UFC Tampa: Covington vs Buckley - Dec 14 ???

[wandshogun09]

It’s the last UFC card of 2024 and we’re back in the Sunshine State of Florida.

ESPN MAIN CARD
Colby Covington vs Joaquin Buckley 

Cub Swanson vs Billy Quarantillo 

Manel Kape vs Bruno Silva

Dustin Jacoby vs Vitor Petrino 

Daniel Marcos vs Adrian Yanez 

Navajo Stirling vs Tuco Tokkos

ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMS 
Michael Johnson vs Ottman Azaitar

Drakkar Klose vs Joel Alvarez 

Sean Woodson vs Fernando Padilla  

Miles Johns vs Felipe Lima

Miranda Maverick vs Jamey-Lyn Horth 

Davey Grant vs Ramon Taveras 

Piera Rodriguez vs Josefine Knutsson 

 

 

Some decent stuff on there and some fighters I really like. It’s not the most exciting way to end the year though. Fucking Covington being the last thing we see? Piss off. They’ve already nicked the Ribas vs Dern co-main from this to headline the first Apex card in January. The matchmaking seems a bit of a shambles to me at the moment. Is it just me or does it feel like main events aren’t getting announced until really late in the day these days? 

 

Colby Covington vs Joaquin Buckley will be the last UFC fight of 2024. What is it with them insisting we close out the year with absolute dickheads in main events? Last year was Covington against Edwards, the year before was a Strickland fight at the Apex. This wasn’t even the original plan, to be fair. It was supposed to be Buckley vs Ian Garry but they had to reshuffle when Belal Muhammad got injured and they took Garry off this card to fill in against Shavkat at 310 a week earlier. They had to come up with something and this prick got the call.

I’ll be honest, I was surprised when this fight got announced. It’s definitely not Colby’s M.O. to take a fight like this against a younger, dangerous opponent. I’ve almost got to begrudgingly give him credit. Almost. Nah, fuck him. The pathetic little star spangled, Trump taint tongueing twat. He’s only taking this fight now because he knows he can’t do his usual thing of just sitting on the sidelines waffling shite and waiting to be handed another undeserved title shot. Not this time. Not after his woeful performance against then champ Leon Edwards last December. Honestly one of the shittest and most embarrassing showings from a challenger in a title fight that I’ve ever seen. He got shut down at every turn and basically got the grand total of fuck all done in the 25 minutes it lasted. And that was after talking all kinds of shit going in, including sinking new lows even for him at the press conference, bringing up Leon’s dad who was murdered. Just an absolute cunt rag of a man. No redeeming qualities whatsoever. I’ve said it a bunch on here over the years but it’s not even ‘heel heat’ for me. I just want him to go away and never show his face in public again.

Needless to say, I’m Team Buckley for this one. And I’m not even particularly a fan of him usually. He’s a decent fighter and that crazy inverted enziguri type kick he wiped out Impa Kasanganay with in 2020 will always be on my shortlist of the most incredible knockouts I’ve ever seen. It’ll probably never be recreated again, although I’d sell a kidney to see him vaporise Colby with one here. I’ve found him a bit annoying since he became more vocal recently. I understand why he’s doing it and, well look, he’s in a main event here! It works. He’s a bit much sometimes though. Still, nowhere near as bad as Covington. And Buckley’s been backing it up in the cage lately as well, to be fair.

There he is slumping Wonderboy Thompson at UFC 307 back in October. He’s on a 5 fight winning streak now but his biggest wins are over an old Wonderboy and post-brain haemorrhage Vicente Luque. Granted he can only beat who’s in front of him but those wins have pretty big asterisks attached for me. A win over Colby here would be kind of similar as well. Colby’s clearly past his best and, honestly, we’ve talked about it before but I’m really not sure how good he ever actually was. Looking back, his wins don’t really hold up to scrutiny and every time he’s faced an elite fighter who was in form, he lost. The peak of his career might just end up being the first Usman fight. And even then, as good as the fight was, he ultimately still left as a loser, beltless and with a broken jaw. Still, a win for Buckley here would still be a win over a former title contender who’s headlined a few PPVs. There is value there and it’s a logical next step for him.

How’s this one going then? Somehow Colby’s still ranked #6 in the Welterweight rankings on the UFC’s website. How? What’s it actually gonna take for him to drop out of the Top 10? He’s fought twice in nearly 3 years, has gone 1-1 in that period and hasn’t won a fight since early 2022. How’s he still ranked above Garry or Buckley who have been active and winning fights? Anyway, I don’t know if it’s just wishful thinking but I’ve got a feeling Buckley chins him here. It’s a bit of a step back in opposition for Colby but considering just how awful he looked against Edwards a year ago, if he’s at all hesitant here I can see Buckley just smashing him to bits. Buckley’s obviously nowhere near as technical a striker as Edwards but what he’s got that Edwards doesn’t is serious firepower in his hands. As long as he’s not over aggressive and running into takedowns, I’m having a hard time seeing Colby standing up to his power. Like I said though, might be a big old case of wishful thinking. Colby’s best bet is gonna be his usual gameplan of volume and playing the long game but at almost 37, can he even be as effective at that as he used to be? I just think Buckley being younger, more explosive and powerful as well as being physically strong and coming in with momentum and having been active, it feels like the timing is perfect for him to put a beating on a part timer like Colby is these days.

 

Cub Swanson vs Billy Quarantillo should be bags of fun. In all the fights I’ve seen out of these two over the years, I could probably count on one hand the fights that weren’t at least good. And they’ve both had fights which surpassed just good by quite a bit. The only negative I can think of here is that it would’ve been even better if we got it a few years sooner. Swanson’s 41 now and Quarantillo’s gonna turn 36 just days before this fight. So they’re both long in the tooth for the Featherweight division and Cub in particular has a lot of miles on the clock now. Still, I like the matchmaking. I’d rather this kind of fun but fair matchup than seeing either of them fed to some 22 year old beast prospect. Cub’s coming off a split decision loss against Andre Fili in June, Quarantillo got subbed by Youssef Zalal last time out in March. So they’re both in the same boat and looking to redeem themselves. Good stuff.

 

Manel Kape vs Bruno Silva is one of the better fights on the card on paper but you never know with Kape. For one, you never know whether he’s actually gonna show up. He’s spent a fair old chunk of his UFC run pulling out of fights. And then the ones he has made it to, a lot of them have been disappointing. He’s coming off a points loss in that big ‘grudge match’ with Muhammad Mokaev on the Manchester card in July. To say that fight didn’t match the heated buildup would be an understatement. Total wet fart of a fight after they spent the entire buildup getting into scraps at the gym and in the street and all sorts. Hopefully Silva can drag him into an exciting fight. He’s capable of it. He’s 14-5-2-1 and on a 4 fight winning streak with 4 finishes. He got a TKO win over Cody Durden in a tremendous fight back in July and I’m hoping for more of the same here.

 

Dustin Jacoby vs Vitor Petrino is OK. Not setting my world alight or anything but a decent enough fight for 205. Neither are likely to ever get within sniffing distance of a title shot but they’re two of the more watchable Light Heavyweights by today’s standards for that once great division. Both are coming off a bad loss here though. Jacoby got knocked out by Dominick Reyes in just 2 minutes back in June. Considering Reyes was deep in a horrific slump going in and had lost 4 fights in a row, it wasn’t a good look for Jacoby. He’s lost 4 of his last 5 now. And Petrino got derailed big time in May, getting guillotined in the first round by an ageing and shopworn Anthony Smith. It was Petrino’s first loss, to be fair. And at 27, he’s got some time to build himself back up. He could still go on to be something. He needs to be winning fights like this though. The matchmakers have probably booked this as an attempt to get Petrino back on track. And while Jacoby’s tough, he’s nearly a decade older, more beat up and in dodgy form. Petrino should win. We’ll see though.

 

Daniel Marcos vs Adrian Yanez has potential show stealer written all over it. Really like the sound of this. Although I got burned by Marcos in the Davey Grant fight on the London card last year. Really expected great things from that and it was surprisingly flat on the night. Seems impossible to have a dull fight with Grant but Marcos somehow managed it. I don’t think that’s typical of him though. If he has another dud here then it’s him because there’s never a dull moment when it comes to Yanez, win or lose. He got off to a flying start in the UFC but had a rough 2023, suffering back-to-back TKO losses to Rob Font and Jonathan Martinez. He bounced back in May this year with a quick knockout win over Vinicius Salvador. This is a tough fight for him and Marcos is unbeaten at 16-0-0-1, if Yanez can hand him his first loss it’ll be a strong statement that he’s back on track.

 

Navajo Stirling vs Tuco Tokkos. Not a clue. Never seen Stirling. A quick glance at Sherdog tells me he’s from New Zealand, trains out of City Kickboxing, 28 years old and undefeated at 5-0 with 4 knockouts. He scored a KO win on DWCS back in September and here we are. And Tokkos, I’ve only seen him twice. Once was him getting absolutely obliterated in a round by Zhang Mingyang on Road To UFC in 2022. Then the next time I saw him was in May this year, and he got submitted in a round by Oumar Sy. All I’ve seen is him getting squashed. And given Stirling’s unbeaten record, I’m assuming they’re looking at Tokkos as cannon fodder here. We’ll see.

 

Michael Johnson vs Ottman Azaitar is a bit of a weird one but could be entertaining. I say it every time but Johnson might just have the strangest run and most drastic swings of wins and losses in UFC history. Seriously. This is a man who has wins over a young Tony Ferguson and Edson Barboza and a first round knockout win over Dustin Poirier. Yet he’s somehow the same man who’s lost to Darren Elkins, Stevie Ray and Jamie Mullarkey. There were nights in his career when you’d swear he was a future title contender. Then other nights where you’d laugh at yourself for ever thinking such madness. He’s 38 now with a 22-19 record and has gone 3-6 in his last 9. He’s coming into this fight off a win over Darrius Flowers back in February. So he’s due a loss again now. If he can pull off a win here, it’ll be the first time he’s scored two wins in a row since 2018! Azaitar’s 34 with a record of 13-2 and he’s only been the distance once. Very much a live by the sword, die by the sword type. He went 13-0 initially but has now been stopped himself in his last two fights and hasn’t fought in well over a year. I’d say it’s a dangerous but winnable fight for MJ but who the fuck even knows at this point?

 

Drakkar Klose vs Joel Alvarez is ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** here. Love the sound of this fight and had no idea it was even happening until now. It’s a cracking fight though and it’ll probably go under the radar so I wanted to highlight it.

There’s Klose powerbombing the absolute fuck out of Joe Solecki about a year ago. A legit late Knockout Of The Year contender in 2023. Klose is on a decent little run of form at the minute. He’s 15-2-1 now and has won his last 4 in a row. He took a decision off Joaquim Silva in his last fight on the Brazil PPV in May. He’s had some really fun scraps in the past. The one where he got knocked out by Beneil Dariush was a lot of fun but obviously didn’t end well for him. He won a real hidden gem against Christos Giagos just before that as well. Beat Bobby Green and Marc Diakiese earlier in his career. He’s had his ups and downs but he’s no pushover. And since that Dariush loss in 2020, he hasn’t lost.

That’s how Alvarez’s last fight ended. He beat up and stopped Elves Brener on the Abu Dhabi card in August. It was a really good performance overall from Alvarez and he broke Brener down and eventually got him out of there in the third round. Alvarez is 21-3 now and all 21 of his wins were inside the distance. He’s a real finisher and his only loss in his last 7 fights came against Arman Tsarukyan, who’s almost certainly fighting for the title next. So that loss hasn’t aged too badly. Great fight this. Both aggressive, Klose is coming in with momentum and will absolutely fancy this, and Alvarez is gonna go for the kill regardless. Definitely the fight that stands out most to me on this card. Really looking forward to it.

 

Sean Woodson vs Fernando Padilla is another solid fight. Woodson’s one of those guys who’s been on the roster for years and his fights come and go with little attention or fanfare but I’ve always enjoyed watching him. He’s 12-1-1 and hasn’t lost since getting subbed by Julian Erosa in their forgotten banger in 2020. Since then he’s gone 5-0-1 with wins over Youssef Zalal, Charles Jourdain and Alex Caceres in there. Padilla’s 16-5 with 14 finishes and coming off a first round submission win over Luis Pajuelo in March. He’s also got a quick TKO win over Julian Erosa on his record so, while MMA Maths doesn’t mean much, he has finished a guy who finished Woodson.

 

Miles Johns vs Felipe Lima has my attention. It’s little to do with Johns though. He’s very average, 15-2-0-1 and coming off a couple of decisions over Cody Gibson and Douglas Silva De Andrade. He was all set to fight Cody Garbrandt in November but that went tits up when Cody dropped out. Now he’s gone from a scheduled fight with a former UFC champ and a big name in the division to being in with a prospect who’s probably a tougher fight but a lot less well known.

I was really impressed with Lima’s UFC debut. He’s 13-1 with 7 finishes and was the Oktagon champion when he got picked up by the UFC back in June. He jumped in on just a few days notice on the Saudi card and submitted Muhammad Naimov in the third round of a fantastic performance. It was a tough fight and Lima didn’t have it all his own way but he adjusted and found the finish late in the fight. Thought he looked great. Especially considering the short notice. At one point he was heavily rumoured to be fighting Taylor Lapilus on the Paris card in September but nothing came of it. Really looking forward to seeing him back in there and seeing what he can do after a full training camp.

 

Miranda Maverick vs Jamey-Lyn Horth is whatever. Not arsed. Maverick’s likeable enough and she’s not the worst fighter in the Flyweight division but I can’t pretend I’m too fussed about this. Maverick’s coming off 3 wins and was scheduled to fight Tracy Cortez here originally but Cortez withdrew. In steps Horth on short notice and it’s a quick turnaround for her as well. She just fought on the Edmonton card in November where she got a split decision win over Ivana Petrovic. Haven’t been particularly impressed by her and Maverick should probably win. Who cares though?

 

Davey Grant vs Ramon Taveras might just be the sleeper FOTN on this card for me. Very rarely do you see a Grant fight that isn’t a blood and guts war. His split decision loss to Daniel Marcos last year was a rare lacklustre exception but, in general, he’s been in nothing but dogfights win or lose over the last few years. Seriously, if you’re at a loose end before this card, go through Grant’s record and watch the 6 fights starting with the Martin Day one in 2020 up to the Raphael Assuncao one in 2023. Literally 6 straight barnburners. He turns 39 just after this fight, make the most of him while he’s still fighting. From the limited footage I’ve seen of Taveras, he seems like the perfect opponent for Grant to have another belter with. He’s 10-2 with 8 finishes and is coming off a points win over Serhiy Sidey in their bloodbath at UFC 297 in January. If that fight was typical of him, he’s gonna be fun to follow. Got a good feeling about this.

 

Piera Rodriguez vs Josefine Knutsson isn’t doing much for me but whatever. It’ll do as a curtain jerker, I guess. Rodriguez is Venezuelan, 32 years old and 9-2 with 5 finishes. She got off to an alright start in the UFC but she’s lost her last couple of fights now. She got armbarred by Gillian Robertson in April 2023, never fought for over a year, then in May…

I don’t know what she was thinking but she got herself disqualified because she went all 1996 Mark Coleman from the SEG era and started dropping the nut on Ariane Carnelossi. Worst of all, she actually had the nerve to moan at the ref for stopping the fight. The bloody cheek of it! Knutsson’s Swedish, 28 years old and 8-0 in MMA. No standout wins to speak of but she’s got Kickboxing experience as well and I’m rooting for her just because Rodriguez carrying on like that last time took the piss.

 

 

And that’s your lot. 2024 is a wrap ?

Edited December 8, 2024 by wandshogun09

[wandshogun09]

Seeing as it’s now officially Colby Covington fight week, I’m bringing this classic back from last year.

Love Ray Longo…

 

[wandshogun09]

Triple posting wanker. It’s the last UFC fight day of 2024.

[neil]

Watching Covington get pieced up never gets old

[Cousin Jim Bob]

I see that twat Dana White saying the fight wouldn't have been stopped in Vegas, suggesting like it was a bad stoppage.

It would be completely unfair on Buckley but fuck it, run the fight back again then dickhead, hell run it back 5 times. Colby looked like he had absolutely nothing for Buckley in that fight, so it would be very entertaining watching him get battered every few months.

[Bruce85]

15 minutes ago, Cousin Jim Bob said:

I see that twat Dana White saying the fight wouldn't have been stopped in Vegas, suggesting like it was a bad stoppage.

It would be completely unfair on Buckley but fuck it, run the fight back again then dickhead, hell run it back 5 times. Colby looked like he had absolutely nothing for Buckley in that fight, so it would be very entertaining watching him get battered every few months.

I really really enjoyed Colby getting pieced up but I was worried a doctors stoppage would lead to him spouting nonsense about early stoppage blah blah blah. As you said, run it back 5 times and I think the outcome will be the same. 
 

Overall, I thought it was a fairly solid end to the year. Really enjoyed the co-main, much better than I thought it would be. 

[Kfogg1991]

Anyone else find it hilarious he promised very special guests for this and it turned out to be a near crippled hulk Hogan using the flag as a crutch 

Perfect fit for his career now. I thought Buckley did outstanding and Colby had absolutely nothing during all of the rounds I give it two more fights until he's out of the rankings.

The co main was phenomenal with cub Swanson getting a unreal knock out genuinely breathtaking.

I'm sad it's over and done for four weeks but jesus Christ this year has been the best from start to finish for us the fans. What a time to be a diehard supporter while Dana is a bell end of unmatched levels they really did deliver every single time and set the bar for next year.

In the post presser Dana said that Jones Vs aspinal is 100% happening next year....if so I'll make him my lord and saviour and start my new religion lmao.

Tyson and usyk this weekend too wrap up our year isn't bad either.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah I enjoyed most of this. Solid enough Fight Night card and, as others have said, watching Colby get smacked around is always time well spent.

Get fucked loser. Loved this. And not just that Colby lost but let’s face it, Buckley’s nothing special. This wasn’t like when Colby lost to Kamaru Usman or Leon Edwards. This was a step down in levels and he still got broken up. Good. Prick. This should, once and for all, put to bed any talk about Colby being any kind of contender. And at 36, I don’t see him getting back there. This was the first time he’s had to fight a younger guy on the rise and he failed miserably. And like I said, Buckley’s strong and can whack but he’s not the elite of the division. He still was good enough to batter Covington though. Lovely stuff.

On 12/16/2024 at 2:45 PM, Bruce85 said:

I really really enjoyed Colby getting pieced up but I was worried a doctors stoppage would lead to him spouting nonsense about early stoppage blah blah blah.

Seen a fair bit of excuse making about that. More than I expected, to be honest. I didn’t think there were any Covington fans left but it seems there are still some out there. Seen a bunch of ‘it shouldn’t have been stopped’ and ‘there’s been much worse cuts than that and they let the fight continue’ type stuff. There’s definitely been worse and more gruesome cuts if we’re just taking sheer size and/or depth of the cut. But…

No controversy whatsoever for me. Cuts like that have been stopping fights for donkeys years. In Boxing and MMA. More than anything, it’s the location of the cut. Right on the eyelid where blood is just gonna keep flowing into the eye and restrict vision. Plus with how thin eyelids are, there’s the risk of it just getting ripped off if more shots landed there. We’ve seen worse cuts on the forehead or under the eye or something but, unless blood is going into the eye itself and the fighter can’t see, fights generally don’t get stopped often for cuts no matter how bad they look. People moaning about the stoppage must be new to watching combat sports. Of course Colby’s running with the excuse and Dana’s idiotic comments haven’t helped. But it was a standard fight ending cut. Textbook.

State of this lot. Worst faction ever. And I lived through the Million Dollar Corporation back in 1995, with Nicolai Volkoff and his horrid little fake tuxedo singlet.

I liked Buckley’s post-fight interview. I said in the opening post he was getting a bit annoying for me with shit talking lately and him calling out Conor McGregor earlier this year was obviously a massive waste of time. But he seems to have reined it in now, he’s still vocal but not so silly with it. I liked that he had 3 names ready to call out. He’s not gonna get the title shot against Belal. Just not gonna happen but I can’t blame him for throwing it out there. Usman and Edwards are perfectly reasonable call-outs though and, although the crowd and Buckley seemed to be leaning towards Usman, I wouldn’t be shocked if we get Edwards vs Buckley announced as the London headliner for March in the coming weeks. As for Colby, get in the bin. I’d be quite happy to never have to see or type about him again.

Swanson vs Quarantillo was always gonna be an entertaining fight but I wasn’t sure what to expect out of 41 year old Cub Swanson. Turned out he looked sharper than I’ve seen him in a long time. He’s at the end of his career and I don’t think he’d do too well against some of the younger Featherweights now. But him and Quarantillo was perfect matchmaking really.

Cracking finish by Cub that. Lots of hints at retirement and him mentioning telling his wife this might be his last fight etc. But he left the door open, never did the old gloves on the canvas thing and he was on about possibly doing a Korean Superboy rematch to the media post-fight. Obviously it’s his choice but I think this would be the perfect fight to go out on. That first Superboy fight is gonna be hard to top and I’m not in love with the idea of running it back. Hanging on for ‘one more fight’ is a dangerous game to play because there’ll always be ‘one more’ you could do. You’ve gotta stop sometime though and I’m not sure he’ll get another chance to end it better than this.

Manel Kape looked good for once. Bit more aggressive than usual and managed to force a finish late in the fight. Good stuff. He’ll probably piss about and barely do anything in his next 5 fights now though. If he even shows up. Him calling for the title shot was a bit much and I doubt he gets it. Although you never know anymore. He’s a mouthy little bastard and that seems to get you places with the matchmakers. I can’t see him getting a title shot though. Nor do I particularly want to see it. That would be yet another rematch for Pantoja if it happened as well. I wouldn’t mind seeing Kape vs Kai Asakura 3 now actually. They’re 1-1, let’s settle it.

Thought Jacoby vs Petrino was pretty shit until the finish. Typical modern day Light Heavyweight dross and I was zoning out for big spells of it. Was a peach of a KO, to be fair though.

Reminded me a lot of when Usman sparked Masvidal in their second fight. Not sure what’s next for either. Petrino’s been well and truly derailed now though. Started the year undefeated and as one of Brazil’s better prospects. Ends the year coming off back-to-back losses where he was subbed by a washed up Anthony Smith and clobbered into orbit by a Jacoby who was 1-4 in his last 5 coming in.

Daniel Marcos vs Adrian Yanez was pretty good but frustrating at times as a Yanez fan. It was close but I really felt like Yanez could’ve secured the decision but kind of let it slip away at crucial points. Then at the end when Marcos was looking gassed and walking away, that was Yanez’s chance to jump on him but he just followed him around and then clinched. Disappointing. Marcos gets the nod. Seems like calling out Jose Aldo is in fashion these days and Marcos became the latest to do it. Zero interest in that though. I get why these guys trying to climb the ladder would call out a legend like Aldo but I really hope the matchmakers don’t go that route. They’ve wasted enough time with Aldo’s comeback so far. Give Aldo a bigger name FFS. 

Michael Johnson absolutely starched Ottman Azaitar. Flatlined him.

Brutal. First time Johnson’s had back-to-back wins since 2018. Azaitar’s career is on its arse now though. Went from 13-0 at the start of his career to 0-3 in his last 3 and he’s been knocked out in all 3 losses. Rough game.

Joel Alvarez did what Joel Alvarez does. The 100% finish rate stays intact! Expected a bit of a back and forth war here and it looked like it was shaping up that way, then Alvarez put Klose away quick.

Sweet finish. He’s entered the rankings now with this win as well. I see Jalin Turner’s one spot above him. Wouldn’t mind seeing that fight next. Alvarez is a lock if they can get that Spain card sorted. No brainer to have him on a Topuria card there. 

Sean Woodson with the first round finish wasn’t really what I expected. Always quite enjoy watching him but he’s not really known as a big finisher. Gotta be the weirdest shaped fighter on the roster. Skinny legs, skinny arms, massive head. Gangly sod’s built like a lollipop.

Felipe Lima looked really good again. Miles Johns is nothing special but he’s not bad. Thought Lima completely outclassed him. Shame he never got the finish but he got some cage time and got to show a bit more. He looks promising. Looking forward to seeing what 2025 has in store for him.

I was happy to see Davey Grant back and with a win, especially after getting dropped early on by Taveras, but that fight was really disappointing. I was expecting a crazy scrap but it fell flat for me. That’s two lacklustre fights in a row for Grant now after a series of legit bangers previously. I blamed it on Daniel Marcos last time but maybe Grant’s run of wild slugfests has just come to an end. Probably for the best for him, fun to watch while it lasted though. Again though, I like Grant but him calling out Aldo can piss off. For the same reason I gave above about Marcos. 


Yeah good show and watching Covington get shut down and busted up was a satisfying way to close out the year. Again. Two years on the trot we’ve ended the year seeing that prick fail ? 

 

While I’m here though…

On 12/16/2024 at 2:48 PM, Kfogg1991 said:

jesus Christ this year has been the best from start to finish for us the fans. What a time to be a diehard supporter while Dana is a bell end of unmatched levels they really did deliver every single time and set the bar for next year.

Sorry this is gonna be a long one and it’s not necessarily all aimed at you. I know it probably comes across like I nitpick at your posts sometimes, it’s genuinely not my intention. But I strongly disagree with this.

2024 has had some highs - Topuria’s rise, Pereira’s been ace, Holloway’s mental KO against Gaethje at UFC 300 etc. But it’s been nowhere been the best year, delivered every time or set any bars. I noticed Frankie’s put the UKFF Awards up recently and I started thinking about my nominations for the MMA Awards. I don’t think I’ve ever had as much trouble thinking of legitimate, obvious and clear FOTY contenders in any other year since I started watching MMA than I have this year. Even some of the years that felt really lacking always had that one ridiculous FOTY. 2024 hasn’t really had that. There’s been some great fights and one of them is gonna have to win FOTY. But in terms of big fights, main events and title fights delivering, this year’s been thinner on obvious FOTYs than any I can ever recall in all my years watching this shit. On top of that, we haven’t had much in the way of big blockbuster fights. Even as much as I loved 300, it had Jamahal sodding Hill headlining! I liked what they tried with the Sphere more than most seemed to but that was just really expensive, tarted up production. It wasn’t something that made this year better than others. We’ve got Strickland accepted as a worthy PPV headliner these days, which makes me fucking wretch. Covington’s still here and they let him walk out with Hulk Hogan yet they won’t let most fighters walk out with their country’s flag. Jon Jones has become an absolute joke and this year it became apparent that the Heavyweight run he’d been teasing since about 20-bastard-12 was all a load of bollocks and he’s just a big slimy fight dodger. The cocksucking Apex is still somehow a thing as we head into 2025. Then you add in that Dana’s been more miserable and grumpy than ever and only seems happy when he’s facefucking us with either Power Slap shite or doing his cringey walkouts in the middle of PPVs with Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Dana’s always been a prick but he’s genuinely impossible to listen to at this point for me. Just a cantankerous, cranky old big pink shithead.

The whole vibe around the UFC these days is so off putting to me. The fanbase seems to be about 85% made up of the worst kind of people you’d never wanna be stuck in a conversation with. And I feel like the way the UFC are clearly pushing their political agenda on viewers now is partly to blame for that. Fanbase full of hateful sad little incels and virgins who hate women and seem proud to be apologists for rape and domestic violence. There was always some of that but I think it’s got noticeably worse since the likes of Strickland and Covington realised that going the ‘edgy’ route was the only way they could make anyone give a fuck about them in lieu of any actual personality and charisma. Then there was the McGregor stuff which, obviously the story itself is the worst. But the whole reaction to that was depressing. So many horrible cretins blaming the victim or flat-out denying it even happened, despite the medical evidence. Then the way almost all MMA media (Luke Thomas aside) basically ignored the story and if they did mention it they did it in a pussy way to try and stay on McGregor’s good side. The whole company just feels dirty and grubby these days.

I don’t mean to be so negative. There has been good stuff this year. But I can’t remember the last time I got to the end of a year watching the UFC and felt this cold and apathetic towards the product. I very rarely watch a card live anymore anyway, 308 with Topuria vs Holloway was the exception this year. But even as much as I love MMA, there’s been so many cards this year where I couldn’t even be fucked to watch on the Sunday. It used to be a given that I’d get up Sunday morning and whack the UFC on. This year there were cards I never got around to watching until mid week (this one included) and one card I completely skipped entirely (Spivac vs Tybura 2 in August) which is the first time I’ve ever missed a card completely since I started watching MMA. Just couldn’t be fucking arsed. Granted, real life gets in the way. The kids are getting older and my wife’s work situation has changed so she’s at home more now. I’ve had better things to do. But still, I feel like if MMA was as fun as it used to be, I’d find the time like I used to. Not saying it won’t get better again and I’m definitely not giving up on it. But this year, the UFC’s been an actual chore for me at times and I’ve never felt that way before.


Christ, I’ve rambled. Anyway yeah, fuck Colby Covington and Happy New Year!

[Cousin Jim Bob]

As depressing as the UFC and Dana White can be Wand it is also an absolutely brutal sport where you can push absolute dickheads like Colby Covington to the moon but sooner or later they will walk into someone younger than them who will fuck them up.

I do wonder if Dana wishes it wasn't like this and he could do it like boxing and just take the piss with the matchmaking. He has made his bed though so it is hilarious watching his boys like Colby get absolutely wrecked.