Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted April 6, 2025 Paid Members Posted April 6, 2025 (edited) We’re off to Montreal. Hopefully Earl Hebner’s not reffing any of this lot. Although there are a couple of fights I wouldn’t mind being prematurely cut short… PPV MAIN CARD Belal Muhammad©️vs Jack Della Maddalena - Welterweight Title Valentina Shevchenko©️vs Manon Fiorot - Flyweight Title Jose Aldo vs Aiemann Zahabi Alexa Grasso vs Natalia Silva Benoit Saint Denis vs Kyle Prepolec ESPN PRELIMS Mike Malott vs Charles Radtke Jessica Andrade vs Jasmine Jasudavicius Modestas Bukauskas vs Ion Cutelaba Navajo Stirling vs Ivan Erslan ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMS Marc-Andre Barriault vs Bruno Silva Daniel Santos vs Jeong Yeong Lee Brad Katona vs Bekzat Almakhan OK, not the best. Either of those title fights would’ve been fine as co-main under a bigger, more exciting title fight but together? It’s not really doing it for me. Could be wrong and I hope I am but I’d say both of those fights have a fairly high chance of being snoozers. I’m still kind of intrigued by both though, the main moreso than the co-main. I like a lot of this undercard though, so that helps overall. Some good fights on there, even if the bout order looks a bit off. Yeah, Belal Muhammad vs Jack Della Maddalena isn’t some killer PPV headliner. It might not be a barnburner. It wasn’t even the UFC’s first choice to decide Welterweight gold right now. If you remember, we were supposed to see Belal defend against Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310 in December. Belal had to withdraw due to a gnarly toe infection and Shavkat ended up facing Ian Garry instead. It was assumed Belal vs Shavkat would be rescheduled at a later date but apparently now Shavkat’s injured so that’s out again. Maddalena was all set to headline the London card in March against Leon Edwards and got pulled from that matchup for this. Huge opportunity for JDM! And while it’s not the most exciting fight on paper, I do think it’s kind of an interesting clash of styles. This is a sight I never expected we’d see. Belal as UFC champion just never seemed to be on the cards and, to be honest, had Leon Edwards not been champ at the time, I’m not sure if or when Belal would have even got the shot at the title at all. I think them having some history and beef is what helped him there. No doubt he made the absolute most of it though. He was on a pretty strong run of wins going in but was never much of a finisher, wasn’t having entertaining fights and was already in his mid 30s. It just felt like the UFC were fully intending to ‘Jon Fitch’ him where they’d just keep giving him endless contender fights until he loses one. But like I said, timing just worked out for him and Leon being champ didn’t hurt. You know the UFC love a rematch and with the circumstances of how the first fight ended with the eyepoke, it seemed like the right time to run it back. They met again in Manchester at UFC 304 in July. And I can’t deny I got it completely wrong. I was pretty confident Leon was gonna win this rematch. For one, he seemed so dialled in at the time coming off those Usman and Covington wins. Plus, he was piecing Belal up before the unfortunate eyepoke in their 2021 fight. I didn’t expect an easy fight for Leon but I just didn’t think much had changed in Belal’s style and Leon had only grown in confidence and title fight experience. Maybe he’d become too confident though. Either way, Belal put in a career-best performance that night in Manchester and won a competitive but clear decision. Think Leon won a round, maybe two, but there was no doubt for me that Belal won the fight. And he had spells of real dominance with his wrestling and constant pressure. It’s something a lot of people, me included, overlooked going in but given Leon’s frustrating habit of giving up ground and being hesitant, it should’ve been obvious that Belal had a very problematic style for him. I just couldn’t get past the visuals of Leon picking him apart before the eyepoke the first time though. Belal on the streets of Manchester there, the night he won the title. Fair play to him. I find him a bit annoying at times and his fighting style isn’t the best to watch, but he’s way surpassed what I thought he was capable of. Can’t see him having a particularly long reign as champion, he’s gonna be 37 in July, but him getting the strap at all is more than I think anyone expected of him. The window of opportunity was closing for him but when the time came he grabbed it with both hands. Aussie Maddalena is the much younger man at 28 years old. Completely different style to Belal. And a completely different style to Shavkat, who is the guy Belal originally expected to be defending against. My first thought is that this is a more straightforward and slightly easier fight for Belal. Everyone knows Maddalena’s game is striking. He’s 17-2, on a 17 fight win streak, with 14 of his wins coming inside the distance, 12 by knockout. And if we’re just talking hands, I think he’s one of the better boxers in the UFC right now, certainly at 170lbs. He’s shown in a bunch of fights that he’s dangerous early and can mix it up and find a home for his shots quite quickly. This one could be a little bit different though because you have to think Belal’s not gonna be looking to stand in front of him and trade punches. Maddalena’s been quite honest in his assessment of Belal as an opponent style-wise as well… “It’s no question he’s got a boring fight style. He’s good at holding people down, getting victories, but fair play to him. GSP got some flack back in the day for having a boring style, it’s just because he’s better than people across the board. He can hold down the strikers and outstrike the grapplers, that sort of thing. So, we’ve got to give him credit. He’s definitely got a boring style, but I think winning is obviously his number one goal and fair play to him. But I feel like I can beat him. I’m a more dangerous fighter for sure. I think I can not only get the world title but get the world title off a dominant finish with style points.” “I think I got more dog in me. I’ve fought people like him my whole career and he’s never fought someone like me. I got some practice with that against Gilbert Burns. I feel like in that three round fight, I was able to continuously get back to my feet and cook him. Having five rounds I feel will be to my advantage. I believe I will be able to continuously get back to my feet and sting Belal. Having those extra two rounds to damage him, I think it works well for me. I’m gonna keep pushing until the final bell.” - Jack Della Maddalena He brings up the Burns fight there and I’m a bit hazy on that one. That was Maddalena’s last fight and that was last March at UFC 299. So he’ll have been inactive around 14 months by the time this fight gets underway. Not ideal. And I do remember him having problems with Burns. Pretty sure he was 0-2 down going into the last round. He needed a finish and, to his credit, he found it. But it doesn’t fill me with confidence that he’s gonna be able to deal with Belal’s incessant pressure and grappling. Saw a quote from Belal saying he’s not gonna wrestle… “I’m going to outbox Jack. I’m not going to shoot one takedown and I’m going to show him the meaning of Canelo hands.” - Belal Muhammad Not buying it. Unless he’s just totally bought into his own hype and disappeared up his own arse after winning the title, he’d be an idiot to abandon his strengths and just strike with a hitter like Maddalena. Why would you maximise your opponent’s chance to win when you’ve got an advantage in another area? I don’t think he’s gonna do that though. And I don’t think Maddalena’s gonna fall for comments like that either. So yeah, it hasn’t exactly got the balls tingling but I don’t hate this fight. Don’t know if anyone saw it but there was a story recently that Maddalena had to start a fundraiser because the UFC is too cheap to fly his coaches over from Australia to Canada for this fight. As always there’s bootlickers defending the UFC over this but it’s ridiculous, isn’t it? It’s 2025, it’s the biggest MMA promotion in the world, it’s a PPV world title fight, and a multi-billion dollar promotion won’t sort his team out? Anyway yeah, I’m hoping Maddalena wins just because I find him way more enjoyable to watch. But outside of him running through Belal with an early KO, I see Belal coming out on top. It does have a feel of a possible changing of the guard at Welterweight though. A Maddalena win here could signify the end of that Usman, Covington, Edwards, Belal era and usher in the new wave of Maddalena, Shavkat, Brady, Garry etc. We’ll see what happens but it does kind of feel like Belal’s the last man standing from that previous era. Valentina Shevchenko vs Manon Fiorot is kind of similar to the main event but less interesting to me. Fiorot’s deserving enough as a challenger, the fight itself just does very little for me and I can’t see it being much fun to watch. Maybe I’ll be proven wrong but Shevchenko kind of has to have the right dance partner to have an entertaining fight and, based on what I’ve seen of Fiorot, I don’t think she fits that bill. More than anything though, I think I’m just over the ‘Shevchenko Era’ of Flyweight. She’s been a good champion and was dominant for years but when Alexa Grasso finally took the title off her in 2023, the division actually felt fresher than it had in forever. Then they spammed the life out of their trilogy, Shevchenko got the belt back and it feels like we’re back to square one… At 37 years old, I think it’s safe to say Shevchenko’s not ready to let go of that Flyweight gold anytime soon. Her and Grasso had two close, competitive and pretty enjoyable fights in March and September 2023. Grasso scored the upset and won the title the first time, then they went to a draw in the rematch. The third fight went down at the Sphere in September last year and this time Shevchenko got the win and reclaimed the strap. It was the most one-sided and dullest fight of their series though. And despite now being 1-1-1 in their rivalry, I don’t think anyone was itching to see a FOURTH fight. It might still happen somewhere down the road but I think a break from the Shevchenko vs Grasso saga is much needed and welcome at this point. Must admit, I was hoping for a ‘Superfight’ next between Shevchenko and Zhang Weili. There’s not many fights I wanna see Shev in these days, feels like there’s not much left. But her and Zhang is one I’d be into and there was some talk of Zhang moving up recently and that fight being a possibility. I think the timing just never lined up though. Zhang just fought in February, she’s 35 herself now and judging by her activity the last few years I don’t think she’s a fan of fighting on quick turnarounds. So that’s on the backburner. If Shevchenko wins this fight though, maybe that’ll be next? Not like there’s anything interesting left for Zhang at Strawweight now. Shev’s got this test to pass first though. Fiorot’s French, 35 years old and 12-1 with 6 by KO/TKO. I guess if there’s any intrigue here, it’s Fiorot’s physicality. She’s big and strong for Flyweight so she presents a little bit of a different problem than most of Shevchenko’s previous opponents. But I don’t know. Despite her racking up the wins and being 7-0 so far in the UFC, I’m just not fully sold on her. The UFC gets a lot of shit for failing to build stars these days but, to be fair, they’ve at least tried to put Fiorot in positions where she could capitalise and have that breakthrough moment. They put her on the main card of the big Oliveira vs Makhachev PPV in Abu Dhabi in 2022. They put her in the co-main in front of her home crowd in Paris against former champ Rose Namajunas. They had her headline in New Jersey last year against another rising contender Erin Blanchfield. They can only do so much though. They put her in these positions but it’s up to her to deliver in the cage. And while she won all these fights, they were completely and utterly forgettable. Seriously, I barely remember anything of any of them. Not sure what to make of this. On the one hand, it feels like Shevchenko’s on borrowed time as champ. Her winning the belt back was a big achievement but I think her days of dominance over the division are over at this point. But I’m not sure how good Fiorot actually is. Even after 7 fights in the UFC, it feels like we still don’t really know much about her. Maybe there’s more to her and it’s just that she’s never been pushed to the point where she’s had to go up a gear and show more. Or maybe this is really all there is. Age-wise, it’s 37 vs 35. But Shevchenko’s got way more miles on the clock as a fighter. According to her Wikipedia page, between MMA, Kickboxing and Boxing she’s had a combined 91 pro fights. Fiorot’s had 13 pro, 5 amateur. Massive difference and it’s that old thing of do you look at it as experience or miles on the body? It’s both, of course. But there’s a point where the line crosses over into wear and tear and too many rounds. Purely on skills, I don’t see anything remarkable about Fiorot but she’s strong enough that maybe Shevchenko won’t be able to just fall back on her takedowns like she did against Grasso. I’d like to see Shevchenko win this one, just to keep that Zhang fight alive. That probably means Fiorot’s winning because it’s MMA and we can’t have anything fun anymore. Jose Aldo vs Aiemann Zahabi then. I feel like a stuck record at this point but what exactly are they doing with Aldo? OK, I get it to a point. It’s obvious that they’ve basically decided to just use whatever’s left of his name value to build other guys up. But I don’t think Aldo’s at that stage yet. They’re treating him like BJ Penn at the very death throes of his UFC career when they were still booking him, almost out of courtesy, but just sticking him on the prelims against Dennis Siver and Clay Guida. Sure, Aldo’s not in his prime anymore. I’m not delusional about it. But he’s not that far gone either. Nowhere near. There are still fun fights to be had with Aldo. Seems like the matchmakers have opted to go with the grand total of none of them for the rest of his career though. What a legend. He’s 38 years old, arguably the Featherweight GOAT and still ranked #11 at Bantamweight in 2025, which, for me, is probably overall the strongest division in MMA right now. I’m under no illusions that he’s gonna be going on any title runs at this stage. That ship’s sailed. But when he came back to the UFC last year, I genuinely thought ‘Right, Aldo’s back on the big stage to finish up his career with some fun fights’. Maybe he’d even go for one last shot at a title? Like I said, he wouldn’t win the title at this point but picturing him at least getting one last shot at it didn’t seem outrageous. They gave him Jonathan Martinez in his return bout, which was fine. It was the last fight on his existing contract and they weren’t sure if he was sticking around. So I got that. He won and looked really good and it was cool seeing him do his thing in front of the home crowd in Rio. But then he actually signed a new contract and they matched him up with Mario Bautista in October. Why? A fight absolutely nobody was asking for and to make matters worse, it was a dull fight at high altitude in Salt Lake City, and Aldo lost a split decision. Shite. After that I was sure they were gonna finally just make a fun fight. Maybe that WEC legends dream match with Dominick Cruz. Maybe Henry Cejudo or something. Sandhagen? Figgy? Maybe even a fight back up at 145? Nope. Aiemann Helwani it is. We talked a bit about it when the fight was announced, it’s nothing even against Zahabi. Seems a decent enough guy, have enjoyed some of his fights, he’s Canadian so it does make sense to give him something significant on this card. But man, it’s genuinely baffling to me that they seem hell bent on squandering and pissing away the limited time Aldo’s got left in the sport. One of the all time greats, and at a time when the roster isn’t exactly heaving with big names and legends. Here they’ve got a 24 carat, solid gold legend and they’re trying to use him as cannon fodder to build up midcarders like Martinez, Bautista and Zahabi? I’ll never understand it. It doesn’t even make sense from the dull ‘it’s a business’ perspective because Zahabi’s 37 himself. He’s 12-2 and on a decent win streak but if he was gonna become an elite player, we’d have seen signs of it before now. He’s not some young hot prospect where I could at least see the logic in trying to give him ‘the rub’ against a name like Aldo. Trying to be positive, at least we’re getting to see Aldo fight, right? Any card he’s on gets a boost by him being there. And this will probably be a perfectly watchable fight. It just seems like a waste of time at this point though and it’s definitely not the best use of Aldo. Again, nothing against Zahabi but I hope Aldo wins spectacularly here and kind of forces them to give him something more appealing next time. Obviously, the Cruz fight isn’t an option anymore but there’s gotta be better than these types of fights for him. Alexa Grasso vs Natalia Silva. They’re having a cute-off! This is a pretty cool little fight actually. Obviously, Grasso’s coming off those three consecutive fights against Valentina Shevchenko so it’ll be nice to see her in with a completely fresh opponent. And Silva’s been steadily climbing the ladder at Flyweight and this is a logical next step for her. Grasso’s still ranked #1 as I type this, Silva’s now sitting at #5. So there are stakes to this. An impressive performance here could see Grasso back in the mix or Silva catapulted into contention. After the way Grasso lost that third Shevchenko fight at the Sphere in September, getting totally outwrestled to pretty much a shutout, she needed a different kind of fight to rebound in. For some reason, I had it in my head they were gonna do Grasso vs Blanchfield. Which would’ve been awful for Grasso facing another wrestler. Thankfully they’ve gone a different route. She needs to bounce back in style here though. As I said before, she’s 1-1-1 against Shevchenko. It doesn’t get any more neck and neck. But she performed badly in that last fight. She had no answers for Shevchenko’s takedowns and, unlike their first two fights, it wasn’t even competitive. She could do with making a statement here. Brazil’s Silva is 28 years old and 18-5-1 with 12 of her wins being finishes. She’s on a 12 fight winning streak and coming off the biggest win of her career, a decision over former UFC champ Jessica Andrade back in September. Pretty much schooled Andrade in that one as I recall. All that was missing was the finish, and that’s the only thing she’s seemed to struggle with as she’s stepped up in levels. She was finishing fights early in her UFC run but as she’s faced better opposition it’s been decisions in her last few fights. She’s looked good though. I’m sure when she signed she was being bigged up as a grappler but it’s been her striking that’s been winning her fights mostly so far. Think there’s a fun fight to be had with her and Grasso here. Only thing is, I don’t want either to lose. Silva’s a fresh face in the rankings and it’s only gonna strengthen the division if she can keep winning. But the last thing Grasso needs now is another loss. Hopefully it’s a good fight either way. Benoit Saint Denis vs Kyle Prepolec. Last minute card change. My original ‘one to watch’ of Saint Denis against Joel Alvarez went tits up right as fight week got underway when Alvarez pulled out injured. Typical. We can’t have anything, can we? Genuinely think that was probably gonna be the best actual fight on the card. In steps Prepolec on a few days notice. Well, believe it nor not, he’s actually fought in the UFC a couple of times before. Yeah, I don’t remember it either. But looking him up, apparently he had a two fight stint back in 2019 where he went 0-2 against Nordine Taleb and Austin Hubbard and was swiftly released. Aside from that, he’s Canadian, 35 years old and has a record of 18-8 with 14 finishes. Massively underwhelming replacement and, honestly, I’d have preferred to just see the BSD vs Alvarez fight rescheduled if Alvarez’s injury isn’t too severe. But I get why Benoit would wanna just stay on the card so his training camp wasn’t for nothing. It’s a risky one in a way though because he’s coming off a couple of losses and just got beat to a bloody pulp in his last fight against Moicano. And now this Prepolec fight is basically supposed to be a squash match. If he somehow loses this one, it’s really not looking good. He should win though and maybe this is actually what Saint Denis needs. That Alvarez matchup was likely gonna be a dogfight and Benoit could probably do without that after that Moicano beating. Maybe a squash is just what the doctor ordered. Bit of a confidence booster. We’ll see. Mike Malott vs Charles Radtke. No. Not interested. I get why it’s here. Malott’s Canadian and they haven’t given up on him yet. I have though. I’ve seen quite enough. He’s 33 years old now, so a little bit too long in the tooth to be called a prospect. Plus he failed miserably when he took the ‘Magny Test’ last year. On a serious note I remember him being in control of that fight right up until the end, then it was like he just completely malfunctioned and Magny subbed him with seconds left in the fight. He came back with a decision win over Trevin Giles on the Edmonton card in November but I remember it being a fucking horrible fight to watch. Just don’t see anything in Malott. Radtke’s 34 years old, 10-4 and coming off a TKO victory over Matthew Semelsberger in just 51 seconds in his last fight. Can’t say I remember much about him but he’s 3-1 in the UFC so far and the only loss was against Carlos Prates, which is a loss that hasn’t aged too badly. Jessica Andrade vs Jasmine Jasudavicius isn’t setting the world on fire but it’s not a bad piece of matchmaking. Been a fan of Andrade for years. She was one of that first wave of female fighters to step into the Octagon back when Dana finally relented back in 2013. And while the women often get stick for fighting like they’re sparring, Andrade’s never been one of them. She’s a little scrapper. She won the UFC title by slamming Rose Namajunas on her head and neck and knocking her out, for fuck’s sake! She sparked Kowalkiewicz, folded Chookagian with a nasty body shot, subbed Lemos with a standing arm triangle of all things and smashed Dern to bits. Yeah she’s had a bunch of losses too, she’s 26-13 now and coming off a points loss against Natalia Silva in September. But she’s been one of the most entertaining fighters to watch in the women’s game by far over the years. Canada’s own Jasmine Jasudavicius is actually the older of the two here at 36, despite this feeling like she’s the new blood. Andrade’s still only 33 but that’s just how long she’s been at it. She’s a grizzled veteran at 33! Jasudavicius is alright. Nothing amazing but she’s 13-3 and on a decent little four fight winning streak. This is a huge step up for her though. Her best win to date was her last fight in February, a points win over Mayra Bueno Silva on the Saudi card. Before that she was beating lower level fighters like Ariane Da Silva, Fatima Kline (who took the fight on short notice) and shitehawk Priscila Cachoeira. She lacks power but she is aggressive, which does make her a bit more watchable, she at least tries to make a finish happen even if she doesn’t always succeed. This should be a test for her. Despite being younger, Andrade’s more experienced, a former champion and she’s got power in her hands. Jasudavicius is gonna be a lot taller and longer though. Not a great fight but could be alright. Modestas Bukauskas vs Ion Cutelaba is a fight of no real significance or relevance but I think there’s serious fireworks potential here. A rare lower level Light Heavyweight fight that I’m kind of into. Bukauskas is a former Cage Warriors champion, Lithuanian but based in England, he’s 31 years old and 17-6 with 13 of his wins not making it to the scorecards. He’s had mixed results in the UFC but he’s coming off back-to-back wins via finish here and just blitzed Rafael Cerqueira in the first round on the Seattle card in February. Like I said, should make for an explosive fight because Cutelaba only really knows one way to fight. He’s Moldovan, also 31 and he’s 19-10-1-1 with 16 finishes. Seems about as intelligent as a bag of rocks but he’s usually in goofy entertaining wild slugfests. He fought on the same card as Bukauskas in Seattle in February, and he subbed Ibo Aslan in a round. That was a rare case where Cutelaba actually mixed things up a bit. It was looking like your typical Cutelaba mindless shootout for a bit but then he took it to the ground and got the arm triangle choke. Don’t wanna jinx it but there’s no reason why this fight should go to a decision. Navajo Stirling vs Ivan Erslan. Not a clue really. Haven’t seen enough of either of them. They’ve both only fought once in the UFC so far. Stirling’s a Kiwi and trains out of City Kickboxing. He’s 27 years old and undefeated at 6-0 with 4 by KO/TKO. Made his Octagon debut on the Tampa card in December and beat Tuco Tokkos by decision in a fight I don’t think I watched. Erslan’s Croatian. He’s 33 years old with a record of 14-4-0-1 and 11 finishes, 10 by knockout. He fought a fair bit in KSW before making his UFC debut on the Paris card last September. He lost a split decision to Ion Cutelaba that night, showing toughness but not much else. Marc-Andre Barriault vs Bruno Silva isn’t a fight of any real significance but will probably be an entertaining scrap and I’d say it’s likely got a high chance of ending in a brutal knockout either way. Barriault’s actually a Quebecer, like Jacques and Pierre. So the Montreal crowd will undoubtedly be in his corner. But he’s coming off three straight losses here and he’s been viciously knocked out in the first round in his last two fights. His back is kind of against the wall here. Silva’s not doing any better. He’s gone 0-4 in his last four fights. Hasn’t been getting ironed out but the poor prick can’t seem to buy a win at this point. At least one of them’s gonna snap the losing streak, I guess. Daniel Santos vs Jeong Yeong Lee could be entertaining if it happens. I say ‘if it happens’ because Santos rarely shows up. Seems like he’s had more fight cancellations than actual fights at this point. He was supposed to fight Davey Grant in April but pulled out with medical issues. Now he’s back before Grant? Whatever. He’s replacing Gavin Tucker here, who dropped out about two weeks out from the show. So we’ll see if Santos makes it, he’s only gotta get through fight week, for fuck’s sake! Lee’s 11-2 with 7 finishes and he’s coming off a first round TKO loss against Hyder Amil back in July. It was a barmy one rounder though. Really fun while it lasted. And to be fair, Lee was on an 8 fight winning streak before that loss and I remember him looking pretty good in his couple of UFC fights. Brad Katona vs Bekzat Almakhan could be worth a look actually. Not really arsed about Katona. He’s not a bad fighter, 33 years old, Canadian, 14-4 and is the only fighter to win TUF twice, whatever that’s worth. He’s coming off a points loss against Jean Matsumoto in October. It’s Almakhan I’m more interested in. He’s from Kazakhstan, 27 years old and 11-2 with 10 finishes. The reason I’m interested is he made his UFC debut last March and actually went the distance with Umar Nurmagomedov. He lost the decision but getting Umar in your UFC debut isn’t ideal is it? And I vaguely remember him hurting Umar at one point, although he got wrestled into oblivion in the end. Looking forward to seeing him back in there all the same. Only fitting that I sign off with the greatest moment in the history of Montreal. Yes Bret! ?? Edited May 9, 2025 by wandshogun09 Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted April 6, 2025 Paid Members Posted April 6, 2025 Think this may be the first time ive picked Belal Quote
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted April 13, 2025 Author Paid Members Posted April 13, 2025 (edited) This card’s already a fight down. They’ve taken the Gilbert Burns vs Michael Morales fight off this one and it’s gonna headline the Apex card (fuck off) the week after on May 17th. At least they’ve reshuffled the bout order for this card now though. They put this graphic up during 314 last night. Aldo’s now on the main card where he should’ve been from the start and my ‘one to watch’ Saint Denis vs Alvarez has been bumped up to the PPV opener… Edited April 13, 2025 by wandshogun09 Quote
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted May 4, 2025 Author Paid Members Posted May 4, 2025 Barely into fight week and we’ve already lost my ‘one to watch’… Joel Alvarez is out. Fuck this fucking shit. Sick of it. Don’t know who they’re gonna get in to fight Benoit Saint Denis now on less than a week’s notice. Or if he’s even gonna stay on the card. Bollocks though. That was my favourite fight on the card and this is a card that couldn’t afford to lose fun fights. Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted May 4, 2025 Paid Members Posted May 4, 2025 Thats rough losing two main card fights. This is gonna be one of those cursed cards. Quote
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted May 7, 2025 Author Paid Members Posted May 7, 2025 Yeah me neither. Look at this. You see what Garry’s up to here. He’s been named as the official backup for the main event on Saturday night so what does he do? Gets his kid to bring Maddalenna some Peanut M&Ms to sabotage his weight cut ? Quote
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted May 9, 2025 Author Paid Members Posted May 9, 2025 So sounds like if Belal wins we’re getting Makhachev vs Topuria and if Maddalenna wins we’re getting Topuria vs Oliveira. Looks like I’m gonna have to root for Belal now then. Quote
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted May 9, 2025 Author Paid Members Posted May 9, 2025 Apologies for the triple post. Here’s the (hopefully) final card for tomorrow… I’ve finally updated the opening post with the Saint Denis vs Prepolec stuff. The Aldo vs Zahabi fight got changed to 145lbs when it became clear Aldo was struggling badly with the weight cut and wasn’t gonna make 135. He looked rough… Hope he doesn’t lose to fucking Zahabi tomorrow. Nothing even against him but I don’t wanna see Aldo losing to guys he’d have absolutely wrecked a few years ago. Wish he’d sack 135 off now as well. He never looks great on the scales but this is the first time I recall him actually being way off the contracted weight like this. And at 38, it’s only gonna get harder. Fuck it off. Plenty of fun fights for him at 145 but I don’t wanna see any more of these fights against midcarders who are going nowhere. Whatever happens tomorrow night, my hope is that he finishes up his career with a few fights, against names, at 145. Give us Aldo vs Pitbull or something. Actually looking forward to this card a bit more than I thought I’d be. Still not in love with the two title fights but Belal vs Maddalenna is an interesting clash of styles and now it’s supposedly gonna determine whether we get Makhachev vs Topuria or Topuria vs Oliveira or Makhachev at 170 or whatever next. Shev vs Fiorot isn’t doing it for me and I’m expecting a bit of a snoozer there but I do think Fiorot poses a legit challenge. Undercard’s alright as well. Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted May 9, 2025 Paid Members Posted May 9, 2025 Charles Radtke is one of the best low key heels in the game, utter prick of a man who doesn't care who he upsets. Wouldn't mind seeing him tomorrow just to see what kind of higher end rivalries he could end up in. Quote
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted May 10, 2025 Author Paid Members Posted May 10, 2025 Fight day. Quote
Bruce85 Posted May 10, 2025 Posted May 10, 2025 This isn’t the best card but I’m strangely really looking forward to it. I’m not sure we’ve ever had a title fight that’s outcome will have such an impact on the direction of another division. I picked JDM on the poll but the closer it gets the more I can see Belal getting a UD, probably 4 rounds to 1. With the ramifications for Islam/Topuria/Oliveria I’m not sure who I’m rooting for anymore! Quote
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted May 10, 2025 Author Paid Members Posted May 10, 2025 (edited) Yeah I’ve gone Belal in the poll. Wouldn’t mind seeing Maddalenna win and I’d have probably been rooting for him if him winning didn’t mean we lose Makhachev vs Topuria. But I reckon Belal wins. Maddalenna’s a threat and I think he’s gonna be a tougher fight for Belal than Leon Edwards was last time just because he doesn’t seem to get discouraged as easily and when they are on the feet, he’s definitely a more hurtful puncher than Leon. So he’s more of a threat, I think. But he got taken down and controlled enough by Gilbert Burns that I’m thinking Belal’s gonna be able to do the same. Really fancying a Fiorot title win as well the closer it’s gotten. Not been blown away by her at all but I don’t think Shevchenko’s what she used to be and she relies a fair bit on takedowns these days and I don’t see her having much success with that here. Just think Fiorot’s too physical and strong and I’m sure I read recently that she’s got like 92% takedown defence or something mad. Could be a stinker but I’ve got a feeling Fiorot gets it done. Saw a quote last night that Aldo’s confirmed he’ll be back at 145 from now on, which is good to hear. He said he initially dropped to 135 with the hopes of becoming a two weight champ but the cut is just taking too much out of him now. I always found it strange that he chose to move down to 135 when he did. Even when he was at his peak as champ at 145 I remember there was always talk that he struggled with the weight cut. Fair play he made weight at 135 until now and he certainly didn’t embarrass himself at the weight. But I always assumed that if he was gonna go for a second division’s title, he’d go up to Lightweight, not down to Bantamweight. I don’t think he’d have won the title at 155 but it’s the more natural thing to go up in weight as a fighter ages and I wouldn’t have minded seeing Aldo vs Khabib or Ferguson or Poirier or Cerrone back then. I’m still disappointed that Aldo vs Pettis got away in 2013 as well. I do wonder if he’d chosen a run at 155 instead of 135, maybe things might’ve gone different. You have to think all those hard weight cuts down to 135 shortened what was left of his prime and his career in general. Edited May 10, 2025 by wandshogun09 Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted May 10, 2025 Paid Members Posted May 10, 2025 10 hours ago, Bruce85 said: This isn’t the best card but I’m strangely really looking forward to it. Same here! Quote
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted May 10, 2025 Author Paid Members Posted May 10, 2025 The usual fight day bollocks… Quote
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