
Originally Posted by
Fanny Batter
Hooker's a badass. Iron chinned, 8 limb striker with good submissions. Incapable of having a bad fight. Poirier has more power, better technique but probably a lesser chin, and the momentum's with Hooker at the minute. I expect Dustin to win but the form book makes it interesting. Always difficult to come back at your best after a crushing defeat.
Brazil card this weekend is a good one. Oliveira vs. Lee on top is an excellent fight between two finishes, Oliveira of course being one of the greatest finishers in the sport's history. Both have a load of subs on the record and have put work in the stand up game, coming off knockout wins. Lee's on Gillespie was a monster. The read on Oliveira throughout his career is that he crumbles under pressure, but not so much lately. Read on Lee is that his output wains late and he succumbs to submission. So that would suggest Lee early or Charles late, but Charles has 6 finishes in his last 6 fights, all inside 2 rounds! Gonna be a banger. Leaning Lee by knockout, he's excellent early and feel he'll get it done against somebody with durability questions. Ferguson, RDA and Iaquinta are all ridiculously durable, a huge reason why they beat Lee.
Maia vs. Burns co-main. Maia is is suddenly in the thick of things again. We know what he does. The parallel here is the Gunnar Nelson fight as Burns comes in with great BJJ to theoretically cancel out Maia's strength, and has the better striking. Breaks down to the Burns TDD. Probably good enough, but Demian is so crafty, anybody that gets top position against a wrestler like Ben Askren is an elite grapple. Leaning Burns on points, but would love a Maia win. Lovely bloke.
Elsewhere, ranked 145er Moicano gets what looks like a gimme in his 155 debut, Johnny Walker vs. Nikita Krylov in a shoe in one round slugfest, and Brandon Moreno vs. Jussier Formiga in a possible #1 contender's fight at flyweight.