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UFC 273: Volkanovski vs Zombie - Apr 9 🇺🇸


wandshogun09

Who wins and how?   

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8 hours ago, Egg Shen said:

that's a strange old pick

A few strange picks for me with this one. My uncle is beside himself that I've picked Aljo as well.

I think Khamzat is legit. Regardless of where the fighters are in the rankings, you don't look THAT dominant in the Octagon over several fights unless you've got something special about you. I don't think Khamzat steamrolls Burns in the same way, he's too good, I think Burns is good enough on the ground that we get a bit of a stalemate action-wise with Khamzat in top control.

Or maybe someone lands a looping overhand in the first 10 seconds. Fuck knows. It's MMA.

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Holy fucking shit this main card was quite the Rollercoaster.

Khamzat absolutely proved the world he is legit and 10000% for real. I think the fact this went all 3 rounds did him more good than anyone else because he showed so much during it and by far it was the best and most intense fight I've ever watched live.

I do not agree with how the co-main went at all I had 3 rounds to yan and in the post fight press conference Dana white agreed he was shocked with how that went which is such a shame because it was a great back and forth fight but this does not help Aljo whatsoever because this is 2 times he wins the belt in shitty circumstances and he isn't going to gain anything from this once again.

Then the fucking main event my God this is exactly what volkanovski needed because he went out there and looked the best and absolute strongest/scariest ever. I absolutely agree with herb stopping the fight in the 4th round you could argue he could have stopped it earlier because the sheer amount of damage he took tonight is scary and potentially life changing for any top level athlete.

Overall a very very good show tonight even if I am absolutely dead and emotionally drained now haha

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Volkanovski was another level last night. He’s had some incredible performances in the past but this might’ve been his best overall so far. I fully expected a Volk win but I really thought the Zombie’s unorthodox style might throw him off a little bit. But Volk’s got answers for everything it seems. He’s so dialled in and on top of his game right now, he’s gonna be a bastard of a man to beat on this form.

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Christ. Pretty much schooled the Zombie and got the finish. At this point, if you haven’t got Volko at the top of the silly pound-for-pound list then you’re just hating. It’s either him or Usman at #1 for me and those two are pretty much interchangeable. I’d probably give a different answer depending on what day you ask me but Volk and Usman are on top of the MMA world right now.

Not sure what’s next. Nothing jumps out as especially obvious. I guess the third Holloway fight is likely now because that was the original main event for this card. I know people are mixed on seeing that again but what can you do? Volk is knocking off challenger after challenger. He’s open to the Holloway fight but he was critical of the Featherweight division at the press conference, taking about them all “sitting out waiting for shit” and he was on about possibly moving up to 155 if nobody really makes a case for a title shot at 145. I get his frustration, to be honest. 145 is so rammed with talent but it’s been very stop/start at the top of the division with guys like Yair Rodriguez, Brian Ortega and Calvin Kattar taking massive breaks and Zabit falling off the face of the earth. I totally get the reasons for some of that, Ortega and Kattar needed a break after their beatings from Holloway and Zabit’s had health issues. But as the champ of that division it’s a shame Volk hasn’t been able to put a run together against all these names. Not sure about him at Lightweight though. He made a valid point when asked by the media about it, that he’s fought and won as high as 185lbs in the past and has never lost at 145 or 155. But he wasn’t facing the kind of competition back then that there is at the top of the UFC’s 155 division. Ideally I’d prefer to just see him keep adding to his legacy at 145 for now but with him already 2-0 over Max and running out of interesting challenges at 145, I get why he’s looking at other things. 

Sterling vs Yan 2 wasn’t the heated, hate filled barnburner many were hoping for. Wasn’t the worst title fight I’ve ever seen but it didn’t quite live up to my expectations and it wasn’t as good as the first fight. I don’t think this is the last we see of these two sharing the Octagon though. And just to remind you, I predict these things…

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😉

Wasn’t an accidental vote at all. Honest. No, seriously, I expected Yan to win this. And I did score it to him 3-2. Seeing cries of robbery today but it’s not like Yan really put a stamp on the fight himself. I did think he won but it’s hard to feel sorry for him really. Aljo’s had perhaps the strangest start to a title reign ever. Wins the belt on a DQ, then wins the rematch on an iffy decision. Yeah, officially Sterling is 2-0 but they’re definitely fighting again, aren’t they? Probably be an immediate rematch now as well knowing the UFC’s fetish for Groundhog Day title pictures. Dana was clearly not a fan of the decision. Look at his face here after he had a peak at the scorecards before the verdict was announced…

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He’s been critical about it since as well. So I’m fully expecting Sterling vs Yan 3 next. Much rather see something fresh first though. Already seen Sterling and TJ Dillashaw have been going back and forth. I’d love to see that fight myself. Not sure where that would leave Yan though. I don’t really wanna see Yan vs Aldo 2 yet. If they do Sterling vs Yan 3 then I’d say Dillashaw vs Aldo is the fight to make.

Khamzat Chimaev vs Gilbert Burns was such an exciting fight. I’ve seen a mix of responses to this today. Some acting like Chimaev was ‘exposed’ and some saying he proved he’s legit. I’m definitely on the side of the latter. I think a lot of people had built Chimaev up so much in their head and got swept up in the hype that anything less than a 2 minute demolition job was gonna be a letdown but you’ve got to be realistic and put things in perspective. Burns is top level. Yeah, if Chimaev just blew straight through him it would’ve been insane and the buzz for a title fight against Usman would’ve been off the charts. But there was always gonna come a time when he’d get properly tested and wouldn’t have things all his own way in there. Then the question becomes how does he respond to that? Does he fold under pressure or rise to the occasion? That’s the real test. And he passed it. He went the full 15 minutes with a top contender, took some shots and showed he’s got a chin, dished out his share of punishment and got the decision in a tremendous competitive fight. 

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There was a lot to like about this, I think. Both as a fight on its own merit and in terms of Khamzat going forward. Chimaev will learn and improve more from a fight like this than all his previous fights combined. My initial thought when it was over was that I wish it was 5 rounds. They’ve done it before in non-title fights, like with Leon Edwards vs Nate Diaz last year. But really, it’s easy to forget this was only Chimaev’s 11th pro fight. This was his first taste of the elite level at 170 so there’s no need to give him every test at once. I’m sure his next fight will be a 5 rounder and it sounds like Covington is the plan for that ABC card. I was sure Chimaev would skip over Edwards and get the next title shot with a win here but I actually think I prefer it this way. Do Usman vs Edwards 2 next, and do Chimaev vs Covington. If Chimaev beats a guy like Covington then he’s undeniably the next in line. I know some will say ‘what if Colby wins’ and I get that. It would eliminate Khamzat as a challenger and Colby’s already 0-2 down to Usman but Chimaev’s gonna have to fight all these guys anyway. Fuck it. And as good as he looked last night, I think he could do with another fight first anyway. I’m not sure he’s ready for Usman just yet but give him another 6 months, another training camp etc and maybe that changes. If he loses to Covington then he wasn’t ready for Usman anyway. Plus there’s the chance that he puts a beating on Covington and I’m all for that. Anyway yeah, this’ll rank highly in the FOTY talk for me unless we get a load of Lawler vs Rory level wars in the next 8 months. Only criticism I have is I really wish they’d have grappled more but they kind of cancelled each other out in that aspect. 

Mackenzie Dern vs Tecia Torres pretty much looked how I thought it would. Seen Dern getting called boring on Twitter today but she never usually is. Torres is the one who has a habit of dragging everyone to dull decisions. This wasn’t even that bad. Wasn’t much good when they were on the feet but any time it hit the mat it was fun. Dern’s grappling is great to watch.

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Happy to see Dern get the decision, just because she’s better to watch and there are some fun matchups to make at the top end of Strawweight for her. But I wasn’t sure she actually won this. Wasn’t like I was sat with pen and paper scoring it closely but I thought Torres might’ve nicked it when the decision was about to be read.

Whatever though. All is good with the world…

On 4/5/2022 at 11:40 AM, Scott Malbranque said:

I can't wait to see Mackenzie Derns' bum.

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Isn’t it, Scotty? 

Madsen vs Pichel wasn’t the liveliest of PPV openers. Solid showing from Madsen and Pichel is a tough guy who was coming in on decent form. Happy to see Madsen get the win because I quite like him but it wasn’t much of a fight to watch. Still, he got the job done. He’s a weird one though because here’s this guy who’s an Olympic silver medalist, a fantastic wrestler and he’s unbeaten in MMA at 12-0. On paper he’s a big prospect who’s still rounding out his overall skillset in MMA. But he’s also 37 years old. Time is of the essence but he’s in a funny spot now. I don’t think he’s ready for the top of the Lightweight division but he hasn’t got bags of time to get there either. Not sure where he goes next but performances like this, while perfectly fine, aren’t going to have the bigger names at 155 queuing up to fight him. If I could choose though I’d love to see him and Gregor Gillespie mix it up. For the wrestling battle alone. Doubt it happens though.

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t blown away by Ian Garry here. He didn’t look bad and there were flashes of legit quality there but for the hype on him it just felt a tad underwhelming. And even in his UFC debut a few months back, he was having issues before he pulled out that wicked KO. He’s got some skills, he’s got time and fights like this are all valuable experience and rounds in the bank. But based on what we’re seeing right now, I don’t see him as the breakout star some are building him up as. And the Conor McGregor comparisons are doing my swede in now. It’s incessant. It was all over the pre-fight video, the media won’t shut the fuck up about it, fans keep banging on about and even Garry himself is name dropping McGregor at seemingly every opportunity. I get him doing it a bit because if you mention McGregor, you’re automatically getting clicks and views. But it’s coming across a bit try hard now. Not James Gallagher bad where it feels like a full on tribute act but it’s enough that it’s starting to proper grate on me now. The only thing they actually have in common is that they’re Irish. By that logic my old man is a top MMA prospect. Get your own identity, for fuck‘s sake.

Anthony Hernandez vs Josh Fremd was a cracking fight. Especially considering it was thrown together about a week out from the show due to pullouts and card shuffling. Really fun scrap, Hernandez rightly got the decision but Fremd gave a good account of himself on short notice here, was game as fuck and I’ll definitely be checking in for his next fight.

Raquel Pennington vs Aspen Ladd played out pretty much as I expected. Really thought Ladd had potential a few years back but it’s petered out big time. She did actually make weight this time but she just looks so flat out there most of the time these days, any confidence I once had in her is gone. And that combined with Pennington being in probably the best form of her career of late meant a loss for Ladd was the most likely outcome here to me. Ladd’s reaction at the decision was hilarious. She really thought she won that fight?

Mike Malott fucking flattened Mickey Gall. Fuck me. I was rooting for Gall, especially when I heard his walkout song went from ‘Hey Mickey’ into the Sopranos theme. Wasn’t to be though. Never seen Malott before but this was a first impression I won’t forget in a hurry.

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Flair Flopped him! It’s a shame but Gall’s really fizzled out after that initial buzz he had coming in a few years back. Obviously the Punk win was nothing in terms of the win itself but it got him noticed coming in the door. Then the Sage Northcutt win added to it and he seemed to be doing everything right but it’s just gone wonky. Getting dominated by a washed up Diego Sanchez was the writing on the wall for me but this was a devastating loss. Brutal knockout. Looking forward to seeing more of Malott. 8-1 now, on a little win streak and has rattled off 4 straight first round stoppages. Not bad going. Really cool of him donating his show money to the girl with cancer as well. He’s obviously not making that much at this stage in his career so it’s big him giving up $10K like that. Fair play. Shame he didn’t get a POTN bonus.

Alexey Oleynik does it again! Another scarf choke, which he’s also probably got the record for along with the Ezekiels. Love the old bastard. He’s old, slow, lumbering, awkward but I love seeing him win. And it’s been a while. He was coming off 3 losses here so it’s nice to just see him get a W. Turns 45 in June. What a man. Total throwback to the one style specialists of the early days of MMA. Heavyweight is probably the only division a guy like this can get away with having such a primitive style and still being able hang in 2022 but you’ve got to hand it to him for keep trucking 77 fights into his career. 

This little interaction after the fight was great…

Loved his post-fight interview as well. Rogan asking him how long he’s gonna keep fighting and he says “Not long. Maybe 5 or 10 years”. The shoutout to his wife was a nice touch as well, you could see it meant a lot to her. 

Had no real expectations for the Piera Rodriguez vs Kay Hansen fight, it wasn’t anything to write home about but it was alright in spells. I think Hansen is probably gone now though. She’s 7-6 now, has lost 3 in a row (against women all making their UFC debuts) and she missed weight for this fight. Not good. Still only 22 but she’s just not cutting it in the UFC. Decent debut for Rodriguez. 

Enjoyed the Julio Arce vs Daniel Santos curtain jerker that kicked off the Fight Pass prelims as well. Always liked watching Arce (another Dern reference there) and with Santos being a Chute Boxe guy, they matched up perfectly. Almost mirror images at times. Ryu vs Ken stuff. Well worth a watch if you skipped the Fight Pass bit and have 15 minutes to kill. Was happy to see Arce back in the win column but I think Santos is gonna be a highlight of the undercards going forward.

Not the best show ever or anything but I enjoyed it and there’s plenty of talking points coming out of it. 

Edited by wandshogun09
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UFC know how to put on a show, they go from strength to strength since they have had their fans back at shows. The main 3 fights all seemed one sided on paper (going by the bookies) but they all delivered in their own way.

Khamzat Burns was an absolute war from start to finish. Khamzat showed that he was human after all as there were periods in that fight where I thought Burns was going to finish him, but it didn't happen and he got the judges decision. I can't wait to see him fight next but I am going to take a guess that he will need a few months off to recover from this. If we see him before October I will be surprised.

I am delighted with the result of the Yan vs Sterling fight, I think I will need to rewatch round 1 as I am not sure I agree with the judges but I don't care, Aljo is my boy and I can't wait to see him beat TJ next.

Volk vs Zombie was the only fight that played out as expected, Volk doesn't seem to have any weaknesses and that's a scary thought. Max vs Volk is the obvious next match up, but if Volk wins that, then that division which has a lot of exciting fighters hasn't really got an obvious next big contender. Bryce Mitchell is the only one the the top 10 who I can think of but I think he is one more fight away from being given a shot.

When you strip out Max and Volk, I think the featherweight division is quite evenly matched. I think that the next few contenders are going to be coming off a 2 fight win streak or something, I don't see many people putting a run of victories together. 

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1 hour ago, Zebra Kid Mark said:

I am delighted with the result of the Yan vs Sterling fight, I think I will need to rewatch round 1…

I think it definitely came down to that first round. I’d have to rewatch it but I think I had Sterling winning rounds 2 and 3, Yan taking 4 and 5, and the first was up in the air. But thinking back, Yan didn’t do much for a big chunk of that first round. He’s got a tendency to kind of start slow, he did it in the first Sterling fight and against Sandhagen, and maybe that’s ultimately what’s come back to bite him here. I felt like Yan won when it was over but maybe that’s because his best rounds were the championship rounds so his success was fresher in the memory and left more of a lasting impression. I’ll have to watch it back at some point.

While we’re on the subject of that fight though, Longo killed me with this;

 

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I really don't get the uproar about the Sterling/Yan decision. Personally had it for Sterling myself, but it was close. No way near a "terrible decision" like I've seen mentioned. Terrible decision doesn't mean "the bloke I like lost".

Volkanovski absolute class in that performance. Great stoppage by Herb Dean, that could've gone on for longer and it would've been grim to watch.

Seen a lot of "Khamzat is ready" type comments. To be honest, I'm not sure he wins against Covington, definitely wouldn't bet on him against Usman.

Mackenzie Dern proving once again best P4P butt in the game.

Great night of fights.

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Great time to get back into UFC for me. Missed a few recent cards but had to get into it for the hometown boy. Had the family around, got together some snacks and drinks, made a little party out of it.

Wasn't too far off with my picks. Volko was outstanding, and got the finish. Standing TKO on the Zombie, nuts. Alex showed he's a good man by asking Zombie at the start of the 4th, "are you sure?" before putting the nail in the coffin. Liked that he showed a bit more confidence in his words in the post-fight too- he's always been a humble fella, but he's earnt the right to talk a little shit with the run he's on.

Even though the sub wasn't gained, I feel like I was close to the mark with Aljo/Yan. Yan was looking to knock Sterling's head off, and left openings for Sterling to take the back and stay there. Very close fight with Yan maybe seeming to edge 1, 4 and 5, but didn't really put together a lot himself, it wasn't definitive by any means. Close but didn't feel it was a robbery either.

I was off on saying Khamzat vs Burns would be boring. Jesus. They threw down, I thought there'd be a lot more grappling, but they basically swung for the fences for 15 minutes. Brilliant.

Looking at the results on paper, the show comes across far more dull than it actually was. Lots of decisions, and one of the few finishes was a standing TKO- might not count as a "proper" finish for the Just Bleed crowd. But there was a ton of fun to be had through most of it, from the prelims to the main event. Sterling vs. Yan wasn't a barnburner, but it was high stakes with the championship at stake. The only slight dud of the lot for me was Pichel vs. Madsen, and even that wasn't terrible. Just not the kind of action you want from a PPV opener.

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5 hours ago, neil said:

Seen a lot of "Khamzat is ready" type comments. To be honest, I'm not sure he wins against Covington, definitely wouldn't bet on him against Usman.

That’s the good thing to me though. He’s in the deep end now. You don’t want to be sure he wins every time. It’s fun watching a fighter dominate coming up but it gets boring after a bit. Those days are over now. There’s only one way to go after beating a guy like Gilbert Burns, and that’s either contender fights or title fights. It’s strictly top names at 170 for him from here on out. The Covington fight is really interesting, I think. I’m not sure how he’d handle Colby’s volume but on the other hand, Covington doesn’t have the pop in his punches that Burns does so in that sense he isn’t the kind of threat Burns was. He’d have to just do his thing of throwing a million annoying punches and trying to grapple. The good thing about that fight is that unless Chimaev can finish him, it’s almost certainly going the full 5 rounds so that’ll be another question answered on Chimaev’s gas tank.
 

5 hours ago, neil said:

Terrible decision doesn't mean "the bloke I like lost".

That seems to be the logic for a big chunk of MMA fans. It was the same with Volkanovski vs Holloway 2. I remember having Volk winning but it was razor close and really could’ve justifiably gone either way. But there are Holloway fans who still swear it was the worst robbery of all time and hate Volk because of it. Which is pathetic anyway but especially because he didn’t score the bastard fight! I even saw Covington fans acting like he won the second Usman fight. Anytime there’s a fight like that and it goes the distance, you get the fans of the guy who lost in denial crying robbery. Goes back years to fights like Frankie Edgar vs BJ Penn 1 and Carlos Condit vs Nick Diaz. To me, there are very few actual robberies in MMA. 

5 hours ago, Shane O' Mac Version 2 said:

Looking at the results on paper, the show comes across far more dull than it actually was. Lots of decisions, and one of the few finishes was a standing TKO- might not count as a "proper" finish for the Just Bleed crowd. But there was a ton of fun to be had through most of it, from the prelims to the main event.

Yeah, like I always say, lots of decisions don’t necessarily mean a show was bad. Obviously we all love a good KO or sub and in general it helps the flow of a card. But when you really look back at what most consider to be the best fights in MMA history, a huge percentage of them went the distance. 

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5 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

That’s the good thing to me though. He’s in the deep end now. You don’t want to be sure he wins every time. It’s fun watching a fighter dominate coming up but it gets boring after a bit. Those days are over now. There’s only one way to go after beating a guy like Gilbert Burns, and that’s either contender fights or title fights. It’s strictly top names at 170 for him from here on out. The Covington fight is really interesting, I think. I’m not sure how he’d handle Colby’s volume but on the other hand, Covington doesn’t have the pop in his punches that Burns does so in that sense he isn’t the kind of threat Burns was. He’d have to just do his thing of throwing a million annoying punches and trying to grapple. The good thing about that fight is that unless Chimaev can finish him, it’s almost certainly going the full 5 rounds so that’ll be another question answered on Chimaev’s gas tank.

Yeah that is a fair point and perhaps me interpreting "ready" for "win" there. Given he beat the highly ranked Burns, personally I wouldn't mind seeing him vs Edwards for the next Usman challenger.

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