Zane Simon & Eddie Mercado are here to breakdown this Saturday’s, May 14th, UFC Vegas 54: ‘Blachowicz vs. Rakic’ Fight Night event. The guys will have hot takes, possible next fights, as well as reactions to the overall event.
Bloody Elbow fight expert, Zane Simon is here, joined by his co-hort, Eddie Mercado. We recorded for you on Saturday, May 14th, 2022, with a breakdown of the UFC Vegas 54: ‘Blachowicz vs. Rakic’ 11-bout Fight Night event; which was simulcast in English & Spanish on ESPN+/ESPN from the APEX Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Join us to hear the noteworthy details…
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June M. Williams
The guys have hot takes, possible next fights, as well as reactions to the overall event in the player above, or they can be caught on our Bloody Elbow Presents YouTube Channel or any of our BE Presents Podcast Network.
The UFC put on a Light Heavyweight showcase this weekend at their UFC Vegas 54 Fight Night event. The first featured a battle between Jan Blachowicz and Aleksandar Raki?.
The Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Jan, ranked at the top of the division with a record of 28-9, walked into the octagon coming off a loss to Glover Teixeira at UFC 267, to take on combatant, Aleksandar ‘Rocket’ Raki?, who was currently ranked third in the division and holding a 14-2 record, while coming off of two victories wins over Thiago Santos and Anthony Smith. This highly-anticipated bout ended with an unfortunate tear to some cruciate ligaments when Rakic took a wobbly step backwards twisting his ankle and forcing his knee to collapse, bringing him to the ground in agony, at which point the fight was stopped. Blachowicz was in champion fighting form though and he aims to fight the victor in the upcoming UFC 275 PPV battle between Glover Teixeira and Ji?í Procházka.
“You’ll be champion one day.” – Jan Blachowicz to Aleksandar Rakic after the injury TKO. #UFCVegas54
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) May 15, 2022
The co-main event tonight was an entertaining brawl between Light Heavyweights Ryan ‘Superman’ Spann and Ion ‘The Hulk’ Cutelaba. The former Legacy Fighting Alliance LHW champ, Spann, walked away with a Performance of the Night Bonus for his first round guillotine choke submission victory over Cutelaba. Ion made an assertive start despite some hard hits landing at the outset, he shot for and got a takedown too but Spann popped right up, and layed it on thick, and quickly concluded the back-and-forth with his sub.
“I had to get out of my way to do what I came here to do.” – Ryan Spann on getting his head in the game. #UFCVegas54
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) May 15, 2022
There were nine other bouts on the card, which included some exciting finishes. The most noteworthy, outside of the main event, occurred when the number one flyweight contender, Katlyn Chookagian and worthy opponent Amanda Ribas put on their Fight of the Night performance, ending in a tough split decision which put the judges to the test.
The DWCS alum, Manuel Torres, also walked away with a bonus tonight for his impressive Right Hook KO victory over Frank Camacho in the first round; establishing himself as a worthy Lightweight prospect in his UFC debut performance. Although it was brief, it was definitely one to watch, if you missed it, check it out. Some bombs were thrown, it was a great back-and-forth exchange.
“To be honest I kinda blacked out, I don’t even know what round was what, I was just fighting.” – Katlyn Chookagian #UFCVegas54
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) May 15, 2022
“I want to be here forever.” – Manuel Torres on making his UFC debut. #UFCVegas54
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) May 15, 2022
For all the results, reactions and much more detail on the main card, and plenty of tidbits about the prelims, be sure to hit play on the show to hear what our fight experts, Zane and Eddie, have to say!
Overall, this now 11-bout card saw three exciting first round finishes, four thrilling KO/TKO’s, two sweet submissions, and five hard-fought decisions, one split. Rounding things out, our PERFORMANCE BONUSES were awarded to: Chookagian vs. Ribas, Ryan Spann & Manuel Torres…
Here’s a look at the UFC Vegas 54: ‘BLACHOWICZ VS RAKIC’ fight card with full results & updated fight records —
ESPN/ESPN+ MAIN CARD | SAT. MAY 14
11. 205lbs – Jan Blachowicz (29-9) DEF. Aleksandar Rakic (14-3) — via TKO (injury) at 1:11 of round three
10. 205lbs – Ryan Spann (20-7) DEF. Ion Cutelaba (16-7) —via submission (guillotine choke) at 2:22 of the first round
9. 135lbs – Davey Grant (12-6) DEF. Louis Smolka (17-9) — via KO at :49 of round three
8. 125lbs – Katlyn Chookagian (18-4) DEF. Amanda Ribas (11-3) — via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)
7. 155lbs – Manuel Torres (13-2) DEF. Frank Camacho (22-10) — via TKO (strikes) at 3:27 of round one
6. 125lbs – Allan Nascimento (19-6) DEF. Jake Hadley (8-1) — via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
ESPN+ PRELIMS
5. 125lbs – Viviane Araujo (11-3) DEF. Andrea Lee (13-6) — via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-27)
4. 155lbs – Michael Johnson (20-17) DEF. Alan Patrick (15-4) — via KO at 3:22 of round two
3. 115lbs – Virna Jandiroba (18-3) DEF. Angela Hill (13-12) — via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
2. 125lbs – Tatsuro Taira (11-0) DEF. Carlos Candelario (8-2) — via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)
1. 185lbs – Andre Petroski (8-1) DEF. Nick Maximov (8-1) — via submission (anaconda choke) at 1:16 of the first round
Sunday morning, May 15th: check out our video production of the show, with all new enhanced graphics to accompany the guys’ commentary, on our Bloody Elbow Presents YouTube Channel right here:
At that time, timestamps will have been edited into this post for your listening convenience.
Be sure to follow Zane – @TheZaneSimon & Eddie – @TheEddieMercado; and follow @BloodyElbow on twitter as well, for all the latest in MMA happenings.
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Join us again for another episode of ‘6th Round’ next week, on Saturday, May 21st, for UFC Vegas 55: ‘Holly Holm vs. Ketlen Vieira‘!
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT… EDDIE TALKED TO MICHAEL ‘THE COUNT’ BISPING RECENTLY, CHECK IT OUT!