Paid Members Bus Surfer Posted January 10 Paid Members Posted January 10 (edited) We're not too far out and things seem to be quite hush hush about the event considering how much of a landmark it is. The card so far appears to be: The offering so far isn't to be sniffed at but when you look at how stacked UFC 299 is, it feels like we're gonna get something out of the box for 300. Plenty of rumours involving Tom Aspinall v Alex Pereira have done the rounds, and everyones favourite instigator, Ariel Helwani has kind of alluded to a former star returning for the show. With Nate Diaz rumoured to box Masvidal, the only 2 viable names for me and Ronda and Brock. Rousey / Tate 3 Brock / DC? Both barmy fights but neither I'm really too interested in. What does everyone we're going to get?    Edited January 10 by Silky Kisser Quote
Bruce85 Posted January 10 Posted January 10 Seen on twitter that Dana should be announcing some more fights today.  Not sure who headlines this one, if I had to put money on it, I think I’d go Chandler v McGregor. I guess they could go down the Brock or Ronda route and hope that draws in the casuals who recognise the names?! Quote
Paid Members Bus Surfer Posted January 10 Author Paid Members Posted January 10 (edited) I think McGregor said summer for the Chandler fight. If that was gonna be on 300, I think they'd just announce it for that date without the swerve. Could be wrong though. @Egg Shen threw GSP's name onto the table. Could get some mad GSP/Asesanya fight in the mix. Edited January 10 by Silky Kisser Quote
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted January 10 Paid Members Posted January 10 4 hours ago, Silky Kisser said: Ariel Helwani has kind of alluded to a former star returning for the show. With Nate Diaz rumoured to box Masvidal, the only 2 viable names for me and Ronda and Brock. I just hope it’s not Nick Diaz ? I’ve said it before but I’m really stumped what they can pull out of the bag that’s gonna live up to expectations. And dragging it out announcing the top fights is just raising hopes more. Surely we won’t get Ronda or Brock though. I just can’t see it. Although…I keep banging on about Jim Miller making history if he goes down as the only fighter to compete at UFCs 100, 200 and 300. I never even considered Brock would do the same if he somehow got added to 300. Obviously Brock smushing Mir at UFC 100 was a pleasure I’ll never forget. But for some reason I always forget Brock fought Mark Hunt at 200. Watch him come back now and steal Jim Miller’s thunder! 4 hours ago, Bruce85 said: Seen on twitter that Dana should be announcing some more fights today. Watch it be something really underwhelming and run of the mill now like Leon vs Belal 2 and Grasso vs Shevchenko 3 ? 4 hours ago, Silky Kisser said: I think McGregor said summer for the Chandler fight. If that was gonna be on 300, I think they'd just announce it for that date without the swerve. Could be wrong though. @Egg Shen threw GSP's name onto the table. Could get some mad GSP/Asesanya fight in the mix. Yeah McGregor vs Chandler is supposed to be going down on June 29th. I’d be very surprised if it’s GSP. He seems absolutely content with his post-fighting life from everything I’ve seen over the last few years. And there’s really no specific fight that stands out as one you’d think would entice him back. I know the payday can always be tempting but, I don’t know, I just can’t see him coming back. As for Adesanya, I think I said it before but him vs Khamzat Chimaev feels 300 worthy. Obviously would’ve been bigger as a title fight but it’d still be a big one to throw on the card, with or without a title. And no doubt it’d be a #1 contender match so there’d still be stakes to it. Watch the returning ‘star’ be someone like Paul Felder. He’s definitely been thinking about a comeback because he re-entered the USADA testing pool not long ago. I’d like to see him in there again actually. Think we said before he’d be ideal as Miller’s opponent. But he’d be underwhelming as the returning former ‘star’. Or it’ll be fucking Masvidal who’s just announced he’s un-retiring. Ah fuck it. I think we’re finally getting it lads… Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted January 10 Paid Members Posted January 10 There's definitely some mental comeback to be announced. I don't think they'd be this secretive if it was just gonna be another round of fights. Quote
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted January 10 Paid Members Posted January 10 You’d think so, but maybe they’re just scrambling for ideas. I don’t know anymore. Maybe you’re right though. They must have something big in mind for 300 otherwise I don’t think they’d be giving 299 just weeks before so many great fights. As much as I could do without the BMF shite, a Gaethje vs Holloway BMF title fight wouldn’t go amiss. Quote
Paid Members WeeAl Posted January 10 Paid Members Posted January 10 (edited) Is Islam Makhachev injured? I'd have thought this was a perfect show for he and Gaethje. I hope Ben Askren talks himself into another payday and puts that bulldog choke on Jorge Masvidal. Maybe Tyson Griffin or Roger Huerta have been dug up or defrosted to be Jim Miller's opponent. I'd be interested to watch Shevchenko head kick KO Ronda Rousey. That'd be a good laugh. Realistically though, when it comes to title fights, Edwards seems like the only champion that might line up at the right time to go on last? If it is Edwards, they have to go with Shavkat over Belal. Edwards/Belal has more than just a bit of potential to bore the pants off of everyone. That's not how I expect they would want that show to end. Shavkat Vs Edwards looks a much more exciting fight on paper. Chimaev should also be on this show, against who though I'm not really sure. Adesanya would be the right opponent but based on how he was talking after the title loss, it seems he wants to take longer than 6-7 months off. Unless Du Plessis/Strickland do a quick turn around to defend against Chimaev on 300? Edited January 10 by WeeAl Quote
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted January 10 Paid Members Posted January 10 5 minutes ago, WeeAl said: Is Islam Makhachev injured? I'd have thought this was a perfect show for he and Gaethje. Dana said when he announced Oliveira vs Tsarukyan that Makhachev is recovering from an injury and he’ll fight the winner when he returns. Weird thing is, Makhachev tweeted this today. It’s like he never got Dana’s memo ? I’d love to see it play out like Islam says there though. Gaethje’s the fight I wanna see next and then the winner of that against the winner of Oliveira/Tsarukyan is a no brainer. Got a feeling the UFC wanna put Islam on ice until they go back to Abu Dhabi though. Which I kind of get but I’d much rather see him defend before that.  Quote
NeverYield Posted January 10 Posted January 10 Think Makhachev will be back fighting around summertime. Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted January 11 Paid Members Posted January 11 Dana announced the big one this morning, stop the speculation: Quote
Dai Posted January 11 Posted January 11 Im more on the side of Wand in that they are scrambling for a big marquee match thats yet to be confirmed. I even think that they wont be too arsed if they cant get something gigantic for the show. I think the last MSG show, which they didnt load up on, and didnt even replace a Jon Jones fight with another big name, was quite telling. Its not as if they care about popping a big PPV buyrate any more, so it could end up being a decent show, and Dana complaining that some huge names 'let him down' and 'didnt want to fight'. Quote
Kfogg1991 Posted January 11 Posted January 11 It's definitely a rarity situation for the UFC to only have a small amount of fights announced for this when every other show is full and out there. It's clearly a show that won't struggle to sell out instantly anyway but I dunno if it's a different game plan from them and slowly announce the fights because they can and don't have to worry about sales or the top of the ppv is proving more difficult to book and be worthy like Dana said the entire thing will be Quote
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted January 11 Paid Members Posted January 11 (edited) 6 hours ago, Dai said: I even think that they wont be too arsed if they cant get something gigantic for the show. I think to some degree they’re thinking it’ll sell just on the strength of it being ‘UFC 300’, regardless of what’s on the card. If they are then I think they’re overestimating the ‘300’ pull. They might get some extra buys out of curiosity but in this day and age I think people are much more picky when it comes to stuff like PPV and a lot of fans are probably gonna look at a great card like 299 and think ‘do I really wanna fork out for 300 just a few weeks later?’ They definitely planned to load 300 up to stupid degrees at some point because Dana was giving it the old ‘this card’s gonna be so crazy even the Fight Pass prelims are gonna blow everyone’s mind’ shit. But with how slow they are announcing the top fights, I get the feeling whatever they had planned fell through and now they’re scrambling and have probably just settled on ‘fuck it, whack a couple of title fights on there, any title fights, and the fact it’s UFC 300 will do the rest’. Like always with these things, it’s fan speculation that’s built this into something it was probably never gonna be. All the talk of Brock, McGregor, GSP, Khabib, Rousey, Diaz etc I’ve seen. When none of them bar McGregor were realistically doable for April. Let’s face it, it’s actually a very good card so far. Zhang Weili vs Yan Xiaonan - Strawweight Title Charles Oliveira vs Arman Tsarukyan Jiri Prochazka vs Aleksandar Rakic Aljamain Sterling vs Calvin Kattar Bo Nickal vs Cody Brundage That’s nowhere near a bad card so far, and we know there’s more to be announced. It’s just been built up so much that anything short of some mega return of a Brock, GSP, Ronda level name is gonna be looked at as a bit underwhelming. Apparently there’s gonna be more fights announced tonight. Looking at what’s already on the card, unless we do get a mega star like the above returning, it’s gonna have to be a title fight headlining. And who does that realistically leave? Jones vs Stipe isn’t happening yet because Jones is recovering from injury. They can’t do anything with the 185 title until Strickland vs DDP plays out. They seem to be holding off on Makhachev for a later date. Volk is defending the Featherweight strap next month. O’Malley’s defending at 135 in March. So we’re left with maybe… Leon vs Belal 2 (most likely, I reckon) Grasso vs Shevchenko 3 (doubt it because I can’t see them having 2 women’s title fights headline 300) Alex Pereira vs Jamahal Hill (maybe) Outside chance of Gaethje defending his BMF belt? Edited January 11 by wandshogun09 Quote
Paid Members Carbomb Posted January 11 Paid Members Posted January 11 Seems to me their best hack for 300 might have been to hold it somewhere away from the US or Canada - the UFC name is still a draw in places like the UK or Australia, and they'd only need to put out a half-decent card to fill a massive arena in those countries. The fans are more likely to be drawn by the promise of being able to attend a numbered, nay, a hundred-numbered UFC card. Quote
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted January 11 Paid Members Posted January 11 Not speculation but might as well leave this here ? Â Quote
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