UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs Arlovski - May 8th

[lambyUK]

This is my problem with BT. They are ran by absolute amateurs.

[Noah Southworth]

Jussier Formiga (126lbs; 16-3) vs. Zach Makovsky (125lbs; 18-4) was the first complete fight I got to watch thanks to the Cricket overrunning. I liked the flexibility Formiga showed to take control of Makovsky’s back and his tenacity in staying on the back, despite Makovsky’s best efforts to throw him off. I think Formiga against Johnson could be interesting; I don’t think Formiga wins, but it would at least be a fight I’d be interested to see.

 

Thiago Tavares (146lbs; 22-5-1) vs. Robbie Peralta (146lbs; 18-4, 1 NC) saw Tavares put in a great performance as he completely shut out Peralta, which is an impressive feat. This is Tavares’ debut at Featherweight and he made it strong one so he should probably get someone in or near the Top Ten next, because this is one of the UFC’s more loaded divisions and he’ll need to make another big statement in order to stand out.

 

Shawn Jordan (260lbs; 15-6) vs. Jack May (247lbs; 7-1) was not a fight I was impressed with; outside of the short brawl midway through the second round, there was nothing exciting or interesting about this fight and I was totally underwhelmed by the showing of both fighters. Jordan wins and saves his job but based on what he showed tonight, Jordan should be grateful that the Heavyweight division is relatively shallow.

 

Seth Baczynski (171lbs; 18-9) vs. Alan Jouban (170lbs; 9-2) took a minute or two to get going but when it did, it turned into quite the exciting fight. Jouban has some good hands on him and whilst you didn’t get too much of a read on Jouban, it definitely looks like he is a great prospect in the Welterweight division.

 

Tim Boetsch (186lbs; 17-7) vs. Brad Tavares (185lbs; 12-3) was a fight of two halves, with Tavares dominating Boetsch in the first round and pretty well shutting him out, and then Boetsch pulling out another comeback to crack Tavares with a left hook and swarm Tavares to finish him off. Boetsch very likely saved his job with this win but until that left hook, he was being dominated, and this comeback win is only delaying the inevitable because Boetsch is very much just a ‘warm body’ at this point.

 

Gray Maynard (156lbs; 12-4-1, 1 NC) vs. Ross Pearson (156lbs; 17-7, 1 NC) went a little differently than expected, with Pearson taking a round to get going, but once Pearson landed the right, it set up a combination that felled Maynard and it was soon all over for Maynard with his chin once again letting him down. Maynard probably lasted longer than a lot of people thought he would, but it’s his third straight loss, all of them from strikes, and Maynard really should think about hanging the gloves up  because not only is his chin now quite fragile, but his wrestling is clearly not what it used to be.

 

Ryan Bader (205lbs; 18-5) vs. Ovince Saint Preux (205lbs; 16-5) followed a similar pattern to the previous fight with Bader, the wrestler, controlling the first round and looking good, only for Saint Preux, the striker, to come back in the second, with the overhand left especially working well for him. The pendulum swung back in Bader’s favour in the third and fourth rounds because of his wrestling and OSP was tiring out, and was clearly head hunting, looking for that one big shot to end things, which wasn’t a strategy that helped him at all. Nor was, in the fifth, taking Bader down, which, whilst surprising, played right into Bader’s hands and whilst OSP battled well with Bader on the ground, it wasn’t going to finish Bader and OSP needed a finish to win. It went the distance with Bader getting the nod, unsurprisingly, and OSP hits a bump in the road whilst Bader continues to roll on.

 

 

Without seeing the first four fights, I can’t fairly comment on the overall quality of the card, but what I did see was mostly entertaining but nothing that memorable, however.

 

Also, BT’s Twitter says they’ll be showing the missing prelim fights tonight at 10pm before the replay of the main card.

[JNLister]

Just to clarify, the cricket being on wasn't a technical error but a deliberate decision. It was a live 20-20 game that overran because of a rain interruption and BT decided showing the finish was more important than going to the UFC. Of course, they are too cheap to have continuity announcers or live graphics to explain that, and in the end the game never restarted, so they spent 45 minutes live broadcasting grass drying.

[pryko]

Just noticed that Josh Koscheck was on the Fox panel last night.  What a guy

[wandshogun09]

Decent enough show but suffered from the 'Bader effect'.

 

I enjoyed Formiga vs Makovsky. Really good fight. And I was glad my gut feeling on Maynard vs Pearson was wrong. Actually kind of felt sorry for Maynard though, I thought he was actually looking pretty good in round one. Nice to see Pearson get a KO though coming off that terrible decision against Sanchez. Boetsch hometown comeback was great. Few other quick fun fights. Was disappointed in what I saw of McMann vs Murphy.

 

Main event was bad though, I thought. Some of Bader's takedowns looked cool but when that's it in a 25 minute fight...I like OSP so I was hoping this would be his coming out party but fearing we'd get exactly what we got. He got Bader'd. And for all the talk of OSP being so athletic, his conditioning let him down in the middle rounds. He just looked out of his depth. He was coming in off a winning streak but his wins weren't exactly over stellar opposition. Stiffs like Krylov and whoever. This was a big step up. His cornerman was fucking dire as well. Jesus Christ. No constructive advice or instruction that could actually be applied. Just shouty nonsense. 'You know how to win this. Now go out there and BREAK HIS AAARM'...or some shit. I did chuckle but pretty embarrassing from a corner man at this level. Looked like he even backhanded the other cornerman at one point as well. Comical.

[wandshogun09]

Double header coming up this Saturday.

 

 

FIGHT PASS MAIN CARD

Michael Bisping vs Cung Le

Dong Hyun Kim vs Tyron Woodley

Zhang Lipeng vs Brendan O'Reilly

Yang Jianping vs Nang Guangyou

 

FIGHT PASS PRELIMS

Wang Sai vs Danny Mitchell

Alberto Mina vs Shinsho Anzai

Roland Delorme vs Yuta Sasaki

Wang Anying vs Colby Covington

Elizabeth Phillips vs Milana Dudieva

Royston Wee vs Yao Zhikui

 

A two fight card if ever I've seen one. At least those two fights are good though.

 

Bisping vs Le is as close to a nailed-on crowd pleaser as you can get. Bisping rarely has boring fights and I don't think I've ever seen Cung Le in one. This should be a fun one.

 

Bisping needs to make something happen here. He's had a bumpy couple of years and he's looking like a fighter on the start of a decline. Maybe that's wrong but that's how it's looking. He hasn't looked really good in a fight since he beat Brian Stann back in 2012. Since then he's gone 1-2. A win over Alan Belcher in a bizarre fight full of eyepokes. And the two losses were about as bad as it gets. He got wiped out by Vitor Belfort's headkick and dominated to a decision by Tim Kennedy in his most recent fight.

 

It's coincided with his problems with the detached retina.

 

 

Still looks nasty.

 

The Kennedy fight in particular makes me think Bisping might be on the slide. He's always done really well against wrestlers before. Even at 205 the likes of Rashad Evans, Chael Sonnen and Matt Hamill struggled to keep him on his back. Kennedy at 185 was able to control him over 25 minutes.

 

This will be a totally different style fight though. Cung Le won't be trying to wrestle. It's the perfect fight for Bisping to come back and look good in. But it's not without risk.

 

Cung Le is always dangerous. Even this late in the game. He's probably lost some speed but he can still crack.

 

 

That was Le's last fight. And Rich Franklin's.

 

Problem is that fight was nearly two years ago and Le's 42.

 

I'd be very surprised if this goes the full five rounds. It's got the feel of either an early KO for Le or Le fading and Bisping overwhelming him for the TKO in the mid-late rounds.

 

One more thing on this fight, how do you look like this at 42?

 

 

Just saying. Do they test on the China shows, I wonder?

 

Co-main Stun Gun vs Woodley is an interesting one. It was originally going to be Kim vs Hector Lombard but Lombard pulled out. This is kind of a similar fight for Kim, I guess. Woodley and Lombard are both tanks with stupid power and a strong grappling base. Only difference is one's a wrestler and one's from judo. And Woodley's jumping right back in with a quick turnaround after losing to Rory MacDonald in June.

 

Stun Gun's probably the underdog here but he's a bit of a darkhorse at welterweight. He's on a four fight win streak. His last two wins ended in highlight reel KOs over Erick Silva and this spinning elbow on John Hathaway...

 

 

That's probably my KO of the year so far.

 

It's an intriguing style fight. Probably favour Woodley but I'd like to see Stun Gun keep up the streak for a bit longer.

 

The rest of the card does nothing for me. Not to say some of the fights won't be good but it's hard to get too excited for fights when you don't know who the fuck half the fighters are. Looking at this lineup, it could be a fight card or a takeaway menu.

 

The Jianping vs Guangyou fight is actually the TUF China finale. It was meant to happen in May but got delayed when one of them got injured. Any fucks given?

 

The second half of the double header is this;

 

 

FOX SPORTS 1 MAIN CARD

Benson Henderson vs Rafael Dos Anjos

Mike Pyle vs Jordan Mein

Francis Carmont vs Thales Leites

Max Holloway vs Clay Collard

James Vick vs Walmir Lazaro

Tom Niinimaki vs Chas Skelly

 

FOX SPORTS 2 PRELIMS

Neil Magny vs Alex Garcia

Beneil Dariush vs Tony Martin

Aaron Phillips vs Matt Hobar

Ben Saunders vs Chris Heatherly

 

FIGHT PASS PRELIMS

Wilson Reis vs Joby Sanchez

 

Bendo vs Dos Anjos should be a cracker. Whereas Bisping vs Le should be a straight stand up war, this should be a technical battle in all areas. Something for everyone. Both underrated strikers, both excellent grapplers, tough to finish, good cardio. I like Bendo to edge it on points but I really hope Dos Anjos wins this one.

 

Pyle vs Mein could steal the show. Was originally going to be Brandon Thatch vs Mein which I was really looking forward to, but Thatch got injured again. This is a good substitute though.

 

Rest of the card is weak as fuck, really. I like Max Holloway but I know fuck all of his opponent. The only other thing that stands out here is the return of Ben Saunders. TUF 6 Team Serra vet, former UFC fighter, Thai clinch enthusiast, ex Bellator fighter. I've always liked Saunders. Didn't even know he was back until now so that's a pleasant surprise. When was that announced?

 

So yeah, as with most of these double header UFC nights, if you cherry pick the best from each you'll get a good night's MMA out of it. Between Bisping vs Le, Kim vs Woodley, Bendo vs Dos Anjos, Pyle vs Mein and the Holloway and Saunders fights, it's not a bad set of fights. Just surrounded by a lot of filler.

[JNLister]

FYI, the Bisping-Le show is Fight Pass only even here. Henderson-Dos Anjos is on BT Sport.

[wandshogun09]

Bisping-Le is listed here;

http://www.locatetv.com/uk/listings/bt-sport-1

 

On delay on BT Sport 1 at 10pm.

 

Hopefully that listing is accurate. That site's been reliable for me up to now.

[Noah Southworth]

Maybe I'm underestimating him, but I don't see even a juiced to the gills Cung Le posing many problems for Bisping. Outside of managing to land one on the button. I don't see where Le wins this. Kim vs. Woodley should be interesting; if Kim can press things, take the fight to Woodley, I think he wins this and possibly without a lot of trouble. Woodley's the type of fighter who fights to his confidence level; once he believes he can't dominate, Woodley seems to go into his shell and switch off. Which could be dangerous against Kim, especially if he can pull out another spectacular knockout.

 

Henderson vs. RDA is a fight where I see one guy, Henderson, winning without a lot of problems. I don't expect RDA to go down easy, but I'm not sure where he beats Henderson. This could go the distance, but I don't see the outcome ever being in doubt.

[JNLister]

Bisping-Le is listed here;

http://www.locatetv.com/uk/listings/bt-sport-1

 

On delay on BT Sport 1 at 10pm.

 

Hopefully that listing is accurate. That site's been reliable for me up to now.

Ooh, so it is. Bit naughty by UFC as I was looking on their website and they don't list BT Sport at all. Technically that's true if you are talking about watching live, but it's misleading to give the impression you have to get Fight Pass to see it in the UK.

[wandshogun09]

Guess who's joining the FOX analyst panel for the Bendo vs Dos Anjos show? Jake Ellenberger and Matt Serra! Can't wait to see Serra on there. He seems to be a natural for this type of thing to me, surprised it's taken them this long.

 

One thing I like now that they're doing, is trying different guys for the FOX analyst stuff. Recently we've had Chris Lytle and Josh Koscheck. Now Ellenberger and Serra are having a go. I like it. I miss Chael on there (actually where's Rashad been as well?) but I like seeing different faces on there.

 

Is it bad that I'm more looking forward to seeing Matt Serra awkwardly crammed into a suit and talking shit, than I am about 85% of the fights this weekend?

 

Oh and Mirsad Bektic is out against Holloway. But not to worry, some bloke called Clay Collard is stepping in.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

My heart really wants Cung Le to spark Bisping in an even more brutal and efficient fashion than he did Franklin, but my mind says that Bisping will have a major cardio edge and use that to get the decision. Bisping will stay at distance, avoid the spinning shit while sticking and moving. Then, once Le gets really sluggish (shouldn't take more than a round or two), Bisping will plant him on his back and chip away.

 

Although the eye issues make things interesting (and dangerous). Bisping returned after that and had his worst performance in the Octagon against Kennedy. Potentially losing a big part of his senses would pose problems against a striker like Le. How well can he judge distance with a bung eye?

 

Other fights of interest:

 

DHK has had some crazy turnaround in recent fights, never before picked him as a hugely exciting fighter, but he's really flipped the switch. A fight with Woodley could really steal the double header FOTN.

 

Pyle vs. Mein is the only fight I want to see on the Bendo card. That'll be highly technical as well, but have that element of violence. Mein is younger, but Pyle, I think, is grittier and tougher, I think he'll pour the pressure on for a 2nd round TKO, a bit like Matt Brown did.

 

Bendo... *sigh* is an intelligent fighter, and seems to have the mentality to gameplan a win for a 25 minute fight, rather than being aggressive and looking for a finish. I'm not saying everyone should be a gunslinger, but I am saying that Bendo has only had one finish since 2010. I didn't think he had any, but when I went to double check stats, he won his last fight by submission. Haven't seen it, so maybe he's had a DHK esque transformation and is now a killer. Or maybe Khabilov slipped on a banana peel. Guys like Bendo, their fights only interest me when I think their opponent is skilled/smart enough to force them away from their gameplan. A bit like GSP, I wasn't keen at all for the Diaz fight, because I fully expected the squash that occured, but the Condit fight was massively intriguing because of how good The Natural Born Killer is. Dos Anjos is very good, but I don't think he's the guy to make Bendo uncomfortable.

 

Honestly though, Bendo could have the fight mentality of Donald Cerrone and I'd still despise him. Arrogant God-botherer.

[wandshogun09]

Bendo actually looked really good against Khabilov, I thought. Not just because he got the finish either, as an all-round performance it was impressive. Then again, Khabilov was a little bit of a step down from the guys Bendo's been mixing with the last few years like Pettis, Melendez, Edgar and Thomson, so who knows?

 

Bendo's a weird one. He used to be so exciting to watch. His WEC run was awesome. His first few UFC fights were great as well. The Clay Guida and Jim Miller fights in particular. But once he won the title, he seemed to lose some killer instinct or whatever. Even the Guida and Miller fights, they went to decisions but he was all over them going for the finish. He became more of a point fighter after he won the title IMO. Hopefully he's got his 'eye of the tiger' back now and we'll see a more attacking version of him.

 

Although the eye issues make things interesting (and dangerous). Bisping returned after that and had his worst performance in the Octagon against Kennedy. Potentially losing a big part of his senses would pose problems against a striker like Le. How well can he judge distance with a bung eye?

The eye could be more of an issue in this fight as well because it's his right eye and Le's a southpaw. So Le's most powerful strikes will be coming towards that bad eye. And you have to wonder if Bisping will see some of Le's strikes coming from the left as well as he would from the right. He says he can see fine out of the right eye (there's oil in there apparently to stop the retina re-detaching, which is why his eye looks so weird), but you have to wonder.

[Egg Shen]

found the fights the other night fairly entertaining, standout performance of the night for me was Thiago Tavares who looked like he may have found a home at 145.

 

* Bader/OSP just kind of happened, it wasn't a bad fight but i don't think it anything to convince a paying customer that Bader's worth forking you change out for, but regardless you can't say he's not in the mix at 205lb, dudes winning fights. OSP's still raw as fuck, i think he probably realised that his raw athtetic talent is only gonna get him so far in the UFC though.

 

* Jouban/Baczynski justified why they were given a main card push despite us fans wondering why they were there, excellent little 1 rounder...Baczynzki to his crediti is never in a dull fight.

 

* Tim Boetsch does it again eh? you can't count the guy out of a fight at any point but it's not hard to say that Boetsch is done as a top 10 fighter, he just doesn't seem to have the raw strength and even creative style he used to have anymore, his sheer toughness is getting him through fights at this point, it's not good...still $50,000 in his pocket is nice.

 

* No love for Watson/Alvey here? it was a bit of a one sided fight until an excellent round 3, Watson was nearly taken out but saved his UFC career with a win.

 

* I think all of us underestimated Jussier Formiga, everyone seemed to have Makovsky heading towards that title shot.

 

* As for Gray Maynard? it's hard to say where he goes at this point...he's got a bit of a Chuck Liddell thing going on where despite actually looking very good on Saturday night (as Chuck did in his final fight against Franklin) his chin just doesn't hold up, 4 KO losses in his last 5 fights is not good....you simply can't keep getting knocked out.

 

sorry im a bit slow on the uptake this week, i had a busy weekend...having a quiet bank holiday so i'll be all over the fights on Sunday.

[JNLister]

Radio Times doesn't have the Bisping-Le show listed, so it must be a last minute addition by BT Sport.