3rd round lackluster but **** answerson did better than i thought he would.

29-28 Adesanya but I like that Silva can still compete in his 40s and post USADA. Re-earned a lot of respect from me.

Surprisingly great fight, and my over and fight to go distance hit, assume Anderson loses but at +400 i'm okay with it given what we saw

Honestly if Anderson wants to keep fighting i'm ok with it now, give him fringe top 15 guys and he'll win more than he loses

Adesanya gets his title fight after Gastelum and Silva's stock goes up after the performance. Everyone wins.

Surprised two judges gave r2 to Adesanya, it was close but Silva clearly landed the biggest strikes of the round

Clearly Silva thinks Adesanya is the new generation version of him, but I think prime Silva was better still - but Adesanya could still get there he's still late 20s.

I think i'll be taking Whittaker over Adesanya though assuming he beats Gastelum

For some reason I expected Israel to knockout Anderson but in retrospect I'm not sure why. Anderson has only been knocked out once in his career, when he tried clowning Weidman. Speaking of which, never in a million years did I think Anderson would be clowning Israel. He showed absolutely no respect for Israel's power whatsoever. That makes me question how Israel will finish top ranked guys that will actually have their defenses up and will be far less willing to stand with him.

Prior to the UFC Israel finished all his fights within 2 rounds. Since being in the UFC he's had 2 finishes and 3 decisions. Anyways, I know he nearly got KO'ed by Uriah Hall but after seeing last night's fight I'm 100% back on the Paulo Costa bandwagon. Winner of his fight vs Yoel Romero should get the winner of Whittaker/Gastelum although I suppose I'd be ok with a Gastelum vs Adesanya non-title fight if necessary.

BTW, I know refs have a tough job but I hated the stoppage in the Crute/Alvey fight. If he had stopped the fight a few seconds earlier when Alvey was faceplanted on the ground with his hand on the back of his hand I'd be ok with it but after he moves to his knees, puts his thumb up to say he's ok and is moving his arm to block shots I'd say he's intelligently defending himself about as good as he could at the moment even if he wasn't advancing position for a few seconds. Given the position, gravity dictated that he wasn't out so the only question is intelligent defense in which case the ref should have given him more time.

Doesn't appear it will. Dana was super happy at the press conference. The event was a sellout. People didn't want refunds, which doesn't surprise me because people have been getting ready for this event and then this happens last minute. Who's going to drive to the stadium just to get a refund? Might as well just watch the fights.

With a grin on his face Dana said the PPV "wasn't bad at all" and followed that up by saying the UFC "did really well considering what happened..."

SILVA looked great considering his age and USADA etc. Israel isn't as good as the hype and something tells me he is going to end up with problems outside the ring. I don't think he's a ice guy underneath.

Alvey complained about Godard prior to the fight and apparently with good reason.

The MW division and the WW divisions are fantastic and just want to see some more match ups.

Sure the event was a sellout but they could pack Marvel Stadium or the MCG and break records if they put on a legit PPV here, people wouldn't care if it started at 9am, they would pack the MCG with 80,000 fans to see a Whittaker title defense with a second title fight and 3 other solid main card fights with name fighters - they fit 56k people into Marvel stadium and while the MCG might not work due to weather concerns as it doesn't have a roof if they wanted to go huge for 80k, they could still easily fill 50k+ fans into every single Australia card if they just held them at Marvel stadium every time and put on decent cards without even packing them (Marvel has a roof and the view from even the worst seats is fine to watch a UFC card) Melbourne will sell out any decent sporting event that's just how Melbourne is.

On second thoughts the MCG doesn't work as no roof, but I see no reason not to have the event at Marvel Stadium every time and get 50-60k fans in instead of their usual 18-20k.

That's not their business model. The UFC has only had 2 events with more than 50k fans. They have had another do 45k and a 4th do 30k. The hundreds of other events they have put on have all done ~23k or less. In fact they've only had 10 more events that have done 20k or more.

Looking at the 5 biggest UFC gates of all time, only 1 had a huge attendance (#3 UFC 129 - 55k in Montreal). The others had attendance of 20k, 20k, 18k, and 16.5k. The UFC's biggest attendance of all time was in Australia with 56k. It's gate was $6.8 million. I have no clue how that stacks up overall but it's quite a bit less than the #5 gate of all time which did $10.5 million.

Point being the UFC only has so many fighters and so many big name fights. I'm sure they'd love to do big shows every event but that's not realistic. Most of the huge stacked PPVs will be in Vegas and NYC because that's where the money is made. What you are complaining about in regards to the UFC's Australia events I could complain in regards to the UFC's Texas events. The UFC could sellout Cowboys stadium to the tune of 100k+ and have expressed an interest to do so but the opportunity has yet to arise.

While Australia has had smaller cards, UFC 193: Rousey vs. Holm was a stacked card and previous ppv cards were not as bad as this particular card but unfortunately Australia does get a higher percentage of fight night cards relative to other locations. Isn't a big part of the problem that the UFC is trying to showcase Australian talent and there aren't that many great fighters in Australia? That's not meant as a jab considering Texas has worse talent than Australia despite a higher population.

To some extent but mostly it's because Aussies will buy tickets just to go to a UFC event regardless. The last Aus card I went to was headlined by Hunt/Bigfoot and just as weak on paper as this one although at least it was a fight night and the main delivered (rest of the card did not)

There's heaps of Aus/NZ talent not on the card who are actually decent

Whittaker obviously was but pulled out

Mark Hunt (ok so he's not decent anymore but he's a name)
Dan Hooker (top 15, granted timing probably didn't line up after the Barboza loss)
Tai Tuivasa (would have been short turnaround but doable)
Tyson Pedro (same as Tuivasa)
Jake Matthews (ok so he's not as good as I thought he was but still he's at least UFC level)
Alex Volkanovski (timing again with the Mendes fight - but they could have always done it on this card instead)

and then a few other guys who suck and a few who are mid level

So even if you want to make it all Aussies/Kiwis for an Aus or NZ card, you can make a card that is PPV worthy easily

Let's say that they were going to make a card for late this year and wanted to sell out a stadium in Australia using only Aus/NZ fighters or even just put on a top caliber PPV

Main Card

MW Title - Whittaker vs Adesanya (or both fighting separately one of them for the belt if neither currently hold it - this is assuming the card is say in September and Whittaker defends against Gastelum in say April or May)

FW Title - Holloway vs Volkanovski (or if Max moves to LW, say Volkanovski vs Ortega or Zabit or someone for the vacant/interim belt)

Tai Tuivasa vs Justin Willis (they even hate each other + revenge for Hunt)

Tyson Pedro vs Johnny Walker/Gokhan Saki/Khalil Rountree or similar

Megan Anderson vs Macy Chiasson (tuf winner)

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

TV Prelims

Headliner for Prelims - Mark Hunt vs Greg Hardy or random guy like Allen Crowder if they want to save Hardy for something else but it's a beloved hero vs hated heel and winnable for both guys - this goes to PPV obv if it's Hardy, or can headline prelims if it's a random can

Dan Hooker vs Ryan Hall/Joe Duffy/Beneil Dariush or similar #15-20ish guy - that brings us to 7 fights that could go on a PPV main card and not look out of place leaving plenty of room if 1-2 fights fall apart due to injuries

Jake Matthews vs Niko Price/similar

Jim Crute vs Justin Ledet or similar

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

Early prelims

Shane Young vs someone like say Tyler Diamond or some similar TUF guy

Jessica Rose Clark vs say Rachel Ostovich or some random TUF non winner chick. Montana De La Rosa would be fine too if they want a better opponent.

Kai Kara France or Nadia Kassem or Alex Chambers vs random similar level cans to round out the early prelims

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

Tell me that isn't an objectively good PPV card, even if you take the Holloway title fight away and have Volkanovski fight a top 5ish FW instead it's still decent - and every fight contains an Aussie or NZ fighter and it's not like i've stacked it with big name fighters or anything outside the main/comain. Would be fine for UFC 241 or whatever in late 2019. I'm sure they could adjust the matchups for 2020 based on what's appropriate at the time for each Aus/NZ fighter if there isn't another Australia card before then.

I just got myself excited for a PPV that doesn't exist, but some of these fights should get made - obviously the title fights at some stage, but I want to see Hunt vs Hardy and Pedro vs one of those three guys now and even Anderson vs Chiasson and they have to make Willis/Tuivasa too surely given their rivalry

Expecting guys that got knocked out to return to fight 2 months later is not realistic at all. Tyson Pedro was on 45 day suspension for lacerations and 180 day suspension for his knee, which he had surgery on and will now likely miss all of 2019. Tai Tuivasa was suspended 30 days with 21 days no contact. The UFC is lucky Crute (who was not injured) did the quick turnaround because he was certainly under no obligation to do so especially after his opponent pulled out just 2 weeks ago.

Mark Hunt is no long under contract with the UFC. His last fight with the promotion was in December and he has been very open about not planning to resign with the organization and has had ongoing lawsuits against the UFC for quite some time stemming from getting beat up by a roided up Brock Lesnar.

Dreamcrusher living by his name a bit .

Probably Swoop just spent a few moments thinking through that PPV and despite a few holes it sounds like a great card.
With a few adjustments it would be solid and the UFC should be treating the Aussie fans better. Just because the stadium fills doesn't mean a cramp card should be put forth.

Another issue is injuries. If a fighter gets a call 2-3 weeks away and is asked to step in on late notice he's far more apt to say yes if it's a short travel rather than an 18 hour flight.

Backed Ngannou £150 at 2.75.
Put some money up at 3.0 on the exchanges but didn't get taken and he is steaming so taken the best price I could get.

Huge fan of Cain in my eyes prime Cain is probably the best heavyweight of all time. But given his injuries and time out of the cage I think coming back against a power puncher like Ngannou is a tough match up.

There are questions with Ngannou to?
We don't know if he has really improved after the Miocic fight after his performance against Lewis and then he wiped out Blaydes pretty quickly.

At these odds though I'm happy backing Ngannou's power and that the fact that its more likely he is an improving whilst we don't really know where Cain is at right now.

It really shouldn't be a tough matchup whatsoever. Sure, Ngannou has the power to catch anyone but he's still a one dimensional fighter. Look at what Cormier just did to Derrick Lewis. He said fighting a one dimensional fighter is really easy and he made it look super easy.

I don't know why you would think Cain would come back if he wasn't ready. He trains with Daniel Cormier every day ffs.

Recent quote about Cain from Cormier: "Nothing has changed. He is still as good, still as fast. He still can wrestle, as well. You have to remember, this whole time off he’s been helping me the whole time."

Cormier thinks Cain will be champ again. Look at what happened when Brock Lesnar came back vs Hunt. I doubt Lesnar had been training MMA as much as Cain during his time off. He was out 4.5 years, 6 years removed from his last win and he still made easy work out of Mark Hunt. (Cain has been out less than 3 years).

As for Cain being the best HWT of all time I disagree. His body of work while quite impressive is not that great. He needs to do more to nail that down. I suppose with the "prime" qualifier you could say anyone is the best of all time. IE Fabricio Werdum, in his prime vs Cain Velasquez in Mexico City was the best fighter that ever lived. It's just silly. It would be like saying Marcus Dupree was the best running back of all time...in his prime. Who cares? It's something that can't be known and its pretty pointless. Fighters should be judged by their accomplishments not by woulda coulda shoulda.

Not sure why your so salty about this
"Huge fan of Cain in my eyes prime Cain is probably the best heavyweight of all time"

Obviously it an opinion not a statement.

I don't expect Cormier to say Cain's lost a few steps. Maybe he has or maybe he is the same Cain that looked really good against Travis Browne. For me Ngannou at 2.75 looks like value.

I'd of expected Ngannou to be 3.0-3.5 vs a prime Cain, so given the circumstances around Cain, Ngannou has to be value, am I right?

What kind of odds would Ngannou be if Cain was primed and ready?

sea level prime cain >all

I just rewatched the Ngannou Blaydes 2 fight. I totally forgot that Blaydes wasn't even out when it was stopped. Right after the stoppage Blaydes is face to face with Marc Goddard like "WTF", pretty much dejavu of what just happened with Marc Goddard and Sam Alvey. I wonder if this is going to be a recurring theme. Marc Goddard, I got my eyes on you.

Cain is def a fav, but he may never be the same we don't know until we see him in there and Ngannou is in his prime.

Cain obviously wins if the fight goes past a round and a bit via cardio/volume/wrestling, but Ngannou is going to knock him out a ton given the ring rust and while Cain's chin is decent it isn't the best at HW or anything and Ngannou might hit harder than anyone at HW and can easily eat a shot to give one, Cain is more of an accumulation of damage guy

The fight will be decided in the opening exchanges imo, either Cain takes Ngannou down at will and will beat him up until he gasses and finish him or Ngannou clips Cain and hurts him and if he does Cain probably isn't recovering from that

Nice summary.

I'm going to take ngannou rd1 ko as a hedge if the odds are 300 plus and take Cain r2 r3 and r4 as Cain will def. be looking for a finish after the long layoff.

both stoppages were fine. just cause they werent knocked out doesn't mean they were defending themselves. it always looks like theyre fine when the ref pulls them off, but neither guy was getting out of it, imo.

i mean alvey like sprung to his feet though. dunno it seemed kinda bad.

imo fighters that are tough/great chin should be allowed to eat more shots. isnt that why the ref/fighter talks beforehand backstage to allow a little more wiggle room? thats what the commentators were saying too.

They were both clearly defending themselves. Immediately upon Blaydes hitting the canvas Mark Goddard stepped in. And it's not like Blaydes landed face first. He was, like Alvey, on his knees which means he wasn't out. Goddard didn't even wait for another punch to hit Blaydes before stepping in. He can't give a guy even 1 second to see if he's defending himself? Blaydes had his back to Goddard so it's not like he could say he saw his eyes roll back or anything like that.

BTW, even Marc Goddard admitted he made a mistake in the Alvey/Crute match.

That was on the heels of Goddard's stoppage of the Alvey vs Lil Nog fight. He stopped that fight while Alvey was in the middle of a takedown which is not something you see very often. Alvey had seconds earlier lost his balance due to an illegal punch to the back of his head but I'm not sure how you can call someone out immediately after he successfully grabs a single leg.

Man, I'm excited about this next card after a clean sweep last weekend!

I'm going to be watching fights and study a bit, but my specialty seems to be women fights, so I really like Albu > Whitmire. Albu is stupid hot as well lol. Just YT her.

Anyways, more fights I like without studying (bet wise):
Cain > Ngannou
Calvillo > Casey lol
KBG > Ashley bum ass


I'll start looking more & more into the other women fighting as well.

Will post picks on Saturday!

barbarena seems really wide. luque is def good, and very dangerous but barbarena is well-rounded with a really good chin. if he can survive early, he's going to make this a war down the stretch. hes got power (put leon edwards down in the second round), hes got some wrestling. his pace could trouble luque.

Ngannou will win in r1 a ton imo. I'm probably not making a play at current odds but I def like ngannou at +200 or Cain at evens

I agree the barbarena price seems long even though luque seems legit

You mind posting your bets pre fight?