Luque was supposed to be the backup for this but didn't make weight. Granted it may have been late notice because I didn't realize there was even a backup.
That makes me think it might be Usman vs Luque next.
That could depend on if there's a statement finish between Jorge /Leon though.
I thought about it and I want Colby/Jorge next. The promos for that fight print money. So much history to draw on.
And zomg they're both Trump supporters whatever will the pearl clutchers do?!
Simultaneous knockout.Originally Posted by Bert
Really wanted Kamaru to put Colby to sleep, a huge missed opportunity there.
Colby is a hell of a fighter, and I think he'll look at that fight as a huge missed opportunity. He didn't take enough risks until he was in the hole, once he got his volume going it was an even fight. Usman fought excellently behind the jab but he was allowed to dictate the pace early. To beat Usman he has to outland and outpace him because of the power differential, and his output wasn't there through three rounds. Still, there's at least an argument there that in 9 complete rounds between them Colby may have taken more than half (though I would say 2 in the first and 2 here, there was a 3-1 argument in the first), which shows how close the talent gap between them is. It's a shame we likely don't see it again because it's 2-0, because that was fun.
I think the path for both men is clear - it's either Leon (with a win against Jorge) or Luque next for Usman. Both good fights, and potentially we see him go back to the wrestling against either. Luque can rematch Wonderboy if Leon wins, to avenge his only loss in his last 11 fights. They're great fights anyway and give them time to build Khamzat's name a bit - imagine Usman vs. Khamzat if it's 17-0 in the UFC, 7 title defenses Usman against maybe 7-0 in the UFC, number 1 ranked Chimaev. Go Magny, go Nate next year, then go the winner of Covington vs. Masvidal (the guaranteed next fight win or lose for Jorge against Leon you would think). If they both get through all of that, and it's fighting so it's a big if, that's one of the best fights in the sports history. If Chimaev keeps looking like he has, what compares to it in the sport? Fedor vs. Nogueira maybe? Most guys that look like uncrowned champions ascend against guys we've seen beat badly before (GSP vs. Hughes, Silva vs. Franklin, Jones vs. Shogun). Watch Luque catch Usman in a D'Arce now, or watch Neil Magny land a triangle on Chimaev.
Rose vs. Zhang ended up a coin flip decision really, could have been 3-2 either way with round 2 slightly swinging towards Rose with the late ground control. Intelligent performance by her after struggling through 3 rounds, that fifth round takedown was beautiful. Next up is Carla Esparza who I seriously doubt has anything for Rose at this stage, but it's a rematch of a fight that Carla dominated 7 years ago so at least it's got that angle. If it is Esparza, Rose will have only fought more women twice than she has once since her first 2 fights - likes a rematch does Rose. Will be the fifth opponent she's facing for a second time in just 16 pro fights, pretty mad. Also mad - there's been 8 successful title defenses at strawweight, with 7 coming on points. A new champion has been crowned in 6 fights, and all of those ended inside the distance. So if you're a stats guy, you're betting the champ on points or the challenger by finish. Mad discrepancy.
Sad to see Frankie Edgar put out like that, again. He's 40 now. It's over Frankie. Will always be a fan, but he's taken some shots over the years and his legendary durability has faded. He's not fighting scrubs, and Vera's one of the hardest hitters at bantamweight, but 30 year old Frankie gets that done every day. Shame. If he's going to fight on (he shouldn't), it has to be against either Cruz or maybe Assauncao, veterans that are also a step behind their prime but with name value. Edgar and Cruz over five rounds in a retirement fight sounds like fun. Can't see Cruz getting much done against Munhoz who surely crushes him with leg kicks. As for Chito, I'd say he's got five rounds in his future as well in the rematch with O'Malley, which would be a fun spectacle. Win that and he's on a 3 fight win streak against 2 of the biggest names in the division, and it is very winnable. Don't think he's championship calibre but he's on the right path and has landed a break with O'Malley's popularity.
Felt sorry for Burgos and Billy Q who had a banger but had to follow the mad opener. Burgos was just a little bit too technical and pulled away after a tight first round. That featherweight division is sick, Burgos against any of that top 15 is a fun time.
Gaethje and Chandler you mad pair of bastards. What the fuck. Crazy to think Chandler's coming out party was 10 years ago against Alvarez. I guess because he's been in Bellator you kind of underrate how high level that guy's been for so long. Glad he's finally in the UFC but could you imagine how awesome the lightweight division would have been if he was in there with Nate, prime Jim Miller, Showtime, RDA, Cowboy, Ferguson, Khabib, Edson. Those fights that got away. Great career but won't be seen as an all timer because of competition. Gaethje is just ridiculous, 6 for 9 in fight of the night's, 2 of those 3 he missed out on because they were first round knockouts and the other was Khabib. Yeah sign me up for him and the winner of Charles and Dustin. Islam might be the best fighter in the division but the coronation can wait, give him Dariush, give us violence over five rounds for the lightweight championship of the world. This fight was bananas, Justin's just a little better on the feet and landed the best shots, but it was close. Chandler lost nothing. Give him RDA or Tony Ferguson next, give us five rounds of it, and let's have a good time.
Prelims were fun. That Chris Barnett finish was crazy, how's a fat boy like that throwing spinning heel kicks to the face for the knockout?!
First ppv I've ordered in a long time. My son and some of his friends came over. INCREDIBLE card. Chandler/Gaethje is probably the greatest first round I have seen since Frye/Takayama in Pride.
Every fight was good.
I was a big fan of the Megatron v. Action Man prelim fight. Shout out to Action Man getting that come from behind win.
Very excited for Max v. Yair this weekend. Max is a top shelf fighter and Yair is no joke either. But the fact that Yair beat 2 of my favorites makes me root against him in this fight. Max looking for some revenge for BJ in this fight.
I'll probably have to watch the fight after AEW or the day after.
I'll have to see what else is on the card, I didn't even realize there was a UFC this weekend.
Jorge/Leon is off. This sucks. I blame Chris Jericho. His face must have hurt Jorge's knee.
I'll be at the ppv Saturday but I'll check this out when I get back in town in the morning. Honestly it's a 1 fight card but what a fight for the division.
https://www.sherdog.com/events/UFC-F...odriguez-90118
Also, looks like Wonderboy v. Belal Muhammad is set for UFN 199 on Dec 18th. I'll be honest.......I didn't even know about this card. Derrick Lewis is headlining against Chris whoever the fuck Daukaus.
Rumors floating around that Khamzat wants in to replace Jorge. Also, NICK DIAZ of all fuckin people threw his name in the mix via Twitter but I wonder if he thought LEON was the one who pulled out since he wanted to fight Jorge.
Possibly the best 3 week period of fights the company has ever put on? Costa vs. Vettori, Yan vs. Sandhagen, Chandler vs. Gaethje, Burgos vs. BIlly Q, Usman vs. Covington and Holloway vs. Rodriguez will all probably land in at least the top 25 for the year, with the Islam, Vera and Chimaev star solidifying performances and Glover's title win thrown in for good measure. What a run. I can't see how Holloway's style is going to be sustainable going into his 30's but he's one of the most entertaining fighters in the sport's history, a complete mad man who hasn't even been knocked down (cage did save him against Poirier in his one fight at 155 though) in fights against Conor, Diamond x2, Aldo x2, Volk x2, Ortega, Swanson, Edgar, Do Bronx, Lil Heathen, Pettis and Lamas. Think of the killshot ratio of some of those guys and they've not dropped him. Submitted once as a 20 year old against Poirier, other than that he's fucking granite. It can't go on though surely. Yair showed up too, improved his standing considerably the heart and talent he showed. Him and Ortega is a bonkers fight waiting to happen next Summer when they've both recovered. And Max vs. Volk 3, while not the marquee fight he'd have with Conor, is the most important fight of his career - win that and he's undisputed featherweight GOAT for me, but a loss would give it Volkanovski.
They replaced Leon and Masvidal with Taivasa vs. Sakai, with a bit of shuffling. Meh. That card's stacked to the brims anyway but losing that fight takes away the hype a little bit. Regardless, Dominick Cruz vs. Pedro Munhoz is a warranted 7th fight down, and Randy Costa is 14th fight down, so that shows how deep this card is. A flyweight top 10 matchup is buried in the early prelims too. A lot to like.
Yair/Holloway, what a fight. Holloway has to be next in line.
The Dec 11th card took a hit and I'm sad Leon didn't want to stay on the card. Even after Hazmat and Nick Diaz threw their name in the mix, a couple outside of the top 10 WW's. I actually think Masvidal is going to wind up fighting Colby. Leon is a lame. He should be cut.
#2 Gilbert Burns v. #10 Khamzat possibly in the works. On one hand, pretty big gap in rankings. On the other, we're talking about arguably the deepest division in all of MMA so if you're even top 20-30 you are probably a threat to everyone else.
I don't like Khabib caping for Islam to get a title shot. Justin should get next.
If it's all about the winning streak and not the level of competition then sure I can see why Islam should be next in line. I think the UFC are going to see who comes out of the Oliveira/Poirier fight the winner, what shape they're in. They could very easily book Islam v. Gaethje if the timeline for the champion isn't for another 6-12 months, you never know. Poirier could win, break his arm lol.
I really think the level of competition should matter more than a streak. I would like to see Gaethje vs Islam though. Maybe Justin can stop his takedown.
Everyone stumps for their guy. And the Eagles MMA team are as tight knit as anyone. Pretty par for the course.
That said I think Gaethje should get the winner of Dustin/Do Bronx. Just have Islam take on Dariush in a title eliminator to sort out the top of the heap.
Makhachev's streak is really nice but it could use one more nice notch to top it off heading into a title shot.
If Ariel is dropping truth about Usman v. Edwards 2 going down in early 2022....You have to think that Edwards is the luckiest dude to ever get a title shot @ 170 since Matt Serra won TUF 4. Who has Edwards even beat to get a title shot?
Again, does this come down to winning streak ? He's not a draw, his claim to fame is getting smacked up by Jorge and almost getting KO'd by Nate in his last fight. Where's the talk about the time Edwards beat Gunnar Nelson lol?? Beating undersized RDA? They barely even talk about his 8 second KO debut. It's weird.
Luque is definitely his best win, but that was before either were ranked. Other than that, no current ranked guys and blown up lightweights in RDA, Cowboy and Diaz. Gunnar was still borderline ranked too I think. But yeah he's kinda lucky. It's a good win streak but it's hardly title shot worthy. Kind of inevitable really just due to the rest of the top 5 already losing to Usman.
I hope the rumors are true about Masvidal/Covington for TUF.
Yeah Usman could probably benefit from taking a superfight. I think if we had someone else at 185 holding the title he'd be down. But you could also say maybe someone that's top shelf at 185 could make for an interesting fight. 185 just doesn't have as much name value as it once did but hey, look at Anderson's first fight at 205 in UFC-James Irvin. Dude was barely top 20.
I keep forgetting TUF is still a thing. I just can't get excited for it and I probably haven't really enjoyed the back and forth between coaches since Claudia owning Joanna every chance they would interact.
What's weird is probably my favorite season in terms of coaches was McGregor and Faber. It was like watching 2 basketball players talking shit on the court but they never took it too far and you wouldn't be shocked if you saw them at the bar that night together sharing pictures of their families.
Last edited by Nash Diesel; November 19th, 2021 at 4:11 PM.
Yeah I would like to see Usman fight Bobby Knuckles at 185 if Izzy beats him again. We don't necessarily need to see him in a title fight there, as you say Anderson had 3 fights at 205 while he was champ, though admittedly only one was scheduled much in advance and against ranked opposition. Since McGregor it's been immediate title shot for 'champ champ' status. Money I guess, a non title fight against Forrest was more of a sell than defending against Demian Maia or Nate Marquardt, whereas now everybody's star level is much of muchness so there's no real need to take the champs out of their division for challenges rather than titles.
Only one I think they might go for is Max if he beats Volk against Conor at 155. Max would be a bigger opponent than a Hooker or Do Bronx for Conor so I can see them leaving the 300k buy title defence against Chikadze, and the 1m buy return against Hooker, in the locker in favour of the 2m buy Holloway/Conor rematch. Literally the only scenario I can see.
Posting this both places.
I'm hearing that Jake Hager might pull out of this grappling match because Jones didn't mention anything about AEW and referred to him as WWE's Jack Swagger. If true, what makes talent turn so soft when they go to AEW? Or was this guy just soft in general?
I think what helped the Anderson-Forrest fight as well is that the fight prior, Forrest was the champion. Plus we all love the guy and he always has exciting fights even in defeat. Like you said, someone like Robert Whittaker would be a good fight for Usman. I do like the champ v. champ fights with the title on the line but if these guys are going to play the whole "Well he's of African descent I'm not going to fight him" game then let's move on.
Usman defending against a guy with almost no top 10 wins and who's claim to fame is getting served like a punk backstage....It doesn't really do much. Especially since Edwards already lost. Who is this fight catering to? Even the hardcore fans aren't feeling it.
Sounds like it's really because they hadn't agreed to terms or signed a contract yet and Jon jumped the gun.
Great fight. Guessing it's the Do Bronx vs. Poirier winner defending against Gaethje in May, then the end of year show or MSG has the winner defending against the winner of that fight. Good times at lightweight. Winner of all that has done enough to put Khabib in the rearview mirror. Seeing Conor vs. Chandler as his return fight, gets Conor in the top 5 with a win. Of course if Charles beats Dustin they run the 4th fight instead.
Elsewhere, looking like Usman and Leon next. Leon's a lucky fucker. He's very skilled but his relevant wins at the weight class are no longer relevant at the weight class and he's earned it like Woodley back in the day, second best in the division gets beat twice, rest of the top 5 have a loss to the champ, bam. Blonde Brunson vs. Cannonier winner fights the winner of Adesanya vs. Knuckles 2. Glover/Jiri winner fights Rakic (if he beats Jan) or Ankalaev (if he beats Santos). Jan gets a shot if him and Santos win. Volkanovski vs. Holloway 3 winner fights Giga maybe. Bantamweight is the biggest mess - Dillashaw and Font/Aldo winner fight against the winner of the unification maybe. Cruz is back in contention with a win at 269 too. Sandhagen's there. Vera, O'Malley. Great division. No doubt Cody gets an immediate flyweight shot if he wins in a fortnight.
Then, heavyweight. All doors are open for Jones against the Ngannou/Gane winner. Genuinely think he's done though. So Miocic comes back off the bench for another shot. Women's is hard. I've heard Esparza isn't going to be next for Rose strangely - she beat Rodriguez, so I'm guessing Andrade is dropping back down for the trilogy fight. Both first bouts won FOTN, they split them, so no brainer if it's not going to be Esparza. Maybe do Carla against Rodriguez 2 with the winner being legit #1 contender. They probably feed her to Zhang or Joanna though to kill her off. Shevchenko and Nunes probably get fed Santos and Dormont (at 145) respectively. It needs to be them fighting next though. Maybe double shot them (underneath a competitive title fight) and square them off for a last bit of build.
It's a shame that the UFC don't see the story in Carla v. Rose. Carla, 1st ever women's 115lbs champion who beat Rose and now here they are once again. Women's MMA without Ronda is a hardcore fan division. Despite Nunes being a beast she's not a draw, neither are any of the past/present champions in the small weight classes. So I don't really see the issue with not doing Carla v. Rose especially with Carla's win streak.
Stipe probably will come off the couch again and get a title shot like he did against Cormier when the supposed Lesnar fight never came to be. I'd prefer Stipe get a few wins. It's kind of boring seeing the same people fight over and over unless necessary.
So Kevin Lee dropped from his contract with multiple fights left on it. What a fall from grace.
From challenging for the interim title at 16-2 to going 2-5 including two missed weights and a drug suspension. Ouch.
Yeah I was kind of shocked especially when you think of some of the other fighters with equally if not worse losing streaks.
Felicia Spencer retired.
Getting murdered will do that.
Faced the two best and got beaten up. No shame in bowing out when you're on 24k a fight pre taxes and fees and no chance of fighting for a title again. Not worth the head trauma.
Deplorable White still paying his fighters shit wages, huh? While he and his fellow UFC owners stash billions away? K.
Always gotta make everything political.
Guida bribed Peterson to let him get destroyed for 1 round just to choke the exhausted dude out in round 2.
Wow both of these dudes fighting with one eye.
What a badass Aldo is. He's only truly lost to Conor, Volkanovski, Holloway and Yan. Conor never lost at 145, Volk is undefeated in the UFC, Yan pretty much is too barring that DQ, and Max has only lost to Volk and Poirier in 8 years. This man is not a gatekeeper yet, he's still an elite fighter. He's one of those styles make fights guys in the division who can beat Sterling too if he gets by Yan somehow, that TDD and efficient output are trouble for him. Yan I think beats Jose 8 out 10 times though.
I can't believe he's fighting at 135 after he couldn't make 145 a few years ago.
Argument between Cruz and DC about DC not watching fights.
Aldo or Font. Neither guy has ever missed weight to my knowledge but wikipedia could be wrong.
I'm just going to put this out there but there is no fighter that I hate more than Dominic Cruz. I literally hate everything about him. I hate how he fights, I hate how he looks like a midget Frank Shamrock, I hate how fucking monotone and smug everything sounds when he speaks.
Guess who people want to hear at the booth? Cormier. Guess who nobody wants to see in the UFC with a job? Dom Cruz. Fuck him, Fuck Urijah Hall for not putting him in a home, fuck TJ for losing the title to him, and fuck Dom for making me cheer Cody Garbrandt.
Sorry, I misspoke. Aldo couldn't easily make 145. One weight cut looked really grueling in particular, I remember.
I like Cruz as a fighter but he's boring and flat out wrong a lot of the time as a commentator. He said something about Connor trying to gas out khabib before lol. Watching tape won't fix that. There's also no reason to talk about muting your colleagues commentary. DC is totally in the right and I'm glad he called him out on it.
Cruz acted like his comment about DC just wanting to get his money and go was him holding DC accountable lol. He said shit like "He's my brother but...." and then some hater shit. The fact is Cruz just says shit and has a little man's complex.
The McGregor was hilarious. I thought he was just being a smartass but he was being serious.
And yeah Aldo was struggling but I assume he changed up his diet to make 135. Still has the power too.
I have renewed excitement for tomorrow night's card.
Why renewed? Does Pena stand a chance? Man, I'd love for her to win. Not sure I buy it enough to put a dollar on it though.
We were already planning on getting the fights because I turn 40 on the 12th but when Masvidal dropped off I wasn't as thrilled. But after watching the press conference last night plus I've been watching some "older" UFCs the last few days (Think early 100's for a time frame).
I'm kind of thinking this might be Pena's time. You can't stay a beast forever and Khabib is really the only one who got out before we started seeing any real flaws. Nunes has just been on a great winning streak since the loss to Cat, but she's not unbeatable. I personally thought and still believe Cyborg's the one but maybe Pena can shock the world.
Pena's losses to GDR and Bullet stand out because those 2 fighters are not known for their submission game at all. So the fact she was submitted by 2 kickboxers and those being her only UFC losses....IDK. Nunes has a slick ground game she just winds up knocking people the fuck out. Nunes wins, she retires, that's about the only bet I would make.
Nunes is -1000, Pena is +812 with a boost draft kings is offering so I put $5 on her. Could win $45. YOLO.
WOOOOOO
FOURTY FIVE DOLLARS.
I GUESS I SHOULD HAVE BET MORE.
I can't believe it
Pena just shocked the world! Nunes gave her no respect fighting like an absolute idiot.
Nunes didn't know how to pace herself. However I was worried Pena was also getting tired.
Honesty, if Amanda chooses to counter and pick her shots, she wins that fight easily, but instead, she gets sucked into Juliana's strength which is engaging in a slugfest
Agreed. I don't think she gave her any respect either. Usually happens when you're winning every fight. Too overconfident
Amanda probably wins the rematch if she's not reckless but nothing can take away from Pena winning the title tonight. I'm so happy for her.
Almost put $5 on Charles. Oh well, I lost the odds boosts but thanks to Pena I end the night up $30.
Everyone is going to be like ok when's my title shot against Pena now lol.
Equal parts stoked for Do Bronx and gutted for Poirier. Poirier the consummate stand up dude (not in the fighting style sense, in the decent human being sense) so easy to root for, and is time after time at the very near summit of the mountain, only to be knocked back down and continue on as the forever bride's maid. The agony of defeat. Meanwhile Do Bronx has had such a long journey with each growing moment for validation culminating in finishing such an established and prime name in Poirier. The thrill of victory. What a great title fight.
These guys were electric from the jump. Back and forth thinking Poirier had the better looks early while wondering if the pace could possibly hold for either man. Then Oliveira finally reset himself and recommitted hard to the clinch/dragdown game and Dustin just looked lost to be honest. But DP ain't the first - nor the last I imagine - to look that way when tied up with Do Bronx.
Oliveira is a bad bad man right now, what a great run.
Do Bronx/Gaethje sounds fucking amazing.
Superb card.
Tai Tuivasa is really tightening up his game, picking his shots better. He's got great power in both hands and is a hell of a scrapper. Seems very popular with a hot crowd too. Interesting to see who he gets next and how he does with a step up in competition. He's more or less a baby in that division.
Cruz vs Munhoz was a great fight. Munhoz is a little too small in reach for that division, too much muscle. Looked small against Aldo and small against Cruz. Packs a hell of a punch, but fantastic fight IQ from Cruz to scramble, recover and then completely change his strategy in round 2 and 3. Not sure why he didn't realise from the start that he has the reach and the speed to keep Munhoz at distance. Even though Aldo is higher ranked, if Yan wins the rematch with Sterling, I'd rather see TJ get beat of Yan next rather than have that Aldo rematch just yet, so it would be great to see Aldo vs Cruz while they are both coming off a win.
O'Malley took a step up in competition and looked great again. Definitely time for a properly ranked fighter though. It's a killer division and he's one of the longest of them all. He's not young enough to keep away from bigger fights now.
Kai-Kara France looked clinical against Cody, but it's hard to know just how impressive a performance that is as it seems like Cody's punch resistance has completely depleted. Not just his chin as he took big clean punches, but his hands just drop and his defence falls apart. I think he's probably best retiring at this stage, hard to know how much those two knockouts from TJ all trucked up on PEDs took from his career.
Amazing performance by Pena, not to take anything away from her at all, but it seems more like one that Nunes lost by being an idiot. This is one of the reasons why I'm not so keen to label Nunes as the GOAT while Shevchenko is around having NEVER been stopped or definitively beaten (despite being probably 15-20lbs lighter than Nunes on fight night). Impressive from Pena to go toe-to-toe with her and keep popping that jab out, but Nunes inability to see that she was getting beaten to the punch and fatigued, he willingness to stand and bang even though she was clearly emptying the gas tank quicker than Pena was, the lack of adapting to a plan B when the fight wasn't going her way, that was poor not the type of thing you would ever expect to see from Valentina. It doesn't feel like she was out-thought by the better fighter, nor that she got levelled by a flash punch (ala GSP and Serra) it feels like she fought stupidly, didn't adapt and then gave up. With that said, I would expect Nunes to win the rematch. Covid, motherhood, not fighting at 135lbs for 2 years and circling retirement probably hasn't helped her here, will be interesting to see if this lights a fire under her.
Hell of a first round in Porier vs Du Bronx. Even though Porier was closer to finishing it, it did feel like Oliveira was putting cash in the bank with his work. I'm not sure how much holding onto Dustin's glove played into the takedown, but those 4 minutes on the ground definitely softened up Porier's resistance and it was all Chucky Olives after that. Gaethje is obviously most likely to get the next shot barring injury, but Islam is probably the most interesting fight as it would give us the closest thing we're ever likely to get to a Oliveira vs Khabib match.
What a fight card. Pretty much from the off it was a belter.
Gillian Robertson is usually a fun watch. That girl can grapple. Disappointed with Randy Costa who I had down as a reasonable level prospect, but he doesn't appear to know how to fight off the back foot and doesn't have much of a gas tank. Kelley put it on him and he wilted. Ryan Hall's opponent just couldn't avoid the scrambles. Classic case of your bread and butter being leagues below your opponent, so even though he appeared to have the stand up edge, he's a grappler and couldn't avoid the exchanges. Erin Blanchfield is a problem. Andre Muniz getting Eryk Anders out of there inside a round was very impressive. Anders is decent and he just got ran through. Muniz is a specialist and there's likely a ceiling to how far he can go, but he'll be fun to watch. Notable early prelims.
Bruno Silva with another early win by knockout. Like Muniz he's a specialist who likely gets caught out against somebody with a well rounded skillset, but he'll be fun to watch. Real power.
Tai Tuivasa just fucking wrecked his man. Again, real power in his hands and fun to watch. They have a real chance to make a star of that guy if they match him well, him and Black Beast makes complete sense over 5 rounds if Australia opens up at any point for a fight night. Or over 3 on a stacked main card - imagine next year something like Volkanovski/Holloway 3, Moreno/Kara-France 2, Beast/Tuivasa, Hooker/RDA and Whittaker/Costa or something. Would be great. Sakai is a pretty dull fighter and stopped 3 times in a row, that might be that for him in the UFC.
Dominick Cruz! Shocked me how he managed to turn that around after the first round. Munhoz seemed a little off, maybe the adrenaline dump chasing the finish put him behind the eight ball, but he seemed to find a way to lose a fight that he looked to be winning comfortably. Cruz isn't going to be champion again and I know Aldo fancies the Dillashaw fight instead, but for me you make Dillashaw vs. Sandhagen 2 and Aldo vs. Cruz, with TJ getting the shot with another win or the Cruz/Aldo winner getting it if Sandhagen gets it done. Aldo vs. Cruz just seems like the perfect time to go that route right now with both guys on streaks. Get the feeling he'll be against Chito Vera though. Munhoz has thought about flyweight but I think he'd be at a huge speed disadvantage there. He's settling in as a gatekeeper really. Fought all these legends but lost close enough fights to all of them.
Emmett and Ige was as closely contested as expected, with Emmett just about doing enough. Burgos and Ige are good wins and he's in the mix of close contenders. Probably earned an Ortega or Zombie next.
O'Malley is good. Not sure how good just yet but he's passed the eye test this year with the three stoppage wins and very little adversity. Paiva was made to order based on a controversial upset win in his last fight, small bantamweight with lesser wrestling and not much power, but he was dismantled in very impressive fashion.
Called the Cody knockout loss. That's against a guy with not much in the way of power. Garbrandt just doesn't have much of a chin, and the dehydration of the weight cut won't have helped as well as the speed of the exchanges. It's not like people have been catching him with monster shots, it's how he pretty much runs on to them. Shame he's not lived up to the potential of that night against Cruz, as it's always better when the 'stars' can hang tough and make the bigger fights. He's fading into irrelevance at this point. Bantamweight is strange - Barao and Garbrandt pretty much on the ends of their arse, while the guy that proceeded them as champ is still winning fights against ranked contenders. Kara-France is a decent scrapper but he's not world champion level and he destroyed Cody. Imagine what Figgy Smalls would do to him.
Geoff Neal did just about enough against Ponzi. Geoff is frustrating in that his skillset doesn't really match his strategy. He'd be a really good pressure fighter with those hands but he seems too content to fight off the counter. Just looks in first gear a lot of the time. But he got it done and has time and room to grow.
Nunes vs. Pena was a fucking insane second round. Nunes seemed, I don't know, emotionally checked out that she was in a fistfight? Was kind of pissing about and taking it easy in the first round, dominating without doing much. Then as soon as she realised, oh yeah, this girl is trying to punch me, her nose was broken, she was missing shots and tiring off the misses. Then pretty much gives up at the first opportunity to get out. Really strange. Pena was a dog and did her job, but there's no way you could tell me a switched on Amanda doesn't win that fight. Gave Pena no respect and paid for it. Good for Julianna who has been through the ringer in her career, loads of fight cancellations and big injuries. She turned up, tried her very best, and got it done.
Poor Dustin, man. I like Charles, a spectacular fighter to watch his whole career, but this felt going in that it was the feel good story of the year for Poirier to vanquish all the demons of a road well travelled and get the win, but it just didn't happen. Oliveira is just something else on the ground, and now that his stand up is good enough (offensively) to be a threat he's a problem for any fighter. Once he knew he could get close to Dustin and not face too much resistance in the wrestling defence, it seemed a matter of time. I do wonder if (big if) he gets through Justin and Dariush/Islam winner that Khabib would come back and go for 30-0 against him. Would be the perfect storyline really - beat Ferguson and Khabib's last 2 opponents, then vanquishes his protege. Chance to go 30-0, avenging his 'brother', to stop Charles breaking the lightweight title defence record, in stylistically his toughest fight? Come on. Lots of fights to be fought, but how gigantic would that be. As for Poirier, it's Nate or Conor next surely. Beats the breaks off both. Maybe both back to back. Then he's on the shortlist again. There's Ferguson too. Chandler would be a big fight. He's gonna be OK.
Immense card.
Now that the dust is settled on the big fights (though Lewis/Daukaus, Lemos/Hill, Gamrot/CDR and Wonderboy/Muhammad figure to be relevant), how does everybody see the individual title pictures shaping up going into the new year? For me:
Namajunas vs. Andrade 3, with the winner fighting the winner of Esparza vs. Rodriguez 2.
Valentina vs. Santos, then going up to bantamweight to fight the champion. Unless they can get Grasso or Andrea Lee in the top 5 via beating Murphy or Chookagian.
Pena vs. Nunes 2. No brainer. Also a no brainer to do Pena vs. Valentina 2 if Pena wins again. If Nunes wins and Valentina stays put, Nunes vs. Holm/Durmont winner at 145.
Moreno vs. Figgy Smalls... if Fig wins, part 4? Would be 1-1-1 and the division is in rebuild mode with Kara-France, Kape, Pantoja and Askarov all knocking on the door. Given that that fight is next month, personally I'd have the winner against Pantoja, then match Askarov and Kara-France for next, with Kape getting a slow build as he's probably the fun prospect of the division.
Yan vs. Sterling 2 winner goes against the winner of Dillashaw vs. Aldo. Seems as sure a thing as any at this point. Then you have Cruz, Sandhagen and Dvalishvili to build for next. So Cruz vs. Sandhagen, Merab vs. Font, Suga Sean vs. Chito Vera 2, Moraes vs. Munhoz.
Volkanovski vs. Holloway 3 is next. I'm matching Ortega and Rodriguez for next but both will be out a while I think. So Chikadze/Kattar winner vs. Zombie for the second title fight of the year. Elsewhere, Arnold Allen vs. Josh Emmett sounds a safe booking to set one of them up.
Lightweight is easy - Do Bronx vs. Gaethje winner fights the Islam vs. Dariush winner towards the end of the year. Likely Abu Dhabi in October if it's Islam. Elsewhere, Dustin floats around fighting Nate or Conor, they match the losers of those fights, Chandler vs. RDA, Tony Ferguson fights the other of Conor and Nate.
Welterweight - Usman vs. Edwards seems like it's next. Covington vs. Masvidal too. Immediate rematch for Usman with a loss, unless it's a blowout (can't see either) and the Colby/Jorge winner slots in instead. Burns and Luque aren't fighting each other so they're both going to have to fight down in ranking. Khamzat and Neil Magny makes sense so probably Luque vs. Brady and Burns against Belal Muhammad if he beats Wonderboy. That fight's important in the grand scheme of things really, could change Khamzat plans if Wonderboy wins seeing as how Burns just fought him.
Middleweight - Adesanya vs. Whittaker 2 winner fights the Blonde Brunson vs. Cannonier winner. Sociopath Strickland knocking on the door if he gets past Joker Jack but I'm not seeing it.
Light heavyweight - Glover vs. Jiri winner fights Rakic vs. Jan winner as long as it's not Glover and Jan winning them. If it is, Glover vs. Ankalaev if he beats Santos. Kind of a hardcore fan's division at the minute this, no real name amongst it.
Heavyweight - Ngannou vs. Gane winner should be fighting Jon Jones. Depends how it goes though. If Gane breezes through Francis by decision I can't see Jones risking it given it won't be a huge fight. Gane is understated and wouldn't provide much hype, would be the heavy favourite against Jones too. If Ngannou flattens Gane in a round he's a superstar, he's lethal, but he's also unproven with wrestling defence still and Jones would fancy it. Gane wins and Stipe comes back in for a shot most likely. Maybe I'm wrong and Jones just fights the winner, but there's no way he's getting Canelo money fighting Cyril Gane.
I had to watch Pena/Nunes again.
Pena looks like if I was playing her in UFC 4 vs Nunes. Just spamming the jab button over and over again. Incredible.
Yeah and the person controlling Nunes was doing the exact same thing lol. Smashing buttons.
Love the twitter shitheads whining about Pena saying she's the first female champ to give birth. Coming back from that extreme body transformation and maintaining conditioning should be commended. It's not the same as adopting.
I should've put $100 on Pena. The idea that she could win is what sold me on pulling the trigger on ordering the ppv after Street Jesus fell off the card. Hey I wasn't surprised either lol.
Du Bronx looked good, DP just couldn't get going and wasn't as versatile. Joe made a great comment, Charles was literally throwing everything at Dustin. Dustin landed some great shots though.
I'm usually the last person to praise Dom Cruz but after almost laughing when he about got KO'd in the first minute I was cheering his victory. Where was that Cruz all these years?
All in all, very very good card.
Dana White cracks me up though. This dude is talking about how the Nunes loss kind of ruins a fight with Kayla Harrison. Who fights at 155. Who nobody beyond extreme die hard MMA fans will recognize. Who by the way has never fought below 155 in her career. Edit: My bad, she's fought 1 time at 145. Every other time it was 155 or above.
But she's blonde, white, and a judokan. Sound familiar? Let's also not forget Nunes if the 145 champion. That's Dana White in a nutshell. I would really like to know what decisions he's personally made when it comes to putting together a fight. Is he just a Vince? They bring him some fights and he just starts swapping people in and out lol.
I don't see why he can't still make the Harrison fight for 145 vs Nunes.
What else is there? Just continue not doing anything including have a ranking list? Lol.
At least there's a story of one belt maybe gone but it was a fluke and I'll prove it blah blah blah.
Harrison was never going to make 135. The fight no doubt would've been at 145. When Dan Henderson was a dual champion from Pride, he lost his first fight to Rampage. It wasn't like Dana went "oh well now I can't do Anderson v. Henderson because Hendo lost his LHW title!" Just a weird dude.
If they wanted to build up the fight I'd say make them TUF coaches and put it on youtube where everyone can watch it.
I'd rather see Colby/Jorge though.
Jake Paul just KOed Woodley. One punch. Wow embarrassing.
Woodley didn't exact rake in the cash during his mma career so I hope this was worth it.
Cub Swanson looked great last night from what I saw, admittedly the end of the fight.
Same with Derrick Lewis. Lol'd that he doesn't want any 5 round fights.
It must be a training thing because he's only had a handful of 5 round fights, 1 actually went all 5 rounds-and he won. He's going to be in the mix regardless. If Ngannou wins, you have to put him v. Lewis.
Wonderboy....Dude was DOMINATED. It wasn't like a brutal domination, just didn't have an answer for Belal.
Hill v. Lamos was really good. Cub Swanson looked great, Ricky Simon looked solid as well. A good show overall.
Yeah it's weird considering he's undefeated, speaks well and built like a brick shithouse, but they're gonna struggle with Gane as champion for buys. Ngannou you have Jones, Lewis 2 and Miocic 3 as big money spinners.
I think that's the problem with a lot guys like Gane. Bad timing.
Yeah I think a lot of it's to do with style too. He's finished good guys but he's very death by a thousand paper cuts rather than laying them out. And the Bigi Boy and Volkov fights were pretty dull five rounders. I guess if he finishes Ngannou his star might be born, but even still you can't picture it being in highlight reel fashion.
Rose v. Carla going down!
https://www.bjpenn.com/mma-news/ufc/...yUCHNUIM2xytkU
Volk vs Holloway and Yan vs Sterling in the works for March according to Dana White. No contracts signed yet though.
If they can do Volk v. Holloway 3 they can do Nunes v. Schvenko 3 especially when Bullet is a fucking champion.
And so Holloway v. Volk 3 is off, Max pulling out with injury..
Lewis vs Tuivasa in the works for Feb.
I won't know who to root for.
Jim Miller's booked his 39th UFC fight, against another debutant, next month. Got to think he's looking to stay around so he's the only fighter to be on UFC 100, 200 and 300. 3 more years. At that point though, if he gets 3 fights a year, he'll be knocking on the door of 50 fights too. He was an excellent fighter at one point, great finisher and still tough to put away still.
Looking like Volk against Zombie, unless Chikadze is spectacular next week. Rather that than a delay, if the champion is fit he should fight. The Holloway fight will be there down the line.
Korean Zombie vs Volk sounds like the new fight.
Looking like they are moving Volk vs. Zombie and Aljo vs. Yan to April in favour of Vegas having a better drawing card in March - most likely Poirier vs. Diaz, Masvidal vs. Covington, or both.
So Masvidal v. Covington to headline 272 it is..
Hell yeah. Proper grudge match. I think Colby wins quite comfortably but it's going to be a fun ride. Colby is cringe and cuts terrible promos but this has some genuine animosity so I can see the facade slipping a bit if we see some face to face press conferences etc.
Thinking of it, you can probably make a Round Robin of fights between Masvidal, Colby, Diaz, Poirier and McGregor. The three biggest draws (maybe besides Jones) as well as the biggest heel and possibly the nicest guy in the sport too. All good fights with plenty of hype away from the titles. Then when one of them has a 3 fight win streak, title shot.
Sensible to move the title fights too, and happy that Zombie finally gets his second title shot even though he's not totally deserving. Now match up Allen and Emmett now please, that's the fight that's needed at featherweight to bring through a new contender.
Last edited by Fanny Batter; January 12th, 2022 at 7:11 AM.
Calvin Kattar vs. Giga Kikadze on Saturday. Pretty much guaranteed to be a great scrap with the stand up skills involved. I've got Kattar. Otherworldly toughness. Until I see that grit out of Chikadze I can't favour him over five rounds against somebody as good and as durable as Calvin. If he wins though he's definitely elite. Featherweight is one of those weird divisions where so many guys are bubbling along. Chikadze, Arnold Allen, Zabit (should he return), Bryce Mitchell, Movsar Evloev and Ilia Toporia are a combined 34-0 in the Octagon with all but Ilia racking up five wins or more. Throw in Lerone Murphy (3-0-1), Sodiq Yusuff (4-1, defeat a 29-28 to Arnold Allen in a close fight) and already established top 15 guys in Max, Ortega, Burgos, Ige and Yair sitting at 30 or younger and you've got for me the best division over the next 5 years. As long as some of these guys actually fight more than once a year!
Kikadze said that Volk was taking an easy fight with Korean Zombie. Zombie's record might be spotty due to inactivity and a few losses here and ther ebut easy fight? Ha.
I've got Ngannou and Moreno tonight. I don't think Gane's wrestling can tire Francis out like Stipe did in their first fight, so he has to be perfect for 5 rounds against an improved Ngannou who hits harder than anyone on the planet. It's one of those where I might look stupid as if Cyril wins he likely schools him, but yeah. Ngannou gets it done inside 2.
Moreno vs. Fig is a banger, but I got the pace and wrestling being the difference. Moreno is as tough as nails and he likely has a tougher go of it than the second fight, but pulls away late, drowning him for the championship rounds rear naked choke.
Rest of the card ain't much but NFL's on until maybe the Pereira fight so no biggy.
I’ve got Gane in this one. Francis can pretty much only win if he lands the nuke in the first half of the fight or so. There’s a significant gap in the pure striking skills here. Of course, one shot from Ngannou can nullify that.
Definitely not buying the card, want Ngannou to smash Gane so I can watch Dana White throw hissyfits as he tries (and fails this time) to intimidate a fighter into accepting a shitty contract.
Dana White is a piece of shit.
Fuck yeah, Ngannou.
Gane is fucking nyquil, boring as shit, never should have had any type of title to his name.
I know Dana wanted Gane to win though so everyone would cheer wife beater, hit and run, PED user Jones to beat his ass.
The fight showed that it's hard to become a great fighter in three years. Too many undiscovered holes in the game. There's nobody that could tell me Gane has that porous TDD and lack of fight IQ when he gets his next title shot in 2 years or so. Definitely a future champion. Ngannou's adjustments were impressive but he's been doing this a lot longer and SHOULD have a Plan B, he's just not had to use it before..
He's a legend though for not signing the extension. They've low balled him going into a fight against a guy who couldn't draw flies to shit. He's cleared it. His next fight is either the Stipe Miocic trilogy, the Derrick Lewis rematch or the Jon Jones mega fight. Stipe's the legacy fight where a win gives him a valid shout at best UFC heavyweight of all time. Lewis he'd get to avenge his other loss and, like GSP, not have fought anybody he hasn't beaten in the UFC. And Jones is a fight against the best to ever do it. That's from a sporting perspective. From a drawing perspective, they all double the business he did with Gane. And he's in no rush. A Masvidal loss in March helps his cause. Nate Diaz leaving after his next fight does. Conor losing again will. He holds all the leverage. Adesanya is a potential star without dance partners. Usman has Khamzat lined up potentially but he won't draw otherwise. The rest of the champions aren't stars. Francis' 3 lined up fights I'd say do better business than anything outside of Usman vs. Khamzat and whatever Conor's doing, once Jorge loses to Colby. And the Jones fight is easily the fight of the year from an attraction standpoint. He's going to get paid, ESPN will guarantee it.
First ever quadrilogy incoming! They should give Gray Maynard a ring now that Frankie's faded as much as he has and put that on the undercard. Moreno's stance was the difference, led to him being off balance for the knockdowns. He's the better fighter I think otherwise. It's going to be the year of the rematch it seems.
Brain fart of the past decade or so right there for Gane. Impressive grappling from Ngannou though, better than I expected.
Last edited by OD50; January 23rd, 2022 at 1:10 PM.
Shout to Ngannou. So many fans were and still are claiming the guy was one dimensional. Nobody really spoke on Gane's lack of experience going into this fight until he was defeated. It wasn't like he was dominated but again, where was the talk of his inexperience going into this fight?
Ngannou showed that he's still improving as well. It's not like Gane just started training in combat sports in 2018, he's been doing this for awhile. Ngannou showed last night he's the best HW and it must've really pissed Dana off to be such a lame. I get wanting to maybe avoid the contract questions but not putting the belt on the fighter has always been Dana's biggest narcissistic crybaby moment. If he doesn't like you that minute he'll have someone else put the belt on. It just shows Dana White still thinks he went in and created everything. Promoter complex.
Honestly I'm wanting to see Ngannou v. Lewis 2. Not every fight is the same. Woodley v. Wonderboy 1=legendary fight. The sequels=weak.
https://www.espn.com/mma/story/_/id/...ght-ciryl-gane
He's not wrong about any of it. It's just like pro wrestling. #FreeNgannouBecause he won to retain the UFC heavyweight title, the promoter's "champions clause" kicks in, meaning Ngannou remains under contract for one more year or three fights, whichever comes earlier.
Ngannou has said that he is willing to hold out for an entire year rather than compete again on this contract, which he said Monday only pays him $600,000 per fight. The root of Ngannou's issue with the UFC, he said, is not completely financial. He said on "The MMA Hour" that he turned down about $7 million over the last two fights, because accepting that deal would have meant tacking on more fights to his contract, which he was not willing to do under the circumstances.
Ngannou said he would like to stay with the UFC, but also compete in boxing while doing so, something the promotion has never let its athletes do. Ngannou said it's a question of "freedom" as an independent contractor, which UFC fighters are legally classified as.
"The term of the contract, everything that they put into [it], they hold you like in captivity," Ngannou said. "You can't do anything, you have no rights. The contract is one-sided. ... You don't even have health insurance while you're doing this, putting your body on the line to put on the show. Risking everything."
Ngannou, 35, said he understands the lack of health insurance as an independent contractor, "but treat me as such then," he said.
"You can be free and fight for the UFC," Ngannou said. "I just want to be free. We are supposedly independent contractors. [An] independent contractor is technically a free person. That's the reason why they need some adjustments in that contract. That's what I've been fighting for."
Haven’t we seen this exact movie before with Randy Couture?
#TheHouseAlwaysWins
They need to do whatever necessary legally to be reclassified as employees rather than independent contractors and then put egos aside and band together in a union.
They can complain, they can walk out of the ufc, they can attract sympathy from all over, they can go box or do movies or start an onlyfans... but until they collectively move with purpose and commitment to change the power structure in their industry nothing will ever change on its own and OD is right.. the house will just continue to win.
I'm really surprised Ngannou, Usman, and Adesanya haven't banded together.
I'm not.
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