UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs Arlovski - May 8th

[wandshogun09]

Seems everyone is mixed on the idea so maybe we should ask one of the mods?

 

That's my point - this was already discussed & decided a few years ago; we're allowed 1 thread per event. You're essentially asking for permission to do something you already have permission to do- that's why I said this whole procrastinating scenario is a bit gay!

 

Yeah I know that was agreed that there'd be a thread per event. But as said, the amount of shows has increased quite a bit since that was agreed on. That was like 2009 or something wasn't it?

 

I'll amend the thread title. Condit vs Kampmann 2 is next Wednesday by the way didn't realise it was that close. August is flying by.

[wandshogun09]

Shogun quote since the loss on Saturday;

 

"I have 11 years in MMA and Vale Tudo, I won everything I always wanted. I achieved everything I dreamed, but I want to do that again. I still want many victories; I still want to become the world champion again. Who decides when I will stop [fighting] is myself, no one else. Thank God I'm financially stable, and I keep fighting because I love it... I'm a really competitive guy, who hates to be defeated. I know I did everything I should have done during my preparation, but Sonnen was better on the fight. Unfortunately, in the fight [business], we have to wait a lot to return and bounce back... I'll get back home, see what went wrong on the fight and train hard to make sure that mistake won't happen again."

 

Ninja isn't pleased with the "shady persons" in his brother's camp;

 

"In my opinion, Mauricio played the wrong game. He should've moved more to avoid the takedowns. Fighting on half guard against a wrestler isn't a good strategy. He should've brought Chael to his guard when he got taken down, tried to sweep him or land some punches. But Sonnen got his neck, unfortunately.

 

My brother needs someone, he needs a head coach who can listen to. I always told him the truth no matter what, but I had issues with trainers from his camp. Maybe in the future I'll work with him again, who knows. I'll talk to him when he returns to Curitiba. He has a lot of shady persons around him, people trying to take advantage of him. People from his camp said I wasn't good for Mauricio because I made him nervous when I was on his corner, and he listened to that, so I decided to leave. If something is wrong I would point it out, I wouldn't just lie to please him."

 

Shogun's had these disruptive camps for years. It seems like he switches his team up from fight to fight, that can't be good. He does some good stuff like the training with Freddie Roach and I think Babalu is a good guy for him to have around but it's a shame he's split off from the people who seem to have his best interests in mind. He's on and off with Rafael Cordeiro and his brother. He dropped his manager Eduardo Alonso, who seemed like a great guy who wanted the best for him. Alonso was his manager all through that career resurgence where Shogun came back from the injuries to beat Chuck Liddell and win the title from Machida.

 

I wish he'd either start completely afresh with a totally different camp, ATT would be good, or fuck it even go and train at Reign with Sonnen, Ellenberger etc. Couldn't do his wrestling any harm. Either that or get the old gang back together, go back to his roots and try to reclaim his 'eye of the tiger'. Ninja, Cordeiro, Wanderlei, Alonso, Dida. Get the band back together and add in Babalu and Munoz maybe for wrestling, Werdum and Maia for BJJ. He'll never win the title again, not while Jones is at 205 anyway, but I think with the right people around him he could still be a force and find some better consistency.

 

Did anyone see the stuff online that Wandy supposedly was going to bet $100,000 on Shogun? Ouch!

 

OK then, onto the next one. This is next Wednesday;

 

 

FOX SPORTS 1 MAIN CARD

Carlos Condit vs Martin Kampmann

Donald Cerrone vs Rafael Dos Anjos

Kelvin Gastelum vs Brian Melancon

Court McGee vs Robert Whittaker

Takeya Mizugaki vs Erik Perez

Brad Tavares vs Robert McDaniel

 

FOX SPORTS 2 PRELIMS

Papy Abedi vs Dylan Andrews

Justin Edwards vs Brandon Thatch

Darren Elkins vs Hatsu Hioki

James Head vs Jason High

 

FACEBOOK PRELIMS

Ben Alloway vs Zak Cummings

Roger Bowling vs Abel Trujillo

 

Not a super stacked card like 'Shogun vs Sonnen' was but there's no shortage of quality here.

 

Condit vs Kampmann 2 is one of those fights you just know will deliver. How many shit fights have you seen from either of these two? And if it's anything like their first fight in 2009, we're in for a treat.

 

 

I haven't seen it in a long time, but that first fight was a razor close, back and forth war. It was Condit's UFC debut and he came in as the last ever WEC welterweight champion. Kampmann got the nod from the judges that night but it could've gone either way. I think I had Condit winning but you could make the case for either. It was a tremendous fight and one that, when it ended, you wished it was five rounds instead of three. This time we get those five rounds.

 

Both are at kind of a crossroads. Both coming off losses to Johny Hendricks. Both need a win to stay relevant here. If you're not excited about this rematch, you should be.

 

 

 

I'm still holding out hope that Nick Diaz will return to fight the winner of this fight.

 

Co-main event;

 

Donald Cerrone vs Rafael Dos Anjos. This one's kind of slipped under the radar. I love this fight. Cerrone is always fun to watch. He's had a mixed bag of a year so far. He got crushed by Anthony Pettis in January. A complete demolition inside a round, made even more embarrassing because he'd talked a bunch of shit about Pettis beforehand. He rebounded in May with a points win over KJ Noons.

 

I've made no secret I'm a fan of Dos Anjos. Ever since his UFC debut where he became highlight reel fodder for Jeremy Stephens' uppercut. I felt sorry for him that night because he was winning quite comfortably, then he got decked and he became remembered for ages as 'that bloke who got uppercutted' among my MMA watching mates, and I'm sure a lot of MMA fans as well. He had a bumpy road for a while after that, including breaking his jaw and losing to Clay Guida, in another fight that seemed to be going his way.

 

He's back well on track now though. He's 8-2 in his last 10 fights. And the two losses were the jaw injury to Clay and a split decision to Gleison Tibau. He's on a four fight win streak with wins over good fighters like Evan Dunham, Mark Bocek and Anthony Njokuani. Go back further and he also has a 59 second KO over George Sotiropoulos, and he put on a BJJ clinic en route to submitting Terry Etim, who was on a hot streak himself at the time.

 

Basically, Rafael Dos Anjos is really fucking good. He's got excellent grappling, vicious leg kicks, power in his hands, improved wrestling, he can take a shot. He's a darkhorse in the 155 division. I don't think he'd quite have enough to beat the top 5 but he'd give anyone a hard night's work IMO. I'm guessing most people will pick Cerrone here, but don't sleep on Dos Anjos. I'm not sure who I'm picking in this one.

 

Kelvin Gastelum is the latest TUF winner. He had a nice underdog story, last pick, youngest guy there and was going up against Uriah Hall who had killed everyone on the way to the finals. Gastelum rose to the challenge, looking like a mini Cain Velasquez at times, and Hall as we now know he's liable to do, folded mentally. It was an exciting fight though and Gastelum looks to have some promise. Brian Melancon, I don't know much about. I've seen the sum total of one fight from him, his UFC debut against Seth Baczynski. And to be fair, he looked great, knocking out big Seth in round one. Could be a fun one.

 

Court McGee vs Robert Whittaker pits two more TUF winners against each other. McGee won TUF 11 as Chuck Liddell's protege. Whittaker won TUF: The Smashes last December. Representing the Aussies against Team UK. Both are hard-nosed aggressive types and I expect this to be a really good scrap. I was indifferent to McGee for ages, I'm not the president of his fanclub now or anything, but he's having some good fights of late. He lacks a bit of power but you can't fault his effort, his output of strikes is a lot for anyone to deal with. I loved his last fight with Josh Neer. And Whittaker saw off yet another TUF winner last time out, Colton Smith from TUF 16. Bit of a TUF winners tournament going on it seems.

 

I hope Brad Tavares clobbers that pillock Bubba McDaniel. That's my only thought on that fight.

 

A couple of the prelims stand out. Hioki vs Elkins sounds good. Hioki has been a let down really in the UFC. He came in highly touted as a possible threat to Aldo's title, and he really hasn't lived up to the hype. He's a very skilled grappler though and he has the tools to catch almost anyone on a given night. Elkins has been the opposite, he had no hype at all but he's steadily been plugging away, racking up wins and looking good doing it. Bowling vs Trujillo is a fight I can't see being anything other than exciting.

 

And I'm really looking forward to Erik Perez vs Mizugaki. Perez is one of my ones to watch. He's looked awesome so far but Mizugaki is a step up. This could be a FOTN contender. If Perez blows through a seasoned tough veteran like Mizugaki like he has everyone else, it's time to start getting excited about him.

 

 

Perez with El Ariel Helwani.

[Egg Shen]

I'll echo all that, looks a cracking little card.

[neil]

Yeah, go separate for PPVs and have this as a super thread or something as there's a shit load more UFC shows these days.

Agreed with this.

[jimufctna24]

I got Condit by stoppage and Dos Anjos by UD on the next card.

 

Condit has improved since the first fight, whilst Kampmann is the same and makes too many mistakes. I see the fight staying standing for long enough spells for Kampmann to make a mistake and Condit to land a trademark head kick and put away Kampmann.

 

I have never rated Cerrone as much as most, Dos Anjos is under hyped in my view. I like Dos Anjos to win on points after getting the. better of the striking game.

 

As for Shogun?

 

Well I agree with Wand that back to his roots would help, but with a added twist. For a man of his size and erm level of body fat, he should drop to 185lbs, both him and Machida should have dropped the moment it became clear how much of a advantage the likes of Jones holds. 185lbs gives Rua a clean slate like it did for Wanderlai. Get Alonso and Cordeiro back in the fold, maybe go to Kings. Corderio got the most out of Shogun, remember it was Corderio who trained Shogun to knock out Forrest Griffin, but was absent when Shogun fought Hendo (classic or not, on pure skill/talent Shogun should have won that night)

 

Shogun vs Bisping or Shogun vs even Belfort at 185lbs makes sense and gives Rua motivation again, as a title shot is a possibility. Whether his body/mind is up to this challenge is debatable, but I think its better than repeating the pattern of his last two fights. Other than a rubber match with Machida, no one else stands out at 205lbs that I want Rua to face.

[wandshogun09]

I'd like to see Shogun fight Little Nog, Machida and Hendo again at 205. But they are all rematches. At 185 there'd be a load of fresh matchups. I've mentioned Shogun vs Belfort myself before, I think that could be awesome. I'd never even considered Shogun vs Bisping but that would be good too. Shogun vs Rich Franklin is one I've always wanted to see as well. And I suppose they could still do Shogun vs Machida 3 at 185 if Lyoto dropped as well.

 

I don't know if Shogun wants to drop to 185 though. He needs to change something up though. And a new division might breathe some life into him like it has for guys like TJ Grant and Robbie Lawler recently. Especially if he coupled it with surrounding himself with the guys we've mentioned again. I just think a drop in weightclass is unlikely at this point, for a couple of reasons. 1) I don't think he really has any desire to go to 185. It's clear from comments Ninja and Cordeiro have made that Shogun doesn't train to his best. Shogun probably won't fancy adding a weight cut to his already disjointed camp. And 2) his wafer knees probably won't hold up to the cardio and roadwork he'd have to put in to drop the extra 20lbs.

 

I've got Condit winning as well. Probably decision, maybe even a stoppage in the later rounds. I agree he's the more improved since their first fight. Kampmann can run hot and cold. Even the fights he wins, like Alves and Ellenberger, he takes a beating first. He's like a sawn-off Stefan Struve for that. He rarely ever just wins comfortably or without having to come through adversity. And Condit's a finisher, if Kampmann finds himself in a rough spot again, Condit likely won't give him chance to recover. If Kampmann is on though, he'll give Condit all he can handle again.

 

Cerrone vs Dos Anjos I'm really not sure on. I might give Dos Anjos the slight edge as well actually. I think if they grapple, he'll get the better of it. And Cerrone, as good a kickboxer as he is, has been kind of exposed by Diaz and Pettis. I wouldn't put Dos Anjos in the same category as those two as a striker but I think he'll do fine in a striking match. I think he's got more options. He's probably the better wrestler and BJJ artist, and I'd have the striking fairly even.

[Heatseeker]

It's 9-0 for Kampmann but I don't think it will be as one sided as the poll suggests. The man has knockout power.

[jimufctna24]

I'd like to see Shogun fight Little Nog, Machida and Hendo again at 205. But they are all rematches. At 185 there'd be a load of fresh matchups. I've mentioned Shogun vs Belfort myself before, I think that could be awesome. I'd never even considered Shogun vs Bisping but that would be good too. Shogun vs Rich Franklin is one I've always wanted to see as well. And I suppose they could still do Shogun vs Machida 3 at 185 if Lyoto dropped as well.

 

I don't know if Shogun wants to drop to 185 though. He needs to change something up though. And a new division might breathe some life into him like it has for guys like TJ Grant and Robbie Lawler recently. Especially if he coupled it with surrounding himself with the guys we've mentioned again. I just think a drop in weightclass is unlikely at this point, for a couple of reasons. 1) I don't think he really has any desire to go to 185. It's clear from comments Ninja and Cordeiro have made that Shogun doesn't train to his best. Shogun probably won't fancy adding a weight cut to his already disjointed camp. And 2) his wafer knees probably won't hold up to the cardio and roadwork he'd have to put in to drop the extra 20lbs.

I would not mind seeing Shogun vs Lil/Nog actually.

 

I agree it is unlikely, if Ninja/Cordeiro are saying he does not train his best, then the problems are obvious. To be honest though I do not think he would have to work that hard to make 185lbs. Its not like Cro Cop back in the day he was stuck between a rock and a hard place, Shogun just has a gut on him that dieting properly could take care off mostly. I get the knees will always be a issue though.

[Egg Shen]

Quite surprised at the lack of Kampmann love.

[wandshogun09]

Quite surprised at the lack of Kampmann love.

 

It does seem weird considering Kampmann won their last fight. I think it's a consistency thing though. Condit has lost two in a row but it was GSP and Johny Hendricks and he took both to decisions and gave a very good account of himself in both cases. Kampmann on the other hand, he got wiped out by Hendricks in a minute last time and even his wins before that he took a pasting from Alves and Ellenberger. Every now and then Kampmann gets taken out early, like vs Daley and Marquardt. You never see anyone have an easy night with Condit. Hendricks couldn't stop him, Ellenberger couldn't stop him. He rocked GSP, hurt Hendricks, stopped Rory.

 

You never know what Kampmann you're getting which makes me second guess picking him. If he's on his game he has the skills to beat Condit, but I think Condit takes this one.

[Egg Shen]

Perez/Mizugaki has been bumped to the main card, Head/High has moved to the prelims (though id prefer Trujilo/Bowling).

[Egg Shen]

Just watched Fight News Now over on youtube and they are giving Brandon Thatch the big one going into next weeks card saying he could be the next big thing at 170...FNN is a Canadian show though and Thatch is with Tristar so maybe they're just getting behind their boy but i look forward to that.

[wandshogun09]

Nice to see Mizugaki vs Perez get the bump. It deserved higher billing anyway IMO, not that it really matters because we'd have seen it regardless, but Perez is threatening to make some real noise and it would help if he's on the main card. For perception if nothing else. Some fans don't bother with the prelims. I'd love to see his success continue, he's an exciting fighter and he seems like a really nice bloke as well, he always looks like the happiest fucker breathing whenever I see him. Doesn't hurt that he's Mexican either. If he continues to rise up the ranks, he'd be a good guy to fill out a card under Cain Velasquez whenever the UFC finally go to Mehico.

 

It's early for that talk though, and Mizugaki is no joke. This should tell us what Perez is about.

[wandshogun09]

For anyone who didn't see it, the UFC have put the first Condit vs Kampmann fight up on their YouTube in full;

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9AeRSAOy7Y

 

Well worth watching.

[pryko]

I'm supposed to be booking Thursday off work anyway, but to go and do some work on the side for a company in Bolton. I hate mid-week UFC's. Gonna have to record it, then avoid social media til Thursday when I get home and watch it.