UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs Arlovski - May 8th

[jimufctna24]

I agree on all but Pyle/Brown.

 

I like Brown in that one, as Pyle does let himself get dragged into brawls, and Brown is not someone you want to brawl with. If it turns into a grappling match, I agree Pyle should come out on top.

 

Overeem I think just has too much of a skill set for Browne. I like Reem to connect first, before Browne can test Overeem's suspect chin. Another thing is that Overeem is probably a better grappler, but fuck knows if it will go to the ground at all.

 

I was going to say McGregor on points, but know you mention it I may go for a TKO. Hollaway is a live dog though.

[wandshogun09]

Holloway is indeed a live underdog. I'm not sure he even should be considered an underdog really though, skill vs skill its a pretty even match-up on paper. And for all his bravado you have to wonder if this sudden burst of media attention will fuck with McGregor. I don't get the sense it will bother him but you never know. Holloway is probably grateful he's being left alone in the run up to this fight.

 

Same here on your reasons for picking Overeem. There's always that question with heavyweights though, more than any other division, one punch is all it takes and the combination of Browne's power and Overeem's questionable chin adds an intriguing twist to this one for me. Still, I think Overeem will prove to be too much for Browne.

[Egg Shen]

its easy to forget that McGregor/Holloway is actually a prelim, its easily had equal to more promotion than any other fight on the card, McGregor even had his own media day, the poster competition etc.

 

Has anything like this happened before for a fighter so low down the card?

[jimufctna24]

Has anything like this happened before for a fighter so low down the card?

Dan Hardy had a similar buzz on his UFC debut on a prelim, but that was purely from the fans, the promotion were not behind Hardy like they are McGregor. The UFC are not stupid, they will know that McGregor has serious potential to be a drawing card, there trip to Ireland will be all the more fruitful is McGregor's momentum keeps up.

 

It is entirely possible that McGregor could end up like John Maguire (who was given the pink slip by the UFC this week) if he wins tonight though against a fighter the calibre of Hollaway, I may start getting a bit excited. It is going to take Aldo many a moon to become a draw, it took Anderson almost 4 years and Chael P Sonnen to get American eyeballs to pay to see him. McGregor has a instant buzz and appeal, much like Hardy who was fastracked to face GSP (this worked as they pulled a decent buyrate off a excellent Primetime show)

 

Point is, 145lbs needs someone to appeal, and McGregor seems to have the potential to achieve this. It was no accident the promotion gets behind the likes of McGregor and Hardy, they know that not only will they create a buzz, they can also enhance the appeal of Champions they have (much like Sonnen did for Silva) In short everyone wins, even if it is all for short term success.

 

We may find out this evening how good McGregor is as a fighter, but as a star, the UFC and the fans have already decided he fits the bill.

[Snake Plissken]

Before the prelims if you have half an hour to kill, theres a new episode of the Reem online. http://www.middleeasy.com/fighting/item/11...-released-today

 

Seriously this is like something out of Rocky, Reem looks like a beast. The knees he delivers in sparring made me wince. Travis Browne is going to get mauled.

[Hitman 25:17]

If anyone has a stream for the fox prelims and main show I'd appreciate it.

 

Thanks.

[wandshogun09]

Is anyone else's Sky box a cunt? Mine's just decided it won't record anymore for no reason. I set the prelims and main card to record to my Sky box, usually that red light comes on when it's recording, but tonight nothing, fuck all. It's never done this before. Anyone else had this before?

 

Edit - fuck it, sorted now. Had to unplug the Sky box completely and restart it. Now it's recording.

[herbie747]

Wow - complete domination! I can relax now!

 

Re BT Sports - have you ever seen a more annoying bunch of ads? What's their demographic? Red-top reading retards?

[lambyUK]

Is anyone else's Sky box a cunt? Mine's just decided it won't record anymore for no reason. I set the prelims and main card to record to my Sky box, usually that red light comes on when it's recording, but tonight nothing, fuck all. It's never done this before. Anyone else had this before?

 

Edit - fuck it, sorted now. Had to unplug the Sky box completely and restart it. Now it's recording.

 

Aye, not to sound all IT Crowd, I was about to say "Have you tried turning it on and off?"

[wandshogun09]

Yeah, had a bit of a blond moment there

[cleslie92]

Wow - complete domination! I can relax now!

 

Re BT Sports - have you ever seen a more annoying bunch of ads? What's their demographic? Red-top reading retards?

 

If I have to see that Ladbrokes advert again, I'll scream.

[niff]

Wow - complete domination! I can relax now!

 

Re BT Sports - have you ever seen a more annoying bunch of ads? What's their demographic? Red-top reading retards?

 

If I have to see that Ladbrokes advert again, I'll scream.

 

I'm switching the app off to avoid the ads, far too many betting ads especially earlier today with a giant Ray Winstone head interrupting the teams coming out at Anfield.

[lambyUK]

Well, I don't normally stay up, but with this card I had to. Since its late I will keep it short.

 

I will obviously start off with Chael who looked awesome. One of the best performances of his career followed by a superb post fight interview. I honestly didn't expect him to win via submission, but you could actually see it coming. That could unfortunately be it for Shogun.

 

I called Browne taking out Overeem too, bit despite it being a great kick, the ref didn't give Overeem the same chance to recover that he gave Browne. Browne was almost dead and I know this is going to sound bizarre as Browne won, I thought the ref should have stopped it when Overeem was pummeling Browne with unanswered shots. This is twice in a row where AO has utterly demolished someone but then completely gassed out.

 

Few other notes. Faber looked great after an early scare, Uriah Hall was utterly abysmal to the point that fight became embarrassing with the high 5s, Michael Johnson was incredible (and someone I've never rated before tonight), Matt Brown proclaiming Mike Pyle better than GSP was laughable and someone needs to teach him how to effectively call someone out, and I though despite not getting the finish, Conor Mcgregor looked great.

[wandshogun09]

What the fucking fuck of fucksville? Chael submitting Shogun in a round? What's happening? I was going to act all embarrassed that I'd previously said Chael finishing Shogun was, to quote Gorilla Monsoon, "highly unlikely", but who saw that coming? He made Shogun look a right chump, I can't believe it. I underestimated Chael's BJJ. I put the Stann fight down to Stann being crap off his back, but I can't say that tonight. Win or lose, no-one usually comes out of a fight with Shogun unscathed, and Chael just squashed him like he was a jobber on early 90s WCW Worldwide. Stunned. It's exactly what Chael needed coming off the consecutive losses. Hard to see where Shogun goes from here, it's sad to see him lose like that. It might be time to just do that Machida rubber match if Machida vs Belfort doesn't come off. If not, throw him and Nog on the next TUF Brazil.

 

Chael vs Wandy seems inevitable now. It has to happen now, Wand won't take that callout lying down. And watching Chael breeze through his mate tonight won't have helped. Did I hear Chael say 'three months Wanderlei'? That would be November's 20th anniversary PPV. Chael vs Wandy as co-main to GSP vs Hendricks maybe?

 

Overeem vs Browne

Well, Overeem does it again. Looks a beast early then it all goes badly wrong. To be fair, Reem looked much better to me than he did vs Bigfoot. He was aggressive right away, he looked sharp and his knees were as brutal as ever. I'm quite indifferent to Travis Browne but I found myself really feeling sorry for him when those knees were firing into his ribs, they looked and sounded absolutely vicious and Browne looked in agony. Reem blew his wad trying to finish but in this case, I can't blame Reem really. Browne looked seconds away from being done. As Rogan said, most guys would have been. Browne showed heart no-one knew he had tonight. And finishing with the Seagal kick didn't hurt (yeah it hurt Reem). Crazy comeback. Defo KO of the night. Nice post fight interview as well.

 

Faber vs Alcantara was good. Alcantara looked awesome for 2 or 3 minutes but I think that all started from Faber overcommitting at the start. He cocked up and Yuri took advantage. After that it was clear Faber was a cut above. I heard Faber entertaining the idea of some one-off fan friendly fights at featherweight, and Dana the other day said he was interested in putting together a Faber vs Frankie Edgar fight. I'd be well into that.

 

Matt Brown, Christ, I got this all wrong. Pyle didn't know what hit him the poor twat. Brown is one of the best stories in MMA at the moment. It wasn't long ago he looked close to being done, or at least sacked by the UFC. He couldn't buy any luck. Now he's rattled off six wins in a row in one of the most competitive divisions in MMA. He needs a big name now. How about Robbie Lawler? How great would that be?

 

Howard vs Hall had its moments. Decent enough but I wasn't in love with it. Wasn't overkeen on all the glad handing mid-fight either. They were very friendly weren't they. Get a room for fucks sake. Close fight, I kind of lost track scoring but I thought Howard did good. He looked massive at 185 as well. He's only my height but he's like double the width.

 

Lauzon vs Johnson was complete one way traffic. Lauzon just didn't seem to show up to me. Which is odd because he's usually such a balls out fighter, plus it was in his hometown. He just looked flat as a Romanian gymnast's tit right from the off. Michael Johnson looked phenomenal though, you can't take anything away from a performance like that. He looked so much better in his striking than I remembered. And to go into an opponent's backyard and dominate like that is something impressive.

 

I fucked up when predicting this. I somehow recalled Danny Castillo submitting Johnson. I remembered him having an arm triangle sunk in tight but totally forgot Johnson rallied and came back to KO Castillo, and I based a lot of my pick off that

 

McDonald vs Pickett was great fun. I had it as FOTN. It wasn't quite as competitive as I'd hoped but that's a credit to McDonald. Fantastic performance from him. Pickett is insanely tough to survive that opening barrage. When he got the takedown in round 2 I started thinking it might go like Edgar vs Maynard and Pickett would outlast him. Then McDonald slapped on that triangle/armbar. Brilliant finish.

 

Rogan going early in the fight "I'm seeing big improvements in McDonald even since he fought Barao" was a bit off I thought. You can't really compare because Barao is a totally different fighter to Pickett. McDonald has looked devastating against everyone, only Barao was able to come through it and come out on top.

 

I enjoyed McGregor vs Holloway. I've already caught a bit of 'McGregor isn't that good', 'the hype is over' type stuff online. Bollocks. I thought he looked excellent. The people who expected him to walk in and easily get the KO obviously haven't seen Holloway before. He's legit. And Conor schooled him all night. Won the standup handily, shut Holloway's (underrated and usually dangerous) guard down and won comfortably. All the more impressive if he hurt his knee as he said. I believe him. He looked to be enjoying the standup and was winning there so the sudden switch to grappling supports his claim of an injury. Hopefully it's nothing serious.

 

Siler KOing Mike Brown was a shocker. I can see Brown calling it a career again after that. There a few shock finishes tonight. Chael tapping Shogun is something that never crossed my mind in the build up to this show though.

 

Edit -

 

Haha yeah, forgot to mention Matt Brown saying Mike Pyle is better than GSP? What was that? Test that man for cocaine never mind PEDs.

[wandshogun09]

Awards were;

 

Knockout Of The Night: Travis Browne and Matt Brown

Submission Of The Night: Chael Sonnen

Fight Of The Night: Michael McDonald vs Brad Pickett

 

Can't argue with them. All got $50K. Nice to see them give two KO bonuses.

 

Look at this;

 

 

Madness.