Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted August 22, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted August 22, 2016 We're off to Hamburg, Germany for this Fight Night on Sep 3rd... FIGHT PASS MAIN CARD Andrei Arlovski vs Josh Barnett Alexander Gustafsson vs Jan Blachowicz Ryan Bader vs Ilir Latifi Nick Hein vs Tae Hyun Bang FIGHT PASS PRELIMS Jim Wallhead vs Jessin Ayari Peter Sobotta vs Nicolas Dalby Ashlee Evans-Smith vs Veronica Macedo Taylor Lapilus vs Leandro Issa Jarjis Danho vs Christian Colombo Scott Askham vs Jack Hermansson Rustam Khabilov vs Leandro Silva We should be getting some of this live on BT, shouldn't we? Didn't they announce that as part of the new BT deal we'd be getting the Fight Pass main cards live? Not sure where the prelims end and the main card begins on this because it's all on Fight Pass. But I'm guessing we'll definitely be getting the top four fights. Arlovski vs Barnett is one for the old school MMA fans. This fight could've just as easily happened in 2002 as it is today. Actually, it's amazing it's taken this long for them to finally fight. They're both former UFC champions. Both true veterans of the game but they're both still handy now. On a given night I think either of these two could beat most of the guys in the heavyweight division. Despite their longevity in the sport, this is far from a fight between two old has beens. Far from it. They were actually booked to fight each other once... It didn't end up happening though. As I recall, ticket sales for the October 2008 show were poor so Affliction rescheduled it for January 2009 and reshuffled the card. Barnett ended up fighting Gilbert Yvel and Arlovski fought Fedor in the main event. Arlovski is 37 years old with a 25-12-1 record. Not brilliant but he's had his good and bad streaks. He's always dangerous though. I've always liked him. When I got into MMA in 2005 he was the main man in the UFC heavyweight division. Well, it was him and Tim Sylvia but fuck that fool. The rest of the division was dire at the time and Arlovski was the only saving grace for me. He was cool as fuck back then with the wild lions mane of hair, the caveman beard and the fang mouthpiece. He had a scary presence about him but he was likeable as fuck with it. To this day he's just one of those fighters I can't root against. Barnett is 38 with a 34-8 record and he's fought pretty much everywhere. He's been at it forever as well. Barnett was fighting when they didn't even count fights on your record so fuck knows how many fights he's actually had. He's been going since 96/97 and he's still going strong after all these years. His 5 round war with Roy Nelson at UFC Japan last year was one of the more underrated fights of 2015 IMO. Should be a good one this. Gustafsson vs Blachowicz has clearly been set up as a bit of a rebuilding fight for Gus. Blachowicz is solid enough but he's a significant step down from who Gus has been in with the last couple of years. He's lost 3 out of his last 4 but those losses were to Jon Jones, Daniel Cormier and Rumble Johnson. And the Jones and Cormier decisions were close. Gustafsson's recent record doesn't tell the whole story. He fought like a lion in those losses to Jones and DC. I think he should beat Blachowicz fairly comfortably. Hopefully he'll bounce back into title contention soon. 205 needs him in that title picture. Bader vs Latifi pits Mr Dull vs UKFF favourite Latifi. I would love, fucking love to see Latifi win this one spectacularly. I've grown fond of the big dopey lump and I can't stand Bader. It's as simple as that. I'm not torn on this one bit. UFC newcomer Veronica Macedo makes her debut. She's Venezuelan, 20 years old and she only turned pro in March but she's already 5-0. And she's not exactly rough on the eyes... From what I can tell she's from a Taekwondo and BJJ background. Can't find that much info about her but check out this video of her brutal 24 second headkick KO in one of her amateur fights... https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=vinYDmePE3I Sweet Christ! She's fighting Ashlee Evans-Smith who's best known for beating transgender fighter Fallon Fox. 'Judo' Jim Wallhead is also making his UFC debut on this show. A vet of the UK scene and he's fought in Bellator as well. He was one of the key members of the old Rough House gym in Nottingham back when Dan Hardy and Paul Daley were making waves in the UFC. He should be a decent addition to the European cards. Aside from that I expect Sobotta vs Dalby and Khabilov vs Silva to be good. And you've got UK fighter Scott Askham (14-2 MMA, 2-2 UFC) is on the card. He's coming off a headkick KO win. Not a bad card all in all. I love the main event, I'm looking forward to seeing Gus again and I'm intrigued by this Veronica Macedo. She'll probably go on to be shit now but a pretty face and a killer headkick isn't a bad start. Worked for Cro Cop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators PowerButchi Posted August 22, 2016 Moderators Share Posted August 22, 2016 Gutted I'm missing this. Hoping Josh Barnett wins by double wristlock or grovit. I love that man. Easily my favourite current fighter. The only one who I'd normally go out of my way to see every thing available of. Massive annoyance that I've got an ungetoutable engagement that night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted August 22, 2016 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 22, 2016 Have you got BT Sport Butch? Could always set it to record. I suppose the saving grace is that it's a smaller card so should be easy enough to avoid spoilers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted August 22, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted August 22, 2016 nice to see Judo Jim get a shot. Lots of guys scattered through the card that i like to watch, think i'll have to watch all of this one. I'm taking Barnett in the main event though, i think the Arlovski comeback bubble might finally have burst. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 Barnett and Arlovski were my 2 favourite Heavyweights when I first got into MMA. I still have a soft spot for both. Arlovski has the style to cause Barnett issues. Barnett usually does better against grapplers than strikers. However, I think Arlovski's comeback has been largely smoke and mirrors. With that in mind, I'm leaning towards a Barnett victory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted August 28, 2016 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 28, 2016 We are getting this live on BT Sport. It's on the Sky planner now listed as live at 8pm next Saturday on BT Sport 2. Lovely. Be nice being able to watch UFC live at a human hour for a change. It's only listed from 8pm-10:30pm so I imagine we'll get the top four fights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted September 2, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted September 2, 2016 Has anyone seen the "weigh-in"? I can't recall seeing less enthusiasm for a prize fight than i have from Barnett/Arlovski. Unless you're Conor McGregor that new weigh-in show is utterly pointless Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members lambyUK Posted September 2, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted September 2, 2016 Has anyone seen the "weigh-in"? I can't recall seeing less enthusiasm for a prize fight than i have from Barnett/Arlovski. Unless you're Conor McGregor that new weigh-in show is utterly pointless Which weigh in Egg? Are you talking about the early weigh in that happened this morning? If so none of these early weigh in's have anything to them. It's just each fighter turning up randomly to get on and off a scale, it's not broadcasted either aside from media clips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted September 2, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted September 2, 2016 the fake weigh-in i mean where fighters stand on the scale and pretend to weigh-in. I understand it's for the camera's and if you're willing to put on a show like McGregor/Diaz it'll make for some compelling viewing, but on the other end of the scale, you get this... http://mmajunkie.com/2016/09/ufc-fight-night-93-early-weigh-in-results-2-a-m-et-1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted September 2, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted September 2, 2016 Actually it was the real weigh-in i saw, Ratner threw me off because he had them pose for cameras. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted September 2, 2016 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 2, 2016 Good MMAJunkie article on why the Arlovski vs Barnett fight didn't happen in Affliction in 2008... HAMBURG, Germany – UFC heavyweights Josh Barnett and Andrei Arlovski fight Saturday in UFC Fight Night 93’s headliner, but it’s not the first time they’ve been matched. Eight years ago, Affliction MMA was a red-hot apparel company, and Barnett and Arlovski were two highly valued assets on its roster. The fledgling promotion, whose T-shirts were once an ubiquitous presence at UFC events, was spending a lot of cash to compete with the industry-leader, and marquee names commanded high prices. Stacking its first event with a bevy of well-known fighters, the promotion looked to follow up its inaugural event with a heavyweight headliner that paired the ex-UFC heavyweight champs. “Affliction: Day of Reckoning” would take place Oct. 11, 2008, at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. Earlier, Barnett had helped launch Affliction as a clothing brand and then signed a fight deal when it branched into MMA events. Arlovski, meanwhile, was an acquisition after fighting out his contract with the UFC to test his value on the open market – a practice that’s now become popular among prospective free agents. After Barnett and Arlovski respectively won their promotional debuts with impressive knockouts, they led a bold incursion into the UFC’s home city, less than one year after the company was banned from UFC events when its plans to promote were leaked. But according to Barnett, the show was in trouble almost from the start. It was the behind-the-scenes trouble that doomed the fight. “The real problem was that they decided to do the event in Las Vegas,” Barnett told MMAjunkie. A longtime MMA ronin and no stranger to the business of fight promotion, the American, now 38, said he’d already advised Affliction execs that going into the UFC’s backyard was a bad idea. “(I told them), ‘Take Southern California over,'” Barnett told MMAjunkie prior to Saturday’s UFC Fight Pass-streamed bout with Arlovski at Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg, Germany. “‘Be the Southern California brand, and then move out from there. But you don’t want to go to Vegas.’ They made enemies with the UFC at the time. ‘So there’s no way you’re going to be able to succeed in Vegas; they’ll pull every string, legal or otherwise, to make sure that it doesn’t happen.'” Whether or not shadowy forces were at play, as it turned out, Barnett was right. The heavyweight marquee was not enough to move tickets. Advance sales were “abysmal.” After a few weeks, Affliction VP Tom Atencio was forced to admit there wasn’t enough interest to hold an event in Las Vegas and moved the show – to Southern California. A California transplant, Barnett might have drawn more local interest in the rescheduled event, which was set for Jan. 24 at Honda Center in Anaheim. But the matchup didn’t survive the switch as executives tried to partner with another UFC competitor. “They scrapped the fight and tried to move it to EliteXC, but as they scrapped the fight, I was abroad,” Barnett said. “I wasn’t even around. They had already been making plans, and they were trying to readjust where I was fighting, (and) maybe even contract stuff, but they wanted it all done immediately. “And then they just went and grabbed Roy (Nelson). I was like, ‘All right. This is a debacle in any case. I guess I’ll wait for the next one.'” Arlovski was indeed booked to fight Nelson on Oct. 4 at the raucous “EliteXC: Heat” in Sunrise, Fla. He picked up a second-round knockout after a dubious stand-up by the referee. According to Arlovski, the reality of the Affliction situation was a little bit different. While he didn’t explicitly say why the fight was canceled, he indicated the decision was related to Barnett. “You should ask him why,” Arlovski told MMAjunkie. “I know why that fight didn’t happen, but I’m not going to start any rumors. I’m going to be politically correct.” In the end, both ended up fighting at “Affliction: Day of Reckoning.” For Barnett, the event represented another notch on his belt; a lopsided beatdown of Gilbert Yvel was seen on the pay-per-view main card. For Arlovski, who was tapped to meet the great Fedor Emelianenko for a princely sum of $1.5 million in the main event, it was a fateful turn. After bullying Emelianenko around the ring early, he threw a risky flying knee and was clipped out of the sky by a right hand in the first round. It was more than two years before he won another fight. Today, both fighters profess no ill will toward each other after the near-miss. Even before the events that separated them, plenty of fans wanted to see them in the cage, especially during Arlovski’s brief heydey as UFC heavyweight champ in 2005. Saturday’s event fulfills a long-held fantasy fight. Now 37, the Belarusian said better late than never. “It didn’t leave any (bad taste),” Arlovski said. “Instead of fighting him, I fought anyway. I made my money, so no bad feelings.” These days, they are more anxious to erase recent losses than quarrel with each other. In his previous performance, Barnett, currently No. 10 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA heavyweight rankings, suffered the first submission loss of his professional MMA career, and it came against Ben Rothwell, another former Affliction fighter and Arlovski victim. Arlovski, meanwhile, suffered back-to-back knockout losses, respectively, against current champ Stipe Miocic and Alistair Overeem, who on Sept. 10 fight for the title at UFC 203. “I have no personal feelings toward Andrei; I don’t really know Andrei as a person,” Barnett said. “I know I’m one of the few people that have ever made him laugh in public at a PR event, but otherwise, I don’t know him enough to dislike him. As a fighter, as an opponent, I hate his guts, and I want to kill him and murder him and break him into little pieces. But that’s something totally different. I don’t possess any sort of ill will that way. “I was more annoyed that Affliction wasn’t listening, but then that became standard for that place at the time.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ElCece Posted September 3, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted September 3, 2016 Its feeling a bit weird getting ready tk watch the undercard at tea time but a lovely fucking change. Predictions- Barnett- 2nd TKO, this was quite a hard one to pick. Barnett was absolute guff against Rothwell and with his previous reputation I'm worried he could be a victim off the great wellness policy talent depletion. Arlovski on the other hand as a god awful chin and I struggle to see him lasting so I believe Barnett well bully him against the fence and eventually get him with dirty boxing Gustafsson- 1st round TKO Blachowicz realistically has no way to win this fight even a punchers chance is generous in my mind Bader on points- I can understand Lafiti hes lighting quick and can put people to sleep. That and Bader has a suspect chin , Bader should be able to use his jab and grappling to overpower Lafiti though Hein on points- Bang is a heavy hitter snd thats about it here, Hein will be able to use his agression against him and put Bang continually on his back. I could so a finish with ground strikes or sub but think he will be quite conservative Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seanz25 Posted September 3, 2016 Share Posted September 3, 2016 Judo Jimmy got absolutely done in the arse by judging. 2 Knockdowns in a round and the judge still gave it the other way? WTF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members herbie747 Posted September 3, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted September 3, 2016 Judo Jimmy got absolutely done in the arse by judging. 2 Knockdowns in a round and the judge still gave it the other way? WTF He didn't get done - his opponent was backing up & circling the entire fight (which sucked for Jimmy, and the crowd), but he got well out-landed. 30-27 was a bit much though. I had it 29-28. 70 vs 47 Significant Strikes for Ayari. http://www.fightmetric.com/fight-details/d6389fa434e86916 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seanz25 Posted September 3, 2016 Share Posted September 3, 2016 No way did he win that last round in my eyes. Landing more shots maybe but two knockdown's would warrant Wallheads as being far more effective in my opinion. Most the mma media seem to be saying the same in regards to the 30-27. Anyways Ryan Bader man. That KO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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