Masvidal is the #3 ranked WW but I don't think he's that good to really be considered the 3rd best contender in arguably the UFC's 2nd toughest division. He has recents wins vs #6 and #11 and recent losses vs #7 and #10.

Masvidal should provide a more difficult challenge than Pettis simply because he's more of a true Welterweight who has fought the majority of his career at 170lbs whereas Pettis just recently made the move up. Fun fact: all of Diaz's wins in the past 7 years have come against fighters who have fought at 145lbs (Pettis, McGregor, Johnson, Maynard).

Since Masvidal is "gamebred" I wouldn't expect him to fold like a cheap suit to Diaz's pressure. Still, 5 of his last 6 wins (going back to 2015) have been knockouts in the first 2 rounds. His lone decision victory in that time was over Ross Pearson (a LW who has lost 6 of his last 7). So my question is how well will Masvidal be able to deal with Diaz's pressure if he doesn't get a knockout, particularly if this ends up being a 5 rounder.

He held his ground somewhat vs Till whom is much bigger than Diaz... but it was for only 1 round.

I love the match up and I know the Diaz bros. are big fans of Masvidal. Makes perfect sense imo.

Diaz has as much chance against Masvidal as the Amazon Rain Forrest has against Ricardo Salles.

Combate Americas 42 Risk $400.00

Joey Ruquet (+375) vs Gustavo Lopez $100.00 for $375.00

Bruno Cannetti (+375) vs Andres Quintana $100.00 for $375.00
Bruno Cannetti (+375) vs Andres Quintana $100.00 for $375.00

Lupita Godinez (+160) vs Felisha Magallan $100.00 for $160.00

Stuck £100 on Mitrione at evens.
Kharitonov has been around decades which is crazy, should be a stand up fight for the most part.

I think Mitrione is a slight favourite.

Looking ahead probably going to bet big on Curtis Blaydes think he should be around 1.2 outside of a fluke knockout he ruins Shamil.

Bellator 225 Risk $1,162.51

Sergei Kharitonov (+115) vs Matt Mitrione $200.00 for $230.00
Sergei Kharitonov wins inside distance (+142) $50.00 for $71.00
Sergei Kharitonov/Matt Mitrione Under 1½ (-135) $135.01 for $100.01
Sergei Kharitonov/Matt Mitrione won't go 3 round distance (-355) $177.50 for $50.00

Alejandra Lara wins inside distance (-130) vs Taylor Turner $65.00 for $50.00

David Rickels/Yaroslav Amosov Over 2½ (-165) $330.00 for $200.00

Sabah Homasi (-205) vs Micah Terrill $205.00 for $100.00

I would take Sergei Kharitonov over Matt Mitrione by considerable margin.

If Matt is going to win, its going to need to be by KO 1st rd,

Its the kind of situation in which fighter is in the cage thinking, dam, I thought I was doing this being a big strong guy thing pretty well,

Matt Mitrione has a handful of what Sergei was cut from.

Sergei may not look like much, but his hands are superb, his cardo, body control,, really thudding powerful shots which go into (deep) the opponent.

Its too much ox, bear, russian brick **** out to get through imo.

Also... just so its said.

Matt is sht, sorry but its the case of knowing it, he is crap.

Its going to be a beat down.

edit:
Total Stake:
Total Returns:
£75.00
£135.00

Yeah i'll probably play Blaydes to finish Shamil. Slightly worried by his chin, but I mean it was Ngannou both times that knocked him out, not like he's getting KO'd by guys without the biggest power in the division

I've bet Khabib in some capacity in all of his UFC fights since the second one, but may sit this out depending on prices. I think he subs Poirier or decisions him but Poirier was so impressive against Max.

Have been big on Akhmedov vs bad fighters during his UFC career but cardio/TDD from memory Cummings is a wrestler i'll look at that one in more detail need to rewatch some more Cummings fights

I don't see any universe in which Makhachev loses; when he loses it'll be to power punchers not a mid level BJJ guy I doubt Ramos can sweep him or sub him from the bottom.

Taisumov is good but Ferreira is a very good fighter that's a fairly tempting dog price. I think I like Ferreira at the price.

Salikhov is prob the fav in that fight but I can only remember his most recent fight i'll need to check out the one he lost at some stage

Blaydes is going to ruin Shamil everywhere, I assume he wins via TKO (gnp) in pretty short order probably in the first or early second round.

Barboza is sort of tempting it feels like he's a bad matchup for Felder, Felder can't outstrike him at range and will have to get inside or take him down at will. Barboza's weaknesses would be guys who can pressure him on the inside like Michael Johnson did or guys who can take him down at will like Khabib he really won't lose a range battle to anyone. I guess coming off the Gaethje KO is a concern, but Haethje is a guy who can walk someone down trade bombs and win. Felder has the power to do it, but i'm not sure that's how he fights (I actually need to watch his last few fights I haven't seen a few of them i'm remembering more from early in his UFC career) - lol I just saw they've already fought I completely forgot that happened even though I know i've seen the fight. I'll have more of a think about it and I need to watch Felder's most recent fights

No real interest in the early undercard unless I catch an off market price. Will do some more research and make some bets later in the week.

These were essentially my thoughts back in February prior to their first fight. Thanks for posting this because I had no clue they were fighting again.

Just watched the fight and Mitrione looked great at the very beginning. It appeared that Kharitonov started slow but then started to pick it up at the same time that Mitrione slowed his pace. The mouthpiece thing was unfortunate. Major mistake by the corner to brush it off like it's no big deal. Pretty sure Mitrione was slowing anyways and was going to get pieced up either way but he probably would have lasted longer.

Mitrione crumbled mentally in that fight...as much as I've ever seen a high level fighter crumble. He showed himself to be more of an athlete than a fighter through and through. If the roles were reversed I'm pretty sure Kharitonov would just keep coming forward taking sledgehammers to the face, mouthpiece or not.

I cannot wait for this Khabib vs Poirier fight. I think Poirier is actually a really tough matchup for Khabib and I think he's got a very good chance at winning.

i think so too but i'm also not thrilled to ever bet against khabib. just gonna enjoy the fight without a bet.

Dustin is legitimately the 3rd best fighter in the division and will provide some stylistic challenges for Khabib. Still think Khabib should be a good sized favorite, although probably not much value in betting it.

I do think people sleep a bit on Khabib's standup. He's not Ben Askren, in that he has to take the fight to the ground to win. He held his own against Conor on the feet, out struck Barboza on the feet, and out struck Iaquinta by more than 2 to 1 from distance. Poirier is obviously the better striker but that doesn't ensure that he will win the standup even if he somehow manages to keep it on the feet.

I saw Cheick Kongo opened as like a 2 to 1 favorite vs Bader. I'm actually surprised that Bader's not the favorite.

Where was this at/are you sure it wasn't a palp? No UK facing bookmaker has Bader at anything better than 1.4 (-250).

Yeah Bader is a fav in that fight obv take him at evens or better if you can

I don't think Khabib's standup is that good, I think it plays up a lot because people are so worried about getting taken down that it opens up shots on his feet, but in a straight kickboxing match Poirier would smoke him.

But here's the thing, I actually think Khabib's ground game is somewhat overhyped. Yes he's an animal who can put ferocious ground and pound on people, but I also think people are starting to figure him out. I've watched the McGregor fight like 5 or 6 times and he wasn't really THAT dominant on the ground, yes he eventually managed to choke McGregor out but Conor's not nearly the grappler that Poirier is, and Conor did far better on the ground than I expected he would going into that fight.

And if you look at Khabib's record, he really hasn't fought that many high level grapplers. He smashed Michael Johnson (a striker with great handspeed but so/so grappling), he smashed Edson Barboza (a striker who got smashed in arguably a more vicious fashion by Kevin Lee), he beat Iaquinta who was fighting on like 24 hours notice and was so determined to not get taken down that just gave the fight away on his feet, but the only really decorated grappler he's fought in the last 5 years was RDA, and yes he did well, but I don't think there was nearly as much tape on Khabib then as there is now, and that was only a 3 round fight (which isn't necessarily to say that Poirier is the FAVORITE, but from an expected value perspective it's an easy fade at -300 IMO.)

Poirier trains at American Top Team which is probably the best fight camp in the world and he's grappling with the best of the best in training all the time. ATT and Mike Brown have proven they're very good at coming up with exploitive game plans, just look at what Jorge Masvidal did to Ben Askren. I think they're very capable of breaking down Khabib's game and coming up with exploitive techniques to counter what he likes to do on the ground, they've had tons of times to train specifically for Khabib and watch film on him, and Khabib is prone to gassing too. And make no mistake, Poirier is the better all around fighter than Khabib, for Khabib to be priced as a -300 favorite he needs to have an enormous advantage in the wrestling / grappling department and I'm just not convinced it's there. I'm fading Khabib big time in this one.

Also on a side note, I saw Michael Bisping at the airport today and said hi. Happy to report that he's a very cool dude.

DWTNCS S03E10 Risk $2,597.50

Teddy Ash (+300) vs Duško Todorović $250.00 for $750.00
Duško Todorović wins inside distance (-165) $82.50 for $50.00
Teddy Ash/Duško Todorović Over 1½ (-115) $57.50 for $50.00
Teddy Ash/ Duško Todorović won't go 3 round distance (-385) $192.50 for $50.00
Teddy Ash/ Duško Todorović won't go 3 round distance (-385) $192.50 for $50.00
Teddy Ash wins by 3 round decision (+950) $25.00 for $237.50

Kailan Hill/Impa Kasanganay Over 1½ (+100) $50.00 for $50.00
Kailan Hill/Impa Kasanganay Over 1½ (-110) $55.00 for $50.00
Kailin Hill/Impa Kasanganay won't go 3 round distance (-365) $182.50 for $50.00

Sang Hoon Yoo (-120) vs Peter Barrett $120.00 for $100.00
Sang Hoon Yoo (-120) vs Peter Barrett $120.00 for $100.00
Sang Hoon Yoo/Peter Barrett Over 1½ (-125) $62.50 for $50.00
Sang Hoon Yoo/Peter Barrett Over 1½ (-145) $72.50 for $50.00
Sang Hoon Yoo/Peter Barrett won't go 3 round distance (-185) $92.50 for $50.00
Sang Hoon Yoo/Peter Barrett won't go 3 round distance (-210) $105.00 for $50.00
Sang Hoon Yoo/Peter Barrett won't go 3 round distance (-265) $132.50 for $50.00

Dustin Joynson (-130) vs Ben Sosoli $260.00 for $200.00
Dustin Joynson (-130) vs Ben Sosoli $130.00 for $100.00
Dustin Joynson (-135) vs Ben Sosoli $337.50 for $250.00

TJ Brown/Dylan Lockard Over 1½ (-155) $77.50 for $50.00

I agree but everyone that faces Khabib has to be worried about being taken down including Poirier. Anyone that expects Poirier to just pick him apart on the feet will probably be sorely disappointed.

Khabib's game is not predicated on what he does on the ground. His game is about controlling his opponents in the clinch and on the ground. It will be very difficult for someone to just "figure him out" because his wrestling is better than everyone else's and he is incredibly strong. His takedown #s are generally not even that high, in large part because when he takes his opponents down they rarely get up. The lone exception to that would be when he ragdolled Abel Trujillo for 21 takedowns in 3 rounds. That was more of Khabib just making a statement though.

Here is a graph from May of 2018 (prior to the McGregor fight) that shows just how dominant Khabib's control is. You can see Poirier's is better than avg but nobody is in the same hemisphere as Khabib



Source: https://www.espn.com/mma/story/_/id/...ppling-control

Anytime I hear better "all around" I'm reminded of when the media was calling Scottie Pippen the best "all around" player in the NBA. Essentially it's a completely meaningless consolation prize given because nobody can make a legitimate claim that Poirier is the better MMA fighter (oh but he could beat Khabib in kickboxing, conrhole, and maybe spelling bees).

I will say that it would make sense for most of the dumb money to be on Khabib and there probably isn't much value in betting Khabib.

lol if you say so chief

https://www.mmamania.com/2019/8/28/2...-bar-fight-mmq

So if BJ Penn is starting fights in bars and getting knocked out that doesn't bode well for the Lentz fight, Penn really needs to retire and seek some mental help or we're going to be reading 'BJ Penn dead at 44 from overdose/barfight/suicide' in a few years.

I guess at least Lentz doesn't have heavy hands but I have no hope for BJ now in that fight if this is how he's preparing, getting knocked out by random bar patrons

I've always thought Bisping would be easy to get along with. Glad to hear he seems like a nice guy.

BJ might win first round but he's definitely losing 2nd and 3rd. If he can't beat the likes of Clay Guida and Siver, then he's definitely losing to wrestler Lentz. He doesn't have any submissions from his back as well and his cardio is ****. He's even getting outstruck by B strikers lately.

Seeing BJ fall backwards like that, smashing the back of his skull, its terrible.

MMA needs to progress more, so that fighters have too much to do before, during, and after their lives fighting in the cage.

This is a prime example that if even the, if not the greatest, or as close to it as maybe the same difference.. That the GOAT (spider called) can be putting his life at risk for dirt, surrounded by not one friend not one person that knows what time it is.

The guy should be printing money, helping countless youngsters, traveling, communicating, assisting MMA into hearts and minds. How many law enforcement officers has he helped train in the dojo in the last year as a fun guest visit? how many service personal has he traveled to see, charitable functions,, disabled kids, the guy is a sports and martial arts hero.

I used to work at the laureus sports award so i know how prized sports personal are and what can be built up, I was during the first one.

Where is the MMA annual sports event so that these guys can clock in, show face, report on deeds, build on with and for the empire of MMA? ATM its just a meat market with flashing lights and no forward guidance of marketing development. These guys and girls should have a life path by MMA even when they stop fighting, this is exacerbated example because its the GOAT, UFC has no future development plains for the product is what this reads to me, its empty, baron.

You are not meant to be seeing the greatest fighter of all time in street fights, it means there is missing organisation, strategy and future planning / marketing for the MMA product, these guys should be like gold dust.

How can MMA let its golden child crack the back of his skull in a street fight.

You want your really good successful fighters to live on past the cage and demonstrate person success, life success, that MMA has been good to them, that fighting by skill and by RULES wins over fighting by no rules and when not necessary.

Maybe im wrong, but BJ should be a happy buddha for others to gaze on in glee

This is a world we dont have bruce any more but none can do any thing about it,

We have dudes like BJ floating about they should be made sure to stick around and have fun down here as long as possible, also helping the brand.


really angry about seeing him smashing the back of his head like that.