u/AnAverageSavage

Hey all, happy fight day! Here are some lesser-known tidbits for each matchup on the MVP MMA Card tonight (Netflix). I also cover the UFC Card, and that's available here with no ads, no monetization, and no asking for donations. I only ask for constructive feedback if you don't mind. But also cool if you don't do anything and just want to indulge in these tasty parcels of knowledge.

Fight 1: Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano (5R, 145 lbs)

Rousey: Ronda gave birth to her second daughter in 2025, meaning she has been training for this five-round main event while less than a year.

Carano: Head coach John Wood revealed Gina is not just preparing to defend takedowns, she has been actively taking training partners in camp. Wood: "I'm watching her move, watching her defend, defend takedowns and she's actually taking people down." She also lost 100 pounds in 18 months, citing pre-diabetic conditions and severe mobility restriction before the cut. There is no verifiable source on the internet quoting Gina using the word “Ozempic”.

Personal Take: Pretty sure Rousey wins by Sub or Decision

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Fight 2: Nate Diaz vs. Mike Perry (5R, 170 lbs)

Diaz: Not so hidden. At the MVP open workouts at Venice Beach this week, Nate showed up but made it clear he had no intention of actually working out, and was smoking weed instead. He has not had a professional MMA fight since 2022 (over four years), and during that span he has only competed in pro boxing.

Perry: Mike has been coaching at Syndicate MMA in Las Vegas since December 2025, which is the same gym where Gina Carano has been training. Perry is undefeated 6-0 in BKFC and just beat Jeremy Stephens in his last bare-knuckle outing.

Personal Take: Rooting for Diaz, probably Perry by Dec.

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Fight 3: Francis Ngannou vs. Philipe Lins (5R, 265 lbs)

Ngannou: Despite leaving the UFC in 2023 and only fighting once in MMA since (PFL win over Renan Ferreira in October 2024), Ngannou is publicly insisting he remains the LINEAL heavyweight champion of MMA. He told BBC Sport: "I never lost the UFC title but I didn't lose the PFL title either." He is also in talks for a potential Jake Paul crossover after this fight.

Lins: For this camp, his sparring partners at ATT include Renan Ferreira, Vitor "Vitao" Resende, and former UFC champion Junior dos Santos. That means Lins has been drilling against the same 6'8" Brazilian (Ferreira) that Ngannou knocked out in October 2024, AND against JDS, who is fighting on the same card against Robelis Despaigne. Lins and JDS are training together.

Personal Take: Ngannou R1..

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Fight 4: Salahdine Parnasse vs. Kenneth Cross (3R, 155 lbs)

Parnasse: Nicknamed "the Mbappé of MMA," Parnasse has avoided the UFC for years on purpose. Has a financially strong position in KSW, reportedly earning six-figure purses, and when offers came from the UFC, they fell well below what he was making in Europe. At Friday's face-off, things escalated: Parnasse grabbed Cross's neck before security separated them. He is also a simultaneous former KSW double-champion at featherweight AND lightweight.

Cross: Kenny "The Boss" Cross is a small-town story. He is a Hastings, Michigan native and Hastings High School graduate, a former Saxons wrestler now living in Las Vegas. On signing the fight, he openly said: "I didn't care who the opponent was. When I found out what I'd be making and where I'd be fighting, and that it was on Netflix, I was in."

Personal Take: Sounds like Parnasse will be far more prepared and levels above skill-wise. Pretty sure you all agree.

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Fight 5: Junior dos Santos vs. Robelis Despaigne (3R, 265 lbs)

JDS: For this camp, dos Santos's primary training partner is 6-foot-8 former PFL champion Renan Ferreira, who is even taller than Despaigne. The catch: Ferreira just lost via KO to Francis Ngannou in PFL, and Ngannou is also fighting on this exact card. JDS and Despaigne were also briefly teammates on "Team Miami" in the failed GFL draft alongside Yoel Romero, Hector Lombard, and Anthony Pettis. Sherdog

Despaigne: Robelis is the reigning Karate Combat Heavyweight Champion who absolutely terrorized his way to the belt. Wikipedia confirms his Karate Combat 51 knockout took four seconds into the first round, his Karate Combat 52 knockout took 12 seconds into the first round, and his Karate Combat 53 knockout took 8 seconds into the first round. He is also a bronze medalist on Taekwondo at the 2012 Summer Olympics for 80 kg.

Personal Take: Want JDS to win, Despaigne prob gets it done by TKO.

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Fight 6: Namo Fazil vs. Jake Babian (3R, 170 lbs)

Fazil: The "Grandson of Saladin" is managed by Ali Abdelaziz, who manages the world's top fighter, Islam Makhachev, and was previously the manager for the famous MMA fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov. THIS WEEK he publicly threatened UFC star Arman Tsarukyan over Tsarukyan calling Kurdish people "gypsies" on a livestream. Fazil revealed they train at the same gym: "We train at the same gym. Call me a gyps little man when you see me."

Babian: Babian is Armenian-American, the SAME heritage as the Arman Tsarukyan that Fazil is feuding with publicly this week. During the face-off where Fazil unleashed a barrage of insults, Babian chose not to engage in the verbal sparring, and instead held up his cross necklace, signaling a message of peace amidst the chaos.

Personal Take: I don’t know much about either, but Fazil has better pedigree..

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Fight 7: Adriano Moraes vs. Phumi Nkuta (3R, 130 lbs catchweight)

Moraes: Adriano spent his entire camp preparing for Muhammad Mokaev, then had to rebuild on short notice when visa problems forced Mokaev out. Moraes pivoted by leaning on flyweight-sized training partners at American Top Team: "I spent a lot of time training with Alexandre Pantoja and Kyoji Horiguchi, who are both short like Phumi". Two of the best small flyweights in MMA history have been his sparring partners.

Nkuta: "Turbo" trains at Ray Longo's Mixed Martial Arts gym, the legendary gym whose head coach Ray Longo has produced four UFC Champions: Matt Serra, Chris Weidman, Aljamain Sterling, and Merab Dvalishvili. He literally got on his knees in front of cameras at LFA in 2025 and begged for a UFC contract, was passed over, and is using this Netflix card as his audition tape.

Personal Take: Nkuta seems hungrier, but I have no idea what this skill gap looks like.

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Fight 8: Jason Jackson vs. Jeff Creighton (3R, 170 lbs)

Jackson: The former Bellator welterweight champ won his title under the wildest possible circumstances. He upset Yaroslav Amosov to win the title in the promotion's final headliner before the PFL takeover. Amosov entered that fight previously undefeated. Jackson then split his PFL season 1-1, parted ways with the promotion, now arriving as a free agent.

Creighton: "Jazzy Jeff" is a guy the UFC just passed over. Creighton gained some exposure last year as a member of Daniel Cormier's team on "The Ultimate Fighter" Season 33. He advanced past Andreeas Binder in the opening round before losing to Rodrigo Sezinando via split decision in the semifinals. Creighton was not offered a UFC contract. He took this fight on roughly three weeks' notice after Lorenz Larkin pulled out with a knee injury.

Personal Take: Jackson is a proven winner. Like him by TKO or UD.

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Fight 9: David Mgoyan vs. Albert Morales (3R, 145 lbs)

Mgoyan: The 21-year-old Russian prospect's primary training partner is Arman Tsarukyan, the SAME UFC star that Namo Fazil is feuding with on this same card. So if Mgoyan and Fazil both fight tonight, both men have an Arman Tsarukyan connection but on opposite sides. Mgoyan's only loss was to Tommy McMillen on Dana White's Contender Series in 2024.

Morales: "The Belizean Warrior" is from Reseda, California, fights out of Carson, and trains at Carlson Gracie Academy Temecula. He just rebounded from a regional loss with a RNC win over Taron Grigoryan on 1/31/26. He has been quietly stacking regional wins (7-1 in his last 8) while flying under the radar.

Personal Take: I still like Mgoyan, although losing to Tommy was not a good look.

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Fight 10: Aline Pereira vs. Jade Masson-Wong (3R, 130 lbs catchweight)

Aline Pereira: Alex Pereira's younger sister, and Alex is NOT at fight week to support her. Fans have seen footage of Pereira sparring with heavyweights to prepare for his upcoming interim title fight at the White House next month. As a result of his preparations, 'Poatan' hasn't been able to be in California.

Masson-Wong: The Canadian challenger is BKFC's #1 flyweight contender, and her primary recent activity is bare-knuckle, not MMA. She hasn't competed under this ruleset since 2020, having spent the past six years alternating between boxing and bare-knuckle. She is the most active fight-tested striker on this side of the cage, even if her MMA record looks thin.

Personal Take: Rooting for Masson-Wong because she looks feisty (but probably loses).

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Fight 11: Chris Avila vs. Brandon Jenkins (3R, 165 lbs catchweight)

Avila: Most people know him as Nate Diaz's training partner from Cesar Gracie's camp. What they may not know: At UFC 281 in 2022 (the Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira card), Avila walked up to Dillon Danis inside Madison Square Garden by the snack bar area and smacked him in the face with a beer; his friends followed up by throwing more beer and slapping Danis until he got removed from the building. Avila is the guy who personally started that infamous Diaz-Danis MSG incident. Not very relevant, but still fun.

Jenkins: "The Highlight Reel" has been quietly coaching at the same gym as Gina Carano for the entire MVP build-up. In December, he began to shift more fully into a coaching role at Syndicate MMA in Las Vegas. That means Jenkins and Carano have been in the same room for months. He has watched her train, she has watched him train, and now they are both fighting on the same Netflix card on the same night.

Personal Take: I think Jenkins wins by decision.

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A Few Pattern-Level Gems That Cross Multiple Fights

• Syndicate MMA connection: Carano, Jenkins, John Wood (Carano's head coach), Brian Ortega (gym partner), Khalil Rountree Jr., and Merab Dvalishvili are all under the same Vegas roof. Carano and Jenkins are training partners this camp.
• The Arman Tsarukyan thread: Tsarukyan is connected to two fighters on the card via separate gyms. Fazil shares a gym with him and has just publicly threatened him over a "gypsies" comment about Kurds. Mgoyan trains directly with him on his wrestling.
• The "Team Miami" ghost: JDS, Despaigne, and Anthony Pettis were briefly drafted together on a Global Fight League team before GFL postponed indefinitely. JDS and Despaigne are now opponents instead of teammates.
• The Lins/JDS overlap: Both train at American Top Team. Both are fighting on this card. They are sparring partners. Their respective opponents (Ngannou and Despaigne) are also on the same card. Whichever ATT fighter wins tonight, it is a result against someone the other ATT fighter has been preparing for in person.

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Good luck y'all! Let's ride.

Here are some lesser-known tidbits involving coaching changes, quotes leading up to fight night, health scares, and more.

Find more gems, best bets, etc at my website: UBetDog.com

I don’t care if you visit it... or don't visit, but it’s probably worth a look. This is a passion project, I make my money elsewhere.

Good luck everyone!

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Aljamain Sterling vs. Youssef Zalal

Aljamain Sterling: Sterling openly admitted he pulled back after hurting Brian Ortega because he liked him, and said he does not plan to make that mistake against Zalal even though he likes him too. That is a real psychological note: the “friendly veteran” hesitation is something he has consciously identified and is trying to override.

Youssef Zalal: Zalal’s second UFC run is not just skill growth; he specifically framed the difference as “patience” and “purpose,” saying his younger self was “young and dumb.” He also said he has never turned down or picked fights, which tracks with a fighter who may be unusually comfortable accepting awkward matchup risk.

Norma Dumont vs. Joselyne Edwards

Norma Dumont: Dumont’s hidden pressure is that she waited a year and two months for a higher-ranked opponent, tried to get an interim-title opportunity with Amanda Nunes, and still ended up taking a dangerous lower-ranked fight just to stay active. That makes this less of a routine favorite spot and more of a “forced risk” fight.

Joselyne Edwards: Edwards is not just happy to be here; she believes a win puts her directly into title-shot territory. She also emphasized Xtreme Couture’s depth, saying she has access to every weight class and style, which matters because Dumont is a technical, volume-scoring fighter rather than a chaos brawler.

Rafa Garcia vs. Alexander Hernandez

Rafa Garcia: Garcia’s hidden gem is his Bloodline/Cub Swanson ecosystem: he specifically called Cub the “mastermind” of camp and named strong partners like Lerryan Douglas and LFA champ Richie Miranda. He also said cardio is his “real weapon,” which signals a deliberate attrition plan, not just generic pressure.

Alexander Hernandez: Hernandez is coming off one of the strangest non-injury disruptions imaginable: his Michael Johnson fight was canceled after suspicious betting movement, and he said the following five weeks were stressful with “a little bit of tension” still in his mind. He insists he was falsely accused and called for better fighter protection, so his mental reset is a bigger X-factor than his tape.

Davey Grant vs. Adrian Luna Martinetti

Davey Grant: Grant has moved full-time to Las Vegas and taken a striking-coach role at Syndicate MMA, calling John Wood’s mentorship “an absolute godsend.” That is a sneaky late-career development: he is not just an aging action fighter, but worth noting that this is his first full fight built around the new camp ecosystem.

Adrian Luna Martinetti: Martinetti’s DWCS win was not a normal prospect audition; MMA Fighting described it as arguably one of the best fights in Contender Series history, with both fighters sent to the hospital and both awarded UFC contracts plus $25,000 bonuses.

Montel Jackson vs. Raoni Barcelos

Montel Jackson: Jackson’s last fight quietly exposed the path opponents now seem to prefer: Deiveson Figueiredo grounded him early, slowed the fight, and Jackson never really built striking momentum despite being the longer, rangier athlete. The hidden issue is not talent; it is that elite veterans can freeze his output with grappling feints and cage-position control.

Raoni Barcelos: Barcelos has been loudly motivated by being written off; before upsetting Payton Talbott, he called the underdog status “surreal” and said being overlooked was his biggest motivation. Extra niche angle: Dan Tom’s southpaw-tracking note has Barcelos at 3-0 against UFC-level southpaws, which is highly relevant against Jackson.

Marcus Buchecha vs. Ryan Spann

Marcus Buchecha: Buchecha was brutally honest after his UFC debut loss, saying he felt UFC pressure, rushed to finish, made “six, seven bad takedown attempts,” and gassed himself. That is the hidden handicap: his BJJ is elite, but his MMA pacing and emotional decision-making under UFC lights are still unproven.

Ryan Spann: Spann took this on essentially two weeks' notice after Max Gimenis was scrapped, and his fight-week interview was unusually fatalistic: "I can't say what it looks like… the bullet has been shot. I'm the bullet and I've just gotta go do my job”. Underappreciated fact: his BJJ resume includes rolls with Robert Drysdale and Léo Leite, both BJJ World Champions, which he cited Wednesday as proof Buchecha's grappling won't be a foreign experience.

Rodolfo Vieira vs. Eric McConico

Rodolfo Vieira: Major fight-week story missing from most public previews: Vieira left Fighting Nerds for this camp - Brazilian outlet Ag Fight reported Wednesday that the loneliness of São Paulo and missing his family caused him to break with Pablo Sucupira's team and prep for McConico with his own personal team in Florida, calling it "the best camp of my life." This contradicts the Tapology and ESPN listings that haven't updated yet. He's also returning from a 90-day medical suspension after the Bo Nickal head-kick KO at UFC 322, with neurology clearance required. This is his first cage walk after both a documented brain trauma and a public team split. The niche matchup stat is ugly too: Dan Tom’s southpaw note lists Vieira as 0-2 against UFC-level southpaws.

Eric McConico: His training room at MMA Lab in Glendale, Arizona is one of the best-kept secrets in MMA with Jared Cannonier, Sean O'Malley, Marcus McGhee, Kyler Phillips, and Benson Henderson all training there, and McConico has credited Cannonier specifically with being his daily mentor. He's also coming off his own 90-day neurology suspension after the Susurkaev walk-off KO in November, meaning both men in this fight are returning from documented brain trauma in the same November 2025 cage.

Sedriques Dumas vs. Jackson McVey

Sedriques Dumas: Dumas’ biggest X-factor is life chaos, not skill. He previously said he could not compete at UFC 317 because his ankle monitor could not be removed in time for travel, and this was the original McVey matchup, so this is literally a rebooked fight after legal/logistical disruption.

Jackson McVey: This is actually the third time the UFC has tried to book this exact pairing as Dumas was originally his UFC 317 opponent before being arrested, then Chris Ewert replaced Dumas and missed weight, leaving McVey making weight for a fight that never happened.

Mayra Bueno Silva vs. Michelle Montague

Mayra Bueno Silva: The sneaky personal angle is that Montague says Silva is on the last fight of her contract while preparing for her wife having a baby, putting Silva in a very different life stage than the undefeated newcomer. Silva became emotional after appearing close to missing before successfully making 136 behind the curtain- which suggests this fight week carried real pressure.

Michelle Montague: Montague is not a stranger to Silva; they trained together at American Top Team, and Montague previously gave Silva southpaw looks before Silva fought Holly Holm. That familiarity is a real hidden gem because Montague is not walking into a former title challenger blind.

Jafel Filho vs. Cody Durden

Jafel Filho: Filho has one of the best hidden stories on the card: he wants to collect UFC submissions from every jiu-jitsu position, has already won by three different UFC submissions, and even has a kimura/seatbelt-to-reverse-triangle sequence he named after himself. He also survived a January armed ambush scare with his family and said he chose peace rather than carrying the stress into camp.

Cody Durden: Durden stepped in on six days’ notice while on a brutal UFC skid, making this more of a career-salvage ambush spot than a standard booking. The danger is that short-notice aggression can make him live early, but Filho had a full camp and is specifically hunting unusual submission sequences.

Francis Marshall vs. Lucas Brennan

Francis Marshall: Marshall is 3-3 in the UFC and coming off a submission win, but the hidden wrinkle is that this fight was added late against a debutant with a very different grappling background than a normal replacement.

Lucas Brennan: Brennan is not an ordinary short-notice newcomer: he is the son of former UFC veteran Chris Brennan, started 9-0 in Bellator, and owns a 91% finish rate. The red flag is that the UFC call came on literally five days’ notice and at lightweight, after he built much of his name as a featherweight.

Max Griffin vs. Victor Valenzuela

Max Griffin: Griffin is making his 19th UFC appearance but is somehow the “prove it” guy against a debutant, largely because he is on a two-fight skid. That experience gap is enormous: the hidden factor is that he has seen almost every UFC pace/pressure look, while Valenzuela has never had an Octagon fight.

Victor Valenzuela: Valenzuela’s record looks hot because he has won seven of his last eight, but the one recent loss was a knockout on Contender Series. That makes his UFC debut a fascinating confidence test: he is experienced regionally, but the last time he was under the UFC evaluation spotlight, he got finished.

Talita Alencar vs. Julia Polastri

Talita Alencar: Alencar previously revealed she was fighting not just for wins, but for contract renewal and visa stability in the U.S., saying she had “a lot of things to be fighting for.” That kind of pressure matters for a grappler whose best performances come when she turns urgency into top control rather than desperation shots.

Julia Polastri: Polastri’s hidden support system is unusually tight: her partner and coach Douglas Bastos has been tied to both her training and the financial grind behind her career, including earlier reports of them selling homemade truffles to fund the athlete life. Add that she recently earned a UFC Rio performance bonus for stopping Karolina Kowalkiewicz, and her confidence/camp continuity profile is much stronger than her early UFC record suggests.