PBP UFC on ESPN 54 - Blanchfield vs. Fiorot Official PBP Discussion: Sat. 3/30 at 7pm ET

[PurpleStorm]

anyone got a list the fights with finishes (or worth watching) ?

fell asleep, missed the entire event.

don't have enough hours today to watch the entire card.

@Kowboy On Sherdog , @Jackonfire

dunno who is online to spare me reading spoilers

There were like seven or eight finishes. Watch Emmers vs. Landweihr, Silva vs. Weidman and Luque vs. Buckley in their entirety. The entire card had more than the usual amount of weird fouls, stoppages, reffing and judging. So you can watch most of all of it while fast forwarding through the breaks in action. Enjoy

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

Nursulton Ruziboev wants to settle the score for Uzbekistan against Gerald Meerschaert after his UFC on ESPN 54 victory on Saturday.

Nursulton Ruziboev Wants to Avenge Countryman’s Loss Against Gerald Meerschaert

Nursulton Ruziboev wants to settle the score for Uzbekistan against Gerald Meerschaert after his UFC on ESPN 54 victory on Saturday.

www.sherdog.com

Ruziboev defeated Sedriques Dumas via technical knockout to score his second consecutive first-round finish in the UFC. Ruziboev called out Meerschaert in his post-fight Octagon interview and later elaborated on it during a media scrum.

Ruziboev is one of only three Uzbek fighters in the UFC, along with Bogdan Guskov and Makhmud Muradov, who suffered a submission loss to Meerschaert in 2021. Ruziboev now wants to avenge his fellow countryman’s loss against “GM3.”


“There’s only three Uzbek fighters in the UFC and one of them was beaten by Gerald Meerschaert. So, I want to revenge that loss and I wanna show that Uzbek fighters are not weak,” Ruziboev said.

With Meerschaert coming off a submission victory against Bryan Barberena earlier this month, the turnaround time might be perfect for a clash between the two.

While he is at the nascent stage of his UFC journey, Ruziboev has amassed a ton of experience on the regional circuit in a career spanning over nearly a decade now. With 32 finishes in 34 wins, Ruziboev claims to be a household name in Central Asian MMA circles along with his own country.

“I fought a lot in MMA, I fought all over the continent,” Ruziboev said. “So you know all the fans from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, they all know me because they have seen my fights and they know my record. So that’s why a lot of those folks are now my fans and they follow me and it’s great to know that all of them know me and like what I do.”

Ruziboev’s sophomore UFC victory came with some controversy, as his opponent complained of an eye poke moments before the finish. Replay showed that while Ruziboev sent Dumas to the canvas with an uppercut, his fingers did brush his adversary’s eyes in the exchange. While Ruziboev admits that his fingers may have touched Dumas’ eyes, “Black” believes it wasn’t anything significant.

“As far as I can remember I got him with an uppercut first,” Ruziboev said. “Once I got him with an uppercut, he already went for his eye to show that his eye was hurting. And even as I was distancing myself away from it [him], maybe there was some sort of a slight thing but it wasn’t something that I noticed. Because I know I got him with the uppercut first and that’s exactly when he went for his eye.”

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

Julio Arce had a lot of pressure to deliver going into his UFC Atlantic City bout against Herbert Burns, and deliver he did.

https://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Julio-Arce-Discusses-Bizarre-Weight-Miss-Leading-Up-to-UFC-Atlantic-City-Victory-193159

Arce scored a second-round KO win over Burns in his first bout since November 2022. Arce’s return was delayed when he was forced out of a UFC 285 booking against Cody Garbrandt in January 2023 due to an ACL tear that required surgery.

With the undeniable jitters of coming back from an injury already in his mind, Arce also had a bizarre weight miss. Arce initially weighed in at 147 pounds, a pound over the non-title featherweight limit, and was given an hour to shed the extra weight. While Arce claims to have tried his best to sweat it out, he miraculously gained half a pound the second time he weighed in. However, Arce doesn’t want to make any excuses about the odd weight miss and vows to make weight in future.

“I got on the scale, it said 147, we had an hour,” Arce said during a post-fight media scrum. “Because I know like here I guess they cut it now, so it’s from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Checked on scales, 147, they gave me an hour, I came back and then when I came back they said I was heavier. I mean, we were sweating and we were doing… But regardless no excuse. I missed weight and it’s unprofessional of me. And I’m gonna correct that, adjust it. I’m not gonna really make any excuses for it. I come back, we do it better and then we take a run at 145.”

Since starting his UFC journey in 2018 with back-to-back wins, Arce’s career graph has consistently gone up and down. Added to the pressure of the weight miss was the fact that the Burns booking was the last fight on Arce’s UFC contract. And Arce was glad to have delivered an emphatic win, which he believes was imperative.

“You know it always messes with your head when you make that one mistake,” he said. “Especially when it comes to the weight cut because you’re like, ‘Damn.’ That gets to your mind, like, ‘I didn’t make weight.’ But to me I’m like, look this was the last fight on my contract and want to keep going. I want to take a run at this because I know I got what it takes and guess what, I’m like, ‘Go out there and show out. Leave it all in there, that’s it.’ And what a better way to do it than to get a finish, second round.”

Arce revealed that he drew inspiration from his father’s battle with Stage 4 cancer heading into UFC Atlantic City.

“I don’t really mention this to anybody, but I know people are going through a lot [of] tough times. You know my dad is fighting Stage 4 cancer and it’s not easy. Told my coaches that… using it as my fire and I know if he’s fighting that fight, I got to win this fight. Because that’s not easy. And to anybody out there who is going through a tough time, stand your ground, keep going, don’t give up, keep your head up and just fight on, fight on. That’s it.”

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

Bruno Silva wasn’t pleased with referee Gary Copeland’s approach during his controversial loss to Chris Weidman at UFC on ESPN 54.

Bruno Silva Criticizes Ref Gary Copeland for Eye Poke Controversy at UFC Atlantic City

Bruno Silva wasn’t pleased with referee Gary Copeland’s approach during his controversial loss to Chris Weidman at UFC on ESPN 54.

www.sherdog.com

"Before the fight, the referee comes to the dressing room and advises all fighters that open hands are not allowed and can be considered a foul,” Silva told Sherdog.com. “Weidman was unfair during the whole fight.”

“Blindado” pointed out that Copeland wasn’t as lenient earlier in the evening, when he took a point from Herbert Burns for an eye poke in the opening round of his bout against Julio Arce.

"He took one point from him after the second eye poke,” Silva said. “I got eye poked four times, and he did absolutely nothing.”

Silva said that his team didn’t initially understand why he fell to the ground during the final sequence against Weidman until they viewed the replay. While the bout was initially a stoppage win for Weidman, it was later changed to a technical decision victory for the ex-middleweight champion.

"Even my team could not understand, then I asked them to look up the replay and they immediately understood my attitude,” Silva said. “Weidman not only poked my eye, he moved his finger to the opposite side, tearing it. Then he used the other hand to poke my other eye. You can see in the replay that his punch hit my shoulder. So when I fell to the ground, it was to protect myself. The referee was able to see the same in the replay, but he made the wrong decision.”

When addressing the situation, Weidman blamed Silva for falling to the canvas after the foul occurred.

“It's easy to say that when it's not your eye that is seriously hurt,” Silva said. “Unfortunately, we don’t train to get our eyes poked. I just can say that was a pain I never felt before. I truly respect Weidman as a fighter and human being, but I got really disappointed by what he said in the press conference after our fight.”

After the controversy, Silva has asked his manager to appeal the New Jersey commission to overturn the fight to a no contest.

"That would be the most fair,” Silva said. “And, since our fight is not over, I hope Weidman accepts to fight me again. I wouldn't invite him to fight in Brazil because the commission wouldn't clear me to face him in May, but I know that soon UFC will return to New York, so let's make that rematch again in his house.”

However, Silva is also aware that he could be released from the UFC after his third consecutive loss.

"I have three more fights on my contract, but I'm totally aware of that possibility,” he said. “But I never rejected a fight. Whenever UFC called me, I said yes, no matter the oponent and the time I would need to get ready. The UFC knows I'm a truly hard worker who always puts my profession ahead of my own family. All my fights were wars. I just don’t think I deserve to finish my story with UFC in that unfair way.”

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

Fight Facts: UFC on ESPN 54 ‘Blanchfield vs. Fiorot’

UFC on ESPN 54 featured a (temporary) record for knockouts in one night, multiple bouts with results that may change upon review and the taste of sweet revenge on the prelims.

www.sherdog.com