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UFC Vegas: Poirier vs Hooker - Jun 27 šŸ‡ŗšŸ‡ø


wandshogun09

Who wins and how?   

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Saturday 27th June. Once again at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas...

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ESPN/ESPN+Ā MAIN CARD
Dustin Poirier vs Dan Hooker

Mike Perry vs Mickey GallĀ 

Maurice Greene vs Gian Villante

Brendan Allen vs Kyle DaukausĀ 

Takashi Sato vs Jason WittĀ 

Sean Woodson vs Julian ErosaĀ Ā 
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ESPN+/FIGHT PASSĀ PRELIMS
Luis Pena vs Khama WorthyĀ 

Tanner Boser vs Philipe LinsĀ 

Jinh Yu Frey vs Kay Hansen

Jordan Griffin vs Youssef Zalal

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This oneā€™s rolled around especially fast, hasnā€™t it? Doesnā€™t seem 5 minutes since Poirier vs Hooker got announced. Now weā€™re just a fortnight away. That seems to be the finalised bout order as best I can tell, although I can see a last minuteĀ prelim or two still being added yet.Ā I like this card a lot. On paper at least, I think thatā€™s one of the better Fight Night lineups weā€™ve had since COVID hit.Ā 

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Dustin Poirier vs Dan Hooker is a cracking main event. How can you not love this? It was actually meant to go down in May in San Diego but the card got binned with all the craziness going on. Iā€™m really glad theyā€™ve been able to rebook this one. Unlike fucking Eye vs Calvillo, this is the kind of fight you want to see in a headline positionĀ over 5 rounds.

We havenā€™t seen Poirier since he unsuccessfully challenged Khabib for the gold back in September. Before that though, heā€™d been on the best run of his entire career with wins over Anthony Pettis, Eddie Alvarez, Justin Gaethje and Max Holloway. One of the most exciting fighters in the game with toughness and heart off the charts. Before all this COVID madness, I was half expecting Poirier to try to sit out and wait for a biggish name fight but I was pleasantly surprised when the original announcement of him fighting Hooker came out. And I guess now itā€™s a case of Poirier just wanting to get back in the cage.Ā Hooker is on top form right now. 20-8 record and heā€™s won 7 of his last 8. Among them, wins over Gilbert Burns, Al Iaquinta and in February he beat Paul Felder in a bit of a 5 round war. This is a big opportunity for him. Poirier might be coming off a one-sided loss but when that loss was against Khabib it doesnā€™t diminish your stock too much. This time last year Poirier was the interim champ and just battered Max Holloway. If Hooker can come out of this one with a W itā€™ll be huge for him. Iā€™d favour Poirier myself but you never know and whatever happens it should be a hell of a scrap. With their styles I canā€™t see how it plays out any other way but pure violence.

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Mike Perry vs Mickey GallĀ co-mains. Donā€™t know what to think about this. Both are kind of floundering of late after solid starts to their Octagon careers. Perry has lost 5 of his last 7. The losses were all to legit guys but still, itā€™s 2-5 out of 7. For all the smack Perry talks, heā€™s not backing it up. Fun to watch though so theyā€™ll keep him around. Gall went 4-0 initially in his career and did a stellar job of making a name for himself right out the gate by being the first man standing opposite CM Punk in the cage. He got an easy win then added to his hype by submitting Sage Northcutt a few months later. That was 2016 though. Since then heā€™s gone 2-2. Got dominated by Randy Brown and then got completely old manned and stopped by Diego Sanchez. Heā€™s 28, itā€™s not the end of the world, and he does have some skills. But that momentum heā€™d nicely built for himself early on has totally petered out at this point. Funny old matchup. In 2016/17 this wouldā€™ve been seen as a big prospect fight. Now, not so much but I think itā€™ll be anything but boring. Donā€™t find either particularly likeable but Perry is a proper bellend so Iā€™ll be pulling for Gall to throttle him.

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Maurice Greene vs Gian Villante isnā€™tĀ grabbing me by the bollocks. Havenā€™t been massively impressed with Greene so far. Iā€™ve got vague memories of him being on TUF at some point, heā€™s 8-4 now and got finished by Alexey Oleynik and Sergei Pavlovich in his last couple of appearances. Villante has had his moments as far as being in some slobberknockers over the years but truthfully heā€™s not much good. Heā€™s a Serra-Longo fighter, 17-11 and has lost 4 out of his last 6 fights. I donā€™t know about this move up to Heavyweight either. He hasnā€™t looked good at 205 lately and I donā€™t know whether him moving up is him genuinely thinking heā€™ll do well at the weight or he just swapped training camps for chippy teas and canā€™t make the cut anymore.

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Brendan Allen vs Kyle Daukaus is a bit of a mystery to me. Havenā€™t seen much Allen and Iā€™ve seen fuck all of Daukaus. Doing a bit of homework though, this could be a good ā€˜un. Might be some serious potential in both these two. ā€˜All Inā€™ Allen is 24 years old, 14-3 with 13 finishes. Looks fairly promising so far. Comes into this one off the back of 6 straight wins and has already stopped Kevin Holland and Tom Breese in the UFC. Daukaus is the newcomer here, filling in for the injured Ian Heinisch. Heā€™s unbeatenĀ at 9-0Ā with 8 subs, was on Danaā€™s Contender Series and was the Cage Fury Middleweight champ. Of his 8 submission victories, 5 have come by Brabo choke. Didnā€™t have much of an opinion on this at first glance but Iā€™m quite looking forward to it now.

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Sean Woodson vs Kyle Nelson. Another fight where Iā€™m not that familiar with either fighter but I think this could be pretty decent actually. Woodson is 28, undefeatedĀ at 7-0Ā and, as I remember, looked quite slick outpointing Kyle Bochniak in his UFC debut back in October. Hasnā€™t really beat anyone of note but I do recall thinking his striking looked on point against Bochniak. Nelson is 29, Canadian with a record of 13-3. Havenā€™t seen much of him but he made short work of Polo Reyes on the Mexico City card in September, proper clobbered him. Heā€™s also got a first round knockout overĀ Khama Worthy on his record from 2017. Could be a bit of a dark horse fight, this.

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Luis Pena vs Khama WorthyĀ isĀ ***WANDā€™S ONE TO WATCH***Ā here. Absolutely love this. Pena AKA ā€˜Violent Bob Rossā€™ is 26 years old, trains out of American Top Team and is 8-2 with 6 finishes. Both losses were split decisions. I remember thinking he shouldā€™ve got the nod against Matt Frevola back in October. Pena has looked pretty good so far. Seems a solid all-rounder and heā€™s got that awkward lanky frame as a 6ā€™3ā€ Lightweight. Khama Worthy Iā€™ve seen less of but he made a hell of a first impression on me in his UFC debut last August. He stepped in as a late replacement and battered Devonte Smith (who I rated) in a round. And not only was his in cage performance highly impressive, he had a certain swagger and style to him which I liked. Not saying heā€™s championship material or anything but worst case scenario I think heā€™ll be someone worth keeping an eye out for to spice up the undercards. Heā€™s 33 years old, 15-6 record with 11 finishes, mostly knockouts. Based on what Iā€™ve seen of Pena and the limited footage Iā€™ve seen of Worthy, Iā€™ve got a feeling this is going to a right belter.

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Tanner Boser vs Philipe Lins.Ā Not especially arsed about this but you just never know with the Heavyweights. Boser is still somehow only 28 despite looking weathered as fuck. Heā€™s Canadian, 17-6-1. Havenā€™t seen enough of him to have too much of an opinion really. Think I only saw his last fight and he just got outclassed by Ciryl Gane so it didnā€™t tell us much. Lins is 34, Brazilian, BJJ black-belt, 14-4 record. Fought in Bellator and PFL in the past. Again, think Iā€™ve only watched him fight once and it was his UFC debut in May where he dropped a decision to Arlovski. That was only about a month ago and I recall nothing of that fight. Fuck knows.

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Jinh Yu Frey vs Kay Hansen came out of nowhere. Octagon debuts for both.Ā Frey was the Invicta Atomweight (105lbs) champ. Sheā€™s Korean-American, 35 now, 9-4 record. Only seen little snippets of her in action, maybe one full fight, but she has some wicked striking I remember that much.

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How many 105lb women do you see do shit like that?Ā Despite that, sheā€™s not typicallyĀ a KO artist. Thatā€™s her only knockout. But what a knockout! Not sure how sheā€™ll do moving up to Strawweight but I guess weā€™re about to find out. Hansen is only 20 years old and has a record of 6-3. Pretty much all her fights were in Invicta.

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Jordan Griffin vs Youssef ZalalĀ could be alright. I keep mentioning that mad scramblefest Griffin had with Chas Skelly last year and Iā€™ll continue to recommend it. One of the best undercard fights of 2019. Griffin is 18-7 with 14 finishes. Trains at Roufusport in Milwaukee. He was supposed to fight Darrick Minner the other week but Minner pulled out sick at the eleventh hour. Good to see him getting back on a card quickly. Zalal is 23 years old with an 8-2 record. Donā€™t recall seeing him fight before but he won his UFC debut back in February on the Jones vs Reyes undercard. The nicknames alone here are something else. ā€˜The Native Psychoā€™ vs ā€˜The Moroccan Devilā€™.

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Plenty to like andĀ sink your teeth into there. Top 2 fights should be good and I really like the sound of Allen/Daukaus, Woodson/Nelson and especially Pena/Worthy. Thumbs up from me šŸ‘Ā 

Edited by wandshogun09
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Anyone following this social media beef with Perry and Till? It seemed friendly at first but Till kept winding him up and Perry ended up blocking him. Any of Perry's posts now seem to be greeted with comments about Till 'Raw dogging' his Mrs and other general abuse.Ā 

All very childish stuff but I wonder how a headcase like Perry reacts. Possibly a reason for the busted knuckles.Ā 

Both come off as two of the biggest knuckle draggers to breathe air. I wouldn't normally route for Gall or Whittaker but I'll be firmly behind both when the fights happen.Ā 

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Yeah, I betĀ Perry read a tweet or DMĀ from Till and walloped and nuttedĀ the door or something like the dopey manchild he is.

Iā€™d have been rooting for Whittaker over Till anyway. Never fully warmed to Till initially and since then heā€™s done nothing to change my mind and has actually just solidified why I didnā€™t like him ever since by being a right spanner. Oddly though, everyone seems to love him on social media. Even accounts that are usually all over any kind of dodgy behaviour/tweetsĀ from fighters. I donā€™t get it myself.Ā 

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Yeah, Till gives me that Dave O'Donnell, meathead, scrap outside the kebab shop vibe of the early days of British MMA. I've never warmed to him either. He seemed to make himself bullying smaller fighters because he could cut the weight they couldn't. I think the final straw for me was him moaning about cutting to 170lbs at some point making it sound like he was being forced, despite being an obvious 85er and above.Ā 

Fingers crossed he gets a pasting.Ā 

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Edited by Silky Kisser
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I wonder was that out hiking in the mountains with the dogs or in training? Going by her Instagram, she puts a serious amount of miles in on the hills with the pups.Ā 

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Ah that sucks. Not going to pretend it was a highlight of the card or anything but I was looking forward to her fight with McMann. Worse than that though, it sounds like sheā€™s really done a number on her knee, sheā€™ll be out a while. Right when she was rebuilding from the GDR loss and itā€™s the last thing 135 needs too as she was the only real legit prospect at Bantamweight for me.

Since you brought them up, Al, Laddā€™s dogs are fucking ace as well;

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With Ladd vs McMann and Grasso vs Kim falling out, thereā€™sĀ been a few fights added.Ā Nothing earth shattering (SatoĀ vs Brahimaj being the pick of the bunch)Ā but some debuts that might be worth a gander. Iā€™ve updatedĀ the opening post.Ā 

Edited by wandshogun09
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