Dai Posted June 11, 2021 Share Posted June 11, 2021 Have to jump on the 'Like it' train as well. I 100% skip the narration intros these days, and know for a fact Id watch the Face The Pain ones if they brought them back. For as mid 00's as that song is, even watching that youtube vid gets the blood flowing way more than Ron Pearlman talking nonsense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted June 11, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted June 11, 2021 crikey, Marvin's hard on the ears aint he Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted June 11, 2021 Author Paid Members Share Posted June 11, 2021 OK, been meaning to get to rewatching the first Adesanya vs Vettori fight for weeks now and just haven’t got around to it. I vaguely remember it, and I’m sure I might’ve had Vettori edging out a decision at the time. But from everything I’m hearing and reading, most seem to have had it for Izzy with zero controversy. Let’s see. It went down in April 2018 on the undercard of a Fight Night headlined by the epic war between Dustin Poirier vs Justin Gaethje. No wonder I don’t really remember this fight. Poirier vs Gaethje was one of those crazy fights that you come out of a show buzzing about and pretty much forget everything else on the card. Adesanya was undefeated at 12-0 coming in, and had only fought once in the UFC. A POTN winning second round TKO over Rob Wilkinson. He’d come in with a lot of hype though, mostly because of his impressive Kickboxing background where he’d put together a 75-5 record. Add in his flashy style and outspokenness and you can see why there was instant interest in him. For Vettori, it wasn’t that way though. He was 12-3-1 at this time and coming off a draw against Omari Akhmedov. Hadn’t really beat anyone of note and he was just another guy on the card really. A solid enough fighter but I don’t think anyone had a strong opinion on him one way or the other. It was just indifference. This wasn’t about Vettori though. It was a matchup clearly put together as the next test for Izzy and for everyone get more of a look at this new potential star. Israel Adesanya vs Marvin Vettori UFC Fight Night: Poirier vs Gaethje April 14th 2018 Glendale, Arizona Commentators are Jon Anik, Daniel Cormier and the audio cure for insomnia Dominick Cruz. The colour commentator whose colour is beige. I’ll try to stay awake. Vettori was talking a good game even back then. Claiming he was gonna beat Adesanya standing then take him down. DC’s even saying Vettori was almost dismissive of Adesanya in the fighter meeting that week. He definitely looks confident walking in. Round 1: Vettori’s game early on. Doesn’t seem phased or intimidated at all by Adesanya’s reputation as a striker. He’s coming right at him. He’s not landing much though and Adesanya’s got him jumping and kind of overreacting to his feints already. Vettori gets the clinch and keeps going for a trip takedown. No joy. Good sign for Izzy there. If he can stop a fresh and strong Vettori from taking him down it might bode well for the rest of the fight. Adesanya’s landing some nice inside leg kicks. Vettori’s putting a brave face on it but they look like they’re starting to take effect already. Eye poke from Adesanya stalls the action for a minute and Vettori ups the aggression on the restart. Adesanya’s switching stances and chopping away with the leg kicks and some punches as the round ends. Adesanya 10-9. All calm in the Adesanya corner between rounds. “I’m ready. Slow cook him in the first, fry him in the second.” Says Adesanya to his cornerman. Let’s see if he turns up the attack now. Round 2: Vettori complaining about an eye poke on the first exchange but nothing comes of it. Vettori trying and failing for a double leg takedown. So Adesanya’s managed to stuff takedowns from the clinch and the double leg now. Not good for the Italian. Adesanya’s throwing the hands a bit more now. Vettori’s constantly coming forward but he’s not getting a lot done. Someone was watching Rafael Fiziev videos. Matrix shit. Izzy’s kind of playing with him here. There’s nothing really significant coming back at him and he’s just pot shotting to the body and whipping in that inside leg kick again. Vettori’s throwing and he is connecting with some punches but none of it looks that clean. Adesanya’s doing a good job of rolling with them so take the zap out of them. Vettori’s nose is bloodied up. Vettori’s moaning about an eye poke again but that was all elbow. These distress signals are never a good sign and Vettori’s clearly getting frustrated at this point. He looks well pissed off but Adesanya continues to wind him up by blasting him with a hard body kick. Adesanya shuts down another takedown attempt but it was a bit of a half hearted effort. Adesanya with a cute turning headkick that just grazes Vettori’s bonce. Vettori with the left hands but there doesn’t seem to be much on them, he looks sluggish and gets clipped with a counter right hook coming in. Another round in the books for Adesanya. 10-9. So yeah, regardless of how this last round goes, me thinking Vettori might’ve won at the time was way off. I must’ve been on the drink that night. Round 3: Adesanya looks fresh as a daisy. Vettori looks a bit rough. But he’s landing some shots here early. Definitely a real sense of urgency out of Vettori now, and rightly so. His corner were right on his case between rounds as well. Vettori finally gets that takedown. Had to work hard for it but he got there in the end. Vettori’s just holding him there. Little in the way of damage being done. Adesanya manages to stand up and separate. But ballses it all up… A fucking lateral drop attempt from Izzy? Who’d have called that? Vettori fails to capitalise initially but hangs onto a clinch and eventually takes Adesanya back down again. Adesanya’s not looking too clever on the bottom here but Vettori’s not doing much again and Herb Dean separates them with a minute to go. Vettori’s looking tired and now Adesanya seems a bit more wary of the takedown threat. Wasn’t like Vettori was hurting him down there but still, you don’t wanna be taken down, especially in the third round when that’s the last thing the judges will see. Nice knee to the body from Adesanya. Straight left hand from Vettori. Both throwing, neither really connecting. It’s over. Vettori 10-9 for the takedowns and top control. Adesanya looks disappointed and a little bit concerned before the decision is announced. He definitely won though. Even the third round, Vettori didn’t do much with the takedowns or top position and if Adesanya had managed to put some combinations together or even wobble Vettori at the end, I’d actually have given him that round as well. Despite the takedowns. But Izzy never got anything going either so the takedowns were the most significant thing about the round. Winner - Israel Adesanya by split decision. Vettori storms out of the cage after the announcement. He didn’t win though. He just didn’t. Soz Marv. “Congrats to him. His bobble head held up. I don’t know. He had better head movement than I anticipated. A win’s a win but I’m not happy with it.” - Israel Adesanya Don’t know why I thought Vettori might’ve won back then but I’m blaming the US vs UK difference in timezone and me probably being pissed and/or sleep deprived. I think the way the third round went and then Izzy’s reaction post-fight distorted my memory. The split decision was shite. How the judges had Vettori winning either the first or second round baffles me watching it with a clear head now. He accomplished the grand sum of fuck all that first 10 minutes. Any warped memory I had of this being even a slightly controversial decision has been put to bed. I’m still very much into this rematch regardless. Vettori has definitely improved since too. This 2018 Vettori would never have beaten Jack Hermansson and maybe not Kevin Holland either. He’s upped his game and grown in confidence. In his last two fights he’s shown he can go 5 rounds at a good pace as well, he was flagging in a 3 rounder here. So he’s made noticeable gains there. But Adesanya’s also made the Octagon his home in the 3 years since he beat Vettori. He’s had some spectacular performances, some not so spectacular, won the title, beat some of the very best Middleweights on the planet. And as long as it’s on the feet, he’s still the way better striker. What makes this really interesting to me though, is the timing. I’ve been favouring Adesanya to win and after watching this first fight back, it’s kind of strengthened that opinion. But like I said, Vettori’s come on a fair bit of late. And with the way Jan Blachowicz completely shut Adesanya down with wrestling in March, there’s a clear blueprint for Vettori to follow. Obviously, he had a bit of success with that himself but he got the takedowns going too late in the fight. If he can get the ball rolling with the wrestling early this time, it could be a miserable night for Adesanya. All that said, I’m still leaning towards Adesanya retaining. I think Vettori’s definitely gonna try and replicate that Blachowicz gameplan but I’m not sure he’ll be able to as effectively. He’s not as big as Blachowicz and I don’t think he’s as good. He did rag Holland about with wrestling but I think Izzy’s takedown defence is better than Holland’s, even if he’s not much cop on bottom if he is taken down. They’re meeting again tomorrow in the same building as this first fight, which is a cool little added quirk. We’ll find out soon enough what’s what. Gonna try to rewatch Figgy vs Moreno 1 later so there’ll probably be more waffling from me in here on that one tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted June 11, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted June 11, 2021 brilliant stuff wand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted June 11, 2021 Author Paid Members Share Posted June 11, 2021 Page 1 - Ebb enjoying ‘Face The Pain’. Page 2 - 1 hour ago, Egg Shen said: crikey, Marvin's hard on the ears aint he Doesn’t get much more damning than that. IN-TO PIE-CES. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted June 11, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted June 11, 2021 what can i say? i was a late 90's nu-metal kid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panhead Posted June 11, 2021 Share Posted June 11, 2021 Figgy left it late at the weigh-in. He's already making noise about having a shot at the Bantamweight title. Any chance this is his last bout at 125? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted June 11, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted June 11, 2021 think i read he made weight with 40 seconds to spare Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted June 11, 2021 Author Paid Members Share Posted June 11, 2021 Rewatch a rematch day continues. Figgy vs Moreno 1. They met in December in the main event of UFC 256. I haven’t seen this since the night it aired. I remember I stayed up live for it, which I rarely do these days. It was a stacked card but, make no mistake, I was staying up for this fight. It was mad how this one came together though. This fight was a last minute cobbled together attempt to keep 256 from completely imploding, with two guys taking the fight on a quick turnaround. I’d actually felt like Moreno should’ve been the one to get the shot originally at 255 instead of Alex Perez, so things ended up working out the right way. And just stylistically, anyone who’d watched these two coming up the ranks just knew this was going to be a nutty fight. Deiveson Figueiredo (c) vs Brandon Moreno - UFC Flyweight Title UFC 256: Figueiredo vs Moreno December 12th 2020 Las Vegas, Nevada Usual PPV announce team of Anik, Rogan and Cormier. Referee is Jason Herzog. Bruce Buffer’s screaming and we’re off. Round 1: Figueiredo comes out and immediately opens up with a spinning back kick to the body! Did I mention I love this little bastard? Both popping out hard jabs and Figgy tries to initiate a takedown which Moreno is having none of and shuts down nicely. Cool bit of scrambling on the ground that goes nowhere and they’re back on the feet. Fuck a feeling out process. Fig’s throwing serious heat early, to the body and the head. Sweet jabs here, snapping Moreno’s head back. Fig’s not fucking about. Ripping to the body again with some nasty hooks. Moreno would make a good poker player because his ribs and his liver must be in agony already from some of them but he’s just no selling it like he’s a Roadwarrior in the 80s. He’s always throwing back as well. Figgy with a nice elbow in close. Both trading at the end but Figueiredo lands the better of it. Figgy 10-9. Really good opening round. Round 2: Carrying on right where they left off. Figgy with a spin kick to the gut that sends Moreno into the fence. Moreno fires right back with some wicked punches. Moreno’s looking sharp here after a tough first round. Fig’s walloping in some vicious leg kicks though. Big right from Figueiredo! Really competitive round here. Takedown by Moreno but he’s unable to keep the champ there. Awesome stuff. Moreno starting to build momentum now but then Figgy starts lighting him up again and undoes his good work. When they’re in those wild exchanges, Moreno can land and he’s the faster of the two but Figueiredo’s power advantage becomes pretty apparent. Moreno with another takedown but they’re straight back up. Moreno putting his punches together beautifully here. Round’s over and it was a close one. I could honestly see a case for either of them but I’m saying Figgy 10-9. He landed the bigger punches, all those leg kicks early and even though he was taken down a couple of times, he was up quick and continuing to land strikes. Round 3: Figgy’s terrorising him now. He wants this over with. The sound some of the body punches and kicks are making are vile. I’ve watched Moreno for years and knew he was stupidly tough but how he absorbed this punishment makes no sense. He didn’t even buckle or look rocked. Even though he must’ve been proper busted up by this point, he refused to give Figgy the satisfaction of seeing it. It seems like Moreno’s weathered the storm. For now at least. Moreno letting his hands go more now. Right when Moreno seems to be turning things around, Figgy kicks him square in the bollocks. It’s a really bad one. It wasn’t a clip, this was a full on loud whack to the spuds and Moreno is in agony, coughing his guts up, the lot. Herzog docks Figueiredo a point. They get back to it. Big overhand right from Moreno and they both throw as the round ends. I’ve got that 9-9. I remember thinking Moreno won this round on the night, making it 10-8 with the point deduction. Watching it back now, while he fought really well, Figgy was battering him in the first part of the round and it was fairly even for the rest of it. So for me it’s a Figgy round, only made even because of the dick kick. Interesting. On this watch, every round is really competitive but scoring-wise, I haven’t got it as close as I thought I would after 3. Round 4: Flying knee out the gate for Figueiredo, lands to the body. Both connecting with the hands but Moreno is starting to pull ahead here. Really good stuff from him as Rogan just keeps going “OHHHHHHH! OHHHHHHH!” He really is just a soundboard at this point, isn’t he? Figgy tries to clinch up and Moreno makes him pay and takes him down. “I have a sneaking suspicion we might see these two run it back at some point down the line.” - Jon Anik Nostradamus over here. Huge uppercut from Figueiredo! Which again, Moreno somehow just soaks up. Figgy trying to walk him down now. He’s throwing shots and he always looks dangerous but he’s slowed down a bit and Moreno’s able to get out of harm’s way. Now Moreno’s unleashing a flurry… He’s got the champ reeling. Fig survives it but he’s looking weary here as Moreno keeps beating him to the punch with a quick jab. Figgy on the attack… And Moreno takes him down again. Figgy’s BJJ game is strong though and every time he gets taken down he avoids taking any real damage and gets back up. Same here but Moreno tags him again as he gets up and Fig’s all over the place. Moreno 10-9. Honestly, not far off a 10-8 for me. Figgy was always there and was still landing the odd bomb but Moreno really put it on him the whole round, landed more shots, landed the better shots, hurt him a few times, took him down a couple of times. He had a fantastic round. Of course, Rogan’s lost all composure and is now saying Moreno might be ahead on the scorecards. I don’t think so. I could see having it even but I can’t see him up on points at this stage, even with the deduction. This is some scrap though. Round 5: Little bit of a slower pace this round but who can blame them? Figgy still throwing with bad intentions. Some brutal body kicks, which Moreno’s arms take the full brunt of. The commentators point out shortly after that Moreno’s arm might be injured and that it looks all fucked up. The nutcase is still throwing punches with it though. Both trading but you can tell they’re feeling the effects of this gruelling battle now. How could they not, right? Figgy going all Karo Parisyan at the end of the round there. And that’s a wrap. Another close one but I’ve got to give that to Figueiredo again on account of the damage with the kicks early and style points for the nifty throw at the end. 10-9. So all in all I’ve got it 48-46 Figgy, even with the docked point, which is a lot different than I remember having it live. Probably isn’t a fair reflection though. Moreno was in it every round, start to finish. And in fairness, I could see the second going to him. Result - Majority Draw. On the night I thought a draw was the right call. Not so much now but sod it. It means we’re getting to see it again and I’m all for that. The pivotal round is how you had the third. Obviously, there’s the point deduction. But the only way Moreno gets the draw is if you give him this round (which would then be 10-8) and one other round. Rewatching tonight though, I really don’t think he won that third round. He took a beating for most of it before the bollock shot and never got a whole lot done after it. Whatever. The fight as a whole was so closely contested. The rematch should be great. Especially with them having a crowd this time. I’m leaning towards Figgy winning but fuck knows really. And seeing him just about make weight in the nick of time today just adds to the uncertainty. It’ll be exciting whatever happens though. There’s no other way a fight between these two maniacs can go. The first one was easily one of the best fights of 2020, I had it second only to Zhang vs Jedrzejczyk for FOTY last year. Got a feeling this one won’t need judges though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted June 12, 2021 Share Posted June 12, 2021 I've barely thought about how the main fights on this card are going to play out. That said, I really want Figgy and Edwards to win. Diaz vs Usman would be a waste of everyone's time and Figgy is Figgy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfogg1991 Posted June 12, 2021 Share Posted June 12, 2021 I'm going for Issy/Figgy/Nate to win although i wouldn't mind seeing how the co main plays out. If it's anything like the first then I'm happy with either man taking it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted June 12, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted June 12, 2021 I just cant see Nate troubling Leon at this stage. A lot of people seem to think if Nate can drag it late he has a chance, but everyone seems to be forgetting that the fight is at 170lb. Diaz is 1-4 a the weight and the only times he's been remotely competitive was with a blown up McGregor. True Welterweights have crushed him, and that was in Diaz' prime. Now he's 36 fighting one of the legit best in the world. He's gonna get smoked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted June 12, 2021 Author Paid Members Share Posted June 12, 2021 Yeah, you always think of Nate as this big lanky sod but that’s because we’ve mostly seen him next to Lightweights. Next to a legit Welterweight like Edwards; I can’t see it going well for Nate at all. For the reasons Ebb said, plus Diaz hasn’t fought in about 18 months and Edwards is a really good fighter who doesn’t usually get dragged into the type of scraps Nate likes. I think he’s technically better at this stage, he’s bigger, he’s better on the ground than people give him credit for etc. It’s an uphill battle for Nate. I didn’t even realise this fight was still 5 rounds until the other day. I know it was scheduled for 5 rounds when it was on 262 but it was gonna be co-main there. Didn’t think they’d be sticking with it here with it being third from top but I like it. Leon could well be fighting for the title soon (seems Covington’s first) so getting those 5 round training camps in can’t hurt. People always assume that 5 rounds favours the Diaz boys but against a naturally bigger and stronger man, who’s younger, technically sound and fights smart, it’s bad news all round for him I reckon. It’s not like Edwards has ever shown any kind of tendency to fade in the past either. I think he might look wear Nate down in the early rounds with a clinch heavy game, rough him up in close, ideally inflict some cuts on that paper thin Diaz skin, then maybe open up later on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted June 12, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted June 12, 2021 nah, i think it was originally announced as the first 5 round non-title/non-main event. Not even sure what prompted that decision? maybe its something Nate demanded? but as you wand. said, i like it. It opens a weird door of what should and shouldnt be a 5 round fight but we cant really complain with the quality that we get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted June 12, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted June 12, 2021 See, I thought they were making it five rounds in case it had to end up main eventing should something have happened the Oliveira/Chandler fight. Nate is a viable star to headline a PPV as the A side, but I can imagine they didn't want to have to try to negotiate to make it five rounds at late notice. That's why I thought they got that out of the way by booking it that way from the start. That the UFC have kept it that way after the fight moved card probably throws a spanner into that idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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