In the co-main, Cody Brundage stopped Julian Marquez at the end of a barnburner round in an absolutely pivotal victory. This card practically fell apart as there were six cancelled bouts in the lead up to fight night. The main card of UFC Vegas 103 had two split decisions including the fight of the night. And the other three fights ended with finishes. Quite a few prospects on this edition of losers taking their first losses with the promotion and with one fighter potentially facing the axe.

Asu Almabayev

Asu Almabayev suffered multiple eye pokes in the sequence that led up to his third round TKO loss to Manel Kape in the main event on Saturday. The loss was Asu’s first with the UFC since being signed in August of 2023. Almabayev is now 4-1 with the UFC. The loss was actually Asu’s first since 2017, snapping an impressive 17-fight win streak.

Almabayev entered the fight ranked as the #8 ranked UFC flyweight while his opponent, Kape, came in ranked at #6. Kape was Asu’s third opponent for UFC Vegas 103 after he was forced to reschedule twice from Steve Erceg and then Allan Nascimento (Brandon Royval’s injury and withdrawal from the main event with Kape is what triggered the latter rescheduling).

With all of these factors in mind, Asu should fight Alex Perez next. In a perfect world, Asu would fight Perez as both fighters last victory came in 2024 against Matheus Nicolau. Perez suffered a gruesome knee injury in his last time out, last June, opposite of Tatsuro Taira. The #7 ranked UFC flyweight has been out of commission since then, but this matchup would be a worthwhile comeback. Asu didn’t have an answer for speed and footwork of Kape. It’d be interesting to see him against a different style in 32-year-old Alex Perez, fresh off of his injury.

Almabayev’s next fight: Alex Perez 

Julian Marquez

Julian Marquez suffered a devastating stoppage defeat at the hands of fellow Contender Series alum, Cody Brundage. Julian’s losing streak has now stretched to four fights, with the “Cuban Missile Crisis” only making it out of the first round in one of those defeats. After starting off 3-1 with the promotion with all of his wins earing performance bonuses, this is an extremely disappointing outcome for Marquez.

Despite being featured in the co-main event Marquez was very likely fighting for his spot on the roster. Fans should not be surprised if Julian doesn’t remain with the promotion after next week. Marquez is an exciting fighter that made real waves at one point. Not just for his destructive fight style but actually building himself a bit of a name within the UFC. The injuries and canceled fights have somewhat derailed his career with the promotion. Going on a 4-fight losing streak signifies within the UFC signifies that the promotion was willing to keep you around for one reason or another.

If Julian gets another fight, which is doubtful, fans could expect a fighter like the winner of Torrez Finney vs Robert Valentin. Torrez is a three-time Contender Series competitor that had to practically move mountains to earn himself a contract with the promotion due to his size. Robert Valentin is The Ultimate Fighter Season 32 runner up, losing the tournament championship last year to Ryan Loder when he was finished in the second round. These are two fringe UFC fighters trying to prove themselves, whoever comes out of the bout on April 5th should get Marquez, potentially even the loser depending on how the bout goes.

Marquez’s next fight: Torrez Finney vs Robert Valentin 

Esteban Ribovics

Esteban Ribovics lost a close split decision to Nasrat Haqparast in a bout that ended up winning fight of the night honors. Ribovics, a 2022 Contender Series alum, had won three fights in a row since dropping his debut in 2023. Esteban had a monster 2024, KOing Terrance McKinney with a head kick in 37 second. And of course, his split decision win over Daniel Zellhuber that was the 2024 fight of the year.

Despite the loss, Esteban is on a roll in terms of putting on bangers. Ribovics was a favorite coming into this one. And the loss, although it hurts his trajectory, doesn’t hurt his stock too much- thanks to how entertaining the fight was. Matchmakers should keep the good times coming with Esteban by having him take on the winner Drew Dober vs Manel Torres. That fight goes down on March 29 and is guaranteed to be fireworks. Dober has lost three of his last four bouts, but has secured two post-fight bonuses in that span. Drew is never in a boring fight and his last outing was a good one against Jean Silva even though he was stopped.

Manuel Torres is at a much different place in his UFC career than Dober. Torres started off red hot, with three finishes and three performance bonuses. Manuel dropped his first bout with the promotion in his last time out, when he was finished by Ignacio Bahamondes at UFC 306.

Ribovics’s next fight: Drew Dober vs. Manuel Torres Winner

William Gomis

William Gomis suffered a competitive split decision defeat against an undefeated Hyder Amil at UFC Vegas 103 on Saturday. The loss halted William’s four-fight win streak with the UFC and was his first loss since 2016- some 12 fights. Gomis had been on fire scoring a split decision victory over Joanderson Brito in his previous fight, last September.

Gomis has been in three split decisions out of his five UFC bouts. William is a solid, knowledgeable fighter that puts on competitive chess matches. For William’s next fight a matchup between the loser of Nathaniel Wood vs Morgan Carriere would be perfect.

Nathaniel Wood has won four of his last five bouts and at 8-3 with the UFC is starting rise to the top of the division. Morgan Charriere is an experienced and exciting fighter that has also won four of his last five fights. Morgan also gave Gomis his loss back in 2016, so it’d be pretty cool to run that back in a whole different promotion. Charriere vs. Wood goes down on March 22 so the timing wouldn’t be half bad depending on how the fight goes.

Gomis’s next fight: Morgan Charriere vs. Nathaniel Wood Loser

Danny Barlow

Danny Barlow lost for the first time in his pro MMA career when he was KO’d by Sam Patterson on Saturday. Barlow, a 2023 Contender Series alum, had won two in a row, stopping Josh Quinlan and snagging a split decision victory against Nikolay Veretennikov last August.

Considering this outcome, it now makes the most sense for Barlow to revisit a previously booked fight at this point. Danny should fight Uros Medic who he was scheduled to fight last August. The bout was canceled as Medic suffered a rib injury (Barlow fought Nikolay instead). This bout makes sense as Medic also suffered a first round KO loss back in January against Punahele Soriano. Medic also got his start on CS and is 4-3 with the UFC. Uros halost two of his last three fights.

Danny’s next fight: Uros Medic 

The post What’s Next: UFC Vegas 103 Losers appeared first on Cageside Press.

Brundage and Marquez were former teammates, but it was Marquez with his back to the wall on an 0-3 skid.

Almost immediately in Saturday’s UFC Vegas 103 co-headliner, Cody Brundage had “Cuban Missile Crisis” Marquez in crisis mode, hurting him early. Marquez was wobbled, and Brundage worked his right hand; Marquez soon regained his composure, but seemed hesitant to pull the trigger. Off a bit of a collision in the middle of the cage, Marquez went down— not a knockdown, but he had to fend off a choke. Back on the feet, Marquez landed a left hand as the middleweights continued to trade fire, both men loading up on shots.

Chaos erupted later in the round. Marquez clobbered Brundage, knocking his mouthpiece out. Brundage slumped to the ground and looked to be out of it, but the fight was allowed to continue and Marquez went after a choke. A critical mistake, as Brundage was able to recover just a bit. Marquez went back to throwing punches, but Brundage battled back and rocked Julian, knocking his mouthpiece out as well! Somehow the ref managed to return both mouthpieces to their rightful owner, and Brundage knocked Marquez down not long after! Brundage, from the back, rained down more punches while Marquez covered up. Marquez was moving, but not enough for the ref, who finally waved things off!

Official Result: Cody Brundage def. Julian Marquez by TKO, Round 1, 4:45

The post UFC Vegas 103: Cody Brundage Weathers Storm, Stops Julian Marquez in Brawl appeared first on Cageside Press.

Brundage (10-6) comes off a No Contest bout against Abdul Razal Alhassan which ended early due to illegal strikes landed to the back of Brundage’s head. The time away has given him plenty of rest.

“I fought six times in 14 months. From the time I made my debut to my last fight I think me and Kevin Holland were the most active guys in the UFC. I think sometimes the way to get out from a loss is just to push it and go find a win, and other times maybe you need to pull the reins a little bit,” Brundage told reporters on Wednesday.

“Take a little break. Get physically and mentally right, and decide is this what I want to keep doing. It was good. I have good people around me they’re like hey let’s chill six months to a year. I think it’s been 8 months since my last fight.”

Brundage got heavy into coaching during the time away cornering some of his guys, but now he’s ready to get back into a fight this time with Marquez. The two trained together in the past which makes the fight a little different than normal ones.

“I would say Julian’s a friend. We’re not best friends, but we’re friendly. I don’t wish anything bad upon Julian. We’re both in a spot where you can’t say no,” he said.

“I’m the last fight of my deal, he’s on a three-fight losing streak, so when UFC calls you got to say yes. I’ve never fought someone that I trained with. We’ll see how it plays out on fight night.”

Watch the entire media day scrum with Cody Brundage above. He takes on Julian Marquez at UFC Vegas 103 on Saturday night.

The post Cody Brundage Details Long Layoff, Ready For Marquez appeared first on Cageside Press.

“When we first got it I was sitting there like, ‘Woah we used to train together man,'” Marquez told reporters on Wednesday.

“What are we doing? We don’t fight teammates. Then it got there that he accepted the fight and I was like okay. That’s it. We’re here to battle.”

Marquez (9-5) clearly wasn’t thrilled about fighting a former training partner, but once Brundage accepted, it was all business.

“This is where we are. This is the business we’re in. Has nothing to do with the friendship that we have, has nothing to do there. We both have to fight for our job,” he said.

“So when I got that I was like hell yeah let’s go. Got another fight.”

Even though he’s fighting a friend Marquez isn’t taking the matchup personally. The unwritten rule of not fighting friends or teammates, even former ones, is seldom broken. It does happen however.

“I don’t feel any betrayal at all. The opportunity comes to his door, he has to make the judgement, and then our manager comes to talk to us. That’s it. It’s the business,” he said.

“He owes no explanation. I understand.”

Watch the entire media day scrum with Julian Marquez above. He takes on Cody Brundage at UFC Vegas 103 on Saturday night.

The post Julian Marquez Not Taking Brundage Fight Personal, “It’s the business” appeared first on Cageside Press.

With Ryan Loder out of the fight, “The Cuban Missile Crisis” and would-be Miley Cyrus suitor Marquez (9-5) will look to snap a three-fight skid when he faces Brundage (10-6) on March 1, 2025 at the UFC Apex.

News of the pairing was first revealed by Iridium Sports Agency, who represent both fighters.

Brundage, like Marquez, has struggled of late, though not nearly to the same extent. His last outing, against Abdul Razak Alhassan, ended in a No Contest due to accidental punches to the back of the head. Prior to that, he was submitted by uber-prospect Bo Nickal.

As for Marquez, his last three fights have seen him stopped by Gregory “Robocop” Rodrigues, Marc-Andre Barriault, and Zach Reese. That leaves the 2017 Contender Series winner in dire need of a win. Marquez last had his hand raised in 2021, when he submitted Sam Alvey in a Performance of the Night-winning effort.

Earlier that year, Marquez shot to fame when he called out popstar Miley Cyrus, albeit for a date, not a fight. The middleweight fumbled the bag, however, balking at a request to shave her initials into his chest.

Although not announced officially by the promotion, UFC Vegas 103 is expected to be headlined by a flyweight showdown between Brandon Royval and Manel Kape. The following match-ups have been reported for the card:

• Brandon Royval vs. Manel Kape
• Luana Carolina vs. Montana De La Rosa
• Lucas Almeida vs. Danny Silva
• William Gomis vs. Hyder Amil
• Charles Johnson vs. Ramazon Temirov
• Sam Patterson vs. Danny Barlow
• Cody Brundage vs. Julian Marquez

The post With Ryan Loder Out, Julian Marquez Meets Cody Brundage at UFC Vegas 103 appeared first on Cageside Press.

In the main event, top ranked middleweight Jared Cannonier lost a heartbreaking controversial TKO to Nassourdine Imavov, in a bout where he had a lot to lose and very little to gain.

Jared Cannonier

Jared’s controversial TKO loss to Nassourdine Imavov in the main event on Saturday snapped his two-fight win streak. The streak included wins over Marvin Vettori and former UFC middleweight champion, Sean Strickland.

Best thing for Cannonier here would be to run it back immediately. The fight was close until the finish and if he were to fight Imavov again and win, Cannonier would be close to where he was in the title shot picture previously. It’s the fight that would make the most sense for Cannonier unless an opportunity to fight a higher ranked opponent arose. Whether the UFC is up for it remains to be seen, but neither man is next, or even second, in line for a title shot.

Cannonier’s next fight: Nassourdine Imavov 

Dustin Jacoby

Dustin Jacoby was finished in the first round by a returning Dominick Reyes in what was a blisteringly paced fight, while it lasted. It was a rough loss for Jacoby as he has now lost four of his last five fights. It’s a far fall from Jacoby’s seven-fight unbeaten streak in the UFC between 2020-2022.

Jacoby should next fight Ryan Spann, who last fought in April, when he was finished by Bogdan Guskov. Spann’s last win was over Dominick Reyes in 2022 and he has since lost three in a row. Winner of the fight could potentially be look at fighting for a fringe ranking slot in the following fight.

Jacoby’s next fight: Ryan Spann

Ricky Turcios

Raul Rosas Jr. submitted Ricky Turcios in the people’s main event of UFC Louisville. The Ultimate Fighter Season 29 winner has gone 1-2 in the UFC since his TUF tournament victory over Brady Hiestand in 2021.

Turcios’ next fight should come against Cameron Saaiman. Cameron is a Contender Series 2022 alum, is 3-2 with the UFC and another young prospect at just 23 years old. Saaiman is on a two-fight skid having lost to Christan Rodriguez and most recently being finished by Payton Talbott. Fighting Saaiman would be an excellent way to measure both fighters and would carry some weight just like Ricky’s fight against Raul Rosas Jr.

Turcios’s next fight: Cameron Saaiman

Dustin Stoltzfus

Dustin Stoltzfus was TKO’d in the final seconds of the first round in a wild scrap against Brunno Ferreira on Saturday.

Stoltzfus is now 2-5 in the UFC and 2-2 in his last four. Dustin has had some pretty tough opponents in his time with the UFC thanks to his win over Joe Pyfer on the Contender Series.

Sedriques Dumas would be a good fight for him and makes a little bit more sense for Dustin than fighting Julian Maquez or Marquez fighting Dumas. Dumas is also a Contender Series product, 2-2 in the UFC and his last fight was a first-round loss to Nursulton Ruziboev in March.

Stoltzfus’s next fight: Sedriques Dumas

Julian Marquez

With the 20 second finish at the hands of Zach Reese on the main card of UFC Louisville, Julian Marquez has now been stopped three times in a row. Marquez’s last win in the UFC came in 2021 against Sam Alvey.

Julian Marquez should fight the winner of Denis Tiuliulin and Abu Azaitar who are scheduled to fight on June 22. Both fighters currently have only one win in the UFC and are on multiple fight losing streaks. Marquez needs a win badly and a fight against the winner of Tiuliulin vs. Azaitar would be a good opportunity to start to move back in the right direction.

Marquez’s next fight: Denis Tiuliulin vs. Abu Azaitar Winner

Miguel Baeza

Miguel Baeza lost a unanimous decision to Punahele Soriano to open the main card of UFC Louisville. Baeza has struggled recently and has now lost his last four fights in the UFC since starting off hot with three wins in a row. Baeza has had a tough strength of schedule, having shared the octagon with Matt Brown, Santiago Ponzinibbio, Khaos Williams and Andre Fialho.

Miguel needs a win, badly. Danny Roberts would be a solid matchup as Roberts is on a three-fight skid. Roberts has been out of action for nearly a year since a second-round finish loss opposite of Jonny Parsons, in July of last year. Roberts is still a name in the UFC, with a 7-7 record with the promotion. Great fight to evaluate where both fit into the UFC’s welterweight roster.

Baeza’s next fight: Danny Roberts

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Despite a respectable 3-3 UFC record, Julian ‘The Cuban Missile Crisis” Marquez was finished in his last two fights and had not won since 2021 coming into this Saturday’s fight. On the other side, Reese lost his first-and-only UFC fight by TKO due to a slam, an extraordinarily rare occurrence. The fight was close if you paid attention to the odds, but it certainly did not play out that way.

Zach Reese threw three strikes on the feet the entire fight. He connected with a body kick, then shifted into a left hook followed by a right uppercut. The uppercut caught Julian Marquez under the chin and floored him. A few ground strikes on a stunned Marquez got the referee to step in at exactly the twenty second mark.

The crowd absolutely loved it, and ate out of his hand during the lost-fight speech. Reese seemed to love every moment, and why not? It is not often that you get your first UFC win with a highlight reel knockout.

Official Result: Zach Reese def. Julian Marquez by TKO (uppercut to ground strikes) Round 1, 0:20

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Marquez, ‘The Cuban Missile Crisis,’ tried to bounce back from the first KO loss of his career in 2022 with a big performance against the Canadian, Barriault. For his own part, Barriault has been known for using his pace and cardio to wear down opponents, resulting in his ‘Powerbar’ nickname, but it had not worked in two of his last three fights as he was finished in both of those losses.

The winner of this preliminary card fight would set themselves up to move forward in the middleweight division.

Following the opening bell, the fighters came out with Julian jabbing and Barriault trying to counter. The striking exchanges were not exactly beautiful as they tried to find the timing — their heads almost clashed or did clash several times — but the pace was high and Julian Marquez, especially, was landing.

Barriault looked for the counter left hook constantly but usually did not find himself in the right range to land it. The Canadian was looking to put his high volume style on display, but could not get going as most of his shots simply did not land. Julian was much more technical and accurate, despite sometimes putting himself off balance. Marquez did most of the pressing forward and began to land his right hand cleanly around the midpoint of the round. When Barriault tied up to smother his pressure, Marquez just uppercutted him in the clinch.

Barriault came back from several flurries from Marquez to land half-decent shots of his own, so he was not out of the fight, just being obviously and out-struck by a decent margin. The final minute of the round was much more even, as Marquez’s pace slowed a bit, though he did land one more good combination before the end.

Marquez’s new head coach, Mark Montoya, deserved plenty of credit for how his fighter looked in the opening five minutes. But what happened in round two was a different story altogether.

The second frame began with Marquez partially landing shots. Barriault had begun to use more kicks at the end of round one and that continued here; he was therefore able to press forward more and retreat less. Marquez looked much less confident and in shape than he did in round one, but he was still able to land on Barriault, though the Canadian absorbed way more damage than he did in round one.

Barriault was finally able to get his pace going somewhat, and hoped to make it snowball as the round went on. Barriault landed big elbows on Marquez in the clinch around the halfway mark but Julian came back swinging big hooks. Barriault responded by swarming Marquez and hitting him with short shots in the clinch while Marquez turtled up. Marquez survived but he lost his mouthpiece and was hurt and bloodied. He tried to survive and tie up Marc-Andre but he kept getting stuck on the fence and hit a lot. Many of the shots did not land but still Julian simply could not get off the fence and did not fight back. He remained turtled up as Barriault’s volume continued, forcing Mark Smith to stop the fight with forty-eight seconds left in the round. ‘Powerbar’ lived up to his name once again, gaining another victory with pure cardio, pace, and dirty boxing.

Official Result: Marc-Andre Barriault def. Julian Marquez by TKO (punches), Round 2, 4:12

The post Second-round Onslaught by Marc-Andre Barriault Overwhelms Julian Marquez at UFC 285 appeared first on Cageside Press.

Originally, Deron Winn was scheduled to face Julian Marquez in a middleweight match-up at the event. However, earlier today, Winn announced on social media that he was out of the fight, after suffering a freak accident at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas.

According to Winn, after fainting Wednesday, he fell down some stairs, striking his head and neck and resulting in a concussion.

“Hey all— yesterday at the UFC PI, I fainted and had a freak accident. I fell down the stairs, hit my head and neck pretty hard. Sustained a mild concussion. They rushed me to the hospital and ran a bunch of tests on me,” Winn wrote. “The majority of the tests came back normal so I’m thankful for that. Since I suffered the concussion the UFC and medical has decided to pull me from my fight this weekend. I am devastated. I have put so much work in these last couple months. I hope to rebook soon. Sorry to my opponent and sorry to all [who] have invested into me this camp. I’m heartbroken. Love all of you who support me.”

A teammate of Daniel Cormier, Winn (7-3) is a decorated freestyle wrestler who joined the UFC in 2019, after starting his career 5-0. After winning his first fight out of the gate, Winn has struggled, posting a 1-3 record since. In his most recent outing, Winn was lit up by Phil Hawes before being finished with elbows.

UFC Vegas 66 takes place this Saturday, December 17, 2022 and moves forward with the following contests:

• Jared Cannonier vs. Sean Strickland
• Arman Tsarukyan vs. Damir Ismagulov
• Amir Albazi vs. Alessandro Costa
• Alex Caceres vs. Julian Erosa
• Drew Dober vs. Bobby Green
• Michał Oleksiejczuk vs. Cody Brundage
• Cheyanne Vlismas vs. Cory McKenna
• Jake Matthews vs. Matthew Semelsberger
• Said Nurmagomedov vs. Saidyokub Kakhramonov
• Rafa García vs. Hayisaer Maheshate
• Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Bryan Battle
• Manel Kape vs. David Dvořák
• Sergey Morozov vs. Journey Newson

The post Deron Winn Suffers Concussion After Fainting, Out of UFC Vegas 66 appeared first on Cageside Press.

Julian Marquez (9-3) will face Deron Winn (7-3) at a UFC Fight Night event on December 17, 2022. The match-up, first reported by MMA Junkie, finds both fighters looking to return to the win column after recent setbacks.

Marquez would later confirm the booking on social media, with Winn also making reference to the fight, posting that it was “bound to happen at some point” on his Instagram Story.

Winn was most recently seen in a losing effort against Phil Hawes, in a fight perhaps best remembered for what happened after the finish. With Winn stopped via TKO in the second round, Hawes got into a verbal spat with UFC broadcaster and former champ Daniel Cormier, a teammate of Winn. Luckily, cooler heads prevailed.

Overall, Winn is 2-3 inside the octagon, with victories over Antonio Arroyo and Eric Spicely.

Marquez is likewise coming off a loss in his last fight, opposite Gregory “Robocop” Rodrigues. That defeat snapped a two-fight winning streak for “The Cuban Missile Crisis,” who had submitted Maki Pitolo and Sam Alvey in 2021.

In 2019 and 2020 Marquez failed to make it to the cage, missing nearly two years after tearing his Latissimus dorsi muscle — an injury that required multiple surgeries.

Other than Julian Marquez vs. Deron Winn, no other fights have been reported for the UFC’s December 17 event. No venue, location, or broadcast plan has been set for the card.

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