UFC 280: Oliveira vs Makhachev - Oct 22 🇦🇪

[MrK]

The state of Jon Anik’s pits.  He must soak through his shirt when he’s wearing his suit jacket. 

[Egg Shen]

 

 

[Egg Shen]

 

[WeeAl]

Main card is starting at 7pm is that right? Best way to watch the UFC is still on delay, so if I join watching the recording at about 8.30, I might only catch up by the end of the show I hope? Gives the ability to still fast forward through all the nonsense.

No idea how people summon up the stamina to sit through all the downtime of a live UFC without being able to skip bits. Fair play to any of you mad men that can. 

[Zebra Kid Mark]

41 minutes ago, WeeAl said:

Main card is starting at 7pm is that right? Best way to watch the UFC is still on delay, so if I join watching the recording at about 8.30, I might only catch up by the end of the show I hope? Gives the ability to still fast forward through all the nonsense.

No idea how people summon up the stamina to sit through all the downtime of a live UFC without being able to skip bits. Fair play to any of you mad men that can. 

What are you recording on? 

Be careful, I'm pretty sure Virgin Media doesn't give you the option to record BT Box Office....I know I wasn't able to record when I paid for Khabib vs Gaethje when I had Virgin Media

[Dai]

Im in the same camp as everyone else seemingly, and picking the favourates for the top 3 fights. Id pick TJ as the most likely to cause an upset out of the 3, though. There are still big questions about where TJ is in his career, so I think its a fairly decent possibility that he can churn out an amazing performance and get the upset.

[WeeAl]

1 hour ago, Zebra Kid Mark said:

What are you recording on? 

Be careful, I'm pretty sure Virgin Media doesn't give you the option to record BT Box Office....I know I wasn't able to record when I paid for Khabib vs Gaethje when I had Virgin Media

I think/hope Sky allow you to record BT Box Office, but not sure on that now you mention it. 

[wandshogun09]

3 hours ago, WeeAl said:

No idea how people summon up the stamina to sit through all the downtime of a live UFC without being able to skip bits. Fair play to any of you mad men that can. 

[wandshogun09]

Few hours fellas. Can’t bastard wait for this. 

While I’m here…

Edited October 22, 2022 by wandshogun09

[Panhead]

Really happy to see my man Belal Muhammad pulling the trigger! I'm not sure about Yan vs O'Malley being called a Robbery though. I'd have probably just given it to Yan for the ground control but it was fairly even on the feet. That was a nasty cut on Yan too. 

[wandshogun09]

Well fuck. It didn’t turn out to be the ‘card of the year’ it looked like on paper but it was quite eventful and has created plenty of talking points.

Islam Makhachev looked sensational in the main event. As good as he’d looked a few levels down against the likes of Green, Hooker, Dober etc, I just never saw him being able to finish someone as threatening and dangerous as Oliveira is on the feet and the ground. If Islam was gonna win last night I thought he’d probably have to just take Oliveira down and just stifle him. I thought he might be good enough to stay out of danger and take a decision that way because his grappling has always been ace. He was never gonna be easy for Charles to catch in a submission, which is why I was fancying Charles by KO/TKO. But shit…

The thing I don’t think anyone saw coming was the improvements Makhachev’s made in his striking. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t like he looked like prime Cro Cop here but he looked so much better and more comfortable there than I ever remember him before. Especially when you factor in who he was up against here. When you think about the guys Oliveira has stood with and hurt on the feet, you have to give credit for Makhachev being willing to stand with him and throw. I don’t think there’s a single person, even people who were picking Makhachev, who were expecting him to hurt Oliveira on the feet. We’ve seen Oliveira hurt a bunch of times and that’s often when he’s most dangerous. The difference here though, was that Makhachev had strong enough grappling where he could follow Oliveira to the ground and, not only stay out of trouble there, but actually capitalise on Charles being hurt and the position he was now in. I was gutted for Charles. I don’t hate Makhachev like most seem to but I was definitely Team Olives. Always have been. But like him or not, this was a stellar performance from Islam. By far the best of his career.

Everywhere I read about this fight going in, it seemed like people were dismissing Makhachev. There were people picking him as well but the majority seemed so wrapped up in the Oliveira love-in or Islam/Khabib hate or hung up on the ‘but Makhachev hasn’t beat ranked guys’ thing that they weren’t even giving him a chance of winning. That Scouse journalist, Nick Peet, who works for BT Sport was even flat out calling Makhachev just “a hype job” going in. Same guy was predicting Darren Till would be Middleweight champ as recently as last year. Embarrassing. This was always a mega intriguing clash of styles though. It’s why I wanted to see this way more than rematches with the Poiriers, Gaethjes and Chandlers. A fresh fight with a completely different style for Oliveira to try and conquer. I thought he’d be able to but it didn’t work out. He’ll be back in the mix before too long.

What about this then?

Already seeing crying about Makhachev “calling out a Featherweight” but this was always the plan. First Volkanovski was confirmed as the official backup incase Makhachev or Oliveira pulled out. Then Dana came out and said Volk would be challenging the winner of the fight regardless. I guess as a reward for stepping up and making weight this week just incase. Plus Volk wants it, he talked about it after beating Holloway again in July and he deserves the opportunity for what he’s done at 145. If Oliveira won last night, he’d have been fighting Volk next and we’d have got that face off instead. I’m into it. I’m not sure it’s not a step too far for Volk. I think he’ll be strong enough at 155 and he’s certainly got the skills to beat a lot of guys there. But against a big 155er like Makhachev, who’s so good at wrestling and grappling overall, it’s a big ask. I love that Volk’s got the bollocks to try it though. And if he does win, Christ, it only strengthens his case of being one of the best to ever do it. He’s already there but shit like that is proper legacy boosting.

As for Oliveira, if it’s possible, I’d like to see him get that McGregor fight now. He was calling for it when he was champ and I wasn’t on board just because fuck McGregor. He shouldn’t even be ranked at 155 much less challenging for gold. But now Oliveira’s not the champ, I’d love to see it. Ideally on that Brazil card in January but I highly doubt Conor’s gonna be back in 3 months. It’s just not happening. But I don’t know how likely the fight is at all. For all McGregor’s talk, and he’s been tweeting nonsensical bollocks again since last night, there doesn’t seem to be any real timetable for his return. And Charles has beat most of the other top names. Personally I’d love to see Oliveira vs Dariush. That was supposed to happen a couple of years ago but Oliveira pulled out. Would be a fun one. Obviously a massive comedown from a potential McGregor fight but if he’s not gonna be back by the time Charles wants back in there, what can you do? He’s got to fight someone and if he beats a top contender like Dariush he’d be straight back in the mix.

Aljo vs Dillashaw was a weird one but kind of confirmed a lot of our thoughts going in. I think TJ’s about done.

I kind of felt like that before the fight and it was never based on his skills or him looking particularly in decline. I just had this gut feeling that his time at the very top has gone. Gets bashed in seconds by Cejudo in 2019, then that 2 years out for the USADA suspension, comes back and goes life and death in a decision win over Sandhagen, then he’s out another nearly 18 months with a knee injury. It just never felt like he was gonna do too well against an in-form, healthy Sterling. Then his shoulder pops out here. It just seems like his body is falling apart now. I don’t like him but I’ve got to give him his due, he was tough as shit here. How he survived as long as he did with one working arm, I don’t know. But it was just a matter of time. I was half expecting him to just retire in the post-fight interview, I noticed he had his gloves off pretty quick after the fight and you know what that usually means. But he left the door open.

This kind of sucks for Aljo as well. Wins the title on a DQ, wins the Yan rematch in unspectacular fashion, then this has the asterisk of TJ being injured. Aljo really needs to stop with the awful trash talk and nicknames he gives other fighters though. Fucking hell. It was almost Colby Covington levels of cringe when he said Marlon ‘Cheeto Dorito’ Vera or something. Just stop. I wouldn’t mind seeing Aljo vs Chito next though. Although, O’Malley might actually be another option. Cejudo can piss off though. Is he even in the USADA testing pool? Keeps calling for fights from the sidelines but nothing ever happens. He should have to fight Hasbulla if he wants back in. Pick on someone his own size.

O’Malley vs Yan was barmy stuff. Cracking fight that, in hindsight, I really wish had 5 rounds to play out.

I had Yan winning myself but I can see the case for O’Malley getting the nod. I’m not on board with all the robbery talk at all. And that’s coming from someone who can’t fucking stand O’Malley. I’d have to rewatch it but when it was over I felt like Yan won but I definitely wasn’t confident in it. O’Malley did way better than I expected though, so maybe that’s making me slightly more generous towards him. As much as I hate to admit it, O’Malley surpassed my expectations in this one. I honestly thought he was gonna get crushed. But from quite early on you could see Yan was gonna have issues getting past Suga’s Dhalsim-like limbs to get his own shots off and he often had to put himself in the firing line to get in striking range himself. Yan hurt him and had all those takedowns but O’Malley hurt him a lot as well. Like I say, I’ll rewatch it and score it properly at some point but it wasn’t anywhere near as bad a decision as most are making out, in my opinion. I did chuckle at this though, someone on Twitter said these were the judges for this fight…

😂

What’s next? I never thought I’d be saying it but I wouldn’t even think an O’Malley title shot would be outrageous at this point. Before last night I’d have said no way but a win over Petr Yan immediately catapults you into the conversation. Fuck knows with Yan. I’d have said Dillashaw but I don’t know what’s gonna happen with TJ now and he’d probably be better off just calling it a day. Not sure how they’re gonna play this. Personally I think Chito Vera deserves the title shot but O’Malley’s win over Yan is a better name on the resume than anyone Vera’s beat. But then Vera has that win over O’Malley. Triple threat match maybe? Of all the options I actually really wanna see a Chito vs O’Malley rematch now. There’s been needle ever since the first fight and it would be a great way to measure O’Malley’s improvements. But that just eliminates a top contender and who does Aljo defend against in the meantime? I say it all the time but once again, the Bantamweight division is the nuts. So much going on.

Really enjoyed Dariush vs Gamrot. Again, like O’Malley-Yan, this really deserved a 5 round headline spot on another card. It’s always cool when they absolutely stack a card up like this but I like to see title eliminators like this play out over 25 minutes. Thought ol’ Benny Dariush looked really good here. Especially coming off an injury, well over a year on the shelf and against someone like Gamrot.

Have it. For me, Dariush has been one of the most underrated guys at 155 for years. Even going into this fight, I saw some right goofy takes about him, as if he’s some nobody Gamrot was gonna just walk through. He’s a handful for anyone. The main doubt I had was the layoff. Gamrot’s a tough fight at any time but coming off about 18 months out to face him is a ballsy move. Especially when you look at some other 155ers who just wanna keep facing ‘names’. Dariush strolled back in like he’d never missed a day. Badass. Loved this fight. Some fun scrambles on the ground, big exchanges on the feet etc. I just think Dariush’s overall refusal to fuck off and his kind of awkward but effective striking style threw Gamrot off. If they did have 5 rounds to play with, I think Dariush would’ve really taken over down the stretch and possibly even got a late finish. Great stuff though. And you could make a case that this was the first time someone has actually beat Gamrot. He lost a razor close decision to Kutateladze, won an iffy (in my opinion) decision against Tsarukyan, but this was the first time he’s just lost a clear cut decision, no debate necessary. Like I said above, it probably won’t happen but I’d love to see Dariush vs Oliveira now. I’m still hoping we get that Makhachev vs Dariush fight we missed out on at some point as well.

Fiorot vs Chookagian didn’t do much for me but I don’t care. I’m just happy Fiorot won and derailed what was shaping up to be another Chooky title shot. I don’t think Fiorot is some world beater and I really don’t see her giving Shevchenko any real issues but she’s usually way better to watch than Chookagian so this was a positive result. Fuck Chook.

Belal Muhammad vs Sean Brady was the shocker for me and the pleasant surprise of the whole card. At this point on the card most of the prelims had been quite boring and lacklustre so the prospect of back-to-back Belal and Chookagian fights filled me with absolute dread, not gonna lie. But this actually brought the card back to life. I really didn’t expect much at all from this. Both grinding wrestler types but I thought it’d just consist of a ton of one guy holding the other against the cage, with a smattering of foot stomps and knees to the thigh for 15 minutes. It turned out to be a pretty fun sloppy brawl though.

It was looking a bit dicey for Belal before this but he turned it on in the second round and put a flurry on Brady that forced the ref to step in and wave it off. Way more enjoyable fight than I’d anticipated and another solid win for Belal, handing Brady the first loss of his career. Like him or not, Belal’s putting together a strong run of wins. Hasn’t officially lost in his last 9 fights, although the Leon Edwards fight was only going one way before the eye poke. But he’s beat some decent names like Maia, Wonderboy, Luque and now Brady. He deserves a biggish fight now, to be fair, but probably won’t get one.

Krylov vs Oezdemir was one of the only other bright spots on an otherwise dull set of prelims. Amazed it went the distance really, given some of the bombs these two were throwing. Really thought Oezdemir was gonna make short work of him early when he had him hurt but Krylov did well to weather the storm and actually put in one of his best showings overall, I reckon.

Only other real talking point would be Mokaev, who picked up another win and remains undefeated. Pretty much dominated every second and got the armbar finish in the third round.

I did think this fight exposed a lot of his inexperience though. I’ve said before I think some are being too harsh on Mokaev. You’ve got to remember he’s still only 22 and very much a work in progress. But the way he’s talking about being the youngest champ in UFC history and on about smashing people and stuff, you’re kind of setting yourself up for the criticism. I like him but I hope it doesn’t all go to his head, and there’s already been a few signs of it. Even here he was saying after the fight that he underestimated Gordon. And beyond that, his striking needs a lot of work. He’s got some nice kicks and knees but he barely throws punches and there were a few times Gordon rushed him and Mokaev just backed up in straight lines until his back hit the fence. That’s never a good sign and even more worrying in a division like Flyweight where these little fuckers can close the distance on you fast. And even in the grappling, he got caught in that choke at the end of (I think) the second round and was saved by the bell. I don’t wanna be harsh but I get the feeling he’s gonna talk himself into an arse kicking before too long unfortunately. He’s calling out Brandon Royval and Amir Albazi now apparently. Those two are fighting each other in December. Maybe Mokaev gets the winner on that rumoured Cardiff show in March. But based on last night’s fight, he should probably leave those names alone for the time being. Especially Albazi, who I think might actually be a bit of a darkhorse at 125.

But yeah, the rest of the prelims left me cold, to be honest. Lifeless decisions and nothing really to get excited about. That Abubakar vs Omargadzhiev fight was especially bad. Rotten. Looked like they were fighting under water by the third round, Omargadzhiev was moving in slow motion.

A card of two halves in a lot of ways but thankfully the half that mattered delivered. Onto the 281 hype. I actually think that card is just as good as this on paper, but with a higher chance of delivering in practice.

Edited October 23, 2022 by wandshogun09

[wandshogun09]

Khamzat got into it with Abubakar Nurmagomedov at cageside. There’s another video from a different angle floating around showing the start of it as well and they’re just talking, then Khamzat throws a punch. Not saying Abubakar was completely innocent in the whole thing but Khamzat was definitely the one who made it escalate into a physical confrontation. He was attending the show with Kadyrov’s son as well apparently. Nearly as bad as hanging around with Till. Khamzat’s a hell of a fighter but the more I see of him the more unlikeable he becomes. His inevitable derailing is gonna be quite satisfying. 

 

[Egg Shen]

There's an alternative angle with subtitles that makes it look like Nurmagamedov took issue with Khamzat tapping him on the stomach when congratulating him. Khamzat then argued back with him and threw a punch.

As for the actual show, I thought everything from Dariush/Gamrot onwards delivered in one way or another or at least made for major talking points. It was abit of a dud before that save for a few spots.

Makhachev arrives though. Oliveira has developed abit of an aura around himself in recent years as a destroyer and Makhachev got rid of that quickly, the guy's a beast. I know he's a new Champ but im down for the Volkanovski superfight. We ain't seen one in a while, let's see it.

Edited October 24, 2022 by Egg Shen

[Egg Shen]

any feelings on Dillashaw fighting injured? Jimmy Smith wasn't happy:

 

[Dai]

I'd be mighty pissed off if I had bet on TJ, and then about a minute into the fight the commentators bring up the fact he's injured and didn't do any mitt work to warm up. Seems like this was ripe for some dubious betting shenanigans, especially if it was well known pre fight that he was injured.