UFC Vegas: Brunson vs Till - Sep 4 🇺🇸

[WeeAl]

If there's a more unlikeable fighter on this card than Darren Till, I'd love to know who it is. Oh, wait. . . 

[neil]

The times of this card are so hilarious to me. I'm on the east coast of the US and starting to watch UFC at 2pm seems bonkers, but factoring in Vegas is 3 hours behind me I can't imagine being a fighter, going out at 11am, having a scrap, and then having the rest of the afternoon and evening to find something to do.

[Cousin Jim Bob]

Paddy is going to win loads of fans, loads of fight bonuses but lose loads of fights if he keeps fighting like that. Was a very entertaining debut though.

Aspinall looks a great prospect. Wise to be wanting to take it slow up the rankings as well.

Not a great night for Till. He looked in trouble from the first takedown and never got anything going..

[Marshmallo]

Till has to be the most overrated fighter in the UFC these days. His big wins have been stupidly close to the point of being contentious decisions, or against a past it lightweight in Cerrone. He needs to drop down a level and get some momentum.

[neil]

3 hours ago, Cousin Jim Bob said:

Paddy is going to win loads of fans, loads of fight bonuses but lose loads of fights if he keeps fighting like that. Was a very entertaining debut though.

I was gutted to see Flaming June pull out the win. Thought he was going to get starched with the way that chin was hanging out.

[wandshogun09]

[Keith Houchen]

Lad, he did well lad to recover lad from being in trouble lad and finished strong lad. And lad he did very well lad in his interview lad to last a whole ten seconds lad before mentioning he’s a scouser lad. Utter cunt. 

[wandshogun09]

Ah fucking hell. The “lad” thing’s done my head in as well. Says and tweets it all the time and I’ve noticed people who reply to him/beg for his attention keep throwing lad in there as well lad. It’s like Undertaker with the “y’know” all over again. 

[WeeAl]

Well, we can't have it all, so I'll be pretty happy with what we did get. Till losing put a smile on my face, especially that it was so decisive. Hopefully this puts an end to Adesanya mentioning him as a potential opponent, as Till should be well out of that orbit now. Let's face it, Till's best win, against Stephen Thompson, is in a fight that most people scored the other way. Brunson has really turned his career around and looks extremely focused these days, and has put together a very solid run here. Happy to see him get the shot after Whittaker. 

Pimblett winning was disappointing, obviously. On the plus side, he is going to get absolutely starched before too long in that shark tank of a division. Wouldn't mind seeing Drew Dober whack him upside that chin. 

Tom Aspinall is coming along really nicely. Looking forward to seeing him in there again, and his steady progression. He's right to take it one step at a time and get the gym development time because there's a big jump at HW between the top four or five and the rest of the ham n' eggers that he has been beating. If he keeps building like this, in a division where you have a lot of time on your side like Heavyweight, then he's going to be very, very good in 18 months time. 

[Mr JL]

Paddy The Baddie is a very good watch. He could have been a Von Erich.

[wandshogun09]

Pretty good bunch of fights all in all. 

Derek Brunson continues to be a real issue at 185. Derails the hype trains of Shahbazyan and Holland and now decisively beats and finishes Till. He’s really been on a roll since the loss to Adesanya a few years ago. 

22 minutes ago, WeeAl said:

Till losing put a smile on my face, especially that it was so decisive. Hopefully this puts an end to Adesanya mentioning him as a potential opponent, as Till should be well out of that orbit now. 

The mad thing is he’s still probably closer to a title shot than Robert Whittaker the way things are going. At this point, Whittaker and Brunson have put themselves right at the front of the line for the next shot. With Cannonier just behind them. I don’t think Till’s as bad as some make out at all. He’s a good fighter. But he’s not at the level many thought he was, or the level the UFC clearly wish he was. People can say he only loses to top guys but that’s the point, when you’re losing to pretty much all the top guys you face it suggests you’re not on that level. Some will go too far the other way and call him a bum but there is a middle ground. Regardless how you scored the Wonderboy fight, bums don’t go 5 rounds with Wonderboy in a razor close fight, or beat Gastelum, or go 5 rounds in a very competitive fight with Whittaker. But yeah, no amount of Bisping telling us Till’s a future UFC champ will make it real. There are just a few too many fighters that are better than him, at 185 and 170.

I’m liking Tom Aspinall as well. Looks fairly fast and light on his feet for a Heavyweight and has shown skills on the feet and the ground. So that instantly takes him above a lot of the guys coming up in the division who are mostly either a slugger or a submission specialist. The ability to mix it up is something you take for granted as a given in any other division these days but a lot of Heavies are still one or the other. 11-2, 11 finishes now.

Nice. Hopefully he can keep progressing because Heavyweight needs all the new blood it can get. Seen a lot of positivity about Aspinall and I like the optimism but it’s early days yet. He’s performed as well as you could ask of him so far but wins over Spivak, an old Andrei Arlovski, Alan Baudot and Jake Collier don’t tell us too much. The same people telling you he’s a killer will tell you Till’s shite - despite Till mixing with the Brunsons, Whittakers and so on. Level of opposition means something. Still, I like Aspinall and I’m hoping he keeps moving gradually like this for a bit. He’s only 28, why rush? I’d be happy if they rebook that Sergei Pavlovich fight next, to be honest. As Al says, it’s a big leap from this level to the top few guys in the division. It’s worked out so far for Ciryl Gane, despite him probably being moved up a bit quick, but it’s not gonna be the move for everyone. Plenty of time for Aspinall to get there. 

Khalil Rountree, fucking hell!

Christ 😬

Rountree’s got to be one of the most up and down fighters on the roster. Sometimes he just shows up looking flat and disinterested, other nights he’s like a man possessed. You could see right away here that this was one of his ‘on’ nights. He looked well up for it from the off. That kick that ended it was horrible. Seen a bunch of calls for it to be banned today, not just fans either I’ve seen fighters and coaches saying that stuff. Saw Henri Hooft and Max Griffin among others on about it. I get it. It’s a brutal technique and can quite easily cause long term injury or even be a career ender. At the same time, currently it’s 100% legal and legitimate so you can’t fault Rountree. I’m not a fan of banning techniques. If I had my way we’d still be seeing knees on the ground (maybe not stomps and soccer kicks though). Does seem mad though, that the 12-6 elbows are banned, but you can kick someone’s knee joint backwards just fine and dandy. 

Laddy Pimblett can piss off. Really fun round of action granted. He’s always been decent to watch in the cage. But I just hate seeing him win. Always did but now even more. He should bask in this as long as possible though because I don’t see it going well for him long term in the UFC’s Lightweight shark infested waters. Got a feeling they’ll give him the O’Malley treatment going forward and try to build him up with soft wins. Especially seeing how Vendramini (who’s nothing special) was tagging him up here. But I’d love to just see him thrown in with a Mateusz Gamrot or Mason Jones or someone like that. Doubt it happens but it’d be fun to see.

Molly McCann had one of her better performances in the UFC so far, I thought. Still not amazing but it was a clear win and she gave Kim a bit of a hiding. This is about McCann’s level though, I reckon. Any higher and she loses.

Jack Shore looked good and got a lopsided decision over Sholinian. Unfortunately probably not the kind of fight that’s gonna catapult him up the card but given how he had a bunch of opponent switches and ended up facing a guy nobody knew much about, he put on a very strong showing. Hopefully he’ll get a main card spot next time against someone we actually know. Even just rebooking that Said Nurmagomedov fight would do me. Or Barcelos or something. Just something a bit juicier than a cold Fight Pass prelim against an unknown. 

[Zebra Kid Mark]

Thoroughly enjoyable show from start to finish.

Jack Shore impressed and looked very good, he's at 15-0 now, surely it's time they stick him on the Fight Night main cards and not have him buried on the prelims. Like Wand said though, him going the distance twice in a row won't help his cause too much.

I don't think Darren Till is a bum but I would class him in the Kevin Lee category of receiving unwarranted talk of championship potential when the fights/results say otherwise. Don't get me wrong, he's not a scrub and I don't think he's finished but I could never quite get all the hype around him, his left hook is an absolute piston but once a fighter finds a way to avoid it, he will struggle.

I would like to see Till paired up with Kevin Holland next. Both need a step back in competition and both have a similar fighting style that both of their teams might see it as a favourable match up. They can easily headline a Fight Night with that one too. The pre fight talk would be a lot of fun too. However, I would much rather see Holland drop down to Welterweight.

Brunson looked great, but with a loss to Izzy already on his resume I don't see how he thinks he has the bargaining power to sit out and wait for a title shot. Bobby Whittaker is quite clearly number 1 and as an ex champ should get the nod ahead of him. And if he sits out too long, a couple more wins for Sean Strickland would shoot him right into the mix as being a fresh challenger to Izzy (if he gets past Whittaker).

Paddy is going to be a very marmite character and I like that, put me in the camp who wants to see him get knocked out. He's enjoyable to watch and I look forward to seeing him fight again and I especially look forward to backing whoever that person is. I will be avoiding any podcasts/youtube videos next week where he's getting interviewed as no doubt he will be all over the MMA podcasts next week gloating about his win and talking himself up.

Tom Aspinall looked amazing again, I know it's massively early days but I would love to see him face Cyril Gane one day, both get described as moving like middleweights and both are incredible boxers, that's still a while away. Put him in there against Greg Hardy so we can see him get smashed one more time before hopefully the UFC cut ties with him.

I really like Khali Rountree so it was great to see him win. That kick was vicious and it was even more scary hearing him talk about how he planned it in his post fight interview.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah Till vs Holland sounds about right. Both in a similar kind of spot at the moment.

On Brunson, I know he had that loss to Adesanya but I don’t think that should hold him back from getting a shot now. That loss was 3 years ago and he’s been winning ever since. Whittaker also had a loss to Izzy, and more recently than Brunson. Brunson’s gone 5-0 since losing to Adesanya, Whittaker’s gone 3-0 since he lost to Adesanya. Whittaker’s 3 wins overall are stronger but Brunson’s had more wins and a couple of finishes in there. So it’s not like there’s much in it at all between Brunson and Whittaker at this point in terms of who’s next. You can make a strong case for either. I’d go with Adesanya vs Whittaker 2 myself just because it’s been the one that’s seemingly been in the works for a bit now and if we’re splitting hairs, Whittaker also has a win over Brunson. But if either were to pick up an injury or something, the other guy is just as worthy of the next crack at the gold for me. 

19 minutes ago, Zebra Kid Mark said:

Tom Aspinall looked amazing again, I know it's massively early days but I would love to see him face Cyril Gane one day, both get described as moving like middleweights and both are incredible boxers, that's still a while away. Put him in there against Greg Hardy…

That could work. I was hoping to see Derrick Lewis vs Greg Hardy next though. That seems a natural fight to make and they’ve gone back and forth in the past.

As for what’s next for Pimblett, there are loads of options but I did see this;

I’d be well up for this. For anyone who didn’t see it or has a short memory, Bahamondes is the guy who might just have scored the Knockout Of The Year the other week with that mad spinning kick. I’d love to see Paddy eat one of these…

LAD! 

[neil]

Paddy will def get a lot of views either from other "lads" who love him or those who want to see him get KO'd into oblivion. The joy of listening to him going "scousers can't be knocked out" should he be KO'd is mouth watering.

Roundtree's fight, and possibly knee, ending kick was brutal. Its weird to me when people call for it to be banned though, its an attack at the end of the day in a sport that has many ways of causing injuries. Without the threat of a move like that you end up seeing a different style of fighting.

[Panhead]

No doubt something will happen to shat all over my perception, but I like how Tom Aspinall carries himself. Not too brash, quietly confident but not dull. He's taking a smart and sensible approach to his career. In a sport full of shitheads, it's nice to see someone act like an adult.