wandshogun09

Next up on the PPV schedule and we’re back in Sopranos territory. Newark, New Jersey hosts this lot… PPV MAIN CARD Islam Makhachev©️vs Dustin Poirier - Lightweight Title Sean Strickland vs Paulo Costa Jailton Almeida vs Alexandr Romanov Roman Kopylov vs Cesar Almeida Randy Brown vs Elizeu Zaleski Dos Santos ESPN PRELIMS Niko Price vs Alex Morono Grant Dawson vs Joe Solecki Phil Rowe vs Jake Matthews Mickey Gall vs Bassil Hafez ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMS Tatsuro Taira vs Joshua Van Andre Lima vs Nyamjargal Tumendemberel Joselyne Edwards vs Ailin Perez OK, not a mega strong card overall for a PPV but there’s enough on there that I like. I’m invested in the main event, the co-main could be awful or hilarious or very satisfying or a mix of the lot. And there’s bits and bobs lower down the card that I’m really looking forward to. It’ll do. One thing of note for this card in particular… They’re debuting the new gloves on this card. Be interesting to see if it makes any immediate noticeable difference but I doubt it. I can’t really see anything that’s gonna limit eyepokes and, let’s face it, that’s the main issue that needed tackling with a new glove design. Not sure I like the gold gloves for title fights either. I get wanting to set them apart and differentiate but I’m just not keen on how they look there. Oh well. Just thought it was noteworthy to highlight they’re rolling these out on this card. Islam Makhachev vs Dustin Poirier headlines. Not the fight I think anyone really expected but circumstances have led us here and, while it’s not the most interesting fight for Makhachev, I don’t hate it. I’m a big fan of Dustin so I’m happy for him that he’s getting another shot at UFC gold. And also, a lot of the incessant crying from Makhachev haters about ‘he hasn’t defended against a Lightweight’ and ‘he only fights in Abu Dhabi’ etc will be put to bed here. Fucking Newark, New Jersey is hardly home field advantage, is it? There’ll still be whinging, there always is from a section of the fanbase, whatever Makhachev does. But it seems he’s not going anywhere for a while yet so everyone’s gonna have to get used to it. I’m expecting him to win but hopefully Dustin can at least make a good fight of it. We last saw Makhachev at UFC 294 in October, knocking out Alexander Volkanovski just 3 minutes into their rematch with a vicious headkick. Obviously, the short notice for Volk is a factor but to go 2-0 over the guy most of us considered the pound-for-pound top fighter in the sport, and to do it in back-to-back fights in the same calendar year, you have to give him his due. Again, I see all sorts of shite from his detractors trying to downplay it but even if you had him losing to Volk the first time (it was an epic but I had Makhachev winning), even just to have such a great and close fight with a beast like Volk, you have to be one of the top fighters in the game. I don’t know what it is with Makhachev but I find the hate he gets really fucking weird. Maybe it’s because he’s been beating fan favourites like Volk and Charles Oliveira but even before those fights there seemed to be unwarranted vitriol towards him. And it’s not even like he seems a prick in his personality. He mostly shows respect to his opponents and actually seems quite likeable and sometimes funny in interviews. Maybe it’s the Khabib connection. A lot of fans seem to resent Khabib for getting out of the game early, like he owed them something. Plus McGregor arse lickers, and there’s a ton of them, are naturally gonna hate anyone close to Khabib. Whatever. Like it or not, Makhachev is a great fighter. He’s 25-1 now, on a 13 fight winning streak and the lone blip was a KO loss to Adriano Martins back in 2015. One of those losses that just looks weirder and weirder as time goes on and Makhachev keeps racking up the wins. Kind of like Stipe Miocic getting knocked out by Stefan Struve before going on to become maybe the Heavyweight GOAT. It makes no sense in hindsight but these things happen sometimes in the crazy world of MMA. Like I said, Dustin Poirier being the next in line wasn’t something I think anyone really saw coming next. If you asked me at the start of the year who I thought Islam’s next opponent would be I’d have said an Oliveira rematch or Justin Gaethje. Now they’ve both lost at UFC 300 to Arman Tsarukyan and Max Holloway respectively, so they’re out of the running for the time being. Then I thought maybe Tsarukyan would be next but apparently he was offered the fight and turned it down because of the quick turnaround. Fair enough. Holloway’s jaw dropping KO against Gaethje instantly threw his name into the mix but he seems more focused on going back down to 145 to challenge Ilia Topuria. I’m fine with that! That really only left one option… Yeah, it’s not ideal. Poirier is 2-2 in his last 4 fights and comes into this fight off one win. But as I’ve covered above, the way things have played out, there weren’t a ton of options. Makhachev could’ve waited for the Abu Dhabi card in October and fought Tsarukyan or something. But fans would still bitch about him not being active enough/only fighting in Abu Dhabi and so on. For the sake of Makhachev staying busy and given who was available in the timeframe they had, this was the fight to make. And to be honest, considering Dustin stepped up at UFC 299 in March and took on a high risk fight against a lower ranked but dangerous Benoit Saint Denis when other big names wouldn’t have, it’s nice to see him get rewarded for that. What a granite hard bastard. People like to throw around the word ‘warrior’ in combat sports to the point it’s lost a lot of its meaning, it should be reserved for fighters like Dustin Poirier. Just an absolute dog. Saint Denis was giving him all he could handle early but, like always, Poirier refused to go away, stayed in his face and basically just out-toughed him. It was even sweeter because it felt like the ‘UFC machine’ wasn’t exactly behind him for that fight. For one, matching him up with Saint Denis felt like they were trying to build the new guy up off Poirier’s name. Then there was that whole weirdness in the lead up to the fight where it was off, then back on again. Definitely felt like there was some butting of heads behind the scenes between Poirier and the UFC there. Then during the fight Rogan was practically cheerleading Saint Denis. And even after he got the finish, Dustin made a point of going over to Dana at cageside and saying “You want me to fight these young motherfuckers? This is what happens”. I like Saint Denis but it was satisfying seeing Poirier mess plans up and basically give a big ‘fuck you’ to the doubters. Like I say, he’s getting this title shot purely through circumstances. He obviously wasn’t the UFC’s first choice because they offered it to Tsarukyan. As much as I like Makhachev, it would be amazing if Dustin can find a way to somehow to pull this off. He’s also strongly hinting that this could be his last fight… “It could be my last fight. I haven’t made an official decision yet, but it could be. I’ve said this over and over again, I still have a lot of tread left on the tires. I can beat these young guys, I just did it. I still feel good, my body feels good, but it’s just like, how much do I want to give to this sport? Because you don’t ride for free. I just want to be a father. I missed my daughter’s final cheer placement thing on Sunday. That was a big deal to her. All the family went, it sucked to be here and not be there to watch it. I just miss out on a lot of stuff. I have a whole other life outside of fighting. So, I’ve put in my time and earned my stripes. I don’t wanna make any decisions just off of the way I’m feeling. I need to go out there and fight.” “We’ll see. Destiny doesn’t make mistakes. If I’m supposed to be the world champion, I’ll have that belt wrapped around me on June 1st. All I can do is just pay attention to the work. What needs to get done right now. My mindset. The outcome is gonna happen so I just need to focus on the work right now. It’s been a long career. This is the final thing I need to cross of this list.” - Dustin Poirier Honestly, I think Poirier is underrated as far as his interviews go. He’s got a way with words that makes his fights feel like the most important thing in the world and something you absolutely can’t afford to miss. Hell of a promo, as they’d say if he was a pro wrestler. It definitely sounds like he’s halfway out the door though and I’m not sure if that makes his chances better or worse. The usual logic is that if a guy is going into a fight already thinking about retiring, it’s bad news and he’s probably getting battered. But I don’t know. I think it can also provide extra motivation and if you know it’s your last fight and it doesn’t matter what’s next and it doesn’t matter about where a win will put you in the rankings or whatever, it frees you up to just leave it all out there. In this case, I don’t think Poirier needs that. He goes for broke every time anyway! But at 35 years old, after a career full of wars and after 2 failed title shots, it has to end somewhere and he’ll know this is his last chance to become UFC champion. He had the interim but it’s not the same. The real thing has alluded him and it’s really the only thing he hasn’t accomplished. So what we thinking? It mightn’t have been the first choice for the UFC and it’s not the fight we expected. It’s a pretty fucking cool fight though. And a fascinating story if you’re a Dustin Poirier fan. It feels like a bad matchup for him, it’s basically a repeat of Khabib vs Poirier except now Poirier is older and more beat up and Makhachev is probably a more well rounded version of Khabib. It doesn’t feel like there’s gonna be a happy ending to this story for Poirier. But…what if? After coming up short in his 2 shots at the UFC belt, will it be third time lucky? Despite what he’s saying, if he does win then there’s no way he’s retiring right away. As champ he’d get PPV points and, if McGregor beats Chandler at 303, you know the UFC are gonna want to give Conor the undeserved title shot. With the history between Poirier and McGregor, as much as Conor getting a title shot would be complete bollocks, Poirier going in as champ and getting a cut of a huge PPV like that would be so deserved. Getting way ahead of myself though. He’s most likely not winning. Be interesting to see what Makhachev’s haters find to moan about if he wins again here. He’s fighting sooner than most expected, against a 155er and it’s not in Abu Dhabi. It felt a bit weird to me when this fight was first announced but I’m all in on this the more I think about it. Sean Strickland vs Paulo Costa is your co-main event. Gonna be 5 rounds as well apparently. Don’t know what to think about this. I just hope 1) Costa shows up and 2) absolutely bloody chins this prick. It’s been said countless times, I’ll say it again, Strickland is a total dogshit of a man. Zero redeeming qualities to him whatsoever. Once again, I’m not saying he’s a terrible fighter. He’s been effective at what he does, dominated Israel Adesanya and became UFC champion. That’s more than I ever expected him to accomplish. Fair fucks. That’s as positive as I’m gonna get for him though. He’s a pathetic edge lord wanker who targets and dishes it out to everyone, mocks dead people etc, then has a meltdown and cries when someone gives it back. Only has fans at all because there’s so many bigoted, homophobic, incel losers in the MMA fanbase who pretend to enjoy his arse water dull fighting style because they agree with his views on gay/trans people, guns etc. The only thing good about him winning the UFC belt was the fact that he then lost the thing to Dricus Du Plessis in January. It’s like some horrible fever dream. I refuse to even believe it really happened 🤮 It’s all photoshop. It’s AI. It’s fabricated. It never happened. On a serious note, MMA fans giving this boring fuck any kind of relevancy is unforgivable and proudly being a fan of his should automatically come with jail time. Because if you actually like Strickland and can relate to the rancid twat in any way, you’ve got issues and something’s gone wrong in your life. Like Ice Cube said, check yourself before you wreck yourself. Costa did actually show up for work at UFC 298 in February and had a banger of a fight with Robert Whittaker. He lost on points but he certainly got his share of digs in and had Whittaker badly hurt with a big spinning kick to the mush at one point. Such a fun fight to watch and a reminder that, when he actually fights, Costa is wildly entertaining. Frankly, he’s a breath of fresh air in a mostly lacklustre Middleweight division. The division could really do with him sticking around and staying more active but I’m not counting my chickens on that. I’ll be half surprised if he actually turns up for this fight just because we’ve been conditioned that when a Costa fight gets announced, he’s inevitably gonna withdraw. Expecting him to fight twice in a 4 month spell seems hopelessly optimistic but we’ll see. Hope I’m wrong. As for the fight itself, fuck knows? I feel like Strickland can make him miss and take over, especially in a 5 rounder. I’m leaning towards him taking a decision. But there’s not many at 185 as powerful as Costa and, while Strickland can be awkward, he’s not unhittable. Heart says Costa, head unfortunately says Prickland. Hopefully Costa gets some quality ‘Secret Juice’ in camp and obliterates him though. Jailton Almeida vs Alexandr Romanov fills the Heavyweight quota that for some reason always has to be met on these main cards. I don’t mind the matchup really but I’m not exactly in love with it. As Heavyweights go, these were actually two I was fairly high on until they both fizzled out horribly. Still think there’ll be better to come from Almeida but I certainly don’t see the potential in him that I did a year ago. His last couple of fights have kind of exposed him. Not that I expected him to be a future champ or anything before, he was only beating low level opposition in his first bunch of UFC fights and then Rozenstruik was his best win. The Derrick Lewis fight in São Paulo in November was rotten. Jailton won but it felt like his stock actually took a hit. Awful fight. Then at UFC 299 in March, he hit a brick wall in Curtis Blaydes and got stopped seconds into the second round. He’s 32 now, so young enough to come back from that loss. But I don’t know, I don’t like writing guys off after one loss but it just feels like he’s found his level. As thin as the HW division is, he’s gonna have to improve a lot to get to the top of that mountain. And Romanov, bless him, I was a big fan of him suplexing sods into oblivion early in his UFC run, and I’ll still pop for them if he busts them out in the future. I grew up watching the Steiner Brothers, I love a suplex! But his last few fights have been total shite and his performances have been pretty embarrassing. The fact he got himself in decent shape for one fight then just gave up, got back on the Greggs and reverted back to being a walking jelly, it just seems like he can’t be arsed. Roman Kopylov vs Cesar Almeida has all the makings of a really entertaining standup battle. Kopylov’s been great to watch for most of his time in the UFC. Didn’t get off to the best of starts but in 2022/23 he rattled off a 4 fight winning streak and ended all 4 fights in brutal fashion. His kicks especially are lethal, to the body as well as the head. I went from not giving a shite about him to him being one of my favourite 185ers to watch. Almeida just won his UFC debut in April, TKOing Dylan Budka in the second round. Wasn’t the most impressive or convincing performance and he’s only 5-0 in MMA, but he’s a Kickboxer with a 47-8-1-1 record in that game. Even went 1-2 in a trilogy with Alex Pereira. Him being predominantly a striker, this feels like the perfect matchup for him to show off his skills. And with Kopylov coming off that submission loss to Anthony Hernandez, he’ll be out to prove a point and redeem himself here. Expecting fireworks out of this. Randy Brown vs Elizeu Zaleski Dos Santos is currently slated to kick off the PPV. Not the strongest fight for a PPV main card but I like the matchup all the same. Brown’s coming into this fight with a bit of momentum. He’s got a record of 18-5 and has won 6 of his last 7 with the only loss being against Jack Della Maddalena. Since then he’s bounced back with a decision win over Wellington Turman and then this beautiful knockout over Muslim Salikhov in February… Cracking finish that. Dos Santos is no spring chicken now at 37 but he’s no pushover and is usually a tough test for most. Him taking Rinat Fakhretdinov to a draw last time out backs that up. He also proper battered Benoit Saint Denis in 2021 in a fight that really should’ve been stopped but wasn’t for some reason only the referee knows. Logically, Brown should be winning at this stage of both their careers but you generally don’t get an easy win over Dos Santos so this could be a gruelling battle. Then again, I thought that with Salikhov and Brown iced him inside a round. Niko Price vs Alex Morono is alright. Could be a solid enough scrap. Niko is never usually in boring fights so there’s no reason to expect that to start here. Of course, the last time we saw him he was part of one of the highlights of 2023. Unfortunately for him, he was on the wrong end of it. Yep. He got crushed in just 38 seconds by a retiring Robbie Lawler. An all time great UFC moment. Maybe the best single MMA moment of last year for me. Seeing a true legend and one of the most exciting fighters ever go out in style like that was just fantastic. The most feel-good of feel-good wins and, if the retirement actually sticks, might just be the loveliest sendoff in MMA history. The only negative is that it was a good egg like Niko on the receiving end. He’s been an entertaining fighter in his own right and, going in, that Lawler fight felt like a bit of a coin flip. Sounds mad now in hindsight knowing how it played out but before the fight it felt like a tossup. He’s no contender but he always brings it. Morono has had his moments as well but not as consistently as Niko Price. He’s coming off a bit of a lacklustre points win over a washed up Court McGee in April. Definitely pulling for Niko here. As elated as I was with the Lawler result, I did feel bad or Price. It’d be nice to see him get a W here. Grant Dawson vs Joe Solecki is an OK fight. Isn’t gonna stand out on a PPV but it’s not a bad bit of matchmaking. Well, if they both play to their strengths and grapple a lot anyway. I don’t think a striking match would be pretty. That type of fight won’t bring the best out of either of them. The problem is, they’re both coming off bad losses so I could see them possibly being a bit tentative, respecting each other’s ground games too much and avoiding it in favour of a subpar standup affair. Hope I’m wrong but we’ll see. Dawson is 20-2-1 now and was on a nice 12 fight unbeaten run before getting smoked by Bobby Green in October. And we last saw Solecki in December, getting powerbombed by Drakkar Klose and knocked out cold with his head bouncing off the canvas. Phil Rowe vs Jake Matthews isn’t bad but it’s just undercard filler. Not really feeling it, if I’m being honest. Maybe it’ll be a pleasant surprise. Rowe’s 10-4 and coming off a decision defeat to perennial gatekeeper Neil Magny back in June last year. Everyone knows Magny is the test for guys coming through at Welterweight and, well, Rowe flunked it. He’d stopped 3 opponents in a row before that loss but Magny was his step up and Rowe failed. Matthews is somehow still not 30 years old yet! Feels like he’s been on the roster forever. He’s found his level at this point. 19-7 record and 2-3 in his last 5. He’s coming off a points loss to Michael Morales in November. Not much fun to watch that one, as I recall. Yeah, no feelings on this really. It’s just there. Mickey Gall vs Bassil Hafez is kind of intriguing actually. Gall’s a guy who seemed like he had all the potential in the world at one point. Obviously the win over CM Punk meant fuck all as an actual meaningful win but it got his name out there and it really felt like he could’ve used that to propel himself into a great position if he could keep winning and keep the ball rolling. Then the win over Sage Northcutt felt like the perfect follow up but he couldn’t keep it going, Randy Brown handed him his first loss and he fizzled out rapidly after that. By the time 2019 came around and he got old manned and stopped by the ghost of Diego Sanchez, it was a wrap. He’s 7-5 now, coming off back-to-back losses and hasn’t fought since April 2022. And that’s how it ended. He got flattened in a round by Mike Malott and hasn’t been seen or heard from since. He’s from New Jersey so this is a homecoming for him and he’ll have the crowd support. But man, it feels like his next loss could be the nail in the coffin. Looking forward to seeing Hafez back in there. Just one fight in the UFC and he’s stuck in my memory. If you recall, he jumped in on just a few days notice against Jack Della Maddalena last July. He was brought in purely as a sacrificial lamb so Maddalena could stay on the card. Didn’t quite play out like that though. Hafez fought his arse off and not only went the distance with Maddalena, one of the judges actually scored the fight for him! I remember thinking Maddalena definitely won but it only raised Hafez’s stock. To come in as a last minute replacement and take a highly rated prospect like Maddalena to a split decision was impressive. He’s 32 years old and has a record of 8-4-1. Hardly outstanding. But regardless, that performance against Maddalena got my attention and I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do after a full training camp. Tatsuro Taira vs Joshua Van is ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** here. I love this fight! It’s came together out of the rubble of two fights that fell apart. Taira was supposed to fight Tim Elliott and Van was booked against Su Mudaerji but has had a bunch of opponents drop out on him. I actually prefer this to all of those options though. I’ve said it a few times on here but I really like when they just throw two prospects in there against each other like this. Sod saving fights for a rainy day or ‘building them up’. That works in pro wrestling, it rarely does in MMA. Chuck them in there and let’s see what’s what. It seems like the matchmakers are coming around to that way of thinking now as well. There’s been a few of these prospect clashes already this year. I like it. Taira knocked out Carlos Hernandez in his last fight in December. At just 24 years old and unbeaten at 15-0, he’s got to be one of the more promising Japanese up and comers to hit the UFC in years. Probably since Kyoji Horiguchi actually. He’s still got a lot to work on and, despite that finish in his last fight, his standup is his weak point. But time is on his side and I’m sure he’ll keep improving. The baffling thing so far to me has been that he never advances further up the card. He’s fought 5 times in the UFC and 4 of them were on the Fight Pass prelims. I’ve read that it’s so his fights can air at a reasonable time for the Japanese audience. It’s the only thing that makes it make sense. But if he keeps winning there’s gonna come a time when they have to move him up the card. Van has been absolutely ace to watch in the fights I’ve seen so far. Seriously, if you haven’t seen him fight yet, get that sorted. One of my favourite additions to the roster last year easy and definitely one to keep an eye on in the Flyweight division going forward. He’s only 22 years old and has a record of 10-1 with 8 of his wins not needing judges. He made his UFC debut on short notice last June and put a beating on Zhalgas Zhumagulov in a really exciting but one sided fight. Really gave the 5th Beatle a right hiding. He followed that up by taking a decision off Kevin Borjas in a tremendous fight on the MSG card in November. Then in January this year, he stepped in again on short notice and stopped Felipe Bunes in another fun sprint. He’s class. He was saying after that he wanted “6 or 7 fights this year”, which would surely be a UFC record? Doubt he’ll squeeze that many in now but I certainly wouldn’t complain about getting to see him fight 6 more times in 2024. Can’t wait for this. If it was up to me I’d have had this open up the PPV but whatever. Great fight. Andre Lima vs Nyamjargal Tumendemberel then. That name was a pain in the arse to spell. Looks like I sneezed while typing it. I’m quite looking forward to this though. Lima is Brazilian, 25 years old and undefeated at 8-0 and 5 knockouts. He made his UFC debut on an Apex card in March against fellow Octagon newbie Igor Severino. If you need your memory jogged… Yep, that fight. Apparently Severino got hungry mid-fight because he just randomly started munching away on Lima’s arm halfway through the second round. Bizarre. It’s a shame because it was such a good fight before that and both looked like genuine prospects worth keeping tabs on. I was really enjoying the fight before Severino went all Hannibal Lector. As you can see above, Lima didn’t hold a grudge. Many would’ve and no-one would blame them. Lima didn’t seem arsed though. To the extent he went and immediately had the bite tattooed into his arm after the show! Tumendemberel (fuck’s sake) is Mongolian, 26 years old and also unbeaten at 8-0 with 7 of his wins coming inside the distance. Not familiar with him but looking up his record I see he was on that Road To UFC thing last year and won his last fight in August. Not much else out there on him but if ever a fighter was crying out for a snappy nickname, it’s him. This should be worth a look. Someone’s O has to go! Joselyne Edwards vs Ailin Perez is shite. Don’t know if it’s gonna stay in the curtain jerk spot but it should. They’ve both fought in the UFC a few times now and I don’t recall enjoying any of it. Edwards is from Panama, 28 years old and 13-5 with 8 finishes. She’s coming off a points loss against Nora Cornolle on the Paris card in September. She doesn’t have any particularly impressive wins and even her losses were against mediocre opposition. Perez is Argentinian, 29 years old and 9-2 with 8 finishes. She’s took decisions off Ashlee Evans-Smith and Lucie Pudilova in her last two fights. Earth shattering stuff! All anyone remembers her for is her shaking her arse. Beyond that, there’s nothing to see. That’s 302!

UFC 1’s Art Jimmerson. Only 60 years old. Thought he’d be a bit older than that. Obviously it didn’t go well for him and he was merely cannon fodder for Royce Gracie, but Art was such a memorable part of UFC 1. The things you remember most from that show are Gerard Gordeau kicking Teila Tuli’s teeth out in the opener, Art with one Boxing glove on, and Royce looking like Mr Bean in his pyjamas throttling Hasbro Shamrock in his red speedos. Art always seemed a good guy in interviews and stuff as well. RIP 🥊

I think this will turn out to be a big confidence booster and a real positive lesson for Erceg in the long run. Yeah he fucked up in the 5th but, while I’m sure he believed in himself going in, now he’ll know 100% that he can compete with the elite of the division and victory was absolutely within his reach. It was the kind of loss where you can see him making adjustments and winning the rematch. But I think his best chance of achieving that isn’t in doing it immediately like I suspect they might. I feel like time is definitely Erceg’s friend here. He’s only 6 years younger than Pantoja but he’s had less than half the amount of fights, so a lot less miles on the clock. I certainly get why he’d jump at an instant rematch because it’s another crack at the gold and he was so close this time. And I’m not even saying he can’t win an immediate re-run. But I think letting Pantoja have a gruelling fight or two more, and getting more cage time and experience himself in the meantime, might just make Erceg’s job a bit easier next time. While I totally get your thinking and if he can get a better deal off PFL then he should absolutely bite their hand off. Purely as a fan, for my own selfish needs, there are some fights out there that I’m sure would be fun, but I can’t think of anything in PFL for Aldo that we really need to see. Whereas in the UFC? At 135 you’ve got the WEC dream match with Dom Cruz, Cejudo maybe, an all Brazilian scrap with Figgy, a sure-fire barnburner with Sandhagen, a potential title fight with O’Malley etc. If he chose to revisit 145 there’s mouth watering matchups with the likes of Yair, Ortega, Barboza (imagine!), even Diego Lopes. And of course, there’s always the outside chance he finally bags that McGregor rematch. That one seems unlikely at this point but you never know. Don’t get me wrong, I’d be made up for him if he got some silly money deal from PFL and cashed in before his career ends and before the PFL gravy train inevitably crashes. But fight-wise, there’s way more to sink the teeth into in the UFC than out of it. Yep.

Yeah plus he had those one-off singles matches with Andre and Rick Rude on the tour of Italy in 89. What a year for the Hitman. Still gutted there isn’t footage of the Rude match.

The old Excellence Of Sexecution strikes again. I remember a fair bit of that talk in the book. Shame he never elaborated on the match. It’s one of my favourite tag matches and one of my favourite PPV openers ever. Still holds up today as well, like pretty much all of Bret’s stuff does. Yet I never ever hear him asked about it in interviews. Cheers for that Raid, much appreciated!

Love this.

I love that match. I remember hearing about it but never had the WrestleFest 94 tape. I tracked it down years later when we got internet and bought the VHS solely for that match. Didn’t regret it. I‘ve said it before whenever that match comes up on here but it’s a travesty we never got a Bret & Owen vs 123 Kid & Marty Jannetty match around that time. I’m sure Bret even teased it possibly happening in an interview before the Quebecers match at Rumble 94. The Steiners vs Kid & Marty would’ve been ace as well. Imagine how far and how high Rick and Scott could’ve thrown and suplexed those two? While we’re on the subject of great tag team matches, one of my favourites has always been the Hart Foundation vs Brain Busters from SummerSlam 89. Has Bret ever talked about that match in any interviews? He’s got such a great memory when it comes to matches in his career but I think I’ve watched every shoot interview he’s done and I can’t recall ever hearing him talk about working with Arn and Tully. Been years since I read his book but surely he mentions it in there?

Oh yeah, Dana especially thought Shogun was done after that Coleman fight in Dublin. It’s on camera from one of his old video blogs where he rushes into Shogun’s locker room immediately after the fight and puts him on the spot, with a camera in his face, about fighting Chuck Liddell on a fairly quick turnaround. Yep… Chuck was in his own slump at the time and coming off that horrid one punch KO loss against Rashad Evans so Dana was looking to get his boy back in the win column and saw Shogun as easy pickings. A big name win over a shot Shogun. I like Chuck but the way that backfired is up there with one of the most satisfying fight results ever for me. Then to make it even better, they then ‘fed him’ to undefeated champ Machida, who opponents could barely lay a glove on, much less beat, and Shogun solved the puzzle twice (despite the dodgy decision the first time) and sparked him in the rematch. Just beautiful stuff. It was never gonna last obviously. Even in the win over Machida I think he re-injured his knee. And then Jon Jones came along and that was a wrap for Shogun’s reign. But I’m so glad he got to win that belt. If he didn’t win it when he did, Jones would’ve won it off someone else and Shogun would’ve gone down as one of the greatest Light Heavyweights to never hold UFC gold. Would’ve been a travesty. It’s actually quite remarkable he had the run he did in the UFC despite the horror show of injuries he had coming in the door. People forget but that layoff after he lost his UFC debut to Forrest Griffin was brutal. He was out about 15 months and in that time he had his knee completely reconstructed, started training again and then blew the knee out again and had to have it redone. Just nightmare stuff. No wonder he looked 80 years old in his return against Coleman! When you watch his fights back as well, you notice how he had to revamp his style after the injuries. You watch his Pride fights and he’s much more of a kicker and knee-er than a boxer. Later in his career when his knees were knackered, he became much more of a puncher and started knocking people out with his hands, which he wasn’t doing in his younger days. I don’t think he gets credit for how he kind of reinvented his style halfway through his career and still had success. I’m yapping. Could talk about Shogun and Wandy and that era for pages and pages 🤣 If they put Pereira on the Manchester card and they want him against a UK fighter, I can’t think of a better time to bring Darren Till back. I’d love to see Pereira 360 Haduken punch him into oblivion.

Finally caught up on all this. Saw some of it on Sunday but was busy with family stuff over the bank holiday weekend so only just got around to watching everything else. Decent show. Thought Pantoja vs Erceg was a brilliant fight. That’s kind of been lost in all the talk of the scoring but that’s always the case when there’s a close or debated decision. What a fight though. I’d liked what we’d seen of Erceg in his previous UFC fights and I thought he might give Pantoja a good fight but I hadn’t seen enough to be confident in his chances or anything. His stock went up here for me, regardless of the result. He gave Pantoja all he could handle. He did well on the feet as expected but even in the grappling he was doing some good stuff defensively. I felt like it was 2-2 going into that last round but a couple of them probably could’ve gone either way. But yeah, like @Dai says, Erceg’s decision to shoot for the takedown in the 5th was baffling. And ultimately it cost him the fight. Mind boggling. Even worse because he did the same thing at the start of the round. He took Pantoja down, it backfired and he got reversed. He managed to get free and have success on the feet for a good chunk of the round after that and it was all still up for grabs. Then he did it again, it backfired again and Pantoja ended the round on top of him and 2 of the judges gave him that round. Fucked it. A massive error on his part and one that’s gonna haunt him for a while. Had he kept it on the feet, there’s every chance that belt would be in Australia right now. Seen all kinds of robbery talk. You expect it after every close fight now but I’m not having it. I felt like it was close and it was all to play for in that 5th round. In the end, Erceg shat the bed with that ill-advised takedown. Seeing people talking like Erceg clearly won and was robbed is shite. And once again, I think most of it is based solely on Pantoja’s cut. A lot of fans these days seem to think a cut is the be all/end all when it comes to scoring fights. But that could come from one exchange and fights are scored round by round. The “yeah but look at his face” thing is just pure laziness a lot of the time where they’ll lose track of the scoring so just go by whoever looks more beat up facially when the fight is over. The one judge having it 49-46 Pantoja was off, yeah, it wasn’t that wide. But Pantoja winning wasn’t a robbery by any stretch. We’ll likely see a rematch at some point in the not too distant future. It’s Flyweight, of course we will! The matchmakers love a rematch, especially in the Flyweight division. But I don’t wanna see it next. Even with how close this was, it wasn’t like it was some mega controversial decision and Erceg is the one who threw it away at the end. He should at least have to beat another top contender now before getting another crack at it. Maybe they just go ahead with Pantoja vs Mokaev next. Although I’d have thought Mokaev would be in a prominent fight on that Manchester card in July and I can’t see Pantoja fighting again that soon. I don’t know. Pantoja vs Mokaev and Erceg vs either Royval or Moreno seems like the way to go but we’ll see. Seeing Jose Aldo back in there looking so sharp was so satisfying. One of the best of all time hands down. What a career. I saw a few doubting him on social media before the show and kept seeing talk about his ‘2 years away’ and stuff. But like I said earlier in the thread, it’s not like he’d been inactive. He had those 3 Boxing fights in 2023. If anything he’d been more busy since we last saw him in the Octagon than he’s been in years. The man. And it wasn’t like Martinez even looked bad. But this was just the difference between a very good fighter and an all time great fighter. Even an out of prime Aldo is still a handful for most. It’s why a lot of the talk around fighters primes is bollocks. A lot of the time it’s people either saying you’re in your prime or you’re washed up. There’s a middle ground there. You can be past your absolute peak but still really, really fucking good. And that’s where Aldo is now. I wouldn’t pick him to beat all the top contenders today. He’s not quite that guy anymore. Although, call me crazy, I don’t think O’Malley is a terrible or unwinnable matchup for him. But he most likely loses more than he wins at the very top of the current Bantamweight division. I think he still schools the vast majority though. Not even sure what’s next for Aldo. It’s common knowledge that this was the last fight on his UFC contract. It seemed like his return came out of the blue but maybe he wanted to just get that last fight out of the way so he’d be contractually free to go wherever he wants after. Maybe this was a one and done thing and he’ll go and do more Boxing now or even entertain PFL or something. I think his Boxing fights last year were all on Fight Pass so that’ll probably be why the UFC were cool with him taking those fights while still being under contract. Now he’s an actual free agent. But I don’t know, maybe he sticks around and signs for a few more fights? The fact that he says he was asking for Top 5 ranked opponents here suggests he’s looking at another run. Why ask for a top ranked guy if it’s a one-off? If he’s gonna fight on, I’d like to see him stay in the UFC. If he can make more money elsewhere, more power to him of course. But purely as a fan, there aren’t many obvious fights for him outside the UFC. There are still big fights for him in the UFC, at 135 and 145. Anthony Smith completely killing the Petrino hype was not how I expected that one to go at all. Smith’s had the look of a fighter on his last legs to me for a while. Even physically, he looks like he doesn’t put the work in like he used to. And Petrino was the younger, bigger, stronger, undefeated powerhouse on the rise. For Smith to go to Brazil and derail him in his backyard like this was a surprise. I think I said in the opening post, my expectations for Petrino had cooled off a bit after his lacklustre win over Tyson Pedro in March. But still, I was fully expecting him to put a beating on Smith here. And it was looking like it was heading that way in the early exchanges. Then he left his neck out there and tried to slam his way out of the guillotine. Bad look for Petrino this. Obviously Smith has a lot of experience but it wasn’t even like he caught Petrino with some crafty veteran move. The choke couldn’t have been more transparent, you could see it coming a mile away and Petrino still got caught up in it. Michel Pereira! What a crazy fun fighter to watch. I was expecting an entertaining fight out of these two and was kind of disappointed it ended so quick, to be honest. But Pereira just running through the opposition is becoming one of my favourite things in MMA. He’s one of the only good things the Middleweight division has going for it these days. Although the moonsault with the knee coming down on Potieria’s head was clearly illegal… Honestly, Potieria has a perfectly legitimate case for appealing this result. I know we all love Pereira but there’s absolutely no argument that that wasn’t illegal. Sure it mightn’t be intentional but that’s the thing, doing backflips and moonsaults and shit on your opponents, you can’t 100% control where your legs are landing. If this was Pride, Pereira would no doubt be going for 450 curb stomp knockouts and all sorts. But that was effectively a grounded knee and who knows how buzzed Potieria was by the time that choke got slapped on. Whatever. Even if he appeals it, nothing is likely to come of it. Yeah, that was the Tristan Connelly fight where he was pissing about so much he seemed to gas out and got outworked to a points loss. He got a load of shit for that performance and the criticisms stuck with him for a while after that, even when he was winning fights it was a stigma and a knock on him for a bit. I think people need to drop that now though. Whatever happens with Pereira from here on in, it’s clear he’s done a good job of finding a healthy balance with that style and it’s more effective these days. Then you couple that with him actually being in the right weight class and he’s in a much better place now. Still only 30 as well. I don’t know where his ceiling is. I feel like I’m always half expecting him to get derailed going into fights and then he just blitzes the opponent away in hilarious fashion. It does feel like the run could all end in an instant but what a joy he is to watch. Never a dull moment. And to be fair, he’s now on an 8 fight winning streak, 3-0 since moving up to Middleweight and he’s won his last 3 fights at 185 in around a minute apiece. Looking at the rankings, I’d give him a Fight Night headliner next against either Dolidze (#11) or Hermansson (#9). What can you say about Caio Borralho vs Paul Craig? I like Craig but I thought he looked awful here. Probably the best Borralho has looked so far in the UFC but I’m not sure if this was a case of him stepping his game up or him looking good because Craig looked bad. Either way, it couldn’t have gone worse for Craig. I think most MMA fans like Craig. He’s a likeable guy. But man, he’s struggling now. At 36 years old and 1-4 in his last 5, I think it’s time to accept that he’s just never gonna get over the hump. He’s got the capability to beat good fighters but there’s just not enough to his overall game. The grappling is obviously his bread and butter but even there he came unstuck against Brendan Allen in his last fight. And the striking, gotta say he’s rotten. Just looks really unsure of himself, doesn’t commit to anything, doesn’t really set anything up and doesn’t move his head at all. He was a sitting duck here for the KO and Borralho jumped on it. Brito vs Shore, where do you even start? First off, all credit to Brito. I thought he looked like a real problem. He was racking up damage with all those leg kicks right from the off. He was winning the fight for as long as it lasted. The doctor stoppage was mad though. Yeah, it looks bloody vile. But it’s not like this was a cut above the eye or something. And Shore was still able to stand on the leg, walk on it and was still in the fight. He didn’t seem particularly bothered by it. The doctor takes a look at it, which is fine. But the way he was digging his bastard fingers into the cut? Nah. What the fuck was that? Then he stops the fight. Shore’s old man has been tweeting about it. Obviously a cut like that and all the swelling and stuff would be no fun. But it’s a fight. There’s gonna be damage. Shore wanted to continue and there was nothing that urgently required the fight to be called off, in my opinion. Shore’s dad was saying the doctor in the cage said the leg was fractured and that’s why the fight was stopped. Then they went to the hospital, no fracture just some stitches and they were off home. Bullshit. I usually always agree with erring on the side of caution but stopping a fight for a cut on the shin? I’d understand if you could see bone poking out and stuff but not this. Again, Brito looked great. The way the fight was going, unless Shore created some big turnaround, Brito was most likely gonna win anyway. But it was a shite way for it to end. Lucindo vs Kowalkiewicz was about what you’d expect when you’ve got a 22 year old on the rise against a 38 year old on the decline. Sad for Karolina, she’s always seemed lovely and it’s been nice seeing her have a bit of a late career revival with the little win streak she’s been on. Had a feeling it was coming to an end here though and while Lucindo didn’t blow her away, I did think she made Kowalkiewicz look her age here. Not sure how much longer Kowalkiewicz is gonna keep doing this. It was her first loss in a while but, pushing 40, it’s hard to see where she goes from here. She’s clearly not getting back in the title mix at this stage of her career and I doubt she’s getting the kind of purses that make sticking around all that worthwhile. Fully expecting her to be back out on an Apex card in the next few months though. Really enjoyed Orolbai vs Brener. Despite highlighting it as my ‘one to watch’, I didn’t really know what to expect just because I’ve only seen a handful of fights from them combined. Yet to be disappointed in either though and this was more of the same. Definite Orolbai win but, as Brener showed against Kutateladze, he doesn’t go away easily. Granite hard little bastard. Orolbai’s wrestling was the big difference maker in this one. Plus, despite his striking not being very good, he certainly carries power and Brener felt it more than once. The knockdown in the last few seconds of the fight really sealed it for Orolbai. Even with the point deduction, he’d built up too much of a lead by then. Brener is tough as shit though. Really thought he might pull out the come from behind finish the way the last round was going at times but it wasn’t to be. Good fight. Both were exhausted in that third round but just kept pushing through it. Drakkar Klose vs Joaquim Silva was alright. Thought it was a close (no pun intended) one that came down to how you scored the second round and I really felt like it could’ve gone either way. Didn’t have a problem with Klose getting the decision but Silva definitely had a strong argument and I can see why he’d feel hard done by. It was one of them though where neither really put a stamp on it or clearly pulled ahead to where they can gripe about it too much. Mauricio Ruffy had a quite a UFC debut. And of course, anytime someone has an impressive debut, the comparisons to Conor McGregor come. I thought that was a bit much myself but whatever. I liked Ruffy here. Just schooled Mullarkey and put him away inside a round. Fair play, he certainly made his debut a memorable one. The performance itself plus he made the most of his post-fight interview. When you’re name dropping the champ after your debut, it’s gonna get some attention. “I have a message for Islam Makhachev. Enjoy your days at the top. I know you’re upset because I beat your friend. Enjoy your days, because a new king is coming.” - Maurício Ruffy Apparently he stopped Makhachev’s teammate on DWCS last year. It seems mad talking about the champ this early but I kind of like it. Why not aim for the top? Remains to be seen if he can back it up but he’s thrown it out there now. If he does go on to be a serious contender, and Makhachev is still champ if/when he gets there, that clip and quote is gonna be all over the promos. Long way to go though and we need to see a lot more from Ruffy. He looked great here, really sharp and accurate. But you have to put it in perspective, Mullarkey might be the most hittable sod in the division. He was kind of tailor made for a precision striker like Ruffy to style on. Good debut all the same. But I wanna see more before we start declaring him 155’s next big thing. That Dione Barbosa vs Ernesta Kareckaite fight didn’t hold my attention. I gave them a chance like I always do with debuting fighters, but it didn’t grab me. Didn’t take long for my mind to drift. Saw a few cries of robbery and, from what I did see, I was half expecting Kareckaite to get the nod. But it went to Barbosa. Whatever. Can’t say I’m fussed. About the decision or to watch either’s next fight. Was happy to see Ismael Bonfim get back to winning ways. Especially at the expense of Vinc Pichel who I’ve long thought seems a bit of a dick. Wasn’t a mind blowing performance but I thought Bonfim looked good on the whole against a tough, ageing journeyman. Hopefully he can build himself back up off this now. He’s still only 28 and already has a decent amount of experience. Be interesting to see who he’s matched up with next. And Alessandro Costa looked really good kicking off the Fight Pass bit. Just broke Borjas down with horrible leg kicks at the end there. Feel like he’s a bit better than his 2-2 UFC record suggests. The 2 losses were against Albazi (ranked #3 currently) and Erceg who just ran the champ mega close in a great fight. Costa vs Erceg was a cracker as well from what I remember. Costa’s worth keeping an eye on, I reckon. At the very least, he’s fun to watch. Solid card, not amazing. Wasn’t anywhere near 300’s league, or 299/298 before that, but it was never gonna be. Still, the main event was excellent and Aldo’s triumphant return ranks among my favourite Brazilian card moments. Some good stuff on the undercard as well. Let’s face it, I was never gonna give a thumbs down to a card where Shogun Rua gets announced for the Hall Of Fame! Bless him. Goes without saying, absolutely 100% deserved. Seen a few comments from the numbskull newer fans acting like he’s a bum or something. Pricks need to educate themselves. Pretty much all his fights are out there and easily accessible, most of them are on Fight Pass. There’s no excuse. Funny thing is, most of these accounts have clowns like Strickland as an avatar and are the first to call others a “casual” if they have an opposing take on something 😂 Shogun was the bollocks. DC was spot on when he said that by the time Shogun got to the UFC, he was already probably out of his prime. The injuries had already set in and he was on borrowed time physically. The fact that, despite that, he still solved the Machida puzzle, became UFC champion, knocked out Chuck, had an all time great fight with Hendo etc, just shows the fighter he was. And of course, his run through the 2005 Pride GP is still surely the best tournament streak by any fighter in MMA history. The fact these two are both going in the HOF the same year warms my heart. Chute Boxe taking over the Class of ‘24! WAND SHOGUN 👊🇧🇷

Pocket sized beast. Love watching Inoue.

Yeah, you just know he was being absolutely insufferable the whole time he was there.

Main event for Abu Dhabi. Hopefully it happens this time.

State of this raggedy old cunt. Whipping your cock out on planes and in public places is OK apparently. But don’t you dare take to long pissing while you’re at work. I like the idea of pizza people still inconveniencing this old creep though. Can just picture him raging outside the bog doors and having flashbacks about what Jim Herd did to him in 1990.

Yeah he definitely retired at some point and came back. This seems out of the blue but it’s probably about the right time now. He’s 43 years old and seems to have his focus on other things these days. If this is it, he went out with a first round KO win, which is cool. All that said, yeah, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if him and Mike Perry are throwing bare knuckles by the end of the year. It’s mad that those two never crossed paths in the UFC, to be honest. I actually had to check they never fought because it seems like it should’ve happened.

Ciggy Smalls.