Dai

Pena was outclassed in this one, for sure. Looking at the rankings of this division though, and I think its a no brainer that they do another rematch. Its either that, or Nunes pops off to another division for a while.

Despite the overwhelming Frank Mir vibes that Wandy is sending about Pena, I thought she did OK at certain points in the fight, and is clearly super tough to take Nunes' best shots. At points she was doing OK in the standup, and definately put Nunes' in some squeaky bum moments with some of the sub attempts.

Another general point, I think it would be great if the UFC did the Picture In Picture replay thing that the wrestling shows do. Case in point, Moreno gets sliced up with a nasty elbow, which was hard to make out. 30 seconds later the commentators are talking about it on their iso monitor. They frequently refer to this. Why not do a picture in picture? It could backfire if you end up missing something big, but its probably worth the risk. Gives the UFC an excuse to sell even more advertising, too, as they can plaster a big logo on the split screen, a la WWF 98.

Can't disagree with those picks, either, apart from the main event for me. There's too many variables of doubt on Nunes for me. I didn't even know about the training camp change, so add that to the list of things. A dominant champ losing the title, talk of retirement, the questions over the first fight, the affects she still may have which affected her in the first fight, the mental aspect of being out struck. Is Pena going to do to Nunes what Nunes did to Ronda? I'm going out on a limb and saying yes. 

All very good points, wand! Yes, you wouldn't expect anything in R1 to really tax Nunes, but with hindsight you have to look at the smallest of things I guess. You're more than likely correct about something being not right with her going in. That makes this fight even more intruiging, as its super interesting to see how it plays out. The bookies have it way closer this time too, with Pena only being slightly more than a 2/1 dog

"Fighter who loses uses injuries to explain loss" is a tale as old as time, so Im not sure I fully buy into that. If Nunes is going into this fight with the mindset that the only reason she lost is because of injuries, which in turn led to poor cardio, then that is a super dangrous frame of mind for a rematch. She was in a fire fight, and lost, which is the main thing she should be addressing. She lost her gas as she was throwing bombs and taking bombs, and got the worse end of the stick.

Confused to this 'threat' of there being an interim belt, too. Why would that make any difference to her? Lets say she cancelled the fight and there was an interim champ, Im not sure how that affects anything with Nunes and her next fight, as it would still be a title fight.

Edit: Just rewatched the fight myself. I think youve missed a fairly important part of Round 1. Amanda has the front headlock on Pena for a good 30 seconds plus, trying to keep Pena on the ground. DC talks about this not being familiar to Nunes, with someone actively trying to get up. This, along with the right arm being used for a long while to try and get around Pena's neck, may be a factor. Mike Brown is also shaking out her right arm during the break.

I think youre off on your Round 2 opinion, too. I think you need to rewatch that first minute, as Pena lands plenty of significant shots to the head, especially that one at the one minute mark, and theres nothing of note coming back from Nunes. The next two minutes though are a crazy back and forth. Its clear to see she falls off a cliff with the cardio as she's throwing bombs and recieving them for 3 minutes straight, going at it full pelt. The best gas tank in the world cannot sustain that.

'Stiopic' is outstanding!

I think there was a strong case for standing it up in every single round, as there was hardly any output offensively too.

The most depressing thing about the fight for me wasnt even the ground stuff. It was when they were on the feet, and Lima seemed like a complete non threat. He was backed up to the fence constantly, and didnt really look dangerous at all. Also, for years, if you said "leg kicks" to me, Id say Aldo and Lima. Ive seen him destory plenty with those leg kicks, but in this fight, it seemed like at least 10 really good calf kicks didnt even phase his opponent, which was also depressing. Sad all round!

Franklin also went for a powerbomb, too! Other than that, it was an awful performance from him. The hype train derailed on this performance, and he needs to work on his gas tank.

Agree about Lima though. As someone who was a favourate of mine for years, its sad to see him these days. To be fair to him, he had an exact performance like this against Koreshkov seven years ago, when he was still in his 20's, so it shouldnt all just be blamed on him being past it, must just be his mental state some times. Dont think he landed one significant punch in 5 rounds, which sums it up really.

Knowing you need a finish, then jumping guard 30 seconds into R3 is probably the stupidest decision Jones will do in his entire career.

I always find it satisfying when a fighter is giving it large pre match and during the Buffer bit and then lose, and that was the case for the Craig fight. Craig was like Werdum in that first Overeem fight, just falling to the ground all the time. Never a good look, that. Thought Volk implenented to the perfect game plan. Considering the run Craig was on, this was an impressive win, and he looked fairly comfortable during most of it.

Poor Gusty, he looks completley done. Surely hes getting cut soon and Bellator are coming calling. Very sad to see.

Had it ended with the three KO run of Molly/Krylov/Paddy, it would have been a tremendous show. A shame the two fights that followed were very deflating, sending people away on a sour note.

Surely Dana is far too smart to chuck Paddy and Molly on US cards now. Paddy can now clearly headline a show, so thats surely the next step for him, with Molly in the semi main. Hard to argue against that, as theres surely plenty of money to be made in those two fighting 'hand selected' people for their next 3 fights each, both came out of this looking like stars, so they may as well use that for the UK Fight Night shows for the next couple of years.

Listened to the Nash one, and for a first episode thought it was pretty good. Nash is extremely easy to listen to, and Sean Oliver plays a good host.  A couple of points though; Nash brought up the story of getting bigger deals because of the Fake Razor and Diesel angle, which I read on a thread here recently which debunked it, did it not. The other questionable theory from Nash was that Hall was going to go over Austin at WM18, and something about them doing a beat down to Hogan and Rock at the end of their match, which would have been the first time ever a Mania would have finished with heat. All of that changed a few days out, according to Nash. Never heard of that before, and sounds like BS. For a start, I assume HHH/Jericho was always the plan to be on last, so 'ending Mania with heat' never really makes any sense. Also, surely theres no way in hell Austin is jobbing to Hall. I guess Nash isnt immune to the wrestling embellishing.

The explanation of Hall's accident with the ice cubes, which lead to the death was all pretty sad to hear, and I think its the only time Ive ever heard Kev well up and hold back the tears. Good start to the show for sure.

Also listened to the Mox podcast, and thought it was a massive waste of potential, purely down to how awful Renee was. Whether it was because of the strange dynamic with the guest, but on this podcast she was the shits. No way I could listen to anything else she does. Mox is good value, but would have been ten times better with a competent host.

If noise cancelling is a key feature youre after, the over ear ones are way better. I have the XM3's, and despite costing probably three times my Anker ones, they arent really that much better. I have the Bose 700 over ear ones, which are way, way better than the XM3's. Super comfortable, even for a glasses wearer such as myself.

To be honest, cant really picture that Cooper fight off the top of my head. The first thing that sticks out for me is when he finished Doug Marshall with a body shot. Superb KO.

Speaking of exciting fighters from around then, Doug Marshall is right up there too. What a strange career he had too, by the looks of wiki. From Nov 2012 to Nov 2013 he fought 5 times. He fought once more in Nov 2014 and was completley done thereafter, and vanished without trace.

Shlemenko in 2013/2014 was one of my favourate MMA fighters. That run of Bellator fights was cracking. The peak was the KO of Manhoef, after which he gets popped for steroids and proceeds to be nothing of note, mostly fighting in Russia.

Went back and watched the Johnson/Mullarky fight. Round 2 is clealry Mullarky, Round 3 is Johnsons. Johnson got a raw deal in the fact that he lost R1 despite dropping his opponent. He lost the round in my eyes as he got dropped as well, and Mullarky bombed him with four big elbows immediately after. Great fight though.

Never watched the TUF he was on and whether all of his showmanship worked, but Turcios suffered with Kevin Holland-itis in this fight to me. All that noise, but very little action. Didnt come across well at all here for me, completley outsmarted for the fight.

The Sherman fight was a very good heavyweight scrap. Good highlight reel KO too.

Gutted for RDA. To me, he lost R1 and R2, but all that grappling was starting to pay dividends later in the fight, which gave him much more success in R3 and especially R4. R4 was clearly RDA's best round, which made the KO out of nowehere even more gutting. I fancied RDA's chances of squeaking out a win after R4, but was unfortunate to be blasted by that sweet punch.

I think the commentators made a fair point in that it seems that Izzy's opponents seem to get mesmerised by him. Its following the Anderson Silva path of his fights not being that enjoyable, but you can see that the level in class is on another level. We just need to wait for Izzy's Chael Sonnen to appear. No mention of Izzy's Undertaker entrance yet either, which I thought was tremendous.

Funny you mentioned Nick Diaz, Wand, as thats EXACTLY what I was thinking during the Lawler fight. Specifically I was thinking that this fight was super similar to the Diaz/Scott Smith fight. I also was thinking of the Gomi fight. Was very sad to see Lawler be the Scott Smith of the equation. He was landing, but I had the sense early on that Lawler couldnt win this fire fight, which years ago would of been unthinkable. Age, combined with less power, combined with a more fragile jaw isnt a good combination.

Du Plessis is a mad man, and fantastic to watch. His gas tank must be absolutley insane, as if a regular fighter had unloaded that many bombs in R1, they would have been mince meat by the middle of R2. That he kept consistently throwing 100% effort bombs all the way through the fight is crazy.

Edit: To be fair to Rogan, Ill usually jump on him to say how shit hes become, but whether its because hes not there that often these days, I didnt actually mind him on this show. Him and DC make a fairly solid team.

Also, that picture of Max's cut that youve used, Wand, doesnt really do it justice, as it was absolutley disgusting. The whole cotton bud went into the cut, which was crazy.

Thats a belting card, isnt it? Theres enough on the prelims to fill 3 Apex shows.

Do we think Lawler will be gone if he loses here? Excluding the Diaz freak show, his last win was against Cerrone around five years ago. That fight was one year after Woodley smashed him and took the title, which seems like an absolute lifetime ago. Surely the end if he loses this. Heres hoping he can pull something out of the bag.

Was browsing Uriah Hall's wiki as well. That fight with Weidman where he snapped his leg was just one year ago. Seems way longer than that in my eyes.

Excellent write ups! Has to be Volk for me. Volk is a 1/2 favourate for good reason I think, the man is an absolute beast. You get the feeling that hes still actually improving fight on fight, whereas with Max, I'm getting the Tony Ferguson vibes where he's already peaked and is on his way back down the mountain. Hes still one of the best, but won't have anything for Volk I don't think

4 hours ago, Marc Ambush Solo said:

Oh wait... just checked... its no longer on Spotify too.. 

Ah nightmare. As far as I can tell, I have no legit way of buying a digital version of it as well. Crazy to think thats the case in 2022.

On 6/17/2022 at 12:06 PM, Marc Ambush Solo said:

Live And Let Die >>> 4,5,6 but thats my personal opinion...

Ah, Live and Let Die is not on Tidal! Another victim of the copyright laws I assume. A shame if its that good, too. 

Looking for some recommendations. Tidal suggested 4,5,6 by Kool G Rap a few weeks back. Have listened to it plenty since, and really enjoyed. Tried a few of his albums before and after this one, but not really felt the need to relisten to them. Any suggestions as to what else to listen to from him, or others similar to this timeframe and style? They suggested Jeru The Damaja who Ive been enjoying, as well.

Yes, that was a proper classic main event. At the end of Round 2, when Glover cut open above the eye with the elbows, when the buzzer sounded I stood up in excitement. Dont think Ive ever really done that before. Just like most of those in the crowd, I was fully caught up in the moment. In terms of the actual fight, I genuinely dont think you could script something as perfect as it was. It was straight out of a Rocky movie. Heavy bombs being thrown on the feet, tremendous ground action with plenty of potential fight ending ground and pound, along with numerous dangerous submission attempts and reversals. The fact that Glover is 42 years old, and one of the last remaining 'old guard' (as someone in their late 30's, I have a soft spot for all these top level old school guys), I was rooting for him big time, which made the fight even greater to watch. A proper Balboa performance. The only thing to make this greater would have been Glover hitting maybe 2 more clean strikes at the start of R5, which would have stopped Jiri. The decision to go for the choke will be something that haunts Glover Id assume. Outstanding fight, mind, and when it gets as good as this, it just reminds you of why we all watch.

Just fast fowarded the Shevchenko/Santos fight again. R1 is clearly Santos, as it R3 (which makes the 4-1 scoring a bit strange). R2 is the round when Santos has control for most of it in Shev's full guard, but doesnt nothing of note with it, and eventually gets stood up. The only thing between Santos having the title and not right now is probably 3-5 decent ground strikes when in Shev's full guard in this round. Had she been even slightly more aggressive, then the the 47-48 score for Shev would have been reversed.

MVP vs Perry in a BK fight is the sort of random, weird stuff you unfortunately dont get much these days. This is the sort of fight which would have been on Inoki's Bom Ba Ye NYE shows back in the day, which is a positive from me.

Just caught the main two fights. De Castro came across like an idiot by celebrating the 'win'. He was losing the fight easily, so he doesnt come out of this match looking any better, despite the win. JDS was looking fairly good to be fair, and was coasting in Round 2. The Lombard fight was turning into a decent scrap, so was a shame the way it ended.

Whittman strikes me as a decent and honest bloke, so will be interesting to hear his thoughts on this one the dust has settled and they go back and rewatch it. His rep after this match would have taken a bit of a kicking, so will be interesting to see if he'll be able to be completley honest about what was going on during the rounds.

This is a very bizarre series of posts. Youre arguing about a 'hype train' for the 2022, 45 years old, Yoel Romero, and calling him bog standard. Not sure what youre reading to gain such an impression, but the one here is clearly not of that ilk. Id say everyone here knows hes past his best, and is just enjoying what is surely the last few fights of a legend. Saying 45 year old Yoel Romero isnt as good as he was 5 years ago surely isnt shock news. He was booked against Manhoef for this show, so any talk of how good he is now is pretty much irrelevant.

Glancing at his wiki reveals that between 2014-2016, he won 6 fights in a row:

- made mincemeat out of Derek Brunsons liver when stopping him

- flattened Tim Kennedy and Lyoto and left them unconscious

- beat Jacare (who was on an 8 fight winning streak)

- split Weidmans skull almost in half with a knee

Then he lost twice to Whitaker, Izzy, Costa and Phil Davis. ALL decisions, and all when he was over 40 years of age. You have quite the definition of a 'bog standard fighter'.