UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs Arlovski - May 8th

[Egg Shen]

Craig/Camozzi has been scratched due to illness, bummer.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah, show's down to just 8 fights now.

 

 

FIGHT PASS MAIN CARD

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs Roy Nelson

Clay Guida vs Tatsuya Kawajiri

John Howard vs Ryan LaFlare

Ramsey Nijem vs Beneil Dariush

 

FIGHT PASS PRELIMS

Jared Rosholt vs Daniel Omielanczuk

Rani Yahya vs Johnny Bedford

Thales Leites vs Trevor Smith

Alan Omer vs Jim Alers

 

Roy Nelson quote

"When I got into this business, I wanted to fight the best. When I was breaking in, Nogueira was right up there with the best of the best, and he's still one of the biggest names. In some ways you have to treat this like just another fight. But yeah, the guys like Antonio and Mirko Cro Cop and Fedor [Emelianenko] were the guys I respected and admired, so it's an honor to be able to get a fight like this.

 

That's another thing I like about Nogueira. He likes to go out there and finish fights. So do I. This should be a fun fight for the fans because chances are someone is going to drop. I just don't plan on it being me."

 

Big Nog quote

"He's so strong, such a solid grappler and has such a big overhand. He's such a dangerous fighter. You would have to be a fool to dismiss him.

 

I plan on wearing him down and using superior conditioning. He's never had to go five rounds. In PRIDE, we'd fight 20 minutes [with a 10-minute first round and five-minute seconds and thirds]. Of course, I have to avoid his big punches, but I feel once we get to the fourth round, I will be the man to finish him.

 

This part of the world has given so much to the sport of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. It is an honor to fight here and give something back. That is a motivation. I still want to fight tough guys; Roy is a tough opponent. ... I am motivated to experience fighting in these places."

 

I'm actually really looking forward to seeing how this plays out. If Nog can stay out of trouble in the early rounds, especially with the shape he's looking in right now, I could see him just outworking Nelson for a decision. I don't think he'll stop him, although I think Nog has underrated power himself. But I could see him finishing strong.

 

Still can't shake the gut feeling that Roy is going to land an early haymaker though. I'm expecting an early KO from Nelson, but of course I'd love to see Nog get the win.

[Egg Shen]

yep, i unfortunately can't see Nelson landing that right hand. I expect Nog to handily outbox Nelson for 1-2 rounds then get a bit too close and Nelson land over the top in round 3. It'll be sad to see

[wandshogun09]

Weigh in results

 

MAIN CARD

Roy Nelson (255.5) vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (238)

Clay Guida (146) vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri (145)

John Howard (171) vs. Ryan LaFlare (171)

Beneil Dariush (155) vs. Ramsey Nijem (156)

 

PRELIMS

Daniel Omielanczuk (248) vs. Jared Rosholt (240)

Thales Leites (185) vs. Trevor Smith (186)

Jim Alers (145.5) vs. Alan Omer (146)

Johnny Bedford (135) vs. Rani Yahya (135.5)

 

 

This was on Helwani's twitter as well;

 

Ariel Helwani @arielhelwani

In a UFC press release, Big Nog said he arrived in UAE 13 days ago, took a week to get used to the time diff. Nelson said he arrived Monday.

 

That could be a factor maybe if the fight does go long. You'd already favour Nog to hold up better in the later rounds but that might be in play even more if Nelson hasn't acclimatised himself properly to the timezone in Abu Dhabi. Heat could be a factor on all the fights maybe as well (don't know how hot it is in Abu Dhabi in April) being in an open roof venue. I hope they have some good air con or Nelson will be breathing through his cockhole by three minutes in.

[Magnum Milano]

I've gone for Nelson via KO and Guida via decision (which are the popular views according to the poll at the moment).

 

Bedford/Yahya could be very good from the prelims and I remember seeing Alan Omer in BAMMA way back when.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah I've gone the same way. Nelson KO, Guida points.

 

Really looking forward to it now. Being 7-9pm is nice. It's early which is obviously handy. And at just 2 hours it doesn't take up your whole night. I like the big marathon PPV nights, but I'm finding these short and sweet Fight Pass shows are a nice little change of pace.

[Kamaras-Tash]

Well that was quite the knockout, hope Big Nog calls it a day now

 

Good show overall though, really enjoyed it

[jimufctna24]

Poor Big Nog

[bono]

Great little show,was great watching ufc live on my ipad while the missus watched the soaps.

[Adorable Adrian]

That was sad to see! Ended the way the majority of people thought though.

 

Who should Nelson get after this?

 

Disappointed Bedford/Yahya ended the way it did. Was looking forward to that

[Kamaras-Tash]

That was sad to see! Ended the way the majority of people thought though.

 

Who should Nelson get after this?

 

Disappointed Bedford/Yahya ended the way it did. Was looking forward to that

 

Get Nelson in there with Hunt would be my pick, battle of the big hitters

[Supremo]

It went exactly as I expected, but didn't make it any less horrible to watch. Someone needs to step in now and tell Big Nog he can't fight anymore.

 

Fun little show though. The commentators are getting more comfortable, too.

[wandshogun09]

That was just sad to watch. But exactly how I expected it to go unfortunately. I just hope Nog retires. He'll not want to go out like that but at this point I'd rather he retire than chase that one last win. Guys like Nog don't seem to be able to go out on a win anyway. Every time he wins he thinks he's going on a title run again. I wish he'd have stopped after the Herman win in Brazil. I was saying it at the time and with hindsight that would've been the ideal farewell. In Brazil, winning by submission, then celebrating with Anderson after he crushed Bonnar ribs in in the main event.

 

 

That was the perfect night to call it a career.

 

Fair play to Nelson. He did what he should do and that was probably the most respectful I've ever seen him of an opponent. Not that he's Daley sucker punching opponents usually but you know what I mean.

 

Nog has had a fucking awesome career. He's a top 3 best heavyweight ever for me. He's got nothing to prove and what's he going to do from here in MMA? I fully expect he'll soldier on though. Unless Dana forces him into retirement.

 

I enjoyed Guida vs Kawajiri. Wasn't a crazy FOTY type fight or anything but it was the best fight Clay's had in a while, I reckon. Liked his callout of McGregor as well - "There's no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Just a chest hair sandwich with a mullet". Don't agree that McGregor is protected though. He's been injured. Before that he fought Holloway and Brimage who were perfectly acceptable and tough opponents for a guy having his first two UFC fights. If the fight happens though, I think Guida wins. Might not be pretty either. He'll stick to McGregor like glue and overwhelm him IMO. Maybe McGregor has some killer Cro Cop 2003 sprawl we don't know about, but until we see it I can't help think that that style will be his undoing. I hope not, just a gut feeling.

 

And yeah, fuck Schaub, let's get Nelson in there with Hunt. We've all been on about that for about two years. Fatty fight.

[wandshogun09]

Nog off to the hospital

 

 

 

This sums it up for me;

 

Mike Chiapetta @MikeChiapetta

For the first 9 years and 37 fights of his career, Big Nog was never stopped. He's now been finished in each of his last 5 losses.

[Rey_Piste]

All of the main card fights were all very good, Howard did very well even though that crack to the knackers obviously affected him. The Nijem fight could've been stopped a little bit quicker, but it wasn't massively late. Guida/Kawajiri was an extremely well matched fight between two good grapplers. Big roy vs Big Nog was going to end either by Nog on points or Roy getting the KO, the second one was hat happened on the night.