UFC 263: Adesanya vs Vettori 2 - Jun 12 🇺🇸

[neil]

On 6/11/2021 at 6:14 AM, David said:

Same. In any other setting that song is fucking horrible, but with the history behind it, for me it'll always be the "UFC song" and as such I think it should be used forever more.

Fuck da haterz.

I love it. Brings back memories of simpler times when you'd pop seeing the TapOut boys in the crowd and seeing Randy Couture in a new Affliction shirt.

[wandshogun09]

Start times and my predictions. Maia vs Muhammad was actually the one I had the most difficulty picking. Could definitely see Belal winning but below that elite tippy top level Maia’s a fucker to deal with, even in his advanced years. Got a feeling he gets it done tonight. Hope I’m wrong on Murphy vs Calderwood. 

Also, to put in perspective what Nate Diaz is up against tonight. Here’s Welterweight Leon Edwards next to retired 205er who’s no doubt Heavyweight now, Jimi Manuwa;

Edited June 12, 2021 by wandshogun09

[jimufctna24]

I'm going with Izzy and Figgy on points and Edwards by stoppage via cuts. 

[Egg Shen]

no ones really mentioned it, Dober/Riddell is gonna be a doozy on that prelim portion.

[Panhead]

I'm really chuffed for Brandon Moreno. What a story. Figgy was all class in defeat too. 

[jimufctna24]

I really like Figgy, but I am fine with Moreno being champion. Seems like a nice chap. 

[wandshogun09]

That was a right 50/50 show. Almost everything either one extreme or the other. A great fight followed by a snoozer followed by a highlight reel finish followed by a turd followed by an arm getting ripped off and so on. Didn’t know where I was by the end of it.

I’ll say this as well, the crowd in Arizona last night were fucking dire. I know there were a couple of boring fights but these divs were moaning long before that. Booing anything resembling grappling, booing anyone not American, in one case booing before the fight even got started! By the time they booed Demian Maia during his intro I was pining for the days of empty arenas again. Joyless freaks. Bought tickets and just seemed determined to not enjoy themselves nearly all night.

Adesanya retaining was the outcome I’d been leaning towards but it was more clear cut than I expected and more boring than I expected. Just a bit of a slog to watch. Most of that’s on Vettori though. Izzy was doing his thing, looking great at times but cruising for spells etc. But he was putting rounds in the bank and the onus was on Vettori to make something happen and he couldn’t get anything going. Aside from that one spell where he nearly had Adesanya’s back (forget which round), he did little of note. I still think he’s improved since the first fight, I just think Izzy’s progressed more with the experience of all this big main events against high level opposition. Vettori thinking he won after was laughable, to be honest.

Just a different class. Really puts into perspective how good Blachowicz is as well. I know that fight was at 205 but for him to be that dominant over Adesanya and Vettori being unable to really do anything with a similar gameplan, just shows how good Jan’s performance was back in March. It wasn’t all down to size and he hasn’t improved that much in 3 months.

The post-fight interview was emotional with him dedicating it to his friend Fau Vake who was murdered recently. Glad to hear him mention fighting Whittaker next. Bob Knux earned that shot a while back it just hasn’t lined up. He’s head and shoulders the most deserving though and, despite me thinking Izzy goes 2-0, it’s a good rematch with Whittaker coming off some impressive wins. So yeah, lacklustre fight but Adesanya’s back in the win column and we’ve got the Whittaker rematch to look forward to.

Brandon Moreno stole the show for me though. 

What a moment. What a story. Lowest seed on TUF, lost on TUF, got sacked by the UFC in 2018, comes back and becomes the first ever Mexican born UFC champion. I don’t think anyone saw this coming either. Most seemed to think Figgy would win and even the people fancying Moreno weren’t calling it to look anything like this. He’d talked going in about Figgy’s power, saying he hits hard but he expected it to be more than it was. He seemed to be taking confidence in that and was saying this time he wouldn’t fear/respect it so much. You hear fighters say stuff like that a lot though and I didn’t know how much of it was real. Obviously, Fig’s power puts most Flyweights to bed but Moreno’s made of different stuff so everyone should’ve taken his words seriously. Right from the off here you could just see he really fancied the job. The jab was firing beautifully, then he dropped Figgy, and he never let up over the next couple of rounds before the submission in the third.

As @Panhead said there, Figgy was all class in defeat. I don’t know what I expected but he’s such a nasty little shite before and during fights, I assumed he’d go all Diaz and deny he lost or some bollocks. It was great to see though. Beyond the pre-fight talk and pushing and shoving at the press conference, there’s no way there wasn’t a ton of respect between the two after that war in December. For Moreno to come in and rip the belt off him like this must be crushing but he handled it like a pro.

Not sure where Figgy goes next. Obviously, there’s potential for another fight with Moreno. Or even two more because the first was a draw. I’d happily watch these two fight again. But I don’t really want to see it next. That’d be 3 times in a row. Plus I’m not sure what the next move is for Figueiredo after this. I wouldn’t be shocked to see him move up to Bantamweight now. I’ve long felt that the harping on him struggling with the weight at 125 was overplayed (mostly by Rogan) and I stand by it. He missed weight once and, while he’s a big Flyweight and the cut can’t be a walk in the park, he’s made it and performed very well up to now. But how much longer can he keep doing that cut? He looked rough on the scales on Friday, just about made the weight with seconds to go and then loses handily to Moreno. This might just be the thing that makes him sack Flyweight off and give 135 a bash. And to be honest, as much as I’d like to see him and Moreno tangle again, the prospect of Figgy vs Yan, Sterling, Font, Sandhagen etc up at 135 gives me the horn.

Edwards vs Diaz was a funny one. Not the most exciting to watch but for 4 and a half rounds, it was all Edwards. He was bigger, stronger, faster, sharper, landing the better punches, doing damage with the leg kicks, holding his own on the ground, then he cut Nate wide open. It was all going swimmingly. The in the 5th…

Christ! It was some shot. He’s never had to show it before but Leon’s got a chin on him because that was as clean as it gets and his neck went completely limp, head rolling all over the place, legs went. How he regained composure and avoided further damage and saw out the round is a real testament to his toughness, composure and survival instincts. Aside from that one moment it was a flawless performance. Albeit not a spectacular one. Of course, Diaz fans are out in force today acting like Nate won because of this one punch. Ignoring the other 24 minutes of him getting outclassed. Nothing is straight forward with Leon Edwards though, is it? I don’t think he’d have been getting the next title shot anyway as Dana was already talking about Usman vs Covington 2 in the run up to this show. But any chance he did have is probably gone again now because he was clinging on at the end there. And if Wonderboy beats Burns next month and looks good doing it, he’ll likely jump ahead of Leon as well. That scenario could see Edwards waiting well into next year for a shot. Really strong performance for Edwards overall. But all people are gonna remember is him flailing about like a crash test dummy at the end.

Muhammad vs Maia was dull as dishwater but it always had the potential to be. I love Maia but you have to go into his fights with realistic expectations. It’s either a spectacular display of BJJ where he steamrolls some poor sod, or it’s a shite series of increasingly lazy attempts at a single leg that go nowhere the whole fight. No in between. Biggest win of Muhammad’s career but it’s one of those weird ones that doesn’t feel like it really raised his stock much. Still, a win’s a win. Maia’s almost certainly done. This was the last fight on his contract according to Dana and I doubt they’re itching to give him another one. Maia was talking about retiring either after the fight or one more anyway so I think that’s him done as far as MMA is concerned. He was on about doing some grappling matches though which I doubt even Dana would stand in the way of.

Paul Craig mangling Jamahal Hill’s arm was a gruesome way to open up the PPV.

Amazingly, the arm actually didn’t break. It was a dislocation, according to Dana at the post-show media scrum, and he was fine after. Big win for Craig this. Hill was unbeaten and was starting to be talked about as someone to get excited about. Craig’s derailed all of that.

Riddell vs Dober was FOTN no question. What a scrap this was.

Just a brilliant back and forth battle. The kind that ends and you wish it was 5 rounds. Riddell was supposed to face Gregor Gillespie a few months ago and has expressed interest in getting that back on. I’m well up for that.

Anders vs Stewart 2 was surprisingly crap. Just never got going at all. By about the second round I was actually hoping for another illegal knee DQ just to get it over with.

Murphy vs Calderwood was alright. Was I the only one who has Calderwood winning though? She lost the second round clearly but I had her winning 1 and 2. Oh well, I guess the silver lining is at least she’s not getting fed to Shevchenko now. Murphy’s surely next. Can’t think who else Shev can defend against at the moment.

Movsar Evloev continues to stack up those wins. 15-0 now. His wrestling looked phenomenal here. He’s not getting many people talking and nothing he does is flashy. He’s still a work in progress but I could see him causing problems in the nearish future. There aren’t many Featherweights who I think can match him in the wrestling.

Terrence McKinney had a batshit crazy debut.

Whole fight there. Frevola’s tough as well. To put him away in 7 seconds like that is some first impression. Then he went and Johnny Walkered himself in the celebration. Hopefully the knee isn’t too bad and he can get back in there fairly soon. It’d be a shame if he’s out for months now and can’t capitalise on this early momentum he’s got coming in.

I think it’s becoming clear Chase Hooper probably shouldn’t be in the UFC just yet as well. I was picking him to win this because Peterson was coming off a long layoff and I do think he’s got some potential. But he looked out of his depth for large spells here. At 21, being in the UFC has probably come too soon for him. He’s got time but it’d probably be best spent on the regional scene where he can build up experience and develop his overall game more, without the pressure of the bright lights of the UFC on him.

Solid enough show with a few dull fights and an utterly shite crowd. Moreno’s win and Riddell vs Dober were incredible though and made it all worthwhile. 

Edited June 13, 2021 by wandshogun09

[wandshogun09]

Moreno trained with Nonito Donaire for this fight. No wonder his boxing looked so sharp. 

And look at this…

Between Moreno’s redemption story and becoming champion, Oliveira’s climb to the title, Ngannou’s road from homeless to champion, Poirier knocking out McGregor and Usman knocking out Masvidal…it’s been a great half a year for MMA’s babyfaces. Just waiting for it all to go wrong now. 

[Panhead]

You've jinxed it now. Conor will be Lightweight champion by the end of the year and Jon Jones will have the Heavyweight title. 

Brandon Moreno winning the title has had me beaming all day. I remember him winning a short notice fight before the season of TUF he was on had even finished airing (Just checked, it was Louis Smolka that he beat). There's something just so likeable about him. 

[wandshogun09]

He’s ace. If it was anyone else I’d be gutted that Figgy’s no longer the champ but Moreno’s been one of my favourites for a while. He’s already getting the mural treatment in his hometown as well. 

[jimufctna24]

8 minutes ago, Panhead said:

You've jinxed it now. Conor will be Lightweight champion by the end of the year and Jon Jones will have the Heavyweight title. 

Covington to beat Usman also.

[Guy Bifkin]

I am becoming a soft lad in my old age but I got a bit choked up after that Brandon Moreno win. The feel good story of the year so far in MMA.

If ever there was a fight to exemplify the careers of Leon Edwards and Nate Diaz this was it. Leon puts on an absolute clinic for 90% of the fight only for Nate to nearly snatch the win, and may well of done had he chose to follow up the shot that rocked Edwards, instead of flipping the bird etc. Regardless, he comes away from the fight he got battered in as some moral victor, whilst Leon has probably handed his title shot to Colby Covington with that minute or so of madness.

I enjoyed the performance from Israel, it was a clinic and re-established him as top dog at middleweight after the loss to Big Jan. He made Vettori look very ordinary. 

I agree with Wandy on the crowd, they sucked. Good main card with the exception of the Damien Maia fight which should have been swapped with Dober vs Ridell.

[wandshogun09]

It definitely warranted a main card slot but I suppose from the UFC’s point of view, the card placement of Dober vs Riddell worked out perfectly. Having a barnburner like that as the last free prelim right before the PPV kicks in is ideal if you’re hoping to snatch those potential last minute buys. Maia vs Muhammad in that ‘prelim main event’ spot might’ve actually turned people off the show.  

[Guy Bifkin]

Very true, I may well have sacked off the prelims together if presented with my own card.

[theringmaster]

Edwards is just a charisma vacuum isn't he? He's got all the tools but no flair, nothing about him screams PPV seller despite his pretty impressive record.

 

Bit out there this one but Diaz would be an excellent edition to the new Bare Knuckle MMA Promotion