Usman by decision: I can’t see Usman taking any big risks and I don’t think Colby can force him into a fight he doesn’t want.
Namajunas by submission: I’m pretty conflicted on this one. I like Zhang better and would rather see her win, and there’s no telling what she might pull out after a disappointing loss last time. My gut says that Rose’s bulldog will prevail though.
Chandler by submission: again - conflicted. Feel like I might regret this one. But I don’t know as though Justin has done much to sharpen himself and I dunno if crisp boxing is going to get the job done against Chandler.
I love Justin, but I’m not sure if I ever got behind the hype around him.
The Gaethje hype is based around 4 wins: Vick at the beginning of a 5 fight losing streak, Barboza in the middle of a 6 loss/3 win slump, Cowboy who hasn’t been cowboy in a long time, and Ferguson, which was probably the only serious accomplishment from that streak.
Before those wins were losses to Dustin and Eddie Alvarez.
Again - love Justin, hope he can win and get his deserved title shot, but I just don’t know.
Interesting to see Thug Rose as a slight underdog in her title defense. I like her against Zhang.
Edgar v. Vera is an interesting bantamweight fight. I don’t see any future in the division for either guy. But it should be an entertaining contest.
A little surprised that Bobby Green is such a big favorite over Al Iaquinta. Then again, I’m biased against Green a bit. Green has been much more active than Iaquinta, which matters. Green has had six fights (3-3) since Iaquinta was last in the cage.
I had a LOT of fun watching that, haha. Chandler mimics his Oliveira fight, gives 210% in the first round, and pays the price in the second and third. Justin’s just a fucking machine, man.
That was a great fight. Easily could have been a main event on any other card. I was surprised they put that fight as the card opener, but they must have known it would go off with a bang.
I don’t want to give this nonsense it’s own thread, so I’ll just post it here:
This was worse than the Evander Holyfield fight.
The ref, Frank Mir’s condition, just the overall idea of this, and the recurring theme of offering old guys paydays to kill themselves. It’s like the new Bumfights.
There’s a very strong argument that seeing Frank Mir on the cover of Muscle and Fitness back in 2003 was what finally got me to pull the trigger and start training Brazilian jiu-jitsu. I’d seen Royce Gracie fight in the early UFCs. And while I was blown away by his ability, I couldn’t help but admire Ken Shamrock’s physique all the same. In MIr, I saw a guy who looked like Shamrock but fought like Royce. I thought, hell, maybe I could have my cake and eat it too.
I distinctly remember a that Dana White said a zillion years something along the lines “if you enter boxing gym in your late thirties and start warming up you’re a fucking loser”.
Back in the day I considered it sacrilegious bullshit by a man who never stepped into an octagon, but looking back now that I’m in my forties it kind of makes sense.
Sure, grappling arts are different, but for the vast majority of people getting punched in the head in your forties for money is a sign that something’s wrong with your life*
*Yes, I’m aware of Anderson Silva’s second career and George Foreman, and they’re exceptions. And RJJ is noticeably slurring.
Props to the King of Rio for a great win over the weekend. As predicted, Font was very tough early with the jab and it looked as if Aldo might struggle to close the distance. But as he returned to his classic leg kicking strategy, Aldo managed to take control of the contest. Especially impressive was Aldo’s notoriously good takedown defense and often-overlooked Brazilian jiu-jitsu top game.
Big title fight in the lightweight division coming up this weekend with Poirier v. Oliveira. Also curious to see prelim fights featuring Dominick Cruz and Ryan Hall.
Crazy that just as all the hype about a possible Kayla Harrison v. Amanda Nunes fight was starting to get extra hot, Nunes gets a major upset loss. Gotta love the fight game …
I certainly wasn’t rooting against Oliveira, but I was very much rooting for Dustin. That is, until round 2 started, and I started to see that Oliveira was going to drag Dustin into deep water and drown him there. Oliveira’s a bonafide champ, bro. I’m upset we don’t get to see him vs. Khabib - that would be such a great matchup.
What a great card, though. Nunes losing in a shootout, Tai Tuivasa with the knockout, Cruz coming back from literally being unconscious to winning (why the fuck was that a prelim fight and Sean O’Malley was on the main card, lol).
Also - interested to see if Dana cuts Garbrandt. He didn’t sound happy, and he knows that Cody’s already gotten knocked out too many times at 135. Now, of course - Kara-France is one of the best 125’ers so it’s not necessarily a death sentence for Cody’s chances to succeed, but I just don’t think this move was ever going to play out well for him - being a power puncher and dropping weight classes when you’ve already been unable to avoid getting hit by heavier guys is a bad idea.
I need to rewatch Garbrandt’s win over Cruz. So strange to see a fighter literally peak out with a great victory and then go on to lose five out of the next six, and get finished in four of them.
Hah! I rewatched that not long ago. Cody was just perfect that night, man. Everything was firing, and it was one of those performances where nobody at that weight, at that time, could have stopped him on that night. But it was, as you said, a peak - and a sharp one at that.
Cody is very good. And still good. His chin is gone. Thats my opinion. I am suspicious that it may be a consequence of how he trained at Team Alpha Male. I have seen some clips over the years of some hard sparring and he strikes me as the guy with a tendency to go too hard in sparring.
It reminds me of Luke Rockhold. He is still so good. But he can’t take a hard hit anymore without going out. That might be unfair because he was Ko’ed by Jan and Yoel in his last two fights. But your gonna get hit is the fight game and you need to be able to take a few at least.
Kattar v. Chikadze was one hell of a main event tonight. I have never seen anyone use standing elbows as effectively as Kattar did. And the fact that he had such a performance against a tough up ‘n’ comer after suffering the beatdown he did at the hands of Max Holloway a year ago in his most recent fight is a real testament to his will as a fighter. Luke Thomas said it best, it is impossible to overstate the level of sacrifice world class combat athletes put themselves through,
“When was the last time you tuned in for a heavyweight championship UFC fight in which both combatants resembled comic book superheroes?” - Luke Thomas, Morning Kombat
The moment we’ve been waiting for is here. The full card is pretty miserable - and getting worse with drop-outs due to COVID and missing weight. But the main event should be pretty special: Knockout artist Francis Ngannou versus undefeated rising star Cyril Gane for the heavyweight strap.
The oddsmakers have Gane as a modest -140 to -160 favorite, and the longer the fight lasts the better it likely goes for him. This is Ngannou’s final fight on his UFC contract, IIRC, so the stakes are as high as they get.
No prediction here. (Check out Luca Fury on Twitter for that; he’s incredible). But looking forward to what could be an earth-shaking finish either way.
