Because my life just can't seem to settle down lately, I watched the prelims of UFC Vegas 63 on my phone while in the passenger seat. It wasn't the best or my normal viewing experience, but I thought it ended up being a decent enough night, at least from an entertainment perspective. There was only one decision on the prelims, so even if you weren't that into a fight, it didn't last too long and we were able to move on to the next. The main card had it's moments as well. The Jared Vanderaa vs Waldo Cortes-Acosta fight started to drag a bit, but it still wasn't that bad. Unfortunately, the Calvin Kattar injury ended the main event prematurely and kind of left the whole event feeling a bit hollow, but being a few days removed, it was still a fun night of competition. Let's get to the winners.
First up is Christian Rodriguez. He ended up taking on a short notice replacement and dealt with him accordingly. Rodriguez was seemingly able to do whatever he wanted and eventually ended up locking in a submission late in the first round. I'm not predicting that Rodriguez is going to compete for a title one day, but I really like his skill set. He is well rounded enough that I think he ends up having a really nice run in the UFC. I think a matchup with Aoriqileng, Cristian Quinonez, or Mana Martinez would be a logical next step for him.
Cody Durden picked up a win over a short notice replacement as well. Durden is a tough fighter to project because he has a lot of skills that you look for, but drawbacks as well. In this fight, we got to see a lot of the best parts of Durden and they were enough for him to register his third UFC win. Durden is a good wrestler and has pretty good power, especially for a flyweight. Durden will be held back until he can fix his cardio issue, but that is something that can be worked on. I think a CJ Vergara fight or a Tatsuro Taira fight sort of make sense next for Durden.
Steve Garcia picked up a notable win over Chase Hooper in impressive fashion. Garcia was able to prevent the fight from being taken to the ground and punished Hooper on the feet. He was able to hurt him early and I think that impacted Hooper's takedowns, but he did exactly what he needed to do. Hooper's defense is porous at best and Garcia was able to land heavy hooks time and time again. He dropped Hooper a few times before he felt comfortable going to the ground with him and landing only a few ground and pound shots to finish the fight. We all know Hooper's problems in the striking, but that shouldn't take away from Garcia's win because he still prevented the grappling exchanges, which allowed him to keep the fight standing. It was probably the best win of his career and he'll look to build on that going forward. I think someone like Lucas Almeida, Makwan Amirkhani, or Kamuela Kirk would make sense for him going forward.
Jun Yong Park registered another win in a fight that I thought was a bit beneath him. I get that he got knocked out by Gregory Rodrigues a couple of fights ago and then he didn't look fantastic against Eryk Anders, but he still won that fight. I'm not sure how that translated to him dropping all the way down against someone like Joseph Holmes, but Park showed that there was a clear levels difference. Park isn't really spectacular, but he's generally someone who I think is pretty good, while Holmes is more on the borderline of the roster. Park should be getting a more appropriate level of competition here in someone like Jacob Malkoun, Puna Soriano, or maybe Roman Dolidze, who I'll talk about in a second.
Marcos Rogerio de Lima submitted Andre Arlovski to end his hot streak. de Lima's power projected to be a big problem for Arlovski coming into the fight and that proved to be the case pretty early on. de Lima got the knockdown very early in the first round and was able to get on top and control Arlovski for a bit. He eventually was able to get into a position to go for the choke and Arlovski tapped pretty quickly. It was a solid night out for de Lima and I honestly wouldn't put it past him to get a ranked opponent next. I think he could possibly get the loser of Rozenstruik vs Daukaus. Rodrigo Nascimento is unranked option if they go that route.
Roman Dolidze is such an interesting fighter. He goes against so many traits that I personally look for when I'm betting fights and also when I'm trying to project someone's career, but he just makes it happen. He ended up getting Phil Hawes in a tough spot and injuring his knee on the submission attempt. The referee gave Hawes an opportunity to fight through it, but he was just too compromised and ended up getting knocked out. Dolidze's ability to finish fights and edge out close decisions has been impressive, but he may be reaching the stage in the division where finishes are harder to come by. He is generally low output and his cardio may limit how much wrestling he can do, but he has consistently found ways to win, so credit where credit is due. Dolidze has positioned himself for a big fight and potentially even a ranked opponent. The winner of Chris Curtis vs Joaquin Buckley makes sense as well as the winner of Brad Tavares vs Gregory Rodrigues. If he isn't fighting in the rankings, I think Caio Borralho, Armen Petrosyan, or Brendan Allen are all suitable options.
Khalil Rountree Jr edged out a very close win over Dustin Jacoby in controversial fashion. I thought Jacoby won the fight personally, but Rountree has come into his own and is starting to turn in the most consistent performances of his career. Consistency has always held Rountree back, but if he starts ironing that out, he has the talent to potentially go on a run. His cardio even held up for the most part in this one. Rountree should also be in the rankings now even though he isn't listed there, at least on the UFC rankings that I'm looking at. I think Johnny Walker would make sense or maybe even Volkan Oezdemir would fit. If Ryan Spann loses to Dominick Reyes later this month, he is an option as well.
Tresean Gore picked up his first UFC win when he submitted Josh Fremd with a very strong guillotine in the second round. Gore seems to have all of the talent that you would look for, but his inexperience has really seemed to hold him back. This time out he looked to be improved, which while expected, is still a step in the right direction. He has a long way to go, but this is the improvement that we've been looking for. I think the UFC needs to take things slow with him as to not set him back by rushing him into a fight he's not ready for. He needs at least a few more fights with opponents who are as close to his experience level as possible. Joseph Holmes, AJ Dobson, Dustin Stoltzfus, and Jordan Wright are the caliber of opponent that he needs right now.
Waldo Acosta-Cortes got his first UFC win in his promotional debut and it was a good first showing for him. He showed very real power and hand speed. He had a lot of questions regarding his cardio and while I don't think we'll be comparing him to sea-level Cain anytime soon, he maintained his pace fairly well. Vanderaa has historically been a high output fighter for heavyweight, but Waldo minimized a lot of what was coming back and that will be something to watch for as he gets better opponents. He also prevented Vanderaa from grappling him, which was a good sign as well. Obviously, Vanderaa isn't a world beater, but he was significantly more experienced than Waldo, so we saw a lot of good things. I don't see any need to rush him though as he still has very limited experience. I think fights with Lukasz Brzeski, Mohammed Usman, or Hamdy Abdelwahab are sort of the tier of fighter he needs to competing against for now.
Max Griffin is a fighter that I generally like more than the public consensus on him and he picked up a nice win over Tim Means. Griffin's cardio and tendency to slow down in the second half of the fight will prevent him from ever really making a true title run, but he's still a very talented fighter for most guys in the division. He's somewhere in that 16-25 range at welterweight and he should get someone else in that tier. Jake Matthews, Randy Brown, and Alex Morono come to mind as potential opponents. Hopefully his hand turns out to be ok and he can make a return on a normal timeline and doesn't have to sit out with a break or something worse.
That's it for me on this card and because this is late, there won't be a preview for Marina Rodriguez vs Amanda Lemos. I'll go over the fight as normal in the picks and bets on Saturday though, so check that out for the same information that would have been in the preview. What did you think of this event? Who was your biggest winner and who should they fight next? Leave any and all thoughts and comments below. Thanks for reading and have a good one.
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