UFC / MMA

Paekakboyz

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

Duluth

So Gustafsson retired after his loss to Smith. It makes sense given his flat performance and how far away another title shot would be.
The LHW division is looking a bit shallow.

I hope Manuwa retires too.

I don't think I've cheered for the guy in a fight but it's hard watching him get KO'ed so often. The guy has ridiculous power.. that power, coupled with his limitations, always made for fun fights

From sherdog forums:
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MiketheSnow

Yes, good call from Gustafsson.

So close and yet so far away.

Smith is learning and improving from every fight.

I think (and hope) Santos defeats Jones and then it would be a great rematch with Santos and Smith, this time at light heavy.

Rakic

Duluth

@MiketheSnow said in UFC:

I think (and hope) Santos defeats Jones and then it would be a great rematch with Santos and Smith, this time at light heavy.

Big call. I hope you are right. I want to see someone give Jones a beating.

MiketheSnow

@Duluth said in UFC:

@MiketheSnow said in UFC:

I think (and hope) Santos defeats Jones and then it would be a great rematch with Santos and Smith, this time at light heavy.

Big call. I hope you are right. I want to see someone give Jones a beating.

Been calling it for a while. Fingers crossed.

MiketheSnow

UFC 238

Great card top to bottom with some of the most evenly matched bouts for some time.

That meant great contests going to decision as well as great finishes.

Definitely worth a watch and certainly creates some great bouts down the line.

Duluth

Ferguson is my favourite fighter to watch. It took him a little while to get going but that second round was amazing. Shame about the punch after the bell taking away some of the attention.

Hopefully we see Ferguson v Khabib and Ferguson v Conor in the next year. A fight with Gaethje would be chaos and easy to sell too

Impressive comeback from Cejudo. I'd like to see Sterling have a shot before Cruz

Valentina with one of the better female KO's. The kick immediately prior to this was to the body so Eye dropped her hands to keep her elbow low.
Eye was out cold for a few minutes

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MiketheSnow

@Duluth said in UFC:

Ferguson is my favourite fighter to watch. It took him a little while to get going but that second round was amazing. Shame about the punch after the bell taking away some of the attention.

Hopefully we see Ferguson v Khabib and Ferguson v Conor in the next year. A fight with Gaethje would be chaos and easy to sell too

Impressive comeback from Cejudo. I'd like to see Sterling have a shot before Cruz

Valentina with one of the better female KO's. The kick immediately prior to this was to the body so Eye dropped her hands to keep her elbow low.
Eye was out cold for a few minutes

Yeah Ferguson is like T2

If God is an MMA fan

Poirier beats Khabib
Ferguson beats McG
Ferguson beats Poirier
Ferguson beats Khabib

MiketheSnow

Great card in Minneapolis last Saturday.

BIG, BIG Card coming up this Saturday.

https://www.ufc.com/event/ufc-239

In the meantime, the UFC 25 Years in Short films have been getting better and better

Watch them all

And this one from BT Sport

Duluth

@MiketheSnow said in UFC:

BIG, BIG Card coming up this Saturday.

https://www.ufc.com/event/ufc-239

What are your predictions for the main card?

Diego Sanchez v Michael Chiesa
I think Chiesa edges this one. They have both been inconsistent in recent fights but I'll back the younger fighter on this one.
It's hard to get excited by Sanchez's victories over a sick Gall and Craig White

Luke Rockhold v Jan Błachowicz
Rockhold looks more comfortable at this weight. However I think he loses this.. I'm not convinced about his chin can handle many LHW punches.
Also, Rockhold is a dick

Jorge Masvidal v Ben Askren
Askren by a submission. Masvidal has a good chance though. Particularly if Askren doesn't set up his take down and just lunges in like he did in his last fight

Amanda Nunes v Holly Holm
Should Holly have a title shot? 2 wins in her last 6 fights. 1 win in 3 at this weight. So a victory over Corrreia earns a shot?
I think Nunes will come out fast and get a TKO
I'll cheer for Holm though. If it gets past the 2nd round Nunes gets vulnerable to a decision

Jon Jones v Thiago Santos
I hope @MiketheSnow is right and Santos wins
I was surprised at the height difference when they stood next to each other. I thought Santos would be closer to him.
Unfortunately I see the normal Jones fight. Front kick keeping the distance, the opponent gets frustrated and then Jones finds an opening late in the fight as Santos gets desperate.

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MiketheSnow

@Duluth said in UFC:

@MiketheSnow said in UFC:

BIG, BIG Card coming up this Saturday.

https://www.ufc.com/event/ufc-239

What are your predictions for the main card?

Diego Sanchez v Michael Chiesa
I think Chiesa edges this one. They have both been inconsistent in recent fights but I'll back the younger fighter on this one.
It's hard to get excited by Sanchez's victories over a sick Gall and Craig White

Luke Rockhold v Jan Błachowicz
Rockhold looks more comfortable at this weight. However I think he loses this.. I'm not convinced about his chin can handle many LHW punches.
Also, Rockhold is a dick

Jorge Masvidal v Ben Askren
Askren by a submission. Masvidal has a good chance though. Particularly if Askren doesn't set up his take down and just lunges in like he did in his last fight

Amanda Nunes v Holly Holm
Should Holly have a title shot? 2 wins in her last 6 fights. 1 win in 3 at this weight. So a victory over Corrreia earns a shot?
I think Nunes will come out fast and get a TKO
I'll cheer for Holm though. If it gets past the 2nd round Nunes gets vulnerable to a decision

Jon Jones v Thiago Santos
I hope @MiketheSnow is right and Santos wins
I was surprised at the height difference when they stood next to each other. I thought Santos would be closer to him.
Unfortunately I see the normal Jones fight. Front kick keeping the distance, the opponent gets frustrated and then Jones finds an opening late in the fight as Santos gets desperate.

Pretty spot on analysis.

I was surprised at the size of Jones too.

I'm hoping for Sanchez, Blachowicz, Askren, Holm, Santos but could easily be 0 for 5.

Some interesting match-ups on the undercards too, esp Melendez v Allen.

And last chance saloon for our boy Jack Marshman.

The Silver Fern

UFC / MMA