Mixed Martial Arts Thread (UFC and others)

[PilotMan]

dola


In other news, Alexander Gustafsson has called it a career. He's taken a lot of damage in the last few fights, and with diminishing returns. I totally get it.

[bhlloy]

A lot of people have said that Joshua is a bit of a paper tiger. Given that showing, he’s lucky he’s managed to dodge the top 2 in the division so far.

[miami_fan]

Tyson Fury. I am here for this showmanship.

[BYU 14]

Holy shit, that may have been the most perfectly timed knee I have ever seen. When you go stiff like Askren did you are completely KTFO!

[bhlloy]

In “MMA fighters are wired a little differently than your average person” news Santos fought 4+ rounds with every single ligament in his knee shredded and could (should?) have beaten the all time GOAT.

Also Askren is apparently completely fine with no lasting issues. I’d be interested to know just how close that knee came to killing him.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

In “MMA fighters are wired a little differently than your average person” news Santos fought 4+ rounds with every single ligament in his knee shredded and could (should?) have beaten the all time GOAT.

Also Askren is apparently completely fine with no lasting issues. I’d be interested to know just how close that knee came to killing him.

Wow, I though it was just an ACL, he really should not have been able to stand.

[BYU 14]

Dola, Askren not even close to this territory

Yahoo - 400 Bad Request

[thesloppy]

That's crazy. He was still planting and spinning around on it.

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

Wow, I though it was just an ACL, he really should not have been able to stand.

No sh%t.
I had the same injury...at 20 years old.
It was a solid 12 hours before I could put pressure on it and not wince and didnt move as clean as him at any point before surgery.
Says a lot about his leg muscle tone and the stabilizing forces of muscle and muscle memory without connective tissue.

[molson]

There's no sport like MMA (and I guess Boxing) - where you can have this hyped up contest between two guys who hate each other and then it's just over in an instant before anyone can process that it even started. It's just an incredible thing to watch.

I'd think Masvidal was being a dick afterwards if the reputations for the two guys weren't so dramatically opposed (Everyone loves Masvidal, everyone thinks Askren is a dick.) The fact that he's barely being criticized speaks volumes.

I'm so glad Askren finally made it to the UFC though. He is dynamite at selling a fight. You're into his shtick or you want to see him get his smarmy ass kicked. And even though he's kind of boring when he just smothers a no-name guy for 3 rounds, he creates compelling match-ups with the elite guys. Great wrestler v. great striker is just classic old timey MMA stuff that you don't see anymore. I hope he can come back from this - and he probably can, obviously he's never been knocked out and I don't even think he's taken very much damage outside of his 2 UFC fights.

And it seems he's taking the "Damn, that sucked" approach to the loss rather than going full Chael Sonnen heel and saying "lucky shot," which I half expected.

[molson]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

I’d be interested to know just how close that knee came to killing him.

What's crazy is it didn't even hit him flush.

If there's every one-strike MMA death, that's how it will happen.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by molson

What's crazy is it didn't even hit him flush.

If there's every one-strike MMA death, that's how it will happen.

That Evangalista Santos knee was the closest I've seen. That one was especially brutal.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by molson

What's crazy is it didn't even hit him flush.

If there's every one-strike MMA death, that's how it will happen.

It was actually pretty flush, full impact focused on at the temple, but yeah, it could have been worse. I agree, if there is a fatality from a single strike it will likely be a knee. Brutal torque when done right.

Askren was on Ariel's show yesterday (You can find it on youtube) and actually came off very well in how he is taking the loss. There is no love lost between these tow, but he gave Jorge credit and even dismissed the lucky shot talk as BS. Acknowledged that it took a lot of skill to land a knee like that.

I actually like him better then Masvidal, yeah his shtick is annoying, but as a person seems like a much more grounded and humble guy.

[PilotMan]

Man, if there was ever a stronger case to be made about weight cutting, check out the YT link to Aspen Ladd's weigh in today. She looks awful.

[BYU 14]

That is just disturbing, she looked near death in that video. Combat sports really need to do day of weigh ins to curb this extreme weight cutting. It would not surprise me if de Randamie destroyed her. It is pretty damn tough to get back to full strength in a day after being that emaciated.

[thesloppy]

Yeah, cutting weight to that point in the days before you fight sure seems to obviously defeat the point of whatever benefit you're supposed to be getting from being in a lower weight class.

When the issue comes up my mind always conjures up images of TJ Dillashaw looking unrecognizable before getting stomped into the ground by Cejudo.

[BYU 14]

Not shocked at the main event outcome, first significant shot he took.

[molson]

Sad to see D.C. go down like that.

But he seemed to fight a very undisciplined fight. Even his corner was getting pissed at him, like they knew what was coming.

And he was so dominant the first round with his wrestling. He could take Stipe down (even carry him around for a bit before putting him down), and also keep him down. I'm sure it's harder than it looks, but, it was disappointing to see him not to pursue take-downs the rest of the fight. Maybe he was gassed

And I hope Nate Diaz sticks around. A Masvidal fight would be fun.

[PilotMan]

Stipe deserves respect for basically being the best UFC HW Champ of all time. I don't think he diminishes DC's aura, especially at 40.

[Lathum]

So the word is out I nearly lost my finger shooting @911onfox. Freak accident, first take of the day a boat door fell on my hand, I thought I just jammed my fingers so I finished the take before looking (I know… https://t.co/aqxpXtiVqi

— Ronda Rousey (@RondaRousey) August 20, 2019

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

If anyone didn't see the reverse triangle in the Masvidal v. Imada Bellator fight you missed one of the subs of the year.

I would have never believed that more than 10 years ago, when Masvidal had already had a mixed bag of a career, and was trying to get it going with Bellator, he was caught in this amazing standing reverse triangle. My, my, my, how far he's come.

[molson]

Still trying to analyze Derrick Lewis' post-fight interview. Particularly the correlation between Ivanov's "booty hole on his chest", and his assertion that Ivanov "likes it raw in the ass." I know the "booty hole" is a reference to Ivanov getting stabbed, but I'm not sure how that's related to whether or not he likes it raw in the ass. There was something about Donald Trump in there too.

Streamable - free video publishing

Edit: Masvidal is awesome. You just never see that in MMA - someone with double-digit losses rally back and become a real title contender.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

I have a very deep and completely irrational hatred of Ben Askren, so that was a particularly tough finish for me to watch.

This must make you happy. I don't think there were many that saw this coming until the last 2 fights.



https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/18/us/be...rnd/index.html

[thesloppy]

Wow. Good return on that DJ "trade". Eyeroll.

[molson]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

Wow. Good return on that DJ "trade". Eyeroll.

I think he did great for them, in a way, as a jobber. Three compelling fights, made Masvidal a star, pushed Maia back towards the top of the division for one or two more fights, and made the UFC look like the only promotion that matters when the guy who bragged how great he was for years comes in and can't hang at all.

DJ is great, but never relevant. He's even less of a star now than Askren was before he came in.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by molson

I think he did great for them, in a way, as a jobber. Three compelling fights, made Masvidal a star, pushed Maia back towards the top of the division for one or two more fights, and made the UFC look like the only promotion that matters when the guy who bragged who great he was for years comes in and can't hang at all.

DJ is great, but never relevant. He's even less of a star now than Askren was before he came in.

I can't argue with any of that.

[molson]

Conor McGregor will fight Cowboy Cerrone in January.

I love Cowboy, but if Conor can't win this, he's officially in the old man/freak show category where he can only fight other washed up guys, or boxers, or celebrities.

[PilotMan]

Allistar Overeem got one of the nastiest mouth tears I've ever seen. His smile will never look the same. He looks like he's coming off of TWD. I'm warning you now, this is some gnarly shit.

Spoiler

[Carman Bulldog]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Allistar Overeem got one of the nastiest mouth tears I've ever seen. His smile will never look the same. He looks like he's coming off of TWD. I'm warning you now, this is some gnarly shit.

Spoiler

I think Marvin Eastman's cut against Vitor Belfort was the worst cut that I ever saw back when I watched MMA regularly. I didn't see the Overeem fight, but his cut is definitely comparable, if not worse.

[BYU 14]

I absolutely detest the dime store WWE knockoff that is Colby Covington's persona, but he did show a lot of heart tonight fighting 2+ rounds with a broken jaw. Still glad he lost though and we did not have to be subjected to one of his inane promos if he had won. Helluva card overall, and 2 of the 3 title fights were great and even the Nunes fight was solid as she was unable to steam roll De Randamie.

[Atocep]

Well...

[Ryche]

A big part of me wonders if they paid Cowboy to take a dive. Way too much money for UFC in McGregor winning. Probably giving Cerrone too much credit though

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Ryche

A big part of me wonders if they paid Cowboy to take a dive. Way too much money for UFC in McGregor winning. Probably giving Cerrone too much credit though

I said beforehand that I had as much chance of winning as Cerrone at this stage of his career.

It doesn't appear I was wrong.

[thesloppy]

Like a lot of folks I was all-in on McGregor towards the beginning of his career but quickly soured on pretty much each and all of the parts of the things that made me cheer for him in the beginning (and Cowboy's age and/or durability does seem legitimately questionable at this point)...but I still gotta give it up to Conor for practically re-inventing a technique on the way to another sensational victory.

[thesloppy]

Also, Conor interacting with Cerone's mom was cute. Conor's family looks like some kind of Always Sunny in Ireland casting call.

[bhlloy]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

Like a lot of folks I was all-in on McGregor towards the beginning of his career but quickly soured on pretty much each and all of the parts of the things that made me cheer for him in the beginning (and Cowboy's age and/or durability does seem legitimately questionable at this point)...but I still gotta give it up to Conor for practically re-inventing a technique on the way to another sensational victory.

Yeah, I completely forgot (like a lot of people it seems) how dominant and how much power Conor had when he was at his best. Given his time off, extra-curriculars and his lack of great performances in the past 4 years I had Cerrone as a slight favorite going in, even with his age and ability to bleed when looked at slightly funny, which was obviously completely and spectacularly wrong.

[PilotMan]

Cerrone is done. He's been done for the last 18 months. He was a one time contender, at the very back end of his career, with 50 fights under him. He's not going to the ground. He's not going to move a whole lot. This was a set up fight, all the way, and way to make Conor look good. There's no way this was going to be a W for him. No way.

[spleen1015]

I hoped Cerrone would win, but didn't really think he would win.

I definitely didn't see it going down like this though.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Cerrone is done. He's been done for the last 18 months. He was a one time contender, at the very back end of his career, with 50 fights under him. He's not going to the ground. He's not going to move a whole lot. This was a set up fight, all the way, and way to make Conor look good. There's no way this was going to be a W for him. No way.

This.

I do worry that he may be a good guy that doesn't know when to quit.

[thesloppy]

Yeah, Cowboy seems like the old guy who keeps working after retirement age just because he enjoys "staying busy" but that's probably not the greatest plan when your work is getting kicked in the head.

[molson]

Watching Aleksei Oleinik very slowly drag people down to hell to murder them has been one my favorite things in MMA the last few years. Too bad he's 42. Anybody can knock him out at this point with one punch but when he gets his hands on you he's still terrifying. 46 submission wins at heavyweight. Preposterous - even though many of them were against Russian no-names, balanced by the fact that many of those occurred on multi-fight nights.

Maurice Greene is probably the top of what he's able to deal with striking wise now though, and that's not a very high bar. I'd like to see him strangle Greg Hardy, but, I think Hardy would knock him out, and I don't want to see that.

Vintage Conner performance in Vegas was fun too.

I don't know of Cerone is completely done or not, but he's never been close to Conner's league, this would have been the outcome years ago too. Cerone always had a ceiling and he's been fighting guys above it lately. But he beat Iaquinta and flavor-of-the-month-prospect Alexander Hernandez (who came back and won since) in the last year, so, maybe he can still carry those Fight Night Shows in North Dakota against non-top 10 guys.

I know UFC Rankings don't mean anything, but, just as a guideline - Cerone has 12 losses in the last 10 years, and every single one of them was against a guy who is currently ranked in the top 10 of a division in UFC (though Pettis is about to fall out). Before that, there's two losses to Benson Henderson who might still be ranked if he was in the UFC, and then the only other loss of his career against a guy who's now retired. He's been incredibly active, durable, and a guy who only loses to clearly better guys.

Conner just had questions coming into this fight about his inactivity and mental health. But it was nice to see him drop the full-heel act for one show and build-up and just be a star.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by molson

Watching Aleksei Oleinik very slowly drag people down to hell to murder them has been one my favorite things in MMA the last few years.

The fact that he can submit people with an Ezekiel choke without a gi is other worldly in itself. It is one of my favorite chokes because there are so many ways to hit it with a gi, but even trying to hit it in no gi takes an incredible amount of strength and effort with no sleeve grip to gain leverage.

[molson]

In a crazy world, its somehow comforting to know that Jon Jones is still driving around drunk and negligently using firearms (he was arrested this morning).

UFC fighter Ashlee Evans-Smith and her boyfriend stole some masks and other medical supplies from a hospital donation.

And Dana White is hell-bent on going forward with Khabib/Ferguson on April 18, no matter where it has to happen. Can he get them up to the International Space Station maybe? If he can pull it off (most likely at the UFC Vegas training facility with no fans), the buy-rate will be ridiculous. I'd shell out for it for sure.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by molson

In a crazy world, its somehow comforting to know that Jon Jones is still driving around drunk and negligently using firearms (he was arrested this morning).

UFC fighter Ashlee Evans-Smith and her boyfriend stole some masks and other medical supplies from a hospital donation.

And Dana White is hell-bent on going forward with Khabib/Ferguson on April 18, no matter where it has to happen. Can he get them up to the International Space Station maybe? If he can pull it off (most likely at the UFC Vegas training facility with no fans), the buy-rate will be ridiculous. I'd shell out for it for sure.

Jones needs to be gone, fool me 2,3,4,5,6,7 times......you get it

In times like this, Smith should be gone too

Dana could give a fuck about anything but money, which is why, if it does go on I will gleefully be watching for free on my Superbox

[PilotMan]

Masvidal on 6 days notice against Usman at Gilbert tests positive for Corona... at least it's got heat to start. Decent save.

[molson]

I love when the UFC falls ass-backwards into the fight we wanted all along.

I also like how just a slight change of circumstances can change what seems like a destroyed promotion/fighter relationship. You can hate each others' guts but the second the stars align and there's money to be made and a little urgency, there's a deal.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by molson

I love when the UFC falls ass-backwards into the fight we wanted all along.

I also like how just a slight change of circumstances can change what seems like a destroyed promotion/fighter relationship. You can hate each others' guts but the second the stars align and there's money to be made and a little urgency, there's a deal.

So true and 'll be honest, I kind of enjoy Dana having to capitulate on this.

This is a really interesting fight too. Till was a huge win for Masvidal and the Askren and Diaz fights were both matchups that heavily favored him in terms of styles. Askren was severely lacking in the striking game and Masvidal is basically a mirror image of Diaz who is just that much better technically at striking than him.

Usman can match Masvidal technically keep pace with his workrate, plus is a better grappler. If Masvidal pulls this off on 6 days notice it will be quite the feather. It is also frustrating that that talent was wasted for so long by not taking the sport as seriously as he does now.

I think Usman wins a unanimous decision in a fight that will have lulls as Usman looks to grapple more than he did against Covington, but will also have some very entertaining exchanges.

[BYU 14]

Dola - Masvidal weighted 192 Saturday. 6 days to cut 22 pounds is brutal! I don't know what his normal cutting cycle is, but I can't imagine it is more than 10-12 pounds the last week before a fight, cutting 22 could play a huge role in the outcome.

[PilotMan]

Yeah, Masvidal, at the very least, gets paid, backs up his anywhere, anytime mantra, but that kind of a cut is gonna hurt him. Usman is more than capable of winning this fight against Masvidal with a FULL camp. He comes in as a solid fav imo.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Yeah, Masvidal, at the very least, gets paid, backs up his anywhere, anytime mantra, but that kind of a cut is gonna hurt him. Usman is more than capable of winning this fight against Masvidal with a FULL camp. He comes in as a solid fav imo.

Agree, and odds open at 3-1 Usman