UFC 307: Pereira vs Rountree - Oct 5 ??

[Egg Shen]

This might be worth a look:

 

[wandshogun09]

36 minutes ago, Dai said:

Saying "Who have you fought?" to someone whose last two fights were with the GOAT is surely something to disagree with. Theres also some other fairly decent names in amoungst her resume too.

She’s definitely fought some names, Nunes and Shevchenko most notably. But Nunes upset aside, which was avenged emphatically, she’s really not done much at all. The other decent names she fought include a win over a 40 year old Sara McMann who was 1-2 in her last 3 and coming off a year layoff. A submission loss to Germaine De Randamie, a Kickboxer who’s never subbed anyone else, before or since. The submission loss to Valentina Shevchenko, fair enough. And a decision win over Cat Zingano, which is probably her best win besides Nunes, but even that, Zingano was coming off nearly 18 months on the shelf.

Fair enough, she’s fought some names so Harrison’s “who have you fought?” was a little off. But Pena’s the fucking dregs. I get she’s kind of got to talk herself up because it’s all she can do to make anyone give a shite. But I just can’t buy into her trying to play it off like she’s been facing killer after killer and Harrison’s only 17-1 because she was in PFL. Like Pena would’ve done any better than that in PFL. The reason their records are so different isn’t because one’s in the UFC and one’s in PFL and there’s some mad gulf in skill level there. Women’s 135 is pretty shit across all promotions. Pena’s lost nearly a third of her total career fights because she’s a ham and egger who had a couple of minutes go right when Nunes was at the end of her career and it’s fooled some into believing she’s this elite fighter. Then she got smashed about for 5 rounds in the rematch. Harrison definitely could’ve worded it better but the actual point Pena was trying to make was complete bollocks like 90% of the rest of the stuff she comes out with. 

[Carbomb]

1 hour ago, Dai said:

Saying "Who have you fought?" to someone whose last two fights were with the GOAT is surely something to disagree with. Theres also some other fairly decent names in amoungst her resume too.

That's fair, but saying "she doesn't understand violence" and has been only fighting cans was easily refutable.

Peña, for me, is the MMA equivalent of Penny Mordaunt. I really hate that I find her attractive, because she's such a fucking roaster.

[wandshogun09]

Late one tonight. As much as I’m looking forward to the Pereira vs Rountree bombfest and seeing Jose Aldo and Kayla Harrison back in there, I’ll be glad to watch this tomorrow with the ability to speed up shite like Pennington vs Pena and Esparza vs the other Pennington.

[Dai]

I agree. Good luck to anyone watching this live and sitting through what's likely going to be 5 rounds of Pennington and Pena in the early hours of the morning. 

 

Plenty of other good stuff on the main card, and the main event seems physically impossible to be anything other than great. 

[wandshogun09]

Oh no. How will we cope with this devastating news? 

 

[Dai]

Thought this was a very average and unmemorable show (with the exception of the last round of the main), with plenty of dull fights throughout.

The only highlight of the main card for me was the main event. Even that was pretty forgettable for most of it. Was suprisingly muted and methodical for those first three rounds. Ive just gone back to look at Rountree at the start of R4, and then to see the amount of damage he has on his face at the end is insane. Its like Pereira flipped the switch a minute into R4 and just destroyed poor Khali. Reminds me of the main event of the last show where within a few minutes a massive amount of damage is dished out and is there for everyone to see on the opponents face. Khali had some decent success in all three rounds before, but scarily it might just be that Pereira was deliberately going at half pace, softening him up for the kill.

 

All the other main card fights and the prelims were painfully average. Apart from Wonderboy getting KO'd, Im already struggling to remember anything else of note or entertainment. Harrison looked average, and certainly didnt get the juices flowing for the title shot. The Aldo fight was OK, but why do we want to see him have 50/50 dull fights with fairly decent fighters at this point? Makes no sense. I was fast fowarding the Pena fight after 2 minutes. Seemed an awful fight based on the skipping I was doing. Seemed like 2/2 going into the 5th and it seemed like Pennington won that last round based on my limited viewing of it. Dont care though, and the Pena/Harrison fight is the one everyone wants to see anyway.

[Egg Shen]

Jamahal Hill looking to get another whooping:

 

[WeeAl]

Wasn't much of a show on the night. Pereira taking Rountree's face off ended the thing with something noteworthy and some action, but before that, this was a tough show to get through. Pereira turned it on really heavy in that 4th round. I would have had him down on the cards up to that point, but I don't think he gives a shit about score cards. It's a bit like the Deontay Wilder idea. He's going to get to you eventually, and when he does? Good luck. 

Also losing this fight to Bautista is exactly what we were all moaning about. You don't get either the benefit of a rising star getting a win over Aldo (as really I'm not sure Bautista is good enough to capitalise on this and take it much further) nor do you get a nice legends fight, not does Aldo win to progress him towards something bigger. A waste of time for everyone outside of the winner of the fight. 

 

Edit: forgot to mention. That thing that fell out of Khalil's nose during his post fight interview? I'd forgive anyone for fainting watching that carry on. 

By the way, anyone else pick up on the commentators talking about Gilbert Burns' opinions on Jose Aldo's age? I hope to god that conspiracy theory is true. It'd only make what Aldo has been able to do all the more incredible. 

Edited October 7, 2024 by WeeAl

[Kfogg1991]

I've got a few bits i need to rewatch thanks to people getting too drunk, It wasn't a bad show but it's not going to be one we all rewatch for the ages.

HOWEVER that main event was so good but in no way that i expected going in, This is one you look at when the door closes on pereira's career. 
It felt to me like something wasn't right for Alex he just looked stiff in comparison however this is the thing at least for me which turned out to be a major positive and noteworthy thing. Alex is a scary/Dangerous man, What he did to Rountree's face is something unhuman level's of jaw dropping because for the most part they were jabs....jabs that turned his face into a picasso painting. When it finished there was blood on the commentary table, On dana white, And splattered over Pereira like a horror film serial killer. 

The most exciting thing about that man is.....He's not a fighter we are all saying is unbeatable and will go on a title run for 8 years. He has holes in his game big enough for the short sighted to see. But it's the manner in which he's finishing people like this fight where for 2 and a half rounds he didn't land many significant shots but continued to take punches that would put groups of people flat out cold and no sold the vast majority and continued the death stair and walking rountree down. 

Rountree completely Demolished his gas tank throwing punches so big and could not get a small opening that looked like it was working until he could not find enough energy to defend and attack and you can pin point the second alex switches on and that was that.

I do not wish too see him go near heavyweight after this it is just not smart and will not go well. I'm not bothered about that give this man victims in his natural/happy weight and I will enjoy every second until the wheels fall off

[Carbomb]

Looking at the general quality of the heavyweight division these days, I don't think it would be the worst idea for Pereira to move up to heavy at some point. With Miocic and Jones retiring soon, there aren't many who could match him for skill: Aspinall (whom I don't think he beats), Gane (not sure), either of the Sergeis, Blaydes, and maybe Almeida. All the rest have the regular puncher's chance, but those six I'd be interested in seeing him fight - outside of Aspinall and Gane, I think those I've named could be competitive. 

Obviously it's difficult to say how the move up in weight would affect him, but it's the sort of issue you don't really find out about until they actually do it.

[Kfogg1991]

1 hour ago, Carbomb said:

Looking at the general quality of the heavyweight division these days, I don't think it would be the worst idea for Pereira to move up to heavy at some point. With Miocic and Jones retiring soon, there aren't many who could match him for skill: Aspinall (whom I don't think he beats), Gane (not sure), either of the Sergeis, Blaydes, and maybe Almeida. All the rest have the regular puncher's chance, but those six I'd be interested in seeing him fight - outside of Aspinall and Gane, I think those I've named could be competitive. 

Obviously it's difficult to say how the move up in weight would affect him, but it's the sort of issue you don't really find out about until they actually do it.

I agree there's fights within the heavyweight division that would be similar to what we got this past weekend and one being knocked out but he's regarded for good reason as one of the elite fighters in the company so moving up and getting lower ranked guy's will be torn apart from everyone. If he goes up it's for aspinal, gane, blades, volkov which he isn't going to be embarrassed but aspinal will keep his under 2 minutes Streak and that achieves nothing I was alright with it before this weekend and now I'm strongly against it because it's so risky when he could stay solidify the throne of one of the greatest 

[Carbomb]

I get that, and like I say, I don't think he would beat Aspinall - but I also don't think it would hurt his legacy if he moved up and didn't do well. Nobody thinks any less of Volkanovski for fighting Islam Makhachev at LW. Pereira's already a two-weight champ who's defended the LHW belt multiple times. I must admit that, if it were possible, I'd like to see him finish the MMA trilogy with Adesanya (and beat him too, hopefully), and there's plenty of mileage in the LHW division still, I think - he still needs to defend against Ankalaev, boring a prospect though that be, and I reckon a match with Oezdemir would be worth seeing.

Eventually, though, at some point, someone's either got to come up to present him with a new challenge, or he'll have to move up to HW - or go grab some of that sweet sweet PFL cash.

[wandshogun09]

Wasn’t a great card but I did enjoy the main event. Never thought it was possible it’d go into the 4th round. Every scenario I pictured in my head, this was going no longer than a round, two at a push. Pereira’s a scary bastard. He took his time here and rounds were slipping by. I had Rountree winning the first couple and he was fighting really well. But like @WeeAl says, I don’t think Pereira fights with ‘points’ or ‘winning a decision’ in mind. He was losing rounds early but he was also laying the groundwork with his jab, putting the pressure on and forcing Rountree to constantly work. This was Rountree’s first 5 rounder and I wonder if part of Pereira’s plan was to put his conditioning to the test. Obviously if he saw an opportunity to finish Rountree early, he’d have jumped all over it. But I think the way this played out might’ve been partly that Pereira and his team suspected Rountree might fade and be there for the taking later on. And also, probably partly just a case of Pereira respecting Rountree’s power early. He felt it a couple of times. As soon as Pereira felt like he had him where he wanted him in that 4th round though, the way he flipped the switch and went in for the kill was terrifying.

The whole finishing sequence was beautiful from Pereira. Laser focused, like a shark smelling blood and just dismantling an exhausted but still dangerous Rountree while still being aware enough to dodge the counters. The last few blows, the body shots were horrible and then the final uppercut just took him out.

Big credit to Rountree. You couldn’t really ask anymore of him. He fought his heart out here and showed physical and mental toughness that nobody really knew he had. Couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. To fight so hard only to get your face obliterated like that. But as much as we all like an upset, Pereira retaining the gold was the best result for us all. Let’s face it, he’s almost carried the UFC on his back this year. He’s saving cards, creating moments, delivering highlight reel finishes, he’s active and he’s probably the biggest star they have currently. The UFC needs him, we need him.

Seeing a lot of calls for Ankalaev next but he’s got to get past Rakic at 308 first. And while I think Ankalaev most likely wins that one, it’s not a foregone conclusion. Fuck knows what’s next but it probably won’t be long until we find out because Pereira doesn’t seem to like time off. He’s talking about taking a bit of a break now and it’s well earned. He’s fought four times in less than 12 months, which is unheard of for a UFC champion these days. I actually hope he does take a bit of time off. But I won’t be a bit surprised if something crops up and we see him back in there one more time before the end of the year. He’s talked about going back down to challenge DDP for the Middleweight strap. I’m not that keen on that though and I think he’s probably best to leave the cut to 185lbs in the past.

I can definitely see a Heavyweight fight or two in his future though. Not sure when but it’s bound to happen. Especially now he’s running out of interesting opponents at 205. I’m torn on it. On the one hand, I think they’d be mad to book something like Aspinall vs Pereira just because that likely ends badly for Pereira and why would you wanna derail the momentum of your hottest and probably most popular current star? Plus if Pereira somehow wins you’ve killed off Aspinall who’s the only good thing the Heavyweight division has going for it. It’s sort of a lose/lose. But then the other side of my brain says ‘fuck it’. Let’s see it. Call me crazy but think of this scenario…

• One of Jones or Stipe get injured before their fight at MSG next month.

• Tom Aspinall, being the ‘official backup’, gets the call he’s been waiting for to step in at UFC 309 in an undisputed title fight.

• Jones/Stipe decline the Aspinall fight.

• The UFC do what they usually do these days…call Alex Pereira and we somehow go from Jones vs Stipe to Aspinall vs Pereira for the Heavyweight belt.

I wouldn’t even call this ‘fantasy booking’ because 1) it’s not my fantasy scenario, ideally I want Jones vs Aspinall. And 2) as mad as it sounds I genuinely think there’s a very real possibility this is what ends up happening! Would anyone be shocked if Jones vs Stipe falls to bits again over the next few weeks? And if it does, do you really see either of them accepting the Aspinall fight on short notice? And if we get to that point, what would be a better save to that disastrous situation than Aspinall vs Pereira? Not saying it’ll definitely happen, just don’t be surprised if it does.

Julianna Pena’s getting another 15 minutes of fame then.

? Says it all about the state of the division when this glorified jobber is a two time UFC champion. Just rancid stuff. Worst of all, I didn’t even think she won. I know that might come off as me just hating because I haven’t exactly hidden my disdain for Pena on here. But I genuinely think Pennington was hard done by here. Had her winning three of the rounds (think it was 1, 4 and 5) fairly clearly. For what it’s worth, the media scores I saw all had it 48-47 Pennington as well, apart from one who had it a draw. None of them scored it for Pena but somehow two of the judges did? Useless. Shit fight, expected nothing more. Although it wasn’t quite as bad as all time rotters like Esparza vs Namajunas 2 or even Pennington vs Bueno Silva from early this year. Gotta say though, at the end of the first round when Anik said something like “5 minutes down, another potential 20 to go”…I’ve never felt more dead inside while watching MMA.

Pena calling for the third fight with Nunes was pathetic and a blatant ducking of Kayla Harrison. Saw a quote from Pena from after the fight saying “Kayla never mentioned Nunes’ name when she beat Holm. She sure is not mentioning her name now”. Eh? Why would she be calling out a retired fighter? That’s obviously much more Pena’s style. She’s probably gonna shamelessly try to swerve Harrison now. As flat as Harrison looked on this card, Pena knows that’s the most difficult fight at the moment. Nunes might well batter her again if she comes back but I think Pena’s hoping/banking on Nunes’ layoff, living the retired life and having family distractions now might make her more beatable.

Really disappointed with the Bautista vs Aldo fight. I had Aldo winning, didn’t agree with the decision and thought the commentary was a bit off with them acting like Bautista was running away with it. But it was close and Aldo spent way too long with his back against the fence. I still think he should’ve won, he did the better work throughout and landed the better strikes. But it’s a sad fact that if you spend a bunch of time getting stalled against the cage, it gives the judges the excuse to score rounds against you. It was nowhere near as clear cut but I had real flashbacks to Merab’s win over Aldo here. And that was in Salt Lake City as well. Keep Aldo the fuck out of Utah! That’s Aldo out of the running now. Might as well just go ahead and book the Dominick Cruz fight. That kind of makes sense for both now, I think. Get it booked before one of them retires. It’d be a shame if it never happens. But no doubt they’ll stick Aldo in another baffling fight now with some random in the Top 20. They seem determined to squander whatever time Aldo’s got left in his career for some reason.

Dolidze vs Holland was alright while it lasted, shame how it ended though. Absolutely the right call by the corner to pull Holland out with the rib injury. Saw McGregor tweeting bollocks about Holland being a quitter or something. Rich coming from the man who just pulled out of a fight with a chipped toenail. Pissed myself at Dolidze getting his black-belt off a win like this though. What the fuck? ?

Kayla Harrison looked lacklustre but got the job done. Shame she never bulldozed Vieira here like she did Holm at UFC 300. Would’ve put a bit of steam on her case for the next title shot. Again though, she should be getting that title shot. I don’t wanna hear any arguments from Pena about Harrison not looking great here when she just got a title shot off a loss and a 2 year layoff. Fuck off. Yeah, didn’t enjoy this fight and it was kind of how I expected Harrison vs Holm to go when that was first announced. Still wonder how much the weight cut takes out of her. She came in at 136lbs for this and the Holm fight and, looking at her on the scales, I’m really not sure there’s another pound she can cut to make championship weight.

Joaquin Buckley KOing Wonderboy was the big moment of the prelims. Christ.

Actually thought Wonderboy was looking alright considering his age and the year on the shelf but Buckley fought well overall and I think him mixing in the takedowns and takedown attempts earlier on had Wonderboy a bit jumpy and that kind of opened the door to Buckley eventually landing the KO shot in the third round. Wonderboy’s age aside, this was Buckley’s best career win to date for me. Not sure how to feel about the Usman callout but I don’t hate it. It’s certainly more realistic than him calling out McGregor after his last fight anyway.

Didn’t watch Hernandez vs Hubbard closely, had it on in the background while I was busy with other stuff but it looked a pretty entertaining fight from what I saw of it.

Was zoning in and out during Cesar Almeida vs Ihor Potieria but the main talking point coming out of it was the incompetent referee who was so bad I could swear he must’ve had money on Almeida. Just completely ignored multiple eyepokes, ignored groin strikes, no warnings, separated them almost immediately when Potieria clinched up in the third round and restarted them in the middle. Three times! Just proper dodgy. I was begging for Potieria to land a headkick KO or something at the end. Poor prick had everything going against him, it was practically a handicap match.

Doubt we’ll be seeing or hearing from this fella again…

Honestly, when Almeida had the guillotine in the second round I was half expecting the joker of a ref to shout “RING THE FUCKING BELL” to ‘screw’ Potieria, Montreal style. The Salt Lake Screwjob.

Ryan Spann vs Ovince Saint Preux was mercifully short. Had zero interest in this and my finger was just hovering over the fast forward button when Spann tagged him and jumped on the guillotine. Surprisingly short, surprisingly sweet. Still no desire to see either again though, especially OSP. That’s gotta be it for him, hasn’t it? Last fight on his contract, 41 years old, 3-5 in his last 8.

Tecia Pennington vs Carla Esparza looked about how you’d expect it to. Not sure about the scorecards, felt like Esparza probably edged it but not gonna pretend I was scoring it properly, or that I really care. The crowd obviously thought Esparza won as well but them booing Tecia when she was talking about her Nan dying of cancer was some cunty shit. Never been a fan of Esparza but I did kind of feel bad for her going out on a loss like that. Still though, I’d be lying if I said I’m gonna miss watching her fight.

Nice sendoff for her. I saw all kinds of moaning that she got the post-fight interview, laying the gloves down and montage treatment but whatever. Never enjoyed watching her fight but I don’t begrudge fighters getting that last moment before they bow out. She was the first UFC Strawweight champion as well so there’s that. Her kid stole her moment though, let’s be honest. Rogan nearly blubbering again was hilarious. Fuckers an emotional mess these days.

Nice to see Court McGee get his first win in a while but at the same time it was a bit shit seeing Tim Means lose another one. They’re both on their last legs and it was always gonna be bittersweet. 


A very average card once again saved by Pereira bringing the drama in the main event. Roll on 308, Topuria vs Holloway and the early start time. 

 

Edited October 7, 2024 by wandshogun09

[wandshogun09]

Christ, we nearly had a disaster here.