The MMA general news, events and thoughts thread

[Dead Mike]

This feels like there'll be a bare knuckle rematch a few years down the line.

[Dzeko10]

I was down a rabbit hole on Youtube and ended up watching a few different UFC promos - UFC 200, 205, 214, 217 mainly but I forgot how great they are. 

The Jones vs DC 2 promo is probably the greatest one they have ever done though in my opinion. 

[wandshogun09]

The Rousey vs Holm and Aldo vs McGregor ones were also excellent. Both fights (UFC 193/194) were about a month apart as well. Whoever was doing those promos was on top of their game in late 2015.

193;

194;

And the original Aldo vs McGregor promo for their cancelled UFC 189 fight;

 

Edited February 5, 2021 by wandshogun09

[WeeAl]

4 hours ago, Egg Shen said:

 

Absolutely 100% on board with this fight for both men. The only type of fight that I think is appropriate for both men at this point. Both are similarly shot that it should be a fairly even (and possibly still exciting) affair. 

If it goes ahead, I'd guess Cowboy gets the W. 

[jimufctna24]

He's right. Ngannou is a -175 favourite with some US bookies. Whereas Miocic is +155. 

Miocic should have arguably handled DC a bit better in their trilogy, but he looked okay in their final meeting. Ngannou is on a hot streak, but I still don't think he's all that really. 

I think Miocic wins on points again. 

[Carbomb]

Bloody Vegas odds. No time for them. What's the point, even? Perfectly good system in place.

I don't see grounds to make Miocic an underdog. Ngannou is definitely better than their last meeting, and his puncher's chance is probably the biggest puncher's chance in MMA history and should not be discounted for one second, but Miocic's fight IQ is probably the best in HW MMA history too.

[wandshogun09]

I think Ngannou beats everyone bar Stipe at Heavyweight currently. But even though I don’t fancy him to beat Stipe, he’s always got the power that makes you question it. I’ll get the thread up for that soon. That fight and Volk-Ortega are ones we should be getting talking about and that show is only next month! 

[jimufctna24]

37 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

I think Ngannou beats everyone bar Stipe at Heavyweight currently.

Do you include Jones in that?

38 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

Volk-Ortega

Aye, that's the one I am looking forward to most. 

[wandshogun09]

8 minutes ago, jimufctna24 said:

Do you include Jones in that?

You got me. Somehow didn’t think of Jones. Purely skills-wise he mops the floor with Francis. Although the jury is massively out on him as a HW. It’s not like he’s looked amazing in his last few fights at 205. That could be just that he’s outgrown 205 and become disinterested. Or maybe it’s him finally becoming human after a decade plus of dominance. The fact he’ll be going right in against whoever the champ makes it even more interesting. 

[Dai]

Have we learnt anything new about Ngannou since his last title match? On the run up to the first match, he was KOing people within seconds. On the run up to this match, and excluding the Black Beast match, hes been KOing people in seconds. Watching him swinging like a maniac against Rozenstruik, or catching Cain with a shot hasnt taught us anything new about his game. The gameplan for Stipe is identical to the first time, and we have seen nothing in the interim to say that Ngannou has plugged the leaks in his wrestling or cardio. Stipe at 7/5 seems very generous

[jimufctna24]

 

15 hours ago, Dai said:

Have we learnt anything new about Ngannou since his last title match? On the run up to the first match, he was KOing people within seconds. On the run up to this match, and excluding the Black Beast match, hes been KOing people in seconds. Watching him swinging like a maniac against Rozenstruik, or catching Cain with a shot hasnt taught us anything new about his game. The gameplan for Stipe is identical to the first time, and we have seen nothing in the interim to say that Ngannou has plugged the leaks in his wrestling or cardio. Stipe at 7/5 seems very generous

I think the idea is that Miocic has regressed with the age. Not that Ngannou has significantly improved. 

I still think Miocic wins though. 

[Dai]

Yeah I think youre right that thats the angle they are going down, but there didnt seem to be any evidence of that during the DC trilogy did it? Just had a gander at Stipe's wiki page, and hes only 38, which for a heavyweight isnt that old. The heavy and light-heavy divisions seem to be more forgiving about a fighters age. Also checking his wiki, and in the last five years hes had 8 fights, 4 of which he finished in the first round. One KO loss and three fairly standard fights (not wars), and you think he should be in pretty good nick physically.

[Egg Shen]

Stipe doesnt seem like the kind of guy who's gonna hang around, i think he'll be out of the game by the time he's 40.

[David]

On 2/8/2021 at 5:21 PM, Carbomb said:

Bloody Vegas odds. No time for them. What's the point, even? Perfectly good system in place.

I don't see grounds to make Miocic an underdog. Ngannou is definitely better than their last meeting, and his puncher's chance is probably the biggest puncher's chance in MMA history and should not be discounted for one second, but Miocic's fight IQ is probably the best in HW MMA history too.

I've seen this mentioned a few times, and have to ask: based on what? 

What has he shown since that loss that makes anyone think he's negated the issues he had against Miocic? He lost to Derrick Lewis in a shitfest decision, and has had four first round knockouts after, none of which lasted longer than just over a minute.

Guess what? He went into the first Stipe fight as favourite if I recall, and he'd had four first round knockouts preceeding that as well. 

The first round was pretty dicey for Miocic, as it is for most of his opponents, but if I recall correctly the first frame ended with Miocic wobbling Ngannou after weathering the storm.

From the second round onwards it was all Stipe, and it wasn't just him taking down Francis and holding him there. He worked the dude on the cage, he killed him with leg kicks, he stung him with shots on the feet.

Now, could Ngannou be better? Could he have trained a whole bunch in avoiding leg kicks, in how to fight intelligently against the cage, and in how to better manage his gas tank when the fight hits the floor and he's faced with scrambles? Sure. But there's been absolutely fuck all sign of it in his fights since the first loss to Stipe. He's not been tested in such a way as to make anyone think "okay, he's filled in those holes in his game."

I don't see this much different from the first fight. Ngannou has about 3 minutes to land a knockout shot, after which he'll start to tire and Miocic will tear him up using his superior skills.

[Egg Shen]

You would think Ngannou would have improved since the first Stipe fight but is impossible to guage whether or not he has. The guy is so destructive he gets no actual cage time, which is really what he needs, its a strange problem to have. 

The fight is a pick em for me, but like the first I think it goes past 5 minutes, Stipe wins.

Edited February 10, 2021 by Egg Shen