UFC On ABC 5 “Emmett Vs Topuria” + Weekly MMA Report
Last weekend’s UFC event was such a messy card. There were so many controversies, but the greatest one was seen in the bout between Ronnie Lawrence and Daniel Argueta. Argueta caught his opponent in the choke, Lawrence didn’t tap, but Keith Peterson stopped the fight, and it was later ruled no contest.
Another controversy was seen in Denys Bondar Vs Carlos Hernandez’s bout. In the second round, the Ukrainian head kicked the grounded opponent, but the ref only warned him. In the dying seconds of the fight, Hernandez slammed Bondar and finished him with a barrage of elbows, but Denys was out due to a head clash. Yet, as the fight advanced into round 3, judges rendered their scorecards, which led to a decision win for the Mexican.
UFC Vegas 74 Bonuses
The Fight of the Night bonus went into the hands of Marvin Vettori and Jared Cannonier, who stood and bang for five rounds. Vettori’s GOAT chin ate so many hard shots, but it seems the Italian is unfinishable. Cannonier scored a dominant decision win.
Dana White also gave two Performance of the Night awards. The first went into the hands of Alessandro Costa, who finished submission artist Jimmy Flick.
RELENTLESS G&P to break into the win column for 🇧🇷 @AlessanCosta10! #UFCVegas75pic.twitter.com/3BzuhJmL7K
— UFC (@ufc) June 18, 2023
The second was given to Manuel Torres, who destroyed Nikolas Motta with the greatest elbow of all time. Motta dropped his guard, and left slashing elbow sent him to sleep. He was out before he touched the mat.
🇲🇽💪 EL LOCO HELLBOW!
Manuel Torres, have a night! #UFCVegas75pic.twitter.com/3fpHXbZPYA
— UFC (@ufc) June 18, 2023
UFC On ABC 5 Announcement
UFC will host another amazing event this weekend. The promotion travels to Jacksonville, Florida, for a very promising fight night card, headlined by the super-promising bout between the greatest Georgian potential, Ilia Topuria, and the toughest 145er the world has ever seen, Josh Emmett.
Image source: @UFCBrasil Twitter
Ilia Topuria is known for outstanding wrestling and brutal punches. He is a very durable fighter with tremendous boxing skills and he can take a beating. One of the greatest 145ers is going to get into title contention if he wins this fight. According to the bookies, he’s a massive favorite.
Josh Emmett is known for long wars and technicality. Emmett can take a beating and fight aggressively for five rounds. His fight against Calvin Kattar was a close war, where Emmett scored a razor-close decision win. Emmett suffered a triangle choke loss to Yair Rodriguez, and he’ll have to win to get back into title contention.
Prediction: Topuria to win
In the co-main event of the evening, a technical Muay Thai fighter and a BJJ specialist Amanda Ribas will square off against a powerful striker Maycee Barber. Barber is better in the stand-up, her strikes are very tricky, and she’ll try to outsmart the Brazilian. Yet, Ribas is a very durable fighter with top-notch fight IQ, so this fight could last for three rounds.
Prediction: over 2.5 rounds
UFC On ABC 5 Line-Up
Please take a look at the full fight card below. Finally, it kicks off a bit earlier, so European fans won’t have to stay up all night.
Main Card (ABC, UFC On Fight Pass, 3 PM ET, 8 PM UK time)
Featherweight: Josh Emmett (18-3-0) vs. Ilia Topuria (13-0-0)
Flyweight: Amanda Ribas (11-3-0) vs. Maycee Barber (12-2-0)
Middleweight: Cody Brundage (8-4-0) vs. Sedriques Dumas (7-1-0)
Featherweight: David Onama (10-2-0) vs. Gabriel Santos (10-1-0)
Middleweight: Brendan Allen (21-5-0) vs. Bruno Silva (23-8-0)
Preliminary Card (ESPN/ESPN+, UFC On Fight Pass, noon ET, 5 PM UK time)
Welterweight: Neil Magny (27-10-0) vs. Philip Rowe (10-3-0)
Flyweight: Zhalgas Zhumagulov (14-8-0) vs. Joshua Van (7-1-0)
Heavyweight: Justin Tafa (6-3-0) vs. Austen Lane (12-3-0)
Welterweight: Randy Brown (16-5-0) vs. Wellington Turman (18-6-0)
Lightweight: Mateusz Rębecki (17-1-0) vs. Loik Radzhabov (17-4-1)
Strawweight: Tabatha Ricci (8-1-0) vs. Gillian Robertson (12-7-0)
Lightweight: Trevor Peek (8-0-0) vs. Chepe Mariscal (13-6-0)
Featherweight: Jamall Emmers (19-6-0) vs. Jack Jenkins (11-2-0)
Flyweight: Tatsuro Taira (13-0-0) vs. Kleydson Rodrigues (8-2-0)
UFC On ABC Predictions
You can check out my full fight card predictions in the playlist below.
This is going to be an amazing card. There are many high-level match-ups, and this fight night is 100% worth watching. Sit next to your watching device at noon ET on Saturday and enjoy another great event!
