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UFC 209: Woodley vs Wonderboy 2


wandshogun09

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Back on PPV on March 4th. It's UFC 209...

 

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PPV MAIN CARD

Tyron Woodley vs Stephen Thompson - Welterweight Title

Lando Vannata vs David Teymur

Rashad Evans vs Dan Kelly

Amanda Cooper vs Cynthia Calvillo

Alistair Overeem vs Mark Hunt

 

FOX SPORTS 1 PRELIMS

Marcin Tybura vs Luis Henrique

Darren Elkins vs Mirsad Bektic

Iuri Alcantara vs Luke Sanders

Mark Godbeer vs Daniel Spitz

 

FIGHT PASS PRELIMS

Paul Craig vs Tyson Pedro

Albert Morales vs Andre Soukhamth

 

That's almost certainly not the correct bout order but I'll amend that as and when the card takes shape.

 

Ideally, with it being 209, they'd have stuck this one in the ghettos of Stockton, California and had Nick and Nate main and co-main in title fights they haven't earned. To borrow a phrase from Luke Thomas, it's "promotional malpractice" that they didn't do this. But as it goes, getting Nick to put down the bong and accept any fight is proving challenging at the moment. And I don't know what the deal is with Nate either.

 

They've still managed to cobble together a very strong card though. It's certainly looking deeper than 208 on paper and there's some incredible fights on this one.

 

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Woodley vs Thompson 2 tops the bill. A rematch of their epic fight at Madison Square Garden in November. Going into the fight there wasn't a great deal of hype. It was overshadowed by the Conor McGregor main event plus it was just one fight on the most loaded card in UFC history so it got lost in the shuffle a little bit. That and Woodley was after a big name for his first title defence, coming off the stunning first round knockout of Robbie Lawler. Woodley was pushing for either GSP or Nick Diaz as his first defence, obviously neither happened. Instead he got Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson who was clearly the most deserving contender at the time and coming off a string of impressive wins.

 

Like I said, UFC 205 was the most stacked card top to bottom in UFC history. And on a loaded and historic event like that, with the biggest star in MMA in the main event, it was actually Woodley vs Thompson that delivered the best fight on the night.

 

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They went the full five rounds in a back and forth classic. It was a bit of a slow burner in the early rounds but it heated up big time as the fight went on. By the fifth it was gripping edge of the seat stuff. Not without controversy either. When it was all over and Bruce Buffer entered the cage to do his thing, he announced Tyron Woodley as the winner by majority decision. But the scores were 47-47, 47-47 and one judge had it 48-47 to Woodley.

 

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A majority draw. Buffer had to correct his original announcement and it led to a right clusterfuck of controversy. Woodley was losing his head over it. From the second it was announced a draw, common sense told you there was most likely going to be an immediate rematch. And here we are.

 

While the build up to the first fight was very respectful, there's been a little bit of needle this time. Nothing major but there's been some mouthing off. Mostly because Tyron Woodley tried to bring up the race card. Again. He apparently claims the UFC have treated him badly as champion or something because he's black.

 

Stephen Thompson responded with this...

 

“The guy hasn’t been champion long enough to even feel that way, I believe. But when it comes to race, that’s stupid. I mean, that’s just stupid. One of the highest paid athletes in the UFC is Jon Jones, and pretty much whatever happened to him, he did to himself. And Anderson Silva on the other hand too. So I don’t get it. You know what, it kind of irritates me cause he’s focused on that when he should be focusing more on the fight at hand, because I don’t want to step out there March 4th and face off against a distracted Tyron Woodley. I fight for the glory and I want to fight the best when I step out there March 4th and I want him to be focused on it. So that’s my two cents on that, and I just think it’s ridiculous.” - Stephen Thompson

 

I think Wonderboy's on the money. Woodley's always fucking banging on about race. It seems like he could find a racist motive behind absolutely anything. It honestly seems sometimes like he actually wants to encounter racism just so he can be outraged. It's getting really old with Woodley now and it's a shame that we've got a really great rematch here of one of the best fights of 2016 and he's bringing race into the build up.

 

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Fuck it. Regardless of that nonsense, this should be tremendous if the first one is any indication. I've got a feeling there'll be a finish this time. Just really unsure which way it'll go. Despite the draw verdict last time, I do think Woodley got the best of the fight for the most part. And he was the closest to finishing it as well. And that's with him largely abandoning his wrestling. I think he could give Thompson even more grief if he comes with a more wrestling heavy attack this time. We'll see.

 

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Khabib vs Ferguson is the fight I'm most excited about on the whole card. Hence why it's 209's ***WAND'S ONE TO WATCH***. What a fuck of a fight this is. Between them they're on a 33 fight winning streak. They've both beat some of the top contenders at lightweight, which is probably the toughest division in the UFC. And I'd say they're the two trickiest challengers for Conor McGregor down the line. And this fight being for the interim title means we should be seeing one of these two vs McGregor later this year.

 

Khabib Nurmagomedov is undefeated at 24-0. In MMA, the emphasis on records isn't as important as it is in Boxing. And it's pretty rare that you see a fighter with 15+ fights and no losses. So Khabib's 24 fight streak really stands out. It's the way he's done it as well. He's absolutely crushed the opposition. Most impressively for me was him completely ragdolling Rafael Dos Anjos to a dominant decision victory in 2014. It was a scary performance. He's had a lot of injury problems (it's an AKA thing, it seems) but he's back now. And he looked awesome at UFC 205 in yet another one way traffic win over Michael Johnson.

 

Allow Snoop Dogg to explain Khabib's dominance in that fight...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=-sdGkYnQqY4

 

Sorry to use the 'N Word' but..."He beatin' his ass like he got a bunch o'niggas helpin' him"

 

:laugh:

 

Fucking creased me when I first heard it. And what a great description of the beating Khabib put on MJ. It really was like he was being jumped by a gang or something. Very observant. I nominate Snoop as Mike Goldberg's replacement.

 

Khabib then called out Conor McGregor...

 

"I wanna stay humble but I have to talk because your guys talk too much. And you know what interesting? I understand how crazy power UFC PR machine...your guy, beginning of the year he tap like chicken. End of the year he fight for the title. Crazy! Hey, you know guys this is true. This is not trash talking. Hey guys...Irish only 6 million, Russia 150 million. I wanna fight with your chicken because this is number one easy fight in lightweight division!" - Khabib Nurmagomedov

 

Khabib doesn't play. He didn't get the McGregor fight due to McGregor taking an extended paternity leave. So Khabib gets fellow top contender Tony Ferguson instead.

 

Ferguson comes into this fight on a 9 fight win streak of his own. In that streak are wins over Josh Thomson, Edson Barboza and Rafael Dos Anjos. He's one of those fighters I can't stand but I love to watch fight. Because he's so aggressive everywhere. He's got power, he's lanky, he uses all the striking techniques, he's tough, he's got unorthodox movement, he's got killer submissions. He's a difficult puzzle to solve for any man weighing 155. People are going to write him off in this fight but he's a threat everywhere the fight goes. Don't sleep on him.

 

“The fight is us or Conor, man. And I know both of us are going to smash that fool. So the real fight is this fight, and we both know it. We’ve met each other. We’ve sized each other up. We know what the fuck is up.”

 

"Everybody wants the fight. I’m ready to go, man. You know I’m ready to go. Everybody wants to see this fight. Everybody wants to see these fireworks. They want to see that explosiveness. They want to see me throw Khabib on his back and get that five-point motion with this USA wrestling. Because if wrestling was easy, it would be called Sambo, my friend. Straight up, I’m going mop that dude up." - Tony Ferguson

 

He's up for this one by the sounds of it. It nearly never happened though. Ferguson has been vocal lately about being pissed off with his money. Khabib even offered to pay Ferguson $200,000 of his own coin to get the fight on.

 

“I said, let’s go. I want to fight with him. I don’t want to talk with him, I want to fight with him. It’s why I said, let’s go, I’ll give you $200,000 and you have to take this fight and we have to fight March 4, UFC 209.”

 

"Why you need to make money like this? Why? You need to shut up and take this fight. This is what you need to do. I am tired about this. I don’t know. I ask Tony about $200,000. It’s good money. Why not? His contract he makes maybe $100-200,000, and I give him $200,000. That’s good money. He has to take this fight."

 

“I never think about money. When UFC ask me something, when they gave me a title shot with Eddie Alvarez, I was supposed to make almost $1 million, but UFC gave me this fight for Conor McGregor, then they give me Michael Johnson and I make $100,000. I make 10 times less money than I supposed to make. But I don’t say nothing. I take the fight. If I lose, I lose everything.”

 

He talks about 9-win streak, I’m talking 24-win streak. You know? Eight years undefeated. You look at Michael Johnson, Michael Johnson beat him. I beat Michael Johnson. He fight with Dos Anjos, close fight. I dominated Dos Anjos. 100 percent he loses this fight.” - Khabib Nurmagomedov

 

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I can't fucking wait. It's THE two top contenders in a true title eliminator. There's no question that whoever comes out on top here fully deserves the title shot. The interim title wasn't necessary but on the plus side it means we get Khabib vs Ferguson over 5 rounds. They're both on top form, both highly motivated and either way the winner is a very interesting challenge for McGregor. Brilliant fight.

 

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Overeem vs Hunt 2 pits maybe the two most decorated strikers in the history of the UFC's heavyweight division against each other. Surely there's no way this goes to a second round? They both have such brutal power plus there's the added factor of Overeem's dodgy chin and Hunt's recent unhappiness with the UFC that could play their parts.

 

The two first collided over 8 years ago.

 

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July 21st 2008 at DREAM 5 in Japan. Overeem ended up submitting Hunt in just over a minute. They were both in a different place in their careers back then. Hunt was smack bang in the middle of a terrible career slump. This was loss 3 in a 6 fight losing skid. Overeem was just starting a big 12 fight unbeaten run and was reaping the benefits of Japan's non-existent drug testing policy which saw Overeem swell up like a Dutch Incredible Hulk. He was practically glowing green around this time. Hunt's head wasn't in the game and he just got wasted by the big veiny bag of chemicals.

 

Here's the full first fight, complete with tarted up Japanese MMA entrances (which take way longer than the fight)...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=XbW7C0DAvJ4

 

Easy money for Overeem.

 

They've both been through the ups and downs since then. Overeem's reign of terror came crashing to a halt when he signed with the UFC and started getting tested regularly. He went through his own slump, came through it and regained excellent form racking up impressive wins until running into Stipe Miocic in September halted him. Hunt's won some, lost some and was one half of what I consider the greatest heavyweight fight in MMA to date with Bigfoot in 2013. We last saw Hunt at UFC 200 in July, getting taken down and clubbed in the head for 15 minutes by a pink and gassed up Brock Lesnar.

 

It's a fun fight. Like always with heavyweight, fuck knows where the winner goes after. Just sit back and enjoy the fireworks.

 

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Rashad Evans vs Dan Kelly is somehow both a strange and logical piece of matchmaking. Rashad is finally dropping to middleweight. And after two attempts to do him vs Tim Kennedy fell through, I guess it makes some sense to try to give Rashad a winnable debut in the division. Allow him to adjust to the cut etc. But on the other hand, Kelly is all risk/very little reward for Rashad. If he wins few will care much. But if he loses, it looks bad. Kelly's a 39 year old relative unknown compared to the who's who of guys Rashad has beat over the years. But Kelly is a tough customer for Rashad to make his 185 debut against. He's 12-1, coming off 3 wins and he made the Olympic team four times in Judo. He isn't a world beater but you can't take a guy like that lightly and he's a possible banana skin for Rashad here IMO. Especially with how Rashad has looked over his last two fights. I'd love to see Rashad roll back the years here, win and go on a little bit of a run at 185. But it just feels too late, doesn't it?

 

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Todd Duffee is back. Never been sold on him particularly. He's more look than substance. But at one point he was considered a hot prospect. We last saw him in July 2015 though, getting knocked out cold by Frank Mir. When you're getting laid out by 2015 Frank Mir, it's not looking good. He's in with Brit Mark Godbeer, former BAMMA heavyweight champ who lost his UFC debut to Justin Ledet in November.

 

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Lando Vannata has quickly become a favourite of mine. He's only had two UFC fights, but fuck me were they memorable. He debuted on short notice against Tony Ferguson. And almost knocked Ferguson out! He bashed him all around the Octagon. He ended up falling to Fergie's lethal D'arce choke but it was one of those debuts where you go 'hang on, who's this?' He looked like someone to keep an eye on. Which he proved in his second UFC outing against John Makdessi at UFC 206 in December. The picture above says it all. KO Of 2016!

 

What else? Elkins vs Bektic could be decent. Iuri Alcantara looked phenomenal in breezing through Brad Pickett at UFC 204 in Manchester. Probably his career best performance. And I really like this Paul Craig vs Tyson Pedro fight. Both guys looked like they have real potential in their UFC debuts and it's always interesting to see guys like that paired against each other.

 

Looks a fun one. Top three fights should deliver and there's enough sprinkled throughout the rest of the card to sink your teeth into.

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This has quietly moulded into being a top-card. I think an all-nighter is in order for this one. 3 fights that are must-see. 

 

Despite Woodley rocking Wonderboy last time out, I think Wonderboy generally has his number in the stand-up game. For large portions of the first fight, Wonderboy was getting the better of the striking exchanges, which is why he ended up  winning the lion's share of the rounds on 2 of the judge's scorecards. If Woodley is to win the rematch, I think he'll have to mix things up, but put more focus on his wrestling (like Wand said). If Wonderboy can freeze out the grappling exchanges, I think he wins. His route to victory is the more simpler of the two, and with slight hesitancy, I think he'll pull it off. 

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The top 3 fights for me are must see.. 

 

The welterweight title fight is so fucking hard to call, and whilst I agree with what Jim says above regarding the stand up, the fact is Woodley has iron fists. I'm not so sure Wonderboy can afford to do the same this time around as if Woodley lands a bomb, I don't think he's going for a guillotine this time. All he needed to do in the first tight was to follow Wonderboy to the floor and finish the fight with strikes. I think Wonderboy must show a bit more killer instinct this time around. 

 

The lightweight title fight is as good as MMA gets in terms of the best fighting the best. You have to favour Khabib because the guy is a beast, but Ferguson's style is so strange you just don't know how it's going to go. He sets an unreal pace that Nurmagomedov may not be able to cope with. Amazing fight.

 

And then the heavyweight fight. Fucking what a fight. The fact is Overeem simply has a zero chin, but it makes for an absolutely compelling fight. If Hunt lands, Overeem will drop. However, Overeem will play his stick and move game until he finds that killer blow. Again, so hard to predict. 

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I hate Woodley's attitude, so I'm rooting for Wonderboy. It's damaging to the racial equality movement when guys like him actually do "play the race card", because it makes it easier for the ignorant to claim that non-white people with legitimate grievances and points are doing the same. I honestly don't know how he can't hear the ridiculousness of his claims. People may have had a problem with Anderson at some point, but the majority of MMA fans I talk to regard him still as the GOAT, even with the recent embarrassment. I can't think of anyone who has a problem with DC as champ. And I don't think anyone had any problem at all with Aldo either. The only problem anyone has with DJ is that he's got a boring personality, but no-one's faulting him as a champ. And I bet you a pound to a penny no-one will complain when Derrick Lewis dethrones Miocic and takes his rightful place as king.

 

The Nurmagomedov/Ferguson fight looks like it'll be great, but I don't think I'll be rooting for either. Ferguson's an utter prick, but Nurmagomedov's a cunt, from what I can see, being all buddy-buddy with a Chechen dictator who in all probability had Fedor's daughter beaten up. Sure, Nurmagomedov may have had nothing direct to do with it, but he was almost cheerleading between the lines on social.

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Quite the contrast from 208, this. Business-wise, it may not be the case, but those three top fights make this a super card.

 

I have no idea who I fancy to win those three matches. Woodley battered Wonderboy during the last fight, of course, but good or bad, I can't see either man not making the adjustments in this fight. I think I'm one of the few that quite likes Woodley, but either man winning is cool, so long as it means Maia gets to choke one of them out in he 1st round.

 

Khabib v Ferguson is one of those fights I've been salivating over since it became a possibility. Be interesting to see if Ferguson can keep it standing and, if not, can do anything to get out of that situation. It reminds me a wee bit of Lesnar v Hunt, in that, both men clearly have to take it certain place to ensure victories - now watch brown belt Ferguson choke Khabib out.

 

Typing of Hunt, I hope he murders Overeem.

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As I've said a few times Woodley grew up in Ferguson Mousouri, think it was Reggie Yates that did a documentary there, not long after the riots and police on black shooting that happened a few years back. The Black people feel victamised quite rightly in some cases there, so it's not as if he's just race baiting, he most likely lived through it and managed to get out.

 

Is he victimised in the UFC probably not by the people who run the UFC but their most popular African American Rampage, had to play up to a stereotype of the uneducated street guy, while Daniel Cormier, Rashad Evans, Tyron Woodley all college educated guys were booed. The UFC or Fox haven't as all 3 work as analysts currently

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Rampage had to play up to the stereotype? Are you taking the piss?

 

Rampage had to do absolutely nothing. It's all his own work and he continues to do the same in Bellator.

 

You also seem to be forgetting who Cormier was booed against. A certain Jon Jones.

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Yes Jon Jones who was seen as the bad guy got cheers because he now wasn't phoney?, he was considered fake for years and booed plenty but a DUI and failing a coke test makes him more popular?

 

Everybody on this board considered Rampage tiresome and his humour pretty terrible in parts, who came out to the cheers? That was Rampage. Rampage probably didn't play up to it but it did make him more popular than Rashad Evans when they went against each other.

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Legit can't wait for this card. I missed 206 and 207 and 208 is nothing more than a Big Fox card for mine. 

 

I know I'm in the minority but I'm backing El Cucuy to defeat Khabib.  If he can - with the impending lengthy absence of McGregor I wouldn't be all that surprised to see these two rematch in Russia.  It's going to be a lot of fun indeed.  

 

I think Woodley takes the win unless Wonderboy can up his aggression levels.  He was spirited at 205, you could argue for him winning three rounds even, but I had two 10-8s in there for Tyron.  Maybe it's unfair and maybe its the pro wrestling fan in me - but as a challenger to a title I feel the challenger really has  to pull out all the stops to convince them that he should be taking the belt away. 

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From what I've read, Rampage had to tone down his personality for the cameras. On one occasion, the Sherdog staff had to censor some of his behaviour, as he pushed the envelope too far. He wasn't playing up to anything. I'm not sure what he's like these days, but he used to be legitimately bonkers. 

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Yes Jon Jones who was seen as the bad guy got cheers because he now wasn't phoney?, he was considered fake for years and booed plenty but a DUI and failing a coke test makes him more popular?

 

Everybody on this board considered Rampage tiresome and his humour pretty terrible in parts, who came out to the cheers? That was Rampage. Rampage probably didn't play up to it but it did make him more popular than Rashad Evans when they went against each other.

 

What is your actual point Mole? Are you suggesting there is an element of race discrimination here? If you are then that's absolutely ridiculous. 

 

The reason why Jones was cheered in that press conference for starters was due to him being in New York. Secondly it's America. They always cheer on the cunts. It goes back to even pro wrestling when Steve Austin was cheered over Bret Hart when Austin was the character who was supposed to be the heel. 

 

The fact is most people really are a bunch of idiots when it comes to this shit.

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Either way, as I mentioned in my previous post, if Woodley believes that, he's off the mark. If there's one realm of competition where racial discrimination doesn't get much traction nowadays it's probably combat sports. The overwhelming majority of successful fighters in boxing are either black or Latin, and MMA has had a decent number (and I think the reason why the numbers are lower is more because black fighters tend to have gone more into boxing).

 

Only problem I have with Rampage is the same problem I have with every rapey frat-boy douchebag. If he wasn't like that I'd be cheering him on as he was always fun to watch.

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Racism has existed in MMA. There were some dodgy comments made from crowd members when Anderson beat Lee Murray in Cage Rage, and when Rashad knocked out Chuck in 2008. 

 

However, I like to think these are the exceptions to the rule. Skin colour hasn't stopped fighters from becoming massive stars. Woodley is barking up the wrong tree there. In general, MMA is a pretty non-discriminate sport. There are plenty of non-white and non-American fighters that have been embraced. D.C was beloved in MMA circles before the recent backlash. There have been periods where Anderson has been the toast of the MMA community by fans and critics alike. Korean Zombie is one of the most popular fighters on the roster. You would be hard pressed to find an MMA fan who dislikes Big Nog. The list could go on. 

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Racism has existed in MMA. There were some dodgy comments made from crowd members when Anderson beat Lee Murray in Cage Rage, and when Rashad knocked out Chuck in 2008. 

 

However, I like to think these are the exceptions to the rule. Skin colour hasn't stopped fighters from becoming massive stars. Woodley is barking up the wrong tree there. In general, MMA is a pretty non-discriminate sport. There are plenty of non-white and non-American fighters that have been embraced. D.C was beloved in MMA circles before the recent backlash. There have been periods where Anderson has been the toast of the MMA community by fans and critics alike. Korean Zombie is one of the most popular fighters on the roster. You would be hard pressed to find an MMA fan who dislikes Big Nog. The list could go on. 

 

Exactly. I'm not saying that racism has never existed at any point in MMA, and I certainly wouldn't say that for boxing. And like I say, there have been plenty of black fighters and champion nobody has a problem with. Not just UFC, either - everyone's loving MVP at the moment, nobody really had any problem with Emmanuel Newton, and Phil Davis is boring, but he gets his fair share of plaudits and opportunities.

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