Jump to content

UFC on FOX 8: 'Johnson vs Moraga'


wandshogun09

Who wins and how?  

12 members have voted

You do not have permission to vote in this poll, or see the poll results. Please sign in or register to vote in this poll.

Recommended Posts

  • Paid Members

Little over a month away;

 

ufc-on-fox_johnson-vs-moraga-400x166.jpg

 

FOX MAIN CARD

Demetrious Johnson vs John Moraga - UFC Flyweight Title

Rory MacDonald vs Jake Ellenberger

Robbie Lawler vs Bobby Voelker

Liz Carmouche vs Jessica Andrade

 

FX PRELIMS

Michael Chiesa vs Jorge Masvidal

Danny Castillo vs Tim Means

Mac Danzig vs Melvin Guillard

Yves Edwards vs Daron Cruickshank

Ed Herman vs Trevor Smith

Julie Kedzie vs Germaine de Randamie

 

FACEBOOK PRELIMS

Aaron Riley vs Justin Salas

John Albert vs Yaotzin Meza

 

Looking at that line up, this card is being overlooked I think. Yeah, it's the least star-studded card we've had on FOX to date but, for pure quality of fights top to bottom, it might actually be one of the strongest FOX cards yet. It just lacks that one big name fight. This is a card full of potential though, and full of possible 'stars of tomorrow'.

 

Johnson vs Moraga doesn't scream 'main event', especially given Moraga's lack of exposure in the UFC (he's only fought twice in the UFC, on the prelims both times), but it should be a great fight. I know some are down on the flyweights but to be fair, Mighty Mouse's last title fight against John Dodson was really good. Moraga's a guy coming in with pretty much no fanfare. He's rightly the underdog because Mouse has been operating on a higher level competition-wise than Moraga. But Moraga is no pushover, he's 13-1, with the only hiccup being a points loss to the aforementioned John Dodson three years ago. No shame there. He's since won 7 fights in a row including back to back finishes over Ulysses Gomez and Chris Cariaso. Finishers have been few and far between at 125 so far so Moraga is a welcome change. Should be good.

 

MacDonald-Ellenberger sounds a bit like it belongs on a fast food menu. This is probably the fight I'm most excited about on this card actually. I think everyone sees these two as the future at 170 once GSP either retires, changes division or goes on the decline. They're the new breed, kind of like Cain and JDS were at heavyweight in around 2009/10. You just get the feeling they'll be in that title mix for a while soon.

 

Ellenberger went through a rough patch with the Kampmann loss and the poor fight vs Jay Hieron, but he's well on track again now after blasting Nate Marquardt in a round. And Rory's Rory. He's looked perfect so far in his career apart from that one round from hell against Condit. He's getting better every time we see him, his striking especially looked to have come on a lot in his last fight against BJ Penn. This should be great. You'd have to favour Rory, he's just got that aura about him right now. I'd say he's a bit more well rounded and Ellenberger's had dodgy cardio in the past. But what makes it interesting is we really haven't seen Rory up against a really good, strong wrestler yet. What happens if Ellenberger puts him on his back? Ellenberger might also be the hardest hitter Rory will have fought to date as well. It's an intriguing match up.

 

They've been going back and forth on twitter recently as well. I'd put some quotes in here but I can't abide text speak and Rory, as smart as he appears, tweets like a 12 year old girl. It's actually kind of ruined a bit of his stoic Ivan Drago-like persona for me, reading his shit text speak trash talk. For that reason alone I kind of hope Ellenberger lays him out.

 

rory-macdonald-glasses.jpg

 

I'd be quite amazed if Lawler vs Siyar requires the judges. I love this fight. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense really, with Lawler coming off wrecking Koscheck and Siyar having just gone through a demoralising grappling domination at the hands of Stun Gun. But who gives a shit? And to be fair, Lawler was meant to fight Tarec Saffiedine originally. Whatever, style-wise this looks like a FOTN contender, they match up great for a bit of a slugfest. I like them both but I'm hoping Lawler wins this, I'd love to see him continue his surprise career resurgence at 170.

 

Carmouche vs Andrade could be good. Interested to see Carmouche again, hopefully she'll get back in the win column and go on another run towards title contention. This was meant to be Carmouche vs Miesha Tate before Tate got the TUF gig. Shame we lost that fight but this could still be a sleeper.

 

Don't know much about Jessica Andrade, other than what's out there online (basically just her height/weight/age/record). She's 9-2 which is pretty good. But when you look closer it's a little more impressive in that she's only 21 and only started fighting in September 2011. Her last fight was in April. So she's had 11 fights in a little over a year and a half, which is almost unheard of in MMA.

 

I think this will be David's FOTN :)

 

So that's the main card. Prelims look pretty sweet.

 

Chiesa vs Masvidal should be a fun one. Chiesa's been having some good fights on the prelims and Masvidal is usually exciting to watch.

 

Bobby Green is coming off a spectacular debut, come from behind win over Jacob Volkmann which had the Bossman Dana White damn near creaming his pants.

 

Mitrione vs Schaub is a weird one really. The two TUF 10 housemates who are both in an odd place right now. Mitrione spent the last few months getting knocked out by Roy Nelson, offending transgenders, getting suspended for 5 minutes, getting reinstated and getting fined. Schaub on the other hand, hasn't had a great year either (although it was better for him than his 2011-12 where he regularly lay flat on his back on the Bud Light logo counting the lights). So far in 2013, Schaub has won one of the shittest fights of the year by lying on Lavar Johnson, then not content with boring the UFC audience, he entered the Metamoris grappling tournament and stunk that joint out as well.

 

fight_183765_mediumThumbnail.png

 

Never liked Schaub and I'm not much keen on Meathead either so I'd quite enjoy a double KO here.

 

Kedzie vs Randamie could be good. I like Kedzie, she's been going forever, one of the pioneers of WMMA, and has fought almost everyone who's any good. She had an awesome fight with Gina Carano which kind of opened the doors for women's fights to be really taken seriously, back when womens MMA was a new thing. It was the first widely televised womens MMA fight as well I think. And still, years later she is still having quality fights like last year's cracker against Miesha Tate. She does a good job as commentator for Invicta and seems a good girl in general as well.

 

images8.jpg

 

I think she should beat Germaine De Randamie, who's sporting a less than stellar 3-2 record. I'd like to see Carmouche vs Kedzie if they both win on this show.

 

The two standout fights on the prelims for me though;

 

Danzig vs Guillard. I really like these two, I expect a great fight out of this. I like both but I'm definitely more a fan of Guillard so I'm hoping beastmode Melvin shows up for this. The one who wiped out Dennis Siver in 30 seconds, punched Gabe Ruediger's cake filled gut in and destroyed Evan Dunham with knees against the fence

 

Guillard-Melvin-UFC63-1.jpg

 

The other prelim I'm jizzing over is one that could have happened at UFC 60-something. Proper old school fight between Yves Edwards and Spencer Fisher.

 

yves_display_image.jpg

 

Can't go wrong with this pairing. Yves Edwards has been looking fantastic for most of this current UFC stint. It's amazing to me, the man looks and fights exactly like he did 10 years ago. Yves Edwards is ageless it seems. And at 36 and after a 16 year career, he's still beating down dangerous, tough young fighters like Jeremy Stephens. He's great.

 

Spencer Fisher fights like an animal. He's just a hard-nosed, tough bastard. He retired last year after the Sam Stout rubber match but don't read too much into that. He actually looked really good that night and many, including me, thought he should have got the decision. He's back and this could steal the show.

 

I think this card looks tremendous.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 57
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Paid Members

No-one into this? I'll get the ball rolling with a Jake Ellenberger quote;

 

"Rory is as fake as the food he's named after"

 

"This is a huge, pivotal fight for the welterweight division. It can set the tone for the division going into the end of the year. It's a huge fight and there is no bigger place than on Fox. Then you factor in that I don't like him, and that should make it fun to watch. I just don't like him and it's something I'm definitely looking forward to. I love how much the media has pushed him, and that makes it better for me. They like to embellish this young kid. Rather than base things on his accomplishments, it's more about his potential. I really don't know why, to be honest with you. Rory is as fake as the food he is named after...there is a restaurant in Lincoln, Nebraska named Rory's. This is how this fight is going to go. Buffer screams. Rory runs. Jake swings. Rory sleeps. Crowd screams."

 

He ruined his own gag with the "fake as the food he's named after" bit. I assumed he meant McDonalds but he followed up with a ruthless attack on poor Rory's restaurant in Lincoln, Nebraska. He's from Nebraska as well the prat. Obviously never heard the phrase "don't shit on your own doorstep".

 

I'm really excited for this fight. It's flown seriously under the radar really. A fight between two of the sports young, most promising fighters is happening in about 4 weeks and no-one's really talking about it. It's only just getting mentions on the news sites, and that's only because Ellenberger has piped up with some talk.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
  • Paid Members

Sorry to triple post but...10 days away and I'm the Dearly Devoted Dexter of this thread. Has everyone forgot about this?

 

Some bits from the conference call;

 

Jake Ellenberger: I never said anything that wasn't true and my message was clear. I told him to prepare for some horizontal television time and I meant it.

 

Rory MacDonald: It doesn't really bother me either way. I don't care about disrespecting me. I just get in there and fight my fight. If they suffer they suffer, I don't really care. It makes them look like an asshole.

 

Jake Ellenberger: Damn it I'm an evidence-based abuser. I didn't make him make the stupid decision to fight me. I'm just gonna make him look stupid when I destroy him.

 

Rory MacDonald: I'm just gonna focus on this fight for now. My whole career has been going with the flow. Everything changes after each fight. I'll see where I'm at after this fight and assess the options from there.

 

Ha, horizontal television time. Rory's "if they suffer, they suffer" is eerily close to Ivan Drago's chilling "if he dies, he dies". I can't wait for this fight.

 

Don't leave me talking to myself you twats.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is this the first card with 2 womens fights?

 

Must be honest, the only reason I have any recollection of this card, is because it's the last fight on the ESPN deal, and I couldn't cancel ESPN early otherwise I'd have missed it.

 

Will definitely be watching, but only the top 2 fights interest me.

 

Robbie Lawler beat Koscheck in his last fight, so he can f*** off. Not seen Mac Danzig for a while, hopefully he beats Melvin Guillard, in what should be a decent little fight on the Prelims.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members

Yeah I think the fact we've been spoiled has left this one looking slightly less appealing, but if you look at the fights it's a really well matched card.

 

It's worth remembering as well, this one's been buggered by injuries. We originally had;

 

Robbie Lawler vs Siyar Bahadurzada

Yves Edwards vs Spencer Fisher

Miesha Tate vs Liz Carmouche

Brendan Schaub vs Matt Mitrione

Danny Castillo vs Bobby Green

 

The injury bug had it's wicked way and now we've got...

 

Robbie Lawler vs Bobby Voelker

Yves Edwards vs Daron Cruickshank

Liz Carmouche vs Jessica Andrade

Danny Castillo vs Tim Means

And Schaub vs Meathead is scratched completely.

 

Shame, but there's still some potentially cracking fights on this.

 

Thinking about the MacDonald-Ellenberger fight, I watched a few of Rory's earlier fights recently and he was nothing like the ice cold persona he is now. He was quiet but he wasn't creepy and weird like he comes across as now. His interviews especially, he was different. Now he seems a bit of a dick I think. He seems to me like he's actively trying to do the Ivan Drago bit, it doesn't seem as natural to me as it did with Fedor and, to a slightly lesser extent, Cain. You see him interviewed now and he's all arsey, giving short answers in a monotone voice and doing the stone faced stuff but it seems so forced to me. Back when he was fighting Condit, Pyle and Diaz he wasn't like this. Doesn't take away from his talent, it's undeniable, but he does come off as a bit of a fake. He's interesting and at least he's finding a way to stand out, but I'm not sure how much of it is real.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members

the main event is a weird one, the 125lb division is still shallow so we're gonna have to through these strange periods where the division is still builing (especially as the promotion didn't bring in established ready-made divisions like 135/145), still Moraga's on a hell of a run and taking into consideration fights outside the UFC he probably does deserve his crack, it's a weird one to promote though, Moraga has little to no fan-fair. A quality fight is all we can hope for.

 

Ellenberger/MacDonald is the main event for many people, this one's gonna be good. Rory's is in full-on serial killer mode again and he's taking on a no-nonsence wrestler who doesn't mind talking some shit, it's getting heated and it's gonna be intense. I'm rooting for Ellenberger 100%

 

Gutted Siyar didn't make the fight with Lawler :( but Voelker's a great replacement. If you want someone who's gonna in there and throw down with Lawler, Voelker's your man, he's fucking granite. Could be a great slugfest.

 

Nice to see Carmouce get reward for her epic effort against Rousey by nabbing a prime time main card slot.

 

Especially looking forward to Edward/Cruickshank and Guillard/Danzig on the prelims.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members

Yeah, Edwards vs Cruickshank could be great. I really liked Cruickshank's fights with Henry Martinez and John Makdessi. Aaron Riley on the Facebook bit as well. Riley doesn't really get any love from MMA fans but he's always usually good for a fun scrap. Tough little bastard. Proper old schooler as well, his fights with Robbie Lawler, Yves Edwards, Jorge Gurgel and the Omigawa fight in Pride were awesome.

 

On Moraga, it's weird isn't it. I dont recall any other UFC title fight where there was so little known and so little fanfare on the challenger. It might actually be a good thing for Moraga though, might take some of the pressure off. I don't think most MMA fans would be able to pick him out of a line-up so he probably won't be getting hassled much either. He's a good fighter though and he's a finisher. I saw the Cariaso fight, and I think Cariaso is underrated actually, and Moraga looked fantastic in putting him away. I'm fancying Mouse to win but Moraga is a dangerous challenger.

 

I saw this on Ben Fowlkes' mailbag on MMAJunkie earlier, sums up the Moraga situation pretty well;

 

@benfowlkesMMA Who the John Moraga? This is not a twist on Ayn Rand... I'm serious. Who the heck is this guy? #TMB

 

- Charlie (@cml21) July 17, 2013

 

You know why you (and a lot of other MMA fans) don't know who John Moraga is, despite the fact that he'll be fighting for the UFC flyweight title in the main event of UFC on FOX 8? It's probably because the UFC hasn't given you the chance to get to know him. He's had two fights in the UFC so far. Both were curtain-jerking prelim bouts, first of the night (and by "night" I mean afternoon). You could have had tickets to both the events he fought on, and you'd still be just a traffic jam or long beer line away from missing him entirely. Moraga might be the first person to get a UFC title shot without ever setting foot in the octagon after 5 p.m. Pacific Time. So yeah, that's why you don't know him. To answer your question though, Moraga is a two-time All-American wrestler at Arizona State who's 13-1 as a pro, with his only loss coming via unanimous decision against John Dodson in 2010. He's finished both his UFC fights so far, and he thinks flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson is boring. Anything else you need to know, you can probably learn by watching him fight on FOX next weekend.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is wrong, but I forget the Flyweight class exists.

 

I am going back and forth with Ellenberger and Rory, both have holes in their striking and have gassed in fights. Jake has power in his hands that could trouble Rory early on, but I feel Rory maybe the better grappler.

 

It could go either way in my book.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members

Road to the Octagon

 

for anyone struggling to get up for Saturday have a watch of that, another cracking little promo job, it'll teach you a little more about John Moraga too.

 

John Moraga sums up most people's problem with Mighty Mouse in the final seconds of the show perfectly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members
Road to the Octagon

 

for anyone struggling to get up for Saturday have a watch of that, another cracking little promo job, it'll teach you a little more about John Moraga too.

 

John Moraga sums up most people's problem with Mighty Mouse in the final seconds of the show perfectly.

 

Going to watch this now. But, without watching that later clip, my problem with Demetrious Johnson is similar to Benson Henderson. In fact, he's like a mini Benson. Utterly tedious to listen to and boring at that.

 

In fact, his voice is almost identical to Benson's.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members

Just watched the above and as per Ebb, I recommend everyone watching it. Definitely can't wait for Saturday now. This has done wonders for the profile of John Moraga.

 

Edit:- Sorry, I should have posted this above in my last post.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah thats a great promo video. Love those sort of things. I hadn't even been thinking about this event as im more excited about next weeks Bellator.

 

But this definitely made me look forward to Saturday a lot more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...