What We Knew/What We Learned (BF #4)

Sorry for the lateness. It's Toussaint Harper back again. Let's talk about what we knew before and learned from Boss Fight 4. Outside of it being a great showcase of new talent and debuts the night also finalized the number one contendership to finish up the first line of defenses for 2 more Union GP Champions. Action packed that's a fact!!

What We Knew

- Saffron Harris has been training in THRONE for a long time. Showed a bit of her hand in CGFC. Skilled and ready.

- Amedea Rao needs a win at 0-3 the climb only gets steeper.

- MMA Behind Closed Doors Reporter Giselle Celeste seems to only come to press conferences to start up trouble. I know of the woman, yeah, she does that.

What We Learned

- Harris has a mean backfist.

- Rao has shown improvement. Big improvement. Just a little late to the party on this one but I will give credit on improvement when I see it. Especially on the ground.

- Saffron has the diverse skills on the feet and on the ground to make a good run in Union GP. We like you Saffron, can we keep her Dante?

- I was right.

What We Knew

- Lauren Moore was JPK’s split decision opponent. People gotta take notice if you challenged the Champion well.

- Delaney is a relative unknown but Ireland is full of scrappers.

- One of the best examples of ‘styles makes fights’ on the card. Wrestler vs Striker.

What We Learned

- I guess I scratch that Wrestler vs Striker idea. The striker has a ground game too. Outside of the 3rd which ended the fight in strikes a complete show of skill on the ground by Donovan.

- These newer Lightweights are here to challenge.

- Lauren Moore’s will have to work on the standup more. When someone can come in and challenge you in your wheelhouse you must work on becoming more complete.

- I was wrong.

What We Knew

- Heavyweight Fight = Quick Death.

- Amani Crawford is a LOT bigger than I thought seeing him in person.

- Two debuts and someone has to show out.

What We Learned

- And the bigger has power!! Welcome, Amani Crawford.

- Amani likes to headbutt, uhh a lot!

- Quarry has pretty good footwork for a big guy. Sprawl game was always decent for what it’s worth. Just wasn’t enough.

- I was wrong here. Really REALLY wrong.

What We Knew

- Volkov hits hard.

- Mad Maxine doesn’t take hits well.

- The math is showing in this one folk.

What We Learned

- Exactly what we knew. Boom.

- Volkov is really a problem when he’s frustrated.

- The neck crank wasn’t the way to go. Max’s neck is like an ox’s but good on Volkov for trying.

- I was right.

What We Knew

- Zari Aliyah making words known as soon as she signed the Union GP line. She’s coming for JPK and the title.

- Kenzi Grey’s controversial loss has her very motivated and rightfully so.

- Big risk and big reward fight.

What We Learned

- Zari Aliyah has come to fight! I said I wouldn’t be surprised if it went her way. I was wrong on my pick but wasn’t surprised at the skills.

- A highly competitive fight and with a split decision, this was FOTN if not for the McLeod/Guilliman war that came later.

- These two have evasion skills out of a dang movie. Very entertaining.

What We Knew

- Hanako Takeuchi is known for talking (which I love btw) but kept her press conference pretty short this time around. Seeing that look in her eyes, we knew it meant trouble.

- Ellis Belrose can throw hands. Something that was highlighted beforehand. Still, I believe we all knew this was a mean challenge to start with.

- We know Takeuchi’s standup game...yeah.

What We Learned

- We learned Takeuchi’s standup game…yeah.

- We learned that Takeuchi is getting a little more comfortable on the ground. Even threw a couple RNC’s. Good on her. Working on the whole game.

- We learned Takeuchi’s standup game...once again, yeah.

What We Knew

- Title shot implications.

- Both undefeated and dominant performances in route to doing makes this a big-time fight.

- We all knew fight of the night was a big chance in this bout.

What We Learned

- Punches in bunches is life.

- Guilliman can take a lot and I do mean a lot of punishment.

- McLeod vs Bonanno WILL be a war of EPIC proportions.

- Right about the pick but was completely wrong about the closeness.

What We Knew

- Same as the Headline fight. Title implications. Big time rewards.

- Interesting enough the two semi-finalists come together to decide #1 contender.

- It would be the aggression vs counter style and a lot of people bet on the aggression.

What We Learned

- Aggression wins the night!

- Roscoe Robinson is learning quickly how to utilize his striking ability keeping opponents off balance.

- Robinson vs Fisk. I’m not ready for these battles. UGP 6 is not ready for these battles. The world is not ready for these two upcoming bouts.

---

HARPIES GET YOUR HARPIES HERE!!

HOLY S**T MOMENT OF THE NIGHT: Zari Aliyah and Kenzi Grey. Avoiding strikes like high school seniors avoid last few days of school. I enjoyed the Matrix.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: No doubt McLeod vs Guilliman. An all time classic.

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: No submissions this night :(

PERFORMANCE OF THE NIGHT: Edan McLeod. I honestly expected it to be sooo much closer a fight.

CLEANEST COUNTER: Hanako Takeuchi. Wild swings between her and Ellis Belrose turn into a hell of a wild ending.

THROWDOWN TAKEDOWN: Delaney Donovan’s perfectly executed knee tap to Lauren Moore. Isn't so much about the strength in this one. It was the smooth way he pulled it off. Also being called as a predominant striker had to give the credit here.

Good night of fights with debuts and love to the future. @HarperTUGP if you have any comments, questions, or concerns. The Picks (w/o the rankings Hits) will be coming up before UGP 6 begins. Keep your eyes on the fastest growing MMA organization in the world, THE Union Grand Prix.