UFC Fight Night: Dos Anjos vs Ferguson - Nov 5th

[wandshogun09]

OK way late with this but this is tonight.

 

 

FOX SPORTS 1 MAIN CARD

Rafael Dos Anjos vs Tony Ferguson

Diego Sanchez vs Marcin Held

Ricardo Lamas vs Charles Oliveira

Martin Bravo vs Claudio Puelles - TUF Lightweight Finals

Beneil Dariush vs Rashid Magomedov

Alexa Grasso vs Heather Jo Clark

 

FOX SPORTS 1 PRELIMS

Erik Perez vs Felipe Arantes

Joe Soto vs Marco Beltran

Erick Montano vs Max Griffin

Henry Briones vs Douglas Silva de Andrade

 

FIGHT PASS PRELIMS

Sam Alvey vs Alex Nicholson

Marco Polo Reyes vs Jason Novelli

Chris Avila vs Enrique Barzola

 

It's not a blockbuster or anything but for a Fight Night I think that's pretty solid. Maybe it's the fact that we've had the longest break between shows in ages that's making this one look more appealing to me but I like the look of this one myself. It's completely snuck up on me. I obviously knew RDA vs Ferguson was fast approaching but I never really kept tabs on the rest of the card.

 

 

Dos Anjos vs Ferguson is a tremendous main event that has all the potential to be a late sleeper for FOTY. It could well also serve as a #1 contenders fight, especially with the timing of this happening just a week before Alvarez vs McGregor. So high stakes plus the fight itself stylistically almost guarantees excitement. Can't go wrong with this fight. I haven't been following the build up (has there even been any?) but this was always just one of those fights that they announce and you know it's going to be mayhem.

 

Dos Anjos is in a bit of a weird spot here. He was legitimately looking like going down as perhaps the best lightweight in UFC history before Eddie Alvarez fucked him up in July. He was the champion, he'd battered Pettis, Cerrone, Bendo etc. He was building his own aura as a monster and I couldn't envision anyone not named Khabib Nurmagomedov having an answer for him at 155. The loss to Alvarez, and the manner of the loss, flips all that on its head and now RDA has to come back again. It'll be interesting to see how he looks and if the loss to Alvarez will make him less aggressive.

 

Ferguson's been threatening to break through into the title picture for a while now. He's on a 8 fight winning streak and hasn't lost in over 4 years! That's good going in the shark pool that is the UFC lightweight division. He's beat some good opposition as well like Edson Barboza, Josh Thomson, Abel Trujillo and Gleison Tibau. And it hasn't all been plain sailing. In his last fight he got Lando Vannata on short notice when his original opponent (Michael Chiesa) dropped out and, as these late replacements tend to do, Vannata gave him hell. Almost stopping him more than once. Fergie gutted through it though and got the submission thanks to his go-to move, the D'Arce choke. It was a great fight, one of the better least talked about fights this year so far IMO.

 

Ferguson's a cunt though. I fully hope RDA returns to form spectacularly tonight and just terrorises the dickhead. Whatever happens we should get a cracking fight out of it.

 

 

I remember Sanchez vs Held being announced but I completely forgot it was happening to be honest. This should be action packed. I'm at the point with Diego now, and have been for a while, where I find it hard to watch his fights these days. I love the bastard but it's a bit like the Bigfoot thing for me now. Or Big Nog at the end, where you'd just rather they pack it in. But I'll still keep watching to I can't moan about it too much or take the moral high ground.

 

Diego's nuts. Genuinely fucking crazy. I know that's not a news flash to anyone on here but no post about Diego Sanchez can go by without mention of it.

 

Sanchez vs Held staredown from this week...

 

 

Just look at the face on him. It's like something you'd see on the end of Crimewatch where they say 'if you see him, don't approach him, just fucking leg it and call us'. And it's not an act. There's a few fighters who try to play the 'I'm a psycho, me' thing but Diego's always genuinely seemed a cherry short of a Bakewell tart ever since we first clapped eyes on him on TUF 1. Not a complete fucking loony like Fred West or something. But I just always felt like his wiring wasn't quite all connected properly in that head. Call me Dr Wand.

 

Anyway, he's still capable of beating good fighters, as he showed in his win over Jim Miller in March. But he's coming off a bad first round TKO loss to Joe Lauzon in his last fight at UFC 200. That was the first time he's ever been legit put away by strikes. There was the TKO loss to Penn but that was stopped because Diego's face was falling off. He was still trying to fight. The Lauzon TKO, he was done. Hopefully this isn't the start of him getting flattened on a regular basis now. Although staying conscious and getting into wars is no better so he's pretty bollocksed either way. Mad to think Diego's still only 34!

 

In 'The Polish Prodigy' Marcin Held he's fighting a young and skilled fighter. He's only 24 years old but I'd say he's experienced beyond his years. He's a BJJ black-belt, a former Bellator tournament winner and he's fought pretty much all the best lightweights Bellator have/had. He didn't always win but he usually gave a good account of himself. He's gone 5 rounds with Will Brooks and beat Patricky Pitbull, Rich Clementi and Philippe Nover. He also had a great fight with Michael Chandler albeit a losing effort.

 

He's no pushover. In fact, as long as he doesn't get the old 'Octagon Jitters', I expect him to beat Diego fairly comfy actually.

 

 

Lamas vs Oliveira is tonight's ***WAND'S ONE TO WATCH***. Lamas is usually always aggressive, being in front of a Mexican crowd should really light a fire under him. And if that wasn't enough, Oliveira coming in NINE POUNDS over the featherweight limit should do the trick! Takes the absolute piss that. I've always really liked Charles Oliveira but 9lbs is straight up ridiculousness. He's missed weight a few times now as well. Usually I'd be rooting for Oliveira but I'm actually hoping he catches a bit of a hiding tonight now, just so his dirty attempt at gaining an edge was in vain and backfires.

 

 

Yes it's time for Alexa Grasso's UFC debut...

 

 

MAMACITA!

 

And Grasso vs Clark should be a good introduction fight. Alexa Grasso is 23, she's Mexican and she's undefeated at 8-0. Heather Jo Clark is 36 with a record of 7-5. Make no mistake, this fight is designed to be a complete showcase of a squash match for Grasso to shine in before the cheers of her home crowd. And why not? She's good, she's Mexican, she's unbeaten and she's pretty. She could basically be the UFC's Latina version of Paige VanZant if they promote her right. I've only seen a couple of Grasso's fights but I think she should beat Clark without much hassle. Never been impressed with Clark since her stint on TUF 20.

 

What else?

 

- I've got no clue whatsoever about the TUF Final. Anyone shed any light on these Bravo and Puelles fellas?

 

- I usually like watching Beneil Dariush fight. Likeable guy and I think he's actually a tad underrated. He's got wins over Michael Johnson, Jim Miller and Daron Cruikshank. I think he's a banana skin for a lot of the division on a good day.

 

- I love Erik Perez. His fighting style, his Lucha mask, his big goofy grin he's constantly got. Seems like a genuinely good guy and he's a pure scrapper. His fight with Francisco Rivera at UFC 201 has to be in the running for 'Round Of The Year' for whichever round it was where they both came out and just swung for the fences until they had fuck all left. It was like a video game where someone was controlling them and just button mashing until both their stamina bars flatlined.

 

- And Sam Alvey is back in the cage for what seems like the 20th time this year. He's actually not fought as much as you think. This will be his fourth fight in 2016. He didn't fight at all the first 6 months of the year. He did fight on cards in June, July and August though so that's why it seems like he hasn't stopped.

 

So thats your lot. A good card all in all. Nice little warm up for 205 next week.

[Egg Shen]

Good work wand.

[ColinBollocks]

Lovely job, wand.

 

Beach interesting to see how RDA reacts to getting battered by Alvarez. As wand rightly points out, RDA was looking like one of those next level best ever types.

[wandshogun09]

Fucking hate Tony Ferguson. Knob. Can't wait for someone to end his streak.

[L_E_T_H_A_L]

I didn't like Ferguson until I heard him on Konnan's podcast this week. Now, I think he's class.

 

Glad Sanchez pulled out the victory though. You can never write him off.

[wandshogun09]

Ferguson AND Konnan? Are you a masochist?

 

I couldn't bring myself to say anything positive last night, it was too soon. But thought RDA vs Ferguson was a hell of a fight. Really good and competitive throughout. Had Ferguson winning 2, 4 and 5. Thought RDA nicked round 3 on better quality over Ferguson's quantity. He just seemed a bit bamboozled at times by Ferguson's weird style, movement and constant stance switching. To be honest, I didn't think Ferguson would be able to beat RDA in what was pretty much purely a standup fight. I thought he'd get tagged and put away sooner or later but fair play he rose to the occasion big time.

 

I came out of that fight thinking Ferguson would be a tricky as fuck customer for McGregor if that ends up happening. When you think about it - excellent striking, unpredictable, he's long and lanky (we've seen that can cause Conor problems), he has fantastic submissions (again, a problem) and now we know he can go 5 rounds at a hard pace and maintain his output. If McGregor beats Alvarez next week and they go with Ferguson for the title shot, man that's a difficult one for Conor IMO. Ferguson's not someone anyone's really discussed as a potential McGregor problem opponent but when you think about it, he's probably one of the toughest fights out there. I'd fucking love to see McGregor verbally annihilate Ferguson. And even better if he somehow knocked him out. To be honest, I'm sick of Conor fighting guys I like. It'd be nice to see him up against a complete fucking wanker who I 100% want to see him destroy. I wasn't like that with Diaz, Aldo etc because I like them as well. I've got zero love for Ferguson though.

 

I was pleasantly surprised by Diego Sanchez. That was a good win for him and, by Diego's standards, he didn't take as much punishment on his way to victory this time so that's good.

 

Glad Oliveira lost purely because missing weight by 9lbs is just fucking indefensible.

 

Undercard was mostly decent. Some nice quick finishes. Not a bad show, very good main event.

[WeeAl]

Ferguson would certainly be an extremely tough fight for McGregor, should he happen to get past Alvarez, and Ferguson must be due the next title shot. Unless Khabib wins with an even more impressive performance next weekend I guess. I like Alvarez, but I really hope he doesn't spoil the party next weekend. A very impressive performance by Ferguson and I was really glad to see Sanchez get the win after that bad loss to Lauzon.

[wandshogun09]

Ferguson must be due the next title shot. Unless Khabib wins with an even more impressive performance next weekend I guess.

And that's the thing. Alvarez is a tough enough task for McGregor. And even if McGregor somehow beats Alvarez, Ferguson is a tricky as fuck obstacle and Khabib's even worse.

 

I guess there's always the option, if McGregor beats Alvarez, of him then vacating the lightweight title and going back down to 145 to defend that belt. He'd certainly have path of slightly less resistance there. But I can't see him going back to 145. Lightweight's going to be no fun at all for him though, I don't think.

 

Purely from a physical POV, I do think it's probably the ideal weight class for him. He struggles making 145 and he's clearly not a 170lber, so 155 seems just right. But the lightweight landscape at the moment, it's going to be rough. 155's always been deep but it's really full of killers at the minute. If McGregor wins the title, I can't see him keeping it long.

[the_mole]

145 is ideal weight right now if wants too size wise, Charles Olivria had to cut again to make 165 last night before Lamas would fight him, Conor weighed 168 against Nate Diaz without cutting anything or dieting.

 

I would assume like Pettis they stand more of a chance wrestling against a smaller man than a bigger guy, so best going as low as he can go as long as he's doing it safely.

 

With him being a FW champion he can pick and choose to go up in weight for the right fights and he's a lot more likely to dominate.

 

Ferguson looked really good but me and the judges had it 2-2 going into the 5th Stann seemed to think RDA was losing most of the fight. Had RDA pressed the last round he may have took that, Ferguson did look more dominating in the rounds he won though

[wandshogun09]

Yeah, I had them 2 rounds apiece heading into the 5th. Had RDA winning 1 and nicking 3. And I had Ferguson winning 2 and 4. Then Ferguson sealed it by winning the 5th as well.

 

The right man won but yeah it definitely wasn't the whitewash the commentary suggested. There wasn't that much in a couple of the rounds really. All it would've taken would be a good combo for RDA here or there and he might've nicked another round.

 

It goes back to what I was saying about 155. Rafael Dos Anjos was looking like a serious shout for the best lightweight and even the pound-for-pound discussion just a few months ago. Yet since July he's gone 0-2. It's such a tough division. I don't think RDA's gotten worse, it's not like where Pettis looked completely lost for a couple of fights. I just think it's such a deep division that it's hard for anyone to maintain a winning streak of any real significance. RDA did it for a bit and I wouldn't be at all shocked if he bounces back and goes on another tear. It's just a shark tank of a division.

[Fox Piss]

Stann seemed to have the narrative ready that RDA trainers were useless which played a part throughout.
 

I like Anik though.

[jimufctna24]

It goes back to what I was saying about 155. Rafael Dos Anjos was looking like a serious shout for the best lightweight and even the pound-for-pound discussion just a few months ago. Yet since July he's gone 0-2. It's such a tough division. I don't think RDA's gotten worse, it's not like where Pettis looked completely lost for a couple of fights. I just think it's such a deep division that it's hard for anyone to maintain a winning streak of any real significance. RDA did it for a bit and I wouldn't be at all shocked if he bounces back and goes on another tear. It's just a shark tank of a division.

Yep.

 

A middling Heavyweight can apply his trade for years in the UFC, given the rarity of his kind. While even the most gifted Lightweight might only have a short run on top, given the depth of their weightclasses talent pool. In the sub-185lbs weightclasses, a fresh batch of fighters is always just around the corner. This is why I consider GSP to be the greatest. He saw off the Penn/Hughes/Karo/Serra era, then dominated the Fitch/Kos/Alves era, then went on to outlast the likes of Condit and Hendricks (barely). Very few fighters have been able to do that in the lighter classes. Only Aldo comes anywhere close. 

 

There's a long list of guys who reigned at the top of Lightweight for a few years, then became just another contender. Sherk, Penn, Bendo, and Pettis all ranked highly in the P4P list, before being dethroned. Only Penn had a reign that lasted over 2 years, and that was just barely. To date, none of them have recaptured the title. Only Penn received another shot after losing the title, and that was an immediate rematch. You can be a Champion one moment, and then struggling to be a contender just 6 months afterwards.

 

RDA is just the latest name. I'm not writing him off or anything. He could do a Frankie Edgar, and get himself back into contention. But he isn't the first to fall foul of one of the more competitive divisions in MMA. 

[the_mole]

Yeah LW is a shark tank more than any other division, I still don't think Khabib wrecks everyone like people thought, the WEC guys came in and seemed to dominate, then for a while the Strikeforce guys looked great, Eddie has came in from Bellator and done well but he lost to Cowboy, grinded out a few decisions and then beat RDA for the belt, Will Brooks & Marcin Held came in from Bellator and haven't looked great but they may be finding their feet.

 

2 years seems about right for a big LW run beating top contenders non stop after that they seem to struggle usually.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

So, that was a pleasantly surprising Fight Night. Lots of action early- particularly loved Joe Soto's heel hook and Perez vs. Arantes. Martin Bravo looks like a TUF winner with real potential, 23 years old, not fazed by the Octagon, came forward and controlled much of the fight en route to the finish. Body shots really aren't utilised enough in MMA, I can think of two notable fighters who used body shots consistently in recent memory, Dennis Siver and Nam Phan. Jake Ellenberger ended Matt Brown's life recently with a wicked kick to the liver. I'm a big advocate of the body shot, something really cool visually about seeing someone crumble like that.

 

Then the top 3 fights. It's funny how this card flew under the radar for most of us with this lineup, and it delivered. Great drama with Lamas and Oliveira, don't know what the weight cutting disaster was about but the fight was excellent. Do Bronx seemed seconds away from choking Lamas out at the end of the first, and for Lamas to rally like that and sub a BJJ wizard, highly impressive.

 

Missed most of Sanchez vs. Held. My nan turned up at the start of the 2nd round because my mum was trying to get hold of me but her phone wasn't sending messages properly. The joys of having an overprotective parent haha. The first round was fun, with Sanchez's ridiculous escape from the guillotine, and apparently he performed well in his decision win, no robbery this time. Will have to track that down.

 

Jumped back in about 3 minutes into RDA vs. Ferguson. Ferguson has really impressed me in his last couple of fights, with Barboza, Vannata and now RDA, he's improving massively fight to fight. I don't like him, and while I didn't know why before, it was quite clearly his cocky behaviour here. Really wanted dos Anjos to spark him with a Hail Mary hook when he started dancing at the end of the 5th. And the blowing kisses and stuff. Fuck him.

 

Actually, McGregor vs. Ferguson would be an intriguing matchup from a personality perspective. Two cocky shits, who can definitely back it up, but one being inherently a billion times more likeable and charismatic. Stylistically, I want McGregor to take a break from fighting lanky submission specialists for a little while. Let him outstrike stocky wrestler/boxers for a while longer.

 

Very good card. On paper, deeper than the usual non-FOX card and mostly delivered.

 

P.S. Alexa Grasso is another pretty and talented strawweight. Her poise was unbelievable, I got the impression she was holding way back in fear of making a mistake in her UFC debut, but when she turned it up, she dominated with ease. Hopefully, she loses that apprehension and starts wrecking fools the way I believe she can. Honestly don't know who I'd prefer between her and Paige Vanzant... in a fight, that is.

[ColinBollocks]

I definitely had Ferguson winning, but I agree it was a close contest. I think a number of RDA's excellent counter strikes would have downed an Elephant but, while a knob, Ferguson is incredibly durable.

 

I think there is a chance RDA peaked with his Cerrone KO performance, sadly. That doesn't mean he isn't still one of the great UFC fighters, just his days of going Terminator on the division are probably over. In the current USADA climate, I think anyone that manages to even defend their belt is a bit of a freak, never mind going two or more. Particularly while competing in a division like LW.

 

I also agree if McGregor somehow gets past Alvarez (and I doubt it), it's never ending well for him.