Photo by Alexandre Schneider /Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is set to invade Antel Arena this weekend (Sat., Aug. 10, 2019) in Montevideo, Uruguay to stage UFC Fight Night 156, airing exclusively on ESPN+. The card will be headlined by a women’s Flyweight title fight as division champion Valentina Shevchenko will face off against Liz Carmouche. In the co-main event, Welterweight studs, Vicente Luque and Mike Perry, will collide in what is sure-to-be a hard-hitting affair.
What’s Hot:
Valentina Shevchenko successfully defended her 125-pound strap just over a month ago at UFC 238, brutally knocking out Jessica Eye 26 seconds into Round 2 with a devastating head kick (see it). The win was “Bullet’s” third straight after a tough split decision loss to Amanda Nunes, her second loss to the current “champ-champ.” When you look at the division, there doesn’t seem to be a threat that stands out for Shevchenko, which means she could very well go on a record-setting run as champion. Indeed, Valentina is a special talent and is an obvious fan favorite with skills to catapult her into mega star status.
Enter Liz Carmouche, the only person other than Nunes to defeat Valentina in mixed martial arts (MMA). That said, legend has it that it was due to controversial doctor’s stoppage, and since there doesn’t seem to be any footage of the fight, we have to take each fighter at their word as to what went down. Still, Liz goes in with a win over Valentina, which likely won’t mean much to “Bullet,” as she is always calm as a cucumber and isn’t easily rattled.
Carmouche has quietly won four of five and is looking to score the biggest win of her career, which will also nab her UFC gold for the first time after coming up short against Ronda Rousey in the first-ever women’s MMA fight inside the Octagon six years ago.
What’s Not:
This is weird for me because while I do like the fight for the fact that it is sure to be a banger, Vicente Luque getting matched up with Mike Perry caught me off guard for a second. Vicente has been on quite a tear over his last five bouts winning all five via finish. In fact, he is 9-1 in his last 10 UFC fights.
And yet, for whatever reason, he still can’t make it into the UFC rankings while Geoff Neal, who is 4-0 inside the UFC’s cage, with only one year of Octagon experience, already has a spot. But don’t get me started on the rankings process. Meanwhile, over his last five outings, Mike Perry is just 2-3, so I would’ve preferred UFC give Luque a much better fight to raise his stock. Sure, Perry has somewhat of a name in UFC, but Vicente should’ve have gotten a fight against someone on a roll, someone ranked that can help him take that next step up.
Original Card vs Actual Card:
This event got a much-needed boost at the expense of last weekend’s UFC on ESPN 5 card, as a Light Heavyweight showdown between Ilir Latifi and Volkan Oezdemir was yanked from that card in favor of this one. This fight has already been delayed twice before, and now it seems we will finally get it.
After a red-hot start to his UFC career, Oezdemir has lost three in a row. He will look to snap his skid when he takes on heavy-handed Ilir Latifi, who is coming off a loss to Corey Anderson and is 2-1 in his last three outings. It’s an interesting matchup to say the least, one that could provide a highlight-reel finish as both of these men hit like a truck. Whoever lands cleanly first could very well put an end to the fight early.
A Flyweight fight between Ashlee Evans-Smith and Taila Santos was scratched after Evans-Smith was forced to withdraw for undisclosed reasons. Since the injury occurred so close to the event, UFC was unable to find a suitable replacement. Furthermore, a fight between Rachael Ostovich and Veronica Macedo was scrapped after Rachael was bounced from the event for undisclosed reasons. Brazilian fighter Polyana Viana stepped in to face Macedo.
Injuries:
Laureano Staropoli was forced out of his fight against Alexey Kunchenko after he suffered a broken nose, and was ultimately replaced by Gilbert Burns. Also, Rafael Fiziev and Alex da Silva was scratched after Fiziev suffered a broken hand. Fiziev will now face UFC newcomer, Rodrigo Vargas.
How The ‘Prelims’ Look:
Despite all of the injuries and shakeups, the event still has 13 fights lined up. Tecia Torres will face Marina Rodriguez in an interesting women’s Strawweight fight that will see “Tiny Tornado” avoid her fourth-straight loss. Then again, all of her previous three defeats came against Weilie Zhang, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, and current champion, Jessica Andrade, so there is no shame in that.
Look, I am not going to sugar coat it for you, the undercard is bad, as there aren’t many notable fighters on it. At least not enough to peak most people’s interest. But hey, I get it, everyone has to start somewhere and these fighters that most people don’t know yet could very will make it to the main card down the road. Though it’s obvious they have a ways to go.
To get a more detailed look at all of the “prelims” click here and here.
New Blood:
We have several newcomers making their UFC debut this Saturday, including Luiz Eduardo Garagorri, the undefeated Featherweight with 10 finishes on his resume. Surprisingly enough, he is the only fighter who hails from Uruguay, so he will have the crowd behind him. He will take on Humberto Bandenay, loser of two in a row.
Next up we have Rodolfi Viera, another undefeated fighter (5-0) looking to make a splash at Middleweight when he takes on Oskar Piechota. Keeping with the theme of undefeated scrappers, Cyril Gane (3-0) will face fellow newcomer Raphael Pessoa — also undefeated at 9-0 — in Heavyweight action. Between them they have nine knockout victories, so this one could very well end early and violently.
Indeed, a lot of “0’s” will go come fight night.
Rodrigo Vargas got the call up on short notice to to make his UFC debut, and will be coming off a 16-month layoff in between fights. He will face off against Alex da Silva. With his specialty being in the submission department, it seems Rodrigo’s best bet is to take the fight to the ground to avoid the heavy hands of da Silva, who came up short in his own UFC debut earlier this year.
To get a better look at all of the “New Blood” click here.
Who Needs A Win Badly:
What in the world happened to Volkan Oezdemir. At one time, he was considered to be a legit threat to Jon Jones after storming his way into UFC with three straight wins, including back-to-back knockout wins over Misha Cirkunov and Jimi Manuwa which took just 70 seconds combined.
Since then, however, “No time” has had no luck, losing to Daniel Cormier at UFC 220 in a title fight, then losing to Anthony Smith (submission) and Dominick Reyes (decision). Things won’t get any easier for Volkan, as one clean hit from “The Sledgehammer” could send him home with four-straight losses. That fear may cause Oezdemir to come out tentative, therefore leaving the door open for Ilir to do his thing.
Interest Level: 6/10
It’s not as bad as last week’s UFC 5 event was on paper, so I will give it that. But you know UFC didn’t put a lot of effort into this from the jump if they had to ask Shevchenko to make a one-month turnaround to headline this event. Still, we get to see if “Bullet” can get some sweet revenge on Carmouche, or if Liz can pull off one of the biggest upsets in recent memory. The rest of the main card is rounded out with fights like Enrique Barzola vs. Bobby Moffett, Luiz Eduardo Garagorri vs. Humberto Bandenay, and Rodolfo Vieira vs. Oskar Piechota.
Then again, big names don’t always make for the most exciting fights when it’s all said and done, and we’ve seen some sleeper cards actually deliver. That said, if UFC’s point is to attract more subscribers to ESPN+, putting together cards like this won’t help the cause. But, with UFC’s roster getting out of control, they are contractually obligated to give fighters a certain amount of fights per their contract, so cards like this are bound to pop up more frequently.
Full Fight Card:
UFC Fight Night 156 Main Event:
125 lbs.: UFC Women’s Flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko vs. Liz Carmouche
UFC Fight Night 156 Main Card:
170 lbs.: Mike Perry vs. Vicente Luque
145 lbs.: Humberto Bandenay vs. Luiz Eduardo Garagorri
205 lbs.: Ilir Latifi vs. Volkan Oezdemir
185 lbs.: Oskar Piechota vs. Rodolfo Vieira
145 lbs.: Enrique Barzola vs. Bobby Moffett
UFC Fight Night 156 ‘Prelims’ Undercard:
265 lbs.: Cyril Gane vs. Raphael Pessoa
115 lbs.: Marina Rodriguez vs. Tecia Torres
125 lbs.: Rogerio Bontorin vs. Raulian Paiva
135 lbs.: Geraldo de Freitas vs. Chris Gutierrez
125 lbs.: Taila Santos vs. Ariane Carnelossi
155 lbs.: Alex da Silva vs. Rodrigo Vargas
170 lbs.: Gilbert Burns vs. Aleksei Kunchenko
125 lbs.: Veronica Macedo vs. Polyana Viana
*Fight card, bout order and the amount of matches subject to change.
For more upcoming UFC events click here.