UFC Vegas 81 – New Blood!

UFC 294 isn’t the only upcoming card that’s falling apart. Indeed, UFC Vegas 81, which takes place this weekend (Sat., Oct. 14, 2023) inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, went from featuring one newcomer to now three fresh faces. On this edition of New Blood, the series where regional promotions’ insistence on paywalling all their content the second one of their fighters reaches the big show demands corporal punishment, we look at three newcomers with a combined record of 20-2-1.

Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Ravena “Kenoudy” Oliveira

Weight Class: Bantamweight
Age: 26
Record: 7-1-1 (6 KO, 1 SUB)
Notable Victories: Simone da Silva

“Kenoudy” started her professional career 0-1-1 before rattling off five straight wins. A 17.5-month layoff followed, after which she made up for lost time with two wins in less than 30 days.

She steps in for Darya Zheleznyakova on around one month’s notice for her third fight in three months.

Full disclosure: outside of her second professional fight against Waleska Sousa, which isn’t particularly useful considering it’s from 2018, the only footage I could find came from her Jan. 2022 win over Sheila Amaral. That fight showed an admirably gritty (but very green) striker with unfulfilled potential, so I wouldn’t be shocked to see a much improved product after nearly two years.

Oliveira prefers to operate at middle distance behind a power jab. There’s a lot to like when she keeps it simple with basic one-two combinations and three-two combinations, as well as her nasty counter right when opponents step in. She is, however, too eager for her own good, as seen in her over-fondness for Superman punches. She loads up too much in general, often stepping in with the bombast of a Major League fireballer, and fails to bring her hands back to her chin after punching.

Not the sloppiest I’ve ever seen, but definitely in need of tightening, especially when pressured. She’ll circle and lean away from danger while hurling right hands, but can get sucked into a slugfest if she can’t escape. Plus, while her kicks are decent from both legs, she has a habit of kicking from too close and while trying to retreat.

The iffy footwork doesn’t help, either.

If things get too hairy, she’s happy to wrap up the clinch and haul her opponent to the fence, where she’ll chip away with knees and occasionally fish for throws. One body lock takedown put her on top in half guard, where she landed some arm punches before letting her up. She was more aggressive after hitting an o soto gari-ish throw into side control, as she quickly moved to mount and pounded until Amaral gave up her back and the RNC.

I’d place that version of Oliveira below the vast majority of UFC Bantamweights, especially since she failed to impress against a debuting fighter. The silver lining is that she’s presumably still far from a finished product. For her sake, she’d better have used her time away to become one, as debut foe Tainara Lisboa will demolish her on the feet otherwise.

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Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Brendon “The Kid” Marotte

Weight Class: Lightweight
Age: 26
Record: 8-1 (5 KO, 1 SUB)
Notable Victories: Dan Dubuque

Marotte — New England Cartel’s latest Octagon representative — went 5-2 as an amateur before turning professional in 2018. He’s split his time between CES and Combat Zone, most recently ending a three-year layoff with back-to-back wins in the latter.

He replaces Chris Duncan on six days’ notice.

Combat Zone’s website proclaims that it uploads fight videos to YouTube after every event, but that stopped being the case after CZ 74 in 2021. Marotte’s only fights since 2020 are now paywalled, so the most recent footage I have comes from January of that year against Dan Dubuque.

The Marotte of 2020 was a jab- and low kick-heavy striker with, as you might imagine from someone who trains with Rob Font and Calvin Kattar, slick elbows and a willingness to slug it out. There were some wrinkles, like firing spinning attacks and occasionally switching stance, but it was largely a technically sound if somewhat telegraphed meat-and-potatoes attack.

Where he struggled was under pressure, as Marotte would shell up behind a high guard and backpedal. Dubuque had free rein to tee off on him on more than one occasion, nearly finishing him in the first round against the fence as Marotte planted his feet, let Dubuque hammer away at his earmuffs, and occasionally tried to fire back with a big swing.

What saved Marotte were his constant level changes whenever tried to back him up. He fired takedown after takedown when Dubuque tried to back him up, and while few hit paydirt, they were enough to limit Dubuque’s momentum. When he did get on top, Marotte immediately looked to take the back, but rushing it and neglecting to put in his hooks allowed Dubuque to sweep and/or escape.

He was fortunate to escape the Dubuque fight with the decision, as Dubuque out-slugged him and shut down many of Marotte’s takedowns but I do want to emphasize that he was 23 at the time. Though middling at the time, there was clearly potential there and there’s every reason to believe he’s grown into it over the past few years. I just wish I had the tape access to confirm it.

His debut pits him against the mercurial Terrance McKinney. The Marotte of 2020 gets annihilated inside of three minutes, as responding poorly to aggression is the worst trait to have against McKinney’s onslaught.

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Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Melissa “No Mess Mullins” Dixon

Weight Class: Bantamweight
Age: 32
Record: 5-0 (3 KO)
Notable Victories: Darya Zheleznyakova

Dixon went 5-4 as an amateur — all five wins via (technical) knockout — before turning professional in 2021. Three straight wins took her to Ares FC, where she defeated promotional regular Rizen Zouak before scoring an impressive come-from-behind finish of unbeaten Darya Zkeleznyakova.

Powerful grappling anchors Dixon’s game. She’s highly adept with clinch takedowns, from using misdirection to hit trips to changing levels for a double-leg to straight-up muscling opponents down from an airtight whizzer. Despite boasting a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt, she’s much more keen on doing damage from the top, though her pedigree does show itself in solid guard passing. Her ground-and-pound can peter out later in fights, but it’s effective when she throws.

I want to call particular attention to her grappling defense. Zouak, a former Olympic judoka, tried nonstop throws on Dixon and “No Mess Mullins” refused to accept any of them. She immediately scrambled up when Zouak executed correctly, and when Zouak got sloppy, Dixon took dominant positions of her own. She also easily pulled out of a deep armbar from Zheleznyakova before taking mount and pounding her out at the literal last second of the first round.

Issues crop up on the feet. Dixon can throw a heavy right hand, knows how to mix head and body shots, and does good work with low kicks, but her defensive instincts are nonexistent. She has zero upper-body movement and doesn’t seem to know how to move out of danger; Mafalda Carmona put her on queer street three fights back with a heavy barrage that Dixon just stood there and took. Zheleznyakova did one better, tearing her apart by catching Dixon as she threw and subsequently blitzing her across the cage as Dixon retreated in a straight line.

Dixon’s clinch bailed her out in both fights, but the fact that she’s been badly hurt twice in such similar fashion is worrying. While she’s been more patient since Carmona, that wasn’t enough to solve the issue. She’s also 32 years old and has had nearly 15 combined professional/amateur fights, so it’s an open question whether she’s capable of making those sorts of adjustments.

Still, her grappling looks strong enough to keep her afloat against the middle of the UFC Bantamweight pack. I like her chances against debut opponent Irina Alekseeva, as Dixon’s takedown defense looks sufficient to deal with Alekseeva’s judo and “Russian Ronda” is too sloppy on the feet to properly exploit Dixon’s defensive issues.

Her Ares bouts are on Fight Pass.

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