UFC 208 FEB 11TH, 2017 HOLM VS DE RANDAMIE

[Nash Diesel]

LIVE! Saturday February 11th, 2017
Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY

MAIN CARD
MAIN EVENT
UFC WOMEN'S FEATHERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Holly Holm v. Germaine De Randamie

Anderson Silva v. Derek Brunson
Jacare Souza v. Tim Boetsch
Dustin Poirier v. Jim Miller
Glover Teixeira v. Jared Cannonier

Undercard:
Phillipe Nover v. Rick Glenn
Jarred Brooks v. Ian McCall
Wilson Reis v. Ulka Sasaki
Nik Lentz v. Islam Makhachev
Ryan LaFlare v. Roan Carneiro

An interesting card and I'm really excited to see quite a few of the fights. The main event, very interesting. Obviously it should be Cyborg in there but hey, we'll get her in the next one or the one after that depending on if she gets suspended and for how long.

Anderson v. Brunson, I really hope we see Silva get a win here. It's been forever. The GOAT needs a win. And to be honest, the fight I'm looking forward tot he most is Poirier v. Miller. DP Is one of my favorite fighters and I don't think Jim Miller has ever been in a bad fight. He reminds me of Spencer Fisher. Just never had a bad fight, always entertaining, very humble.

[Fanny Batter]

I like the main card for fights. There's certainly some odd matchmaking but style-wise I can see some cracking fights.

Poirier vs. Miller I can see a big strength and speed advantage for Dustin. He should be the bigger, longer man too. But Jim Miller is a scrapper and is sneaky good everywhere. I'd expect Miller to fade down the stretch and Poirier puts him away but would love Miller to win and get him back in the top 10, always been a fan.

Glover vs. Cannonier is all time odd matchmaking. Cannonier isn't some super prospect and has no name, but they're so short of good fighters at 205, and Glover's already fought the majority of the 5-15 pack that this is what we get. Depends if Glover is shot after Rumble murdered him because he should have the skill and power to beat a guy that doesn't appear to hit that hard or be that good.

Jacare vs. Boetsch - keep busy fight for Souza. Should win comfortably however he wants. Boetsch has a history of ridiculous comeback wins but this is a step too far.

Anderson vs. Brunson is the people's main event. It's Anderson Fucking Silva! And perhaps his fall has been greatly exaggerated - decision losses to 2 current champions, a KO loss to Weidman and the leg injury. Of course he's old, but he's shown flashes of class in the last 2 contests. I think that's what we get from Anderson now - a more hittable, less defensively talented fighter who knows his skillset and is aware he can land a kill shot at anytime, who will fight with his hands down in spite of his fading chin and reflexes because that's who he is. Brunson is explosive enough to knock him out but likewise he's been stopped by strikes 3 times so can certainly fall victim to Silva's highlight reel. Don't know how to call it but always hope for a legend to turn back the years. I like Brunson though so if anybody deserves the Andy rub it's him, nice guy.

Holm vs. GDR isn't peaking my interest. Featherweight has Cyborg and Megan Anderson, who else? Nobody's really struggling to make 135. It is an absurd title match really, like creating a belt at 162, putting Conor against Jim Miller a trumpeting him as a 3 weight king. And it's Cyborg's belt. She's suspended. Fight-wise though, GDR is fierce so I expect her to bring the fight out of Holly so it could be a good un. Leaning GDR because she's the multi-faceted striker in what I see as a stand up fight. Hope Holm can do it though, a division with a Dutch nobody who's only challenger is Megan Anderson, an unknown, would be terrible. Donald Cerrone will never win a world title but Holly Holm can be a 2 weight queen by going 4-2 in the company? Absurd.

[Nash Diesel]

Holly Holm has been super lucky. She was ranked #7 when she was given a title shot against Ronda, a title shot that was supposed to be Tate's, and a fight that wasn't supposed to happen until January 2016 so Ronda's schedule was all fucked up. Now she lucks out again in terms of title fights because they needed a big name in creating the new division, a division pretty much created for 2 reasons-Cyborg and the UFC are all about ensuring at least 1 title is always on the line when ppv's hit. Keep in mind, I think Holly is a really good fighter but she's been very fortunate. I don't know who to pick. GDR is a beastly looking woman, dangerous on the feet. I think it'll be a great fight and I feel with 145 it'll be another option for women at 135 who maybe don't want to cut or want to test themselves once Cyborg rolls back through.

I think there are fighters at 135 already that would move up but I think we're going to be exposed to more talent at 145. It's one of those things where if the division gets popular, it won't matter about the depth. Look at 205...We pretend there's depth because we're nostalgic and think Shogun Rua is still in his early 20's in Pride. But outside of Jones, who rarely fights, Rumble, and Cormier-who's always injured, there's not a lot. Gus has fallen off the map he's hurt all the fucking time, everyone is either hurt or dealing with the law lol. So 145 could grow, or it could be like 125 where nobody literally gives a shit. I have a feeling once Cyborg gets her title fight against whoever, it's going to be massive. I think Cyborg could easily be a top draw in the UFC regardless of her past with drug tests I really do, it just depends on if the UFC will still give her that platform. And I wouldn't blame them if they didn't.

[Spedizzo]

We are finding out that Holly Holm was never really a good MMA fighter. She was a decent women's boxer (I guess) and all of her wins up until she fought Ronda Rousey were very unconvincing. She was 9-0 before she fought Ronda and I can only click on two of the women's profiles on wikipedia, one of them being a split decision against Raquel Pennington who was 5-4 at the time she fought Holly.

Holly beat a crappy Ronda and then got put to sleep after a very defensive performance against Miesha Tate who obviously is a whatever fighter too. Now she is going up against 6-3 Germaine. Germaine's only known opponent in these 9 fights was Amanda Nunes who finished her in 1 round.

Basically this title match is fukken shit!!!!!!!!!!

I am interested in seeing Silva fight and especially considering he is an underdog. If he loses this you would have to imagine he is about done- at least on paper. He would be 0-5-1 in his last 6.

Seeing Jacare and Tex fight too is cool. It really is just the title match that is awful and a mockery towards championships that there is a belt on the line for this shallow and un-competitive division.

Germaine looks like Jar Jar Binks on the poster.

[Mark Hammer]

Absolute load of shit regarding Holly. She is not some average WMMA fighter; she was undefeated with some highlight reel finishes before coming to the UFC and playing Jackson-Wink safe to a title shot then giving us the most satisfying beatdown and knockout the world had ever seen. Then she outclassed Miesha for 3-4 rounds before falling to the grind and hail Mary takedown in the 5th round. That and losing to the current number 1 contender does not make Holly mediocre; that's some 'what have you done for me lately' noise if I've ever heard it.

[Nash Diesel]

Absolute load of shit regarding Holly. She is not some average WMMA fighter; she was undefeated with some highlight reel finishes before coming to the UFC and playing Jackson-Wink safe to a title shot then giving us the most satisfying beatdown and knockout the world had ever seen. Then she outclassed Miesha for 3-4 rounds before falling to the grind and hail Mary takedown in the 5th round. That and losing to the current number 1 contender does not make Holly mediocre; that's some 'what have you done for me lately' noise if I've ever heard it.

I'll admit I was NOT expecting you to sound like I do when someone downplays a female fighter above 115 lol. Usually you are the one making the comments Sped has made. But Sped, you are also like the majority of fans I come in to contact with where you go by the last fight and that's fine....but it's like you saying RIP Cerrone's Chin because he was stopped in his last fight. And while you and others made good points about that comment and what you meant, it's still reflective of how you digest your opinion on certain fighters.

You guys know me I'm pretty open about the evolution of WMMA and I don't try to dog the fact that yeah, there's not a lot of popular names at 145 so you might think it's a weak division but it's just new to a lot of fans. 135, 145 for Men, they faced the same backlash, and still do. 125 is almost a non-factor to most fans. I actually read someone say that 125 was extremely lackluster and filled with a bunch of nobodies. That's a downside, you're a "nobody" so that must mean you suck right? Wrong.

[Mark Hammer]

I thoroughly enjoy WMMA and have always sang praises to the fighters I enjoyed. Disliking Cyborg and Rousey doesn't mean I'm anti-WMMA. One of my main criticisms of W135 was its lack of depth and talent. Miesha Tate was top 1-3 for most of her career on toughness alone, that doesn't happen in any other division, maybe 145 I don't know but we are seeing a surgence of skilled lifelong martial artists at 135 and my interest in the division is way higher than when Rousey was beating up jabronis in the highest grossing ppvs at the time. And obviously I love Holly so of course I'm going to defend something ridiculous against her.

[Nash Diesel]

I love the pics of HH doing the high kick for some reason

[Mark Hammer]

I'll admit I was NOT expecting you to sound like I do when someone downplays a female fighter above 115 lol. Usually you are the one making the comments Sped has made. But Sped, you are also like the majority of fans I come in to contact with where you go by the last fight and that's fine....but it's like you saying RIP Cerrone's Chin because he was stopped in his last fight. And while you and others made good points about that comment and what you meant, it's still reflective of how you digest your opinion on certain fighters.

You guys know me I'm pretty open about the evolution of WMMA and I don't try to dog the fact that yeah, there's not a lot of popular names at 145 so you might think it's a weak division but it's just new to a lot of fans. 135, 145 for Men, they faced the same backlash, and still do. 125 is almost a non-factor to most fans. I actually read someone say that 125 was extremely lackluster and filled with a bunch of nobodies. That's a downside, you're a "nobody" so that must mean you suck right? Wrong.

When have I ever said RIP Cerrone's chin?

I said his best days are behind him.

[Nash Diesel]

When have I ever said RIP Cerrone's chin?

I said his best days are behind him.

I should have separated everything after the first 2 sentences. Those 2 were for you. The rest was for Sped.

[Mark Hammer]

Oh ok

[Fanny Batter]

Holly's a good fighter. The Tate loss was an anomoly that most good fighters have faced, and against Shevchenko she found herself opposing a very skilled all rounder with a distinct speed advantage. I think the 48 minutes of experience in her last 2 fights will have improved her greatly. But the fact does remain that 3-2 fighters shouldn't be going for a double world title.

[Nash Diesel]

Eh, people said that about Penn, Couture, and Lesnar only having 3-4 fights and then challenging for a World title. Shit, Randy Couture has been gifted 2 title shots in his career, 1 at LHW without ever fighting at that weight class and 1 at HW after being retired and not having fought at HW in 5 years where he didn't exactly have the greatest record to begin with.

[Mark Hammer]

Well Holly does follow that list of fighters whose names gave them big opportunities. Her KO over Rousey changed many people's realities and in spite of her disappointing reign UFC still wants to milk it for all its worth.

[Nash Diesel]

Well Holly does follow that list of fighters whose names gave them big opportunities. Her KO over Rousey changed many people's realities and in spite of her disappointing reign UFC still wants to milk it for all its worth.

[Spedizzo]

Absolute load of shit regarding Holly. She is not some average WMMA fighter; she was undefeated with some highlight reel finishes before coming to the UFC and playing Jackson-Wink safe to a title shot then giving us the most satisfying beatdown and knockout the world had ever seen. Then she outclassed Miesha for 3-4 rounds before falling to the grind and hail Mary takedown in the 5th round. That and losing to the current number 1 contender does not make Holly mediocre; that's some 'what have you done for me lately' noise if I've ever heard it.

Holly was a boxer and had to play Jackson-Wink safe because she has shown that her grappling has many holes

Prior to her Ronda and Miesha fights which is where she made her name in the UFC, she had some really subpar contests

I do approach WMMA with a "what have you done for me lately" view because the sample size is not sufficient to truly gauge where the actual talent is. What else can you do when most women come into the UFC, win 1 fight with 6 or 7 fights to their name against nobodies and get world title shots???

The fact that Holly Holm coming off 2 losses and is facing Germaine dewhatever who is 6-3 in a new 145lb where the talent pool is even thinner is bollocks.

The only benefit that can come out of this new 145lb weight division is a possible Amanda Nunes/Cyborg fight

[Spedizzo]

I love the pics of HH doing the high kick for some reason

Sometimes she looks really hot, other times she looks like a man

She always has sweaty tits during the weigh ins (not a bad thing)

[Nash Diesel]

Holly was a boxer and had to play Jackson-Wink safe because she has shown that her grappling has many holes

Prior to her Ronda and Miesha fights which is where she made her name in the UFC, she had some really subpar contests

I do approach WMMA with a "what have you done for me lately" view because the sample size is not sufficient to truly gauge where the actual talent is. What else can you do when most women come into the UFC, win 1 fight with 6 or 7 fights to their name against nobodies and get world title shots???

The fact that Holly Holm coming off 2 losses and is facing Germaine dewhatever who is 6-3 in a new 145lb where the talent pool is even thinner is bollocks.

The only benefit that can come out of this new 145lb weight division is a possible Amanda Nunes/Cyborg fight

I think you approach it the same with the men as well, i.e. your comment about Cerrone and RIP to his chin after getting truly caught in one fight out of 100. Everyone gets caught, if you haven't, you will. All the top guys have been rocked or KO'd. GSP, McGregor, Cain V, Dom Cruz, Fedor, Anderson, Weidman, Aldo, the list goes on. I don't think Jon Jones has been ROCKED, maybe Gus caught him with a little fire that maybe woke him up idk...anyway....

I agree about Holm prior to the Ronda fight. Dana said the reason they gave the shot to Holm instead of Tate is that he felt if Tate lost a 3rd fight against Ronda there was nothing left for her to really do while Ronda was champ and at that time obviously many thought Ronda was Kal-El of combat sports. So I respected the idea and Holm was a massive underdog because of her previous fights in the UFC and being ranked #7 and the way Ronda had been waxing EVERYONE she faced with ease. Nobody really knew Holm, thought she'd get put on the ground in seconds and tapped because she was "just a boxer" to many. But I'll give the UFC props, prior to her even signing they wanted to do Holm v. Rousey. That's Dana and his love for boxing creeping in. And you know had Ronda won, they would have used that win to try and say she could take out Floyd since she just beat a boxer..............

I think that the UFC's approach to 145 is that it's much easier to create the possibility of a super fight between 135 and 145 than it is 115 and 135. Which is odd when you think about how MW and LHW are the same distance in weight and they've teased super fights and people from 185 and 205 have gone up or done numerous times, even creating Franklin weight lol. Also, they wanted Cyborg. It's crazy how those 2 camps pretty much shit on each other but the UFC started opening up more and more and then finally said fuck it we'll even create a new division for YOU and boom....nothing. Cyborg loses out and it would have been great for her. I bet there was even an idea like ok, if Ronda wins the belt at 135 and we have Cyborg as our 145 champ, that's the biggest fight in WMMA history and one of the biggest fights in MMA history period. Nobody has an excuse they could meet at catchweight or 145 and nobody could say "Well the title the title the title" fuck the title. Cyborg never cared about winning the 135 belt, she wanted to prove SHE was the best not Rousey or anyone else.

And it's funny that I've read some people knock Cyborg for turning down the 2 fights, idk if they presented it as a title fight, but they forget Holly Holm actually turned down a catchweight fight against Cyborg last year as she wanted to focus on getting back the 135 belt.

[Mark Hammer]

Holly was a boxer and had to play Jackson-Wink safe because she has shown that her grappling has many holes


I do approach WMMA with a "what have you done for me lately" view because the sample size is not sufficient to truly gauge where the actual talent is. What else can you do when most women come into the UFC, win 1 fight with 6 or 7 fights to their name against nobodies and get world title shots???

The fact that Holly Holm coming off 2 losses and is facing Germaine dewhatever who is 6-3 in a new 145lb where the talent pool is even thinner is bollocks.

The only benefit that can come out of this new 145lb weight division is a possible Amanda Nunes/Cyborg fight

Well W135 has historically been garbage (rapidly turning around now) but that's only one division and not all of WMMA. W115 has been one of the best divisions in the UFC since its inception thanks mainly to the girls as a whole being more athletic and in better shape than their babyweight-dropping 135 counterparts. Holly is on of the exceptions; she stands out significantly amongst the Correia's and Davis' and Kaufman's and all the other mediocre unathletic journeymen who managed to be the cream of the crop in the (formerly) Ronda Rousey division.

And you can't hold the 208 main event against Holly either; it was supposed to be Holm vs Cyborg which would have been huge but Cyborg wasn't prepared to cycle off in time to make the show.

[Mik]

Absolute load of shit regarding Holly. She is not some average WMMA fighter; she was undefeated with some highlight reel finishes before coming to the UFC and playing Jackson-Wink safe to a title shot then giving us the most satisfying beatdown and knockout the world had ever seen. Then she outclassed Miesha for 3-4 rounds before falling to the grind and hail Mary takedown in the 5th round. That and losing to the current number 1 contender does not make Holly mediocre; that's some 'what have you done for me lately' noise if I've ever heard it.

I'm not sure either outclassed the other in that fight. Every round Holly won was pretty cagey and close and the round Miesha won was fairly clear.

But yes, Holly smashing one and losing to two of the pretty top clear top 5 in the division of the times does not make her a disappointment. It's close at the top.

[Mark Hammer]

You could tell Holly was concerned with Miesha's takedowns. She was very apprehensive, unlike when she fought Rousey who was plodding forward like a crippled bull trying to box and offering nothing as far as the threat of a takedown. Holly still clearly won 3 rounds and was on her way to winning the 5th. They were closer rounds than the one round Tate took when she was able to take the fight to the ground but Holly still looked like the better fighter technically and imo would win that fight 8 or 9 times out of 10.

[Tainted Eclipse]

three commentators in ufc too now ..... make it stop

[Mark Hammer]

They're good commentators though, not Michael Cole or JBL.

[Kdestiny]

Not sure I agree with that decision. I love Anderson, but I don't think he won that.

[Mik]

I don't think Anderson won it and de randamie vs holm should've been a draw because she should've had a point taken once at least.

[Mark Hammer]

Fell asleep before both main events but overwhelming sentiment is that Silva lost and De Randamie should have been deducted points at least twice. Can someone elaborate?

[Kdestiny]

Fell asleep before both main events but overwhelming sentiment is that Silva lost and De Randamie should have been deducted points at least twice. Can someone elaborate?

Rounds 2-3 De Randamie got in a few punches after the bell and was only warned after the second time. The first one actually rocked Holm pretty good as well

[Mark Hammer]

I assume Holly was winning the first two?

[Kdestiny]

I assume Holly was winning the first two?

I had her winning the second one for sure. Can't remember which, but one of the rounds Holm rocked her with a kick before the stuff after the bell. I think that was the second.

[son_of_foley]

I had her winning the second one for sure. Can't remember which, but one of the rounds Holm rocked her with a kick before the stuff after the bell. I think that was the second.

Think it was the 3rd.

I think it would have taken 2 deductions to give Holly the decision to me anyway

[Kdestiny]

Think it was the 3rd.

I think it would have taken 2 deductions to give Holly the decision to me anyway

But just one, which it should have been at least, would've made things very interesting.

[Nash Diesel]

I don't think the Anderson-Brunson fight was controversial or anything. I think the one negative that I heard throughout was that one of the judges I believe gave Anderson all 3 rounds but I was following Sherdog's play by play and I believe one of their guys did as well. 29-28 sounded about right, Brunson didn't do a whole lot imo.

I'm hearing a lot of people say Holm should have won that fight even without the point deductions but I didn't see that fight. Jim Miller-DP delivered like I expected!

But I'm thinking if Cyborg does get suspended we'll see a rematch between Holm-De Randamie unless they have something decent in store. They have to keep the ball rolling with this division, no offense but if GDR's next title fight is against like Megan Anderson or Charmaine Tweet, those are names hardcore of the hardcore know but I feel they either do a rematch, a fight with Cyborg, or a decent name like Cat comes up to 145. But the flipside is, we need women coming off win's as well. Can't gift Cat a title shot just because hardcore's know her name more than some of others.

And what's next for Anderson? Retirement? We say that a lot and he did get a win over a tough fighter in Brunson but I just don't know what's realistically next. He even threw his name in the hat to face McGregor at 170 lol.

[OD50]

Noticeable change in Jacare's physique for sure. Still beasted Boetsch with little effort of course. Pretty dull show, watching the prelims right now and they're even duller so far.

If Cyborg isn't next for GDR I can definitely see Alpha Cat moving up. Would be pretty interesting, style wise.

[Nash Diesel]

There's really nothing outside of fighting Holm again for GDR if Cyborg gets suspended. They have to try their best to keep the next couple title fights as high profile as possible. Realistically the only people who can do that are Cyborg, Ronda Rousey-who spent what the first 6 fights of her career at 145 until Cyborg won the belt and she said, see ya HELLO 135!! Mayyyyybe Holm. The nice thing about WMMA @ 135 in the UFC being still pretty new compared to other divisions is that a lot of those women who fought Ronda got a nice rub for being in that fight so people know their name and that's good when trying to establish a new division. You want people to see fighters they have heard of, that they know and have seen fight. Like I said, you can't be bringing over Megan Anderson for the next title shot because only 2% of the UFC fanbase has heard of her because they don't watch shit outside of the UFC and/or assume the UFC is the only place where talent exists. Shit even die hards think that nonsense. Anyway....

[Kdestiny]

Noticeable change in Jacare's physique for sure. Still beasted Boetsch with little effort of course. Pretty dull show, watching the prelims right now and they're even duller so far.

If Cyborg isn't next for GDR I can definitely see Alpha Cat moving up. Would be pretty interesting, style wise.

Prelims put me to sleep

[OD50]

Yeah, I skipped through the Nover and Lentz fights, fuck they were boring. Seriously doubt I'll make it through the rest of the fights. Knowing Jacare/Boetsch was the only finish on the show doesn't help things..

[Spedizzo]

Didn't watch the event cause I was away for the weekend but caught the last round and a half of the Holly fight on my phone

I must say the card looked a lot better on paper before it started

don't have much to say about it tbh

-I think Silva from 6 or 7 years ago destroys Brunson as if he were another Sandman Irvin
-Thought before Holly was a bit overrated because I felt WMMA was meh in competition and as it gets better she will fade away, still feel the same
-I did notice the Jacare dad-bod at the weigh ins

[OD50]

Yeah. He still looked like a good athlete and all but this is a guy that used to look almost superhuman..

[Fanny Batter]

Probably knocked weights on the head in the build up and just focused on losing the Christmas pudge.

[Nash Diesel]

Just saw this on Youtube where DW apparently says Cyborg WILL NOT be suspended. Seeing this, now it makes sense why they even had Cyborg cageside and showed her on camera. If she was in some shit I doubt they'd be doing that but who knows....