massive ppv event this saturday, no fans around here?

there arent many UFC posts these days though the big events usually draw a few posts. Im pretty sure there was something the last time Usman beat Coby and when Izzy fights

a few years ago i had ufc fight parties pretty regularly. now my friends never really call me to get together.

when dana/ufc brag about having the biggest year ever...its because of the broadcast/content deals (espn, bt sport, etc). thats where 85% of their revenue comes from. theyre not crushing ratings/ppv.

there was a bump in interest during the beginning of the pandemic. but that was because it was the only show going.

now theyve come back down to earth...except for events with their 1 true star (mcgregor).

the first usman/masvidal fight did over 1 mil with no sports counter programming during the pandemic. but the rematch card, with THREE title fights and the first american card with a full audience in attendance since the pandemic, did 200K LESS than the original usman/masvidal card (which pulled the main event together in only 6 days).

one of the summer ufc cards, which had the hottest young star in the org (adesanya), 2 title fights, and the return to the octagon of nick diaz, barely did 500K domestic ppv buys.

the ufc didnt even release (or leak) the last ngannou ppv rate. and that was his biggest and most hyped fight ever. safe to assume, the number was underwhelming.

and the last mcgregor fight, dana said the pre-buys were outpacing any card in ufc history and he was estimating a 2+ mil ppv buy rate. after the event, he had to humbly admit that the event was now looking at something closer to 1.6-1.7 mil. nothing to sneeze at (and any other fighter or boxer would kill for those numbers) but far below what they had been anticipating. which means a lot of fans sat out the event and didnt convert in the end.

as much as *i* like the ufc and watch just about every event in some way, a lot of people just dont care about shit like an usman/covington rivalry. and up and coming 'stars' like sean omalley, islam makhachev, and paddy pimblett arent exactly getting anyone outside the hardcore fanatics excited lol.

it's really hard to find fighters to root for or even care about. Maybe I shouldn't care about their shit outside the ring, but Jon Jones, Colby, Conor, Masvidal, on down the line are all pretty insufferable. The rest are just average run of the mill troop loving patriots. I'm not expecting fighters who rep bernie bros or whatever, but it's like hanging out with that annoying uncle who is always interjecting stupid politics. Like 'i thought i was just chilling and watching a fight, and now we're doing this shit?'

Dana also treats the talent as utterly disposable, so all around it just feels pretty gross.

Chael, Colby, and Connor all popped big by leaning into racism.

I still check if there's interesting fights from time to time, but don't have the same level of fandom I used to.

i don't think he will win another fight ever again. but that aside, i don't pay attention to how much dana / the ufc is reporting for earnings. it is well established that dana is a complete douche who under pays his fighters. personally, it has nothing to do with the enjoyment/entertainment i get from watching. i don't tune in for the personalities, and although that adds some flavor sometimes, it's the last thing i'm personally keeping an eye out for when tuning in, although it is really satisfying watching a loud mouth get starched (masvidal).

i think the level of skill is increasing and i'm pretty excited about the current fighters and the new up and comers you have already mentioned, except for islam, this man puts me to sleep with everything he does. i'm sure he may be a decent draw in dubai but he has no chance anywhere else. he may be the most boring top level fighter ever, even his face puts me to sleep. another fighter to keep an eye on is jiří procházka.

this weekend, i can't call chandler vs justin but I think justin can do this if he survives the early onslaught, then, i got rose and usman. how about you?

but being such a blatant pipeline to the right wing has done a lot to put a cap on interest

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

>but being such a blatant pipeline to the right wing has done
>a lot to put a cap on interest

Not everything is politics in life god damn

the facts of what it is

are different than your preference

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

you're working off of two batshit ideas

1) that the UFC is a conduit to the extreme right (seriously, what?)

2) that the UFC's alleged decline in popularity is a result of being a conduit to the extreme right

there's ZERO evidence to support either of those two claims.

The UFC roster has never been more diverse, and the sport is as popular as it's ever been overall despite not having a silver bullet A-list draw at the top. You don't know what you're talking about, it's that simple.

also I didn't claim it declined in popularity (though it has, but not in the timeframe I'm talking about)

I said its popularity is capped.

there are black republicans and women republicans in congress, you want to tell me about the diversity of the lineup there and what that means about it not being right wing?

the only time someone would use that as an argument is when they know the facts are against them.


www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

its spot as a must watch combat sport. Boxing was making too many
pay per view fights, and a lot of those fights, even though they
were good fights, they weren't worth the pay per view cost. That
caused boxing to lose its core fan base, as well as casual fans.
A lot of those fans crossed over to watch MMA because it had become
very entertaining.


Boxing has since made a lot of championship fights available on
cable, and with espn and fox sports expanding its boxing coverage,
a lot of fans that they lost to MMA have gotten back into watching boxing.


Also, when PBF retired from boxing, there was a void left in the sport,and other than Canelo, there weren't any boxers to really
carry the sport. The rivalry between Fury and Wilder, and a new
golden generation of highly talented fighters such as Tank,Teofimo,haney,and Shakur have given new life to the sport.
They are now household names in the boxing world.


MMA is suffering from what boxing used to suffer from. They put
too many of their top fights on PPV, and they don't have any big
rivalries or names to pull in casual fans. Rhonda Rousey,
Gina Carano, Chuck Lidell, Rampage Jackson, and George St. Pierre
were highly entertaining and household names to the casual MMA fans. Even people who didn't watch the sport knew who they were just by seeing them on talk shows, and they were household names to the
casual MMA fan.


The organizer of the sport shouldn't be more famous than the
fighters or the product itself.

in the ufc, on any given night, an underdog could beat a champion

in boxing, a lot of top fighters pick bums on the way to the top and keep picking fights they know they can win, there are obviously a few that don't do this often, but it happens frequently and fighters like canelo are guilty of it

If I'm not mistaken, ESPN pays the UFC an upright cut of money regardless of PPV buys, which is the main reason Dana was alright with ESPN+ being the sole place to purchase PPV cards.


I have to imagine ESPN is losing a ton of money since not as many casual fans care about the sport compared to when the Fertita Brothers owned Zuffa and the promotion had personalities that helped make selling the cards much much easier.

the little bit of coverage of seen on the deal kind of suggested that ESPN probably got a pretty decent deal. It drives subscribers and live viewership - both of which are pretty hard to come by.

extremely hollow and uninteresting to the casual fan.

conor had the biggest and loudest personality of them all

izzy has a big personality and gets tons of amazing top shelf promo

>massive ppv event this saturday, no fans around here?
One of my favorite champs of all time.

Has become such a well rounded fighter with a balance of fighting smart and not just being a point fighter. As bad as Colby looked early on, I told my boy when round 2 ended, he should’ve gotten him out of there.

Most fighters who eat hat much shit and get dominated like that through two can’t ever turn the tide. Cody is good.

On that note I can’t believe so many people were vocally cheering for Colby. If you are vocally cheering for that dude I’m just gonna assume your a racist.

At least those who were cheering Last night were vaxxed racists lol

He was getting tapped but he never got buzzed like he did against Gilbert Burns

I need to hear a round table conversation with Gaethje, Rose, Usman and Trevor Whitman. That man has helped those three ascend to another level, and they win fights intelligently but still fight with a violent spirit.

>He was getting tapped but he never got buzzed like he did
>against Gilbert Burns
>
>I need to hear a round table conversation with Gaethje, Rose,
>Usman and Trevor Whitman. That man has helped those three
>ascend to another level, and they win fights intelligently but
>still fight with a violent spirit.

He never feared it but in the late rounds he felt it. He was never close to getting stopped but look like he definitely got stunned or was stunned that he got hit and felt it lol.
It could’ve also been a combo of his gas tank wearing down, but he wears not being tired well.

And the broadcast narrative that Kamaru had to win round 5.
Looks like on two scorecards he didn’t have to and the fight was written by the time the 5th started unless Colby could KO.

I agree with the first and third scorecard. IMO you could’ve scored 3 for Colby, but he didn’t do enough there either and Kamaru still had the more effective shots. The wildest score I think is scoring round 5 for Colby

https://www.reddit.com/r/MMA/comments/qol534/ufc_268_official_scorecard_kamaru_usman_vs_colby/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf



>>He was getting tapped but he never got buzzed like he did
>>against Gilbert Burns
>>
>>I need to hear a round table conversation with Gaethje,
>Rose,
>>Usman and Trevor Whitman. That man has helped those three
>>ascend to another level, and they win fights intelligently
>but
>>still fight with a violent spirit.
>
>He never feared it but in the late rounds he felt it. He was
>never close to getting stopped but look like he definitely got
>stunned or was stunned that he got hit and felt it lol.
>It could’ve also been a combo of his gas tank wearing down,
>but he wears not being tired well.

Usman got the first two, Colby got the second two
I saw a lot of folks saying you could give round one as a 10-8 but idk

Round 2 wa s the 10-8.

Seems like judges haven’t fully aligned on what 10-8 means.

He was wobbled twice and almost finished. I’d say that qualifies. If you were essentially saved by the bell, that’s a 10-8

I missed the first 2 mins of that round so I figured something happened early

fuck that dude- big proppers to Usman for beating the shit out of that race-baiting con artist.

If it wasn’t Colby it’d be some other average white fighter. thanks to them I finally know about the Let’s Go Brandon thing

nobody paid attention to him until he took on this incredibly polarizing persona

there are several interviews where he puts that away and he's not as infuriating

he understands the business side well and found an angle to generate sales which will offer him a long and fruitful ufc career, he doesn't give a shit if his opinions irk you either

It's not at all a surprise.

You sure are walking, talking, and quacking like a certain duck.

because i'm able to accurately deduce what he is doing as a 10+ year fan of the ufc?

if it helps you sleep better at night, i was rooting for kamaru because i find colby's shtick annoying and i never bet against the champ

there are plenty of interviews with colby where he is being his true self and he's not the same man he presents to the world

if you're easily moved by public personas than you're going to have a hard time on this planet, but it sounds like you already do

that doesn't say racist shit.

>because i'm able to accurately deduce what he is doing as a
>10+ year fan of the ufc?

We all see what he's doing.
It's an old ass playbook.

The difference is, you think he's "playing".

You don't think his racist dog whistling represent his "true self", and you think his "true self" is him when he isn't talking about tribes sending smoke signals.

You minimize the racist shit, and amplify the "normal" shit, as though they aren't emanating from the same person. You don't get to compartmentalize those parts.

But if he is just playing a part, and not just saying what he actually thinks, then that absolutely makes it worse.

Because that means he's willing to play into dog whistle racism for a buck, and he's selling out the "true" self who doesn't actually think that way. Nevermind the fact that none of this would make a lick of sense, and you'd be bending over backward to defend a racist.

I said that "playing" that racist is worse. your response to me was "nah, he's well respected in UFC, he understands the business side well and found an angle to generate sales which will offer him a long and fruitful ufc career, he doesn't give a shit if his opinions irk you either"

Sounds an awful lot like you are at least ok with that tact, which is tacit support of the tact at a minimum. There's no fence to ride there.

Of course, you then ended with this bullshit:

"if you're easily moved by public personas than you're going to have a hard time on this planet"

Nothing I've said even slightly indicates that I'm "easily moved by public personas". I'm merely observing what he's doing.

BUt the beauty here is, you can clear this up, and say, flat out, that you do not support the racist things he says, condemn them, and acknowledge that the moments where he's not saying racist shit do not undo or cancel the times where he does.

You can actively condemn his racist ways. So what will it be?

it's not that people don't get what he's doing.

He might be an ok friend or family member to some folks, but if his net influence and contribution to the world is stoking up racism and resentment to sell a few more pay per views, then I'm ok saying homie is racist.

WWE does gimmicks

Colby Covington saying shit like he's gonna ship Kumaru Usman back to Africa is pretty disgusting no matter how you slice it

as i said, i find his shtick annoying af and was hoping to see him wake up on the canvas

for the sake of discussion, what did you think he said that was undeniably racist?

what do I "think" he said, that's "undeniably" racist?

That choice of "think" and "undeniably" says it all.

We're done here.

You chose the words you chose.

Most of these people speak in ways that allow for plausible deniability.

Oddly enough, a lot like you. The same "who, me?" shit, as though the lack of certain, more explicit terms, makes it not racist.

That shit fools nobody but themselves- and you. Birds of a feather, and all.

Because, the thing is, you hedged like a motherfucker here.

I said:

"But the beauty here is, you can clear this up, and say, flat out, that you do not support the racist things he says, condemn them, and acknowledge that the moments where he's not saying racist shit do not undo or cancel the times where he does.

You can actively condemn his racist ways. So what will it be?"

You said, "i find his shtick annoying af and was hoping to see him wake up on the canvas

for the sake of discussion, what did you think he said that was undeniably racist?"

You find his "schtick" annoying, and then asked what i "think" he said, that's "undeniably racist".

I pointed out what these choices say about you, and you say, "nothing but feelings".

All of which strongly implies that you don't find the things he said to be racist, and that calling his statements racist, is nothing but feelings.

again, you can't help yourself. This shit is overwhelmingly soaked in everything you say, clear as day.

you spend a lot of time composing words that say nothing

just show me a few examples of his racism, it should be blatantly easy no?

That you choose to ignore, sidestep, and deflect them doesn't change that.

you have no case, you like to throw your highly emotional rants around to exercise your fingers. i hope it brings you inner peace, as for me, it just tickles me that you think you have any effect with your vitriol ;)

if you can't find any examples of his racism, then we got very different ideas of racism.

no one on here needs to be doing your homework for you though.

however, he should be able to defend his points if he's going to grandstand on them by providing examples. the reason he isn't is because his case is weak.

if you are referring to colby calling blm a terrorist organization, that was a right wing talking point which was shared by black conservatives as well.

blm protestors where setting fire to federal buildings, which in any other scenario would be considered an act of domestic terrorism, hence, the talking point.

what is left? colby being outspoken about his support for police and fire?

none of those things are racist.

i've looked and i'm not seeing anything else that is notable, but i may be missing something, help me out please.

https://twitter.com/usman84kg/status/1206339446720741376




www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

I blame the recent elections and the fact that he's a con artist and from nearby my hometown ..?

I don't see why people would prefer boxing over this type of fight. So much happening, exciting till the last second.

but boy was I sweating it out in the 2nd

UFC is on fire right now.

Conor calling out Max...ok pal. Run it and I'll put my mortgage on the Hawaiian.

I guess the next step is Max/Volkanovski 3, which I'd typically be opposed to but I felt like Max won the 2nd one pretty decisively so I'm fine with it.

Besides that I'll gladly watch any fight with Max in it, he's just very entertaining to watch.

Right now though, I'm really looking forward to Poirier vs Oliveira and Gane vs Ngannou. Sweaty palms guaranteed.

not as great a fight as I was hoping.

Gane lost his composure once Ngannou body slammed the fuck out of him in R3. props to Ngannou to just randomly decide "hey i wrestle" down 2-0 and completely turning it over.

i hope Bones can stay out of trouble long enough to get an Ngannou match in.

the fight before it w/ the small dudes was dope af. they were bucking. i didnt see anything else on the card though

I think Francis knew going in it that Gane wasn't gonna be a dude he could just swang and bang and get a highlight KO, and he showed much improved takedown defense in the 2nd Stipe fight, but seeing some of those sequences by him on the ground... yikes, that's a scary fighter.

Not sure if Stipe is planning on coming back for a 3rd fight with Francis, but if he's not I'm not sure who you have Francis defend against next. Lewis (3) fights Tai (11) next, which is a huge test for Tai and honestly I think he wins, but Lewis looked like absolute shit against Gane so I don't think he deserves a shot at Francis after 1 win if he were to beat Tai. Blaydes (4) is next, coming off a win, but Francis KOed him in 1 already.

Plus all the shit with Dana, who seems to just HATE Francis (notice he wasn't even out there to put the belt on him last night, the Tomato was in code RED I'm sure) so I'm sure some fuckery will happen and Dana will pull the "he just doesn't want to fight"

Also Jon Jones can either step up and fight at Heavyweight or shut the fuck up and log off Twitter. But that's a rant for another day.

Wonder how his conflict with the UFC will end. After listening to that interview, I have a feeling Dana bashing Ngannou after he beat Miocic early last year was the beginning of the rift. I'm glad Ngannou is sticking to his principles.

Dana and Jon Jones hate each other and Dana still has found a way to keep Jon Jones around (even when Jon Jones can't help but sabotage himself)

Heavyweight in UFC has always been a have or have not situation, but at least with the Jones vs Ngannou fight they have the potential to recapture the mainstream attention they had with the peak Brock hysteria fights like the Carwin bout and Mir rematch

reporter asked dana about rogan and izzy jumped in on full sambo mode like 'joe rogan is my nigga!'.

these dudes make this sport hard to watch.

The more I learn about the fighters and Dana, the less I like the organization. It's pretty much impossible to say away since the UFC pretty much has a monopoly on top tier MMA talent at this point. I truly wish the fighters would form a union to humble Dana, IMG, and Endeavor, but that's a whole other post to itself.

Of note is that Adseanya signed a new deal with the UFC to greatly increase his pay, so it's likely that was a key motivating factor for Izzy tap dancing for Dana by interjecting himself.

Cause it was the last big fight I remember where I really liked both guys.

I still love Izzy as a fighter, and I’m sure Rob has got some questionable takes on shit too.

But….since everyone is saying rob is spooked by Izzy and after these comments I’ll pull for The Reaper.


Would make for a hell of a trilogy too

>reporter asked dana about rogan and izzy jumped in on full
>sambo mode like 'joe rogan is my nigga!'.
>
>these dudes make this sport hard to watch.

Boxers have similar takes to mma fighters. Combat sports in general do unfortunately.
To RJccs point below they can never be as universally loved as some other sports because generally women are not attracted to mma or boxing — even less than other sports

>Boxers have similar takes to mma fighters. Combat sports in
>general do unfortunately.

Examples ?

>To RJccs point below they can never be as universally loved as
>some other sports because generally women are not attracted to
>mma or boxing — even less than other sports

Is Ricardo mayorga vs everyone but especially Felix Trinidad.

The lead up to Mayweather/ De La Hoya.
Mayweather in general and his trash talk (lead up to the manny fight was bad) and Uber capitalism.

Paquiao and his alignment with Duterte and conservative politics.

>Is Ricardo mayorga vs everyone but especially Felix
>Trinidad.

I was super young, I only remember the fight itself .. about to hop on YouTube

>The lead up to Mayweather/ De La Hoya.
>Mayweather in general and his trash talk (lead up to the manny
>fight was bad) and Uber capitalism.
>
>Paquiao and his alignment with Duterte and conservative
>politics.

and what pac did in politics in a nation most people can't find on a map didn't matter at all to viewers

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

I mean cut it how you want? I’d consider having an ESPN deal pretty mainstream. This isn’t some regional show at your local banquet hall lmao

because they had the espn deal when I posted that

so you'd have to be a fuckin dummy to think that having the ESPN deal is relevant to what I said

but if you don't want to address what I actually said and you want to dream about something else that's on you

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

I didn’t even notice that elbow at first I just saw him fall slam out on his face

Israel Adesanya is an unimpressive champion. He and the UFC would have you believe that he's a phenom, but the dynamism he showed on his ascent has been mostly absent from his championship run. I think he thinks he's Anderson Silva Part Deux but his offense lacks the violence and creativity Silva had. Decision wins over Yoel Romero, Marvin Vettori, and now Whitaker, a five round mauling by Jan, and a KO win over juicehead Paulo Costa who completely gassed out about 2 minutes into the fight...I can't say this is a super impressive resume.

Kumaru Usman is everything they keep telling me Israel Adesanya is - vicious, an all timer, and getting better. And though I know they're friends, it may take Usman moving up to finally see the very best Izzy has to offer.

that plateau is obviously still really high so its hard to knock him.

but the fact that whittaker was getting better and closing the gap as the rounds wore on and started finding more success with that same lead/double left (that the commentators were rightfully calling predictable) says a lot.

i feel like a truly dynamic champ in his prime would have really put an emphatic cap on the rivalry. instead he left room for discussion of a 3rd fight (with many believing whittaker could have a chance to win).

His fights for like the past what... 3 years(4?) have been fairly boring affairs.
They keep talking about how he's the most sophisticated striker and whatever... and I haven't seen that in quite a while. I don't know the sport well enough to know if the level of competition he's facing is that much higher or what. And I like dude, but the hype hasn't been lived up to any time recently...

but unlike Usman or Oliveira, when Adesanya faces lesser competition he's fighting lesser fights.

For example, Kumaru Usman is a markedly better fighter than Gilbert Burns...so he boxed him up and knocked him out. Oliveira is elite, Dustin Poirier is very good...Oliveira's submission of Poirier was masterful.

That's not to say finishes are the only barometer of a champion's dominance. Take for instance Volkanovski's defense against Brian Ortega, where Volk couldn't put a game challenger away but still at least tried to finish for a five full rounds.

Aggression, pace, control on top...these traits signal a fighter's effort in-fight. For all the shit Khabib caught on his way to the top about being boring or one-dimensional, I don't think any fighter EVER has so expertly mastered aggression, pace, and top control like Khabib did once he became champion. Khabib is the anti Izzy in a way...once Khabib got on he fought MORE violently, and in turn cemented his legendary status by finishing the best fighters in the sport's best division one after another. So I toss out the notion that "welp, it's worse competition what's a guy to do?" Do what Khabib did against Poirier, Mcgregor, and Gaethje or what Usman's done against Burns, Masvidal, and Covington (2x!).

Chimaev will need to get the conditioning up and mix up the striking if he wants to actually challenge Usman. Apparently Khamzat’s next fight is Covington which I’d expect him to win.

hope colby gets his block knocked off

That I think style wise Colby beats him up easier than Kamaru.

I’m gonna take my feelings about Colby away from my analysis- cause I hate that dude.

One thing that was clear last night is how big of a WW khamzat is. Everything he throws does major damage at WW. It reminds me of when Connor was fighting at FW. There’s a pop that lots of WWs don’t know what to do with. His jab is dropping dudes.

I worry about that for Kamaru and I don’t think either Kamaru ok Colby will take him down.

What we also learned last night is at the elite level- khamzat is hittable. I think Colby’s pace and movement can overwhelm a fighter like that. One of the reasons Kamaru deals well with Colby is his defensive to offensive transitions. If you’re defense isn’t elite, Colby is really gonna eat you up.

Of course I can see Colby pressuring and get caught by one of chimaevs hard shots. But Colby does have a chin and a ton of grit.

that cant be overlooked.

colby and usman in round 3 are looking just like they did in round 1.

if burns was able to keep that same energy level like those 2 would...we would prolly be talking about a solid victory for him.

khamzat looked really beatable going backwards (in the few instances he was). not a lot of sharp counters, angles, foot movement, etc. really not much to keep burns off him except for burns needing to regroup after the exchanges.

now think about that against covington with his constant pressure/pace, level changes, etc.

i think colby is just a more polished fighter who would beat him decisively (and i hate him too lol).

i really wanna see khamzat vs leon in the standup tho. leon wont gas and is more technical/diverse in his striking. we would get a better measurement of how good khamzat really is on the feet.

not with that depleted gas tank after only 3 rounds and relative ease that burns dealt with the grappling.

in fact...i dont see him beating covington, leon, and especially not usman right now.

khamzats flaws just got exposed in his first taste of top 5 competition.

we have seen that happen over and over to hyped prospects in the ufc.

it doesnt mean he wont be elite in due time. but hes not the dominant fighter people thought he might be before this fight.

It’s a fight, not a grappling match. The guy who FOUGHT the more complete FIGHT was Yan. And he was decisive in the 4th and 5th.

But I thought he gave they fight away.

Round 4 and 5 he did everything he could to lose.

He definitely won 2/3 (but neither was called a 10-8). He had full control but never hurt Yan from the back and never really had a finish attempt

So 1 was the question and on first watch it felt to me Yan won that round pretty easily

aljo, weidman, iaquinta, serra, etc.

their training/gameplans are so rudimentary and longo is just outmatched as a corner man a lot of times.

aljo just shooting in the middle of the cage with no setup almost did him in. if dude just mixed it up better he prolly could have gotten another takedown.

longo was actually calling for aljo to look for the spinning heel kick...and it was that type of shit that got him jammed up in the 1st fight.

It seemed he was running the entire fight, lucked into the back position in the 2nd, then in the 3rd realized it had worked before so tried it again. But other than the 2nd and 3rd Aljo was so throughly outclassed and was visibly avoiding contact.

And you may be into something with Longo…I thought for years that on Weirman in particular he fought the same fight over and over.

Compare that to Trevor Wittman who has taken top tier wrestlers like Gaethje and Usman and made them top tier everything else AND laces them with different game plans for every individual fight.

But yea dude is such a basic ass coach thats living off some old laurels and former champs. As you said, their gameplanning is so basic. Ultimately its gonna come back and catch Aljo. I hope he can also beat TJ,since I hate that dude too...but that's gonna be a tougher match given TJ's more rounded game and Sterling's lack of power

s/o frank.

Instead of Dillashaw, now he wants to fight Jose Aldo. That might be an even harder fight since I'm guessing Aldo has ten times the ground game that Dillashaw has.

Have to give Aljo credit in picking a tough opponent since I find it hard for Aljo to win that fight if I'm being completely honest.

I sincerely hope Aljo takes a trip to Thailand to sore up he very very weak stand up skills. He needs something to make his takedowns a lot easier.

seeing someone rep the Jamaican flag as a UFC champ, I definitely think he is beatable. Hoepfully he will clean up the obvious holes in his stand-up since that's his obvious weakness, but he's going to have a tough time holding onto that belt.

That upcoming Dillashaw fight will be interesting since Dillashaw has had stellar footwork and kickboxing in the past. I have to think Dwayne Ludwig will setup some traps for Aljo to get his head kicked off if he shoots for those terrible takedowns like he did in the fifth round of this past fight.

Both have incredible mma striking.

Compact, precise, powerful, with good movement. Volk just has more overall mma tools


As a max fan, I don’t want to see him fight Volk right now. I worry he gets pieced up and loses legacy in a third fight.

The division is cleaned out pretty much though. If he hadn’t been off for 3 years, I’d love to see what Zabit could do.

didnt remember that I called this

dude sounds like a different man after some of that bravado has left him.

Khamzat definitely got rocked a few times there. Now, he clearly won the fight and I thought was on the brink of getting the finish in the third round. But he took legitimate damage throughout the fight in several spots.

Colby doesn’t hit hard at all. Masvidal’s not a granite chin and he walked through Colby’s strikes and Usman’s demonstrated no fear of Colby’s power AT ALL through two bouts. Making matters worse for Colby is that Khamzat is going to look twice as big as Covington.

The X-factor here is their conditioning. Covington is deservedly famous for his gas tank, and we saw Khamzat get winded in the 2nd and 3rd vs Burns. I’d think the UFC finds a way to make Khamzat/Covington a 5 round fight and if Covington has any chance of beating Khamzat he’ll HAVE to find a way to push it to the 4th or 5th. Easier said than done though because against Colby, Khamzat will be able to do what he does best and that’s walk forward nonstop with violent intentions.

I'm sure he was on pins and needles of the prospect of Chimaev leapfrogging him for the chance to fight for the title if he smoked Burns like he did his prior four opponents.

Hopefully Leon will get the chance to finally get his title shot as I think him and Usman will be an interesting fight. I still have Usman beating him as Usman has a ton of power in his hands, but that'll be a great fight for sure.

BUT

If Nate Diaz can wobble him, Kumaru Usman may send him into a coma

Kumaru Usman is the best in the world. But we’ll see what happens!

Only person to ever run through 155 like Charles is the champion who came before him

I’d do anything to make this fight if I’m the UFC. If I’m Dana I literally tell Khabib “I think he’s better than you” and just let that simmer a few months and then tell him again


Also Rose , who I adore, should be embarrassed


And Chandler turned in an all timer KO. Poor Tony Ferguson was always the bridesmaid never the bride until it was just OVER, abruptly and cruelly. His swift and steep decline resembles Chuck Liddell’s , Tyron Woodley’s, Etc … great until you’re not then you’re REALLY not


Anyway, they probably do Oliveira v Conor in like August or September which is a dumb waste of time that’ll make everyone a bunch of money. Shit they could do Oliveira v Conor and Chandler at the same time , 2 on 1, and I don’t think it would make a difference.

whenever dana talked about the wild success of the ufc the past 2 years or so...it was mostly based on the amount of money they made. which was lifted by signing more broadcast deals globally and raising the ppv price multiple times.

but aside from the rise in interest during the pandemic when it was the only show with the lights on for a while...the audience gotta be declining.

>whenever dana talked about the wild success of the ufc the
>past 2 years or so...it was mostly based on the amount of
>money they made. which was lifted by signing more broadcast
>deals globally and raising the ppv price multiple times.
>
>but aside from the rise in interest during the pandemic when
>it was the only show with the lights on for a while...the
>audience gotta be declining.
>
>
This article came out last week or so.

https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2022/6/10/23155850/documents-show-ufc-now-makes-over-1-billion-a-year-minimal-costs-and-more-growth-expected

I’m not trying to defend Dana or the UFC, because if the article is true— they should be paying fighters EVEN more and treating them EVEN better. If it’s not true they should be paying them more and treating them better.

I think Perreira will end Izzy’s run by the end of the year.

I couldn’t be more off of a champion than I am Israel Adesanya. And my disdain for him is made worse by the constant noise about how “gifted” and “technical” he is - I DON’T CARE, THIS IS BORING AND COST ME MONEY.

>I think Perreira will end Izzy’s run by the end of the
>year.
>
>I couldn’t be more off of a champion than I am Israel
>Adesanya. And my disdain for him is made worse by the constant
>noise about how “gifted” and “technical” he is - I
>DON’T CARE, THIS IS BORING AND COST ME MONEY.


I agree I tune into a lot of Izzy fights with big expectations and then watch him point fight. His last exciting fight was Costa?

But the people who are considered some of the GOATS in the sport have followed a similar formula. You get your legacy in the long run by not losing by sacrificing short term fan love.

Spider
GSP
Bones


All got heavily criticized during their reign for being being boring. But you can go hard like Robbie Lawler and end up on ice.


The best doing it right now in terms of doing it all is probably Volk

>
>The best doing it right now in terms of doing it all is
>probably Volk

Let me start by saying, I was busy Saturday night, so I watched the Adensanya/Cannonier fight on Sunday morning... and fell asleep after the third round. The second fight in a row this has happened in. I like him, but I think he's been really boring lately, and have had the same criticism that for all the talk, he hasn't been delivering.

I hope the Pereira fight happens sooner than later. I want it to happen this year. But, I don't think we should get ahead of ourselves calling it a wash. Lots of people are talking about the two kickboxing matches they fought, but it doesn't seem many people have watched those matches. The first fight that Pereira won by UD, is pretty controversial. I actually think Iz won that fight. The second fight, that Pereira won by KO, seems like a clear victory, but there's a caveat there too. In the second round, Adesanya had him on the ropes, literally and figuratively, and could have potentially gotten a KO of his own. But the ref stepped in and gave a standing 8 count. If he doesn't, it's likely a KO. Pereira recovers and gets the clear knock out in the following round, where Iz came out pretty reckless. Both fights are on youtube.

I say all that to say, I think this presents a really good match-up, just looking at the W/L column doesn't paint the picture. I think this could really bring the best out of Iz, and should be a great fight.

>I think Perreira will end Izzy’s run by the end of the
>year.



http://art-------school.com/

https://ibb.co/k4m6n8C

The hell is going on? I can't even enjoy the fights.

i got caught on espn with the gronks shit too (i didnt know they switched to it at 9pm) and it was horrible.

the mannings cast was a nice lil gimmick for a while if you didnt care about watching the actual game and hearing relevant information about it. it got old after a while tho.

this gronks cast is just a bad idea out the gate.

kick of the century.

>kick of the century.

I'm not trying to find out.

somebody called that man Snoozeman
https://twitter.com/SandhuMMA/status/1561220970257338368?s=20&t=inrFDB3vqe72PaenNq7TOQ

and I'm not a fan of Usman in the slightest, but keep in mind his daughter had close to front row seats to witness that Saturday night. I am a childless heathen, but I have to imagine having to talk your daughter down from seeing that has to be brutal.

I hope Usman thinks twice about bringing his daughter to events again. That was a pretty brutal KO, especially considering that was his first time he got knocked out. Part of me wonders if he got concussed in training leading up to the fight.

Leon's going to have to do more to address the constant pressure he was giving up to Usman for the third fight. Usman reminded me a lot of Colby the way he was pressuring Edwards at the edge of the octagon.

It’ll be an immediate rematch- barring injuries and other shenanigans, but I’d love to see Leon get to defend the title one time vs someone else before the rubber match.

I'm going to assume Usman is going to be medically suspended for at least six months due to the knockout. I would imagine that means the rematch won't happen for at least eight months from now to allow for full training camps.

I wonder how possible it'll be to hold the belt hostage for that long. Not fair for the rest of the division, but outside of a Khamzat title fight (assuming he embarrasses Nate Diaz), the Usman rematch will make the most money for Leon.

https://twitter.com/thefightbubble/status/1561232682452926465

Wildly unprofessional of him to miss weight, but I’m here for the terrifying heel turn

with how he just fucking floated through those grappling "exchanges." Goddamn that was fucking impressive, I can't even comprehend it.

No chance that wasnt preplanned

tell me how there is ZERO video of a melee involving at least 70 people? All fake.

like a teasing shoving match

the one part that I think doesn't jive with the "work" idea is that Nate goes out a hero and has a lot more leverage when he inevitably returns for the McGregor 3 fight. Not sure that was intended.

This seems like the most anticipated card in a long time.

I didn't even realize Petrosyan was fighting until now. The fact that he is that far down in the card shows the depth of it.

i cant stand that dude for some reason.

He just looks like the way he looks, fights a little flashy, and it is easy to read into that.

He seemed pretty nervous at the press conference. Don't know if that bodes well for him.

he needs his ass whooped for that alone lol.

yan pushed him at the ceremonial weigh ins during the faceoff. that was pretty uncharacteristic of him. i havent watched any other pre-event content so i dont know if suga got under his skin or if yan was just punking him.

certainly the most action I've had on a guy this year, even Usman (still sick over that one)

I'm just going on what I know. The guy with the more diverse skill set is Charles, and all of those skills are elite too - striking, clinch, jits.

Islam apparently had a bear of a weight cut - DC says he dropped 7 kilos in the last day (15lbs) - and he carries the burden of being Khabib's guy. Furthermore, his resume pales next to Charles'.

I truly think I'm backing the right horse.

its why you see folks drop him sometimes and are still scared to get on top of him or even get close to him.

plus...if you fuck up on a takedown, clinch against the cage, etc...dude is on your back with you fighting for your life/neck.

i dont see islam being able to submit him or stay on top of him for 5 rounds...which is really his only realistic path to victory.

Islam is still somewhat unproven. Olivera has a clear advantage on the feet and on the ground it seems like it is pretty even. People keep thinking Islam is the new Khabib, and I don't think that will be the case.

I wonder if Olivera got with a sports psychologist. He is so far from being the timid fighter he used to be.

but at least this means we don't have to watch Yan v. Sterling for the title again

Now I reeeeeally want to see TJ beat Sterling so we get TJ/O'Malley for the title.

and not a single person said they thought suga won that fight.

not even his fans.

sucks about tj.

i know people who bet on him for that fight are pissed he didnt disclose that injury.

Going to be interesting to see him ratchet up the trash talking once he gets back into his silly character to try to talk up whatever his next fight will be.

In a just a fair world where meritocracy actually means something, Sterling should fight Marlon Vera for the title next as I think that will be a tough fight for Sterling to win. Also, it was pretty clear to me that Sterling's ground game is beyond levels better than O'Malley's is right now. I'm guessing Dana will probably make O'Malley fight Sterling's boy Merab for the title contender spot.

was even the better fighter on the feet.

Beyond blown , was in just under $600 to make almost a grand

At no point was Oliveira competitive. I think Islam is good don’t get me wrong but I thought Charles would put up way more of a fight. I still don’t know how good Islam is, but what I’m pretty sure of today is that Chandler, Poirier, and Gaethje probably aren’t that great.

I forget exactly when he fought in the UFC, but he's my current BJJ professor ... at any rate, I interviewed him on my podcast. You can watch here: https://youtu.be/XOhpCMBrIeQ

but if the ref lets that keep going Izzy is going night night.

Poirier/Chandler fight of the night.

Weili/Rose 3 should be great.

instead of letting him get stretched out on the canvas. that nigga was cooked he wasn't even looking up or defending himself

now he 0-3 in his life trying to throw hands w/ this dude

With the exception of the Costa fight, Adesanya has left some
in the tank and protected himself every time. Tonight he could’ve been so much more
Aggressive with the grappling and probably won while still seeming more active. Good riddance.

https://youtu.be/wZyT_VSJhR0

I need to ease off him a little bit. Doesn’t make him any less boring but he’s awfully classy here.

>https://youtu.be/wZyT_VSJhR0
>
>I need to ease off him a little bit. Doesn’t make him any
>less boring but he’s awfully classy here.

I get it, but a lot of the GOAT UFC champs have learned to fight smarter - and Izzy has followed that trajectory.

Bones, Spider, and GSP have all faced the same criticism at some point.

Its really hard to fight at that level and have 8,10,12 fight win streaks....and fight ready to go out on a shield

Khabib said it best pre-fight:

https://twitter.com/MMAFighting/status/1591655233218052099

https://www.tmz.com/2023/01/02/dana-white-wife-drunk-fight-slap-new-years-eve-nightclub-cabo/



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't know man. I'm seeing a lot of "alpha male" responses to this. You know the typical "she shouldn't have slapped him."

He's going to slide on this.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

the biggest L for Dana is he’s so loudly shit on Jon Jones for years (also desrved)

Fwiw, his apology was as sincere as you can be but it’s an awful situation and he’ll need to lay low for a while. Bad bad bad.

And just to be clear, I thought Dana was a pig way before this went down for many reasons, so I'm not defending him at all.

Just want to be clear who you're referring to here. Main reason I'm asking is because there's a lot of folks that should be giving Dana scrutiny on this and thus far, I haven't seen it outside of one or two MMA journalists.

the people who support him?

UFC fans in general?

https://www.espn.com/mma/story/_/id/35449188/jon-jones-ciryl-gane-title-bout-set-ufc-releases-ngannou

Hammer Bones

and the card seems to have minimal attention.

Am I correct in that assessment or is that just my opinion? Shame is the former is true because there are some top name fighters on this card outside of the two title fights.

1. Moreno/Figueiredo AGAIN??? 4 times??? Just fold the division and let these fights decide to either fight elsewhere or move up to bantamweight. If Mighty Mouse couldn't headline a PPV with the reign he had it's clear nobody gives a fuck about 125ers.

2. The light heavyweight title fight doesn't feature the actual champion. Had Jiri not gotten hurt maybe the rematch with Glover would be a bigger deal but Glover now faces the SEVENTH (?!) ranked contender. Reading up on the history of the booking of this fight it seems like it's been a clusterfuck since Jiri had to pull out so it's understandable they haven't been able to create a buzz.

There's some fun names on the undercard but overall there really isn't a guy or a fight that you can sell me on buying (re: illegally streaming) this one.

the LHW title fight is lousy but so is also the entire division if Jon Jones is gonna walk away from it anyway

But more importantly, the card overall was pretty damn good. One of the better PPVs the UFC had since the Fertitas sold the company that I can remember. I hope I'm not just being a prisoner of the moment in that regard.

I wonder if the card got a decent amount of attention.

but glad the event was better than expected.

add to the fact that Dana can't even remember the name of the #2 ranked P4P fighter who is in the main event.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLgJnaPajM0&ab_channel=MmaMerchant

makhachev hasnt even defended his title once in his division yet. plus hes fighting a much smaller man.

i have zero motivation to check out the countdown, interviews, embeddeds, etc.

and the rest of the card is thin as hell.

Surprised by Volka's grappling defense but lol at all these racists calling it a robbery and/or not understanding what a unanimous decision is.

Not sure if i'd seen Yair Rodriguez before, but I'm definitely a fan. He had Emmett chasing shadows the whole fight.

BUT did he really lose?

It could have been 3 rounds to 2, or possibly 4 rounds to 1, but Islam definitely won the more rounds, and therefore won the fight.

two or three of the rounds were fairly close. That coupled with the fact Volk was winning in the fifth round and the fact he was the smaller man is why I think a grip of folks were so emotionally attached to the idea of Volk winning.

I personally thought Islam had three of the five rounds (I don't remember which rounds), but I could see folks thinking Volk won. I was under the assumption since the fight was in Australia, the judges would be Australian and thus would push the possibility of Volk getting the strap. I don't know if the judges were Aussies or not.

>two or three of the rounds were fairly close. That coupled
>with the fact Volk was winning in the fifth round and the fact
>he was the smaller man is why I think a grip of folks were so
>emotionally attached to the idea of Volk winning.
>
>I personally thought Islam had three of the five rounds (I
>don't remember which rounds), but I could see folks thinking
>Volk won. I was under the assumption since the fight was in
>Australia, the judges would be Australian and thus would push
>the possibility of Volk getting the strap. I don't know if the
>judges were Aussies or not.

It shows how good he is overall though and that any wrestler at FW will have a hard as fuck time taking him down and just working him on the ground (which is supposed to be his weakness).

Yair can give him trouble on the feet, but Yair is often a little too slow to start or too reckless. Thats a tough combination against someone as consistent and measured as Volk.

I don't notice any myself; wonder if the UFC is having problems with the mainstream audience not caring about the fighters anymore.

Has to hurt that Jon Jones wasn't the biggest PPV draw even when he was active; being away for over three years has to hurt a ton, along with the fact dude has a very checkered past; bad enough for Dana to trash him and even vow to not main event him.

honestly it felt like there was more buzz for the jake paul fight on a sunday mid afternoon than there is for the return of the ufc goat on the traditional fight night.

the only ufc event ive seen recently with that big fight feel to it is the upcoming mcgregor/chandler fight.

he walked through cyril like he didnt even belong in the cage with him.

I don't really follow the sport and knew nothing about the other fighter. but when I saw he only had 11 wins, I wondered why he was even in the fight with Jones. then I saw that he shouldn't have been.

theres a ton of turnover at the top. anyone can beat anyone because a lot of dudes are unrefined compared to the other divisions and usually have at least 1 glaring vulnerability that exposes them at some point.

the consensus goat of the division (stipe miocic) has a grand total of 3 successful title defenses and got knocked out by both daniel cormier and francis ngannou. hes facing jon jones next and will prolly get finished there in some way too.

cain velasquez (who people talked about as the goat before stipe) got a title fight after only 6 fights in the ufc and 8 overall. he won the title then promptly got knocked out within seconds on national tv in his next fight. eventually regained the belt then lost it forever after only 2 defenses. 4 of his 5 fights in that span were against the same 2 opponents (also his 2 title defenses).

francis ngannou shot to the top and got a title shot after only 6 fights in the ufc. then got dominated like 4-1 against 'the goat'. then eventually won the title from the same opponent a few fights later. all while having a suspect gas tank (which is ultimately why he chose to wrestlefuck gane). ngannou is also a weak wrestler...which lets you know how bad ganes wrestling is.

oddly enough cyril gane was 1 flawed submission attempt away from likely beating ngannou in a decision for the title. even with bad wrestling/takedown defense and a relative lack of mma experience.

thats how volatile the division has been.

jon jones is easily the most well rounded fighter in the division and has the actual battle testing to back it up. hes the best and most technically sound strike outside of gane and hes the best wrestler. and all it will take is 3 title defenses against the watered down crop of opponents in todays hw division to make him the best ufc heavyweight ever.

But the job interview voice Jones was using for the post-fight press conference was so hard to listen to. The dude wants the general public to think he isn't the wild man that he so obviously is.

With that being said, the only contending heavyweights I can see beating Jon are Curtis Blades and Pavlovich. Miocic is too old for me to think he'll have a prayer of a chance against Jones; Miocic from maybe 4-5 years ago might have had a shot, but I can't see him being fast enough to get inside of Jones' kicks to do serious enough damage to the man.

Aspinall before he got his brutal injury probably would have given Jones some problems as well.

while they were showing him during the Jones' post-fight "call out"

>With that being said, the only contending heavyweights I can
>see beating Jon are Curtis Blades and Pavlovich. Miocic is too
>old for me to think he'll have a prayer of a chance against
>Jones; Miocic from maybe 4-5 years ago might have had a shot,
>but I can't see him being fast enough to get inside of Jones'
>kicks to do serious enough damage to the man.

and if memory serves me correctly, he isn't on the best of terms with Dana White, so I don't think it's necessarily in him to try to hype up the fight. Outside of Jones committing some other crime and/or doing something else questionable, the attention/hype for this fight will be minimal.

Just so I'm clear in my earlier response, I think he was a beast of a fighter 2-3 years ago, was being the operative word. His speed and skill mixed with the fact he's a relatively small heavyweight was nothing to sleep on; I just don't think he's the cream of the crop anymore and I don't truly think he should be the one to fight for the strap.

Perhaps I'll be proved wrong come this July when him and Jones scrap.

I'm hoping the title fight will be a hell of a scrap; has there been any noticeable attention of hype for this card. I just hope neither of the two fighters have serious injuries coming into this fight.

Have to admit, outside of the last two fights, the names on this card kind stink, so I can somewhat see why there isn't much hype for this card overall.

I'll be watching

I -think- Usman wins by TKO or sub...but a knockout that violent can change a man

I just hope it's competitive. Despite the all-time KO that came in the last fight I don't think Edwards is really on the level of a prime Usman. This doesn't feel like an iconic blowoff to a classic trilogy.

that was an alltime KO

That was an all time KO, not just technique and skill, but the story of overcoming the guy whose style you can’t beat.

So many times in combat sports I’ve watched guys try and not be able to get over that hump with a certain fighter.

First two that come to mind are Shane Moseley with Vernon Forrest and BJ penn with GSP.

If Izzy had lost it would’ve been a tough road to another title at MW and we would’ve lost some of his charisma and non-whiteness that the UFC needs.

hitting him up with the bow and arrow and then mocking his son (the way his son mocked him) with the fall to the mat.

Dana White, Donald Trump, Kid Rock, and Mike Tyson front with a bunch of bloodthirsty dickheads chanting “Let’s Go Brandon” in the arena….get the fuck outta here. Scrubby scene.

but he's been a long, long, long time supporter of MMA. My memory is vague on the details, but he was involved with a MMA promotion affiliated with that old school Affliction MMA apparel brand that tanked after a fight between Josh Barnett and Fedor fell through. I want to say Trump was at UFC events before even the Fertita Brothers owned it, but I could be wrong.

Don't get me wrong, I think I literally cringed or shuddered when he was put on screen during Saturday's PPV, but he's been a long time supporter. Couple that with the fact Dana actually spoke at one of the Republican National Conventions while Trump was on office and it's no surprise that he was there.

If memory serves me correct, this was the second UFC event he was at since he was President; I think he was at a NY show. I want to say it was for a card Conor fought on.

I want to see how the top middleweights deal with Periera's size, speed, and power. I would imagine the top tier middleweights will try to exploit Periera's weakness on the ground. Would love to eventually see Adesayna and Periera fight again. Those two are so close stylistically, although Adesayna is a bit slicker while Periera has more power.

Quite the scrap.

it sounds like he's going up to LHW for his next fight. and gonna be tough for him to drop back down to MW after more time away. seems like it was a tough cut for him.

but yea, izzy/pereira 3 could be run back asap. if pereira wins though, might leave the weightclass in flux if he doesn't think he can stay.

>it sounds like he's going up to LHW for his next fight. and
>gonna be tough for him to drop back down to MW after more time
>away. seems like it was a tough cut for him.
>
>but yea, izzy/pereira 3 could be run back asap. if pereira
>wins though, might leave the weightclass in flux if he doesn't
>think he can stay.
>

and it will be Champ vs Champ

I hope he takes the proper amount of time off to muscle/bulk up for the weight class. He looked so much smaller than Blachowicz in that champ/champ fight. I could be wrong, but it looks as if Pereira will have an easier time filling up his frame for 205ers than Adesanya.

in their previous fight, from pretty much the same position, and if not for the bell, likely would have finished him at that point (the end of round 1)

First fight
https://youtu.be/bN8w32EfDss?t=335

Having watched all 4 fights, I think that Adesanya was the better fighter in all of them, and I'm glad he finally got the much deserved win. And Pereira brought the best out of him. These were much more entertaining fights that his past several had been.

https://twitter.com/MMAFighting/status/1665856067778093056

they moved the show to espn from espn+ and promoted this shit heavily too. all over espn/abc properties, youtube, etc. even saw an ad in the google play store when i went to download some apps for my galaxy watch.

the last time mcgregor was on tuf it debuted with 622k viewers and that was on fs1 which isnt as widely watched as espn and didnt have anywhere near the promotional campaign as this season.

pretty underwhelming card. especially the main event.

As much as I dislike Dana White these days, and despite the fact Trump was shown on camera twice during the broadcast, the past UFC PPV was one of the better ones in recent years. There might have been one of two fights during the entire length of that card that turned out to be duds.

Good on the UFC for putting up a good event. I hope the title fights that come as result of the matches this weekend continue to be as eventful.

of rushing their young fighters too quickly. That in addition to the fact the UFC is lacking for bankable star power, and I can easily understand why the UFC is slow playing Bo Nickal.

Not saying I am wishing on this, but just imagine if dude got exposed because he got rushed into top talent and got exposed like Page Van Sant or Sage Northcutt. The slow play is the best option, most prudent option.

Hard to believe Dana is being prudent and sound given he's the genius behind Power Slap, but stranger things have occurred.

I think its better to find out early vs. manufacture fake hype for a never will .

Sean O'Malley took an L and is still a thing.

Because no one thinks he’s world class, but he’s bankable. Not elite, but huge draw potential. I don’t think he can win the title and I don’t think he beat Petr Yan either. But at least you can look at how they stewarded OMalley’s ascent and say “yeah, that all looks legitimate.”

which you are certainly entitled to wanting, but my point is that I think the UFC wants to garner as much positive attention on Nickal as possible, hence why I don't think it's wrong to groom his with appropriate opponents.

I'm hoping he gets to fight someone within the 16-20 rating range for his next fight; I don't think he's ready to fight top 15 talent yet, but I think it would be a complete waste of time for him to fight a dude that is prelim fodder.

Nickal could be good enough to be a legitimate threat to beat Vettori, but I don't think there's enough tape to know if that's the case at the moment. Not to say that I think Vettori is a world beater, but he did legitimately fight for the title; Nickal isn't there yet to fight a dude at legitimately fought for a strap.

I am fine seeing him fight 2 more times this year. I think he's gonna smoke everyone they put in front of him.

which you are certainly entitled to wanting, but my point is that I think the UFC wants to garner as much positive attention on Nickal as possible, hence why I don't think it's wrong to groom his with appropriate opponents.

I'm hoping he gets to fight someone within the 16-20 rating range for his next fight; I don't think he's ready to fight top 15 talent yet, but I think it would be a complete waste of time for him to fight a dude that is prelim fodder.

I really like dude, but Volk is just on another level.

which is certainly a possibility given Fury's size and skill, there's no way Francis will catch an L with this bout, even if he loses via decision. I'm very curious what the split will be, given how much Fury bulled Usyk when those two tried to negotiate a bout.

Unfortunate Fury couldn't work out a bout with Usyk as that would have been an interesting fight stylistically, but this is the next best thing, especially given how Dana was flapping his gums about Fury and Jones potentially having a UFC bout.

Have to imagine Dana is scrambling to announce something to try and trump this announcement.

This is just below a youtube fight. But good for francis' pocket straightening endeavors

https://www.threads.net/t/CubKCVKgcMk/

sounding like lukas mattsson in succession with them gojo numbers in india.

did you see the infamous picture of him posing with Adesanya and Volkanovski?

I hope both guys got paid handsomely for that picture and/or training session.

Hall vacates after rupturing achilles

for whatever reason twitter floods my 'for you' page with mma tweets even tho i spend a ton of time on there specifically clicking 'not interested' on those accounts and topics.

anyway...i saw some folks complaining about trump on the ufc podcast with matt serra. mostly boxing and very little ufc talk.

i decided to check it out (incognito mode so it didnt infest my youtube algorithm) and yeah. its clear dude is a much bigger fan of boxing and the athletes/history/mystique of that sport than he is of the ufc. i know hes been 'involved with the ufc since the beginning' (their framing) but he couldnt tell you shit about any of the fighters who arent openly maga or any of the greatest events that he wasnt personally invited to appear at. dude has zero interest in that shit.

its funny how in the ufc constant promotion of donald trump and his ties to them...they conveniently leave out the fact that he intentionally promoted and invested in another organization to compete with the ufc (affliction). you would think hes been ride or die for the ufc nonstop from the way they fluff him.

that right was CLEAN

I think the reign will be short if he sees merab next.UFC financially should and probably will try and milk it with a chito rematch

I think Izzy knew the only way to beat Pereira was to knock him out, so he knocked him out

But if you look at the rest of his record mostly it's boring decisions over less-skilled opponents who didn't meet the moment.

Strickland is less-skilled than Adesanya too, but he had the right attitude - "fuck it"

And Izzy didn't see it coming. There's almost no way Izzy loses a rematch but for one night that outcome made a lot of sense in hindsight. I wish I'd bet a little something on Strickland.

Dead on. When he was first coming up, Izzy reminded me of Anderson but as time has gone on I realized he just doesn't have that dog in him and that love of scrappin like Anderson did.

nor his corner weren't able to make adjustments during the fight.

This is probably easier said than done, but I wonder if Adesanya's future opponents will be able to copy what Strickland did last weekend. I'm not a fan of the dude and it sounds fairly simple, but I was very very impressed how Strickland was able to consistently check Adesanya's leg kicks while staying in his face. Masterclass defensive effort on Strickland's part given the reach advantage Adesanya had over him.

On paper, a rematch between Adesanya and Whitaker makes the most sense, correct? Both guys came of recent loses and I'd like to see that on the same card as the title match for the middleweight belt.

nor his corner weren't able to make adjustments during the fight.

This is probably easier said than done, but I wonder if Adesanya's future opponents will be able to copy what Strickland did last weekend. I'm not a fan of the dude and it sounds fairly simple, but I was very very impressed how Strickland was able to consistently check Adesanya's leg kicks while staying in his face. Masterclass defensive effort on Strickland's part given the reach advantage Adesanya had over him.

On paper, a rematch between Adesanya and Whitaker makes the most sense, correct? Both guys came of recent loses and I'd like to see that on the same card as the title match for the middleweight belt.

Chiamev was incredible in that first round. That's never happened to Usman before. Kamaru took round 2, and Chimaev snatched 3 with the take down near the end. The fact the Kamaru took the fight on 2 weeks notice though and did as well as he did (was clearly growing into the fight) as a lot. Would be interesting to see the two of them fight with full fight camps and prep.

Islam silenced the doubters, and put Volk out in the first.

>Chiamev was incredible in that first round. That's never
>happened to Usman before. Kamaru took round 2, and Chimaev
>snatched 3 with the take down near the end. The fact the
>Kamaru took the fight on 2 weeks notice though and did as well
>as he did (was clearly growing into the fight) as a lot. Would
>be interesting to see the two of them fight with full fight
>camps and prep.
>
>Islam silenced the doubters, and put Volk out in the first.


Man i thought the Usman fight was 5 rounds. Chimaev was looking pretty gassed by the end of 3...

Looks like champ champs are dead. Lets stop them for awhile unless a guy can cleanly defend his own title like 7 times in a row. Moving up a division to win a title is tough work.

NEVER

I need it's anti-macho to turn down a "fight" , especially when the opportunity to become a champion in two weight classes is concerned...

but this never works out well. Like ever. I'm done betting on those guys.

I don’t see that fight ever happening. In 8+ moremonths, don’t see where stope will be.
At heavyweight an injury like a torn pec could be the end of Jones’ peak career

traumatic muscle tears like that in athletes, especially at that stage of life, are signs of steroid use (very common in pro wrestlers)...wouldn't be surprised if was on that dat gas

he was going to roll through Stipe and submit him anyway but , you're right, now we likely never see it

My heart wants Ngannou to win mainly to screw over Dana White and so this fight is somewhat entertaining, but my brain has me feeling Fury is going to completely wash Ngannou. I just mainly hope Ngannou isn't horribly flatlined by Fury, which I fear might happen as Fury has masterful inside boxing skills for someone his gargantuan size in case Ngannou was to delivery a hook or uppercut to KO Fury.

The wrong one

trying to find the next great white hope....and let THE UNICORN walk, a champion in MMA who just beat (fuck what the cards said, 96-93???? LMAO) the most decorated heavyweight boxer for the last decade.

I hope Ngannou makes $200 million and makes Bob Arum's bag of bones 900 million dollars just so Dana marinate in that...

>trying to find the next great white hope....and let THE
>UNICORN walk, a champion in MMA who just beat (fuck what the
>cards said, 96-93???? LMAO) the most decorated heavyweight
>boxer for the last decade.
>
>I hope Ngannou makes $200 million and makes Bob Arum's bag of
>bones 900 million dollars just so Dana marinate in that...

Fuck that tomato.

but he may have knocked Jon Jones out

but I was surprised Vince McMahon actually showed up to the fight given he's technically in bed with Dana and the UFC.

Going to be fun when Dana actually gives a soundbite on the match.

To speak about the match itself, I'll be shocked if Ngannou does more than one MMA fight for PFL going forward. I'm going to assume Ngannou would be losing money if he doesn't do another boxing match.

🐐