Bang for Your Buck: UFC Fight Night 69

It’s been a very busy month for UFC, and so far the fights have delivered.  Fight Night 67 had a mix of exciting and boring fights, 68 was outstanding from start to finish, and last weekend’s UFC 188 Pay-Per-View, despite a very weak line-up for a PPV card, had a few fun fights in addition to the amazing main event.  Looks like all this momentum may come to a screeching halt with UFC Fight Night 69: Jedrzejczyk vs Penne.

This is the third Fight Pass exclusive event this year, and the first ever Fight Pass event to feature a title fight.  This historical event will take place in Berlin, Germany and the live broadcast will start at noon (Eastern Time) in US.  Despite featuring a title fight, this is undoubtedly the worst card that the UFC has put on this year so far, even by Fight Pass standards.   In fact it may very well be the weakest UFC card ever, or at least in the Zuffa era. So this write up is going to be quite short, as there are only 2 fights on this card that I’m even moderately interested in.  Beyond the main event and the co-main, there are very few recognizable names or meaningful fights.  Of course all the fights could turn out to be barn-burners, but based on the matchups alone, there’s nothing I would pay to watch besides the two top billed bouts.

Main Event:  (C) [#2 W115] Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs [#8 W115] Jessica Penne

Worth: $5

Why: If you have been following the ‘Bang for Your Buck’ series, you already know how I feel about WMMA, and more specifically UFC’s fledgling women’s strawweight division.  And so when Joanna Jedrzejczyk challenged the newly crowned champion Carla Esparza at UFC 185, I valuated the fight at a lowly $2.50.  Needless to say, I was very impressed with Joanna Champion’s performance.  What I am not so impressed with is the UFC’s choice for her first title challenger.  When the current champion is not ranked #1 in their division, and you just signed the top-ranked Jessica Aguilar to your roster, isn’t that the most logical matchup to make?  Even the rematch with Claudia Gadelha would have made more sense, or a matchup with the undefeated Maryna Moroz.  Instead, the UFC chose to pit Aguilar against Gadelha at UFC 190 in August, and seemingly randomly selected Jessica Penne to challenge Joanna.  Sometimes I just don’t get UFC’s matchmaking… this is one of those times.

Co-Main Event: [#26 FW] Dennis Siver vs [#38 FW] Tatsuya Kawajiri

Worth: $2.50

Why: This is a matchup between two aging gatekeeper-level fighters, both north of 35.  Tatsuya ‘Crusher’ Kawajiri was a mainstay of Japanese MMA scene for a very long time, but he was usually the one getting crushed every time he faced an elite opponent.  The same, more or less, could be said about Dennis Siver.  Both guys started out as lightweights and dropped to featherweight late in their career, but failed to make a mark in either division.  Neither one is a particularly exciting fighter, unless matched up with someone way below their skill level.  This is just a pointless fight all around, and I don’t have very high expectations for it, or the rest of this piss-poor card.

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Fight Pass Event Worth: $7.50
Fight Pass Year-to-Date Cost: $59.94
Fight Pass Year-to-Date Value: $-0.44

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