Strickland's combinations look slow, heavy hands though. Don't know if there is any slippage in Izzy yet?

Wouldn't be the biggest upset of the year but a slow, low impact volume puncher is obviously a dream matchup for Izzy.

There isn't even a logical explanation for Strickland getting the fight over Cannonier (who weighs in as a back-up) other than that Izzy already beat Cannonier. Fingers crossed it's going to be an entertaining fight but Strickland isn't even a top5 UFC middleweight.

Just reviewing Saturday's card and thought this was an interesting nickname.

Doesn't seem like it would instill as much fear in your opponent as something The Crusher or DeathSaw

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Pavlovich

So this guy lost to Ubereem and has finished 6 straight dudes in the first round

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand Stipe gets the title shot

That's a ****ing joke.

Jones seems more likely to retire than fight this dude.

Why would he want to fight him? Beating Pavlovich does absolutely nothing for him. High risk, zero reward except for the payday that he's getting no matter who he fights. It's not like Pavlovich generates any additional PPV buys.

Jones vs. Stipe headlines the MSG card. That might be the biggest fight of the year from a business perspective.

FWIW, tonight is the first time in probably at least 5 years I voluntarily decided to sit out a PPV. Having to get up early to watch the Ironman WC made it an easy call. Looking forward to next weeks UFC Noche.

Cause he should fight him! Dude's earned it and Stipe hasn't fought in forever and might be washed.

**** the ufc's title fights decision making abilities!

Sounds like Strickland is up 3-1. Not watching but wow

and new!

Strickland bullied him

Good to see it was 4-1 on all scorecards. I was a little worried there would be some funny numbers

i didnt see it but im guessing strickland was able to get inside without getting countered? just proved too durable?

man izzy would kill guys that tried that in the past, wtf happened?

Izzy has lost 2 of his last three and that one win was kind of a hail Mary off the fence while he was getting backed down and beaten.

what can he even do? jump to 205 is a big jump

return match? they just did that

Izzy got thrown off by the philly shell, either that or he had some kind of an injury, biggest upset i've seen in awhile.

1-2, the occasional front kick. That's how you beat Izzy. Who knew?

Also just keep walking forward.

Hats off to the donut who bet 220k to win 32k.

Jones - Stipe is magnitudes better for the UFC than anything outside Jones - Francis. They're in the entertainment industry not in the who-deserves-what business.

Just watched the Izzy - Strickland fight. That might have been the lowest level title fight in a pretty long time. One guy not doing anything except for throwing a kick every 30 seconds, the other one throwing 1-2's with little behind for 25 minutes. Pretty sure we've all seen better sparing matches. Just sad.

thought Grasso clearly won 3-2

I scored it 3-2 Grasso but can see how you can score round 4 for Valentina. One of those fights were the superior fighter overall probably should have lost on the scorecards.

No idea how Mike Bell's came up with a 10-8 Grasso in the 5th. When they read the scores I thought he scored a 10-8 Valentina in the 3rd which would have been equally odd.

I actually don't mind if they run it back for a third fight. Both fights were highly entertaining. Winner of that one can fight the winner of Blanchfield - Fiorot. Unless Shevchenko wants to fight for the vacant 135 title.

Edit: Just checked mmadecisions. So far 11 media members have it 48-47 Grasso and 11 have it 48-47 Shevchenko.

Just finished the main event. What a fight. Want to see a third one.

Just realized Mike Bell also was the guy who had Kevin Holland winning vs JDLM.

Had they taken a breathalyzer test after that fight they might have replaced him before the main event.

Jiri vs Pereira is going to be a banger. That said, the NYC card still needs at least one more fight that people care about.

Leon vs. Colby is all that's wrong in MMA as a "sport". Fights like that are the reason why so many people with name recognition refuse to fight anyone who is even remotely dangerous and why guys like Shavkat have to fight the who is who of gate keepers.

I told you

Dana White is a bitch who can't make title fights properly!

The thing is that Leon vs. Colby is 100% the correct fight to make from a business perspective. Edwards is the blueprint for fighters who keep fighting can after can to claim they deserve a shot based on win streak. Colby is the blueprint for everyone who just sits out and waits for title shots after getting name recognition. For both the best (none washed) win on the record is RDA. Outside Usman I guess.

And if Colby wins, they'll probably do Usman vs. Colby 3 because that's the fight that sells. If Leon wins and Wonderboy somehow beats Shavkat, they'll give him the title shot.

Worst case scenario for the UFC is Edwards beats Covington and Shavkat beats Thompson. Then they have to do Leon vs. Belal or Leon vs. Shavkat. Neither of those is a viable PPV main event unless they do it in England. Pretty sure they're planning a Spring PPV in London anyway but the ME slot there might go to Aspinall vs. Pavlovich for the vacant heavyweight title.

On the comedy side of things, they've added Tony Ferguson vs. Paddy Pimblett to the December Vegas PPV. If Paddy manages to win that one, which basically means he's not getting KO'd, they have to decide if they. want for him to fight and lose to a credible fighter to build that person's name or use his name recognition as an emergency title fight option.

Pretty excited about Fiziev vs. Gamrot tonight. Also Bryce Mitchell (who makes every other UFC fighter look like a rocket scientist) vs. Dan Ige might be a fun scrap.