Zane Simon & Eddie Mercado are here to breakdown this Saturday’s, June 26th, ‘UFC Vegas 30: Ciryl Gane vs. Alexander Volkov’ event. The guys will have hot takes, possible next fights, as well as reactions to the overall event.
Bloody Elbow fight experts, Zane Simon & Dayne Fox, are here tonight – Saturday, June 26th., 2021, to breakdown the UFC VEGAS 30: ‘Ciryl Gane vs. Alexander Volkov’ event, which was broadcast from the cozy confines of the APEX Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The guys will have hot takes, possible next fights, as well as reactions to the overall event in the player above, or on our Bloody Elbow Presents YouTube Channel and BE Presents Podcast Network. (SPOILERS…)
Returning to the down-sized APEX octagon for the main event, we had a Heavyweight tilt between the #3 ranked, former TKO Heavyweight Champion, Muay Thai specialist Ciryl ‘Bon Gamin’ Gane, with an impressive undefeated 8-0 record for an up-and-comer, including defeats against Rozenstruik, JDS and Boser; and his opponent today being the #5 ranked, former M-1 Global & Bellator MMA Champion, The 6’ 7” tall Russian contender Alexander ‘Drago’ Volkov; who was coming off victories over Overeem and Walt Harris, both in the second round. Gane was the slight favorite going into this bout, with a lot of believers thinking he is on his way to title contention.
In a full five-round battle, Gane outworked, out-struck and outclassed veteran fighter Volkov to a Unanimous Decision victory – remaining undefeated. Luckily, the bout was not stopped due to a late eye poke a few seconds before the end of the last round.
Where’s the attitude Volkov had against Harris and Overeem? I understand Gane is better than both of them, but I didn’t expect him to look this tentative. #UFCVegas30
— Dayne Fox (@TheDayneFox) June 26, 2021
In the co-main event, we had a Light Heavyweight contest featuring, ‘OSP’ – Ovince St. Preux, aka: the ‘Von Preux choke’ specialist; an unorthodox fighter, who was coming at this bout off a loss to Jamahal Hill last December. His opponent in this bout was Tanner ‘The Bulldozer’ Boser; the Canadian brawler had a decent 19-8 record, but was coming into the octagon tonight off of two losses to Ilir Latifi and Andrei Arlovski since last winter.
In what was almost a controversial win, Boser put an end to OSP via TKO via Knees & Punches after allegedly attempting to pull himself up off his back by grabbing hold of the cage, multiple replays revealed his knuckles contacted the cage and he pushed against it, he did not actually grab the cage, as was initially thought.
Does OSP now he’s in a fight? It looks like his only goal is to dodge what Boser throws at him, almost like he’s training for dodgeball. #UFCVegas30
— Dayne Fox (@TheDayneFox) June 26, 2021
That’s the kind of round I’d love to see scored a 10-8 for Boser. Almost definitely won’t be, because he didn’t hurt OSP badly, but strike totals gotta be like 30-5. #UFCVegas30
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) June 26, 2021
Also on the card, Timur ‘Lucky’ Valiev won a hard fought battle to the decision against Raoni Barcelos, making him having won three contests in three weight classes. We also had an exciting Featherweight clash when Andre ‘Touchy’ Fili went up against Daniel ‘The Pit’ Pineda, in a brawl that ended when Fili accidentally let his hand slip off the chest of Pineda resulting in an accidental eye poke so severe it ended the bout in a NO CONTEST, which was a shame because Fili was en route to likely winning that bout later in the second round. Prior to that, we had exciting matchups between Tim Means and Nicolas Dalby, as well as Renato Moicano vs. Jai Herbert. It was a really great main card today.
“Three fight in UFC, three different weight classes, who does it before?” – Timur Valiev who then has a message for Sean Shelby about giving him a top ranked opponent. #UFCVegas30
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) June 26, 2021
This was all preceded by a seven bout undercard that featured five exhilarating finishes and two decisions. All in all, we had a decent fight card with several bouts well worth discussing.
Nzechukwu improves every time he steps in the cage, but he’s still very raw. I really hope the UFC doesn’t give him a massive step up. I know it sounds lazy given he fought earlier on the card, but Marcin Prachnio makes a LOT of sense for Nzechukwu. #UFCVegas30
— Dayne Fox (@TheDayneFox) June 26, 2021
This week the guys’ picks heading into the event were…
Both: Volkov
Both: Boser
Both: Barcelos
Both: Fili (NO CONTEST)
Both: Means
Zane: Herbert, Dayne: MoicanoBoth: MarquesCancelled
Both: Rokhmonov
Both: Alves
Both: Prachnio
Both: Avila
Both: Rosa
Zane: Medeiros, Dayne: Hadzovic
Overall, this 13-bout card saw no first round finishes for the first time in ages, but we had four impressive KO/TKO’s, one stoppage, three sweet submissions, and five decisions, one split and one majority. Rounding things out, bonuses for putting forth POTN efforts went to Kennedy Nzechukwu & Marcin Prachnio; FOTN honors went to Valiev vs. Barcelos. What a day of fights we have to share with you, join us to discuss all the action…
Here’s a look at the UFC VEGAS 30: ‘CIRYL GANE VS ALEXANDER VOLKOV’ RESULTS & UPDATED FIGHT RECORDS:
ESPN+ MAIN CARD | SAT. JUNE 26
13. Ciryl Gane (9-0) DEF. Alexander Volkov (33-9) – DEC, Unanimous
12. Tanner Boser (20-8) DEF. Ovince St. Preux (25-16) – KO/TKO, Knee & Punches at 2:31 of Rd 2, Total 7:31
11. FOTN: Timur Valiev (18-2) DEF. Raoni Barcelos (16-2) – DEC, Majority
10. Andre Fili (21-8) vs. Daniel Pineda (27-14) – NO CONTEST, Accidental Eye Poke at 0:46 of Rd 2, Total 5:46
9. Tim Means (32-12) DEF. Nicolas Dalby (19-4) – DEC, Unanimous
8. Renato Moicano (15-4) DEF. Jai Herbert (10-3) – SUB, Rear Naked Choke at 4:34 of Rd 2, Total 9:34
ESPN+ PRELIMS
7. Kennedy Nzechukwu – POTN, (9-1) DEF. Danilo Marques (11-3) – KO/TKO, Punches (Standing TKO) at 0:20 of Rd 3, Total 10:20
6. Shavkat Rakhmonov (14-0) DEF. Michel Prazeres (26-4) – SUB, Rear Naked Choke at 2:10 of Rd 2, Total 7:10
5. Jeremiah Wells (9-2) DEF. Warlley Alves (14-5) – KO/TKO, Right Hook to G&P at 0:30 of Rd 2, Total 5:30
4. Marcin Prachnio – POTN, (15-5) DEF. Ike Villanueva (18-12) – KO/TKO, Body Kick at 0:56 of Rd 2, Total 5:56
3. Julia Avila (9-2) DEF. Julija Stoliarenko (9-5) – SUB, Rear Naked Choke at 4:19 of Rd 3, Total 14:19
2. Charles Rosa (14-5) DEF. Justin Jaynes (16-8) – DEC, Split
1. Damir Hadžovi? (14-6) DEF. Yancy Medeiros (15-8) – DEC, Unanimous
Be sure to follow Zane – @TheZaneSimon & Dayne – @TheDayneFox; and follow @BloodyElbow on twitter as well, for all the latest in MMA happenings. Bloody Elbow Presents is a mixed martial arts podcast network presented to you by Bloody Elbow:
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