Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted November 22, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted November 22, 2020 (edited) Saturday 12th December. The UFC APEXĀ in Las Vegas. Last PPV of 2020 and itās a beauty. PPV MAIN CARDDeiveson Figueiredo vs Brandon MorenoĀ - Flyweight Title Tony Ferguson vs Charles Oliveira Mackenzie Dern vs Virna Jandiroba Jacare Souza vs Kevin HollandĀ Junior Dos Santos vs Ciryl Gane ESPN PRELIMSCub Swanson vs Daniel Pineda Renato Moicano vs Rafael Fiziev Billy Quarantillo vs Gavin Tucker Tecia Torres vs Sam HughesĀ ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMSChase Hooper vs Peter BarrettĀ Ā What a card. As always, this probably isnāt the final bout order. Iāll update it as we go. But thatās the meat and spuds of this one and I think it looks fucking class myself. Even losing the original Nunes vs Anderson and Yan vs Sterling headliners hasnāt really put a dent in it for me. Only a few weeks away now as well so we should probably get talking about it. Ā Deiveson Figueiredo vs Brandon Moreno. Well, fuckĀ me. Here we go again. Of course, this was supposed to be headlined by Yan vs Sterling but itās been pushed back now to a later date. And here we are. Crazy turn of events with these two both just fighting at UFC 255. Mega quick turnaround for both and for FigueiredoĀ itās history as I donāt think a UFC champion has ever defended a belt twice in this short of a timeframe.Ā Itās luckyĀ forĀ the UFC as well. With Yan vs Sterling off, theyād have beenĀ scrambling for something to replace it and on this notice there werenāt many options. If FigĀ had won aĀ 5 round war and was unable to fight again so quickly I donāt know what theyād have done. Dana mustāve let out a sigh of relief when Figgy pissed straight through Perez the way he did. What a man. I really love this fight. I said going into UFC 255 that I thought Moreno shouldāve been the one getting the title shot over Perez so Iām chuffed with this. Itās a better fight and,Ā while I donāt really think Moreno has quite the game to dethrone Figueiredo, heās wild and nutty enough that maybe thatās what itās going to take to put the champ in some bother. As we saw in the Royval fight, Moreno is just all over the place. Heās constantly on the offence and creating chaos in there. Itāll be interesting to see how FigueiredoĀ tackles that because as scary as heās looked of late, itās been against conventional kickbox/wrestler types. Moreno is the type of Mexican madman that should bring a different flavour to it. I think itāllĀ either throw Figgy off or backfire and Moreno will charge into something devastating. Iād favour Fig Daddy Cool but whatever happens I think this is going to be bell to bell mayhem. Donāt want to jinx it but I think this could genuinely be a late FOTY contender. Definitely the most excited I can recall being for a Flyweight title fight.Ā Ā Tony Ferguson vs Charles Oliveira isĀ ***WANDāS ONE TO WATCH***Ā for 256 easy. Fucking easy. Even on a card as deep as this one, this fight just hits the spot for me big time. When I envision this fight I just picture a frantic pace and action in all areas. The grappling especially will be incredible. The striking will be all out chaos as well. Itās a hell of a fight and I donāt have a fucking clue whatās going to happen. The timing of these two colliding makes it even more intriguing. Ferguson was on such a great run for 6 years. Wins over Cerrone, Pettis, Kevin Lee, RDA, Barboza, Josh Thomson etc. But that beating he took at the hands of Justin Gaethje in May was absolutely brutal and it remains to be seen if Ferguson will be the same. And that comes at the same time as Oliveira finally getting that big fight opportunity heās been after for so long. Oliveira has been on fire for the past couple of years. 7 fight win streak, 7 finishes. But he never seemed to climb any higher in the division. This is his chance to force his way into that title picture. A win over Ferguson here would be massive for him. Heās had step up fights before (Edgar, Holloway etc) and lost but this feels like his time. If heās ever going to break through to that next level, now is his best chance. Heās 31 now, heās matured as a fighter, heās in top form and heās confident. Itās time for him to jump in the deep end at 155 and see what happens. Really love this fight. Only negative I can find is that itās only 3 rounds but whatever. Iāll take it. Easily one of the fights Iām most excited about on the horizon. Ā Mackenzie Dern vs Virna Jandiroba. I actually love this fight. Great little piece of matchmaking. Everyone knows Dernās bread and butter is in the grappling. Sheās got all kinds of accolades in BJJ. Her transition to MMA wasnāt always smooth but sheās gone 9-1 overall with 6 submissions and sheās responded well since the loss to Amanda Ribas, rattling off first round submissions over Hannah Cifers and Randa Markos and bagging herself POTN bonuses both times. What I love about this though is Jandiroba is all about the grappling as well. Sheās a BJJ black-belt in her own right, 16-1 with 13 submissions and she looked a fucking beast on the ground breezing through Felice Herrig in about 2 minutes in her last fight. Sheās not as decorated in BJJ as Dern is but Iām really interested to see how her ground gameĀ matches up with Dernās. AndĀ when you mix in strikes that could be the game changer that closes that gap. Canāt wait for this one. Ā Jacare Souza vs Kevin Holland. Should be aĀ goodĀ fight this. Was meant to be Jacare vs Marvin Vettori on this card and Holland was supposed to headline the Fight Night on December 5thĀ against Jack HermanssonĀ but weāve had a switch. Holland tested positive for COVID and itās thrown the whole thing out of whack. Theyāve just swapped Vettori and HollandĀ around. Vettori stepped in against Hermansson, Holland steps in here against Jacare. I actually think I prefer it this way around. Itās a solid fight.Ā Just not sure what Jacare has left in the tank at this stage. He was one of the best Middleweights on the planet for years but he turns 41 just a few days before this show and he hasnāt looked too good in a while now. Heās 1-3 in his last 4 and even the win over Weidman, I recall thinking he was losing before he clobbered Weidman at the end. He tried to make a fresh start andĀ moved up to 205 for his last fight butĀ lost a lacklustre decision to the future champ Jan Blachowicz. Now heās back at 185. Heās only been losing to top opposition but losses are losses and Jacare has started collecting them. As for Holland,Ā Iāve liked what weāve seen of him so far. Heās exciting to watch in the cage and heās always got something to say when he gets some mic time. Heās on a 4 fight streak, has won 7 of his last 8 and he has a TKO win over Joaquin Buckley thatās aging better by the month. He obviously hasnāt mixed at the level Jacare has but maybe the timing of the matchup favours him being theĀ younger, fresher fighter.Ā IāmĀ a fan of Holland but at the same timeĀ Itād be nice to see Jacare win this one. Yeah, thereās no real upside to him winning at this point but heās one of MMAās real good guys and I canāt bring myself to root against him. Ā Junior Dos Santos vs Ciryl Gane. For all the shit the Heavyweight division gets, every now and then itāll throw up a cracker. This is a really fun clash of two different eras. JDS has obviously seen better days. Heās definitely not the force he was about a decade ago but heās still a good fighter and certainly not shot. Itās still a significant step up in levels for Gane. Heās looked great so far. Thereās still a long way to go and questions to be asked. Iām not saying heāll beat Stipe or anything. But I like what weāve seen so far and I think he might just be the best Heavyweight prospect in the game right now. Heās 6-0 with 5 finishes. A good technical striker but also mixes in submissions really well, which you wouldnāt necessarily expect out of a 6ā5ā French Kickboxer. I just hope this fight actually happens. Ganeās had zero luck this year. Heās had 5 fights scheduled this year and all of them got cancelled. And 4 of the cancellations were down to his opponents pulling out. This year shouldāve been huge for his development but heās been forced to sit on the sidelines. Itās an interesting one though because now heās basically skipped a couple of levels. Going from planned fights with the likes of Abdurakhimov, Pavlovich and Delija to JDS is quite a jump. Ā Cub Swanson vs Daniel Pineda. Well up for this. Love watching Cub fight. We havenāt seen him in over a year. If you remember he beat Kron Gracie in a cracking fight last October and looked better than he has in some time. I was hoping heād be able to build on that momentum but with the layoff since itās pretty much gone. Hopefully the rest has done him good anyway. Heās had some wars. Heās 37 now so you have to think this is a ālast runā thing.Ā Pineda is 35 with a 27-13-2 record. Very mixed results over the years and heās bounced around a bunch of promotions from UFC, Bellator, PFL, LFA. He came back to the UFC in the summer though and derailed Herbert Burns big time, TKOing him. Should be a good scrap. Iām hoping Swanson gets the W and if they were both at their best Iād pick him all day. But neither have been too consistent when itās come to wins and losses in recent years. Ā Renato Moicano vs Rafael Fiziev. This was meant to go down on the Nov 28th card but Moicano got the positive for COVID so itās been movedĀ here. That cardās loss is this cardās gain. ShouldĀ be quality. It shows justĀ how deep the Lightweight division really is that two fighters of this quality arenāt even in the mix. Moicano had some real success at 145 beating the likes of Calvin Kattar, CubĀ Swanson and Jeremy Stephens. He was also giving Brian Ortega hell in their fight before Ortega caught him in a late submission.Ā He moved up to 155 earlier this year after a couple of losses and quickly subbed Damir Hadzovic in under a minute. Heās legit. Fiziev is from Kazakhstan and is aĀ teammate of current Bantamweight champ Petr Yan. Heās 8-1 and comes into this fight off his most impressive Octagon performance to date, a convincing and punishing points win over Marc Diakiese in July. He also had success as a Kickboxer and was nicknamed āMuay Thai Matrixā due to him pulling off nifty defensive techniques like this... Cool as fuck. He did that a few times in the Diakiese fight as well. So yeah, I dig this fight. Moicano has hadĀ mixed results against top level oppositionĀ but I rate him and Iām interested to see how he does at 155 going forward. And Fiziev is just so much fun to watch and Iām not sure where his ceiling is. Iād have to favour Moicano in this one though. If thereās a weakness in Fiziev itās the grappling, and Moicano has that shit down. Ā Billy Quarantillo vs Gavin Tucker. Thisāll probably go under the radar a little bit but I quite like this. Quarantillo is a New Yorker who came through DWCS a while back and heās been doing well. Heās 15-2, 3-0 in the UFC and on an 8 fight win streak. He sparked Kyle Nelson with a big one punch KO in his last fight in September. Tucker is Canadian, 12-1 and comes in off back-to-back submissions over Justin Jaynes and Seung Woo Choi. Real good matchup this. They both seem like young prospects but theyāre 31 and 34 respectively. Both look on top form though and Iām expecting an action-packed fight. Although itāll understandably get lost in the shuffle on a card like this. Ā Tecia Torres vs Sam Hughes then. Was meant to be Torres in a rematch against Angela Hill but, you guessed it, Hill got COVID. I very rarely enjoy a Torres fight. Donāt think Iāve got into a fight sheās had since that awesome battle with Rose Namajunas in Invicta when they were both just starting out. Ever since then Iāve found her fights pretty much always turn out to be dull cage clinching, tippy Ā tappy affairs where not a lot actually happens. Sheās not a bad fighter, sheās just not much fun to watch. For someone nicknamedĀ the āTiny Tornadoā she doesnāt do much damage. Hughes is stepping in on about a weekās notice. Never heard of her but the reaction IāveĀ seenĀ on social media to her signing has been pretty positive.Ā Looking her up sheās 28 years old, only been fighting a year or so and has aĀ record of 5-1 and 4 finishes. Ā Chase Hooper vs Peter Barrett. Decent.Ā Hooper came into the UFC with a bit of hype this year due to him being so young and having that old ānerd who can fightā thing going on. Heās only just turned 21 years old. Seems a likeable guy. Reminds me a bit of Joe Lauzon when he first popped up. Heās 9-1-1 now and coming off his first loss against Alex Caceres in June. Still think heās got potential. Way too soon to write him off. But getting outclassed by Caceres isnāt a great sign. Heās got time to improve though and Iām interested to see what adjustments he mightāve made. Barrett is 34 from the Boston area, 11-4 and lost to Youssef Zalal in his UFC debut recently. Donāt rememberĀ seeing that. Iād like to see Hooper get back to winning ways here. Ā Ā Edited December 11, 2020 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted November 22, 2020 Share Posted November 22, 2020 (edited) Yan vs Sterling is set to be postponed.Ā https://www.instagram.com/p/CH4_XtzDQzM/?utm_source=ig_embed Edited November 22, 2020 by jimufctna24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted November 22, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted November 22, 2020 Fuck the fuck off. More card changes than Del Boy at a poker game lately. Hopefully, it turns out to be false. Itās not been picked up by any of the bigger MMA media sources yet and both Sterling and Helwani have tweeted suggesting the fight is going ahead as normal with no mention of postponements justĀ hours ago. Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted November 22, 2020 Share Posted November 22, 2020 Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted November 22, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted November 22, 2020 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted November 22, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted November 22, 2020 Ferguson/Oliveira isnt strong enough to headline a PPV is it? May make it a fight night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted November 22, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted November 22, 2020 43 minutes ago, Egg Shen said: Ferguson/Oliveira isnt strong enough to headline a PPV is it? May make it a fight night. I take it you havenāt watched 255 yet, Ebb? Thereās already another headliner for this inĀ the works but it spoils one of the fights last night so Iām going to wait to edit the opening post here.Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfogg1991 Posted November 23, 2020 Share Posted November 23, 2020 figgy vs moreno to step in and top this one off maybe?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted November 23, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted November 23, 2020 Was going to hold off a day or two longer for anyone who still hasnāt seen 255 yetĀ but Kfoggās let the catĀ out of the bag and, to be fair, itās all over the MMA sites and social mediaĀ now anyway. King Figgy saves the day.Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted November 23, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted November 23, 2020 (edited) 23 hours ago, wandshogun09 said: I take it you havenāt watched 255 yet, Ebb? Thereās already another headliner for this inĀ the works but it spoils one of the fights last night so Iām going to wait to edit the opening post here.Ā nope, and the change of title spoiled it for me, was tied up yesterday š planned on watching it tonight after work. Its no worries though, bit of a unique situation, and my fault for being slow. Edited November 23, 2020 by Egg Shen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted November 23, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted November 23, 2020 Fuck, sorry Ebb.Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted November 24, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted November 24, 2020 no worries man, like i said, bit of a unique setupšĀ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfogg1991 Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 FUCK i'm so sorry if i spoiled it for anyone, I can promise you that was never my intention!!!Ā WOW though this has to be a first even for the ufc for 1 fighter to not only main event 2 simultaneous UFC ppv's but also defend the belt both times....It has to be a first surely!! I can't wait for this main event though after seeing both men last weekend this has the hallmarks to be a war. however i see it going exactly the same way for figgy he is just another breedĀ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 9 hours ago, wandshogun09 said: F'n, sorry Ebb.Ā Fixed.Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted November 24, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted November 24, 2020 (edited) 3 hours ago, Kfogg1991 said: WOW though this has to be a first even for the ufc for 1 fighter to not only main event 2 simultaneous UFC ppv's but also defend the belt both times....It has to be a first surely!! Tito Ortiz headlined UFC 29 and 30 and defended the belt both times but obviously that was waaay back. And at least there was a couple of months between those shows rather than the 3 weeks Figueiredo and Moreno are doing. I donāt think they give a shite. I get the feeling these two wouldāve gone back in the cage andĀ fought again at UFC 255 the other night if they were allowed to. I feel like Iām forgetting another obvious example of a fighter headlining back-to-back PPVs and now itās going to bug me.Ā Edited November 24, 2020 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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