Paid Members Egg Shen Posted October 3, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted October 3, 2019 get some Stylebender down you... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shane O' Mac Version 2 Posted October 4, 2019 Share Posted October 4, 2019 On 10/3/2019 at 12:18 AM, wandshogun09 said: Yeah, you hate to tempt fate but putting all your eggs in the basket of Robert Whittaker not falling to pieces before fight night is a risky move. There’s no Plan B at all if this goes wrong. You’d have thought it’d be worth flying Paulo Costa out there and paying him something to make weight just in case but whether Costa wasn’t up for that or what, it doesn’t seem like that was ever really an option. Couldn’t really blame Costa, unless they really made it worth his while financially, it’d hardly be the ideal scenario you want for a training camp not knowing whether you’re getting the shot or not. Turns out Costa is in Australia. They kept that a little bit quiet. He says he's not there to be a potential replacement, talks about being a bit banged up from his last fight. I think a nice bag full of cash from Dana White would help him overcome any issues with his ribs. He wants to "break the face off" Adesanya. Scary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted October 4, 2019 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 4, 2019 Yeah, there’s been some bad blood bubbling up for a little bit between Adesanya and Costa. Nothing major but they’ve both had a few digs at each other. Whittaker looked sharp at the open workouts; I like Adesanya but I’d love to see Whittaker win this fight and hopefully stay healthy and put a proper run together. If you knock out Jacare and come through 10 rounds with Yoel Romero 2-0 then you’re something special. But all these layoffs are killing off his prime and his time to make money. If he gets by Izzy then potential fights against Costa, Gastelum, Till and Cannonier could be great. I wouldn’t be mad at this thing with Adesanya turning into a trilogy or something though either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted October 4, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted October 4, 2019 I think Whittaker is being underrated going into this one. Or else Adesanya is being overrated. I'm not quite sure which of those it is, but it's clear to me that Whittaker should be favourite, based on his body of work and overall game - yet Adesanya seems to be the bookies favourite at the moment. I anticipate a close fight, but my reaction to the result when the fight ends will be that of surprise, if Buffer doesn't announce "And still. . ." With Bobby Knuckles getting his hand raised. UD, 48-47 or 49-46 to Whittaker. Either way though, if this one makes it to the cage, it's a fucking brilliant fight on paper, and I'd expect it to deliver on the night (or morning, I haven't a notion what time of the day this thing is on at). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted October 4, 2019 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 4, 2019 (edited) It’s usual time for us, Al. The prelims on BT kick off at 1am with the main card at 3am. Without checking the time zones I think it goes down Sunday morning in Australia to accommodate US PPV. That’s why it says it’s on the 6th on the poster, for the Aussies, but it’s business as usual for us. Edited October 4, 2019 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted October 4, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted October 4, 2019 Ah, good man Wand, I'll take it in over breakfast on Sunday morning then once it's all finished. The amount of cards recently that have been on at random times (Lawler/Covington, Andrade/Zhang, Khabib/Poirier, Hermansson/Cannonier etc) has made me unsure each weekend. Cheers for clearing it up man 👍. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted October 5, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted October 5, 2019 just watched the 6 Embedded episodes on the bounce and now im all fired up! its gonna be a good one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted October 6, 2019 Share Posted October 6, 2019 (edited) I tuned in just in time for the main event. The atmosphere before the fight was electric. Like most fans, I found the fight difficult to read beforehand, but predicted Whittaker to prevail. However, while it wasn't a shock that Stylebender won, I was surprised that he knocked Whittaker out in 2 rounds. The first knockdown, when viewed from a certain angle, shows that Whittaker didn't go limp. There is a chance that Whittaker would have survived without the horn. Nevertheless, Whittaker continued to fight aggressively in the 2nd round, which ultimately led to his downfall. Adesanya had the counter striking to take advantage of Whittaker's recklessness. While I have supported at least 3 middleweights over him in recent years, I did feel bad for Whittaker afterwards. He's always come across as a decent bloke to me. Still, it was Stylebender's night. He's the most interesting champion that the UFC has had in a while. Edited October 6, 2019 by jimufctna24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted October 6, 2019 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 6, 2019 (edited) Could Israel Adesanya have looked any more of a superstar last night? From the entrance to the performance itself to setting up that grudge match with Costa post-fight. It played out perfectly. As much as I wanted Whittaker to win, I can’t deny that this result makes things more interesting. Now if Adesanya keeps winning we’ve got Adesanya vs Costa plus the potential for Adesanya vs Romero, Cannonier, rematches with Whittaker and Gastelum etc. Could be a wild ride. I really thought we were in for a war here but Adesanya made it look fairly easy. Easily his best performance to date. Could be an element of Whittaker being rusty but you can’t take away what Adesanya did here. He did what Yoel Romero couldn’t do in a total 10 rounds, stop Robert Whittaker. The thing with Adesanya as well is, people compare him to Anderson Silva in his prime and I can kind of see why. But prime Anderson legitimately felt almost unbeatable. I don’t think Adesanya has that same invincible aura, despite his undefeated record. And it makes his fights more exciting because although he keeps winning, he often looks vulnerable. Anderson didn’t until late on in his run. Israel almost lost that FOTY against Gastelum and even at the finish here against Whittaker, he was playing a dangerous game. Hands down, leaning back with his chin straight up in the air. He has that confidence in his striking but that shit can backfire, especially with the little MMA gloves. That could’ve easily been his Chris Weidman vs Anderson Silva moment and everyone would be criticising him today instead of praising him. It adds excitement to his fights no doubt but you can see it blowing up in his face somewhere down the line. It very nearly did against Gastelum and you don’t want to be piss-arsing about like that with a bomber like Costa or Romero. Very interesting times ahead. Hopefully Whittaker stays healthy now and can build himself back up. Wouldn’t mind seeing him against Jack Hermansson next. Dan Hooker put in the best performance of his career. He’s been a bit underrated for years and I had a feeling it might be a harder fight for Iaquinta than a lot of people were thinking. Still thought Al would get it done though. Thought Hooker totally outclassed him in the striking, controlled the range beautifully and never let Al get his game going. I like Dan Hooker but I’m gutted for Iaquinta, to be honest. Spivak vs Tuivasa just completely murdered whatever was left of Tuivasa’s hype. It’s one thing losing to a former champion like JDS. Then losing to a tough veteran like Ivanov, OK. But getting subbed by Spivak here is going to be hard to bounce back from. That’s 3 losses in a row now. He’ll still probably be fun at the lower level of the division but he’s hit his ceiling at this point. I thought at the least he might go on to be a new Mark Hunt type who floats around at the mid level and occasionally mixes with the top guys but with each fight even that looks less likely. He’s still fairly young but he seems to be regressing if anything. Found Dhiego Lima vs Luke Jumeau pretty dull. Glad Lima won though. Was a bit surprised one of the judges had Jumeau winning but whatever. Crappy fight. Went into De Castro vs Tafa totally blind having never seen either before. Turned out to be the perfect main card opener. Typical Heavyweight 2 minute bombfest. Enjoyed it. De Castro’s one punch KO was sweet. Kind of a tribute to Mark Hunt’s classic walk-off KO. Wasn’t a fan of the Matthews vs Hair Bear or Potter vs Pitolo fights. Did nothing for me and neither ever really got going. Brad Riddell vs Jamie Mullarkey, where did these two spring from? Talk about making a first impression. They really went for it. Such an entertaining scrap this was and a hell of a debut for both. Unsurprisingly they got FOTN. Looking forward to seeing more of these two. Was nice to see Megan Anderson pick up her first proper UFC win. She hasn’t had the best of starts with the Holm and Spencer losses and her only ‘win’ being that toepoke in the eye against Zingano. She looked good here but I’m not sure how much of that was just down to Fairn clearly not having much of a clue on the ground. Didn’t see the whole Ji Yeon Kim vs Nadia Kassem fight but saw the finish. Kim fucked her right up with those body shots. Just brutal. Apparently Kassem did the old fake glove touch/cheap shot thing at some point so I’m glad Kim bashed her. Always hated that. Despite the card looking really thin going in, I thought this was a fun show all in all. Couple of shit fights but the fights I expected to deliver did and there were some good debuts and big finishes sprinkled throughout the rest of the card. Edited October 6, 2019 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted October 6, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted October 6, 2019 Delighted Style Bender has ended the reign of Bobby Chuckles. Whittaker is a great fighter and that, but Adesanya showed last night that he's everything the top of the division has been missing since Whittaker took the proper belt - from the ice cool entrance to setting up a Costa match. The division is suddenly much more interesting. The fight itself was compelling. Adesanya seemed in such a state of flow that it was somewhat reminiscent of prime Silva, watching him move out of the way of some dangerous shots from a great opponent. As wand points out, Adesanya fights in such a way that a bad read could easily end his night and change the fight. All told, it should not be downplayed what Adesanya did to Whittaker. Whittaker saved by the buzzer in the first and, despite upping his output in the 2nd, Adesanya danced his way to his first UFC title. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Bifkin Posted October 6, 2019 Share Posted October 6, 2019 Paulo Costa vs Style Bender is going to be incredible, like the end fight in a shit super hero film. I cannot wait! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted October 6, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted October 6, 2019 Well, I couldn't have been more wrong with my prediction. Adesanya made that look easy. I'm not surprised Whittaker didn't wrestle in the first round, but I did expect him to move towards that in the second round after the knockdown at the end of the first. This was a perfect night for Israel. I don't think he could have imagined it playing out any better than it did. A brilliant performance. Speaking of brilliant performances, Dan Hooker had his coming out party on this show as well. He looked great here, against an always game and well rounded Iaqunita. I liked his call out of Poirier as well. I'm not sure he gets that fight, but he's just right to ask for it. Echoing @wandshogun09's comments, Tuivasa got completely shown up here. Losing three on the bounce (and I didnt think he deserved the decision against Arlovski either) doesn't leave him in a good place. He's got a major rebuilding job to do. He showed no sign in this fight of learning from what wasn't working as well. He couldn't figure out that if he tried to kick, then it would end up with him going head over shite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted October 6, 2019 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 6, 2019 Unless something massive happens in the next 12 weeks or so, Israel Adesanya is my Fighter Of The Year hands down. Only one who could rival his 2019 for me now would be if Jorge Masvidal manages to beat Nate Diaz spectacularly in a few weeks. And even then, I think Adesanya gets the nod. Beats the legend Anderson Silva in February, wins what’s looking like being the FOTY against Gastelum in April, then schools Whittaker and unifies the title in October. That’s going to be tough to beat. It’s all happened so fast as well. This time last year he hadn’t even beat Derek Brunson yet and was coming off a good but slightly underwhelming decision over Brad Tavares. Fast forward 12 months and he’s one of the biggest stars in the UFC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted October 6, 2019 Share Posted October 6, 2019 Usman might have a claim if he beats Covington in December. However, even if he does, it will probably come down to what you like. Adesnaya is certainly the more exciting fighter out of the two. At the moment, I have Stylebender as number 1, and Pitbull as number 2. But there is probably someone I am forgetting (as usual) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted October 6, 2019 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 6, 2019 Yeah, Pitbull’s had a good year. I’d also have Douglas Lima in the convo if he beats Rory in their fight later this month. Usman’s a good shout though. He was the other one I was thinking of. If he can beat Covington, and especially if it looks anything close to how dominant he was in the Woodley fight, I think he’s got to be on anyone’s shortlist. Even Francis Ngannou, I wouldn’t have him Top 3 but he’s had a pretty sweet year himself with the first round knockouts of Cain and JDS. Seems the future of African MMA is in good hands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.