Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted March 19, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted March 19, 2017 Nashville, Tennessee hosts the Octagon on 22nd April. FOX SPORTS 1 MAIN CARDCub Swanson vs Artem Lobov Al Iaquinta vs Diego Sanchez Ovince Saint Preux vs Marcos Rogerio De Lima John Dodson vs Eddie Wineland Joe Lauzon vs Stevie Ray Jake Ellenberger vs Mike Perry FOX SPORTS 2 PRELIMSThales Leites vs Sam Alvey Dustin Ortiz vs Brandon Moreno Scott Holtzman vs Michael McBride Jessica Penne vs Danielle Taylor FIGHT PASS PRELIMSBryan Barberena vs Joe Proctor Alexis Davis vs Cindy Dandois Hector Sandoval vs Matt Schnell Talk about a card going under the radar. I think this looks quite fantastic, to be honest. Swanson vs Lobov is a strange main event though. Don't get me wrong it should be exciting. But I don't get what the UFC were thinking with this matchmaking. Swanson is coming off a win in what I consider the 2016 FOTY against the 'Korean Superboy' in December. You'd have expected his next fight to be a big name. I was thinking we'd be seeing him against Korean Zombie or maybe Yair Rodriguez. Instead he fights Artem Lobov. A decent fighter with a house brick of a right hand. But it's just a bit of a weird one timing wise. Huge opportunity for Lobov though. Iaquinta vs Sanchez is probably going to be a mugging. I think Iaquinta is going to fuck Diego up. I rate Raging Al. And he does hold wins over Jorge Masvidal, Joe Lauzon, Ross Pearson and Kevin Lee. He's been out two years though. He was meant to fight Thiago Alves at UFC 205 at MSG but he pulled out because he was having contract issues with the UFC. Guess that's sorted now because he's back. I guess the layoff could effect Iaquinta here, and if it does that could really benefit a cardio machine like Sanchez who will really push you conditioning wise. We'll see. To be fair to Sanchez, he has beaten Marcin Held and Jim Miller in recent fights. There's life in the loon yet. Dodson vs Wineland could be good. I'm not that bothered about it truth be told. And I don't really like either of these twats. Wineland annoys me less though so I'll be pulling for him. Dodson's an irritating little shit. Lauzon vs Ray has barburner potential for sure. It gets repetitive saying it but Joe Lauzon really is one of the most exciting fighters pound-for-pound that MMA has ever known. And Ray is starting to break into that level now where he's getting those name fights on his record. He beat Ross Pearson last time out and this is a tough next step for him. Should be a good one. Ellenberger vs Perry is ***WAND'S ONE TO WATCH*** this time. You never know what you're getting with Ellenberger but that kind of adds to the intrigue of this one for me. Because Mike Perry being so dangerous and aggressive could either bring out the best in Ellenberger or make him go into his shell as he's been known to do at times. Perry's also coming off his first career loss to Alan Jouban so it'll be interesting to see if that effects him at all. Leites vs Alvey is an odd little fight. I like it though. Alvey looks like one of the least athletic bastards on the roster but he can definitely pack a punch. And he has an uncanny ability to land that big punch as well. Leites is the veteran though and the way better all rounder. I think he can hang with Smiling Sam in the striking and if it hits the ground he'll hold a significant grappling advantage. Ortiz vs Moreno should be an entertaining flyweight fight. I always feel like Ortiz is a little bit underrated myself and I've really grown to like Moreno. He's usually fun to watch and he's impossible to dislike, he's always so happy and looks like he's genuinely having the time of his life in there. Hopefully he wins this because flyweight needs new contenders to emerge more than any other division right now. Bits and pieces from the undercard... • Jessica Penne badly needs a win. She's coming off back to back stoppage losses where she just got brutally fucked up beyond belief. Granted they were losses to Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Jessica Andrade - the current champ and the number one contender - but they were bad, bad beatings she took. If she gets beat up again here it might be time to think about doing something else. Seriously, the Jedrzejczyk and Andrade fights were hard to watch. • Bryan Barberena is back. The man who ended Sage Northcutt's unbeaten run. He lost to Colby Covington in December but I like Bam Bam. I think he's decent and still worth keeping tabs on. • And Cindy Dandois makes her UFC debut down on Fight Pass. Dandois was someone I was hoping they'd sign to beef up their new featherweight division. But she's coming in as a bantamweight here. She's good from what I've seen (which admittedly isn't much). She beat Marloes Coenen in her MMA debut, so there's that. She also TKO'd Jorina Baars in MMA. Baars is the beast who battered Cyborg in a kickboxing fight a while back. And she submitted Megan Anderson, who's another girl I hope the UFC sign for 145. On paper I guess it's a tough introduction for her because Davis is very experienced and she has skills. Davis had a baby and got crushed by Sara McMann on her return recently. But I don't know if that's an indicator of Davis not being the same or the fact that McMann is just on good form right now. Either way it's a solid test for Dandois in her debut. Good looking show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted March 19, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted March 19, 2017 Under the radar is right wand. other than the main and co-main i didn't even know any of these fights had been announced. That main card is tremendous. The main itself is a strange one but it definitely wont be dull. ...and Sam Alvey still fights every other show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamTH17 Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 I'm really big on this card. There's a fair few fights I'm really struggling to pick a winner in (Lauzon/Ray, Dodson/Wineland and Ellenberger/Perry in particular) which always makes for a more interesting viewing. Predicting big wins for Iaquinta and Swanson though. Sanchez is looking though he's winding down, and with Iaquinta coming into this with a winning streak I can't look past Diego taking a beating. Similarly to the main event really, Swanson has far more tools than Lobov and even if Artem does manage to connect on Cub, we know from the Korean Superboy fight that Swanson can take being cracked and keep going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted April 21, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted April 21, 2017 I completely forgot this show was on this weekend. I still think it's a crazy bit of matchmaking by pairing up Swanson and Lobov. Nothing to gain for Swanson with a win and everything to lose should the upset happen. I guess it's a chance to look really impressive by winning and to stay active until a big fight comes along. It should be a fun show though, all the main card fights look like they will deliver something exciting, apart from possibly OSP and De Lima. But Iaquinta and Sanchez will likely be madness, and Lauzon/Ray has the potential to be a great fight. It'll keep me company over my breakfast on Sunday morning before work anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted April 21, 2017 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 21, 2017 At the very least, Swanson vs Lobov should be exciting. Even if it turns out to be the showcase squash match for Cub that many are expecting, it should be anything but dull. Swanson doesn't do boring fights. It's a bit of a sleeper show. Like you say, Iaquinta vs Sanchez should be fun, Lauzon vs Ray is a potential barnburner and I'm intrigued by this Ellenberger vs Perry fight too. Ellenberger is hot and cold and Perry's coming off his first loss. Both have seriously heavy hands but you don't know where they'll be mentally. Could go a few different ways that one. I expect Perry knocks him out but you never know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasmith85 Posted April 22, 2017 Share Posted April 22, 2017 I personally find this main event offensive Lobov who has a bucket of losses and only had his spot because his Conor's little butt buddy. He failed to even get into the house of on TUF brought back because of Conor, fluked his way to the finals of TUF but got picked apart by his opponents BJJ. Anyone else's in Lobov situation would of been loose ages ago. Cub Swanson is worth so much more than this. I hope Cub chokes his out and he is finally cut. (Watch me eat my words now) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted April 22, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted April 22, 2017 It is a strange one, especially as Cub is coming off the FOTY. If it was in Lobov's home town i could maybe see why they'd done it but it's on the other side of the world. Just a strange fight, but like ive said previously style-wise it should be fun to watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members lambyUK Posted April 22, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted April 22, 2017 The fascinating thing about the main event is if it remains standing Lobov has a chance. His record may not be great but the improvement he's made these past couple of years is very noticeable. Cub is certainly more dynamic but in the end Lobov does have KO power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted April 22, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted April 22, 2017 My work has a quarterly UFC predictions league where we pick the winners of the top five fights of each card, throw two quid in for every show and then four times a year we pay out whoever has the most points and start over. You get one point for a normal fight, two points for a semi-main, three points for a main event and five points for a title fight. I'm currently in joint top position. This is the last show of the quarter. If I do well I'm looking at a couple of hundred quid. I'm thinking of going Swanson, Ragin' Al, OSP, Dodson and Lauzon. Thoughts? Help me UKFF, you're my only hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted April 22, 2017 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 22, 2017 I'd agree with those picks but I'm often wrong so don't blame me if they don't come in! The only one there that's giving me doubts is Lauzon vs Ray. You never really know with Lauzon. Sometimes he doesn't show up on his A game. And Ray is a bit of an unknown quantity too. I'm not sure how good he is yet. I'd probably stick with Lauzon myself though. All your other picks I'm fairly confident in. Well, as confident as you can be predicting this shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted April 22, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted April 22, 2017 Lauzon and Sanchez are always my worst nightmare when I'm picking. Awesome guys to watch, but ridiculously inconsistent result-wise. Just my luck that they're both on the final card between me and some delightful cash! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted April 22, 2017 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 22, 2017 Sanchez will probably do what he always does and have a fantastic 3rd round after a disastrous 1 and 2. He seems to need to take a solid 10 minutes of abuse before he wakes up and goes berserker mode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted April 22, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted April 22, 2017 Went Alvey, Cub, Lauzon, Al and Ellenberger. £5 returns £90. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members lambyUK Posted April 22, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted April 22, 2017 I sincerely hope we see break out performance from Ragin Al. I'm actually really pumped for the whole main card. I actually think the main card is a nightmare to predict so good luck Supremo! Gut says Lobov huge upset, Ragin Al, Dodson, Ray over Lauzon, Perry beats Ellenberger and De Lima beats OSP for no other reason than I think OSP is awful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted April 22, 2017 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 22, 2017 I'm an OSP hater ever since the day he knocked out Shogun in about 30 seconds. In Brazil. Fucking prick, the cheek of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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