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UFC Fight Night: Poirier vs Pettis - Nov 11


wandshogun09

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Saturday 11th November, the UFC comes to Norfolk, Virginia with what, on paper, might just be the best Fight Night card in years. 

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FOX SPORTS 1 MAIN CARD
Dustin Poirier vs Anthony Pettis 

Matt Brown vs Diego Sanchez 

Andrei Arlovski vs Junior Albini

Nate Marquardt vs Cezar Ferreira 

Raphael Assuncao vs Matthew Lopez  

Joe Lauzon vs Clay Guida 

 

FOX SPORTS 1 PRELIMS
John Dodson vs Marlon Moraes 

Tatiana Suarez vs Viviane Pereira

Sage Northcutt vs Michel Quinones

Angela Hill vs Nina Ansaroff 

 

FIGHT PASS PRELIMS
Court McGee vs Sean Strickland 

Jake Collier vs Marcel Fortuna

Darren Stewart vs Karl Roberson

 

Just look at that, will you?! 

 

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Dustin Poirier vs Anthony Pettis is the 5 round main event on this one. There's no reason why this shouldn't be at the very least an entertaining fight. At best, it could be a FOTY candidate. The ingredients are definitely there. I love this matchup, and I love the timing of it. They've both had some losses and ups and downs. But right now, they both appear to be firing on all cylinders. Poirier had an absolute blinder of a fight against Eddie Alvarez at UFC 211 in May. Unfortunately that one ended on a No Contest after Alvarez landed some illegal knees. Hopefully they'll tangle again somewhere down the road. Pettis beat Jim Miller at UFC 213 in July. It was an excellent fight and it was the best Pettis has looked in a while. It was his return to 155 after a brief and unsuccessful run at featherweight. It feels like these two are back on the right track now. One of them is going to be derailed here but this could be one of those fights where both come out with their stock raised. Can't wait for this. 

 

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Matt Brown vs Diego Sanchez is going to be a wild one. If one of them doesn't stop the other one, we're probably in for a crazy, bloody war. This is also Matt Brown's farewell fight, apparently. He's hanging them up. Probably a good idea really. He's lost 5 of his last 6 and he's been in a lot of rough battles. He hasn't fought since last December when he got headkicked into oblivion by Donald Cerrone. I can't think of a better fight or opponent for him to bow out on. If he wanted to go out on a proper Matt Brown type slugfest, Diego Sanchez is probably the one guy on the roster who's most likely to give him that kind of fight. Diego will meet him head on. I'd be quite happy to see them both leave their gloves in the cage after this, to be honest. 

 

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Andrei Arlovski vs Junior Albini then. I don't know what to make of this. After a nice little run of wins when he came back to the UFC in 2014, Arlovski's career has really hit the bricks hard the last couple of years. He's now in a position where he's lost his last 5 fights, he was stopped in 4 of them. At 38 years old, and after all the times he's been knocked out, it just seems like he's out of resurgences at this point. Putting him in with Albini feels like the UFC trying to throw 'The Pitbull' a bone and give him a chance to rebuild. But if he loses to this type of fighter, it's not good. Sad thing is it wouldn't surprise me if Arlovski does lose either. That's where my confidence level sits with him these days. 

 

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John Dodson vs Marlon Moraes is ***WAND'S ONE TO WATCH*** on this card. Really interested in this. Moraes has been one of my favourite fighters outside the UFC over the last few years. I followed him tearing through WSOF and I was excited to hear the news of him signing with the UFC. But his debut didn't go to plan, he lost to Raphael Assuncao at UFC 212 in June. He didn't get dominated or outclassed or anything, it was a close one. But it certainly wasn't the type of debut he'd have wanted. This is his chance to redeem himself and show everyone what the fuss was about. Again though, he's not getting any favours. Dodson is just as tough, and arguably an even tougher test than Assuncao was. I hope Moraes batters the annoying little prick. 
 

 

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Tatiana Suarez vs Viviane Pereira should be worth a look. Suarez won TUF 23. She's a two time bronze medalist in wrestling, undefeated at 4-0 in MMA and looked fantastic in submitting Amanda Cooper at the TUF finale. She's been out injured for a while but I'm looking forward to seeing her back in there. Pereira is also unbeaten but, at 13-0, more experienced than Suarez. She's won her two UFC fights by decision, beating Valerie Letourneau and Jamie Moyle. Someone's O has gotta go! 

 

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Joe Lauzon vs Clay Guida feels like it should've happened already by now, doesn't it? This could've been a FOTY as far back as a decade ago in 2007! I wish it would've happened between 2007 and 2009 actually. That was when Guida was at his most crazy caveman peak and having classics with Diego Sanchez, Roger Huerta and Tyson Griffin. He's not really in that place these days but he's still capable of bringing the wildman back out with the right opponent. And who sounds more 'right' than Joe Lauzon to do that? He's no stranger to FOTY contenders himself. Just watch his battles with Jim Miller (twice) and Michael Chiesa and Jamie Varner. If these two are really up for this and in the mood to go for it, this could easily steal the show. 

 

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Sage Northcutt vs Michel Quinones is Super Sage's attempt to get his career back in the win column. He hasn't fought since getting submitted by Mickey Gall on Big FOX last December. He's 8-2 now. At just 21 years old, he's still got every chance to make some noise. It's far from over for him. But for now he needs to get some W's. Both his losses were at 170, and both by submission. Now he's back at 155 and he's fighting a striker. So, on paper, Quinones is a good fight for him to bounce back with. Quinones is also 8-2 and primarily a striker. 

 

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Nate Marquardt vs Cezar Ferreira is just there on this card really but it'll likely be good. Marquardt has been in the game for donkey's years. This will be his 56th MMA fight! He's had spells where he's looked like a genuine title threat and times when he's looked like he's done. He looks much more on the 'done' side these days but he's shown in a few recent fights that there's still some stuff in the tank. Cezar Ferreira looks like Mark Kerr and Vitor Belfort went into that machine in The Fly. Ferreira can be dangerous. He's big, powerful and a BJJ black-belt. At one point coming  off TUF Brazil 1, he looked like he had serious potential. It hasn't really panned out. I think these two match up nicely though. 

 

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Raphael Assuncao vs Matthew Lopez is a decent fight. Like I said earlier, Assuncao ruined the Marlon Moraes debut party in June. It feels like he should've got something bigger than this to me but whatever. It's probably going to be good fight. Lopez is 10-1 with his only blip being a submission loss to Rani Yahya. 

 

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Angela Hill vs Nina Ansaroff should be worth watching just because of Hill. I wasn't a fan of 'Overkill' during her stint on TUF 20 but she's been great to watch in the UFC since then. Her fight with Jessica Andrade earlier this year was fucking tremendous and one of the best least talked about fights of 2017. It's been pretty much forgotten since but it was a hell of a fight. She's 7-3 in MMA but her 3 losses were all to top strawweights - Andrade, Rose Namajunas and Tecia Torres. She's also got a 16-0 record in kickboxing. Nina 'Mrs Amanda Nunes' Ansaroff has never particularly impressed me, to be honest. Nunes was saying she's 'the next champ at 115' etc but she's going to say that. But Ansaroff is 7-5 and going nowhere. Sounds harsh but I can't see her going much further. To me this feels like the UFC trying to get Hill some wins and cage time. A showcase. Of course, it doesn't always play like that in MMA but I think that's the plan. 

 

Love this card. 

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This card has really snuck up quietly behind 217, hasn't it? Looking at the matchups and the form a lot of these guys have for having great fights, I really think this could be a sleeper for best card of the year for pure fight quality. 

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no doubt, you know Brown and Sanchez are going out to win FOTN, it's Brown's last fight, i think Sanchez will do his best to comply. Lauzon/Guida a few years ago could have gotten FOTY before it had even taken place, not so sure now but it's a nailed on good fight.

I think the main event steals the show though.

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Giant baby Albini, what was he thinking? He looked in worse condition than any other Heavyweight I can remember. 

I haven't been convinced on Pettis for some time, but boy if anyone came out with any credit in a loss this was it.  I picked Poirier KO pre-fight, but I think he was lucky to get through this one. But boy is he game, he brings it every time.  Fair play to him for calling out a realistic opponent rather than screaming down Ferguson, Conor etc.  Great fight.

The elbow KO from Matt Brown was sickening, frankly. Fuck me.  I wonder if elbows will ever get banned? Imagine copping one of those clean on the temple? 

The UFC is having a real strong end to the year aren't they? 

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6 hours ago, Cousin Jim Bob said:

Couple of fights dragged it down abit for me

Yeah, Marquardt vs Ferreira and Arlovski vs Albini back-to-back in the middle of the main card threatened to kill all my enthusiasm for this one. Wasn't in love with the prelims either. But the rest of the main show fights were good enough to where it gets a big thumbs up from me. 

Poirier vs Pettis was a fantastic fight. Real shame it ended on the rib injury because it was really shaping up to be a FOTY contender, I thought. That's 2 fights on the bounce now (vs Alvarez and Pettis) for Poirier where he's been on track for potential FOTYs and the fights have ended in anti-climax. Great, great fight though. Total bloodbath. Shades of Miller vs Lauzon 1 at times, which was one of my favourite fights ever. But yeah, shame how it ended. Hopefully they'll do it again sometime. Love Pea Head's callout of the Alvarez/Gaethje winner. That's definitely the way to go next. 

Brown vs Sanchez was always only going one of a few ways. A KO either way or a wild slugfest. It never really lasted long enough to become a wild slugfest but the KO was crazy. That elbow was just ruthless. He needed that as well because after Diego hurt him with that body kick, you know he was going to be zeroing in on that more as the fight went on and it's been Brown's weakness most of his career. That would be the ideal way for Brown to go out now. A highlight reel KO over a big name and that post-fight moment with his kids in the cage. He probably won't get another chance for a better sendoff than that if he fights on. 

Arlovski vs Albini was a bit crap, wasn't it? Just slow and plodding about. Albini looked awful physically and those fucking shorts were hilarious. Didn't know Reebok were doing a line in nappies. I'm glad Arlovski was able to snap that losing streak but it was 15 minutes lost for all of us. 

Wasn't keen on Ferreira vs Marquardt either. Wasn't terrible but it wasn't good either. Just never got going and after a long arse career Nate just doesn't seem to have it anymore. 

Raphael Assuncao's knockout was nasty. Liked him calling out Dillashaw for the rubber match, and he's got a solid claim to that, but I don't think it's going to happen. You never know, I guess. Cruz is out injured and it seems too early for TJ vs Cody 2. Big statement from Assuncao though. Seems a nice guy as well. 

Clay Fucking Guida!! Wouldn't have called him knocking Joe Lauzon out in a minute at all. Almost a shame it was over so fast after waiting about a decade for them to finally meet. Last fight on Clay's contract as well. He couldn't have scripted it any better. Can't see the UFC letting him go, unless he makes some mental demands. 

Prelims weren't much. Glad Marlon Moraes got that first UFC 'W', especially over that little shit Dodson. Tatiana Suarez looked excellent as well. 

Couple of cack bits but definitely more good than bad on this show. 

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Pettis has certainly had a complete change in fortunes which coincidentally links in with USADA.  The Poirier vs Alvarez rematch makes sense regardless of how Alvarez gets on against Gaethje.

What a knockout by Matt Brown.....absolutely brutal.

Really good fight night - plenty of known names up and down the card.  Assuncao vs Rivera for me, with Garbrandt facing Moraes in his bounce-back fight.  Very happy to see Arlovski back in the win column too.

 

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Just catching up on this. The post-fight reports on this site are a godsend for me these days. 

13 hours ago, Paul2j said:

Pettis has certainly had a complete change in fortunes which coincidentally links in with USADA. 

Possibly. I also think injuries are part of the reason for his decline. His career trajectory has not been stable for quite some time either. 

Despite that, it is also possible that he wasn't quite as good as he appeared. Would a fresh Pettis be able to hold his own against Max? Was the Pettis who fought RDA that far removed from the one who butchered Cerrone and rallied to stop Gill. There were always suspicions that there were serious holes in his game (mainly due to his loss against Guida in 2011). As a fan, I tended to scoff at such suspicions. In hindsight, his critics may have had a point. 

A combination of the above factors probably explains Pettis's decline. 

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So disappointing to see the main event end like it did, genuinely think that was heading to being FOTY. Anthony Pettis' fall is a little bit overstated, he's lost 5 of his last 7 but he's fought a genuine murderers row of fighters. I'd like to see him step back a little and build his way back up. He's drowned at the top of a division he was once tipped to rule. He's still great to watch though. Poirier on the other hand is slowly moving up, like Pettis he's always great to watch and is never in anything resembling a dull fight. Him getting the winner of Alvarez/Gaethje is on the button for me, lets see it.

Watching Junior Albini fight felt like seeing someone from UFC 4 who'd time travelled forward and got in there. The guy looked a right state. He has potential and clearly has a chin on him but he went into his shell here. Arlovski saved his career and looked better than in years, nice to see him throw some combinations and get loose in there, the opponent helped but it was Arlovksi showing what he's capable of doing. In heavyweight MMA technique can sometimes lose out of guys who just sling bombs but this was a bit of an exception.

Matt Brown's KO was about as perfect a career ender as you could get for such a violent fighter, but it looks like he's gonna fight on. I ain't mad at that.

Great to see Clay Guida re-emerge at lightweight, he's reminding everyone why he's used to be one of the most loved fighters in the promotion. Never seen him really throw with power in his hands but he starched Lauzon off the bat. Joe Lauzon is clearly on his way down though :(

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1 hour ago, Egg Shen said:

Watching Junior Albini fight felt like seeing someone from UFC 4 who'd time travelled forward and got in there. The guy looked a right state. He has potential and clearly has a chin on him but he went into his shell here. Arlovski saved his career and looked better than in years, nice to see him throw some combinations and get loose in there, the opponent helped but it was Arlovksi showing what he's capable of doing. In heavyweight MMA technique can sometimes lose out of guys who just sling bombs but this was a bit of an exception.

The fuck was up with his shorts?

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