UFC Fight Night: Cerrone vs Medeiros - Feb 18

[wandshogun09]

Another Sunday Fight Night on February 18th in Austin, Texas. 

FOX SPORTS 1 MAIN CARD
Donald Cerrone vs Yancy Medeiros

Derrick Lewis vs Marcin Tybura 

James Vick vs Francisco Trinaldo 

Thiago Alves vs Curtis Millender

Brandon Davis vs Steven Peterson 

Sage Northcutt vs Thibault Gouti

 

FOX SPORTS 1 PRELIMS
Jared Gordon vs Carlos Diego Ferreira 

Brian Camozzi vs Geoffrey Neal 

Roberto Sanchez vs Joby Sanchez 

Sarah Moras vs Lucie Pudilova

 

FIGHT PASS PRELIMS
Josh Burkman vs Alex Morono

Oskar Piechota vs Tim Williams

 

Completely forgot about this but really liking the look of this card. 

 

Cowboy Cerrone vs Yancy Medeiros should be a belter. Just a fan friendly scrap between two guys who enjoy a good ruck. Cowboy's badly in need of a win now as he's coming into this fight off 3 consecutive losses. They were losses to Jorge Masvidal, Robbie Lawler and a surging Darren Till so there's no shame there. But at the end of the day losses are losses and if he loses again here, 4 in a row is going to be hard to come back from. I thought Cerrone was on about going back down to lightweight after Till smashed him but this is a welterweight bout so obviously plans changed. 

Yancy Medeiros has been one of those under the radar fighters in the UFC. He's got a bit of an interesting story. Believe it or not he actually started his MMA career off as a light heavyweight. A quick Google image search and you can find pictures of him as a bloated 205er. He dropped to middleweight when Strikeforce signed him and eventually dropped a further two weight classes all the way to 155 for his UFC debut. Unfortunately he lost to Rustam Khabilov and went on to have a decent but a bit of a patchy run at lightweight. Since going back up to 170 in 2016 though, he's gone 3-0 with 3 finishes. He submitted Sean Spencer, TKO'd the once hyped Erick Silva and in his last fight at UFC 218 he rallied to TKO another 'Cowboy' in Alex Oliveira in one of the best fights of last year. So at first glance some might question why Medeiros is getting such a big name fight and a headline position, but he's earned it through hard graft, 3 impressive wins and a genuine FOTY contender. 

Real good fight this. Might seem a bit off with Cerrone on a losing streak and Medeiros on a winning streak but whatever. I like the matchup. 

 

Derrick Lewis vs Marcin Tybura co-mains. Seems like forever since we had a Black Beast sighting. It's been a while. His last fight was in June, a TKO loss to Mark Hunt. Before that though, he was on a 6 fight streak, 5 by KO/TKO. He got married almost right after the Hunt fight if I remember correctly so I guess he's just been chilling. He also talked about retiring after that fight so fuck knows where his head is at. Tybura's no joke though, so hopefully the Beast is up for this. If not it could be a crappy night for him. Tybura is a big old unit. He's Polish, 32 years old, BJJ brown-belt out of Greg Jackson's camp. 16-3 record and just went the distance with Werdum in November. He decisioned Arlovski in his fight prior to that. He's decent. And he looked like he was getting in better shape last time out against Werdum as well. Could see this being a rough one for Lewis myself. If he doesn't land a bomb early I reckon Tybura takes it. 

 

Vick vs Trinaldo is my ***WAND'S ONE TO WATCH*** this time. One of those fights that nobody will probably talk about but I could see really delivering on the night. These two have been in great form for a while now, stacking up the wins on the undercards, but they never seem to climb for whatever reason. Vick was vocal about it after his win over Polo Reyes last May. He's 12-1 now, most of his wins inside the distance. And he TKO'd Joseph Duffy in his last fight at UFC 217 at MSG. You'd think he'd get a big name after that but instead he's matched with another tough gatekeeper. Trinaldo has won 8 of his last 9 fights. The only blemish was a loss to Kevin Lee. He has wins over Jim Miller, Yancy Medeiros, Paul Felder and Ross Pearson and has a very solid 22-5 record. Yet, like Vick, never gets anywhere. Look out for this fight. It's an opportunity for one of these guys to really make a statement, break out and potentially advance from 'gatekeeper' to 'contender'. I like Vick in this one. He's the better striker, he's got good submissions, he's 9 years younger (Trinaldo is 39 now) and he's a Texan so he'll have the home crowd behind him. Trinaldo's a tank though. He's spoiled many a good fighter's plans. 
 

Alves vs Millender is a fight I'm into purely because I'm an Alves fan. Can't say I'm familiar with Curtis Millender but he's riding a 6 fight win streak (14-3 overall) and scored headkick knockouts in his last 2 fights for Legacy FC. I hope this fight actually happens. Seems like I'm always previewing Alves fights that end up not happening these days. If it's not him getting injured it's weird shit like the Zak Cummings fight getting called off the other week because Cummings slipped getting out the bath. Wrap these two in bubblewrap until the 18th. 

 

Jessica Aguilar vs Livia Renata Souza is a bit of a mystery to me. Aguilar was once thought one of the best strawweights on the planet but she's barely fought the last few years. She's been under UFC contract for 3 years and has only fought twice in that time. Losing to both Claudia Gadelha and Cortney Casey. She was on a 10 fight streak before that but she's lost all the momentum and consistency she once had with the layoffs. She's 19-6 now and at 35 really needs to get shit going. Souza is making her UFC debut. I'm interested. She's 26 years old, former Invicta champ, 11-1 record with her only loss being a 5 round split decision loss to Angela Hill where she lost the title. She's a black belt in BJJ and looks like she might have some potential, IMO. Good signing and should make a solid addition to the strawweight division. 

 

Super Sage vs Thibault Gouti opens the main card. Sage is another Texan so the crowd should be into this one. Sage is 9-2 in his career now. His only losses were at welterweight and both by submission. After his last defeat to Mickey Gall he missed most of 2017 with injuries. He returned as a lightweight in November and comfortably outpointed Michel Quinones. The hype has cooled massively but I still think Sage has bags of potential. He's still only 21 years old and people forget that he's still unbeaten at 155. There are holes in his game, like any 21 year old, but he has time on his side. Gouti is French, 12-3 record and has lost to pretty much anyone decent he's come up against. Feels like another rebuilding fight for Sage but you never know. Gouti did stop Andrew Holbrook in his last fight and Holbrook's beat some decent opposition. 

 

Jared Gordon vs Carlos Diego Ferreira is my pick of the prelims. I like what I've seen of Flash Gordon so far. 14-1 record, 2-0 in the UFC. Trains BJJ under Renzo and Danaher. Interesting backstory too, he's a former heroin and pain pills addict. 

"I overdosed 3 times. I was facing 25 years to life at one point. I've been homeless, panhandling, I've been to psych wards. I've been to rehab 10 times, and I've had near death situations. At this point, I just consider myself grateful and extremely lucky and blessed to be where I am" - Jared Gordon

He's got a tough fight ahead of him in Ferreira. I really like Ferreira as well. He hasn't fought in 2 years but he's a really strong grappler (3rd degree BJJ black belt) and has a 12-2 record with his only losses to Dustin Poirier and Beneil Dariush. He was a good fighter a couple of years back, fuck knows now. MMA moves fast. 

So yeah, tidy little Fight Night there. 

[Egg Shen]

surely the first time we've ever come to the day of a UFC show and had no responses in the thread, strange times.

 

[WeeAl]

This is a pretty tidy looking fight night main card, quite a few exciting fights there. Cerrone Vs Medeiros should tell us quite a bit about Cowboy. If he is still good enough to be relevant in the top ten, then he'll be beating Yancy. If Cerrone loses this one though then that's a telling sign for things to come. I expect a hell of an exciting fight either way you cut it.

Trinaldo could be a banana skin for Vick, if he beats him though then he needs somebody in the top ten. With the run Vick is on he needs the opportunity to try and move forward. 

I like Lewis Vs Tybura as a match up for both guys. I'm not sleeping on Tybura though and I think he'll take this one to a decision and get the nod for being more active.

I'm shocked to hear Alves Vs Millender looks like it might go ahead. Alves' fights have been falling apart at the last minute constantly. He looked good his last time out so hopefully Thiago can produce something similar here. 

[wandshogun09]

These Sunday Fight Nights have a way of creeping up unnoticed a lot of times. I think some people forget they're even happening when they look and see no UFC on the Saturday. I'm not really a fan of it being on a Sunday myself. Don't know why and it doesn't make a massive difference but I definitely prefer it on a Saturday or even the old mid-week Wednesday Fight Night like they used to do. 

It's a good little card though, I think. The fights WeeAl's mentioned there are all ones I'm interested in plus you've got Sage on there and Gordon vs Ferreira is a sleeper IMO as well. 

[jimufctna24]

For years, I associated Sunday evenings with MMA. Bravo used to show UFC events on a 24 hour delay; meaning that they were usually shown on a Sunday evening. Also, back in the early-ish days of torrents, it used to take until Sunday evenings to download UFC/EliteXc/Affliction shows. It's much easier to watch shows live today. 

The problem with shows being held on Sunday evening in the States is that most people in the UK won't get to see them until Monday evening. When they are held on Saturday or Friday evenings people often don't have to work the next day. Therefore, they can watch the shows live, or the next morning. Not many in the UK are going to stay up until 6am to watch a fight night card then drag themselves off to work a few hours later. It's also rare these days that the UFC do a show on a Sunday evening that has much relevance. It's usually a small fight-night show, so it's not an occasion that fans associate with big fights or anything. 

The UFC aren't the first to host shows on a Sunday. The WEC used to run shows on a Sunday night as well. In fact, they also used to run mid-week shows as well. I remember it being a right ball-ache when it came to avoiding results for those shows. 

 

[wandshogun09]

Exactly my point Jim. In the UFC on Bravo days it wasn't ideal avoiding results from Saturday night but the shows would air on Sunday at about 9pm. It was doable and wasn't too late on the Sunday so you could avoid the results, watch it 'as live' on Sunday evening and still get to bed for a human hour to be able to get up for work on the Monday. 

No chance of that with these live Sunday shows now obviously. So I just set them to record and watch them when I can. Hoping for the best that I won't get it spoiled but I often do, either by someone telling me at work or accidentally seeing something online. Fortunately, like you say, there's rarely anything of real significance on a Sunday show so a spoiler, while never good, isn't the end of the world. It's not like having a big PPV title fight ruined or anything. I usually try to catch the shows on the Monday evening if I get some free time but it's not always possible with my daughter around. She's the boss of my time (and the telly) these days. It'd actually be easier for me personally if they stuck the Sunday shows on a Wednesday night like they used to because my wife and daughter go to my in-laws on a Thursday after school so I have the house to myself for a few hours when I get back from work most Thursday afternoons. 

And yeah, when I got hooked on WEC that was a right pisser to catch their shows. They'd air on the Sunday night in America and we never got any TV coverage at all over here. So it'd be a case of torrents as and when or looking on YouTube or obscure MMA fight video sites and trying to watch everything before it got pulled down. We never got any WEC TV coverage over here until Extreme Sports started airing repeats years later, and I think that was after WEC folded which was annoying. Strikeforce coverage was choppy as well. Sometimes it was on Bravo, sometimes on a week delay, the timeslots were all over the place and changing constantly. Then they aired a few shows on Primetime and charged PPV for it which wasn't great but it was refreshing at least being able to watch Strikeforce live for once on TV, and not on a fuck awful stream with incessant popups for Russian brides and shit like that every 3 minutes. Not to mention UFC prelims. Back then you'd get the main card on Bravo, on 24 hour delay, with long breaks throughout the show including in the middle of fights. Seriously, that felt like the longest 5 minutes ever during the ad break between rounds in the Chuck Liddell vs Wanderlei Silva fight! No prelims unless a bunch of fights ended early and they managed to squeeze them into the main card broadcast. Otherwise it was either a case of waiting for the DVD to come out months later, hoping they'd pop up on Unleashed of something, or you'd never see these prelims. I'll never forget how chuffed I'd be when I'd be watching a UFC PPV on Bravo on a Sunday and the main event would end early and the graphic for a prelim you weren't expecting to be able to watch would appear on screen. Getting to see a prelim back then felt like a reward or something. Like a bonus. MMA fans who got into it after say 2011/12ish really don't understand how much better the coverage is now. So I can't even complain about these Sunday Fight Nights. It's better than the old 24 hour delay system any day. But I do prefer it on a Saturday or Friday for the reasons you outlined Jim. 

[jimufctna24]

20 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

Strikeforce coverage was choppy as well. Sometimes it was on Bravo, sometimes on a week delay, the timeslots were all over the place and changing constantly. Then they aired a few shows on Primetime and charged PPV for it which wasn't great but it was refreshing at least being able to watch Strikeforce live for once on TV, and not on a fuck awful stream with incessant popups for Russian brides and shit like that every 3 minutes.

I don't remember Strikeforce charging PPV over here. Must have slipped my mind. I do remember Bravo showing some Strikeforce shows and the Fedor vs Arlovski Affliction show. I agree about it being a treat to watch such events on TV. I would always wait to watch events on TV, provided they were shown on a 24 hour delay. 

[wandshogun09]

Yeah, if you recall we got a few Strikeforce shows on the Primetime PPV channel around 2011/12. The Heavyweight GP tournament shows were all on there. They did a deal where if you ordered the GP as a whole at the start, rather than order each show separately, you got a discount. They also charged for a couple more shows around then. I remember paying for the Nick Diaz vs Paul Daley and Fedor vs Hendo shows which I looked at as money well spent after as they were pretty great shows. 

[jimufctna24]

Yep, that offer rings a bell now you mention it.

They were indeed great shows. Strikeforce was ace around that period. The only show from that period I remember being shit was the one from Nashville where Hendo fought Shields with a bad back and Mayhem got into a post-fight brawl with the Diaz brothers. That one was shown on Bravo I believe.

 

[WeeAl]

Like yourselves, Sunday is always associated as MMA night for me, simply due to mainly watching fights on Sunday nights for years, after avoiding spoilers that day. Shows on live in the middle of Sunday night though definitely go under my radar for MMA, though strangely the opposite would be the case for wrestling. 

This week however it's worked out well for me due to being my week for weekend rotation in work, so I get tomorrow off and plan to watch tonight's show first thing in the morning. With that being the case, I'm pretty glad the card looks to have some very exciting pairings on there. 

[d-d-d-dAz]

Hawaiian cakes for the producers. Hugs. Grandmas. That main event was crazy.

Good to see Cowboy back in the win column, but not sure there’s much future for him at WW.

I’d love to get in the mind of the producer just before he thought ‘hey, there’s Nate Diaz...let’s get him on screen, what could go wrong?’

[Supremo]

Nate Diaz whipping out a joint on live television is the best thing to happen in the UFC for ages. I hope he comes back for a fight. He’s the type of character this company sorely misses.

[WeeAl]

Fair play to Nate Diaz. He just doesn't give a fuck, does he? He's made his money, he seems happy, he doesn't seem to be a big spender, and he can fight again if he wants to but doesn't appear to need/have to. Charlie Sheen may even say that Nate, is Winning. 

A good win there for Cowboy. I have to say, how he looked in his walkout and in the cage, I expected this to end up a bad night for Donald. He got the job done though when he needed it most. I'm sure we'll see him fight again by the time June is over, whether that is at 155 or 170 remains to be seen. If they need him to plug a gap, wherever it may be, I don't see him saying 'no thanks'. 

Derrick Lewis pulled one out of his ass right there. The fight was going exactly as I thought it would but he threw a few of those boulders at Tybura and it was all she wrote. Lewis Vs Ngannou next for me please. 

Super Sage calling Urijah, "Mr. Faber"😂 White Picket fences, old glory, apple pie, coca cola, football, and Sage Northcutt. Any wonder America loves him. He's the biggest stereotype I've ever seen, and I can't help but root for him. 

[Carbomb]

Anyone else thinking that Sage Northcutt vs. Nate Diaz would be a complete riot in the build-up, just on the basis of their respective backgrounds?

[OzExile]

I'm not a fan of Sunday night cards really. Sunday night are for WWE PPVs! 

 

Saw a few bits of this card, just feel overwhelmed at the amount of UFC being shoved down our throats at the moment.  If you took the best of this card and the best of last week's ppv - you've got a fucking belter of a card that is a must buy. Instead they'll saturate us with B or C standard shows.  Needs to change.   We need time to breathe and crave more fights rather than them coming so soon.