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UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs Brunson - Nov 26


wandshogun09

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OK, I'm going to blast these last few threads up for the remaining shows to wrap up the UFC's 2016. Starting with this one from Melbourne, Australia on Saturday 26th November (Sunday 27th if you're Down Under).

 

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FOX SPORTS 1 MAIN CARD

Robert Whittaker vs Derek Brunson

Jake Matthews vs Andrew Holbrook

Kyle Noke vs Omari Akhmedov

Yusuke Kasuya vs Alex Volkanovski

Tyson Pedro vs Khalil Rountree

Seo Hee Ham vs Danielle Taylor

 

FOX SPORTS 1 PRELIMS

Dan Kelly vs Chris Camozzi

Jon Tuck vs Damien Brown

Richard Walsh vs Joe Meunier

Ben Nguyen vs Geane Herrera

 

FIGHT PASS PRELIMS

Dan Hooker vs Jason Knight

Marlon Vera vs Ning Guangyou

Yao Zhikui vs Jenel Lausa

 

Not to say there's nothing worth seeing on there, but that's got to be one of the weakest cards of the year on paper, hasn't it? I know 'on paper' doesn't really mean anything and these fights could well deliver beyond my low expectations but there's not much at all to sink your teeth into on this one. To be fair to the UFC, they originally booked Rockhold vs Jacare 2 as the headliner for this. Bastard injuries.

 

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Whittaker vs Brunson is a really good fight though. I've actually got no problem with this main eventing. They're both good fighters, both kind of underrated IMO, and they're in a position where they're on the fringes of being a contender or at least being 'in the mix' with one or two more good wins.

 

The crowd should be lively. The Aussie crowds usually are, to be fair. But especially when one of their own is fighting, and Whittaker has always repped Australia, going back to his run on TUF: The Smashes (can you believe that was four years ago?!). He's not flashy and he doesn't show a particularly broad range of skills but he's good at what he's good at and he's usually effective with it. He's still only 25 and he's got an MMA record of 16-4, a UFC record of 7-2 and he's won his last 5 fights in a row.

 

Brunson is a guy who's gone under most peoples' radars but he's been quietly racking up wins. He's 16-3 overall, with a 7-1 UFC record. His only loss in the UFC is to a fellow named Yoel Romero. Brunson has also won his last 5 fights. And impressively, his last 4 wins - over solid names Uriah Hall, Roan Carneiro, Sam Alvey and Ed Herman - were all first round KO/TKOs. It's actually a bit surprising he hasn't got more attention sooner. It's not like he's a dull personality either, whenever a microphone is put in front of him he's never stuck for words. I quite like him.

 

I like this matchup a lot actually. My gut is telling me the Aussies aren't going to be too pleased with the result though. I just think Brunson has a few more strings to his bow. He's got dangerous striking (hence the string of stoppages) and he's a NCAA Division II wrestler with a purple belt in BJJ under Renzo Gracie. He was also able to take Yoel Romero down once or twice as I recall, despite ultimately losing the fight. Whittaker's a slugger though and you can never count those types out.

 

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Matthews vs Holbrook could be good. I'm not massively familiar with these two but I've seen Matthews fight a couple of times and there's promise there. He's only 22, 10-2 record and already a BJJ brown belt. He lost to Kevin Lee in his last fight so he'll be looking to redeem himself here. He's actually from Melbourne as well so he'll get the superstar reaction. Holbrook is 30, 11-1 with his most notable win being a split decision over Ramsey Nijem in the UFC last year.

 

Noke vs Akhmedov is alright. Can't say I'm too jazzed with it but it could be a pleasant surprise. Noke has a touch, just a touch, of Bader-itis for me. Where he's so beige and nondescript as a personality that, whatever he does in the cage, I instantly forget. Seriously, Noke's been in the UFC fucking years now, including being on a series of TUF. And I genuinely can't recall one fight of his that I've particularly enjoyed or one thing he's ever said of note in an interview. All I know about Noke is he was Steve Irwin's bodyguard at one point and he looks a bit like the Snooker player Stephen Hendry. Hopefully Akhmedov can bring something out of him. He's usually decent to watch.

 

Kelly vs Camozzi I'm a little bit hopeful for just because Camozzi's always game. But I'm sure Kelly had an absolutely rotten fight on a UFC earlier this year. Anyone remember? I think it was him anyway, so he might well drag this one down. They fucking love throwing Camozzi in with guys who will grapple the arse off him, don't they? He's been fed to Jacare twice, Leites and now he's in with Kelly who's a Judo specialist and been to multiple Olympics.

 

There's nothing I'm giddy about on this show but I'll go ahead and bestow the honour of ***WAND'S ONE TO WATCH*** upon Dan Hooker vs Jason Knight. Based purely on the limited amount of both of them I've seen, but I remember liking both. Hooker first won me over with a great performance and headkick KO against the once hyped Hatsu Hioki a while back. I liked his fight, albeit a losing effort, against Yair Rodriguez as well. And I vaguely recall Knight having a really enjoyable scrap in the UFC at some point but again the memory is sketchy.

 

I hope this show delivers better than it looks on paper otherwise it'll be a bit of a slog to sit through, I imagine. Can't complain too much though given the amazing run of shows we've had the last few months, especially the PPVs. There's still a few incredible looking cards closing out the year as well.

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Honestly couldn't give two shits for any of the fights on that card. It's pretty rare that that's the case. Half the fighters I couldn't picture / haven't heard of and it feels like noting is really that relevant to the title or rankings.

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I think it's likely to be one I'll miss too. Though for that reason I wish it was on this past weekend instead. There was that much on this weekend to keep an eye on that I wish some of it was on next weekend and we had this card Saturday past.

 

As it is I might end up seeing it anyway as my girlfriend is away next weekend amd there isn't much else on conflicting with it so it might be easy to catch.

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this card is very much geared toward the Australian crowd, they are probably happy about it. Likely mean there's be a great atmosphere on the night too.

 

I'll watch the main card but that'll likely be my lot. Love the main event though, always like it when two unsung contenders get top billing.

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I doubt the Aussie fans are too happy about it Ebb. Yeah it's full of locals but that isn't the be all end all. If they want to watch locals fight I'm sure they could find a local show with ticket prices going a lot cheaper than the UFC charge. When you buy tickets to a UFC show you want that UFC experience. It's good having local fighters on there to a degree but you'd still be disappointed you're not getting something a bit better than this.

 

Remember the Aussies were supposed to be getting Rockhold vs Jacare 2 on this one. Losing that main event has hurt this card massively.

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As with Wand, I don't think they will be pleased. I'm guessing when they bought the price reflected a main event of the calibre of Rockhold vs Jacare as well. 

I think they will have a good time on the night getting behind their fighters, but I'm just thinking if I were in their shoes I wouldn't be best pleased with that card. 

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i disagree.

 

The Rockhold/Jacare loss is a big hit granted, but the way fans rally behind their own in these countries is inspiring, you stick an Aussie in the main and co-main events and you likely have a recipe for a red hot atmosphere. At this point, i'd much rather see two legit top 10 prospects get the spotlight on this kind of card than them roll out something like a tubby unmotivated Frank Mir just for the sake of having a 'name' in the main event which is what the UFC has done in the past.

 

Don't get me wrong, if this had Rockhold/Jacare on top it would be a much stronger card on paper, but these overseas Fight Night cater heavily for the home fighters, i didn't see too many complaints about the Belfast card this weekend and that was the exact same situation, we just got the home nation fighters on there.

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i disagree.

 

The Rockhold/Jacare loss is a big hit granted, but the way fans rally behind their own in these countries is inspiring, you stick an Aussie in the main and co-main events and you likely have a recipe for a red hot atmosphere. At this point, i'd much rather see two legit top 10 prospects get the spotlight on this kind of card than them roll out something like a tubby unmotivated Frank Mir just for the sake of having a 'name' in the main event which is what the UFC has done in the past.

 

Don't get me wrong, if this had Rockhold/Jacare on top it would be a much stronger card on paper, but these overseas Fight Night cater heavily for the home fighters, i didn't see too many complaints about the Belfast card this weekend and that was the exact same situation, we just got the home nation fighters on there.

 

I do agree to an extent, but the main difference with the Belfast card is they received a similar sized main event replacement, or perhaps even bigger compared to the original Nelson/Kim headliner. 

 

When Rockhold/Jacare dropped out, no replacement was found and instead an already announced fight was pushed to the main event.

 

I agree though that the fans will certainly rally behind their guys and I'm in no doubt they will have a great time, I'm just thinking from the perspective of the cost of the ticket and what the fans initially thought they were getting.

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I get Ebb's point but the Belfast card definitely wasn't the "exact same situation". Unless I missed the news that Gegard Mousasi or Uriah Hall are Northern Irish :laugh:

 

In fact there wasn't one Irish fighter on the main card. Unless you count Lobov who's sort of an adopted Irish man these days. The Belfast card didn't get criticised because it was a better card than this. It really is that simple. I don't think nationality is as big a thing as it's made out to be sometimes in MMA. Sure you'll have your McGregor in Dublin, GSP in Canada type situations. And I agree with Ebb's point that the crowds do rally behind their home guys, of course they do.

 

But I think it's not necessarily true to say that just because the show is in Australia or Japan or the UK, for example, that fans are chuffed to have the card packed with pretty much just locals. Who are we to say what fans in other countries want? I've said it before on here when this has come up but ask yourself - if the Japanese or Australian MMA fanbase just wanted to see local fighters, why aren't their MMA scenes thriving? MMA has been on life support in Japan for years and even when Pride was at its peak, aside from Sakuraba, al their biggest stars weren't Japanese. Fedor, Wandy, Cro Cop, Big Nog, even Bob Sapp. MMA fans love seeing their locals do well, but they also want to see the stars they've seen on telly now and then.

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Ok, i was a bit off with the Belfast being the 'exact same thing' comment :laugh: the card was heavy on home nation fighters and Europeans though which is kind of the norm for Fight Night shows that happen over here. From a main event standpoint though, Whitaker/Brunson is a superior fight to Hall/Mousai 2, so i aint seeing the issue there. Don't get me wrong, if i was paying to attend a UFC event i'd want to see it loaded up but with the way things are these more location based events tend to look this, it's a logistic thing more than anything i guess.

 

As for the Belfast card, Lobov by far had the best reaction on the card. Lobov probably wasn't responsible for tickets being shifted but on the night he the most popular fighter on the card, fans love to get behind a local.

 

I'm torn on whether or not I agree with your comments about MMA fans not thriving in local markets though, in some places they very much are. KSW in Poland is filled with Polish fighters and UFC cast-off's and they are drawing crowds as big as UFC events, and they sold out Wembley Arena based on capitalising on a strong Polish population, One FC are drawing big crowds in Asian countries, Cage Warriors are selling out shows over here. I guess it depends on the location.

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The UFC Australia Facebook has been copping it from the fans ever since Rockhold / Jacare bit the dust.    Tickets aren't cheap - I'm going and paying $100AUD to sit in the nosebleeds.  

 

Every half-reasonable fight fan should be able to acknowledge the injury risk to the cards they're buying - but I think the frustration here is the saturation of the calendar with other events which meant that there were simply no fighters left to call upon to plug the void left by two top five fighters falling off the card.  

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Maybe they should've done that actually. Jacare vs Kennedy would've been a decent save for this show. And I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have ended well for Kennedy, which would've been a nice bonus.

 

I guess at the time though they were trying to limit the disruption so they were trying to keep that Rashad vs Kennedy fight together for 206.

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Bit random but here's Big Nog, Miesha Tate and Ross Pearson making sandwiches for some children's charity thing in Australia...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=_F3rnsu7UNA

 

Fucking Big Egg Nog :laugh:

 

Great to see Nog all smiley in this. I think the last time I saw him until this was just after he lost his final fight against Stefan Struve last year. He was well getting into the sarney making here.

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The UFC Australia Facebook has been copping it from the fans ever since Rockhold / Jacare bit the dust. Tickets aren't cheap - I'm going and paying $100AUD to sit in the nosebleeds.

 

Every half-reasonable fight fan should be able to acknowledge the injury risk to the cards they're buying - but I think the frustration here is the saturation of the calendar with other events which meant that there were simply no fighters left to call upon to plug the void left by two top five fighters falling off the card.

I was tempted to go, but once Rockhold vs Jacare fell through, and they made zero attempt to fill the void, that sealed it for me. I'm a big fan of Robert Whittaker, but his fight isn't high stakes enough for it. A win "might" see the winner get a top 5 middleweight, but who knows, Whittaker seems to win fights then keep getting booked against people ranked below him. When the Melbourne card was first announced, rumours were swirling of Whittaker vs Anderson Silva, which would have been a quality co-main under Rockhold and Jacare, and high enough name value to step up to that main event spot.

 

I feel like UFC need to make a little more effort with international cards. Unlike domestic Fight Nights in the U.S., fans travel from all over the country to watch a rare live UFC event. For the Brisbane card back in March, I woke up at 2:30 am to catch a flight up the coast and flew back that night to get back home at 2:30 am that day. I don't know if I'd go to that extreme again, it wrecked me a fair bit. So, if I did end up going to the Melbourne Fight Night, it's tickets, plus flights, plus accommodation. Considering I'm sure there's a lot of diehard UFC fans making the trip from different parts of Australia, I can understand and share the frustration that UFC didn't consider it worth their time to give us a new main event.

 

That said, I always enjoy a day of fights, and I'm invested in the local fighters. Obviously, Whittaker and Jake Matthews are the standouts. Also, Alex Volkanovski is on a 10 fight winning streak and is from Shellharbour, which is approximately 20 minutes from where I live, so I'm very interested in that too. I believe his fight is at LW, which is a shame because he usually fights at featherweight and is already undersized there. He has ridiculous power for a guy his size.

 

I'll be watching with beers and Aussie flags at the ready! Fingers crossed that the local boys do it, we get a UFC event for Sydney next, and maybe even a title fight? A man can dream...

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