UFC - Ultimate Fighting Championship

[Nash Diesel]

Oliveira is on an 8-fight winning streak so it is hard to deny the man a title shot. While it's not exactly against the elite of the top 10, he was putting in work on a lot of tough dudes. Tony was definitely a big win and it showed he definitely belongs despite being under the radar pretty much his entire career.

Dustin's saying he is definitely not fighting Chandler next so it makes me think there are only 2 other people: McGregor 3 which doesn't really make any sense at this moment but we've seen worse. Or you do Poirier v. Oliveira for the title. This guy isn't Jon Fitch, he's not boring and we all know more often than not it's the UFC marketing machine that isn't helping these guys out. They can only do so much. I'm pretty sure if this guy wins Brazil will be pretty fucking happy.

[Fanny Batter]

Joint most finishes in company history, 8 fight win streak, beat Tony Ferguson. If they can't sell a title fight between him and Dustin Poirier they have no business promoting fights. Sure it's not going to do Conor numbers, but it should be a blockbuster.

[Nash Diesel]

Joint most finishes in company history, 8 fight win streak, beat Tony Ferguson. If they can't sell a title fight between him and Dustin Poirier they have no business promoting fights. Sure it's not going to do Conor numbers, but it should be a blockbuster.

Exactly. Not every single card is going to be a monster, never has been that way. I could see 400k buys at least on this one especially if they do it within the next 3 months. They can't sit on DP's victory too long people will start begging for more Jake Paul.

[Fanny Batter]

Dustin should get the rub from beating Conor so emphatically.
Doesn't always work like that of course, but there's enough history to show the jump in popularity for guys like GSP, Khabib, Rashad etc. when they beat a big name emphatically. Khabib vs. Al Iaquina drew less than Cyborg vs. Holm yet the Conor fight drew big and he became a superstar. Obviously there's different intangibles in play (unbeaten, world champion, the buzz from the aftermath), but the majority of that boost was getting eyeballs on a fight thanks to Conor's popularity, then destroying him. This should put Dustin in the Masvidal, Diaz range of draws, or maybe just below. Paid in full indeed.

Looking at the schedule, the PPV's from April on should be Masvidal vs. Covington in April, Poirier vs. Do Bronx in May, Conor vs. Diaz 3 in June, Jones vs. HW champ in July, Adesanya defending in August with Max challenging for the FW title in the co-main, Usman/Burns vs. Masvidal/Covington in September, Garbrandt challenging at 125 (if he wins a warm up) in October, Masvidal (if he loses to Colby) vs. the Diaz/Conor loser in November, and the winner challenging for the lightweight title in December. They'd do monster numbers all year. Shame Dana's a lunatic who will freeze most of them out because they want a fairer share of revenue

[Nash Diesel]

I'm definitely curious if this win will help Dustin as a draw (not saying he isn't). Khabib beat Conor and his next fight was almost a million buys. Nate is a little harder to gauge, he's literally only fought 2 people in 5 years. McGregor, mega draw, and Masvidal, who showed he's a big draw too. The Diaz Bros always have the hardcore MMA community interested which is why we sometimes get suckered in with the whole "Nick Diaz prepping for a return after 20 years of smoking weed!" We still think it'll happen lol.

I'm still thinking Masvidal v. McGregor would be a good fight at 170. Masvidal used to fight at 155 as well and I think that whole size issue was just Dana's excuse to do other fights for Masvidal.

[Fanny Batter]

Yeah, I think McGregor against the grapplers at 170 are bad fights for him based on size being a factor, but Masvidal isn't one of those. I think it would be a good fight. The shit talk would be fun, I imagine it's be campy and fun like Diaz vs. Masvidal rather than the nastier Conor stuff. And the style matchup clashes well. I think they keep it on the backburner while both are a fight away from a title shot in their respective divisions - if they both lose their next fights it's a perfect crossroads scrap.

[Percussion]

He'd probably refer to Masvidal as Kimbo Slice's opening act..

[Nash Diesel]

I will say this. I'm a big fan of Street Jesus but there was a long period of cringe with him practically begging for this fight. I get why everyone does it, but I'm so tired of the callouts toward McGregor that make zero sense beyond a huge payday.

I know that sounds odd, all fighters should want that big payday but man I'm like, some of this is corny. Eh, what do I know I just post on Rajah. But I do like the fight in the sense that they both scrap hard and don't give a fuck.

[Fanny Batter]

Next Fight Night card next weekend has plenty to like about it. Lot's of relevant fights, good stylistic matchups too. Overeem vs. Volkov, Sandhagen vs. Edgar, Kape vs. Pantoja and Dariush vs. Ferreira all great fights that will put the winner in a strong position in their respective divisions. For Overeem and Edgar too, as resilient and as great as they both are, it's pretty well acknowledged that their next loss will be the one that puts an end to any hope of a future title shot. So high stakes against very good opponents. Obviously for Sandhagen and Volkov it's a chance to get a marquee name on the resume while building their own names for a title shot. Kape/Pantoja winner will be top 5 in a shallow division so can expect a big fight next time out, and the Dariush/Ferreira winner, particularly with a finish, vaults straight into the mix at lightweight with a 6 or 7 fight win streak. Probably means Felder or Hooker rather than the big names, but could see RDA taking the fight.

[Fanny Batter]

Bit of a bittersweet night of fights. Sucked to see Frankie go out like that, reminded me of the Roy Nelson knockout of Big Nog - you'd seen them get TKO'ed and suffer flash knockouts, but never completely ironed out. Great performance by Sandhagen. I think that shot knocks anybody out, prime or otherwise. Lethal. He looks on another level, and he's a fun watch - diverse attacks, cardio, pressure - the real deal. Need to see more of his grappling but Aljo likely is his only test in that division in that regard. Might be one of those triangles between those 2 and Yan - I think Yan might have the TDD to beat Aljo but won't have the stand up advantage against Sandhagen, whereas Sandhagen's TDD doesn't stack up against Aljo.

Volkov looked excellent. Overeem has been good lately but he put it on him and dominated on the feet. Didn't one shot him, just chipped away until he couldn't stand the onslaught. He's a hail mary away from 8-1 in the UFC. Him vs. Gane, Ngannou, Rozenstruick and Miocic are great fights, Blaydes is all wrong for him (and everybody else beyond the puncher's chance to be fair), but he's a threat to the title given that puncher's chance does exist against Blaydes at heavyweight.

Dariush looked great. One of my favourites, never in boring fights, generally kill or be killed, power, ground game, vulnerability. Well up for him getting a name in a five rounder, RDA is definitely my preference.

Clay Guida getting a win was good to see. It's insane the schedule he's kept. Possibly has the most random resume in history, loses almost as much as he wins yet has wins over multiple world champions.

[Nash Diesel]

Frankie getting smoked was definitely bittersweet.

How much longer can Guida go? I mean, he's not beating the top 10 but he's in the deepest division in all of MMA, the UFC Lightweight division. Looking at his resume, it's definitely a who's who and a sad reminder of how long I've been watching this sport lol. I remember Clay Guida fighting locally here in Des Moines. Michael Johnson actually lost to one of my close friends, Joe Brammer. That was like 12 years ago lol. And he's only 34!!

That's gotta be a wrap for Michael Johnson in the UFC. 4 losses in a row and while I respect his wins over Barboza and Poirier, you can't ride those wins forever. BJ Penn, Frank Mir, Arlovski, those guys can get away with it lol. Not MJ. Even Tito was like 1-7 before he retired.

[Mik]

Bit of a bittersweet night of fights. Sucked to see Frankie go out like that, reminded me of the Roy Nelson knockout of Big Nog - you'd seen them get TKO'ed and suffer flash knockouts, but never completely ironed out. Great performance by Sandhagen. I think that shot knocks anybody out, prime or otherwise. Lethal. He looks on another level, and he's a fun watch - diverse attacks, cardio, pressure - the real deal. Need to see more of his grappling but Aljo likely is his only test in that division in that regard. Might be one of those triangles between those 2 and Yan - I think Yan might have the TDD to beat Aljo but won't have the stand up advantage against Sandhagen, whereas Sandhagen's TDD doesn't stack up against Aljo.

Volkov looked excellent. Overeem has been good lately but he put it on him and dominated on the feet. Didn't one shot him, just chipped away until he couldn't stand the onslaught. He's a hail mary away from 8-1 in the UFC. Him vs. Gane, Ngannou, Rozenstruick and Miocic are great fights, Blaydes is all wrong for him (and everybody else beyond the puncher's chance to be fair), but he's a threat to the title given that puncher's chance does exist against Blaydes at heavyweight.

Dariush looked great. One of my favourites, never in boring fights, generally kill or be killed, power, ground game, vulnerability. Well up for him getting a name in a five rounder, RDA is definitely my preference.

Clay Guida getting a win was good to see. It's insane the schedule he's kept. Possibly has the most random resume in history, loses almost as much as he wins yet has wins over multiple world champions.

I think that filled out version of Volkov might well be trouble for anyone. Overeem is one of the stronger heavyweights and he didn’t look like he could shift him at all. Adding power to his size and striking fundamentals makes him a very intriguing prospect if you also can’t shift him. He’s a big boy.

[Bert]

Overeem looked like he didn't want to be there before the fight even started.

[Nash Diesel]

I mean, the guy has been fighting for 23 years if not longer. HW is really the only division where you can get away with that kind of longevity at the level Overeem has been at. Even without the super juice the guy is still smashing people but last night imo was a passing of the torch. Time for Reem to call it a day before he turns into Juice World.

[Bert]

I watched the Countdown show and besides Usmans' barber's haircut the funniest thing was the editing to try to make Masvidal vs Usman look exciting. As if we didn't see him hold Jorge against the cage for 5 rounds. I would bet he plans to do the same thing against Burns.

[Mik]

It might not be quite so easy to do the same thing against burns.

[Fanny Batter]

I think he beats Burns, and pretty handedly at that. Which isn't a slight on Burns, I just rate Usman very highly. I've got Burns a step behind in the striking and wrestling, and I very rarely find BJJ a factor in this kind of fight where I don't foresee Usman giving up a takedown. I don't think it'll be pretty but it'll be fairly decisive.

Rest of the card doesn't inspire a whole lot, though there's guys like Jim Miller and Kelvin Gastelum scattered about.

[Bert]

Would I be crazy to do a parlay on Usman, Grasso, and Heinisch?

Looks like $10 would get me $66.

I'm still just kicking myself for not having faith in Poirer.

[Fanny Batter]

Wouldn't put anybody off that bet, I'd favour all 3. Gastelum losing to such a low percentage technique last time out after losing a nondescript decision to Till doesn't show that he's on a good trajectory. Barber looks to be somebody that can blow out non athletes but Grasso should be able to circle and piece her up.

[Fanny Batter]

Dana's wanting to put Colby in against Leon Edwards next, with it being the rightful #1 contender fight. I don't hate it. It's the least interesting of the triangle of fights they could make between them two and Masvidal, but it's probably the highest quality in terms of the matchup. Colby vs. Usman 2 would be the fight considering the quality of the first bout. Masvidal against a Diaz brother I guess to cash the cheques. Khamzat against Chiesa when he gets back, and Wonderboy against the loser this weekend sounds about right.

Will catch the card tonight tomorrow morning. I like main event more as a display of skills more than the expectation of a quality fight, and there's little elsewhere to get up for. I don't think it would be inaccurate to say the next PPV has a good 8 or 9 fights better than the second best one here.

[Bert]

At least I'll win some money.

[Bert]

Ended up betting $5. Looks like I'm losing $5.

[Bert]

Great performance by Usman. I'd love to see him vs Masvidal again.

[Ringo]

He's absolutely ridiculous. Strong effort from Burns and an emotional post-fight.

Also very much enjoyed Hernandez submitting Vieira, Rogan and DC were losing it.

[Fanny Batter]

Usman is a monster. His adjustments and fight IQ to go with the skillset, very impressive. Burns started well but Usman bought time, went to work behind the jab and got it done. This is a different era to GSP too, who was perfect at exploiting weakness - these guys at the top at 170 now don't really have any, so he really has to excel at everything. Knocking on the door of some very impressive records, the hope is that the division can keep up as the Covington and Burns fights provided great action with tremendous well rounded fighters bringing him something. More of that to come hopefully.

That Hernandez submission was crazy. Reminded me of back in the day when Roan Carneiro got submitted despite astronomical paper advantages. That's the fight game. You might not be a black belt fighting with a broken nose and a busted lip.

[Mik]

He's absolutely ridiculous. Strong effort from Burns and an emotional post-fight.

Also very much enjoyed Hernandez submitting Vieira, Rogan and DC were losing it.

Thar was a hell of a performance.

Usman is a monster. His adjustments and fight IQ to go with the skillset, very impressive. Burns started well but Usman bought time, went to work behind the jab and got it done. This is a different era to GSP too, who was perfect at exploiting weakness - these guys at the top at 170 now don't really have any, so he really has to excel at everything. Knocking on the door of some very impressive records, the hope is that the division can keep up as the Covington and Burns fights provided great action with tremendous well rounded fighters bringing him something. More of that to come hopefully.

That Hernandez submission was crazy. Reminded me of back in the day when Roan Carneiro got submitted despite astronomical paper advantages. That's the fight game. You might not be a black belt fighting with a broken nose and a busted lip.

Yup, I’d quite like to see Usman go up, I’m not really interested in seeing him fight anyone he already fought because I think he has improved more than they have. Which means that the only fight I’m particularly interested in seeing is him Vs Wonderboy just because of the different challenges that fight poses.

[Mik]

Also, with her age, toughness and obvious genetic advantages and exposure to great training I have no doubt that Macee Barber will end up being a great fighter. She needs to stop kidding herself that she anything close to that now. Shadow boxing and manic head movement from 6 feet away, ridiculous.

[Fanny Batter]

I'd prefer to see him stay at the weight, honestly. I think you have to allow the cream of the crop a chance to adjust based on how they've felt his strengths. Leon and Colby in particular, but if Burns can put a run together him too. I don't think it's as if they've had nothing for him, and if their performances after fighting him are solid and they climb the ranks then they deserve round 2. Masvidal is a bit different as I think the skill gap is likely to increase between them, but Usman is only going to get less durable as time goes on and he's more dangerous from a one shot perspective than those guys. Agree about Wonderboy, and I like the timeline too (injured his hand against Neal so is out til Summer), whereas the other contenders are ready to go against each other now. Make Leon vs. Colby for Spring, Usman vs. Wonderboy early Summer then the winners fight in the fall. Masvidal can do a Diaz fight seeing as how he's stalling on fighting top 5 guys.

[Nash Diesel]

Usman v. Wonderboy would be a good fight. I definitely want to see Usman v. Masvidal 2. Probably the only rematch Usman would have on the horizon that sounds appealing.

[Fanny Batter]

I'd say reading into it, the likelihood would be Usman vs. Masvidal 2 (probably with TUF build up), Covington vs. Edwards as a true #1 contenders fight, Wonderboy vs. Chiesa with the winner fighting one of the losers of the prior 4 to possibly get a shot, while they build Chimaev a bit slower than intended when he recovers from COVID. So it's not like he hasn't got a slate of fights waiting for him. Good unbeaten prospects at the weight too in Baeza, Brady and Rakhmanov, and action fighters like Neal, Jingliang and Luque that are young enough to make runs. It's not close to cleaned out, but admittedly it needs some of the potential challengers to get past the gatekeepers sometime soon.

[Nash Diesel]

170 will always have challengers. Very similar to 155. Those divisions are not short on top tier talent.

[Bert]

Holy shit.

[Fanny Batter]

Outrageous level of incompetence, though I do somewhat admire him still getting to the scale despite the obvious result. He could have called off sick, I'm sure there have been others who are missing it to that degree just haven't bothered to weigh in.

[Mik]

He said he normally walks around at 195. Fights at 145. Someone is going to die from one of these weight cuts. Ridiculous.

[Bert]

Not even going to bother watching this card when I already know it's Blaydes by 5 rounds of wet blanket.

[Bert]

Damn. This card is falling apart.

[Bert]

So happy for Derrick Lewis, fuck yeah.

[Ringo]

Yeah, what a devastating finish. And then he just strolls off to the sound of Lil Troy.

[Fanny Batter]

He's somebody that kind of needs to be seen as an all timer now, as ridiculous as that sounds given how rudimentary he seems. He's knocked out Curtis Blaydes and Alexander Volkov and got a decision victory over Francis Ngannou, as well as wins over half of the top 15. He fights good fighters consistently and usually beats them in a devastating manner. If I'm him I'm staying in shape in case Stipe or Francis drop out, both would rightly be favoured but we need to stop righting Beast off.

[Mik]

Blades would’ve fought for a championship a couple of times if his chin wasn’t so easy to find for big hitters.

[Fanny Batter]

The division is quite easy to map out now, so hopefully the activity can be increased now. Only 1 title fight in 2019 and 2020, and we're going to get past 4 years of only 4 fighters (Miocic, Cormier, Beast, Ngannou) competing for the belt by the time Jones challenges the winner.

Winner of Ngannou/Stipe vs. Jones
Loser vs. Lewis
Winners of those for the next title fight
Volkov vs. Gane/Bigi Boy winner
Loser vs. Blaydes
Aspinall vs. Daukius
JDS vs. Overeem 2
Arlovski vs. Oleinik

The fight next weekend is a big one. Gane is the best prospect in the division in years, if he can pass his first actual test then a potential fight with Volkov would be great. I wouldn't be opposed to matching Lewis and Rozenstruick if he wins though as that's got fireworks written all over it.

[Matthew]

i thought lewis looked like shit for that whole match until the monster ko

[Mik]

That’s Lewis

[Nash Diesel]

Blades would’ve fought for a championship a couple of times if his chin wasn’t so easy to find for big hitters.

Well, to be fair, he has 3 losses. 2 against arguably the deadliest HW power puncher in the history of the sport and obviously the recent loss to Lewis. He had no problem fucking up Mark Hunt, Overeem and Dos Santos who are 3 of the most vicious KO artists of the last 20 years.

What sucks for Blaydes is that had he won then what? Unless Jon Jones says naw no title shot, he'd be waiting at least a year+ before he got a shot. He'd be the rightful #1 contender but now that doesn't even matter. He's going to be like Bisping, always on the cusp and then just accidentally get a shot lol.

[Fanny Batter]

Dull card last night besides the Munhoz/Riviera rematch. Gane and Ankalaev got big wins to move up the rankings but wouldn't have won any fans with their performances. They can't all be classics I guess.

Next week's card is so, so good. Deepest since the Usman/Masvidal card at least. Hopefully stays in tact for the most part, or only a couple of the early prelims drop off. Apparently Glover is on standby for the main event and will be weighing in, and Cruz is on the card if Sterling or Yan falls off so there's options when the near inevitable happens.

[Nash Diesel]

I definitely have no desire to see Adesanya as LHW champion. Many have made great points. Dude didn't want to step up to fight Jones when Jones was champ, claiming he still had to clear out the MW division. Now it feels like when GSP was all too quick to take that Bisping fight. Now that there wasn't a surefire killer in there. Problem I truly have is Jan never got to prove himself as champion. Beating Izzy means what? You beat a guy who usually fights at a weight class 20lbs. beneath you. Wow.

Nunes is probably going to merk Megan but I wouldn't be shocked if Megan lasts 5 rounds. You just never know and there have been some fights Nunes went 4-5 rounds with someone I didn't think would last 4-5 minutes. Nunes wins she might as well retire. It's going to be like when Cyborg was champion and everyone is going to cry about the people she fights.

Yan-Sterling. I'm not really high on either guy but Sterling might be the one to take this fight. He's been knocking at the door for about 2 years now, I think he's ready but Yan is tough too. Idiot, but tough.

[Percussion]

Why do you say he's an idiot? Maybe something I'm blanking out on..

[Fanny Batter]

I think rankings kind of remove the opportunity to give non-top 5 guys title shots nowadays. Back in the day Kevin Holland would've been fighting Adesanya given his win streak, but now guys have to beat better competition to get a high ranking and thus contend for the belt, and thus just get beaten back by the top guys who have already lost to the champion. That therefore accelerates the apparent need for jumping divisions.

Look at Patrick Cote for example - I wouldn't have given him more than a puncher's chance against Hendo, Ace Franklin, Nate The Great, Leites, Maia and Okami, and he probably loses to Bisping, Kampmann and Sonnen too pre-primes. But he didn't have to fight any of them, put together an entertaining win streak and thus got to fight for the title. And while it was never a contest, it was still great to see Anderson fight and defend his title. Sometimes champions fight lesser opponents, it happens. But I guess I'm not in charge of managing the profit margin. In that particular case, if ZUFFA was as shortsighted as Endeavour are, Anderson fights Forrest Griffin and smacks him about to win the 205lb title, while Rashad and Machida either get frozen out for a bit or fight in a less meaningful 3 rounder instead. But we got Rashad becoming a star by beating Forrest and Machida too by swallowing Rashad's momentum. And more importantly, the guys that deserved title shots got them. Poor Glover.

[Bert]

Glover is supposed to weigh in and be ready in case someone falls through.

[Nash Diesel]

Why do you say he's an idiot? Maybe something I'm blanking out on..

Some of the weird trash talk that he started doing after beating Urijah. Him and Cejudo had a few moments where I thought they were going to fuck each other.

[Fanny Batter]

Cejudo brings out the weird in people, the Benavidez "high school" comment is an all time classic.

[Nash Diesel]

Cejudo brings out the weird in people, the Benavidez "high school" comment is an all time classic.

Ever since the Nikki Bella shout out, Cejudo went straight god-level with the cringe. He was already a weird dude on TUF, like you could tell the guy was a creep but I just chalked it up to how the show was edited lol.

The fact he's soooo heavy with it these days is what takes me out of wanting to see him at all. I'll be honest, not a huge follower of flyweight and bantamweight but this guy just pissed me off so much so I'm glad he's gone. I know it shouldn't bother me but when it's so overbearing and it's so bad, you can't really appreciate his skills and accomplishments when he's such a bitch about it.

[Bert]

Overeem and JDS were cut. Coming soon to a Bellator near you.

[Droid]

JDS should be lucky he lasted anywhere near as long as he has and should retire. Actually they both should just retire.

[Fanny Batter]

I'd have run JDS vs. Arlovski on the way out, but other than that no real desire to see them both get knocked out again.

[Nash Diesel]

Dos Santos I get. Overeem I would put money on it that it's really simple.

Here's a guy who's been in the game over 20 years. He's only 40. He's still winning fights. That's the issue. He's not on some 4-5 fight losing streak getting knocked out left and right. Prior to Volkov he finished a prospect, 29 year old Sakai. Beat Walt Harris prior to that. Roz got super lucky in his win over Overeem and prior to that Overeem beat Oleynik and a young Russian prospect.

So the UFC doesn't mind that he's beating older guys it's the younger talent that he's handling that bothers them. He has a great record at HW in the UFC and they know if they put him with Derrick Lewis there's a great chance Lewis is not winning that fight and there goes ANOTHER possible contender.

And I know that Lewis isn't a younger talent but he's also someone that is probably a draw and would be a fresh title challenger. He's currently the #2 HW in the UFC, if Overeem beat him that would definitely be a problem.

[Mik]

I’m fine with Reem and JDS getting cut. They are expensive and realistically are not likely to get better at this age. I just wish that the ufc had some sense of sentimentality and cared about the relationship between its fans and its fighters. What’s wrong with giving them an opportunity to say goodbye and thank you to the fans in the octagon? Give them a farewell fight with a build up to it, let them go out on their own terms. Just don’t cut them quietly in the night and then say nothing about it for days.

[Fanny Batter]

Agreed. A testimonial of sorts. It is very difficult though from a sporting perspective, as if you give them a farewell fight and they look spectacular, you've shone the light on somebody that you can't really advance , while facing the backlash of cutting a popular fighter coming off a high profile victory. If they lose, it's just a bit of a bummer all round. It's what Hall of Fames are for in the States essentially, whereas over here that's not really a thing so the send off is a bit more profound at the end of a footballers career, with the guard of honour and so on. I prefer our way, but it is what it is.

This card tonight is fucking great. I saw somebody online say that Cruz vs. Kenney down is a more than serviceable ESPN+ card in its own right, and that's pretty accurate. Loads of high stakes, but more importantly some of the matchups look to be really exciting on paper.

Jan vs. Israel - it's been discussed ad nausea the lack of need for yet another "champ champ" scenario, but as a stand alone fight it's full of intrigue. Adesanya hasn't cleaned out his division per se, but nobody has managed to get past Robert Whittaker to earn a title shot pretty much. And Jan certainly hasn't cleaned out his, but is pretty much a no name so they're reluctant to lead a PPV with a fight like Jan vs. Glover anymore. 2 of the sport's good guys, the 2 best in the world at the weight class - who wants to see that, right?! So here we are. Israel is an electric talent and what he has done in the last 3 years is one of the sport's great runs. Brunson, Anderson, Gastelum, Whittaker, Romero and Costa inside 2 years. 3 really spectacular performances in that lot too, with a Fight of the Year thrown in for good measure. He's outstanding. Creatively he's a little more orthodox than, say, Anderson in his prime, but his basics are so good. How he varies his weapons is what impresses me the most, his body and leg work against Costa in particular opened up the kill shot. He's basically on a path to legendary status, and this is kind of the procession fight. Sure he's beaten great fighters, but this is the exclamation point. Jan is really good though, and his striking has been underrated because it's pretty basic and lacking in flash. But his basics are excellent. Great jab, great body kick, can lead and can counter. He got off to a bad start because his wrestling defence was porous to the point of weakening his stand up. He's improved and he's super tough to beat now. Only been put away by Thiago Santos. Has the power advantage, durability, and is more than tested at the weight. I'm actually feeling the upset. Israel is capable of being perfect for five rounds, but I just see Jan landing on a body kick counter and putting him out. The opposite wouldn't shock me, and Israel's credentials have him the rightful favourite, but these are big boys and I'll lean the bigger man with the power and proven durability at 205lbs. Jan by KO round 3.

Nunes vs. Anderson. It could get interesting. It's pretty certain that Nunes would have taken a chunk of time off to be a mum, so she might not be at her sharpest. I think she'll know that though, and she has such a significant advantage on the ground that she puts it there pretty much instantaneously, and I think it's just a matter of time there before Megan gives her neck. If Nunes goes out there loose with a stand up strategy, I still favour her but in more of a 60/40 way than anything. She's better everywhere but can be beaten on the feet by a long striker like Megan. Nothing I've seen of Nunes so far tells me she's dumb enough to take that chance, and nothing I've seen of Megan shows me she can stop it if that's where Nunes wants to take it. Nunes submission in 1.

Yan vs. Sterling is the best fight of the year so far on paper. What a match-up. I love these kinds of fights where there's such clear advantages for both men, but they're so well rounded that it'll likely go down to the intangibles of conditioning, tactics, heart and durability. I don't think either can outright out skill the other. If Yan is winning clearly on the feet I expect Sterling to adapt and make it interesting in the clinch or on the ground. If he can't get it there he's still plenty long enough and disciplined to keep it interesting anyway. Outside of the flash knockout against Moraes, Sterling has looked outstanding for the last 5 years or so, and Yan has answered every challenge admirably so far. He's obviously not gotten a great deal of respect thus far in the P4P discussions but I feel this is his first chance to start putting a stamp on the legacy. I am leaning Yan on points based on how he held up over 5 rounds against Aldo and that he looks to be plenty durable, which he'll need every bit of because Sterling should push a high pace early. I've got Sterling maybe nicking a round or 2 early, then Yan gradually coming on strong late, stuffing takedowns and landing volume en route to a clear points win in the end. Again though, coin flip.

Makhachev vs. Dober is good matchmaking. Islam is someone who has been raved about for ages but needs to fight more to get in that top 10 discussion. Dober's a guy that comes to fight every time, has made solid improvements over time and is a fun to watch kickboxer with power, but he's got his holes that Islam should be able to exploit in the wrestling and grappling aspect of the game. The lay off makes it interesting as Dober can certainly catch him early before he gets his timing down, but I'd expect Islam to get through it, get his takedowns, and probably end up taking it on points. Might nab a submission late but I've not seen him as a really urgent fighter before so I expect it to be dominant but unspectacular.

Rakic vs. Santos is a banger. I love Maretta. However, his takedown defence looked shot against Glover and Rakic has shown great improvements in that part of his game recently. If it's a stand up fight I take Santos all day, and by finish - Rakic is pretty good all round but Santos hits as hard as anybody and has a variety to his shots, and he comes to put you out. I think he overwhelms Rakic with pressure on the feet. But just based on Santos' injuries, I just think Rakic keeps getting the takedowns, and while it stays interesting and close, he takes a controversial one on the dreaded grappling and octagon control.

Cruz vs. Kenney is a superb fight too, mainly for Cruz and his legendary style, but Kenney comes to fight with a relentless pace. It comes down to whether this version of Cruz has the wheels to make Kenney miss for 15 minutes, or whether the forward pressure leads to him getting tagged once he slows down. There is of course the factor of Cruz's fight IQ, and maybe he tweaks things here and becomes more of a grappler, countering the output with well timed takedowns. I'm leaning that, there's levels to this game and I think Cruz is smart enough and good enough to beat a guy like Kenney at this stage. On points.

Yadong vs. Phillips is a fun fight. "Crowd" pleasing brawl that ends inside 2 rounds with Yadong stiffening Phillips.

Benavidez vs. Askarov, another banger. What's Benavidez got left? Those last 2 fights would harm the career of a 25 year old, never mind a guy with the miles that Benavidez has. And at flyweight too. He's an all time great, and I hope he's got another one in him, but I just feel this fight has the feeling where we look back on it and go "he shouldn't have been in there" - coming back from career altering beatings, with the psychology that he'll never be champion, against a surging unknown and unbeaten contender. Yeah. I've got Askarov by TKO, possibly early. Would love it if Joe proves me wrong though.

Bontorin vs. Kara France. Fast paced, high energy fight, coin flip decision. Neither man has championship credentials but they're plenty fun to watch. I'll lean Kara France.

Elliott vs. Espinosa, another fun fight at flyweight that doesn't mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of things. Elliott by decision at a guess in another hectic scrap.

Ulberg vs. Nzechukwu - one round banger, could go either way. Both raw, both throw down. I guess Ulberg considering he's likely been a top sparring partner for Adesanya so should be sharp.

Brady vs. Matthews is happening about 3 fights too early, this is a really good one between two genuine prospects. They're high on Brady. Debuted against Court McGee and was meant to fight Belal Muhammad, so they seem him as verging on top 15 already. Unbeaten at 13-0, not much of a finisher at this point but looks to have a well rounded skillset. Matthews is 26 but been around forever, 10-4 in the UFC but again not much of a finisher. He beat Jingliang a few years ago which has grown more impressive with time. Should be a tightly contested fight but I'd lean Brady considering he seems to have the higher ceiling.

Not got much on the first 3 fights, you kind of get the feeling nowadays that the UFC has these ludicrously deep cards as contingency plans so they can slot in to fulfill TV contracts, but they've all stayed in one piece fortunately so we've just got a massive card.

[Ringo]

Very much agree on the farewell fight suggestion for old big names. Great preview write up there Batter. Should be a big one.

[Bert]

4 for 4 for finishes on the prelims so far. Such a big difference from last week. Loving this card.

[Bert]

Holy shit that Carlos Ulberg vs Kennedy Nzechukwu fight.

[Fanny Batter]

Banger. Impressed by Sean Brady too, genuine potential there.

[Kdestiny]

Elliot just smothered Espinosa. Not sure I've seen any judge give someone two 10-8 rounds. I can't disagree with it.

[Fanny Batter]

Even Kai Kara France is smashing people tonight. It's got the feel of a special night, 6 out of 7 finishes. You can never tell with this sport.

[Bert]

It was censored on ESPN+ but Tim Elliot was apparently asking Jordan Espinosa if he liked to beat women and Espinosa said you don't know the whole story to which Elliot replied that he knew enough. If those allegations are true then I love Tim Elliot even more.

[Fanny Batter]

I hope they don't cut Benavidez. He's pretty much at the stage where he's happy to go out on a win, give him a jobber in a co-main and let him do it right. Askarov was too much for the faded Benavidez (honestly hasn't been the same fighter since the ACL injury), he's a threat to the title with that wrestling, and his stand up is improving at a rate too.

[VHS]

Anybody else watching tonight?

[Fanny Batter]

Good to see Cruz get it done. It has to be him and either Aldo or Edgar next. He's earned a legacy fight. Unfortunately I can see them giving O'Malley a shot at him instead, whereas I'd love to see the styles clash between him and one of those legends. Slight preference of Aldo, the 2 final WEC champions, both coming off wins, give us 5 rounds of that.

[Bert]

Anybody else watching tonight?

Do you ever read the posts above you in a thread?

I hope that awesome undercard hasn't cursed the main card.

[Fanny Batter]

This light heavyweight division is not good. Rakic is as basic a fighter as you can get but he's long, in shape and patient and that's pretty much enough for the top of the weight class at the minute.

[Bert]

Great fight by Lil Khabib. I know a lot of people don't like that style but I think there's a difference between lay and pray and actively controlling, smashing and getting the sub.

[Percussion]

Never seen an arm triangle like that in a pro fight finished without hopping over for leverage.

Absolutely love that batshit dominant Dagestani top game.

[Fanny Batter]

Yeah that was a good performance. Was always looking to either strike, improve position or hunt for the sub. Looking forward to seeing him try and implement that on the top fighters like Khabib did.

[Bert]

Wow, Yan wtf.

Is someone going to win a title off a DQ?

[VHS]

Man, terrible way to win a title.

[Fanny Batter]

Crazy finish to the bantamweight title fight. They'll run it back, but what unprecedented circumstances. Yan got caught up in the moment in a fight that he was taking over.

[Percussion]

What a damn shame. Yan was technically cruising.

[Fanny Batter]

For me, I'd deduct two points and go to the score cards rather than a DQ. It was a first offence. Round gets scored 9-8 Sterling, Technical Majority Draw. Still goes to a rematch, but is judged on merit of the fight up to that point. I don't remember the last technical decision in MMA, OSP vs. Villante way back when?

[Bert]

The thing is Mark Smith literally just told him he was down before he did the knee.

[Fanny Batter]

That's the biggest skill gap I may have seen at the top level of MMA. Ran through her like a stick through dog shit.

[JuveLeo]

Aside from all the BS between Cyborg and Dana, Cyborg should be brought back. She deserved a rematch when she lost. I also think she took Nunes lightly as well. Cyborg might be her only challenge

[Fanny Batter]

At this point I'm guessing they go Shevchenko 3 if she beats Andrade next month. Obviously at 135. It's a shame that second fight existed as it would be the biggest fight in women's MMA if Nunes didn't go 2-0 in a dud of a fight. All fights are different though and I want to see it.

[JuveLeo]

I'm not a fan of trilogy fights where one fighter has already lost the first two fights. I understand the fights were extremely close, but in my opinion, if you lose twice, there shouldn't be a trilogy.

[Fanny Batter]

Jan vs. Glover is the Nicest Motherfucker title fight as well. Pair of lovely blokes. Pretty anticlimactic fight, little bit like Holloway going up and just finding it a bit harder, not outclassed but clearly beaten. Jan deserves to be more than a footnote champion so I'm happy he could get a title defence in.

[Bert]

Jan should have went for takedowns sooner. I'm happy not to see the divison held up by a guy having 2 belts though.

[Percussion]

Excellent fight from Jan, and agree completely with the scoring there.

[Mik]

The thing is Mark Smith literally just told him he was down before he did the knee.

I feel like his corner were trying to call that Sterling was getting up and time the knee, they just got it wrong. I thought that Yan was looking excellent in there too, really taking over the fight and coming on strong. Not really interested in anything other than a immediate rematch there. Mighty Mouse tweeted about how you shouldn’t be able to sit with one knee down and stall, I do agree with that.

Jan vs. Glover is the Nicest Motherfucker title fight as well. Pair of lovely blokes. Pretty anticlimactic fight, little bit like Holloway going up and just finding it a bit harder, not outclassed but clearly beaten. Jan deserves to be more than a footnote champion so I'm happy he could get a title defence in.

Glad that Glover is going to get the next shot, if Adesanya had won I think Jones might’ve come back down. Agree with the Holloway comparison, Adesanya needs to get stronger and bigger because his shots weren’t having the same impact and there was a clear disparity in the grappling later in the fight. If he wants to fight at LHW he needs to get used to fighting longer people too, I don’t think that there was a clear advantage to Izzy in the stand up. His conditioning was great though, he was barely out of breath by the end whereas Jan was blowing hard, his judgement of distance is great. He just couldn’t throw with the pace and the in and out volume he needed to really take advantage of the conditioning difference because he had to fear the take down. I think it was similar to his issues with Vettori, which was the first time he faced a strong, fit wrestler who could strike well and middleweight and after that performance he shored up his wrestling and became more difficult to grapple with, but he seems to have not adapted it to the bigger boys. He was fine pummelling, had good strength in the clinch and wasn’t easy to take down at all. But when Jan timed him and shot he didn’t even look like being able to get back up. Needed to drill being underneath a big heavy boy, scramble it back to the cage and get back up. The ground control clearly tired out Jan and if Izzy could’ve given him a harder time with less success and more frustration there it would’ve been interesting to see if Jan’s hands would’ve dropped more and his reaction time slowed when standing back up in those last two rounds.

[Nash Diesel]

I'm not a fan of trilogy fights where one fighter has already lost the first two fights. I understand the fights were extremely close, but in my opinion, if you lose twice, there shouldn't be a trilogy.

On one hand I agree but the one rivalry I always think back to is Rampage v. Wanderlai. Those first 2 fights didn't warrant a 3rd by any stretch of the imagination--but Rampage got his win back in a pretty memorable way so I can't fault the 3rd.

With Nunes/Bullet 3....Those first 2 fights were pretty competitive. I'm not jumping up and down for a 3rd fight but if it's what truly makes sense, where the UFC aren't just feeding the champs people on 1-2 fight win streaks without drawing.....I'm down.

[Fanny Batter]

It's almost like a final boss situation with both of them, so you don't want to rush into it. After that fight, what? Go back to Nunes vs. Pena and Bullet vs. Lauren Murphy? Come on now. I think while it's still on the table, there's intrigue in them building their legacies going into round 3. That is the absolute end game of both divisions. There's not much else. I guess Namajunas and Zhang following Andrade up to 125 has something to it, but why sacrifice a good division like 115 to feed Shevchenko? Truthfully, the depth isn't there in the women's game yet, but it's easy to forget we're only 8 years in and those young girls dreaming that they'd be like Ronda Rousey still aren't old enough to fight. It'll come.

[Nash Diesel]

It's almost like a final boss situation with both of them, so you don't want to rush into it. After that fight, what? Go back to Nunes vs. Pena and Bullet vs. Lauren Murphy? Come on now. I think while it's still on the table, there's intrigue in them building their legacies going into round 3. That is the absolute end game of both divisions. There's not much else. I guess Namajunas and Zhang following Andrade up to 125 has something to it, but why sacrifice a good division like 115 to feed Shevchenko? Truthfully, the depth isn't there in the women's game yet, but it's easy to forget we're only 8 years in and those young girls dreaming that they'd be like Ronda Rousey still aren't old enough to fight. It'll come.

Nunes v. Pena is a good fight to make. Pena is a good fighter, definitely someone who I would consider more of a threat than the last couple challengers to Nunes at 135.

[Fanny Batter]

She got submitted off the bottom by a kickboxer that Nunes trounced on the ground. She's not terrible, but it's another fight where Nunes will clear -600 in the betting odds.

[Nash Diesel]

She got submitted off the bottom by a kickboxer that Nunes trounced on the ground. She's not terrible, but it's another fight where Nunes will clear -600 in the betting odds.

Well at this point Nunes is in that upper echelon where the odds are going to be very heavy in her favor especially in the women's divisions. It did slip my mind that Pena was choked out by GDR. I also didn't expect Nunes to win by submission, been awhile since we've seen her submission game on display.

I don't think anyone is really going to come in under +300 moving forward because nobody is really coming in that looks like a true threat.

[Bert]

Aljo's fucked up for this. Don't try to duck the rematch just because you were losing before the illegal knee.

[Nash Diesel]

Aljo's fucked up for this. Don't try to duck the rematch just because you were losing before the illegal knee.

You think he's ducking Yan so he can fight a guy 10x better than Yan? Makes sense.

[Bert]

He's absolutely trying to duck Yan, doesn't matter why.

[Percussion]

There's no other fight to make there than an immediate rematch. It's plain as day. It's as plain as Yan was winning that fight before he went full dum-dum with the knee.

[VHS]

Dan Hardy gone from UFC. News broken by Meltzer of all people, but it seems like there's some argument as to why. It's being said that he got into an argument w/ a female employee. He claims that's false. Weird stuff.

[Nash Diesel]

I definitely agree Yan v. Sterling II needs to happen before Cejudo jumps back in but to say someone of that level is ducking anyone only to fight someone better is beyond me. Yang v. Sterling faces Cejudo for the undisputed crown.

[Bert]

Cejudo is probably better yes, but Aljo didn't just get his ass kicked for 3 rounds by Cejudo so he's still trying to duck Petyr.

Fuck Cejudo getting an instant title shot after "retiring". Let him fight the winner of TJ vs Sandhagen first.

[Nash Diesel]

Cejudo is probably better yes, but Aljo didn't just get his ass kicked for 3 rounds by Cejudo so he's still trying to duck Petyr.

Fuck Cejudo getting an instant title shot after "retiring". Let him fight the winner of TJ vs Sandhagen first.

Rarely are 2 fights the same. Look at Woodley v. Wonderboy. Look at Couture v. Liddell.

It's easy to be sitting on your phone or at the keyboard saying a top tier MMA fighter is ducking someone. Imagine looking at Cejudo's record and what he's accomplished and thinking you're going to have an easier time than against Yan.

Without question the next fight should be Sterling v. Yan but save that "he's ducking" commentary for the uneducated fanbase, don't poison this one.