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UFC 173: Barao vs Dillashaw


wandshogun09

Who wins and how?  

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Hendo coking in as a 9/1 underdog is pretty ridiculous, especially when you consider DC is relatively untested at the weight, i mean the Cummins fight didnt really tell us much did it.

 

Gotta watch Embedded.

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Wand, I can't say I agree with you that Cormier can comeback from a loss tomorrow.

 

He's even come out and said this is really his last chance. You've got to remember Cormier is 35 years old and a loss to Henderson will probably put him 3 wins away from a title shot.

 

However, I can't stress enough how special a fighter Cormier is. Sonnen came out stating that Cormier is perhaps the kryptonite to every fighter in the 205 division and I tend to agree with him.

 

Henderson obviously has a punchers chance, but this really should be a win for Cormier.

 

I hear people stating Cormier has the size advantage, but watch their stand off. Hendo is actually taller. However Cormier is bulkier.

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We're on page 2!

 

More from Joker Hendo at around 5.35;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&a...p;v=gJTB3L91hYY

 

Now he's posing next to posters to make it look like Chael is sucking him off. Hendo's on a roll.

 

Wand, I can't say I agree with you that Cormier can comeback from a loss tomorrow.

 

He's even come out and said this is really his last chance. You've got to remember Cormier is 35 years old and a loss to Henderson will probably put him 3 wins away from a title shot.

 

Yeah I saw that as well. I still think he'd get back "in the mix" relatively soon though. Unless it's something mad like Hendo destroys him in 30 seconds. 35 isn't ideal but he's not got the miles on him, in MMA at least, that most 35 year olds in the sport have. I mean, fuck, Cormier is only two months older than Urijah Faber! And I can quite easily see Faber getting right back in title contention with another few wins. And he's been in way more fights and taken way more damage than Cormier has.

 

He's saying this now and I'm sure he believes it 100% that it's a now or never thing for him. But if he loses to Hendo I can't see him retiring after his first career setback. So if he doesn't retire, sooner or later he will wind up back in the title race just by winning fights again. Especially a division like 205 and especially if Jones is still champ because Jones is rapidly running out of challengers. It mightn't even take three fights to get back in the hunt. Look at Hendo. In November 2013 he was coming off three losses and Belfort had just kicked his face off. One win later and he's in a fight with Cormier that could potentially land him a title shot if he were to pull off the upset. I wouldn't think it'd take DC too long to get back in the title picture.

 

All that said, yeah I don't think it matters because I don't see Hendo winning this.

 

Hendo coking in as a 9/1 underdog is pretty ridiculous, especially when you consider DC is relatively untested at the weight, i mean the Cummins fight didnt really tell us much did it.

 

Thats true, the Cummins fight isn't something we can put too much stock into really. But still, just seeing how Cormier handled himself as a pretty undersized heavyweight against the likes of Barnett, Bigfoot, Mir and Nelson, it's hard to not see him as a pretty huge favourite against the Hendo we've seen post-knee injury-comeback. He hasn't looked really good since the first Shogun fight. The Machida and Evans fights were fairly competitive I guess, but he didn't look good. Belfort battered him and he was absolutely getting his arse handed to him by Shogun in the rematch before that one punch tipped the fight on its head. Based on both guys' recent form, plus the fact Cormier should enjoy an advantage in wrestling, speed, varied striking etc - Hendo is a big underdog, a live one, but a big one nonetheless. He literally only has a punchers chance. So regardless of whether he somehow pulls it off or not, betting on Hendo wouldn't be a smart bet based on logic. Hendo really shouldn't be winning this fight in 2014.

 

We don't know how Cormier's cardio will be over a longer fight at 205, but surely he's in better condition now than he was at heavyweight. He went 25 hard minutes at a high pace with Josh Barnett, and that's when he was carrying excess chubbiness. AKA will have given him the best chance of making the weight the right way. It's now his second time making 205 so in theory the cut should be easier than it was against Cummins as well.

 

And Hendo's cardio is ropey at best. On one of the Embedded episodes he sounded gassed just packing his bag for fuck's sake. He was breathing like Darth Vader at high altitude. Just packing his luggage. I blame the girlfriend...

 

Dan-Henderson-Hits-Bamboo-Island-500x375-1.jpg

 

No wonder he's always knackered.

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Well done to Hendo!

 

I agree he only has a punchers chance tomorrow though. Cormier could makes things very boring if he pleased. On paper he could takeaway Hendo's one chance by using constant clinch work up against the fence and maybe mix up some takedown attempts. Striking wise, Cormier has shown he knows how to stay out of trouble, he avoided Nelson's power shots for 3 rounds.

 

Cormier will be the bigger man, and despite Hendon coming in light at 199lbs, he will not enjoy much of a speed advantage (those poor knees). If you trade with Hendo, you always run a serious risk, too much aggression is a recipe for getting caned. However, I think Cormier might be a bit too crafty for that, we saw how he clipped the wings of Mir, Nelson and Barnett and left them with little to mount any credible offense against him.

 

Give me Cormier by a wide UD

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I think Cormier stops Hendo. I could see anything from him dropping Hendo with a shot, a ground and pound TKO or a ref stoppage. But I think he's getting stopped. Even the speed thing, the smaller man usually has the speed edge but I don't feel that's the case at all here. Cormier is pretty agile and quick for a guy of his build, and Hendo's never been fast. He can throw a bunch of punches in quick succession (the first big flurry on Shogun in their first fight for example) but it's not what you'd call fluid. He's pretty much a one shot at a time striker. And mostly all from the right side.

 

I think Cormier might be more powerful than people give him credit for as well. We'll see but I get the feeling he might be. Some people were criticising him for going to decisions against Mir and Nelson, but it might be misleading because he was always a fairly small heavyweight. Plus Nelson is granite. Against bigger guys I'm sure they absorbed his strikes better to some degree. He still knocked out Bigfoot at heavyweight. He packs a punch. And the one fight he's had at 205, admittedly against subpar opposition, he wrecked the guy fast. Who's to say how much of that was all down to Cummins not being that good? Some of it may have been that Cormier's power is more effective at 205. Remains to be seen.

 

Hendo just gets dropped and hurt to often these days for me to envision him going 15 minutes against someone of Cormier's ability, without getting hurt again. And I think if Cormier hurts him, he'll finish the job.

 

I'll go with a Cormier second round TKO.

 

Mike Chiapetta summed up Hendo on twitter;

Dan Henderson is such a man. He's 43 & basically the size of a UFC welterweight, and fighting a guy who was a top 5 heavyweight

 

Hendo coming in at 199 as well, he shouldn't even be at 205 really. He's cutting fuck all. He's just coming in at his walk-around weight and fighting the former Strikeforce Heavyweight GP winner like it's no big deal. Cracking jokes and all sorts. Dan Henderson is a proper hard man. No posing or false confidence. He seems to genuinely not give a fuck.

 

EDIT -

 

Another tweet from Chiapetta;

You know how long it's been since Renan Barao lost a fight? Youtube had its very 1st video uploaded to the site 2 weeks after his last loss.

 

Fuck me!

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This is thing with how incredible Cormier is, he's a SMALL light heavyweight. The weight he carries isn't exactly major muscle. Look at their staredown, they both don't look that big.

 

Compared to say Gusty and Jones, he's completely outsized. Basically what I'm saying is all this talk of it being a mismatch in size is bollocks.

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Basically what I'm saying is all this talk of it being a mismatch in size is bollocks.

 

daniel-cormier-vs-dan-henderson-216x200.png

 

Not a huge difference there yeah. But it's worth noting that in this picture, Cormier has cut a fair bit of weight. Hendo has basically cut nothing. Cormier won't be 205 tonight. He'll probably be around 220. Hendo will still be around 199.

 

It's not a huge mismatch in size alone. But I do think it's a mismatch on paper and size is just one of the many factors, although not the biggest one. He is bigger than Hendo (it might be being overstated a bit but he is bigger), I think he's quicker, he's definitely less shopworn, he fights smarter, he's the better wrestler. When I talk about size, it's not a huge difference but he will be bigger and stronger than Hendo tonight no doubt. He's used to clinching with Cain every day in the gym, he's thrown huge fuckers like Barnett around, and moved Nelson and Mir about. Hendo's 199, even with the Greco background, should be much easier for a guy of DC's wrestling level to overpower. It's the first time Cormier is facing someone smaller than him. He's usually the guy giving up the size in there. And Hendo has been taken down at will by Jake Shields and Shogun and controlled in the clinch by Rashad, who are all smaller and less accomplished wrestlers than Cormier. If Cormier was a striker, I'd agree the size wouldn't make much of a difference. But I do think it's going to be one of the factors Hendo struggles with tonight.

 

Lawler vs Ellenberger then, who's everyone got? I'm about 50/50. It's easy to pick Lawler here based on his recent showings and him coming close to beating Johny Hendricks last time. And Ellenberger blows hot and cold. But it's still a tough match up for Lawler. Ellenberger brings a lot of the same skills Hendricks did. Great wrestling, big power etc. I'd say he's probably a little bit better technically as a striker than Hendricks actually. I'm split on this. I'm really hoping Lawler wins but I could see the standup being close and Ellenberger getting the better of the wrestling enough to take a decision. Fuck it, I'll go Lawler on points. He's proven he can hang with the wrestlers now, and he seems more motivated than ever, hence this quick turnaround. He wanted back in there right away. He looked in probably the best shape I've ever seen him at the weigh in as well.

 

Yeah, sod it, Lawler by decision. Should be a tremendous fight.

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Want more proof Gareth A Davies is a wanker? Watch Ariel Helwani's interview with Daniel Cormier here;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&a...p;v=giMC2k1JPng

 

"Can you take your microphone out of the front of my camera? I really will knock you out in a minute."

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I don't care if he's joking. I just love having a dig at the greaseball. Any chance I get :)

 

I don't think they're friends though. GAD was having a pop at Ariel on his podcast a while back. I don't think they hate each other or anything but I get the impression GAD is a bit envious of Helwani being seen by most as the 'face of MMA journalism'. Ariel looked a bit put out to me during that Cormier interview when GAD kept cutting him off as well.

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It didn't look like they were joking around at all. I've seen Davies have a pop at Ariel quite a few times now, which is hilarious considering how vastly superior Helwani is. Davies is fucking terrible. The fact that his shittyness is no longer exclusive to UK-orientated shows, with him now popping up on the most recent Countdown show, is awful news. He's a bad, bad knobhead.

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yeh that seemed pretty legit to me, there's a slight giggle once he starts the interview but he seemed really annoyed to begin with.

 

Bad, bad knobhead...spot on Supremo. #teamhelwani

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anyone else excited to see the return of this weird muthafucker tonight:

 

kikunostance.JPG

 

Katsunori Kikuno really is a unique kind of cat when it comes to MMA, i love any kind of fighter that tries to incorporate proper old school martial arts techniques into their styles and few do it like this guy...going against an aggressive boxer like Tony Ferguson it's gonna make for one of the more intriguing fights on the card.

 

kikunokibulletproof_medium.gif

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