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Everything posted by wandshogun09
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Back to Miami and itās a ridiculous card. Thisāll probably be a long readā¦ PPV MAIN CARD Sean OāMalleyĀ©ļøvs Marlon Vera - Bantamweight Title Dustin Poirier vs Benoit Saint-Denis Kevin Holland vs Michael Venom Page Gilbert Burns vs Jack Della Maddalena Petr Yan vs Song Yadong ESPN PRELIMS Curtis Blaydes vs Jailton Almeida Katlyn Cerminara vs Maycee Barber Mateusz Gamrot vs Rafael Dos Anjos Pedro Munhoz vs Kyler Phillips ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMS Philipe Lins vs Ion Cutelaba Michel Pereira vs Michal Oleksiejczuk Robelis Despaigne vs Josh Parisian CJ Vergara vs Assu Almabayev Joanne Wood vs Maryna Moroz Jaysus. Love this card. Pretty much top to bottom Iām interested in almost every single fight on there to some degree. Iād say a good 7 of those fights there couldāve headlined cards in their own right. Stupidly good card. Now weāve just got to hope it all stays together for the next however many weeks it is until fight night. Glass half full etc. But yeah, as always Iāll edit when it all goes down the shitter. Sean OāMalley vs Marlon Vera 2 headlines. A rematch nearly 4 years in the making. I donāt think this shouldāve been the next title fight myself. Felt like there were a couple more deserving contenders in Merab Dvalishvili and Cory Sandhagen but whatever. Should be a fun fight. And I do get it. To date, Chitoās still the only man to hold a win over Suga Sean. Itās rematch Iāve wanted to see ever since the first fight ended and the way that fight played out, you knew theyād cross paths again somewhere down the road. Here we are. They faced off back in August 2020 at UFC 252. They were co-main under the big Stipe Miocic vs Daniel Cormier trilogy decider. Mad to think that was at the Apex but we were living in crazy times with the world locked down. OāMalley was undefeated coming in and the UFC machine was well behind him already. He was one of the first names coming off DWCS to really stand out so, like with the TUF 1 crew back in 2005, Dana had a soft spot for him from the get-go. Chito was known as a tough scrapper but heād already had 6 losses and was coming off dropping a close decision against Song Yadong. It was definitely considered a step up for OāMalley but a test I think Dana and the matchmakers expected him to pass. All went tits up. Chito got the TKO late in the first round. My memory of this fight is hazy, Iāll probably rewatch and review it in here at some point. All I really remember is OāMalley hurt his leg somehow and then obviously I remember the finish. Chito brutalised him with nasty elbows. Iāll have to give it another look, see if thereās anything to read into it. Although a lot has happened since then and I think itās safe to say OāMalleyās improved a fair bit over the last few years. Yeah. If youād asked me a few years ago if OāMalley would get this far, Iād have probably laughed. Just never saw it happening. I always had major doubts about him. I thought heād reach the Top 5 and thatād be about his ceiling. His best win going into that first Chito fight was a shopworn Eddie Wineland. And after the Chito loss, they scaled his opposition back again. It felt like that loss spooked the UFC brass and they wanted to rebuild him. He stopped Thomas Almeida, Kris Moutinho and Raulian Paiva before they stepped him up again and threw him in with Pedro Munhoz in July 2022. That was the fight where I pretty much lost all belief in OāMalley. It ended as a No Contest in the second round after OāMalley poked Munhoz in the eye. Accidental but he didnāt look too good at all before that. I remember his fans were insisting he was destroying Munhoz before the poke but he really wasnāt. Something about that fight seemed to change the matchmakers thinking. Itās like right there they decided to stop carefully cherry picking fights for him and thought āalright fuck it, throw him to the wolves and see what heās gotā. The wolf was Petr Yan. I honestly thought Sean was gonna get slaughtered here. I recall actually being quite shocked they even made this fight. Yan wasnāt far removed from being champion, had just lost a razor close decision to Aljamain Sterling and had beaten Cory Sandhagen before that in what was probably Yanās overall best performance. Based on the levels of opposition and the fact that the only 2 times OāMalley had stepped up (Chito and Munhoz) heād either lost or looked iffy, I thought he was fucked against Yan. Genuinely thought he mustāve pissed Dana off behind the scenes or something. But they wound up having a barnburner and OāMalley came out on top. It was close but whoever you had winning, OāMalley looked way better than I think most expected. I had to completely rethink my stance on him after that. Way surpassed what I thought he was capable of. That win earned him a crack at the goldā¦ At UFC 292 in August, OāMalley finally did it. He knocked out Aljo Sterling in the second round to become UFC Bantamweight champion of the world. On the undercard that same night, Chito Vera beat Pedro Munhoz on points in a decent but unspectacular fight. The talk after the show, like always, was about who OāMalleyās first title defence would be against. I strongly felt like Merab deserved it. Heād just dominated Yan in a complete shutout, had the best case for the next shot and, as an added bonus, he had that little moment with stealing Seanās jacket that time! If not him, then Sandhagen wouldāve been more than worthy. But OāMalley seemed more into the Chito rematch. I think partly just genuinely wanting to avenge his only loss, partly that itās probably more appealing as a PPV headliner than the others but I also think itās because he sees it as the easiest of the 3 options. āBefore me vs Aljo, before Pedro vs Chito, I said āHey, Chito goes out there and wins, I go out there and win, Iām fighting Chito for my first title defence.ā Thatās whatās gonna happen next in my eyes. Thatās what I want. Iām sure the UFCās down with that. Theyāre in the fight business. Me vs Chito is the biggest fight in the Bantamweight division. Thereās not even one thatās really close. Me vs anyone is gonna be a big fight because Iām a pretty big name. But me vs Chito is the biggest fight to make. Me vs Cory Sandhagen is out there. Me vs Merab - Merab is literally just so fucking boring. Just, itās hard to make that business-wise. But yeah, you could make that fight eventually.ā āItās just perfect. I feel like itās perfect timing. After that first fight, everyone was like āYou gotta get that rematch, you gotta get that rematch.ā And I said, āIāll get that rematch when I want that, when itās time for that rematch, Iām gonna call for it and Iāll get it.ā I couldāve gotten this rematch whenever I wanted it. Now is the right time. I donāt wanna talk him down too much, because Iāve gotta build a fight. But Iām gonna smoke this dude.ā - Sean OāMalley I get why he wants this fight but he really doesnāt seem keen on that Merab fight, does he? Problem is, if Merab beats Cejudo at 298 in February, itās gonna be hard to deny him his shot. And Sandhagenās no walk in the park either. If OāMalley beats Chito here, Iām fully expecting him to call for some silly fight in another division or something. No-one wants to just stay in their weight class and defend their belt anymore. And I get the feeling Seanās gonna be bad for that if his reign goes on a bit. Chitoās pretty much always entertaining to watch but, again, heās ranked #6, his last win over Munhoz wasnāt exactly mind blowing and before that he got outclassed over 5 rounds by Sandhagen. If you never saw that fight, donāt let the āsplit decisionā fool you. One of the judges mustāve been drinking on the job because thereās no way you can legitimately score that fight for Chito. Before that he was on a solid run, to be fair. That 4 fight stretch of wins over Davey Grant, Frankie Edgar, Rob Font and Dominick Cruz was ace. He definitely doesnāt have the strongest case to be next in line but I donāt hate this fight at all. Repeat or revenge and all that bollocks? Iāll have to give the first fight another watch but Iāve got a feeling OāMalley gets it done this time. I canāt remember how much of a factor the ankle injury was in the first fight but regardless, I just think OāMalleyās the more improved of the 2 and heāll have gained so much experience and confidence from those Yan and Sterling wins. And when I say confidence I mean real confidence. Itās not like he ever seemed to lack belief in himself but thereās a big difference between that unbeaten fighter youthful arrogance where you donāt know any better and the kind of legit confidence he has now that comes with experience in big fights against elite opposition. His self belief now is actually based on something whereas I think there was an element of delusion to it all before. Chitoās always dangerous, heās durable and heāll be right in OāMalleyās face. You can never count a guy like that out. But I donāt know. He still has his flaws and often relies too much on stealing rounds on damage in the last minute a lot. I reckon OāMalley probably wins and then calls for an immediate trilogy decider to avoid Merab and Sandhagen. Dustin Poirier vs Benoit Saint-Denis is a tremendous co-main event. 5 rounds as well. I was pleasantly surprised when this one got announced. Saint-Denis actually called out both Poirier and Justin Gaethje after his last fight but I genuinely thought he was wasting his time and that those guys would only be looking for ābig namesā at this stage in their careers. There were rumblings of Saint-Denis headlining against Beneil Dariush on the Atlantic City card in late March but his manager said that was one option and the other was a āmystery opponentā and that was the fight they were leaning towards. The āmystery opponentāā¦ Fair play to Poirier. Heās currently ranked #3 in the Lightweight division and heās coming off that knockout loss to Gaethje. He couldāve easily held out and tried to campaign for another McGregor fight, thereās unfinished business there. Or the Gaethje rubber match or maybe even try and lure Nate Diaz back or something. I honestly thought Poirier had just reached the stage in his career where he was just gonna look for fun scraps with big names. To take a fight like this now, coming off a KO loss, against a younger, fresher, dangerous but lower ranked rising contender like Saint-Denis is ballsy. Saint-Denis has been one of the standout new faces at 155 over the last year or so. Heās 28 years old and 13-1-0-1 with all of his wins coming inside the distance. He took a beating off Elizeu Zaleski Dos Santos in his UFC debut but has been on fire ever since, rattling off 5 straight finishes. I think I first really started taking notice of him when he bashed up Gabriel Miranda in a very enjoyable scrap on the first Paris card in 2022. Not an earth shattering win but he looked good and the home crowd reacting to him like a superstar certainly didnāt hurt. He followed that up with a blinding 2023. He derailed the hype train of Ismael Bonfim in July, submitting him in the first round with a nasty face crank. In September he returned to Paris and stopped Thiago Moises in the FOTN. Then in November, he faced Matt Frevola in Frevolaās backyard at MSG, and did this to himā¦ I went into that fight expecting a war, Benoit wiped him out in 90 seconds. āIām telling you, that Benoit Saint-Denis is next level. Heās got furnaces going in his eyes. You look into that guyās eyes, thereās hell going on behind those eyes. Heās built for it. So him vs Dustin is very exciting. Dustin better be ready to go.ā - Joe Rogan Heās definitely got some real momentum now. Heās been great to watch. This is a huge step up though. Seeing a lot of positivity towards Saint-Denis, and rightly so. And like always, with Poirier coming off a KO loss, itās a āwhat have you done latelyā sport and talks of declines always come with losses. But make no mistake, on paper, this is by far the toughest test of Saint-Denisā career. On top of that, this is a 5 round fight. Benoitās never gone past 3. We know Poirierās up to 5 rounds. Heās won 5 round wars with Max Holloway and Dan Hooker, stopped Gaethje in the 4th round of their all time classic, has trained for multiple scheduled 5 rounders and title fights. Poirier is as tried and tested as it gets. Heās an ironman. This is Saint-Denisā chance to really break through as a top player at 155. You beat a guy like Poirier, youāre automatically catapulted into that title mix. For Poirier, thereās less to be gained from this. Itās a risky fight for relatively low rewards. Heās ranked #3, Benoitās at #11. So itās not gonna do much for Dustin. If he loses, it obviously doesnāt look good. But even if he wins, people will probably just say Benoit got exposed or whatever. Gotta respect Poirier taking this fight at this stage of his career. Should be an absolute dogfight. Kevin Holland vs Michael Venom Page then. Here we go. The long talked about, long awaited UFC debut of MVP is finally upon us. This move was now or never really, wasnāt it? MVPās about to turn 37 in April. After years in Bellator and dabbling in Boxing and Bare Knuckle, once he became a free agent and started courting offers from the UFC and PFL, I think it was pretty clear that wherever he ended up, it would probably be the last big contract of his career. So he had to choose wisely. Heās gone with the UFC. Iāve made no secret that Iām not his biggest fan. Heās undeniably had some incredible moments in the cage and delivered some crazy knockouts. But heās bored me shitless just as much. I feel like he gets overrated because of the flashy shit, āviralā finishes and wacky showmanship but when heās been bad to watch heās been really bad to watch. All that said, Iām glad he chose the UFC. As much as Iād have been interested in that Cedric Doumbe fight PFL were teasing, thatās one fight. I feel like thereās more for him to do in the UFC and if he didnāt come over now, it most likely never wouldāve happened. Heās coming off a fucking gruesome leg kick finish over Goiti Yamauchi in his last fight in Bellatorā¦ I mean, fuck me š¤¢ look at the knee! That will have been a year ago, almost to the day, by the time he steps into the Octagon here. Before that heād lost to Mike Perry in BKFC in a close fight but he got roughed up pretty good in the last round. Before that he got shut down and outwrestled by Logan Storley to a decision loss in his lone shot at Bellator gold. Heās 21-2 overall now. Heās had some spectacular finishes but even his best wins over the likes of Douglas Lima and Paul Daley, they were pretty shit to watch. I just donāt know. Good addition to the roster regardless. Heāll ruffle some feathers and his style is unique enough that itāll make for some interesting matchups. There was talk initially this fight with Holland was being targeted for UFC 297 in Canada in January. There was a video Dana put out and it was on the board behind him. That card couldāve really done with a fight like this but they never got it done in time. So itās landed here instead. Kevin Holland welcomes him aboard. I can certainly see the appeal of this pairing. Holland can be very entertaining and he goes for the finish every chance he gets. But, and I donāt wanna piss on anyoneās chips here, I could just as easily see this being a nothing happening taunt-off. Holland loves to talk shit in there, sometimes at the expense of actually putting out offence. And MVP has a tendency to lay back and try to set traps and if the opponent doesnāt bite, itās rotten stuff. Thatās definitely a scenario I could see playing out here but I really hope not. If theyāre both up for it then this could be fantastic. Itās one of those weird ones. My expectations range wildly from one extreme to the other. Itās either gonna be a mad highlight reel or 15 minutes of Venom piss-arsing about while Holland gives him a stern talking to. The combination of MVPās inactivity plus him maybe feeling the pressure of wanting to deliver in his Octagon debut, I fear itās gonna be the latter. At least theyāre not feeding him a gimme though. I guess, given his age, they donāt really have the luxury of wrapping him in cotton wool and trying to build him up. Gilbert Burns vs Jack Della Maddalena is ***WANDāS ONE TO WATCH*** on this card. But honestly, thereās a bunch I couldāve chosen. Something about this one for me though. Burns is ranked #4 in the Welterweight division as I type this. Maddalena is ranked #11. So this is a huge opportunity for Maddalena but itās also a big jump in levels for him. Burns is by far the toughest test the Aussie will have faced so far. Weāll see if he can rise to the occasion. Kind of wish this was headlining a card so we could get 5 rounds but I canāt complain. It adds serious depth to this card. Gilbert Burns is class. Doesnāt surprise me one bit that heās taken this fight. Heās one of those guys who never seems content to just sit on his ranking and angle for names or favourable matchups. Heāll fight any fucker. Short notice, unappealing style fights, big names, up and comers, heās up for anything. At 37 years old, youād think heād be trying to be more selective now and try to maximise his chances of getting one last run at a title shot by taking the easiest route possible. But he seems to genuinely just love to test himself against all comers. Heās a throwback to simpler times in MMA in a way. Heās obviously looking to get paid but I think heās in it for the love of the game as much as anything. He got his title shot against Kamaru Usman in 2021, lost and then took on a tricky Wonderboy as his rebound fight. Who does that? He was the first top guy to give Khamzat Chimaev an opportunity and he gave him a proper battle. Even his last fight, he jumped in against Belal Muhammad, whoās hard to look good against. The fight was crap and Gilbert lost but heās one of those guys where setbacks seem to just bounce off him. Now heās stepping in with another dangerous prospectā¦ The Welterweight division has seen a mini influx of fresh potential contenders emerge over the last couple of years. The standouts for me have been Shavkat Rakhmonov, Ian Garry and Jack Della Maddalena. And theyāve all been progressing at a similar kind of rate. Shavkatās further ahead but theyāre all getting up there in the rankings now. Maddalena really stood out for me right from his UFC debut in early 2022. In his first 4 trips to the Octagon he breezed through Pete Rodriguez, Ramazan Emeev, Danny Roberts and Randy Brown. All finishes, all inside a round. Barely broke a sweat, showed some really nice boxing for MMA and did it with a calmness and laid backness that reminded me of Mark Hunt. The hype has cooled off a tad recently though. He got taken to a split decision by UFC newcomer Bassil Hafez in July, which was a bit surprising. But Hafez was a last minute replacement and you never know how that can mess things up. Then in September he won another split against Kevin Holland. I definitely had him winning but going to back-to-back close decisions after previously blasting through the competition, itās gonna take a bit of the shine off the hot prospect talk, isnāt it? I still think thereās way better to come from him but this is a baptism of fire here. Burns has mixed at the highest levels and Maddalena hasnāt touched that level yet. We also havenāt seen much of Dellaās grappling yet and Burns could certainly put that to the test. Apparently, Maddalenaās been training his grappling with BJJ black-belt and ADCC/Polaris medalist Craig Jones so thereās that. But Iām not sure how much time theyāve actually spent on the mats together. Canāt wait for this one. Petr Yan vs Song Yadong is a belter. This was actually originally pencilled in as the main event of the planned Shanghai card in December but Yan got injured, the event got moved to the Apex and Song ended up in a lacklustre matchup with Chris Gutierrez instead. Well happy theyāve managed to get the fight on now. Again though, like a few of these fights on this card, itās a shame weāre not getting it as a 5 rounder. Yanās got his work cut out at this point. Heās still ranked #5 but his stock has taken a massive hit in recent times. In late 2021 he was the interim Bantamweight champion and coming off probably the best performance of his career to date, beating Cory Sandhagen in an incredible fight. Heād already beat Jose Aldo, Urijah Faber and John Dodson before that and his only recent blemish was his mind boggling illegal knee against Aljo in their first fight, which got him disqualified. His 2022-23 has been miserable though. Heās lost his last 3 fights in a row now. And although 2 of them were mega close decisions (Aljo rematch and OāMalley) that many felt he won, theyāre still officially losses. His last fight against Merab though, there was zero debate there. He lost every round. And that was last March. So a whole year on the shelf for him. What a fall. When he was champ, there was talk about him in the pound-for-pound rankings and all sorts. I think that was premature myself but thatās how good he looked. Heāll have just turned 31 by the time this fight happens. Hardly on the scrapheap. And like I said, it was only the Merab loss that was clear cut. That 0-3 scoreline doesnāt tell the whole story really. But it could be a case now where the self doubts are creeping in. Theyāre not exactly doing him any favours here eitherā¦ This snazzy little bastard awaits. Song just turned 26 in December, heās 21-7-1-1 and has won 5 of his last 6 with the only loss being a doctor stoppage against Cory Sandhagen due to a really bad gash on his eyebrow. Heās knocked out Julio Arce, Marlon Moraes, Ricky Simon and he has a 2020 decision win over Chito Vera. He dominated Chris Gutierrez in his last fight in December. Just 5 rounds of one way traffic. But it wasnāt much good to watch. Canāt really criticise Song too much because he won clearly and itās not like heās typically in dull fights. But he was so obviously levels above Gutierrez that it felt like he really shouldāve been able to get him out of there. Oh well. He did call out Yan in his post-fight interview. Apparently Yan tweeted the yawn š„± emoji and Song didnāt appreciate that. āYour last fight too bro. SHITā¦LOOK SHIT!ā - Song Yadong That creased me. The broken English combined with the usually laid back and placid Song looking legit pissed off just added to it. He then took to Twitter and doubled down on the calloutā¦ At that point this was a no brainer for the matchmakers. Iāve said a bunch of times I was really hoping weād see Yan welcome Figgy to the Bantamweight division, and I still hope we get to see that fight at some stage. But thisāll do nicely for now. Itās really a must win for Yan though. Heās got to find a way to stop the rot. If we knew for a fact that they were both coming into this fight at the top of their game, Iād favour Yan in a heartbeat. But with the year layoff and the pressure on him now to get a win, I think it could make this a tougher fight on him than it would be otherwise. And Songās no joke in his own right. Plus heās younger and has been 5 rounds twice since Yan last saw action. Cracking fight. Curtis Blaydes vs Jailton Almeida was supposed to headline the SĆ£o Paulo card in November but Blaydes pulled out and Jailton beat Derrick Lewis instead. Quite happy theyāve rebooked it. Not that Iām expecting a killer fight out of it or anything but itās definitely an intriguing one and it feels like the test we need to see for Almeida at this point. Almeida has looked like one of the more promising of the new Heavyweights weāve seen in a while. Although that fight with Lewis in November was shite, there were some positives to take from it. He got 5 rounds in, he dominated, he didnāt take any damage etc. But man, any buzz there was around him seemed to evaporate overnight after that performance. Iām convinced he mustāve been carrying an injury or something because, on paper, Lewis is tailor-made for Almeidaās style. Yet Almeida repeatedly took him down and did nothing. Weāve seen heās got good ground and pound and a strong submission game in previous fights, and weāve seen the Beast wilt against guys like that before. But Almeida just rode out the clock and seemed to forget what heās good at. He got a lot of criticism for the way he fought but it was one fight. And we canāt forget he still won an absolute landslide. Thereāll be better to come. But following that with a fight against Blaydes here, itās a recipe for another frustrating watch. We havenāt seen Blaydes since he got walloped by Sergei Pavlovich last April. Who knows how heās gonna look here? But heās a very interesting matchup for Jailton here. Heās got that power in his hands plus Jailton mightnāt be able to just fall back on his grappling because of Blaydesā wrestling background. He might be forced to strike more in this one, or maybe Blaydes goes the takedown route and we havenāt seen Almeida on his back. Not expecting a show stealer but itās definitely a fight Iām looking forward to watching play out. Katlyn Cerminara vs Maycee Barber. Yep. Itās Katlyn Chookagian under a new name. She got married. Although I prefer to think sheās just rebranded. Like when Hermes rebranded to Evri, presumably because of their dogshit reputation as Hermes. Thatās what Iām running with here. Chookyās trying to make us forget all those snoozers by going by an alias. Nah, seriously, good for her. Hopefully the marriage goes swimmingly. But I canāt deny, I couldāve lived happily ever after if sheād decided never to return to MMA. She last fought in October 2022, losing a decision to Manon Fiorot in a fight I mustāve blocked out because I have no recollection of it. Another one of these please, Maycee. That was Barberās last fight against Amanda Ribas in June. I went in with no real expectations but they overdelivered. Probably the best fight Iāve seen out of either of them. Barberās kind of won me over. I felt like she got a bit overhyped early in her career, mostly because she came in young and I think people just assumed her being so young = big time prospect. But sheās doing OK. 13-2 now, on a 5 fight winning streak and her last loss was to current champ Alexa Grasso. Not too shabby. Between her unexpected slugfest with Ribas and the fact sheās had a pop at Pena a few times, yeah sheās grown on me. If she batters Katlyn Evri here then Iāll be a fully fledged fan. Mateusz Gamrot vs Rafael Dos Anjos, again, nuts seeing a fight like this on the prelims. This is another fight that couldāve easily headlined a Fight Night and nobody would complain. RDA just continues to keep taking these tough fights. He turns 40 in October and heās still going fairly strong. Crazy the longevity heās had, especially what you look at his track record and the names on his record. Win or lose, heās never shied away from a hard fight. Heās 32-15 now and has gone 1-2 in his last 3 fights. But even then, he was giving Fiziev a very competitive fight before Fiziev got to him in the last round. And he went a solid 5 rounds in defeat against Vicente Luque in his last fight in August. Heās not peak RDA anymore. The guy who ripped the title off a young Anthony Pettis is gone. But heās certainly not shot. Gamrotās a funny one though. Undeniably a skilled fighter but, for whatever reason, he canāt seem to just get a straightforward win in the UFC. His last 3 wins all have asterisks clouding them. A dodgy decision over Arman Tsarukyan, another iffy decision over Jalin Turner and the Fiziev win last time came after Fiziev blew his knee out. Plus there was the loss to Dariush in there. He could really do with a clear cut, controversy free win here. And ideally a finish. But I canāt root against RDA so I hope that doesnāt happen. Pedro Munhoz vs Kyler Phillips is a cool little pairing for the prelims. Didnāt even clock that this had been booked and it obviously got overshadowed by all the other stuff on this card. But I like this. Munhoz has seen better days at this point. Heās still game and willing to fight whoever but results havenāt been going his way for a while now. Heās had his moments over the years, beat Rob Font, chinned Cody Garbrandt, went 1-1 in tremendous underrated battles with Jimmie Rivera, had good competitive fights with Frankie Edgar and even Aljo Sterling. Heās better than his recent record suggests. But facts are, heās gone 2-5-0-1 in his last 8 fights. Not good. And as a 37 year old Bantamweight, thereās obviously more of his career in the rear view than ahead of him at this point. Phillips is the opposite. Heās 28 years old and probably just entering his prime. Heās an all action type, exciting to watch and I actually think he could be a bit of a darkhorse at 135 if he can stay active and build momentum. He actually had a win over Song Yadong in 2021 that not many seem to remember now. And heās coming into this fight off a win over Raoni Barcelos in August. Itās another one of those Bantamweight fights that sneaks up with little fanfare but I can see it being quality. Philipe Lins vs Ion Cutelaba is a late addition to a card that really didnāt need it. These two were supposed to tangle on an Apex card back in October but Lins dropped out on the day of the show for some reason I canāt remember, nor be arsed to go back and check. Itās OK but itās not grabbing me really. Definitely doesnāt help that itās on a stacked card like this surrounded by so many better fights. Cutelaba might make it watchable but Lins is shite from the little I recall of him. Heās 17-5 and coming off 3 wins but, for whatever reason, heās just one of those names I see on a card and groan. Heās been in the UFC for a few years now and previously fought in Bellator and PFL but heās just instantly forgettable for me. Hopefully Cutelaba can drag something worthwhile out of this. Heās not great himself but one thing heās not is boring. He stopped Tanner Boser in a round last time out, snapping a 3 fight losing skid. Hoping he twats Lins here, and quick preferably. The less heās on my screen the better. Michel Pereira vs Michal Oleksiejczuk is ace. Another potentially stupid fun fight that I had no idea was booked. Pereiraās had quite a bit of criticism over the years for being too inconsistent and too concerned with getting his flashy shit in. But in fairness to him, he seems to have found a healthy balance over the course of his UFC run. Heās on a 6 fight winning streak now and has had some really good performances in there. He took another step in the right direction in his last fight as well, finally moving up to Middleweight after struggling to hit 170 for years. When you see pictures of him out of camp, itās unbelievable he ever made 170. He looked every bit of a strong 185er when he bulldozed Andre Petroski in just over a minute in October. And Oleksiejczuk had a similar experience but he dropped down to 185 from 205. Heās never gonna be a world beater in any weight class but 205 was never optimal for him. Heās coming off a first round TKO win over Chidi Njokuani in a wild back and forth slobberknocker. Thisāll be mayhem for however long it lasts. Robelis Despaigne vs Josh Parisian is a fight I initially looked at and thought āugh, low level Heavyweightsā but with just a little bit of homework on this Despaigne chap, Iām intrigued. Heās Cuban and heās undefeated so far at 4-0 with 4 first round knockouts. And get this, his last 3 fights lasted just 12 seconds, 3 seconds and 4 seconds! The fuck? OK, itāll have been against scrubs but knocking any man out in 3 seconds is impressive. Heās 35 years old already so no spring chicken. But at Heavyweight, thatās not a disaster. Heās also 6ā7ā and reportedly has the longest reach in UFC history at 87 inchesā¦ A big boy. If all that isnāt enough to pique your interest, he also won the Olympic bronze medal in Taekwondo at the 2012 Games in London. Iām sold. Obviously very early days and thereās gonna be big questions on his grappling. But who cares? This is a Heavyweight that actually gives us something to talk about. Heās a monster of a man with Olympic credentials and has knocked his last 3 opponents out in a combined 19 seconds! There arenāt enough of these freakish Heavyweights these days. Iām in. So you just know fatty Parisian is gonna spoil the fun before weāve even got the party hats and jelly and ice cream out. Parisianās cack. Heās 34 years old, 15-7 and coming off 2 consecutive losses. Heās never beat anyone good and got subbed in a round by Martin Buday last time. So this could tell us a little or a lot about Despaigne. If he sparks Parisian, yeah not overly impressive. Unless he beats his personal best and flattens him in 2 seconds or something. If he loses though, itās a wrap. Heāll never amount to anything. CJ Vergara vs Assu Almabayev is a fight that will likely get zero attention on a card like this, and understandably so, but itās yet another solid piece of matchmaking. The depth on this card is insane. This isnāt mind blowing or anything but for the Fight Pass stream? Itās good shit. Vergaraās 12-4-1 and coming off wins over Daniel Lacerda and Vinicius Salvador. If you never saw the Lacerda fight last March get on it. Seriously, one of the best and nuttiest under the radar fights of 2023 by far. Just a round and a half of pure chaos. Almabayev is from Kazakhstan and heās 18-2 with 12 finishes. Only seen his UFC debut so far but he looked good overwhelming Ode Osbourne and submitting him. He was making big claims in his post-fight interview, predicting heād be champ by 2025. Doubt it but I like the confidence. Joanne Wood vs Maryna Moroz 2 then. A rematch nobody was asking for but weāll go with it. I saw something recently that Wood had posted on Instagram about this fight with the caption āLast one, best one!ā So Iām taking from that, this might be her last fight. Itās probably time, to be fair. Always liked her but it just hasnāt really panned out for her in the UFC and sheās 38 years old now. Gotta stop sometime. These two first clashed in April 2015 on a Fight Night card in Poland. It was actually on the undercard of the Cro Cop vs Gonzaga rematch. Mirkoās revenge! Wood was coming off TUF at the time and was one of the more liked contestants, Moroz was 5-0 and making her UFC debut. Lasted 90 seconds and Moroz got her with the armbar. Remember being really deflated by that. At the time I still had some hopes Wood might be able to make a proper run at the title. Just wasnāt to be. She got close to a title shot and at one point she was actually next in line to get a crack at Shevchenko but, as I recall, there was gonna be a delay so she opted to stay active and take another fight. Then she got bashed up by Jennifer Maia and never got back in contention again. Letās face it, she was never winning the title anyway. She beat Luana Carolina on points in her last fight but lost 3 on the bounce prior to that. Moroz has lost her last 2 and got subbed in a round by Karine Silva in her last fight in August. Hopefully āDr Kneevilā at least gets to avenge that loss in 2015 and go out on a win. Aaaand breatheā¦
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After a slow start to the year, NOW weāre talking. Off to California we goā¦ PPV MAIN CARD Alexander VolkanovskiĀ©ļøvs Ilia Topuria - Featherweight Title Robert Whittaker vs Paulo Costa Geoff Neal vs Ian Garry Merab Dvalishvili vs Henry Cejudo Anthony Hernandez vs Roman Kopylov ESPN PRELIMS Amanda Lemos vs Mackenzie Dern Marcos Rogerio De Lima vs Junior Tafa Rinya Nakamura vs Carlos Vera Zhang Mingyang vs Brendson Ribeiro ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMS Danny Barlow vs Josh Quinlan Val Woodburn vs Oban Elliott Andrea Lee vs Miranda Maverick Thatās more like it! Love this card. Feel like itās kind of snuck up on us a bit with all the focus being on 299 and 300, but this is quality. Hopefully whatās there now stays intact. Before I could even start this thread, thereād already been a few pullouts. Fingers crossed thatās it now. Alexander Volkanovski vs Ilia Topuria is an absolute beast of a fight. I feel like itās kind of getting lost in all the hype around UFC 299 and definitely the speculation surrounding UFC 300. But as a stand-alone fight, this genuinely might be the best on the schedule at the moment for me. Youāve got the dominant champion whoās turned back all challengers and heās gonna be standing across from the most dangerous and promising of the new breed of Featherweights. I honestly believe Topuria is the best 145er to come along since Volk rose to the top of the division. Itās such a cool fight. But the x-factor is the timing of it. Canāt really say much more about Volkanovski that we havenāt all said a hundred times already. One of greatest of all time and definitely one of the best fighters walking the planet right now. Heās put together an incredible career. The 3 wins over Max Holloway alone is crazy enough. Then you add in wins over Jose Aldo, Brian Ortega, Yair Rodriguez, Korean Zombie, Chad Mendes. Itās been a hell of a run so far. With all that said though, his 2023 didnāt go as heād have liked. He went 1-2 last year but the 2 losses were up at Lightweight against the champ Islam Makhachev. When you go up in weight chasing greatness, well in Volkās case even more greatness, it always comes with risk. And it wasnāt like there was anything to be ashamed of. The first fight in Perth in February was tremendous and by far one of the best fights of the year. He went back down to 145 in July to defend his title there, and completely outclassed Yair Rodriguez, stopping him in 3 rounds. Then in October came the Makhachev rematch. And Volk got headkicked into oblivion in 3 minutes. Obviously that fight came about under far from ideal circumstances. Volk had stepped in on less than 2 weeks notice, replacing Charles Oliveira whoād suffered a bad cut in training. So coming in last minute, and going up in weight, against a fighter the calibre of Makhachev was always gonna be an uphill battle. It doesnāt take away from his legacy and standing at Featherweight but it definitely puts a little dent in that bulletproof aura heād had going into that fight. Before Oliveira dropped out, Volkanovski was all set to defend his Featherweight strap against Topuria. The two came face-to-face immediately following Volk mauling Yair. Nothing much happened but it got the old juices flowing. But then the opportunity to get that rematch with Makhachev presented itself and Volk jumped all over it. I understand why but it turned out to be a gamble that wasnāt really worth taking. Makhachev vs Volk 1 was so good and so close, many felt Volk shouldāve got the decision. So a rematch seemed inevitable anyway down the line. But you really need a full camp for a fight like that. And now Volkās 0-2 down and, especially with the way the rematch ended, a third fight is gonna be a hard sell. For now anyway. Volkās gonna have to remind everyone who he is. Turning back around and taking on an animal like Topuria, if he wins itās gonna go a long way towards doing just that. Topuriaās been threatening to become something special for a while now. Heās Georgian/Spanish and undefeated at 14-0 with 12 of those wins coming inside the distance. He fought for the Cage Warriors and Brave promotions early in his career and made his UFC debut in late 2020 at just 8-0. I remember it well. It was right in the thick of the COVID/no fans in attendance days and Topuria had stepped in on short notice against Youssef Zalal. He won on points and I remember being very impressed right away with his grappling and also his pace and conditioning given the lack of prep time. He followed that up by smashing Damon Jackson to bits with his boxing in a round. So in just 2 fights, heād already shown he had serious skills in the grappling and striking. From there he squashed the usually tricky Ryan Hall in a round. Then he ate a brutal flush headkick from Jai Herbert in London and came back to spark him out cold. So another question answered on his chin and heart. He took on Bryce Mitchell in December 2022 in a battle of unbeaten prospects and wrecked him. Beat Bryce up on the feet and surprised many by bossing the grappling as well, en route to submitting him in the second round. Then in his last fight in June, he battered Josh Emmett over 5 rounds and took a lopsided decision. Seriously, one judge scored it 50-42, thatās how one sided it was. And it also answered the ācan he go 5 roundsā question. He looked great in that fight, gave Emmett a real boxing lesson. Will this become reality? Topuria seems pretty confidentā¦ āFor me itās going to be an easy fight. I will knock you out in the first round. Youāre old. Itās time to retire. Itās time to move on and make way for the new era of Topuria.ā - Ilia Topuria Seen a bit of backlash to his outspokenness. He is coming off a bit cocky but I kind of like the attitude. I think the pushback is mostly because heās aiming it at Volk whoās so liked and respected. But I like that Topuriaās showing a bit more edge and personality. To be honest, after the last couple of rancid PPV build ups, itās refreshing just to see someone talk a bit of shit about what theyāre looking to do in the actual fight rather than going the personal attacks route. The only concern about this for me is heās been going back and forth with OāMalley and talking about fighting McGregor in Spain and all manner of wild stuff. Iām sure heās dialled in on the task at hand but you canāt be getting distracted with whatās coming next when youāve got a Volkanovski shaped hurdle to get past first. Volkās definitely taken note of Topuriaās commentsā¦ āHeās got to be confident. Thereās confidence and then thereās being delusional. I donāt mind the bloke but even the things he says, what heās saying doesnāt really make sense. This Ilia fight? Not a challenge. I donāt need to pretend this is some crazy challenge to get me motivated. The way he talks, thatās motivation.ā āHe thinks heās the man, letās see if he is. Iām ready for the best version that shows up on February 17th. So letās see what we have in store. Iām gonna be ready either way. I see heās confident. Heās a cocky, confident young dude. Letās see if he can really bring it because I know Iām gonna and I canāt wait to show him levels.ā - Alexander Volkanovski I donāt think thereās any real beef between them but thereās clearly a bit of needle there. Both highly confident, both mega competitive, both see themselves as the big dog in the yard. I love this shit. Much prefer this to the desperate shite fight hype weāve been fed lately. No need to fake anything or go overboard attacking family members and stuff here. The real good shit doesnāt need all that extra stuff. This is just 2 badass fighters gearing up to get locked in a cage with the gold on the line. Doesnāt need anything else. Inject it into my veins. How do we see this going? Iām leaning towards Volk because heās Volk. Heās definitely got the stronger and deeper resume, heās got more experience against high level opposition, more experience in 5 round fights, heās shown time and time again that heās one of the most skilled fighters in the game. Butā¦like I touched on at the beginning, the timing of this fight makes it very interesting. Heās 35 years old now. Not ancient by any stretch and heās really shown no signs of slowing down. But 35 is a very good innings for a lighter weight fighter. Then you factor in that heās coming off a vicious knockout loss in October and wonāt have had much time off at all before diving back into another camp for this fight. I donāt know. Volkās an amazing fighter and itās worth noting heās still undefeated at Featherweight. Iām picking him but if there was ever a time that seemed ideal to maybe possibly catch him, and if there was ever a fighter that seemed equipped to do the jobā¦for me itās now and itās Topuria. Itās truly a fascinating fight. The toughest one available for Volk in my opinion. But if he can beat Topuria like heās been beating all these other contenders at 145, man, itāll be a hell of a way to rehab his image after that last fight and heāll have pretty much legitimately cleaned out the whole division. Robert Whittaker vs Paulo Costa is supposed to be the co-main. Iāll believe it when I see it. You just canāt rely on Costa to show up and I think at this point weāve all been conditioned to expect him not to. This particular fight has already been attempted twice and fell through both times on Costaās side. They were originally scheduled to headline a Fight Night in April 2021, then they were matched up for UFC 284 in February last year. Both times Costa cocked things up. Maybe itāll be third time lucky but Iām not holding my breath or anything. If the fight does go ahead, Iām really hoping Whittaker can get back to winning ways. We havenāt seen him since that shock defeat to Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 290 in July. That oneās probably gonna be retconned as time goes on and people will pretend they called it. But it was a shocker on the night. Even if you picked DDP to win, no-one expected him to batter Whittaker the way he did. After years of Whittaker being the nailed on #2 guy at Middleweight behind Adesanya, the division got flipped on its head last year and now Whittakerās kind of in this weird no manās land where heās already pretty much fought everyone at 185 but a move down to 170 or up to 205 donāt seem likely either. And Costa, Iāll be honest, Iām just over it. If he turns up cool but I donāt really care if he never fights again. We last saw him beating up a shot to bits Luke Rockhold in August 2022. He then spent 2023 pulling out of fights with Whittaker and Ikram Aliskerov. If he actually fights, this should be fun. Iām sceptical though. Wish weād have got that Whittaker vs Usman fight we were on about before here instead. Who knows? When Costa inevitably pulls out again, maybe Usman will step in and replace him again like he did against Khamzat. Weāll see. Donāt wanna be negative but I just canāt get up for Costa fights anymore because Iām always just waiting for the cancellation. Geoff Neal vs Ian Garry is ***WANDāS ONE TO WATCH*** this time and I suspect itāll be one of the more talked about and heated fights on the card by the time fight week rolls around. Thereās bad blood here. Garry seems to be beefing with everyone but this Neal thing has been brewing for a while now. They were supposed to fight at UFC 292 in Boston last August but Neal had to pull out. Garry beat Neil Magny that night instead but before Neal withdrew, it was getting ugly. Wearing a shirt with your opponentās mugshot on it is never gonna go down well, is it? Garry was talking shit when Neal pulled out of their fight as well. And Nealās had months to sit and think about it. You know heās gonna be extra motivated and looking to knock Garryās head off. Beyond all that shite, itās a really good fight in its own right. Garryās ranked #10 now so heās climbing, Nealās ranked #8. Garryās undefeated at 13-0, Nealās 15-5. But despite having a few losses, Nealās the toughest and most dangerous test yet for Garry, I reckon. Heās got wins over Belal Muhammad and Santiago Ponzinibbio, brutally stopped Vicente Luque and gave Shavkat Rakhmonov his hardest fight yet. And itās not like Garryās unhittable. The likes of Song Kenan have tagged him and had him wobbled. Itās a fight Garry needs to win if heās gonna back up his trash talk and live up to what he says he is. Heās looked good so far but this is definitely a risky one for him. Should be an exciting fight. Merab Dvalishvili vs Henry Cejudo is a great fight. It might not end up being the most thrilling fight to watch, or I dont know maybe it will. But either way, Iām very interested to see how this one plays out and how their styles match up. Itās kind of a weird one in a way, timing-wise. At the time Iām typing this, Merab is ranked #2 in the Bantamweight division but the only guy ahead of him is his buddy and teammate Aljamain Sterling whoās moving up to Featherweight. Merab was the guy who shouldāve got the next title shot, in my opinion. Definitely more deserving than Chito Vera but I kind of get why they went the route they did and Merab is coming off nearly a year on the shelf now. Cejudoās currently ranked #3 despite only fighting once in the last 3 years. Yeah itās a bit of an odd one. But purely as a clash of styles, Iām really looking forward to it. Merabās the guy for me at 135 now though. Not the biggest fan of his style but I just get the feeling heās the champion in waiting and itās just a matter of time until he gets the belt. Iāve predicted him to be champ by the end of the year in that āMMA Championsā prediction thread weāve got on here and I stand by that. Heās beat Jose Aldo, he dominated Petr Yan, itās just been lack of activity holding him back lately. And his teammate Aljo always being in the title mix. Thatās no longer an obstacle now so if Merab can win this fight, I canāt really see how they can deny him a title shot later in the year. But as much as we all like to poke fun at Cejudo, heās nobodyās pushover. We saw evidence of that when he came back off 3 years on the shelf and took Sterling to a close split decision. I mean, heās an Olympic gold medalist! You canāt overlook a guy with that kind of pedigree. And even in his MMA career heās got wins over the likes of Demetrious Johnson, Dominick Cruz and TJ Dillashaw. Heās high level. But again, lack of activity. And he turns 37 just before this fight. The sand timer is running empty. But he showed against Aljo heās still got something left in the tank. And while I think Merabās gonna be wearing the strap by yearās end, I actually think this is potentially a tougher fight for him style-wise than either OāMalley or Chito. Good stuff this. Anthony Hernandez vs Roman Kopylov opens up the PPV. Was supposed to be Hernandez against Ikram Aliskerov but Aliskerov withdrew and here we are. A fine replacement in Kopylov. I like this just as much, if not more than the original matchup. Iām not a great fan of the Middleweight division these days but there are some fun fights to be made and this is one of them. āFluffyā Hernandez is 30 years old and 11-2-0-1 with 9 finishes. Heās currently on a nice 4 fight winning streak and has finished Marc-Andre Barriault and Edmen Shahbazyan in his last 2 fights. He also had that shock submission win over Rodolfo Vieira a couple of years ago, subbed the āIron Turtleā in 2019 and won a 5 round decision against Brendan Allen on a LFA card in 2018. Heās squeezed some good stuff into his relatively short career so far. Kopylovās the boy though. Iāve done a complete 180 on him over the last few years. Maybe Iām remembering wrong but I could swear he had a really boring fight or two when he first signed with the UFC. Heās been great to watch more recently though. Heās won his last 4 in a row now, stopped all 4 of them and heās doing it in nasty fashion. Battered Punahele Soriano, flatlined Claudio Ribeiro with a brutal headkick and in his last fight he crushed Josh Fremd with a disgusting body kick and body punches. Heās 12-2 now with 11 knockouts. Not sure he goes much further than this but whatever. Heās a heavy hitter and I think him and āFluffyā should make for some fireworks. Amanda Lemos vs Mackenzie Dern is a decent fight. Lemos was supposed to fight Tatiana Suarez here but Suarez is injured. Again. Hopefully itās not the start of another horror show of injuries for her. As replacements go, again, theyāve done a good job here. Iād rather have seen Suarez in there, making her case for a title shot, but fair play to Dern for stepping in. Sheās coming off getting chinned by Jessica Andrade on the MSG card in November. Got dropped multiple times in that one and then stopped in the second round. Jumping back in here against Lemos, whoās also a power puncher, is a very risky move. Dernās had a really hot and cold run of results lately and she really canāt afford to be losing another one here. But she must fancy it and I can kind of see why. Lemos has shown vulnerability in the grappling in the past and, given Dernās strengths there, I can definitely see a potential clear path to victory for her. But Lemos is a hard hitter and sheās tough. She got totally dominated by Zhang Weili in their title fight in August, just a miserable 25 minutes for Lemos. But despite the dominance and lopsidedness of it, even Zhang wasnāt able to get her out of there. She wonāt go away easily and if Dern gets careless on the feet, Lemos certainly has the capability to make her pay. Not an amazing fight but not a bad one at all. Especially as a substitute. Marcos Rogerio De Lima vs Junior Tafa is an eleventh hour switch. Was supposed to be De Lima against Justin Tafa but Justinās dropped out literally on the eve of the show. Who steps in? Little brother Junior! Not to be a conspiracy theorist butā¦did they plan this? š Probably not but it does have the feel of the old pro wrestling switcheroo. Anyway, nothing changes for me here. Canāt stand De Lima. I was hoping heād get chinned by Justin, still hoping he gets chinned by Junior. I rate Junior more than Justin but the short notice could hinder him. Then again, Junior had a fight coming up in March anyway and no doubt wouldāve been in camp with Justin prepping him for this one. And itās Fattyweight. Not like heās had to do a last minute weight cut. Rinya Nakamura vs Carlos Vera will be worth checking out just for Nakamura. Heās gotta be one of the better Japanese prospects the UFC have had on the books in years. Him and Tatsuro Taira have looked the business so far. Nakamura is 28 years old, unbeaten at 8-0 with 6 finishes and got in through that Road To UFC thing. Smoked Toshiomi Kazama with a 33 second KO in his debut, then utterly schooled Fernie Garcia to a one way traffic decision in August. Early days, obviously, but very impressive so far. He showed knockout power in his debut and got to show off his stellar wrestling abilities in the Garcia fight. Looks a right handful. Great addition to an already fantastic Bantamweight division. Veraās making his Octagon debut here. Heās 36 years old and 11-3 with 6 finishes. Heās fought in LFA and Fury FC and was on the last TUF as part of Team McGregor. Apparently he got eliminated in the opening round by Brad Katona. Canāt see this ending well for him. Zhang Mingyang vs Brendson Ribeiro mightnāt stand out at first glance. Itās both guys UFC debut and itās probably not gonna get much attention on a card like this. But from the little bit of homework Iāve done, I definitely think this might be worth tuning in early forā¦ Thatās how Mingyangās last fight ended. Fuck me. It was on the Road To UFC and I remember seeing the clip of the knockout all over social media at the time. Only thing is, that was June 2022. Thereās been a lot of delays getting his debut sorted for whatever reason. Heās 25 years old and heās 16-6 with all 16 wins being first round finishes. He doesnāt mess around. Heās coming into this fight on a 9 fight win streak. So yeah, heās ended his last 9 fights in the first round. Ribeiro is 27 with a record of 15-5-0-1 and, again, all his wins came inside the distance. Heās coming off a first round KO victory on DWCS in September. Yeah, this sounds like a āmust seeā prelim. Danny Barlow vs Josh Quinlan doesnāt sound like a bad fight at all. Neither are exactly well known and Iāve never seen Barlow fight but, for a Fight Pass prelim, this sounds decent. Barlowās making his debut here and is coming in undefeated at 7-0, 5 finishes. Heās ended his last few fights in a round, including a quick TKO win on DWCS in September. Quinlanās 6-1-0-1 with all 6 wins being finishes. He had a really strong UFC debut in 2022, knocking Jason Witt out cold in 2 minutes. He lost a decision to Trey Waters in his last fight in April though. Val Woodburn vs Oban Elliott is a bit of a blind spot for me. Iāve only seen Woodburn once, it was his UFC debut back in July and it lasted a whopping 38 seconds. He came in on short notice and got fed to Bo Nickal. Didnāt end well. He got sparked quick. In fairness though, he was undefeated going in. Heās 7-1 now with 5 knockouts. And this is Oban Elliottās first Octagon appearance. Heās Welsh and heās 9-2 with 5 finishes. Heās a name Iāve definitely heard a fair bit and he fought in Cage Warriors his whole career before picking up a win on DWCS over the summer. I mightāve seen him fight but I canāt even remember. My Cage Warriors viewing has been very sporadic over the years. Iāll definitely give this a go though. Andrea Lee vs Miranda Maverick is nothing special. Iāve enjoyed a couple of Maverickās fights, to be fair. And she seems quite likeable. The way she handled Priscila Cachoeira being a dirty little cheating shite in their fight in July was cool. In the fight and her comments after. Sheās nothing amazing as a fighter but sheās not typically boring either from what Iāve seen. Leeās pretty crap though. At this point sheās 13-8 and coming off 3 straight losses. Sheās 2-6 in her last 8. Maverick should really be winning this one. If youāre losing to Lee then itās really not looking good for the future. Going back to Cali āļø Finally a card worth getting excited about!
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Last UFC card of 2023. Back on PPV. Back in Vegas. PPV MAIN CARD Leon EdwardsĀ©ļøvs Colby Covington - Welterweight Title Alexandre PantojaĀ©ļøvs Brandon Royval - Flyweight Title Shavkat Rakhmonov vs Wonderboy Thompson Tony Ferguson vs Paddy Pimblett Josh Emmett vs Bryce Mitchell ESPN PRELIMS Alonzo Menifield vs Dustin Jacoby Irene Aldana vs Karol Rosa Cody Garbrandt vs Brian Kelleher Casey OāNeill vs Ariane Lipski ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMS Tagir Ulanbekov vs Cody Durden Andre Fili vs Lucas Almeida Martin Buday vs Shamil Gaziev Stacked like T&A era Trish Stratus! How much of this card actually stays intact is anyoneās guess but we can hope, right? Glass half full and all that. On paper, this is one of the most loaded cards of the year. Thereāll no doubt be a load of pullouts but theyāre at least trying to close out 2023 with a bang. As always, not the confirmed final bout order but Iāll update it as we go. Leon Edwards vs Colby Covington is our main event and the last fight of 2023 for the UFC. Itās a big fight but itās also a weird one given Covingtonās inactivity. Heās really done fuck all to earn this title shot but whatever. Itās happening now. And purely as a matchup of styles, it is kind of interesting. To be honest, at this point I just wanna see Edwards back in there. The champ is back. Still feels kind of surreal and weāre well over a year removed from that crazy night in Salt Lake City. As good a fighter as he is, Leon Edwards wasnāt ever the guy I imagined would be the one to end the reign of Kamaru Usman. Then of course, the way the actual fight itself played out is gonna go down as one of the most incredible wins in UFC history. Easily the greatest win ever by a British fighter. A devastating headkick KO, deep into the 5th round of a fight he was about to lose on the scorecards. And against Kamaru Usman, who I considered the second best Welterweight of all time behind Georges St Pierre. An incredible night. The fact Leon then came back at UFC 286 in March, in front of a rabid home crowd in London, and solidified himself as champion in the trilogy decider with Usman, just fully cemented him as the new King of 170. Completely erased all doubt and silenced any hint of talk about him being a āone hit wonderā or that legendary headkick being a āflukeā or āluckyā. That stuff was obviously bollocks anyway but Edwards actually putting a stamp on the trilogy and going down as 2-1 over Usman in the record books was huge. A special night in London. I think I said it at the time but, while Leonās championship run (however long it lasts) will always be mostly remembered for that headkick heard around the MMA world, I think his performance in their third fight in London mightāve actually been the best of his career to date overall. Whether it was him finally having that huge crowd support bringing another level out of him, or the confidence coming off knocking Usman out and winning the belt or what. I felt like Leon Edwards just had a bit more of a swagger to him that night. It was like heād actually levelled up. Immediately after the fight ended, during Leonās post-fight interview, talked turned to a potential next challenger who was in attendance at the O2ā¦ Yep. Colby Covington made the trip over. After a year on the sidelines doing nothing. He bobbed back up above the water, like a proper foul shite that just wonāt flush. Daniel Cormier asked Leon about the two possibly fighting, Leon dismissed him, Colby was shouting something indecipherable from the crowd and that was that. But it was clear the UFC were pushing that as the next fight. The fact Cormier brought it up straight away in the cage after the fight tells you all you need to know. Heād have been directed to do that. For some reason, the UFC seem hell bent on forcing these Covington title shots. The talk after the show centred mostly around Leon vs Colby as well. And initially, Leon seemed against it. Rightly saying Colby had done fuck all to warrant a crack at the gold. The problem was, he was saying he wanted to defend against Jorge Masvidal of all people. I got why Leon would wanna get some closure there but if weāre saying Covington doesnāt deserve a title shot (and he doesnāt), Masvidal deserves it even less! But yeah, this prickās back. Whether we like it or not. Of course thereās a section of the fanbase that loves the twat. I honestly couldāve done without ever seeing him again. He hasnāt fought since beating Masvidal on points back in March 2022. So itāll be coming up on 2 years of inactivity for him by the time the Octagon door slams shut here. Heās 2-2 in his last 4 and those 2 losses were failed title shots. Yet here we are again. He did weigh in as the official backup in London incase Edwards vs Usman 3 fell apart. But apart from that, heād been on a milk carton for the best part of 2 years. Now heās resurfaced and heās trying to babyface usā¦ āIāve already made the promise. Iām going to win that undisputed title on December 16th and Iām going to bring that title back to the UK and Iām going to defend it there for those people because they deserve a show ācause theyāre electricā - Colby Covington The thing with Covington is, after all these years heās been in the UFC, it still doesnāt even feel like we really know how good he actually is. For the longest time the consensus opinion and mostly the accepted narrative was that he was the nailed on second best Welterweight in the world behind Usman. But looking back, what was it actually based on? He had those two close title fights with Usmanā¦but he ultimately lost both. Aside from that, all his biggest and best wins donāt really hold up to scrutiny. Itās all been wins over 35-40 year olds on the decline. He beat a 37 year old Jorge Masvidal on the verge of retirement, a Tyron Woodley who was on his arse career-wise, a past his best Robbie Lawler in the middle of a losing streak, Demian Maia in the middle of a losing streak. The most impressive win on his resume to me is probably Rafael Dos Anjos. And even then, RDA was a Lightweight who ended up going 1-4 at 170 before dropping back down in weight. And despite this, I recall RDA giving him a fairly tough time in spells on the way to losing the decision. Looking back, while Covington is no bum and his conditioning, relentlessness and pace is to be admired, his record really doesnāt hold up. Iām not even sure where to rank him because he hasnāt fought any of the top Welterweights in their prime, aside from Usman. And yeah, he went 0-2 there. There was a fair amount of talk of him fighting Khamzat Chimaev at one point, that fizzled out. There were rumours of him facing Belal Muhammad earlier this year, that went nowhere. Thereās no reason why a Gilbert Burns fight shouldnāt have happened by now. Other than Colbyās just sat on the bench for 2 years. Seems like any time heās been even loosely linked to a fight against an actual top Welterweight whoās on form, he vanishes. Then gets handed another title shot. For all my criticism of Covington and being a bit baffled as to why heās getting this fight, I do actually think itās an interesting clash of styles. People might look at it and simplify it as āwell Edwards is 2-1 over Usman and Covington went 0-2 against Usmanā and I get it. But it doesnāt work like that, does it? And while I canāt really imagine what Covington can do to Edwards that Usman couldnāt do, the one thing that might make this intriguing is Colbyās frantic pace. Itās easy to look at Covington as just a lesser version of Usman but while Covington certainly doesnāt carry the power of Usman, heās good at pushing the pace and using volume to make up for the lack of pop on his punches. Usman can be a bit more methodical and we saw that play right into Leonās game in their last fight. I donāt think weāll get that here. Colbyās main attribute is his cardio. Heās not even that good a striker. But he just keeps throwing those little annoying strikes and heās got the gas tank to keep that up for 25 minutes, he nicks a lot of rounds just by being the busier man. And Leonās had a tendency to coast and take a backwards step at times. He gave away rounds to Usman in both their title fights that way. In that sense itāll be interesting to see how Leon responds to Colbyās pressure. I hope he addresses that and has answers for it. On the flipside, maybe Leon backing up and conceding ground at times against Usman was because he respected the power in Usmanās hands. I donāt think Covingtonās little flurries will have that same effect so maybe Leon will feel confident to walk Colby down more in this one. When allās said and done, I just hope Leon leaves with the gold still around his waist. With the OāMalley and Strickland unexpected title wins this year, the last thing we need is fucking Covington completing the turd trifecta of title holders by winning the strap at 170. Alexandre Pantoja vs Brandon Royval 2 co-mains for all the marbles at Flyweight. Love this fight and Iāve got to admit, itās quite refreshing. As much as Iām a fan of both Brandon Moreno and Deiveson Figueiredo, no title picture has felt more like Groundhog Day than in the Flyweight division over the last few years. In fact, you have to go back to January 2019 to find a Flyweight title fight that didnāt feature either Moreno or Figgy! Donāt get me wrong, great fights, but at some point you wanna see some different names and faces in the mix, donāt you? You can have too much of a good thing. As much as I love a nice steak, if I had it 4 nights a week Iād by crying out for some chicken orā¦anything else by the 5th night. So although this is also a rematch, it actually feels like a breath of fresh airā¦ Pantoja is making the first defence of his newly won title here. Coming in off a split decision victory over Brandon Moreno at UFC 290 back in July. It was a fucking fantastic fight. I said on here after that show that 290 was probably my favourite UFC card of all time overall. Top to bottom it was just outstanding. It had so many great moments, big finishes, surprises, the perfect sendoff for Robbie Lawler etc. And on a card like that, Pantoja vs Moreno was the FOTN. That says it all really. To stand out on a card like that is a testament to what a tremendous scrap it really was. Iām gonna have to revisit that fight soon but, from memory, unless Iām overlooking something obvious, itās still probably my #2 on the FOTY list behind Makhachev vs Volkanovski 1. Awesome fight. Pantoja had gone under the radar a bit for years, despite clearly having Morenoās number in their 2 previous fights - on TUF in 2016 and on the prelims of a UFC Fight Night in Chile in 2018. This was win number 3 for him over Moreno but that didnāt stop Dana talking about doing yet another immediate rematch in the aftermath of 290! Jesus wept. Again, it was a brilliant fight. Despite Pantoja sweeping him 2-0 officially (3-0 if we count TUF), it was a great enough fight and a close enough fight that I wouldnāt be against seeing it again. At some point. But why does it always have to be immediate re-runs? In the end, theyāve gone with a different rematch. Not sure why they changed direction, maybe Morenoās injured. Either way, Iām glad theyāve gone this route. Happy to see Royval getting his opportunity. Heās not exactly had the most consistent run of results in the UFC but heās definitely been consistent in terms of delivering excitement bell to bell. Heās ace. Heās 15-6 now with 13 of his wins coming inside the distance. He fought his way up through WSOF (now PFL), Combate Americas and had a run in LFA which saw him become their champion in 2019. In 2020 he made his UFC debut and immediately got on my radar. His first 2 fights in the UFC he submitted Tim Elliott and Kai Kara-France and banked FOTN bonuses for both. Quite an introduction to the big stage! He lost his next couple of fights but has since rebounded with 3 straight wins over Rogerio Bontorin, Matt Schnell and Matheus Nicolau. The KO against Nicolau back in April was a beauty as wellā¦ Have it! Oh yeah, I glossed over it there but those 2 UFC losses? They were against none other than Moreno and Pantoja. The Moreno fight only went a round and I remember it being a corker while it lasted but unfortunately Royval suffered an injury and got TKOād swiftly from there. The Pantoja loss thoughā¦ That one Iām hazy on but I know for a fact I saw it. It went down on the undercard of the Cannonier vs Gastelum fight back in August 2021 and Pantoja got the submission in the second round. Going back to the thread for that card on here, I was raving about the fight and had it as my FOTN apparently. Iāll definitely be rewatching and reviewing that one in here before this rematch. Despite not being able to really remember the fight, you canāt go wrong with Pantoja vs Royval. Then or now. Itās gonna be quality this. I fancy another Pantoja win. I just think heās got more tools in his locker and more ways to win. But Royvalās a mad little bastard and heāll be game and well up for this. Heās the type of fighter whoās gonna throw caution to the wind and you can never count a guy like that out. Big fan of both but Iād rather see Pantoja retain here. Just because he worked so hard to get to this point and was almost the forgotten man while Moreno and Figgy kept trading the belt back and forth. Iād like to see Pantoja go on a bit of a run with the gold now. Needless to say, Iām very much looking forward to this. Even on a card as loaded as this, itās a fight that pretty much sticks out like a sore thumb as your most likely show stealer. Shavkat Rakhmonov vs Wonderboy Thompson is a fascinating pairing. Like with any Wonderboy fight, Iām not sure quite what to expect or how itās gonna look. You never know how his style is gonna mesh with his opponent. Butā¦Iām on the Shavkat bandwagon and Iāve just got a strong feeling that this isnāt gonna end well for Wonderboy. Maybe Iām overrating Shavkat, maybe Iām underrating olā Wonderman. But when I think about this fight, I just canāt picture it being a story that has a happy ending for him. Yeah Iām a believer in this bastard. He was the first ever Kazakh fighter to grace the Octagon and heās been an absolute handful so far. 29 years old and undefeated at 17-0 with 17 finishes. He went 12-0 and won and defended the M-1 belt before the UFC came calling. Made his UFC debut on the Khabib vs Gaethje undercard in October 2020, same night Khabib retired. Heās gone 5-0 in the UFC since. Terrorised the likes of Alex Oliveira, Michel Prazeres and Carlston Harris before getting the step up against Neil Magny last year. The guy whoās usually the perennial litmus test for Welterweights coming up turned out to be not much of a test for Shavkat at all. He dominated and submitted Magny with ease and in such a calm manner, it was quite scary. In March this year he got his second proper testā¦ He choked Geoff Neal at UFC 285 in the FOTN. It wasnāt all plain sailing though. Finally, we got to see Shavkat in a firefight. Shavkat got him out of there in the third round but Neal really went for it, landed some heavy shots and refused to go away easily. It was the first time we saw Shavkat really have to earn a win and not have it all his own way. And to be fair, I thought he passed the test with flying colours. I saw the whole range of opinions after that fight. Some claiming Shavkat got āexposedā, some saying he answered some of the questions we had on him. Iām definitely more with the latter. Youāre not gonna be a high level pro fighter and go through a whole career without getting tagged. Youāre just not. That doesnāt mean you got āexposedā or the phrase I see a lot nowā¦āfraud checkedā (shudder). Shavkat got into a scrap and he responded well and got the finish. Proved heās not a front runner and heās not gonna fold when it gets rough in there. What makes this so interesting is obviously Wonderboyās style. Itās not something youād imagine Shavkatās seen much in sparring and although he came out on top against Neal, he was there to be hit. With Wonderboyās striking and accuracy, he could certainly cause some problems here. I just think itās Shavkatās time. Wonderboyās approaching 41, heās got way more miles on the clock in years and actual fights. And Shavkatās just got more about his MMA game. If Shavkat forces the grappling this could get very ugly very fast for Wonderboy. Tony Ferguson vs Paddy Pimblett is ***WANDāS ONE TO WATCH*** this time. Oh boy. Here we go. Itās weird because Iām actually dreading this but itās the fight that stands out most to me from the undercard as the one thatās gonna get people invested one way or another. We all know what this is and, frankly, the matchmakers are a set of bastards for making it. But sadly, it doesnāt come as a surprise, not one single bit! Iāve been predicting theyād book this fight for a while now. Feels like after every shaky Paddy win and every depressing Ferguson loss, Iāve been expecting them to go this route. It was so obvious this was gonna happen, wasnāt it? And we all know why. Theyāre desperate, absolutely desperate, to baby this clown all the way to a title shot. Theyāve obviously realised he canāt get there on his own skills alone. Which is why they had to rob Jared Gordon in Paddyās last fight. And also why theyāre now booking him against a shot to bits Ferguson whoās coming off - count āem - SIX STRAIGHT FUCKING LOSSES! Yeah. If they had any confidence in Paddy, this wouldnāt be the route theyād be taking. Because weāve seen how they move along the fighters they legitimately believe in. Look at how quickly theyāve stepped Ian Garry up. Or Tom Aspinall. Or Jack Della Maddalena. And since people love comparing Pimblett to Conor McGregor, letās go back to when McGregor was on the climb. In his 4th fight in the UFC, he was knocking out Dustin Poirier in the first round. In Pimblettās 4th UFC fightā¦ He went life and death with sodding Jared Gordon and had to be dragged across the finish line by the corrupt judges. Thereās a reason a guy like Ilia Topuria, in just 6 fights in the UFC, has already beat Ryan Hall, Bryce Mitchell, Josh Emmett and is now lined up for a title shot against Volkanovski. Yet theyāre still feeding Paddy the remains of Tony Ferguson. Itās bollocks. But you know if Paddy knocks out Ferguson theyāll spin it as if it was prime Fergie, the guy who was supposed to fight Khabib. And thereāll be a section of the fanbase who lap that shite up. Donāt get me wrong, Pimblettās not a terrible fighter. Heās just nowhere near as good as some have made out. You can always tell the fans who actually watched Pimblett pre-UFC vs the ones who just jumped on the bandwagon after he signed and blindly believed all the bullshit hype. Heās not a prospect. Heās nearly 29 years old, heās 23 fights into his career and he made his debut over 11 years ago. He is what he is. Heās not gonna suddenly make massive strides at this stage in the game. Iāve never exactly been the biggest fan of Tony Ferguson. Iāve always enjoyed watching him fight (well, his more recent fights havenāt been so enjoyable) but never really warmed to him or found myself rooting for him. But fuck me, Iād love to see him royally cock plans up here. Thereās little Iād like to see more in MMA right now than for Ferguson to drop this little weasel and DāArce choke him purple. Then hopefully the camera pans to Dana to catch his reaction. Iād say Iām being cynical but this is so clearly and blatantly an attempt to feed Paddy an easy win over a once great fighter whoās now shot to shit. Whenās the last time we saw a fighter on a 6 fight winning streak matched up with a fighter on a 6 fight losing streak and itās billed like this on a big PPV main card? I donāt know what the end game is here. If Paddy wins this like theyāre expecting/hoping for, then what? Surely theyāre not gonna try and justify a title shot coming off a win over 0-6 Ferguson? Maybe McGregor vs Pimblett is what theyāre aiming for. But regardless, theyāre not gonna be able to protect him much longer. And I really hope Ferguson surprises everyone and fucks him up here. Can you imagine? A battered and washed up Tony Ferguson, at nearly 40 years old and coming off 6 losses on the trot, is the man to kill off Paddyās unwarranted hype? Thereād be no coming back from that for Paddy. It would be hilarious and would fittingly cap off what has been a beautifully shit year for Dana White. Letās go Tone! Josh Emmett vs Bryce Mitchell has been thrown together less than 2 weeks out from this card. Was supposed to be Emmett against Giga Chikadze but Gigaās withdrawn with a torn groin. Nice. As replacements go and on this kind of notice, theyāve done well here havenāt they? Bit surprised Bryce has jumped in here actually. Heās only one fight removed from that Ilia Topuria mauling. He was undefeated before that and the loss seemed to do quite a number on him. He got back to winning ways in September with a less than spectacular points win over Dan Ige. And Emmettās had a shite 2023. He started the year higher than heās ever been, in an interim title fight against Yair Rodriguez. But Yair basically just styled on him and subbed him in 2 rounds. Then in June, Emmett got absolutely battered by Topuria over 5 rounds. On paper, I actually think this could be a good fight for Emmett style-wise. He shouldnāt be easy for Bryce to take down and on the feet he should hold a considerable advantage. Again, Iām surprised Bryce went for this on short notice but he must fancy it. Solid fight all things considered. Alonzo Menifield vs Dustin Jacoby isnāt a bad piece of matchmaking. Thereās not much to get excited about when it comes to the Light Heavyweight division these days and Iām not gonna pretend Iām buzzing for this. Neither man is going much higher than they are right now. But on its own merits, as a midcard fight with no stakes or consequences, this could be a fun fight. Menifieldās 36 years old with a 14-3-1 record and is coming into this fight off a submission over Jimmy Crute at UFC 290 in July. I remember enjoying that fight. Heās also got wins over Misha Cirkunov, Ed Herman and, one people mightnāt remember, he knocked out Paul Craig in a round back in 2019. Heās not awful but it seems like he hit his ceiling early in his UFC run and just keeps banging his head against it now. Jacobyās 35 and has a record of 19-7-1 with 13 finishes. Thatās his MMA record anyway. Of course, heās also dabbled in Kickboxing and Boxing over the years. He even fought Alex Pereira on a GLORY card back in 2014. Heās knocked around a bit. Heās coming off a first round knockout over Kennedy Nzechukwu in August. He needed that coming off a couple of losses. This is what it is. Itās not gonna set the world alight but I expect it to be entertaining enough. Irene Aldana vs Karol Rosa is doing sod all for me. I keep saying it but womenās 135 really is in the toilet at the moment. I like Aldana and sheās actually had some entertaining fights and the odd highlight reel finish but sheās 35 now and coming off a lopsided 5 round beating in her title fight against Amanda Nunes back in June. A rough night at the office for sure. And Rosaās coming off a split decision win over Yana Santos in July that I actively and deliberately skipped. Sheās 17-5 and 2-2 in her last 4 fights. I canāt recall much about her but, as a point of reference, she failed to finish Bethe Correia in Correiaās last fight in 2021 and scraped majority and split decisions over a 40 year old Lina Lansberg and Yana Santos. The mad thing with this is, theyāre both ranked in the Top 10 as I type this. Aldanaās at #5, Rosa is at #9. This is where weāre at with the Bantamweight division. Complete opposite to menās 135 which is the best division in the sport at the moment. Cody Garbrandt vs Brian Kelleher might be decent. Although at this point itās clear theyāre just trying to get Cody wins. Itās been a bit of an odd career really. Went 11-0 initially and looked like a big time prospect. Won the title off Dominick Cruz with an admittedly amazing career best performanceā¦and it was all downhill from there. Itās like winning the title was a curse or something. Itās as if he made a deal with the devil to sacrifice the rest of his career, his chin and his Fight IQ in exchange for one night of having a flawless title winning performance. He went from being the undefeated UFC champion to then losing the belt in his very first defence and heās gone a miserable 2-5 since then. Not only that, heās been knocked out in 4 of those 5 losses. And the one where he didnāt get sparked, Rob Font boxed his ears off for 25 minutes. Good. Heās a prick. Heās actually coming off a rare win here. They fed him Trevin Jones on the UFC 285 undercard in March and he won by decision. From memory it wasnāt much good though and the fact he didnāt look that impressive against an opponent like that speaks volumes about where Codyās at these days. Itās over. I keep seeing fans cling to that magical night when he styled on Cruz but that was 2016 and itās not coming back. After all those losses it seems like his punch resistance is mostly gone and I think itās made him more hesitant to pull the trigger as well. Needless to say, Iām rooting hard for Kelleher here. Heās not great and he obviously never reached the level Garbrandt did at his peak. But unlike Cody, he seems a good guy. Heās been fun to watch over the years as well. Tough guy and heās been through a lot to come back for this fight. Heās been out of action nearly 18 months and, because of his position on the cards, I donāt think many realise heās been dealing with a bad neck injury. It was close to ending his career. Iād have been pulling for him anyway against Cody but knowing the shite heās dealt with to get here, itād be lovely to see him win. Thereās a reason the matchmakers booked this though and it wasnāt with a feel-good story for Kelleher in mind. Kelleherās not only coming off that long layoff and severe injury, heās also 37 years old, 24-14 and coming off back-to-back losses. Make no mistake, this has been designed to get Cody another win. Itās basically the prelim version of Ferguson vs Pimblett and I hope both plans blow up in their faces spectacularly. Casey OāNeill vs Ariane Lipski is just there really. Might be a pleasant surprise but Iām not expecting too much from it. OāNeill is a mix of Scottish/Aussie, sheās 26 years old and 9-1 in MMA so far. She signed with the UFC in 2021 and I remember talk of her being a real prospect at the time. She went 4-0 initially in the UFC, with her most notable win being the night she beat up Antonina Shevchenko in front of her sister Valentina. I must admit I remember thinking that would provide some good hype video footage if she ever made it to the point of challenging Val for the belt. Obviously wasnāt to be. And then she followed that with a shaky split decision over a retiring Roxanne Modafferi, which pretty much killed my interest in her. It didnāt help that she was out of action for over a year following that win, then came back on the London card in March and suffered her first defeat to Jennifer Maia. Not the best. Sheās still young enough to turn things around but Iām not convinced. Sheās up against Lipski here, which is a fight she needs to be winning if sheās got any hope. Lipskiās not to be outdone on the unique mixed heritage front. Sheās Brazilian/Polish. Sheās 29 years old and coming off a couple of forgettable decision wins over JJ Aldrich and Melissa Gatto. Whatever. Like I said, my expectations are fairly low for this but Iāll probably tune in early and give it a look. Tagir Ulanbekov vs Cody Durden is another fight that stands out to me on the prelims. Definitely donāt skip the curtain jerkers on this card! Another potential darkhorse show stealer, I reckon. Ulanbekov is a guy I havenāt taken all that much notice of really but he looked good strangling Nate Maness in 2 minutes in his last fight. I remember loving his losing effort against Tim Elliott before that as well. Heās been on the shelf just over a year now though and thisāll be a tough fight to come off a layoff to. Durden beat Jake Hadley on points in an absolute belter of a fight back in August. Seriously, if you missed it, it was on the Sandhagen vs Font undercard. Get it watched. You wonāt regret it. Genuinely one of my favourite fights this year. Durdenās seemed like a bit of a cock every time Iāve seen him but, fairās fair, heās done really well to bounce back from getting steamrolled in a minute by Mokaev last year. Heās gone 4-0 since then, including spoiling the UFC debut of Carlos Mota and that banger with Hadley. I donāt like him but credit where itās due. The way he lost to Mokaev wouldāve sent a lot of fighters on a downward spiral. Iāve got high expectations for this fight. The Flyweights generally do bring it and Iāve seen enough of these two to make me think theyāll have a good stab at bagging the FOTN bonus. Andre Fili vs Lucas Almeida sounds like fun. Neither are really going anywhere in the Featherweight division but I think they match up nicely here. Filiās had a right up and down UFC career. You only have to look at his last 6 fights for evidence. Heās gone 2-3-0-1 in that period. And in amongst those 6 fights he won a split decision, lost a split decision, got stopped in 41 seconds, went to a No Contest via eyepokes etc. Just all over the gaff. One thing heās not though, is boring. Even in defeat, he had a cracking fight with Nathaniel Wood on the last London card in July. Iām less familiar with Almeida but I loved his UFC debut against Mike Trizano. He got the late TKO in that one but then got subbed by Pat Sabatini in his last fight. Heās 14-2 with all his wins coming inside the distance. Yeah, I like the sound of this pairing. Martin Buday vs Shamil Gaziev is happening. Because weāve gotta have at least one shitty Heavyweight fight on the card. Nah, in fairness, for once Iām not gonna dump on this. Iām gonna give this a chance. Buday has fought 4 times in the UFC now and heās the typical fat slug that populates most of the division below the top few actual good fighters in the division. Itās shallow as fuck. I just lumped (no pun intended) Buday in with the other big vats of dripping (RIP Rik) like Jake Collier, Josh Parisian and so on. But maybe heās at least a shade better than that lot. Heās 13-1 with 9 finishes and has gone 4-0 in the UFC so far. All low level and 3 of those wins were nothing happening decisions. But to be fair, I did like what I saw in his last fight. He actually came to scrap against Parisian in August and got him out of there in a round with a kimura. More of that please Marty. Gaziev is making his Octagon debut here. Heās from Bahrain and is undefeated at 11-0 with 10 finishes. Heās coming off a quick submission on DWCS in September and fought in the Brave CF and Ares FC promotions before that. He did lose a couple of times in the amateurs but youāre going back years for that. As a pro, heās yet to put a foot wrong. Like I said, Iāll give it a chance. Fatty fights can be fun sometimes. Maybe thisāll be one of them. #EATCLEAN. Merry Christmas š
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Here. I realise this thread could die on its arse because these fuckers donāt give us much to work with when it comes to positive things. But here goes. Just seen this clip of Jens Pulver finding out heās going into the UFC Hall Of Fame. I donāt keep up with whoās in the HOF really. I donāt think people keep tabs on it like they do with the WWE one. But I just assumed Jens was already in. He basically started the Lightweight division. There was a small group of names who put 155 on the map in the late 90s/early 2000s. BJ Penn, Caol Uno, Din Thomas, Yves Edwards, Dennis Hallman etc. But when I think of the beginnings of the Lightweight division, I think of āLil Evilā first. Also one of the first in MMA to show some really nice Boxing skills and he was involved in one of the best seasons of TUF as well opposite Penn. That rivalry was the first proper feud at 155 as well. A true pioneer. Granted, the HOF isnāt gonna pay his bills or undo any head trauma heās accrued over the years but itās the positivity thread so Iām looking at the good side of it and you can see how much it means to Pulver there. Well deserved. The way this year started, Iām well aware that this might end up being the one and only post in this thread but thereās been enough shittiness and negativity in the first month and a bit of the year. If you find something MMA related thatās nice, share the good vibes here. Now turn that frown upside down like Mrs Takerās stalker did.
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Thought Iād whack a separate thread up for this rather than put it in random news or whatever. Looking like Kevin Lee might be headed back to the UFC.