.

A notable newcomer on the list is Jake Paul, who made waves in the boxing world this past year for his victories over Ben Askren and former UFC champion Tyron Woodley. “The Problem Child” is at number 48 on the list with reported earnings amounting to $ 38 million before taxes.

Take these numbers — especially McGregor’s — with a grain of salt. As Anton Tabuena noted when the Irish star topped the list, Forbes’ estimates for his UFC purses haven’t been very accurate at all in the last few years:

It’s worth noting that the UFC anti-trust lawsuit has revealed a lot of financial information, and it showed that Forbes’ previous estimates for McGregor’s past purses were inaccurate and significantly inflated. It’s also curious that they estimated McGregor to have made $ 32 million to fight Cerrone in 2020, then supposedly earned $ 10 million less for his next bout with Poirier, which was far more successful on pay-per-view.

Bloody Elbow’s business expert John Nash also shared a closer estimate of his current contract amount:

Forbes reported by in 2017 that the UFC paid McGregor $ 27 million for 2 fights (UFC 202 & 205) but we know from the lawsuit that neither of those fights could have been more than $ 8 million, as that was the highest amount paid through 2016 (it was for Brock Lesnar at UFC 200.) Details of the McGregor’s contract at the time were also floating around amongst members of the industry and would have paid him around $ 7 million for each of those events for a total of $ 14 million — far lower than Forbes’ $ 27 million figure.

McGregor then signed an 6-fight extension at UFC 229. This was reportedly almost identical to the previous contract but with the addition of a side letter guaranteeing several million more and the right to have his own sponsor in the Octagon and promoted at the event (Proper 12). This would mean that if that contract info is correct and UFC 264 really did sell 1.8 million buys then he would have made almost $ 17 million ($ 3 million as his contracted purse, another $ 3 million for his side letter, a PPV bonus of $ 6 million for selling, $ 4 for every buy over 750K, and $ 5 for every buy over 1.25M).

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If convicted, Askhab Magomedov faces up to seven years in prison.  

A Russian MMA fighter was arrested in Moscow for allegedly extorting a minor.

As reported by Izvestia.ru, Askhab Magomedov allegely extorted 600 thousand rubles from an unnamed teenager, threatening the minor with violence and blackmail. The minor payed a portion of the demanded sum in October 2021.

However, after the minor’s mother reported the incident to the police, Magomedov was arrested at a hotel on the outskirts of Moscow. Police also arrested streamer Nekglai, who was also staying in the room with Magomedov.

A criminal case has been initiated under Article 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

“Thanks to the joint work of investigators of the capital’s Investigative Committee and employees of the criminal investigation department of the Main Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in Moscow, with the power support of SOBR “Capital” of the State Institution of Rosgvardia in Moscow, two defendants of 1989 and 1999 years of birth were detained. Searches were carried out at their place of residence,” said Yulia Ivanova, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Magomedov faces up to seven years in prison, if convicted.

It is worth noting that this is not Magomedov’s first encounter with law enforcement. The fighter was previously detained for fighting with security at a parking lot after he drove through a fence.

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Despite saying he never liked pro wrestling, it appears that Alistair Overeem will try it out anyway.

The Reem is taking his act to the squared circle.

Former Strikeforce and K-1 champ Alistair Overeem, who had plied his trade in the UFC for a decade until being released last year, was apparently looking for a new vocation. The artist formerly known as Braun Strowman, who had worked for WWE for eight years, was similarly released in 2021 and needed something new.

Now, thanks to new promotion Wrestling Entertainment Series, we will apparently see them face off on June 4th in Overeem’s pro wrestling debut. WES confirmed the matchup via press release, which will take place at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, England.

The 42-year-old Overeem (47-19, 1 NC MMA) hasn’t competed in any form since a TKO loss to Alexander Volkov in February 2021. He has been quite vocal in the past about not being a fan of pro wrestling, and has even referred to as ‘gay’. I guess a paycheck is a paycheck.

Strowman, real name Adam Scherr, is a former strongman champion that entered WWE as a huge prospect (literally, he’s 6’8, 385) and is a former Universal Champion.

In other MMA news, the promotion is being co-ran by Gzim Selmani, who wrestled as Rezar in WWE as one half of the Authors of Pain (his partner, Sunny Dhinsa, is the other owner). Selmani also has eight MMA bouts and is a Bellator veteran, going 6-2 overall.

You will be able to watch the card live on FiteTV. It is quite stacked by independent wrestling standards, featuring a plethora of ex-WWE wrestlers such as Nia Jax (Lina Fanene), Lana (CJ Perry), and Killer Kross (Kevin Kesar).

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