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David

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Fuck, it was Alex. Don’t know why I put Charles. All these Oliveiras. 

In other news, the UFC are doing a bit of a spring clean of the roster. As well as the Justin Willis release they’ve also sacked Elias Theodorou, Wilson Reis, Marcelo Golm and Eric Shelton. 

Theodorou is the one that stands out there. Ex TUF winner and he’d won 5 of his last 6 before the recent loss to Derek Brunson. Bit of a Jon Fitch feel about that release. Can’t say I’ll miss him though. 

Edited by wandshogun09
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3 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

Theodorou is the one that stands out there. Ex TUF winner and he’d won 5 of his last 6 before the recent loss to Derek Brunson. Bit of a Jon Fitch feel about that release. Can’t say I’ll miss him though. 

I actually think he'll stand to make more coin outside the UFC as he'll now be able to take on sponsors and shit like that.

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Yeah and no doubt he’ll win more fights outside the UFC. Might actually be a positive for him. 

Is Ortega vs Zabit confirmed then? Saw rumours of that a while back but haven’t seen it made official. Great fight if it comes off. 

Edited by wandshogun09
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Faber’s actually been on about fighting again recently. And he grappled at Polaris the other day. He’s always got something on the go, old Arse Chin. 

This is worth a watch;

Oh, Faber’s actually saying he’s already accepted a comeback fight. The UFC are back in Sacramento this summer so that would make sense. 

Edited by wandshogun09
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Bit surprised if that’s the case. Judging by how Hardy was hinting at it in that video I posted I thought it must be something juicier than that. A biggish name or something. Although nobody obvious is springing to mind. 

Ricky Simon might beat him, to be honest. I thought he looked a bit of a beast when he beat Rani Yahya (who’s never been easy to beat or look good against) on whichever show it was a few months back. And Faber never looked very good really in his last year or so fighting. Unless becoming a dad has really lit a fire under him like with Cerrone or something, I find it hard to see him  having much success in his comeback. 

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When I heard that he was serious about being on this Sacramento show I was hoping they might pair him with Barao or somebody like that. Then I see it's Ricky Simon and it's just a fight that I can't understand.

Faber is what, 40? He's never winning a UFC belt. He's been retired a couple of years now and was on the downside when he hung them up. Now he's coming back to fight a young, hungry up and comer that doesn't have a name yet, but who is fast as all hell in a division that is all about speed. What are we doing here? Sure it'll probably help Simon, and Faber will cash a pretty nice cheque off of it, but I've never gotten the feeling the UFC was in the Ricky Simon hype business. 

Either pair Urijah up with someone you want to tip over the edge with that extra name on their record, or give him a comparable fight against another guy that's in the twilight of his career. It's like the Anderson Vs Cannonier fight. I just don't get it. 

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I was even half expecting something like Faber vs BJ Penn. As sad as that would be at this point. It’s a name fight and a kind of ‘seniors’ match that Faber would almost certainly win. Then with the rust off, maybe look at other fights. Yeah, another go with Barao might’ve been decent too. 

I’d get this more if Dillashaw wasn’t suspended. Faber vs Dillashaw is a natural fight, although Faber would’ve most likely got proper battered. 

Like you, I just don’t really see where this leads. He’s even saying himself he’s not necessarily looking for a run at the title. So what’s the crack? It’s not like there’s really any obvious money fights about in his weight range. And the top boys at 135/145 will smoke him at this point. Fair play if he still wants to compete but I don’t see it ending well for him. I kind of felt like he was one of the few guys who did it right and retired at as close to the perfect time as possible. And on a win in his hometown to boot. I don’t see him ending his career any better than he did then. 

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I dont think anyone can ever fault Faber for going down the predicatable route. If there's anyone whos earned the right to take a legacy/showcase type fight its Faber, instead he comes back and challenges one of the best new names in the division. Guy loves to challenge himself.

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The upcoming Sacramento show that Faber will be returning on has one of the weakest main events in quite some time. It's just been announced as Germaine de Randamie Vs Aspen Ladd. As a main event, that does absolutely nothing for me. 

https://www.mmafighting.com/2019/5/29/18645039/germaine-de-randamie-vs-aspen-ladd-announced-for-ufc-sacramento-main-event

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Yeah, on its own I’m actually interested to see that fight. I think Aspen Ladd has some real potential and this’ll be her first time in with a proper seasoned striker and her first 5 rounder. But as a main event it’s just dead on arrival. No getting away from it.

They’d have been better off just sticking the Faber fight on top, even with Ricky Simon not being well known. Faber will almost certainly be the biggest star on the card, he’s the hometown boy and his comeback will be the main talking point going into the show anyway. That will be the ‘peoples main event’. The crowd will probably be dead after Faber’s fight. Some probably won’t even stick around for Ladd vs GDR. 

I suppose one of the reasons for not putting Faber vs Simon on top is maybe that they didn’t want to put Faber straight into a 5 rounder in his first fight back. But fuck...I get wanting to give a prospect like Ladd some spotlight but you can do that by sticking her in a featured fight under a big fight. Even her prelim fight with Evinger, that got more attention than it probably would’ve usually because it was on the Khabib vs McGregor card. Oh well. They’re not all going to be blockbusters.

That Sacramento show’s on my birthday as well. Could’ve given me something a bit better. 

Edit - Just looked up the card on Wiki. They’ve got Josh Emmett vs Mirsad Bektic and a really intriguing Darren Elkins vs Ryan Hall fight on there. They’re the standouts so far for me. But yeah, it’s not the best of cards.

Edited by wandshogun09
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