GDT: UFC Fight Week: Nunes vs. Shevchenko 2, Johnson vs. Gaethje

[m9]

Gaethje v Alvarez, 5 rounds. Make it happen UFC.

 

[Avs_19]

That was a great main event. Gaethje came in and immediately became a star with that performance. I'd love to see him against any of the top LWs.

 

[McMozesmadness]

That main event was ridiculous.

 

[h2]

That might replace the MacDonald v Lawler fight as my all-time favourite.. wow!

 

[Rocko604]

Where you at Wood Stick?!?!

And that's why I was looking forward to Gaethje's debut. Yeah, his defense needs work, but at the very least, he could very well become the most exciting fighter in the lightweight division. Makes me wish Cowboy was still at 155.

 

[kurt]

wowwwwww

 

[member 51464]

That was nuts. I hope the fights tonight stack up!

 

[m9]

I said I didn't care about the other fights, which is true. I thought the card was terrible before the top two fights.

I am really happy for JT though. The TUF season wasn't great but it was nice to see him pull it off.

 

[LSCII]

Fun fight and good show put on by Gaethje. Defense needs a lot of work though. He ate a ton of shots and I'm not sure that will work in there against guys like Ferguson and McGregor. Nice to see some new blood in there though.

 

[td_ice]

Fun fight and good show put on by Gaethje. Defense needs a lot of work though. He ate a ton of shots and I'm not sure that will work in there against guys like Ferguson and McGregor. Nice to see some new blood in there though.

Agreed.

Watched it again this morning, and while Gaethje said he was never in trouble, I am not so sure. Toward the end of round 1, Johnson was teeing off, and Gaethje was just surviving. Another 20 seconds, and the fight could have been over. The bell came at a good time for him.

But yeah, agreed with everyone, what a terrific fight.

 

[SoundwaveIsCharisma]

Gaethje is fun to watch, like his use of those leg kicks. His defense seems to be to hope people hit his forearms instead of his head. Not much technique there.

 

[MD thaivuN]

Toughness, unbreakable will to win and great athleticism are things that compensate for Gaethje's defense. Good for him to prove his game works at a very high level at LW. It's not going to work against everyone, but no one has the tool set to stay perfect at LW.

 

[TerminatorBlue]

Looks like the main event might be off Nunes is sick in hospital. I was really looking forward to that fight too.

EDIT: Nunes is out Romero-Whittaker now main event.

 

[Avs_19]

Everything being said about Gaethje's defense is true but this is how he has always fought. I don't see him changing until he actually loses.

Watched some of the other fights this morning and they weren't too bad. Taylor had a good performance in the co-main. I didn't think Klose would win that fight but he did a good job of using the leg kicks early on to slow Diakiese down a bit. The Cannonier fight was a mismatch after Bosse fell out but he did what he needed to do and those were some nasty elbows to finish it. Solid performances for both Hill and Torres as well.

 

[Vagrant]

Gaethje saying he was never in trouble is so bogus. I thought that fight was much closer to being stopped in favor of Johnson than Gaethje would have thought. Johnson always does this though. He has absolute bombs and if his opponent doesn't go away, he freaks out and the first time he gets rocked you can see him wilt. Gaethje knows his style is going to get him knocked out but he doesn't care. Hell, if he can trade with Johnson and eat his best shots it doesn't bode well for the rest of the division holding up. I have always thought Johnson was the hardest hitter in the division in terms of one punch power. There are times when I feel like some fighters are way too aware of the conventional wisdom that you shouldn't take a risk if you clip your opponent and that you should just wait it out and the commentators always gush about the restraint of these fighters, but I think there were opportunities that Johnson is going to look back on in this fight and say if he had dialed up the aggression, avoided the clinch and cage work, he could have legitimately finished this fight whether he knocked Gaethje unconscious or not. If he had gone in with volume during one of those times he buckled him, he probably could have made it really hard to not have that fight stopped.

 

[Avs_19]

Looks like the main event might be off Nunes is sick in hospital. I was really looking forward to that fight too.

EDIT: Nunes is out Romero-Whittaker now main event.

Damn. That sucks. IMO, Romero/Whittaker is by far the best fight on the card though so I'm still looking forward to it.

 

[Thad Castle]

Nate Diaz vs Justin Gaethje would be insane.

 

[Asiantuntija]

Nate Diaz vs Justin Gaethje would be insane.

Diaz would smash Justin.

Nunez is scared because she knows what is going to happen and she doesn't wanna lose that belt. Hospital is perfect excuse to run away from Valentina. But that doesn't help fight is still going to happen and Bullet will take that belt. Amanda did very well in weight-in and now suddenly she has feel "sick" whole week.

#TEAMBULLET

 

[LSCII]

Agreed.

Watched it again this morning, and while Gaethje said he was never in trouble, I am not so sure. Toward the end of round 1, Johnson was teeing off, and Gaethje was just surviving. Another 20 seconds, and the fight could have been over. The bell came at a good time for him.

But yeah, agreed with everyone, what a terrific fight.

He definitely wobbled at the end of round one, regardless of what he says. That won't go over well against the best of the division. They'll finish him. Fun style though. Love guys that fight always going forward. Even if they lose, you still get an entertaining fight.

 

[LSCII]

Nate Diaz vs Justin Gaethje would be insane.

Diaz would toy with him and make him look very bad if they were to fight right now. While Diaz is a complete cement head, he's an elite fighter when he wants to be.

 

[Wood Stick]

Nate Diaz has never been an elite fighter. Prior to the Conor win his biggest was a 2011 Cerrone win.

 

[Thad Castle]

 

[Sheppy]

JJ is the ****ing GOAT. Holy ****...

 

[LSCII]

Nate Diaz has never been an elite fighter. Prior to the Conor win his biggest was a 2011 Cerrone win.

He's only been stopped twice in his career (one tko, one submission), every other loss he's had has been via decision, and he's fought McGregor, Benson Henderson, Rory MacDonald, RDA, Maynard, Cerrone, and Johnson when he was ranked higher. So what do you call a guy that fights the elite fighters in his division and if he loses, it's via decision? To me, it's pretty obvious he's an elite level fighter, but hey, it's like just my opinion, man.

I mean go back and look at the UFC top 200 list of all time. A slew of guys he's faced and beaten are on that list.

 

[m9]

Nate Diaz isn't elite in my opinion, but saying a guy is 'elite' is so subjective. Is he a very good fighter? Yes. So what's the difference between elite and very good?