GDT: UFC 277: Pena vs Nunes 2

[MMC]

Date: July 30, 2022
Venue: American Airlines Center
City: Dallas, Texas
Time: 10 pm ET/7 pm PT
Viewing: PPV, ESPN, TSN 5

MAIN CARD (PPV)

Women's Bantamweight Championship bout: Julianna Pena vs. Amanda Nunes
Interim Flyweight Championship bout: Brandon Moreno vs. Kai Kara-France
Heavyweight bout: Derrick Lewis vs. Sergei Pavlovich
Flyweight bout: Alexandre Pantoja vs. Alex Perez
Light Heavyweight bout: Anthony Smith vs. Magomed Ankalaev

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN, TSN 5)

Welterweight bout: Alex Morono vs. Matthew Semelsberger
Lightweight bout: Drew Dober vs. Rafael Alves
Heavyweight bout: Don'Tale Mayes vs. Hamdy Abdelwahab
Lightweight bout: Drakkar Klose vs. Rafa Garcia

EARLY PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+)

Welterweight bout: Michael Morales vs. Adam Fugitt
Women's Bantamweight bout: Joselyne Edwards vs. Ji Yeon Kim
Light Heavyweight bout: Nicolae Negumereanu vs. Ihor Potieria
Welterweight bout: Orion Cosco vs. Mike Mathetha​

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[MMC]

Pretty good, fun, deep main card but can't say I'm too interested in much beyond that.

 

[Taytro]

Pretty good, fun, deep main card but can't say I'm too interested in much beyond that.

I think the prelims are good, mostly just because I want to see Drakkar Klose again. Early prelims are meh.

 

[pistolpete11]

When I think of a standard PPV card, this is the card I think of. A championship fight, a #1 contender's fight (in this case an interim title fight), a HW fight, a couple other fights with ranked fighters, and then prelims with some names I recognize but not really any fights I've gotta tune in early for.

Pena-Nunes - I rewatched the first one the other day. I still think Nunes is the better fighter and will ultimately come away with the win, but what surprised me was Pena's chin. It was a little bit more rock 'em sock 'em robots than I remembered. Pena ate some bombs and didn't seem to be phased much by them. She's only been (T)KO'ed once in her career and it was by doctor stoppage pre-UFC.

Moreno-KKF - The interim title is unnecessary, but this is a great fight and I expect it will be all action. Really looking forward to this one.

Lewis-Pavlovich - Lewis is really smart after he takes a loss. He takes a step back in competition, picks up a win or 2, and then gets right back into the title picture. I expect him to win this one, but eventually, he will start losing these type of fights, too.

Pantoja-Perez - Solid fight. Nothing to really say.

Smith-Ankalaev - Maybe my most anticipated fight on the card. Say what you will about Smith, but he's a dog and is almost always in entertaining fights. I think Ankalaev wins, but I wouldn't be shocked if Smith found a sub.

 

[m9]

When I think of a standard PPV card, this is the card I think of. A championship fight, a #1 contender's fight (in this case an interim title fight), a HW fight, a couple other fights with ranked fighters, and then prelims with some names I recognize but not really any fights I've gotta tune in early for.

Pena-Nunes - I rewatched the first one the other day. I still think Nunes is the better fighter and will ultimately come away with the win, but what surprised me was Pena's chin. It was a little bit more rock 'em sock 'em robots than I remembered. Pena ate some bombs and didn't seem to be phased much by them. She's only been (T)KO'ed once in her career and it was by doctor stoppage pre-UFC.

Moreno-KKF - The interim title is unnecessary, but this is a great fight and I expect it will be all action. Really looking forward to this one.

Lewis-Pavlovich - Lewis is really smart after he takes a loss. He takes a step back in competition, picks up a win or 2, and then gets right back into the title picture. I expect him to win this one, but eventually, he will start losing these type of fights, too.

Pantoja-Perez - Solid fight. Nothing to really say.

Smith-Ankalaev - Maybe my most anticipated fight on the card. Say what you will about Smith, but he's a dog and is almost always in entertaining fights. I think Ankalaev wins, but I wouldn't be shocked if Smith found a sub.

It's like a knock-off version of a PPV to me. Main event that should be a co-main and a co-main that needed an interim belt to make it a co-main. No idea why they felt obligated to push a 2nd PPV this month and unless we have some Mexico/Moreno bump I expect this to be a really low buy-rate.

All that being said, I am personally looking forward to all 5 of these fights.. I just could do without a $75 price tag.

 

[Taytro]

It's like a knock-off version of a PPV to me. Main event that should be a co-main and a co-main that needed an interim belt to make it a co-main. No idea why they felt obligated to push a 2nd PPV this month and unless we have some Mexico/Moreno bump I expect this to be a really low buy-rate.

All that being said, I am personally looking forward to all 5 of these fights.. I just could do without a $75 price tag.

I think @pistolpete11 got it right, this is the definition of an average or slightly below avg PPV card. We've just gotten spoiled lately with the last 4 PPV cards having multiple title fights. That's not sustainable.

Nunes is a headliner, even after a loss, not the same way some of the male fighters are but she still is a headliner in my eyes. Moreno/Kai is a decent co main, should be a great fight and they just added the interim title to spice it up.

I really like the main card but the price point is still outlandish. This one will have lower than average PPV buys because we've been spoiled but this is what a PPV card is going to look like in the future I think, especially with so many guys hurt/out.

 

[m9]

I think @pistolpete11 got it right, this is the definition of an average or slightly below avg PPV card. We've just gotten spoiled lately with the last 4 PPV cards having multiple title fights. That's not sustainable.

Nunes is a headliner, even after a loss, not the same way some of the male fighters are but she still is a headliner in my eyes. Moreno/Kai is a decent co main, should be a great fight and they just added the interim title to spice it up.

I really like the main card but the price point is still outlandish. This one will have lower than average PPV buys because we've been spoiled but this is what a PPV card is going to look like in the future I think, especially with so many guys hurt/out.

Eh, she's really not a headliner. They've been stuck and thrown her in there a couple times but generally they like her as a co-main.

If this was the only PPV of the month I wouldn't really think anything of it, but to push this in here as the 2nd PPV in a month at a time when they really have no co-main for next month's PPV just seems greedy.

 

[Sheppy]

This card doesn’t do much for me

 

[pistolpete11]

It's like a knock-off version of a PPV to me. Main event that should be a co-main and a co-main that needed an interim belt to make it a co-main. No idea why they felt obligated to push a 2nd PPV this month and unless we have some Mexico/Moreno bump I expect this to be a really low buy-rate.

All that being said, I am personally looking forward to all 5 of these fights.. I just could do without a $75 price tag.

I can see that, but I disagree. Pena-Nunes is a main event. It wasn't the first time around, but there's a lot of intrigue knowing that Pena can do it. But can she do it again? The only reason that Moreno-KKF isn't a co-main event normally is because of their weight class, but that's changing IMO. This is a great fight, a #1 contender's fight, and will be all action. Moreno's somewhat of a name now and KKF has the CKB rub, too.

Plus the other fights are good. Sometimes PPV's have 3 fights and then end up with 2 that shouldn't be on a PPV main card. All of these fights are PPV main card worthy.

It's a little quantity over quality, but that's why I'm saying it's kind of standard. Anything less and it would be bad. Anything more and it's drawing some serious interest.

I think @pistolpete11 got it right, this is the definition of an average or slightly below avg PPV card. We've just gotten spoiled lately with the last 4 PPV cards having multiple title fights. That's not sustainable.

Nunes is a headliner, even after a loss, not the same way some of the male fighters are but she still is a headliner in my eyes. Moreno/Kai is a decent co main, should be a great fight and they just added the interim title to spice it up.

I really like the main card but the price point is still outlandish. This one will have lower than average PPV buys because we've been spoiled but this is what a PPV card is going to look like in the future I think, especially with so many guys hurt/out.

I think this is a main event because she lost.

 

[m9]

I can see that, but I disagree. Pena-Nunes is a main event. It wasn't the first time around, but there's a lot of intrigue knowing that Pena can do it. But can she do it again? The only reason that Moreno-KKF isn't a co-main event normally is because of their weight class, but that's changing IMO. This is a great fight, a #1 contender's fight, and will be all action. Moreno's somewhat of a name now and KKF has the CKB rub, too.

Plus the other fights are good. Sometimes PPV's have 3 fights and then end up with 2 that shouldn't be on a PPV main card. All of these fights are PPV main card worthy.

It's a little quantity over quality, but that's why I'm saying it's kind of standard. Anything less and it would be bad. Anything more and it's drawing some serious interest.


I think this is a main event because she lost.

I just don't know how much most fans care about this fight or about this card in general. If the UFC is going to pigeon-hole an extra PPV in there for no reason I think the bar should be a bit higher. There are still tons of seats available for this card for cheap, which is really bad a few days before a PPV.

Haven't you been gone for a few weeks? Maybe you're just really excited to see some live UFC.

 

[pistolpete11]

I just don't know how much most fans care about this fight or about this card in general. If the UFC is going to pigeon-hole an extra PPV in there for no reason I think the bar should be a bit higher. There are still tons of seats available for this card for cheap, which is really bad a few days before a PPV.

Haven't you been gone for a few weeks? Maybe you're just really excited to see some live UFC.

I don't know if this is a semantics thing or what. I'm saying standard, not great. Maybe baseline is a better word? I mean, putting together a PPV card where a fight fan like yourself is interested in all 5 of the fights reaches a certain level, no?

I was away, but I saw this past weekends card live. I think it would have the opposite effect anyway. I've watched a lot of MMA over the last week and a half getting caught up on the cards I missed.

 

[m9]

I don't know if this is a semantics thing or what. I'm saying standard, not great. Maybe baseline is a better word? I mean, putting together a PPV card where a fight fan like yourself is interested in all 5 of the fights reaches a certain level, no?

I was away, but I saw this past weekends card live. I think it would have the opposite effect anyway. I've watched a lot of MMA over the last week and a half getting caught up on the cards I missed.

Yeah. that's basically how I was going to describe it earlier - baseline. It's basically the bare minimum to me in terms of a PPV main event. It will be in the bottom 3 of the year in terms of interest to me going into the card.

And you bringing up my interest level is actually a good point.. but not in the way you think. I probably end up buying about 5-6 PPVs a year at home, go out with friends and watch 2-3, then stream the rest. This is definitely a streamer to me.

 

[CDJ]

Watching this weeks contender series. Kinda blah until the main even (Pyfer vs Diaz)

Pyfer basically telegraphed he was looking for a check left hook 5-10 seconds before he hit one. Wild that Diaz let that happen.


Dana agreed with me and was pissy at the other 6 fighters that didn’t fight in the main event. Only signed Joe Pyfer. Another one of those boys out of the Daniel Gracie Philly camp

 

[I am not exposed]

Yeah. that's basically how I was going to describe it earlier - baseline. It's basically the bare minimum to me in terms of a PPV main event. It will be in the bottom 3 of the year in terms of interest to me going into the card.

And you bringing up my interest level is actually a good point.. but not in the way you think. I probably end up buying about 5-6 PPVs a year at home, go out with friends and watch 2-3, then stream the rest. This is definitely a streamer to me.

I'm going to a friends birthday this Saturday and not upset I'm missing this PPV.

 

[Sheppy]

Debating tossing Pena in my parlay, but I think Nunes gets her this time.

 

[MMC]

Dana said a long time ago that Pena-Nunes 2 would headline a PPV

 

[m9]

In terms of the actual card, the intrigue to me is just which version of Nunes shows up. It's conceivable she completely bounces back and looks great or looks the same again and there are serious questions about her future.

Moreno/KKF is just a fun fight. Between that and Pantoja/Perez we've got two good ones here in a division that many of us were throwing dirt on a few years ago.

Pavlovich was a top-end prospect a few years back, got rushed into the Overeem fight, won a couple fights, and now is kind of being rushed a bit here again. You have to to favor Lewis in this kind of fight, but I thought the same thing when he fought Tuivasa so we'll see.

Ankalaev/Smith is just a good fight. Kind of surprised that they have it as the opener, would have thrown the flyweights in there but whatever.

I'm going to try to be positive here and talk myself into the undercard, though I'll start off by saying that Moron/Semelsberger & Dober/Alves don't really do much for me.

I know nothing about Hamdy Abdelwahab other than he's like a 5-0 HW from Queens. I looked up a couple highlights and the opponents he's had in a couple of his fights are uh.. less than good. His opponent this weekend isn't great here, but will still be a step up from this:

Sherdog Prospect Watch: Hamdy Abdelwahab

The undefeated Egyptian heavyweight will make his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut at UFC 277 on Saturday in Dallas.

www.sherdog.com

Klose/Garcia is the best fight on the prelims. Klose is the bigger name but Garcia is pretty good as well.

Michael Morales is a good prospect that should be on the main prelims over that HW fight. Nicolae Negumereanu vs. Ihor Potieria is a pretty good one as well buried down there.

Neither Joselyne Edwards or Ji Yeon Kim should be in the UFC.

 

[CDJ]

Dober-Alves is a sneaky banger, there will be a finish

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Watching this weeks contender series. Kinda blah until the main even (Pyfer vs Diaz)

Pyfer basically telegraphed he was looking for a check left hook 5-10 seconds before he hit one. Wild that Diaz let that happen.


Dana agreed with me and was pissy at the other 6 fighters that didn’t fight in the main event. Only signed Joe Pyfer. Another one of those boys out of the Daniel Gracie Philly camp

I was frustrated Buzukja allowed Romero to just stall him for a lot of this fight. I think he does has the talent to be UFC caliber, I don't know how high his ceiling is, but I can see him getting a call to be a last minute replacement in the future.

 

[16Skippy]

Nunes should win pretty easily if she doesn't fight like a rock'em sock'em robot after getting jabbed a couple times. She said her camp is much better this time but that's what they always say.

Looking forward to the two flyweight fights the most, I'm glad they didn't fold that division.

 

[pistolpete11]

Yeah, apparently Nunes had a knee injury during camp last time. Excuses, excuses, but I believe her. It never seemed right that a fighter that has gone 5 rounds numerous times in the past all of a sudden gassed out in the second round. Either a) she didn't train because she took Pena too lightly or b) she had an injury preventing her from doing so. That doesn't absolve her of her piss poor strategy to just stand there and trade, but I think it's fair to say it played a factor. In either case, it's something that should hopefully be corrected for this one.

 

[Deen]

Moreno, Pantoja, and Lewis seems like a safe bet.

 

[Taytro]

Blood Diamond needs to get cut. He's old, he's two fights and two losses into his UFC career and he has absolutely 0 ground game. It's not even like his striking is next level or anything, he's just not UFC caliber.

 

[CDJ]

That was a beating

 

[member 51464]

I have to get up to catch a flight around 4 AM EST. If I were a younger man, I'd just stay up for all of this and go straight to the airport. But alas, I will have to clock out around the end of the undercard at worst.