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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.
Jared Gordon In Need Of A Victory Wednesday
Jared Flash Gordon (15-4) has obtained three of his four losses in his last four bouts. Listed at $8,300 on DraftKings, Gordon typically delivers in the points category, averaging 71.4 points through six bouts. If Gordon wins, though, that average skyrockets up to 110 points. The Roufusport lightweight has not been in the Octagon for... Read More
Diana Belbita Moving Up To Bantamweight At Fight Island
Diana Belbita (13-5) will move up to bantamweight in search of her first UFC win. Belbita lost her debut to Molly McCann via unanimous decision back in October of 2019. In her UFC debut, Belbita threw just over 250 strikes, landing 98 significant strikes along with landing her only takedown attempt. She also had some... Read More
Liana Jojua Hoping For First UFC Victory
Liana Jojua (7-3) will hope to rebound from her recent third-round submission loss at UFC 242 in September of 2019. A submission specialist in her own right, Jojua has finished five of her seven victories by submission. Jojua only landed 19 significant strikes in her first UFC outing. Arguably facing a more talented opponent, it's... Read More
Jack Shore Looking To Remain Undefeated
Jack Shore (12-0) will enter the Octagon for the second time, taking on a last-minute replacement in Aaron Phillips. Shore is another finisher on this card, with 11 of his 12 victories coming by finish. Specifically, seven of those victories have come by submission. The former Cage Warriors champion looked solid in his UFC debut... Read More
Louisiana's Aaron Phillips Gets A Shot At Redemption
Aaron Phillips (12-3) will get his second stint to step into the Octagon. In 2014, Phillips had a two-fight stint in the UFC where he dropped both bouts by unanimous decision. After a three-year hiatus starting in 2015, Phillips returned to action in 2018 and has been 5-0 since with four finishes. The Headkicks MMA... Read More
Kenneth Bergh Has His Chance To Shine On The UFC Stage
Kenneth Bergh (8-0) looks like he will finally get into the cage with Jorge Gonzalez. The two were set to meet on Golden Boy's MMA card in November of 2018, but the card fell apart. Even that far back, Bergh seemed to have Gonzalez pegged. Bergh, even back then, told Matt Bricker at MMA Sucka,... Read More
Jorge Gonzalez Looking For 17th Finish In UFC Debut
Jorge Gonzalez (16-4) has finished every one of his 16 victories. A dangerous striker, Gonzalez has knocked out 12 of his 16 opponents while submitting the other four. After being knocked out in August of 2019 in ACA, Gonzalez took some time off and returned to action earlier this month to win by first-round submission.... Read More
Jorge Masvidal Unable To Capture Title On Late Call-Up
Jorge Masvidal saved the day by stepping in for Gilbert Burns in the main event of UFC 251. The man many call the people's champion, Masvidal took the fight against the dominant welterweight champion Kamaru Usman on one-week's notice. Usman was just too much for Masvidal, using his clinching and wrestling to neutralize Masvidal through... Read More
Kamaru Usman Remains Welterweight King
Kamaru Usman, despite the last-minute change of opponent, walked out of UFC 251 with his welterweight title. Though Usman may have only landed 94 significant strikes, he landed a total of 263 strikes. He also pulled off five takedowns compared to Jorge Masvidal's zero. Statistically, Usman's best round of significant strikes was the second round,... Read More
Max Holloway Unsuccessful In Bid To Take Back Title
Max Holloway was on a mission at UFC 251 to regain his UFC featherweight crown, but all efforts fell just short. Looking to get back to the old Holloway in the opening rounds, he was giving Alexander Volkanovski all he could handle. In the third round, the tide started to turn a bit toward the... Read More
Alexander Volkanovski Wins By Slimmest Of Margins
Alexander Volkanovski walked into UFC 251 for his first title defense against the man he beat for the title, Max Holloway. The first two rounds looked like Holloway was back to his old self, ending each round with huge strikes. UFC Stats nor ESPN recorded Holloway with any knockdowns in the matchup. Statistically, though, through... Read More
Jose Aldo Unable to Capture Bantamweight Gold
There is no doubt that Jose Aldo will be in the UFC's Hall of Fame. UFC 251 was just not his night, as he was defeated by Petr Yan via fifth-round TKO. Statistically, Aldo landed 83 significant strikes at an accuracy rate of 52%. He ate way too many strikes, as Yan set the bantamweight-division... Read More
Petr Yan Defeats A Legend; Earns Bantamweight Title
Petr Yan fought with a lot to prove Saturday at UFC 251. After winning his first six bouts in the UFC, Yan earned a vacant title shot against UFC legend Jose Aldo. Known for his work at featherweight, Aldo dropped down in weight to meet the division's new star in Yan. After throwing down 59... Read More
Jessica Andrade Drops Split-Decision
Though Jessica Andrade performed very well in the third round against Rose Namajunas, she ultimately lost via split-decision at UFC 251. Andrade landed 71 significant strikes on the night and was 1-for-3 on her takedown attempts. Losing two in a row to the division's top two fighters puts her in place for a possible second... Read More
Rose Namajunas Exacts Revenge For Title Loss
Rose Namajunas avenged her most recent loss at UFC 251, defeating Jessica Andrade by split-decision. The first two rounds saw Namajunas show off her amazing striking skills by landing some solid jabs. Andrade turned the momentum around in the third round, damaging Namajunas' nose. During the back and forth battle, Namajunas landed 82 significant strikes.... Read More
Paige VanZant Loses Third Of Four Fights
Paige VanZant did not do much to help her free agency stock by suffering a first-round submission loss via armbar at UFC 251 to Amanda Ribas. After entering the UFC in 2014 and winning three in a row, she has now gone 2-4 in her last six. UFC president Dana White recently stated of VanZant... Read More
Amanda Ribas Shines With First-Round Submission
Amanda Ribas entered UFC 251 with DraftKings' highest price tag, and she delivered. Within the first minute action, Ribas got Paige VanZant to the ground. Working her dominant ground game, Ribas eventually locked in an armbar for the first-round submission. Ribas is now 10-1 in her professional career and 4-0 in the UFC, with key... Read More
Volkan Oezdemir Stunned In The First Round
Just when it looked like Volkan Oezdemir was in the light heavyweight title picture, he was dropped in the first round by the debuting Jiri Prochazka. Oezdemir looked solid in the first round, getting the better of the striking exchanges. After eating a head kick in the second round from Prochazka, a heavy hand followed,... Read More
Jiri Prochazka Shocks With Devastating KO
Jiri Prochazka shook up the light heavyweight division in his UFC debut. After a close first round at UFC 251, which probably went the way of Volkan Oezdemir, Prochazka settled down in the second round and took over. After a head kick sent Oezdemir reeling, Prochazka followed up with a punch that floored Oezdemir, ending... Read More
Elizeu dos Santos Drops Heartbreaking Split-Decision
Elizeu dos Santos entered the contest at UFC 251 with an impressive 8-2 record. After getting back on track after the Jingliang Li loss with a decision victory, Santos dropped a split-decision to Muslim Salikhov on Saturday. Santos has now lost two of his last three. He landed 46 significant strikes and was unsuccessful in... Read More
Muslim Salikhov Wins Fourth In A Row
After losing his UFC debut, Muslim Salikhov has now won four in a row. Arguably his toughest victory to date, Elizeu dos Santos pushed Salikhov to the limit, with Salikhov pulling out a split decision win. The battle went back and forth all fight, which is reflected in the stats. Salikhov was able to land... Read More
Danny Henry Suffers A Tough Loss
Danny Henry met an unfortunate end to his night at UFC 251, losing at the hands of Makwan Amirkhani via anaconda choke. The bout only lasted 3:15, so there was not a lot to evaluate from Henry. He is now on a skid though, dropping his last two in a row for a UFC record... Read More
Makwan Amirkhani Wins With Impressive Submission
Makwan Amirkhani rebounded well from his Shane Burgos defeat in November 2019. 3:15 into the first round, he caught Danny Henry in a beautiful anaconda choke, completely putting Henry to sleep. Amirkhani shot in for his first takedown attempt, which was successful. After a short bit of time on the mat, Amirkhani got Henry where... Read More
Roman Bogatov No Longer Undefeated After UFC Debut
Roman Bogatov, the former M-1 Challenge champion, suffered a loss at the hands of Leonardo Santos in his organizational debut. With half of Bogatov's victories coming by submission, it's important to his game to get his opponent to the mat. He was only 1-for-11 on takedowns, which will never give you the opportunities you need... Read More
Leonardo Santos Takes Decision In A Wild Three-Rounder
Leonardo Santos remains unbeaten (7-0-1) in the UFC, with a unanimous-decision victory. Santos landed a solid 111 strikes, with 66 classified as significant strikes. After an uneventful first round, Santos landed a series of strikes on Roman Bogatov that nearly ended the contest. Santos gased out and Bogatov took control at the end of the... Read More
Short Notice Call Does Not Pan Out For Maxim Grishin
Maxim Grishin had a rough go of it in his UFC debut against a very tough Marcin Tybura. Tybura did his best to neutralize Grishin's standup game by keeping him on the mat. 15 of Grishin's 30 victories have come by knockout, so that had to be in Tybura's mind. Grishin was only able to... Read More
Heavyweight Veteran Marcin Tybura Pulls Out A Decisive Win
Marcin Tybura, who was entering his 11th bout at UFC 251, controlled the bout for the most part on the mat. His opponent, Maxim Grishin, was a very late notice replacement and it showed against the tough Tybura. With a couple of minutes to go in the contest, Tybura landed a big takedown that sealed... Read More
Zhalgas Zhumagulov Takes The Loss But Has Solid Outing
Zhalgas Zhumagulov walked out of the Octagon on the losing side of three 29-28 judges cards, but kept the contest close in his organizational debut. He landed 66 significant strikes and 73 total strikes. Coming off of a four-fight winning streak, Zhumagulov takes his first defeat in three years. Zhumagulov pulled off a 4.4 significant... Read More
Raulian Paiva Pulls Off Close Decision Victory
In a closely contested battle, Raulian Paiva was able to squeak by Zhalgas Zhumagulov at UFC 251. The first round looked to have gone to Paiva with his stout body kicks. Round two was a bit more closely contested, going to his opponent. The third round was very close, with each fighter having their moment... Read More
Despite Missing Weight, Vanessa Melo Still Can't Pull Off Victory
With the loss Saturday at UFC 251, Melo may be receiving her walking papers, dropping her third bout in a row. Melo is now 0-3 in the UFC and was dominated by Karol Rosa. Melo had a few bright moments in the third round, but not enough to take the round. Statistically, Melo landed 78... Read More
