Image: from UFC
The Final Bell MMA
By: Dylan Saraiva
Twitter: @DJSarv21
Welcome to the first issue of “The Final Bell MMA”. Today we will be looking over the UFC’s first card of 2021 headlined by Max Holloway vs Calvin Kattar
The UFC is returning to Fight Island for its first card of 2021 and they are starting it off with a headliner that promises to have title implications for the winner. The card started off with several prominent fighters making a return to the octagon in Santiago Ponzinibbio, Carlos Condit, and Tim Elliot all being scrapped either due to COVID-19 positive tests or injury.
Image: from UFC
One prominent matchup from the prelims is Joaquin Buckley vs Alessio Di Chirico as Buckley stormed into the octagon on the latter half of 2020 with an impressive spinning kick knockout that is up for knockout of the year. Buckley has had three fights in the UFC going 2-1 in the promotion but has yet to reach the judge’s scorecards. Buckley will look to continue dominating through the middleweight division one that is currently full of elite level competition. He is currently on a two fight win streak and will be looking to continue his winning ways in Abu Dhabi come the 16th of January.
Image: from MMAJunkie
Another featured bout from this card is the two heavyweights in Carlos “Boi” Felipe vs Justin “Bad Man” Tafa. The two prospects for an ever stacked heavyweight division are both looking for a way to stand out from the crowd in order to get closer to ranked opponents in the near future. The bout will be Felipe’s 3rd appearance for the company with both of his previous bouts going to a decision. He was able to pull a unanimous decision over Fall River fighter Yorgan De Castro back in October but lost to a majority decision in July to Sergey Spivak. Tafa is also going to be competing in his third bout for the company with a 1-1 record, where in his debut he suffered his first loss by a nasty one punch knockout to Yorgan de Castro back in October of 2019. He was able to gather a bit of momentum in his next fight in February 2020 with a first round stoppage of Juan Adams and has not fought since. The two fighters who both linger at the larger end of the heavyweight division will be sure to put on a possible 15 minutes of heavy hands for the fans enjoyment and one of the fighters will suffer their second loss in the promotion.
Image: from Sportskeeda
The co-main event of the current 3 fight main card features Omari Akhmedov taking on Tom Breese in a 185 pound matchup. Currently Breese is a slight betting favorite in the matchup at -135 according to Tapology. The English born fighter has gone 4-2 in the UFC and is riding a first round TKO back in October as he makes his return to Fight Island. Akhmedov is another Dagestani product who was riding a 5 fight winning streak within the UFC with victories over Tim Boestch and Zak Cummings before being stopped by a returning former champion in Chris Weidman back in August. Akhmedov is a veteran of the octagon being present in the promotion since 2013, and with certain areas of the division being finally settled with Israel Adesanya reigning heading into the New Year. Winning against a ranked opponent could help possibly propel Breese into the top 15 at 185 pounds but on the flip side Akhmedov getting a big win against a young up and coming fighter could make a case in order to fight a higher ranked opponent.
Image: from MMAJunkie
The Main Event for the UFC’s first card of the New Year promises to be a 5 round fire fight. Max Holloway is coming off of two straight tight losses to champion Alexander Volkanovski. “Blessed” is only 29 years old and has faced an entirety of “who’s who” in the featherweight division from Jose Aldo twice, to Conor McGregor, and even going up to challenge Dustin Poirier for an interim title at lightweight. Holloway is not so far removed from his 2018 clash against Brian Ortega in which he landed the most significant strikes in UFC history without even going to the final bell as the doctor called for a stoppage. Holloway winning the headlining bout would be very much in his favor and might cause a third fight to happen between himself and the champion, something that is not often heard of in the UFC. Standing across from him however, will be a man on the verge of title contention as well with the #6th ranked featherweight is waiting to make a name for himself off of a former champion. Kattar the Massachusetts native has been quite successful in the UFC with a record of 6-2 in the company. Kattar is currently on a 2 fight win streak after suffering a decision loss to another elite 145 pounder in Zabit Magomedsharipov in 2019. Since then he rebounded with victories over Jeremy Stephens and most recently Dan Ige in July. There are some contenders currently ranked higher than “The Boston Finisher” but a dominating performance over the former champion might cause Dana White to try and get a match booked between Kattar and Volkanovski sooner rather than later. This fight could swing either way and the man that comes out on top will certainly be trying to throw his name directly into the title picture.