Everything That Happened At UFC Vegas 72 Last Night!

Last night (Sat., April 29, 2023), Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) traveled to UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, for UFC Vegas 72. I won’t put make up on a pig — last night’s event was absolutely battered by injures and weight issues. None of the fights were terribly important outside of the main event, but fortunately, there was still a good bit of enjoyable action throughout the card.

Let’s take a look at UFC Vegas 72’s standout performances and techniques:

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Yadong Batters Simon

I don’t know that people are fully appreciating the extent to which Song Yadong beat the life out of Ricky Simon.

Simon is not a man who works from his back foot. He’s a grinding wrestler with a heavy right hand, the kind that pushes the pace from the first bell to the last. Last night, he didn’t do a bit of pressuring, damn near fleeing the ridiculously powerful and fast combinations of “Kung Fu Monkey.”

I’ve seen Yadong destroy pads up close and been on the receiving end of a punch or two — the latter is not a fun experience. I’m sure Simon expected to back Yadong up, but as soon as his takedowns were easily shucked off and the fire started coming in his direction, that notion was thrown out the window.

Simon did an awful lot of circling, which is probably the reason why he survived to the fifth. All the while, Yadong calmly but aggressively stayed in his face, committing to big swings whenever the opportunity arose. Between those potential knockout blows, Yadong remained active in breaking his foe’s body down. He poked the nose with jabs, dug into the body with hooks and toe stabs, and chopped up the lead leg pretty effectively.

Yadong was clearly in control, landing damaging blows and chasing his foe around the cage. As soon as Simon started trying to stand his ground more — which was completely necessary to have any chance at victory — Yadong made him pay with vicious counter shots. Twice, a left hook took away Simon’s knees, and the second time, Yadong’s follow up punches put a definitive end to the fight.

At 25 years of age, Song Yadong is a threat to every man at Bantamweight, and it’s going to be wildly fun to watch him make a run at gold.

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Caio Borralho Gets His Finish

Caio Borralho is a very good Middleweight. He fights with a lot of composure and strategy, and he has the well-rounded skill set necessary to mix up his approach as needed. That said, he’s primarily a very good wrestler with a smart top control game.

The problem has been that his fights aren’t a whole lot of fun. The solution is that Michal Oleksiejczuk is allergic to defending himself. The Polish fighter started fast as he usually does, ripping the body and firing big left hands upstair. Borralho kept his feet moving and attacked with some smart counter shots, but he definitely took some hard blows in the first.

In the process, he also wore Oleksiejczuk down with takedown attempts. Between that and his own big swings, Oleksiejczuk was fatiguing, meaning the double came much easier early in the second. Borralho advanced position quickly, proving himself a far sharper grappler.

The rear-naked choke didn’t take much longer, and Borralho deserves his Top 15 foe next.

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The Black Belt Hunter Endures

Rodolfo Vieira is the latest in a long line of Middleweight jiu-jitsu guys. It’s a well-established archetype with well-established weaknesses. Typically, those flaws include conditioning, striking, takedowns, and toughness. We can all think back to Middleweight grapplers whose games implode when they get tired in round two, or their takedown fails to land.

Vieira seemed to be falling into all those pitfalls early in his UFC career, as evidenced by his submission loss to Anthony Hernandez, in which he gassed terribly and looked panicked afterward. Since then, however, he’s steadily improved everywhere, and last night was another demonstration.

Is his striking great? No. He did get clobbered by an overhand or two last night. Still, it’s coming along. Otherwise, his wrestling is nice! He’s got a powerful double and some tricky trips. His conditioning held up just fine, and most importantly, Vieira didn’t falter in the face of early adversity.

I’m not saying he’s going to contend, but Vieira’s continual improvement alongside his jiu-jitsu mastery should guarantee a quality and longterm UFC career.

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Erosa Gets Clobbered

I like Julian Erosa’s loose style. He keeps his hands low and lets his offense flow, and much of the time, he looks great! When he picked apart a top-tier striker in Hakeem Dawodu, for example, that was an excellent showing of what happens when “Juicy J” gets flowing.

The problems come when he’s not yet found his range. He’s too loose and relaxed at the start of fights, but he’s still putting forth a lot of offense. That’s a recipe for getting cracked, and toughness isn’t a guarantee he’ll survive such exchanges. Last night, Fernando Padilla found his range first, fired tight punches down the middle, and smoked Erosa before he was ever able to show his talents.

That’s the risk of fighting like “Juicy J.”

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Additional Thoughts

• Irina Alekseeva defeats Stephanie Egger via first-round kneebar (HIGHLIGHTS): Alekseeva blew her weight cut majorly, missing weight by five pounds on Friday. That caveat aside, this was a quality debut, because once inside the Octagon she looked pretty good! “Russian Ronda” attempted a hip throw then dived on a leg when it failed, patiently worked to transition. Initially, she could extend, but when Egger moved her weight off her opponent a bit, Alekseeva was able to complete her rotation and crank the leg for a quick tap.
• Marcus McGhee defeats Journey Newsom via second round rear-naked choke (HIGHLIGHTS): McGhee debuted on very short notice, and he impressed! The newcomer showed good composure and a nice technical game, showing off a clean kickboxing attack in the first frame. After stunning Newsom in the second, he quickly locked up a rear naked choke, very much looking the part of a deserving UFC Bantamweight.

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For complete UFC Vegas 72: “Yadong vs. Simon” results and play-by-play, click HERE.