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UFC 250: Nunes vs Spencer - Jun 6 🇺🇸


wandshogun09

Who wins and how?   

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Saturday 6th June the UFC is back at the Apex in Vegas again. And back on PPV. 

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PPV MAIN CARD
Amanda Nunes vs Felicia Spencer - Featherweight Title

Raphael Assuncao vs Cody Garbrandt

Aljamain Sterling vs Cory Sandhagen

Neil Magny vs Anthony Rocco Martin 

Sean O’Malley vs Eddie Wineland

 

ESPN PRELIMS
Chase Hooper vs Alex Caceres 

Ian Heinisch vs Gerald Meerschaert

Cody Stamann vs Brian Kelleher

Charles Byrd vs Maki Pitolo
 

ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMS
Jussier Formiga vs Alex Perez 

Alonzo Menifield vs Devin Clark

Evan Dunham vs Herbert Burns 

 

Before anyone points out, yeah I’m pretty sure the bout order is all to cock there. I don’t think they’ve finalised the order yet. Definitely think Sterling vs Sandhagen and O’Malley vs Wineland will end up on the main card. I’ll edit as and when. Bit of a light PPV, especially in comparison to how stacked 248 was. But they can’t all be that loaded and as long as BT don’t want £20 for it, I’ll more than happily tune in for this. Still some cracking fights on there.

 

 

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So Amanda Nunes vs Felicia Spencer tops the bill. Far from the ideal PPV headliner but, at this point, whatever. Anything we get is a bonus. Worst case scenario Nunes just crushes her. At least we get to see her do her thing. It’d be nice if Spencer can surprise everyone and make a proper fight of it though. You never know. She’s a BJJ black-belt, 8-1 in MMA with the only loss being to Cyborg. She’s finished 6 of her 8 wins. Former Invicta champ. She’s gone into the championship rounds before and finished Pam Sorensen in the 4th. She hasn’t had a ton of experience but she’s done well so far and crammed a fair bit into a relatively short career. Even the Cyborg fight, I know Rogan and co were chatting shit about how well Spencer did because they didn’t want to put Cyborg over on her last night in the territory, but still, Spencer survived 3 rounds of Cyborg. Most don’t. I think that point was lost because everyone got caught up in the biased commentary and the Cyborg vs Dana post-fight fallout.

I can’t see it though. I’ve seen a few people predicting a Spencer win but you always get one or two of them, hedging their bets and picking the underdog so they’ll look like a genius if it actually happens. Keep doing that and you’ll get one right eventually. But chances are she’s taking another beating here. And it could get very ugly because she showed against Cyborg that she’s tough enough and gutsy enough to hang in there. So this could be a drawn out slaughter like the Pennington fight. Unless Spencer can just steamroll Nunes with her grappling, I don’t see this going well for her.

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Seen a couple of people point to Nunes’ last fight with De Randamie as some kind of proof that she’s slowing down but I’m not buying it. De Randamie was being underrated left and right going into that one and was a trickier style for Nunes than people gave her credit for. And Nunes still won fairly clearly. Just because she didn’t blitz her out of there like she did Rousey, Tate and Cyborg doesn’t mean she’s on the decline. I don’t know, maybe Spencer can do something. She’s a pretty big girl for Featherweight so maybe she can make that count in the clinches and with takedowns etc. But I’m not feeling it. I don’t think she’s the one. I think it’ll be anything but boring but it might be a bit disturbing.

 

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Raphael Assuncao vs Cody Garbrandt is back on. This was originally booked for the Columbus card in March. Glad they’ve stuck with it. Assuncao has been around forever and mixed at a high level. He was never ‘the guy’ but he’s given some of the best fighters in the lighter weight classes a tough night over the years and has wins over Jorge Masvidal, Joe Lauzon and TJ Dillashaw and even wins over some of today’s current top contenders like Marlon Moraes and Aljamain Sterling. On a good night, he can give a lot of guys problems. He’s been one of the more underrated fighters on the roster for a while, IMO. He’s 37 now though and, after a long career, he might be starting to slow down. He comes into this fight off back-to-back losses.

Garbrandt is in a similar boat, minus the age. He’s only 28 years old. His problem has been damage. He couldn’t have gotten off to a better start in his career. Turned pro in December 2012, by December 2016 he was 11-0, the UFC Bantamweight champion and had just schooled Dominick Cruz. Not a fan of Garbrandt but it was genuinely one of the most impressive title winning performances I’ve ever seen. He’s lost 3 in a row since then though. He got knocked out twice by Dirty Dillashaw, then Pedro Munhoz stopped him in their one round slobberknocker last March. Not looking good for Garbrandt. And this is a tough fight to come back to. Assuncao might be slipping slightly but he’s still a handful. Last thing Cody wants to be doing here is getting into another brawl. His chin just isn’t holding up. But grappling with Assuncao probably wouldn’t be wise either so it’s a tricky one.

 

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Aljamain Sterling vs Cory Sandhagen is ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** here. What a cracking fight this should be. Sterling has really come on and started putting everything together over the last 2 years. He’s done a great job bouncing back from that KO loss to Moraes. He’s won his last 4 in a row, and all against tough guys. Brett Johns, Cody Stamann, Jimmie Rivera and Pedro Munhoz. That’s a strong run of wins. He’s improved his overall game a lot since he first came into the UFC as the Serra-Longo rookie. Sandhagen is legit himself though. One of those unassuming looking guys who you’d fancy your chances against if it kicked off down your local on a Saturday night, then you’d wake up in A&E on Sunday morning with the worst hangover of your life. He’s 12-1 and has won his last 7 on the trot. He first got on my radar with his stoppage win over Iuri Alcantara in 2018. A great fight and Sandhagen came back from the brink of defeat to get the finish. Fire it up on Fight Pass if you haven’t seen it. He’s also beat Raphael Assuncao and John Lineker. He took everything Lineker had for 3 rounds as well, which is a moral victory in itself. Really love this fight. Sandhagen was actually supposed to fight Cruz before the cards all got juggled about and we got Cejudo vs Cruz instead. I like this matchup though. Should put the winner right in that title shot convo as well.

I’ve said it before but 135 is really cooking at the moment. You’ve got this fight and Assuncao vs Garbrandt on this card, then you’ve got beasts like Yan and Moraes circling, young prospects like Song Yadong, grizzled vets like Aldo and Edgar dropping down, Cruz if he still wants to fight, then that prick Cejudo on the throne. Bantamweight really snuck up on us as a division. Remember when everyone used to say 135 was dead and uninteresting? It’s fucking class now. Looking at that bunch of killers, poor Urijah Faber really chose the worst time to come back, didn't he?

 

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Neil Magny vs Anthony Rocco Martin will most likely be decent but it’s not doing much for me really. Especially in comparison to some of the other fights on this card. I’ll take it though. Magny is 22-7 now. You look at his record and he has wins over the likes of Kelvin Gastelum, Carlos Condit, Johny Hendricks and Hector Lombard. And you think ‘how hasn’t this guy been in the title mix yet?’ But he always seems to drop a loss at a crucial time. I guess it doesn’t help his cause that he’s got all the personality of a house brick. Add in a USADA suspension and you begin to understand why he’s stayed in the same spot forever. He’s a good fighter though. He came back from the USADA naughty step at UFC 248 in March and, in fairness, looked like he never missed a beat in his win over Li Jingliang. Hopefully he keeps his nose clean now and can string some good performances together. Rocco Martin’s alright, 17-5, only recent loss was against Demian Maia. Solid all-rounder. Yeah, this’ll probably be fine. But I’ll likely spend the bulk of it getting distracted by my phone, the kids, my wife, a moth on the curtain rail, etc. I don’t know why because they’re not even bad or particularly boring fighters, but something about these two makes anything else going on in the room seem more interesting. Harsh but that’s the way it is.

 

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Sean O’Malley vs Eddie Wineland opens up the PPV. Now this is a fight I like the sound of! Another one to definitely watch here. O’Malley has really grown on me. I remember when he first popped up I thought I’d hate him. He just looks a bit of a twat doesn’t he? And it didn’t help that everyone was on his cock before he’d even really done anything, mostly because he dressed funny and smoked weed it seemed. But I was wrong. Pretty much every time I’ve seen him or listened to him or heard a story about him, I’ve liked him a little bit more. And now I’m at the point where I’m fully rooting for him to go all the way. Seems a genuinely top man. Always seems to be doing something for charity or giving stuff away to people less fortunate. Thought this story from Brett Okamoto was really nice;

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I can’t root against that. And all that aside, he’s got talent in the cage too. 11-0 with 8 finishes and an exciting fan friendly style. He looked great stopping Jose Alberto Quinonez in his last fight in March. Granted it was a favourable style matchup but he was also coming off a 2 year lay-off so a tune-up wasn’t unwarranted. Still only 25 as well. The sky is really the limit if he can stay healthy and stop smoking just enough to get by USADA. This is by far his toughest test to date though. Up until now, O’Malley’s best wins are Quinonez and Andre Soukhamthath. So although Suga Sean looks mega promising, we need to see him stepped up.

Enter Eddie Wineland. This is the perfect next step, I reckon. Wineland isn’t too much of a jump. He’s not some elite level killer. But he’s a tough, durable, scrappy, crafty veteran who should be able to ask some questions of O’Malley that we haven’t seen him answer yet. He’s 24-13-1 and has been in with Urijah Faber, Joseph Benavidez, prime Renan Barao, Brad Pickett, Rani Yahya, John Dodson, Takeya Mizugaki...he’s been about a bit. When Wineland was making his MMA debut back in April 2003, O’Malley was 8 years old! He’s a guy who’s past his best now but still handy enough that he should be able to at least make O’Malley earn the win. It’s the equivalent of when a Boxing promoter sticks his prospect in with a 35 year old, crafty journeyman. He’s durable enough to give the prospect some rounds, maybe even take him the distance, but shouldn’t cause any upsets. In theory. You never know in MMA though, and Wineland is always down for a scrap.

 

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Chase Hooper vs Alex Caceres. The Battle Of The Afros. I had no idea this was booked until now. Absolutely love this fight. Should be all kinds of fun. Hooper is only 20 years old. Born in September 1999, for fuck’s sake. I’ve never felt so ancient. When I first started watching MMA, I was younger than every fighter I watched. I specifically remember thinking it was weird when I saw Dan Lauzon in the UFC and he was younger than me. Of course, the novelty of that soon wore off as I hit my mid 20s and guys like Jon Jones and Rory MacDonald started popping up. But this curly haired fucker was born...around the time of Chris Jericho’s WWF debut and Lewis vs Holyfield, both of which I still remember vividly. We’re getting old.

Anyway, Hooper is 9-0-1 with 7 finishes. He was on Dana’s Contender Series and made his Octagon debut at UFC 245 in December, battering Daniel Teymur in a round. I just recall thinking this guy’s going to be entertaining as fuck to follow. And Alex ‘Bruce Leeroy’ Caceres was pretty much that kid 10 years ago. He was coming off TUF rather than DWCS back then but he was that skinny young kid with the afro doing wild shit in the cage. Hasn’t panned out for Caceres results-wise but there’s never really a dull moment watching him. It’ll be a lively one however long it lasts.

 

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Ian Heinisch vs Gerald Meerschaert won’t get much discussion but it’s a pretty good matchup. Heinisch is 13-3 and coming off a couple of losses but was on a 5 fight streak before that and had beat Shoeface, which is where he first got my attention. Meerschaert is 30-12, so he’s got quite an edge in experience. He’s 2-3 in his last 5 but I don’t think that really tells the whole story. I had him beating Eryk Anders and arguably Kevin Holland, so if those decisions went his way you’re looking at 4-0 in his last 4. Big difference. And he did submit Deron Winn and Trevin Giles who were thought to be good prospects not long ago. Not predicting any runs at the belt or anything but I think Meerschaert is a tad underrated.

 

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Cody Stamann vs Brian Kelleher is a late addition to the card. Another really solid Bantamweight fight between two of the slightly overlooked 135ers on the roster, IMO. Stamann is 18-2-1 and coming off a questionable draw against Song Yadong in December. I had Stamann winning that one. Besides that, he won 11 of his previous 12 fights with the only loss coming against Aljamain Sterling. Kelleher’s 21-10 so not the best record numbers-wise. But he’s an exciting fighter and he’s game as anything. He’s had his moments too. Submitted BJJ black-belt Iuri Alcantara in his UFC debut, beat Renan Barao, lasted into the third round with John Lineker. He’s finished his last two opponents and is coming off a big knockout over Hunter Azure on the Smith vs Teixeira undercard the other week.

 

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Charles Byrd vs Maki Pitolo is a bit of an unknown to me. Apparently, Byrd has fought 3 times in the UFC. Why do I remember fuck all about him? Beat John Phillips and lost to Edmen Shahbazyan and Darren Stewart. I must’ve at least seen the Shahbazyan fight. No memory of Byrd though. He’s 10-6 overall. I remember Pitolo. But only because of his ridiculous nickname ‘Coconut Bombz’. He’s fought once in the UFC, losing to Callan Potter in October. 12-5 record. Yeah, going in blind here. Sometimes it’s these fights that pleasantly surprise you though.

 

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Jussier Formiga vs Alex Perez could be another decent fight. Always quite liked Formiga. He’s lost his last 2 fights but he’s still one of the better Flyweights on the roster for me. 23-7 overall. Wins over Sergio Pettis, Scott Jorgensen, Wilson Reis, Dustin Ortiz. These are good fighters. Took Cejudo to a split decision. He’s also the only man to beat Deiveson Figueiredo. People forget how good this guy is. He really needs a win right about now though, to get himself back in the title picture. If he can put a couple of strong performances together, I could easily see Figueiredo vs Formiga 2 for the title. Wouldn’t be a Box Office smash or anything but it would make sense with Formiga being Fig’s only blemish to date. The title picture at 125 is a mess as well so anything could happen. We’ll see how that Figueiredo vs Benavidez rematch pans out. Perez is OK. 23-5 record. But he’s a guy I’d expect Formiga to beat so if he loses this one, then it’ll be a sign he’s on the way out.

 

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Alonzo Menifield vs Devin Clark is a fight I’m looking forward to, but only really to see Menifield back in action. He someone I think could be a breakout guy in a year or so. And if any division needs someone to break through right now, it’s Light Heavyweight. He’s 32 now so he’s not old but not exactly a spring chicken. It’s so far, so good though. 9-0, 9 finishes. Scored an 8 second KO on Dana’s Contender Series which got him in the UFC. And in his 2 trips to the Octagon he’s put Vinicius Moreira and Paul Craig away inside the first round. He’s been out injured since the second half of 2019 though so his progress stalled. I really like him. Seems a cool guy in interviews as well. Remains to be seen how he does when he moves up through the levels of opposition but for now he’s been looking great. Never been into Clark. 11-4 record, usually loses when he faces anyone of real substance. So Menifield could do with a big statement win here.

 

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Evan Dunham vs Herbert Burns got added last minute. With only a few days to go, this should round out the card. Decent fight too. Dunham actually retired after a 2018 loss to Francisco Trinaldo but decided to return early this year. Tough guy and he’s had some good wins over the years against the likes of Joe Lauzon, Ross Pearson, Nik Lentz and Tyson Griffin. But at 38 now, and having already retired and come back, I’m not sure what he’s got left. And he’s up against a younger, fresher guy in Herbert Burns. He’s the younger brother of Gilbert and is 10-2 with 8 finishes. Like his brother, he’s a grappler at heart, but can bang a bit as well. He knocked out Nate Landwehr in a round in his UFC debut in January. Got a feeling this comeback isn’t going to go well for Dunham. 

 

If you get past the fact that the main event is probably going to be a mugging, this is a pretty sweet card actually. 

Edited by wandshogun09
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really like this card.

Can't help but feel Cody should be coming back to an easier fight than Assuncao, 3 bad losses on the bounce and going in against the divisions bogeyman. There's chance that Assuncao is on his way down too, but thats a tough fight.

 

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Exactly my thinking. They’re doing him no favours. 

I’ve never warmed to Garbrandt but I must admit I feel a bit sorry for him. There’s a good chance his chin is gone now and that started with the 2 losses to Dillashaw, who turned out to be riddled with PEDs. That’s got to make it an extra bitter pill to swallow. I don’t know if the Munhoz loss was further evidence his chin is finished, or it was more his recklessness and lack of defence in that fight, or a bit of both. But if he gets knocked out again here it’s hard to see how he comes back from that. 

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On 5/24/2020 at 11:28 AM, wandshogun09 said:

I’ve never warmed to Garbrandt but I must admit I feel a bit sorry for him. There’s a good chance his chin is gone now and that started with the 2 losses to Dillashaw, who turned out to be riddled with PEDs. That’s got to make it an extra bitter pill to swallow.

I always thought Dillashaw tested positive before and after the Cejudo fight? He would have been tested before and immediately after both bouts with Garbrandt, wouldn't he? If he was on anything at that point he'd have been flagged and the result of either fight would have been negated.

I mean, I know Garbrandt uses that failed drug test as the reason he got outclassed in both fights, but we're talking months previous. I don't buy it. I think Dillashaw was just much better than him.

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I don’t know. You’re right on the timing of when he failed the tests but I don’t know what to believe. Isn’t EPO meant to be one of those drugs that only shows up on the tests in a really short timeframe after it’s taken? I’m sure I remember that being a talking point when Dillashaw got caught. That he must’ve been really unlucky and that USADA must’ve showed up to test him soon after he’d used it or it wouldn’t have been detected. Might’ve remembered it wrong. Maybe it was the first time he’d used it but I’m sceptical. Especially because Cody had accused him of using PEDs long before they even fought so it wasn’t sour grapes then. Regardless, I think he was better than Cody anyway but it still would’ve been a tough pill to swallow. No pun intended. 

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18 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

Isn’t EPO meant to be one of those drugs that only shows up on the tests in a really short timeframe after it’s taken? I’m sure I remember that being a talking point when Dillashaw got caught. That he must’ve been really unlucky and that USADA must’ve showed up to test him soon after he’d used it or it wouldn’t have been detected. 

Yes, that was the gist of things iirc. 

 

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10 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

I don’t know. You’re right on the timing of when he failed the tests but I don’t know what to believe. Isn’t EPO meant to be one of those drugs that only shows up on the tests in a really short timeframe after it’s taken? I’m sure I remember that being a talking point when Dillashaw got caught. That he must’ve been really unlucky and that USADA must’ve showed up to test him soon after he’d used it or it wouldn’t have been detected. Might’ve remembered it wrong. Maybe it was the first time he’d used it but I’m sceptical. Especially because Cody had accused him of using PEDs long before they even fought so it wasn’t sour grapes then. Regardless, I think he was better than Cody anyway but it still would’ve been a tough pill to swallow. No pun intended. 

I think his EPO error was more to do with him dropping down a weight class and looking to compensate for it than a case of him being a secret lifelong doper. He'd fought in the UFC 15 times previous, over 8 years and never popped for anything.

In fact, I'm sure I read in an Athletic piece that he agreed to drop down then realised upon attempting to cut during his camp that he'd made a horrible mistake and simply couldn't do it while retaining his power and energy levels.

I mean, even the EPO didn't fucking help him in the end. Imagine him in there at that weight without it?

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15 hours ago, David said:

 

I mean, I know Garbrandt uses that failed drug test as the reason he got outclassed in both fights, but we're talking months previous. I don't buy it. I think Dillashaw was just much better than him.

Garbrandt was throwing accusations at Dillashaw before they'd even fought.

Obviously Dillashaw never popped until post-Cejudo so nothing will ever be proven and Dillashaw has to be presumed innocent, but thats some strange and damning accusations to just throw out there for no real reason. 

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Garbrandt is a knucklehead though. I have no doubt that Dillashaw has probably admitted to friends etc that if he needed to he'd use something to make the big payday, but then who wouldn't? It's a short career, and you're getting punched in the head for a living. You do what you need to do.

I'd also ask why Garbrandt never piped up before this? Why not shop Dillashaw before he ditched their team? If anything, his accusations make him complicit in hiding this just because he was a team-mate. 

Fact is, he dumped hardcore-bro Cody on his arse twice and tested clean on both occasions. That's the facts. He popped when trying to cut down to a lower weight class and get crushed in the fight anyway. There's probably a lesson in there somewhere.

As for Garbrandt? If he fought Dillashaw again in 2021 the result wouldn't be much different. He's just a smarter, more athletic fighter.

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Sorry if this point has already been made, but I've always been proper suspicious of the rise of all these cardio freaks popping up over the past 5 years or so, particularly when EPO was exposed as in the mix. I'm sure not everyone is on some gear, but MMA has a long past of the fighters taking all sorts to gain an edge, so it would be foolish to not be suspicious. 

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5 minutes ago, ColinBollocks said:

but I've always been proper suspicious of the rise of all these cardio freaks popping up over the past 5 years or so, particularly when EPO was exposed as in the mix.

Quite a few spectators noticed that many fighters' cardio diminished when USADA first started testing. 

EPO is perhaps one of the remedies. 

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2 minutes ago, ColinBollocks said:

Sorry if this point has already been made, but I've always been proper suspicious of the rise of all these cardio freaks popping up over the past 5 years or so, particularly when EPO was exposed as in the mix. I'm sure not everyone is on some gear, but MMA has a long past of the fighters taking all sorts to gain an edge, so it would be foolish to not be suspicious. 

Yeah, we can all be suspicious, but the notion that Garbrandt is pushing is that the reason he lost to Dillashaw, twice, is because he got popped for something in a fight against a different opponent.

That's excuse-making of the highest order. He got planted twice. And like it or not, Dillashaw passed tests both times. That's the facts. He has to live with that.

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7 minutes ago, David said:

Yeah, we can all be suspicious, but the notion that Garbrandt is pushing is that the reason he lost to Dillashaw, twice, is because he got popped for something in a fight against a different opponent.

That's excuse-making of the highest order. He got planted twice. And like it or not, Dillashaw passed tests both times. That's the facts. He has to live with that.

how is it excuse making if he made the accusations before they'd even fought though? you just addressed this then made the same claim?😄

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Yeah. My point isn't really about that argument, rather on the subject of the rise of EPO and these cardio beasts (we all know who they are). I don't know how long TJ has been on the stuff, but we saw with Cejudo that it doesn't mean you automatically get a win for using it. However, I'd be surprised if it was just a one off.

Edited by ColinBollocks
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