Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted July 26 Author Paid Members Share Posted July 26 (edited) It gets weirder. Apparently Mokaev posted this after that fight with Kape. No sign of a cut.Ā I was looking at a few things on Twitter and saw this. The cut was from Mokaevās last fight with Alex Perezā¦ And you can even see it in the pic Kape posted of them āmaking peaceā which was supposedly before the scuffleā¦ The pics with the cut must be older because surely the fight would be off if Mokaev suffered a cut right on the eyebrow just a couple of days before the fight. Thereās also Mokaevās media scrum thing where thereās no cut but I donāt know if that was before or after the little round of handbags at the hotel. Weigh ins are today anyway so weāll see.Ā Edited July 26 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted July 26 Paid Members Share Posted July 26 (edited) What a mess Edited July 26 by Egg Shen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted July 26 Author Paid Members Share Posted July 26 Watched a bit of a Mokaev interview and he was talking about a win here possibly getting him a title shot. So maybe heās not leaving after this fight after all?Ā Guess itās just one of them things where itās his last fight on his contract, the UFC tried to get him to sign a new deal before this last fight to lock him in long term and heās decided to wait and basically gamble on himself here. Obviously if he wins this fight, heās got a stronger bargaining position when they renegotiate and, at the same time, if heās not happy with their offer heās free to shop around elsewhere. If he loses this fight though, that all goes up in smoke and heās probably gone anyway but coming off a loss. It kind of makes sense why theyāve put that fight on the prelims but itās still shite. And if he wins this fight and does end up staying in the UFC, thereās a good chance heās the #1 contender. Yet heāll be coming off a Fight Pass prelim that a smaller audience will have seen.Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted July 26 Author Paid Members Share Posted July 26 I think I said recently somewhere on here that I rarely bother watching fighter interviews these days outside a select few names. Tom Aspinallās one of them. Just seems like a top lad, really likeable, not up his own arse and I think heās a lot better at the media stuff than heās given credit for. He always comes across really well. His interview with Bisping; And a bit from the weigh in show today with added Volkā¦ I like Volk in this role as well actually. Iād like to see him do more of this stuff.Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted July 26 Paid Members Share Posted July 26 Mokaev/Kape are still going after each other Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted July 27 Author Paid Members Share Posted July 27 Sexy card graphic, silly start times, weigh in face-offsā¦ ???????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted July 27 Author Paid Members Share Posted July 27 (edited) Sorry for the double post. Revisiting this one for the first time since it happened. They crossed paths in March 2021, as main event of a Fight Night card at the Apex. It was originally supposed to be Leon vs Khamzat Chimaev but Khamzat pulled out due to ongoing issues from COVID. That was the third attempt at getting that fight on and COVID killed it all 3 times. Belal stepped in on around a monthās notice. Obviously there was no bad blood between Leon and Belal at this point. If anything, Leon just seemed relieved that he was still getting to fight after going through his own battles with COVID. My memory of the actual fight is of Leon just schooling him for the whole first round before the unfortunate ending early in the second. Like I say though, itās been a while. I havenāt watched the fight back in the 3+ years since it went down. Leon Edwards vs Belal Muhammad UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs Muhammad March 13th 2021 Las Vegas, NevadaĀ Commentators are Brendan Fitzgerald, Daniel Cormier and Michael Bisping. Referee is Herb Dean. Something I didnāt remember, it seems there was some kind of beef here. Or at least they were less respectful than I recalled anyway. Thereās no glove touch here and even DC questioned where the hostility started. At this stage I just think it was a competition thing. There was nothing to base any grudge on. Round 1: Right away, and the commentators note this, Leonās coming forward a little bit more than usual. Just a minute in, Edwards starting to find the target with the straight left hand already, which isnāt a good sign for Belal. Surprisingly, itās Edwards whoās the first to initiate the clinch but Belal manages to circle out of it and lands a decent elbow on the break. Thatās pretty much the last bit of success he has though. He throws some punches but itās so obvious heās only doing it to duck in for a takedown and Leonās wise to it. Edwards is mixing up his attacks and keeping Belal guessing. He catches him with the now famous headkick that would eventually win him the title. Didnāt connect clean but enough of it landed for Belalās legs to go wobbly and for him to go on the retreat. He covers up and defends the immediate follow ups and seems to have got out of danger. But he still looks a bit shook up. For some reason, Edwards decides to clinch with him at this point and Belal turns him onto the fence again. One of those baffling mid-fight choices Leonās been prone to make at times throughout his career. He had Belal on jelly legs there and now heās giving him time to recover. Belal gets nothing done there, they separate and theyāre back in striking range. Bit of an eye poke from Leon but it only stops the action very briefly. Nice right jab-left straight from Leon that knocks Belal back on his heels again. Belalās bleeding from the side of the head or the ear or something. Probably from that headkick earlier. Belal tries a really slow spinning back kick as the round ends that hits nothing but fresh air. And thatās the first round done and dusted. Edwards 10-9 easy. Could even see a 10-8. Aside from that one elbow coming out of the clinch, Belal got absolutely zero done in that round. Leon landed the more strikes, the better strikes and didnāt look far off getting a finish after that headkick. It became clear quite quickly that he didnāt exactly fear or respect what was coming back at him from Belal, so we got to see a rare more attacking approach from Edwards here. One of the better rounds of Leonās UFC career for me. Round 2: Round starts andā¦ Leon throws the kick, frames off with his arm out there and fingers outstretched and thatās the result. It was accidental. Iāve seen some fans calling Leon a dirty fighter for this and acting like he was deliberately cheating but itās bollocks. Itās one of those unfortunate things that happens and itās always gonna happen. In a sport that requires fingerless gloves, youāll never fully eliminate eye pokes. The worst you can say is it was clumsy from Leon. But he was well in control of this fight and had no reason to cheat. Belal went down screaming and it was one of those eye pokes where, from the second you saw it, you knew the fight was over. It was made even more uncomfortable to watch by it being in the quiet, empty Apex as well because you could hear the pain in his voice. He was actually crying and rolling around in agony. Result - No Contest. RoundĀ 2 - 0:18. Just a really shitty situation for all involved. Leon audibly apologised to Belal in the cage, then apologised again in his post-fight interview, even saying he was heartbroken and would ārather a loss than a win like thatā. It really felt like Leon had a curse on him at this time. I know that sounds off because Belal was clearly the victim here. But when you think back to that whole 2019-21 period, it seemed like Leon was just never gonna get over the hump and never gonna get the respect he deserved. There was that silly backstage scuffle with Jorge Masvidal where pretty much the entire fanbase pathetically acted like Masvidal somehow āwonā and Leon was a bitch. He got booed by his own crowd when he fought Gunnar Nelson in London. Then he was supposed to headline the O2 against Tyron Woodley, his big breakthrough moment, and COVID forced the whole event to get binned. Then the three Khamzat fight cancellations. Then this shit with Belal. He was having the best performance of his UFC career, everything was finally clicking, then it ends like that. I think at the time we said it was āthe most Leon Edwards thing everā and it really was. Even his fight after this, he dominated Nate Diaz for 4 and a half rounds but all anyone wanted to talk about was that one moment where Nate badly rocked him. There was always something to put a dampener on his fights. Of course, we know what happened from there and itās been nice to see him finally get past that dodgy spell and firmly establish himself as the champion and one of the best fighters in the sport. Looking back at this first Belal fight though, it seems like the beef really started because Belal wanted an immediate rematch and Leon said he didnāt really see the need to run it back right away. That really seemed to boil Belalās piss and thatās a big part of the story Iād completely forgotten. Leon was very apologetic about the eye poke but when it came to talk of the rematch, he did kind of dismiss Belal. You can see why from Leonās point of view though. He was getting close to a title shot, the only reason he was fighting Belal in the first place was because Khamzat dropped out and he was dominating the fight while it lasted. I know it was still early in the fight but there was nothing in that 5 and a bit minutes that made you think Belal had anything for him that night. Anywayā¦ The rematch is here. One big factor to consider here, is that first fight was at the Apex in the smaller cage. In theory, that shouldāve benefited Belal considering he was the guy whoād wanna close the distance, put hands on Leon and clinch or take him down. Tonightās rematch is gonna be in the standard bigger Octagon. Youāve got to think thatās gonna favour Leon big time. The more room heās got to play with and move around and control the distance, the harder itās probably gonna be for Belal to get anything going. And when you look at how little success he had in the first fight, that might not bode well for the rematch. Belalās definitely better now than he was in 2021. Heās got more experience, heās beat some good opposition and heās built some momentum. Heād also never gone 5 rounds before that first Edwards fight. So giving him the benefit of the doubt, maybe there was an element of him starting slow because he was conscious he might need to conserve energy for the later rounds. Since then heās beat Vicente Luque and Gilbert Burns in 5 rounders. Heās also had a full training camp this time and he looks in the best shape of his career. With all that said, I just canāt see this fight going well for him. If heās gonna win itās probably gonna have to be in the most dull way imaginable but everything Iām seeing from him this fight week, I donāt know, something isnāt sitting right. I canāt put my finger on it but it feels like heās going hard with the trash talk almost like heās trying to convince himself heās winning. To implement his game plan, heās gonna have to come to Leon and grab hold of him. And I just see Leon catching him with counters coming in and jab-straighting his head in all night. Did anyone catch the little clip where they were both on the same lift the other day? Belal was talking about them running into each other and how Leon looked terrified or something. Then the footage came out and it was nothing of the sort. If anything, I wouldnāt say he was shitting himself or anything but it was Belal who looked awkward and was chewing his gum at 100 miles an hour ? It was something of nothing really but it made fight week a little bit more amusing. It also gave us thisā¦ Is it gonna happen again? Iāve got Edwards on points.Ā Edited July 27 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panhead Posted July 28 Share Posted July 28 Outstanding performance from Belal Muhammad. I don't know how Edwards survived landing on his head like that. I'm not against them rematching in Chicago, before the end of the year. I'm sure Dana will want Belal to fight Covington on top of Trump Tower, the Saturday after the election though.Ā Tom Aspinall is THE heavyweight champion. Enough fucking about now.Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirdobbo89 Posted July 28 Share Posted July 28 I rarely watch the fight nights these days yet bizarrely have a habit of making a day of it on the numbered events the day after and watch every single prelim and the main show. I wish I hadn't for this one. I can barely remember much from the prelims apart from it was nice to see Molly get beat, and Kape and Mokaev went all week trying to batter each other, until the bell rang.Ā I like Arnold Allen, seems like a decent fella. My jaw is still on the floor reading from the 'tale of the tape' that Gregory Rodrigues is only 32 years old. I'd have had him early 40's easy.Ā I loathe Paddy and still believe it's only a matter of time until he hits his celling. You could argue he already hit it with Jared Gordon. Not a clue what Green was thinking with that takedown.Ā Aspinall is in the Arnold Allen 'great blokes' category, seems like a proper gent in everything I've seen him in. Down to earth bloke that hits like a truck, he is susceptible to getting hit a few times though before he smashes folk. Jones don't want none. No chance. I'll watch Jones/Stipe when it happens but Christ, Stipe must have been out the cage like 2/3 years now. Feels like forever. Will it ever happen? Belal did what he does best and hit the Jon Fitch 2.0 gameplan (with better striking) and deserves the title. Leon looked lost at times, particularly up against the cage, Belal was taking him down at will. Dana with the face like a smacked arse wrapping the title around him wondering how the chuff he's going to get any PPV buys with this guy. If they still do that. Don't understand this ESPN + thing in America.Ā I'm assuming this finished past 6am. The ticket prices are loony now anyway, but that plus staying up past 6am to see it live? You're alright. I'm assuming it was sold out and people will pay the prices so the tickets will always be this expensive now. I last went to Machida v Munoz in Manny whenever that was, they'd priced tickets far, far too high for that one, it was obvious they were going to have to paper the house. I was trying to get freebies on the day but couldn't find any (turns out later I found out they were giving them out at a Pub in the Pictureworks or whatever it's called). Paid Ā£100 for 4 tickets off a fella outside, upper tier. Got in and they'd shut off some of the upper tier due to lousy ticket sales so we got moved to cracking lower tier dead centre seats, was a nice surprise. But yeah, folk will just pay the mad prices these days so, I'm not sure I'll ever go see it again live. Ah well.Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Posted July 29 Share Posted July 29 Because of this thread, I actually checked out the early prelims for the Kape fight. I was skipping through it so was suprised that it wasnt even on the earlies and made it to the main prelims. Thought it was cancelled or something when I was getting to the end of the early prelim part. Anyway, Im not sure if theres ever been a sharp a decline of buzz that I had for a fight from watching all those security guards in the cage for the introductions, to 2 minutes into the fight. The excitment disappeared after the 2 minutes of nothing. Awful. Thought the main card was lots of fun. The first two fights were solid if unspectacular. You have to give major props to Paddy for finishing Smooth Bobby so quickly. That was really impressive. The Aspinall TKO wasnt satisfying at all, but just goes to show how dangerous he is and how much power he has. Enjoyed the Belal/Leon fight too. Classic Belal fight, but was also suprised by how well he did on the feet and how Leon just never got going. That head drop looked very nasty, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted July 29 Paid Members Share Posted July 29 (edited) Strange old show, some definite high spots but a long run of decisions left it a little flat. Leon Edwards shit the bed. During the week I flipped my pick and felt Belal would do it, just a crazy amount of self confidence and belief and I started feeling like Leon was overlooking the fight. Belal found a great fight, he's not the most exciting to watch but fair fucks to him. Not sure if Leon getting spiked on his head played a massive part in his performance but he was sleepwalking his way through it. Aspinall is looking unstoppable. I'd love to see him go a bit longer because I wanna see what he's really capable of but he just ends folks so easily. Besides the Blades injury loss, has any fighter just breezed to the top without any adversity? I can't recall Tom even taking a decent shot, 8-0 in the UFC without as so much as a scratch on him, it's mental. Ā Edited July 29 by Egg Shen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted July 29 Paid Members Share Posted July 29 At this point, with Jones ducking him, who's left for Aspinall to fight? Everyone else would be a step back, with maybe the exception of Gane, and possibly even Almeida (most recent performance notwithstanding). Rozenstruik, Lewis, are probably the only other ones who could be anywhere near a matchup. Otherwise, looking at the rankings, it's not exactly inspiring: Tuivasa (though that would be fun), Romanov, de Lima, Nascimento... I would absolutely bloody love it if, after all this bollocks, they make Jones/Miocic, only for Jones to step out with injury and Aspinall to step in. Wouldn't even need Jones/Aspinall after that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfogg1991 Posted July 29 Share Posted July 29 I am still in awe with how unbelievably dull this show ended up being. It's very rare I will publicly on record say I understand and think it's justifiable his mood and frustration/feelings about the card as a whole. The main event was embarrassing Leon Edwards just looked like a zombie and I can not believe he didn't break his neck with that slam in the first round it was sickening. He has said that the time it took place was one of the reasons but they have known about the times for months and everyone else made adjustments including bellal and he looked a different league compared to Leon beyond a terrible main event to round off a fairly lacklustre ppv as a whole. 1 minute exactly is what it took for Tom aspinal to get the knock out he's the undisputed heavyweight champion no longer up for discussion and I am putting money on both jon jones and stipe retiring in the cage after the fight in November. Jon jones is a diabolical human being but he's not stupid and even he knows Tom will destroy him do the pointless fight in November then retire into the sunset forever claiming he's the greatest and having dana whites public defense because if he doesn't even dana has now said that's the fight next for Tom the winner in November not a chance just give him the lineal belt and stop delaying the enviable. Jesus christ paddy absolutely scorched bo....king green sleeping him in the first round with his last submission defeat coming in 2009!!!!! Also snapping his arm in the process not knowing he was unconscious Jesus what a bad one for him but I'll be honest genuinely beautiful moment in the card. 7.......7 judges decisions in a row.......this was a ppv here in the UK and in Manchester for 8 years and this was how the fighters showed up and performed it was like groundhog day with most of them having nothing but circling the cage and throwing maybe 10 shots and a couple of leg kicks it was painful. Ā Last thing to mention is kape and mokaev they were both asking to be fired and/or fined with there unprofessional and in the end inconsequential behaviour including trying to fight each other before the announcements with 800 security in there only for them to finally ******** get to tear into each other as part of you know.....there jobs and then do absolutely nothing not one thing for the entire first round..... I'm unbelievably shocked only mokaev has been fired for that behaviour because it was relentless all week for them to then start their fight and do nothing just incomprehensible. It's been a bit of a bad run for the ufc and shows not delivering I'm praying the streak is broken for the fight night this weekend with it starting at 5pm for us here in the UK.....but not the same time for the Manchester show......work that one out if you can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted July 29 Paid Members Share Posted July 29 5 hours ago, Carbomb said: Everyone else would be a step back, with maybe the exception of Gane, and possibly even Almeida (most recent performance notwithstanding). Rozenstruik, Lewis, are probably the only other ones who could be anywhere near a matchup. Otherwise, looking at the rankings, it's not exactly inspiring: Tuivasa (though that would be fun), Romanov, de Lima, Nascimento... Ā The Gane fight is the only one that really tickles the balls. Aspinall is such a finisher though, id have no problem seeing him flatten a random heavyweight every 3 months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted July 29 Paid Members Share Posted July 29 Thing is the HW scene worldwide is quite lacking in general. Only other fight that would generate any interest for me would be Aspinall/Ngannou, and we will most likely never get that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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