Contender Series 2023: Week 5

The official Tapology discussion thread for the event!

Silva vs. Vallejos
Kevin Vallejos, TKO, R1
TKO Round 1

Hanekom vs. Rowston
Chad Hanekom, DEC
I've been waiting a long time for Hanekom to get his shot. This will be good

Laframboise vs. Guerrero
Corinne Laframboise, DEC
What a beautifull french name is "La Framboise" for a girl at least: it means "the raspberry"... That is the most interesting thing I have to say about this fight, tho.

Lopes vs. Ribeiro
Bruno Lopes, SUB, R2
Lopes has the cleaner record and prestige, but Ribeiro is at one of the most solid gyms in Brazil, they spar hard I bet. And light heavyweights so it could be the first who gets caught with something. Ribeiro had some tough k.o losses, so he could be motivated, but Lopes does look stronger, if he gets him down who knows, pretty sure Evolucao fighters are more strikers than grapplers

Sidey vs. Taveras
Ramon Taveras, TKO, R1
Taveras is in a Boxing-MMA gym? And has a k.o win over Krazy Horse. Have to pick him

Hanekom vs. Rowston
Chad Hanekom, TKO, R3
A classic rugby rivalry spills over into MMA... Hanekom is in what must be one of the top gyms in South Africa, Rowston is the only fighter listed in his gym, but who knows. Rowston seems to have the youth edge, maybe clip him with something high energy etc

Silva vs. Vallejos
Kevin Vallejos, TKO, R2
Damn 21 and 11-0 thats how you do it... And pretty epic stomach muscles, the chest looks a bit... Silva is out of Fighting Nerds pretty cool team, yeah I like this fight, they have a lot of finishes, stay safe

Laframboise vs. Guerrero
Rainn Guerrero, DEC
LaFramboise was hit and miss but then went 4-1 in UAE Warrior which is a good promotion I think, with 1 loss to Fiorot, no shame in that. And Patrick Cote's gym so good boxing?... Guerrero is fighting out of Texas where there is a pretty good scene and tough people. I don't like her wins as much, but yeah I think this will maybe be close

* Edited at 08.22.2023, 7:11 PM ET *

Cam Rowston DOTN🐶

chad hanekom is gonna kill him bro, rowston has tall man defense on the feet and hes not even tall

Don't know much about Tavares's opponent but Tavares would get dog walked in the UFC so bad.

Super padded record.

* Edited at 08.30.2023, 12:04 AM ET *

Sidey vs. Taveras
Serhiy Sidey, TKO, R1
How the **** i gonna pronounce that?

Lopes vs. Ribeiro
Bruno Lopes, TKO, R1
This looks like a complete missmatch both on paper and on tape, but we have already seen a few favorites botch their fights this season, so you never know. Lopes is one of the brightest prospects at his division. I don´t think Lopes is that good on the feet, but should get the job done in this fight. I like his ground game a lot more, being strong enough to pull takedown and exert control in the ground. I think his biggest strength is his BJJ, which I consider high level for the division. Bredson on the other side is too stiff on the feet and has a week chin, he can pull some stunts on the ground but nothing that I would consider a threat to Lopes as he gets easily control in bottom position. I think Lopes can finish this fight wherever he wants, but probably keeping the fight on the feet and look for the KO would be the smartest option

Sidey vs. Taveras
Serhiy Sidey, TKO, R1
Sidey is one of my favorite fighters this season, I love his top heavy wrestling and how smart his use of G&P is. If you add a really good TDD you have a really high level fighter on the ground. He isn´t a one trick pony tho, as he is a really explosive striker who carries some power with him. He has solid cardio too, making him a really polished fighter with very few holes. I like Taveras too, but he is likely not ready as he hasn´t looked specially good against questionable oposition. He is a fun striker who can set up good combos and I really think both him are close in that aspect. Thing is, Serhiy´s wrestling is on another level and even if Taveras TDD has looked decent regionally I don´t expect it to hold. I would say one Sidey takes the fight to the ground, it will soon be over.

Hanekom vs. Rowston
Chad Hanekom, TKO, R2
This is another fight where I am not a fan of the matchmaking, Hanekom is a deserving guy despite his age, but I don´t really understand Rowston´s signing as he is an inactive guy who has faced really low level of competition and has struggled against it. Hanekom has scored a few good wins at Brave, he is a strong fighter specially in the clinch, carrying a lot of power. He is at his best on the ground, where he uses his phisicality to wrestle and G&P. Rowston should have the advantage on the feet, as he has the kickboxing background with light feet and the fast kicks. The thing is, his chin is pretty weak which in addition to a lack of head movement makes me think he will struggle with Hanekom´s power. A lot of times his best option is to go to the ground as it is a lot more safe for him to fight there than standing up, even if he is a lot less skilled there than at striking. I don´t think that strategy will work against Hanekom tho, as Rowston will not be able to control just by raw phisicality. Overall I think Rowston needs to be really smart and control the fight from the distance, because if Hanekom manages to close the distance I see him findim a KO in the clinch or via G&P

Silva vs. Vallejos
Kevin Vallejos, TKO, R2
Probably the most fun and unpredictable fight on the card, both guys always come to bang and I don´t expect it to be different this time. I am picking Vallejos as he is more technichal and has the cardio for a 3 round fight, something good as Jean tends to gas the longer the fight goes. I wouldn´t be surprised at all if Silva catches Vallejo early tho.

Lopes vs Ribiero
Lopes SUB RD 1

Another squash match right here. Ufc always does this with guys they really want; find a regional can so that the A side looks good & gets a dominant finish. I mean, there is just simply no way the ufc actually wants ribiero on their roster. His record is mostly padded with cans & literally just last year he was getting slept cold by brazilian journeyman. Im ngl, i could only find ribieros most recent fight but still thats all I really needed to see. He won the fight but quite literally almost got chinned in the opening 30 seconds. Honestly, he was losing every second of the fight until ***undes completely death gassed. Ribiero won but he was clearly not the better fighter at all. He got chinned at the start & made horrible fight iq decisions the whole fight. He kept giving up top control to rip high elbow guillotines & would then get reversed when he didnt get the choke. This guy is huge for 205 but is a terrible striker. He throws everything looping & has tall mans defense. He doesnt look like he actually knows how to punch, instead just winging bombs with all his power. Lopes on the other hand is one of the best prospects this season. I mean, this guy is just sooooo good. Theres not a whole lot of footage on him but the stuff available is insanely impressive. Bruno started his career as a 185/170er, took 6 years off to bulk, and has looked even better since coming back. Lopes is a scary man; on the feet he hits like a truck. His boxing is super clean & lopes hits so hard. Whats impressive to me is you can tell he just has natural power since hes not really winding up or telegraphing anything he throws. Lopes is very strong in the clinch as well. He has good awareness of over/underhooks and uses good bodylock takedowns. Lopes can also grapple as well. Really good at passing guard & throws tons of gnp.Lopes has good submissions as well. His ground control is just so good; anything you try and do to get up, he will readjust and take your right back down. Really, I think lopes wins however he wants. He can sleep this guy easily or he can take him down and sub him. My only real worry is the size advantage for ribiero (hes 6”4 and lopes has the frame of a WW) but even then ribiero just looks so terrible. If there is one thing I dont like about lopes, its that he is pretty slow for 205. Its weird tho cuz his punches are fast but everything he does looks slow; idrk how to explain it just watch him fight and you’ll know what i mean. Besides that I have nothing bad to say about lopes. I really like him & think hes one of the best guys this season by far. I would be shocked if he somehow loses this fight.

Sidey vs Taveras
Sidey KO RD 2
This seems like one with a pretty obvious winner. I am always extremely skeptical of these guys coming out of combat night. Combat night is a very low level promotion that makes tons of mismatches where their “prospects” just fight cans to pad their records. They hide fights of their fighters that are poor performances (cant find his loss vs massey or decision vs mandala) so you dont even know how they lost/looked bad. The wins i can find of taveras are not impressive. Im sorry, but beating krazy horse and one of the worst ufc fighters in a minute does not impress me. Hes handling these guys how he should but, hes also fighting people who dive after one thing goes wrong. He is a boxer, not super high volume but he uses fast twitch movement to slip punches and fire back. He definitely hits hard and has some cool kos but at the same time, how impressive is it really considering who he is sleeping. He also avoids the ground as much as he possibly can. We did see him sub martin day but that was because day easily gave his neck. Every other time he knocks someone down, taveras lets them back up. As for Sidey, I am extremely impressed with him. He is only 27 yet has captured two major regional titles in canada (BTC 135 champ and 3 defenses of his bfl belt). With this, sidey brings a ton of experience into the cage. Hes still super young but has fought good comp along with having gone into the champ rounds before. I cant find his loss to vogel but given the styles of the two, i imagine vogel outgrappled him. I cant find his measurements but sidey appears to be a massive bw (id guess 5”10 72 inch reach) and uses his size well. Despite being very tall, he happens to be pretty quick. He doesnt seem to have a ton of power so instead he picks you apart with volume. Sidey never really slows down either. He is able to keep the same pace in every round and picks his opponents apart. His tdd seems really good and when he does get taken down he has crafty bjj. Sidey is just tricky to deal with on the feet. I really wish sidey had more power but his stirking is really difficult to deal with because he never slows down and keeps a really high output. Hes also huge & knows how to use his range which makes him even harder to deal with. He prefers to strike but sidey actually has good grappling to boot. When he wants to use it, he loves to keep dragging you down to the ground and raining down gnp. Overall, he just drows you with output. I will say tho, despite not having good power, sidey’s body shots are absolute money. He has two wins by body shot ko and consistently works the body throughout the fight. I think this fight is pretty linear. Taveras will be dangerous early with his powerful hooks, but the cardio and output of sidey will slowly break taveras. I have a feeling sidey will dominate if he grapples too; Taveras doesnt appear to have good wrestling at all.

Hanekom vs Rowston
Hanekom DEC
Always interesting when we have middleweights on dwcs because that division always needs bodies. Cam Rowston is one of izzy’s boys. He trains at CKB, was a two time king of the ring (kickboxing) champion, and won an adcc absolute tourney in NZ. He sounds great on paper but his tape is not that impressive. Not to say he isn’t skilled, but i dont think hes ufc level yet. For starters, he doesnt fight like anyone ive seen from CKB. Yes, he has his kickboxing background but he loves to grapple. And honestly, im not really sure thats a good thing. Cam is the rare combo of striker who learned how to grapple but I think he trusts in his skills a little too much. For starters, he almost wants you to shoot on him. For as big as he is (listed at 6”2 but really looks like 6”4) he doesnt use his length at all. His kickboxing is pretty decent but he doesnt use his range at all. He just strikes until you either shoot a tsakedown or engage in the clinch. If you try to shoot, he will immediately lock up a guillotine or accept the takedown and play bjj off of his back. His bjj is pretty decent but its just so low iq to willingly give up a takedown. He will try trips and throws in the clinch as well. The problem with being so content to grapple is that cam cant wrestle at all. Weirdly enough, he hasnt picked up the ckb takedown defense and instead tries to supplement tdd with bjj. It works against the trash hes fighting but is an awful idea for the ufc level. I will say, cam is pretty quick at locking up RNC’s but again, its against really low level comp. His striking is pretty decent but nothing crazy imo. Cam is pretty tall but as i said he doesnt use his range well. He also has poor boxing, instead throwing a lot of kicks and occasionally throwing counter punches. Cam also has tall man’s defense which has cost him in the past and hes been hurt by some bums on his winstreak. Hanekom is a weird choice for dwcs. Yes, hes coming off of an absurd ko but none of his other fights are really that exciting. Hes also 33 so its now or never for him. Like cam, hanekom is also very tall (6”4) and has awkward tall mans defense. For being so big, hanekom doesnt really strike much either. When he does, theres really not much to say. He doesnt look comfortable at all and really does almost nothing. He throws super telegraphed leg kicks and has barely any hands at all. Outside of that disgusting clinch elbow his last fight, hanekom has only really got ko wins by gnp. INstead, his gameplan is very similar to rowston’s; grapple. Hanekom used to be a rugby player & it shows in his takedowns. He knows how to wrestle but his favorite shot is the power double leg where he just crashes in. he doesnt do a ton on top but he does occasionally rain gnp and will also try RNC’s from the back. As for picking a winner im pretty split. I dont think either of these guys are very good & both have a ton of flaws. ON the feet I think I have to favor rowston. His stirking is awkward & i hate his defense but at the same time, hanekom just doenst do anything on the feet. However, can I trust rowston to actually strike? He is so bad at keeping distance and will likely let hanekom close the distance. Although its not very good, hanekom is at least fast and powerful with his wrestling. Rowston cant wrestle at all but he has decent grappling. Hanekom will likely be able to get him down but I wonder if he can keep him down/not get caught in a sub. Hanekom has a really bad habit of forcing the shot. He gives his neck up a lot going for singles and starts to get tired once you get up a few times. Im not confident in either side at all but i lean hanekom rn because of the wrestling. I think either guy is an easy fade in the ufc.

Silva vs Vallejos
Silva KO RD 2
This one is gonna be really violent. They put two brawlers together so this should make for an awesome fight. I was able to find a few fights of silva’s but not a whole lot. It was all fights from totally different parts of his career so its hard to identify changes since he is 1. Finishing these fights so fast and 2. The videos are from totally different parts of his career so you go from seeing green silva to silva from a few years ago, to current day. From the fights I saw, he seems pretty decent. I mean, theres not a whole lot to complain about when youre finishing fights quickly, only questions. He seems like your typical brazilian thai striker; throws heat with every punch, walks you down constantly, and throws a lot of kicks & knees. He is always the aggressor & constantly switches stances which I like but he also doesnt move his head well. He hasnt shown me that hes chinny but you cant rely only on your chin at the top level. His tdd has held up but he hasnt really faced any good wrestlers. Silva has some good hips and is athletic but that only gets you far until you face someone who can wrestle. Im not really sure how to feel about vallejos. He is young and exciting but when I watch him im just not blown away. For starters, he is facing utter cans. He did get a win over a ufc vet but, at the same time, its also garagorri who was a really **** ufc fighter. His wins before that are 35+ year old jobbers or just bad fighters in general. When I watch vallejos fight he doesnt look all that good to me. He hits hard and clearly has some natural power but he also telegraphs his shots a lot and doesnt throw many combos. He also doesnt have great defense either. I was pretty shocked at how slow he is on tape. He is very stagnant and just throws slow hooks all the time. He has pretty crazy power but just the technique is poor. Like most argentinians, vallejos cannot wrestle. He has shown some powerful bodylock slams & okay defense but, you also have to remember he is facing bad fighters who also cannot wrestle. In the tape I saw of silva's he didnt even attempt a takedown so im sure these guys are just gonna stand and trade. As for who wins well, I think a lot of people are just picking based off of records and accomplishments. Valejos has some skills but i think he is really raw. He is jacked and hits hard but i think his overall skills are lacking. Hes just too hittable and basic on the feet. I like the output and shot slection from silva more. I have some questions about silva but I think he will win this.

Geurrero vs Laframboise
Laframboise SUB RD 2

Really hate this fight. Rainn is a girl ive seen get an insane amount of love from mma media and twitter but i dont get it. There was nothing remotely exciting about her fights and she seems like a big time can crusher to me. Rainn does come to scrap which is nice but, she cant strike very well. Its your average wmma striking where she just flails her arms around until someone gets hit. She has some wrestling that she goes to but its not super effective. Her control is bad anf she will often time lose position going for a really dumb sub attempt. She also can be taken down and controlled pretty easily. She does have good cardio and some dog which weve seen time and time again wins you many more fights than it should in wmma. Laframboise is weird. She has an ugly record but I do think fights better than it shows. Her style is weird; she reminds me a little of gillian robertson but much lower level. She comes from a bjj background but thats kind of all she has. I mean, shes not afraid to throw down but she doesnt move her head at all and very clearly isnt a striker by trade. However, she doesnt mind striking and throws bombs with every shot so that makes up for it somewhat. Her wrestling, both offensively & defensively, is not good either. She willingly gives up takedowns to play bjj off of her back & her actual takedowns are not very good. She uses cage wrestling to get her opponents down as she doesnt have a great wrestling game. Her bjj is pretty good but honestly not THAT good. She has an active guard and a good submission game but ive also seen her lie in guard for rounds, get reversed, and even get her back taken by girls so like how good at bjj is she actually? This being said, I think she beats rainn. ON the feet i think its close but I actually like Corinne’s technique more. She is kind of square and doesnt mor her head well but she can throw down & definitely has better technique. Rainn swings for the fences but doesnt have great power on top of just fighting like a crackhead. She has dog in her tho so if corinne starts to struggle rainn could make it ugly. On the mat its corinne all day. I know I said she makes mistakes & isnt has highly touted as she sounds but, she can still grapple pretty well. Rainn’s grappling is not good at all to me. Even if she ends up on top I think corinne’s guard game is too slick for her.  

* Edited at 08.30.2023, 8:26 AM ET *

Brothers of Life gym has a bunch of young solid fighters 

Dylan Budka is also fighting this week. He’s replacing someone in the main event. Really hope Lopes is still fighting 

@AyyLmaonnaise 

 Are you sure it isn’t Hanekom that Budka is replacing 

@AyyLmaonnaise 

I see you converted to a Bolaji fanatic 

@hyp3 Haha nah I lost a profile pic bet with jrey 

I do like oki tho but profile pic wasnt my choice 

* Edited at 09.01.2023, 6:27 AM ET *

@banjo yeah could be him. I forgot those guys were fighting on this episods

Budka is replacing Cam Rowston against Hanekom

Lopes vs. Ribeiro
Bruno Lopes, TKO, R1
Should be a layup here for LFA LHW champ Lopes, he's better everywhere the fight goes but I think he sleeps him to secure a contract

Sidey vs. Taveras
Ramon Taveras, TKO, R1
This is gonna be a war and the man who connects the best will win, I think Taveras will win most exchanges here

Hanekom vs. Budka
Chad Hanekom, TKO, R2
Hanekom honestly I have no idea here but Budka has some very padded wins and Hanekom took Ikram Aliskerov to a split, I'll take him here

Silva vs. Vallejos
Kevin Vallejos, TKO, R1
This Argentina regional scene has been looking killer recently and Vallejos ran through all of em in a QUICK time, Silva is a sleeper pick here but Vallejos will run through him imo

Barbosa vs. Guerrero
Rainn Guerrero, DEC
Guerrero I believe will win an unimpressive decision, won't win a contract prolly 29-28 or 30-27

Sidey vs. Taveras
Serhiy Sidey, DEC
Key matchup

Silva vs. Vallejos
Kevin Vallejos
Key matchup