UFC 261: Usman vs Masvidal 2 - Apr 24 🇺🇸

[jimufctna24]

Usman 😊

Weidman ☹️

 

[Panhead]

What a crazy, overwhelming show. Jesus H.Fuck. I love Usman. He's on another level. The main card was insane. I need some time to wrap my head around it all. 

[Jacko]

Typical Dana though couldn’t wait to share the leg break footage on his social media.

cunt

[Scott Malbranque]

Most likely was the fairly excessive amount of gargle I'd had but me wee lamps welled up when the belt was wrapped around Namajunas' waist.      It shows her natural ability to connect really, doesn't it? Either that, or I could still be a bit wobbly. 

Ridiculously adrenaline filled and fuelled card though. Wow. 

[wandshogun09]

BMF.

Broke a Man’s Face.

[Bus Surfer]

Christ that was a crazy show. 

Masvidal grinning like a plank only to be brutally KO'd seconds later was such a good pay off. Usman looks an unstoppable force and everytime he goes in there he looks improved. Nice to see them embrace after the fight but I very much doubt Masvidal would have handled it the same had he won. 

 

 

 

 

[jimufctna24]

 

[Supremo]

The way everyone pretended Covid had never happened left me anxious as fuck the whole night but otherwise a belting, home-run of a show.

I am more than happy to see Usman smash Covington’s face in again. He’ll probably manage it in half the time it previously took. Ideally, they could do that fight every few years as Usman continues to get better and I’ll never get bored of it.

 

[wandshogun09]

What a show. The crowd being back definitely added to it. Although they were dickheads at points with the drunken booing and stuff. On the whole it gave an already fun card that extra boost in atmosphere. Watching the cards over the last year, I haven’t felt like the lack of crowds made much difference but from the first prelim here, the volume of the crowd sounded so loud. I forgot what it was like. Anyway...

Jorge before the fight...

“He’s one of the softest hitters I’ve ever been in front of. Period. God didn’t bless him with that manliness where he could hurt another man with his fists. It must suck to live that life.” - Jorge Masvidal 

Man 🤣 that’s up there with Frank Mir spouting off about “intricacies” and how Brock’s punches felt like your little sister pulling your hair before Brock ruined him in the rematch.

Beautiful. Someone on here said the other day that they felt like Usman would finish it this time and the closer the fight got the more I felt the same. Watching Usman’s interviews and stuff this week, he seemed determined to prove a point. When he originally pushed to rematch Masvidal I didn’t really get why he’d want to run it back with a guy he already shut down. But listening to him going into this one, it became clear what his motivation was. He was sick of the ‘6 days notice’ excuses and wanted to clear it up properly. Now there’s no excuses. Masvidal had a full camp and got ironed out. In all fairness to Masvidal, he was all class in the post-fight interview. But like Silky said, I doubt it’d have been the same had the boot been on the other foot.

At this point, I think he might just be the best fighter in the sport currently. He was scary enough when he was dominating Woodley and RDA. But he really does seem to be still improving. Now he’s starting to put guys away with his hands. And tough guys who don’t get knocked out. I never thought anyone would get close to GSP’s reign at Welterweight but Usman’s up there approaching it now. I think he’s surpassed Matt Hughes as the #2 all time at 170 now. If he keeps going how he’s going then he’ll pass Georgey before too long. If he beats Covington again and maybe Edwards, man, he might just be the Welterweight GOAT.

Got to be the Covington rematch next, hasn’t it? That one actually does have my bumhole squeaking a bit. Can’t stand Covington but I’ve always said I think he’s the one guy in the division who’s equipped to give Usman the most problems. We’ll see. If it’s anything like the first fight then we’re in for something special.

Namajunas stopping Zhang in that manner wasn’t something I think anyone was calling. I think a lot of people were counting Rose out here. I picked Zhang on points myself but I expected a tough fight. Seemed like most opinions I read had Zhang by murder though.

Shame to see Zhang get put out like that but it was a cool finish for Rose, especially seeing as Joanna Jedrzejczyk couldn’t put Zhang away in 5 rounds of all out war last year. Rose doing it in a minute and change was quite a statement. I like Zhang a lot and she’ll be back but I do feel like there’s been a fair bit of overrating her. The Joanna fight really could’ve gone either way and the Andrade fight was over quick. Yet people were still talking like Rose had no shot here. Despite being the technically better striker of the two. Not sure what’s next. Joanna was talking this week about fighting the winner of this but I don’t think anyone’s clamouring for Namajunas vs Jedrzejczyk 3 right now. There’s no other really obvious fight to make though.

The Shevchenko reign of terror continues. Andrade’s a little tank and Shev just ragged her about and battered her. It’s not like the outcome was a surprise, I don’t think I saw one person pick Andrade. But the way Shev dismantled her still exceeded what I expected. Nobody’s beating Shevchenko anytime soon at 125. It’s just not happening. She’ll lose one day like they all do but, looking at the division as it currently stands, I can’t see any of them beating her. Not one. Unless someone new pops up or Shev herself slows down or retires, I think we’ll be seeing this for a while.

What’s next? Who’s even left? Had Zhang beat Namajunas, I’d have said it’s probably time to do the Shevchenko vs Zhang superfight. But now, I don’t have a clue. She’s in that Amanda Nunes territory now where they’re just going to have to feed her whoever for the foreseeable until something half interesting presents itself. I can actually see them making Nunes vs Shevchenko 3 before too long, just because they’re both just wasting everybody in their own divisions.

Poor Chris Weidman. What the fuck kind of voodoo was this?

Horrible. It’s like something is telling Weidman to pack it in. He’s last few years have been the drizzling shits. And what are the chances of this happening again? I saw something on Twitter that there’s only been 3 of these leg break endings in the UFC. And Weidman’s been involved in 2 of them. Nuts. Also saw a tweet that this was the first time in UFC history that someone technically won a fight without throwing a single strike. Hall looked proper shaken up himself after the fight. Just a crappy situation for all involved.

This from Anderson Silva was nice;

He knows only too well the long and gruelling journey of recovery Weidman’s going to be on now. Is it worth it for Weidman now though? His career was already on its arse, now he’s got to come back from this?

Was happy to see Anthony Smith get the win, and for once without having to walk through fire to do it. Shame Crute suffered the injury because it was shaping up nicely. Really unfortunate, it kind of robbed both of them in a way. But Smith created the whole thing with that leg kick so he deserves the credit. It’s a W for Smith and he’s one of the good guys so I’ll take it.

Randy Brown getting the submission on a crafty sod like Cowboy Oliveira was quite impressive. Brown is another guy who’s shown flashes of real promise but he’s been unable to put a run together and has had setbacks sprinkled in there. He’s beat some decent fighters though and this is his best win and best all around performance to date.

I was happy to see Brendan Allen back in the win column. Still think he’s got a ton of potential, he’s still only 25 and has finishes over Kevin Holland and Tom Breese. This was a nice return to winning ways.

Don’t see many leg locks these days either so this was pretty sweet.

People are saying what a great show it was and rightly so. But if you skipped the Fight Pass prelims, go back to them. The card’s even better than you think.

Jeff Molina vs Aoriqileng was something else. I went in with no expectations and had never seen either of them fight. Christ, what a first impression they both made on me. If this is what they’re typically like then I’m gonna be a fan of both.

Tremendous scrap. Deservingly got FOTN. Loved every bit of it. I think it’s my FOTY so far this year actually. Can’t think of one I’ve enjoyed more anyway. On a card full of drama and big moments, this was the best fight for me easy.

Danaa Batgerel and Ariane Carnelossi scored nice finishes as well down on Fight Pass. Hadn’t been overly impressed with either before but they both brought it here.

Top show. Card of the year so far for me by quite a distance. A big (and satisfying) ending to the main event, decisive finishes from Namajunas and Shevchenko in the other two title fights, the leg break which was horrible but just added to the overall craziness of the show, then we got a rare leg lock finish and a FOTY contender on the prelims. Couldn’t ask for much more from a card. 

Edited April 25, 2021 by wandshogun09

[ColinBollocks]

Maybe due to crowd losing the head at everything but that's their best show in ages. Delightful end seeing Masvidal getting absolutely pasted too. I thought Usman would dominate but that was about as emphatic a stoppage as you'll see.

Weidman's leg going the same way it did for Silva is a really twisted coincidence.

[WeeAl]

I've only seen the main card, due to not wanting to miss out on anymore sunshine, but jaysus christ, talk about a noteworthy show. 

First of all, my heart goes out to Weidman and his family. Horrendous doesn't begin to come close to describing it, and reinforces how easy it is for everything to go wrong in an instant in this sport. An awful last five years Weidman has had of his career. I hope he can recover healthily to get back to a normal life and walk away from competing. 

Kamaru Usman has fighter of the year sewn up already even if he doesn't fight again. If he can bookend the year with beating Covington, then that's just the cherry on top. This man just keeps leveling up. Any fighter out there that thinks they have extra gears that they haven't tapped into yet, need to call Trevor Wittman pronto. Along with Mike Brown, he must be the best in the game. 

I'll watch Shevchenko beat up 125'ers until the end of time. I don't necessarily need another fight with Amanda Nunes just yet, but should it happen? Count me in all day, as those were close fights and both are so much better now than they were then. There's a good chance the third fight is as boring as the second, but that's what happens sometimes when two absolute greats meet in their prime with so much on the line. 

 

[neil]

Great card overall, couldn't believe Rose KO'd Zhang like that, I couldn't believe it. Shevchenko really is such an amazing fighter, so well rounded. Those constant takedowns were <italian_chef.gif>. Luckily I missed the Weidman fight - don't wanna be watching that stuff live.

The prelims are definitely worth watching. The opener, Na vs Carnelossi, was along the lines of Frye vs Takayama.

I couldn't have been happier with Usman absolutely starching Masvidal. His whole "no power" thing was obvious BS, he fucking broke Covington's jaw. And of course Masvidal pulls the Conor playbook of being "humble" in defeat. Fuck off.

I've made my feelings known on Rogan before and while I don't recall him being too bad last night I really hope they stop with the "cut to Rogan shocked expression holding the lads back" meme recreation.

[wandshogun09]

1 hour ago, neil said:

I really hope they stop with the "cut to Rogan shocked expression holding the lads back" meme recreation.

Yeah that’s so played out now. It was sort of funny the first time, whichever fight that was. But now it’s forced in for nearly every big fight. Rogan and DC are the worst for it for me. They know they’re on camera and they can’t stop playing to it.

In other news, how cool is this picture?

[Yakashi]

I don’t really get what’s going on with that photo? Usman has been photoshopped into picture 4 with Masvidal? Or are they both woodley ? I must be missing something!

[wandshogun09]

7 minutes ago, Yakashi said:

I don’t really get what’s going on with that photo? Usman has been photoshopped into picture 4 with Masvidal? Or are they both woodley ? I must be missing something!

Yeah he’s been photoshopped into the 4th picture. I’ll be honest, I somehow didn’t even clock that. I must’ve been focusing more on the victims than Usman. I guess there wasn’t a photo of him close enough to sleeping Masvidal to make it work without an edit. 

Meanwhile, no fight card can go by without Conor McGregor making it about himself. Here he is using the Weidman leg break to have a pop at calf kicks because he’s still salty that Poirier handed him his arse in January...