Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted May 3, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted May 3, 2020 (edited) Completing the triple header week of UFC shows coming up will be this on Saturday the 16th. Yeah, Jacksonville again. MAIN CARDAlistair Overeem vs Walt Harris Claudia Gadelha vs Angela Hill Edson Barboza vs Dan Ige Eryk Anders vs Krzysztof Jotko Song Yadong vs Marlon Vera PRELIMSMatt Brown vs Miguel Baeza Anthony Hernandez vs Kevin Holland Giga Chikadze vs Irwin Rivera Darren Elkins vs Nate Landwehr Mara Romero Borella vs Cortney Casey Don’Tale Mayes vs Rodrigo Nascimento I like this a lot better than the Wednesday show actually. Some cracking fights on this one. Alistair Overeem vs Walt Harris. Here we go again. This is the third time the UFC have booked this fight to headline a card. It was originally supposed to happen on the Washington Fight Night in December but got scrapped when that horrible tragedy happened with Walt’s stepdaughter being kidnapped and murdered. Then it was rescheduled for April’s card in Portland, Oregon but Covid had other plans so that card got binned. Hopefully third time lucky but, to be honest, I’ve got a bad feeling Big Walt’s getting hammered here and nobody wants to see that after what the poor get’s been through of late. I mean, Reem’s far from the peak but he’s also far from shot. The old ‘Demolition Man’ still has some ammunition left. Even his last fight with Rozenstruik, he was looking good and was winning the fight for about 24:30 before his lip got punched off... Sorry if you were eating. But yeah, Overeem’s the vastly more experienced fighter here. This will be his 65th MMA fight. That’s not including his Kickboxing career. He’s also the more well rounded fighter. While the striking is obviously his bread and butter, he’s a better ground fighter than he’s given credit for. Remember when he went all guillotine mad in Pride for a bit? Harris is 13-7-1. He put away Alexey Oleynik in 12 seconds in his last fight. And Sergey Spivak in 50 seconds before that. He’s no world beater and he’s not the most technical of fighters but he’s a big unit, he’s powerful and he’s deceptively fast and agile for Heavyweight. He’s also sparred both Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder in the past. All that aside though, all that was before the tragedy with his daughter. Who knows how that will have effected him. He might never be the same again. The flipside is it could spur him on to fight harder like when Buster Douglas lost his mum during his training camp then went out and knocked Mike Tyson out. Fuck knows. I’ve got a feeling he’s getting beat down though for some reason. I’d love to see him get a big KO win. Obviously it won’t undo the loss of his daughter but he’s due something good and it would be a nice moment for his family after a horrific few months. Claudia Gadelha vs Angela Hill is down as the co-main event. Not the best but after this MMA dry spell beggars can’t be choosers, eh? It’s not a bad fight either, to be fair. Gadelha has fallen off a bit over the last few years though. Back when Joanna was dominating as champ, Gadelha was always seen as the #2 behind her and they had those couple of razor thin decisions that narrowly went Joanna’s way. She’s only lost twice since but she just doesn’t look quite the force she once was to me. Her losing to Nina Ansaroff surprised me. She beat Randa Markos last time out but she’s got some work to do now to get back in title contention. Angela Hill is someone I was indifferent to for ages but I really like her now. She doesn’t have the most impressive record at 12-7 but she was right in at the deep end early on and faced Rose Namajunas and Tecia Torres in her first 4 fights. She won me over with that forgotten corker against Jessica Andrade in 2017. Since then she’s been kind of women’s MMA’s Donald Cerrone. Always ready to jump in on short notice. She’s great on social media as well. Always having fun and she doesn’t seem to get bogged down in negativity like so many do on Twitter and stuff. She’s won her last 3 in a row now so she’s finally starting to build some momentum. A win over a former top contender like Gadelha would be big for her. I’d love to see it. Edson Barboza vs Dan Ige is ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** easy. One of the fights I’m most looking forward to of the 3 shows coming up this week. Last I heard about Barboza he seemed frustrated and was publicly asking for his release on Twitter. Don’t know what’s changed but if he’s staying I’m glad. One of my favourite fighters to watch. His striking is a thing of beauty. He’s making his Featherweight debut here. As Ebb said in another thread, I’m not sure how that’s going to work out for him. He’s pretty ripped at 155 and doesn’t seem to carry much body fat anyway. Hopefully it goes well. If it does he could be a beast at 145. He’s lost 4 of his last 5 at Lightweight so I get why he’s wanting to switch things up. But I don’t know. There’s always an uncomfortable feeling when a fighter’s answer to losses is to cut more weight. I’m still not convinced 135 is good for Aldo either, despite his surprisingly great showing against Marlon Moraes. Barboza’s fought all the killers as well. Khabib, Ferguson, Gaethje, pretty much the lot. On paper, Dan Ige is definitely a step down from that lot but he’s still no pushover by any means. I’ve been pretty high on Ige for a bit now. He’s a scrappy Hawaiian, 13-2 and coming off 5 consecutive wins. He’s gone well under the radar but he’s been beating tough but unheralded guys along the way from Mirsad Bektic to Kevin Aguilar to Jordan Griffin. These are good fighters who’ve had some really strong performances and some wars on the undercards. This is the biggest opportunity of Ige’s career so far. Facing a name like Barboza and while he’s coming down in weight and could be ripe for the upset. Should be a cracker. Eryk Anders vs Krzysztof Jotko might be alright. Not that bothered. I quite like Anders actually. He’s had a weird UFC run though. I had him beating Lyoto Machida and Elias Theodorou but the decisions went against him. Then in his last fight I thought he lost to Gerald Meerschaert but he got the nod from the judges. Regardless, he’s usually decent to watch. Bit of a power hitter and he’s had some big knockouts sprinkled throughout his odd decisions. Jotko is 21-4 and coming off a couple of wins. He’s not a bad fighter but I’ve never been blown away by him. Only thing jumping out in the memory is that time he started randomly breakdancing after a win. Song Yadong vs Marlon Vera could be bags of fun. Could well be the show stealer. Aside from the dick jokes you can make with Yadong’s surname, he has more to offer than that. He trains at Team Alpha Male in California so, unsurprisingly, Urijah Faber’s been bigging him up for a while. He’s only 22 years old and he’s 15-4-1-1 with 9 finishes. He’s got some skills. Had a few losses earlier in his career but he was riding a 7 fight win streak until going to a draw with Cody Stamann in December. I had Stamann winning that one as I recall. The potential is there though and he’s got time on his side. But he’s facing a little madman from Ecuador. Chito Vera has been a real highlight on the undercards for me over the years. He’s one of those guys who makes sitting through the prelims worthwhile. He’s in top form currently as well. He’s won 5 on the trot and finished all of them. He also retired Brad Pickett and survived John Lineker’s ‘hands of stone’ for the full 15 minutes. He’s a tough little bastard. Great to watch as well. If he wins this he’s got to be in a contender fight next surely. Matt Brown vs Miguel Baeza tops the prelims. A late addition that was originally supposed to happen on that Columbus card in late March. This could be fireworks. You know what you’re getting when you see Matt Brown’s name on a card. He’s always been a scrapper. He loves it. He’s 39 years old now and, with a 22-16 record, he’s not going on any run at the belt. But he always brings it and he’s finished Ben Saunders and Diego Sanchez in his last 2 fights. Baeza is relatively unknown but it’s so far, so good. He’s 27, undefeated at 8-0 with 6 knockouts and he stopped Hector Aldana in his UFC debut in October. It’s one of those past vs future fights that are often sad for the veteran. But you never know with a guy like Matt Brown. The violence he brings can ask a lot of questions of a less experienced fighter. Either way it sounds like a fun one. Anthony Hernandez vs Kevin Holland sounds OK on paper. Haven’t seen enough of Hernandez to really get up for this though. He looks like the son of Cain Velasquez who’s gone nuts drawing all over himself with his crayons. Or the simple Pettis brother they don’t talk about. He’s 7-1 and subbed Jun Yong Park on the Shenzhen card last August. I have fuzzy memories of that being a good little fight so maybe he’s better than I recall. Holland is a guy the UFC seemed quite high on for a time. Think he turned some heads on DWCS then he got some props for going the distance with Thiago Santos in his UFC debut. He’s done alright since but got submitted in his last fight. Not a bad fight this actually. Giga Chikadze vs Irwin Rivera came together late in the day. Chikadze was meant to fight Mike Davis, a fight I was really looking forward to, but Davis is out. In steps UFC newcomer Irwin Rivera. He’s 31 years old, 9-4 with 6 finishes and has stopped his last 3 opponents. He’s the Titan FC 135lb champ and is moving up to 145 for this. Finished his last couple of fights with body shots in the championship rounds. Chikadze is 9-2 with 7 finishes. 2-0 so far in the UFC. He’s primarily a striker and has fought in GLORY a few times. He’s coming into this one a bit pissed off apparently. He says Davis has cancelled fights on him twice now and has even blocked him on social media. The cheek! He’s mentioned wanting a fight with Barboza if he wins this fight. That could be all kinds of fun. Darren Elkins vs Nate Landwehr is another darkhorse. Always enjoy watching Darren The Damage. Despite the shit nickname and hideous chest tattoo. I think anyone who saw his crazy comeback knockout against Mirsad Bektic in 2017 has had a soft spot for him ever since. He’s coming off 3 losses on the bounce now, although they were to the current champ Alexander Volkanovski, Ricardo Lamas and Ryan Hall. He’s put a shift in. Before that he was on a 6 fight streak. Landwehr is the question mark. He’s the former M-1 Featherweight champion, 13-3 with 8 knockouts. Looks good in the clips I’ve seen but he ran into Herbert Burns (Gilbert’s brother) in his UFC debut and got stopped in a round. Not a good start and they’re not exactly giving him an easy rebound fight here. But it could be a good one given Landwehr’s striking style and Elkins’ toughness and refusal to fuck off. Mara Romero Borella vs Cortney Casey is pure filler. Probably one of those nothing happening, tippy tappy 15 minute decisions that a lot of the women’s fights at the lower ends of the divisions tend to turn into. Borella is Italian, 12-7-2 and coming off back-to-back losses. Casey is 8-7 and has lost 3 of her last 4. Meh. One for the fast forward button. Don’Tale Mayes vs Rodrigo Nascimento. Not familiar with either of them. Think they were both on Dana’s Contender Series. Mayes is 7-3 with 5 finishes. I did see his UFC debut but he got schooled and heel hooked by Ciryl Gane so it didn’t tell us that much. He’s a big boy though at 6ft6, and he’s only 28 years old. Nascimento sounds like the better prospect of the two though. He’s 27 years old, trains at American Top Team and he’s 7-0 with 7 finishes. Seems to be more of a submission artist going by his last few fights. He’s subbed his last 4 opponents. Top card, that. Probably won’t get much love because the main and co-mains are decent at best but, looking at that card as a whole, I think it’s good. Barboza vs Ige, Yadong vs Vera, Chikadze vs Davis and Elkins vs Landwehr are all quality. Then you’ve got the Heavyweight fights as the cherry on top. I like it. Edited May 16, 2020 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Dead Mike Posted May 4, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted May 4, 2020 I saw the stuff on twitter & thought Barboza had left tbh so this is a nice surprise. Main even is too close to call, got a feeling it could either be a quick dramatic KO or a 5 round snooze-fest & nothing in between. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted May 15, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted May 15, 2020 (edited) 15 minute ESPN piece on Walt Harris’ road to this fight. ’Fighting For Aniah’; ”I never felt like a stepdad. I felt like a Dad who stepped up.” A really tough watch at times, that. I’ve seen comments online that people are a bit uncomfortable with the UFC using the tragedy to promote Walt’s fight. I get that to an extent but it’s a massive part of the story and if they did the alternative and just never mentioned it, those same people would probably be saying it was disrespectful. I will say though, watching this did nothing to ease my concerns about Walt jumping back in there. I understand why he’s doing it, it’s his job and he’s got a family to support. He’s also probably looking for a way to focus on something else and take his mind off the horror of what happened. Completely understandable. But it all just still seems so fresh. This only happened 7 months ago. Seeing Walt rocking back and forth in his chair sobbing while talking about the moment his daughter’s body was found was awful and really fucking sad to watch. Thought it was quite telling when his wife/Aniah’s mum said “I don’t think Walt’s accepted it yet” as well. It’s all still so raw. I’d love to see him win on Saturday. I don’t think I can take watching him get battered on top of everything else he’s gone through. But I’ve had a bad feeling about this fight from day one and watching this has only reinforced that. Edited May 15, 2020 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted May 15, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted May 15, 2020 Having a young daughter myself, i aint even sure i can bring myself to watch that. I hope Harris wins Saturday night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted May 15, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted May 15, 2020 Edson Barboza made weight. 145.5lbs. Actually didn’t look bad either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted May 15, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted May 15, 2020 Well, how odd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted May 15, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted May 15, 2020 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted May 15, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted May 15, 2020 On 5/3/2020 at 7:27 PM, wandshogun09 said: Aside from the dick jokes you can make with Yadong’s surname Sorry to be a killjoy, but Song's his surname - goes first. That said "Song Ya Dong" does sound like an exhortation to sing the praises of one's own willy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted May 15, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted May 15, 2020 Ha, right you are. Still, I look forward to giggling again when the commentators say things like “Yadong is taking a beating”, “Yadong is coming up short here” and “YADONG WITH THE BIG FINISH!” I’m 34. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted May 15, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted May 15, 2020 7 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said: Ha, right you are. Still, I look forward to giggling again when the commentators say things like “Yadong is taking a beating”, “Yadong is coming up short here” and “YADONG WITH THE BIG FINISH!” I’m 34. Hey, I'm 40 and I still snicker at imagining Mark Hunt being introduced by a Cockney like O'Donnell or Dyer. (Not to his face, obviously.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted May 15, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted May 15, 2020 23 minutes ago, Carbomb said: Hey, I'm 40 and I still snicker at imagining Mark Hunt being introduced by a Cockney like O'Donnell or Dyer. (Not to his face, obviously.) Well I was going to wait until I got to this fight in that Top 50 thread but here’s a little present for you from Randy Couture... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted May 16, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted May 16, 2020 Unfortunately Mike Davis is off the card so my second ‘one to watch’ is dead in the water. Giga Chikadze is fighting Titan FC Bantamweight champion Irwin Rivera now. Also noticed Matt Brown vs Miguel Baeza has been rescheduled for tonight. Had no idea and it wasn’t on the card when I made this thread. Bonus. Brown always brings it and Baeza looked really good last time from what I remember. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted May 16, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted May 16, 2020 (edited) I also had no idea Matt Brown was fighting until I saw this picture. Was that added last minute? Your little write up comes in handy too Wand. i was gonna skip the prelims but your preview refreshed my memory on a couple of guys. One was Nate Landwehr. I remember his fight with Burns. He got knocked out but Landwehr is super confident and cocky, he's got that natural heel charisma too him, that fight with Elkins should be good. In it for the long haul 👍🏻 Edited May 16, 2020 by Egg Shen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted May 16, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted May 16, 2020 Brown vs Baeza was originally on the Columbus Fight Night in March that never ended up happening. I know it wasn’t on this one when I knocked up the opening post, because it’d probably have been my ‘one to watch’ if it was. Definitely a late addition. And yeah it’s a cracking card. On paper I like it better than Wednesday’s show but that turned out pretty good too. I think we’ve all just missed it though so we’ll enjoy anything at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators neil Posted May 17, 2020 Moderators Share Posted May 17, 2020 10 hours ago, wandshogun09 said: Unfortunately Mike Davis is off the card so my second ‘one to watch’ is dead in the water. It was definitely still *one to watch* for sure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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