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UFC Vegas 33 went down last night (Sat., July 31, 2021) inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, featuring a Middleweight bout that saw Sean Strickland defeat Uriah Hall via unanimous decision after 25 minutes of action (see it again here). In other action, Cheyanne Buys absolutely demolished Gloria de Paula on her way to a lightning-quick first round knockout win (see it).

Winner: Sean Strickland

Who He Should Fight Next: Jack Hermansson

Strickland picked up his fifth straight win after dominating Uriah Hall for 25 minutes. Up next for him should be a fight against Hermansson, “Joker” is coming off a big win over Edmen Shahbazyan, giving him his second win in last three fights. Ranked at No. 6, Hermansson is ranked five spots ahead of Strickland at the moment, though they will be a bit closer in the rankings later this week. This would be a big test for the rising contender, which could get him closer to the Top 5 if he can pull it off.

Winner: Cheyanne Buys

Who She Should Face Next: Jinh Yu Frey

Overshadowing Buys’ big win over Gloria de Paula is all of the talk of how broke she was coming into the fight. A nice $50,000 post-fight bonus will help alleviate those issues. But Buys looked great, dominating Paula for a lightning quick finish (see it). Since she escaped unscathed and barely broke a sweat, she could be in for a quick turnaround to score another payday. A fight against Frey seems appropriate since she was also victorious last night in “Sin City,” defeating Ashley Yoder via unanimous decision. Frey also has a win over Paul, as well.

Winner: Jared Gooden

Who He Should Face Next: Daniel Rodriguez

Gooden snapped his two fight skid with an impressive first round knockout win over Niklas Stolze, his first win inside the Octagon after three attempts. He has a way to go before he starts getting the bigger fights everyone desires. But for now I would like to see him matched up against Rodriguez next. Rodriguez is fresh off a first round knockout win himself, taking out Preston Parson at UFC Vegas 31 last month. Prior to that, he dominated Mike Perry for 15 minutes. Both of these men can crack, so a “Fight of the Night” performance could in their future if they get paired up.

Winner: Melsik Baghdasaryan

Who He Should Face Next: Charles Rosa

Melsik had an explosive debut, knocking out fellow UFC newcomer Collin Anglin via knockout, giving him his sixth straight victory. A fight against Rosa — who is coming off a split decision win over Justin Jaynes — sounds appealing. Rosa has been fighting for UFC for seven years now, but has only competed 10 times during that span. He has alternated wins and losses to rack up an even 5-5 mark, so he hasn’t exactly made the moves to get into the Top 15. A win over Melsik won’t get him there, but it’s a start.

Winner: Jason Witt

Who He Should Face Next: Nicolas Dalby

Witt scored a majority decision win over Bryan Barberana, putting him back in the win column after suffering a 16-second knockout loss at the hands of Matthew Semelsberger in his previous bout. I’d like to see him face off against Dalby next. Dalby is coming off a tough loss to Tim Means a month ago, his first loss in three years. They have similar fighting experience and both are trying to claw their way up a very crowded Welterweight division.

For complete UFC Vegas 33 results and coverage click here.

The Bellator MMA light heavyweight grand prix is headed to Phoenix, Arizona this fall.

The Bellator MMA featherweight grand prix wrapped up with A.J. McKee’s sensational win over Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire, now attention can turn to the light heavyweight tournament.

It was announced on Saturday that the 205 lbs semifinal matchups will take place on October 16th at Footprint Center (formerly the Talking Stick Resort Arena) in Phoenix, Arizona. In the main event, Vadim Nemkov will take on former UFC title challenger Anthony Johnson, in what doubles as a title defense for Nemkov. The other side of the bracket pits former Bellator champion Ryan Bader against fellow ex-UFC contender Corey Anderson.

Nemkov (14-2) won the championship from Bader last August and successfully defended his belt by beating Phil Davis in the tournament quarterfinals. Johnson (23-6) was supposed to fight Yoel Romero in the most anticipated quarterfinal, but Romero wasn’t given medical clearance and instead he took on late replacement Jose Augusto. ‘Rumble’ survived an early knockdown to win by second-round KO. This was his first fight since his 2017 retirement.

Bader (28-6-1 NC) bounced back from his TKO defeat to Nemkov by winning a comfortable unanimous decision versus former UFC light heavyweight king Lyoto Machida. He’s also Bellator’s heavyweight champ but his one title defense ended in a no contest vs. Cheick Kongo and he obviously won’t be going back to the division for as long as he’s in the LHW tourney. Anderson (15-5) joined Bellator after he was granted release from his UFC contract last year. His debut was an easy win over Melvin Manhoef, and in his quarterfinal he stopped Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov in the third round.

No other fights have been announced for this event, but you can expect news on that in the coming weeks. Showtime will broadcast the main card, with prelims streamed live on YouTube.

The European mixed martial arts scene is still a raw and wild place where crazy stuff like three versus one man fights can and do happen.

We’ve sung the praises of Twitter user Grabaka Hitman for a long time because he manages to find and share a ton of pretty outrageous MMA footage from smaller international shows around the world. Recently he provided footage of a Russian brawl at an event that ended with two of the participants having an official fight in the cage. Now he’s got something even stranger: a 3 vs. 1 fight that goes down exactly as you’d imagine most 3 vs. 1 fights would.

It all happened at an Elite Fighters event in Rzeszow, Poland on Saturday July 31st. The lone man: someone identified only as ‘Kung Fu Panda’ (really). His team of opponents: Mi?osz W?odkowski, Maciej Szwech, and Norbert Gr?zka. The length of the fight: 14 seconds.

Take a look:

Other insanity from the Elite Fighters event:

If you enjoyed that, make sure to follow Grabaka Hitman on Twitter and consider throwing him a subscribe on Patreon. It’s not all freakshow fight content, there’s tons of quality martial arts being showcased as well. Between that and his weekly schedule of international combat sports, it really is worth supporting Grabaka Hitman.

Get a unique rundown on the events of UFC Vegas 33 as Dayne Fox awards the best and worst happenings of the evening.

I don’t want to pussyfoot around: UFC Vegas 33 was a crap card on paper. Only two of the fighters outside of the main event entered the event with UFC wins with many of the contests featuring fighters looking to stay employed. In other words, you know what two sections of my awards are going to be jam-packed. However, all credit to the fighters as they made it well worth the while for those who did tune in. Though Sean Strickland deserves credit for his win over Uriah Hall in the main event, the best string of action came with the rest of the main card, a series of finishes and one of the best single rounds of action I’ve ever seen in an MMA contest. Not bad for a card everyone was hating on. Here’s the awards for the evening….

Biggest Jump in Stock: I had a hard time with this spot. Several turned in job saving performances, but only a few of them induced a potential rethinking of their abilities. So, given it’s harder to get over the hump of being another guy – or gal – on the roster to being seen as a potential contender, I’ll go with Strickland turning in a complete five-round performance against a durable Hall. I understand those that would disagree with this pick given most expected Strickland to do what he did, but that was no small task. Plus, it’s even more impressive when one thinks of where Strickland was a year ago: prepping for his return after a devastating motorcycle injury had kept him on the shelf.

Biggest Fall in Stock: This was another hard one to pick, especially given I want to pick someone whom I believe will still be on the roster. Rafa Garcia was a heavy favorite against Chris Gruetzemacher, only for the younger fighter to blow his wad after some early domination. Garcia is still a prospect, so there’s no reason to write him off yet. But if he was unable to get past someone with such mediocre physical skills as Gruetzemacher, there is reason to question his ceiling. The hope here is this ends up being a prospect loss of sorts that Garcia can learn from.

Best Newcomer: There were three newcomers on the card, Melsik Baghdasaryan being the only one to walk out with a win. Of course, his win came over another newcomer in Collin Anglin, but that didn’t make it any less impressive. There are some things Baghdasaryan needs to work on – he’ll probably be in trouble if a fight goes three rounds – but there’s a lot to like. For instance, his head kick on Anglin was a thing of beauty and his follow up was an exhibition of great killer instinct.

Start Typing a Resume: There’s a few that I’m not sure will be cut loose, but I could very well see them no longer being on the roster. Niklas Stolze is the name I’m most unsure about. He wasn’t competitive in his loss to the previously winless Jared Gooden, getting KO’d in brutal fashion in the opening round. I can see Stolze getting another chance, but his UFC debut wasn’t exactly competitive either.

Gloria de Paula is another one I’m not sure about, but I kind of hope she does get cut loose. Only 26, her only wins on the regional scene came against cans or untested competition and she ended up making it to the organization via DWCS, a method notorious for sending prospects to the big league too soon. De Paula needs more seasoning. Give her a few years and I think she could be a force to be reckoned with.

Many were thinking the UFC continually extended a lifeline to Ashley Yoder she didn’t deserve. It doesn’t look like she’s going to be getting another one. Typically, Yoder has at least been scrappy enough that even when she’s been overmatched, she’s been game. Those moments were few and far between in her loss to Jinh Yu Frey.

I’m not saying it was overdue, but it felt like Ryan Benoit had a longer leash than most other fighters in his position. Being a power puncher at flyweight has never been a great recipe for success, requiring another level of athleticism to make that work. Benoit isn’t a bad athlete, but was never an exceptional athlete, typically getting outworked in all his contests. His loss to Zarrukh Adashev was a perfect example of that.

Saved Their Job(s): Gooden took a major risk when he stepped in for Mounir Lazzez just four days prior to the event as he entered on a two-fight losing streak. Scoring a first round KO in brutal fashion ensured that the gamble paid off. He didn’t get a $50K bonus, but I felt strongly that he deserved one, another reason why the idea of a limit on the amount of bonuses awarded completely sucks.

I’ll touch more on Jason Witt a bit later, but a third loss in his four UFC contests would assuredly have been a nail in the coffin for him. A seasoned vet who doesn’t appear likely to make any major gains from his current abilities, he needs to be producing now to justify his roster spot. He might have just barely hung on, but it was enough to squeeze out the win and keep him on the roster.

I have a hard time believing the UFC wasn’t looking to send Gruetzemacher packing. Even older than Witt — perhaps with even less physical advantages than Witt — Gruetzemacher looks like the ideal stepping stone for younger fighters. Not this time. Garcia expended his gas tank in the first round, leaving him mere fumes to run on from there. If you’re going to go all out on Gruetzemacher, you better put him away.

The outcome wasn’t what either of them preferred, but a draw was probably the only outcome that would allow both Danny Chavez and Kai Kamaka to remain on the roster. Chavez was saved by a pair of fouls on Kamaka’s part that saw Herb Dean take a point, leaving the fighters and fans with the unsatisfying outcome. It will be a must win for both in their next appearances.

Adashev entered the night winless in the UFC and knew he was on the ropes. Perhaps a bit more aggression would have been preferred as he allowed Benoit to do just enough to leave some doubt in the minds of many when the judges cards were read, but it ultimately did the trick. Now, Adashev needs to build on that momentum.

Never Seen That Before: The phrase “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is tricky in application to sports as the opposition can make adjustments, meaning what is working now may not be working two seconds from now. Well, Jinh Yu Frey didn’t make an adjustment late in the second and Yoder threw 1-2 after 1-2 after 1-2 after… you get the idea. It ended up being something in the neighborhood of 9 consecutive jab-crosses, Yoder’s left cross landing with emphasis time and again. Maybe one of those early punches stunned Frey; there’s no other good reason why she just let Yoder land left cross after left cross.

Biggest WOW Moment: The third round between Witt and Bryan Barberena is the stuff fighters dream about. With Witt up two rounds, Barberena finally came to life, swinging for the fences and coming very close to putting away Witt. It isn’t like Witt was just surviving either, securing takedowns and landing his own brand of wild offense out of desperation in hopes of stopping Barberena’s onslaught. There were several impressive finishes on the night, but it was the several near-finishes in this round that was pulling butts out of seats.

Cure For Insomnia: As a whole, there wasn’t a fight that served as a sleep potion. However, if someone were to fall asleep during the first two rounds of the Witt-Barberena fight, no one would blame them. Of course, the listless performance from Barberena during those first two rounds is a large part of what made the final round so brutally awesome.

Best/Worst Referee Call: I’m a big proponent for referees taking points for repeated fouls, thus why I feel it necessary to give props to Herb Dean for doing so against Kamaka, especially after he specifically told him he would do so after another infraction. I’ve already stated the outcome – a draw against Chavez – was deeply unsatisfying, but it feels appropriate, especially given it’s impossible to measure how much the fouls affected Chavez. Kudos to Dean.

WTF?: Strickland said a couple of curious things after his win. First, in his post-fight interview, he said he’d probably be cooking meth in a trailer if it wasn’t for fighting. It elicited a laugh from many – myself included – while also showing Strickland has that level of crazy that it takes to be successful in this sport. Later, while answering questions backstage, he let it be known he thinks it would be cool if he were to kill a person he was fighting in the cage. I get the feeling while there may be an inkling of truth to that answer, I think it was more of a shock value to get people to remember his name. You don’t often forget who it is that said he “would love to kill someone.” If that’s the case – and I think it is – it’s good marketing on his part, even if it does make people say WTF. Perhaps I’m wrong, but I hope not.