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About Matt Bricker - RotoBaller
I've been involved in and a fan of martial arts from a very early age. Since May 2018 I've been writing for MMA outlets as well as on boxing. I also train in boxing with an amateur debut soon to come! Follow me on Twitter @LAknockoutMMA
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Matt Bricker - RotoBaller has written 2247 articles so far, you can find them below.
Niklas Stolze Gets The Call-Up To Make UFC Debut
Niklas Stolze (12-3) is set to make his UFC debut against a tough opponent in Ramazan Emeev. Eight of Stolze's 12 career victories have come by finish, with five of those being submissions. Stolze had an impressive knockout two bouts ago when he defeated Christian Draxler at Cage FS 9 in February of 2019. Draxler... Read More
Ramazan Emeev Looking To Rebound From 2019
Ramazan Emeev (18-4) is looking to rebound after his November 2019 decision loss to Anthony Rocco Martin. Prior to that matchup, Emeev exploded on the UFC scene by winning his first three bouts in a row. Ten of Emeev's 18 victories have come by finish, though all three of his UFC wins have come by... Read More
John Castaneda Debuts Against Tough Opponent
John Castaneda (17-4) makes his UFC debut this weekend in the night's opening bout. So far in his professional career, Castaneda has finished 12 of his 17 victories. Coming off of a third-round submission victory at Combate Americas in April of 2019, Castaneda will look to make his UFC debut after a near 15-month layoff.... Read More
Nathaniel Wood Set To Open Up Saturday's Card
Nathaniel Wood (16-4) entered the UFC white-hot, winning his first three bouts by submission. Wood is one of the bantamweight division's hot upcoming prospects after a successful stint in Cage Warriors. The young English fighter averages 4.30 significant strikes per minute among his four UFC bouts. He also averages almost two takedowns per contest at... Read More
Joseph Benavidez Denied UFC Gold Yet Again
Joseph Benavidez fell short again in his bid to secure the UFC flyweight championship. Getting dropped a couple of times in the first round, Benavidez landed 18 significant strikes with no takedown or submission attempts. It just appears that Deiveson Figueiredo has Benavidez's number inside the Octagon. The 35-year-old will always remain a fan favorite... Read More
Deiveson Figueiredo Earns UFC Gold
Deiveson Figueiredo finished Joseph Benavidez for the second time in a row, this time for the UFC flyweight championship. Figueiredo reeled off 35 significant strikes and 40 total strikes in less than one round of action. Early in the bout, Figueiredo dropped Benavidez with a strike, followed up with several submission attempts. Continuing on, Figueiredo... Read More
Kelvin Gastelum Drops Third In A Row
With some time off to reinvent and rest, Kelvin Gastelum felt great coming into his matchup with Jack Hermansson. However, Hermansson had other thoughts, making Gastelum tap out in less than two minutes of the first round. Gastelum has now lost three in a row. The 28-year-old has had a rocky last couple of years.... Read More
Jack Hermansson Gets Back On Track With Quick Submission
It only took Jack Hermansson 78 seconds to get back into the win column. Hermansson attempted to take Kelvin Gastelum down, but Gastelum reversed the takedown and gained control. Hermansson quickly locked up a heel hook, leading to the early first-round submission victory. Statistics won't reveal much in this matchup, but Hermansson looked to be... Read More
Marc Diakiese Loses Striking Battle Saturday Night
Marc Diakiese was unable to get the better of his opponent Rafael Fiziev on Saturday night. Scoring 68 significant strikes and 73 total strikes wasn't enough to get the best of Fiziev. Diakiese tried to take the bout to the ground a few times when the striking got too heavy, but he ended up getting... Read More
Rafael Fiziev Wins With Performance Of The Night
Rafael Fiziev impressed in his third UFC outing, winning by unanimous decision against a tough opponent in Marc Diakiese. Fiziev landed devastating popping body kicks all throughout the matchup. The Tiger Muay Thai fighter even showed off his Matrix defense, completely dodging a kick by Diakiese, similar to the viral video which made him famous... Read More
Luana Carolina Loses In Devastating Fashion
Luana Carolina dropped her second UFC bout by one of the most vicious submissions you'll ever see. The 27-year-old was caught in an ugly kneebar about 90 seconds into the contest by her opponent, Ariane Lipski. Carolina still has room to grow and improve. It's difficult to make a decision on a fighter's future when... Read More
Ariane Lipski Delivers A Painful Submission
Ariane Lipski, also known as the Violence Queen, absolutely lived up to her nickname Saturday night. Less than 90 seconds into the bout, Lipski locked in one of the most devastating kneebars you will ever see on her opponent, Luana Carolina. Prior to the UFC, Lipski was a dangerous finisher in KSW, arguably Europe's top... Read More
Alexandre Pantoja Drops Decision To Fellow Top-10 Flyweight
After earning a 6-2 record in the UFC's flyweight division, Alexandre Pantoja earned a top-five spot in the division, entering the contest ranked No. 4. His opponent, Askar Askarov, entered ranked in the top 10 as well. Statistically, the numbers weren't too far off, with Pantoja landing 40 strikes compared to Askarov's 44. He also... Read More
Askar Askarov Opens Up Main Card With Victory
Askar Askarov remains unbeaten and continues to impress, defeating Alexandre Pantoja by unanimous decision. After his split draw with Brandon Moreno, Askarov has gone on to win his next two bouts. The former ACB champion connected with 41 significant strikes and two takedowns. With the win over the No. 4-ranked Pantoja, he may have himself... Read More
Khadis Ibragimov Drops Third In A Row Saturday Night
Khadis Ibragimov's run in the UFC has been far from memorable. His three UFC losses have come by every way imaginable; knockout, submission and decision. Ibragimov was only able to land four significant strikes along with 10 total strikes. With the loss, Ibragimov may be out of the UFC and back in M-1 Challenge. Due... Read More
Roman Dolidze Shines With Highlight-Reel Knee
Roman Dolidze remained undefeated, and did so with style. Late in the first round, Dolidze threw a dangerous left high kick on Khadis Ibragimov in which Ibragimov ate the knee and dropped heavily to the mat. Impressing in his UFC debut, Dolidze only needed 19 significant strikes to get the job done in less than... Read More
Nad Narimani Unable To Turn It Around
Nad Narimani faced another hard night at the office, dropping his second bout in a row. As expected, Grant Dawson used his wrestling skills to keep Narimani controlled on the mat for 8:11. Prior to the night's contest, Narimani was averaging just under 65 points per bout on DraftKings. The 33-year-old English fighter still has... Read More
Grant Dawson Continues To Roll
Grant Dawson stepped out of the Octagon with another impressive unanimous decision. He landed an impressive 136 strikes, along with 53 significant strikes. He only landed two takedowns but collected 8:11 of ground-control time. The 26-year-old showed off some impressive striking as well, throwing two flying knees. Also as expected, Dawson tried to lock in... Read More
Joe Duffy Has Disappointing Night Saturday
Irishman Joe Duffy was unable to get back into the win column Saturday night against Joel Alvarez. In 2:25 minutes of action, Duffy landed 14 significant strikes and one takedown. That takedown would serve as his downfall, getting caught in Alvarez's guillotine choke and tapping out in the first round. Duffy was the night's highest-salaried... Read More
Joel Alvarez Scores Big Saturday Night
DraftKings' lowest-salaried fighter for this event, Joel Alvarez scored the biggest victory of his career by defeating Joe Duffy in the first round. Landing 18 significant strikes just over two minutes of action, Duffy decided to take down the young Spanish fighter. Shortly after the takedown, Alvarez locked in the guillotine choke and made Duffy... Read More
Montel Jackson Contained On The Ground Saturday
Montel Jackson was unable to let his striking work for him on Saturday night. Veteran Brett Johns kept Jackson on the mat as much as possible, with 8:42 of the 15-minute battle spent with Johns in control of Jackson on the mat. Jackson did outstrike Johns nearly three times as much, landing 80 strikes. Twenty... Read More
Brett Johns Works Game Plan To Perfection Saturday Night
Brett Johns did exactly what he needed to do, and that was control Montel Jackson on the mat. Earning the unanimous decision over 15 minutes of action, Johns earned eight takedowns on 19 attempts. It was obvious the game plan was not to stand up and strike with Jackson. In all, Johns had 8:42 of... Read More
Tough Debut For Canadian Fighter Malcolm Gordon
Malcolm Gordon ran into a road block to kick of his UFC debut in the form of fellow debuter Amir Albazi. Gordon kept the bout on his feet for the first couple of minutes showing his ever-improving striking game. Around two minutes in, Albazi brought the fight to the ground and caught Gordon in the... Read More
Amir Albazi Impresses With Triangle-Choke Victory
Amir Albazi impressed in his debut with the UFC's first triangle choke of 2020. It only took about two minutes for Albazi to get the bout to the mat. In just a bit over four minutes of action, Albazi landed 12 significant strikes and 28 total strikes. The one takedown he landed was all he... Read More
Davi Ramos Drops Second Bout In A Row
Davi Ramos was unsuccessful in rebounding from his September 2019 loss, dropping a unanimous decision to Arman Tsarukyan. It was a tough night statistically for Ramos, who only landed 33 significant strikes and was 0-for-5 on his takedown attempts. After his four-fight winning streak, it's been a bit of a rough patch lately for Ramos.... Read More
Arman Tsarukyan Impresses Against Tough Foe
Arman Tsarukyan improved to 2-1 in the UFC, winning a hard-fought decision over veteran Davi Ramos. In an aggressive contest, Tsarukyan landed 91 significant strikes and 118 total strikes. His takedown success wasn't as great, only landing one of his five attempted takedowns. On defense, Ramos only landed 33 significant strikes. It was a calm,... Read More
Carlos Felipe Drops UFC Debut Saturday Night
Carlos Felipe not only lost his UFC debut, but the first professional bout of his career. Felipe was only able to reel off 44 significant strikes over the span of the 15-minute bout. The Brazilian had a decent second round, but aside from that, he seemed to be more interested in taunting his opponent. He... Read More
Sergey Spivak Earns The Majority Decision
Sergey Spivak continued to show his improvement in the UFC, improving to 2-2 in the organization. He landed 165 total strikes in the bout, nearly four times as many as his opponent, Carlos Felipe. He also landed 76 significant strikes over the 15 minutes of battle. Spivak was just a tad under 50% on takedowns,... Read More
Joseph Benavidez One Fight Away From UFC Gold
Joseph Benavidez (28-6) has been a part of the UFC's flyweight division since Day 1. After UFC's purchase of WEC with several fighters integrated over, Benavidez became a staple of that division. This Saturday's championship bout with Deiverson Figueiredo will be his 20th UFC bout. Benavidez does have some rough accuracy numbers, with a 34%... Read More
Deiveson Figueiredo Within Reach Of UFC Gold
Deiveson Figueiredo (18-1) has UFC flyweight gold within his grasp. He defeated Joseph Benavidez in February of 2019 but could not claim the vacant title because he missed weight. Figueiredo has made weight for this outing and can win the gold with a repeat performance. Fifteen of Figueiredo's 18 victories have come by finish, showing... Read More
