Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted May 3, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted May 3, 2020 (edited) We haven’t had one of these for a while, have we? A Wednesday Fight Night. 13th May in Jacksonville, Florida. The temporary foster home of the Octagon. MAIN CARDAnthony Smith vs Glover Teixeira Ben Rothwell vs Ovince Saint Preux Alexander Hernandez vs Drew Dober Ricky Simon vs Ray Borg Andrei Arlovski vs Philipe Lins Michael Johnson vs Thiago Moises PRELIMSSijara Eubanks vs Sarah Moras Gabriel Benitez vs Omar Morales Brian Kelleher vs Hunter Azure Chase Sherman vs Ike Villanueva It’ll do as a little midweek bonus card. The main event should be exciting however long it lasts and there’s a couple of fights tucked away lower down the card that should be worth tuning into the prelims for. So Anthony Smith vs Glover Teixeira headlines. This was supposed to go down as the main event of the April 25th card in Lincoln, Nebraska but you know why that didn’t end up happening. This should be a fun one. Neither man really know how to have a snoozer and I can’t see this being the fight to change that. The last time we saw Smith in action he scored probably the biggest win of his career to date, submitting Alexander Gustafsson in Stockholm of all places. He had that loss to Jon Jones but before that he was on a nice streak with finishes of Volkan Oezdemir, Shogun Rua and Rashad Evans. He’s one of the few UFC fighters who has actually had a fight during this lockdown too. We didn’t see it, of course, but he had to fend off an intruder to his home the other week. He talked about it in detail on Helwani’s show... Worth a listen if you haven’t already. Sounds fucking horrific. Thank fuck the guy picked the wrong house and Smith was able to deal with it. Imagine if it’d have been an elderly couple or something? If a guy like Anthony Smith had to fight that hard to keep him at bay, your average Joe would’ve really been in a fight for their life. Thankfully, the Smiths are all doing just fine. And this fight is a go for Wednesday the 13th. Assuming the card goes ahead. Smith’s got a tough fight on his hands here but at least it’s in a controlled setting this time. Not an early hours struggle on the living room floor while worrying where his kids were. Glover’s 40 now and I feel like he’s been slowing down for a bit but then you look at his record and he’s coming off 3 wins with 2 by submission. And all over solid, younger opposition. The Cutelaba fight was all kinds of fun if I’m remembering it right. Glover’s still a handful, make no mistake. So yeah I like this matchup. It’s a shame one of them is going to have to lose because they seem like 2 of the most chill, laid back, nice guys in the UFC. Style-wise it’s a cracker though. Ben Rothwell vs Ovince Saint Preux is the co-main as best I can tell. Weird high billing for an even weirder fight that nobody was calling for but whatever. OSP’s going up to Heavyweight for this. I hope he wins. Just can’t really be doing with Big Ben. Although his fight with Arlovski last year was surprisingly enjoyable. I just can’t get on with the big lump for some reason. And OSP has grown on me in recent years. Used to find him incredibly dull and I hated when he smacked Shogun into oblivion in 30 seconds that time. But I haven’t hated his fights over the last couple of years. Him repeatedly busting out Von Flues left and right is cool and he won me around with that big headkick KO against Corey Anderson a while back anyway. Team Von Preux here! Alexander Hernandez vs Drew Dober is a clash between two guys who I’ve long thought have given off the dickhead vibes. With Dober I think it’s mostly an unwarranted dislike of his face. He always looks like he’s got a bit of that Mir smug on him to me. Aside from that, I can’t say he’s done anything to justify my dislike. Hernandez is a right cock though. See any of his trash talk leading up to the Cerrone fight. I get people are going to say ‘he’s working you bro’. I don’t care. It worked. He seemed too good at playing the cunt for there not to be some foundation there. Seeing Cowboy twat him about was one of the more satisfying fight results in recent times for me. They’re both decent enough fighters though so this could be alright. I’m pulling for Dober because he’s the lesser of two fuckheads. Ricky Simon vs Ray Borg is a little bit of a darkhorse fight on this card for me. I’ve enjoyed watching both. Obviously I’ve seen more of Borg since he’s been in the UFC longer but I’ve quite liked Ricky Mullet in the fights I’ve seen. Lost his last couple and the quick loss to old man Faber didn’t do him any favours but he’s a solid fighter, strong, scrappy, can strike a bit. His performance against Rani Yahya was what got me on board with him. Especially given how hard to look good against and tricky Yahya can be. Borg’s coming in off a couple of points wins. He’s had a stop/start couple of years with his son having brain surgery plus he was a casualty of the whole McGregor vs Bus thing, wasn’t he? He seems back on track now though. Marvin Vettori vs Karl Roberson opens up the main card. OK fight. Not giddy about it or anything. Vettori doesn’t do much for me, to be honest. He did have a competitive split decision against Israel Adesanya early into the Stylebender’s UFC career but he can’t dine out on that forever. He’s not a bad fighter at all, and he’s won his last couple, but if I had to sum him up in one word it would be ‘forgettable’. Roberson I vaguely recall enjoying a tad more. He’s 9-2 and submitted previously unbeaten Roman Kopylov on the Moscow show in November. Also went the distance with Jerome Le Banner in a Kickboxing bout in 2015. I’d like to see him win this fight. I think he’s better to watch and has more upside than our not so Marvelous Marvin. Andrei Arlovski vs Philipe Lins. Another Heavyweight clash. Man, Arlovski is an iron man, isn’t he? He just turned 41, made his MMA debut 21 years ago, made his Octagon debut at UFC 27! This’ll be his 50th pro MMA fight. He’s been starched 11 times. Yet he’s still here. He’s not doing too well in there with the young Heavyweights of today, nor is he going to shake up the title scene, but he actually doesn’t look shot out there. It’s not like BJ Penn at the end. I’d say he’s got to be near retiring now but we’ve been saying that for about 10 years. Hopefully he won’t carry on too much longer though. He got done in 30 seconds by Rozenstruik last time out and he’s won 1 fight out of his last 6. Don’t know a great deal about Lins, but he’s a BJJ black-belt out of Nova União and 14-3 in MMA. He’s fought in PFL (formerly WSOF) where he won their Heavyweight Tournament, and also Bellator. I think I’ve only seen little clips of him but it was probably just him losing the Nemkov fight so obviously not the best representation of his abilities. We’ll see. Arlovski’s old and beat up but he should still provide a decent barometer for us to see what Lins has got. Michael Johnson vs Thiago Moises isn’t filling me with excitement. Johnson just seems pretty much done. It’s mad to think he was a legitimate fringe contender at 155 not that long ago. Knocked Poirier out cold, beat Barboza, beat Lauzon, beat Ferguson in the TUF Finale. Even when the Khabib fight was announced it seemed like a perfectly reasonable piece of matchmaking. He was never THE guy but he was thereabouts in the mix. He’s still only 33 but he’s 19-15 now and has completely fallen by the wayside at this point. He’s been a bit unlucky to have had a few decisions go against him along the way but it’s clear he’s fallen behind the rest of the pack. Just shows what a monster factory that Lightweight division is. Good fighters merely become food to be chewed up and shat out by the sharks at the top. It happened to Tyson Griffin years back as well. Great fighter, looked like the future of the division, then just totally fell off. Same with Gray Maynard. Griffin and Maynard were both neck and neck with Frankie Edgar when they fought him. Razor close, tooth and nail battles. They got left behind. MMA is an unforgiving game but 155 in particular, maybe more than any other division. Anyway, Johnson’s up against Thiago Moises here. 25 years old, 12-4 record, fights out of American Top Team. Haven’t seen a ton of him but I recall him being decent. It’s enough to make me favour him here. My confidence in MJ is pretty shot these days. Sijara Eubanks vs Sarah Moras does sod all for me. Neither of these two are going anywhere. Eubanks was fairly hyped up when she was on TUF but she’s kind of shat the bed at every turn. Got herself pulled from the TUF Finale because she couldn’t make weight and it’s been pretty much downhill since. She’s 4-4 now, coming off back-to-back losses, got beat by fucking Bethe Correia last time. Even her biggest career win over Roxanne Modafferi, she managed to fuck it up by missing weight again. Taking herself out of a probable title shot against Valentina Shevchenko. If she loses this fight, I could see them getting rid. She’ll have a losing record, she’s not reliable and she’s not very good anyway. Moras isn’t much better. 6-5 record but she’s at least coming off a stoppage win, has a win over Julianna Pena and has taken the likes of Andrade and Pennington to decisions. But she also missed weight last time. Might be a ‘loser leaves’ situation either way, this. Brian Kelleher vs Hunter Azure could be worth your time. I’m yet to be disappointed by a Brian Kelleher fight. Can’t see him ever climbing too far up the Bantamweight ladder, especially with how the division has gone from strength to strength over the last 12-18 months or so, but he always brings it. He beat Renan Barao, submitted black-belt Iuri Alcantara and he gave John Lineker (I miss him) a good scrap a while back as well. He comes into this one off a quick submission win on the McGregor vs Cerrone undercard in January. Can’t remember if I’ve seen Azure fight before but he’s 8-0 with 4 finishes and beat Brad Katona in his UFC debut. Sounds like a good little fight. Probably be better than a lot of the stuff higher up the card, to be honest. Chase Sherman vs Ike Villanueva is ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** despite being a bit of a mystery on the card for me. I have hazy recollections of Sherman being in some slugfests. Looked him up and yeah, he had a little UFC stint between 2016 and 2018 and right away I remember his fight with Rashad Coulter was a full on slobberknocker. He lost more than he won and disappeared without me even noticing. But he’s racked up 3 first round finishes outside the UFC since. He also went 1-1-1 in that Bare Knuckle promotion but jobbed to Joey Beltran on his way out of that territory. Now he’s back. And he’s dropping to 205. Villanueva is the newcomer here. A 36 year old Texan, 16-9 record with 13 knockouts. He stopped the aforementioned Rashad Coulter in his last fight too and is the Fury FC Light Heavyweight champ. Got a feeling this is going to be a wild one. So that’s your lot. Not amazing or anything but it’ll do. Don’t forget it’s on the Wednesday! Edited May 13, 2020 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted May 11, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted May 11, 2020 After Saturday, i'm all in on this one now as well😃 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted May 12, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted May 12, 2020 more fights! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted May 13, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted May 13, 2020 The Robertson vs Vettori fight is off. Not Covid related apparently but Roberson is ill. Here’s Vettori losing his head trying to fight Robertson at the hotel... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted May 13, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted May 13, 2020 he aint happy. The bout order you got listed is slightly wrong wand. This is how it stacks up: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators neil Posted May 14, 2020 Moderators Share Posted May 14, 2020 4 hours ago, wandshogun09 said: The Robertson vs Vettori fight is off. Not Covid related apparently but Roberson is ill. Here’s Vettori losing his head trying to fight Robertson at the hotel... LET ME BANG BRO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 I didn't bother to watch this card. However, I hear that Smith took a right beating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ElCece Posted May 14, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted May 14, 2020 I thought Smith was going to steamroll Glover to he honest but I was very impressed. I would like to see him get Thiago Santos, that match up intrigues me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted May 14, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted May 14, 2020 Yeah Glover bashed him up. This was always a bittersweet fight for me because I really like both. But I did kind of expect Smith to shine in this one. Like I said in the opening post though, even at 40 Glover is a handful. He’d been looking good against younger fresher opponents his previous few fights before this and he clearly still had some ammo left in the tank. It’s nice to see him having this run of success late in his career. Sucks for Smith though. He took a real beating here. Not sure what’s next. I like the idea of Glover vs Santos but I’m still not sure when Santos is due back. He had to have surgery on both knees, which must’ve been hell, so I’m not sure how close he is to returning. I guess Smith vs OSP could be next as well maybe? Wasn’t keen on Rothwell vs OSP but I didn’t really expect to enjoy it much. Interesting seeing OSP at Heavyweight but I think the size of Rothwell was just a bit too much for his debut in the division. Was chuffed with how Dober vs Hernandez played out. Ha. Hernandez is going to be one of those guys, like Mir and Schaub, who I always enjoy to watch get battered. Simon vs Borg was decent enough, nothing special. Had a feeling Simon would be too strong for Borg though. Arlovski vs Lins was a bit ugly. Always nice to see Arlovski get the win and in spells he still looked alright but on the whole the fight wasn’t pretty. That kick to the bollocks Arlovski took is another example for that @BrodyGraham ball shot thread. Moises vs Johnson was a weird one. What a strange turn Michael Johnson’s UFC tenure has taken. He was looking pretty great in the first round then Moises just slaps the heel hook on and it’s over. Seems to happen a fair bit with Johnson now. He’ll be winning a fight and looking better than ever, then he gets finished out of nowhere. Didn’t it happen in one of his recent fights as well? I’m thinking Josh Emmett where Emmett knocked him out cold late in the fight. Nice job by Moises but I think MJ is about done. Sijara Eubanks vs Sarah Moras didn’t do much for me. Eubanks badly needed that win though. Probably one of her better UFC performances but that bar was pretty low, to be fair. She’ll still probably cock it all up and miss weight next time. Omar Morales vs Gabriel Benitez...that fucking shin! I’ve got nothing more to say. Just look at it. You usually have to pay for an OnlyFans subscription to see a gash like that these days. Brian Kelleher vs Hunter Azure was a cracker. I had Kelleher losing the first round but he came back with a vengeance in the second and the finish was fantastic. Was happy to see these two got FOTN. Chase Sherman vs Ike Villanueva. I had a feeling this was going to be a bit of a wild one. Even having seen a limited amount of Sherman and nothing of Villanueva. But it didn’t disappoint. I hope Sherman has a longer run in the UFC this time. He’s great to watch. Villanueva reminds me a bit of Joey ‘The Mexicutioner’ Beltran. Really loved this. We don’t really see enough of these type of slobberknockers at Heavyweight anymore. Perfect way to kick off the card. And again, having no crowd really amplified the sound of the impact of Sherman’s punches. ”You ever order a 10-piece of wings and you get 11? That’s how I feel right now.” 😂 I like Sherman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrodyGraham Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 (edited) Smith slowed down massively after the first, was spent by the end of the second and was essentially a sacrificial lamb by the end of the third. The last two cards have raised both sides of the role of the ref debate and watching this fight you wonder if Herzog was wary about getting the treatment Keith Peterson has been getting. You also wonder how much the home invasion has affected Smith mentally. Fucking rough night for Smith all round though. I don't know what conversations he was having with his team pre fight, but I would take Smith telling his corner he was losing teeth as essentially turtling on his stool. Sending him out for those last two was awful. Glover was apologising mid fight for the beating he was giving him, it was that uncomfortable. Edited May 14, 2020 by BrodyGraham Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted May 14, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted May 14, 2020 Fucking hell yeah, just coming in to post that. The friendly version of Khabib and McGregor’s ‘let’s talk now’... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 Eh? Was Glover really better before he signed with the UFC? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted May 14, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted May 14, 2020 (edited) Not really. I remember pretty much everyone was hyping him as if he was the man to beat Jon Jones when he came in. There definitely wasn’t a feeling that he was past his best when he signed. Glover’s best years have been in the UFC for me. He just isn’t top 2 or 3. Edited May 14, 2020 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrodyGraham Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 The only pre UFC fight I'd seen him in was him battering Sokodjou, before Sokodjou started smashing Brazilians in Pride. That was a few years before his UFC debut and he looked tough as heck then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted May 14, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted May 14, 2020 @Pier Six Brawler with the voting after the fact again 😂 why? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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