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UFC 279: Diaz vs Ferguson - Sep 10 🇺🇸


wandshogun09

Who wins and how?   

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Seeing MMA media falling over themselves to kiss Dana’s arse for ‘saving this card’ is embarrassing.

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It’s not just Iole but there’s one example. No doubt when shit hits the fan like it has with this card it throws everything into chaos behind the scenes and there must be a lot of work to be done to keep as strong a card as possible together. But there’s a lot more than Dana involved and surely it’s the fighters who deserve the bulk of the praise. Nate could’ve probably been more difficult under the circumstances, Ferguson’s gone from a 3 rounder to a 5 rounder, Jingliang has gone from a fight at 170 to a Catchweight at 180, Holland has gone from a tough but winnable fight with Rodriguez to probably the worst matchup stylistically for him in the division. These are the ones who’ve kept the card alive. Dana was just moving chess pieces around and deciding who fights who. And on this card, it was an obvious straightforward swap job with the 6 guys in the top 3 fights. MMA journalists never miss an opportunity to lick Dana’s boots though.

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😂

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Yeah, a lot of people did a lot of work and made many concessions to keep this show alive. Bumlicking from the media for Dana is totally overblown. It wouldn't have been as hard a job if he had put out an actual strong PPV card in the first place.

Let's be honest, that card is ESPN proper/Big FOX level type stuff, that they are charging $80 for in the states. 

I'm 50/50 on Diaz/Ferguson in the cage. Could see either taking it really. I think it'll depend on who is more motivated/has more gas in the tank in the final stretch. This is a big opportunity now for both, when they were each heavy dog's beforehand. I'll pick Ferguson on the chance that this goes the distance and I can see him being the less likely to coast the final rounds. Nate can ha e a tendency to think he's ahead when most know that he isn't. Ferguson may put the welly down knowing that this will be his chance to stay relevant. 

Chimaev, if he's focused, tears Holland a new one. I want to know why he's missed weight by 7.5 pounds though. Has he been taking this less seriously than even Nate Diaz was pretending that he was taking the Chimaev fight? I'm still picking Chimaev, by stoppage, probably pretty early. He's royally fucked himself though, whatever is going on behind the scenes. How do you give him a title shot for his next fight now after this? 

I imagine Daniel Rodriguez will win. It's a huge difference. This wasn't agreed upon pre weight cut as we know, Jingliang will have had to cut to 170, he's going to feel that in comparison to Rodriguez having to go to 180 before it became a catch-weight. 

Walker Vs Cutelaba? I can see Cutelaba walking straight up to Johnny and knocking the John Kavanagh right out of him to be honest. 

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Just cheeked the odds, and it's almost a coin flip for Diaz/Ferguson, which is insanity in my eyes. Its the Nate Diaz hype train in full affect, as there's no way he should be this close in odds to Ferguson. As Wand says, Ferguson has fought a murderers row of talent in the last four fights, so the fact he's lost 4 in a row makes no difference in relation to this fight for me. Think Ferguson is way above in class than Nate at this point, so am going for him. 

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Well, that was a pretty decent card I think. Actually better than it originally was supposed to play out.

My star of the night was Chris Barnett. Anyone who didn't see his come from behind win to open the prelims missed out, he's amazing. Such a likeable guy.

The two main fights went as expected really. For all Kevin Holland's big talk before the fight was signed, he looked like he didn't want to be in there. You could tell from his body language that he was a man who knew he was in over his head, and that proved to be the case.

Hopefully we'll see Khamzat properly matched now that the Diaz fiasco is over and done with. He shouldn't be messing with fringe players anymore. He's top five. Get him in there with Colby, followed by the winner of Usman vs Edwards III if he wins that.

It was good to see Nate go out on a good performance. I've never been his biggest fan, he seems like a bit of a tit to me, but seeing him get the ending he deserved against an OG like T-Ferg was nice, even if it was just to laugh in Dana's face. 

Where does Ferguson go from here? He's 38 years old, 1-4 in his last five at lightweight, and just lost to someone who isn't even a real welterweight at welterweight. 

But yeah, overall a good card.

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1 hour ago, David said:

Hopefully we'll see Khamzat properly matched now that the Diaz fiasco is over and done with. He shouldn't be messing with fringe players anymore. He's top five. Get him in there with Colby, followed by the winner of Usman vs Edwards III if he wins that.

I’m sure his “I’ll kill everyone allahu akbar” line won over a lot of those progressive minded MMA fans. Book him as the top heel!

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21 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

I’m sure his “I’ll kill everyone allahu akbar” line won over a lot of those progressive minded MMA fans. Book him as the top heel!

I just assumed he saw that the fans turned after he missed weight, and figured "fuck it, why not go completely Iron Sheik on these pricks?"

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Nate vs Tony was a funny old scrap. Seen a fair bit of negative reaction to it but I enjoyed it for what it was myself. If you were going in with realistic expectations and not thinking we’d see prime versions of both, it was about right for where they’re both at in their careers. It was certainly way preferable to what we were gonna get if the original card went ahead. Diaz getting crushed by Chimaev and Ferguson getting laid out by Jingliang would’ve been a right downer. Especially for Nate with it being his last fight in the UFC for the foreseeable. This was much more fitting and would’ve also been a nice way for Ferguson to bow out. It doesn’t sound like that’s happening anytime soon though. But yeah, a fitting farewell for Diaz. Very fitting. Anyone see this shit?…

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The fight was stopped with 2:09 left on the clock? 😂 Going out on a submission win against another fading name at a similar stage in his career was much better than the alternative. To the surprise of nobody, it sounds like he’s off to take some Boxing fights now. The talk about ‘being the best’ in that game is obviously laughable. He’s not gonna be fighting the best. I definitely think we’ll be seeing him and Jake Paul mix it up though. That’s a massive payday for both, it’s in line with the kind of fights Paul looks for and it’ll probably be fun to watch for what it is. I know Nate dropped in that he’d come back to the UFC later but he’s late 30s now. Unless he’s literally thinking of just fighting Jake Paul then signing straight back with the UFC, which honestly would probably be the best move for him if he can beat Paul. Just raises his profile, boosts his bank balance and puts him in a nice spot to renegotiate with the UFC. I actually think Paul probably chins him at this stage though. Although, Paul has Anderson Silva to get past before any of this can happen obviously. Seen a lot of Nate vs Conor 3 talk as well and both are saying a third fight will happen. Fuck knows how that’s gonna work now but it seems absolutely brain dead to not do that trilogy decider somehow somewhere. If one of them retire or get locked up or something without that fight happening it’s just money left on the table. I think they’re both saving it as that one last guaranteed cash grab that’ll ‘always be there’ if everything else dries up but there’s a time limit on everything. They need to get that made in the next few years.

Chimaev rolled over Holland in very predictable fashion. He made shorter work of it than I expected but the result itself always felt fairly inevitable. Holland is a really good fighter against certain styles but it was exposed a while ago that really strong grapplers are a nightmare for him. You can go right back through his career and, while the Brunson and Vettori fights are the ones people bring up, pretty much all Holland’s losses have been through grappling. He’s definitely been working on it. He showed flashes of improvement in the Cowboy Oliveira fight and even here, he was scrambling like his life depended on it against Khamzat’s opening attack…

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He was game and trying his best but it was just too much of a gap in skills there. His only hope here was that Khamzat might wanna prove a point on the feet and abandon his wrestling. But Chimaev stuck with his bread and butter and he was just always a few steps ahead of Holland in that area. Terrible style matchup for Holland even if he’d had a full camp. Saw a bunch of bellyaching about Chimaev faking the glove touch at the start, and it was a shithouse move, but who gives a bollocks really? After all the backstage shite with these two, I was surprised they touched gloves before the fight. That was enough. They’d already touched gloves, once the fight was underway all bets were off. And let’s not pretend that made an iota of difference to how the fight played out anyway.

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I like David’s idea of Chimaev vs Covington next. That’s the fight, I reckon. Makes the most sense and if they whack it on the same card as Edwards vs Usman 3, that’d be perfect as a bit of a one night mini tournament and would also be a safety net incase someone drops out of the title fight. It also gives Chimaev a chance to prove he can make 170 before a title shot. It’s the fight to make. As for Holland, I’d chuck him in with Michel Pereira or something. Just a fun one.

Rodriguez vs Jingliang was good stuff. Really wasn’t sure about the decision before the verdict was announced. Felt really close but I wasn’t scoring it in any great detail. Seen a ton of cries of robbery as usual whenever there’s a close fight. I think I had it 2-1 to Jingliang but didn’t have an issue with D-Rod getting the nod. I felt like the only real clear round was the second for the Leech. Rounds 1 and 3 were close, I’d have to rewatch. On first watch though, it was one of those fights where I felt like anything from 30-27 Jingliang to 29-28 Rodriguez was very reasonable. Makes you wonder how it’d have gone if they’d actually done a whole training camp for each other though. It was so close that I think little adjustments here or there, which a focused and specific camp would’ve likely highlighted, could’ve made a big difference for either guy.

Irene Aldana getting the win via upkick to the fucking liver wasn’t how I saw that fight going.

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Christ. That must’ve sucked. Pleased to see Aldana get the win and the stoppage. Chiasson bores me to tears most of the time and Aldana is usually decent to watch and has scored some nice finishes. And after Chiasson missing weight and then the weird thing with the phantom tap in the first round, it was even more satisfying seeing Aldana come out on top. Especially after getting dominated in the second round. She’ll probably get a title shot before long just because of the lack of depth and her being a fresh challenger and one of the few women who’s a bit of a finisher. The fact she dragged Chiasson, who’s been consistently forgettable throughout her entire UFC run, to such an entertaining fight says it all. Aldana’s fun to watch.

Was over the moon to see Johnny Walker not just beat Cutelaba but get the finish. And by submission of all things! Of all the ways this could’ve ended, I don’t think anyone was anticipating a submission either way.

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Love it. I’m under no illusions he’s never going too far in the division but him getting a win like this every now and then keeps him around and I’m good with that. As much as it would be bittersweet because I love them both, I think Walker vs Shogun on the Brazil card in January is the move now. It’s Shogun’s last fight on his contract and I can’t think of anyone else who fits the bill who could maybe bring a bit of the old dog out of Shogun in his swansong. I’d have rathered Shogun retired a few fights ago but him going out in Brazil against Walker is about as good as it’s getting now, I reckon.

Anyone see the stuff about Walker and his team being kicked out of the arena straight after his fight? John Kavanagh tweeted about it and said they were just taken out the back door and Walker never even had time to take his gloves off or get changed.

Weird. There’s got to be more to the story but I can’t think why they’d do this. I’d have kind of understood if it was one of the teams involved in the backstage beef the other day, maybe, but Walker wasn’t part of that silliness. Odd.

Really liked the performance from Julian Erosa against Dawodu. Looked very sharp. I felt like it was one of his cleanest showings easy. Kind of hoped he’d get a POTN bonus because he was a real standout on the prelims last night for me. He got 30% of Dawodu’s purse because Dawodu missed weight but, knowing how the UFC pay these undercard guys, 30% of that will probably get him a chippy tea and a pint and that’s it. Erosa’s been consistently great to watch. It’s a crime he’s only ever picked up two fight night bonuses.

Jailton Almeida just pissed right through Anton Turkalj quick. Hard to really gauge the quality of the performance with Turkalj jumping in on very late notice but Almeida did what he had to do.

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Really like him but I’m still really unsure about him at Heavyweight. I think he could be an absolute beast at 205 but what do I know? Maybe he was hating the weight cut and just feels better at Heavyweight. If he can perform well and keep winning without cutting a lot of weight, that’s always a good thing. I just think his ceiling’s a fair bit lower at HW than at 205. But time will tell.

Enjoyed Tiuliulin vs Pickett more than I expected to. Remember being not particularly impressed with Tiuliulin in his UFC debut but maybe that was more that Khizriev is a handful. I liked what I saw here. Especially those gnarly standing elbows! Finishing ground and pound didn’t look devastating, it was more a case of the ref just stepping in because Pickett wasn’t offering anything back. But he was already fucked from the big knee on the feet just before that.

Echoing Dave’s sentiments on Chris Barnett. How can you not like him? Every time you see him he’s just having the time of his life and has a big stupid grin on his big fat face. His post-fight interview was a bit much but it was great to see him have that moment. Especially after the shit he’s been through personally this year.

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Like Johnny Walker, I don’t think his ceiling is very high and I don’t see him stringing any kind of meaningful winning streak together but he seems such a likeable guy and he adds fun to a division that’s not exactly overflowing with it. As much as I’ve shat on Jake Collier in the past, I did feel like he should’ve got the win against Arlovski and I expected him to beat Barnett here. It seemed like he just went in not respecting Barnett here to me though. Like he fought a bit smarter against Arlovski but thought his sloppy brawling would be enough here. It was working for a bit but I was pleasantly surprised to see Barnett pull out the comeback stoppage. Fun fight, to be fair. But it was one of them I’d have hated if the result went the other way.

Norma Dumont got the lopsided points win. A decision nearly as wide as her arse. On a serious note, I know I’m probably being harsh because she’d been inactive a couple of years and was no doubt rusty but Danyelle Wolf just didn’t look like she belonged anywhere near the UFC here. The signing seemed a bit weird anyway given her age and lack of MMA experience but she looked like she had nothing here. And it’s not like Dumont has looked amazing herself in prior fights. I get Wolf had the Boxing background but at 39 years old, I think she’s just left it way too late. Cormier cleared up her background during the walkout and I felt kind of bad for her really. Sounds like there was a lot of stop/start to her career with the Olympic aspirations and stuff. She clearly puts the graft in to be in top shape and athletic and all that good stuff. But trying to become a MMA fighter when you’re closing in on 40? Good luck with that. Dumont made me laugh post-fight, banging on about title shots and stuff after beating a 39 year old, 1-1 novice. Mad thing is, she’s probably not even far off a title shot either, just on account of being one of about 4 fighters actually in the women’s Featherweight division currently. What a load of buttocks!

Solid showing from Alateng Heili, taking a clear decision off Chad Anheliger. I don’t really know how to rate it though because I think this was my first time seeing Anheliger fight. Seems tough if nothing else though. I really thought he wasn’t gonna see the end of that first round when Alateng started tagging him with big shots. He got through it but that’s all he did, just survive. Alateng looked good though.

Elise Reed vs Melissa Martinez was alright, I suppose. Had its moments. I only gave it a look because I’d heard Martinez was worth keeping an eye on but, while she showed glimpses of quality and had a strong second round, she definitely lost the other two rounds and not only got dragged into (and even initiated at times) more of a grappling match with Reed, she also got cracked more than you’d expect on the feet. Clear 29-28 for Reed but I’m looking forward to seeing Martinez again. I felt like the long layoff might’ve been a significant factor here, to be honest. She hadn’t fought since 2019 so that’s a big chunk of inactivity and she can’t have been as sharp as she’d have liked. Still only 25 though so there’s time. Hopefully that’s the cobwebs off now and we’ll get a better read on her next time.

Good show. This picture pretty much sums up and caps off what a barmy fight week this was 🤣

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Edited by wandshogun09
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Decent show, I loved the main event, 2 legends squaring off in a gripping contest. I was 100% behind Nate Diaz as I have never warmed to Tony so I was very happy with the outcome. The whole weekend was a fairytale ending for Nate, we all know the story, he was being fed to the wolves yet luck was on his side and he has come out of this smelling of roses. It was perfect.

I was gutted to see Holland so badly dominated, he tried his hardest but Khamzat is just another level. It's a shame he missed weight and had the worst possible attitude when it happened as it is going to be difficult to get hyped for his next WW fight as we will always wonder if he will actually make it.

I don't want him getting a title fight next or even a Colby fight. I'd rather they force him to go up to middleweight and fight someone in the top 10 (not the top 5) as a punishment. 

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I get the impression with Diaz that he will raise his game on purpose if he thinks he's being fed to someone - I don't blame him, in that regard.

Chimaev's a massive Nurmagomedov-style cunt, but there's no way he's not on course to be next WW champ with form like this. He'd have to be his own worst enemy, Jon Jones-style, for it to never happen.

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40 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

Chimaev's a massive Nurmagomedov-style cunt, but there's no way he's not on course to be next WW champ with form like this. He'd have to be his own worst enemy, Jon Jones-style, for it to never happen.

The weight thing might be his undoing at Welterweight. Missing weight that badly is a worrying sign. Hopefully it was a one-off but didn’t he struggle making weight in one of his other fights as well? Even if he wins the title, and I honestly think he has the tools and potential to, I can’t see him being a defending champion at 170. I think he’d win it and then instantly move up. 

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10 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

The weight thing might be his undoing at Welterweight. Missing weight that badly is a worrying sign. Hopefully it was a one-off but didn’t he struggle making weight in one of his other fights as well? Even if he wins the title, and I honestly think he has the tools and potential to, I can’t see him being a defending champion at 170. I think he’d win it and then instantly move up. 

Certainly looks like it. But, while he's still at welter, I'd like to see the Covington match, and, if possible, a match with Usman should be a hell of a clash of wrestlers.

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1 hour ago, David said:

Chuck him in with someone like Strickland or Gastelum. 

I was thinking Gastelum too. Strickland is too weak as a wrestler who relies on his striking too much. I can see Strickland going the same way as Holland.

Gastelum on the other hand has decent enough wrestling and is a strong striker, I think he will give him more of a fight like Burns did. 

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