Nov 13, 20238 min read

Noise In The Garden

UFC 295 blew the roof off Madison Square Garden with a fury of knockouts; bad mofo type of performances; and pure electricity sparkin' violence. The figures of the UFC took the stage of the procliamed "world's most famous arena" (definitely isn't) to strike noise across The Garden... and DELIVERED.

You will still hear a mass of pay-per-view purchasers bi*** and groan about first round finishes, especially those in title fights. Those peeps can get steppin' into the other room for further complainment, I don't want to hear it. Nothing compares to nuclear knockouts. Nothing compares to jaw-droppin' one and done strikes that "flat-line" a warrior. Victory in those tones is what helped make MMA the most exciting and ultra-thrilling sport in the world. The UFC 295 main-card delivered in the loudest tone possible with 5 fights; 5 knockouts. Proving once again that MMA is bananas and a striaght thrill to experience.

The main-card was pure fireworks. Not enough words will do it justice. Just pure electricity. Pure violence. Five thunderous finishes with a montage of nuclear hooks; agression to kill; and a swift leg kick that set the highlight reels ablaze. All five knockouts received performance of the night bonuses (shoutout to Dana and crew). The victorious warriors watched UFC 294 and wanted NO business with the scorecards. A great decision by each after we saw a split-decision in the prelims between Tabatha Ricci & Loopy Godinez have judge Bryan Miner score Ricci 30-27 with the other two judges scoring Godinez 29-28 (f'n pathetic). I'm takin' early book closin' violence over a BS decision like that in a title fight every day of the week and twice on Sunday. You can't spark a controversy with a KO.

Diego Lopes got the noise started by activating his ruthless agression perk to ambush Pat Sabatini; droppin' him to the canvas to flip the finsher switch to coffin' the body. 90 seconds is all it took. Benoît Saint-Denis had the honor to follow up Lopes' knockout with one of his own against Matt Frevola, as he lived up to his "God of War" nickname landing one of the more beautiful leg kicks you will see in the Octagon:

The type of kick that blows the roof off an arena. Flush right on the button, baby. Benoît is a damn PROBLEM. His leg kick knockout is a front runner for KO of the year and will be replayed for years to come. Benoît secures his 5th straight dub, all by finishes with two subs and three knockouts to punch his ticket to receive higher comp at lightweight. The cat wraps up his 2023 undefeated at 3-0... unless he flips one final fight in December. It's possible with the quick finish. Nonetheless, he is ready for the next step and us fans are ready to see what he does after landin' that performance of the night leg kick.

Speaking of being ready for a fighter to take the next step; we thought that Mackenzie Dern was set to take the next step at 295 against the former title challenger Jéssica Andrade. Fate had other plans for Dern as Andrade ate a fury of strikes to clamp down and land a nucler combo to ice the fight. Kudos to Dern for deciding to start a fire-fight with Andrade knowin' her power and with striking being Dern's weakness. Big kudos. The problem? You picked like, the one gal you don't do that with!

The all-time wins leader (16) by a female UFC fighter, Andrade has faced 24 different fighters in her UFC career: only Yan Xiaonan; Valentina Shevchenko; Zhang Weili; and Liz Carmouche have knocked her out with two of them being acrobatic one shotters (Bullet and Weili). Andrade not only has a chin; but she has been in wars. Dern f'd around and found out. Not a full drag on her, Dern landed some big time shots that stunned Jessica once or twice; had good combinations; and kept with Andrade in the total significant strikes department. The problem was that she had no defense and had such bad head-movement that her chin was like hittin' a baseball on a tee. Andrade ate everything Dern delivered and then UNLEASHED a level of power that Dern's chin had never felt. Out she goes:

video via @tuckerworld85//X

Andrade recorded 4 knockdowns with the TKO to top it off, provin' she isn't done yet. Jessica has been a workhorse in 2023 and refused to fall off the ladder after a tough three fight losing skid that started by the hands of Erin Blanchfield in February. With recent losses to the 2 and 3 in the strawweight rankings; Andrade creates a temporary gate-keep in the middle of the top ten. Big time bounce back win for Andrade.

This won't be the end of Dern. She has herself backed up against a wall in what is a deep division, but she will be back. Dern will spend time fightin' with those in the teens of the rankings. Maybe booking her against Loopy Godinez is a good next route or even against the woman Godinez beat- Tabatha Ricci.

The women's bout was straight noise and that jab by Andrade to finish Dern for the count was straight filth. A perfect noise starter for a banger of a double title fight main-event. There wasn't a person in the Garden or watchin' around the globe that thought the interim heavyweight title clash would go the distance. There was little dust in the air that predicited it would even make it out of the first round. Sure enough, it took only 69 seconds for a body to hit the floooooor.

The vibes were NUTS as Sergei Pavlovich and Tom Aspinall entered the warzone. The feels were REAL. The respect they shared in the introduction is what sports is all about:

video via UFC on TNT Sports//X

It's insanely odd for that level of respect prior to two men ready to rip the livin' hell out of eachother. I absolutely loved it. The respect and rituals among competitors of all sports internationally is blissful. The fight brought the same joy despite only lasting just over a minute. Pavlo rocked Aspinall with a thunderous left hand quick into the action, but Tom ate it like it was nothing. The movement; circling; and speed is what helped Aspinall set up a wicked double 1-2 that FLOORED Pavlovich:

video via 999Clips//X -- footage from X- all footage rights reserved to Zuffa LLC

Another unreal performance by Aspinall as he wins the interim heavyweight title. He just seems to be in a tier of his own. To dismantle the most feared and dominant heavyweight riser in the world in just over a minute with a 1-2 is unprecedented. Tom ate Sergei's power in the midst of it. Instead of hittin' canvas he ate the power and took it to activate his finisher. What an athlete. I think we all want to see what's next for Aspinall. The interim belt is still an interim belt. The next fight he has is set to be electric. Aspinall is ready to cement himself into a stratosphere of heavyweights atop the rest. You know he wants undisputed recognition.

Now 295 is damn special. The vibes are at an all-time high, breakin' the meter with one more mega matchup ready to spark the Octagon to curtain close the show. It felt like a fever dream (positive) to have the blood and anticiptation where it was before arguably the greatest face-off and showdown off all-time between Jiří Procházka and Alex Pereira. Experience it yourself:

video via Home of Fight//X

Pure goosebumps. Picture you in the wild watchin' two male grizzlies circle one another before clampin' their claws and chargin'. Or seeing gritty wolves fight to decide the alpha leader. That was the feeling we got when we witnessed that epic staredown. We knew that we were in for a BATTLE. That was exactly what we got!

The pressure off the bat by Procházka was wild. That dude fears nothing. He almost regretted going for his first takedown as Poatan stumped it and reverted it into a wicked standing gilly, Jon Bones style. Luckily for Jiří, it was to no prevail to secure the sub. Procházka stayed true to secure a takedown that controlled the rest of the first round to a 10-9 advantage for Jiří. Round two saw the fighters fail at landing exchanges in the opeing couple minutes as they looked to set up their traps. Procházka had all the pressure control as he landed a few good exchanges that springbolted Poatan's back to the fence. Unlike the first takedown attempt, it ended up being a grave mistake by Procházka.

Procházka had the reach advantage and connected on some big time exchanges in the middle of the Octagon that stunned Pereira. Moving him to the fence is the exact trap that Pereira sets up. The trap worked as AP landed a devastating left hand that dropped Procházka into a craddle and into a barrage of brutal close-landin' elbows that shut the lights out on Jiří solidfying Pereira as the ninth fighter in UFC history to win titles in two different weight classes and the first to accomplish the feat at 185 and 205 pounds, respectively. Checkout the epic finish that cemented a legacy:

video via Mowglibonny//X -- footage from X- all footage rights reserved to Zuffa LLC

Pereira's power really is DIFFERENT. God level power. In such a small range he is able to torque enough power to drop the likes of a Procházka. I can't wrap my head around it. Rewatch it like for real, he literally just flicks his wrist and it floors em. This cat is a specimen. For those degrading Marc Goddard- ya can go somewhere with that nonsense. Procházka even said he was out. Goddard is one of the most respected refs in the game. Quite honestly, he may be my most respected referee in the game. He is money, ya forget how many times in the past he had let a lot go to extend a fighter's life in a bout. Goddard is the best of the best and Procházka's long-term career thanks him for the stoppage. Procházka will be back, better than ever from this defeat. He is a competitor that grows from failures and shortcomings. Excited to see how he responds.

Pereira has one of the greatest stories of any combat fighter in history. He now has won 2 titles in just 11 MMA fights after ruling the kick-boxing world becoming a hall of famer. AP had a legendary callout after his win, challenging his epic rival to one final war. A rubbermatch to write the final chapter to their MMA rivalries legacy. Feel the chills of his epic callout in this promo type snippet:

We need Pereira versus Adesanya III. Need it! Shoot it into our veins. What an epic rubbermatch that would be. Lets see if Izzy wants a crack at this beast one more time. Pereira is something else- UFC 295 proved that to be in stone. Just a marvelous performance to take Procházka's power and then send it back to finish him. Procházka is one of the most dominant combat fighters of this generation and Poatan ate him up for a light dinner. Just unreal.

The whole main-card was unreal. So much violence, so much fireworks. Can't ask for anything else as fight fans. Drowning Pools' "Bodies" was the theme song for that Saturday night- let the bodies hit the floor! Don't ya love this sport. We have just over a month left in 2023 for the UFC to ring in more noise. We are ready and waiting.

Noise In The Garden

Related Posts

Comments

subscribe to spittin' cap