Yeah, she was a talent, and a great story. Hopefully she hasn't lost a step and goes on to challenge for the title soon.
Yeah, she was a talent, and a great story. Hopefully she hasn't lost a step and goes on to challenge for the title soon.
I know compared to Jones and McGregor she's not on that level but in terms of what she means to the division I would put her return up there with them this year. If she comes back and dominates it's going to be hard to deny her a title shot in 2023.
We're 8 days away from Jon Jones fighting for the heavyweight title. It's not Ngannou, and therefore the lineal championship, but it's a great fight and I think a fair measure for him being the best ever if he wins. And from a competitive standpoint, Gane beat Ngannou in the standup so if Jones wins it's huge given Gane's stature on the feet. Genuinely fascinating fight. We've not seen Jones in 3 years, not seen him look like Jon Jones for a year on top of that, and never seen him at heavyweight. I [i]think[/] we finally see him get beat. But fuck knows. If he lands a takedown, I think he finishes the fight if he has more than half a round to play with. But Gane is huge and has surely improved his grappling since the Francis fight. Maybe that wasn't part of the gameplan to defend takedowns. It will be here. I've got Gane on points. But if Jones wins, yeah, best ever. Probably already is, but this is the cherry.
I think Ngannou testing free agency is genius IF Jones wins. His offer from the UFC doubles. You do Jones and Miocic, then Jones vs. Ngannou is your UFC 300 main event. He literally doesn't have to fight and Jones will double his paycheck. If Francis is smart he boxes against a basketball player on a Jake Paul card in the interim and earn an easy couple of million building his fanbase. Forget Fury.
Agree with all of that including the possibility of Jones losing. HW is a different animal and guys who have never fought at HW regardless of how big they are at LHW haven't always faired well. I know different eras but the concept is still the same when you think ok if Randy Couture could hang with Pedro Rizzo, Barnett, Sylvia, Gonzaga, Nog, Lesnar, etc. then Jon Jones should at the very least be able to go a few minutes lol. I don't expect Jones to just show up and get knocked into the 5th row. But he is coming in hot and even with Ngannou that would've been crazy too.
How about the fact our boy Sergei is the back up. Fuck....that guy has 1 loss, to arguably a HW who's on a Mt Rushmore somewhere in Overeem. Sergei is a future champion. The only way he doesn't win the title is if he just completely falls off the map. If you're a fan of MMA, the UFC HW division is the most exciting it's been in years.
Should have committed to that 'Jon gets a takedown' prediction ha. Destroyed him. Was a stark reminder of the technique of Jon Jones. He's going to have less of a physical advantage at heavyweight, but his skillset should offset that loss. There's unique threats in the Blaydes vs. Pavlovich winner, and hopefully Jailton Almeida continues to build wins, but Jon Jones will now go off a 3 to 1 favourite minimum against any of them I think.
Grasso result was crazy. Reminded me a bit of Holm vs. Tate. One mistake and that's that. What a sport.
Great night of fights. Sad Bullet lost but the fight was really good and Grasso was a legit threat no doubt. That spin shit can backfire.
Jon Jones is the GOAT. When you move up from LHW to HW and dominate the #1 ranked guy in 2 minutes.....It's one thing to move down from HW and do well, you at least fought in the most dangerous division in terms of size. It's impressive when guys like GSP or McGregor move up and win the title but there isn't a chance you're fighting a guy 40-50lbs heavier-and it's allowed!
I'll be honest it was such a dominant performance I thought it was possibly WWE. Gane landed one clean shot, to Jones' dick.
And how about Dana saying Ngannou will NEVER fight for the UFC again?? I'm pretty sure he said that about Couture and then Couture had another 7-8 fights but damn was the negotiations that heated??
Does anyone think that Miocic is a tougher matchup stylewise for Jones than Nganou?
I know we haven't seen Stipe in a cool ass minute, but his package of skillset relative to Nganou's mostly one trick - and largely defensible by a guy like Jones - arsenal appears on paper at least to trouble Jon morseso, I think?
I think Stipe has more tools but IDK. I hate using MMAmath but I'm thinking about the first Stipe/Ngannou fight was pretty lackluster and Stipe basically just Jon Fitch'd the guy for 5 rounds. The rematch...well....none of those tools seemed to matter against the one trick Ngannou. I think Ngannou doesn't get the respect he deserves. He keeps the fight where he wants it to be 90% of the time.Originally Posted by Percussion
Jones...He made it look too easy. Visually he looks like he didn't do anything for 3 years and just came out and slept a guy who has a beautiful resume at HW. I'm even more excited to see Jones v. Stipe this summer after seeing how Jones handled himself against Gane.
I know Dana says they're out of the Ngannou business, but Jones beating Miocic then the Blaydes/Pavlovich winner, would set up Jones vs. Ngannou to be the biggest fight of all time. Hope he wouldn't be too stubborn to make it if the time comes.
I know it aint MMA but I saw that Luke Rockhold vs. Mike Perry (at 185) and Eddie Alvarez vs. Chad Mendes (probably at 155?) has been signed for April in BKFC. Completely out of left field, but I will watch it. Eddie and Mendes are probably pretty well suited for bare knuckle but Luke Rockhold seems more dubious to me, his strengths has always been his kicking and grappling game while his boxing, head movement and chin are his biggest flaws. I could see him do as well as PVZ. He will have a pretty significant size and reach advantage over Mike Perry though.
As for Stipe/Jones; I think if the slimmer, frail looking Stipe that fought Ngannou the second time shows up, Jones will run through him. I do have have a sneaky feeling that Stipe's best days are behind him, he barely eeked by a washed DC who had shot knees and got starched by Ngannou, he will also not have fought for 2+ years and not have won a fight in 3 years by the time he fights Jones. He will also be like 41 right? Stipe from like 2016-2017 versus Bones would have been a lot more exciting.
Last edited by OD50; March 8th, 2023 at 6:53 AM.
I would definitely like to see Ngannou v. Jones but I feel like by the time it would happen, if Frances is just hanging out chillin I don't know if it's that big of a fight anymore. To the fans like us it will be and maybe that's enough. Personally I don't see anyone getting through Pavlovich. I think he knocks out Blaydes, and Jones retires after the Stipe fight lol.
BKFC is turning into the equivalent of like TNA for UFC fighters lol. I've tried to watch it but I need kicks. Where the hell are they getting money? Their ppv buys are terrible, they don't hold events at big venues but they gotta be paying a dude like Luke Rockhold a decent amount right?
I agree about Jones/Stipe. Stipe 5-6 years ago v Jones 5-6 years ago would've been solid. Stipe has a great resume, knocked out a bunch of names.
According to Rockhold he is being paid way more than his last UFC contract. I think he's only signed for that one fight though.
I have actually never watched a full BKFC PPV, not even a full fight I believe, only seen highlights from fights where I know of the guys/gals, like PVZ, MVP and Mike Perry. I'm kind of intrigued by Rockhold/Perry and Alvarez/Mendes though.
My advice for anyone wanting to see some legit stand-up fights; go watch ONE's Youtube channel on Fridays. World class Muay Thai fighters beating the shit out of each other with 4oz gloves, madness..
Last edited by OD50; March 8th, 2023 at 3:16 PM.
I'm slowly becoming a fan of ONE. It can be a little hard to follow since most cards have like 4-5 different types of fights but they're usually really good cards. I have Showtime through Amazon Prime so my son and I will watch OneFC and Bellator quite a bit these days.
And again...where is the money coming from with BKFC??? It's like a running theme with these former UFC fighters but then I wonder, maybe they were just getting paid less due to the roster size. BKFC has a fraction of what the UFC has. How much do the unknown guys walk out with? I'll have to deep dive into it one day.
Apparently Triller recently bought BKFC, so that could explain how they can afford Alvarez, Mendes and Rockhold all of a sudden. Triller are the dorks that promoted Tyson/Jones Jr and two of Jake Paul's fights. Triller seems to be valued at $5 billion so I guess they have some cash to throw around.
Last edited by OD50; March 8th, 2023 at 4:28 PM.
$5 billion!?!? Dang. I do remember hearing Triller bought them now that you mention it.
Leon got the job done against Usman then. He was the better fighter. Nullified the grappling and landed heavier shots throughout, with greater volume. It was close enough that a draw was plausible due to the point deduction, but I had Edwards winning 4 of 5 rounds. Excellent performance.
Gaethje looked good.
Not shocked Colby v. Edwards is next. The top guys don't really fight each other and they're not trying to take a chance like Gilbert or Yan have fighting #10-15 ranked guys---at least they were somewhat popular. At least Colby beat Masvidal who wasn't exactly in the top 5 still but a guy who had just twice fought for the title.
Not a bad night of fights. I'm so out of touch with everyone these days so when I see Holly Holm on the card I'm like ok I'm in. Main event was worthy of a ppv co-main. I was surprised with how "safe" both guys fought. Vera couldn't get anything going, Sandhagen had an answer for everything. This weight class doesn't have the big names but it has some of the best fights/fighters.
UFC 287 this weekend. It's looking like a pretty sweet card. Pereira v. Adesanya 2 (technically 4), Masvidal v. Burns, those 2 fights alone are pretty badass. Chris Curtis v. Kelvin headlining the prelims, Karate Hottie on the prelims as well that'll definitely bring some eyes.
Huge win for Adesanya. Incredible knockout. He needed this rivalry to bring out the fighter in him. He's the most magnetic fighter since Anderson Silva came along, and this was his Chael Sonnen fight. Biggest star in the company. They'll probably rush into Adesanya vs. Chimaev, but to me you let that marinate - let Chimaev get a big win at middleweight before you do it.
Pereira I think is destined to win the belt at 205, as long as they can avoid him fighting Ankalaev. I think he runs through Jan, Jiri and Hill. Poor division, but Ankalaev is all wrong for him. Though he'd have a punchers chance of course.
Gamebred had nothing left at the top level and it showed. Bad matchmaking, though maybe they knew it was his last and needed him to essentially put somebody over. Strange because Burns, as good as he is, will never put an arse in a seat. Thought they'd try and get some juice out of Jorge for a Kevin Holland or somebody like that, a guy you can build a fight card around in the smacktalk era.
Alex was dominated that fight too and I think he wanted a Chuck/Tito 1 type finish with that flurry and as Joe and Daniel said he didn't respect what power Izzy still had left. It reminded me a lot of Arlovski v. Fedor where Arlovski was picking apart Fedor in every way and then he went for the flying knee finish and boom, dead. Joe saying it was the best knockout he's ever seen was a little "ronda could beat floyd" type talking but it was a great finish. Alex at LHW, good luck to that division.
I was pissed Action Man and Karate Hottie lost. Masvidal doing the job was expected even if Burns isn't exactly a young lion setting the world on fire.
I only watched the fight with one eye, but Karate Hottie was kind of robbed, right?
I enjoyed seeing that Rosas Jr. kid getting a bit of a reality check, he needs a few more of those.
Karate Hottie and Action Man, robbed. I think that we need to start implementing those post fight stats that are readily available as soon as the bell rings. Most of the criteria is right there to go off of. This isn't the 1950's we should be way beyond the old way of judging fights by now.
I'd honestly have a committee of media scores over the current system. Clueless old fucks who don't know what they're watching. The Gastelum fight for example, Gastelum's flurry is off a headbutt causing a flash knockdown. Eliminate the (accidental) illegal blow and it's a Curtis round. Yet the judges don't know this? Come on.
They probably didn't see the headbutt when it happened. As far as I know the judges can't use any kind of replays or alternate angles before putting the scores down, they have to go by what they see in the moment.
I think Curtis said on the MMA hour that he will appeal the decision, the missed headbutt being part of that. I wouldn't hold my breath for any changes though.
Naw those appeals almost never go through.
I do think it's ridiculous the judges can't factor in anything beyond what they see in the moment. It's an outdated method because it was understandable when the technology wasn't available but how long have we have like compustrike? 20-25 years? It's absurd.
So, wouldn't you guys be more interested in seeing Pavlovich/Jones instead of Miocic/Jones? Dude has six straight first round (T)KO's and KO'd Derrick Lewis, Tai Tuivasa and Curtis Blaydes in a combined just over five minutes in his last three. Meanwhile Stipe has been sitting on the bench for 2+ years and hasn't won a fight in nearly 3 years. I think Jones has hinted that he will defend the HW title once and then retire, so Pavlovich may not get a shot at Jones after JBJ most likely defeats Miocic.
/But yeah, I understand that Stipe still has name value and star power well above Pavlovich. Hendo/Bisping 2 kind of proves that point.
Last edited by OD50; April 23rd, 2023 at 6:44 AM.
That's on the promoter though. If you can't sell the greatest of all time against a guy who has smashed the first round knockout streak, half against top 5 fighters, there's a problem. Jones vs. Pavlovich is the more compelling fight. Stipe is a legend but his drawing value is overstated and I don't think anybody fancies him against Jones. The ideal would be, I guess, if Jones beats Miocic and Pavlovich beats Gane by first round knockout then that can be the UFC 300 main event. It'd be shit if Jones retires after Stipe though, really shit.
My answer is no. I would rather see the 2 men who are considered the best of all time in those weight classes fight. Sergei wasn't exactly doing amazing in his fight with Blaydes getting pieced up here and there. Blaydes fought the wrong fight. I think he felt confident in his stand up and ditched the gameplan. Sergei is so violent, I love watching him. The Experiment v. the winner of arguably the biggest fight in UFC hisory, and for a title=that's the path.
This is nothing like Hendo/Bisping 2. Hendo and Bisping weren't considered the top 2 fighters of all time in their respective divisions. Sergei's time will come.
I agree with all of this. Especially if Jones retires. I don't see how you can sign an 8 fight deal, have one fight, a month later and then be all "Wouldn't it be weird if I retired at MSG?"
Jon Jones will no doubt go down as not only the best fighter of all time but also the fighter who wasted the most potential. We've discussed this a few times here, imagine Jon Jones and what he would or would not have accomplished. Who knows, maybe he would've lost the title maybe he would've moved up sooner or had more super fights. We might've been able to see Anderson Silva v. Jon Jones. We might've been able to see Jones v. Brock Lesnar lol. I always wanted to see Tito Ortiz v. Jon Jones, "what if..." Jon Jones v. JDS, Cain V, he might've fought Ngannou sooner. Just so many "What if" scenarios but he spent it suspended and/or getting ready for HW. 3 years on the shelf almost this most recent run.
I read that Jones/Miocic is targeted for November at MSG and that Pavlovich is willing to sit and wait for the winner, which means he will probably be out for at least a year from now, neither Stipe or Jones fight exactly frequently these days. Pavlovich/Gane in the interim would be sort of interesting, I think Gane's technical, elusive striking could prove tricky for Pavlovich's more heads on throwing lunch boxes approach though, I think people have forgot how good Gane is due to him getting trashed by Jones last time out. Gane's last two has been for the title though and he lost both. Gane/Jones 2 could be quite a hard sell I think, while Pavlovich/Jones could be quite big if they smash Stipe/Gane respectively. Gane/Miocic could also be a fairly interesting match-up, if they'd end up beating Pavlovich/Jones.
Jones did say he would defend against Stipe and then retire, but who knows with JBJ. Maybe he just had one of those days..
Point with Hendo/Bisping 2 is that you sometimes can get a title shot from name recognition over merit. I don't remember specifics but I hardly think Hendo was the #1 MW when he challenged Bisping. I know Bisping also wanted revenge for UFC 100 and all that jazz of course. Of course Stipe has "merit" but he also got completely starched by Ngannou in his last fight and hasn't won in three years.
Last edited by OD50; April 24th, 2023 at 5:40 AM.
I think if you do Sergei v. Gane you risk Sergei losing and then what? Gane v. Stipe? Meh. Jones v. Gane 2? Naw. That isn't going keep Jones around after he rinsed that dude. Gane's stock has basically vanished. He got lucky in a couple name fights and absolutely owned in the title fights he was in. Trust me, I HATE how inactive Stipe and Jones are and we were supposed to get Jones-Stipe in July supposedly but yeah it's the fight game. Thank God we're not talking boxing.
Jones said "what if" He didn't say he was actually going to he just said what if I retired after beating the HW GOAT.
Stipe also hasn't fought since the Ngannou fight. Hendo was never considered the MW GOAT. Bisping was never considered anything but a guy who got lucky when he won the title. It's more about merit than name recognition with Stipe v. Jones. Stipe also dominated Ngannou in their first fight, let's not forget that.
If Jones fights Stipe in July with Pavlovich getting the winner in early '24 it would be a perfectly fine scenario, Pavlovich has fought four times in 13 months so he probably wouldn't mind a year or so off at this point.
I read a rumor that the fight is being targeted for November at MSG though which would have Pavlovich fighting the winner at best in mid/late '24. It's probably even more likely that whoever wins of Jones and Miocic will either retire or sit out for 2-3 years pouting about being paid less than Francis Ngannou (i.e Stipe), leaving us with an interim HW title fight between Pavlovich and Tom Aspinall or something along those lines.
I watched the Morning Kombat folks talking about this and they feel that Jones isn't interested in taking on dangerous, young, up and comers at this point but is more about fighting the biggest names that he can find. Besides Stipe there really isn't any names around still fighting at HW though, barring that somehow Ngannou ends up back in the UFC. Ten or so years ago Jones could have made bank fighting guys like Cain, Overeem or even Brock at HW, these days the top HW names are guys like Pavlovich, Gane, Tuivasa, Blades and Volkov, them vs JBJ doesn't scream PPV box office to me.
I'm actually guessing that Jones is thinking he will beat Stipe this year and then fight a (hopefully) returning Ngannou in 2024-2025 to cement his status at HW. I doubt he's even entertaining the thought of fighting a Pavlovich, Aspinall type of guy.
/Oh, anyone interested in the BKFC card this weekend btw? I'm not a huge bare knuckle guy, but Mike Perry/Luke Rockhold and Eddie Alvarez/Chad Mendes somewhat has my attention. I'm going with Platinum Mike and Money Chad here. Eddie could have been a monster in bare knuckle 10-15 years ago but I think his age and deteriorated chin will cost him here, and Mendes (who looks like a horse-meat fueled tank these days) will KO him. Luke Rockhold fighting bare knuckle is so weird considering that his strengths has always been his grappling and kicking game, while his boxing (defense especially) and chin has always been his biggest weakness'. He does have a huge size advantage on Perry though.
Last edited by OD50; April 26th, 2023 at 5:24 AM.
@OD50 I agree with all of that about Jones and the Heavyweight division. I will say this, he did fight Gane. That was more of a necessary evil a fight he pretty much had to take. I still don't think he or his team thought they would just run through Gane. Maybe we just haven't seen Jones fight in so long but there was a weird calm about him. I agree that he's probably looking for the "names". Sergei v. Blaydes at the Apex, I don't really get that. But if people were watching, I think people are starting to take notice.
Jones signed an 8-fight deal. Who the hell did he think was left in the division other than Stipe, Lewis, Blaydes, and then some up and comers like Gane, like Aspinall....Maybe he wants to dip back to 205?
No real interest in BKFC. Not saying I don't watch clips or even full fights. I used to be a huge boxing fan as a young kid into my 20's but I need kicks at the very least. BKFC with kicks, no takedowns, I would be more interested in the promotion. With all of that said, due to their status in MMA I do want to check out Rockhold and the Chad "Ubereem" Mendes v. Alvarez fights.
I'll also admit watching the women fight, there's something wild but in a good way about it. Like watching those women in prison movies back in the day where 80% of the time they're fighting each other.
I wouldn't say it to Jones but it seems like he's pretty much a potbelly and some love-handles away from fighting at 205 again..
/Just watched Luke Rockhold and Mike Perry doing a "face-to-face" on the MMA Hour and it honestly was pretty entertaining and got me even a bit more hyped for the fight.
Yeah I didn't expect him to be shredded or anything as he usually comes in looking a little soft at 205 after the weigh ins. Like when he flexed for the Gane fight he looked good but the next day it was like holy shit he looked like he wanted to somewhere else.I wouldn't say it to Jones but it seems like he's pretty much a potbelly and some love-handles away from fighting at 205 again..
/Just watched Luke Rockhold and Mike Perry doing a "face-to-face" on the MMA Hour and it honestly was pretty entertaining and got me even a bit more hyped for the fight.
I saw them do a face off the other day where Luke pretended to throw a kick and Mike was like you can't use kicks! It'll be pitiful if Luke Rockhold gets knocked out by Mike Perry. How is this fight even happening they're like 3 weight classes apart now aren't they?
Nah, Rockhold has always been a MW besides the Blachowicz fight at 205, Perry has fought at WW most his career. Thing is that Rockhold has always been a massive MW while Perry is fairly smallish at WW.
Rockhold's boxing defence is pretty terrible and he generates little power with his hands. Mike Perry hits hard, is tougher than a two dollar steak and has an iron chin. It's a recipe for Rockhold getting flattened, or beaten badly at best, in their fight. I can't get into BKFC, it just seems so low rent. Why not just have them box properly? I get it, more violent, ring encourages more action, but from a sporting perspective? Nah, not for me. It's like indoor football (soccer), a lower quality derivative of the actual game in favour of more flash points.
So, pretty much everybody has dropped out of negotiations with Ngannou. I loved his stand from a moral standpoint, with the pushing of unionisation, health care etc, but from a sporting perspective it's probably killed his career. He was the wrong guy to make the stand. It'll take a Conor and nobody else to get that for the roster. Everybody else is expendible unfortunately. Maybe even Conor is.
From the sporting perspective, he's massively overestimated his drawing potential in boxing, given he's had to give up his bargaining power (being UFC Heavyweight champion) to make it happen. Out of Joshua, Fury, Usyk, Zhang (Chinese market), Wilder and Ruiz (former champ, Hispanic market), only Joshua/Usyk (2-0 Usyk) and Fury/Wilder (2-0-1 Fury) have been definitively settled. That leaves 13 permutations to make bigger fights than one involving Ngannou. That's also not accounting for Dillian Whyte, who has bigger fights with Joshua (rematch) and Wilder, as well as all the potential rematches that those fights would spawn. And that those guys fight twice a year at most. Shame, as him vs a Jones/Pavlovich winner would be gigantic.
Do you think Dana sticks to his guns about Ngannou not fighting for the UFC ever again? Off the top the only one that stands out is Paul Daley in terms of who he's said that about. I thought he said that about Couture when Couture was champ and they had the falling out before Randy came back to fight Brock.
I don't think he does, no. Heavyweight division isn't good and his presence improves it greatly. I think Dana would take him back, but it'd be on less than what they were offering initially.
I'm just thinking that if Jones really does step away after the Stipe fight, which we don't even know WHEN that is going to happen. First July, now Oct-Nov?
Like you said, Ngannou wasn't the guy to spark that kind of change and he's finding out firsthand just how much the hype machine can put the wrong people in your ear. He wasn't Ronda Rousey or Conor McGregor. Those are probably the only 2 fighters in the last 20+ years that could've maybe made those things happen for the fighters. MAYBE. The brand is bigger than any fighter and the average joe doesn't give a shit if someone in MMA lives or dies.
Ngannou might have to look at what he's asking for and lower that figure or he'll have to go back tot he UFC and figure something out there.
So Jones is basically retiring after the Stipe fight. He said that if Ngannou returned maybe that would spark his interest due to the money....What I don't get is why sign an 8 fight deal when the plan was to fight Stipe and retire? Maybe 8 is the standard deal? I'm curious if he fought Stipe instead of Gane, would he have retired that night? It feels like if he beat Ngannou, he would still want to fight Stipe. GOAT v. GOAT. If he lost to Ngannou, or even to Gane, where would he have gone next?
Leverage isn't it? Mayweather retired all the time. He'd come back if they can make a star out of Pavlovich or maybe Aspinall. Wouldn't if he's not going to make much.
Sterling vs. Cejudo at the weekend then. Honestly, if Henry wins I think you have to put him top 10 all time without any dispute. Maybe he's already there but there's a big gap between his big wins and the rest of his resume. He'd have beaten the best flyweight and the 3 best bantamweights of all time with a win you would say. I think Sterling wins though. He should be significantly bigger and the 3 years out is tough to overcome against a guy as good as Sterling.
Gilbert vs. Belal is fun. Winner needs to leapfrog Colby for the title shot. Give Colby the loser on the eventual title card. I've got Burns, but Belal is tough and it'll be nip and tuck after 5 rounds I think.
Jones is probably making sure someone at his event retires as the UFC are on like a streak of like 90 where at least one fighter retires. I don't know if Jones will stay retired but we've talked about this to death, it makes me sad because we missed out on some great fights. Who knows, maybe he doesn't go on to be the GOAT if he was active but at least he wouldn't have these side discussions about steroids, hitting women, cocaine with Colby here in Iowa, etc. There's 5 fights we should've had with Jones:
The Gus rematch sooner and Anderson Silva for the LHW championship
Cain V, JDS, Stipe, and possibly Cormier-HW fights
There might've been some way to do Fedor v. Jones or Lesnar v. Jones. I just feel like he would've moved up to HW sooner UNLESS the Izzy train made it to Jones' neck of the woods in time for it to mean something. Izzy 3 years ago wouldn't have been a fight to give a shit about.
And if Jones went up, does he ever come back down?
I'm not a fan of Sterling or Cejudo. Cejudo's personality, I know I should be above caring about that stuff but it's difficult. I'm taking time out of my day to watch some goofy prick? No. He'll probably win too and then retire, say some goofy rehearsed post fight speech. He's like Tito when Tito was still good. Fucking HATED Tito for the disrespect toward Ken Shamrock. But watching Randy beat him, then that Chuck loss, well both losses, made up for all the good wins he had. I just watched Tito v. Rashad again....Wow. Tito would've probably won if he didn't hold the cage. Imagine that trajectory.
I hope Burns wins. I hate Colby Covington-again another Cejudo type. Goofy rehearsed promos, nothing special in his fights but keeps fucking winning so we're stuck with this Dana White Hope. But there is some history with Leon and the Eye Poke of Doom. He was winning that first round but who knows. Leon's a guy I never really followed, thought he was a clown and his entire brand is built off getting introduced to the real streets.
Glad Sterling won. Cejudo is such a goof and honestly 135 is kind of turning into a clown show. Sterling, Cejudo, MGK O'Malley, Spam Takedown, I hope it actually draws people in because that division has never really been a draw it's so weird. They have recognizable names but none of them were ever draws. Including Dominic and TJ. Their ppv buys were always right there with 125lbs headliners like Mighty Mouse.
Anyone watching the new TUF?
Nah. Is it any good?
Yes. I haven't watched the show in ages. The first 2 fights were worthy. The newest episode you got to see McGregor get to know everyone in the house, both teams, having some drinks and stuff it was cool.
This fight card........yikes.
I didn't realize Aldana was part of the UFC's catchweight ppv (UFC 279) where 6 fights were at catchweight. She might win who knows. It's weird how Nunes hasn't been able to really translate into the star that the champions before her were. She's beat the 4 most well known female fighters aside from Gina Carano (Rousey, Tate, Holm, Cyborg) and I think we just don't see the challenges. Even when Pena won I think people chalked that up to a GSP/Serra situation.
Dariush needs the win here. Charles' time has come and gone like Robbie Lawler.
Charles SMOKED that dude. See ya later Dariush. That's a tough loss for him but a huge win for Charles.
Nunes retired. I'm not really broken up about it. As stated before she has a great legacy, beat the top 4 WMMA fighters and had nothing else to really prove after avenging her loss to Pena. I just looked up her record, I didn't realize how inactive Nunes has been. But when the division doesn't really have any clear cut challengers and/or draws I can see why.
In reality the only fight that I want to see with Nunes is a rematch with Cyborg. I hate that we never saw a part 2.
Anyone been watching TUF? My son and I were as he has the ESPN+ app. The fights have been pretty solid. I just think it was a stupid move to have one team be all vets, the other "rookies". Is it a shock that McGregor's team is 0-5?
Last episode we finally saw where the pie face clip came from with McGregor and Chandler but now that they might not even be fighting, kind of takes me out of it all. And I don't think I've watched a season of TUF since that weird live edition I think it was Faber v. Cruz.
UFC 290 this weekend. Not a bad card. Volk v. Yair in a unification bout. Moreno v. Pantoja has a little history there as Pantoja has beat Moreno, albeit 5 years ago.
Robbie Lawler v. Niko Price headlining the prelims!
Robbie Lawler...you couldn't have written a better ending to this guy's career. Lawler has a special place in my heart when it comes to MMA. I remember UFC 40 and how I hadn't watched a UFC since 5-6. Like many we were tuning in to see Ken Shamrock's UFC return to fight Tito. First fight of the ppv was this guy billed from Iowa and it was Lawler knocking out Tiki. I'm so happy that was the first ppv and fight to bring me back into MMA. That card introduced me to so many badass fighters. My oldest son's favorite 2 fighters are Robbie Lawler and Nick Diaz. That was one of the first fights he saw when he was getting into MMA watching Ultimate Knockouts and just loved everything they've done.
What's next for Volk? I told my son he's kind of in that Jon Jones post-DC 2 fight where he's just facing people and the fights aren't really a big deal to the masses. To the hardcore fans that fight last night was huge and Volk ran through a top 3 guy with ease. He really has nothing else to prove other than establishing his name in the mainstream. A move to 155 wouldn't suck. He might be a little too small for 170 but I know he's fought at that weight before. 155 would be a great move he proved he can definitely hang with the elite.
I only saw the main card but what a ppv!
Holland looked incredible.
Ferguson....the fight took a 180 when he was poked in the eye which I think was blatant as fuck. Green is the modern day Gilbert Yvel (@OD50 should like that old school reference)
Black Beast!! Looked incredible, had no clue that was his last fight so hopefully he stays but I could very well see him being Ngannou's first PFL opponent.
Alex is a beast. How that was a SD is beyond me but I think that 3rd round had some moments where Jan landed some combos but they didn't do shit to Alex. IDK if a title shot is on the horizon for Alex but damn he looked good at 205.
I blinked and DP was out holy shit! Gaethje avenged his loss and earned the winner of Islam/Charles. The one thing that I didn't understand is why they kept playing that Usman/Edwards finish. I get that it was similar to a year ago but fuck man that's Justin's training partner, who was there in the crowd. Just didn't make sense. And they had that split screen comparison cued up in 2 minutes like Kevin Dunn was there lol. Made me wonder why DP kept throwing the left high kick so often he was probably instructed to do so. Maybe set up a fight with Usman at 170?
Big win last night for O'Malley. Sterling saying he's moving up to 145 leaves a few possible match ups in the future that are very appealing.
Max Holloway v. Korean Zombie was everything we could've dreamed of.
Crazy ppv last night. Islam v. Volk ending with the Cro Cop headkick within a round. The co-main was intense between Usman/Khamzat. I felt like giving a 10-8 to Khamzat in that first round seemed odd. If anything that was a draw. Solid 185 debut for Usman though.
Walker was clearly out of it from that knee but I don't see how it's a NC when Walker was clearly on one knee when dude threw it. Said looked good, finished homeboy within a minute. Ikram looked like Chuck finishing Tito. It was savage.
Jon Jones v. Stipe Miocic is off due to Jones tearing his pec in training. Now we get Sergei v. Tom Aspinall for the interim HW championship. Curious why it's not Stipe v. one of them but it is what it is. Just sucks because Jones/Stipe, that's the mega superfight. We probably won't be seeing them fight for at least a year.
For the oldheads this is pretty cool..
What a great card on Saturday. The main card, all finishes, every fight was entertaining. Aspinall is a scary dude. I've only seen a couple of his fights, he's like the modern era Frank Mir with that speed and athleticism in a division that doesn't see a lot of that.
Alex....2 division champion in 11 fights. And not in some low tier promotion but the UFC, against killers.
LOL MAGA Covington, I hear Fox News is always looking for Howler monkeys to add to their roster…
I hate that dude. I used to think I hated Tito and Chael but I actually think I hate this guy.
I hate his fanbase even more. I hate hearing how "it's all an act!" So you support someone who's character is he's the biggest POS on the planet? Wow that's fitting.
Jim Miller! What a badass. Ridiculous longevity. He's not beating anybody particularly good but he's winning more than he loses and has settled into a 'finish or get outclassed/outpaced' pattern where he either loses on the scorecards or gets it done inside the 15. Loved the Felder callout - 2 veterans, Felder was operating at a higher level pre-retirement but the rust should level the playing field somewhat. Perfect first televised prelim for 300. Matt Brown as an alternative wouldn't be terrible either.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, Andrei Arlovski. 24 fights since he fought Travis Browne - no finishes, lost 13 of them (plus another loss overturned to a no contest), just one Fight of the Night bonus, and picking up minimum $225k a fight as far as I can see. The definition of stealing a living, and fair play to him. To think Jon Fitch, Yushin Okami etc were canned as soon as they could back in the day when Arlovski's fights are worse and less relevant, and he's been doing it for nearly a decade, is remarkable.
It helps that he's in the HW division. His record is nuts. He goes on these random 4-5 fight win streaks and then loses a bunch, wins a few more, rinse and repeat. I think if he had been in a smaller weight class and didn't have the name value he would've been cut. But Dana has a soft spot for the OGs like BJ Penn, Arlovski, etc.
Doesn't make sense when they've been happy to let guys like Benson Henderson and Pettis go when they were still putting on good fights and a similar financial outlay. I love it because Andrei seems a decent guy, but he's the most overpaid fighter of all time. He even managed to get 2 paydays out of Affliction back in the day! 2024 UFC main eventer pay for chinning Ben Rothwell in 2008. And 1 and a half million for Fedor fight! He must have made 8 figures from the sport and hasn't put one arse in a seat since then.
Strickland vs. DDP for the title on Saturday then. Who would have called that this time last year? But they've beat Adesanya and Whittaker respectively, emphatically, so here we are. Sean's an interesting character, definitely an overachiever. Israel fought like shit in their title bout, but he still had to beat him and he did easily over five rounds. DDP had the look of a glass cannon with his power and gas tank but seems to have fixed the latter so might be a juggernaut. I think his power is the difference and we have a new champion. Cue Adesanya for the staredown. I think it's almost certain they'll want Chimaev in the title fight come October's Abu Dhabi show, and they'll want a strong champion. Either by name (Izzy) or dominance.
I'll be honest man, when I see Arlovski is on the card I get excited because you never know what kind of fight you're going to get. A boring 3 rounder, a crazy violent finish, but Arlovski is also one of my all time favorites. But I can't disagree with what you've said as he is getting a ridiculous amount of money and I'm not sure why lol. Tenure?
I think we see DDP take the title as I'm not 100% sold on Strickland. Everyone has an off night and I think that's what we saw with Izzy. DDP v. Izzy in the summer? I will say this....Khamzat needs to fight. I've never really been a fan of this guy or the way the UFC gives him special treatment. The guy needs to beat someone in the top 3 at 185. You want to give the guy a title shot have him challenge Leon. There's nothing on the horizon for him that makes sense and Khamzat has wins over GIlbert Burns and Usman (even though it was at 185). If they do the loser of DDP/Strickland v. Khamzat=winner gets next title shot that would make the most sense.
It looks like Saudi is pressuring UFC to give them a good card, so I'd expect Khamzat to fight on that card (June apparently) to turn around for Abu Dhabi in October. Makes sense to have him fight Cannonier, who is back in the mix given his win streak and win over Strickland. Or the Costa/Whittaker winner. Either way, I agree he needs a proper middleweight win to earn a title shot - he's passed the eye test so far, and beaten 2 top 5 welterweights, but he scraped by them rather than being the conqueror he's been portrayed as. He's a shit or bust fighter, and generally the top 5 won't wilt like those he's fought on the way up. That's dangerous if he wants to be champion, as a guy like Strickland will stick around unless you put him to sleep, and come the championship rounds he'll have the greater gas tank.
Khamzat always seems to have a very entertaining 5 minutes and then he squeaks by the rest of the fight. His gimmick was what it was at the beginning but he hasn't really lived up to the hype. A fight against Cannonier would be perfect. I assume the cut to 170 is not pleasant.
Great card last night. Topuria made himself a star with that knockout, huge self belief, called his shot and put a legend out. Sad for Volk, but he had a great reign. Featherweight has such a strong lineage with Aldo, Conor, Max and Volk. All legends of the game. It shows how good the division is that a prime Frankie Edgar didn't win the belt. If Holloway finds a way to beat Gaethje the Ilia vs. Max title fight would be gigantic.
It's typical of the sport that pretty much every division is going to have a bigger fight than the main event of 300 - heavyweight is Jon Jones, say no more, 205 has Ankalaev on a stupid unbeaten streak, 185 and 170 have Chimaev and Rakhmanov respectively unbeaten rolling into title fights, 155 has probably Gaethje, 145 has an unbeaten champion against either Volk, Max, or unbeaten himself Evloev, 135 potentially has O'Malley vs. 10 fight win streak Merab, 125 should have Moreno challenging in the sphere on Mexico independence day, women's 135 should have Shevchenko going for belt two, 125 will be the Fiorot/Blanchfield winner at 7-0 in the UFC challenging Grasso probably in the sphere too, and 115 should have Zhang against unbeaten Suarez. The 300 card is great, but if they'd slowed the PPV pace it would have lined up perfectly for maybe July - Jones vs. Miocic, O'Malley vs. Merab and Pennington vs. Shevchenko could all be ready for then.
Either way, the year has potential to be an all timer.
Volk too busy trying to be a company man/warrior getting knocked out twice in a short time when one of those you just came off the couch. Topuria v. Holloway would be a great fight. Probably the last time Max would try to challenge for the title as he's young but not fight game young. Cutting to 145 has to be taking a toll on him by now right? Maybe lol
I'm a fan of the UFC 300 main event but I think it's the entire card not being as strong that has bothered me. Without a doubt this is going to be a strong year especially if we finally get that Chandler/McGregor fight.
Disappointing amount of WMMA for me. Harrison vs. Holm has the potential to be awful, and while Andrade is usually in good fights, it doesn't feel particularly big a fight given recent form. It's a solid 8-9/10 card but we've seen better. The MSG debut for example, or Aldo vs. McGregor. I love the main event and Max vs. Gaethje as fights, Jim Miller deserves it, the Charles and Jiri fights are great, the rest is lacking a bit.
I have to agree. Even the Zhang/Yan fight even though it's for a title I'll be honest, not very familiar with Yan. Finished by Carla, but knocked out Andrade. Zhang is always fun. That is a fight that is more about furthering the UFC's relationship with bringing in Chinese fighters and trying to get that market locked down. Harrison/Holm...Reminds me of Askren v. Robbie Lawler if that makes any sense.
UFC 300 tonight and this card is just absolutely nuts
Legendary event, with an all time great MMA moment with Max calling Justin in to throwdown after shutting him out, entering the phone booth with the baddest motherfucker in the sport, then knocking him out clean with a second left.
Thinking aloud, but is that the first time that pretty much every fight went in a way that favours the company?
Pereira beating Hill is obvious. Bigger name, fast becoming a PPV draw, potential of having the first 'third belt' challenger as long as he wins, keeps the massive trilogy for the belt on the table too with Adesanya. Hill has to go back to the drawing board but he was rushed into contention in the first place and can rebuild now.
Zhang builds her legend but brings Yan up a level with the toughness.
Cements Max as THE BMF, going up a weight class to beat that man in that manner. Poirier 3, Conor and Chandler 2 still on the table for Justin.
Armen steps up, but Charles doesn't really lose anything having the bigger moments and running out of clock. Lightweight needed someone to break into the top 5 outside of the status quo, but Charles himself still won't be far off a title.
Nickel won but in a way they can take there time with him.
Jiri won in a belter of a fight, Rakic lost nothing in displaying his skill and heart and got more from that than he would from fighting a patient, boring points win.
Sterling won but again in a way where they can slowly build him into the new weight class while the Ilia/Volk/Max stuff plays out. Kattar is probably the biggest loser of the event, didn't look close to championship level after a run of main events.
Harrison wins via domination and they can kind of kill Holm off now, a boring blight on the division for years despite name value. A Harrison title fight might actually bring eyes to a Raquel Pennington scrap. Plus, if she wins, you never know that might draw Nunes back for an actual huge fight. Or Ronda!
Lopes starched Yuseff, who was a nothing contender. There's something about his wild style and his look that make him must see.
Money Moicano! Great heart, comeback finish, ridiculous promo. All for his promotional push, fun to watch.
Andrade winning keeps her relevant, which is good because she's always great value at either weight class.
Miller vs. Green was a war. Best use of both men. Like the Paddy call out. Bobby smokes him. If Tony hasn't been released, Miller vs. Ferguson is perfect.
Figgy working towards a shot at a title in a second division. Such a skilled fighter. I think he'll be too small for the elite at bantamweight but fun to watch. Cody worked himself back to a relevant fight but truthfully he hasn't been it for a while. Shame really that he fought here, him and Aldo in Brazil would have been ideal.
Superb card.
One of the best cards I've seen in 30 years of watching the UFC. I keep replaying those last 10 seconds of Gaethje v. Holloway in my head it was just insanity.
The way Alex just shut down Herb Dean and then knocked out Hill was the cherry on top of a fantastic ppv.
How is Aldo still kicking ass? He's one of those few guys who despite having some losses here and there, still capable, still a threat. SUPPOSEDLY officially retired now but we'll see.
I hope they get him and Cruz together for a fight. It's going on 15 years since they both started their respective reigns, would be a perfect fight for them both to go out on. Just make MSG a legacy kind of card - Jones vs. Miocic on top with all the longest tenured fighters underneath - I'm talking Cruz vs. Aldo, Arlovski vs. Black Beast, Wonderboy vs. Magny, Miller vs. Ferguson, fun fights with no real relevance beyond the night.
I know the UFC offered the fight to both men but Cruz turned it down so that's where we get Aldo v. Martinez. IDK if Cruz wants anything to do with Aldo. I'm not a fan of Cruz but he's definitely on my list of "What could've been" fighters. I'm looking at his record and from 2011-present he was extremely inactive for a guy who's only 39 years old. And when he would come back years ago he still looked good, beat Dillashaw for the belt. But the guy is made of glass.
Yeah Cruz is a huge 'what if' fighter, given his injury record. I don't rate him as the best bantamweight ever as he couldn't maintain the schedule. Benavidez and Dillashaw are elite wins, Faber's a good scalp, but that whole era of guys he's missed makes it impossible to put him over Sterling or even TJ. Just wish he faced prime Barao as I don't feel that was a gimme, TJ was just all wrong for Barao with the power. He really did a number on him.
It sucks that UFC matchmaking just doesn't make sense sometimes. That Aldo vs. Merab fight at altitude, why? When Dillashaw got the title shot coming off a long layoff. Flip those fights and we'd have had an interesting fight for Sterling, and not awarded TJ for his EPO ban. Missed opportunity.
I wish I could remember where I saw it but there was a top 5 GOAT list for every major division in MMA (basically the UFC weight classes) by Fight Matrix and they listed Cruz as the best BW of all time. I'm not sure what they were basing it on because there was some dude named Noguiera that was listed int he top 5 Featherweights of all time and the guy was moreso a pioneer than a GOAT.
Personally, can't stand Cruz. Commentary sucks, his fights for the most part were very annoying and boring to watch. I would definitely say despite inactivity he's a top 5 of all time because of who he's beat and he was carrying that division for a bit early on in the UFC.
Anderson Silva.....What the hell is going on with this guy @FannyBatter lol
Trilogy with Chael will be in the boxing ring and he's also fighting TERRY CREWS???? I thought someone was talking about a movie like they are going to have a fight scene but no, actual boxing match.
Boxing is turning into something very strange. It's like back in the day they tried to make Celebrity Boxing a thing on Fox with Vanilla Ice and people like that who do VH1 reality tv stuff. If this approach bleeds into MMA....I guess you had a little bit with CM Punk. I'm not talking about people with actual athletic backgrounds like Lesnar for example or even the Green Power Ranger Jason David Frank. Are we ever going to see a Paul brother in MMA? Will someone from the Jersey Shore be next?
Figure one of the last two people here might be interested in this; it's a first look image of Dwayne Johnson as Mark Kerr in the upcoming film about Kerr's wild ride of a life, titled 'The Smashing Machine'..
..and after looking at everyone involved (A24 Films, Benny Safdie directing, Emily Blunt as Kerr's wife, Oleksandr Usyk as Igor Vovchanchyn, Ryan Bader as Mark Coleman) and as an MMA oldhead knowing a good chunk of the Mark Kerr story.. I'm certainly looking forward to catching this one.
I didn't look and see the cast so that's pretty tight they're going to have Igor in there. I assume we won't be seeing the Yamamoto fight where Kerr DDT'd himself. I was on the fence about a guy in his 50's playing a guy in his 20's but The Rock looks pretty damn close to Kerr. Ryan Bader as Mark Coleman?? That's wild.
I think if Poirier calls it a career I'm 100% fine with that. There is literally nothing else for him unless he wants to move up to 170 and make a run. The time for that would've probably been 3-4 years ago though. Great career, huge wins, dude has never had a boring fight and made a shit ton of money (hopefully) doing it.
What's next for Islam? He keeps talking about different weight classes and I'm like, you've barely scratched the surface at 155 my friend. Think about it, this was his first defense against someone in the actual division not some 145er moving up. Islam is a beast though.
Yeah that was a good way for Poirier to go out. Absolutely no shame in it. There's fights for him if he wants them, Diaz, Gaethje 3, Conor 4, to make him a lot of money but I don't think he needs it. I don't think welterweight is necessarily a bad shout if he wants a run at gold though - big grudge match with Colby, win that and he's not far off at all. Colby's a tough fight for him but he's wasted his prime and might be for the taking. If he finished him on a big PPV he'd probably get the next title shot honestly. If Islam doesn't earn it first of course.
On Makhachev, for me he should face Armen for the title defence record, then move up. He'd probably be a slight favourite against either Leon or Belal. Dare to be great. I guess there's Max as well in the mix. Max might be his worst matchup in fairness, great takedown defence, iron chin, works the body well, cardio for days, long. Toporia would be a fight as well.
Alex Pereira is a special type of fighter. Every "era" we seem to get those 2-3 truly special attractions and he is one of them in the modern era. The dude came out for round 2 and Cro Cop'd Jiri into Dimension X.
I think about what we lost for UFC 303 and then what we gained might've been even more spectacular.
Alex Pereira is awesome. Easily be the most charismatic Brasilian we’ve had in a long time and his last two finishes have made him look like a fucking killer.
Dude is getting a hero’s welcome when he gets home to Danbury this week.
Just realized a couple weeks back that I pass Glover’s gym on the way to work each day.
One of the guys who trains at the same martial arts school that me and my kids go to is working his way up through the amateur MMA scene. He apparently went up to Danbury at some point last year to roll around and spar with Pereira. Sounds like he’s a really cool guy with no ego who just wants to train for everything possible.
Pereira has the two biggest fights of the last 5 years in play if the chips fall. If Adesanya beats DDP in Australia, they NEED to run the trilogy for the light heavyweight title. Would Adesanya deserve it given Strickland/Whittaker and Ankalaev wait in the respective divisions? No. But it would be a monster fight. That sells out the Raiders stadium for sure. Then, should Alex keep winning and Jones beats Stipe and unifies heavyweight? Biggest fight in the sport's history. Or you just scrap any plans and go for it straight away given the potential for a monster like Ankalaev to mess it up. But, if it does somehow marinate and we get a superfight between the MMA GOAT and the combat sports GOAT for the first opportunity at a triple champion in the UFC? Wow.
Yeah I think most fans and the UFC will overlook Izzy's loss to Strickland and try to bang that trilogy with Alex at LHW. MW has not been the murderer's row it used to be when Anderson and Weidman were champions so that's how these guys get 1-2 wins, sometimes against unranked people and their personality tends to carry them. Strickland....as goofy as he is has quality wins at MW, but nobody really seems to care one bit about him. That's how the UFC will see it: How many fans would rather see Izzy/Alex 3 v. Izzy/Strickland 2?
Ankaleav says he wouldn't try to wrestle Alex (lies) he would knock him out on the feet. Sure you would Ank. Alex isn't unbeatable but I'm not about to get caught up in the "A really really really really really good wrestler will beat Alex" when we saw a guy with no real grappling already beat him in the Octagon, for the title. With that said....I am curious how a fight with Alex v. Jon Jones or even Tom Aspinall would go. How about Alex v. Sergei or Volkov? Brutal match ups.
Belal is champion. Not really surprised. I feel like WW is pretty strong in the top 20 and when you get to the top 5-6 guys I could see any of them as champ.
Aspinall finishing Blaydes in a minute wasn't on my BINGO card but again, not surprised. I was rooting for Blaydes but you can't sleep on Aspinall. The obvious move will be the winner of Jones/Stipe. DW said he wants Aspinall as the backup for that fight in November. I wouldn't be shocked if Aspinall doesn't fight either. It's not a "they're scared" or "Jones is scared" vibe it's more of a high risk low reward. Jones' career is cemented as the GOAT in many circles regardless of his failed tests. I get that people just want to see dominant fighters lose and why not lose to a guy who's been stopping people left and right. The thing is, the last thing the UFC wants is for Jones or Stipe beating Aspinall. Even if it was back and forth, the perception is that the 2 new killers were going to be Aspinall and Sergei. Sergei is on a 2-fight losing skid and now that leaves Aspinall.
I hate Paddy so much, but that finish was so clean. I fear he’s only going to get more annoying coming out of that
They're doing it right with this guy but I can't stand him either lol. He beat Tony, beat Green, I'm just glad his sidekick got her ass kicked. I hate fighters who "suck fame" i.e. they try to piggyback off the popular guy/girl from their camp and it's super cringe.
The hope is that Shavkat lives up to the hype and runs through Belal, as he's possibly the least entertaining champion there has ever been, and I've been watching since the Chuck Liddell era. It's strange that welterweight kind of balances out as a grinding/wrestling division, Robbie Lawler's really the only entertaining champion since game's became well rounded. Great fighters obviously including a top 3 all time guy in GSP, but man there's been a load of tough sell title fights.
Aspinall is a beast. If I'm him I'm asking to defend the interim on that card with Jones/Stipe. Kind of force the hand of the winner. Jones vs. Aspinall would be a gigantic fight. I don't think the question is whether Jon would take it, but whether he'd get to the fight before it felt like an age-based mismatch. He's had 1 fight since COVID started, Kevin Holland is having his 17th before Jon fights next. Mad.
Paddy winning is good for the division. You want the characters climbing the rankings. I don't particularly rate him and Green maybe held the ranking without merit, but a very impressive win. There's ways to navigate him through the division too. Dariush looks an easier touch than he was a couple of years ago, Dan Hooker is beatable, RDA is old. But the matchmaking kind of sucks so he'll probably get starched by a coming-off-a-loss Jalin Turner next or something.
I might be the only person who likes Belal. I think he is misunderstood and he is a major troll. A few years ago he would post really stupid things on reddit... I laughed.
As far as the fight, I am probably alone in this as well, but I thought it was great. Belal constantly pressured and mixed it up. He arguably got the better of the striking exchanges, but it always felt like Edwards was in it. I wonder how much of Edwards' poor performance was due to the fact that the fight was at 5AM.
Is it just me or is the UFC in dire need of a fight to reignite interest in the sport? Really doesn't feel like there's big hype for the next few events despite some big names in big fights. Too many boring fighters ranked? Poor promotion? Poor matchmaking? For me the 'champ champ' era has diluted actual title fights as it seems that is more of an aim for the champions than setting records at their own weight class.
That Aldo fight is a shining example of how shit Shelby and Maynard are at matchmaking. Imagine having a 38 year old all time great and booking him at altitude against a no name grinder. Cruz, Garbrandt, Cejudo, Figueiredo. Nah, Mario Bautista. Great job guys.
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