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Will Tenshin/Takeru happen this month? This poll is closed. |
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| Yes |
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5 | 18.52% |
| Why would you hurt me this way |
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22 | 81.48% |
| Total: | 27 votes | ||
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*me shouting bitterly into a trainyard* NEVER LEAVE IT IN THE HANDS OF THE JUDGES
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Jun 27, 2022 02:53
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loving lol
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Jun 27, 2022 03:15
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Bluedeanie posted:*me shouting bitterly into a trainyard* NEVER LEAVE IT IN THE HANDS OF THE JUDGES 
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Jun 27, 2022 04:54
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Bluedeanie posted:*me shouting bitterly into a trainyard* NEVER LEAVE IT IN THE HANDS OF THE JUDGES lol
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Jun 27, 2022 13:08
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https://twitter.com/ELDENRING/status/1541421090626576385?s=20&t=5lgbGuAFZAvtVn9Zz5ySug happy izzy's getting some commercial work but man i can't help but feel but find him incredibly cringe outside the octagon (much like almost all UFC fighters)
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Jun 27, 2022 15:54
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thats adorable izzy and his titty beating elden ring.
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Jun 27, 2022 16:03
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I don't think it's a fair competition for idesanya to compete if he is now elden lord, have u seen some of the poo poo they can do
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Jun 27, 2022 16:36
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crepeface posted:https://twitter.com/ELDENRING/status/1541421090626576385?s=20&t=5lgbGuAFZAvtVn9Zz5ySug Basically everything I’ve ever heard Izzy say seems awkward and forced. I’m pretty confident that he’s just a huge awkward nerd and that his public person is entirely manufactured.
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Jun 27, 2022 17:04
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https://twitter.com/BrendanMMA/status/1540745694549610497 abolish all athletic commissions
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Jun 27, 2022 17:36
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Has Izzy stopped posting transphobic poo poo to j his Twitter, or is that still a thing?
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Jun 27, 2022 18:43
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Dirt Road Junglist posted:Has Izzy stopped posting transphobic poo poo to j his Twitter, or is that still a thing? This is one of his most recent likes https://twitter.com/jakeshieldsajj/status/1541127647798784001 so,
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Jun 27, 2022 18:52
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Dirt Road Junglist posted:Has Izzy stopped posting transphobic poo poo to j his Twitter, or is that still a thing? clearly the gyno got to him.
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Jun 27, 2022 19:25
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someone give him a titty twister in a fight imo
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Jun 27, 2022 21:16
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If you wanna feel old pat Barry vs Kongo and all it's craziness was 11 years ago today.
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Jun 27, 2022 23:00
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what age was rose then?
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Jun 27, 2022 23:29
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Bluedeanie posted:*me shouting bitterly into a trainyard* NEVER LEAVE IT IN THE HANDS OF THE JUDGES
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Jun 28, 2022 00:51
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Southpaugh posted:what age was rose then? she was a sled
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Jun 28, 2022 02:31
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crepeface posted:she was a sled 
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Jun 28, 2022 07:18
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dont feel like waiting for next months thread, it is  B League Preview time PFL 6 - Friday, July 1, 2022 Main Card - 8PM ET, ESPN/ESPN+ Lightweight - Kayla Harrison vs Kaitlin “The Striking Viking” Young Harrison is 13-0, with 5 subs and 5 TKO wins. Her last time out, she finally met a non-Larissa Pacheco opponent she couldn’t finish, going the distance against Marina Mokhnatkina, giving her 3 points. Young is a Muay Thai styled fighter, bringing in a 12-12 record, on a 2-fight losing streak. She’s got 8 TKO wins. This is her PFL 2022 season debut, as she replaces the last person to defeat her, Julia Budd. Young has not been finished since 2012, when she got RNC’d by Liz Carmouche and TKO’d by Leslie Smith, 3-month apart in consecutive Invicta appearances. That being said, Harrison is a much different task than Young’s recent competition. I fully expect Kayla to judo the heck out of Kaitlin and get some type of ground-based stoppage. Welterweight - Rory “Red King” MacDonald vs Sadibou “The Swedish Denzel Washington” Sy Rory has bounced back from his disappointing 2021 season, winning in the first round over Brett Cooper to claim the current number one spot in the welterweight rankings with 6 points. Sy also shook off his 2021 season with a decision win over Nikolay Aleksakhin. Sy is on the outside looking in per the current standings, which I don’t understand, as everyone not named Rory MacDonald that won a welterweight bout in PFL’s 2022 season also won a decision. Welterweight - Ray “Bradda Boy” Cooper III vs Brett “Fudoshin” Cooper Ray Cooper the Third really gunked things up from the jump. He missed weight for his last fight, which both deducted a point from his total and also made him ineligible to receive any points for a win. He then lost the fight to Carlos Leal by decision. The former champ is in the deepest hole possible, but his big ol’ lunchbox fists can easily change things. So long as, you know, he makes weight this time. Brett Cooper lost his opening bout by first round submission to Rory MacDonald, leaving him at a goose egg. Tough times out here for the Cooper Bois. Both men need a win, preferably a finish, even more preferably a classic PFL Quick Six first round stoppage. Welterweight - Magomed Magomedkerimov vs Joao “The Brazilian Samurai” Zeferino Magomed didn’t manage to Zeferino for the third time back in May due to visa issues. As a result, he’s standing at 0 points on the season. Zeferino did fight in May, and he lost a decision to late replace Dilano Taylor. Can’t wait to find out how this fight gets undone for the fourth time. My bet is on enormous, robot spiders abducting Joao Zeferino the day of the bout on behalf of the nefarious Dr. Ezekial Midnight. If the fight somehow does happen, as usual, bet on the man with the most Magomeds to win. Lightweight - Larissa Pacheco vs Genah “Fabioso” Fabian Pacheco TKO’d Zamzagul Fayzallanova in the first round in May, giving her 6 points, the current lead in the standings, and running her record to 6-Kayla Harrison in a last 8 fights, with a 3-fight win streak. Fabian won a decision over Julia Budd in May, giving her 3 points, tied for second place. Larissa Pacheco should get another TKO, but I wouldn’t expect another Quick Six. I’m thinking Pacheco secures the win towards the end of the second round. Welterweight - Jarrah Hussein “Jordanian Lion” Al-Silawi vs Magomed “Prince” Umalatov Al-Silawi took a decision over Gleison Tibau in May, running his current win streak to 5 fights. He’s currently tied for second place with 3 points. Umalatov is 11-0 with 9 TKO wins. He was scheduled to face Ray Cooper in May, but had to withdraw, so he’s making his 2022 PFL debut here. Once more, the Magomeds are the true path to victory. Prelim Card - 6PM ET, ESPN+ Welterweight - Nikolay Aleksakhin vs Carlos “The Lion” Leal Aleksakhin is sans points coming into the final regular season bout, having lost a split decision to Sadibou Sy. Leal beat Ray Cooper by decision in May, and is stepping in to replace Gleison “Glacier Tebow” Tibau. He’s now on an 11-fight win streak, and his last loss was in 2014. Leal might be legit, and also, Nikolay has nary a Magmoed. Gotta take The Lion in this one. Lightweight - Marina Mokhnatkina vs Abby “Brave” Montes Mokhnatkina took Kayla Harrison to the judges, but lost comprehensively and unanimously, 30-27s across the board. Montes was edged out by Olena Kolesnyk, a split decision loss, that was the first of Abby’s career. Another make or break fight. Win, or more accurately, win with a quick enough stoppage, and there’s a good chance of making the playoffs. Lightweight - Martina Jindrova vs Zamzagul “Bopay” Fayzallanova Jindrova has 3 points after winning a decision over Vanessa Melo in May. Fayzallanova got punched out by Pacheco, leaving her with 0 points to her Z-filled name. This fight is whatever, I’m just trying to run Chaos Scenarios that would bump Kayla Harrison from the playoffs. Lightweight - Olena “Cannon” Kolesnyk vs Vanessa “Miss Simpatia” Melo Kolesnyk ended her 4-fight losing streak by taking a split decision over Abby Montes at PFL 2022 #3. Melo dropped a decision in May to Martina Jindrova. I think Kolensyk wins this? But again, trying to 8th Dimensional Chess some absolute gently caress shittery to throw the women’s lightweight playoffs into a complete and utter tizzy.
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Jun 28, 2022 21:41
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A post in the boxing thread about Mikey Garcia retiring while still relatively young and healthy got me thinking about this, and I'm going to cnp the same question there: Of all fighters who we know of suffering significant later-in-life neurological effects (cte, parkinsons, etc) from combat sports (Mark Kerr, Gary Goodridge, Spencer Fisher, Muhammad Ali, etc) can anyone think of one for whom none of the following is true: *Was knocked out 3+ times in a short span (say, as many as 3 KO losses in 5 fights) particularly late in the career *Continued to fight high-level opponents (i.e. non-exhibition) after age 35 *Famous for toughness and/or 3+ high-damage fights, and continued to fight that way after age 30
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Jun 29, 2022 02:02
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I can't remember which sports science book I read those in, but there's a gene that seems to be correlated with CTE -- something to do with how well the body can keep cleaning up tau protein, I think. People who didn't have it seemed to do better recovering from concussions and exhibited fewer TBI symptoms. Anyways, stands to reason that there is quite some variation in dealing with head trauma. And of course these plenty of selection to get to the elite levels of combat sport. That said, Earnie Shavers had 3 TKOs in 4 fights when he was 35-36, and went on to fight for 15 more years, amassing 89 fights. He's cited a lot as sounding sharp given his wars. Here's him at 75, with a touch of slurring but very lucid https://youtu.be/y_8MN8VISvE
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Jun 29, 2022 02:22
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kimbo305 posted:I can't remember which sports science book I read those in, but there's a gene that seems to be correlated with CTE -- something to do with how well the body can keep cleaning up tau protein, I think. People who didn't have it seemed to do better recovering from concussions and exhibited fewer TBI symptoms. Oh I know there are lots who are unaffected - I'm just wondering if there's anyone who say, retired at 33 years old with 1 career KO loss and has notable long-term CTE
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Jun 29, 2022 02:28
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Didn't a really young fighter (26?) pass away and when his brain got examined he had CTE? I think he fought for Bellator and didn't really have any big KOs or many fights.
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Jun 29, 2022 02:38
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I don't know what kind of shape he's in now but TJ Grant was seemingly at his peak and had a title shot lined up when he retired at 29 due to concussion issues from training. He was never knocked out in a fight
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Jun 29, 2022 03:58
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it's tempting to look very closely at the results of fights and link them to poo poo like cte but i think training is where most of the damage is done.
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Jun 29, 2022 04:51
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Ah found the article on it guy got knocked out twice in his career. https://www.espn.com/mma/story/_/id/17852351/jordan-parsons-diagnosed-cte-first-mma-fighter-known-disease
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Jun 29, 2022 04:57
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Marching Powder posted:it's tempting to look very closely at the results of fights and link them to poo poo like cte but i think training is where most of the damage is done. I know, but one thing I was thinking about is how all of the fighters I could name who have bad CTE did at least one of those three things - kept fighting despite getting KOed a lot, kept fighting past 35, or just generally were crazy brawlers. The continuing past 35 is a big factor I expect, because that means more training too. Anyway, I'm not trying to solve CTE or anything - rather just thinking about it. Another fighter I since remembered who bucks that trend is Michael McDonald - he retired young and without too many KO losses because he was experiencing neurological symptoms too.
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Jun 29, 2022 05:12
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I gotta imagine it's like most things with the human body and you're going to get weird outliers. But there's no cure for being young and dumb and that's when a lot of the damage happens. I mean I did mma for about 5 minutes in the scheme of things and I did some dumb poo poo in sparring but I you're 25 and you feel dangerous and you wanna wade in and trade every now and then. I like to think I made it out unscathed but I can't imagine a lot of professionals would. Even doing casual bjj I got my bell rung a couple times, kneed in the head by someone rolling near by, speared into a mat on an aborted judo throw, got poo poo whipped on a double leg once. Stuff just happens. I would imagine if nothing else pros training as often as they do - even trying to be cautious you're going to get knocked around.
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Jun 29, 2022 05:44
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If I remember correctly, Michael McDonald didn't retire because of neurological problems, he retired because he was a power puncher but his hands were made of glass and after the fourth or fifth time he had to get hand surgery he decided it was stupid to keep going.
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Jun 29, 2022 08:20
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Nick Denis retired because he got his bell rung in sparring and it was taking a long time for him to feel like he'd recovered back to normal Miss u 4ever, ninja of love
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Jun 29, 2022 13:10
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LobsterMobster posted:Nick Denis retired because he got his bell rung in sparring and it was taking a long time for him to feel like he'd recovered back to normal 
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Jun 29, 2022 18:03
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man scott jorgensen seemed to go from top contender to.... that really quickly. it was sad.
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Jun 29, 2022 18:11
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CommonShore posted:A post in the boxing thread about Mikey Garcia retiring while still relatively young and healthy got me thinking about this, and I'm going to cnp the same question there: Even GSP has complained about headaches and CTE stuff, and he was known for not taking much damage. e: he has complained about "losing time" and went on a "it must be aliens!" rant, so yeah, he for sure has CTE Fozzy The Bear fucked around with this message at 18:19 on Jun 29, 2022 |
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Jun 29, 2022 18:17
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Marching Powder posted:man scott jorgensen seemed to go from top contender to.... that really quickly. it was sad. that was not spotty scotty
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Jun 29, 2022 18:20
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LobsterMobster posted:that was not spotty scotty i'm going off a gif with 8 pixels in it, a half-memory of him dying by vicious elbows one time and about a decade since i last saw the guy so i will go ahead and believe you
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Jun 29, 2022 20:02
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Yeah, that was Joseph Sandoval, and I only know that because that's one of my favorite knockouts of all time and I love Nick Denis not just for it but for being one of the few fighters smart enough to go "wow, getting knocked out sucks" and quit. that said:  you also ain't wrong about poor scotty
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Jun 29, 2022 21:08
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CarlCX posted:Yeah, that was Joseph Sandoval, and I only know that because that's one of my favorite knockouts of all time and I love Nick Denis not just for it but for being one of the few fighters smart enough to go "wow, getting knocked out sucks" and quit. It was a real decline. It wasn't like his chin suddenly went or he lost some major aspect of his game or physicality. He was still competitive in a lot of those fights. He was just losing them.
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Jun 30, 2022 05:18
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CARL'S FIGHT BREAKDOWNS, EPISODE 22: CONSPIRACY CRYSTAL PRISM POWER PRELIMS 3:00 PM PST/6:00 PM EST VIA ESPN+ | MAIN CARD 7:00 PM PST/10:00 PM EST VIA PAY-PER-VIEW We have arrived at a big-rear end pay-per-view that somehow feels less big than it should. With how immense the Volkanovski/Holloway matches have been, having the ostensibly final one serve as co-main event on a few months' notice feels somehow anticlimactic. Card should rule, though.  it's possible there are two title eliminators on this card and it's hard to say which would be less deserving MAIN EVENT: JO CRYSTAL JOKES STOP BEING FUN WHEN QANON GETS INVOLVED  MIDDLEWEIGHT: Israel Adesanya (22-1, Champion) vs Jared Cannonier (15-5, #2)Israel Adesanya is the biggest, fastest breakout star in MMA since Conor McGregor, and his quest to speedrun Anderson Silva's career has been a millstone around his neck. Most people who follow mixed martial arts enough to read about it in the first place already know the Israel Adesanya story: Highly-ranked championship kickboxer who dabbled in MMA leaves his home sport to focus entirely on cagefighting, within a year he's in the UFC and within a year of his UFC debut he's the middleweight champion of the world. His striking accuracy, his timing, his deceptive power and ability to slip strikes and counter make him an unparalleled threat within the division. He hits every mark on the Anderson Silva career progression: A one-sided humiliation of a notable contender in And it did not work out. Maybe it was the additional hubris of challenging a defending champion rather than a former champion, maybe it was an underestimation of Polish Power, but unlike the legendary destruction visited upon the division by his idol, Israel Adesanya struggled against Jan and was ultimately outwrestled, outstruck nearly two to one, and lost his undefeated record in a unanimous decision. And aside from just tarnishing the massive hype train that had formed behind him, the loss has seemingly sapped some of Izzy's mojo in the cage. His next title defense was against Marvin Vettori, who was just as offensively ineffective as Paulo Costa had been, and Adesanya won a decision that was as clear as it was uneventful, and he followed it with a successful rematch with Robert Whittaker, and where before he'd knocked him dead, he this time escaped by the skin of his teeth with a 48-47 decision. He's still the champion, and he's still the greatest middleweight alive, but his performances have been tentative and diminished in comparison to the destructions he was handing out before his loss. Which is potentially dangerous, as he's fighting Jared Cannonier, one of the weirdest destroyers in the business. "Killa Gorilla" entered the UFC in 2015--at heavyweight. He made a decent 1-1 accounting for himself and demonstrated his future punching power to the audience by blasting the crap out of Cyril Asker before dropping down to light-heavyweight. 205 wound up being a bit of a snare trap for Cannonier: He went 1-3, largely thanks to the deep misfortune of running into Glover Teixeira, Jan Błachowicz and Dominick Reyes all in short order. He had largely been consigned to the forgotten echelons of one-dimensional power punchers when he made the career decision to drop down to middleweight, and there, a full fifty pounds beneath the 235 he'd weighed in at for his UFC debut, he found his home. He murdered David Branch. He murdered Jack Hermansson. He kicked Anderson Silva's knee in half. After three and a half years he's 5-1 at middleweight, his only loss a 29-28 decision against deposed king Robert Whittaker. He won his shot at Adesanya by absolutely crushing the surging Derek Brunson. By carrying less weight and by shoring up the deficient parts of his game Jared Cannonier has found his home as a complete fighter: The lighter class lets him focus more on cardio than sheer mass while still carrying power enough to fold people in half by lighting brushing them with his fists. His most successful opponents are the ones who have very wisely stayed well away from his power and fought to neutralize his advantages rather than directly engaging him. Hey: Guess what Israel Adesanya's really good at? It's silly and redundant to say Jared Cannonier has a puncher's chance. Jared Cannonier IS the puncher's chance. His successes all come from hounding opponents into close range and either atomizing them with power strikes or leaving them so outgunned they're too busy evading damage to implement their gameplans. Evading and sniping IS Israel Adesanya's gameplan. His questionable performances have come from being TOO good at evading and sniping for fan tastes. Jared Cannonier's best bet in the fight comes from using pure physicality to force Adesanya into the fence so he can take away his movement and land some solid, damaging strikes before he makes his way out again; in a prolonged battle at range, he'll get picked apart. At risk of editorializing: I'm hoping for a little of both. Aside from a battle of two very skilled fighters in their respective primes this is a battle between one guy in Adesanya who refuses to stop publicizing transphobic poo poo and one guy in Cannonier who was the most avowed Qanon crazy in the sport until his management took away the keys to his social media accounts. There is personal gratification in seeing both men get punched in the face. But barring a hilariously unlikely draw, only one man can win, and it's almost certainly going to be Israel Adesanya by decision. CO-MAIN EVENT: THE MAIN EVENT FEATHERWEIGHT: Alexander Volkanovski (24-1, Champion) vs Max Holloway (23-6, #1)Seriously, why is this second from the top? This is a trilogy bout between quite possibly the two best fighters today. Not best featherweights: Fighters. Alexander Volkanovski has one loss in his career, and it was his fourth fight ever, almost an entire decade ago, against a 12-4-1 champion, at welterweight. He's an undefeated 11-0 in the UFC, and that ties him for the sixth-longest winning streak in promotional history. He's almost irritatingly flawless as a fighter. Where even your Andersons and Adesanyas had wrestling deficiencies and your Fedors and GSPs had troubles with people who could physically outpower them, Alexander Volkanovski doesn't have any glaring weaknesses. His striking technique is fantastic, his ability to alternate between fast-moving potshots and sit-down power is unparalleled, his cardio is indefatigable, he outwrestles wrestlers and outgrapples grapplers, and on the rare occasions that he's been put in trouble--wobbled by Max Holloway, nearly strangled by Brian Ortega--he's powered through the danger and made his opponents pay. But there's been a lead weight around his ankle for the duration of his reign atop the mountain, and it's the circumstances of his ascension. Volkanovski's title victory over Max should by no means have been controversial: He outstruck him in four out of five rounds, controlled the pace of the fight behind vicious leg kicks and effectively neutralized his offense. But fan love of Holloway, and the UFC's anger at losing a champion they'd heavily marketed, led to grumbling and a demand for an immediate rematch. That rematch was one of the closest title fights in UFC history, with Holloway dropping Volkanovski twice en route to still being narrowly outstruck and ultimately edged out by a split decision a lot of people consider a deep-seated injustice. Their subsequent fights have not helped. Alexander Volkanovski put up what was ultimately a crushingly dominant performance against Brian Ortega, but he was nearly submitted twice in the process, where Max had previously battered him without ever being at risk. When the initial date for Volk/Max 3 fell through, Volkanovski was instead pitted against one of the most fan-beloved fighters in the world, "The Korean Zombie" Chan Sung Jung, and his absolute one-sided battering of the man was as impressive as it was sad, much of the fan angst for which was laid at his feet. Meanwhile, Max Holloway engaged in decidedly unstrategic striking wars with two of the top prospects in the division in Calvin Kattar and Yair Rodriguez, in the process putting up a fight of the year candidate in the latter and an all-time best performance in the former, outboxing Kattar so thoroughly that it defied belief. To be more succinct: People still loving love Max Holloway. Alexander Volkanovski is a more complete, more strategic, more cerebral fighter, and it's how he's already beaten him twice, and that has absolutely no bearing on any fan's belief in Holloway's ability to take him out anyway. For his fans, he represents a dying breed of dogged warriors who focus more on wading into fire and trading ruthlessly than hyperfocusing on gameplanning and the best strategic approach to a battle. And, paradoxically, that's not actually a strategically meritless concept. The single biggest adjustment Max made between the two fights with Volkanovski was a heightened awareness of just how sharp Alex's leg kicks were, but rather than checking and avoiding them, which would have required compromising his own strengths, he anticipated them, walked into them and used them to bear down on his counterstrikes, which led to him doing more damage than he'd managed in their first meeting and forced Volkanovski to commit to heavier charging attacks to force Max out of his space, which led to him getting countered and dropped. Biting down on his mouthpiece and forcing tighter engagements nearly won Max the fight. That's always been Max's way. People remember him drubbing Jose Aldo twice, but they don't remember Aldo putting it on Holloway and repeatedly hurting him with punches and leg kicks en route to his loss. That fight of the year candidate with Yair involved Holloway eating almost two hundred strikes and losing two out of five rounds. Even my own recollection of the Ortega fight above is complicit; I summarize it with Max destroying Ortega, but Ortega won the third round of their fight and repeatedly wobbled him. Even in the Calvin Kattar fight that's so legendary for its one-sided domination, Max Holloway absorbed 133 significant strikes, 99 of them straight to the dome. Because that's how Max Holloway fights. He breaks people by walking through their offense and making them pay double for every scrap of damage they inflict on him. It's why he's struggled so much with Volkanovski: Volk's single greatest asset is his composure. He doesn't get drawn out of his gameplan, and Holloway's hypnotic brawling has twice failed to pull him away from his strengths as a fighter. And now, two years after their last meeting, both men are better than ever at the things they do best. Alexander Volkanovski wins another decision. Max Holloway is entirely capable of making a fool of me. There will never be a fight Max Holloway cannot tilt in his favor, and the second match between these two is evidence of how closely balanced they are. I think the biggest threat to Volkanovski's title reign here isn't even Holloway's boxing, but his own. Alex's striking has improved noticeably since even that last fight in 2020, and the possibility that he dips too hard in favor of his recent strengths and plays into Holloway's game is real. But no one has broken Alex of his composure yet, and I don't think Max will do it here. If he does, however, the entire MMA internet will declare him retroactively 2-1 against Alex and it will drive me loving insane. MAIN CARD: LIVING WITH REGRET MIDDLEWEIGHT: Sean Strickland (25-3, #4) vs Alex Pereira (5-1, NR) Oh, hey, speaking of things that drive me insane, it's this fight. This fight, whether I like it or not, is a title eliminator. Sean Strickland, whether I like it or not, deserves it. "Tarzan" has been in the UFC for a staggering 8+ years, most of which he spent going under the radar at welterweight and getting bossed about by fighters no one had heard of in 2017 like "Kamaru Usman," whoever the hell that was. It took a gutsy 2020 move to middleweight for Strickland's career to take off, capitalizing on the gaping hole Israel Adesanya had torn in the division by abruptly bludgeoning his way through its depleted ranks. Strickland's combination of a gritty chin, neverending 1-2 combinations and his willingness to self-promote by being just an enormous shithead all of the time without an ounce of shame led him to a four-fight win streak and his first UFC main event against Jack Hermansson back in February. The UFC had him all teed up for title contention in the event of another victory--and he did win--but they cooled their jets on him after said first-ever main event saw Sean "I would like to literally murder someone in a fight" Strickland abruptly fighting a tentative style that he spent his entire post-fight interview apologizing for. Dana White is more than happy to capitalize on your being an aggressively bad person, but by god, if you dare be boring, he will exact a price. And in this case, the price is an attempt to sacrifice Strickland on the pyre of a newer, sexier prospect. Alex "Poatan" Pereira was brought into the UFC because he knocked out Israel Adesanya in a kickboxing match in 2017. That's it. That's the story. He's only had six mixed martial arts bouts, only two of which came in the UFC, and in them he's managed to get soundly controlled by the now-fired Andreas Michailidis before getting him with a flying knee in the second round and won a clear but competitive decision against Bruno "Blindado" Silva. Alex Pereira doesn't really have a social media following, doesn't have much of a fanbase, only barely has a mixed martial arts career, has yet to fight a single ranked competitor in his life and one fight ago was struggling with a welterweight. He's fighting the #4 guy in the world this weekend and if he wins he's getting a shot at the middleweight champion of the world. Because he beat him in a different sport five years ago and they'll probably have a stand-up battle. And because our sport is stupid. Sean Strickland wins a decision. I think Alex Pereira is a much better striker than Sean Strickland, and I also think Sean Strickland is more than willing to walk 1-2s into him until he can pin him to the fence for fifteen minutes while chipping away with wrist punches if it means he gets a title shot and a larger platform to give more uncomfortable interviews about how cool Edward Norton was in American History X. WELTERWEIGHT: Robbie Lawler (29-15 (1)) vs Bryan Barberena (17-8) You know how sometimes you can be really happy to see an old friend again and then you realize you're not actually sure you're looking forward to hanging out with them? Robbie Lawler is the god damned man. He was first tapped as a potential title contender back in 2002. He holds UFC victories over people who haven't fought in multiple decades. His career has taken him across god drat near every major MMA organization: UFC, KOTC, Pride, the IFL, EliteXC and Strikeforce, across which he held multiple championships. His 2013 UFC return was met with "aw, that's nice" dismissal by most, and he promptly evolved into his final form as a violence elemental and became the welterweight champion of the world. And that was awesome. And it also ended six years ago. He's 2-5 in that timeframe, and his only victory in the last half-decade was against an overweight Nick Diaz who visibly didn't want to be there. Robbie Lawler is still Robbie Lawler. He's tough as hell and he punches like someone who learned early in life that his only emotional outlet would come through his knuckles. But he has looked progressively diminished. Quadruple-B Bryan "Bam Bam" Barberena is an appropriate challenge for Robbie Lawler at this stage of his career, and it's hard to feel like that isn't an insult to at least one of them. After eight years and fourteen fights in the UFC, the prevailing, unifying summation of Bryan Barberena as a fighter is the always-backhanded "well, he's very tough." His technique isn't clean, his defense can be porous and his grappling is scrappier than it is intelligent, but that grit inherent to his style also constantly puts him in position to overperform. He was crushed by Colby Covington, but he almost knocked out Leon Edwards. He got dismantled by Vicente Luque, but he outworked Matt Brown. On a technique basis, Robbie Lawler should crush him. He's the better striker, the better wrestler and the tougher man. At least, he was. Is he still? The betting odds have this fight near-even, and while it feels like heresy, it's hard to fully blame them. It's wholly feasible that at this point in his career, Robbie Lawler doesn't have enough gun left to put Bryan Barberena down before he manages to overwhelm him and drag him to a decision. I think he does, and moreover, I think Robbie Lawler has enough left in the tank to get a TKO. Barberena still likes to walk into punches and Lawler is the most vicious pocket puncher and finisher he's faced. But make no mistake: There is a high sadness quotient potential in this fight. BANTAMWEIGHT: Pedro Munhoz (19-7, #9) vs Sean O'Malley (15-1, #13) Sometimes the UFC gives up the game regarding its promotional desires. When Pedro Munhoz lost his last fight to Dominick Cruz he emerged in the following rankings at #10. When Pedro Munhoz was announced as Sean O'Malley's next opponent, he was suddenly ranked at #9. It's the little things. At the beginning of 2019 Pedro Munhoz looked like a potential champion. He was on a three-fight win streak that could have been eight were it not for a split decision against John Dodson and his combination of stiff boxing, quick counters and aggressive footwork had earned him a violent knockout victory over recently-dethroned Cody Garbrandt before knocking out Cody Garbrandt was a meme. Unfortunately, the next three years have been one prolonged and sometimes unfair skid. He was dominated by Aljamain Sterling, Jose Aldo and Dominick Cruz, and even when he won a fight and pretty handily defeated Frankie Edgar he somehow still inexplicably lost the decision. With the exception of a decision victory over recently-released Jimmie Rivera, it's all been downhill for Pedro. Which makes him the perfect patsy for the next phase of the Sugar Show. Sean O'Malley, the UFC's favorite human whippet, has been a master-class in careful matchmaking. They screwed up exactly once by pitting him against Marlon Vera, a fighter they felt was washed, and since then he's had such favorable matchmaking that he's made it into the top fifteen at bantamweight by defeating an unranked man on a three-fight losing streak who would be immediately released afterward, a last-minute regional replacement who would be released one loss later, and a man who'd been fighting at flyweight just one fight beforehand. And now he has Munhoz, coming off the worst run of his career to the point of repeatedly discussing moving down to 125. And the real poo poo of it is, they don't actually need to be that careful with him. Sean O'Malley is a genuinely talented fighter; a gifted striker and decent counter-wrestler who has the rare gift of both a massive reach advantage over most of his division and the awareness of how to actually use it. He's very good at forcing fighters to march through flak and catching them with huge, heavy shots once they're vulnerable. They didn't have to coddle him the way they have. But they did, and they still are. The question mark here is Munhoz's toughness vs O'Malley's gas tank--Pedro has yet to be stopped by anyone, ever--but I think O'Malley will be able to bounce punches off his head and backstep out of danger for the duration of the fight. Sean O'Malley gets a decision and we all get mad when rather than any of the actual killers in the division he gets a title shot on the back of beating Rob Font. PRELIMS: GABE GARRY GREEN ROSE LIGHTWEIGHT: Brad Riddell (10-2, #14) vs Jalin Turner (12-5)City Kickboxing is out in force on this card, and Brad Riddell is looking to get back in the sport's good graces. Riddell gained an immediate reputation as one of those fighters who came out of a punchsports factory with "Here For A Good Time, Not A Long Time" stamped on his forehead. He's 4-1 in the UFC, and nearly every one of those fights involved getting the poo poo beaten out of him before waking up enough to make a comeback. He brawled and doubled his way to a victory over Drew Dober, but not before having his face punched Dan Henderson levels of flat. He's coming off the first knockout loss of his career, having been wheelkicked to death by Rafael Fiziev back in December. Jalin Turner's primary standout attribute is being Very Tall. 6'3" and 75.5" is an awful loving lot for lightweight, which is probably why he tried to be a welterweight and only reconsidered after discovering firsthand how much it sucks when Vicente Luque punches you in the face. He's a much more successful 5-1 at 155, and it comes primarily from making the most of his size advantage. He likes stabbing kicks to the gut, he likes long, winging right hands, he likes closing in and landing punishing body shots and knees, and he likes using his giant spider arms to force guillotines as distraction while he reverses bad grappling situations. He's got a few more losses in his record, but he's also finished every victory he's ever had, and all of them within two rounds. I think he's a bad matchup here. Brad Riddell does his best work as an effective bully, using leg kicks to close distance so he can swing hammers and shoot doubles. Jalin Turner is very good at range control, punishing opponents when they try to crash into his zone and fending off wrestling shots with chokes. Jalin Turner gets a TKO. WELTERWEIGHT: Ian Garry (9-0) vs Gabe Green (11-3) When last we saw Ian Garry I described him as the UFC's blatant attempt to get a do-over on Conor McGregor, and this is a continuation of that trend. Try to follow the calculus on this one: Ian "The Future" Garry is a 6'3" power puncher with a killer cross counter, a punch most effective in MMA when countering kicks; "Gifted" Gabriel Green is a 5'10" muscle tank who throws more kicks than he does jabs. Remember when it was a big deal that Conor McGregor killed 5'6" people who didn't know what straight punches were? Do-over. Ian Garry gets another TKO and has to pause before his interview to remember which Conor promo he's re-enacting this time. WELTERWEIGHT: Jim Miller (34-16 (1)) vs Donald Cerrone (36-16 (2)) I'm unhappy about this fight happening. Donald Cerrone was supposed to fight Joe Lauzon on thirteen other occasions this year, but after a series of unfortunate events involving poisoned tacos, fake leg bones and a black semicircle the Road Runner painted on a wall, we've somehow wound up here. Because I'll never get this chance again, I'm going to (partially) quote myself from two weeks ago when I was quoting myself from a month ago: Past Carl channeling Paster Carl posted:"Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone is Dana White's favorite fighter of all time: An angry white bigot who doesn't think weight classes exist, is really good at grappling and ignores it completely, takes fights on zero notice, never complains about getting paid $200,000 to main event a pay-per-view against Conor McGregor and once helped torpedo the concept of a fighters' union. He's a big ol' dumbo, and at one point he was one of the most consistently successful fighters in the UFC and held victories over multiple world champions. In 2022, he's 36-16 (2) and he hasn't won a fight in three years and you have to go back seven years to find more than two people he beat who are still in the UFC and one of them is Matt Brown who retired like three times over that period. He's still a dangerous striker and he's still an accomplished wrestler and most of the people he's lost to are top-tier fighters, but on the other hand, he got rocked by a jumping shoulder strike thrown by a cocaine-addicted featherweight. By contrast, I like Jim Miller. Jim Miller was one of my favorite fighters for a long time, and even if I no longer believe in Eventual Champion Jim Miller, I still root for him every time. He's been in the UFC for almost fifteen years, he fought at UFC 100 and 200 and intends to retire only after fighting at UFC 300 sometime around 2024. He's a dangerous grappler, a tricky wrestler and has recently discovered a newfound power in his hands. He's one of the longest-tenured and most-decorated fighters in the UFC, and he and Cerrone are fighting for the record books: Both are currently tied (alongside Andrei Arlovski) with 23 UFC victories, meaning whoever wins this fight and climbs to 24 becomes the new all-time record holder. This is a weird fight. They fought once before, eight full years ago; Cerrone knocked Miller out in two rounds. On paper, I still think Cerrone is a bad matchup for Jim Miller. He's got the faster, more versatile offense and he's got enough wrestling and grappling expertise under his belt to not have to constantly fear the takedown like so many of Jim's other opponents do. But Jim Miller has looked faster and stronger in his last several fights, and Donald Cerrone has never looked worse. If Alex Morono can punch Donald Cerrone out, can Jim Miller? Let me add to past Carl's thoughts on past Carl's thoughts: I don't think I sufficiently noted that I really, really want to see Donald Cerrone lose this fight. I already wanted it when it was Joe Lauzon, and I'm much, much more emotionally attached to Jim Miller. I have made the mistake of picking with my heart on multiple occasions in these writeups, and by god, I'm electing to do it again. Jim Miller picks Donald Cerrone off with hooks. Let the less deflated fighter win. MIDDLEWEIGHT: Brad Tavares (19-6, #12) vs Dricus Du Plessis (16-2, NR)Brad Tavares is slightly underrated in the annals of the UFC. He entered his thirteenth year under the UFC umbrella this past January, and in that time he's 14-6, which becomes considerably more impressive when you realize that six included Yoel Romero, Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya. He's been a scrappy, dangerous UFC gatekeeper longer than most current middleweights on the roster have had careers. Dricus Du Plessis is the precise kind of fighter you test against a Brad Tavares: A young, interesting, unproven prospect who's clearly too good to have putter around the bottom 20 of the division. Du Plessis is 16 for 16 on finishing his victories, and in his first two UFC fights has already displayed an aggressive, well-rounded game involving sharp counterpunches and quick, slamming takedowns. He atomized both of his opponents with counter hooks and showcased a very impressive passing game for the brief moments he spent on the ground with Trevin Giles, and he was willing to throw down with Kelvin Gastelum on one week's notice, which is pretty badass and would have been interesting had the fight not been scrapped. I have always believed in Brad Tavares more than most, and I want to root for him here because I always have a special sort of appreciation for never-give-up gatekeepers. That said: Dricus Du Plessis by TKO. Tavares is tough as hell, but he also likes charging, lunging attacks as a centerpiece of his offense, and Du Plessis eats them for breakfast. I think this is his coming-out party as a contender worth watching. MIDDLEWEIGHT: Uriah Hall (17-10, #9) vs André Muniz (22-4, #13) On the topic of fighters I irrationally love and want to succeed, there's Uriah Hall. Uriah Hall has been a UFC bugbear ever since 2013, when it became plainly aware that despite being a devastatingly powerful striker with incredible timing and precision he was also a gunshy headcase who wilted under pressure. Uriah's ascent, with all due respect to one of my favorite competitors, is as much due to the holes in the middleweight division as his own skills. His four-fight win streak was the best of his UFC tenure, but it included people like Bevon Lewis, a retiring Anderson Silva and a decrepit Chris Weidman whose leg shattered after one kick. The second he fought Sean Strickland and had to deal with pressure again he folded. André Muniz is not only a pressure fighter, he's a horrifyingly consistent pressure fighter. He's 4-0 in the UFC and three of those wins by armbar, and one of those armbars came against Jacare Souza, one of the greatest grapplers in the history of mixed martial arts, and not only did Muniz submit him, he snapped his arm in half. In his last fight he met the nigh-unto unfinishable Eryk Anders, for better or worse one of the most immovable objects in the sport, and he spun him in a full circle with a single leg kick, dumped him into side control on his first attempt and tapped him out shortly thereafter. If you're Uriah Hall, and you know you have trouble dealing with pressure, and you were once effortlessly wrestled by double-leg-deficient Gegard Mousasi, and you're fighting a guy who can walk down Jacare Souza and Eryk Anders, ragdoll them with ease and permanently elongate their arms by half an inch, you know you're in trouble. André Muniz by submission. WOMEN'S FLYWEIGHT: Jessica Eye (15-10 (1), #10) vs Maycee Barber (10-2, #13) The UFC really, really wants Maycee Barber to be a thing. Hell, she's the second promotionally-favored fighter on this card with "The Future" as a nickname. Barber should still be fighting her way back from a three-fight losing skid, but thanks to her very slow clinch-wrestling of Montana De La Rosa a few months back and one of the worst decisions of 2021 in her victory over Miranda Maverick she's in the top fifteen on a two-fight winning streak. She's a gritty fighter, which is to say she likes to force people into the fence, grind on them and land short, chipping shots until either they drop or she wins a decision. And she's facing Jessica "Evil" Eye, who, respectfully, is in the UFC's cleanup aisle. Eye is one of the last women standing from the first generation of women's fighters in the UFC back in 2013 (and the first woman in the UFC to fail a drug test!), but her #10 ranking is one of those things that's more indicative of the state of her division than her success--she's 5-9 (1) in her UFC tenure, her most recent victory was back in 2019, and in the interim she's gotten beat by Cynthia Calvillo, Joanne Wood and Jennifer Maia. I'd like to say this is a late-career skid, but in 2016 she was dropping split decisions to Bethe Correia. Maycee Barber wins a decision. Jessica Eye is probably gone. WOMEN'S BANTAMWEIGHT: Jessica Rose-Clark (11-7 (1)) vs Julija Stoliarenko (9-6-1) Julija Stoliarenko is one of those cautionary tales about the difference between regional performance and international performance. On the regional scene, Stoliarenko is a decorated grappler, a Lethwei titleholder and a former bantamweight champion under Invicta FC. Within the UFC, including her tenure on The Ultimate Fighter, she's 1-5, and it's a 5 that includes things like getting wrestled to death by an undersized, 37 year-old Alexis Davis. "Jessy Jess" Jessica-Rose "Jessifer" Clark has been something of a fan favorite for her scrappy performances and internet following, and her aggressive wrestling style has been equal parts help and hindrance, just as likely to get her armbarred or reversed by superior grapplers as to aid her in suffocating the Bec Rawlingses of the world. She will throw endless fence doubles, even when visibly gassed, which is impressive as hell in its own way. Jessica-Rose Clark gets the decision. I just don't think Stoliarenko has the countergrappling to cope with UFC-level competition. It's failed her against less aggressive wrestlers than Clark and it will probably fail her again. CarlCX fucked around with this message at 16:36 on Jun 30, 2022 |
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Jun 30, 2022 16:28
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As always, great writeup
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Jun 30, 2022 23:00
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great writeup carl thank you giving all of my spirit energy to robbie
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Jun 30, 2022 23:08
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