wandshogun09

He really did. Someone caught this pic of Buffer’s reaction to it and I think it captures the moment perfectly. I think everyone’s jaw hit the floor along with Smith’s.

Never saw this before. How nice is this?

Quite enjoyed this show. Had its dull points like most cards but on the whole it was really good. I think the break in shows before this probably helped as well. Jairzinho Rozenstruik...man! Talk about pulling a victory from the jaws of defeat. Apparently Rozenstruik was down 0-4 on all the judges scorecards at the time of the stoppage. Not sure I had it that wide but definitely had Overeem ahead. Jair pulling that shot out of the bag at 4:56 of the last round was unbelievable. And Overeem’s lip!! I think that’s even worse than Robbie Lawler’s in the Rory MacDonald fight. Felt bad for Overeem, to be fair. He got waffled and decked but popped up quick and Dan Miragliotta stopped it immediately. If Reem had been given those last 4 seconds and survived, he wins. So it’s harsh on him. Looking at how Reem looked when he stood up, he was stumbling and wobbling badly, and of course his lip was hanging off, so it wasn’t a the worst stoppage ever. But when you see Miragliotta practically pleading with Struve to carry on with the fight earlier in the night, but then stops the Reem fight as soon as his arse hits the floor, with 4 seconds on the clock...I don’t know. Given how the fight had played out, I think Overeem deserved more of a chance to fight through and see the final buzzer. Wasn’t like he’d been taking a beating prior to that punch landing. Marina Rodriguez vs Cynthia Calvillo felt weak as a co-main. Saw it was a draw but was a bit distracted and didn’t pay close enough attention to scoring it to agree or disagree. I liked what I saw from Rodriguez in the striking though. Looked like Calvillo got the better of the grappling, as expected. Looked a decent fight from what I saw. Ben Rothwell vs Stefan Struve, fucking hell man. Struve came out of retirement for this shit? Rothwell kicking his bollocks in? Hopefully Struve already has all the kids he wanted because even if he won’t retire, his balls certainly have now. Every time Struve fights I find myself just feeling sorry for him when it’s over. Shame as well because I actually thought Struve was looking better than he has in years before Big Ben went straight Andrew Golota on him. Thought Miragliotta trying to talk Struve into continuing the fight wasn’t right. Especially telling him he was winning rounds. What the fuck’s that? Not the best night for Big Dan all-round. Oh and fuck that crowd for booing Struve. Aspen Ladd vs Yana Kunitskaya wasn’t much good. And the first couple of rounds might’ve been the worst thing on the card. Ladd got there in the end though. She went full on beast mode in the third. Glad to see her back on track. Still feel like she’s one of the most promising prospects in the women’s side of the game easy. There’s better to come from her. She’s kind of caught between divisions I think though. I don’t think 135 is ideal for her but not sure she’s big enough yet for 145. Cody Stamann vs Song Yadong was an odd fight. I felt like Stamann got a raw deal here. When the fight ended I thought Stamann had pretty much kind of derailed the Yadong hype train. And when you factor in Yadong getting a point deducted for the dirty knee in the first round, I definitely had Cody winning. To have it a majority draw that means 2 of the judges would’ve had Yadong winning if not for the point deduction. Don’t see that at all myself. Stamann landed more strikes, scored more takedowns, passed guard a bunch and had the deducted point in his favour. Yadong had a half decent second round and not much else, IMO. Rob Font vs Ricky Simon was bags of fun. Really entertaining scrap to open the main card with. Font looked really sharp. Simon hasn’t had the best of years results-wise but he’s become someone I’ve really enjoyed watching this year. He brings it, win or lose. Prelims were where this card really delivered though, with finishes in 5 out of the 6 fights, a couple of them being spectacular ‘best of the year’ type finishes. Tim Means vs Thiago Alves was over before it even got going. Means looked good here. Exactly the kind of showing he needed coming off that bad knockout loss to Niko Price earlier this year. This was a disaster for Alves though. This was the last fight on his contract and he chose to test free agency rather than just re-sign. Obviously that gamble hasn’t worked out for him. Billy Quarantillo vs Jacob Kilburn was OK, although I had zero investment going in with them both being newcomers. It was alright though. Quarantillo’s triangle choke finish was pretty nifty. Bryce Mitchell stole the prelims though. Busting out only the second ever twister in UFC history... And just two weeks before the first man to do it, the Korean Zombie, steps back into the Octagon. Mitchell looks good. 12-0 now with 9 subs and still young at 25 years old. Could see him becoming quite a popular personality as well. If he gives the Trump shoutouts a rest anyway. He’s got a kind of likeable redneck charm about him. Joe Solecki vs Matt Wiman was the only prelim to go to the judges and fuck me was it one sided. I’ll always have a bit of a soft spot for Wiman, ever since I saw him fight at UFC 85 in London against Thiago Tavares. He was getting his arse kicked that night and I still vividly remember Chuck Liddell (who was working Wiman’s corner that night) just silently staring a hole through him between rounds. Then Wiman came out like a madman and knocked Tavares out. One of my favourite MMA moments that I’ve witnessed live. Anyway, that was 2008. This wasn’t that. Wiman looks about done to me. At least against these young new breed guys anyway. Put him in with a Clay Guida or someone and maybe he’ll do better. But that’s Solecki and Luis Peña who’ve handed him a beating this year. Didn’t catch the Fight Pass bit but saw Makhmud Muradov absolutely murder Trevor Smith with one of the cleanest one punch knockouts I’ve ever seen in MMA... Floyd’s boy is looking good. So a fun night of fights all-round.

That level is rock bottom though. Del Rio is a nobody who’s never beat anybody good and hadn’t fought since 2010. If he wants to look like that again he’ll probably have to call out old Kenny Shamrock again. Fair play to him for finding a way to make some coin and continuing to get himself in such shape at his age and despite his body being held together by glue after all his injuries. But I can’t even really think of anyone from his era that he can call out now. I guess Vitor Belfort maybe? Can’t really call out a Randy Couture who is 87 years old and just getting over a heart attack. Not even Tito would do that. Or would he?

Yeah, I’d rather Usyk fight someone else first as well. Parker would be alright. What happened to the talk of Usyk vs Chisora as well? Wasn’t that supposedly in the works? As for AJ vs Wilder, I could definitely see Joshua catching him. But I think the most likely outcome is Wilder waffling him. Either way, it’d be such an exciting and chaotic fight however long it lasted. Mightn’t matter if Fury schools Deontay Dosser anyway though.

I thought it was a decent fight but obviously not as exciting and dramatic as the first one. You had a feeling that AJ probably needed to fight like that though. Fuck trying to be exciting, just get that W and the belts back. And it’s not like it was a bad fight. Far from it. Ruiz definitely fucked up coming in so heavy though. Even in the last round when he had to know he was clearly behind, he didn’t even really try until the last 20 seconds. If he’d got his conditioning down he’d have likely had the energy for those big bursts at crucial times and then who knows? Some chin on him though. Some of the shots he ate looked fucking horrible. Proper snapped his head back a few times with all that neck fat wobbling about. At this point, it’s hard to imagine AJ surviving against Wilder. I’ve no doubt he could outbox him for significant spells but so did Ortiz and look how that turned out. Twice. So did Fury and look what happened in the 12th. Even as good and clear a win as this was last night, Joshua still had those couple of dicey rounds where he had to cling on. You just know Wilder would’ve closed the show in those situations. That aside, Hunter vs Povetkin stole the show. Really enjoyed that. What a fight. Definitely felt like Hunter had it when the final bell rang though but it was back and forth. Surely we get a rematch down the line. Whyte vs Wach wasn’t much good but at least Whyte got the win. Hopefully he can rebuild now after all that UKAD controversy. Like Egg says though, you can’t help thinking he’s going to get derailed before he bags that big fight he’s been after. I like him but I just don’t buy him on that level and can see him losing one before he gets there. It’d be nice to see him at least get that payday against one of the top boys though. But it looks like they’re all going to be tied up for the foreseeable future - Wilder with Fury and maybe Joshua with Usyk? That’s going to leave Whyte to either sit out again or take a risky fight. Just seems like he’s destined to not get there.

Do me a favour.

Ha, watch this woman choke Ryan Hall unconscious without realising. The guy in the background makes it for me though. With the totally deadpan “Ryan’s unconscious. You just choked Ryan out. Hilarious.”

More proof Conor McGregor is an evil cretin. Punching old men, sexual assaults, now he’s encouraging Jose Aldo to die via weight cutting... And once again, Ariel 💕 Conor. No doubt he’ll completely change his tune now and be all for Bantamweight Aldo.

Christ almighty 😂 even the commentator couldn’t sound less arsed.

This one’s been getting overlooked due to Ruiz vs Joshua 2 and...Tito vs Del Rio. But it’s tonight. Jairzinho media scrum; https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WugZSVCFfR0 I like him. He’s not a soundbite guy but seems a good egg in everything I see of him. He’s got that confidence and laid backness that comes with being an 80-odd fight veteran. Got a feeling he loses this one though but whatever happens there’s a lot of potential there and he’s still relatively young. He could be around a while. Undercard is solid as well with Stamann vs Yadong and Alves vs Means standing out for me. Thiago Alves is still saying he’s going to test free agency after this fight, it’s the last one on his contract. I’d actually like to see him leave the UFC. He’s pretty much fought everyone there anyway and he’s kind of stuck in the same spot. I wouldn’t mind seeing him mix it up with Bellator’s 170 roster.

Stolen from twitter but Eddie Hearn when he saw Ruiz on the scale; Also, Teddy Atlas seems to be having the same thoughts as all of us. Watch Ruiz go and spark Joshua quick now.

That was my fear with Ruiz ever since that video came out of him in his new mansion in the summer. Obviously, if you’ve just shocked the world and became Heavyweight champ you’re going to treat yourself. But there’s always a risk when an underdog scores a big upset, that the whole thing overwhelms them. And when there was talk of Ruiz looking lighter a month or two back, I just didn’t see it. If anything he looked bigger to me and here he is weighing in 15lbs heavier. Six months for an immediate rematch is a fairly quick turnaround and the talk about that has all been focused on the AJ side. ‘Should he have taken longer before a rematch?’ And ‘will he have had enough time to make adjustments?’ That kind of thing. But I actually think Team Joshua might’ve been a tad crafty. AJ was probably straight back in the gym after the loss in June. Ruiz was understandably on Cloud 9 and off house shopping. They probably saw Ruiz enjoying life and celebrating and tried to jump on him right away while he’s possibly not as focused and out of shape. The old Leonard vs Duran plan. Could all be fuck all. Maybe the extra weight will just wind up meaning Ruiz hits harder and proper irons Joshua out this time. But it’s made it that little bit more interesting for me. Like the Buster Douglas comparison, the worry if you’re backing Ruiz is that he’s content now and slacked off training and took his eye off the ball after that huge win in June. How do you come in pretty much a stone heavier than when you took a fight on short notice? And in just 6 months? Regardless, it’s going to be some fight. I don’t particularly care that much who wins. I really like Ruiz so I wouldn’t be at all upset if he went 2-0. But if AJ wins it keeps those Wilder and Fury monster fights alive plus opens up the trilogy with Ruiz. That’s the more interesting outcome for the division. But if Ruiz wins we’ve still got him against Wilder or Fury. I’d like to see either of them.

Yep. It’s been in the works forfuckingever that one. I think the first mention of it was 2014 when this video surfaced of Sean in the studio playing that very track and saying “me and Fame got a whole EP”. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A8V61LpOBj8 The full thing’s finally out on the 20th and I can’t wait. Thankfully, looking at the track list, his wife’s involvement is kept to a minimum this time unlike when she was doing actual verses on the Imperius Rex album.

It’s official. Frankie Edgar has stepped in.

Nothing is going to be quite good enough for me, to be honest. Zombie vs T-City was a fight I was looking forward to as much or more than I’ve looked forward to any fight this year. That said, Jeremy Stephens is about as fun a replacement as I can think of at 145. But it all depends if he’d be willing to step in, get all the paperwork done and fly to Korea on this short notice. And probably put his Christmas plans on hold. He only fought in October and that was a bit of a war with Yair Rodriguez. Wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t fancy jumping in here. You’d imagine they’ll move heaven and earth to keep the Zombie on the card though. Looking like Frankie Edgar might jump on in...

My Thursday is ruined, yours might as well be too. Yeah. FUCK OFF.

Helwani tweeted that these two fights are being talked about for March as well... Robert Whittaker vs Jared Cannonier - Mar 7 Johnny Walker vs Nikita Krylov - Mar 14 Apparently Walker vs Krylov is pretty much a done deal but Whittaker still likes the idea of fighting Darren Till in London.

Eh? I thought Sanchez had left the UFC? Could swear I read that recently. Yep. This’ll be where I read it. Nothing concrete though so obviously he reached a new deal with the UFC. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bloodyelbow.com/platform/amp/2019/10/30/20939496/report-diego-sanchez-no-longer-with-the-ufc-wants-lethwei-fight-at-wlc-mma-news

Firas Zahabi on Rogan’s podcast talking about GSP and whether he’ll fight again; https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HGqxbdLD4M0 Why have YouTube videos stopped embedding? Anyway, I love this clip. Especially the alien bit. I actually kind of hope GSP isn’t tempted back just because I feel like he’s the only big MMA name who truly nailed it and beat the game. I can’t lie though, I’d be well swept up in seeing him and Khabib collide. And even better would be seeing him school McGregor. Those are the only two fights I think could tempt Georges back at this point. Khabib for the challenge and McGregor for the payday. In other GSP news that I think came out while the UKFF was down, apparently he got married in Rwanda recently.

That is fantastic, cheers!

Not sure what you can really do with my Popeye Bisping av but if anyone can it’s you Chokeout.

Just read that Corey Anderson vs Jan Blachowicz is going to headline a card in Febru...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

I’ve got a feeling Joshua wins but I don’t even really know why. There are questions on both for me. On Joshua because he’s coming off his first loss. And a loss where the other guy got up from his knockdown punch and came back to stop him. That has to fuck with you a bit. And the questions on Ruiz are like Ebb says, will he come in complacent now? There’s also the chance of him losing his ‘eye of the tiger’ now he’s reached the top of the mountain and scored that upset in June. I don’t get the sense he’ll have taken his eye off the ball but you never know. I think Ruiz will come in really motivated to prove the first time wasn’t a fluke though. And AJ’s obviously up against it because you really don’t want two losses to the same man. A win here re-opens the possibilities of potential monster fights with both Wilder and Fury in 2020, plus a trilogy decider with Ruiz. If he loses I’m not sure where that leaves him. Maybe he just retires but I can’t see him wanting to finish up on back-to-back losses.