UFC 237: Namajunas vs Andrade - May 11 🇧🇷

[David]

I always figured he was a cert to hit the top level grappling scene once he finished MMA. Apparently not.

[wandshogun09]

Man, them last 3 results were a bit of a downer but thought this was a good show all in all. 

Thought Andrade vs Namajunas was fantastic while it lasted. Had a feeling Andrade was going to prove too much in the end but...that fucking slam! 

Christ. Legit scary that was. Could’ve easily broke Rose’s neck. Thankfully she seems OK. She’s already talking about getting out of the sport though and it seems it’s something she’s been thinking about for some time. She’s always seemed like one of those fighters who has her own things going on though. I’ve never got the impression she’s the type where fighting is her whole life and all she knows. She’s just really fucking good at it. Apparently she just fights to save up enough money to buy a farm and then she’ll disappear and live the quiet life. Maybe she’s got that farm money now. 

Andrade is a killer. Been a fan for a long time. Always said she’s like a female John Lineker or Wanderlei Silva, so she’s definitely my type of fighter. She’s been a complete tank since dropping to 115 as well. Actually thought Rose was looking really good early on but it’s just Andrade’s time. 

Who knows what’s next. Got to say though, a potential Jéssica Andrade vs Tatiana Suarez title fight in late 2019/early 2020 really rocks my cock. It won’t get hyped because it’s tiny women and Suarez isn’t well known yet but that’s a monster fight if you’re familiar with those two and what they’re both good at. It seems early for Suarez but if she beats Nina Ansaroff at 238 next month, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the fight they go with. 

Jared Cannonier vs Anderson Silva ending on an injury was an anti-climax and it’s a shame to see it happen to Anderson again (although this was nowhere near as bad as the injury against Weidman, obviously). But it was a legitimate win for Cannonier. I’ve seen people giving him shit and acting like he got lucky. Get to fuck with that. Cannonier caused that finish. It was his offence and his technique and timing and placement that made it happen. It’s not luck at all and when people chat shite like that it just reveals they don’t know what the fuck they’re on about. Sucks for Anderson, especially in Brazil and at 44 with time running out. It’s the last thing he needed. But Cannonier got it done. 

Got to say I loved Cannonier refusing to pander to the Brazilian crowd when they booed him. I hate when fighters do that. Crowd shits on them and they go ‘I know you’re booing but I love you guys, this place is awesome’ in a pathetic attempt to get cheers. Cannonier didn’t give a fuck. I liked Cannonier actually in some of the buildup bits I watched for this show. He’s snuck up on everyone but he’s a likeable bloke and he’s really looked good since dropping to 185. 

Alexander Volkanovski vs Jose Aldo wasn’t the FOTY candidate I hoped it would be. This was a convincing win for Volkanovski though. He’s the first man to ever beat Aldo on points, apparently. And he did it in Brazil! Thought Aldo looked a bit flat here, to be honest. Which was disappointing after he looked so great in his last 2 fights. That might be down to how good Volkanovski is though, in fairness. 

Surely Volkanovski gets the title shot now? If not, who does? There’s Frankie Edgar but Volkanovski’s on a much better run and Frankie hasn’t fought in over a year. Volkanovski deserves the next shot no question to me. If Max isn’t healthy and ready to go in time maybe they go with Volkanovski vs Edgar? But Holloway vs Volkanovski would be my number one choice. And do that Ortega vs Zabit fight they’re on about as well. Don’t know who that leaves Frankie with though. 

Laureano Staropoli vs Thiago Alves was a good scrap. Commentators were all over Staropoli’s cock but I thought it was closer and more competitive than they were making out. Alves had a good second round and a strong finish to the third as well. I had Staropoli winning but it was a real battle. Alves is a proper scrapper though. He’s been around forever and still goes to war pretty much every time. This fight and the Max Griffin one in February were slobberknockers. 

Irene Aldana vs Bethe Correia was a decent little main card opener. Correia was clearly the harder hitter but she’s too predictable and I thought Aldana was picking her off for most of it with her counters. Was half expecting the hometown judges to give it to Correia though for her aggression but Aldana took them out of the equation with that armbar in the third. Happy with this. Aldana seems cool and I’ve never really liked Correia. Here especially she seemed way too happy and comfortable with the fact she came in 6lbs over at the weigh in. So this result was satisfying. Aldana wins and gets some of Correia’s dough. 

Ryan Spann vs Little Nog was sad to watch. Spann looked good, just hard to quantify how good because I don’t know what Nogueira has left at this stage. Really thought Spann was going to sub him at the start with that arm triangle, which would’ve been mental subbing a Nogueira in Brazil in a minute. I’m hoping Nog retires but not expecting him to. 

Warlley Alves vs Sérgio Moraes was pretty much a complete showcase for Alves. He looked a bit of a beast here. Best he’s looked since submitting Colby Covington years ago. He’s never really fulfilled the potential he had coming off winning TUF Brazil but if he can put a few more performances like this together he’ll be climbing the ranks in no time. 

Clay Guida vs BJ Penn had the result everyone expected. Wasn’t quite as depressing to watch as I thought it’d be though. The first half of the first round was probably the best BJ has looked since the first round of the Fitch fight nearly a decade ago. But he just doesn’t have it in him anymore to keep up a sustained attack. He was never a conditioning freak in his prime but now he’s really flagging after a couple of minutes. And if you’ve not got the conditioning down then Clay Guida is one of the last people you want to be locked in a cage with. Even an older, faded Clay. Seeing Clay Guida rock and drop BJ Penn will never look right to me. But that’s where we are now with Penn. He’ll never stop so what’s the point even moaning about it? 

Didn’t see the early prelims but did catch this. Viviane Araújo, making her UFC debut, knocking the fuck out of Talita Bernardo...

She might be worth keeping an eye on. 

[jimufctna24]

1 hour ago, wandshogun09 said:

She’s always seemed like one of those fighters who has her own things going on though. I’ve never got the impression she’s the type where fighting is her whole life and all she knows. She’s just really fucking good at it. Apparently she just fights to save up enough money to buy a farm and then she’ll disappear and live the quiet life. Maybe she’s got that farm money now. 

She also suffers from anxiety. Although, it never really shows on fight night, where she is usually very collected, even in defeat. She is not like Rousey, who clearly couldn't take losing. I think Namajuna could get the belt back if she really wanted to. She was beating Andrade up before being slammed. But whether she feels the need to is another matter. 

In other news, Anderson Silva stated before the event that BJ Penn is the greatest MMA fighter of all-time, followed by Big Nog and Royce Gracie. Does he still think it's 2004 or something? 

[ColinBollocks]

One of the scariest finishes ever. No matter about the result, delighted Rose seems to be ok. Given what happened with Silva I was worried it was going to be a weird night.

I agree with wand about people trying to discredit Cannonier. It is a legit technique and Silva ate one too many.

[WeeAl]

That was one of the most disappointing cards in a long time.

Poor Rose nearly got her neck broke in a fight that she was totally schooling Andrade. Anderson's career looks to be going out on a complete whimper. Volkanovski beat the ghost of Jose Aldo, as the King of Rio never found his way to the arena. Alves was game but lost the decision. Lil' Nog was sparked out, and the less said about BJ continuing on, the better. 

Fair play to Cannonier for calling out the crowd for being cunts. 

Volkanovski Vs Holloway is the nailed on way to go now, and Aldo Vs Ortega as well as Zabit Vs Edgar(winner fights Max or Volkanovski). That still leaves Yair without a dance partner though. 

Andrade Vs Waterson is the next title fight at 115 I think. 

 

[TildeGuy~!]

Watched the main event earlier, was Dominick Cruz just not watching at one point?

Spoke Of Andrade being in a poor position and not being able to lift Rose for a slam, then continued to say she wasn’t going to be able to lift her whilst she had Rose in mid air. 

[wandshogun09]

3 hours ago, jimufctna24 said:

In other news, Anderson Silva stated before the event that BJ Penn is the greatest MMA fighter of all-time, followed by Big Nog and Royce Gracie. Does he still think it's 2004 or something? 

Yes. And he has nightmares about this every night. 

Which is why his leg keeps breaking. 

32 minutes ago, WeeAl said:

Andrade Vs Waterson is the next title fight at 115 I think. 

Yeah that’s a good shout. That’s probably what’s next. I’d prefer that actually because it does seem a tad soon for Suarez. Could see the Suarez vs Ansaroff winner getting Joanna Jedrzejczyk actually. 

[Egg Shen]

On 5/12/2019 at 4:14 PM, jimufctna24 said:

She also suffers from anxiety. Although, it never really shows on fight night, where she is usually very collected, even in defeat. 

I think it shows until the bell sounds. Thought Rose looked terrified on her way to the cage. Her ability to turn it on is impressive though, she looks tremendous until the slam. She's abit of an enigma overall, id love to see her fight on, but if her dream is to buy a farm and enjoy the quiet life, more power to her.

The older guard on the card had some shockers. Lil Nog's KO was scary, he dropped like a rock. BJ was at least competive for 2 rounds, its been years since hes even mounted offence. 

Anderson's career took another nose dive. Was enjoying it until that point, you could sense Anderson getting into it but Cannonnier put the kabosh on that. Cannonnier may be a sleeper at 185, that guys transformation from heavyweight to middleweight is wild, hes pretty much a completely different fighter, thats what fulltime training will do for you.

Volkanovski has to be next for Holloway. The fight wasnt a classic but Aldo was just shut down playing the game you'd think he needed to play to win. Volkanovski was just first all night and prevented Aldo from pulling the trigger. Dunno what Aldo's corner were doing telling him he was 2 rounds up after round 2 though.

A bad night for the Brazilians outside of the main event. 

[David]

Reading that all scans and suchlike have shown that Anderson hasn't suffered any ligament damage to his knee, which is good news. Seems some prolonged physical therapy is all that will be required.

I said way back when this fight was announced that it was stupid to throw him in there with someone like Cannonier. There is literally no upside for the guy. If he'd won, would we all look back in years to come at the time he beat Jared fucking Cannonier?

If he wants to keep fighting why not book him smart? Put him in there with "names" at a similar stage of their career and who can have an exciting fight with him. If he's just gonna get beaten up by guys much younger, healthier and fitter than him then I'd rather he just called it a day.

[wandshogun09]

I agree 100% with that David but at the same time, how many of those fun ‘name fights’ are still about? Especially if he stays at 185. Middleweight in the UFC doesn’t have many of the old guard left like some other divisions. Bisping and Rashad have retired. Belfort, Sonnen and Wanderlei are gone. Machida too, although I doubt they’d have fought each other anyway. There’s a Nick Diaz rematch but it’s Nick Diaz. He’s off doing whatever Nick Diaz does and is probably never fighting again. 

Even if he goes up to 205 all I can think of is him vs Shogun. But again, I don’t know how friendly they are or if they’d fight. 

I’m really scratching my head who he can fight at this stage. Personally, I’d still be up for Anderson vs GSP but I doubt GSP’s arsed about coming back for anything less than Khabib or Conor. If he stays at 185 it’s probably a matter of time until they feed him to a Romero or Costa and no-one wants that. 

One possibility, I wonder if there’d be much interest in Anderson vs Weidman 3? The way that second fight ended left things open for a potential third fight despite the 2-0 scoreline to Weidman. And Weidman’s gone through his own rough spell since. Anderson would probably love to get a crack at that fight. 

I don’t know. I’m reaching. I’d rather he just retired now if I’m honest. He’s nowhere near as shot as some legends we’ve seen at the end of their careers, but you get the sense it’s only downhill from here. If he continues on I wouldn’t be surprised if we get something like Anderson vs Gastelum next. In an attempt to rehab Gastelum from the Adesanya loss with a big name win. Either that or they match him with another up and comer to the sound of crickets. 

[David]

I know it would probably never happen, but I'd love him to head to Bellator on a three fight deal or whatever to finish up his career.

[wandshogun09]

Bellator would certainly be a better fit at this point in terms of the kind of fights he probably should be in. Even though he’s already 2-0, reheating the Anderson vs Chael thing and doing a third fight could be fun. Anderson vs Belfort 2 would be a big one for Bellator. As would Anderson vs Rampage. And as much as they should probably both retire, who wouldn’t watch Anderson vs Fedor? 

[Carbomb]

Seeing as Bellator have Melvin Manhoef under contract, and he's still listed as active, he might make a fun opponent for Anderson.

[wandshogun09]

I’m still hoping for Wanderlei vs Manhoef. As sick as I know that makes me in 2019. 

[David]

3 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

Bellator would certainly be a better fit at this point in terms of the kind of fights he probably should be in. Even though he’s already 2-0, reheating the Anderson vs Chael thing and doing a third fight could be fun. Anderson vs Belfort 2 would be a big one for Bellator. As would Anderson vs Rampage. And as much as they should probably both retire, who wouldn’t watch Anderson vs Fedor? 

Anderson vs Chael III would be a fun fight.

I'm just of the opinion that these guys like Anderson, who have done it all and have nothing more to prove should be in "fun" fights. Same with the likes of Fedor. I have zero interest in seeing them being beaten by someone who wouldn't last a few minutes with them in their prime.