Analysis of tonight’s main event from top MMA handicapper Luca Fury. I’ve followed him for years (never wagering, just learning) and he’s legit as they get.
I have been a bit busy with life but I managed to catch the main card.
It is amazing how such a simple and rudimentary skill set is so affective when you’re just ridiculously strong. Amazing to fight just three weeks after an MCL tear and ACL injury as well.
Lot of people claiming the co main event was a “robbery”. I thought Figueiredo had a great game plan and great adjustments. I thought it was close and thought it was an acceptable decision.
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This weekend’s championship bout in the UFC’s middleweight division is likely to be an even better contest than the surprising heavyweight championship fight a few weeks ago. Adesanya took the first engagement by finish in round ftwo, but there’s every reason to believe the Whittaker we’ll see this weekend is a much different one from the one we saw almost two years ago.
Also on the card Derrick “Black Beast and Rhonda Rousey afficionado” Lewis, a middleweight #1 contender matchup between Derek Brunson and Jared Cannonier, the return of Andrei Arlovski, and the final fight from UFC OG Roxanne Modafferi.
Pretty damn good card. Finishes on everything except the main event.
Main was good. Adesanya being able to get back to his feet without too much difficulty was the difference maker imo. But some rounds were pretty close. He always seemed to be controlling the space during the standup as well.
Tuivasa’s elbow was vicious. Will be great to see him up against more Top 5 heavyweights. I am genuinely curious to see what happens in that division. I will be surprised to see Ngannou fight in the UFC again, which opens up a lot of possibilities at heavyweight…even if Jones never enters the fray.
Anyone else have a theory on what happened to Brunson? Just seemed to fall off a cliff in the second. Not sure if he got stung and was hurt bad early or just gassed. Was easy pickings for Cannonier after that. I thought it was the definitely the meanest finish on the main card…almost a bit hard to watch honestly.
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Looking forward to Cannonier v. Adesanya. MIght be Izzy’s last contest at Middleweight …
No idea what’s next at heavyweight. Beyond annoying that someone of Ngannou’s status might never fight in the UFC again.
UFC 273 is this weekend and, on paper, the main card fights look incredible.
At featherweight, champion Alexander Volkanovski takes on challenger Jung Chang-Sung aka the Korean Zombie. At bantamweight former champion Peter Yan squares off against Aljamain Sterling, who Yan lost to by DQ (illegal knee to the head). And at welterweight, rising sensation Khamzat Chimaev challenges top contender Gilbert Burns.
I like all the favorites to win: Volkanovski, Yan, and Chimaev. The biggest mystery of the night will be Chimaev, who is the most heavily touted prospect since Jon Jones. I think there’s a chance that, as good as Burns is, Chimaev runs over him almost as easily as he’s run over his previous opponents, setting up a title shot with Usman.
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I enjoyed the heck out of this one.
I thought Chimaev looked great, but I didn’t expect him to steamroll through Burns like past opponents. Guys are in the Top 10 for a reason. Great fight though. Chimaev’s hand speed is astounding. Who knows what he could do with some more striking polish. Could we be realistically looking at someone who can break GSP’s title defense record? Only time will tell.
Sterling vs. Yan was good not great imo. I did find it crazy interesting to watch though. Wasn’t too worried about the decision. I think these guy will meet again for sure. Thought Yan definitely looked like it was his fight to lose, despite the outcome.
I think I need to go back and watch Volk’s fights. He rose during a time when I my UFC viewing was a bit more sparse. Only really watched once he started fighting for titles. Usually against opponents who had a height advantage. Not the case here. To me it looked like Volk was doing work on the Thai pads. Every big shot was landing so flush. Zombie went through the wood chipper on this one. That is the kind of loss that changes fighters for the worse. His poor wife looked pretty distraught at the end of it. Not sure how I feel about how much I enjoyed this one after seeing the aftermath.
In any case, seems like lots of good fights coming up! UFC 274 looks like a classic stacked card, I cannot wait. Post Covid UFC is killin’ it!
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I genuinely thought, after the first couple minutes of the fight, Chimaev looked sloppy. His trainer was screaming at him between rounds and throwing his ice pack on the ground.
He’s seriously beating himself up after a victory over the #2 contender, haha. He’s still very young, never been in the spotlight like that, chased the KO victory instead of winning with strategy. I believe we’ll see a very different fighter the next time he shows up, ESPECIALLY if it’s against Usman.
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I think he earnestly believed that he would streamroll through Burns the way he streamrolled through everyone else and tried doing that the entire fight. I think his trainer thought otherwise and tried to prepare him accordingly and got REALLY pissed when Chimaev kept fighting wild.
The fight against Burns convinced me that Chimaev is 100% legit. He can fight at an amazing pace (so can Burns it appears) and take power shots and recover.
I’d love to see him fight one more top 5 guy before Usman just to solidify whatever he learned from his fight and prove that he can dominate people by fighting with a more measured pace and focus instead of trying to steamroll them.
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Zombie’s wife doesn’t like that he fights iirc. It’s more of those resigned acceptance that the love of your life happens to be a prize fighter.
But I think what really devastated her is that Zombie stated in the post-fight interview that he realized he’s not good enough to win the title.
I think he’s going to retire. Personally I hope he moves onto another org like ONE and try to win the belt there.
Major congrats to Charlies Oliveira for once again silencing the doubters with a huge first round finish. Also showed a lot of composure after failing on the scale. Terrible for a champ, but there are rumors that there might have been an issue with the weigh-ins … In any event, his last three fights are all finishes: Chandler, Poirier, and now Gaethje … exceptional!
Sad to see Tony Ferguson go out like that, but I think we all feared this was exactly how it was going to go. Congratulations to Chandler on getting the win. He wants Conor next. Fine by me.
Who’s next for Charlie Olives? A lot of noise around Makhachev (“Khabib 2.0” they call him).
Dana said that while Beneil v Islam is an awesome fight, he is interested in Islam v Oliveira now. Didn’t make any promises, but it’s possible.
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Surprised and disappointed in both of them. Has really been the showcase division in women’s MMA.
I was pretty surprised at Pat Barry, aka her fiance, telling her that the boos mean she’s doing the right thing when she hadn’t done anything at all. Yes, the onus is usually on the challenger to put on more of a show, but you don’t do nothing and act surprised when your belt is taken away.
I might be wrong, but I feel like UFC 275 is being slept on, mostly because everyone I know who talks MMA is just hyping up 276.
I love watching Valentina fight, Weili and Joanna I was as good of a fight as I’ve ever seen (minus the whole E.T. forehead which was hard to watch), and Jiri Prochazka is such an exciting and dangerous fighter.
They obviously stacked 276, and I get that, but I dunno - I’m feeling like 275 might go down as one of the best of the year.
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If the Whittaker/Vettori fight hadn’t been cancelled, then 275 could have been a real sleeper hit. As it is, it’s still a solid card with at least three good fights on the main. But that fourth match with Whittaker/Vettori would have really sealed the deal.
I am curious about Felice Herrig’s return to the UFC this weekend. But my interest is not, ahem, 100% honorable …
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You’ve gotta be feeling pretty good about this prediction right about now! What a night of fights!
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UNDERSTATEMENT TO SAY THE LEAST
The main event was exciting as hell but also painful to watch. Really wanted ‘Old man Glover’ to get it done and for him to lose like that just sucked to watch and sucks knowing he’s probably going to be kicking himself for that.
On another note… AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO SAY PROCHAZKA TAP IN THE SECOND ROUND?
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Interesting. I didn’t hear much talk about that after the fight.
Agree on Glover. I was more than a little bummed to see it end like that.
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