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07-31-2023 , 07:41 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Montrealcorp
Anything below 150 for man is too small a pool imo .
FWIW, >50% of the UFC cards this year had a headliner at 155lb or below. Same goes for the 9 PPV this year so far.

When ESPN did a "power ranking" (yes, that sounds kinda stupid) of UFC weight classes a couple months ago the top 5 consisted of:
1. 135
2. 155
3. 170
4. 145
5. W115

They have a card in Sidney coming up and can't even find someone to challenge Adensaya for the 185 title there.

You could make an argument that right now every single one of 135/145/155 is deeper than 185+ combined.
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07-31-2023 , 08:52 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by madlex
FWIW, >50% of the UFC cards this year had a headliner at 155lb or below. Same goes for the 9 PPV this year so far.

When ESPN did a "power ranking" (yes, that sounds kinda stupid) of UFC weight classes a couple months ago the top 5 consisted of:
1. 135
2. 155
3. 170
4. 145
5. W115

They have a card in Sidney coming up and can't even find someone to challenge Adensaya for the 185 title there.

You could make an argument that right now every single one of 135/145/155 is deeper than 185+ combined.
Maybe we shouldn’t conflict deeper (135 etc) with exceptional talent that seem the weightclass (185) not being deep ?
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08-01-2023 , 01:18 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Onlydo2days
thought pereira looked pretty bad when UFC clearly wanted to give him a winnable fight at 205

be interested to see who he fights next and what the line is
Quote:
Originally Posted by madlex
Whoever wins the fight for the interim title (Prochazka - Ankalaev?) unless they decide to give him the immediate shot vs. Prochazka. Location matters, too. I doubt they want to see Ankalaev in the US again but he would be good to add to an Abu Dhabi card. OTOH, Prochazka vs. Pereira would be perfect for a co-main event (or third fight) in New York in November.
They've booked Ankalaev vs. Johnny Walker for (surprise, surprise) Abu Dhabi in October. Pretty sure that means if Prochazka is good to go he will fight Pereira for the title as the co-Main Event in New York in November (unless they get find a banger for that slot) or on in Vegas on December 16th unless they plan on doing another early year PPV in Brazil in January or February. With Nunes gone and Oliveira booked for Abu Dhabi they would need a Brazilian for that. Same goes for the theoretical possibility of a PPV in continental Europe.

UFC matchmaking is a little like playing Tetris with the #1 priority to make all pieces match.
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08-07-2023 , 08:01 PM
Just saw a list of the bouts on 294, that card looks stacked.
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08-07-2023 , 08:28 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by NotReddBoiler
Just saw a list of the bouts on 294, that card looks stacked.
That's the Abu Dhabi card. They stack stat with Muslim and Eastern European fighters plus some Brazilians. Last year they had Islam, Olivera, Yan, Gamrot and Belal on that card. Plus Sterling vs. Pillashaw. The year before the Abu Dhabi card had Islam, Texeira, Blachowicz, Khamzat, Yan, Volkov and Ankalaev.

After that they'll pack the New York card (295) with big American names. Jones vs. Stipe will headline and I expect at least 1 more title fight, maybe two. They'll probably try to get Colby vs. Edwards for the co-ME and potentially Jiri vs. Pereira, too. Unless they have other plans for one of those two, they need a headliner for UFC 296 in Vegas in December. That's the card Conor claimed to fight on but I doubt anyone expects for that to happen.
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08-15-2023 , 10:04 PM
Remember who told ya that Jones is going to submit and submit and not even worry much about punching in his heavyweight career. Just duck the power shot of the monsters and look for submissions. 1-for-1 soon to be 2-for-2, I hope.
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08-16-2023 , 08:31 AM
Jones didn't even worry about punching when he was still a LHW. There's one KO win on his record over the last decade. That was the second Gustafsson fight where the first two rounds showed there was zero thread of getting "Mauled" that day. Plus the overturned head kick vs. Cormier.

Until we see another HW who not only has power but also stamina to go 5 rounds, Jones will win by default unless he gets knocked out early. Doesn't really matter if that's a submission, GnP against someone who is done or just waiting it out until the final bell without much effort.

Stipe had stamina in the past but is going to be 41 later this week and hasn't trained full time in >2 years. We might get one, max two entertaining rounds unless Stipe somehow manages to KO him.
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08-16-2023 , 03:08 PM
Just saw Blackshear is fighting again this Saturday.

How often do fighters fight in back to back weeks?
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08-16-2023 , 03:23 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by newguyhere
Just saw Blackshear is fighting again this Saturday.

How often do fighters fight in back to back weeks?
Barely ever. Except for the one-evening tournament events in the 90s, the shortest span between two fights is seven days (Loopy Godinez in 2021 or 2022) and the shortest between two wins is actually that 10 day span that made Khamzat famous when he fought twice on Fight Island during Covid.

Blackshear is also fighting in different locations. Both Godinez fights happened at the Apex which makes it much easier logistics wise. He also goes from fighting #2 on the prelims on a fight night to the main card on a PPV replacing a former champion.

Last edited by madlex; 08-16-2023 at 03:30 PM.
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08-16-2023 , 03:36 PM
Leben beat Aaron Simpson and Sexyama within two weeks of each other back in '10.

Both fights in Vegas.

First fight was a TUF finale and other was a Brock PPV. What a difference in cards!
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08-17-2023 , 12:32 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by madlex
Jones didn't even worry about punching when he was still a LHW. There's one KO win on his record over the last decade. That was the second Gustafsson fight where the first two rounds showed there was zero thread of getting "Mauled" that day. Plus the overturned head kick vs. Cormier.

Until we see another HW who not only has power but also stamina to go 5 rounds, Jones will win by default unless he gets knocked out early. Doesn't really matter if that's a submission, GnP against someone who is done or just waiting it out until the final bell without much effort.

Stipe had stamina in the past but is going to be 41 later this week and hasn't trained full time in >2 years. We might get one, max two entertaining rounds unless Stipe somehow manages to KO him.
His KO totals are hardly relevant to this idea that he is now going to totally de-emphasize punching while playing defense and focusing nearly exclusively on submissions. And when Bones puts all his mental and physical powers to submitting, we can expect nearly 100% submissions. And that does matter as "Bones by submission" specifically is always on the betting card. His blows thrown may go to near record low levels while continuing to win.
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08-17-2023 , 09:39 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by FellaGaga-52
And that does matter as "Bones by submission" specifically is always on the betting card.
And the odds for that are going to by roughly the same as "Katlyn Chookagian by decision" vs. random can.

Quote:
His blows thrown may go to near record low levels while continuing to win.
He attempted a total of 32 head strikes (11 landed) vs. Marreta over 25 minutes, that's 1.3 per minute. He'll have to try really hard to go lower than that.

If he wants to go for some kind of record, I think Royce Gracie threw 3 strikes over 36+ minutes against Ken Shamrock.

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08-19-2023 , 02:24 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by madlex
And the odds for that are going to by roughly the same as "Katlyn Chookagian by decision" vs. random can.
Apparently you didn't see the odds for Jones by submission in his first heavyweight fight. And he won't be fighting any tomato cans here at his very end. No time for that now. Top contenders only if he gets the belt.
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08-19-2023 , 09:09 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by FellaGaga-52
Top contenders only if he gets the belt.
Are you trolling? He has the belt right now and is going to fight Stipe who is semi-retired and 5 years past his prime instead of a top contender.

I'd take a bet at even odds for what's more likely over the next 2 years: Jones fights Pavlovich vs. Jones retires. (should be obvious which side I'd pick)
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08-19-2023 , 08:54 PM
jones knows whats good for him and thats to retire after stipe, he doesnt want nothing to do with these youngs and up and comers. i dont blame him.
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08-20-2023 , 01:14 AM
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08-20-2023 , 02:50 AM
wouldnt surprise me if they just run it back and let aljo get a rematch

not a lot of big fights for omalley at 135

vera, merab? meh


in general UFC talent pool feels pretty thin right now given how far into the evolution of the sport we are, maybe paying guys more than bouncers make would help a bit
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08-20-2023 , 03:39 AM
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08-20-2023 , 09:51 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Onlydo2days
vera, merab? meh
Vera makes perfect sense on every relevant level. (To the UFC, that excludes stuff like "best" or "most deserving").

Vera has a win over Sean and has won 5 of 6 including a head kick KO over a former champion. They should pay a bonus to that judge who scored the Sandhagen fight for Chito. Nobody has to know he was totally outclassed there with most media scores 50-45. Still a split decision that can be marketed accordingly.

FWIW, outside the end of the main event, that PPV card was a total snooze fest. Even Chito - Munoz was underwhelming. But at least the prelims delivered.
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08-20-2023 , 01:57 PM
anyone have any takes about that lawsuit the UFC is currently in about competitive practices?

i'm not sure anything resembling the boxing model would be good for MMA but this does feel like a sport/entity in need of a shakeup
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08-20-2023 , 02:17 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Onlydo2days
anyone have any takes about that lawsuit the UFC is currently in about competitive practices?
The antitrust lawsuit? That one was filed almost 10 years ago and applies only to fighters who participated in the UFC between 2010 and 2017.

They officially got granted class certification a couple weeks ago, something the judge had already announced in 2020. Now the UFC is going to appeal that and yada yada yada. By the time something comes out of there, half the fighters encompassed might be dead.

There's a much bigger chance a Bellator - PFL merger will impact fighter pay.
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08-20-2023 , 07:40 PM
I feel like if bellator/PFL or another competitor was really going to step up and challenge the UFC, it would've probably happened by now. They've been facing the competition from these types of orgs for the last 15 years.

There will probably be some concessions given eventually but just seems like in this niche sports era that it is very easy to control the fighters. UFC hasn't had a fighter as big as the sport since McGregor or Rousey and both came along 10 years ago at this point. O'Malley after last night is probably the 2nd biggest star for active fighters (depending if you consider Bones an active fighter I guess)

UFC as a brand is just bigger than these guys, a lot different than boxing from the 70's-90's or Floyd/Pac.
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08-20-2023 , 08:09 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Onlydo2days
I feel like if bellator/PFL or another competitor was really going to step up and challenge the UFC, it would've probably happened by now. They've been facing the competition from these types of orgs for the last 15 years.
Just to be clear, I was specifically talking about a scenario where the PFL buys Bellator. The latter has been on the market for a while and rumors over the last 2 month indicate that an announcement might come before the end of August.

If that happens they probably still need to raise a couple hundred million to accelerate growth (including signing fighters). Good for them there's someone out there who is very happy to invest in all kinds of sports right now..
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08-21-2023 , 03:49 AM
Nobody i know watches PFL. Personally i don't even know who broadcasts it. Comments on the internet suggest that the fights pretty much suck.

How in earth are they profitable and can splash money around on fighters? And have the money to buy Bellator?
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08-21-2023 , 04:24 AM
Could see the Qataris or Saudis deciding to make some moves to invest/sportswash à la LIV Golf.

They've got the money, MMA seems popular over there, and there are a bunch of top Muslim fighters/ex-fighters that they could potentially have get behind it (Khabib, Usman, Belal, Makachev, Khamzat, Ankalaev, etc).
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