Clear round for Almeida, probably 1-1 given how many elbows Volkov landed in the first round. Volkov showing **** poor ring IQ. Trying to land a knee vs a takedown instead of creating distance was genuinely ******ed. At least attempt to create space for a standup instead of trying to immediately counter.
Volkov is a moron. He has footwork, but instead of using it he stands his ground or moves in straight lines, ugh.
Fight sucked ass, and Almeida is boring as ****, however... Almeida is an intriguing matchup against either main event participant.
I just got on to watch the fight in the third round, looked like Almeida won but I’m not crying. Volkov should be in the main event instead of Cyril after all.
Hopefully this makes Almeida change his style a bit to use more strikes. Clearly wrestling alone is not enough if one does not land any strikes.
I thought Nurmagomedov was the only one with a clear shot at beating Merab, but it looks like Bautista might be rather capable himself as well.
30-27 across the board from the judges. Does not reflect how competitive and close the fight really was. Bautista is a badass.