UFC Fight Night: Belfort vs Gastelum - Mar 11

[OzExile]

I can't see much that interests McGregor now that Khabib is on the shelf. Only really Nate Diaz, at 155 anyway. 

 

Anyway, Kelvin Gastelum has all the talent. I'd love to see him get rigged up at 170, I'm not sure how he could measure up to a Jacare or Rockhold though. 

[AdamTH17]

I can't see much that interests McGregor now that Khabib is on the shelf. Only really Nate Diaz, at 155 anyway. 

 

Anyway, Kelvin Gastelum has all the talent. I'd love to see him get rigged up at 170, I'm not sure how he could measure up to a Jacare or Rockhold though. 

 

I'm always maintaining the opinion that Conor is saving the Nate trilogy for his last UFC fight before he decides he doesn't want to get punched in the face for a living. It would be a massive fight for the company and the bank balances of both men. I don't think we're going to see many more Conor fights, to be honest. He seems smart enough to know his limits, and based on his name alone he'll never have to work another day in his life. 

 

If we had more than 3/4 Conor fights in the UFC I'd be surprised. I think he'll defend his Lighweight belt against Khabib/Tony/Barboza whoever, go up to Welterweight to challenge their champion and then complete the trilogy with Nate before he goes chasing the Floyd fight again.

[Mr.Showtime]

I had housemates sitting down to watch this with me for the first time, the first fight they saw was the prelim where all the blood came from. Still unsure if they loved it or were disgusted and put off for life...

[wandshogun09]

Only just got round to this. Think it's the first time I haven't watched Shogun's fight live since 2009.

 

Belfort vs Gastelum went about as everyone predicted. I know the whole TRT thing was a mess but just imagine that version Kelvin Gastelum vs TRT Vitor Belfort of 2013 for a second! Shit me that's some fight. As it was, Gastelum beat up on the limp and flaccid shell of that Belfort. Still, a huge scalp regardless and it wasn't like Vitor wasn't still threatening. He still showed flashes of that scary combo of speed and power. Like I said before though, his initial tornado of offence doesn't last as long as it used to. The Belfort Blitz used to last a good round or two. Now he seems to have one 30 second lethal flurry in him and if he doesn't put you away there and then he fizzles out rapidly. He's done. At least he knows it though. It's good that he's calling it a day before he gets to Nog/Bigfoot levels of shot.

 

I liked Gastelum's callout of Anderson for the Brazil PPV in June. I'm well on board for that.

 

And Gastelum was once again hugely impressive at Middleweight. Yeah, he's a small guy for the division but how much does that matter when you're undefeated and coming off of two KO victories against top ranked fighters?

I'd say it will matter when he steps in with the top guys at 185. It's weird because I like Gastelum better at 185 in terms of his own performances. I think he really benefits from not cutting that extra weight and the extra energy he fights with at 185 seems to free him up to really let his shit fly. And we've seen the results of that. He's looked great so far. But he IS pretty small for 185. It's one thing bashing up last legs Vitor, a declining Marquardt or a retiring Kennedy. It's another thing entirely getting in there with a Jacare, Romero, Rockhold, Weidman or Mousasi. I really rate Gastelum and I think purely skill for skill those guys aren't complete mismatches for him. But I think he's going to hit a ceiling where the size is going to become more of a factor.

 

Loved the shit out of Shogun vs Villante. Really fun fight and it's always good seeing Shogun reign triumphant. Warms my heart it does. First finish for Shogun since Te Huna in 2013 and the first time he's strung together 3 consecutive wins since 2006/07. Granted he's not beating in form top contenders but it certainly beats the terrible form he was in until recently. I thought he looked the best he's looked in a long time as well actually. He's nowhere near as agile and dynamic as he was in his prime, that's to be expected given all his injuries. The kicks are largely gone now bar the odd one or two. But he looked sharper than I've seen him in a while. He was jabbing a lot more, attacking the body more and stringing together some nice combos rather than plodding around throwing one bomb at a time and hoping for the best like he was before. He's not going to trouble DC or Rumble or anything but it was nice to come out of a Shogun fight feeling positive for a change. It's been a while.

 

Felt bad for Villante. He's a likeable guy and a fun fighter to watch. This was easily the biggest fight of his career and he seemed to bottle it a bit to me. He had his moments, in the first round particularly, but I don't know it just felt like he was a bit starstruck in there at times and had a bit too much respect for Shogun. His corner weren't much help either. Telling him off like they were teachers and he was the div kid at school. Why didn't Ray Longo and Matt Serra make the trip to corner him? He really could've done with someone like Longo there to give him some actual applicable advice instead of some bloke with nothing but negativity and bullshit pep talks.

 

I wouldn't mind seeing Anderson vs Shogun.

I wouldn't be against that at all. Would make a nice addition to the Brazil PPV in June actually. But I'm not sure they'd be keen on fighting each other or not. If not Shogun vs Anderson, maybe do that Anderson vs Gastelum fight and have Shogun vs Belfort or something? Would be pretty cool to see.

 

I can't see much that interests McGregor now that Khabib is on the shelf. Only really Nate Diaz, at 155 anyway.

 

I know you said 155 but...Ahem...

 

 

That's surely the biggest possible fight in MMA at the moment?

 

I don't think McGregor was that arsed about Khabib anyway, to be honest. When you think there's potential for huge fights like GSP, Nate Diaz 3, even Nick Diaz. I doubt he was that into fighting Khabib who's a risky as fuck fight and brings a fraction of the interest and hype the others do. It sucks because Conor vs Khabib is an awesome fight and I think it would've had a great build up anyway with how chalk and cheese they are. But that's all on the back burner anyway now with Khabib's tiramisu cravings fucking everything up.

[jimufctna24]

I like Belfort vs Shogun. If it happened, I would favour Shogun. 

 

The thing with Shogun is that he's far from his 2004-2005 and 2009 best, but he hasn't got much worse in the past 5 years. Had he been operating in a more competitive weightclass, he would have probably been swallowed up long ago (like B.J Penn). As it stands, he can still beat most mid-tier talent in his weightclass.

 

Belfort might be a bit different. Mousasi and Gastelum are far more talented than the opposition Shogun has faced of late. However, there's a feeling that Belfort could be shot beyond use - other than brief flurries. I think Shogun could withstand those, and polish Vitor off. 

[wandshogun09]

It probably won't happen anyway. I've got a feeling we'll be seeing Shogun vs Manuwa over the summer if Manuwa wins in London on Saturday night. Maybe they'll stick that on the Brazil PPV.

 

Fuck knows with Belfort. With it being his last fight I'm trying to think of something meaningful but outside of a rematch with Anderson Silva I'm out of ideas. And I can't see that one happening as I'm sure Anderson has said a few times that he's not interested in rematching Belfort. Shame, because it's one of the few Belfort fights I'd still like to see at this stage.