UFC 269: Oliveira vs Poirier - Dec 11 🇺🇸

[Panhead]

I'm going for Poirier to just edge out Charlie Olives on points. I like both fighters, but it would be nice to see Dustin close out the year by getting his hands on the big one. 

[Egg Shen]

7 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

 

We’ve really neglected this Oliveira vs Poirier fight, haven’t we? It’s snuck up on us fast but it’s such a great fight and we’ve barely even touched on it? How does everyone see it going? I’m close to 50/50 on it myself and not rooting one way or the other but I’ve got a feeling Poirier gets it done. 

i think its because the general feeling is Poirier is gonna win it, maybe its killing the anticipation a little? even in the build up it feels like the main event is behind a couple of the other fights in terms of storylines.

Its gonna be a great fight.

[WeeAl]

This fight, on paper, is a damn close one (Dustin and Oliveira). It's extremely close and hard to call. There is part of me that feels this is the real fight for the vacant belt. 

For me, Dustin Poirier is the best fighter at 155lbs not named Khabib Nurmagomedov, and he has been for sometime now. Oliveira is the champion in name, but to solidify himself I think he has to beat Dustin - the man that he should have been fighting for the vacant belt in the first place, if McGregor didn't cry so hard to get the re-match with Poirier. 

I see it being a finish one way or another, but I have a tough time calling it. If Poirier is in a dog fight, which may well be where he drags this one into, then I have a hard time looking past him in that type of fight. He just has next level grit. If Oliveira can avoid that type of fight then that could be his best route to victory - staying out of dirty boxing range by either fighting at length or managing to keep it on the ground for substantial periods. 

Looking at that card though? Oooohhh Yeahhhhh . . .I Dig It. Roll on tomorrow evening and I get a chance to kick the feet up and take it all in.

 

Edited December 11, 2021 by WeeAl

[Kfogg1991]

I don't even know how to fucking explain the extent of how upset and emotional the end of this PPV was for me. 

The co-main genuinely had me on my knees in my front room in floods of tears, I don't know what went wrong for nunes she absolutely dominated the first round and it looked once again like it was going to be a quick day in the office for her.......then the second round happened and it completely fell apart for her, she kept getting hit again and again and again then she fucking tapped when the submission wasn't properly in........ there are some people genuinely on Twitter claiming she threw the fight and took a dive, listen if you truly believe that the greatest women's fighter of all time did anything like that your a fucking moron.

Then it was the main event and I thought this will be the good positive finish to the final PPV of the year AAAAANNNNNDDD once again Dustin came out in the first round and really looked like this was his time. He rocked olive a few times, knocked him down it all looked great........ then the second round starts and olive realized he isn't going to win on the feet and went for the takedown which Dustin fought with everything he had until olive clearly had his fingers in his glove and he had no option other than to roll which meant olive took the top position and rained down with brutal elbows, like really brutal. End of second, start of the third Dustin gave his back and fell to his rear naked choke and that was that.

You have to believe that the ufc really did want Dustin to win that belt and obviously have nunes retain to have the big baby face finish to round out the year and send the fans home happy.

Really really disappointed and honestly emotional about it all and that's the first time it's ever happened to me.

[Panhead]

22 hours ago, Panhead said:

Aye, I'm sure she believes in what she's saying but Nunes is gonna destroy her. The first time she lands clean, I think it's lights out. I remember Pena coming across as a bit of a dickhead on TUF. 

If she does get the win, it'd be the biggest upset in a UFC title fight for me. 

Well, I've never been more wrong in my life and I genuinely thought England were going to win the World Cup in 2006. 

 

Kai Kara-France should never have to pay for a drink again. 

Edited December 12, 2021 by Panhead

[Cousin Jim Bob]

I think Nunes got way too cocky. She was smiling back at Pena in that 2nd when Pena started landing some stiff jabs and the crowd started roaring. 

For some reason she then decided "fuck defence" and started slugging it out and it ended in complete disaster.

This was a belter of a card tbh. Alot to take in.

[Herne's Son]

I know it's easy to say now but I just had a feeling since the fight was announced that Pena will pull the upset, then when the second round started I could see it was gonna happen. There's always about the title match when no one gives the challenger a chance that this just seems to happen.

This loss reminds of when Weidman beat Anderson Silva in the fist fight, almost feels like the champion lost instead of the challenger won.

[Dai]

Dustin did rock Oliveira a few times in the first round, but at no point did I get the strong feeling he was in super danger. He seemed to recover very well from the knockdowns. In the same round, Oliveira was banking some seriously nasty knees and kicks to the mid section of Poirier, which definately had a big impact in the fight. "Clearly had his fingers in his glove" is clearly a bunch of bollocks too, as theres no way you can make it out from the angle they showed it. To me it looks like he adjusts his hand for wrist control. Im not buying into the Rogan bollocks on this point.

We talked about the GSP/Serra fight earlier, and I think in years to come the 2nd round of this will be viewed in the same light as that fight. Pena went toe to toe in a fire fight with Amanda Nunes, and won. Absolutley amazing. Watching it back, when Nunes is cracking Pena with her trademark power punches, but Pena keeps standing there and trading back, you can almost see the energy sap out of Nunes. It was a battle of wills, and Pena had the bigger heart and crushed Nunes. The aura of Nunes never recovers from this. All the credit must go to Pena though, what heart and determination.

[wandshogun09]

What world have we woke up in? 

[neil]

I was too knackered to stay up for the Nunes/Pena fight and beyond but in seeing the result let out an absolute howl of laughter. I love Nunes but that is absolutely shocking. The finish definitely looked like Nunes just wanted out, not even two hooks in, wild.

Also shout out to the real star of the night Megan Olivi who looked knock out gorgeous.

[WeeAl]

Fucking shocked at the co-main result. I didn't give Pena a hope in Dixie. Going in, she didn't deserve more thought than 'might get lucky' considering the career trajectory the two have been on the past five years. She broke Nunes will. 

Chucky Olives is the best Lightweight in the world. He earned it with this win. What a performance that was to come back and dominate after such a strong first round for Dustin. Imagine Khabib Vs Oliveira now? Fuck me. 

And Cody Garbrandt got knocked out again. All is right in the world. I could watch that all day. 

[wandshogun09]

So yeah, what a show.

Oliveira vs Poirier was always gonna be bittersweet. Ultimate babyface vs babyface battle for me. Gutted for Poirier but at the same time I wasn’t ready for the Champ Charles run to end yet. Cracking fight though. It was never gonna be a bad one with their styles. Thought Poirier looked really sharp early and had a great first round. The commentators were just getting settled in licking his arse then Oliveira comes out in the second completely refreshed and smartly switched to a grappling approach. The tide started turning from that point on. Not sure what to make of the glove grabbing thing. It was hard to tell from the angle but I felt like Rogan made more of it than it was. Regardless, Oliveira was fucking him right up with the elbows from the guard and Dustin never got back in it. I think he might’ve hurt Dustin to the body earlier as well, either with the knees or those teep kicks, because he just looked flat from the second round on like he’d had the wind knocked out of him or something. From early on, the pace they were setting you just knew something had to give. No way they could maintain that for 5 rounds without someone getting stopped. And Oliveira snatching up the standing RNC sealed the deal.

Looks like Oliveira vs Gaethje next then. Another incredible fight that. Fucking love Lightweight. Huge fan of Gaethje but I’d love to see Oliveira win that, and Makhachev beat Dariush, setting up Oliveira vs Makhachev for the belt sometime next year. Getting ahead of myself and there’s so many ways it can go but pretty much every scenario leads to amazing fights. We can’t lose. Poirier vs McGregor 4 seems like a no brainer now as well. And at least now it won’t mess up the title picture. If Poirier had won last night then you just know Dana would’ve found a way to insert McGregor into a ridiculous title fight when he returns. At least now we avoid that bollocks and they can crack on with Poirier vs McGregor 4 and let the title picture play out properly.

The co-main, fuck me. Nearly 24 hours later, I still can’t wrap my head around Julianna Pena of all people being the one to end the reign of Amanda Nunes.

I’ve had humble pie for dinner today. It still makes no sense to me though. How the fuck did this happen? It’s like if you saw someone like Kwang take the WWF title off Bret Hart in 1994. Feels like there’s been a glitch somewhere along the line.

It doesn’t seem right to make excuses but something wasn’t right with Nunes and nobody will convince me otherwise. Full credit to Pena because Nunes got off to her usual strong start and not many usually survive that opening volley. But whether it was her overlooking Pena, being wound up by Pena, an injury, or the weight cut (this was Nunes’ first fight at 135 since 2019) getting harder for her, I don’t know. But for whatever reason, this was the quickest I’ve seen her fade in a fight and the sloppiest I’ve seen her look in forever. Probably since the Zingano fight way back in 2014. The choke that finished it was something someone at Nunes’ level should be able to defend. The hooks weren’t in and she tapped so quick that she had to still be hurt from something on the feet. Which is crazy in itself. To think of Pena having Nunes hurt from striking. Already seeing people turning on Nunes and acting like she was always shite. The usual cack but it never ceases to amaze me how fickle MMA fans are. Also seeing a lot of ‘I called it’ and ‘it doesn’t surprise me’ stuff but I don’t care what anyone says. I’m not buying for a second that people genuinely believed Pena was gonna pull this off. No matter how much of a mismatch a fight looks, you always get a few people calling the upset just on the off chance it actually happens so they can act like a genius. You pick the underdog enough times and eventually you’re gonna be right. But there was no logical reason to pick Pena here based on past performance and Nunes’ recent form. Not having it. 

All that said, I can’t stand Pena but I’ve got to give credit where it’s due. Whatever I think about Nunes not being right, Pena still had to get through that first round from Nunes, she was knocked down and put in bad positions and it was her heart and toughness that got her through. Then she came out in the second round and didn’t just eat Nunes’ shots, she stood there and fired back. This was an absolutely mega upset. Genuinely think it’s right on par with Serra knocking out GSP. Maybe more shocking because, at that time, GSP wasn’t the long reigning champ and P4P beast we knew him as later. He’d only just won the title off Matt Hughes and wasn’t far removed from a razor close decision against BJ Penn. Serra was still a huge underdog but GSP didn’t have quite the same unbeatable aura in 2007 that he had a few years later. Splitting hairs really and if you say Serra vs GSP was the biggest I’m not arguing. But Pena submitting Nunes has to be right up there alongside it. Barmy. 

Saw this as well…

Notice Kayla Harrison in amongst the chaos there, looking absolutely gutted at the end? Seems Harrison might be UFC bound. Something must’ve happened with her because she was at UFC 268 last month, Dana didn’t even seem to notice and then Scott Coker was wooing her. All signs seemed to be pointing towards her signing with Bellator and fighting Cyborg. Then all of a sudden here she is. I’ve got a feeling she’s already signed and I’m guessing Dana reached out and was trying to line up a Nunes vs Harrison fight for next year. Judging by Harrison’s reaction there, she knows what this Pena upset means. We’ll now be locked into a Pena vs Nunes rematch now and Harrison will either be left out in the cold or have to take another fight. Interesting to see how this all shakes out. 

Neal vs Ponzinibbio was good but never caught fire quite like I expected. Not a lot to say about it really. Neither looked their usual self to me and it felt at times like they just wanted the W rather than trying to go out and make a big statement. Which is understandable. Especially in Neal’s case with his recent outside the cage issues. Hopefully he can get his head on right and build off this win. 

Kai Kara France is now one of my favourite fighters.

About as satisfying a 3 minute fight as you’ll see. Fuck Garbrandt. The stuff with the dogs is the main reason but he’s seemed a prick for a long time beyond that. Doesn’t help that he’s one of those fighters who the MMA fanbase and media seem to have a stiffy for. No matter how many times he gets ironed out or outclassed, he’ll win one fight and everyone hops on his cock and starts pushing him as a title threat. When he was scheduled to challenge Figgy for the belt last year (leapfrogging actual deserving contenders), I remember people acting like he’d knock Figgy out and stuff. Bear in mind he’d never even made 125lbs at that point much less beat anyone at the weight. Exciting to watch because he’s got power and he also often blocks punches with his face. But people have been overrating him massively for years now, he’s been living off the fumes of that admittedly great performance against Dom Cruz for long enough now. 

10 hours ago, Panhead said:

Kai Kara-France should never have to pay for a drink again. 

He’s been ace to watch for a while, having sneaky good fights on the prelims. But this one tipped it over the edge for me. Beautiful. I’d buy him a drink and a chippy tea for this one. I’d have been rooting for him anyway but it was even sweeter after seeing how dismissive and cocky Cody seemed towards him at the press conference the other day. Chuffed that his fresh start at Flyweight has blown up in his face spectacularly. 

Got to begrudgingly give credit to Sean O’Malley. Paiva was probably his toughest test since he lost to Marlon Vera and he got the first round finish. Still not sure how good he is though because he’s just stayed at the same level for his last few fights. He’s had his 3 rebound fights now after the Vera loss. Hopefully we see him crack on with some bigger fights in 2022. There’s loads of fun fights to make at 135. This one was a step in the right direction but it feels like it’s time to step him up next year and see what’s what. Why have I got a feeling they’re gonna give him the crumbs of Frankie Edgar or Marlon Moraes though? Big names yeah, but neither can buy a win these days and as sad as it is to say, I still think we’d be kind of none the wiser on Suga if he beat one of them at this stage. You know what? Fuck it.

Do O’Malley vs Garbrandt. I know it doesn’t make a ton of sense with O’Malley coming off a knockout win and Garbrandt coming off another knockout loss but sod it. They’ve been going back and forth for ages now. Their interaction at the press conference this week was one of the main talking points despite them not even fighting each other. It’s a very winnable fight for O’Malley so the UFC will probably love it, and from Cody’s POV, what’s he got to lose at this point? 

Emmett vs Ige was a cracking fight. You pretty much knew it would be the second it was announced. Not a FOTY candidate or anything but a really fun scrap. Close one as well. Did feel like Emmett won so was happy to see him get the nod but in a close fight like that where they’re both doing good work, you can’t help but feel bad for the guy who loses. Thought this was probably the FOTN actually. Cruz vs Munhoz got it and I don’t have a problem with that, but personally I preferred this. 

Cruz vs Munhoz was a fun one. Really thought Munhoz had him when he dropped him in the first round but Cruz did well to hold it together and, for lack of a better word, cruise to victory. I think I’ve said before on here that I don’t find Cruz’s style particularly enjoyable to watch anymore but Munhoz clearly had the power advantage which kept the fight alive and interesting. Every time he connected, Cruz looked a bit wobbly. He just wasn’t able to connect often enough or cleanly enough to get him out of there. Cruz’s best win in a long time though, to be fair. But I’m not sure where he fits in the division now. The title picture now consists of Sterling, Yan, Dillashaw and Aldo. With Sandhagen and Font just a good win or two away from getting back in the mix. Where does Cruz slot in? I can’t think of an obvious next fight for him. It seems like the most logical matchmaking now would be Sterling vs Yan 2 for the gold, Dillashaw vs Aldo in a #1 contenders fight and Sandhagen vs Font. Cruz is the odd man out. I can see them throwing another up and comer like Merab Dvalishvili or Marlon Vera at him or something but I’m not sure Cruz goes for that at this point. Coming off 2 nice wins and being a former WEC and UFC champ, he’ll likely think he’s earned a big fight next. And he’s probably right in fairness. But I’m not sure who I’d match him with. 

Tai Tuivasa! Christ. I’ve said a few times that I like Tuivasa but feel he’s too limited to go very far in the division. I stand by that but still, he’s had a nice year. 3 wins, 3 big knockouts. Walloped Greg Hardy last time and now folds Augusto Sakai up like it was a re-run of Tank Abbott vs Steve Nelmark from 1996.

Brutal. Imagine a man coming out to ‘Barbie Girl’ does that to you?! Sakai’s no title threat but he’s a tough bastard. It took Overeem into the 5th round to get him out of there last year. Good to see Tuivasa with another win. He’s still a wrong’un for that shoe-ey carry on though.

Bruno Silva has been one of my favourite UFC newcomers this year. Just wrecked Jordan Wright. 

😂

Never heard of Silva before his UFC debut this year but I remember looking him up and seeing his knockout over Alexander Shlemenko and being intrigued. And he’s delivered. Since his debut in June he’s gone 3-0 with 3 vicious knockouts and 2 POTN bonuses. Quite a year. He’s 22-6 now with 18 knockouts. Purely because I think it’d be fireworks, I’d like to see Silva against Alex Pereira next but I’m not sure the UFC will want that. They’ll probably be looking to put Pereira on the track towards the Adesanya rematch and Silva might be too much of a risk in the way of that. It’s a fight I’d love to see though. 

Andre Muniz is becoming a real issue. He was just another card filler to me for the longest time but he’s been on fire lately. He’s on an 8 fight winning streak now and coming off 3 straight first round armbar finishes. One of them being the fight where he snapped Jacare’s arm and sent him into retirement. Not sure how much further he can go but he’s in the form of his career at the moment. Sadly, Anders has settled into a bit of a jobber role for guys on the way up the ladder. 

Erin Blanchfield looks very promising. I was keeping an eye on this fight because I felt like these were two of the better prospects in women’s MMA. I thought Miranda Maverick had looked really handy in her first few UFC fights and even the loss to Maycee Barber was an iffy decision. But she got sod all done here. Blanchfield looked a handful. Really thought she was gonna get the stoppage when she had the crucifix in the second round, Maverick did well to survive that. At 22 years old, the sky seems to be the limit for Blanchfield. Looking forward to seeing what she can do in 2022. 

Enjoyed Ryan Hall vs Darrick Minner a lot. Saw mixed reactions to it on Twitter but I really liked it, nice change of pace. Sadly grappling = boring to a fair chunk of the MMA fanbase. Yeah, it fizzled out later and the last round wasn’t much good but it wasn’t a bad fight. People were talking like Minner’s some bum but he’s actually a really strong grappler with 22 submissions out of his 26 wins. He’s no joke on the ground. That’s what made Hall’s performance all the more impressive. Minner was good enough to survive down there but Hall was just too much. A finish would’ve been better but aside from that, it was about as good a rebound fight as Hall could’ve hoped for coming off the Topuria loss. 

Tony Kelley vs Randy Costa was decent but I was disappointed to see Costa lose again. I was hoping to see him bounce back from that Yanez fight in style here but Kelley just outworked him and once again Costa faded in the second round and got stopped. It’s weird because you look at Costa and he’s absolutely shredded, looks in incredible shape but he hasn’t looked great in fights that have gone past a round. It’s probably more of a mental thing because he got so used to quick finishes than a physical thing but he’s gonna have to address that or he’ll continue to collect losses. 

So glad Gillian Robertson won in the Fight Pass opener. Enjoy watching her fight anyway but after seeing Cachoeira blatantly trying to gouge her eye to get out of the choke, I’m even happier she was forced to tap.

Dirty bastard. After missing weight, now this, you’d think she’s gone now. No place for that on the roster but she’d knocked over a couple of no hopers before this and they’ve kept wifebeaters and all sorts around so she’ll probably get another fight. 
 

Mad show. Read something earlier that this year we’ve seen Charles Oliveira, Brandon Moreno, Glover Teixeira and Julianna Pena win UFC gold. You’d never have predicted that this time last year. Really puts in perspective what a crazy sport it is. 

[neil]

57 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

I felt like Rogan made more of it than it was

You must be new to Joe Rogan.

 

59 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

Genuinely think it’s right on par with Serra knocking out GSP

I actually think this is more shocking because Serra didn't clown GSP or make him quit with Pena did. He threw a bomb, it landed and GSP went down.

 

I forgot about Cody "NO LOVE" Douchebrandt getting starched. That was joyous. What a prick that lad is. Likewise I don't understand all the acclaim and "legend" status that gets thrown his way, sure he won the title at 11-0 and that promptly started a bad trend where he is now 1 and FUCKING SIX*.

 

*yeah yeah TJ and EPO and all that but he still got KOd

[Egg Shen]

This UFC PPV run is something else, just classic after classic.

Charles Oliveira though. The guys a maniac, he fights with zero fear and even after being hurt several times just took a step, re-adjusted and started again. The guy has just turned into a fighting machine. 

 

[Egg Shen]