Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted September 18, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted September 18, 2017 Saturday 28th October in São Paulo, Brazil. THE DRAGON IS BACK! FOX SPORTS 1 MAIN CARDLyoto Machida vs Derek Brunson Demian Maia vs Colby Covington Rob Font vs Pedro Munhoz Jim Miller vs Francisco Trinaldo Thiago Santos vs Jack Hermansson John Lineker vs Marlon Vera FOX SPORTS 2 PRELIMSNiko Price vs Vicente Luque Antonio Carlos Junior vs Jack Marshman Hacran Dias vs Jared Gordon Elizeu Zaleski Dos Santos vs Max Griffin FIGHT PASS PRELIMSDeiveson Figueiredo vs Jarred Brooks Christian Colombo vs Marcelo Golm I like this card. Like the Cowboy vs Till show, it's better than I thought it was. As you can see from the poster, we were supposed to get a co-main of Glover Teixeira vs Misha Cirkunov but Glover picked up a hand injury so that one's been moved to the FOX show in December. So yeah, The Dragon is back! And Machida vs Brunson headlines this event. It seems like fucking ages since everyone's favourite piss drinking ninja last graced the Octagon, doesn't it? It has been a long time. His last fight was in June 2015, he got smashed into a fine paste that night by Yoel Romero. His fight previous he got choked into submission by Luke Rockhold. The man who was once thought nearly unhittable, never mind unbeatable, is no more. He's lost 3 of his last 4 and is returning off a 2 year USADA suspension. I like Machida. It'll be good to have him back. He's 39 now so we probably won't have him around that much longer. Enjoy him while he's here. He's getting no favours either. None of that easing back in gently bollocks. He's straight in with middleweight contender Derek Brunson. Brunson has gone 7-3 in his last 10 fights. Of his 7 wins in that period 6 were first round stoppages. The 3 losses were to Yoel Romero, Robert Whittaker and Anderson Silva. And a lot of people thought he should've got the decision over Anderson. Brunson is a quality fighter. He's not stood out massively because the top of the division has been busy with bigger names but on a good night, Brunson troubles a lot of guys. Should give us a good idea of where Machida stands in the division currently. If he comes back and beats an in-form and active Brunson, then we immediately have a new contender in the mix. If Brunson wins, he finally gets that big name win on his resume and he also catapults himself into that pool of potential title challengers. Demian Maia vs Colby Covington isn't filling me with anticipation, if I'm being honest. It's an interesting fight in terms of how their grappling styles will match up but I can't see it being very entertaining to watch. I'm a big fan of Maia but he's one of those fighters that needs the right dance partner to have a good fight and I think Covington isn't going to be one of them. Covington is a NCAA Div 1 wrestler with a 12-1 MMA record. He's capable of finishing fights but he often smothers his opponents in a not very exciting fashion. It'll be worth seeing how he works that game against a grappling wizard like Maia, and vice versa to see how Maia tackles Covington's style. I'm into it in that sense. But my expectations are low. Basically, if you asked me to make a list of good stylistic fights for Maia to shake off the stench of that awful Woodley fight, Colby Covington wouldn't have been anywhere near that list. John Lineker vs Marlon Vera is ***WAND'S ONE TO WATCH*** on this one. I've made no secret that I'm a huge fan of Lineker. Easily one of the most exciting fighters bell-to-bell on the roster. He hasn't fought since last December, when he lost a decision to TJ Dillashaw. Before that he was on a 6 fight winning streak. He'd outpointed John Dodson and Rob Font. He knocked out Michael McDonald. And he put Francisco Rivera away in one of the craziest 2 minute fights you'll ever see. 'Hands Of Stone' is a little beast. And a rare case of a little man with big power. He's fighting Marlon Vera, who's probably best known for retiring Brad Pickett on the London show in March this year. But he's 10-3-1 in his MMA career, 4-2 in the UFC. He's pretty solid and from what I've seen he's a real scrapper. This is a fight between two guys who seem tailor made for a great ruck on paper. I like the sound of Jim Miller vs Francisco Trinaldo. Just two hard bastards locking horns. Can't go wrong really. These are basically the two gatekeepers of the lightweight division. And I don't mean that in a bad way. These are two tough skilled fighters that you'll have to get through if you're climbing the ladder at 155, and they can be a banana skin on any given day if you're not at your best. Against each other, they should match up well. Antonio Carlos Junior vs Jack Marshman is a darkhorse contender for FOTN, I reckon. I like the clash of styles here. Carlos Junior AKA 'Shoeface' has some really tight BJJ. He's great to watch when he gets a guy down and he's working his game. And Marshman's a real scrapper, he'll throw down with anyone. He had a really fun fight against Ryan Janes on the Glasgow card in July. A lot is probably going to depend on Marshman's grappling defence in this one. If he can stuff Shoeface's takedowns and keep it on the feet, he should do well. If he can't stop the takedown it's going to be a long night. Still like these type of fights. It's what MMA was built on after all. Rob Font vs Pedro Munhoz caught my eye. Rob Font has looked fantastic of late. Nobody is really talking about him but he's looked really good recently. He's 14-2 overall, and 4-1 in the UFC. His only loss in the UFC was to John Lineker and even then he managed to take 'Hands Of Stone' the distance, which is a feat in itself. He really stuck out to me in his last fight at UFC 213, just battered Douglas Silva De Andrade to bits for 2 rounds then submitted him. He was absolutely ruthless and relentless. And in Munhoz he's fighting someone with the same record, 14-2, who's a BJJ black-belt coming off 3 wins in a row. I like this matchup. Two of the better unsung fighters in the bantamweight division. I'm highlighting Niko Price vs Luan Chagas just because I'm really liking this Niko Price so far. He's 10-0-1 with 9 finishes. Trains at ATT and he's put both Alan Jouban and Brandon Thatch away inside a round in the UFC. It's early days but he's looked a savage in all his fights so far. You don't just walk through Alan Jouban the way he did in August unless you've got something. Chagas is a solid test, 15-2-1 with good submissions. Price should be beating him I reckon though. Thiago Santos vs Jack Hermansson has the ingredients to be a bit of a wild scrap. Santos is a heavy hitter. 15-5, he's not going to be troubling the top boys of the division anytime soon but he's dangerous and packs some real power in his punches and kicks. And Hermansson, just look at him. He's got a bit of crazy in there by the looks of him. Tough Swede, 16-3 record and stopped Brad Scott in a round in his last fight. Some fun to be had with this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted September 18, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted September 18, 2017 Boston Salmon, great name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted September 18, 2017 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 18, 2017 It's good, but it's no Waachim Spiritwolf, is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted September 18, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted September 18, 2017 thats a nickname though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted September 18, 2017 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 18, 2017 Alright then. It's no Papy Abedi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted September 18, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted September 18, 2017 i'll give you that one 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted September 18, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted September 18, 2017 And it's nowhere near as filthy as Bubba Bush. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted September 18, 2017 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 18, 2017 Ha. I knew there was a good one I was forgetting. Oluwale Bamgbose sounds fucking badass as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted September 19, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted September 19, 2017 MMAFighting.com confirmed earlier that John Lineker vs Marlon Vera has been added to this card. I'm looking forward to this show, I think it's a fun card, especially the fights involving Font, Hermansson, Jim Miller and the main event, as well as now Lineker's return. Maia/Covington I don't expect to be exciting as much as it'll be interesting to see how it plays out, and if Maia gets back on the horse, or Covington gets a big scalp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted September 20, 2017 Share Posted September 20, 2017 At this point, and it pains me to say it, but I wouldn't mind seeing Maia lose. He's not getting another title shot anytime soon, and he's basically just a roadblock for other fighters looking to come through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted October 23, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted October 23, 2017 agree 100% Dave, hes basically the new Jon Fitch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted October 23, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted October 23, 2017 It pains me as much, but David is correct. He's at an age where he's not likely to be able to build up another run at the title again barring some disaster with injuries, and given how much of a shark-tank WW is, that just isn't going to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Bifkin Posted October 23, 2017 Share Posted October 23, 2017 Yeah but Colby Covington is an absolute tool of a man. I hope Damien rips his arm off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted October 23, 2017 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 23, 2017 Exactly what I was just about to type, Guy. If Maia was fighting someone I like I'd probably be on board with this talk. But he's fighting Colby Covington who's no fun to watch himself and seems a bit of a nob on top of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted October 23, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted October 23, 2017 sorry boys but im team knob here, Colvington for the win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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