Paid Members Supremo Posted December 9, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted December 9, 2015 It's been one of the best seasons in years. Conor and Faber have had a fantastic dynamic throughout, the way in which the Europeans turned it around has been a really fun season-long storyline and Artem has broke out as a genuinely exciting talent, which is a rarity in these later seasons when anyone of worth is usually already signed up to Bellator or WSOF. Â I'm expecting an Artem vs. Saul final. How stacked is the card so far? Do you think we'll see a couple of the cast get one more fight on the Friday show? I'd hope to see Ryan Hall get another shot. Fascinating guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted December 10, 2015 Author Paid Members Share Posted December 10, 2015 Yeh i imagine a fair few of the cast will get undercard fights. It's been a good season, ive felt its lost a little steam when they do the two fights per episode deals which i never really like but its been entertaining stuff. Faber/Conor have been a great double act. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gmoney Posted December 10, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted December 10, 2015 Forgive me, I barely watch MMA, let alone the press conferences. Does Dana White always look like he has just pulled himself out of a skip at these events? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Really Big Shoe Posted December 10, 2015 Share Posted December 10, 2015 One of the best TUF seasons so far IMO and a spoiler for the finale match-up   Saul won his fight against Marcin to get into the finale but Dana said Rogers lied on his Visa application so he has issues getting into the US now, meaning they had to sub him out of the finale for Ryan Hall (Team Faber)  They had Jose Aldo on the show too and they did a face off in the Octagon with Conor saying "I hope you show up this time" or words to that effect. Should be a tremendous fight on Saturday night     Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members lambyUK Posted December 10, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted December 10, 2015 I don't think you need to spoiler tag in here. It's aired live on BT the same time as the US. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted December 10, 2015 Author Paid Members Share Posted December 10, 2015 Bit of a shocker to end the season. The final two fights went as id expected but Saul has to drop out due to VISA issues, could be in real shit for lying on a VISA application? Â Saying that i think the two most memorable fighters of the season ended up in the finale. Artem has been a bit of a revelation, him and Conor are very much an odd couple and you wouldn't expect them to be as close as they clearly are, they make a weird double act but it works. Artem's style is just balls to wall, i don't think he'd have had much chance against Saul (just checked fight finder and found out that Artem had lost to Saul previously) but if he stops Hall's takedowns i see him winning the fight comfortably on the feet, probably via KO. Â A few of the TUF cast have got spots on the finale, not quite sure why Ryan Hall got the call to main event though? surely Marcin should have got the nod, he's on the card. Â Are we talking the finale show in here?? it's a belter of a card, Mendes/Edgar and Ferguson/Barboza are PPV upper main card level fights on any other weekend of the year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted December 10, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted December 10, 2015 An amazing final episode to what's been an incredible return to form. Artem continues to look like a fucking beast. His run through the tournament has got to be one of the greatest of all time. Conor's reaction to Aldo showing up was fascinating. Sometimes I feel like it's all a mind game and he talks all this shit to just get under his skin, but the way he immediately laughed and joked at seeing him makes me think he genuinely doesn't give a fuck and truly thinks he'll beat him. Â Happy that Ryan Hall got the call because he was easily the most interesting cast member, both in and out of the cage. I wonder if this will be the end of Saul in the UFC? They seemed to make short work of explaining him being pulled from the final. Â An excellent start to what's probably going to be the greatest week in UFC history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Bifkin Posted December 10, 2015 Share Posted December 10, 2015 Bit weird how they got there considering both men lost, but no doubt the best finale for me. I think Saul would have won it but I personally found his style a bit boring. Artem and Hall have a good clash of styles and interesting that they were training together before the fight was made. It might seem unfair of Marcin but this is a much more intriguing fight and both guys have potential in the cage and out.  This is a great card - I could see Ferguson v Barbosa stealing the week. Hope Frankie Edgar fucks up Mendes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted December 10, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted December 10, 2015 Are we talking the finale show in here?? Yeah it's probably better we just leave the TUF Finale discussion in here. I thought about knocking up a preview post in the Fight Night thread but, for those trying to avoid spoilers and stuff, it's probably best we keep all the Finale chat in here. Â How's everyone seeing Edgar vs Mendes going? Â It's a tough one but I'm thinking Edgar outpoints him. I think he's quicker and moves too slick for one. And considering they're both mostly boxers in the standup (neither are big kickers) Frankie's boxing is much better than Chad's for me. The x-factor is Mendes' power though. He definitely has the power edge. But then Frankie is granite tough. The wrestling will be interesting but, I don't know, I've just got this feeling Frankie's timing will win him a lot of the battles here - in the striking and grappling. Â Frankie on points. Can see him having to walk through fire though with Mendes' punching power. I could honestly see it resembling Frankie's second and third fights with Gray Maynard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted December 11, 2015 Author Paid Members Share Posted December 11, 2015 Yeh its all Frankie for me, he's one of the few guys in the sport i just find it impossible to bet against. I think it'll largely play out on the feet with Frankie outboxing Chad for a points victory. Not quite sure where Mendes will be mentally either, he's coming off a couple of tough losses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Bifkin Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 Frankie Fucking Edgar! I fancied him to win but not like that! I'm sure UFC will be looking to try and rematch Aldo and McGregor but Edgar really deserves the shot at the winner. He made even sorter work of Mendes off a full camp than Conor did. Mendes is starting to look a bit chinny. Â Ferguson v Barbosa was a cracking fight as expected, absolutely vicious at points. Artem v Hall was disappointing to say the least, Hall controlling the fight easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seanz25 Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 Fun card. Watched the 3 fights you mentioned Guy, agree with the Hall fight terribly boring. Other two where barnburners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members lambyUK Posted December 12, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted December 12, 2015 Can't say Artem and Hall was "terribly boring" as its fascinating watching someone like Hall who is so elite in his grappling. It wasn't like he never tried to finish Artem either. Â He had Artem deep in a choke at one point too. Â I was disappointed with Artem though. Its OK to be patient when in a 5 round fight, but he was in Hall's guard twice for king period and never got anything off. Just some ground and pound could have won him a round. Â I know he was worried about Hall's ground game, but he may as well lose showing offence than nothing at all. Â I actually thought the finish to the Edgar/Mendes fight was a shade too early. Mendes crumbled yes, but McCarthy sprinted in without giving Mendes a small chance to recover. Mendes never complained, but he popped up instantly. Â Ferguson vs Barboza was incredible too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seanz25 Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 Boring probably wrong term, more dissapointng. I Take that back. Thought Artem was gonna really test him. Just never seemed to get shit going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted December 12, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted December 12, 2015 If you thought Hall vs Lobov was boring then definitely, under any circumstances, don't watch Gonzaga vs Erokhin from the prelims. Fifteen minute steaming turd of a fight. Absolutely fuck awful. Kawajiri vs Knight was only slightly better. Â Pretty crap show all in all up until Barboza vs Ferguson. That was a tremendous fight. Both guys are just so aggressive and exciting to watch you just knew it was going to be good. Ferguson is going from strength to strength. His D'arce choke is lethal. Â I can see why someone might think the Edgar-Mendes stoppage was a tad quick. I was OK with it though. To me it looked like Mendes went out for a second and one of the follow ups woke him back up. A flash knockout but I do think his lights went out briefly. I wouldn't have blamed the ref letting it go a little bit longer but I very much doubt Mendes was surviving that anyway. Edgar was fresh and he's always accurate, he wasn't going to let Mendes recover once he'd hurt him. Â Chuffed for Frankie. Never expected a first round KO out of him here. If anyone said to you that Frankie Edgar vs Chad Mendes ended in a first round knockout, you'd naturally assume Mendes caught him early. Frankie looked so sharp. He's on fire right now. He's definitely earned his title shot. He earned it with the Swanson win he's just unfortunate timing wise that he's waiting for a shot at the same time that the biggest fight in featherweight history is happening. The absolute worst thing that could happen for Frankie now would be a close or controversial decision in the Aldo vs McGregor fight tonight, forcing an immediate rematch and causing him to wait even longer. I'd totally understand the UFC going with Aldo vs McGregor 2 in that scenario, but at the same time you'd have to feel for Frankie. Â I don't know where Mendes goes from here. He's lost three out of his last four fights now, two by knockout. Granted they were to Aldo, McGregor and Edgar who are the three best in the world at 145, but three losses are three losses. He's probably too big to make 135, too small for 155, but he's going nowhere at 145. He's in limbo big time right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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