3 Hits And 3 Misses From UFC Fight Night: Erin Blanchfield vs. Maycee Barber

It was again to the UFC APEX this previous Saturday evening, because the UFC held its Could 31 Struggle Evening occasion — UFC Vegas 107: Erin Blanchfield vs. Maycee Barber in its headquarters.

The evening ended up being historical past making in a manner nobody anticipated — the scheduled major occasion of the night didn’t make the stroll to the Octagon.

The deliberate major occasion between Blanchfield and Barber would have been a battle of top-five girls’s flyweight contenders. Blanchfield has received 10 of her final 11 and was to return into this battle off a November win over Rose Namajunas. Barber, in the meantime, is on a six-fight win streak and would have competed for the primary time since UFC 299 after battling a number of well being points throughout 2024.

Solely 9 bouts went forward on the evening — 5 on the primary card and 4 within the prelims. The ultimate occasion of the night, the initially scheduled co-main occasion, noticed Mateusz Gamrot compete in his first battle since his UFC 305 loss to Dan Hooker, as he took on L’udovit Klein.

The principle card additionally featured Dustin Jacoby taking over Bruno Lopes, a girls’s featherweight battle between Ketlen Vieira and Macy Chiasson, and Zachary Reese dealing with Duško Todorović.

Let’s now take within the good and the dangerous with this week’s version of Hits and Misses!

Miss – Boy, Did This Card Fall Aside

I can’t say for sure that this was the worst card within the historical past of the UFC like some on a sure social media platform are saying. However after the entertaining Apex evening that was the UFC Struggle Evening on Could 17, this one, held in the identical venue simply two weeks later, positively must be up there for the Worst Card of 2025.

Firstly, “card topic to alter” actually got here into play on this present. Andreas Gustafsson initially will get booked with Jeremiah Wells earlier than an harm to Wells sees him changed by Trevin Giles — just for Giles to be pulled on the day of weigh-ins after falling within the rest room. Ramiz Brahimaj and Billy Ray Goff confronted one another as a result of their authentic opponents, Oban Elliott and Ko Seok-hyun, respectively, had visa points. So, the UFC determined to play “le switcheroo.” Michael Aswell crammed in on simply days’ discover in opposition to Bolaji Oki after MarQuel Mederos fell ailing.

After which in fact got here what occurred in the primary occasion — when Maycee Barber’s sudden medical concern resulted in her battle with Erin Blanchfield being canceled proper earlier than Octagon walks. The Struggle Evening turned UFC Struggle Evening: Gamrot vs. Klein IN RETROSPECT. That’s madness.

And it’s solely in spite of everything which you could level to an absence variety of fights, an absence of star energy, and an absence of finishes.

Regardless of some entertaining evenings equivalent to UFCs 314 and 315, in addition to the Burns vs. Morales card of two weeks in the past, UFC Vegas 107 offered us a stark reminder that the game of MMA is in a recession interval — and that (even some WWE followers might let you know) the UFC below TKO’s rule simply could also be offering us the darkest fashionable timelime on this promotion.

Hit – Jordan Leavitt Reminds Us How Entertaining He Can Be

Just one end got here on the preliminary card, and luckily it was such a spotlight, as Jordan Leavitt pulled off a fast submission of Kurt Holobaugh.

Each males are nice grapplers, however Leavitt proved he was the higher fighter on this evening. He not solely was the one who initiated the bottom battle, however he dominated with prime strain however placing Holobaugh to sleep with a choke.

On prime of that, he had a strong worm celebration that he confirmed off following his victory.

Leavitt hasn’t been probably the most dominant since bursting onto the UFC scene from Dana White’s Contender Sequence, however he’s had some nice finishes. Along with this one in opposition to Holobaugh, he’s additionally earned bonuses from his slam KO of Matt Wiman and his end of Victor Martinez.

This was Leavitt’s first battle after lacking all of 2024, and he reminded battle followers simply how thrilling he may be to look at right here.

Miss – Ketlen Vieira’s Weight Points, Macy Chiasson’s Efficiency

Ketlen Vieira and Macy Chiasson was a battle I had my eye on solely based mostly on their names alone on this card that didn’t have the best of star energy. Sadly, their title values and their standing as top-five bantamweight contenders couldn’t save a battle that finally proved to sound quite a bit higher on paper.

It was a one-sided slaughtering on the aspect of Vieira. After touchdown some highly effective strikes early on, Vieira was dominant on the bottom for many of the battle, overwhelming Chiasson with prime strain and robust positioning, limiting most of Chiasson’s offense. It wasn’t till the closing levels of the final spherical that Chiasson tried to blitz and overwhelm Vieira on the ft — and even then it wasn’t sufficient.

On the Vieira aspect of the issues, it was a robust efficiency. Sadly, a part of the issue with this battle is that it happened at a weight class the UFC doesn’t do something with anymore (not like they did a lot with it within the first place both) — girls’s featherweight. The 2 had been scheduled to face off at 135, however the battle was moved to 145 on the day of weigh-ins due to “weight administration” points on the aspect of Vieira.

If this battle had taken place at its initially meant weight class, I believe there would have been much more speak about her being in line to face the winner of subsequent week’s Julianna Pena vs. Kayla Harrison title battle. There nonetheless may be, however the weight administration points will certainly deliver that into query. That is particularly after how Might also noticed weight administration points become involved in Jose Aldo’s retirement battle with Aiemann Zahabi.

In the meantime, for Chiasson, this was only a brutal outing. This was positively a step again after a 2024 that noticed her earn efficiency bonuses in finishes of Pannie Kianzad and former title challenger Mayra Bueno Silva. You simply must hope it was an off evening, she dusts off and will get again to the planning room and might get again to her latest highly effective self in her subsequent outing.

Hit – Dustin Jacoby Delivers Some Wanted Violence

When this card wanted a wake-up name, Dustin Jacoby was the one to ship it. He additionally had one of many solely finishes on the evening, pulling off a fast, highly effective victory over Bruno Lopes.

Jacoby rocked Lopes with a jab. Then he did extra injury with an elbow. Then a few hooks began a wild flurry in opposition to Lopes, who was up in opposition to the fence, earlier than Lopes crumbled to the mat for a straightforward first-round end.

After getting knocked out by Dominick Reyes final yr, which caused 4 losses in 5 fights, issues regarded grim for Jacoby. However back-to-back knockout victories now present simply how enjoyable it may be to look at the previous GLORY Kickboxing star.

Hopefully that is the beginning of him getting again to profitable ways in which he had when he got here into the UFC in 2020.

Hit – From Harm To Shining Efficiency For Ramiz Brahimaj

If Jordan Leavitt had the nice submission and Dustin Jacoby had the nice KO, then Ramiz Brahimaj had the upset of the night and the feel-good second of it.

Brahimaj pulled off a robust submission victory of his personal, taking out Billy Ray Goff. He received Goff down and to his again rapidly earlier than Goff stood up and received the battle in a clinch, touchdown a robust elbow within the course of. Brahimaj, nonetheless, confirmed off slick submission expertise by going from a guillotine choke try and a ninja choke that put Goff to sleep — ending issues earlier than the referee might.

Brahimaj was a serious underdog going into the battle, and that simply provides to the story of how a spinal harm might have ended his profession simply a few years in the past.

A really feel good second for Brahimaj, and it’s hopefully extra constructive momentum that he can experience.

Miss – Erin Blanchfield And Maycee Barber Don’t Make The Primary Occasion Stroll

The principle occasion promo package deal on ESPN+ had simply completed airing. The digital camera transitioned again to the UFC APEX. However no music performed. At first I’m sitting there considering “Nicely, typical UFC on ESPN and a manufacturing botch” — solely to then see that the commentary staff was confused by no fighters making the stroll out simply as I used to be.

And when the digital camera transitioned again over to the UFC commentary staff earlier than a throw to a sudden industrial break, I simply knew this battle wasn’t occurring. And certainly it didn’t.

Sadly, since COVID, we’ve seen situations of sudden cancelations of bouts throughout playing cards. Trevin Giles fainted moments earlier than his scheduled bout with Kevin Holland. Chas Skelly was already within the Octagon when his February 2021 battle with Jamall Emmers was scrapped as a consequence of Emmers struggling again spasms. We’ve seen a number of situations on this five-year timespan the place fighters are pulled on the day of the occasion as a consequence of sickness or some kind of medical concern.

But when we’re speaking completely major occasion fights, we haven’t seen a factor like this occur since UFC 24 in March 2000, when Kevin Randleman slipped backstage and acquired a concussion, canceling a scheduled heavyweight title bout with Pedro Rizzo — ruining the entire “First Protection” tagline of that card.

As of press time, now we have no official phrase as to what occurred aside from a last-minute medical concern. Blanchfield claimed in an interview on the published that Barber suffered a seizure however she wouldn’t entertain a re-scheduling with Barber as a consequence of Barber’s “unprofessionalism.”

If it’s true Barber suffered a seizure for no matter cause, Blanchfield’s name of somebody being “unprofessional” feels soiled. However concurrently, you need to really feel for her, being able to go in spite of everything her work and preparation — just for the battle to be known as off as she’s on the point of make the stroll. Thankfully, she did reportedly obtain her present and win cash.

Additionally, it’s such a disgrace that Barber goes by way of this after battling a litany of well being points stemming from Epstein-Barr that included a nine-day hospitalization, with Barber’s well being getting so dangerous to the purpose she felt she was going to die. And now, right here we’re. And figuring out how brutal the MMA fanbase, not to mention the entire business, may be, this historic circumstance — mixed along with her weight miss and Blanchfield’s doubts Barber would make it to the cage — might find yourself being a nasty PR time for her.

The sudden major occasion cancelation was simply the cherry on prime of the gross sundae that was the Could 31, 2025 UFC Struggle Evening occasion.

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