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UFC Fight Night: Almeida vs Garbrandt - Sun May 29th


wandshogun09

Who wins and how?   

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I gave this one a miss. Boxing gave me my combat sport fix.

 

What happened with Barao? In the space of 2 years, he's gone from P4P king and potential all time great, to his career being on the rocks at age 29. Stephens had lost 3 out of his last 4, so he was not meeting anyone on a hot streak. 

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I gave this one a miss. Boxing gave me my combat sport fix.

 

What happened with Barao? In the space of 2 years, he's gone from P4P king and potential all time great, to his career being on the rocks at age 29. Stephens had lost 3 out of his last 4, so he was not meeting anyone on a hot streak.

Struggles to make the weight at Bantamweight and is too small for featherweight.

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You have to think he's had his confidence rocked as well, with the two losses, and especially the manner of the losses to Dillashaw. He was soundly beaten twice by TJ, and stopped twice. The stoppage in the second fight was brutal as well. He was knocked out on his feet and the ref was slow stopping it so he took a few extra smacks there.

 

In a way, Barao is in a similar boat to Anthony Pettis. Both former champions, both were considered among the pound-for-pound best not too long ago, now they're both floundering. They both still have those undeniable skills in there somewhere but it seems like a couple of bad losses have seen them both mentally unravel.

 

With Barao it might also be a case that his power hasn't carried up to 145 with him. He's still adjusting to fighting against bigger guys. This was his first fight at 145 and Stephens was a powerful 155er so it wasn't ever going to be easy. We'll see how he looks next time, I just hope he doesn't see this loss as him needing to go back to cutting to 135 again. All those shitty weight cuts might've taken something out of him long term as well for all we know.

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Yeah, for Barao it was probably a combination of him taking a lot of punishment in the Dillashaw fights possibly wearing on him/effecting his punch resistance, plus the fact he was in there with a bigger opponent than he's used to. And Stephens is one of the heaviest handed 145ers in the UFC.

 

Sadly, as big a fan of Barao as I am, I think we've seen his peak already. I still think he'll win fights and can beat a lot of guys but I'm not convinced he'll ever fully get back to the beast he was from 2011-2014 especially.

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I gave this one a miss. Boxing gave me my combat sport fix.

 

What happened with Barao? In the space of 2 years, he's gone from P4P king and potential all time great, to his career being on the rocks at age 29. Stephens had lost 3 out of his last 4, so he was not meeting anyone on a hot streak.

Struggles to make the weight at Bantamweight and is too small for featherweight.

 

 

Look exactly like that to me. That and what Wand says about power not carrying up to 145.

 

He landed a few shots but never hurt Stephens. On the other hand, whenever Stephens landed something half decent, Barao looked in big trouble.

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It's a very odd thing - I would've thought moving up in weight would give a fighter moar powar owing to the extra weight that would be behind his punches (assuming he punches from his legs and not his shoulders), especially when you consider that quite a number of fighters seem to lose power moving down in weight.

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It's a very odd thing - I would've thought moving up in weight would give a fighter moar powar owing to the extra weight that would be behind his punches (assuming he punches from his legs and not his shoulders), especially when you consider that quite a number of fighters seem to lose power moving down in weight.

 

He may have had more power compared to when he fought at 135. I think this was more of a case of he's fighting bigger guys who can take more punishment. Stephens in particular used to be a lightweight. 

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It's depressing - I feel like I'm a bit of a jinx. The moment I declare someone as one of my favourites, they take a dive in form.

 

Hmmmm.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEAM JON JONES 4 LYF

 

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