UFC on ESPN: Ngannou vs Velasquez - Feb 17 🇺🇸

[jimufctna24]

3 minutes ago, Egg Shen said:

It would certainly have been different. I think a lot of people expected people to be throwing Bloodsport-style spinning kicks and extreme violence. Seeing any guy take people down and completely neutralise any type of threat was as confusing as it was impressive. 

As Jim Brown said on the night:

"Fighting isn't what we thought it was"

 

[BigJag]

This is this weekend right?

[wandshogun09]

Yeah. Sunday night though.

[WeeAl]

Yeah, but I believe it's actually on Sunday night. Which next week will make work very difficult, trying to get watching this show and Elimination Chamber all on the one day. Somehow, I don't think it will work out. 🤔

[BigJag]

There's not much hype with this. Anything I should be looking out for?

[wandshogun09]

The lack of hype could be partly because of Cain’s history of getting injured and people maybe taking a ‘I’ll believe it when they’re in the cage’ approach to it. 

But so far, and I know it’s still early days, I’ve found ESPN lacking a bit in the hype department for the shows. I thought we’d get a Countdown type show for this and/or Dillashaw vs Cejudo last month, something like FOX used to do with the ‘Road To The Octagon’ preview shows. But there was nothing like that for Dillashaw vs Cejudo and as far as I can tell there’s nothing like that for Cain vs Ngannou either. 

All I’ve really been able to find is these...

Short piece on Cain’s return;

Ngannou on Helwani’s show;

 

[jimufctna24]

Aye, I think a lot of people have lost faith in Cain. There is a real sense that he might turn up on Sunday evening and be a shell of his former self. Not only have the injuries potentially played a role in his decline, but he's also scheduled to fight for 5 rounds; something he hasn't done in 5 odd years. There is a real possibility that Ngannou could take him out early. Or the fight could descend into a bit of a farce with both men gassing badly. 

 

[wandshogun09]

It’s impossible for Cardio Cain to gas. Don’t you know that, Jim? He’s got a NEVER ENDING gastank! 

[AdamTH17]

I think Ngannou takes it in the first, personally. Not so much because I think Ngannou is so much better, but just because of how little there is to make of Cain at the moment. The huge gaps in his fighting and training with his numerous surgeries, the fact he's actively been knocking around WWE's performance centre, the fact he looks knackered (I know appearances aren't always truly representative of the fighter, but he looks absolutely worn out) - I just don't think it all adds up well for him come Sunday. If he isn't in the right place with the sport mentally, I think Francis turns his shit off. He's going to be well up for this one. He's got a massive chance here to make a proper statement, and get himself arguably in position for another crack at the belt (depending on where Miocic is at and the result of JDS/Lewis).

Ability wise, I'm sure Cain keeps up with, and in some areas massively beats out Ngannou - but physically and mentally, that's where I'm predicting his downfall to be.

[Ross18]

2 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

The lack of hype could be partly because of Cain’s history of getting injured and people maybe taking a ‘I’ll believe it when they’re in the cage’ approach to it. 

 But so far, and I know it’s still early days, I’ve found ESPN lacking a bit in the hype department for the shows. I thought we’d get a Countdown type show for this and/or Dillashaw vs Cejudo last month, something like FOX used to do with the ‘Road To The Octagon’ preview shows. But there was nothing like that for Dillashaw vs Cejudo and as far as I can tell there’s nothing like that for Cain vs Ngannou either. 

 All I’ve really been able to find is these...

Short piece on Cain’s return;

Ngannou on Helwani’s show;

 

I heard on a podcast (think it was Ariels new MMA Reporters one) they are doing a new show for Fight Nights called UFC Destined. Which they did for Cejudo & Dillashaw and are doing for Gracie v Caceres this week. Only problem is it is an ESPN+ exclusive. Which means we can't get it here. I did have a look to see if they would air the Cejudo v Dillashaw one on BT. But didn't see any sign of it. 

[wandshogun09]

Never even heard about that Ross. 

Shame. I mean, there’ll always be some hype bits and bobs if you look hard enough but that’s not the point of hype is it? You’re not supposed to have to go looking for hype yourself. There’s probably some decent stuff out there but Cain’s return should seem a lot bigger than it feels right now. We’re just 3 days out and it’s like nobody even knows it’s happening. I still think it’s probably partly down to people losing confidence that Cain makes it to the cage but it doesn’t help when there’s very little in the way of promotional content to get stuck into. It’ll improve somewhat over the next couple of days with the media interviews, weigh in etc but it feels like this fight is getting nowhere near the buzz it probably should be getting. It’s one of the best heavyweights we’ve ever seen in MMA, returning after 2 and a half years out, to face a top ranked one shot KO machine. Yet, to borrow a phrase from Chael Sonnen, “you could hear a rat piss on cotton” as far as anything resembling hype goes. 

Even just Embedded would’ve been better than nothing. 

[ColinBollocks]

Ya. TJ was saying ESPN has a lot of things planned, in terms of telling the story of the fighters and the fights. TJ said they're planning on doing more docs following fighters around and are even planning on doing ones that show you fighters after they've fought. Again, it's probably all ESPN+ content, so we're all going to have to track it down. Apparently, they did a really good job hyping TJ/Cejudo to their ESPN subs. It wouldn't surprise me if they're doing good work with this on ESPN too, just lost on all of us because it's ESPN exclusive content.

[wandshogun09]

Has he done it? Has he? Has Cain made it? I think he has, you know. 

Now maybe we can start getting excited! Is it just me as well or does Cain look a bit leaner than usual? It’s nothing drastic but I’m sure he looked fatter than this against Travis Rousey at UFC 200. It’ll be interesting to see what he weighs in at tomorrow. 

He seems in good spirits as well.

If Ngannou wins he won’t get the full credit due to Cain’s lay-off, but I’m not getting any bad vibes off Cain here. He looks in shape and he sounds in a good place mentally and well up for it. No doubt if Ngannou wallops him we’ll be hearing how both Cain’s legs fell off in camp and they had to glue them back on though. 

But yeah, I like what I’m seeing and hearing. 2 days to go. 

[Egg Shen]

yeh we probably aint seing some of the promo material because it goes exclusively to espn+ they need subscribers so they aint gonna put it all to youtube.

[ColinBollocks]

I think with this deal, just getting some heavy coverage on the likes of their Sky Sports News will be massive long term for building goodwill for the brand with your average Hank Washington, Jeff.

I'm excited for the main event and have been l since it was announced. It's one of those contests where you know exactly how either man will win it. As always with Ngannou, if Cain can survive the initial 2 minute tornado then you fancy his chances. I doubt Ngannou's Olympic-level wrestling will have improved much since the Stipe fight and Cain, if he's anywhere near his best, will absolutely drown Ngannou if he gets him against the cage. The blueprint is there from the Stipe fight, but you've basically got to be part Ninja for the opening half of the 1st or hope Ngannou forgets to punch.