UFC 256: Figueiredo vs Moreno - Dec 12 🇺🇸

[WeeAl]

Figgy train all day for me. He really is my new Yoel. Sorry Brandon, nice and all as you may be, but I'm happy to watch Figueiredo wreck shop for quite a bit longer! 

 

[Zebra Kid Mark]

In UFC I tend to always want the champion to win, I guess being a wrestling fan originally it makes me prefer a long dominant reign rather that having the title getting hot potato'd around.

Despite UFC building Brandon up terribly and sticking him on the early prelims (I think) for pretty much most of his run, I have warmed to him the past month.

I also love most things Mexican and I would love to see them finally have their first ever Mexican born champion.

[Egg Shen]

14 hours ago, Zebra Kid Mark said:

 

I like Mackenzie Dern a lot but her fake Brazilian accent does my suede in. 

 

The most mental thing about Dern's accent is that she actually seems to struggle to speak English along with it.

[wandshogun09]

This is the (hopefully) final bout order;

Still a cracker of a card. IF it stays intact of course. Just caught up on Embedded, the weigh in and some of the media scrum interviews. 

Deiveson Figueiredo vs Brandon Moreno - All due respect to Demetrious Johnson but this is probably the most exciting Flyweight title fight in MMA history for me. I know that doesn’t cover a ton of ground but this really has all the makings of a crazy fight. Like I said before, I’m torn on this one because I’ve become a big fan of Figgy over the last couple of years but Moreno has always come across as such a lovable goof and on top of that he’s so much fun to watch once the cage door closes. I know the Flyweights are never going to be ‘box office’ but at the very least I’m happy that Moreno getting this opportunity has shone the light on him and maybe introduced more fans to him. He’s class. So yeah, this’ll be a bittersweet one whatever the result for me. On the one hand I want Fig to go on a proper run now with the belt. I think he’s the best thing to happen to the division since...maybe ever. And he’s got the type of fighting style and personality where I really think he might catch on to be something bigger over time. Maybe a slow burner like Anderson Silva was but I think he could be a bit of a star despite the size barrier. But then there’s Moreno. How can you look at a picture like this and want him to catch an arse kicking? 

Regardless, purely as a fight stylistically, this should be the dog’s bollocks. I think everyone who posts in these threads is well aware of what Fig brings to the table and Moreno will meet him head on. Could end in disaster or maybe what’s needed to combat Figgy is someone even madder than him.

I’m going with Figueiredo by KO/TKO after a bit of a war. He’s good enough that I think he could potentially just blow through pretty much anyone. And if Moreno throws caution to the wind, as he often does, that could well be the case here. But I think Moreno will make a real scrap of this. He’s tough as fuck, he won’t go away easily and he’d wild and unpredictable enough that I could see him giving Fig some issues. In the end, I just think Figueiredo’s power and the dual threat of that combined with his submission skills, I think he catches Moreno at some point in the exchanges. It’s one of those matchups though that should be mayhem whether it goes 25 seconds or the full 25 minutes. They should both be mega sharp as well having both just fought at UFC 255 the other week. Can’t wait. 

This is like when you and your mate both choose the same character on Street Fighter 😂

Tony Ferguson vs Charles Oliveira - Like the main event, I just can’t see anything other than total bedlam here. Buzzing for this. Maybe even more than the headliner. I saw some talk yesterday that Dana is considering having co-main events be 5 rounds in the future. While that’ll be awful in a lot of cases, a fight like this as a 5 rounder would’ve been ace. Love this fight. If I could’ve booked both their next fights myself this is the one I’d have gone with. 

Ferguson by TKO. I’m not that confident in that though. Who knows what that beating from Gaethje took out of Ferguson. And as well as that, Oliveira is flying high coming in on the best form of his career. I’m seeing a lot of people kind of writing Tony off now but I think that’s way premature. I see it being bloody, back and forth, chaotic and full of mad scrambles and sub attempts. But I just think Ferguson probably gets to him in the end. The main thing giving me doubts is if the wars have finally caught up to him but I don’t know. Just because Gaethje beat him up doesn’t mean he’s done. Plus, as much as I like Oliveira and as great as he’s looked recently, this is a step up and whenever Oliveira has stepped up in the past he’s folded at that level. We’ll see. Tremendous fight though. 

Mackenzie Dern vs Virna Jandiroba - Not much talk about this and I know there’s often negativity on the women’s fights but this really is a belter on paper. Dern’s grappling credentials speak for themselves but Jandiroba is a real handful on the mat herself. Can’t wait to see how these two match up there. Hopefully they don’t just decide to have a sloppy striking match. Nobody wants to see that out of these two. If they go the grappling route this could be something special.

I’ll go with Dern on points but I’m really unsure about this one. Haven’t seen enough of Jandiroba to be confident in picking her but Dern’s loss to Amanda Ribas showed she can be nullified and controlled on the ground. Jandiroba potentially has the tools to do the same or even be more effective. I’m leaning towards Dern on the assumption that it’ll be mostly a ground battle and, in that area, she should have the edge as she’s the more advanced and accomplished pure grappler. But Jandiroba looks a bit of a beast. I don’t know. 

Kevin Holland vs Jacare Souza - This is an interesting one. I’m guessing most will be picking Holland to win comfortably but I’m not sure. Undoubtedly he’s the fresher of the two and he’s been really active this year. Fuck, he’s fought 4 times since Jacare’s last fight, and won them all. I get picking him. Not confident it’ll be as straight forward as many seem to think though. Jacare has definitely seen better days. He’s 41 now and he’s lost his last couple. But he’s still skilled, he’s crafty, he’s still durable and he’s one of the best grapplers in all of MMA. Results haven’t gone his way of late but he did take Jan Blachowicz to a split decision in his last fight. Yeah, the fight was terrible but considering Jacare was going up in weight and especially in light of Jan’s title win since, that fight doesn’t exactly support the theory that Jacare is shot.

Really tough one to predict. Despite my waffle above, I’m leaning ever so slightly towards Holland by decision. Mostly based on him being so much more active this year. But it won’t surprise me one bit if Jacare ‘old mans’ him in there tonight either.

Junior Dos Santos vs Ciryl Gane - Kind of like the above. It’s a funny one this. We don’t really know what either has in the tank at this point. How much does JDS have left? And also, how good is Gane really? Neither question has a clear answer. And it’s another bittersweet fight for me because 1) how do you root against JDS? But 2) I really like Gane and he’s pretty much the only bit of light in the Heavyweight tunnel at the moment. He’s the one HW who’s come through over the past couple of years who legitimately looks like he could be a bit special with time. But this is a significant leap in levels for him. Whatever you say about JDS and his decline, he’s still a dangerous sod and he only really loses to the champs and top contenders. Meanwhile, Gane’s only had 6 MMA fights and, due to a bunch of opponents dropping out on him this year, he’s skipped a couple of rungs on the ladder and been fast tracked from the Don’Tale Mayes and Tanner Boser level to being chucked in with Dos Santos.

I’ll say Gane gets the stoppage. It’s a big jump but I get the feeling he’s ready for it. Could be wrong. JDS can still derail a lot of guys coming up and he’s certainly got more big match experience of the two. But at the same time, based on what we’ve seen of Gane so far, he’s not your typical Heavyweight slugger who will give JDS opportunities to bomb him out of there. He’s a technical striker who relies more on his accuracy and combinations. I think that’ll lend itself well to this fight and he’ll outland JDS and stop him late.

Full predictions then...

Deiveson Figueiredo by KO/TKO.

Tony Ferguson by KO/TKO.

Mackenzie Dern by Decision.

Kevin Holland by Decision.

Ciryl Gane by KO/TKO.

Cub Swanson by Decision.

Renato Moicano by Submission.

Billy Quarantillo by Decision.

Tecia Torres by Decision.

Chase Hooper by KO/TKO.

Have it! 

Edited December 12, 2020 by wandshogun09

[jimufctna24]

I agree with Zach Makovsky's take on Ferguson:

Quote

 

Zach Makovsky: Disclaimer: I have always had an inability to see Ferguson as a highly skilled and elite fighter, despite his insane win streak. I have, on multiple occasions, incorrectly picked against him. I can’t help it. He strikes me as an agent of pure chaos with no rhyme or reason. Outside of his d’arce series, I find his mechanics, general positioning and tactics to be poor. 

What makes him special are his intangibles: his durability, his endurance and pace, and his iron will. 

These have carried him to many victories as he is willing to push onwards in the face of his opponents dishing out all the damage they can muster. He continuously outlasts them, but this is heavily dependent on his durability. We’ve seen Tony dropped and hurt, legs unsteady under him as he pushes on, almost always unable to be put away. I was pretty shocked he was able to take what he did from Gaethje, but how long can one absorb this kind of repeated damage? 

Oliveira, despite some ups and downs, seems to be hitting his stride. A sharper striker with a highly aggressive and smooth transitional grappling game. As Ben points out, the three rounds instead of five favors Oliveira here, as I see no way he could match the pace of Ferguson over the distance. Luckily, I don’t think he’ll have to. My blind spot to El Cucuy persists and I may end up with yet another piece of contrary evidence I will likely ignore, but Oliveira by TKO.

 

https://www.thefight-site.com/home/256-picks

[wandshogun09]

There’s definitely some merit to that but at the same time, his run was so long and he beat some really tough fighters along the way. It doesn’t keep happening by accident. You’re obviously entitled to think he’s a bit overrated but he still deserves his credit for that streak. Especially given the division he’s in.

I don’t really get using his durability as an example to diminish him, to be honest. It’s an attribute that’s usually applauded if anything. Just like people use a fighter being chinny or whatever on the flipside. Who cares if he relied on his toughness to win most of his fights? I get that it’s not the most intelligent way to fight and it usually shortens a fighter’s shelf life but I don’t ever hear that argument used to discredit the legacies and best wins of Arturo Gatti or Shogun or Mark Hunt and so on. If we’re talking longevity and health concerns, sure, there’s a conversation to be had about the problems with Ferguson’s approach. But I don’t really get how it’s a negative in terms of looking at how he won fights or trying to dock him points for his overall body of work. And I say that as someone who doesn’t particularly even like Ferguson beyond his actual fights.

Machovsky makes some decent enough points but the last couple of lines there is what sticks out to me. It just smacks to me of him picking against Ferguson a bunch of times and not liking being wrong about it. So now Ferguson’s coming off a bad hammering, he’s jumping on it. Not knocking him. I remember picking against Nick Diaz a bunch of times during his Strikeforce days and him keep proving me wrong. But you can’t basically go ‘aside from his insane toughness, ridiculous cardio, iron will and his ability to slap a D’Arce on from any angle...meh, he’s not that good.’ That’s his box of tricks. It’d be like saying ‘yeah prime Cro Cop was alright. But take away his aggression, the laser beam straight left, his almost impenetrable sprawl and the series of coma inducing left high kicks...old Mirko was basically like Ned Flanders in checkered shorts. I don’t get the fuss’. 

Edited December 12, 2020 by wandshogun09

[Egg Shen]

i reckon theres some great money to be made on the underdogs tonight. I fancy JDS, Jacare and Oliveira winning but all are underdogs with the bookies.

[neil]

Whats your f'n acca tonight?

[Zebra Kid Mark]

Great write up Wand, it's got me hooked.

 

@neil I've gone for a 3 fight £2 acca of Holland, Billy Q and Dern. The winnings will only be £9 but I always bet small.

 

[wandshogun09]

[Egg Shen]

7 hours ago, neil said:

Whats your f'n acca tonight?

Fiziev, Dern, Figgy, Oliveira, JDS, Jacare.

Big return, it'll never come in though. Not a f'n chance.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

14 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

Deiveson Figueiredo vs Brandon Moreno - All due respect to Demetrious Johnson but this is probably the most exciting Flyweight title fight in MMA history for me. I know that doesn’t cover a ton of ground but this really has all the makings of a crazy fight.

Say, Wand, you wouldn't happen to have the lottery numbers handy, would you?

That was incredible. Gotta make a comparison to Joanna-Zhang, not just in terms of how great the fight is but how it could potentially elevate the division as a whole. Granted, neither Weili or Joanna have fought since their war in March, but you have to believe the interest in either of their next fights will be huge whenever it's announced. Same deal here with Figueiredo and Moreno. This fight was a giant middle finger to people that call the flyweight division boring. Going to have to watch it back as I thought Moreno won the middle 3 rounds along with the point deduction, but I may have just been caught up in seeing someone take the fight to Figgy like that.

Oliveira vs. Ferguson was oddly fascinating. I picked Oliveira to win, as I've said in the past about him, I've been on his wagon since he beat Efrain Escudero in 2010. But I never expected such domination! Do Bronx made T-Ferg look human. Except, of course, for...

 

This entire card delivered. From Holland KOing Jacare basically from his back, to Cereal Gun announcing his presence by running through JDS... hell, even the Dern fight was fun and she looked halfway competent in the striking. Great show.

[wandshogun09]

12 minutes ago, Shane O' Mac Version 2 said:

Say, Wand, you wouldn't happen to have the lottery numbers handy, would you?

😂 To be fair, it was a pretty safe bet that if this went any significant length of time it would be something like that. There’s very few things you can count on in MMA but with a fight between Figueiredo and Moreno, the worst case scenario was probably that it’d end with a quick KO and be a bit of an anti-climax. We’re just fortunate that we got the best case scenario. A FOTY contender that ends in a draw. So now they have to do it again. Result!

It’s very rare I stay up and watch live these days. I did for this and it was worth it. Although, saying that, the kids will be up soon and I’ve been up almost 24 hours. I’m going to look like a bollock by 12pm.

Great, great fight though. Like Shane O, I’m not even sure who I’d have had winning. Completely lost track of it but I didn’t feel like either man got shafted with the draw. It was probably the fair outcome. Lots of talk of it being the FOTY as if it’s not even up for debate. I get that people go nuts in the aftermath of a crazy fight but I’m not sure I’d rank it higher than Zhang vs Jedrzejczyk. Poirier vs Hooker is up there as well, although I think I’d have that at #3 behind the others.

Oliveira vs Ferguson wasn’t the barnburner everyone expected but that’s because Oliveira just bossed it. This really surprised me. Not that Oliveira won but the manner he did it in. Even if you were picking Oliveira, I don’t think anyone expected it to be this one sided.

Ferguson’s arm might just have the best chin in the game. Vile.

Easily the biggest win of Oliveira’s career and it’s the one thing he was missing to really make his argument to get in the title picture. Hard to deny him now after the win streak and now schooling Ferguson like this. I’m seeing some talk that he’d beat McGregor, Poirier, Gaethje, Chandler etc now but I think people need to calm down a bit with that. He looked great here and I certainly wouldn’t outright dismiss his chances against any of that lot but part of this could’ve been a case of Tony slowing down as well. I think the fight being such one way traffic was down to a perfect storm of both Oliveira hitting his peak form and Ferguson being slightly past his and coming off a bad beating. Not to take away from Oliveira. I picked Ferguson after all. I was wrong. But with the benefit of hindsight, the timing was also good for Oliveira to catch Fergie here. That’s undeniable.

Excited to see what happens with Oliveira next. I’d like to see Oliveira vs Chandler and have the winner of that face the winner of McGregor vs Poirier 2 to crown a new champ. And do Gaethje vs Hooker just for slobberknocking reasons.

Wasn’t that keen on Dern vs Jandiroba myself. Wasn’t even a bad fight and Dern definitely looks better, physically and in the striking, with each fight lately. But I was really looking forward to seeing a grappling battle here and it just never happened. Decent fight but could’ve been so much more.

Kevin Holland! Fuck me. Didn’t expect him to take it to Jacare quite like that. What a finish.

Some year he’s had. He’s gone 5-0 in 2020. Since May actually. 5-0 in 7 months! And finished 4 of them. Can’t recall anyone doing that in such a short span before. This was a big win as well. Jacare is winding down but it’s still a first round KO over Jacare.

Ciryl Gane is another prospect who got his first real breakthrough win here. This one felt kind of inevitable for me. The only chance JDS really had was landing a knockout punch but he hasn’t had much success with that for a long time now and Gane isn’t the type of flat footed slugger HW who’s going to stand there and trade like that. Still got reservations that they might be stepping him up too quickly but with all the lower level opponents for Gane pulling out this year the UFC were kind of forced to move him up. And he passed this test in style...

Lots of talk about the last elbow being illegal. I don’t know. On some angles it looked borderline but it seemed to be more on the ear to me. The commentators kept harping on JDS complaining about it but, to be fair to him, emotions were high and he was probably still groggy. Plus, the realisation was likely setting in that this was his fourth loss on the trot at a time when Dana has just announced they’re going to be making 60+ roster cuts. 

Prelims were fun as well. Always nice to see Cub Swanson get the win. One of MMA’s nice guys and it was a sweet knockout. Rafael Fiziev stopping Moicano in a round was a pleasant surprise as well. Thought this would be a tricky one for him but he seems to have really found his groove in his last couple of fights. Even Tecia Torres wasn’t boring for once.

 

[jimufctna24]

I don't think Moreno did enough to win. I had Figgy winning rounds 1, 2 and 5, and Moreno clearly winning round 4. Round 3 could have been scored either way. So with the point deduction for Figgy, either 48-46 in his favour, or 47-47, were acceptable scorecards in my view. 

I'd like to see Oliveira vs Gaethje next. 

Edited December 13, 2020 by jimufctna24

[Kfogg1991]

Holy shit well honestly i cannot actually belive how good this PPV turned out to be by the main event i was legit watching at the edge of my seat. Fantastic way for the UFC to end 2020 and in a way i'm almost sad next week's fight night will be the last UFC show until mid January but given the sheer amount of fucking work they have done when pretty much everyone else had rolled over and given up they absolutely deserve a decent lay off before they kick off 2021.

Deiveson Figueiredo vs Brandon Moreno 
This could very well win fight of the year it was unreal. I honestly did not expect Moreno to have a cat in hells chance against Figgy but he proved me and the world very wrong with his outstanding performance and should be incredibly proud of himself. Now this is where i'm probably going to get alot of shit but honestly i thought we were going to see a new champion get crowned when it went to the judges. I can't remember what round it was late 3rd or 4th i think but Brandon really rocked Figgy and i thought he was going to get the knock out. I think he landed more takedowns and could be argued he did slightly more damage. I'm not saying it was a robbery as the fight was that good i am not going to complain about seeing this one rolled back when they have both had time to heal and spend with their families but i thought with the point deduction Brandon had it but hell they have always said DON'T LEAVE IT IN THE HANDS OF THE JUDGES.

Tony Ferguson vs Charles Oliveira
I don't think i'm the only person to say this but i personally think the fighter of this entire card has to go to Charles Oliveira, I mean GOOD GOD WHAT A PERFORMANCE!!! He went in there as an underdog and being totally overlooked by alot of people Tony included i think but as soon as those cage door's closed Charles turned into the fucking terminator and he put in one of the most unreal outings i've seen in a long time against such a huge name in the division. That armbar he had locked in at the end of round 1 was fucking sickening though and the position Tony's arm was in was not natural and i have 0 fucking clue how it didn't snap or tony tap but my god i think the ONLY positive thing you can say for Tony on this one was that he is a tough mother fucker but that really is the only positive thing you can say for him. He got schooled and made to look completely outclassed by Charles and i think because of that he has to be looking at a top top fight the next time we see him in there so he will be looking at potentially a unbelievable start to 2021.

Mackenzie Dern vs Virna Jandiroba
Yeah this one like last week was the weakest fight on the main show which is going to happen. It's very very rare you will have homeruns for every single fight on the main show. That's not to say this was dull particularly it just wasn't very exciting when you weigh it up with the rest of the action. Mackenzie Dern looked really impressive however and her improvement really showed for her IMO.

Jacare Souza vs Kevin Holland 
How this fight was put on second and not swapped round with the women i will never know or understand but this fight i think had everyone's attention with Holland going in there for the 5th time this year against a genuine challenge/Accomplished veteran with real power and unreal ground game........But Holland just did not get the memo about all that and pulled out one of the most unbelievable and jaw dropping moments with his knock out to Jacare OFF HIS FUCKING BACK!!! I'm sure i wasn't the only one that got really worried for Kevin when he got taken down and Jacare had the top position and by all accounts should have been the dominant one in control but Holland pulled out a highlight real knock out and closes his year in the biggest way............OR DOES HE??? He went along and did something i genuinely wasn't expecting and he went and called out Khamzat for NEXT WEEK'S CARD.... Now honestly i don't have high hopes for this happening but fuck me would i be up for seeing it and i mean Holland would fit into the category of a fighter that is a test for Khamzat so we will have to see. Like i say i would be both surprised and i love if it gets added to the show next week but i won't hold my breath 

Junior Dos Santos vs Ciryl Gane
I've never been the biggest fan of JDS but i love this sport and have a great deal of respect for him as a fighter so this fight kicking off the main card was a fantastic way to start this PPV. Once again though exactly like Jacare in the fight directly after this fight it didn't do great things for the older/veteran fighters but did everything for the new breed fighters coming up. You also have to believe that both JDS & Jacare's arses are slightly going with dana announcing that between now and early January they are doing a deep clean and letting go of 60+ fighters. Dana was asked about what he thought regarding seeing JDS fight again and should he retire and hang the gloves up and he said yes so that's never a great sign when the company your in is about to start a mass clear out but i guess we will have to see. In regards to the knock out finish by Gane i think it was a legal elbow he threw it aiming for the side of the head and JDS continued to turn away and curl up slightly so even if it did end up being illegal it wasn't thrown with the intention of being. It's never nice too see a once champion/headline name open a show and get knocked out in the first round but it really just shows how fantastic this new breed of fighters are.

ESPN PRELIMS
Cub Swanson vs Daniel Pineda
I thought i hadn't seen or heard from Cub in a while but forgot about his injury and recovery period so it was good too see him back in there. Honestly i would argue after watching this fight he maybe needs a little bit longer as a few of those leg kicks really seemed to give him some trouble and the guy's on commentary were talking about it. That being said it was a really impressive Knock out finish for Cub so not all is bad or negative. 

Renato Moicano vs Rafael Fiziev
I saw on the post fight presser that this one was being talked about by some on twitter as a early stoppage, Absolutely not the case in any way shape or form. Moicano got knocked into next christmas his body stiffened up as the ref jumped in, His argument with the ref about it being a bogus early stoppage might have had legs if he was able to actually get up and contest the stoppage, He tried to stand up and his legs looked like bambi on ice so yeah no argument at all really. Impressive power by Rafael. 

Billy Quarantillo vs Gavin Tucker
Man this one was so much fun!! I had no idea who either of these guy's were going into this fight i just thought i would watch the entire show including Prelims and i'm so glad i did. I just really got drawn into this one, It was really back and forth and reminded me of like a bar room scrap at times it was just relentless but so enjoyable. I scored it for Tucker also so i will be keeping my eye on him the next time he is added to a show.

 

A absolutely unbeliveable night of fights obviously like most big shows for the UFC it's not without it's talking points and complaints from some people but this is probably the most i've enjoyed a full PPV including prelims in a long time so yeah really strong way to wrap up the year