Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted October 27, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted October 27, 2019 (edited) Saturday 14th December. Weāre back in Vegas with the last PPV of 2019. And itās a monster of a card.Ā PPV MAIN CARDKamaru Usman vs Colby CovingtonĀ - WelterweightĀ Title Max Holloway vs Alexander VolkanovskiĀ - FeatherweightĀ Title Amanda Nunes vs Germaine De RandamieĀ - BantamweightĀ Title Jose Aldo vs Marlon Moraes Urijah Faber vs Petr Yan Ā ESPN 2Ā PRELIMSGeoff Neal vs Mike Perry Irene Aldana vs Ketlen Vieira Ian Heinisch vs Omari Akhmedov Matt Brown vs Ben Saunders Ā ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMSDaniel Teymur vs Chase HooperĀ Kai Kara-France vs Brandon MorenoĀ Jessica Eye vs Viviane AraĆŗjo Oskar Piechota vs Punahele SorianoĀ Ā Ā Look at that lot! Love this card. There might still be a fight or two added to the undercard yet but honestly this will do. Incredible card.Ā Ā Kamaru Usman vs Colby Covington headlines this bastard. Such an odd one for me in that anytime these two have interacted itās been absolutely awful. Proper cringeworthy attempts at trash talking. Weāre talking Tito Ortiz level stuff where you can tell they really think theyāre killing it with money promos but itās just crap āI know you are but what am I?ā school playground shite. BUT...the fight itself is bloody great. There are so many parallels in their fighting styles and the way their careers have played out to this point. Both 15-1, both had a bad loss early in their career and have came back to dominate, both setĀ a relentless paceĀ that might only be able to be matched by each other. It really is a fascinating matchup. Given the mirroring of their MMA careers, I guess it makes sense to go through it year by year.Ā 2012:Ā Both men make their MMA debuts. Usman only fights once and wins by TKO. Covington fights 3 times and wins them all, 2 by submission.Ā 2013:Ā Usman fights twice and goes 1-1. In just his second pro fight, he gets submitted in a round by a guy called Jose Caceres. He rebounds with a TKO win in December. Covington fights once and gets a decision win over, guess who? Jose Caceres. The very same.Ā 2014:Ā Great year for both men as they both go 3-0 with 3 finishes. And the parallels continue as this is the year both men get their foot in the UFC door. Usman scores 3 wins by TKO in the LFA promotion and bags a spot on TUF. He spends the latter part of the year filming the show. Colby wins a fight in May by submission and then makes his UFC debut in August and fights again in November. Wins both. The year ends with UsmanĀ at 5-1Ā and CovingtonĀ at 7-0.Ā 2015:Ā Usman wins TUF. Submitting Hayder Hassan at the Finale in July. He then beats Leon Edwards on points in December to cap off a very successful year. Covington beats veteran Mike Pyle in May. He then suffers his first defeat when Warlley Alves submits him in a round on the Aldo vs McGregor undercard in December. 2016:Ā Usman goes 2-0. Beats Alexander Yakovlev and...Warlley Alves. OK this is starting to get a little bit spooky. Covington is back on track, he gets 3 fights in and wins them all including strong showings against Max Griffin and Bryan Barberena.Ā 2017:Ā Both fight twice, both go 2-0. Usman decisions Sean Strickland and knocks out Sergio Moraes. Covington beats Dong Hyun Kim and then scores his biggest career win to date with a boring points win over Demian Maia. Somewhere around this time, Covington starts talking a load of bollocks and developing severe āX-Pac Heatā with me. As good as he is in the cage, heās just as shitty out of it. Highlight of all this was him mouthing off at Fabricio Werdum and getting a boomerang lobbed off his head.Ā 2018:Ā Big year for Usman. He goes 3-0 with 3 clear decisions. Scores his biggest career win to date with a boring points win over...Demian Maia. Whereās that X-Files music coming from? He closes out the year with a very impressive decision over former Lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos in November. This was Usmanās coming out party. Up until this point heād been consistently winning but a lot of his performances, while massively effective, were dull to watch. This was an eye opener though. Covington fights once in 2018. And like Usman, he follows up a dull decision over Maia with a tremendous decision over...Rafael Dos Anjos. Of course! Covington became the interim champ with thatĀ win but heās been stripped of that since for reasons I canāt remember nor be arsed to check. I just remember Covington going full on with the Trump love and wearing that same MAGA hat and the belt everyfuckingwhere he went.Ā The tit(s).Ā 2019:Ā Both have fought once so far this year. Both won on points in dominant fashion. Both levelĀ at 15-1 inĀ their careers now. Usman got his title shot at UFC 235 in March. And he completely big brothered Tyron Woodley in what was, for me, one of the single most amazing performances in a UFC title fight that Iāve ever seen. There was no doubt when the final buzzer went that we had a new champ.Ā Totally shut Woodleyās shit down and put a pace on him that just melted him. In August, Covington did pretty much exactly the same to Robbie Lawler. Seriously, watch those two fights and as Mike Goldberg used to say, theyāre āvirtually identicalā. After a load of stop/start negotiations, the fight finally got made. Usman vs Covington is a go.Ā And here we are. Honestly, watching Usman vs Woodley and Covington vs Lawler, then imagining Usman and Covington trying to do that to each other...itās a mindfuck. I canāt break it down at all. Theyāre both so relentless, so non-stop and have such incredible conditioning and pace that I canāt see either of them wilting. But something, somehow, will have to give. Someoneās got to break. I think Usmanās physical strength and size could maybe swing it for him but then if Colby gets in his head it could throw Usman off and make all the difference. Yeah, sod trying to analyse this one. I hope Usman fucking batters him though. Colby is arse. I know thereās actually a small section of fans who are all on his dick, because itās cool to like heels I guess, but heās a weapon. A real dickhead. I keep seeing people go āBro, heās working everyone. Itās a gimmickā but I think theyāre the ones being worked. Heās aĀ nob. Shouting shit at Stipe Miocicās wife for no reason, when there areĀ no cameras there, isnāt working anyone. Youāre just a trash person. There haveĀ been too many stories, from people within the sport, about him being an actual real life prick now. Itās telling that even his teammates at American Top Team all ended up hating him. Jorge Masvidal, Dustin Poirier and Joanna Jedrzejczyk have all had a pop recently. All former friends and/or teammates. And Iām convinced all these women he takes pictures with are doing it against their will. Looks like he went to the Conor McGregor school of picking up women.Ā They donāt exactlyĀ look like theyāre enjoying hisĀ company, do they?Ā Meanwhile, Usman, despite being equally as terrible a trash talker, seems like a pretty good guy away from the spotlight.Ā I was slow to get on board, mostly because he had a few snoozers earlier in his career. But his last two performances blew me away and heās grown on me. CouldnātĀ help but feel happy for him seeing this picture after he won the title;Ā Heās also been a big part of the movement to get the UFC in Africa. Between Usman, Israel Adesanya and Francis Ngannou, itās surely just a matter of time until we see a UFC cardĀ in that part of the world. Which could be a huge deal.Ā Iād likeĀ to see Usman run with the belt for a bit. And if he beats Covington along the way, even better.Ā Itās a hell of a fight. Just donāt let them near a microphone and everything should be just dandy.Ā Ā Max Holloway vs Alexander VolkanovskiĀ is almost as fascinating as the main event for me. Of the 3 title fights on this show, this is probably going to be the best actual fight in terms of excitement. Holloway is the man. Heās been a favourite of mine for years. Right from his prelim days. Thereās something about following a fighterās journey all the way and seeing them climb to the pinnacle of the sport. I think Holloway will always be one of myĀ favourites,Ā for those sentimental reasons plus heās always come off as such a nice bloke. The way he is with his son, you can tell heās a top man. And then the way he flips the switch when he fights is something else entirely. Mad to think heās still only 27 years old. Heās a proper veteran now with wins over Frankie Edgar, Jose Aldo twice, Anthony Pettis, Brian Ortega, Cub Swanson, Jeremy Stephens etc and heās still a few yearsĀ off hitting 30! Volkanovski is one of the most interesting challengers for him though. Heās the real deal. 20-1 record, 14 finishes, comes into this fight on a 17 fight win streak and beat Jose Aldo in his last fight. He doesnāt get much hype outside the hardcores, probably because heās respectful and doesnāt fake trash talkĀ to hype bullshit beefs, but heās a badass. I always had a feeling that a real strong wrestler might be Hollowayās kryptonite but Hollowayās win over Edgar in July showed itās not going to be that simple. I think Volkanovski might be able to make it work a bit more than Frankie did though as heās naturally bigger and stronger than Frankie (he was over 200lbs at one point during his Rugby days!), and also younger and fresher. Iād still favour Max but Volkanovski is a handful for anyone. Canāt wait for this.Ā Ā Amanda Nunes vs Germaine De Randamie 2Ā is going to get the least discussion of the 3 title fights here. I get why because the other two are phenomenal and the results are in doubt. Whereas this fight, it feels like a Nunes showcase. This is certainly the weakest title match of the bunch but itās still a fun matchup. Even if it turns out to be a complete squash, I canāt see it being anything but exciting for however long it lasts. They first met back in November 2013.Ā Havenāt seen it since the night it happened so off to Fight Pass to refresh my memory... Nunes vs De Randamie 1 UFC Fight For The Troops November 6thĀ 2013Ā I have no recollection of this. It was a nothing fight, in the very early days of women fighters being in the UFC, and it was tucked away on the prelims on a Fight For The Troops show.Ā Round 1: Both kicking to start with but it isnāt long until Nunes tries for a takedown. De Randamie defends it well initially but Nunes eventually gets her down and quickly moves into mount. De Randamie survives for a bit and does a decent job of avoiding taking the really big,Ā clean shots but Nunes just keeps raining down the ground and pound and Herb Dean has seen enough.Ā Winner - Amanda Nunes by TKO - Round 1, 3:56.Ā Not a great deal to take from that.Ā Nunes is obviously going to be the big favourite here. Not just because she bossed the first fight but what sheās gone on to achieve in the 6 years since has been quite remarkable. Sheās won 9 fights in a row, finished 7 of them. And fuck the numbers, itās who sheās beat and how. She absolutely butcheredĀ Miesha Tate in a round at UFC 200 to win the Bantamweight title in 2016. Then smashedĀ Ronda Rousey to bits in 48 seconds and ranĀ her out of the sport. BeatĀ Valentina Shevchenko twice on points. KnockedĀ Cyborg out in less than a minute to win the Featherweight strap. Then in her last fight she becameĀ the first woman to knock out Holly Holm in MMA.Ā Two belts and wins over all the top names in her weight range. Sheās on fire right now. I actually wouldnāt completely write De Randamie off though. Despite how the first fight went and despite Nunes recent reign of terror. GDR is nobody to overlook.Ā At 9-3Ā she hasnāt had the most breathtaking of MMA careers but she was the first womenās 145lbs champ, beating Holly Holm. And sheās an experienced striker with a perfect Kickboxing record of 46-0 with 30 knockouts. Sheās no joke. Not fancying her to win, of course. Nunes is in the zone at the moment and I donāt see this being the fight to end that. But itās not like GDR is going to be a deer in the headlights out there and, on paper, sheās equipped to compete with Nunes in a striking match. My guess is Nunes takes it to the ground again like the first time they fought. Why stand with GDR and give her a chance when you have the tools to exploit her deficiencies on the ground? But maybe Nunes fancies it on the feet now sheās wiped out some of the biggest names in the game. Should be lively whatever happens. Ā Jose Aldo vs Marlon Moraes isĀ ***WANDāS ONE TO WATCH***Ā and a sure-fire all-Brazilian war! Buckle up for this one. This wouldāve been a crazy fight regardless but what adds to the intrigue even more is this is Aldoās debut at 135lbs. I was a bit surprised when he announced he was dropping to Bantamweight. The talk was that heād always struggled to make 145 so cutting an extra 10lbs doesnāt sound like a good idea at all. This picture popped up the other day and I mostly saw positiveĀ responses along the lines of āWow maybe Aldo can make 135 after allā. But looking at how shredded and leanĀ he looksĀ there, where areĀ the excess pounds to cut on fight week going to come from?Ā Iāll be amazed if he doesnāt really struggle.Ā If anything, if there was a change in weight class coming I thought itād be aĀ move up to Lightweight. Usually as a fighter gets older, they naturally move up in weight. So this is an odd one. And I canāt help feeling itās going to end badly. Especially as heās facing Marlon Moraes. One of the bigger and harder hitting 135ers on the roster. So despite coming down from a bigger division, Aldoās probably not even going to enjoy a size advantage here. But heās still going to have drained himself to make weight. Just feels like a recipe for disaster. And Moraes is an animal. Knocked out Aljamain Sterling in a minute. Knocked out Jimmie Rivera in 30 seconds. Submitted BJJ black-belt Raphael Assuncao in a round. And he was giving Henry Cejudo all he could handle in their title fight in June before it all went tits up. Heās a beast. Aldoās a real legend but heās got his work cut out here. Iād love it if he surprises everyone and has a good run at 135 but I canāt see it working out. Canāt see any way this isnāt bell to bell fireworks though. Ā Urijah Faber vs Petr YanĀ is another old guard vs new breed fight in the Bantamweight division. Despite looking like your paperboy, Faber turned 40 this year. A legend and pioneer of the lighter weight classes. He was the poster boy for WEC when I got into MMA and heās done it all in the sport except win UFC gold. He retired in 2016 after a string of mixed results and failed title shots. It seemed like the right move at the time. But he announced his comeback earlier this year. It all seemed to come out of the blue but he fought Ricky Simon in July in his return to the cage and I think the MMA world was pleasantly surprised when Faber stopped Simon in just 46 seconds. It was a real feel good moment but I donāt think itās going to last and I still think this comeback was a bad idea. I really rate Petr Yan as well. I think heās ace. Heās 14-1 and coming off 8 wins on the bounce. Just beat Jimmie Rivera and John Dodson in his last two fights. And heās only 26 years old. Heās fresh and hungry and mean in a way I donāt think Faber is anymore. Iāve got a feeling heās going to give Faber a hiding. I think when we look back on this Faber comeback, itāll be looked at as a mistake. I think the Simon win will be looked at as a brief bright spot that fooled Faber into thinking he still had it. It sounds harsh and I do like Faber but thereās a reason he retired in 2016 and I think Yanās your man to remind him. Ā Geoff Neal vs Mike Perry has all the potential to steal even thisĀ show. Perry had originally thrown his nameĀ into the hat to step in against Robbie Lawler on this card when Santiago Ponzinibbio dropped out injured. Obviously nothing came of it. There was brieflyĀ some talk of Perry vs Niko Price as well. This one came out of the blue but Iām well happy with it. WeĀ canāt have Perry vs Price yet,Ā but now we getĀ Geoff NealĀ who knocked Price out in his last fight.Ā Neal deserves a big fight like this. Heās gone under a lot of radars but you look back and heās 12-2, on a 6 fight winning streak andĀ stopped 5 of them. You know what kind of fight youāre getting out of Perry. Itās always either aĀ pure dogfight or he just gets outskilled. Heās kind of found his level at this point but heās always good for an exciting brawl. Heās coming off that loss to Vicente Luque where his nose got fucking smashed to bits. Hopefully thatās all healed now. Canāt go wrong with this.Ā Ā Irene Aldana vs Ketlen VieiraĀ wonāt immediately jump out to you on this card but itās a fight Iām looking forward to. Iāve enjoyed Aldanaās fights so far in the UFC. Sheās no world beater but sheās usually in entertaining fights. She had a stupidly fun brawl with Leslie Smith in her UFC debut in 2016 and even dragged Bethe Correia to something very watchable in May this year. Sheās pretty good. Won 4 of her last 5 and even the loss was a split decision to Raquel Pennington. Itās the return of Ketlen Vieira that makes this fight for me though. Sheās one of the brighter prospects in womenās MMA for me but sheās been off the scene due to a knee injury. It was such shitty timing as well because she was just starting to get some nice momentum going and had beat Cat Zingano, was all set to face Tonya Evinger and then got hit with a knee injury thatās seen her sidelined for the best part of 2 years. Sheās still only 28 years old though, so sheās got some time. Sheās unbeatenĀ at 10-0 with 6 finishes, holds black-belts in both BJJ and Judo and was a Brazilian national Wrestling champion. Beat Cat Zingano and Sara McMann in her last two. We just need to see more of her. Coming off a long layoff, Aldanaās aggressive Mexican style will no doubt put Vieira to the test. Interesting fight. If Vieira can come back with a bang and get a couple of nice wins, sheāll probably be challenging for the belt before too long. Especially with the rate Nunes is burning through contenders. Ā Ian Heinisch vs Omari Akhmedov is another solid fight that probably wonāt get much attention. Heinisch lost a decision to Derek Brunson in his last fight in August but I quite like what weāve seen of him so far. Heās 13-2 now and was on a nice little 5 fight streak before the Brunson loss, including anĀ impressive win over Shoeface. Akhmedov is a gritty, tough Russian with a 19-4-1 record. He comes into this one off a couple of wins over Zak Cummings and Tim Boetsch. Probably not stealing the show or anything but itās a decent little fight this.Ā Ā Matt Brown vs Ben Saunders feelsĀ like a fight lifted fromĀ a card inĀ 2008. Proper old school one here. Both were on TUF back when TUF was worth a shit. Saunders was on Season 6 with Matt Serra and Matt Hughes as coaches. Brown was on Season 7 coached by Rampage Jackson and Forrest Griffin. Takes me back. Theyāve both had their ups and downs since then and neither are making any waves at this point but it should still be fun even in 2019. Brown is coming out of retirement here. NONE of them stick, doĀ they? He stepped away in 2017 after scoring a brutal elbow knockout against Diego Sanchez. Heād had a bunch of losses before that so it felt like a good time for him to call it a day. But heās back. Heās always been one of the most consistently exciting fighters to watch so itās kind of cool to see him back but heās also 38 now and has had some rough losses. Saunders is in a similar boat. Heās lost 5 of his last 6 now and was finished in all 5 losses. Heās been badly knocked out a bunch as well. To the point itās kind of uncomfortable watching him these days. Like I said, itāll be anything but dull. Might even get the FOTN bonus. But Iād actually like to see them both retire after this one. Win, lose or draw.Ā Ā Daniel Teymur vs Chase Hooper is a bit of an intriguing one. SwedenāsĀ Teymur has been knocking about for a bit now. Heās 7-3 overall and has had very mixed results in the UFC. He beat Sung Bin Jo in June, snapping a shitty 3 fight losing streak. Heās decent to watch despite the patchy record. Hooperās debut is the pull here though. HeāsĀ only just turned 20 years old. He appeared on Danaās Contender Series when he was just 18. Heās unbeaten now. Sherdog has himĀ at 6-0-1, other sites say 8-0-1. Whatever the case, heās off to a good start.Ā Ā Kai Kara-France vs Brandon Moreno is a bit of a sleeper thatāll no doubt get lost in the shuffle on a stacked card like this. Itās a good āun though. Kara-France is a New Zealander with a record of 20-7-1 and 12 finishes. He hasnāt really wowed anyone with his performances so far but I think heās got skills. Just need to see him against more guys weāre familiar with to really see what heās got. And this will provide that as heās in with Brandon Moreno who I love. Typical Mexican scrapper, tough guy and all-round likeable bastard. His UFC career has been a bit stop-start with injuries and layoffs halting his progress but he returned on the Mexico City show in September and went to a draw in a cracking fight with Askar Askarov. I had Moreno winning actually but whatever. This should be good. Kara-France has been really solid technically so far. But Moreno might be able to drag him into a grittier type of fight and I want to see how Kai responds to that. Looking forward to it.Ā Ā Jessica Eye vs Viviane AraĆŗjo could be decent. Eyeās had a hot and cold career. Iāve always said I think sheās a little better than her near 50/50 record suggests. A lot of her losses were either razor close split decisions and/or when she was fighting at 135 which was never her ideal weight class. Sheās done alright since dropping back to Flyweight though. But she got predictably destroyed by Valentina Shevchenko in her title shot last time out. This is her chance to rebound. But I donāt know. I like this AraĆŗjo. Havenāt seen a ton of her but Iāve liked the stuff I have caught. Sheās 8-1 with 7 finishes, absolutely battered Talita Bernardo in her Octagon debut and beat veteran Alexis Davis in her last fight in July. Thereās something about her style that I like, sheās got a mean streak in her. At 32 she doesnāt have a load of time so sheās got to get her career moving but I think she has the potential to really make some noise. Until she gets fed to Shev, that is. Got a feeling this could be another bad night for Eye.Ā Ā Oskar Piechota vs Punahele Soriano is the fight Iām probably least into on this card but even still I donāt dislike it or anything. Piechota looked decent in spells actually against BJJ gorilla Rodolfo Vieira on the Uruguay card in August. I think most expected Vieira to just bulldoze him and while he did eventually get submitted, he put up a better fight than most probably expected. Heās a BJJ black-belt under Robert Drysdale, 11-2-1 in MMA. He needs a win now though, having lost his last couple. Soriano I know fuck all about. He was set to face Adam Yandiev at UFC 243 in Abu Dhabi but was taken off the card when Yandiev pulled out. Heās Hawaiian, undefeatedĀ at 6-0Ā with 5 finishes and was on Dana Whiteās Contender Series. Thatās all I know about him. Doesnāt sound like a bad fight on paper, to be fair. I just donāt have enough knowledge on both guys to be that invested in it. Ā Fucking fantastic card. Iāll go as far as to say I like this every bitĀ as much as 244.Ā Edited December 1, 2019 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted October 28, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted October 28, 2019 As always, an excellent summary there, wand. You really should start a blog with all these, you'd get a lot of followers. One thing I don't get about GDR - she vacated her title rather than face Cyborg; why would she have a rematch with the only woman who's even more of a monster, and who bludgeoned her easily in their first match anyway? 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 The thought of Aldo going to 135 this late in his career when he spent the majority of prime nearly killing himself to make 145 is absurd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted October 28, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted October 28, 2019 (edited) 7 minutes ago, Egg Shen said: The thought of Aldo going to 135 this late in his career when he spent the majority of prime nearly killing himself to make 145 is absurd. It's insane. If there was any time he should've ever done it, it was back when Barao got done by Dillashaw the second time. But he really should've just moved up to LW to face Pettis. EDIT: What the fuck am I talking about? He was still FW champ when Barao lost. Forget what I said. Edited October 28, 2019 by Carbomb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted October 28, 2019 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 28, 2019 (edited) 5 hours ago, Carbomb said: As always, an excellent summary there, wand. You really should start a blog with all these, you'd get a lot of followers. One thing I don't get about GDR - she vacated her title rather than face Cyborg; why would she have a rematch with the only woman who's even more of a monster, and who bludgeoned her easily in their first match anyway? Cheers Carbomb šĀ Your point there about De Randamie is something Iād not really thought of. It is odd. I think at the time GDR was saying she had an injury, wasnāt she? Still seemed odd to just relinquish the belt. I always try to refrain from saying a fighter ducked a fight because who the fuck am I to judge that? It looked like a duck at the time and thatās the story everyone ran with. But like I said, De Randamie is a woman with a 46-0 Kickboxing record. Sheās a seasoned fighter. It seems well out of character for her to try to duck a fight. So I reckon there mustāve been more to that. Maybe she had an injuryĀ that she wouldāve fought through against a lesser opponent but didnāt want to go in hampered against someone the calibreĀ ofĀ Cyborg. I donāt know. There didnāt seem to be any hesitation with her signing on the dotted line to face Nunes here. And Nunes is on a scarier run right now than Cyborg ever was, IMO.Ā 2 hours ago, Carbomb said: It's insane. If there was any time he should've ever done it, it was back when Barao got done by Dillashaw the second time. But he really should've just moved up to LW to face Pettis. EDIT: What the fuck am I talking about? He was still FW champ when Barao lost. Forget what I said. Yeah, itās looking increasingly likely that weāre never going to see Aldo at 155. Itās a real shame because 1) while I doubt heād trouble the LightweightĀ title picture at this point,Ā I think he could have some better performances at 155 due to not having to keep making that weight cut, and it could prolong whatever time heās got left in his career. And 2) there are so many brilliant fights to make with a Lightweight JoseĀ Aldo. The McGregor rematch, Cerrone, Gaethje, Poirier, Barboza, endless possibilities. The PettisĀ fight you mention is the obvious one though. And thatās the fight Iād make immediately if he decided to jump into the 155 pool.Ā Six years overdue. And I actually think it might be a better fight if it happened now than it wouldāve been back then. It wouldnāt mean as much now, obviously. If it happened at UFC 163 as planned then it wouldāve been a title fight and both were in their prime. But it also was set to take place at Featherweight and I never liked Pettis at 145. He wasnāt the same. So I donāt think weād have got the best out ofĀ him. A fight now at 155 would be better, I think.Ā All that said, Lightweightās loss isĀ Bantamweightās gain. The 135 division right now is stronger than itāsĀ ever been. Youād think having TJ Dillashaw out with a big PED scandal and Dominick Cruz on the bench injured all the time would hurt the division but itās had the opposite effect. Itās allowed the rest of the division time to grow and develop. Youāve got Henry Cejudo on the throne. A proper twat but nobodyās really indifferent to him. People are invested in seeing him get battered, which is good for the division. Then youāve got Marlon Moraes andĀ Petr Yan who have really stepped up this last year or so.Ā Aljamain Sterling, Pedro Munhoz andĀ Jimmie Rivera are all really solid fighters.Ā Cody Garbrandt is looking to get back in the mix.Ā Cory Sandhagen is on the rise.Ā Raphael Assuncao is still knocking about.Ā Song Yadong is one for the future. And now weāre seeing 135 get a huge boost in name value with the addition of Jose Aldo, Urijah Faber and Frankie Edgar joining the Bantamweight ranks. Itās a brilliant division now.Ā Edited October 28, 2019 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted October 31, 2019 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 31, 2019 (edited) Looking likeĀ Mike Perry vs Geoff Neal is going to be added to this. Great fight. Nealās gone under the radar but I think heās really good. 12-2, won his last 6 andĀ just knocked out Niko Price in July.Ā Edited October 31, 2019 by wandshogun09 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 Uh oh... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Scott Malbranque Posted November 1, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted November 1, 2019 Good jays, that's crackers! The poor lad looks pure Bernie Lomax'd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted November 1, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted November 1, 2019 This cut to 135 looks a dreadful idea for Aldo. He usually looks half past dead at the best of times on the scale, at 145. Even if he makes weight here, I can't see how he performs well or absorbs a decent shot, against probably the biggest hitter at 135.Ā I can understand Edgar making the cut down to 135, as he's a bit smaller, and also knows he can't go back to 55. It seemed to make perfect sense for Aldo to move up, if he didn't want to stick at featherweight. Instead he's moved down and I can't quite wrap my head around it. 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 Yeah, Edgar moving down doesnāt seem like the worst idea. He was at the smaller end of 145 (crazy considering how good he was at 155!) and probably didnāt cut that much to make the weight. Plus heās from that amateur wrestling background and seems smart about this kind of thing. You get the feeling Frankie will do it the right way or not at all. Whereas thereās always been questions on Aldoās weight cutting methods. Itās not like heās John Lineker missing weight and stuff but it was always the thinking that he struggled to make 145 and that couldāve been partly why he faded in the later rounds in a couple of fights (Hominick and Lamas spring to mind). Him cutting to 135 seemed bonkers from the off,Ā to everyone outside Aldoās team it seems.Ā If heās looking this bad this far out from the fight I dread to think what heāll be like on fightĀ week. And like you say, facing an animal like MarlonĀ Moraes in that condition would be a recipe for disaster. Maybe Aldoās teamĀ should reach out to Moraesā team and see if they can come to an agreement on a catchweight or something because I really donāt think this is ending well. Heāll eitherĀ miss weight and have to forfeit 20% or whatever it is now, or heāll somehow make it and stumble intoĀ the cage like a mummy and get badly ironed out. Maybe heāll prove us wrong. Maybe itās just a dodgy photo or something. But looking at that, he looks like a fucking zombieĀ and weāre nowhere near the worst bit of the cut yet. Not good.Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted November 2, 2019 Share Posted November 2, 2019 Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted November 2, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted November 2, 2019 i didnt even know Glenn Robinson had died Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted December 7, 2019 Author Paid Members Share Posted December 7, 2019 (edited) More proof Conor McGregor is an evil cretin. Punching old men, sexual assaults, now heās encouragingĀ Jose Aldo to die via weight cutting... And once again, Ariel š Conor. No doubt heāll completelyĀ change his tune now and be all for Bantamweight Aldo.Ā Edited December 7, 2019 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted December 7, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted December 7, 2019 Them photos dont paint a pretty picture, he apparently has 12lb to cut before fight night too. I saw Mike Dolce chime in saying it dont look good also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted December 7, 2019 Share Posted December 7, 2019 13 hours ago, wandshogun09 said: sexual assaults "allegedly" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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