Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted July 7, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted July 7, 2019 (edited) Saturday 20th July in San Antonio, Texas. ESPN MAIN CARDRafael Dos Anjos vs Leon Edwards Alexey Oleynik vs Walt Harris Greg Hardy vs Juan Adams James Vick vs Dan Hooker Alexander Hernandez vs Francisco Trinaldo Andrei Arlovski vs Ben Rothwell ESPN PRELIMSAlex Caceres vs Steven Peterson Raquel Pennington vs Irene Aldana Sam Alvey vs Klidson Abreu Roxanne Modafferi vs Jennifer Maia Ray Borg vs Gabriel Silva Mario Bautista vs Jin Soo Son Domingo Pilarte vs Felipe Colares  Not a bad card at all, that. There’s some cack on there as usual but there’s enough there to keep my interest.  Rafael Dos Anjos vs Leon Edwards is your 5 round main event. I like this one. RDA is back on track, coming off a submission win over Kevin Lee in May. And Edwards is riding a nice 7 fight win streak with victories over Gunnar Nelson, Donald Cerrone and Vicente Luque among them. There was some initial talk from Edwards that Dos Anjos was ducking him but RDA soon put that to bed. So here we are. If RDA stops Edwards’ streak here then he’s right back in the mix. And if Edwards beats RDA, it’ll be hard to deny him a title shot, or at least a #1 contender fight. The one thing that seems to have held Edwards back is that, although he’s been winning, he’s mostly been going to decisions and the fights haven’t been that exciting. But a win over RDA in any fashion would be hard to ignore. I think this will probably be a step too far for Edwards but you never know. Just hope it’s a good fight.  Alexey Oleynik vs Walt Harris is currently down as co-main according to MMAJunkie’s bout order. Could be an interesting clash. I’ve become a bit of a fan of Oleynik. He’s grown on me over time. As great as the evolution of MMA has been with everyone being well rounded now, I must admit I do love a specialist. And Oleynik is a pure grappling gorilla. He’s got a 57-12-1 record and 45 of his 57 wins were by submission. The big sod’s even got a finisher, with a staggering 12 finishes via Ezekiel choke! I like the big daft lump. He’s up against Walt Harris, who I also kind of warmed to after seeing him interviewed by the IFL Boxing channel of all places before the Wilder vs Fury fight last year, as he’s sparred with both in the past. He seemed a good guy. He’s got a less than stellar record of 12-7-1 and did recently have a brush with USADA. So, that’s not good. I’ll be pulling for another Oleynik Ezekiel here, I think.  Greg Hardy vs Juan Adams is ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** for this card. This one has been brewing for a bit. Ever since Wifebeater Greg made his UFC debut, Juan Adams hasn’t been shy about letting it be known that he thinks Hardy is a cunt and doesn’t deserve the hype he’s been getting. He’s taken shots constantly at Hardy and has been campaigning for this fight for months. And now he’s got it. I’d love to see him smash Hardy up. And as long as he doesn’t get caught with something reckless, he should smash him as he’s got a solid wrestling background and Hardy is a woman beating bum with no cardio or grappling. The sooner this Greg Hardy bubble gets burst and he disappears the better. He’s an arsehole, a crap fighter and I hope he gets battered. That and Adams seems a pretty good guy to me. He’s 4-1 and coming off the first loss of his career to Arjan Bhullar. Hopefully he rebounds by chinning Hardy here.  James Vick vs Dan Hooker is probably going to bag FOTN, I reckon. Brilliant fight on paper. And both guys’ backs are against the wall a bit so they’ll be coming in to really prove a point in this fight. Vick is coming off back-to-back losses to Paul Felder and Justin Gaethje. Hooker is coming off a bad beating from Edson Barboza in December. But before these defeats both were on pretty strong winning streaks and looking like darkhorses in the stacked 155 division. I think with wanting to make a statement and the styles they both have, this should be an absolute corker.  Alexander Hernandez vs Francisco Trinaldo should be a solid fight. Hernandez is looking to bounce back from that loss to Cerrone in January. It was a great scrap but a loss nonetheless. Trinaldo is a tough rebound though. He’s experienced at 23-6, wins over Jim Miller and Paul Felder etc. He’s tough and tricky. If Hernandez isn’t on he could easily be found out by Trinaldo here.  Yeah, Andrei Arlovski vs Ben Rothwell 2 is happening. A rematch nobody was clamouring for but I’ll take it. They first met back in 2008 at the first Affliction show. Arlovski was enjoying one of his bright spells at the time and stopped Big Ben in the third round. That seems like a lifetime ago now, doesn’t it? They’ve both had their ups and downs since then. Arlovski went through EliteXC, Strikeforce, ONE and WSOF before returning to the UFC in 2014. He’s gone 6-8-1 in this UFC stint. Rothwell’s had a hot and cold run himself. There was a time when he was actually knocking on the door of a UFC title shot. To this day, his knockout of Alistair Overeem and submission over Josh Barnett during this period are his career high points. But a USADA test failure in 2016 halted all that. He’s lost to JDS and Blagoy Ivanov since coming back from the suspension. In 2019, fuck knows what happens here. Could be quick either way, could be a plodding 3 round turd. Either way, they’re both on their last legs.  Alex Caceres vs Steven Peterson is a bit of a shot in the dark for me. Can’t say I recall seeing Peterson at all. I’ve always enjoyed watching Caceres though so I’m into this on that basis alone. He’s 14-12-1 and coming off a throttling from Kron Gracie. He’s never going to become anything now but he’s been consistently one of the more entertaining prelimers over the last decade or so.  Raquel Pennington vs Irene Aldana could actually be a sleeper to steal the show, IMO. Neither are likely ever making a ripple in the title picture but they both have a habit of getting into fun scraps. Pennington is tough as fuck. She showed that in the beating she took off Amanda Fucking Nunes for 4 and a bit rounds last year. She also holds wins over Miesha Tate and Jessica Andrade! Aldana’s fights have gone more under the radar because she’s always jerking the curtain but she had a wild forgotten undercard war with Leslie Smith a while back.  Sam Alvey vs Klidson Abreu might be worth a gander. I’m not keen on Alvey. Don’t really enjoy watching him fight and I find his forced quirky Smilin’ Sam schtick annoying. Abreu is where the interest lies for me. He’s 14-3, lost his UFC debut but has a submission win over Johnny Walker on his record.  Roxanne Modafferi vs Jennifer Maia 2 doesn’t do much for me really. Yeah, it’s a rematch of a 2016 fight in Invicta, which Maia won by split decision. Modafferi seems nice enough but her style always looks so awkward to me. Fair play to her, she’s beat some good fighters with that awkward style but I don’t really enjoy watching her. She just handed Antonina Shevchenko her first loss last time out but she’s nearly 37 now, with a 23-15 record. Probably doesn’t have that long left in the game.  Ray Borg vs Gabriel Silva is another fight where I’m 50% in the dark. Obviously, I know Borg. He’s been around years. Mostly remembered for being on the wrong end of Mighty Mouse’s mental highlight reel German suplex into armbar finish. But he’s a good fighter in his own right, with wins over Jussier Formiga and Louis Smolka. Gabriel Silva I knew nothing about though. Looking him up now though, he sounds like someone worth keeping tabs on. He fights out of Team Nogueira (I like him already) and is 7-0 with 4 finishes. Apparently Dana saw him fight at a LFA show in March and signed him ASAP after that. Oh, and he’s the younger brother of former UFC-now Bellator fighter Erick Silva. Wasn’t particularly arsed when I Googled his name, now I’m looking forward to seeing what he’s got.  Mario Bautista vs Jin Soo Son, I don’t really know much about either guy. Bautista is 6-1 and lost to Cory Sandhagen in the UFC in January. Son is Korean and trains with the Zombie. He’s 26 years old, 9-3 and lost to Petr Yan on the UFC Russia show last September. I must’ve seen these fights but my memory is hazy.  Domingo Pilarte vs Felipe Colares is another fight where I don’t recall seeing either man. They’re both 8-1. Pilarte has won his last 5, Colares lost his last fight on the Fortaleza card in February. Edited July 7, 2019 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 6 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said: Yeah, Andrei Arlovski vs Ben Rothwell 2 is happening. A rematch nobody was clamouring for but I’ll take it. They first met back in 2008 at the first Affliction show. Arlovski was enjoying one of his bright spells at the time and stopped Big Ben in the third round.  This takes me back. It leaked out in the months leading up to the Afflication show that Rothwell was to fight Arlovski. The Sherdog forum wasted no time discussing the fight, despite it not being officially announced. Rothwell logged in and had a proper meltdown over "keyboard warriors". Even fellow MMA fighter Ronald Jhun chimed in to tell Rothwell to calm down. 16 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said: The sooner this Greg Hardy bubble gets burst and he disappears the better. He’s an arsehole, a crap fighter and I hope he gets battered. That and Adams seems a pretty good guy to me. He’s 4-1 and coming off the first loss of his career to Arjan Bhullar. Hopefully he rebounds by chinning Hardy here. I haven't been following Hardy's MMA career closely. But I have read that he has a bit of potential, sadly. It's also not like Heavyweight is a division where it's hard to get a foot in the door. A bit of talent can go a long way in the division. Hopefully Adams extinguishes the hype before it turns into anything more substantial. I heard he was unlucky to get the nod in his UFC debut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted July 7, 2019 Author Paid Members Share Posted July 7, 2019 (edited) Doesn’t really surprise me about Rothwell. I’m sure on one of the old Countdown shows (before he fought Cain maybe) his parents were on there and were talking about his childhood. I vaguely remember them saying he got bullied quite badly as a kid, so I guess that’s why he took the general MMA fan dickheadery worse than most. I don’t know what the Sherdog forums are like now, haven’t ventured over there for years. But around 2006-2009 it was a real cesspool of almost exclusively twats. On Hardy, I really don’t see any great potential there. And it’s not even just because I don’t like him. I think the Allen Crowder fight exposed some things. Some that can be worked on like his cardio and grappling. But some things can’t be fixed and I really think that fight (and all that domestic abuse, obviously) revealed his bully mentally and when it became clear Crowder wasn’t going anywhere and was starting to build in confidence, Hardy folded like a cheap bedsheet and got himself disqualified with that blatant illegal knee. I don’t buy that he didn’t know what he was doing. I think his cardio was flagging, Crowder was starting to take over and Hardy saw an opportunity to find a way out without getting submitted or knocked out, which is where it was probably heading the longer the went. It didn’t help matters that Crowder gave him issues then got flattened in 9 seconds by Rozenstruik in his next fight. Then for Hardy’s next fight, to get him a win, the UFC rehired Dmitry Smoliakov. A man who’d gone 0-2 (and was finished both times) in his last UFC stint. They hired him back just to give Hardy a win. I get that heavyweight exists in its own world where the rules don’t really apply. A couple of knockouts and you’re in the title convo. Fuck, just look how quickly Francis Ngannou changed his fortunes around this last 12 months. But I just don’t see it with Hardy at all. He hits hard, like most heavies do, but aside from that I think he lacks the skills, conditioning and mental strength to survive with anyone of real substance. Edited July 7, 2019 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted July 7, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted July 7, 2019 I would like to see Greg Hardy vs. Francis Ngannou. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted July 8, 2019 Share Posted July 8, 2019 15 hours ago, wandshogun09 said: I vaguely remember them saying he got bullied quite badly as a kid, so I guess that’s why he took the general MMA fan dickheadery worse than most. I don’t know what the Sherdog forums are like now, haven’t ventured over there for years. But around 2006-2009 it was a real cesspool of almost exclusively twats. In fairness. Rothwell did overreact on that occasion if memory serves correctly. I am sure there were a few dodgy comments about him. But I don't see an issue with discussing a fight that hasn't been officially announced. Or reporting rumours from other websites. We all do that to some degree. As for the Sherdog forum, aye it's still pretty dire. I only check it a few times a week. You do get some decent contributors, but the majority are either boring trolls or oddballs.  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted July 8, 2019 Share Posted July 8, 2019 17 minutes ago, jimufctna24 said: As for the Sherdog forum, aye it's still pretty dire. Their forum has always been the drizzling shits, but the site is decent, although not as good as it once was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted July 8, 2019 Author Paid Members Share Posted July 8, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted July 8, 2019 Share Posted July 8, 2019 (edited) 7 minutes ago, David said: Their forum has always been the drizzling shits, but the site is decent, although not as good as it once was. Aye, it looks like Jordan Breen has left again. He's popped up on BloodyElbow. I still enjoy Kevin Wilson's "Film Room" articles though. Edited July 8, 2019 by jimufctna24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted July 8, 2019 Share Posted July 8, 2019 I remember back in the days of Josh Gross. The podcasts back then were a must-listen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted July 8, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted July 8, 2019 what does Josh Gross do these days? aint seen that name in a while. One of the good things about the Sherdog boards was that pro fighters had verified accounts so it was a pretty unique chance to interract with fighters online (this being before the rise of twitter/facebook), apart from that and tidbit news though its a waste of time. As for Rothwell/Arlovski 2. That original win was one of the Arlovski's best and probably came during the best run of his career. Most people probably point at the UFC title reign but the run between his last initial UFC fights and losing to Fedor was arguably better. Dont really care this rematch though. I know we always say it too but its crazy that he's been able to prolong his career and after some of the losses he suffered. The guy seems to fighting every other show these days.  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironic Indie Lad Posted July 8, 2019 Share Posted July 8, 2019 17 minutes ago, Egg Shen said: what does Josh Gross do these days? aint seen that name in a while. I think he put out a book about the Inoki vs Ali fight not too long ago. Rothwell/Arlovski is such a weird fight to see on a card listing in 2019 but this is overall a pretty decent card. Vick vs Hooker could be really good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted July 8, 2019 Share Posted July 8, 2019 14 minutes ago, Egg Shen said: what does Josh Gross do these days? aint seen that name in a while. One of the good things about the Sherdog boards was that pro fighters had verified accounts so it was a pretty unique chance to interract with fighters online (this being before the rise of twitter/facebook), apart from that and tidbit news though its a waste of time. According to his Twitter Gross writes for a website called the "Athletic". I sadly haven't been keeping tabs on him. Although, I will eventually get round to buying his book on Ali and Inoki. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted July 8, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted July 8, 2019 ahh, The Athletic is a new subscription based sports article site. Im tempted to sign up for a year (on some kind of deal) because they got some pretty big hitters writing for them and the content will likely be high quality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted July 8, 2019 Author Paid Members Share Posted July 8, 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, Egg Shen said: ahh, The Athletic is a new subscription based sports article site. Seriously, we’ll have to pay to even think about MMA and Boxing soon. I don’t care who they’ve got writing for them, I’m not paying to read someone’s opinions. Edited July 8, 2019 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted July 8, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted July 8, 2019 I didn't know about Gross, but they've hired Chad Dundas, Ben Fowlkes, Chuck Mindenhall and Shaun Al-Shatti recently. MMA Fighting has been the huge loser. In the last year they have lost Helwani, Dave Doyle, Marc Raimondi, Al-Shatti, Mindenhall, Luke Thomas (last week or two I think). They've been ripped in two with really only Mike Chiappetta's articles worth reading.  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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