The Official MMA thread

[too_poor_for_this]

Felt like izzy was even quicker with his strikes than before (not including the romero fight because that... was... interesting...).

Not sure if older Weidman has the (physical) tools to bring the fight to where he wants it. In a parallel timeline where Wonderboy was a couple inches taller and a couple inches wider and was next in line to fight for the MW title, we'd all be creaming our pants but until then, yeah, i don't know. Rob's wrestling against Till was weaved in nicely with his striking and maybe he'll utilize it more in a rematch with izzy... that's the only thing I could think of.

 

[too_poor_for_this]

The lowest odds i'm seeing for TKZ vs Ortega is -220 and apparently up to -300 ish for TKZ ... -220 is just under an implied 70% chance of winning for TKZ which I see as a fair play. If it drops down to -200 i'm definitely putting a significant chunk on it. What do you guys think?

 

[KotaB]

UFC 254!!! Will Gaethje withstand the storm and remain upright to drag Khabib into a tactical massacre? I think so.

 

[Matt]

Super excited for this card.

While I'd kinda love to see Khabib be proven human, I don't think it's going to happen. I am predicting another drag down mauling. Just for the hell of it, I'll say RNC win late second/early third.

Sadly (as an Australian anyhow) I think we're going to see Whittaker clubbed by Cannonier as well. A highlight reel knockout in the 3rd, followed by the sound of my tears.

Others? Who are you on?

 

[Big Bird]

I think Khabib - Gaethje will play out the same way Khabib - Poirier did. Have not seen enough of Gaethje's wrestling to know if the pre fight hype is to be believed or not, but I seriously doubt it is good enough to stuff Khabib all night.

Whittaker looked good against Till, but there was something missing. (Confidence?) I will root for him and I do think he will take it at the end, probably a UD. But Cannonier looked really scary against Hermansson and could end it/turn it around quickly.

 

[too_poor_for_this]

Super excited for this card.

While I'd kinda love to see Khabib be proven human, I don't think it's going to happen. I am predicting another drag down mauling. Just for the hell of it, I'll say RNC win late second/early third.

Sadly (as an Australian anyhow) I think we're going to see Whittaker clubbed by Cannonier as well. A highlight reel knockout in the 3rd, followed by the sound of my tears.

Others? Who are you on?

Honestly do think Gaethje's heavy hands will give us a bit of a more tentative, slower fight but i've seen nothing to make me believe that beyond a "lucky" shot landing on the chin that we won't see a mauling.

I have no feeling this way or that way between Whittaker and Cannonier... but at +105 you bet I put a little gas money on Whittaker. I think whittaker's time off after Adesanya proved to worked great and I do think he takes it if it goes the distance and he doesn't misplay into Cannonier's bombs lol

 

[Ambulance Chaser]

Gaethje claims that his American wrestling is great and that he'll stand right up if he's taken down. Wow, why didn't Khabib's 28 previous opponents think of that strategy? Like most of Khabib's opponents, Gaethje is greatly underestimating Khabib's grappling. Khabib doesn't have a dynamic shot, but he's great at stringing takedown attempts together, like a dog that's grabbed a hold of your pant leg and won't let go. And once he's on top of you, you're not getting up and you've lost the round. Khabib by fourth-round submission.

Whittaker is going to take a page out of the book of fellow Aussie point fighter Alexander Volkanovski (sorry, @Matt, you know it's true) and dance around to a UD win.

 

[Matt]

Personally, as much as I also danced around to Volk's UD wins, I also thought he lost both times.

Wouldn't say that they were highway robbery level wins, but I would have scored both 3-2 Max's way.

 

[Matt]

Wow. Amazing fighter and very sorry to see the end of his career.

I don't think he's the Unretire type, so end of an era.

 

[Ambulance Chaser]

I don't know if Khabib is the MMA GOAT, but he is without doubt the MMA grappling GOAT. The way he transitioned from the double-leg takedown to back control to the mount to the triangle was beautiful. Granted, Gaethje looked like a guy who doesn't train a minute of ground defense, but it was still super impressive.

 

[Matt]

Yeah, I'd agree with that. This is where you can get into one of those semantic fights about the difference between 'best' and 'greatest'. I do think Khabib was one of the best fighters I have ever seen, just in the sense that there was no one even close to him. Dude dropped one round in an entire career. That's insane. Still, he was basically a one trick pony (just that fence-takedown/leg wrap/maul 'trick' was ******* awesome and no one got even close to defeating it). When I think 'great' though, I think 'did the sport change because that guy participated in it'. Khabib would beat the crap out of Royce Gracie at their respective primes, but I'd argue that Royce was the 'greater' fighter. The sport wouldn't exist without him.

GSP (my vote for GOAT) showed us that you have to be just brilliant at everything and constantly dedicated to improving every aspect of the game (which arguably Khabib disproved!) to make it to the top and stay there. Add his longevity, his fight IQ/strategy-and-execution and he gets my nod. Anderson ranks high for me too, but he just hung around too long and is damaging the rep and rec more than adding to it at this stage. Jones is up there.....Nunes maybe.....

I think Khabib was an incredible fighter, total respect (including for the way he went out in the end) but I think the lightweight division post-Khabib will look virtually the same as the lightweight division pre-Khabib.

 

[Big Bird]

I am actually really excited about the lightweight division post-Khabib. Styles make fights and looking at the previous results between the contenders the title is up for grabs.


I would love if UFC puts together an eight man LW tournament (like the old Pride HW Grand Prix) to decide the new champion. No interim champion. Invite Gaethje, Poirier, Chandler, Ferguson, McGregor, Oliveira, Hooker and Patricio Pitbull. I think that would be a great way to honor the undisputed champion who has retired.

 

[Big Bird]

Whittaker looked crisp but something is still missing. He looks like a fighter that has been knocked out and don't want to experience that again. He did not call out Izzy after the fight and it now sounds like Dana is trying to force that fight. Give Whittaker one more fight before he has to step into the ring with Izzy again. Would really like to see Whittaker - Costa.

 

[Matt]

I just think he knows that, #1 contender or otherwise, he's not going to beat Izzy and would rather take other fights and test himself against other fighters. Or, failing that, hang out with his family in Sydney and run his BJJ gym til something interesting comes along. Get the feeling he's pretty content with what he has, belt or not.

 

[Matt]

Thanks for the memories Spider....