UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs Arlovski - May 8th

[ColinBollocks]

Meh, I watch these things the morning after anyway and it's easy enough to find.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah I'll just track down the main event. Not arsed about the rest anyway. Hope this is a one-off though. I've only got BT Sport for the UFC coverage. Now they're starting to not pick up some shows (the Poland one, this and the upcoming Germany one). Is this it for the Fight Pass cards getting televised now? Do I have to finally subscribe?

[seanz25]

Yeah I'll just track down the main event. Not arsed about the rest anyway. Hope this is a one-off though. I've only got BT Sport for the UFC coverage. Now they're starting to not pick up some shows (the Poland one, this and the upcoming Germany one). Is this it for the Fight Pass cards getting televised now? Do I have to finally subscribe?

Na cos remember 90% of fight pass cards are exactly like this one. A one fight show where you track down the main event 24 hours after its aired, without paying a penny.

[Chunk]

Seems to have been confirmed on Twitter than it's exclusively on Fight Pass. Shame. I'm still not interested in buying Fight Pass until they make a PS4 app.

 

Worse for me is that the broadband speed in my area is absolute dog shit. I can barely stream video at the best of times.

[wandshogun09]

 

Yeah I'll just track down the main event. Not arsed about the rest anyway. Hope this is a one-off though. I've only got BT Sport for the UFC coverage. Now they're starting to not pick up some shows (the Poland one, this and the upcoming Germany one). Is this it for the Fight Pass cards getting televised now? Do I have to finally subscribe?

Na cos remember 90% of fight pass cards are exactly like this one. A one fight show where you track down the main event 24 hours after its aired, without paying a penny.

True. It's just so much more convenient when they're on BT or even PickTV. Then you can just record it and watch whenever. Purely for the sake of convenience, I might actually end up subbing to Fight Pass now, just because I'm too lazy a cunt to be chasing down fights online the next day.

[Bus Surfer]

What time is this meant to start in the UK fellas?

[wandshogun09]

MMAJunkie has it as;

 

Prelims - 7.45pm ET

Main Card - 11pm ET

 

So what's that for us? Aren't we three or four hours ahead of the ET timezone? Main card probably kicks off around 2 or 3am for us.

[METAL ON METAL]

ET (phone home) is five hours behind us, so prelims 12:45am and main card 4am.

[Guy Bifkin]

 

 

[d-d-d-dAz]

I fucking hate the UFC.

 

And Stipe. Big bully.

 

I think this is it for him. He said after the Nelson scrap/before the Werdum fight that his family were begging him to stop. After a beating like that, I see them winning the argument.

 

He's not young enough to build back to a level where it warrants continuing, in my opinion.

 

Put the feet up big man, I think it's done.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah I hope it's done after that. A fantastic career but I don't want to see him all punchy and fucked up for the sake of a couple more fun fights. He doesn't need to be taking punishment like that in his 40s and with how many miles are on his clock as a fighter.

 

The fight should've been stopped towards or at the end of round three IMO. Either by the ref calling it or Hunt's corner waving it off. I know he's tough as fuck but it was so clearly over at that point. He was no longer defending himself, his eyes were swelling shut and he was absolutely exhausted. He was never even slightly in the fight after that. At least before the third round he was throwing the odd haymaker. It was 100% one-way traffic after that third round assault from Stipe. There was no sense in letting him continue to keep coming out for more after that. Florian was spot on that the corner shouldn't have let him come out for that fifth round and the whole thing where the doctor asks the fighter if they can continue is so flawed. Of course a man like Mark Hunt is going to say he can fight on. The man's a born warrior. There's no way he's going to quit on his stool, even if his face was hanging off. Refs, cornermen and ringside doctors need to take a stronger stance on stuff like this IMO, and have enough bollocks about them to make the difficult decisions rather than leaving it up to the fighter who, nine times out of ten, will always opt to soldier on and fight a battle they can no longer win. Most fighters will go on when they shouldn't. And guys like Hunt, Kazushi Sakuraba, Diego Sanchez and JDS are especially dangerous because although they're revered for their heart and durability, they're all insanely tough and don't have a blood cell in them that will say 'I can't continue this fight'. Those are the guys you've really got to keep an eye on even more, not make allowances and let them suffer GBH levels of punishment because they have a rep for being tough. I saw Sakuraba take some horrific abuse because refs respected his durability too much. Fuck knows what state Saku's brain is in now, or will be in five/ten years from now.

 

Stipe looked great. You can't say much more than that. I had him winning every round easily. 10-9, 10-9, 10-8, 10-8 and the fifth was another 10-8 before the stoppage. He's heading for title contention soon one way or another. Not just because he's good but because he's a fresh opponent, in a shallow division, who hasn't already been tainted by a loss to Cain. He's probably going to have to take one more fight first though because we've still got Cain vs Werdum to play out next month (if that one ever actually happens).

 

Maybe do Stipe vs Overeem over the summer? Then hopefully have the winner of that face the winner of Cain vs Werdum at the end of the year. And do JDS vs the winner of Browne/Arlovski.

 

It was a really surprisingly fun show on the whole. I tracked down most of the fights this morning and it's full of underdog wins, comebacks, short fights and spectacular finishes.

 

Whittaker vs Tavares was short and fucking brutal. Whittaker isn't the most technical fighter all the time and he gets a bit reckless at times but bloody hell he has heavy hands.

 

Sam Alvey continues to be awesome. Decked Kelly three times in about ten seconds for a sub-one minute stoppage. Then called out Elias Theodorou for a hair vs hair match!

 

Hioki vs Hooker was really enjoyable. Some Hooker put himself on the radar big-time here. I know he'd fought in the UFC previously but I didn't know who he was. I do now. He was losing, then pulled out a vicious headkick followed by some punches on the ground that just flattened Hioki.

 

Hioki's been a flop since signing with the UFC. Not so much in terms of delivering good fights but definitely in terms of living up to the hype he had coming in. I remember everyone being excited when he signed and people were actually talking about him being a potential challenge for Jose Aldo. Four years later and he's 3-5 in the UFC. I really like him but it just hasn't really panned out. The highlight of his run has, by far, been his excellent fight with Charles Oliveira last year. But even that, he lost. I think they might let him go now, to be honest. Or have they got a Japan card coming up?

 

Alex Chambers vs Kailin Curran was a really good fight. Amazing comeback for Chambers as well. Curran was running away with the fight and was upping the aggression in the second round. Then Chambers rallies back with an armbar in the third and gets the tap. It was like a poor mans version of Nogueira's comeback armbar on Cro Cop. Great finish.

 

I hope they keep Curran around though. She's got a shit record but she's an exciting fighter and I think she's got more potential than her win/loss record shows.

 

Rawlings vs Ellis was a good short fight as well. I'm loving the strawweight division. They mightn't have a star like Rousey but the fights so far have been quality.

 

Ben Nguyen vs Alptekin Ozkilic was a fun little round of action. I like Nguyen already. Scrappy little fucker and managed to put away a tough guy like Ozkilic (who it took John Lineker until the third round to stop) in a round, just about.

 

A pleasant surprise, this show. But that main event was sad to watch.

[jimufctna24]

I read the Sherdog play by play earlier. They had the 3rd round 10-7 to Stipe. When a round is scored "10-7", you know it must have been brutally one-sided.

 

Stipe vs Overeem would be a good fight to make. I would favour Stipe to win by TKO. I can't see Overeem surviving the distance without Stipe clipping him. Too much accuracy and power. Same applies for JDS vs Reem.

[Egg Shen]

Yeh im pretty much happy to see Hunt ride off into the sunset after that. Its a bit of a Roy Nelson situation where he's always gonna have the power to hurt someone but outside of that its his ridiculous toughness that's getting him through these fights. Id be very surprised if Mark Hunt does any significant training these days, he just racks up and gets by on what hes got.

 

Stipe-Cain is the fight i want to see at Heavyweight now.

[wandshogun09]

May 16th, the UFC finally holds its debut show in the Philippines.

 

 

FOX SPORTS 1 MAIN CARD

Frankie Edgar vs Urijah Faber

Gegard Mousasi vs Costas Philippou

Mark Munoz vs Luke Barnatt

Hyun Gyu Lim vs Neil Magny

Phillipe Nover vs Yui Chul Nam

Mark Eddiva vs Levan Makashvili

 

FOX SPORTS 1 PRELIMS

Tae Hyun Bang vs Jon Tuck

Zhang Lipeng vs Kajan Johnson

Dhiego Lima vs Li Jingliang

Royston Wee vs Ning Guangyou

 

FIGHT PASS PRELIMS

Roldan Sangcha-An vs Jon Delos Reyes

Yao Zhikui vs Nolan Ticman

 

It's not exactly stacked but I think that's a decent enough little card actually.

 

 

The main event is a cracker. Five rounds of Frankie Edgar vs Urijah Faber is as close to a guaranteed crowd pleaser as you can ask for really. Two of the best ever lighter weight fighters. Pretty much legends of the lower weights IMO.

 

I love everything about this fight. The way their styles match up. The fact it's two of the biggest names ever in that 155-135 range finally facing off, it's a bit of a dream fight for me. East coast vs West coast. Edgar comes out to Biggie, Faber comes out to Tupac. It's the perfect contrast. The only think they have in common is their wrestling backgrounds.

 

Might seem like a weird time to do it with Edgar so close to a title shot but I like it. It's a fan friendly fight that keeps Edgar busy while the Aldo vs McGregor mania plays out over the summer. And if Edgar can notch another win over a name like Faber, it only cements him further as the rightful next challenger at 145. Likewise, if Faber is able to beat Edgar, that's a massive win for him.

 

Frankie Edgar 'Kick In The Door' highlight;

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=WkN7dWM7FRY

 

Urijah Faber 'California Love' highlight;

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=3neN0l19tdc

 

It's not Muhammad Ali vs Joe Frazier 3, but I still think we might be in for a Thrilla In Manila.

 

 

Mousasi vs Philippou is the co-main event (I think). Good fight. Mousasi should win though. Philippou's solid and has decent boxing but Mousasi's the more polished and varied striker, better grappler and he's got that lanky frame which could help him on the feet and the ground in this one. Feels like a bit of an odd fight really. Mousasi just stopped Hendo in about a minute, Philippou feels like several steps backwards in terms of advancing in the division. Guess it was just a case of Mousasi wanting to stay active.

 

If Mousasi wins this I wouldn't mind seeing him fight Bisping on a summer card.

 

 

Mark Munoz fights for the last time here against 'eight foot stick of shit' and president of the Conor McGregor fan club, Luke Barnatt

 

I'd love to see Munoz smash him. And not just because Barnatt's a smarmy fuck. Munoz is one of the legit nicest people involved in MMA by all accounts. No-one has a bad word to say about him. It'd be a nice moment to see him get a big win in front of his home crowd as his farewell moment. Apparently he's been thinking retirement for a long time now but was hanging on to fight on this card.

 

Lim vs Magny could be alright. I'm completely indifferent to Magny. He's just there. He wins fights and I just can't muster up the effort to care at all for some reason. Just a dull bloke and there's nothing remarkable or dynamic about his fighting style either from what I've seen. I do like Lim though. He made a bit of a fan of me with his valiant effort in defeat against Saffiedine. He's scored some nice TKOs on the prelims as well, including a brutal stepping knee KO. Hopefully he'll drag something fun out of Magny.

 

Nover vs Chul Nam I don't know enough about Nam to comment, and I haven't seen Nover fight in years so I'm going in a bit blind here. Nover was the guy who Dana was calling "the next GSP" on TUF 8. Cursed the bastard big-time because his career fell off a cliff after that.

 

Nothing much stand out on the prelims. Royston Wee is there. The hot prospect who beat guys with losing record and can't pass guard sweet! I liked the look of that Roldan Sangcha-An guy though whenever he last fought. Really fun Muay Thai style from what I remember.

 

Decent main card but it's really all about that main event for me.

 

[Egg Shen]

Its all about Royston Wee for me.