UFC / MMA

Duluth

I'm really looking forward to the two main fights this weekend

Max Holloway vs Dustin Poirier
Kelvin Gastelum vs Israel Adesanya

Both tough to call

I think Holloway is the best fighter in the organisation. His class should edge it.. Not putting any money on it though

I'll be cheering for Adesanya but this is going to be a tough one. Everyone talks about KG's punching power but his wrestling background might be the decider here.
Israel keeps talking up his ability on the ground but we haven't seen that tested yet

I'm still hoping for a NZ v Aus title fight... and even the remote possibility it happens in Auckland

MiketheSnow

@Duluth said in UFC:

I'm really looking forward to the two main fights this weekend

Max Holloway vs Dustin Poirier
Kelvin Gastelum vs Israel Adesanya

Both tough to call

I think Holloway is the best fighter in the organisation. His class should edge it.. Not putting any money on it though

I'll be cheering for Adesanya but this is going to be a tough one. Everyone talks about KG's punching power but his wrestling background might be the decider here.
Israel keeps talking up his ability on the ground but we haven't seen that tested yet

I'm still hoping for a NZ v Aus title fight... and even the remote possibility it happens in Auckland

Poirier and Gastelum for the upset wins.

Duluth

The Adesanya fight was incredible. Worth finding if you are a causal fan

2-2 going into the 5th and Adesanya pulls out a massive 10-8 round

NZ has an interim champ. NZ vs Aus for the real belt later this year

Duluth

The main event was almost as good as the co-main. The best PPV for a while

Poirier dominated apart from a few moments. Unfortunately it looked like guys in different weight classes fighting.. Holloway is so tough though

I hope Poirier knocks Khabib out

Earlier Rountree was very good too. Brutal leg kicks. Maybe he's turned the corner... the LHW division needs some more class

jegga

Post match

MajorPom

Finally managed to watch one.

Israel fight was great - all square going into the lady then just dominated him for a 10-8. Great fight, both guys super super tough.

Main event was its equal tho, we just kept waiting for Holloway to turn it, looked like he could thrn the knee which opened the cut effectively ended it.

Both fighters worthy of the belts

Duluth

White said the title fight will be in a stadium in Aus

Good to see Israel in the press conference suggesting the fight should be in Auckland. Pointing out Whittaker is a Maori born in Auckland..

It’ll most likely be in Aus, but Whittaker has failed to show up in a couple of home fights. Also Aucklands City Kickboxing has earned a big event

MajorPom

@Duluth white probably thinks NZ is part of Aus ...

Aus makes more sense - UFC is a money game and there more there than in NZ.

Noted today thst although he fights for NZ he has a Nigerian flag by his name on the telecast.

Duluth

MiketheSnow

Fantastic card

Davis v Costa was a cracker

So too Muhammad v Millender and Frevola v Turner

Krylov on the way up

Jouban robbed

Rountree Jr massively improved

Gastelum made the fatal mistake of trying to take Adesanya down when he was ready to be felled.

Fair play to Adesanya, Championship finish in the Championship round.

And Poirier deservedly took the unanimous decision.

Great night.

Paekakboyz

@Duluth said in UFC:

Adesanya passes another test with ease.

Some huge fights coming for him against fighters in the top five. I'm hoping hoping for a New Zealandish title fight with Whittaker in a year or so

Nice soothsaying there @Duluth!!

So cool that it was a fight for the ages too. So now we wait for the fight against Whittaker!

raznomore

I have watched Izzy's* fight several times. Just amazing from both guys. Many fights would have been stopped in that last 20 seconds but Gastelum deserved to be there at the end.

I loved the whole card. Best in ages.

What's with Israel's this week? Izzy Dagg calls time, Izzy Falou self destructs and Izzy Adesanya elevates.

MiketheSnow

Two very good cards back to back.

And some significant changes in rankings.

MiketheSnow

Very average card from Ottawa but the Cowboy v Raging Al fight was a cracker.

Going into the fight Al said Cowboy was looking old & slow.

Al can thank his lucky stars he didn't face the younger version, he wouldn't have gotten out of the ring alive.

Al out thought & out fought.

Cowboy v McG next?

Yes please

Duluth

@MiketheSnow

That was impressive from Cowboy.

I was expect Al to win.. I thought there were signs that Cowboys chin was getting questionable in the last couple of years (maybe it was just an issue with the bigger hitters at welterweight?)
So I was expecting Al to catch him at some stage and get a KO

Well Al caught him a few times and Cowboy didn't get rocked too badly

Credit to Cerrone for the 24th minute too. Well up on the score card and he took a few risks going for the finish

@MiketheSnow said in UFC:

Cowboy v McG next?

Yes please

I like it for a few reasons:

Conor should not be getting a title shot, or even a number one contender fight, when he returns. He hasn't won in the octagon since 2016.
Cowboy deserves a big pay day and it's unlikely he's going on a title run at this stage of his career.
It's a fun fight

MiketheSnow

@Duluth said in UFC:

@MiketheSnow

That was impressive from Cowboy.

I was expect Al to win.. I thought there were signs that Cowboys chin was getting questionable in the last couple of years (maybe it was just an issue with the bigger hitters at welterweight?)
So I was expecting Al to catch him at some stage and get a KO

Well Al caught him a few times and Cowboy didn't get rocked too badly

Credit to Cerrone for the 24th minute too. Well up on the score card and he took a few risks going for the finish

@MiketheSnow said in UFC:

Cowboy v McG next?

Yes please

I like it for a few reasons:

Conor should not be getting a title shot, or even a number one contender fight, when he returns. He hasn't won in the octagon since 2016.

Cowboy deserves a big pay day and it's unlikely he's going on a title run at this stage of his career.

It's a fun fight

It's a no lose scenario for Cowboy.

He wins, he's beaten McG, straight to Title shot and Hall of Fame
He loses, he's lost to one of the best, gets a huge pay day, and straight to Hall of Fame

Nogusta

@Duluth Yea I had raging Al as the favourite given his dominant win over Kevin Lee last outing and his respectable showing against Khabib. Gotta love Cowboy though and enjoy him while hes still fighting. He can walk straight into the movie industry when he retires! What a character...

Duluth

So Edgar gets a title shot vs Holloway

Booo! It should have been the Aussie Volkanovski

I wasn't expecting Volkanovski to beat Aldo on the weekend but he fofought a great tactical fight. He constantly kept Aldo busy, particularly with the little leg kicks, and Aldo never got into his rhythm

Aldo was the number one contender
Only three people have beaten Aldo in the UFC - Conor McGregor, Max Holloway and now Alexander Volkanovski
Volkanovski has one of the longest active win streaks in the UFC having won all 7 of his fights

But no, Edgar gets the title shot..

The rationale is that the Holloway vs Edgar fight was scheduled and cancelled before. To me it looks like the UFC wants Holloway to have an easier fight coming off that Poirier loss

Duluth

UFC has been posting a few old videos on their youtube channel

Here's the original event from 1993.

Not many rules at this stage. So there's kicks to the head of a downed opponent, head butts and hair pulling

Brian Kilmeade from Fox News does the post match interviews

The crowd has no idea what Royce Gracie is doing.

The boxer wearing a single boxing glove made a serious mistake.. it's a little difficult to fight the hands with that on

MiketheSnow

Excellent addition to the YouTube channel.

Some fantastic viewing.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9m3-_Hv6qNjuJAx_7EuUjx9meAD-PzhI

The Silver Fern

UFC / MMA