Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted October 25, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted October 25, 2019 (edited) OK then. On the evening of Saturday 7th December, there’s a little fight over in Saudi Arabia you might have heard about, as Anthony Joshua will try to avenge his loss to King of #EATCLEAN Andy Ruiz. Later that night in Washington DC, a couple more Heavyweights will be colliding in the Octagon... ESPN MAIN CARDAlistair Overeem vs Jairzinho Rozenstruik Cynthia Calvillo vs Marina Rodriguez Stefan Struve vs Ben Rothwell Aspen Ladd vs Yana Kunitskaya Cody Stamann vs Song Yadong Ricky Simon vs Rob Font  ESPN PRELIMSThiago Alves vs Tim Means Billy Quarantillo vs Jacob Kilburn Bryce Mitchell vs Matt Sayles Matt Wiman vs Joe Solecki  ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMSVirna Jandiroba vs Mallory Martin Makhmud Muradov vs Trevor Smith  Nothing outstanding but, as usual, there’s enough on there that I like to hold my interest. I think the bout order will probably change yet. This is just how MMA Junkie have it at the moment but I don’t think the order has been finalised just yet.  Alistair Overeem vs Jairzinho Rozenstruik then. Of course, this was originally supposed to be Overeem vs Walt Harris but Harris understandably pulled out when his daughter went missing. It’s been two weeks now and she’s still not been found. Not good. As sad as the whole situation is, this show must go on and the UFC needed a replacement. Enter Jairzinho. A Surinamese striker and knockout specialist with a Kickboxing record of 76-8-1 with 64 knockouts and a whole bunch of titles in that game. In MMA, he’s a perfect 9-0 with 8 knockouts. Made his UFC debut in February with a second round stoppage over Junior Albini and followed that up with a stunning 9 second KO over Allen Crowder in June. He got his first big break against a proper name at UFC 244 in Madison Square Garden, and wiped out Andrei Arlovski in just 29 seconds. It’s a big ask for anyone to step in on a few weeks notice against Alistair Overeem but if Rozenstruik pulls this off he immediately catapults himself into title contention going into 2020. Mad considering he hadn’t even stepped foot in the Octagon this time last year. Overeem hasn’t done too badly collecting belts himself. He’s won pretty much every major title that’s been available to him in his career from Strikeforce to DREAM to winning the K-1 Grand Prix. The Pride and UFC gold are the only ones that have escaped him. He’s had a real up and down career. It’s all been well documented. Proper high highs and really fucking bad lows. Fittingly, his last few fights reflect that. He’s 2-2 in his last 4. But he’s coming into this one off the back of two first round finishes over Alexey Oleynik and Sergei Pavlovich. Feels like we’ve said it loads of times but this is surely the Reem’s last run. Right? Surely. He’s 39 years old now, this will be his 64th MMA fight! That’s on top of his Kickboxing fights as well. And he’s suffered some bad knockouts over the years. He’s 45-17-1 in MMA, and he’s been knocked out 13 times. He’s kind of adapted his style of late but even in his last fight, Oleynik had him in some bother on the feet before Overeem rallied and stopped him. Fuck knows with him anymore. Great fight. I know I’m probably jinxing it but I’ll be amazed if it goes past a round.  Cynthia Calvillo vs Marina Rodriguez should be a fun one. Was originally supposed to be Calvillo vs Cláudia Gadelha, which would’ve been a big fight for Calvillo. And winnable as well given Gadelha’s dip in form recently. Calvillo is 8-1 and primarily a submission artist. She’s now facing Rodriguez, a completely different style to Gadelha and I think it’s actually a harder fight. Rodriguez is 12-0-1, the only blemish being a draw against Randa Markos in her Octagon debut. She’s beat Jessica Aguilar and Tecia Torres pretty handily since then.  Stefan Struve vs Ben Rothwell, Christ, this is going to be ugly. File Struve under ‘MMA retirements that didn’t stick’. He’s only 31 but fuck me he seems like a pensioner in MMA years. He finally snapped a losing streak in February and beat Marcos Rogerio De Lima by submission on the Czech Republic card. It was the last fight on his contract and, although I don’t think he set it in stone, he as good as retired post-fight. Just a matter of months later and here we are. I don’t think this is going to end well. He’s taken so much punishment over the years and he really seemed shot in his last bunch of fights. I mean, Rothwell is 38 himself and coming off 3 consecutive losses. But I don’t think he’s quite as far gone as Struve is at this point, which is a pretty sad statement. To be fair, Rothwell’s last fight with Arlovski in July was more entertaining than it had any right being in 2019. He’ll probably bash Struve here. But that’s not saying much.  Aspen Ladd vs Yana Kunitskaya could be alright. Not massively into it but I think Ladd has some real potential and she’s coming off her first loss as a pro here so I’m interested to see how she does. She’s 24 years old, 8-1 with 6 finishes. She also went 8-1 as an amateur and has a 8-0 Kickboxing record. But yeah, she suffered her first defeat to Germaine De Randamie in July. It wasn’t without controversy though. She got TKO’d in 16 seconds but most felt like it was an early stoppage and she was appealing it with the commission at some point. Whatever the case, that’s in the past and she’s got this fight to focus on now. Kunitskaya is 12-4-1 and has outpointed Marion Reneau and Lina Länsberg in her last 2 outings. I only really remember her for getting wrecked by Cyborg though. I think Ladd should get back in the win column here but you never know.  Cody Stamann vs Song Yadong is a good little piece of matchmaking. Two of the more under the radar Bantamweights on the roster. Stamann is 18-2 and has won 11 out of his last 12 fights with the only defeat being to Aljamain Sterling. Bit of a decision merchant and I don’t recall him being particularly entertaining to watch but he’s a solid and tricky fighter. It’s Song Yadong I’m interested in here. He fights out of Team Alpha Male, he’s 14-3-2, on a 7 fight win streak and just knocked out Alejandro Perez in 2 minutes at UFC 239 in July. I hadn’t taken a lot of notice of him until Urijah Faber started really bigging him up but he looks promising. Only 21 years old as well and I think this is his toughest test to date.  Ricky Simon vs Rob Font was a late addition to the card. Pretty good fight as well actually. Simon is coming off that quick knockout loss to Urijah Faber in July but before that he was on an 8 fight win-streak and had just beat Rani Yahya. He’s better than that 46 seconds against Faber showed and he’s still only 27 so he’s got time to turn things around. Font is 16-4 with wins over Sergio Pettis and Thomas Almeida. He’s also gone the distance in defeat against John Lineker and Raphael Assuncao. He’s a skilled fighter, he’s just been lost in the shuffle and come up short in key fights. I like this matchup though. They’re well matched and they’ve both got a point to prove coming into this one. An impressive win for either man here puts them right on track.  Thiago Alves vs Tim Means should be a cracker. Can’t go wrong with this. Apparently this is Thiago’s last fight on his contract and he’s said he’s going to test free agency after this one and ‘probably’ retire sometime in 2020. Yeah. We’ll see about that. But I quite like the idea of throwing Alves into the mix in Bellator or something if that is on the cards once he’s contractually free. Some fun to be had with him against the likes of Lima, Rory, MVP, Daley etc. Especially Daley. I was dying to see Alves vs Daley back when Semtex was in the UFC all those years ago. Anyway, Alves has had very mixed results lately but if you watched the fights, he’s not at his 2008 peak but he’s far from shot. He’s had two really good rucks with Max Griffin and Laureano Staropoli this year. Means has been on a similar trajectory, although he’s never been the name Alves was at one point. Means is a tough, scrappy bastard though. He’s coming off a KO loss in a chaotic one round slobberknocker with Niko Price in March. Like this a lot.  Chris Fishgold vs Billy Quarantillo is a total shot in the dark for me. Don’t have a clue who this Quarantillo bloke is. Snappy dresser though 😆 A quick Google tells me he’s 12-2, was on DWCS and was also on TUF at some point. Fishgold should ask some questions of him. He’s 18-3-1, former Cage Warriors champ and a solid, hard nosed grappling type. He’s coming off a submission loss to Makwan Amirkhani on the Sweden show in June though so he could do with rebounding in style here.  Bryce Mitchell vs Matt Sayles isn’t a fight I’m particularly invested in. Could surprise me, I guess. Mitchell was on a season of TUF, forget which, and is currently unbeaten as a pro, 11-0 with 8 submissions. Although he did lose to Brad Katona on TUF. Sayles trains at Alliance MMA and is 8-2 with 7 finishes. He submitted Kyle Nelson on the Canada card in May.  Matt Wiman vs Joe Solecki could be a decent fight. I don’t really know what Wiman has left in the tank at this stage though. He’s 36 now, which isn’t that old, but he’s had a lot of injuries and layoffs. He returned from a nearly 5 year absence in June and got beat up by Luis Peña. Whether he was still working off the ring rust or he just doesn’t have it anymore, he looked about done. Never heard of Solecki but he’s the younger, fresher man at 26 years old. He’s 8-2 and was on Dana’s Contender Series.  Virna Jandiroba vs Mallory Martin might be worth checking out. Was supposed to be Jandiroba vs Livia Renata Souza but Souza pulled out. I haven’t seen enough of Jandiroba to be particularly arsed but she’s had a solid start to her career. BJJ black-belt, former Invicta Strawweight champion and she’s 14-1 with 11 wins by submission. She lost on points to Carla Esparza in her UFC debut in April. Mallory Martin is stepping in on just a couple of weeks notice and is also making her UFC debut. She’s 25 years old, 6-2 with 3 finishes but one of the losses was to Maycee Barber who’s doing well in the UFC now. Martin has won her last 5 in a row and has fought for Invicta and on Dana White’s Contender Series.  Makhmud Muradov vs Trevor Smith is yet another fight that’s had to be changed a bunch of times. When the card was first announced it was originally supposed to be Smith vs Little Nog. Then it was Smith vs Alonzo Menifield. Now it’s Smith vs Muradov. Fair play to Smith for rolling with it because this is a tough one thrown at him last minute. Smith has had his share of losses, he’s no world beater, but he’s experienced at 15-9 and has a wrestling base and 9 submissions on his record. Muradov came in with a bit of hype as the only MMA fighter on Floyd Mayweather’s books. He looks good in his own right though, in fairness. 29 years old from Uzbekistan and has a MMA record of 23-6 with 18 finishes. Mostly a striker as you’d expect from a Mayweather protégé. He made his UFC debut on the Copenhagen card in September and outpointed Alessio Di Chirico fairly comfortably.  Not a bad card, that. Edited December 1, 2019 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted October 25, 2019 Share Posted October 25, 2019 I may be the last of the old romantics, but I still really hope that Overeem can somehow snare a title run before he calls it a day. Incredibly unlikely, I know, but i still root for him to accomplish that. I also don't really think much of Walt Harris. Not sure if its his name or what, but he's bland as fuck in my opinion. Just a guy who's "there" much of the time. Hopefully big Al can get a finish here and keep that small flame of title hope alive. Rothwell vs Struve reeks of a Fight Night event from five years ago. It's a nothing fight, neither guy is contending for anything, but it could be a fun slugfest I guess. Or it could be the drizzling shits. How it plays out in round one will determine if I watch the rest of it. Condit vs Gall is probably the fight I'm looking forward to most outside the main event. I hope Condit sparks him and gets the win. I can't stand Gall, he's a twat. I'll always watch the likes of Wiman and Alves purely for sentimental reasons. Those dudes are old school. Who'd have thunk we'd be seeing a card in 2019 featuring Overeem, Rothwell, Struve, Condit and Alves? Insane really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted October 25, 2019 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 25, 2019 I was indifferent to Walt Harris for the longest time as well. Oddly enough, I started liking him when I saw this interview he did with Kugan Cassius and IFL before Wilder vs Fury last year, as he’d actually sparred both in the past; Nothing earth shattering but I just thought he came off as a good dude. His last couple of fights were sub-one minute blowouts as well which never hurts. I don’t know, he’s grown on me this last year or so. Now Cro Cop, Big Nog, Hunt etc are no longer around pickings are slim for favourite Heavyweights. He doesn’t compare to that lot but I like him. It would be kind of cool to see Overeem hold the UFC strap before it’s all said and done though. It’s the only major title that’s escaped him really, isn’t it? And on his day, I think he’s good enough to beat any Heavyweight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted October 25, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted October 25, 2019 Struve/Rothwell is worse than the Mir/Nelson fight Bellator are putting on tonight, eeeesh. Walt Harris is currently looking for his missing daughter  hope she turns up alright. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bjpenn.com/mma-news/ufc/walt-harris-asks-public-for-help-finding-missing-daughter/%3famp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted October 27, 2019 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 27, 2019 Walt Harris’ daughter is still missing. Not looking good now, she’s not been seen since Wednesday, police have found her car damaged and her friend has posted that she’d gone to meet a guy from a dating app. Fucking awful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted October 28, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted October 28, 2019 that is awful i listened to an interview with Harris not long ago and he was all about his family, guy must be distraught. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted October 29, 2019 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 29, 2019 It’s been on the news in America; Horrible. Don’t really get how they can say there’s no foul play suspected when her car was found parked in an apartment complex 50 miles away from her home and all dented and scratched up. Plus the fact she’s been missing nearly a week now and her family and friends say it’s massively out of character that she’d run away. I think it’s safe to assume this Overeem fight isn’t happening. Not that a fucking MMA fight matters compared to this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted October 31, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted October 31, 2019 Dana appealing now, just an awful situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted October 31, 2019 Share Posted October 31, 2019 She's been missing, what? Eight days now? As terrible as it sounds, there's virtually zero chance of them finding her alive unfortunately. Unless she's ditched her own car and decided to disappear, which is possible I guess, but sounds very unlikely. Man, you have to feel for her family at this stage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted October 31, 2019 Share Posted October 31, 2019 The UFC should pay Harris his fight purse and let him sit this one out. He is unlikely to be in any condition to fight. If I was Overeem, I wouldn't want to take the fight either. I can imagine many would struggle to fight a guy who is going through what Harris is presently. The promotion should match Overeem with a replacement and have Harris fight the winner when he's able to return.  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted October 31, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted October 31, 2019 Yeh, id imagine the UFC will take care of him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted October 31, 2019 Share Posted October 31, 2019 2 hours ago, Egg Shen said: Yeh, id imagine the UFC will take care of him. Yeah, as much as I dislike Dana and his childish ways, he's not bad when it comes to issues like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted November 1, 2019 Author Paid Members Share Posted November 1, 2019 Unsurprisingly, Walt Harris has withdrawn himself from this Overeem fight. The UFC are looking for a replacement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted November 1, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted November 1, 2019 Throw Cyril Gane in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted November 1, 2019 Author Paid Members Share Posted November 1, 2019 (edited) Overeem vs Gane would be ace. Big step up for Gane but it could be a good fight. And kind of a win-win for Gane because if he lost then he took it on a short notice quick turnaround. But if he won, it’d be a massive scalp for him. Can’t see it happening though for some reason. But I can’t really think of anyone else who’s obvious though. How long is JDS out for? Maybe Overeem vs JDS 2? I kind of wish they’d held off on having Greg Hardy step in against Volkov now. Just imagining Overeem kneeing Hardy into dust has got the old nips hard. Edit - Oh, Gane’s tweeted that he’s fighting on the Korea show in late December. Suppose plans could change? Edited November 1, 2019 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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