Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted December 24, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted December 24, 2017 First UFC show of 2018 is a Sunday Fight Night on January 14th. The UFC make their debut in St. Louis, Missouri. FOX SPORTS 1 MAIN CARDJeremy Stephens vs Doo Ho Choi Paige VanZant vs Jessica Rose Clark Kamaru Usman vs Emil Meek Michael Johnson vs Darren Elkins FOX SPORTS 1 PRELIMSJames Krause vs Alex White Marco Polo Reyes vs Matt Frevola Irene Aldana vs Talita Bernardo Danielle Taylor vs JJ Aldrich FIGHT PASS PRELIMSJessica Eye vs Kalindra Faria Mike Santiago vs Mads Burnell Kyung Ho Kang vs Guido Cannetti Completely overlooked this one but looking at the card there I really like it. Jeremy Stephens vs Korean Superboy your featherweight main event and is a hell of a fight on paper. Really looking forward to this. Stephens has had a very patchy run at 145. He's gone 5-5 in his last 10 and has lost 3 of his last 5 fights. But to be fair, he's been mixing at the highest level. He's coming off a dominant points win over Gilbert Melendez in his last fight in September. Never liked Stephens. Right little twat. But he's exciting to watch and he's probably pound-for-pound one of the heaviest hitters in the UFC, certainly in the lighter weight classes. Superboy Choi burst onto the UFC scene back in 2014 and quickly gained a little fan following after notching up quick knockouts over Juan Puig, Sam Sicilia and Thiago Tavares. Talk about a wolf in sheep's clothing. Superboy looks more like he should be a Paperboy. No pub would serve him. He then lost a decision in an incredible FOTY worthy fight against Cub Swanson in December 2016. It was the type of amazing fight where the loss didn't hurt him and he was more popular than ever off the back of it. Sadly, with his stock and momentum higher than ever, he was hit by the injury bug and has missed the whole of 2017. Hopefully the injuries are behind him now and he can crack on with his career in 2018. He's only 26 so still plenty of time. Love this fight. Really hoping Choi smacks Stephens' face in and gets his career back on track. Tough fight to come back to after a year plus on the shelf though. Vitor Belfort vs Uriah Hall could be a short display of fireworks or a drawn out staring contest. You never know with either of these two. When they switch it on there are few in the sport more lethal. But when they don't, there are few more frustrating. Belfort is looking on his last legs but he didn't look too bad in his last fight beating Nate Marquardt (who is admittedly also winding down). Hall snapped a 3 fight losing streak when he knocked out Krzysztof Jotko in September. It was one of the more impressive wins in Hall's career too, IMO. Because the knock on Hall has always been that he's a bit iffy mentally and is a bit of a frontrunner. But against Jotko he came back from the brink of defeat and got the KO. Paige VanZant vs Jessica Rose Clark is a bit of a mystery to me. Paige is making her flyweight debut here after mixed results as a strawweight. She's also coming off a year long layoff and hasn't fought since her submission loss to Michelle Waterson last December. Clark is Australian and made her UFC debut in November, where she outpointed Bec Rawlings on short notice. So there's questions on Paige given the time away and going up in weight. And we also probably didn't get a proper read on Clark in her last fight because of the short notice. It's a fuck knows fight but Paige is usually entertaining due to her non-stop offence style. Kamaru Usman vs Emil Meek is ***WAND'S ONE TO WATCH*** for this one. This has been moved about a couple of times on the schedule. It was originally set for UFC 219. Something about this pairing I really like. I think they're both potential darkhorse contenders at 170. Nigerian Usman is 11-1 and hasn't lost since his second pro fight. So a 10 fight win streak and KO'd Sergio Moraes fast last time out. Meek is Norwegian with a 9-2-1 record, an exciting style, crazy look and wins over Jordan Mein and Rousimar Palhares in his last 2 outings. Hasn't fought in a year though. Both of these two are outspoken and have their own brand of charisma too so expect some callouts and statements made in the post-fight from whoever wins this fight. Michael Johnson vs Darren Elkins could be excellent. Johnson was looking like a title contender at one point but he's 1-4 in his last 5 now. A lone KO win over Dustin Poirier being the only bright spot among the losses. But he did have arguably the 2017 FOTY in June against Justin Gaethje. Elkins had a good stab at FOTY himself with his stunner of a comeback KO over Mirsad Bektic in March. Weird timing for this really with MJ on a bad run and Elkins riding a winning streak but, whatever, I like the way these two match up. Thiago Alves vs Zak Cummings is another sleeper for me. Always been a fan of Alves. He's been hot and cold of late but he looked sharp in his win over Patrick Cote in April. And Cummings is a solid and maybe slightly underrated fighter himself. Strong grappling and his only recent losses were to Santiago Ponzinibbio and Gunnar Nelson. Won his last 2 fights by submission. Nice clash of styles here with Alves' Muay Thai vs Cummings' BJJ. Jessica Eye vs Kalindra Faria is most likely a win or go home situation for Jessica Eye. I've said for ages that I think Eye is a better fighter than her dodgy record suggests. But she really needs to make something happen now. She's lost 4 fights in a row now, 1-4 in her last 5 and hasn't won in 3 years. This is her fresh start as a flyweight so if she loses again here, I think that'll probably be it for her in the UFC. It's probably only the lack of depth in the women's divisions that's saved her up to now in truth, but with 5 losses on the bounce it would be hard to justify her place on the roster. Can't recall too much of Faria, I remember her losing to that Italian girl a few months back but nothing sticks out. Not a bad little show to kick off 2018. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted December 25, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted December 25, 2017 that pairing of Johnson/Elkins is a bit of a head scratcher giving their recent circumstances. Still could result in another big win for Elkins though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted January 1, 2018 Author Paid Members Share Posted January 1, 2018 If you somehow missed it at the time, the UFC YouTube channel has uploaded (IMO) the Fight Of 2016, Doo Ho Choi vs Cub Swanson... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shane O' Mac Version 2 Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 Good move by the UFC to get Choi's name recognition up. Given that he's been away over a year and was/is an up and comer, having this fight on YouTube to show the world what Superboy is all about, it's a smart idea to increase hype. Looking at the card as a whole though, damn it's a pretty tasty start to the New Year! Two years in a row now it's been a featherweight contender's fight main eventing a Fight Night to kick the year off, and I like Stephens vs. Choi a ton more than seeing the corpse of BJ Penn wheeled out to get obliterated by Yair Rodriguez (that's a guy we haven't heard much from since Edgar big-brothered him back in May). Should be pretty evenly matched, Stephens is a veteran, but not past his prime, and Superboy is a young killer. Can't see many grappling exchanges happening in this one. I hope killer Uriah Hall shows up to end the career of Vitor Belfort. Belfort's decline once he had to get off the TRT has been really sad to see. I really liked seeing Jessy Jess in her UFC debut in Sydney- mostly cause she beat up Bec Rawlings. So, I might actually be rooting against PVZ for once. Jessy is likable and pretty talented from what I've seen of her- prior to her UFC debut, she had a close decision loss to Sarah Kaufman. I don't feel her UFC debut was her best work, not Octagon jitters, but she was a late replacement on about a week's notice- which explains the weight miss too. Anyway, really looking forward to this. When the likes of Michael Johnson and Thiago Alves are on the undercard, it's a good indication that this is a stacked card for a Fight Night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted January 10, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted January 10, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_mole Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 I understand the reason why South Korea have to have mandatory military services given their Northern neighbours but even at that, you would think they would let bigger name athletes by pass this, Hong Man Choi was supposed to be a legit celebrity in the Pride era over there plus he was 7ft odds so not exactly someone who blends in but even he had to do it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzExile Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 20 hours ago, the_mole said: I understand the reason why South Korea have to have mandatory military services given their Northern neighbours but even at that, you would think they would let bigger name athletes by pass this, Hong Man Choi was supposed to be a legit celebrity in the Pride era over there plus he was 7ft odds so not exactly someone who blends in but even he had to do it Different culture mate, init. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted January 12, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted January 12, 2018 Not to mention it's not a good idea, if you have national service, to make exceptions for able-bodied people for one arbitrary reason or another. A lot of the resentment that built up amongst the American public during the Vietnam War was that their sons were getting sent away to die in a foreign country in a pointless war, and coming home in body bags, or being sent to prison for refusing to join the military, while a lot of sons of senators, congressmen, and wealthy, influential individuals were getting to avoid the draught and the jail time that came with that. South Korea's situation is even more understandable: they're right next door to a regime with the world's largest conscript army, which would invade if it thought there was any weakness. Furthermore, making exception for high-profile athletes is dodgy in how arbitrary it is. Fire-fighters, teachers, nurses, doctors, ambulance paramedics, etc. don't get to dodge the draught, so why should a bunch of people just because they happen to be well known for being good at sport? They certainly don't contribute more to society than those people. Not to mention people in academia and research - privileging the physical over the intellectual doesn't send out a good message for what you want your society to be about, either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cousin Jim Bob Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 South Korea does exempt tons of high profile athletes. Win any medal at the Olympics or a gold at the Asian games gets you a free pass. Remember the South Korean lads getting bronze in the football in London 2012 and going crazy because they were all going to skip service. Even if you don't win but achieve a bunch of success like the South Korean team who came 4th at the World Cup you can be given exemptions. If Son Heung Min doesn't win a medal for SK he will probably be given a pass too. So in that sense guys like Zombie who are high profile athletes and competing internationaly still having to serve is a shame. South Koreans are not that bothered about sports stars not having to serve tbh. They put sports stars on a pedestal above everyone else. Its when actors, singers, rappers fuck around their service they go nuts. PSY had to do his service twice because he took the piss in his 1st one. He did well to come back from that other celebrities have had their careers ended for similar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted January 12, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted January 12, 2018 1 minute ago, Cousin Jim Bob said: South Korea does exempt tons of high profile athletes. Win any medal at the Olympics or a gold at the Asian games gets you a free pass. Remember the South Korean lads getting bronze in the football in London 2012 and going crazy because they were all going to skip service. Even if you don't win but achieve a bunch of success like the South Korean team who came 4th at the World Cup you can be given exemptions. If Son Heung Min doesn't win a medal for SK he will probably be given a pass too. So in that sense guys like Zombie who are high profile athletes and competing internationaly still having to serve is a shame. South Koreans are not that bothered about sports stars not having to serve tbh. They put sports stars on a pedestal above everyone else. Its when actors, singers, rappers fuck around their service they go nuts. PSY had to do his service twice because he took the piss in his 1st one. He did well to come back from that other celebrities have had their careers ended for similar. That's ridiculous. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, as we live in a world with fucked-up priorities, but I did think that the immediacy of North Korea on their doorstep might actually force them to operate in line with the basic principles that made them choose to have national service in the first place. So the message is "Don't want to do national service? Get into a sporting career - you might luck your way out of it." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cousin Jim Bob Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 They just don't really care if your a sports star especially one internationaly. Most Korean men get it done early 18 to 20. Usually right after school so they can get on with their lives after. Stun Gun did his when he was young. What pisses South Koreans off is when celebrities delay their service to the age limit, early 30's then they suddenly have an injury that means they can't serve active duty. You either serve active duty which is almost 2 years away from home living in a barracks or public service where you do like office work and get to go home everyday at 6 o'clock. Guys from rich families or powerful celebrities seem to always end up doing public service which pisses of most normal blokes. It can boost your career if you go active duty when young though. Stun Gun served in the Marines which is a very tough unit to get into. So when he started in the UFC he was sold to the general public as this bad ass former Marine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJM Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 The Vitor Belfort vs. Uriah Hall fight has been cancelled after Hall was unable to weigh in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D@mm Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 FFS I was looking forward that fight, why can't Hall get his shit together and become a great MMA fighter we all know he can be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d-d-d-dAz Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 Details hard to come by but sounds like Hall is in a bad way. Paige Van Zant has described it as the scariest thing she’s ever seen. Its amazing how they let Hall carry on with fight camp, considering how his body apparently ‘completely shut down’ 3 weeks ago. Hope he’s alright. Bet Vitor jacks it in now, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boyfriend Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 This not televised lads? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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