UFC 290: Volkanovski vs Rodriguez - Jul 8 🇺🇸

[Bruce85]

2 hours ago, Marshmallo said:

Best card of the year so far by quite a distance. From the first prelim to the main event it was non-stop violence. So many of the UFC cards these days seem like faceless filler but this one was full of meaningful stuff that will impact their divisions.

The build up to Adesanya vs De Plessis has the potential to plumb new depths unfortunately. That went to some dark places in the cage immediately after the fight, never mind what can happen in the next few months. It could make McGregor in the build-up to Khabib look like the height of sportsmanship.

Yeah the Izzy/DDP face off was pretty dreadful! God knows what levels that might sink to in the coming months! 
 

Thought DDP looked good, has an awkward sloppy kinda style but seems to be working. 

[David]

Just now, Bruce85 said:

Yeah the Izzy/DDP face off was pretty dreadful! God knows what levels that might sink to in the coming months! 

It appears that the level it dips to will be entirely down to how Adesanya decides to play it, he's the one making an arse of himself. It's mental, because he's clearly a very good fighter and was a seemingly cool guy, but he's losing a lot of fans of late. His antics after knocking out Pereira and how he reacted to his son, and now his antics last night? I heard reports that he was drunk, but still. 

Du Plessis has opened some eyes this weekend, including mine. Fucking hell, he handled Whitaker as if he was a nobody. That was mental. 

[Panhead]

Big fan of DDP. 

What a show. Fucking hell. The audacity of Robbie Lawler to retire like that! 

[sirdobbo89]

Tremendous card. 

The Robbie Lawler victory and subsequent playing of the tribute video while he stood watching in the Octagon was absolutely wonderful. I can't think of another fighter that's announced ahead of time it's their final fight and had that flawless a performance. I really hope he stays retired because it was perfect and the guy deserves it. MMA feel good moment of the year. 

[David]

Just now, sirdobbo89 said:

The Robbie Lawler victory and subsequent playing of the tribute video while he stood watching in the Octagon was absolutely wonderful.

Agreed. For once the UFC got it absolutely right. They booked him to face someone who wasn't just gonna bulldoze him and make him look like shit, and they handled the post-fight with a lot of class.

[Egg Shen]

What a show 

[wandshogun09]

Sorry this’ll be a long post…

I think this was my favourite UFC card of all time. Maybe I’m getting carried away because it’s so fresh in the memory but Jesus Christ I’m struggling to remember a card I’ve enjoyed start to finish more than this. It really had a bit of everything. Great performances, a genuine FOTY contender, a couple of surprise results, a load of crazy finishes, one of the best moments and retirements of all time and it set up two big title fights. Gonna be hard to top this one for me.

Volkanovski is just too good, isn’t he? Like I said yesterday, I was starting to see more and more people predicting Yair was gonna pull off the upset as the fight got close but I think it was mostly people just wanting to act like a genius if it actually happened. I never bought into it myself. I felt like it would look similar to Volk’s destruction of the Korean Zombie last year and it did remind me of that fight.

Just a different class. The only way Yair had any real chance to win this was to just land the perfect strike out of nowhere. Something Volk wouldn’t see coming. The problem was, Volk is so good he seems to see everything coming and makes adjustments on the fly so by the time you get where you want to be, Volk’s already somewhere else or he’s switched stance and he’s hitting you from an angle you didn’t expect. The only thing Yair really had going for him, the only thing you thought might make it a bit interesting, was that he’s got a unique style and isn’t exactly predictable. But Volk just made him look very ordinary here. Felt like Volk was just playing with him until the third round where he got tired of that and decided playtime was over.

This has got to be next, hasn’t it? Looking at the rankings, the only names in the Top 5 that Volk hasn’t beat are Arnold Allen and Ilia Topuria. And Allen’s just lost to Max Holloway. It’s a no brainer. Assuming Volk isn’t planning on taking another fight at 155 now or something. If he’s defending the 145 belt again next then it has to be Topuria. And what a fight that will be. I’m still favouring Volk of course, but Topuria’s been the most impressive rising contender in the division and I’d be well up for that fight. I’d pick Volk but I’d give Topuria a better shot than everyone Volk’s defended against not named Max Holloway. Aljamain Sterling is another one. Seen some quotes from both Volk and Aljo this week on a potential fight between them. It’s inevitable with Aljo reportedly moving up to 145 after this upcoming O’Malley fight. I think that’s more one for 2024 though.

Pantoja vs Moreno 2 was a fucking incredible fight. Easily FOTN and for me it’s right up there for FOTY. I’d have to rewatch Makhachev vs Volkanovski but this actually might’ve pipped it for me now. What a fight.

It was a close one. A fight I’ll have to rewatch and score properly at some point. But I did have Pantoja winning on the first watch. Think I had him taking rounds 1, 3 and 5. There might be a case for Moreno winning one of those rounds so I wouldn’t have been outraged if Moreno got the decision either. Felt like 48-47 either way would’ve been fine. Not so sure about the 49-46 card but whatever. Felt like Rogan was all up Moreno’s crack for much of the commentary as well. Such a great fight regardless.

Already seen Dana’s on about doing a rematch. Fuck me. Why? As fantastic as this fight was and as much as I wouldn’t be against seeing it again somewhere down the road, even with Pantoja up 2-0 now (3-0 if you count TUF), these endless rematches are done to death now. The Flyweight division especially has become Groundhog Day when it comes to the title picture. We’ve just come out of a 4 fight Moreno vs Figgy series, now they wanna run this one back as well? Flyweight’s got some really great talent as well. Give someone else a look in, for fuck’s sake. Felt bad for Pantoja in the post-fight. A truly special moment for him and his family and the crowd is booing? Fuck that. It wasn’t a robbery at all and even if it was, that’s not Pantoja’s fault. Fuck them Vegas freaks.

Dricus Du Plessis bashing up Robert Whittaker was not how I expected that fight to go at all. I genuinely thought this was a lock for Bobby Knuckles. Outside of the main event, I thought this was the easiest fight to predict on the card. Biggest shocker of the night for me by far.

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t like I thought DDP was a bum or anything. Far from it. But I definitely thought this was a step too far for him. Based on the previous fights we’ve seen out of him in the UFC, as fun as they were to watch, I just thought he was way too reckless, wild and susceptible to gassing for Whittaker to not outclass. Up until now, anyone we’ve seen Whittaker come up against other than the champ, he’s beaten them in style. I don’t know what it is about DDP. I watch him and I think the way he fights shouldn’t work at a high level. He’s like a walking meme fighter. But he makes it work for him time and time again. And now stopping Robert Whittaker, it’s time to finally start giving him his proper due. You beat Whittaker, however you do it, you’re one of the best in the world. But to put him away like that? Very impressive. It wasn’t even like he looked wild and reckless in this one either.

This is gonna get ugly. It already has been. The bad blood has been bubbling away for a while now between these two. Seeing a lot of people talking about Adesanya carrying on like a dick last night and they’re right. I’ve been souring on Izzy for a while now and I cringed like fuck watching him in there last night. At the same time though, didn’t DDP kind of start all the hostility early in his UFC run when he said he’d be the ‘first REAL African UFC champion’ or something? He tried to say after that he just meant that he actually lives and trains in Africa whereas Adesanya, Usman, Ngannou etc moved elsewhere but still claim and rep Africa. It felt dodgy though. Why create that division? As soon as he started with that he must’ve known it was gonna open the doors to bring race into it. On the flipside, Adesanya repeatedly saying the N word in DDP’s face felt uncomfortable as well. It’s just an ugly and unnecessary way to go. I’m looking forward to the fight itself but I’m already dreading the buildup. Still, it could’ve been worse. If Whittaker won then there’s a good chance we’d have had fucking Strickland challenging Izzy next 🤢

UFC 293 in September is gonna be in Sydney. Surely the plan now is to have a double header of Adesanya vs Du Plessis and Volkanovski vs Topuria? Just seems to make all the sense in the world coming off this show. Only thing that could mess that up is it’d be a quick turnaround for Volk and DDP to get back out there in September. Especially with Volk mentioning surgery on his arm. But it’d be quite a one-two for that Sydney PPV if they can make it happen. 

Dan Hooker vs Jalin Turner was some scrap. Would’ve got FOTN on almost any other night but unfortunately for them Pantoja and Moreno snatched it away from them. This was a corker though. It was the fight I was overlooking the most on the main card. I thought it would be at least ‘good’ but I didn’t have a particularly strong opinion on it and, to be honest, I had it in my head that Hooker was damaged goods and Jalin was gonna make a bit of a highlight reel out of this one. Well he certainly tried.

How Hooker ate that headkick and not only fought on but won the decision is nuts to me. Apparently he broke his arm in the first round as well. I was thinking Hooker’s durability was starting to fade but this shows what I know. Still tough as fuck. Not sure about the new look though. The bleached hair and all the tattoos. Looked like an albino Charles Oliveira. Brilliant fight. Seen some calling it a robbery. You can set your watch to it. Especially whenever a fight gets announced as a split decision. I had no issue with Hooker getting the nod here though.

Bo Nickal kicked off the main card with a bang. Literally. Felt bad for Val Woodburn. He rolled the dice, stepped in on very short notice against one of the biggest prospects in the sport. And…

It blew up in his face. 38 seconds is all it took. Seen people losing their shit over this on Twitter and it was a hell of a finish. But you’ve got to put this in perspective. This was a win over a late replacement and a smaller man. Bo did what he had to do. He could only fight who turned up and he got him out of there in a way a top prospect should. He might be every bit as special as he’s being made out to be. But wins like this don’t prove that. It remains to be seen. Not gonna knock it though. It’s early days for Bo as well. I wanna see him in the tougher tests but there’s no need to rush him either. It’ll be interesting to see who he gets next. Woodburn should hopefully get another chance as well for stepping up the way he did.

What a sendoff for Robbie Lawler! If I was scripting it for a movie I don’t think I could’ve done it any better. Proper feel good ending for him. Someone on here asked why they put Robbie in the Hall Of Fame during fight week and it did seem a bit odd. But with the benefit of hindsight, the way it all played out I’m glad they did. Just made the whole thing feel more special. What a week it must’ve been for him. I think everyone was anticipating a wild, back and forth slugfest between him and Niko Price and I was pretty much 50/50 on who I expected to win. I stayed up live for it, which is rare for me these days. I wasn’t gonna miss seeing Lawler’s last fight live. But my arse was twitching as the fight was about to start. Most nervous I’ve felt for a while watching MMA.

Ruthless Rob put us all out of our misery early. A 38 second KO! Beautiful stuff. It was a vintage Lawler finish but he didn’t have to walk through fire to get there. Absolute best case scenario. And then the post-fight bit, the interview and them playing that montage with the little Picture-in-Picture thing getting Lawler’s reaction 😢 I don’t think they’ve ever done a retirement quite like it before but it was so fitting here. I really, really, really hope this retirement sticks. And I mean all combat sports. I don’t wanna see Robbie chasing a Jake Paul fight or going to BKFC or anywhere else. He’ll never get a better sendoff than this. He does sound like he’s content and at peace with his decision to call it a day though. So few fighters get to walk away on their terms and on a great win like this. And Robbie Lawler is such a ‘live by the sword’ type fighter that I always assumed he’d be one who goes out in a sad way. The way this whole thing played out made me so happy. If this doesn’t go down as the best MMA moment of 2023 then there’s something really special to come. Even on a show as great as this, with all the talking points coming out of it, this stole the show for me easy. One of my top 5 favourite fighters ever and he goes out like that?! Perfection.

Tatsuro Taira keeps the undefeated record alive and put on a grappling clinic. I quite liked what we saw from Edgar Chairez though. He was clearly outmatched on the ground and had no real answers for most of Taira’s grappling. But he performed very well considering he took the fight on short notice. Every time they were on the feet he looked sharp and dangerous, he just couldn’t keep it there. It didn’t help that he kept dropping back for failed guillotines either, making Taira’s job easier. Still though, even there Chairez looked like he had that guillotine on pretty fucking tight right at the end of the fight. Good experience builder for Taira. Looking forward to seeing both again.

Denise Gomes blitzing Yazmin Jauregui in 20 seconds was the second big shocker of the night for me.

Fuck me. Wasn’t as shocking as DDP stopping Whittaker but I never saw this one coming. I knew Gomes was dangerous and had heavy hands. She showed that in her last fight. But I had Jauregui down as one of the best female prospects in the game and thought she was a class above Gomes here. It’s one of those things where I still think she’s the more skilled striker but Gomes has that power and she made it count big time. As talented and exciting to watch as Jauregui had been, one thing about her was that she always looked hittable and always seemed more than willing to get into a firefight. Gomes capitalised on that quick! Finish was vicious as well. Jauregui can usually take a shot and recover but not that many clean, hard, accurate punches. Every one of them was right on the chin as well.

Menifield vs Crute 2 was alright. I find these two quite hit and miss but, I don’t know, against each other they seem to just gel for a more enjoyable fight. I recall the first fight in February being a bit of a pleasant surprise but it ended in a draw because Menifield grabbed the fence and got a point deducted. No controversy this time though…

Think they called it a sub via guillotine but it looked like more of a neck crank than anything. Nasty angle on it. Crute looked like he was ready to retire after. He was taking the gloves off immediately, as soon as it was over. I don’t know if his corner talked him out of it or what but to be thinking like that at 27 years old, I just don’t think his heart is in it.

Vitor Petrino basically bullying Marcin Prachnio around and then strangling him made me happy.

Nothing against Prachnio personally, I’m sure he’s a nice enough guy, but he’s one of those fighters on the roster who just offers fuck all. He’s been around donkeys years and if his fights aren’t awful then they’re just instantly forgettable. Out with the old, in with the new. Petrino is a tank. Improves to 9-0 and gets his first sub. Feels like it’s only a matter of time before USADA get him though. He looks ridiculous. WWF Hasbro figure looking sod.

Cameron Saaiman continues to look very promising. Only 22 and there’s a long way to go, he’s far from the finished article but already he looks like one to watch. Just squashed Terrence Mitchell here, ground and pound TKO inside a round. Can’t fault it. Although it’s a shame the original matchup with Christian Rodriguez fell through. I think that would’ve been a much stiffer test. Hopefully they can rebook that one now. Think I saw Rodriguez tweet that he’s just got medical clearance so I don’t see why they can’t just reschedule that fight.

Jesus Christ Jesus Aguilar!

Just vaporised poor Shannon Ross with the one punch killshot in 17 seconds. The sound it made and the way Ross fell was just brutal. The first of many crazy finishes last night.

Even the Fight Pass opener, the curtain jerker Esteban Ribovics vs Kamuela Kirk, was a really fun scrap. Just a really good, competitive, action filled fight. Happy to see Ribovics win. I like him already. He had another cracking fight in his debut against Loik Radzhabov, which he lost, so it was nice to see him get his first UFC win here. He’s 1-1 in the UFC now but he’s 2 for 2 on fun fights. Probably won’t go too far but it’s just more depth at 155. Plenty of options for entertaining fights to make with him.

Yeah I think that was the best UFC show I’ve ever seen. Nothing bad on it from the opening prelim to the main event. One of those cards where everything just clicked. 

Edited July 10, 2023 by wandshogun09

[David]

Just now, wandshogun09 said:

At the same time though, didn’t DDP kind of start all the hostility early in his UFC run when he said he’d be the ‘first REAL African UFC champion’ or something?

He was asked how he feels representing South Africa in the UFC and how he'd feel being a South African UFC champion at the UFC 285 media day, and replied saying:

“Did those belts ever go to Africa? As far as I know, they came to America and New Zealand. I’m going to take a belt to Africa. I’m the African fighter in the UFC. Myself and Cameron [Saaiman], we breathe African air. We wake up in Africa every day. We train in Africa, we’re African born, we’re African raised, we still reside in Africa, we train out of Africa – that’s an African champion, and that’s who I’ll be.”

Since then it's been distorted to the extent that people think he said he is "the only" African born UFC champion if he wins, or that he's "more African" than Izzy. But he didn't. He simply made the (valid) point that he's one of a few active UFC fighters who were born, live, and train in Africa. 

One thing that's being missed in all of this is that there is an element of African fans who believe that some fighters of African descent like to use their heritage when it suits them and helps them to make themselves marketable, but in reality they spend all of their time living the good life in the US, New Zealand, France or Australia. 

Du Plessis is clearly someone who is very vocal about where he's from. He's never shied away from representing South Africa, or promoting the fight scene in his country. 

He's always been a bit of an ambassador for South African MMA.

I just don't think Adesanya liked some fans calling him out. He clearly knows that when African fans talk about fighters who use their heritage when it suits them but who spend very little time there, they're talking about guys like him. 

But just as I consider someone like Leon Edwards, who moved to the UK at the age of nine to be a British fighter, I certainly consider Du Plessis who was born and raised in South Africa by parents and grandparents born there to be African. 

What this boils down to is Izzy getting some backlash from African fans who don't like him playing the Africa card when it suits, but buggering off to his big mansion in New Zealand when the cameras aren't rolling. And he sees a somewhat easy target in whiteboy DDP to vent on. 

But, it seems he's not getting the reaction he wanted, as his chat has been shat on by most. As it should be. Talking about DNA tests and throwing language like that about. He needs to grow the fuck up.

[Egg Shen]

It's a messy one. I have no real knowledge to speak on it, but the racial divide and struggle in South Africa is well documented and this is quite clearly hitting a nerve. This is gonna be one of those buildups we're gonna have to watch through our fingers, it could up being one of the nastiest rivalries we'll ever see in the UFC. 

You just get the impression that Izzy will double down too. He'll have quotes and material prepared to fire off whenever the cameras are rolling.

[wandshogun09]

Look at this…

[David]

2 hours ago, Egg Shen said:

It's a messy one. I have no real knowledge to speak on it, but the racial divide and struggle in South Africa is well documented and this is quite clearly hitting a nerve. This is gonna be one of those buildups we're gonna have to watch through our fingers, it could up being one of the nastiest rivalries we'll ever see in the UFC. 

You just get the impression that Izzy will double down too. He'll have quotes and material prepared to fire off whenever the cameras are rolling.

I actually think it'll be fine. As you mention, South Africa is a place that has known its fair share of racial issues, and from what I've seen of Du Plessis he's all too aware of that. He seems savvy enough to not get involved, and he responded brilliantly on Saturday night. 

If anything, Adesanya will only continue to hurt his own stock if he continues down this road. He won't get a similar response from DDP, because that's just not what he does. He's not daft enough to get involved simply because when it's all over and done with he isn't buggering off to a nice house in New Zealand. He needs to live with anything he says, because he's going back to South Africa, living among and training with Africans. 

What will be interesting is seeing how this affects Izzy mentally. Because he's clearly rattled. Like I said, he leaned into his Nigerian heritage a lot, but he has seen a bit of backlash from fans in that part of the world who have sussed him out. All his talk of "bringing a UFC event to Africa" has seen responses along the lines of fans saying that the two or three weeks he'd be there promoting the event is the longest he'd ever spend in Africa etc has annoyed him.

Again, he's a cracking fighter and seems like a decent guy, but he maybe miscalculated and thought that African fans would be a bit more naive and just be happy to have someone representing them that they'd overlook the fact he doesn't actually spend time among them unless the cameras are rolling.

Not to say that those same fans see Du Plessis as their representative by any means, but the one thing they have in common with him is an actual love for their country and continent, and the fact he lives there and has no intention of leaving is a factor. Say what you will about him, and I'm sure his ancestors weren't all that pleasant (apparently his family arrived in Africa in the 1600's or something?) but that's nothing to do with him, and shouldn't be held against him. He loves his country, his gym, and his people. 

[David]

Apologies for the double post, but another moment of class from the UFC and the fighters involved...

 

[Carbomb]

Adesanya's an Andrew Tate supporter, so I'm backing DDP. 

Not gonna hold Adesanya's parents' decision against him, but leaning into his African heritage was always going to cause him problems when he came up against someone who'd spent all their life on that continent. Not heard anything about Adesanya doing anything about investing in Africa, doing events there, etc. Nothing that says he has to, but if you're going to claim the kudos, it's going to bite you in the arse publicity-wise when you don't.

I would [keegan]love it[/keegan] if DDP came to the ring with a variation of "Real American/American-Made" with some kind of "Real African" lyrics worked in. Or even just some tune by Hugh Masekela.

[David]

One thing we can be sure of, is that if Du Plessis actually beats Adesanya there will be absolute scenes in Pretoria. He's already said he's taking the belt on a tour of Africa if he wins, with the aim of promoting the martial arts lifestyle and discipline to young men and women over there.

Like I said, hopefully nothing comes of the ugly shit we saw at the weekend. The town of Hatfield where DDP lives is predominantly black African, so he likely knows all too well the shit that can come from that kind of division. 

[Bruce85]

23 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

Adesanya's an Andrew Tate supporter, so I'm backing DDP. 

 

That’s certainly not going to help his case (well, I’m sure with some of the mma fan base it will). I thought he came across really poor on Saturday and like a few others I have started to sour on him. Fully behind DDP now, if nothing else it might freshen up the division. 

Not sure what’s next for Bobby knuckles now, he’s beaten most people.