UFC 297: Strickland vs Du Plessis - Jan 20 🇨🇦

[wandshogun09]

6 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

even that wretch McGregor was known to reign it in for the odd match, and I don't think even he would have leveraged someone's death just to get "eyeballs". 

Not so fast…

Khabib’s old man wasn’t gone yet but McGregor was quick to use him being in a coma to have a dig and act like Khabib was ‘running from him’. Then when Abdulmanap actually died…

Of course, in true Conor fashion these tweets were deleted. He then put out a fake nice tweet sending his condolences, which he also later deleted when he was angry about something Khabib said or did.

Never underestimate the cuntiness of McGregor. Always humble in victory or defeat!

11 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

but the stuff about Lipp and Colares was bang out of order, and he should've been made to apologise for that. I'm not surprised that execrable turd White didn't do anything though - as long as it doesn't cost him money, he doesn't really care.

Yeah, they at least used to try to portray the appearance of giving a shit about stuff like this. Think it was Miguel Torres who got sacked or suspended or something for making a rape joke on Twitter way back in the day. Probably a couple of other examples were guys were fined and stuff as well. These days though, zero fucks given.

On Strickland though, I just think it’s funny how his whole thing is about free speech and people should be allowed to say what they want. Until it upsets him then he whinges incessantly about it. The dweeb. 

[David]

12 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

This comes up every time and, while you’re not wrong, I feel like that kind of talk is a bit of a cop-out. Nobody’s saying they’re watching MMA specifically looking for intelligent, PC personalities. But when someone’s saying rancid shit like we’re seeing more and more of lately, it should be met with backlash and negativity. It shouldn’t just be waved off as ‘what do you expect, he/she is a MMA fighter’. What’s the alternative? Twats like Strickland can just keep talking shit about wives and dead people and spewing hateful crap and nobody even says anything?

The funny thing is, and going against my own argument, if everyone did do that, Strickland would probably eventually pipe down a bit because he’s not getting the reaction he wants. My main point was to highlight what an absolute pathetic manchild Strickland has came off as for throwing a tantrum because DDP was mean and nasty to him. After all the vile shit he’s dished out.

Yeah, no one is saying it shouldn't be met with backlash and negativity, but it isn't. It never has been. For any kind of backlash to have an effect it either has to come from the people who run the company or a very sizeable chunk of the fanbase. That simply hasn't happened.

Part of the reason for that is because the company is run by, and the fanbase, for the most part, consists of absolute reprobates. But...it's grown men (and women) punching each other in the face inside a cage for public pleasure and betting enjoyment. This kind of thing will attract those types of people. 

17 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

Nah fuck him. If anyone clouds that it’s Strickland himself. If there’s a reason why, on the fight week of his first title defence, no-one’s really talking about his fighting skills it’s because all the other bullshit that surrounds him overshadows it. And that’s his own doing. Nobody on here says he’s a bad fighter. I dislike him as much, if not more than anyone on here and, even as much as I loathe him, I’ve praised his performance against Izzy way more than I wanted to in the opening post. Credit where it’s due. But if he’s gonna spew horrible shit like he does, it’s gonna get talked about. It’s almost sad really that here’s a guy coming off an amazing underdog win where he became champion against the odds, and he’s such a desperate edgelord loser that the focus is on his silly bollocks rants. 

Your free to think that way, of course, but none of that changes what I said about what he can do when the cage door closes and it's time for business. 

Personally, I've tried to avoid all the build-up for this event. And most events of late, actually. And I'll sure as hell be avoiding the build if and when we see Adesanya face DDP. That shit will be ugly. I don't need to be sold on an event. I'm going to watch most title fights and main event segments of most cards if I have time. 

I've reached the point where I couldn't give two shits what Strickland says in interviews or at press conferences. I can't change what he says, and my being upset by it won't change anything. So I don't let it register. I'll watch the event tomorrow night, and enjoy two very good MMA fighters duke it out.

13 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

I'm fairly sure that, in any other sport, a competitor would be released for some of the stuff he's said, on the basis of bringing the sport into disrepute. I don't mean the political stuff - much as I think that makes them horrendous cunts, they should still be free to voice their opinions, much as I'm free to dismiss them as drivel - but the stuff about Lipp and Colares was bang out of order, and he should've been made to apologise for that. I'm not surprised that execrable turd White didn't do anything though - as long as it doesn't cost him money, he doesn't really care.

Would an apology from Strickland really make any difference? We all know it wouldn't be sincere. He believes what he believes, and he's not afraid to voice it. 

[wandshogun09]

6 minutes ago, David said:

Yeah, no one is saying it shouldn't be met with backlash and negativity, but it isn't. It never has been. For any kind of backlash to have an effect it either has to come from the people who run the company or a very sizeable chunk of the fanbase. That simply hasn't happened.

Yeah I’m not saying there’s enough backlash to make a difference because, at the end of the day, Dana doesn’t care so there’ll be no repercussions. But I’ve seen plenty of negativity on social media in response to his latest outburst. Granted, nothing will be done about it but it doesn’t mean people should just accept it and not voice their disgust either.

You’re definitely onto something with avoiding pre-fight shit though. I did the same a long time ago with McGregor fights. Just got no interest in anything he’s got to say whatsoever these days. Of course, McGregor being McGregor, it’s almost impossible to avoid everything but I definitely found myself consciously skipping his interviews and media shit. I’ve actually mostly done the same with Strickland anyway but saw a couple of bits and pieces this week after it was all over the place. 

It’s a shame really, following the build up to big fights used to be almost as fun as the fights themselves. I’ve found myself increasingly pulling back from all that more and more over the last few years though. Not even just talking about the McGregor, Covington, Strickland type stuff either. I genuinely couldn’t tell you the last Countdown I watched, I barely check for Embedded these days and I only watch the odd press conference or interview. Skipped this one, again, because I’ve got no interest in what Strickland’s got to say. But still ended up catching snippets through other stuff I watched. When I actually think about the content I watch these days, it’s so much less than I used to. It’s literally short clips on Twitter or something, maybe the weigh in and that’s it. It’s almost exclusively just the actual fights themselves now. I love the actual sport as much as ever. But I could do without a lot of the bullshit that comes along with it. I guess it’s a sign that, at 38, maybe I’m finally growing up a bit 😂 

[Carbomb]

I'd forgotten what McGregor said about Abdulmanap. What a cunt.

[wandshogun09]

Let’s move on from all this negative talk. Polyana fight day thread cleanse. 

[wandshogun09]

Sorry for the double post but here’s your fancy card graphic and start times…

Yeah, Bret’s face sums up my thoughts really. Not much of a card. The Strickland shite hasn’t done anything to make me more excited about it either. But it’ll do, I guess, until we get to the real good stuff with 298, 299 and 300. 

Still a couple of fights I’m into on this card, to be fair. Allen vs Evloev being the pick of the bunch but the Sidey vs Taveras rematch and Jourdain vs Woodson could be a sleepers as well. Curtis vs Barriault should be enjoyable enough. And even the fights that aren’t particularly grabbing me, I’m slightly more invested than I thought I’d be in some of them. Women’s title fight is the dregs but Mayra Bueno Silva has made a bit of a fan of me recently. Mildly interested to see if Malott can pass the Magny test. Hoping Brad Katona and Polyana Viana get wins. 

Oh and oddly, a fight I never really gave 2 shites about originally has pulled me in. Priscila Cachoeira has done it again. Couldn’t make 125 for her scheduled Flyweight fight against Jasmine Jasudavicius so now it’s at 135. Just another example of her unprofessionalism. 

I’d have been rooting for Double J anyway because Cachoeira is toilet. But now I’m really hoping she chins her and finally sends her packing from the UFC. Why they haven’t already binned Cachoeira I don’t know. She’s 4-5 in the UFC, missed weight against Gillian Robertson then blatantly tried to gouge her eyes out more than once, then in her last fight she was pulling at Miranda Maverick’s top. She’s got to be the most unashamedly dirty fighter on the roster. And she’s not even good. 

[WeeAl]

I'm not feeling this one guys. It doesn't have the depth of a lot of the PPV's around it in the calendar but it also doesn't have the top end either. I couldn't give a fiddler's about either of those title fights. Sean Strickland, try as he might outside the cage and for as incredibly unexpected and deserved as that victory over Israel Adesanya was - is a colossal dullard. He feels like the UFC's equivalent of when WWE put the title on The Miz, Jinder Mahal or Jack Swagger. "I guess it's not as good as it used to be then". 

The supporting fights on the main card range from not bad to very good, which is a positive, but I think only one of them, Allen Vs Evloev, matters a fuck as regards what's happening next in the division. That looks great on paper and I'd be surprised if it wasn't at least the best fight on the main card. 

[Dai]

Brets face says it all when Magny and Pennington (in a five rounder no less) at in the top half of a PPV. My main prediction from this one is that we will be calling that Pennington fight an early contender for worst fight of the year.

Unlike Al, I am actually looking foward to the main event. DDP is always must see, so am looking foward to him (hopefully) decking Strickland.

[wandshogun09]

Gone with Du Plessis, Bueno Silva and Allen in the poll but it’s mostly just wishful thinking. Not confident in any of those fights really. 

[NeverYield]

Got a feeling Strickland is gonna get the W.

[Panhead]

The TNT Sports broadcast must have cut off at 6am. My recording ended in DDP's introduction. Managed to find it on YouTube but obviously had the result spoiled by searching for it. Fuckers! 

[300]

For some reason they broke the last hour into a separate show, I managed to record both.

South Africans hey!

[NeverYield]

Misread the result at first🤣I thought Strickland got it.

Edited January 21 by NeverYield

[Bruce85]

Didn’t catch the prelims but thought the main card was pretty lacklustre, the Allen fight and the main event were decent but the fights between just dragged and had little importance in the grand scheme. 
 

I’ve seen lots of shouts on twitter about robbery in the main event but I think thats just from Strickland fan boys. In my opinion it was a close fight and Strickland definitely won round 1 but I had DDP winning 3-2 (could even see it being 4-1). 

[wandshogun09]

This didn’t look like a great card going in and they didn’t exceed those low expectations. Couple of fights delivered, mostly the ones you’d expect to be good. Some disappointed and some were absolutely rotters. Mixed bag for the Canadians as well. The women went 2-0, the men went 0-6 🤣

Happy with this. It was a close one. Not even 100% sure I agreed with the decision. But I’ll obviously take it. I’ll live with it. Just glad Strickland’s not the champ anymore. It was an OK fight. I’m not as high on it as a lot of the opinions I’ve read. Seen all sorts of waffle about it being one of the best title fights this and that. Not having that at all. It was ugly and awkward as fuck mostly. Which it was always gonna be really. Both have weird unconventional styles so matched up together, it was always gonna look messy. That was also part of the reason I was really unsure who would win going in. Saw a lot of predictions of DDP by KO and, while I hoped for that, I wasn’t anywhere near as confident as many seemed to be. While DDP clearly packs a punch and was coming off that mad Whittaker stoppage, Whittaker is a much more straightforward and ‘normal’ striker to prepare for than Strickland, and as a result probably more straightforward to land shots on. Strickland’s style is much more awkward and I suspected Dricus would find it trickier to find the kill shot. He still managed to find the target more as the fight went on. Wish he’d landed the KO shot though because the Strickland fans are going all in on the robbery narrative now. Conspiracy theories, the lot. It’s as sad as it is comical. If it wasn’t for him constantly banging the ‘guns are good, gays are bad’ drum, I’m convinced he’d still not have one single fan. He’s the favourite of the absolute dirt worst of MMA fans. And I’m guessing a lot of Colby’s arselickers have switched to Strickland now Colby’s turned out to be a pathetic choke artist loser.

Back on the actual fight, I’d have to watch it again and score it properly. Felt like one of the rounds (can’t remember which but I wanna say round 2 or 3) was the decider. It was a close fight that honestly wouldn’t have been a robbery either way. I think either man winning by a point would be fine.

Dana’s saying he had Strickland winning though, even trotting out the old “I believe you should have to really take it from the champion”. That tired old bollocks again. How does that even work? Should the champ automatically start every round a point up? Does the challenger have to win their rounds 10-8 for it to count or something? Should every close round just go to the champ? The whole ‘champion’s advantage’ thing is stupid as fuck and just encourages lazy judging. 2 of the 3 judges scored the fight to Dricus. They had him winning more rounds and more points than Strickland. So he wins, end of story.

“I’m pretty banged up right now but…UFC 300 sounds amazing.”

I was certain going in that the plan was to announce the winner of DDP vs Strickland would main event UFC 300 against Israel Adesanya. It felt like they were just waiting to see how this fight played out. I still think that was the plan but with this fight going 5 rounds and both men coming out of it banged up, I’m not sure 300 is realistic anymore. I guess we’ll have to wait and see if DDP has any injuries. He looked beat up at the presser but facial damage like that will heal up fairly quickly. Didn’t appear to have any long lasting damage or bad cuts. He at least sounds up for it. If not that then I think they’ll go with Leon vs Belal 2.

Pennington vs Bueno Silva was dogshit. Probably the worst title fight since Esparza vs Namajunas 2 for me.

I was 50/50 on who’d win this fight going in. Had no strong take on it and hadn’t really even given it much thought. I was hoping for a Bueno Silva win just because she won me over with some of her interviews recently. And while the division is pure arse water these days, my thinking was at least Bueno has a bit of personality. The fact she loves having a pop at Julianna Pena obviously endeared her to me so I thought, while the fight itself will most likely be crap, Bueno Silva vs Pena might at least provide some chuckles in the build up. So of course, Bueno spectacularly shits the bed here, Pennington wins a dud and now we’ve got Pennington vs Pena to look forward to. Lovely. Really disappointed in Bueno Silva here. She was never amazing to watch but this was an embarrassing performance from her. She had the odd moment early on but as the fight went on she got worse and worse. By the last round she was offering fuck all and it looked like she hadn’t even bothered training for a 5 rounder. It’s not getting any better either. There’s literally nothing to look forward to. Pennington vs Pena will be next. Then what? Apex Holm? A faded Miesha Tate? Just flush the whole division.

Neil Magny derailed another one. It’s mad because he looked like a fighter on the way out for the bulk of it and Malott was well on his way to winning. Then Magny comes back and stops him with seconds to go in the last round. Literally snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

Not a good look at all for Malott this. Faded down the stretch, couldn’t close the show or even coast to a win despite being well in control, then got done at the end. It’s not a shocker really. Like I said in the opening post, Malott had looked good so far but against subpar opposition. His best opponent before last night was Hakeem Dawodu before either were in the UFC and Dawodu beat him. Plus Magny is the ultimate gatekeeper and if you’re not the genuine article, he’ll expose that. It’s why they keep booking him against these guys coming up. He’s the litmus test they all have to take at some point. But this felt like a proper derailing. Looking at feedback on the fight, the common sentiment seems to be ‘Malott will be back, he’ll learn from this’. But I’m not sure. Seems harsh writing him off after one loss but he’s 32 now, it’s not like he’s some mega young prospect with bags and bags of time to grow and improve. And the way he lost here, I’m not sure it’s such a fixable thing. It didn’t seem to be so much of an issue of technique or something specific he can improve on. He can work on his conditioning but I’m not sure if it was so much a cardio thing or whether he just kind of folded when he couldn’t get Magny out of there. Time will tell, I guess. But like with a lot of these Magny tests, it feels like we know a lot more about Malott now and the future doesn’t look so bright to me.

Chris Curtis vs Marc-Andre Barriault never really got going until it was almost over. They stepped it up in the last couple of minutes but they’d lost me by then really. Fun ending but I had no idea who won by that point. My attention had wandered and I completely lost track of the rounds.

Really enjoyed Evloev vs Allen in the main card opener. Dana shat on it in the post-fight presser because he hates MMA and would rather watch fat nobodies slap each other than skilled fighters grapple. Seen a few other comments along the same lines, as if it was boring or something, but there was nothing wrong with this. If you think that if a fight goes the distance and there’s a lot of grappling then it’s automatically shite then why not just watch Boxing or Kickboxing? These two had some quality exchanges on the ground. I was curious to see how Allen’s defensive wrestling would look and I liked some of the stuff I saw. Didn’t expect to see him get hurt by Evloev on the feet, especially by a jab, that was a surprise. Overall I thought it was a really good competitive fight all the way.

Unfortunately this is the main talking point coming out of the fight though. Saw a lot of talk, from MMA media as well as fans, that these knees were legal because Evloev only had the tips of his fingers on the mat and not the palms of his hands. But apparently in Ontario, they’re still going by the old rule that it’s illegal if the fingertips are down. Marc Goddard confirmed it as well. Not ideal having different rules depending on where the fight is taking place, and I’m guessing that’s why Goddard didn’t deduct a point. It looked like Allen was trying to lift Evloev to take the hands off the canvas but it’s a risky game to play, isn’t it? There’s a very fine line there. Wish we got 5 rounds of this, to be honest. Then again, this card couldn’t afford to lose its most interesting fight. Not sure what’s next for Evloev. He’s 18-0 now but the way Dana’s talking about him, you can tell he’s not a favourite with the higher ups. Allen was ranked #4 going into this fight though, so Evloev’s gotta be around the Top 5 after this. Maybe give him Emmett or the winner of Aljo-Kattar or something?

Woodson vs Jourdain was a funny one. Wasn’t terrible but wasn’t as good as I expected and hoped it might be either. Whatever. Definitely felt like Woodson getting the decision was the correct call though. Seen some cries of robbery but I think a combination of the crowd being pissed and booing because the Canadian guy lost plus the confusion with the winner announcement has some under the impression it was a bad decision or something. It wasn’t.

Don’t know what the fuck happened here 🤣 I don’t know where the confusion was. Buffer clearly announced Woodson as the winner but whether it was the crowd being too loud or everyone mishearing ‘Sean’ as ‘Charles’ or what, Jourdain started celebrating and Woodson looked dejected and seemed to accept the loss. Then they had that awkward moment where they clarified Woodson was actually the winner. Of course, being in Canada, the crowd shat all over that but it wasn’t a robbery by any stretch. What a weird carry on though. I’m always shitting on Buffer on here and I’ve seen comments like he fucked up somehow…but he didn’t do anything wrong from what I can tell.

Really enjoyed the Ramon Taveras vs Serhiy Sidey rematch. Had it as FOTN over the main event, to be honest.

Don’t know if they never got it just because of bias towards giving it to a bigger fight, the fact Dana probably didn’t bother watching it or maybe it was just because Taveras missed weight and they didn’t wanna reward that. Regardless, this was a good scrap. Felt like it could’ve gone either way on the scorecards really, I didn’t have an issue with Taveras getting the nod. It’s becoming a weird little series though. Sidey won the first fight on the Contender Series but it was marred by a premature stoppage. Now Taveras wins the rematch in a banger but it’s a debatable decision and marred by him coming in 4lbs over the weight limit. For what it’s worth, Taveras has already said he’s open to a third fight. I’m up for that as long as it’s not next. No need for more Groundhog Day shit, there’s enough of that these days. Cracking fight though.

Gillian Robertson taking Polyana Viana down and schooling her was kind of how I always saw that fight going sadly. Hoped Viana would make more of a fight of it but she’s struggled against strong grapplers in the past and I didn’t see this being any different. She did well to survive the first round, to be honest, but it felt academic.

She had no answers for Robertson’s takedowns so it was always likely to either end by submission or ground and pound. Robertson absolutely battered her. That’s 2 lopsided losses for Viana in a row now due to her weakness in the grappling. Fun fighter if she’s against someone who will strike with her but the blueprint is out there now.

Good to see Sam Patterson pick up his first UFC win after an absolutely horrid debut. Definitely agreed with him that he’s better off at 170. A guy of his size cutting to 155 was never gonna be sustainable. Still not convinced him getting blitzed in his debut was all down to being in the wrong weight class though. He still looked very vulnerable in the striking here. As soon as he was able to get hold of Lainesse and turn it into a grappling match he bossed it though and quickly found the finish.

Chuffed with Jasmine Jasudavicius putting a beating on that cheating fuck Priscila Cachoeira. About as satisfying as a nothing happening Fight Pass prelim with zero stakes gets.

Couldn’t have been more one sided. I had Jasmine taking both the first 2 rounds 10-8, maybe even a 10-7 in there, then she butchered Cachoeira some more before finally ending with the D’Arce in the last minute of the fight. I wouldn’t usually wish a fighter out of a job but surely they’ll bin Cachoeira from the roster now. She’s a shameless dirty fighter, she’s shite, has a losing UFC record, has issues making weight and she’s 35 years old. What’s the benefit or upside in keeping her on? Get rid. I like Jasudavicius but it’s not like she’s that good herself yet Cachoeira made her look like Khabib last night.

Nice to see Jimmy Flick claw a win back after a disastrous last couple of results. He badly needed a win here. First round it wasn’t looking good for him but he pulled through with the submission in the next round. Looked like Gordon was calling it quits post-fight, immediately taking his gloves off and stuff. Flick seems a bit simple but I like watching him. Hopefully he can build off this and stick around for a bit. He’ll never make a dent in the title picture but there’s plenty of fun fights to be bad with him in the Flyweight division.

 

That’s that out the way. Now we can look forward to 298, 299 and 300!