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UFC Fight Night: Mousasi vs Hall 2 - Nov 19


wandshogun09

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Saturday 19th November the UFC returns to Belfast for the first time since UFC 72 all the way back in June 2007!

 

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FIGHT PASS MAIN CARD

Gegard Mousasi vs Uriah Hall

Ross Pearson vs Stevie Ray

Timothy Johnson vs Alexander Volkov

Artem Lobov vs Teruto Ishihara

 

FIGHT PASS PRELIMS

Ian McCall vs Neil Seery

Magnus Cedenblad vs Jack Marshman

Kyoji Horiguchi vs Ali Bagautinov

Kevin Lee vs Magomed Mustafaev

Amanda Cooper vs Anna Elmose

Justin Ledet vs Mark Godbeer

Zak Cummings vs Alexander Yakovlev

Marion Reneau vs Milana Dudieva

Brett Johns vs Kwan Ho Kwak

 

It was originally supposed to be Gunnar Nelson vs Dong Hyun Kim topping this card but injury cocked that one up. They've done a good job holding together a strong card though. I really like the look of this and I think that main event is just as good, if not better than the original.

 

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So the headliner is Gegard Mousasi vs Uriah Hall 2. Very interesting rematch. Quick turnaround for Mousasi after beating Vitor Belfort just a few weeks ago at UFC 204 in Manchester. He's had a bit of a hot and cold UFC stint so far but things really seem to be picking up now and he's got some momentum behind him heading into this one.

 

September 27th 2015. Saitama Super Arena in Japan. That was the first time these two met. It was a bit of an overlooked throwaway fight that was chucked on the card as co-main to the Josh Barnett vs Roy Nelson fight. I don't remember it generating much buzz or discussion going in but it turned out to be a very memorable fight. Basically, Mousasi was running away with the fight. Hall's always been a bit hit and miss and true to form, in the first round of the fight, he looked flatter than a Romanian gymnast's chest. Mousasi was schooling him.

 

Then it happened. Round 2.

 

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Something seemed to wake Hall up and in one of the craziest and most breathtaking finishing sequences I think I've ever seen, Hall went all Tekken and blasted Mousasi with a jumping spinning back kick to the side of the head, followed by a flying knee to the face, followed by punches on the ground. The ref had seen enough and called it a day just 25 seconds into the second round.

 

Testament to Mousasi's chin, I don't know how the fuck he never went down from the spinning kick and for the life of me I don't know how he stayed conscious through that and the big flying knee that followed. The man must be made of granite.

 

If not for that loss, Mousasi would be riding a 6 fight streak right now. So while there's no real bad blood between him and Hall, it's a rematch that definitely motivates him and there's an element of revenge there.

 

“I talk bad about Uriah Hall all the time, but I don’t dislike the guy. He won the fight, fair and square. But do I feel like I was the better fighter and he set me back? Yeah. I’m upset with myself – it has nothing to do with Uriah Hall.

 

Is that a fight I want to prove that I am the better fighter, then go from there? Yeah, definitely.” - Gegard Mousasi

 

Since the first fight Mousasi's gone 3-0 with wins over Thales Leites, Thiago Santos and Vitor Belfort. And he stopped Santos and Belfort. Add finishes over Dan Henderson and Mark Munoz to that and Mousasi's UFC run is pretty fucking impressive. If he can avenge the loss to Hall here, he's well on the track to title contention.

 

Hall's fortune has gone in the total opposite direction since beating Mousasi. The win over Mousasi was undoubtedly the biggest of Hall's career so far. But he's gone 0-2 since with losses to Robert Whittaker and Derek Brunson. He badly needs to beat Mousasi again here to prove the first time wasn't a fluke and to snap that losing streak.

 

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Love this fight. I hope Grumpy Gegard evens the score here. I've enjoyed him lately and he's becoming a bit more outspoken, in his own way, which I like. Never been much of a Hall fan either really. Every now and then he'll bust out something spectacular but most of the time he's like a limp dick, no use to anyone.

 

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Suckas got to know, Ross Pearson vs Stevie Ray is your co-main event, fruit bootys! Sadly, it's not that Stevie Ray :(

 

It's this one...

 

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On a serious note, this should be all kinds of fun. Had no idea it was even booked until now. Always been a big fan of Ross Pearson but he can also be a bit inconsistent. Not as bad as Uriah Hall but he definitely has a bit of that I think. He's always game though and he's the type who will just bite down on the old mouthpiece and bull forward if things get rough in there. Ray is a real scrapper as well so this could be a bit of a belated fireworks display. Plus it's England vs Scotland.

 

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Timothy Johnson vs Alexander Volkov doesn't do a great deal for me. I couldn't even remember who Johnson was until I Google image searched him and remembered him as the Barry Darsow looking motherfucker who had an absolute rotter of a fight against Jared Rosholt on a UFC card a year or so ago. Rosholt's a boring cunt though so maybe Johnson deserves the benefit of the doubt.

 

Volkov is making his UFC debut. He's fought in Bellator and M-1. Notable wins include Attila Vegh, Mighty Mo Siliga, Brett Rogers and Ricco Rodriguez. He's lost to Cheick Kongo and Vitaly Minakov. He's 6'7", Russian and has an overall record of 27-6.

 

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I don't really recall seeing him fight before. I think I might've seen the Minakov fight but my memory's hazy. Maybe some of our more regular Bellator watchers can clarify if he's much cop. Mr Egg Shen to the thread?

 

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Artem Lobov vs Teruto Ishihara gets the ***WAND'S ONE TO WATCH*** honours this time. That might seem a curious choice at first glance but I've got high hopes for this. Granted Lobov has looked pretty shit since his run on TUF but I think this is a fight that is right up his street style-wise.

 

We all know about Lobov. He's a stupidly heavy handed Russian KO artist. Teammate of Conor McGregor etc. He's another hot and cold one though, as his poor 12-12-1-1 record suggests. He badly, badly needs to make something happen here or he's probably a goner.

 

I really like this Ishihara bloke he's fighting though. He's 25 years old, 9-2 MMA record and 8 of his 9 wins are by KO. After a draw in his UFC debut, he's scored 2 knockouts in his last 2 UFC outings. And, unlike most Japanese fighters, he's got bundles of personality. He carries himself like a champ. He's got the swagger more in the style of a KID Yamomoto, Sexyama or Akihiro Gono than the typically reserved Japanese fighters we're used to seeing like Yushin Okami or Caol Uno and guys like that. I like him.

 

Bit of a ladies man as well...

 

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He trains with Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California as well. So he's getting top high level training. Him training with that bunch of perpetually shirtless, flip flop wearing, surfboard holding dudebros is about the only thing I don't like about Ishihara though. I like to think he only joined there to steal Paige VanZant away from Cody Garbrandt.

 

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He's one to keep an eye on, Ishihara. I'm not predicting him to be winning titles or anything. But I can see him making a bit of a splash and ruffling a few feathers along the way. He'll be an entertaining character to watch and from what I've seen so far he's great fun in the cage and his broken English post-fight interviews are amusing as well. Team Ishihara here.

 

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Ian McCall vs Neil Seery tops the prelims. Could be decent. I'd love to see Seery win actually. There's something about his non-flashy workmanlike approach I like. And Uncle Creepy can come across as somewhat of a dick. Hopefully it's a good fight but Creepy's one of those guys who bluffs everyone into believing he's an exciting fighter but I've never seen that much evidence of it really. He usually just bounces around loads and does the bare minimum.

 

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Kyoji Horiguchi vs Ali Bagautinov was meant to happen last month on the cancelled Penn vs Lamas card in the Philippines. I like this fight a lot actually. Glad they rescheduled it rather than scrap it altogether. I still think Horiguchi can go on to be a legitimate contender at flyweight down the line. This is a hard test for him though. Bagautinov's a little tank. Should be good.

 

Elsewhere on the undercard...

 

- BAMMA heavyweight champion, Somerset's Mark Godbeer (11-2) makes his UFC debut.

 

- The Welsh are invading as Jack Marshman (20-5) and Brett Johns (12-0) also make their UFC debuts.

 

- Kevin 'The Motown Phenom' Lee (13-2) is back in the cage. I've thought he's looked like one of the standout prelimers over the last year or so.

 

Nothing else really jumps out as worth mentioning but that's a fairly solid card throughout, I think.

 

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I don't really recall seeing him fight before. I think I might've seen the Minakov fight but my memory's hazy. Maybe some of our more regular Bellator watchers can clarify if he's much cop. Mr Egg Shen to the thread?

 

 

yeh, Volkov's handy. He was Bellator Heavyweight Champion for a while, he's primarily a kickboxer, looks a little frail for a heavyweight as he's tall and gangly but he might have filled out since i last saw him fight. Nice addition to the division, here he is waxing King Mo:

 

 

I really like this card, it's one of those cards where just about each fight top-to-bottom holds a little interest for me, the Welsh involvement especially. A few of the prelims probably deserve to be on the main card but the location of the event clearly has been a factor in how it lines up.

 

If i was to add my **one to watch** like Wand. i'd say to keep your eye on the Godbeer/Ledet fight on the prelims. Godbeer i've been aware of for a while but i can't recall ever actually seeing him fight, but Justin Ledet had a cracking little unsung debut for the promotion a few months back. He's rough around the edges but he has some of the best boxing i've seen in MMA for a while, tight and accurate, he doesn't go in throwing fastballs but he's a level above most heavies with his hands. Keep an eye on it. I'd liked to have seen Volkov/Ledet actually.

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The Uncle Creepy fight is off again!

 

...this time he's ill.

 

Bloody hell. 

 

It was a running joke all week during the interviews with Mccall as well.

 

I wonder what Neil Seery will do as this was supposed to be his retirement fight wasn't it?

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The Uncle Creepy fight is off again!

 

...this time he's ill.

Bloody hell.

 

It was running joke all week during the interviews with Mccall as well.

 

I wonder what Neil Seery will do as this was supposed to be his retirement fight wasn't it?

MMA Junkie are reporting he's postponed his plans of retirement, because he doesn't want to end his career on this note. Completely understandable, and hope he gets another crack at fighting in Ireland before he calls it quits.

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I've got zero interest in Pickett vs Seery 2. I was in attendance for the first one, it was on the undercard of Gustafsson vs Manuwa in London. It was a decent fight but nothing special. I'd much rather see this Faber vs Pickett fight.

 

Really looking forward to this card now. It's on at a nice time and the main card's only four fights so it's not like it'll take up your whole night. It's a good main card as well.

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I've got zero interest in Pickett vs Seery 2. I was in attendance for the first one, it was on the undercard of Gustafsson vs Manuwa in London. It was a decent fight but nothing special. I'd much rather see this Faber vs Pickett fight.

 

Really looking forward to this card now. It's on at a nice time and the main card's only four fights so it's not like it'll take up your whole night. It's a good main card as well.

 

Is it on BT Sports? if so what time does it start for us

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I've got zero interest in Pickett vs Seery 2. I was in attendance for the first one, it was on the undercard of Gustafsson vs Manuwa in London. It was a decent fight but nothing special. I'd much rather see this Faber vs Pickett fight.

 

Really looking forward to this card now. It's on at a nice time and the main card's only four fights so it's not like it'll take up your whole night. It's a good main card as well.

 

Is it on BT Sports? if so what time does it start for us

 

the main card is exclusively Live on BT Sport 2 @ 21:00 [First Fight is @ 17:30 on Fight Pass]

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Pretty fun show mostly, I thought.

 

Glad to see Mousasi even the score with Hall. He's definitely a more interesting fighter to have in the title mix than Hall would be. It took Mousasi a little while to find his feet in the UFC but he really seems dialled in at the moment. Easily the best and most consistent he's been since that run he had in DREAM and Strikeforce around 2009/10. You can see his confidence building with every win.

 

Hall's just a weird fighter. He's got the tools to do spectacular things but he just doesn't have it as a top top level fighter for me. On a good night he can beat a top guy, as the first Mousasi fight showed, but he really lacks something. He's too inconsistent and I think there must be some mental block with him or something.

 

Regardless, over the course of their two fights you just feel like Mousasi is the superior fighter. Despite Hall making a highlight reel of him the first time, Mousasi looked like a class above before that. And last night he just breezed through him and avenged that loss.

 

Interesting to see where they go with Mousasi now. The whole middleweight division is up in the air at the moment really. Bisping vs Romero for the title seems like it'll happen. But what about Jacare, Rockhold, Weidman, Mousasi, even Anderson Silva? You can mix and match those names for some good fights. But I'm not sure which direction they'll go in. All of them bar Jacare and Mousasi are coming off losses so maybe you do Jacare vs Mousasi 3? Maybe Rockhold vs Weidman 2? Fuck knows with Anderson. Maybe Anderson vs Vitor 2?

 

When is Machida due back?

 

Ray vs Pearson was a good solid fight. Nice win for Ray. I agree with his assessment that Pearson's probably peaked now. It sounded a bit harsh and cold when he said it but I can't see Pearson ever getting higher than he is now. Not sure how far Ray can go but I liked this performance.

 

Wasn't really paying much attention to Johnson vs Volkov but from what I saw I like Volkov's striking style. Was Johnson unfortunate to lose the decision though? Like I say, I wasn't following it properly or scoring it really but from what I saw I was half expecting Johnson to get the nod.

 

Enjoyed Lobov vs Ishihara a lot. Like I said in the opening post, Artem really needed this win. He had a strong performance as well. Both powerful but Lobov just pulled the trigger a lot more and you could tell Ishihara was spooked by the power. Nice moment with Lobov celebrating with McGregor post-fight.

 

Caught some of the Fight Pass prelims. Some good fights and nice finishes. Jack Marshman's debut was the highlight for me. Really fun scrap with him and Cedenblad and he got the finish.

 

Was happy to see Horiguchi pick up the W over a tough opponent in Bagautinov.

 

Kevin Lee came off as a right prick all fight week. Knob at the weigh ins, knob in the fight, knob in his post-fight interview. I get being more vocal but he's basically just revealing himself as an utter helmet lately. I now can't wait to see someone smash him to bits. Mouthing off about elite fighters like McGregor and Alvarez when he's getting handled on the feet by Magomed Mustafaev. Gobshite twat needs to check himself before he wrecks himself. He did well to put Mustafaev down and submit him but he's got a shitload of work to do before he's ready for those guys.

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Machida has just been given an 18 month ban (not sure how far it retrospectively goes back), but he's out for the foreseeable.

 

Think they should match Mousasi up with Anderson whilst beating him still means something, could give him the boost right into contention. Alternatively, Silva beats a guy who's been on a bit of a run and shows he's still got something left in the tank.

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Machida has just been given an 18 month ban (not sure how far it retrospectively goes back), but he's out for the foreseeable.

 

Think they should match Mousasi up with Anderson whilst beating him still means something, could give him the boost right into contention. Alternatively, Silva beats a guy who's been on a bit of a run and shows he's still got something left in the tank.

 

the ban goes back to April 8th so his ban is lifted on Oct 8th 2017

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