Ketlen Vieira

Vieira’s win over Holm puts her on a two-fight win streak and makes her overall UFC record 7-2. Prior to her loss, Holly Holm was the second-ranked women’s bantamweight in the UFC. The champion, Julianna Pena will be fighting Amanda Nunes later this year at UFC 277. Vieira should look to get on that undercard so she can be a possible replacement in case Pena or Nunes can’t make it to the fight. Irene Aldana is currently ranked third in the UFC’s bantamweight division and she has a knockout win over Vieira in 2019. Vieira should look to book a fight against Aldana on the undercard of Pena versus Nunes in her next bout.

To be fair, she told Cageside Press on Saturday after the Holm win that she’d sit and wait — but the safe play isn’t the one to make here.

Vieira’s next fight: Irene Aldana 

Michel Pereira

Michel Pereira is now on a five-fight win streak following his split decision win over Santiago Ponzinibbio on Saturday. That win should mean that Pereira will be ranked inside the top 15 of the UFC’s welterweight division. Li Jingliang is currently 1-2 in his last three fights with his only win being a TKO over Ponzinibbio. Jingliang is currently ranked 13th in the division and has a great style to match up against Pereira.

Pereira’s next fight: Li Jingliang

Chidi Njokuani

Chidi Njokuani knocked out Dusko Todorovic with a nasty elbow in the first round of their middleweight bout at UFC Vegas 55. Njokuani is now 2-0 in the UFC with both of his wins being knockouts in the first round. TUF 29 winner Bryan Battle is another up-and-coming middleweight who is 2-0 in the UFC. Battle has good striking skills but is mainly a grappler by nature. Five of his nine wins are via submission and his only professional loss was a submission loss in his second professional fight. Njokuani showed he has decent defensive grappling against Todorovic but he has a chance to better prove that against a way better grappler in Battle.

Njokuani’s next fight: Bryan Battle 

Tabatha Ricci

At UFC Vegas 55, Tabatha Rucci won a unanimous decision over UFC mainstay Polyana Viana. Ricci is now 2-1 in the UFC and 7-1 overall. She is on a two-fight win streak with decision wins over Maria Oliveira and Viana. Her only professional loss was a TKO loss to Manon Fiorot in her UFC debut last year. That came up a weight class, on short notice.

Sam Hughes is 2-3 in the UFC following her win this past weekend Over Elise Reed. Hughes put on her best performance yet, and Ricci called her out after her own win. Both of these women are very young and will be looking to try and make a big name for themselves in the UFC for years to come.

Ricci’s next fight: Sam Hughes

Park Jun-Yong

Park Jun-Yong opened up the main card with a split decision win over Eryk Anders. Jun-Yong is now 4-2 in the UFC with his only losses being against Anthony Hernandez and Gregory Rodrigues. All four of his UFC wins are by decision and include guys like Anders, Tafon Nchukwi, and Marc-Andre Barriault.

Joseph Holmes also won his fight at UFC Vegas 55 with a  submission win over Alen Amedovski. Holmes is 1-1 in the UFC after losing his UFC debut to Jamie Pickett in January. Holmes has six of his eight professional wins by submission and both of his professional losses are by decision. A fight between Holmes and Jun-Yong would be a classic grappler versus striker match-up and would help either fighter move closer to the middleweight rankings.

Jun-Yong’s next fight: Joseph Holmes 

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Holly Holm

There are plenty of voices letting themselves be heard in the wake of Holm vs. Vieira, proclaiming that Holly was robbed and should have won the fight. While they may have a case, shouting “robbery” every time a close decision goes against your fighter is akin to crying wolf. After a while, it stops resonating.

Holm wasn’t robbed, she just lost a close fight. There’s certainly a case for Vieira winning under the scoring criteria. You can make an argument for Holm as well, and argue until the cows come home, and then we can argue about why the cows were allowed out in the first place— but the bottom line is, no judging system is perfect, and there’s always going to be a human element to it. Had the decision been made in reverse, we’d probably be stuck with the same argument. Or maybe not, as Holm’s popularity could be a factor here.

In any case, Holm lost a close fight, and the loss won’t hold her back much. She still has a few fights left on her contract, something she confirmed during Fight Week, so talk of boxing will have to wait. The question now becomes, bantamweight, or featherweight? And the answer may be that there is a shorter path to gold at 145.

At bantamweight, Holm is at the very least behind Vieira, and despite having a win over her, potentially Raquel Pennington, who has won four straight fights and is starting to make some noise again. But past the rematch with Pena, Amanda Nunes has few options at featherweight. If she’s holding on to that belt and plans to defend it, all Holm needs really is a single win.

Holm was supposed to fight Norma Dumont last fall, but was forced out due to injury. You can rebook that fight. You could book Holm at 145 against Macy Chiasson, who just beat Dumont at featherweight. That makes even more sense.

Holm’s next fight: Macy Chiasson

Santiago Ponzinibbio

If only Santiago Ponzinibbio hadn’t tired himself out swinging for the fences early in his fight with Michel Pereria. It was a fantastic bout, but with a more measured approach, Ponzinibbio might have walked away victorious.

Instead, he may drop out of the welterweight rankings; if not, he’ll probably be right on the cusp at #15 when they update. In either case, there’s a good chance he winds up fighting someone outside the rankings, having lost two straight. Danny Roberts recently had a two-fight win streak snapped, and he’d be a good match-up. Roberts has fought nothing but killers in his UFC run, Mike Perry, Pereira, and Francisco Trinaldo among them.

Pinzinibbio’s next fight: Danny Roberts

Dusko Todorovic

Former Bellator standout Chidi Njokuani, a.k.a. Chidi “Bang Bang,” has started his UFC career off with a bang. Two fights, two first round finishes from the middleweight. Njokuani, brother of former UFC star Anthony Njokuani, is a tried-and-true veteran of the fight game. He’s struggled against high level grapplers in the past, but is a threat to just about anyone else.

Dusko Todorovic hasn’t been so lucky. He’s 2-3 in the UFC and badly in need of a win after being finished by Chidi. Fellow middleweight Eryk Anders also lost at UFC Vegas 55, and the timing there works out.

Todorovic’s next fight: Eryk Anders

Polyana Viana

Baby Shark, do-do-dodo-do-do… sorry. The aforementioned “Baby Shark,” Tabatha Ricci, picked up her second straight win UFC Vegas 55, winning a decision over Polyana Viana. Small even for a strawweight, Ricci has expressed interest in moving to atomweight should the UFC open up a 105 pound division for women. Dana White has previously said he’s open to that idea, but that the pandemic was the wrong time to do it. That might mean next year, it might never happen, but for now, Ricci will swim in the strawweight waters.

That brings us to Viana. The loss to Ricci snapped a two-fight win streak. Sticking with some straight up simple matchmaking, Elise Reed lost to Sam Hughes earlier on the UFC Vegas 55 card. A former CFFC champ, Reed is now 1-2 in the UFC and on the bubble. The timing here works, book it.

Viana’s next fight: Elise Reed

Eryk Anders

Well, this is easy. Dusko. See above.

Ander’s next fight: Dusko Todorovic

The post What’s Next: UFC Vegas 55 Losers appeared first on Cageside Press.

Almeida (16-2) notched his second consecutive win in the UFC.

“I’m very happy to be giving this interview because it means I won. I worked on everything. The fight went around sort of the way we were expecting, but we worked on everything we did in there,” Almeida told reporters, including Cageside Press, through a translator at his post-fight scrum.

Being his first fight at heavyweight did not make much of a difference for Almeida.

“There wasn’t anything major because I train mainly with heavyweights. We have a very strong group of heavyweights. If anything it was easier than I thought because of the level of training partners that I have,” Almeida said.

In his media day interview on Wednesday, Almeida mentioned that he would be returning to light heavyweight, but

“Honestly my weight class is light heavyweight, but I train with heavyweights all the time. When my fight was about to fall through because Maxin Grishin got injured the offer came to have a heavyweight opponent,” said Almeida.

Almeida did not close the door to fighting at heavyweight.

“If it has to be heavyweight to keep active then that’s what it’ll have to be. It’s not something that was in our plans, but if it’s the right fight, why not?”

With Almeida’s skills already showing promise it begs the question if he’s ready for a push into facing ranked opponents.

“Everything in God’s time. If it’s time then I’m going to be ready. I’m still working on a lot of things. I’m developing, I’m improving, and I know that when the time comes for me to be ranked and to fight a ranked opponent I’m going to be a better level than I am right now,” Almeida said.

Watch the full UFC Vegas 55 post-fight media scrum with Jailton Almeida above. More coverage from the event can be found below.

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It seemed like a must-win fight for the 22-year-old Hooper, who was coming off a lopsided loss to Steven Peterson. Hooper showed up and showed out at the Apex, however, TKOing Corales in the third round.

Hooper (11-2-1) was violent and felt perfect going into his fight.

“Well, everything I’ve done for this fight camp, I’ve been like, ‘if this were to be my last fight ever, I want to do everything perfect.’ That was flying across the country to go train with Wonderboy twice this camp. You know, it’s getting those striking looks, getting the wrestling looks, really pushing the pace in the gym with my guys at Combat Sport and Fitness. Using the UFC PI for the dieting and just everything like just locked into place perfectly tonight,” Hooper told Cageside Press during his post-fight interview.  “My hand wraps felt perfect. [Brad] Tate wasn’t supposed to be on the list for people to wrap hands… Tate walks in, I’m like, ‘Oh, this is a good night. I love it.’ When he wraps my hands, he does a great job. The weight cut went easier than expected. The dieting went easier than expected. I felt fantastic in the warm-up.”

“Everything really locked in for me tonight. And, you know, it’s just hoping that happens every time and just knowing that even if it doesn’t, I still have this skill set. But that stuff just kind of further builds your confidence and your ability that things are moving in the right direction and to just kind of keep pressing forward. And that’s all I did. Just keep taking that step forward each time.”

Hooper handed Corales his second straight loss and became the first person to finish the Brazilian fighter. It was a good feeling, he shared.

“It’s always good, not even necessarily just to finish. It’s always nice to finish a guy that’s never been finished and to be able to attain that myself, but to be able to say that I have grappled against a really high-level Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, and I was able to win those exchanges,” Hooper said. “To feel like I was able to hang with him in the grappling really builds a lot of confidence when you’re from a small town Enumclaw, Washington. You know, not from some mega gym, I started with the same coach at eight that I’m here with today. So it feels good.”

UFC Vegas 55 was Hooper’s first time fighting on a UFC Fight Night. His past four fights have all been held on pay-per-view. That didn’t faze “The Dream” he doesn’t care where he fights on the card or if it’s a big PPV.

“I really liked these UFC Apex shows. They’re so mellow, you know, being one of the first flights too, I could care less. The nice thing is with these fight nights, it gives you a better chance for a bonus. I try not to put too much stock into it,” Hooper said. “I’m just taking the fights as they come. I’d fight if there were 100,000 people watching, I’d fight if there were 100 people watching, I’d fight if it was just Dana [White] watching. I just feel like I’m kind of leveling up in the mental aspect of it. And, you know, not letting that stuff bother me too much.”

Hooper was right; there was a better chance of him getting a bonus, as he ended up getting a Performance of the Night.

Watch the rest of Chase Hooper’s post-fight media appearance above. More coverage from the event can be found below.

The post UFC Vegas 55: Chase Hooper Happy To Be First Fighter To Finish Felipe Corales appeared first on Cageside Press.

He’s also likely to break into the top 15 of the welterweight division later this week when the rankings are updated.

“Demolidor” has been a fan favorite since he arrived in the UFC. That fact, and a number next to his name, could land him some big fights. And he has two particular names in mind: Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal.

“I really wanna fight Nate Diaz, because I think it’d be really fun to slap each other around,” Pereira (28-11, 2NC) told Cageside Press following his win at UFC Vegas 55 on Saturday. “I think it’d be a really fun fight, I think we’d put on a show for all the fans.”

“And also Jorge Masvidal, because I have a little bit of a problem with him, and I want to settle it.”

Later, he’d explain that the “problem” with Masvidal stemmed from “Gamebred” DM’ing his wife. And he’s not entirely sure why.

“So he sent an emoji to my wife, the emoji with the two hands together like this, a little ‘amen,'” recalled Pereira. “He sent it to my wife, he didn’t send it to me. I never actually crossed paths with him, I never had the chance to ask him. So I figured, I really want to understand, but might as well understand inside the octagon. So we’ll just settle it over there.”

As for these two particular names, it’s not necessarily about the money, Pereira said later.

“The fight that I’m looking for is guys that I want to fight against. I understand that there’s a time and place to get the money. The money’s there, I know we’re going to make money off of this. But can you imagine us, myself and Nate Diaz fighting? All the stuff, a fight like this, with all our shenanigans and everything else? Money is a consequence of your work, and I’ve always thought about that. I just think that, I’m going to make money eventually in my life. This is a time fight people, to put on a show for the fans and the crowd that’s going to be at the stadium.”

As for Saturday’s fight with Ponzinibbio, it was exactly what Pereira had envisioned. “I came here to actually do exactly that. To give my all, to let it all out in the octagon. That’s exactly what Ponzinibbio and I did.”

And while there may have been a bit of doubt when the scorecards were read, it was only a little. “I knew I had done enough. I was worried a little bit when they actually read the scorecards. But I saw his face when the fight ended, and I felt his face told me that I had won the fight,” said Pereira. “I had some better strikes, I pressed forward more, and that’s why I feel I had done enough to win.”

The part of the fight many don’t see is the battle to make weight — and Pereira also revealed on Saturday that he had lost a whopping 42 pounds ahead of UFC Vegas 55.

“For this fight, I actually lost, in about a month and a half, 19 kilograms. So that’s about 42 pounds. And then just in this past week, 13 kilograms. So just this past week, 28 pounds. So I knew that I was going to be a little bit bigger than him.”

Watch the full UFC Vegas 55 post-fight media appearance by Michel Pereira above. More coverage from the event can be found below.

The post UFC Vegas 55: For Michel Pereira, Diaz Callout About Entertainment, Masvidal More Personal appeared first on Cageside Press.

Now, she’s not only fought her — she’s secured a win over the former UFC women’s bantamweight champ.

“I still remember and admire her. When I had the dreams of coming to the UFC, I watched her shock the world and beat Ronda Rousey,” Vieira (13-2) recalled following Saturday’s event, speaking back stage at the UFC Apex. “Just like other fighters, Miesha Tate and others, I’ve always wanted to fight and be a part of this. So obviously ever since I started, I’ve always wanted to fight her.”

There was a bit of a judging controversy in the fight, which ended in a split decision. But to Vieira, the win was meant to be — and she added that she felt Holm tap during a choke early in the fight. Vieira trapped the neck while the pair were standing alongside the fence; Holm looked to be in some significant discomfort, face turning red.

“I felt pretty good about that; I thought that she actually was doing a little light tap,” suggested Vieira. “I saw the ref come in close, and when I looked over to see him come in close, that’s [when] I think she took the opportunity, because I looked away from what was going on— and she escaped me. But God’s plan can’t be denied.”

With the bantamweight title set to be on the line when Julianna Pena and Amanda Nunes run it back at UFC 277 this July, Vieira is in an interesting spot. She has back-to-back wins over former champs in Holm and Miesha Tate, but losses to other contenders like Yana Kunitskaya and Irene Aldana.

Asked about a rematch with Aldana, who defeated Kunitskaya in her last outing, Vieira declined. Instead, she’ll wait for the title opportunity.

“I don’t think it’s necessary [to fight Aldana], because I just beat someone [Holm] that just beat her. So I feel that I’d rather take my time, go back to the gym, and keep evolving, keep getting better. Because I win a lot, I’ve been close to number two all the time,” Viera stated.

“I will take whatever time is necessary, and just wait for the winner there [between Pena and Nunes].”

Watch the full UFC Vegas 55 post-fight media appearance by Ketlen Vieira above. More coverage from the event can be found below.

The post UFC Vegas 55’s Ketlen Vieira Says Holm Tapped During Fight, Plans to Wait for Title Shot appeared first on Cageside Press.

Once he spoke on the win Park spoke of some of the pressure he felt going into the fight.

“Honestly I’m not that proud of my performance. The last loss was weighing really heavy on my mind for some reason so I fought really, really nervous this time. I feel like I didn’t fight up to my full potential this time around,” Park told reporters including Cageside Press through a translator at his post-fight scrum.

Park showed some emotion following the decision, and yelled in the octagon.

“I cursed a little bit, in a good way, after I won. But I want to apologize for cursing. I’m usually not that guy. That’s how happy I was,” Park said with a smile.

“I’m really sorry.”

Anders employed a game plan which seemed to consist of shooting, clinching, then landing in the clinch or on the break. This left openings for Park which fed right into his game plan.

“My game plan this time around was lots of jabs and lots kicks to the inside of his leg. In training camp we also practice a lot of uppercuts because he was ducking his head when he was coming,” Park said.

Park seemed to be relatively unscathed following the 15-minute bout which deemed the question of when he would like to return. Instead he offered a couple locations.

“Honestly I’m good most places. Las Vegas is great, Korea’s even better, I just don’t want to travel too far. The jet lag is brutal,” Park said.

“My coach really wants a fight in Brazil because apparently it’s the furthest point from Korea that you can get. So, just to screw with (coach).”

Which his first win of 2022 secured Park had a chance to name an opponent for his next bout, but his answer was short and simple.

“Everybody,” Park said.

“Everybody, no problem.”

Watch the full UFC Vegas 55 post-fight media scrum with Jun-Yong Park above. More coverage from the event can be found below.

The post UFC Vegas 55: Jun-Yong Park Down To Fight “Everybody,” Jokes About Fight In Brazil appeared first on Cageside Press.

It is crazy, but some fighters have still not fought in front of a sold-out UFC crowd. For Ricci, she hasn’t fought in front of a crowd since returning to the sport of MMA in 2020. All of her LFA fights were behind closed doors, and her three UFC fights have been at the UFC Apex.

After her win over Polyana Viana, Ricci told Cageside Press that she really hopes her next fight will be in front of a crowd. When asked if she was interested in a fight with Sam Hughes, who kicked the card off with a TKO win over Elise Reed, Ricci said she liked the fight.

“Oh, Sam, she came from LFA too. I can tell she’s kind of my homie,” Ricci laughed. “I love the LFA crew. So yeah, there’s gonna be a good. [I’ll fight] anyone.”

After she successfully weighed in on Friday, Ricci pulled off her necklace and posed with it. She explained what the significance of that was.

“That was a shark tooth. One represented Manon [Fiorot], another one represented Maria [Oliveira] with a little blood, and the third one represented Polyana, and I gotta dip it in the blood again,” Ricci said.

Watch the full UFC Vegas 55 post-fight media scrum with Tabatha Ricci above.

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It was an early night for Njokuani (22-7) again at UFC Vegas 55. He knocked out Dusko Todorovic with an elbow in the first round. That is the fourth finish in a row for “Chidi Bang Bang” and his second knockout win in the UFC. He has yet to see a second round in the promotion.

Njokuani still has not fought in front of a sold-out crowd which is something he hopes to change. With UFC 277 set in his hometown of Dallas, Njokuani wants to hop on UFC 277 to put on a show for the city.

The 33-year-old told Daniel Cormier of his hopes during his in-cage interview, and he also told the media afterward.

“It’d be dope to fight in my hometown. If I can get on that card, that’d be cool,” Njokuani told reporters including Cageside Press during his UFC Vegas post-fight interview.

After grinding on the regional scene and competing in Bellator for years, he finally feels the hard work is paying off.

“It’s crazy. It’s crazy. It took forever to get here, but it’s like all the hard work that we put in, like this is the only outcome that’s possible. You know? We put in so much work for years and years, and me finally getting my sh*t together, mentally, and physically, and listening to my coaches for once. Like, there’s no other outcome possible, but this,” Njokuani said.

With two Performance of the Night bonuses to his name in his first two fights, when asked if he wants a Fight of the Night next, he said he will pass.

“I like to watch those fights. I don’t want to be any part of that. If I can get a 16-second knockout every time, that’s my goal.”

Watch the full post-fight media scrum with Chidi Njokuani above. More coverage from the event can be found below.

The post UFC Vegas 55: Chidi Njokuani Hopes To Fight On UFC 277 Card At Home In Dallas appeared first on Cageside Press.

Holmes (8-2) picked up his first UFC win at UFC Vegas 55 when he submitted Alen Amedovski after landing a nasty knee that dropped the Macedonian fighter. It was picture-perfect performance, and it only lasted a little over a minute.

“Ugly Joe” lost his UFC debut against Jamie Pickett via unanimous decision in January, but he said that loss led to the great performance against Amedovski.

“Without that debut, I probably wouldn’t have won like that, just now. That debut I had was a huge learning lesson for me,” Holmes told Cageside Press during his UFC Vegas 55 post-fight interview. “Not just you know, I can take a punch, or I can go three rounds with the best men in the world. But you know, you have to be prepared, and you have to implement your own game. You can’t go in there and do what the other guy wants you to do. You gotta you got to do what you’re supposed to do and listen to your coaches. And I learned that from my debut for sure.”

The 26-year-old says he had the best camp of his life ahead of this performance, and it showed. The game plan was pretty simple, stay away from his opponent’s knockout power.

“This is probably the best performance I’ve ever had. Following the best camp I’ve ever had with the best body I’ve ever had. This is all just incredible. I’m super blessed to get the camp that I had. Thanks to my management team for setting that fight up,” Holmes said. “The game plan was to have active feet, be smaller in my stance, throw a lot of jabs and just kind of not worry about his power that he has in those in his hands. Alen is a tough guy, so I just needed to stay away from his power and take them down any chance I get. So it’s either all the way in or all the way out. I think I did that pretty well.”

Holmes didn’t have anyone he wanted to fight next but hopes to fight again in late August.

Watch the full UFC Vegas 55 post-fight media scrum with Joseph Holmes above. More coverage from the event can be found below.

The post UFC Vegas 55: Joseph Holmes Says UFC Debut Loss Led To First Win appeared first on Cageside Press.