Well....0/2

Tony really needs to consider retiring. It was funny seeing Goggins in the corner yelling stuff at him. I don't think Paddy looked great although had Tony in bad shape in R1. Paddy did enough for the W but looked pretty dead in R3.

Colby was disappointing! He looked scared of Leon and then his legs got beaten up and the mobility went. I should have known better to back someone who hadn't fought in a few years. Colby should have done R5 every round. Edwards did enough for the win and never looked like he had to shift gears. I'd back Belal against Leon if we get that fight.

Is Strickland being charged with assault or was this staged to hype the fight?

So sad, all those whippersnappers on their cell phones, no one just enjoying the moment anymore.

After yesterday's performance that might not be in his hands anymore. It's not like Wonderboy wanted to fight Shavkat.

3rd fight against Usman would make sense for both but not really for the UFC. The combination of them is too expensive for a FN headliner, doesn't have name power or appeal for a PPV headliner and wastes the chance for the UFC to showcase someone against them.

Poirier vs. Colby sounds fun though but I doubt Dustin is interested in that. Besides that, also probably the same issues as Colby vs. Usman but maybe that could headline another "fan friendly" card like the Poirier vs. Gaethje one?

Not choreographed but they certainly sat them together on purpose and told them to do their thing once they got the sign that the cameras were rolling. You could tell in the post fight interviews that DDP really doesn't care for that stuff. But there's nobody else on the card who can sell PPVs. It's not like anyone cares about Pennington vs. Bueno Silva for the vacant 135 pound belt.

I heard (on r/MMA) Dana isnt going to do anything over Strickland because it was Dana's dumb ass who sat them so close to each other.

After the fight everyone in the thread basically said lol Colby he's all done and what can he even do next?

No one even talked about Leon. But that was a pretty underwhelming performance by him as well, he missed a real opportunity to tee off on Colby in the later rds and cement himself as a star. Instead he just wasted a ton of time grappling/wrestling with him which led to nothing and ended the fight on his back. DC/Rogan obviously couldn't criticize him too much since he totally outclassed Colby, but you could tell they thought he blew a real opportunity as well.

You would think after everything Colby said that he would've wanted to tee off on him more. He did this against Diaz too, just coasts to victory when he knows he isn't going to lose.

Leon is a decision fighter who never takes any risks. You could have argued he should have gone for the finish against Nate because at that time it looked like he might not get a title shot and his boring style and personality certainly was part of that (see Belal). Now that he's champion I highly doubt he's going to start chasing finishes. Even in the first Usman title fight when it was obvious he would lose a decision he didn't risk anything in RD5.

FWIW, I was pretty impressed with Leon's performance. Managed to stay outside without giving Colby any openings for 4 rounds. Basically the same game plan as in the last Usman fight. Obviously should disengaged in R5 instead of laying on the back but can't really blame him because Colby was absolutely no thread there which meant Leon basically locked up the fight by doing that.

After that performance I'm actually significantly less bullish on Shavkat over Leon. Still think Shavkat is the favorite but not anywhere as lopsided as I thought before Saturday.

Madlex, thoughts on Strickland vs Dricus du Plessis, line is 1.68x - 2.18x respectively??? I am leaning on wagering on the latter, but solely based on a (non-analytical) gut feeling...

Unless I'm doing something wrong, converting those odds it looks like -147 Strickland and +114 du Plessis? That would be a pretty big vig. But maybe I'm off there. Draftkings has Strickand -135 and du Plessis at +114 right now. I bought du Plessis early on at +135.

Less than a year ago, Strickland was an underdog against Nassourdine Imamov. Granted on short notice only 4 weeks after the Cannonier loss and at 205 (Imamov is a natural MW too though). Before that he lost to Alex Pereira. Outside Adensaya there's not a single big name win on his record. I think he would be an underdog to Adensaya, Cannonier, Whitaker, Khamzat and maybe closer to pick-em against Vettori and Costa?

Unfortunately I have no idea how good DDP is. All I know is he has an awkward style combined with an iron chin. UFC did a very good job with bringing him up including two big names (Till, Brunson) past their prime before the Whittaker fight. So maybe he is the real deal or maybe he got lucky and Whittaker had a bad day. Biggest concern I have is that Strickland is a terrific defensive boxer with very good cardio. That's basically the only thing he does well. At least as long as he's no willing to grapple where he apparently just got bis BJJ black belt (and made a stupid video about it). Nobody knows about DDP's cardio but if he's as big as he was for the Whittaker fight I have a hard time seeing things going well for him if there's round 4 or 5.

Yup, vig is stoopid on the site I bet on. Unfortunately, because it is the site I also grind online poker on and have my BR on, it is the one I use for Bball bets (mainly futures) and some UFC bets. I also manage to beat the vig every year for 5 years+ now, so I have not sought another site to place bets on/remain content with the little additional EV presented.


Thx for your insightful answer friend, it is much appreciated, as always

Bryce clearly still not recovered from the Emmett KO...

He's been that way pre-Emmett already. Hope was that punch would have knocked the stupid out of him. Apparently not.

In seriousness, that's probably an intellectual disability that we aren't supposed to make fun of?

lol McGregor saying him and Chandler at 185

think his next fight is probably his last regardless

Masvidal just "unretired"..

All of Connor's social media stuff is total BS anyway. The only thing I believe is that he really was upset with the UFC telling him they won't put him on 300.

At this point I doubt the UFC cares too much if he/when he fights again. If he wants to fight, they can just put an average Fight Night card together around it and are good to go. Thanks to his salary/PPV points and the structure of the UFC contract with ESPN they might not even make that much more than from a regular PPV though.

In a situation similar to GSP, Bones and to a lesser degree Ngannou, their #1 priority is for them to stay under contract so they can use their name for marketing purposes and most importantly not fight anywhere else.

Is the moneyline likely to move any closer to Strickland over the next few days?

I might be a bit of a betting fish but feel Dricus has to be the favourite and that Strickland is going to struggle against a more well-rounded fighter.

Draftkings today has the exact same odds as 3 weeks ago, Strickland -135 and DDP +114. So the line moved early in DDPs favor (I bought him at +135 but think he opened higher than that) but then stopped. Obvious concern with DDP is that in a 10 year career he went the 3 round distance only once (two years ago against Brad Tavares who isn't a world beater). Now he's supposed to fight 5 rounds against somebody with tremendous cardio. The 5 round distance is a difficult task for anyone with such a huge frame anyway.

Was able to get Gaethje at -150 yesterday (opened at -140 I think) vs. Holloway. He's at -205 right now.

Does anyone know who this is from the UFC 297 press conference?

Odds were getting a bit tighter on Dricus so I put my money down.

Darn, just took a look now, and Dricus is a favorite on Unibet

Darn, just took a look now, and Dricus is a favorite on my betting site

Just came to say that I rechecked and DraftKings has Strickland -115 and DDP -105 now.

Also Gaethje at -225 right now and Holloway +185. Wish I had put more on Gaethje If Max moves to > +200 I'm gonna hedge, just for the sake of it.

Sean Strickland is a dumb ass.

You can't say that stuff in this era.

Looking forward to seeing him lose!

Is he canceled?

Only right leaning folks cancel peeps ; don't believe the narrative