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UFC Fight Pass: Manuwa vs Anderson - Mar 18


wandshogun09

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Card didn't truly sell-off for anyone interested. You could get massively reduced tickets via Stubhub etc on Friday.

 

Fun card this for the most part:

 

Allen continues to impress. This was a really great fight. So technical. Allen's only what 23? Guys got years to develop and right now he looks fucking great. You watch him and you can kinda see his brain working out what do to next when the fights taken to the floor. Super technical. Had him up 29-28.

 

Diakiese came off like an absolute star over here again. Super marketable personality, finishing people left right and centre currently. The grin he has as he drops his opponent before launching to finish the fight is hilarious in slow mo.

 

Gutted for Tom Breeze having to pull out of his fight hours before it.

 

Also Posterboy does it again, quite a few had written him off after his loss to Gusty a year or two ago. But realistically you can't deny he might land the next title shot or only be a fight away for it. He's absolutely lethal with those hands, I love watching the guy.

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Fuck me, it's good to have the UKFF back. I've just about had all the Sherdog I can handle. The peak was a thread about the homoeroticism in the Pickett / Vera post fight being too much.

 

There really are some absolute morons over there.

 

Went along to this. Overall a fun night with some real standout performances (Allen, Diakese, Manuwa, Nelson) and some absolute dross (the heavyweights, Edwards / Luque, Stewart / Barroso).

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Quite enjoyed that.

 

Chuffed to see Manuwa get another win and a big KO. That it was over a dullard like Corey Anderson makes it all the sweeter. I really like Manuwa. He's a beast but he's so laid back with it. I don't think he goes much higher than this sadly but we'll see what happens. I just think wins over OSP and Beastin are going to be about as good as it gets for him. We've seen what happens when he steps up with the elite of the division when he got stopped by Gus and Rumble. I like the big lump but I can't really see him putting everything together to the point where he's beating the top of the top.

 

I reckon we'll see Manuwa vs Shogun next. It just makes sense. Both coming off a series of wins. Both coming off stoppage wins on their backyards. And they actually booked the fight a few years ago but Manuwa got injured, so you know it's a fight the UFC have been looking at for some time. Plus you just know a fight between Manuwa and Shogun is going to be guaranteed fireworks.

 

I know Manuwa called out the DC/Rumble winner (and David Haye LOL) but I think he's going to have to take a different fight. Jon Jones is due back for the big July PPV (according to Joe Rogan) and I can't see past DC/Rumble vs Jones for the title. So Manuwa vs Shogun on say the June PPV in Brazil would be ideal and would line up the winner for whoever the champ is later in the year.

 

Gunnar did what Gunnar does. And looked scary doing it. It's amazing when you see how dominant and suffocating Gunnar's grappling was here, then consider what Demian Maia was able to do to Gunnar. Crazy to think that as good as Gunnar is, there's a level of grappling that much higher. Felt bad for Jouban. He seems a good guy but he was out of his depth in this one and just got swallowed up.

 

Pickett losing like that was gutting. I had him winning the first two rounds. He was definitely losing the third but I still had him ahead then he just got wiped the fuck out with that headkick. Poor get. The stoppage was fine though. I get why Pickett argued it for a sec, you would if you were him wouldn't you. But it was a good stoppage for sure. Pickett went completely limp for a few seconds and wasn't defending himself. Then when he got up his legs were all over the shop. He just looked so done.

 

The post-fight bit was a nice moment. Vera was all class in his emotional interview then Pickett calling it a day and leaving his hat in the octagon was a cool little touch. Got to say I thought Dan Hardy handled the whole thing really well. He gets shit on a lot for his commentary, and a lot of times I can see why, but I thought he was spot on with the Pickett sendoff bit.

 

Arnold Allen looked excellent, didn't he? Bags of potential there. Liked his post-fight interview as well and I'm now looking forward to his next fight that bit more. Shame for Amirkhani though. He was building really nice momentum before he had that big layoff. This loss won't help matters.

 

Some good stuff on the prelims as well. Marc Diakiese being the highlight by far. Fucking beautiful KO. If it wasn't for Edson Barboza's knee last week this would probably be my KO of 2017 so far. What an exciting guy to watch. I can tell he's going to be one of my favourite fighters to watch before long. The man is must see TV.

 

Was happy to see my homeboy Leon Edwards bag another impressive win. He's quietly been racking up wins over very solid opposition for a little bit now. The submission over Tumenov and now a win over Luque, it's good stuff. I think his callout of Cerrone was a bit optimistic but I like that he's shooting for big fights. Hopefully he gets one.

 

Duffy vs Madadi was a fun but one sided beatdown. Felt like Duffy could've gone up a gear at almost any time he wanted and got Madadi out of there. But Madadi is granite tough and I get why Duffy played it safe. This was the last fight on his current contract and you don't want to be coming to the negotiations table coming off a loss. He was on about testing free agency not long ago so that's going to be interesting. He'd be a strong acquisition for Bellator but I hope he can come to terms with the UFC. It's where he belongs.

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First UFC live event I've been to in years... probably since UFC 89 in Birmingham. First of all it's clear (I've been avidly watching UFC since then just not attending live events) that nothing has really changed in the live event experience. Really all we care about is the fights, but I thought that maybe something might be different, more modern about going to a UFC event nowadays but not really.

 

One thing that was new to me - the irritating whooping noises people make constantly when they are presumably bored, how irritating and childish. Also most people at UFC live events are still bone-headed clowns. I've always sat in the nosebleeds though so maybe that's just the clientele up there!

 

The event was fine, obviously the card was sorely lacking in names and I felt the crowd's level of interest was kind of to be expected... lacklustre - not sure how it came over on TV. This was a card for the diehards and given all the whooping they were probably in the minority. There were a few people misbehaving down on the lower levels during the Pickett fight and several got ejected. I think I've been to maybe 3 or 4 other UK UFC events over the years and I've never seen crowd trouble before.

 

Really enjoyed the undercard obviously Diakiese was the highlight and I really hope he continues to be as spectacular. Gunnar winning so comfortably and with that supreme air of nonchalance throughout is absolutely terrifying and impressive. Finally Manuwa dropping Anderson was a surprisingly quick finish... I was a bit gutted as I'd bet on a 2nd Round KO.

 

Much like F1, unless you are willing to spend an absurd amount of money UFC remains to me to be a TV sport - sitting up in the nosebleeds is fine but if the atmosphere is as flat as it was last night it's kinda not worth the money - I won't go to another UK event unless they put on a huge fight that I just *have* to be there for. All my previous events have been "big" cards with at least one big fight that the whole arena went nuts for, so this was a different vibe for sure.

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Cool little bit about the newspaper Brad Pickett walked out with;

 

szViq.jpg

 

Oh and I'll give him his due, I enjoyed Corey Anderson's walkout. Dancing to the cage to James Brown is easily the best thing Corey's done in the UFC to date.

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Saw the prelims but just had the main card ruined for me by going on the BBC Boxing site. Fuck sake, rookie mistake.

 

Prelims were a real mixed bag, Diakese was the highlight. He looks the business, his post fight promos need work though, he tried but the "im the best" line was a little weak, minor quibble though, ha.

 

Joe Duffy looked great. He has some of the best standup in the division and i hope he sticks around and gets more active. I'd love to see him fight a confident striker like Bobby Green. Duffys lack of personality hampers him a little but his fight style just about makes up for it.

 

Fucking BBC website :(

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Much like F1, unless you are willing to spend an absurd amount of money UFC remains to me to be a TV sport - sitting up in the nosebleeds is fine but if the atmosphere is as flat

Yeh, ive said the same. Its an expensive night but if you go its worth paying the extra coin. Being around an event is a cool experience in itself (the Expo in London a few years back was tremendous), but viewing the actual fights itself isn't great if you're far away unless like you said theres a great atmosphere.

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Pretty average event for me. There just wasn't the right fighters for the crowd to get excited about. I've been to about 10 UFC events now, and this was the flattest crowd I've heard.

 

The O2 arena isn't the best for atmosphere really anyway, but for the right fight, like Bisping Vs Silva, people will make a lot of noise. Jimmy Manuwa just doesn't do it for most people.

 

I've just realised I'm pretty much repeating Moo's post, but I completely agree with it. I'll not buy tickets for the next event with a headline like that.

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