Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted March 9, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted March 9, 2019 On Saturday 30th March, the Octagon returns to Philadelphia for the first time since 2011. ESPN MAIN CARDEdson Barboza vs Justin Gaethje David Branch vs Jack Hermansson Michael Johnson vs Josh Emmett Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs Michelle Waterson Paul Craig vs Kennedy Nzechukwu Sheymon Moraes vs Sodiq Yusuff  ESPN PRELIMSJessica Aguilar vs Marina Rodriguez Ross Pearson vs Desmond Green Kevin Aguilar vs Enrique Barzola Kevin Holland vs Gerald Meerschaert  ESPN+ PRELIMSRay Borg vs Casey Kenney Maryna Moroz vs Sabina Mazo Alex Perez vs Mark De La Rosa   Liking that. The main event is pure fireworks and there’s a steady flow of decent quality throughout the rest of the card.  Edson Barboza vs Justin Gaethje is where it’s at. It’s ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** here despite me usually trying to highlight something from the undercard that might go overlooked. This is the one though on this card. If it was just this fight with no prelims at all I’d be just as excited. Maybe the two most devastating leg kickers in the game today. To be honest, I’d be quite content to just watch these two solely throw leg kicks until one of them buckles. Settle it that way. This is either going to be a hell of a fight or a quick finish. Either way it’s going to be must-see. Barboza snapped a horrible two fight losing streak in his last outing, and got back to winning ways by battering a surging Dan Hooker to a third round TKO. It was exactly what he needed coming off the beatdowns he suffered against Khabib and Kevin Lee. And Gaethje is in a similar boat. He lost to Eddie Alvarez and Dustin Poirier in back-to-back FOTY contenders but got back in the win column with a first round KO against James Vick in August. So this is coming at a good time for both really. Both men will be coming in confident and with a little bit of momentum behind them. Barboza vs Gaethje promo; Can’t wait for this one. It’s came around quick as well. Only a few weeks away now.  David Branch vs Jack Hermansson could be good. Branch needs to start putting some wins together now. After an impressive streak outside the UFC, he’s gone 2-2 since returning to the big show. Things looked to be clicking for him when he stopped Thiago Santos last April. But then in November he got TKO’d by late replacement Jared Cannonier in a bit of a shocker. When you consider that Cannonier is now booked against Anderson Silva, that could’ve been Branch’s big break against a huge name at the tail end of his career. An opportunity lost. So he’ll be wanting to make a statement here. Sweden’s Hermansson is no joke, despite the ‘Joker’ nickname. 18-4 record with some good wins including stoppages over Thales Leites and Gerald Meerschaert in his last two. It’s a fight I think Branch should win but you never know.  Michael Johnson vs Josh Emmett...man, how Michael Johnson has plummeted. It doesn’t seem that long ago since he knocked out Dustin Poirier in a round does it? Now look where they both are. Poirier is headlining the next PPV in an interim title fight and Johnson...well he’s the second curtain jerk prelim. Those 3 consecutive losses to Khabib, Gaethje and Elkins really did a number on him. To be honest, I think he hasn’t really been right since that war with Gaethje. He’s actually won his last 2 fights but didn’t look at all impressive in either one. And they were against Andre Fili and Artem Bastard Lobov. Guys I think he’d have wrecked a couple of years previously. At just 32, he just looks a bit weathered. Emmett will likely be best remembered for his big KO over Ricardo Lamas not too long back. He got smashed by Jeremy Stephens in his next fight and hasn’t fought for a solid year now. Bit of a nothing happening matchup really.  Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs Michelle Waterson would’ve probably been my one to watch from the undercard actually. Love this fight. Pretty evenly matched and I think their styles will match up well. Kowalkiewicz is 12-3, a good fighter, technical striking. Her career highlight so far is her win over current strawweight champion Rose Namajunas back in 2016. Unfortunately she’s had a rough go of it since then, going 2-3. Her losses have been to top fighters like Joanna Jedrzedjcyk, Claudia Gadelha and Jessica Andrade but it’s been a bumpy ride. The Andrade loss in her last fight was particularly brutal, Andrade knocked her out with a bomb in about 2 minutes. So Kowalkiewicz is trying to rebound from that here. Waterson has been around the sport forever. Since before women’s MMA was really a thing. She’s 16-6 now, former Invicta atomweight champ, beat Felice Herrig and Cortney Casey in her last 2 fights and submitted Paige VanZant. Good fight. I think the striking could be about 50/50, Kowalkiewicz is probably slightly bigger but I’d give Waterson the grappling advantage.  Paul Craig vs Kennedy Nzechukwu is a bit of a mystery fight to me. I don’t know what to make of Paul Craig. He came into the UFC unbeaten and looking promising. He won his first 9 MMA fights, with 9 finishes, and looked like someone we should be throwing into that mix of new blood 205ers we’ve been on about recently. Since then he’s had a bit of a nightmare. He’s gone 1-3 in his last 4 (so he’s 10-3 now, for those keeping score) and even the win, he was losing literally until the last second when he miraculously tapped Magomed Ankalaev with a triangle choke at 4:59 of the fucking third! He then got subbed by Jim Crute in his last fight. Kennedy Nzechukwu (seriously, fuck off with that spelling) is 26 years old, unbeaten at 6-0 with 4 TKOs and was on Dana’s Contender thing.  Sheymon Moraes vs Sodiq Yusuff could well be a sleeper. I think Moraes is a bit better than he’s given credit for. He’s 11-2 but the two losses were to Zabit Magomedsharipov and Marlon Moraes (no relation). Aside from that he’s won his last couple of UFC fights and has a WSOF win over Luis Palomino, who went to war with Gaethje twice in that promotion. Yusuff is 8-1 out of Lloyd Irvin’s gym. He was on Dana’s Contender Series and won his UFC debut on the Adelaide show in December via first round TKO.  Ross Pearson vs Desmond Green is just kind of there. Shame Pearson is floundering. He’s always seemed proper sound and had a lot of potential coming off winning that UK vs USA season of TUF. But that was 10 years ago now and he hasn’t really evolved with the times. He’s still pretty much the same fighter he was back in 2009. He’s really in a slump as well. Looking at his record just now, he’s 3-7 in his last 10! Green has lost 3 of his last 4 himself but he doesn’t feel anywhere near as far gone as Pearson when you watch him. Could actually be a ‘loser leaves’ situation here.  Kevin Aguilar vs Enrique Barzola is a fight that I actually think deserved higher billing than this. Just based off Aguilar’s forgotten gem of a fight with Rick Glenn on the Usman-RDA undercard in November I’d have rewarded Aguilar with a main card spot here. Seriously, if you didn’t catch Aguilar vs Glenn you should fix that. Aguilar looks decent beyond that as well. He’s 16-1 with 11 finishes. And Barzola is a similar kind of fighter. A scrappy Peruvian fighting out of ATT with a 15-3-1 record. He’s won his last 4 fights and he’s never been stopped.  Maryna Moroz vs Sabina Mazo might be worth a look. Moroz is one of those fighters that has a misleading record IMO. She’s 8-3 and has lost her last 2 but when I watch her I always think she should be doing better than she is. Sadly, she seemed to peak in her UFC debut where she submitted Joanne Calderwood in a round then called out Joanna Jedrzedjcyk. She’s had very mixed results since then. She’s moving up to flyweight here though so maybe that’ll make a difference for her as we’ve seen with Calderwood and Jessica Eye recently. Sabina Mazo is making her UFC debut here. She’s only 21 years old, Colombian, trains at Kings MMA and is undefeated at 6-0.  Not crazy stacked or anything but a really strong main event and some good stuff sprinkled throughout the undercard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted March 28, 2019 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 28, 2019 This is 2 days away for fuck’s sake. Edson Barboza. Justin Gaethje. In a cage. Yet crickets from you lot. Sort it out. Good news as well. It’s on early for us. Prelims start at 9pm on BT Sport 2, with the main card kicking off at 11pm. So Barboza vs Gaethje should be starting around 1am-ish or thereabouts. Yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted March 28, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted March 28, 2019 11pm sounds lovely! rolls straight in from the Matchroom card on Sky. I skipped last week's show, i wont be skipping this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted March 28, 2019 Share Posted March 28, 2019 I will be burnt out after the Matchroom card. But I will be sure to catch Gaethje and Barboza the next day. I can't miss a Justin Gaethje fight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted March 28, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted March 28, 2019 4 hours ago, wandshogun09 said: This is 2 days away for fuck’s sake. Edson Barboza. Justin Gaethje. In a cage. Yet crickets from you lot. Sort it out.  😂 I have to say, until listening to the Co-Main Event podcast there yesterday, I'd totally forgotten about it. Suffering from too many show syndrome. What a fucking killer fight though. Barring a crazy, flash KO in the opening exchanges, this has three to four rounds of violence written all over it. I can't see both men being able to make it to R5. They're absorbing a serious amount of damage in this one. It's a shame but I'll not see it until Sunday night at the earliest, but probably Monday morning before work. Family things Saturday night through until tea time on Mother's Day will see to that. I'll get seeing it before I hear the result though, which is the main thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted March 28, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted March 28, 2019 4 hours ago, wandshogun09 said: 😂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted March 30, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted March 30, 2019 On 3/9/2019 at 4:35 PM, wandshogun09 said: Edson Barboza vs Justin Gaethje Good Lord. How have I only just spotted this? What a tit. I wonder how many spinning shit Gaethje eats during this? We should all have a guess - my go is 86. Paul Craig has sadly come unstuck and looks to have been exposed at the UFC level. I think David said he has a successful businesses, so fighting isn't necessarily his main focus now. Handy considering how far off the pace he's looked.  Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted March 30, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted March 30, 2019 I have the feeling Gaethje finally uses his wrestling here, whilst they are two of the best leg kickers in the UFC i dont like Gaethje's chances going kick for kick with Edson. Watch the stupid fucker stand and try it now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted March 30, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted March 30, 2019 35 minutes ago, Egg Shen said: I have the feeling Gaethje finally uses his wrestling here, whilst they are two of the best leg kickers in the UFC i dont like Gaethje's chances going kick for kick with Edson. Watch the stupid fucker stand and try it now... I can see Barboza stuffing a couple of takedowns and Gaethje just going for it, kick for kick, after. Now watch it turn into a dull wrestlefuck contest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted March 30, 2019 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 30, 2019 Well if there was ever a time for Gaethje to wrestle, it’s now. The Khabib and Kevin Lee fights laid out the blueprint on how Barboza can be shut down with wrestling. Gaethje could make this fight a lot easier if he goes that route. Not necessarily even a full-on wrestlefuck job. Even just mixing in the odd takedown could throw Barboza off and also open up more possibilities for Gaethje to land a bomb. But I can’t see the daft sod doing that. Gaethje just loves a tear up. Even if he is planning to wrestle a bit, once he takes a dig or a kick to the legs he’ll most likely turn green with rage and the pride/ego will take over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted March 30, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted March 30, 2019 did anyone see the gif of Gaethje losing his shit at the UFC press conference when Kevin Lee & Michael Chiesa kicked off? the guy was giddy like a kid on Christmas morning, he aint wired right. edit* here it is: Â Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panhead Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 I didn't expect Gaethje to put him away like that. I'm fully onboard the Gaethje train until the mad bastard's wheels fall off. Decent night of action. I think Michelle Waterson has done enough for the next title shot, unless Suarez smashes Ansaroff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 Breen said earlier in the week that Gaethje was worth a punt. Breen reasoned that Gaethje would be able to walk down Barboza and trap him in the phonebooth where his offensive arsenal would be nullified. Given that the fight, as brief as it was, mostly featured the fighters sitting in the phonebooth and Gaethje prevailing, he wasn't far wrong. I assume the winner of Cerrone and Ragin Al could be next for Gaethje. Both of those match-ups would be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d-d-d-dAz Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 The leg kick battle in the main event was one of the most spiteful things I’ve ever seen in a cage. Made me really fear for their shins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Bus Surfer Posted April 1, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted April 1, 2019 I just want Justin v Khabib. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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