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wandshogun09

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  1. Back to Miami and itā€™s a ridiculous card. Thisā€™ll probably be a long readā€¦ PPV MAIN CARD Sean Oā€™MalleyĀ©ļøvs 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 Iā€™m interested in almost every single fight on there to some degree. Iā€™d say a good 7 of those fights there couldā€™ve headlined cards in their own right. Stupidly good card. Now weā€™ve 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 Iā€™ll edit when it all goes down the shitter. Sean Oā€™Malley vs Marlon Vera 2 headlines. A rematch nearly 4 years in the making. I donā€™t think this shouldā€™ve 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, Chitoā€™s still the only man to hold a win over Suga Sean. Itā€™s rematch Iā€™ve wanted to see ever since the first fight ended and the way that fight played out, you knew theyā€™d 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. Oā€™Malley 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 heā€™d already had 6 losses and was coming off dropping a close decision against Song Yadong. It was definitely considered a step up for Oā€™Malley 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, Iā€™ll probably rewatch and review it in here at some point. All I really remember is Oā€™Malley hurt his leg somehow and then obviously I remember the finish. Chito brutalised him with nasty elbows. Iā€™ll have to give it another look, see if thereā€™s anything to read into it. Although a lot has happened since then and I think itā€™s safe to say Oā€™Malleyā€™s improved a fair bit over the last few years. Yeah. If youā€™d asked me a few years ago if Oā€™Malley would get this far, Iā€™d have probably laughed. Just never saw it happening. I always had major doubts about him. I thought heā€™d reach the Top 5 and thatā€™d 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 Oā€™Malley. It ended as a No Contest in the second round after Oā€™Malley poked Munhoz in the eye. Accidental but he didnā€™t look too good at all before that. I remember his fans were insisting he was destroying Munhoz before the poke but he really wasnā€™t. Something about that fight seemed to change the matchmakers thinking. Itā€™s like right there they decided to stop carefully cherry picking fights for him and thought ā€˜alright fuck it, throw him to the wolves and see what heā€™s 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 wasnā€™t 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 Yanā€™s overall best performance. Based on the levels of opposition and the fact that the only 2 times Oā€™Malley had stepped up (Chito and Munhoz) heā€™d either lost or looked iffy, I thought he was fucked against Yan. Genuinely thought he mustā€™ve pissed Dana off behind the scenes or something. But they wound up having a barnburner and Oā€™Malley came out on top. It was close but whoever you had winning, Oā€™Malley 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, Oā€™Malley 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 Oā€™Malleyā€™s first title defence would be against. I strongly felt like Merab deserved it. Heā€™d 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 Seanā€™s jacket that time! If not him, then Sandhagen wouldā€™ve been more than worthy. But Oā€™Malley seemed more into the Chito rematch. I think partly just genuinely wanting to avenge his only loss, partly that itā€™s probably more appealing as a PPV headliner than the others but I also think itā€™s because he sees it as the easiest of the 3 options. ā€œBefore me vs Aljo, before Pedro vs Chito, I said ā€˜Hey, Chito goes out there and wins, I go out there and win, Iā€™m fighting Chito for my first title defence.ā€™ Thatā€™s whatā€™s gonna happen next in my eyes. Thatā€™s what I want. Iā€™m sure the UFCā€™s down with that. Theyā€™re in the fight business. Me vs Chito is the biggest fight in the Bantamweight division. Thereā€™s not even one thatā€™s really close. Me vs anyone is gonna be a big fight because Iā€™m 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, itā€™s hard to make that business-wise. But yeah, you could make that fight eventually.ā€ ā€œItā€™s just perfect. I feel like itā€™s perfect timing. After that first fight, everyone was like ā€˜You gotta get that rematch, you gotta get that rematch.ā€™ And I said, ā€˜Iā€™ll get that rematch when I want that, when itā€™s time for that rematch, Iā€™m gonna call for it and Iā€™ll get it.ā€™ I couldā€™ve gotten this rematch whenever I wanted it. Now is the right time. I donā€™t wanna talk him down too much, because Iā€™ve gotta build a fight. But Iā€™m gonna smoke this dude.ā€ - Sean Oā€™Malley I get why he wants this fight but he really doesnā€™t seem keen on that Merab fight, does he? Problem is, if Merab beats Cejudo at 298 in February, itā€™s gonna be hard to deny him his shot. And Sandhagenā€™s no walk in the park either. If Oā€™Malley beats Chito here, Iā€™m 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 Seanā€™s gonna be bad for that if his reign goes on a bit. Chitoā€™s pretty much always entertaining to watch but, again, heā€™s ranked #6, his last win over Munhoz wasnā€™t exactly mind blowing and before that he got outclassed over 5 rounds by Sandhagen. If you never saw that fight, donā€™t let the ā€˜split decisionā€™ fool you. One of the judges mustā€™ve been drinking on the job because thereā€™s 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 doesnā€™t have the strongest case to be next in line but I donā€™t hate this fight at all. Repeat or revenge and all that bollocks? Iā€™ll have to give the first fight another watch but Iā€™ve got a feeling Oā€™Malley gets it done this time. I canā€™t remember how much of a factor the ankle injury was in the first fight but regardless, I just think Oā€™Malleyā€™s the more improved of the 2 and heā€™ll have gained so much experience and confidence from those Yan and Sterling wins. And when I say confidence I mean real confidence. Itā€™s not like he ever seemed to lack belief in himself but thereā€™s a big difference between that unbeaten fighter youthful arrogance where you donā€™t 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. Chitoā€™s always dangerous, heā€™s durable and heā€™ll be right in Oā€™Malleyā€™s face. You can never count a guy like that out. But I donā€™t know. He still has his flaws and often relies too much on stealing rounds on damage in the last minute a lot. I reckon Oā€™Malley 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 ā€˜big 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 ā€˜mystery opponentā€™ and that was the fight they were leaning towards. The ā€˜mystery opponentā€™ā€¦ Fair play to Poirier. Heā€™s currently ranked #3 in the Lightweight division and heā€™s coming off that knockout loss to Gaethje. He couldā€™ve easily held out and tried to campaign for another McGregor fight, thereā€™s 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. Heā€™s 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 didnā€™t 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 Frevolaā€™s backyard at MSG, and did this to himā€¦ I went into that fight expecting a war, Benoit wiped him out in 90 seconds. ā€œIā€™m telling you, that Benoit Saint-Denis is next level. Heā€™s got furnaces going in his eyes. You look into that guyā€™s eyes, thereā€™s hell going on behind those eyes. Heā€™s built for it. So him vs Dustin is very exciting. Dustin better be ready to go.ā€ - Joe Rogan Heā€™s definitely got some real momentum now. Heā€™s 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, itā€™s a ā€˜what 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. Benoitā€™s never gone past 3. We know Poirierā€™s up to 5 rounds. Heā€™s 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. Heā€™s an ironman. This is Saint-Denisā€™ chance to really break through as a top player at 155. You beat a guy like Poirier, youā€™re automatically catapulted into that title mix. For Poirier, thereā€™s less to be gained from this. Itā€™s a risky fight for relatively low rewards. Heā€™s ranked #3, Benoitā€™s at #11. So itā€™s not gonna do much for Dustin. If he loses, it obviously doesnā€™t 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, wasnā€™t it? MVPā€™s 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. Heā€™s gone with the UFC. Iā€™ve made no secret that Iā€™m not his biggest fan. Heā€™s undeniably had some incredible moments in the cage and delivered some crazy knockouts. But heā€™s bored me shitless just as much. I feel like he gets overrated because of the flashy shit, ā€˜viralā€™ finishes and wacky showmanship but when heā€™s been bad to watch heā€™s been really bad to watch. All that said, Iā€™m glad he chose the UFC. As much as Iā€™d have been interested in that Cedric Doumbe fight PFL were teasing, thatā€™s one fight. I feel like thereā€™s more for him to do in the UFC and if he didnā€™t come over now, it most likely never wouldā€™ve happened. Heā€™s coming off a fucking gruesome leg kick finish over Goiti Yamauchi in his last fight in Bellatorā€¦ I mean, fuck me šŸ¤¢ 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 heā€™d 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. Heā€™s 21-2 overall now. Heā€™s 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 donā€™t know. Good addition to the roster regardless. Heā€™ll ruffle some feathers and his style is unique enough that itā€™ll 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 couldā€™ve really done with a fight like this but they never got it done in time. So itā€™s 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 donā€™t wanna piss on anyoneā€™s 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 doesnā€™t bite, itā€™s rotten stuff. Thatā€™s definitely a scenario I could see playing out here but I really hope not. If theyā€™re both up for it then this could be fantastic. Itā€™s one of those weird ones. My expectations range wildly from one extreme to the other. Itā€™s 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 MVPā€™s inactivity plus him maybe feeling the pressure of wanting to deliver in his Octagon debut, I fear itā€™s gonna be the latter. At least theyā€™re not feeding him a gimme though. I guess, given his age, they donā€™t really have the luxury of wrapping him in cotton wool and trying to build him up. Gilbert Burns vs Jack Della Maddalena is ***WANDā€™S ONE TO WATCH*** on this card. But honestly, thereā€™s a bunch I couldā€™ve 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 itā€™s also a big jump in levels for him. Burns is by far the toughest test the Aussie will have faced so far. Weā€™ll see if he can rise to the occasion. Kind of wish this was headlining a card so we could get 5 rounds but I canā€™t complain. It adds serious depth to this card. Gilbert Burns is class. Doesnā€™t surprise me one bit that heā€™s taken this fight. Heā€™s one of those guys who never seems content to just sit on his ranking and angle for names or favourable matchups. Heā€™ll fight any fucker. Short notice, unappealing style fights, big names, up and comers, heā€™s up for anything. At 37 years old, youā€™d think heā€™d 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. Heā€™s a throwback to simpler times in MMA in a way. Heā€™s obviously looking to get paid but I think heā€™s 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, whoā€™s hard to look good against. The fight was crap and Gilbert lost but heā€™s one of those guys where setbacks seem to just bounce off him. Now heā€™s 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 theyā€™ve all been progressing at a similar kind of rate. Shavkatā€™s further ahead but theyā€™re 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, itā€™s gonna take a bit of the shine off the hot prospect talk, isnā€™t it? I still think thereā€™s way better to come from him but this is a baptism of fire here. Burns has mixed at the highest levels and Maddalena hasnā€™t touched that level yet. We also havenā€™t seen much of Dellaā€™s grappling yet and Burns could certainly put that to the test. Apparently, Maddalenaā€™s been training his grappling with BJJ black-belt and ADCC/Polaris medalist Craig Jones so thereā€™s that. But Iā€™m not sure how much time theyā€™ve actually spent on the mats together. Canā€™t 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 theyā€™ve managed to get the fight on now. Again though, like a few of these fights on this card, itā€™s a shame weā€™re not getting it as a 5 rounder. Yanā€™s got his work cut out at this point. Heā€™s 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. Heā€™d 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. Heā€™s lost his last 3 fights in a row now. And although 2 of them were mega close decisions (Aljo rematch and Oā€™Malley) that many felt he won, theyā€™re 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 thatā€™s how good he looked. Heā€™ll 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 doesnā€™t tell the whole story really. But it could be a case now where the self doubts are creeping in. Theyā€™re not exactly doing him any favours here eitherā€¦ This snazzy little bastard awaits. Song just turned 26 in December, heā€™s 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. Heā€™s 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 wasnā€™t much good to watch. Canā€™t really criticise Song too much because he won clearly and itā€™s not like heā€™s typically in dull fights. But he was so obviously levels above Gutierrez that it felt like he really shouldā€™ve 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 šŸ„± emoji and Song didnā€™t appreciate that. ā€Your 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. Iā€™ve said a bunch of times I was really hoping weā€™d see Yan welcome Figgy to the Bantamweight division, and I still hope we get to see that fight at some stage. But thisā€™ll do nicely for now. Itā€™s really a must win for Yan though. Heā€™s 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, Iā€™d 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 Songā€™s no joke in his own right. Plus heā€™s 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 theyā€™ve rebooked it. Not that Iā€™m expecting a killer fight out of it or anything but itā€™s 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 weā€™ve 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 didnā€™t take any damage etc. But man, any buzz there was around him seemed to evaporate overnight after that performance. Iā€™m convinced he mustā€™ve been carrying an injury or something because, on paper, Lewis is tailor-made for Almeidaā€™s style. Yet Almeida repeatedly took him down and did nothing. Weā€™ve seen heā€™s got good ground and pound and a strong submission game in previous fights, and weā€™ve seen the Beast wilt against guys like that before. But Almeida just rode out the clock and seemed to forget what heā€™s good at. He got a lot of criticism for the way he fought but it was one fight. And we canā€™t forget he still won an absolute landslide. Thereā€™ll be better to come. But following that with a fight against Blaydes here, itā€™s a recipe for another frustrating watch. We havenā€™t seen Blaydes since he got walloped by Sergei Pavlovich last April. Who knows how heā€™s gonna look here? But heā€™s a very interesting matchup for Jailton here. Heā€™s got that power in his hands plus Jailton mightnā€™t 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 havenā€™t seen Almeida on his back. Not expecting a show stealer but itā€™s definitely a fight Iā€™m looking forward to watching play out. Katlyn Cerminara vs Maycee Barber. Yep. Itā€™s Katlyn Chookagian under a new name. She got married. Although I prefer to think sheā€™s just rebranded. Like when Hermes rebranded to Evri, presumably because of their dogshit reputation as Hermes. Thatā€™s what Iā€™m running with here. Chookyā€™s 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 canā€™t deny, I couldā€™ve lived happily ever after if sheā€™d decided never to return to MMA. She last fought in October 2022, losing a decision to Manon Fiorot in a fight I mustā€™ve blocked out because I have no recollection of it. Another one of these please, Maycee. That was Barberā€™s last fight against Amanda Ribas in June. I went in with no real expectations but they overdelivered. Probably the best fight Iā€™ve seen out of either of them. Barberā€™s 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 sheā€™s 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 sheā€™s had a pop at Pena a few times, yeah sheā€™s grown on me. If she batters Katlyn Evri here then Iā€™ll 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 couldā€™ve easily headlined a Fight Night and nobody would complain. RDA just continues to keep taking these tough fights. He turns 40 in October and heā€™s still going fairly strong. Crazy the longevity heā€™s had, especially what you look at his track record and the names on his record. Win or lose, heā€™s never shied away from a hard fight. Heā€™s 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. Heā€™s not peak RDA anymore. The guy who ripped the title off a young Anthony Pettis is gone. But heā€™s certainly not shot. Gamrotā€™s a funny one though. Undeniably a skilled fighter but, for whatever reason, he canā€™t 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 canā€™t root against RDA so I hope that doesnā€™t happen. Pedro Munhoz vs Kyler Phillips is a cool little pairing for the prelims. Didnā€™t 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. Heā€™s still game and willing to fight whoever but results havenā€™t been going his way for a while now. Heā€™s 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. Heā€™s better than his recent record suggests. But facts are, heā€™s gone 2-5-0-1 in his last 8 fights. Not good. And as a 37 year old Bantamweight, thereā€™s obviously more of his career in the rear view than ahead of him at this point. Phillips is the opposite. Heā€™s 28 years old and probably just entering his prime. Heā€™s 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 heā€™s coming into this fight off a win over Raoni Barcelos in August. Itā€™s 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 didnā€™t 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 canā€™t remember, nor be arsed to go back and check. Itā€™s OK but itā€™s not grabbing me really. Definitely doesnā€™t help that itā€™s 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. Heā€™s 17-5 and coming off 3 wins but, for whatever reason, heā€™s just one of those names I see on a card and groan. Heā€™s been in the UFC for a few years now and previously fought in Bellator and PFL but heā€™s just instantly forgettable for me. Hopefully Cutelaba can drag something worthwhile out of this. Heā€™s not great himself but one thing heā€™s 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 heā€™s on my screen the better. Michel Pereira vs Michal Oleksiejczuk is ace. Another potentially stupid fun fight that I had no idea was booked. Pereiraā€™s 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. Heā€™s 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, itā€™s 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. Heā€™s never gonna be a world beater in any weight class but 205 was never optimal for him. Heā€™s coming off a first round TKO win over Chidi Njokuani in a wild back and forth slobberknocker. Thisā€™ll be mayhem for however long it lasts. Robelis Despaigne vs Josh Parisian is a fight I initially looked at and thought ā€˜ugh, low level Heavyweightsā€™ but with just a little bit of homework on this Despaigne chap, Iā€™m intrigued. Heā€™s Cuban and heā€™s 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, itā€™ll have been against scrubs but knocking any man out in 3 seconds is impressive. Heā€™s 35 years old already so no spring chicken. But at Heavyweight, thatā€™s not a disaster. Heā€™s also 6ā€™7ā€ and reportedly has the longest reach in UFC history at 87 inchesā€¦ A big boy. If all that isnā€™t enough to pique your interest, he also won the Olympic bronze medal in Taekwondo at the 2012 Games in London. Iā€™m sold. Obviously very early days and thereā€™s gonna be big questions on his grappling. But who cares? This is a Heavyweight that actually gives us something to talk about. Heā€™s a monster of a man with Olympic credentials and has knocked his last 3 opponents out in a combined 19 seconds! There arenā€™t enough of these freakish Heavyweights these days. Iā€™m in. So you just know fatty Parisian is gonna spoil the fun before weā€™ve even got the party hats and jelly and ice cream out. Parisianā€™s cack. Heā€™s 34 years old, 15-7 and coming off 2 consecutive losses. Heā€™s 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, itā€™s a wrap. Heā€™ll 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 itā€™s yet another solid piece of matchmaking. The depth on this card is insane. This isnā€™t mind blowing or anything but for the Fight Pass stream? Itā€™s good shit. Vergaraā€™s 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 heā€™s 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 heā€™d 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 weā€™ll go with it. I saw something recently that Wood had posted on Instagram about this fight with the caption ā€˜Last one, best one!ā€™ So Iā€™m taking from that, this might be her last fight. Itā€™s probably time, to be fair. Always liked her but it just hasnā€™t really panned out for her in the UFC and sheā€™s 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. Mirkoā€™s 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 wasnā€™t 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. Letā€™s 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 ā€˜Dr Kneevilā€™ at least gets to avenge that loss in 2015 and go out on a win. Aaaand breatheā€¦
  2. After a slow start to the year, NOW weā€™re talking. Off to California we goā€¦ PPV MAIN CARD Alexander VolkanovskiĀ©ļøvs 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 Thatā€™s more like it! Love this card. Feel like itā€™s kind of snuck up on us a bit with all the focus being on 299 and 300, but this is quality. Hopefully whatā€™s there now stays intact. Before I could even start this thread, thereā€™d already been a few pullouts. Fingers crossed thatā€™s it now. Alexander Volkanovski vs Ilia Topuria is an absolute beast of a fight. I feel like itā€™s 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. Youā€™ve got the dominant champion whoā€™s turned back all challengers and heā€™s 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. Itā€™s such a cool fight. But the x-factor is the timing of it. Canā€™t really say much more about Volkanovski that we havenā€™t all said a hundred times already. One of greatest of all time and definitely one of the best fighters walking the planet right now. Heā€™s 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. Itā€™s been a hell of a run so far. With all that said though, his 2023 didnā€™t go as heā€™d 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 Volkā€™s case even more greatness, it always comes with risk. And it wasnā€™t 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 whoā€™d 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 doesnā€™t take away from his legacy and standing at Featherweight but it definitely puts a little dent in that bulletproof aura heā€™d 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 wasnā€™t really worth taking. Makhachev vs Volk 1 was so good and so close, many felt Volk shouldā€™ve 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 Volkā€™s 0-2 down and, especially with the way the rematch ended, a third fight is gonna be a hard sell. For now anyway. Volkā€™s gonna have to remind everyone who he is. Turning back around and taking on an animal like Topuria, if he wins itā€™s gonna go a long way towards doing just that. Topuriaā€™s been threatening to become something special for a while now. Heā€™s 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, heā€™d 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, thatā€™s how one sided it was. And it also answered the ā€˜can 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€¦ ā€œFor me itā€™s going to be an easy fight. I will knock you out in the first round. Youā€™re old. Itā€™s time to retire. Itā€™s 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 heā€™s aiming it at Volk whoā€™s so liked and respected. But I like that Topuriaā€™s showing a bit more edge and personality. To be honest, after the last couple of rancid PPV build ups, itā€™s refreshing just to see someone talk a bit of shit about what theyā€™re looking to do in the actual fight rather than going the personal attacks route. The only concern about this for me is heā€™s been going back and forth with Oā€™Malley and talking about fighting McGregor in Spain and all manner of wild stuff. Iā€™m sure heā€™s dialled in on the task at hand but you canā€™t be getting distracted with whatā€™s coming next when youā€™ve got a Volkanovski shaped hurdle to get past first. Volkā€™s definitely taken note of Topuriaā€™s commentsā€¦ ā€œHeā€™s got to be confident. Thereā€™s confidence and then thereā€™s being delusional. I donā€™t mind the bloke but even the things he says, what heā€™s saying doesnā€™t really make sense. This Ilia fight? Not a challenge. I donā€™t need to pretend this is some crazy challenge to get me motivated. The way he talks, thatā€™s motivation.ā€ ā€œHe thinks heā€™s the man, letā€™s see if he is. Iā€™m ready for the best version that shows up on February 17th. So letā€™s see what we have in store. Iā€™m gonna be ready either way. I see heā€™s confident. Heā€™s a cocky, confident young dude. Letā€™s see if he can really bring it because I know Iā€™m gonna and I canā€™t wait to show him levels.ā€ - Alexander Volkanovski I donā€™t think thereā€™s any real beef between them but thereā€™s 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 weā€™ve been fed lately. No need to fake anything or go overboard attacking family members and stuff here. The real good shit doesnā€™t 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. Doesnā€™t need anything else. Inject it into my veins. How do we see this going? Iā€™m leaning towards Volk because heā€™s Volk. Heā€™s definitely got the stronger and deeper resume, heā€™s got more experience against high level opposition, more experience in 5 round fights, heā€™s shown time and time again that heā€™s 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. Heā€™s 35 years old now. Not ancient by any stretch and heā€™s really shown no signs of slowing down. But 35 is a very good innings for a lighter weight fighter. Then you factor in that heā€™s coming off a vicious knockout loss in October and wonā€™t have had much time off at all before diving back into another camp for this fight. I donā€™t know. Volkā€™s an amazing fighter and itā€™s worth noting heā€™s still undefeated at Featherweight. Iā€™m 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 itā€™s now and itā€™s Topuria. Itā€™s truly a fascinating fight. The toughest one available for Volk in my opinion. But if he can beat Topuria like heā€™s been beating all these other contenders at 145, man, itā€™ll be a hell of a way to rehab his image after that last fight and heā€™ll have pretty much legitimately cleaned out the whole division. Robert Whittaker vs Paulo Costa is supposed to be the co-main. Iā€™ll believe it when I see it. You just canā€™t rely on Costa to show up and I think at this point weā€™ve all been conditioned to expect him not to. This particular fight has already been attempted twice and fell through both times on Costaā€™s 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 itā€™ll be third time lucky but Iā€™m not holding my breath or anything. If the fight does go ahead, Iā€™m really hoping Whittaker can get back to winning ways. We havenā€™t seen him since that shock defeat to Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 290 in July. That oneā€™s 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 Whittakerā€™s kind of in this weird no manā€™s land where heā€™s already pretty much fought everyone at 185 but a move down to 170 or up to 205 donā€™t seem likely either. And Costa, Iā€™ll be honest, Iā€™m just over it. If he turns up cool but I donā€™t 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. Iā€™m sceptical though. Wish weā€™d 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. Weā€™ll see. Donā€™t wanna be negative but I just canā€™t get up for Costa fights anymore because Iā€™m always just waiting for the cancellation. Geoff Neal vs Ian Garry is ***WANDā€™S ONE TO WATCH*** this time and I suspect itā€™ll be one of the more talked about and heated fights on the card by the time fight week rolls around. Thereā€™s 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 opponentā€™s 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 Nealā€™s had months to sit and think about it. You know heā€™s gonna be extra motivated and looking to knock Garryā€™s head off. Beyond all that shite, itā€™s a really good fight in its own right. Garryā€™s ranked #10 now so heā€™s climbing, Nealā€™s ranked #8. Garryā€™s undefeated at 13-0, Nealā€™s 15-5. But despite having a few losses, Nealā€™s the toughest and most dangerous test yet for Garry, I reckon. Heā€™s got wins over Belal Muhammad and Santiago Ponzinibbio, brutally stopped Vicente Luque and gave Shavkat Rakhmonov his hardest fight yet. And itā€™s not like Garryā€™s unhittable. The likes of Song Kenan have tagged him and had him wobbled. Itā€™s a fight Garry needs to win if heā€™s gonna back up his trash talk and live up to what he says he is. Heā€™s 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, Iā€™m very interested to see how this one plays out and how their styles match up. Itā€™s kind of a weird one in a way, timing-wise. At the time Iā€™m typing this, Merab is ranked #2 in the Bantamweight division but the only guy ahead of him is his buddy and teammate Aljamain Sterling whoā€™s moving up to Featherweight. Merab was the guy who shouldā€™ve 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. Cejudoā€™s currently ranked #3 despite only fighting once in the last 3 years. Yeah itā€™s a bit of an odd one. But purely as a clash of styles, Iā€™m really looking forward to it. Merabā€™s the guy for me at 135 now though. Not the biggest fan of his style but I just get the feeling heā€™s the champion in waiting and itā€™s just a matter of time until he gets the belt. Iā€™ve predicted him to be champ by the end of the year in that ā€˜MMA Championsā€™ prediction thread weā€™ve got on here and I stand by that. Heā€™s beat Jose Aldo, he dominated Petr Yan, itā€™s just been lack of activity holding him back lately. And his teammate Aljo always being in the title mix. Thatā€™s no longer an obstacle now so if Merab can win this fight, I canā€™t 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, heā€™s nobodyā€™s 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, heā€™s an Olympic gold medalist! You canā€™t overlook a guy with that kind of pedigree. And even in his MMA career heā€™s got wins over the likes of Demetrious Johnson, Dominick Cruz and TJ Dillashaw. Heā€™s 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 heā€™s still got something left in the tank. And while I think Merabā€™s gonna be wearing the strap by yearā€™s end, I actually think this is potentially a tougher fight for him style-wise than either Oā€™Malley 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. Iā€™m 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. ā€˜Fluffyā€™ Hernandez is 30 years old and 11-2-0-1 with 9 finishes. Heā€™s 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 ā€˜Iron Turtleā€™ in 2019 and won a 5 round decision against Brendan Allen on a LFA card in 2018. Heā€™s squeezed some good stuff into his relatively short career so far. Kopylovā€™s the boy though. Iā€™ve done a complete 180 on him over the last few years. Maybe Iā€™m remembering wrong but I could swear he had a really boring fight or two when he first signed with the UFC. Heā€™s been great to watch more recently though. Heā€™s won his last 4 in a row now, stopped all 4 of them and heā€™s 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. Heā€™s 12-2 now with 11 knockouts. Not sure he goes much further than this but whatever. Heā€™s a heavy hitter and I think him and ā€˜Fluffyā€™ 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 itā€™s not the start of another horror show of injuries for her. As replacements go, again, theyā€™ve done a good job here. Iā€™d rather have seen Suarez in there, making her case for a title shot, but fair play to Dern for stepping in. Sheā€™s 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, whoā€™s also a power puncher, is a very risky move. Dernā€™s had a really hot and cold run of results lately and she really canā€™t 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 Dernā€™s strengths there, I can definitely see a potential clear path to victory for her. But Lemos is a hard hitter and sheā€™s 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 wasnā€™t able to get her out of there. She wonā€™t 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 Justinā€™s 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? šŸ˜‚ Probably not but it does have the feel of the old pro wrestling switcheroo. Anyway, nothing changes for me here. Canā€™t stand De Lima. I was hoping heā€™d 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 wouldā€™ve been in camp with Justin prepping him for this one. And itā€™s Fattyweight. Not like heā€™s had to do a last minute weight cut. Rinya Nakamura vs Carlos Vera will be worth checking out just for Nakamura. Heā€™s 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. Veraā€™s making his Octagon debut here. Heā€™s 36 years old and 11-3 with 6 finishes. Heā€™s 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. Canā€™t see this ending well for him. Zhang Mingyang vs Brendson Ribeiro mightnā€™t stand out at first glance. Itā€™s both guys UFC debut and itā€™s probably not gonna get much attention on a card like this. But from the little bit of homework Iā€™ve done, I definitely think this might be worth tuning in early forā€¦ Thatā€™s how Mingyangā€™s 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. Thereā€™s been a lot of delays getting his debut sorted for whatever reason. Heā€™s 25 years old and heā€™s 16-6 with all 16 wins being first round finishes. He doesnā€™t mess around. Heā€™s coming into this fight on a 9 fight win streak. So yeah, heā€™s 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. Heā€™s coming off a first round KO victory on DWCS in September. Yeah, this sounds like a ā€˜must seeā€™ prelim. Danny Barlow vs Josh Quinlan doesnā€™t sound like a bad fight at all. Neither are exactly well known and Iā€™ve never seen Barlow fight but, for a Fight Pass prelim, this sounds decent. Barlowā€™s making his debut here and is coming in undefeated at 7-0, 5 finishes. Heā€™s ended his last few fights in a round, including a quick TKO win on DWCS in September. Quinlanā€™s 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. Iā€™ve 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. Didnā€™t end well. He got sparked quick. In fairness though, he was undefeated going in. Heā€™s 7-1 now with 5 knockouts. And this is Oban Elliottā€™s first Octagon appearance. Heā€™s Welsh and heā€™s 9-2 with 5 finishes. Heā€™s a name Iā€™ve 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 mightā€™ve seen him fight but I canā€™t even remember. My Cage Warriors viewing has been very sporadic over the years. Iā€™ll definitely give this a go though. Andrea Lee vs Miranda Maverick is nothing special. Iā€™ve enjoyed a couple of Maverickā€™s 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. Sheā€™s nothing amazing as a fighter but sheā€™s not typically boring either from what Iā€™ve seen. Leeā€™s pretty crap though. At this point sheā€™s 13-8 and coming off 3 straight losses. Sheā€™s 2-6 in her last 8. Maverick should really be winning this one. If youā€™re losing to Lee then itā€™s really not looking good for the future. Going back to Cali ā˜€ļø Finally a card worth getting excited about!
  3. Last UFC card of 2023. Back on PPV. Back in Vegas. PPV MAIN CARD Leon EdwardsĀ©ļøvs Colby Covington - Welterweight Title Alexandre PantojaĀ©ļøvs 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 Oā€™Neill 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 anyoneā€™s 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. Thereā€™ll no doubt be a load of pullouts but theyā€™re at least trying to close out 2023 with a bang. As always, not the confirmed final bout order but Iā€™ll update it as we go. Leon Edwards vs Colby Covington is our main event and the last fight of 2023 for the UFC. Itā€™s a big fight but itā€™s also a weird one given Covingtonā€™s inactivity. Heā€™s really done fuck all to earn this title shot but whatever. Itā€™s 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 weā€™re well over a year removed from that crazy night in Salt Lake City. As good a fighter as he is, Leon Edwards wasnā€™t 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 ā€˜one hit wonderā€™ or that legendary headkick being a ā€˜flukeā€™ or ā€˜luckyā€™. 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 Leonā€™s 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 mightā€™ve 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 heā€™d actually levelled up. Immediately after the fight ended, during Leonā€™s 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 wonā€™t 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. Heā€™d 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 weā€™re saying Covington doesnā€™t deserve a title shot (and he doesnā€™t), Masvidal deserves it even less! But yeah, this prickā€™s back. Whether we like it or not. Of course thereā€™s a section of the fanbase that loves the twat. I honestly couldā€™ve done without ever seeing him again. He hasnā€™t fought since beating Masvidal on points back in March 2022. So itā€™ll be coming up on 2 years of inactivity for him by the time the Octagon door slams shut here. Heā€™s 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, heā€™d been on a milk carton for the best part of 2 years. Now heā€™s resurfaced and heā€™s trying to babyface usā€¦ ā€œIā€™ve already made the promise. Iā€™m going to win that undisputed title on December 16th and Iā€™m going to bring that title back to the UK and Iā€™m going to defend it there for those people because they deserve a show ā€˜cause theyā€™re electricā€ - Colby Covington The thing with Covington is, after all these years heā€™s been in the UFC, it still doesnā€™t 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 donā€™t really hold up to scrutiny. Itā€™s 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 doesnā€™t hold up. Iā€™m not even sure where to rank him because he hasnā€™t 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. Thereā€™s no reason why a Gilbert Burns fight shouldnā€™t have happened by now. Other than Colbyā€™s just sat on the bench for 2 years. Seems like any time heā€™s been even loosely linked to a fight against an actual top Welterweight whoā€™s on form, he vanishes. Then gets handed another title shot. For all my criticism of Covington and being a bit baffled as to why heā€™s getting this fight, I do actually think itā€™s an interesting clash of styles. People might look at it and simplify it as ā€˜well Edwards is 2-1 over Usman and Covington went 0-2 against Usmanā€™ and I get it. But it doesnā€™t work like that, does it? And while I canā€™t really imagine what Covington can do to Edwards that Usman couldnā€™t do, the one thing that might make this intriguing is Colbyā€™s frantic pace. Itā€™s easy to look at Covington as just a lesser version of Usman but while Covington certainly doesnā€™t carry the power of Usman, heā€™s 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 Leonā€™s game in their last fight. I donā€™t think weā€™ll get that here. Colbyā€™s main attribute is his cardio. Heā€™s not even that good a striker. But he just keeps throwing those little annoying strikes and heā€™s got the gas tank to keep that up for 25 minutes, he nicks a lot of rounds just by being the busier man. And Leonā€™s 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 itā€™ll be interesting to see how Leon responds to Colbyā€™s 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 Usmanā€™s hands. I donā€™t think Covingtonā€™s little flurries will have that same effect so maybe Leon will feel confident to walk Colby down more in this one. When allā€™s said and done, I just hope Leon leaves with the gold still around his waist. With the Oā€™Malley 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 Iā€™ve got to admit, itā€™s quite refreshing. As much as Iā€™m 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 didnā€™t feature either Moreno or Figgy! Donā€™t get me wrong, great fights, but at some point you wanna see some different names and faces in the mix, donā€™t 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 Iā€™d 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. Iā€™m gonna have to revisit that fight soon but, from memory, unless Iā€™m overlooking something obvious, itā€™s 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 Morenoā€™s 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 didnā€™t 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 wouldnā€™t be against seeing it again. At some point. But why does it always have to be immediate re-runs? In the end, theyā€™ve gone with a different rematch. Not sure why they changed direction, maybe Morenoā€™s injured. Either way, Iā€™m glad theyā€™ve gone this route. Happy to see Royval getting his opportunity. Heā€™s not exactly had the most consistent run of results in the UFC but heā€™s definitely been consistent in terms of delivering excitement bell to bell. Heā€™s ace. Heā€™s 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 TKOā€™d swiftly from there. The Pantoja loss thoughā€¦ That one Iā€™m 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. Iā€™ll definitely be rewatching and reviewing that one in here before this rematch. Despite not being able to really remember the fight, you canā€™t go wrong with Pantoja vs Royval. Then or now. Itā€™s gonna be quality this. I fancy another Pantoja win. I just think heā€™s got more tools in his locker and more ways to win. But Royvalā€™s a mad little bastard and heā€™ll be game and well up for this. Heā€™s the type of fighter whoā€™s gonna throw caution to the wind and you can never count a guy like that out. Big fan of both but Iā€™d 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. Iā€™d like to see Pantoja go on a bit of a run with the gold now. Needless to say, Iā€™m very much looking forward to this. Even on a card as loaded as this, itā€™s 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, Iā€™m not sure quite what to expect or how itā€™s gonna look. You never know how his style is gonna mesh with his opponent. Butā€¦Iā€™m on the Shavkat bandwagon and Iā€™ve just got a strong feeling that this isnā€™t gonna end well for Wonderboy. Maybe Iā€™m overrating Shavkat, maybe Iā€™m underrating olā€™ Wonderman. But when I think about this fight, I just canā€™t picture it being a story that has a happy ending for him. Yeah Iā€™m a believer in this bastard. He was the first ever Kazakh fighter to grace the Octagon and heā€™s 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. Heā€™s 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 whoā€™s 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 wasnā€™t 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 ā€˜exposedā€™, some saying he answered some of the questions we had on him. Iā€™m definitely more with the latter. Youā€™re not gonna be a high level pro fighter and go through a whole career without getting tagged. Youā€™re just not. That doesnā€™t mean you got ā€˜exposedā€™ or the phrase I see a lot nowā€¦ā€˜fraud checkedā€™ (shudder). Shavkat got into a scrap and he responded well and got the finish. Proved heā€™s not a front runner and heā€™s not gonna fold when it gets rough in there. What makes this so interesting is obviously Wonderboyā€™s style. Itā€™s not something youā€™d imagine Shavkatā€™s seen much in sparring and although he came out on top against Neal, he was there to be hit. With Wonderboyā€™s striking and accuracy, he could certainly cause some problems here. I just think itā€™s Shavkatā€™s time. Wonderboyā€™s approaching 41, heā€™s got way more miles on the clock in years and actual fights. And Shavkatā€™s 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 ***WANDā€™S ONE TO WATCH*** this time. Oh boy. Here we go. Itā€™s weird because Iā€™m actually dreading this but itā€™s the fight that stands out most to me from the undercard as the one thatā€™s 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 doesnā€™t come as a surprise, not one single bit! Iā€™ve been predicting theyā€™d book this fight for a while now. Feels like after every shaky Paddy win and every depressing Ferguson loss, Iā€™ve been expecting them to go this route. It was so obvious this was gonna happen, wasnā€™t it? And we all know why. Theyā€™re desperate, absolutely desperate, to baby this clown all the way to a title shot. Theyā€™ve obviously realised he canā€™t get there on his own skills alone. Which is why they had to rob Jared Gordon in Paddyā€™s last fight. And also why theyā€™re now booking him against a shot to bits Ferguson whoā€™s coming off - count ā€˜em - SIX STRAIGHT FUCKING LOSSES! Yeah. If they had any confidence in Paddy, this wouldnā€™t be the route theyā€™d be taking. Because weā€™ve seen how they move along the fighters they legitimately believe in. Look at how quickly theyā€™ve stepped Ian Garry up. Or Tom Aspinall. Or Jack Della Maddalena. And since people love comparing Pimblett to Conor McGregor, letā€™s 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 Pimblettā€™s 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. Thereā€™s 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 theyā€™re still feeding Paddy the remains of Tony Ferguson. Itā€™s bollocks. But you know if Paddy knocks out Ferguson theyā€™ll spin it as if it was prime Fergie, the guy who was supposed to fight Khabib. And thereā€™ll be a section of the fanbase who lap that shite up. Donā€™t get me wrong, Pimblettā€™s not a terrible fighter. Heā€™s 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. Heā€™s not a prospect. Heā€™s nearly 29 years old, heā€™s 23 fights into his career and he made his debut over 11 years ago. He is what he is. Heā€™s not gonna suddenly make massive strides at this stage in the game. Iā€™ve never exactly been the biggest fan of Tony Ferguson. Iā€™ve always enjoyed watching him fight (well, his more recent fights havenā€™t been so enjoyable) but never really warmed to him or found myself rooting for him. But fuck me, Iā€™d love to see him royally cock plans up here. Thereā€™s little Iā€™d like to see more in MMA right now than for Ferguson to drop this little weasel and Dā€™Arce choke him purple. Then hopefully the camera pans to Dana to catch his reaction. Iā€™d say Iā€™m being cynical but this is so clearly and blatantly an attempt to feed Paddy an easy win over a once great fighter whoā€™s now shot to shit. Whenā€™s 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 itā€™s billed like this on a big PPV main card? I donā€™t know what the end game is here. If Paddy wins this like theyā€™re expecting/hoping for, then what? Surely theyā€™re not gonna try and justify a title shot coming off a win over 0-6 Ferguson? Maybe McGregor vs Pimblett is what theyā€™re aiming for. But regardless, theyā€™re 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 Paddyā€™s unwarranted hype? Thereā€™d 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. Letā€™s 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 Gigaā€™s withdrawn with a torn groin. Nice. As replacements go and on this kind of notice, theyā€™ve done well here havenā€™t they? Bit surprised Bryce has jumped in here actually. Heā€™s 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 Emmettā€™s had a shite 2023. He started the year higher than heā€™s 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 shouldnā€™t be easy for Bryce to take down and on the feet he should hold a considerable advantage. Again, Iā€™m surprised Bryce went for this on short notice but he must fancy it. Solid fight all things considered. Alonzo Menifield vs Dustin Jacoby isnā€™t a bad piece of matchmaking. Thereā€™s not much to get excited about when it comes to the Light Heavyweight division these days and Iā€™m not gonna pretend Iā€™m 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. Menifieldā€™s 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. Heā€™s also got wins over Misha Cirkunov, Ed Herman and, one people mightnā€™t remember, he knocked out Paul Craig in a round back in 2019. Heā€™s not awful but it seems like he hit his ceiling early in his UFC run and just keeps banging his head against it now. Jacobyā€™s 35 and has a record of 19-7-1 with 13 finishes. Thatā€™s his MMA record anyway. Of course, heā€™s also dabbled in Kickboxing and Boxing over the years. He even fought Alex Pereira on a GLORY card back in 2014. Heā€™s knocked around a bit. Heā€™s 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. Itā€™s 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 womenā€™s 135 really is in the toilet at the moment. I like Aldana and sheā€™s actually had some entertaining fights and the odd highlight reel finish but sheā€™s 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 Rosaā€™s coming off a split decision win over Yana Santos in July that I actively and deliberately skipped. Sheā€™s 17-5 and 2-2 in her last 4 fights. I canā€™t recall much about her but, as a point of reference, she failed to finish Bethe Correia in Correiaā€™s 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, theyā€™re both ranked in the Top 10 as I type this. Aldanaā€™s at #5, Rosa is at #9. This is where weā€™re at with the Bantamweight division. Complete opposite to menā€™s 135 which is the best division in the sport at the moment. Cody Garbrandt vs Brian Kelleher might be decent. Although at this point itā€™s clear theyā€™re just trying to get Cody wins. Itā€™s 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. Itā€™s like winning the title was a curse or something. Itā€™s 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 heā€™s gone a miserable 2-5 since then. Not only that, heā€™s been knocked out in 4 of those 5 losses. And the one where he didnā€™t get sparked, Rob Font boxed his ears off for 25 minutes. Good. Heā€™s a prick. Heā€™s 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 wasnā€™t much good though and the fact he didnā€™t look that impressive against an opponent like that speaks volumes about where Codyā€™s at these days. Itā€™s over. I keep seeing fans cling to that magical night when he styled on Cruz but that was 2016 and itā€™s not coming back. After all those losses it seems like his punch resistance is mostly gone and I think itā€™s made him more hesitant to pull the trigger as well. Needless to say, Iā€™m rooting hard for Kelleher here. Heā€™s not great and he obviously never reached the level Garbrandt did at his peak. But unlike Cody, he seems a good guy. Heā€™s been fun to watch over the years as well. Tough guy and heā€™s been through a lot to come back for this fight. Heā€™s been out of action nearly 18 months and, because of his position on the cards, I donā€™t think many realise heā€™s been dealing with a bad neck injury. It was close to ending his career. Iā€™d have been pulling for him anyway against Cody but knowing the shite heā€™s dealt with to get here, itā€™d be lovely to see him win. Thereā€™s a reason the matchmakers booked this though and it wasnā€™t with a feel-good story for Kelleher in mind. Kelleherā€™s not only coming off that long layoff and severe injury, heā€™s 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. Itā€™s basically the prelim version of Ferguson vs Pimblett and I hope both plans blow up in their faces spectacularly. Casey Oā€™Neill vs Ariane Lipski is just there really. Might be a pleasant surprise but Iā€™m not expecting too much from it. Oā€™Neill is a mix of Scottish/Aussie, sheā€™s 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 wasnā€™t 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 didnā€™t 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. Sheā€™s still young enough to turn things around but Iā€™m not convinced. Sheā€™s up against Lipski here, which is a fight she needs to be winning if sheā€™s got any hope. Lipskiā€™s not to be outdone on the unique mixed heritage front. Sheā€™s Brazilian/Polish. Sheā€™s 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 Iā€™ll 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 donā€™t skip the curtain jerkers on this card! Another potential darkhorse show stealer, I reckon. Ulanbekov is a guy I havenā€™t 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. Heā€™s been on the shelf just over a year now though and thisā€™ll 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 wonā€™t regret it. Genuinely one of my favourite fights this year. Durdenā€™s seemed like a bit of a cock every time Iā€™ve seen him but, fairā€™s fair, heā€™s done really well to bounce back from getting steamrolled in a minute by Mokaev last year. Heā€™s gone 4-0 since then, including spoiling the UFC debut of Carlos Mota and that banger with Hadley. I donā€™t like him but credit where itā€™s due. The way he lost to Mokaev wouldā€™ve sent a lot of fighters on a downward spiral. Iā€™ve got high expectations for this fight. The Flyweights generally do bring it and Iā€™ve seen enough of these two to make me think theyā€™ll 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. Filiā€™s had a right up and down UFC career. You only have to look at his last 6 fights for evidence. Heā€™s 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 heā€™s not though, is boring. Even in defeat, he had a cracking fight with Nathaniel Wood on the last London card in July. Iā€™m 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. Heā€™s 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 weā€™ve gotta have at least one shitty Heavyweight fight on the card. Nah, in fairness, for once Iā€™m not gonna dump on this. Iā€™m gonna give this a chance. Buday has fought 4 times in the UFC now and heā€™s the typical fat slug that populates most of the division below the top few actual good fighters in the division. Itā€™s 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 heā€™s at least a shade better than that lot. Heā€™s 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. Heā€™s from Bahrain and is undefeated at 11-0 with 10 finishes. Heā€™s 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 youā€™re going back years for that. As a pro, heā€™s yet to put a foot wrong. Like I said, Iā€™ll give it a chance. Fatty fights can be fun sometimes. Maybe thisā€™ll be one of them. #EATCLEAN. Merry Christmas šŸŽ„
  4. Here. I realise this thread could die on its arse because these fuckers donā€™t give us much to work with when it comes to positive things. But here goes. Just seen this clip of Jens Pulver finding out heā€™s going into the UFC Hall Of Fame. I donā€™t keep up with whoā€™s in the HOF really. I donā€™t 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 ā€˜Lil 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 isnā€™t gonna pay his bills or undo any head trauma heā€™s accrued over the years but itā€™s the positivity thread so Iā€™m 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, Iā€™m well aware that this might end up being the one and only post in this thread but thereā€™s been enough shittiness and negativity in the first month and a bit of the year. If you find something MMA related thatā€™s nice, share the good vibes here. Now turn that frown upside down like Mrs Takerā€™s stalker did.
  5. Thought Iā€™d 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.
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