He juiced. If he has a bad performance coming back I expect him to drop to the LHW division as will a lot of guys who should be 220 but juice to 240. To put things in perspective Overeem used to fight at 205 so the weight cut shouldn't be too hard for a lot of guys.

A better way of looking at the HW division would be to say who didn't juice which would be a much shorter list. Rothwell admitted he has in the past... but doesn't now and is ecstatic that the tests are now more stringent as true big men will benefit the most. Besides him perhaps Roy Nelson or the man does and just refuses to do a sit-up.

I'd be legit surprised if Mark Hunt was juicing... and Roy Nelson obviously. But aside from that I wouldn't be surprised if anyone else in the HW division got popped, definitely including Cain.

I like it, adds a new contender to the WBW division and either Tate builds momentum for the two money matches with Holm and Rousey or we get fresh matchups for Holm and Rousey

I think Tate will out-grind Nunes to a late sub if I have to pick an outcome I think if she can avoid getting finished in r1 she will pick up the pace in r3 and later and either win rounds 3-5 or get a late stoppage when Nunes gasses

Hoping to get Tate at -130 or something or by sub at +300 or better. If I have to pick an exact outcome i'll go with Tate by submission, r4, RNC

Markets love to underrate Miesha but I think she opens -150 to Nunes +120 or something if I had to guess

Seems absurd Jones is only -500 vs OSP, I guess he has the legal dramas distracting him but if he's the same Jones he was previously surely he's at least -900, if they fight 10 times i'd pick it to go 10-0 or 9-1 Jones, and current odds suggest 8-2

Tate Nunes makes no sense imo, we have money fights (Rousey / Tate, Rousey / Holm, Holm / Tate). Tate loses? All of a sudden those three matches loses their steam. I feel a bit like, who is the best woman fighter? We need a couple of fights to settle this, or perhaps it's all about who matches up well with who and that could definitely be true. But at the same time, Holm could come back and beat Tate and the same to Rousey, showing it was her inexperience which made her lose to Tate. Or Tate could beat Holm and then Rousey in a rematch, showing she had the wrong approach vs Rousey and is actually the better MMA fighter. Or Rousey could come back, showing she is once again superior to Tate in all aspects and then gameplan to victory vs Holm. All is possible, but we need closure, and Nunes is just delaying that and making it lose steam.

Ronda's not in shape to fight/busy and I despite it being a 5 rounder where Holm won 3 rounds she did get finished and Nunes is coming off multiple wins. We complain about endless rematches and while I do want to see Holm vs Tate 2 it's not like Holm will lose her next fight and then she'll have a title shot coming off a win - she wasn't a dominant champ like Rousey she didn't get a single defense in

As long as Tate fights any combination of Nunes/Rousey/Holm/Cyborg at 135/Pena vs Zingano winner in the next few i'm fine with it

Also - Khabib tweet regarding replacement

Wow. I just signed contract to fight Cowboy at 170 3 hours later he hurt his ribs and pulled out. Any other opponent for April 16 #UFCTampa

Nijem asked for the fight on twitter will be interesting to see who gets it. I guess if no one suitable they re-book the Ferguson fight when he's healthy

I don't mind Nunes getting a shot at the title. The reason being this could allow a Holm-Rousey rematch which is what people really want to see.
Make it a 5 rounder and who cares about the belt. Fans will tune in for the fight not the belt.

I think its good that the UFC is moving forward and not waiting on Rhonda. They need to let other characters emerge along with other rivalries. Rhonda might never come back or never come back the same...

Either way the womens divisions need to develop (which they are) and not just focus on one person. The HH/Meisha fight we hella exciting and I would love to see that rematch.

If everyone is just waiting around to rematch Rhonda that is not good for womens MMA in general. Having Cyborg in the mix also keeps things interesting... I think womens mma is at its most exciting right now even without Rhonda.

So Khabib is now fighting a nobody. They should have at least gone with Nijem who has proved he is a UFC caliber fighter but I guess if he easily wins a squash match he can have a quick turnaround and fight Ferguson in July or August and potentially for the title late in the year.

im gonna call bs on nurmy's cerrone tweet

he has made false opposition claims on social media before and we heard no movement on cowboy vs cote which if nurmy is to believed is also off

Well we'll know easily enough as Cerrone loves staying active if he takes another fight he's not hurt, if not he almost certainly is.

I'd have assumed it's real, pretty sure Cerrone wants to fight him and the UFC would much rather make that fight than have Khabib face some guy making his UFC debut who while 12-1 has only fought Phillipe Nover out of people i've heard of and lost to him

Tate-Nunes works for me too, if for no other reason than it's a break from the constant rematches that we're sure to get even more of once Rousey comes back. When she returns we'll invariably have to play out all the permutations of Rousey-Holm-Tate and that could easily hold up the title picture for another year.

Might as well get a new face in there while you've got the opportunity. And think of all the potential lulz if Nunes actually won...

fwiw the guys he fought have pretty unpadded most of the guys he beat had multiple fights w legit ufc fighters

id question ufc being willing to send nurmy up to welter as his first fight back and risk another mcgregor situation which would mean they destroyed the title scene for both 45 and 55 by having guys fight at 170

that being said i think horcher is quite the live dog here

I also like the Tate vs Nunes fight. I think a Holy rematch would of been nice, but do we really want to watch UFC 196 all over again? I think it helps keep the division moving along. The Zingano vs Pena fight should be a hell of battle also.

What does everyone think about this weekends card? Think Rothwell can get it done?

I finally joined the Rothwell hype train in betting him against Barnett (had mostly been fading him before that) but if JDS has ANYTHING left it should be too much. JDS has better hands, movement, solid power etc but I guess it depends whether he's just taken too much punishment/USADA ruined him. I never thought in a million years Reem would beat him. That said Reem's offense is much better than Rothwell's, Rothwell just has an iron chin and power, and decent subs but he's still very slow and plodding. I think it'll either be a clear 30-27/30-26 JDS or Rothwell catches him. Might take JDS minus the points if the line is good as I don't see Rothwell winning any rounds unless he finishes

edit: just remembered it's 5 rounds. I saw JDS Dec +6xx and was about to smash it then remembered it's 5 rounds at HW. Also just saw UD is +950

Fired my first few bets for the card

0.65u JDS -5.5 pts -105 (it's not like this is going to be 48-47 JDS very often)
0.32u JDS by UD +950
0.32u Gonzaga SUB +400
0.5u Moroz -181

Moroz decision is +400, I see incredible value there?

Jumped on these openers on AXS TV tonight. I bet against Trocoli last time and won on Jacob Volkmann as a dog strictly due to American wrestling but I think his promise is going to show tonight when he stops Dhiego Lima in spectacular fashion. Also riding the co-main event dog with the A-Town Ogre. Not sure if his line will improve or not but I jumped on the opening line. Wilson is skilled but Vitkay is strong and on a good streak.

Legacy FC 53 Risk $300.00

Antonio Trocoli (+110) vs Dhiego Lima $200.00 for $220.00
Dave Vitkay (+145) vs Cody Wilson $100.00 for $145.00

Agreed, was about to take it but doesn't seem to be available any more.

+1

£175.00 Single -
Rothwell, Ben @ 11/10

Stake: £175.00Est. Returns: £367.50


you guys are ****** crazy.

If Dos Santos cant get a win over glass chin Alistair Overeem and in fact gets knocked out AND its not in the 53,4 th round (he got ko 2nd rd) and we are in there with our Money on a guy that should be in a horror movie, a guy you cant stop even with a baseball bat.

Even vs a primed up Cain Velasquez, Ben never got KO from memory, all he did was repeatedly hit his face and he was fine, he was swamped and the ref stopped it, from memory.


Evens or better vs a past it Junior dos Santos on a guy like Ben on a rip hugely powerful,


man, guys you have to remember Ben is a crafty fighter, he can apply terrible constant preasure.


Ben is human and can fail just like any fighter but Ill be darned if its a over the hill Santos,

What is santos going to do in there exactly?
Use mastership of distance and use better boxing?
Not going to happen because Ben makes his way in regardless and is some how always able to get inside. Up against the cage who do you think is more powerful? Ben is a real deal brick **** house, Dos.s is an Adonis past it sure great boxing but this is MMA and there is a full war fight going on and Ben is such a horrible man in the cage.



Why do we stay away from betting Ben here? because Santos is the bigger stronger guy? because santos has shown in his last fights he can last more than 2minutes at peak pace? or even at the end of round one santos is toast.




If santos could keep up peak activity for 3 rounds then its difficult to bet here,
Ben is not going to be phased, ben is scary scary dude.


This is dinner time for Ben.

Easy load up of £175 at 11/10, my dinner time to hopefully, all these virtual reality headsets vive /rift I am buying for gaming I need a little extra money back .

Will be nice to watch UFC via VR hopefully soon.

Chirico+160

Chirico+160
cannonier-160 2.5 units

not sure who i'm betting here but jds has been declining for a while

JDS is in decline but it's a matter of how much. If he's completely done then yes, improved Rothwell will KO him but even current Rothwell stands zero chance against JDS at even 60-70% of his best.

Huge moment for both guys, if Rothwell wins this he's getting a number one contender fight at least, if JDS wins convincingly then he proves he's still a top 5 HW with a win over the champ...

he might barely be 60 percent

If Rothwell wins he deserves a title shot. He KO'd Reem who's also been on a big win streak and the only other 3 viable fighters are Werdum, Miocic and Cain depending on who ends up champ.

The UFC has been plagued by injuries and all 3 of the above have pulled out of fights in the past. Rothwell is durable and that is worth something compared to running the risk that one of them has to pull out of the fight. Furthermore a steroid scandal is the last thing the HW division needs and Rothwell is clean. The other 3 who knows?

From a business standpoint when you factor in the risk of injuries/roid scandal Rothwell makes a strong case for getting the shot... why have him fight the guy not getting the TS and losing a contender in a thin division.