Five Under The Radar Storylines For UFC Fight Night: Volkov vs. Rozenstruik
After a rare week off, the UFC is back at the UFC Apex before heading to Singapore next week for UFC 275.
In the UFC Vegas 56 main event, No. 7 ranked heavyweight Alexander Volkov fights No. 8 ranked Jairzinho Rozenstruik. Both men are coming off losses and are looking to rebound in a big way. However, if you look past the main event, there are some under-the-radar storylines.
Erin Blanchfield is opening the prelims??!!??
Okay, I know card placement isn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things but come on. Putting Erin Blanchfield, who is one of the brightest prospects in all of MMA, as the curtain jerker is wild. So far, through her two UFC fights, the 23-year-old has looked very dominant. In her last outing, she dominated fellow young prospect Miranda Maverick at UFC 269 last December and made it look easy. Blanchfield faces Maverick’s teammate J.J. Aldrich and if she wins should get a massive fight in her next outing.
C’mon UFC! At least let her headline the prelims.
Jeff Molina
Another very bright prospect is buried in the prelims, unfortunately. Jeff Molina has been nothing, but fireworks through his two UFC fights as well. In his UFC debut, he grabbed ‘fight of the night’ when he went to war at UFC 261 with Aoriquleng. He dispatched Daniel Da Silva in the second round of his second fight. Molina is must-watch television and has only gone to the judge’s scorecards once in his ten wins which was another war against Jacob Silva on Dana White’s Contender Series. With a win over Zhalgas Zhumagulov this weekend, he should be set up with a top 15 opponent next time out.
Banger of the week
Niklas Stolze vs. Benoît Saint-Denis is the banger of the week for UFC Vegas 56. Both men need a win and are looking to put on a show doing it. They are both moving down to lightweight too. Stolze is 0-2 in the UFC and hasn’t fought since last July when Jared Gooden knocked him out in less than two minutes. Saint-Denis is coming off one of the worst beatdowns in recent memory at UFC 267 on Fight Island. With both men potentially fighting for their job, expect this one to be fireworks as both men are finishers.
Phony fight record
Yeeeeeah, so Askar Mozharov started this week with a 25-7 record, and as of this writing, his record has changed to 19-12. Tapology and Sherdog did some fantastic reporting and found out that many of his fights were not recorded and that he has fought under two names. The man actually had two Tapology profiles. During UFC Vegas 56 media day, he blamed everything on promotions in China not being proficient. Whatever the reason, it looks very sketchy. He faces Alonzo Menifield.
Welcome to the UFC
Five fighters are making their UFC debut this weekend, with three of them on the main card.
Askar Mozharov (19-12) – I literally just wrote about him about his shady record; however, he is riding a three-fight win streak with three first-round knockouts.
Rinat Fakhretdinov (18-1) – Rinat Fakhretdinov was featured on Looking For A White in 2021, and he came through with 55 second knockout of Eric Spicely, earning a UFC contract. He is riding a 17-fight win streak dating back to 2013. The Russian has only been to a decision a handful of times so expect big things from “Gladiator.” He faces Andreas Michailidis
Dan Argueta (8-0) – Coming off an LFA bantamweight title win, Dan Argueta got the call on short notice to step in and face Damon Jackson, replacing Darrick Minner. Argueta is fighting up a weight class and is undefeated.
Karine Silva (14-4) – Karine Silva is coming off a second-round submission win over Qihui Yan on the last season of Dana White’s Contender Series. She faces her fellow Brazilian Poliana Botelho and is currently on a five-fight win streak, with all of those being finishes.
Lucas Almeida (13-1) After losing on the last season of Dana White’s Contender Series, Almeida was told to go back to the regional scene, pick up a win, and he will get signed. Well, he did that. He went and finished a tough Ítalo Trindade via first-round submission. His lone loss came from DWCS. The Brazilian holds a 100% finish rate and will be facing Michael Trizano in the featured bout.
