UFC Denver: Zombie vs Rodriguez - Nov 10

[wandshogun09]

On Saturday 10th November it'll be almost 25 years to the day since UFC 1. So for the 25th Anniversary show, it's only fitting that the Octagon returns to Denver, Colorado. Where it all began. 

FOX SPORTS 1 MAIN CARD
Chan Sung Jung vs Yair Rodriguez 

Donald Cerrone vs Mike Perry 

Raquel Pennington vs Germaine De Randamie

Beneil Dariush vs Thiago Moises

Maycee Barber vs Hannah Cifers

Mike Trizano vs Luis Pena 

 

FOX SPORTS 1 PRELIMS
Amanda Cooper vs Ashley Yoder

Chas Skelly vs Bobby Moffett

Davi Ramos vs John Gunther

Devonte Smith vs Julian Erosa 

 

FIGHT PASS PRELIMS
Joseph Morales vs Eric Shelton

Mark De La Rosa vs Joby Sanchez 

 

I'm really digging that old school poster. And the card ain't bad either. 

 

Frankie Edgar vs Korean Zombie is a cracking main event. Two of my favourite fighters to watch and I'm fascinated by how these two will match up style-wise.

Edgar is one of the best ever. A future Hall Of Famer, former champion, a class act and holds wins over many of the top fighters in the game. He bounced back from the crushing Brian Ortega loss with a clear and comfortable second win over Cub Swanson in April in his last outing. He'll turn 37 in October so he's already outstayed his welcome as an elite fighter in the lighter weight classes. But he's far from shot and is still very much in the mix.

Zombie is awesome. But he's had such a stop/start career it's hard to know where he's at. Who knows where he'd be now if he'd been able to stay active the last 5 or so years. He first got everyone's attention with that absolute war with Leonard Garcia in WEC in 2010. In 2011 he made his UFC debut and had perhaps THE best first 3 fights of any debuting fighter in the UFC. First he subbed Garcia in their rematch via twister. Just look at this shit...

Who does that?! Has there ever been a more insane UFC debut than that? To this day it's the first and only finish by twister in UFC history. His next fight he knocked out top contender Mark Hominick in 7 seconds. Hominick had gone 5 competitive rounds with a prime Jose Aldo in his previous fight. Then he beat Dustin Poirier in a FOTY candidate. The MMA world was buzzing about this skinny little Korean bloke. That was 2012. It's now 2018 and he's only fought twice in the 6 years since. He got a title shot against Aldo in 2013 and was doing fairly well early on. But dislocated his shoulder in the 4th round of the fight and Aldo stopped him shortly after. After that it was injury upon injury. He also had to go back to Korea for mandatory military service during this time. He finally came back in early 2017 and knocked out Dennis Bermudez. And once again, he's been out injured ever since. 

Hopefully the Zombie makes it through camp this time because this should be all kinds of fun if it happens. Fighting Frankie Edgar after such a layoff probably isn't going to go well but you never know when it comes to the KZ. 

 

Donald Cerrone vs Mike Perry is ***WAND'S ONE TO WATCH*** for this card. I love this fight. How do you go wrong here? Perry's a knob but he's the kind of fighter who it's almost impossible to have a dud with because he's so aggressive it forces the action. And Cowboy doesn't need much encouragement to throw down as it is. Stylistically it's just one of those fan friendly fights that you can't miss. 

But there's an added layer to this whole thing. Perry recently started training at the Jackson-Winkeljohn gym in Albuquerque. Cerrone's been at Jackson-Wink almost from day one. So when this fight was first booked it seemed a bit odd as they'd recently become teammates and seemed pretty friendly. But within weeks Cerrone had left the gym and shit started hitting the fan. 

Here's Cerrone explaining it all on Rogan's podcast;

Sounds like a nasty split. The beef seems to be almost all between Cerrone and Winkeljohn. Cowboy's still clearly got time for Greg Jackson and many of the fighters at Jackson-Wink. But it sounds messy. Cerrone really went in dry on Winkeljohn on the JRE podcast, basically accusing Wink of being greedy for money, of ruining the gym and pushing him out in favour of the new guy Perry. Wink responded saying that Cerrone was selfish, not loyal and never helped any of their other fighters in their training camps. Of course, Perry being Perry, he's piped up throwing his two penneth in and it's all got a bit unpleasant. But what it's done is take an already fun fight on paper, and ramped up the intensity to where it's now a bit of a grudge match. Can't wait. 

 

Raquel Pennington vs Germaine De Randamie. Doesn't do a great deal for me but this could be decent actually. Last time we saw Pennington she was getting destroyed by Amanda Nunes and then sent out for even more of a destroying by her corner. Even after telling them she was "done". She's tough and game but it was the kind of sadistic, drawn out beating that a fighter might never be the same after. Last time we saw De Randamie she was being crowned the first ever UFC women's featherweight champion, outpointing Holly Holm. That was Feb 2017. She's been on a milk carton since after famously relinquishing her title to avoid defending it against Cyborg. I'd love to see Pennington bounce back with a good win here but GDR is a tricky opponent and an experienced striker. 

 

Maycee Barber vs Hannah Cifers is a complete mystery to me. Never seen either of these two before. It's all happening quickly for Maycee Barber. She's 20 years old and only turned pro in June 2017. She's gone 5-0 with 4 finishes in the year and a bit since. She won her fight on Dana's Contender Series in July, which earned her this spot. Just looking about her online I see pictures of her with Jon Jones, Diego Sanchez, John Dodson and the Pettis brothers. So she's already been in some top gyms. Hannah Cifers is 26 years old, 8-2 with 5 TKOs and she's primarily a Muay Thai striker. 

 

Mike Trizano vs Luis Pena is a battle of TUF: Stipe vs DC contestants. Trizano won the lightweight tournament, beating Joe Giannetti in the final. Pena beat Conor McGregor's SBG teammate Richie Smullen that same night. This fight makes sense and could well have been the TUF final in July but Pena was put out of the tournament with a broken foot. Pena's 6ft3, so a big 155er. But Trizano looked good against Giannetti who I think has potential himself. Could be a good one this.

 

Davi Ramos vs John Gunther has my attention. This Davi Ramos wasn't on my radar until recently but he's looked a bit of a beast of late. He's 8-2, a BJJ black-belt and ADCC champ and has submitted Nick Hein and Chris Gruetzemacher in his last 2. Not expecting him to make huge waves or anything but he looks handy. Gunther was on the Miocic vs Cormier season of TUF earlier this year. A likeable goof most will remember for his alpaca or llama impressions or whatever they were. He's a teammate of Stipe I think. 

 

Amanda Cooper vs Ashley Yoder has got to be a 'loser leaves town' situation. They were both used as Mackenzie Dern fodder in their last fights. Cooper got rocked with a punch and submitted in 2 minutes. Yoder managed to take Dern to a split decision. Cooper is 3-4 in her career now. I think the only reason she's getting another chance here after the Dern loss is because Dern badly missed weight for that fight. And Yoder's 5-4 and lost her last 3. They've pretty much got to sack the loser here.

 

Chas Skelly vs Bobby Moffett. I like watching Skelly. Tough bastard. He's a grinder but usually fun to watch with it. Got stopped by Jason 'Hick Diaz' Knight last time but subbed Chris Gruetzemacher and Maximo Blanco prior to that. Bobby 'The Wolfman' Moffett is 12-3, was also on Dana's Contender Series and has won his last 3 fights. This is a tough welcome to the UFC for him against Skelly. 

 

So there you have it. 25th Anniversary. We've had better but I like this card a lot. The top two fights especially. 

[Rey_Piste]

I've got to back my boy TKZ. it's a massive shame that he lost 4 years of active competition due to doing military service. Between that and a propensity for getting injured, he has had a very stop start run in UFC. He has never had a dull fight and it was amazing how close he got to beating Jose Aldo. If it wasn't for the fact that he punched him so hard he dislocated his shoulder he would've grabbed gold.

[Chunk]

Cowboy posted this on his Intagram yesterday but reports reckon the Perry fight is still on. Hmm.

 

[wandshogun09]

That's just Cowboy. He was probably out bullriding and got launched onto his arm and trampled by the bull. Nothing major. Just another Tuesday for him.  

[icke83]

Sorry to hijack but I just wondered if anyone who is signed up to the UFC newsletter received a presale code for this that I might be able to use as I never seem to receive the newsletter anymore and so signed up with a different email address and didn't get one there either.. Thanks

Apologies, i'm getting mixed up, it's 230 I would like a presale code for..

[wandshogun09]

According to MMAJunkie, Frankie Edgar is out injured. Yair Rodriguez has stepped in to fight Korean Zombie now.

Gutted about Edgar but that’s a great save and, really, style-wise it’s a better fight. If it happens anyway. There’s only 2 weeks to go so it should happen, but neither Zombie or Yair have the best track record with injuries. Wrap these two in bubble wrap for the next fortnight!

[Egg Shen]

excellent replacement, a Zabit/Zombie fight would have been even better though.

[WeeAl]

We've had quite a few great fights this year (Whittaker Vs Romero II, Gaethje Vs Poirier, Poirier Vs Alvarez II, Jacare Vs Gastelum, Ferguson Vs Pettis, Jacare Vs Weidman). However this show could have another two of the top fights of the year on the same night. Zombie Vs Yair could well be incredible, with both men coming off long lay offs and needing to make a statement. However Cerrone Vs Perry, it's just going to be wall to wall chaos isn't it? I can't wait for that fight. 

[wandshogun09]

This is tomorrow then. Can’t really go wrong with Zombie vs Yair. It’s going to be a good fight at least. At best it could be a FOTY contender. Winner to fight Zabit Magomedsharipov? You know it makes sense. 

For some reason I keep forgetting that Cerrone vs Perry fight is on this card as well. Can’t wait for that one. 

 

 

[Egg Shen]

a youtube channel called Anatomy of a Fighter has put out a 6 part series runnin upto this following Mike Perry, im gonna try and squeeze it in, looks pretty cool. Here's episode 1:

 

 

[d-d-d-dAz]

Jesus.

Not a great night, really. But happy for Cerrone that he can give Winkeljohn the middle finger.

And that elbow from beneath was ridiculous in the main. Dropped Zombie dead.

[Supremo]

Bonkers main even finish. Happened so fast that I was convinced it was a headbutt. Absolutely incredible when they showed the replay.

Had it been a headbutt, I assume Zombie would’ve won by DQ?

[WeeAl]

The main event delivered on the promise of being total chaos. Throw in the ludicrous finishing elbow and you have one of the fights of the year. A great come from behind win for Yair there, as I had him losing rounds 2, 3 and 4 and possibly 5 as well, despite them all being very close. Both men's stock will have raised from this fight, that's for sure. Though I expect Zombie's head hurts a little bit more. 

Great to see Cowboy see off Perry as well. I was afraid we might have gotten a Cerrone faceplant ending to that one as well, but the armbar finish was much more satisfying.

The only other thing I saw of the show was the last round of Pennington Vs De Randamie. I don't think I missed much by just watching the top two fights?

[wandshogun09]

Yeah I thought it was a headbutt in real time as well. The speed it happened plus the live camera angle made it look that way. Obviously the replay cleared that up to reveal what, for me, is now the nailed-on Knockout Of The Year. Crazy finish. Even moreso that it came at 4:59 of the fifth round in a fight he was losing on the cards! Talk about pulling a victory from the jaws of defeat. Two seconds later and he loses a decision. Shit to see the Zombie put out like that. We NEED that Yair vs Zabit fight rebooked. Now! 

Chuffed to see Cerrone beat Perry. I love watching Perry fight but I never get the love he gets, he’s a complete fucking helmet. Proper meathead twat. And with all the shite that went on with Cowboy and Jackson-Wink I was pulling for Cerrone big time here. Wasn’t the slobberknocker many expected but I’ll take Perry being forced to tap. Cool seeing Cowboy get that moment in Denver as well with his baby and his nan and stuff. 

Maycee Barber had a strong debut. Looked really relaxed in there, especially for someone so young making their UFC debut. She looked pretty solid in the striking but her chin was straight up in the air most of the fight, she won’t get away with that as she moves up the levels but so far, so good. Cifers’ cut was nasty. 

The Skelly vs Moffett finish was weird. The choke was in but I didn’t think Skelly was out. Felder on about his arm going limp and stuff but you could see Skelly was moving his legs and was waiting it out. The ref was a bit too quick to jump in and then the way Skelly jumped up immediately it was clear he wasn’t out. Thought the way he explained it post-fight was great and there’s an interview with him on about it here and his version makes sense to me. 

Feel bad for Skelly. To a prelimer like him this is a massive deal because like he says, that blunder cost him half his paycheque. 

Thought Davi Ramos stood out on the prelims. He’s looked a bit of a beast of late. 

Oh and how fucking cool was the whole old school presentation of this show? The little SEG era match graphics, the UFC 1 music, the logo on the mat...

Beautiful. Loved that little touch, it gave the whole show a different feel. I was going to say in the opening post that I hoped they’d do something like this but I didn’t think they would so I didn’t bother mentioning it. Great to see Dan Severn and Matt Hughes and that there as well. 

[Rey_Piste]

That main event was like 2 people button bashing in a fighting game. That bell beating KO was something nuts.I was gutted to see TKZ lose the fight like that, but it was incredibly entertaining.