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UFC Vegas 107: Controversy Report
It seemed like a standard Apex card. Nothing absurd. A few unexpected finishes, a close decision here and there. Some dull showcases, but business as usual.
Following Mateusz Gamrot’s dominating performance over Ludovit Klein, Gamrot took the microphone and asked for a Main Event. Little did he know, his wish would be granted, though not in a way he would expect. Maycee Barber would not make the walk for her bout against Erin Blanchfield, and everyone was left in awe to an anti-climatic end to what already wasn’t the most electrifying Fight Night.
Before we dive deep into the controversy surrounding the main event, let’s go over one semi-controversial bout that may have slept under the radar due to the main-event’s fallout.
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Zachary Reese defeats Dusko Todorovic
- Unanimous Decision (29-28 x3)
Zachary Reese came into this fight looking for a win after a disappointing outing last time around. His opponent, Dusko Todorovic was in a similar position. With a new camp, the Serbian looked confident to break his losing streak. Most bettors expected a quick and rapid scrap, and while that was seemingly a possibility, we didn’t quite get it.
The first round saw Zachary Reese land fewer shots than Todorovic, though he had him hurt and shot for a takedown, which saw him have his head in a guillotine or front head-choke for a bulk of the round, being controlled for nearly 3 minutes of this round. Truthfully, this was the story for the larger extent of the round. The continuous threat of the guillotine, 3 takedowns landed for Todorovic and Zachary Reese, seemingly stuck. No question or controversy here, as it was declared an easy round for Todorovic.
Round 2 was Unanimously Scored for Zachary Reese. He landed 17 strikes to Dusko’s 8, defended three takedowns and was seemingly doing more damage. Again, I don’t believe many had any problem with this scoring, as it was a clear round for Reese and quite easy to score.
The true problematic round came in Round 3. Through the eyes of a spectator, Reese landed more strikes. It was 27 strikes for Reese and 17 strikes for Todorovic. The damage was on Reeses’ end, though not by much. Todorovic had all 5 takedown attempts defended here and while he attempted to push the pace, the damage wasn’t quite there. Again, in this case, it was a close round. I could understand the side giving it to the Servian, though I’d have it for Reese. All together, it was a bit of a sloppy display, where neither man truly anticipated a decision win.
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Maycee Barber doesn’t make the walkout, cancelling the main-event with Erin Blanchfield
Visibly, not an easy week for Maycee Barber. It was an extensive time away from the sport, riddled with injuries, pain and what the commentary squad described as a miserable journey back to the octagon. Moreover, her weight miss didn’t help. While all this happened, fans were quick to criticize her apparent aesthetic surgeries, questioning if her mind truly was in the right spot.
On the other hand, Erin Blanchfield herself was worried Barber would make the walk. In interviews, she’s pointed out that in the past, we have seen Barber struggle with the commitments of a fight. In this case however, multiple seizures held her back. Of course, the fight gets cancelled, mere moments before it was time to walk-out.
Immediately, everyone’s up in arms, but let’s look at the bright spot. This was an Apex card, with not a lot of paying fans. The Nevada State Athletic Commission states that “if such a change or substitution occurs and any patron desires to have the price of the patron’s ticket refunded, the promoter must “refund the patron’s money if the patron requests a refund from the promoter within such a period after the promoter publicly announced the change or substitution as the Executive Director deems reasonable”
Fortunately for the UFC, this occurred in the UFC Apex, where they aren’t necessarily banking on selling out tickets to make a return and it is more solely focused on the viewer at home. We now remain in doubt if there will be refunds, or how exactly that process will be carried out by the organization.
This wasn’t the first time we’ve seen the main-event fall out during the event. Only in November 2022, we’ve seen Derrick Lewis announce hours before the fight that he was unable to fight because of an illness. The card was already underway and similarly, we were left with a three round co-main event between Ion Cutelaba and Kennedy Nzechukwu. Months later, we saw this happen again between Nikita Krylov and Ryan Spann. Krylov arrived at the Apex already ill, though UFC Physicians weren’t able to help him with the illness. Due to this, the fight cancellation was announced at the start of the main-card. This time we were left with Brendan Allen and Andre Muniz displaying a three-round main event.
Looking at what happened this past Saturday, it is understandable to speculate how this occurred only MOMENTS before a walk-out. Perhaps the levels of adrenaline, paired with a tough weight cut and pending injuries was an entire fiasco from the start. Fortunately, Blanchfield got paid for her show and win bonus for this endeavor.
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