Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted March 20, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted March 20, 2023 (edited) Pack your thongs, weāre off to Miamiā¦ PPV MAIN CARD Alex PereiraĀ©ļø vs Israel AdesanyaĀ - Middleweight Title Gilbert Burns vs Jorge MasvidalĀ Rob Font vs Adrian YanezĀ Kevin Holland vs Santiago PonzinibbioĀ Raul Rosas Jr vs Christian RodriguezĀ ESPN PRELIMS Kelvin Gastelum vs Chris CurtisĀ Michelle Waterson vs Luana PinheiroĀ Gerald Meerschaert vs Joe Pyfer Cynthia Calvillo vs Loopy Godinez ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMS Ignacio Bahamondes vs Trey Ogden Ā Steve Garcia vs Shayilan NuerdanbiekeĀ Sam Hughes vs Jaqueline AmorimĀ Ā What a card! As it stands at the time of me typing this, that is the bout order. You know itās gonna change a load of times between now and the night though. Really like the look of this though. Everything on the main card has my interest and thereās enough about the prelims to tickle my fancy as well, couple of forum favourites on there in Meerschaert and Barnett. On paper, itās one of my favourite cards in a while. Just looks like a really fun one. Ā Alex Pereira vs Israel Adesanya 2 then. Well, 4 if you wanna count their Kickboxing fights. Letās do it again. What a strange rivalry this has turned out to be. The scoreline is all Pereira. 3-0 so far. I talked about it in the thread for their last fight but the 2 Kickboxing fights back in 2016/17 were close and mega competitive. Of course, all anyone talks about is that Pereira knocked him out in the second fight. But if you actually watch those fights, Adesanya has a case for winning the decision in the first one and mightāve been winning the rematch as well before getting ironed out. The results on paper donāt tell the whole story. But the results are really all that matters in the end. Adesanya put that loss behind him, entered MMA and within a few years had risen to the top of the sport. Became champ in 2019 when he knocked out Robert Whittaker in front of what, to this day, is still the biggest crowd in UFC history in Melbourne. And he followed that up with 5 successful title defences. By the middle of last year, he was rapidly running out of interesting challengers. Heād already beaten all the top contenders, some of them twice. The fights were becoming a bit lacklustre to watch and, while he was winning and remaining champ, it seemed like the spark had kind of gone. Until a ghost from his past came back to haunt himā¦ Alex Pereira had gone 33-7 with 21 knockouts in his Kickboxing career and was a two-division GLORY champion. Heād already had a dabble with MMA in 2015/16 in Brazil. He got submitted in his debut but stopped his next two opponents. He finally made the full time switch to MMA in late 2020 and he hasnāt looked back. I remember seeing a few of his GLORY fights and being vaguely aware of him jumping to MMA but I never really paid much attention. Even back then though, with Adesanya now UFC champ and at the peak of the sport, and given Pereiraās history with him, the talk of them potentially crossing paths again was always there bubbling away under the surface. In his return to MMA, Pereira absolutely crushed Thomas Powell on a LFA card with his signature left hook of doom and that was all the UFC needed to see. By late 2021, he was making his UFC debut, at Madison Square Garden of all places! He made short work of Andreas Michailidis. A first round flying knee wrapped up a pretty much perfect Octagon debut. He followed that with a points win over Bruno Silva in March and then the UFC decided to just pull the trigger. In July, despite Pereira only being two fights into his UFC run and 5-1 overall in MMA, they chucked him in there with Sean Strickland. This was a big step up on paper as Strickland had way more MMA experience and was ranked. But I said it at the time, I always felt like Strickland was the most winnable fight for Pereira at the top end of the rankings. I didnāt think itād be easy, I think I even picked Strickland to win. But he was the highest ranked, most favourable matchup for Pereira at the time no question. It was clear as day that the UFC were putting Pereira on the fast-track so they could hopefully get him to a title shot and rekindle the Adesanya rivalry. As it turned out, Strickland was an easy nightās work for āPoatanā. Definitely one of the most satisfying knockouts to watch in recent years for me. Ha! Never gets old. Eat a dick Strickland. The UFC knew what they were doing as well. They put this fight on the undercard of none other than Pereiraās old pal Izzyās title defence against Jared Cannonier. Adesanya won a routine dull decision over Cannonier and that was that. I think everyone knew what was next. Adesanya and Pereira were on a collision course and it all lined up perfectly. It still seemed way too soon for Pereira to be getting a title shot. He still had less than 10 MMA fights under his belt and hadnāt even been in the UFC a full year yet! But Adesanya being the champion changed everything. If anyone else was champ I donāt think weād have seen Pereira anywhere near a title fight so early but it was a unique situation and it actually did feel like it made sense. They met again in November on the big MSG card. It felt like a big deal and opinion was pretty split going in. I think I was favouring Adesanya myself. I just felt like, in MMA, it might be different and, although Izzy hasnāt shown much in the way of grappling, heād had a big head start on Pereira and might have enough tricks in his overall game to make the difference. But Pereiraās always got that x-factor of a sledgehammer left hand. His striking in general is quality but the left hook in particular is just dynamite. As Izzy found out in the past. It was a fascinating fight because Adesanya had looked almost disinterested at times in his recent title defences but you knew thereād be a fire lit under him for this one. Heād had over 100 documented pro fights between Kickboxing, Boxing and MMA and heād only ever been knocked out once. By Alex Pereira. So going into this fight, Pereira absolutely had the psychological edge. But by the time fight night rolled around I didnāt really have a clue what was gonna happen. What a bastard. This guy is like a nightmare Adesanya just canāt wake up from. Stalking him through combat sports and ruining his day repeatedly. It was a really good fight. And almost spooky how it kind of mirrored their previous Kickboxing bouts. Like in those fights, Adesanya was again doing really well in the early rounds, even badly rocking Pereira at the end of the first. From there it was very competitive. I had Adesanya up on the cards going into the 5th and final round but Pereira was doing good work with his jab and setting his traps for his bigger shots throughout. It was an engrossing battle but, while he wasnāt dominating the fight, I definitely felt like Adesanya was on top as the last round got underway. Then in the 5th, Pereira rendered the scorecards useless. There were actually people crying early stoppage but I think they mustāve just been Izzy haters who wanted to see him get properly put to bed. Nobody with any sense whoās spent a decent amount of time watching fights can genuinely believe that Adesanya was still in the game when the fight was waved off. Just because he never got flattened doesnāt mean he was OK. Heād completely stopped defending himself and seemed like he was frozen for a second while Pereira was teeing off on him. It was as done as done can be at that point. We go again. Never been a big fan of immediate rematches but Iām quite happy with this one. Adesanya deserves it anyway based on his title reign. And the way the last fight was going before that 5th round stoppage just strengthens his case for a rematch. And I actually think itās good for Pereira as well because if they decided against running it back and threw Pereira in with more of a grappler, who knows how heād look? As much as everyoneās on Pereiraās dick now, and as good as heās looked so far, itās easy to forget heās still only 8 fights deep in his MMA career and he turns 36 this year. There are gonna be holes in his MMA game that heās unlikely to ever close. But against Adesanya, style-wise it works. Iām well up for this! Can Adesanya finally win one? Can he actually get one back? Get something out of this series? Or does Pereira just have his number for life? Ā Gilbert Burns vs Jorge Masvidal is gonna be fun. Although Iām half dreading the cringey gangsta talk and Masvidal love-in with it being in Miami. Itās a fight thatās been supposedly in the works for a while now and had been rumoured a bunch of times but kept falling through. If you believe Burns, and he doesnāt strike me as a bullshitter, it was Masvidalās side dragging their feet on getting the fight made. Burns said the UFC tried to book the fight for 281 in November, 282 in December and 283 in Brazil in January but Masvidal didnāt seem in a hurry to sign the contract so Burns just cracked on doing his thing. Badass. Big fan of Burns. Great fighter and seems a good guy with it. Heāll fight literally anyone, which is a big reason why I believe his version on the delays for this fight. When the third attempt fell through, Burns just wanted to get on that Brazil PPV so he took a fight with Neil Magny. Usually a tricky and awkward fight but Burns absolutely breezed through him and subbed him inside a round. Really impressive stuff. Add to that wins over Wonderboy, Woodley, Maia and Gunnar and itās not a bad resume at all. Itās not just the wins though, even in defeat heās shown heās legit. He dropped Kamaru Usman in their title fight and gave Khamzat Chimaev the first, and only, serious test of his young career to date. Just the fact he accepted that fight with Chimaev, when so many established names and top contenders wouldāve likely swerved it, says it all. The manās a throwback to the simpler days of MMA. Give him a name, a date, a contract and a pen. He will fight anyone. Last we saw of Masvidal he was getting arrested for attacking Colby Covington outside a restaurant. Man, heās such a gangsta. A real G. 38 years old with 3 kids this berk. Not to mention he had 25 minutes to legally do physical harm to Covington just weeks before this assault and he got fuck all done and lost a shutout 50-45 on most peoples cards. That brief rise to stardom, the BMF belt and all that shite, seems like a distant memory now. And looking back now, even that run hasnāt aged well. Wins over Darren Till, Ben Askren and Nate Diaz at the time felt like a big deal. And the Askren KO was epic, canāt take that away from him, as much as I hate seeing him win. That was an all time great knockout. But yeah, those wins have aged like milk. And even the old ā3-piece and a sodaā bollocks, who got the last laugh there? Leon Edwards is now champion of the world and just went 2-0 over the man who owned Masvidal twice. Pretty much everything that was once considered a positive in Masvidalās career, the shine has come off it. But he plays the gangsta so heās cool or something. He needs to make something happen now. A win over Burns would go a long way to redeeming him and restoring some much needed credibility after his recent embarrassments. Actually, a win over Burns would be by far the best of his career. And to be fair, as much as I enjoy having a pop at him, I donāt for one second think Jorge delaying this fight was because heās scared of Burns or anything. I think he was holding out in the hopes of bagging that title fight with Edwards. He wouldnāt have deserved it obviously, but I canāt even blame him for trying. If he somehow wins this fight, I honestly wouldnāt be surprised if we see him in another title fight in the not too distant future. But I canāt see this ending well for him. Burns has been active and fighting tough opposition in Masvidalās absence. Staying in the gym, staying in shape and staying sharp. What the fuck has Masvidal actually been doing in his time away? I just donāt think his heart is fully in it anymore and heās not had the best discipline between fights in recent years as it is. Iāve got Burns in this one and, honestly, if he wins this in impressive fashion Iād say he deserves a title shot more than fucking Covington. But whatever. Hopefully these two deliver an entertaining fight. Ā Rob Font vs Adrian Yanez is ***WANDāS ONE TO WATCH***Ā here. Forgot this was even booked but I really love this fight. Even on a card as strong as this, itās a fight that immediately stands out as a likely show stealer. Interesting timing as well. Itās one of those kind of crossroads fights where one guy badly needs a win after a couple of rough losses, and the other guy is getting his big step up and first proper taste of the limelight on a big PPV main card. And then just style-wise, itās a belter as well. Really looking forward to it. For Font this is a must win. I know every fight is technically a must win. No fighter goes in there thinking they can take a loss this time. But Font has fallen on hard times lately. I felt like he was a bit underrated for a while but he never had that consistent run of performances. From 2018 to 2021 it was looking promising for him though and he was starting to climb the ladder a bit. He put together 4 straight wins over Sergio Pettis, Ricky Simon, Marlon Moraes and then Cody Garbrandt in his first 5 round main event. It genuinely felt like his time had arrived and heād finally get to mix with some of those top names at the elite level in the Bantamweight division. Well, he did. And it didnāt work out. He bagged another main event in December 2021 against the legendary Jose Aldo. A massive opportunity for him. But Aldo just proved too good for him and outclassed him over 5 rounds. Then in April last year, despite the loss to Aldo, he got his third consecutive main event against Chito Vera. Yeah, it didnāt go well. It was a fun fight and it wasnāt like Font just got schooled. In fact, he was getting the better of big chunks of the fight. It was a weird one in that, if you went purely on volume, shots landed and time in the rounds where one guy was winning, then Font looked the better of the two for longer spells of a lot of the rounds. But Veraās power made the difference and in a bunch of the rounds, Font would be winning only to get hurt badly at the end and Vera would steal the round. That happened in a few of the rounds as I recall. I donāt know if itās a habit or flaw in Fontās game where he tends to kind of switch off towards the end of the rounds but Chito had him hanging on for dear life at the end of a few of them and thatās ultimately what cost Font the decision that night. Iām sure he did the same against Aldo late in a few of those rounds as well. Something that could obviously do with addressing but, at 35 years old now, heās kind of set in his ways and it might be too ingrained in him. Iāve become a big fan of Yanez ever since @Zebra Kid MarkĀ brought him to my attention when he was coming off DWCS. Heās been great value so far in the UFC. Seriously, heās fought 5 times in the UFC, every single time heās either got a POTN or FOTN bonus and there hasnāt been a dull moment yet. Wiped out Victor Rodriguez with a headkick in his debut, then knocked out Gustavo Lopez with a beautiful counter right, then stopped Randy Costa with body shots, then won a decision over Davey Grant in a barnburner. And in his last fightā¦ Bashed up that insufferable cretin Tony Kelley in a round and flipped him the double middle fingers. Loved that. Iām not sure how far Yanez can go. Heās in a deep division being a Bantamweight and heās already had a couple of shaky moments. The first round of the Costa fight was probably the most worrying so far, especially given how crap Costa has gone on to be. But I like Yanez. Definitely one of the best finds off DWCS for me. Such an exciting little fighter to watch. And I have a really good feeling about this matchup in particular. Both of them love to mix it up on the feet and theyāve both shown themselves to have very solid boxing for MMA. Itās the toughest test for Yanez yet on paper. Fontās had his setbacks but heās mixed with some of the best and heās got the experience. Heās also got a good and pretty effective jab on him and Yanez was having fits with Costaās in their fight so this could be a tricky one for him if he hasnāt tightened up in that area. Canāt wait for this. Fontās gonna be coming in with a point to prove and looking to redeem himself and Yanez is finally getting that PPV spotlight and trying to put himself on the map. Great fight. Couldāve easily headlined a Fight Night on its own and Iād have been quite happy with it. Ā Kevin Holland vs Santiago Ponzinibbio is another fun, fan friendly matchup on a card full of them. Canāt really go wrong with this. Holland is coming off a couple of losses but the Chimaev mauling was a last minute switch up and, frankly, was always a nightmare matchup for him anyway. And his last fight against Wonderboy in December was fantastic. He lost the decision that night but it didnāt feel like he actually lost anything, if you know what I mean. I think a few of us were kind of expecting a bit of a weird and boring fight just based on the clash of styles but they went 5 rounds and it was awesome stuff. Surely a Top 5 in the FOTY convo. Hollandās had a proper hot and cold UFC run though. He had that brilliant 2020 when he went 5-0 with 4 finishes and stopped Jacare. But itās been up and down since. His lack of wrestling got exposed in the losses to Brunson and Vettori and everyone kind of has the playbook on him now. Still plenty of fun fights to make with him though, if matched up against the right style, and this is one of them. Ponzinibbio isnāt gonna be shooting double legs. You know roughly how this is gonna look. Ponz just comes out and throws with bad intentions every time. It paid off for him in December when he scored a late knockout over Alex Morono. I didnāt think he looked too clever before that though and Iāve had a feeling heās on the decline for a bit. Heās still obviously dangerous and Holland canāt afford to take him lightly but I think Holland should probably be winning at this stage in both their careers. Ā Raul Rosas Jr vs Christian Rodriguez is currently slated to kick off the PPV. You know the score here. The UFC brass are high on Rosas and theyāre positioning him to become a future star. The youngest fighter to ever compete in the UFC. He only just turned 18 in October! Some of us on here have been watching MMA longer than this ladās been alive! Makes me feel like a right grandad. He earned his UFC contract by winning a fight on DWCS in September and he looked quite impressive from the clips I saw at the time. Made his UFC debut in December andā¦ Submitted Jay Perrin with ease in under 3 minutes. I thought he looked very promising but itās obviously still very early days. Heās got a long, long way to go. But for an 18 year old kid, he looked good. Imagine being thrown out there on the big stage at just 18? He looked very composed and relaxed in there all things considered. And Perrin was being a bit of a prick going in so it made Rosas schooling him all the more enjoyable. Heās 7-0 now with 5 submissions. So far, so good but I hope they take it slow with him. Thereās enough bodies on the roster that thereās really no need to rush him at 18. Rodriguez is a step up from Perrin. Doesnāt seem like a world beater but I havenāt seen enough of him to properly rate him. Heās 8-1 with the only loss being a decision against Jonathan Pearce. He bounced back with a quick anaconda choke finish over Josh Weems in October. Interesting one. Youād think theyād be trying to give Rosas a couple of gimmes but this actually sounds like an evenly matched fight and a legitimate test. Ā Kelvin Gastelum vs Chris Curtis is a decent fight. Just really not sure about Gastelum anymore. He was supposed to headline against Nassourdine Imavov in January but pulled out. I wasnāt heartbroken about it, to be honest. Gastelumās lost 5 of his last 6 fights. At this point he has no business main eventing cards. If anything he needs scaling back a bit. I kind of feel bad even saying that because you have to respect his willingness to fight absolutely any fucker the company throws at him. Seriously look at his record and the list of names heās fought between 170-185lbs. Adesanya, Whittaker, Woodley, Bisping, Belfort, Jacare, Weidman, Hendricks, Magny, Till, Hermansson, Cannonier etc. Heās put a bastard shift in over the years! Crazy to think heās still only 31 years old. Heās got the resume of a grizzled veteran. But I really think that FOTY war with Adesanya in 2019 was the turning point. He hasnāt been right since. To put things in perspective, over the last 4 years Gastelum is the only guy Darren Till has been able to beat. That loss is ageing worse with every sloppy Till showing since. Considering he went life and death with Izzy not that long ago and gave him hell, the drop off in form has been very noticeable. Itās weird, Curtis is the older man at 35 and heās had more fights. But he doesnāt look anywhere near as shopworn and battered as Gastelum. Heās 30-9 and has won 9 of his last 10 fights. He got to the UFC relatively late but heās beat Phil Hawes, Brendan Allen, Rodolfo Vieira and Joaquin Buckley since signing. Some good wins there. Based on recent form, youāve almost got to favour Curtis here. Gastelumās obviously mixed at a higher level but at what cost? Heās looked bollocksed for a few years now and him and Curtis are on completely opposite career trajectories. Yeah, Iāve got Curtis. My confidence in Gastelum is shot to bits at this point. Ā Michelle Waterson vs Luana Pinheiro is just there. Love Waterson. For obvious reasons plus she did have some fun fights years ago, especially towards the end of her Invicta run. But that was at Atomweight. She hasnāt quite been as effective in the UFC as a Strawweight. Sheās 37 years old now and coming off a couple of losses. Itās winding down and, to be honest, has been for a few years now. Canāt see her fighting too much longer. In fairness, her recent losses have been at a decent-high level but thatās kind of the point. The fact she keeps losing when she steps in with these higher ranked opponents just confirms she canāt hang at that level. š Should be a clause in the contracts for her fights prohibiting the opponent from hitting that face. Like Shawn Michaels vs The Model from SummerSlam 92. But for a while it seemed like she instead had a clause put in that her fights had to headline no matter what. There was a bit of the Holly Holms about it with the constant unwarranted main events but hopefully theyāve seen sense now. This is a clear step down in opposition. Watersonās last 2 fights were against Marina Rodriguez who was on the cusp of title contention at the time, and Amanda Lemos whoās probably next for a shot at Zhangās gold. Pinheiro is a significant drop in levels and a much needed one. Sheās 10-1 with 7 finishes but really hasnāt looked very impressive so far in the UFC. Maybe she just hasnāt shown her best yet but I donāt rate her. Waterson clearly has no business being in with top contenders at this stage in her career but this fight should tell us if sheās even further gone than that. If she loses at this level, at 37, I canāt see her bouncing back. Sheās in Miesha Tate territory then. Ā Gerald Meerschaert vs Joe Pyfer. Our boyās back. And once again, theyāre trying to feed him to one of their shiny new prospects. They do this quite a lot with Gerald donāt they? They sacrificed him to Khamzat Chimaev and we know how that one ended. They tried to do the same throwing him in with Makhmud Muradov but that one backfired and Gerald strangled him. And even last time they gave him Bruno Silva, whoād just taken Alex Pereira the distance, and Gez subbed him as well! When are they gonna learn? What a lad. Not only does he seem like a top bloke, thereās something really satisfying about watching this guy who the promotion probably just see as a journeyman, they keep giving him these beasts they want to build up and he hands them a loss. Yeah, it never went that way against Chimaev but I absolutely believe the matchmakers thought heād be cannon fodder for Muradov and to a lesser extent Silva. He wasnāt having it. Heās got a 35-15 record now with 33 finishes, 27 of them by submission! Heās ace. Like I said though, Pyferās the one who the guys in suits in the back want winning this. Heās 26 years old, 10-2 with 9 finishes and is a product of DWCS. He made his UFC debut in September and bullied, battered and finished Alen Amedovski in the first round. It was a total showcase for Pyfer but, I said at the time, I think it was always designed to be that way. Amedovski was coming off 3 consecutive losses and had been finished quick in his last 2. They knew what they were doing and that was setting Pyfer up with a squash match for his debut. Nothing wrong with that but Iām not sold on the hype based off a win like that. He looks dangerous and heās aggressive and all that. But Meerschaert is a huge step up for him. Heās no Amedovski and he should be able to ask some questions of Pyfer here. Good stuff. Ā Cynthia Calvillo vs Loopy GodinezĀ isnāt doing much for me. Itās alright but Iām not that fussed. I like Loopy though so Iām hoping she can get back in the win column here. Sheās shown flashes of legit potential but just hasnāt quite been able to string together a real run of consistency. Sheās 8-3 now, former LFA champ and has looked a bit of a handful at times. Her dominance in the Carnelossi fight last year really had me believing she could be a force at Strawweight but then she lost to Angela Hill next time out and that kind of sums her up. No consistency. If she shows up in good form for this one, I think she beats Calvillo comfortably. Calvillo actually didnāt get off to the worst of starts in the UFC but thatās fizzled out big time now. Sheās coming into this fight off 4 straight losses and, at 35 years old, itās doubtful she can pull it back now. Loopy has no business losing this one, in my opinion, but weāll see. Ā Ignacio Bahamondes vs Trey Ogden is a pairing thrown together out of the rubble of two scrapped fights. Bahamondes was all set to fight Nikolas Motta on this card but Motta suffered a nasty cut in training and had to withdraw. And Ogden was supposed to fight Manuel Torres on the Chito vs Sandhagen card in late March but Torres dropped out. And here we are. When Motta pulled out he wanted to reschedule the Bahamondes fight in a few weeks but Iām glad theyāve kept him on this card. Heās been on the sidelines long enough. Really looking forward to seeing him back in there. If you donāt remember him, heās the guy who did this to Roosevelt Roberts a couple of fights agoā¦ One of the best knockouts in UFC history for me easy. Proper Barboza vs Etim shit. It wasnāt just this that got my attention though. Even before that, Bahamondes had an absolute belter in his UFC debut against John Makdessi. A real forgotten/hidden gem. He lost by split decision but instantly made a fan out of me. So seeing him bust out a spectacular KO like that in his next fight was cool. He followed that up with a sweet brabo choke submission over Rong Zhu in February last year as well. Heās been on the shelf since then though, so any momentum heād built up off those two finishes has evaporated. Heās still only 25, heās got some time, but hopefully he can stay healthy now and make up for some of that lost time. Not sure how far he can go, especially in a division like 155, but at the very least you can tell heās gonna be one of those fighters whoās always exciting to watch. Can never have enough of them. Ogdenās 33 with a record of 16-5, 11 by submission. Lost a split decision in his UFC debut against Jordan Leavitt but beat Daniel Zellhuber on points in September. Hoping Bahamondes returns in style here. Ā Steve Garcia vs Shayilan Nuerdanbieke is an OK fight for a prelim. Neither are anything special but it could be an entertaining enough little fight. I mostly remember Garcia as the guy who got knocked out and faceplanted by that Maheshate fella on the Singapore PPV last year. But looking at his record, thatās a bit unfair. Donāt get me wrong, heās never gonna amount to much but I actually remember enjoying his fight with Charlie Ontiveros, which Garcia won by TKO. And in his most recent fight he gave poor Chase Hooper a right hiding. As for Shayilan, heās been a busy boy. Only 28 years old but heās already amassed a record of 39-10. Heās done alright so far in the UFC, going 3-1, but hasnāt blown me away. The most notable thing about him so far was his quick finish against Darrick Minner last time out, which was the fight which triggered the whole James Krause match fixing investigation and fiasco. I donāt think Shayilan had anything to do with it himself but itās the first thing I associate him with now unfortunately. Ā Sam Hughes vs Jaqueline Amorim. Donāt know. Itās pure filler and Fight Pass curtain jerk fodder but might be worth checking out for Amorimās UFC debut. Hughes is 7-5 now, sheās been on the UFC roster since 2020. I actually remember seeing some positive comments about her when she signed but safe to say it hasnāt worked out. Sheās coming into this fight off a points loss against Piera Rodriguez in October. This feels very much like a fight designed to showcase Amorim. Sheās Brazilian, 27 years old, undefeatedĀ at 6-0 with 6 first round finishes and just became LFAās Strawweight champion in her last fight in September. Iāll give it a bash. Ā Welcome to Miami šļø Edited April 9, 2023 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted March 20, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted March 20, 2023 Interesting bits of trivia: Luana Pinheiro is the first UFC woman fighter to be paid in Bitcoin (couldn't find out who the first male one was) - she was apparently advised to do so by her partner, Matheus Nicolau. Interesting they're putting up Garcia against Nuerdanbieke - did they look at his fight with Maheshate and think "Let's make him the go-to opponent for the northern Chinese guys we get in"? Maybe they'll have him fight Aori Qileng afterwards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted March 26, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 26, 2023 (edited) Nikolas Motta is out of the fight with Ignacio Bahamondes. Suffered a nasty cut in training. Gutted because I was really looking forward to seeing Bahamondes again but itās totally understandable when you see Mottaās cut.Ā Look at this shitā¦ He wants the fight pushed back a few weeks and rescheduled but Iām kind of hoping they just find a replacement and keep Bahamondes on this card. Iām not convinced 3 weeks is gonna be enough for a wound like that anyway. And the placement of the cut being right above they eye doesnāt help.Ā Edited March 26, 2023 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted March 27, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 27, 2023 Pereira doing some work with Chuck Liddell. Thought this was proper random until I remembered theyāre both close with Glover Teixeira. That wouldāve been some stable if theyād all been in their prime at the same time.Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted March 27, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted March 27, 2023 The Leech is out of the Chiesa fight š Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted April 2, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 2, 2023 Chris Barnett is out š But on the plus side, this is less than a week away now! Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted April 5, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted April 5, 2023 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted April 5, 2023 Share Posted April 5, 2023 I see Pereira is the underdog. Which is kinda crazy considering he's now beaten Adesanya three times in two different sports. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted April 5, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted April 5, 2023 I think it's probably down to the thinking that Izzy just needs to avoid that big shot to win. I was surprised when I saw the line though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted April 5, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted April 5, 2023 fantastic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted April 5, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 5, 2023 Just coming in to post that šĀ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted April 6, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted April 6, 2023 The UFC are using new gloves this weekend to try and minimize the eye poking, cant believe its taken this long: Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfogg1991 Posted April 6, 2023 Share Posted April 6, 2023 This co main is my main event however I'm now getting so nervous about masvidal after everything over his last few fights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted April 6, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 6, 2023 I think Masvidalās getting spanked on Saturday. Iāve thought Burns beats him since the fight was announced and Iāve felt like Masvidalās heart isnāt fully in fighting anymore for longer than that. Then this week heās been saying if he loses this fight itāll probably be his last, which just further cements my opinion that heās got a foot out the door already. I donāt think this ends well for him. When it comes down to it and the cage door closes, Jorge will scrap. And I think Burns will be up for that so Jorge has a bit of a chance. But I just donāt see him having much luck. Purely on skills I think Burns can beat him anywhere anyway but he also seems to be mentally laser focused and committed to MMA at the moment in a way Jorge isnāt. Burns lost his title shot against Usman and jumped back in against Wonderboy, a tricky rebound fight that I donāt think many wouldāve taken. Heās still the only top contender at 170 whoās not only been willing to step in against Khamzat Chimaev, he gave him his hardest fight yet. He just pissed through Magny. Heāll probably fight Shavkat or something after this. Heās called out Colby, Edwards, the lot. Heās trying to fight everyone. Meanwhile Jorge has been piss-arsing about avoiding fighting for a year, waiting for an appealing or favourable matchup or another unwarranted title shot to drop in his lap. It tells you where both their heads are at currently. Burns is balls deep in this stuff. Whereas I get the impression Jorge is hanging around solely because Leon is the champ now and thereās a chance he can piggyback his way into a title fight off their history. 13 hours ago, Egg Shen said: The UFC are using new gloves this weekend to try and minimize the eye poking, cant believe its taken this long Great. Canāt wait for Rogan to bang on about that every minute of every fight, all night.Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfogg1991 Posted April 7, 2023 Share Posted April 7, 2023 Just watched the pre fight press conference and Jesus christ Dana was really fucking on one man. Completely closing down the media asking what I believe are genuine and relevant questions, we have seen pissy dana before but it shouldn't be up to him to be so dismissive and angry at questions at a press conference it should be down to the fighters to shut them down if necessaryĀ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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