Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted July 10, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted July 10, 2020 (edited) OKĀ fuck Jesus Jorge, his chances, hisĀ weight cut, his pink bathrobe, his beard with pizza crumbs in it and his Al Pacino infatuation.Ā Thereās more to this card than Jorge Masvidal. Kamaru Usman vs Jorge Masvidal - Weāve all said our piece on this. Not much left to say. I am expecting a fun one though. Regardless of how it actually ends, I canāt envision it being boring. Even if it doesnāt end up being one ofĀ those mad fights that you want to rewatch like Zhang vs Joanna or Poirier vs Hooker, I think itāll be engrossing, edge of the seat stuff live (or whenever you watch it āas liveā). Because even if you think Jorge has nothing more than a puncherās chance, you still wonāt be able to relax until the final buzzer goes.Ā So with that said...Masvidal by KO!!!... Just messing. Usman by decision of course. Iāve gone into why at length. I wonāt bother again. I think Jorge probably sees the final bell. Heās granite tough, Iāll give himĀ that. But I donāt think heāll haveĀ either the skill set or conditioning to pull this off.Ā Alexander Volkanovski vs Max Holloway 2 - For the second straight time, this fight has been criminally overlooked. It was the same in December when theyĀ got completely overshadowed by the Usman vs Covington madness. Itās a shame because these are two of the best fighters on the planetĀ right now, at any weight, but neither one of them are shit talkers or soundbite guys so they donāt get the same level of buzz as other champs and headliners. Max usually kind of does,Ā to be fair. For a nice guy who doesnāt go for hype or create beef with anyone, heās got a pretty strong following and heās popular just off his likability and the way he fights. People want to see Max do good. With Volk I think thereās some disconnect because heās kind of quiet and unassuming but he also still feels fairly new. I mean, heāsĀ not. Heās been in the UFC nearly 4 years now. But heās sort of just appeared in the title picture suddenly and unexpectedly taken it by storm. I think itāll be a slow burn with him but heās had the tools to beĀ an incredible fighter for a while. And now heās getting to show it. I reckon Volkanovski goes 2-0 on points myself. I like both but Iām definitely rooting for Holloway here. Been a fan of his since very early in his UFC career and watched his whole rise. I said it earlier in the thread but I wasnāt ready for his title reignĀ to end when it did. Didnāt seem 5 minutes since he dethroned Aldo. Then there was the Ortega dismantling and it felt like he was well on his way to going on a lengthyĀ Aldo-like run himself. Then VolkanovskiĀ came along and shattered all of that with one, it has to be said,Ā pretty much perfect performance. Just struggling to see how Max tackles this one. If it was a razor close decision last time, you could maybeĀ see him tweaking some things and evening the score this time. Even if Volkanovski had knocked him out early,Ā you could say āwell he made this mistake and that mistake andĀ got caughtā and heād know specifically what to change. The way Volk beat him though, I donāt know. I think I had it 4-1 on the night and he systematically outworked Max. Had his tactics spot on, was in theĀ right place at nearly all times and beat Max on timing and movement, dictated the pace, the lot. The things Max usually excels in. It wasnāt some fluke or controversial decision. Volk ripped that belt from him. Iād love to see Max win it back but Iāve got a feeling itāll look very similar to the first fight.Ā Petr Yan vs Jose Aldo - Canāt fucking wait for this one. Of all the amazing fights on this card, this is the one for me. This is real life miniĀ Ivan Drago vs mini Tong Po shit right here. Love it. I know people whinged about AldoĀ getting the title shot and believe me I get it. Heās coming off a loss, for fuckās sake. Itās crackers. But now this fight is here, Iām absolutely buzzing for it. And itās not like the title is going to be on some weird detour now. This is a one off stopgap title fight and then normal business resumes with Sterling, Moraes, Garbrandt, Edgar, fucking OāMalleyĀ or whoever coming after it. Bantamweight has been fucked about for so long by Lego bollocks that Iām just happy that weāre finally getting a champ again and the division can actually start to crack on.Ā Iām actually feeling Jose Aldo by decision. I think. This is the toughest one to call on the entire card for me though. For one, the jury is still out onĀ Aldo at 135 for me. Youāll all remember the concerns going intoĀ his Bantamweight debut in December. But thereĀ seems to beĀ this feeling nowĀ that itās sorted and heās fine at the weight. I get that he looked surprisingly good against MarlonĀ Moraes but Iām still not convinced we can just close the book and say 135 is a good idea long term for Aldo. It was one fight. And just because he seemingly got the cut right last time doesnāt mean itāll go smoothly every time. I hope it does, obviously, but no two camps and weight cuts are going to be identical. It could go better this timeĀ for all I know but Iām still unsure what weāre getting. On the other hand,Ā Yan is still an unknown at this level. As impressive as heās been so far, his best wins are old man UrijahĀ Faber, decent at bestĀ Jimmie Rivera and an inconsistent John Dodson. This fight, 5 rounds withĀ Jose Aldo,Ā is by far the biggest test of his career. By far the toughest fight. And for that reason, Iām giving Aldo the edge. Yan could be the next killer in waiting for all we know. Maybe this becomes his breakout performance and he just goes in and butchers Aldo. But based on what weāve seen so far, Iām favouring Aldo. Should be a hell of a fight however long it goes.Ā Jessica Andrade vs Rose Namajunas 2 - Pumped for this. Another fight thatās getting overlooked. If anyoneās bored and looking to watch a couple of fights tonightĀ to get the juices flowing for tomorrow, you could do worse than whacking Andrade vs Namajunas 1 on. It was a cracking round and a bit. Canāt see this being any less exciting either. Andrade is a little bulldozer. She really canāt fight any other way. She has one direction and one speed. Itās worked against her in the past, of course, as we saw when Zhang Weili blitzed her. And evenĀ when she fought prime Joanna Jedrzejczyk, she just kept walking into that wood chipper for 5 straight rounds. Sheās constant come forward aggression. The female John Lineker. And that style brings out the best in Roseās striking because it forces her to be sharp and fast with her counters. As we saw in the first round of the first fight. For me, that mightāve been the best Rose ever looked. Then it all went wrong. Rose Namajunas on points this time. Could definitely see Andrade getting to her again. Her raw physical strength isĀ always going to be trouble for Rose. But I think Rose will be more aware of that this time and I think sheāll be able to do what she did early last time, and continue it to a points win.Ā Amanda Ribas vs Paige VanZant - Should be a lively PPV opener. Paige has got some criticism in recent months for her social media āthirst trapsā and being annoying. Whatever. Iām indifferent toĀ that. Sheās happy doing her thing and sheās not harming anyone. One thing you canāt accuse her of is being dull in the cage. Sheās not elite level. Never has been and I doubt she ever will be. But sheās usually fairly consistently in entertaining fights. And Ribas seems to be cutĀ from a similar cloth judging by the couple of fights of hers Iāve seen. Ribas by decision for me. Like I think I said in the opening post, Iāve felt like Paige has had a foot out the door for a while now. She seems more into other things. Iām sure she still loves MMA but I get the feeling itās not her main thing anymore. Which is probablyĀ why sheās hardly fought over the last couple of years.Ā This is also the last fight on her UFC contract and sheās going to test free agency afterwards from what I can gather. I think the UFC know sheās leaving and thereās a reason theyāve chucked her in with Ribas. Reminds me of when Roger Huerta was the promotional darling and he got ideas above his station, said he wanted to leave and they had Gray Maynard school him on the way out the door. I think Ribas is legit myself and I canāt see this going well for PVZ. Iām saying points but I wouldnāt be shocked if Ribas stops her either, to be honest. Volkan Oezdemir vs Jiri Prochazka - This is the pick of the prelims for me. As much as IĀ love Dos Santos vs Salikhov and Iām looking forward to seeing Leonardo Santos back, this one just screams fireworks. Can see it being a chaotic banger until one of them drops, probably somewhere in the firstĀ round. I think thereās just too much firepower here for it to play out any other way. With two heavy hitters there isĀ always the risk of them respecting each otherās power too much and it turning into a staring contest likeĀ Ngannou vs Lewis. But I donāt see that here. I think Jiri will want to make a statement in his UFC debut and Volkan will meet him head on. Oezdemir by KO/TKO.Ā Canāt say Iām massively confident in that, with a fight like this itās pretty much always a case ofĀ āwhoever lands firstā. But I think Oezdemirās big match experience will serve him well here and heās also more tested againstĀ better opposition.Ā So full predictions... Kamaru Usman by Decision. Alexander Volkanovski by Decision. Jose Aldo by Decision.Ā Rose Namajunas by Decision. Amanda Ribas by Decision. Volkan Oezdemir by KO/TKO. Muslim Salikhov by KO/TKO. Makwan Amirkhani by Decision. Leonardo Santos by Submission. Maxim Grishin by KO/TKO.Ā Zhalgas Zhumagulov by Decision. Karol RosaĀ by Decision.Ā Martin Day by KO/TKO.Ā Donāt bet based on any of this. Iām pretty cackĀ at predicting fights. But yeah, Iām fancying all decisions on the main card. Which, assuming theyāre using the bigger cage, is probably even more likely. I expect them to be entertaining fights whatever happens though.Ā Edited July 10, 2020 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted July 10, 2020 Share Posted July 10, 2020 (edited) 10 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said: Iām actually feeling Jose Aldo by decision. Brave man. The general feeling is that this will be Yan's coming out party.Ā At the risk of being a boring fucker, I am picking all of the favourites in the championship boutsĀ (Usman, Volk, Yan) I really hope Jiri springs an upset.Ā Edited July 10, 2020 by jimufctna24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted July 10, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted July 10, 2020 Tony Montana turned into Forrest Gump; Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shane O' Mac Version 2 Posted July 11, 2020 Share Posted July 11, 2020 Everything about this card is the perfect storm for the UFC. I'm actually not surprised (motherfuckers) that Dana's saying it's trending in a Conor-esque fashion. It's easy to forget- well, for me at least, living in my pro wrestling/MMA bubble- but the rest of the world is still shut down in terms of sports and entertainment as far as I know. In Australia, rugby league is back, but they have cardboard cutouts for spectators. No, I'm not kidding. So on a worldwide platform, the UFC is basically all that is happening. Then you add the wackiness of that Fight Island concept, an absolutely loaded card with three title fights, legends, contenders, and Insta girls... and THEN the madness of Street Jesus jumping in on 6 days notice. That's so much going on in a world that has nothing right now. I'm excited for this more than any card in a long time. UFC 245 was similarly loaded, with several of the same names, but the external factors of 251, along with the profile boost that the Dec PPV gave all those fighters, gives this a little more gravitas. I definitely became a bigger fan of Usman after the Covington fight. Both because he broke the jaw of the MAGA idiot, but also because it was a really fun fight. Usman had this presence of a really dominant wrestler, the Woodley fight wasn't anything to write home about... and then he started using that power to throw hands. In a similar vein, not many people were hyped aboutĀ VolkoĀ going into the first fight with Max. You can even feel it in the commentary watching it back, Rogan and company saw it as a fairly routine title defence for Blessed, at least they came across very dismissive of my Aussie mate- and then the fight started. The only slight issue with it all- and Holloway's pre-fight comments are feeding into this- I'm seeing a lot of fans throw out the whole "baby leg kicks" thing regarding Volko and his style. Man has 14 finishes in his career, and some are acting like he's a decision machine. Sure, he went to the final bell against Aldo and Holloway. But he also finished Mendes in brutal fashion and made him retire. He had a couple of UFC finishes before that through ground and pound, and of his other fights that went to decision- Mizuto Hirota and Darren Elkins were crazy tough and took a ridiculous amount of punishment over the 15 minutes. The only UFC fight where Volkanovski wasn't trying to take the other guy's head off was a short notice bout against Shane Young where he played it a little safe and admitted as much. UFC 251 Picks Usman via UD Volko via KO/TKO Yan via KO/TKO Andrade via UD Ribas via Submission ----- Oezdemir via KO Zaleski via UD Amirkhani via Sub Santos via UD Tybura via KO Paiva via Sub Rosa via UD Day via KO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted July 11, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted July 11, 2020 Agree Shane, the absolute barmy nature of whats happened this week just re-inforces my love for the sport. People hate on the schtick and the outside drama but that was always a massive part of the appeal for me. MMA is just a rolling soap opera. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted July 11, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted July 11, 2020 I donāt hate all āschtickā myself. Some of my favourite fighters to watch/followĀ in recent yearsĀ have been Conor McGregor (before he revealed himself as scum), Johnny Walker andĀ his dance movesĀ etc. Even Bisping, I donāt think any of it is fake with him, heās just an outspoken gobshite but his personality is/wasĀ a massive part of what madeĀ me a fan of him. Probably even more than his in cage skills, to be honest. And Yoel Romero is ridiculous. MMAās Iron Sheik. He even had a heel sidekick Ray The Translator at one point, like an 80s WWF heel.Ā Again, I think thatās genuinely just him. But his weirdness is fascinating and I love the bastard.Ā And if we goĀ old school, Genki Sudo,Ā Akihiro Gono andĀ Tom LawlorĀ were almost pure gimmick and I loved them as well. But when people show more āpersonalityā youāre not always going to like it. Like a 35 year old grown man with kidsĀ going around in a pink bathsheet, doing gun gestures with his handsĀ and pretending heās Scarface.Ā And with Covington, theĀ MAGA shitĀ and whole horrible cretinĀ vibe in general with him is just something Iām never going to roll with no matter how many times people go āitās just a gimmick broā. People need to just accept that not everything is a gimmick or a work. ThereĀ are actual cunts about, lots of them. And Colby CovingtonĀ is absolutely one of them.Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted July 11, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted July 11, 2020 (edited) Yeh, but love or hate it, would you rather these people not be in the sport? it makes it interesting and fun to watch. Indifference is what you don't want. Edited July 11, 2020 by Egg Shen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted July 11, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted July 11, 2020 I never once said they shouldnātĀ be in the sport or anything like that.Ā Nor am I screaming at my telly whenever Jorge appears like in that picture. Just find him a twat. That doesnāt make me the fun police. I just think heās a helmet. Thereād be zero āfunā if everyone liked the exact same things.Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted July 11, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted July 11, 2020 3 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said: Thereād be zero āfunā if everyone liked the exact same things.Ā spot onš¤ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gooner Posted July 11, 2020 Share Posted July 11, 2020 Masvidal has done a good job and I'm staying up to 6am to watch him get whopped and go to work at 8am with no sleep and enjoy myself thinking and reminiscing about how Usman beat him up, Fun times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted July 11, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted July 11, 2020 im doing the same Gooner, work at 8.30am. Im gonna try getting some shut eye before the show though. Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted July 11, 2020 Share Posted July 11, 2020 6 hours ago, wandshogun09 said: But when people show more āpersonalityā youāre not always going to like it. You liked it when Tom Watson wore that Kong mask, right?Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted July 11, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted July 11, 2020 speaking of which, I wonder if we'll still see Watson/Reid II?Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted July 11, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted July 11, 2020 Look's like there's a whole lot of us in the working tomorrow boat. I'm going to get some kip tonight sometime when I get home, and then get up around 1am and stay up for work at 7. I'll not just do that for any old PPV, but I'll do it for this one. I do every third weekend but they always seem to fall on the dates of the UFC'S biggest shows.Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philjax Posted July 11, 2020 Share Posted July 11, 2020 Absolutely not betting on this one. It will inhibit my enjoyment of what I want to happen too much because I think all my least favourites will end up winning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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