UFC 268 GEEKS RECAP

UFC 268… What a time to be alive. Saturday November 6, 2021, fight fans across the world were blessed with a ludacris series of action packed matchups that started awesome and somehow KEPT GETTING BETTER. 1,973 Combined Significant Strikes for the event, the MOST in UFC history! The night began with three hard standup wars between some talented prelims fighters and then chaos broke loose as we went on a 6 fight KO streak to lead us into the Main Card matchup between Michael Chandler and Justin Gaethje :0. It’s Trevor Wittman’s world and we’re all just living in it. Wittman went 3-0 as all his fighters won and looked phenomenal (Usman, Rose, Gaethje). I’ll start from the prelims and work to the top of the card, here’s a quick breakdown of some of the best action:

Gian Villante VS Chris Barnett (Barnett KO Rnd 2)

• CHRIS! CHRIS! CHRIS! As a 5’9” 264 lb man, you should NOT be able to move like this man does. After keeping distance and chopping at the legs of Gian Villante for a round and a half, Barnett shuffled back and then sprung forward to unleash a MASTERFUL spinning roundhouse kick that lands flush behind the ear of Villante. Gian gets hurt so bad that he falls on his face, allowing Barnett to jump on top and get the finish with a flurry of swinging top control strikes. His entrance and celly were executed to perfection, be on the lookout for this guy’s next scrap, but just for the foolery.

Ian Garry VS Jordan Williams (Garry KO Rnd 1)

• Ian Garry is something else. I don’t really know how I feel about him quite yet. This was an extremely tough fight for him to start as Williams brought some educated pressure that had him on his bike for the entire first round until he found his opening with no time remaining to just SLEEP the poor lad. He was definitely losing the round before the stoppage but this is also true about Paddy’s debut that blew him up. It’s kind of weird how much he obsesses about McGregor and constantly quotes him, but hey who says that's a bad thing.

Nassourdine Imavov VS Edmen Shahbazyan (Imamvov KO Rnd 2)

• Yeepers Creepers, we had a good feeling that Imamvov was only going to get better and better as this fight progressed and as Edmen slowly gassed out but DAMN. Shahbazyan went from full to E real quick. Imavov was able to lay him out and drop about 48 elbows on the poor kid for “No Nonsense” Keith decided there indeed was slight nonsense. For a 23 year old in Edmen, you would really expect improved cardio after showing such struggle in his last two fights, but it unravels itself yet again, badly. Imavov had more tools and plenty more gas. Got great odds and a crucifixion position finish, fucking awesome.

Alex Pereira VS Andreas Michailidis (Pereira KO Rnd 2)

• Plain and simple, this guy Pereira is scary as fuck and he just passed his first wrestling test, which is awesome because he will be able to keep people standing and provide some highlights for us in the near future. This man already has 2 wins over Israel “The StyleBender” Adesanya in kickboxing, 1 by KO and 1 by decision. A true story is in his last KO before this one, it took 5 full minutes for his opponent to regain consciousness laying flat on the mat. This guy has serious power in all tactical limbs and is now training with Glover Texiera to improve his skills on the ground.

Justin Gaethje VS Michael Chandler (Gaethje Via Unanimous Decision)

• Fight of the Year? I think so! Holy shittttttttttt, these dudes literally stood in front of each other for 15 minutes and took turns just EATING BOMBS. They were both badly wobbled at multiple moments in the fight, but it was Gaethje who seemed to find the mark more often along with a devastating kick game that severely compromised Chandler throughout the entire fight. Non-stop chaos and violence was what we were promised and what we got, just music. This performance should be good enough to lock the number 1 Contender position, just watch out for Makhachev.

Marlon “Chito” Vera VS Frankie Edgar (Chito By KO Rnd 3)

• Chito is a DAWG! His fight style is just relentless educated and calculated pressure for 15 minutes or until you fold and it’s fucking beautiful. He passed the ultimate test to enter the top 10 by defeating a prestigious wrestler and legend of the game in Frankie Edgar. Chito fought to keep the bout on the feet after a 1st round where he spent most of the time on his back, but was able to turn rounds 2 and 3 into a standup war. Chito’s pressure kept building and building as he began to find the home for a lot of his shots towards the back half of the second round… until Frankie couldn’t quite hang around as Chito BLASTED a front kick straight up the middle and caught Edgar SQUARE on the chin putting him OOT. Chito Round 3 FTW every time, and he’s only going to get better now that he might have put himself in the position for 5 Rounders. He would rape rounds 4 and 5.

Rose Namajunas VS Zhang Weili (Rose Via Split Decision)

• Not much to say about this one. Feel really stupid for not picking Rose, but I did genuinely score the fight 3-2 Weili.Thought she got the first 3. Just one of those fights where she just didn't do enough at the right times. Hats off to Rose though, no pun intended, she’s a fuckin thug and deserves tht strap. Never fading Rose again. Shit was too hard to watch.

Kamaru Usman VS Colby Covington (Usman Via Unanimous Decision)

• Damn Damn Damn we were so close, Colby had a couple really promising moments where it looked like Usman was wobbled or stunned pretty bad but there was nothing that could seriously hurt him. Some people say EPO, other people say Nigerian people just get like that, but there’s something to say about just his pure strength advantage in this weight division. Kamaru was willing to walk through shots to deliver them and at the end of the day, his shots produced much more damage. It was a good price to pay for a fight we knew was gonna be razor thin and on the feet, not a bad loss but one that definitely hurts the heart. America’s Champ will be back!

-Geek: ceo geek