MMA General Discussion and Fight Announcements 10.0

[I am not exposed]

That's certainly the logical choice (with a win next week obviously). But I don't know, maybe it's just me, does that fight really excite you? Personally I'd far prefer Ngannou. Especially when you consider the fact that Ngannou has already beaten Blaydes twice, most recently in absolute dominant fashion.

I probably should have said I can't think of anyone else at HW that would be sellable as an interesting matchup. Because just in terms of rankings and win streak, Blaydes could certainly be sold as deserving, it's just not terribly exciting.

HW is extremely thin on talent right now unfortunately. There's a very clear gap between Ngannou/Miocic and everyone else IMO.

The fight wouldn't necessarily excite me, but after Ngannou, Blaydes is the most deserving of a title shot. I actually think Blaydes has a pretty good chance to beat Stipe if they did fight in the near future.

 

[CDJ]

*Fight alerts*

Moicano vs Fiziev has been pushed back to UFC 256, Moicano tested positive for Covid. Brace yourselves fella, there’s gonna be a lot of that in the coming weeks. We could potentially lose some cards so cherish what we got when we got it

Khaos Williams gets a quick turnaround against Michel Pereira and they added it to the STACKED Khamzat-Leon card

Pedro Munhoz vs Jimmie Rivera 2 is on the January 30th card that already has Gastelum-Heinisch and Brown-Condit on it


another addition to the Khamzat card- Greg Hardy vs Marcin Tybura. Good matchmaking imo

 

[pistolpete11]

Just my opinion obviously, but all rematches aren't created equal. Poirier has certainly improved, but has he completely closed the gap? I don't think he has. 155 has a lot of talent, plenty of options for Conor that would be more interesting IMO.

That's not the case at HW. Outside of Jones I can't even think of a guy you could attempt to sell as title shot worthy. Also, I think I saw Conor at around -220. Not outrageous by any means, but my guess is Ngannou is either even or favored against Miocic.

You're certainly free to like whatever matchups you want to, but I don't think you're being consistent with your reasoning. Getting dominated for 25min 2 years ago is worse than getting KO'ed in under 2min 6 years ago in a different weight class.

 

[m9]

Sounds like Yan is out of ufc 256.

 

[CDJ]

That would make a lot of sense on why they turned the flyweights around so quickly

 

[Chaels Arms]

That's going to be another borderline PPV purchase. I'll probably buy it just to see how Ferguson looks in his first fight back but that card could use some beefing up. I wonder if they move one of the Edwards/Chimaev main card fights up to 256.

 

[CDJ]

Yeah I’ll buy that one, way more depth to the main card

Not sure which 5 they’ll pick but as of now it’s probably gonna be something like

Flyweight title
Tony vs Oliveira
JDS vs Gane
Jacare vs Vettori

And then they can get fun with the 5th one. Me personally- I’d choose Billy Q vs Gavin Tucker. Runner up is Fiziev vs Moicano

 

[BGDDYKWL]

You're certainly free to like whatever matchups you want to, but I don't think you're being consistent with your reasoning. Getting dominated for 25min 2 years ago is worse than getting KO'ed in under 2min 6 years ago in a different weight class.

Maybe not, but ultimately I just look at this as a fan, what matchups excite me. I'd rather see Conor fight Gaethje or Ferguson, and both made sense here.

If Conor was champ and Poirier worked his way back to a title shot then sure, match them up. That's the situation with Ngannou.

Also, not that this is the end all be all, but Conor is -220 against Poirier, whereas my guess is Ngannou is even or favored against Miocic. So on paper at least it's the more compelling matchup.

 

[pistolpete11]

Maybe not, but ultimately I just look at this as a fan, what matchups excite me. I'd rather see Conor fight Gaethje or Ferguson, and both made sense here.

If Conor was champ and Poirier worked his way back to a title shot then sure, match them up. That's the situation with Ngannou.

Also, not that this is the end all be all, but Conor is -220 against Poirier, whereas my guess is Ngannou is even or favored against Miocic. So on paper at least it's the more compelling matchup.

I'd say Poirier has done more than enough to earn a rematch from a fight that took place 6 years ago in a different weight class.

There would have been nothing wrong with Conor vs. Geathje or Ferguson. Actually, I wanted the Poirier-Ferguson fight the most once that talk started happening which would have left Conor-Gaethje. Both would have been great fights, but there's nothing wrong with Conor-Poirier 2 either. It's a great fight against 2 of the best at LW. Well, presumably 2 of the best at LW. Conor is only 1-1 in the division after all and his last win there was 4 years ago.

 

[chicagoskycam]

In terms of Conor-Poirier, it really doesn't make a whole lot of sense. We've already seen it, and while Poirier is certainly better now, I'd much rather see a matchup we haven't seen, particularly Conor-Gaethje. I think Conor walks right through Ferguson, but even that would've been a much "bigger" fight.

The conspiracy theorist in me always feels like they want to give Conor the most beatable big name, like Cowboy for instance. So that makes sense for Poirier over Gaethje, but I think Ferguson would've fit both.

I thought I was hearing Connor wanted to give Dustin a pay day, they were trying to set up some boxing match. It’s fine as long as Connor keeps competing if he wins for a shot at something.

 

[CDJ]

O’Malley says he’s back Feb 13 in Vegas, haven’t seen an opponent yet. I think Montel Jackson or Trevin Jones would be good opponents for him

 

[CDJ]

Rumors of Dawodu vs Burgos at 257

Also seems like Umar Nurmagomedov is fighting on the card, which is funny because it’s a Conor card

Julio Arce vs. Timur Valiev added to UFC Fight Night on Feb. 6

William Knight vs. Alonzo Menifield added to UFC Fight Night on Feb. 27

 

[Chaels Arms]

Umar being on that card would explain the "See you soon Dana" Instagram post from Khabib that had everyone freaking out about his comeback today.

Apparently Chandler is booked against someone for that card as well but no one knows who it is. Hooker? RDA?

 

[Chaels Arms]

Aljamain Sterling told Helwani on his podcast today the UFC told him Yan pulled out due to injury. Yan's camp is saying it was a visa issue.

 

[CDJ]

Chandler is angling for a fight with Gaethje

would make a lot of sense

 

[CDJ]

I’m tellin y’all, it’s gonna get really bad again. Cherish the fights that happen...

 

[member 51464]

I’m tellin y’all, it’s gonna get really bad again. Cherish the fights that happen...

Oh, wow. That would be a hell of an opportunity for Vettori if he could pull it off and snatch the W.

 

[CDJ]

Oh, wow. That would be a hell of an opportunity for Vettori if he could pull it off and snatch the W.

Agree, I like him a lot as a fighter too. Only guy to really give Izzy a run for his money

I will say this- it’s going to be a tough avenue to victory for him. His striking has improved but for whatever reason it doesn’t seem like he hits all that hard- at least when compared to how jacked up he is. He gets most of his finishes by way of his jits- he’s only a brown belt but he certainly knows how to use it. That will make the path to victory tough since he’s going against a guy that may be the best on the ground in the division but the chance is still there. I think he can clip Hermansson.

 

[Avs_19]

The next Fight Island events can't come soon enough.

 

[CDJ]

Looks like they swapped Vettori and Holland. Vettori gets the fight night main event, Holland gets the Jacare fight on the PPV

 

[CDJ]

Dana said something about Yair not fighting any time soon and that it’s not his business, that would indicate a possible USADA thing to me as he is training/healthy again

 

[Chaels Arms]

I'm on board with the 256 card now. I was initially 50/50 but Figuereido turning it around and defending his belt AGAIN two weeks later is a huge card booster for me. I'm just concerned he misses weight but so long as he makes the weight and the card stays as is (big if) that's a solid card now IMO.

 

[Avs_19]

Dana said something about Yair not fighting any time soon and that it’s not his business, that would indicate a possible USADA thing to me as he is training/healthy again

Yeah, sounds like USADA. He said Yair is healthy and at one point asked someone off camera why they haven't announced anything about him yet. Yair/Zabit is becoming the FW version of Khabib/Tony at this point.

 

[CDJ]

*Fight Alerts*

Clay Guida vs. Michael Johnson booked for UFC event during Super Bowl weekend

UFC books Beneil Dariush vs. Diego Ferreira rematch for Feb. 6

Randy Costa vs. Trevin Jones on tap for UFC event on March 6

there’s also talk of Uros Medic vs Aalon Cruz on the 259 prelim. Medic looked legit on contender series. Cruz has freakish length for the division but got pounded out by Spike Carlyle in his last fight iirc

 

[Chaels Arms]

*Fight Alerts*

Clay Guida vs. Michael Johnson booked for UFC event during Super Bowl weekend

UFC books Beneil Dariush vs. Diego Ferreira rematch for Feb. 6

Randy Costa vs. Trevin Jones on tap for UFC event on March 6

there’s also talk of Uros Medic vs Aalon Cruz on the 259 prelim. Medic looked legit on contender series. Cruz has freakish length for the division but got pounded out by Spike Carlyle in his last fight iirc

Dariush vs. Ferreira is a good fight (and a rematch). The February 6th card already has two of my favorite fights with Dariush and Reem.