Official Mixed Martial Arts Thread

[McFly]

Blaydes or Pavlovich could give Jones a real fight and could win, Blaydes especially. Aspinall is apparently Jones and his teams biggest fear but he's a year or 2 away from a shot I'd say.

 

[Floyd]

On 07/03/2023 at 09:08, McFly said:

Blaydes or Pavlovich could give Jones a real fight and could win, Blaydes especially. Aspinall is apparently Jones and his teams biggest fear but he's a year or 2 away from a shot I'd say.

 

 

Yes, 2 other interesting match ups. I know Blaydes has wresting but doesn't use it much. Considering Jones outwrestled DC, I think outwrestling Jones is a no go. Beating jones on points is also tough. So, someone’s going to have to knock him out to beat him. But everyone’s been trying to do that for years and it’s not worked yet….

 

But both of them are fighting in April with the winner most likely taking on the winner of Jon and Stipe. But who knows what Jon or Stipe will do after that fight. Gane will likely fight the loser of one of them. So we'll see!

[McFly]

That's very true about Jones wrestling DC, I'd kinda forgotten about that.

[Orion]

Ngannou has the best chance of beating Jones I feel. He has that initial 1st round blitz that is just terrifying. Jones is of course smart enough and great at wrestling to avoid it but Ngannou is such a ferocious one punch fight ender. It is very hard to survive that initial barrage.

 

For years we all wanted to see the Rumble fight with Jones because we thought he might catch him. Seems we will miss seeing that and him vs Ngannou. 

 

 

[McFly]

According to Fight Disciples, the UFC event in London next week, of all the sport events in all the World, has an average ticket price second only to the Super Bowl. Fucking hell.

[Gotters]

1 hour ago, McFly said:

According to Fight Disciples, the UFC event in London next week, of all the sport events in all the World, has an average ticket price second only to the Super Bowl. Fucking hell.

 

always the same people who end up paying for a massive leveraged buy out - how do UFC prices compare to say Beyonce at the Spurs ground, you are basically paying thru the nose for an experience now and being 'present',  guess they are pitching it at that level more than York Hall for a good night of nobbins scraps. 

[McFly]

Oh man I'm not a fan of Merab Dvashvilli at all, he's the best worst fighter in the World. He never gets close to finishing a fight yet manages to win them all by tiring out his opponent like when Homer boxes bums.

 

 

There was some good grappling and scrambles in the main card tho, Ryan Spann with a proper noob mistake against Krylov. Pretty dubious decision in the Nurmagomedov/Martinez fight.

 

Davey Grant got an awesome finish also.

 

 

[bobontheway]

Really can’t see Edwards retaining his belt unless he pulls off another shock knockout. I see Usman dominating him completely.

 

 

[McFly]

It's tough call but yes Usman should probably win. There's no elevation this time and Edwards did get Usman down and take his back before getting stuck under Usman wrestling assault but was in no danger of being finished. Usman is pretty beat up now just with mileage so I give Edwards a good chance if he can fend off the wrestling.

 

 

Gaetjhe v Fiziev and Ginnar Nelson v Barbarena should be good too.

[Naysonymous]

I’d be surprised to see Edwards win again.  I’m not sure it matters too much, he’s been involved in a historic moment that will be replayed for years and I’m sure he’d have taken that at the start of his career.   It will be a shame if the enormous posters in Birmingham have to come down though. 

[glb]

Vettori and Dolidze look like a pair of light heavies, would love to know their cage weights.

 

Been a decent card so far, with some lively match-ups.

[glb]

Don’t think there’s much doubt Edwards won that, even with a point deduction. Wasn’t a classic main event, but still great to see a UK fighter defend on home soil. Automatic Hall of Famer if he goes through Covington, who’s still pedalling that tired Trump schtick.

 

Decent overall, and good to be able to watch a numbered card live without dozing off. I’m getting old!

[bobontheway]

Wow, happy to see that I was wrong on that one. 

[Kingpin]

Agree with everything you said @glb. I thought it was a good performance and would have found it it difficult to score an Usman win - he had a few takedowns but without any impact from them, whereas Edwards worked the legs and body effectively.

 

Otherwise, I only saw the Gunni Nelson finish - I really like him, good to see he's back on winning form for now.

 

[glb]

Yeah, I thought it was an efficient performance by Edwards. Not that Usman isn’t still dangerous but Edwards carried himself with an air of confidence and calm to trust his game plan and executed it well. Those body kicks were brutal, and the volume of leg strikes slowed Usman enough so that his explosiveness wasn’t as potent. Was a pretty high level fight without ever being a classic.

 

Gaejthe’s measured jab won him his fight. Maybe wasn’t quite a fight of the year candidate but still two dudes exchanging leather with glee and well worth a look.

[McFly]

Colby getting a title shot? What is going on? Burns v Masvidal next month should be contender fight or make Covington fight Belal for a shot at least first, Jesus.

[Couch Corpse]

Even with the point; Edwards' fight, Usman had more success on the feet than in the takedowns. Usman had a few takedowns but did nothing with Edwards' getting to his feet almost immediately, and with ease.

 

Look at the trajectory of Usman and the trajectory of his opponents, looking at that it would seem that Colby or Gilbert were his toughest fights before Edwards.

 

I've never rated Usman, he was good enough to fill the void left by GSP but not an all-timer or p4p.

[schmojo]

Usman was an absolute killer for a long while, and absolutely p4p for me. But time moves on, and so does most fighters' time in the spotlight.

 

Confidence is certainly a huge factor, as we saw in the weekend's fight. Will be interesting to see where Usman goes from here, or if he'll slip into irrelevance in another company as seems to happen weirdly often to high level WWs.

[Gotters]

I'm not sure if it's the nature of the sport, or the matchmaking of the UFC that almost always eventually makes the right fights happen, but everybody gets found out in the end and goes from looking invincible to gatekeeper.

 

Machida, Silva, Dillishaw, Usman, Adesanya (to a lesser degree), Weidman all got claimed to be unbeatable killers, yet all got found out to varying degrees.

 

All except Jon Jones of course.

[glb]

The sport also isn't as financially lucrative as it likes to project, so even top tier fighters compete long after the retirement ages, and physical peaks, seen in other sports. They might get a few decent paydays but have to cover their own fight camps, travel and coaching, and unless they've been savvy enough to set themselves up as a company, pay a fair old chunk of tax on any income, and need to keep fighting to stay afloat. Combine those older ages with the impact fight damage has on their bodies and powers get dulled, especially as the sport evolves to be faster and more explosive. Some of the pioneers wouldn't even be ranked fighters nowadays.

[schmojo]

7 hours ago, Gotters said:

I'm not sure if it's the nature of the sport, or the matchmaking of the UFC that almost always eventually makes the right fights happen, but everybody gets found out in the end and goes from looking invincible to gatekeeper.

 

Machida, Silva, Dillishaw, Usman, Adesanya (to a lesser degree), Weidman all got claimed to be unbeatable killers, yet all got found out to varying degrees.

 

All except Jon Jones of course.

 

It's not getting found out, it's just getting worn out. It's probability that they'll have a bad night. And those - largely inevitable - losses to do a lot of damage to a fighter's confidence. Not to mention the speed at which the sport moves and younger, hungrier fighters move through the ranks.

 

All of those fighters are absolute killers. Outside of Jones, who phoned it in with Reyes, every killer has been made to look ordinary at some point. Wand, Fedor, Shogun, Hendo, whoever.

[Orion]

This is why GSP was so great. Injuries were mounting up and he had just had a tough win over Hendricks so he retired as champion. Then he chooses the perfect time for a last hurrah, winning another belt against Bisping. Then retires again as champion and never comes back.

 

I'm hoping for a Roy Jones Jnr style late career collapse for Jon Jones tbh.

[Gotters]

Endeavour, owners of the UFC, have secured a deal to take over a 51% stake in WWE.

 

Seems the UFC deal for $4b has paid off as they valuing it at $12b in the paperwork for the new venture.

 

Should make getting Lesnar back for a tilt at the HW belt a bit easier.

[glb]

1 hour ago, Gotters said:

Endeavour, owners of the UFC, have secured a deal to take over a 51% stake in WWE.

 

Seems the UFC deal for $4b has paid off as they valuing it at $12b in the paperwork for the new venture.

 

Should make getting Lesnar back for a tilt at the HW belt a bit easier.

$12b?!  Is Todd Boehly doing the paperwork?

 

CM Punk comeback incoming…

[Gotters]

I suspect it's one of those funding valuations used to secure terms on new borrowing and implying how well collateralised the borrowing is, rather than an actual tested price anybody would pay.

 

But I did read the UFC income has been well beyond they're expectations so the deal isn't looking as daft as first viewed at that price.

[glb]

True. They were quick to secure those ESPN deals, and were one of the sports that were particularly proactive to keep going during the pandemic. That could well have leveraged them better TV deals, along with their willingness to tap into streaming and social platforms to broaden reach.

[schmojo]

Presumably they've also found ways to pay the fighters less, scrap benefits or are getting a solid pipeline of overseas blood money. Because I hear fewer and fewer people bring up the UFC every year, and they don't seem to have broken 1m PPV buys in a long while.

[Floyd]

On 03/04/2023 at 15:25, glb said:

 

CM Punk comeback incoming…

 

Oh please no! Not even Brock. The less cross overs the better. It's a different world and those 2 are are way past it. Still, if it makes money then anything is possible. I hope not though.  

[glb]

3 hours ago, Floyd said:

 

Oh please no! Not even Brock. The less cross overs the better. It's a different world and those 2 are are way past it. Still, if it makes money then anything is possible. I hope not though.  

Endeavour rep a load of talent in the US, so think the impact will be more on WWE and endorsements. Things like UFC cards being tied to certain films, which pretty much happens already with WWE, it’ll just be repackaged to suit Endeavour. Suspect a few more fighters / wrestlers will be seen at the other events for those cage / ring side camera shots, maybe with some cutting a promo here and there. 

 

Maybe a Colby or Conor could cut a promo on WWE, but there aren’t too many fighters with the ability to do so. DC is probably the most likely to get involved, he already does interviews with WWE talent, so maybe a new show or podcast for him to indulge that some more.

[McFly]

Pretty loaded card this weekend. Izzy v Perriera 2/4, Masvidal v Burns, Rob Font fighting, Ponzinibio v Kevin Holland, Gastellum v Chris Curtis, Michelle Waterson and Gerald Meerschaert too.