ufc/pride

It's complicated. To some people, anyone not top 5 in UFC is a can.

I don't think he's crushing cans though. He is rank #2 in Belkator. That said, yeah, Bellator is still one notch behind the absolute top in UFC. I think Belkator is definitely above several other organizations though.

Being reasonable, he is a world class fighter. He'd be at the lower end of the elite guys and could probably beat several unranked UFC guys. I t might get dicey for him once he hits top 10 though.

If you play fighting games, he'd be like a high tier character but not a top tier character.

I tend to agree. He made Paul Daley fight like a wrestler, that’s gotta count for something. I think he eventually makes it to the ufc, and gains some notable wins. He’ll be a dangerous striker, but won’t be champ. Similar to wonder boy.

I am so happy Oliveira won. Not that I dislike Chandler, but Oliveira has been in the UFC for over a decade now and has gotten so much better in that time. He weathered the early storm too which makes it even sweeter. People used to call him a quitter and shit on him for some of his past losses, and now he is world champion. Love it.

It's definitely an incredible moment for Oliveira, especially since he made a bit of a comeback in the fight.

That said, I will totally sound like a hater here but...anyone get the feeling he's just keeping the throne warm for Dustin or Conor?

Oliveira has improved a lot, but he does get hit. That lack of defensive movement against Dustin or Conor is going to be a problem. Gaethje too. Things could change but these next few fights will be interesting for sure.

I'm more interested in Vetorri vs Aydansanya 2

I'm interested in it because I want to see how everyone reacts when Izzy beats Vettori worse the second time around.

Nothing at all against Vettori, but I feel all his disadvantages will just be magnified against current Stylebender, who is even better now.

And I totally understand that Till was injured, so Vettori had to fight Holland....BUT it doesn't change the fact that Vettori is getting a title shot off beating the rank #14 guy. We don't even know if Vettori can beat Costa, Till, Brunson, Cannonier, etc. Whittaker definitely beats him imo, and I don't understand why some folks are confident about Vettori against Stylebender. Vettori is interesting against the "stand-and-bang" fighters, but that isn't really Izzy.

I don't like speaking in absolutes since anything can happen, but I genuinely think Izzy is going to outclass Vettori.

Your whole post is spot on.

Izzy is coming off a tough less, so of course he’s keen on getting an easy win. I could see a walk off knock out from Izzy.

Leon vs Nate...ahh bad match up.

Leon should blow Nate out the water, with Nate giving competitive moments here and there.

I'll put it this way, if Leon can't decisively beat Nate, there's something really wrong. I don't expect a finish, but Nate is an aging lightweight at the end of the day. If Leon loses, that will be pretty big. It will be like Wonderboy getting KO'd by Pettis. Completely unexpected, and he'll need multiple big wins to cancel out that loss.

I have tons of respect for Nate for taking the fight though. Nate would have made much more money fighting someone else, and someone who presents much less of a challenge.

Oh wow. Izzy lights Vettori up for 5 rounds. Color me shocked. 🙄

Man that was such a stupid fight. All the contenders we needed to see and we got Vettori. Maybe Marvin can actually beat a top 10 guy before getting a title shot? He just called out Costa, and I think Costa will knock his head off to be honest.

And to make it worse, Marvin said he thought he won and apparently threw shade at Izzy right before Rogan handed Izzy the mic. I was neutral towards Marvin before, but he's really looking like a douche right now if that's true.

UFC PREDICTIONS

[B]RD 2. 2:34 MCGREGOR VIA KO [/B]

Mcgregor is a prick, but I'm sorry he lost how he did. Tbh, the UFC looks more and more exposed in how it creates match ups. No one wants to grapple with Hall for instance, but all fights start on their feet... Conor's legs are easy to attack with leg kicks, good thing he connected with Aldo's chin early on. I honestly believe if Aldo had not lost it and committed too early, the Mcgregor train would have been derailed then.

Yeah, I hate seeing injuries end fights in general.

McGregor has had an interesting career to say the least. I think he's one of the few fighters to be both overrated and underrated. Casual fans didn't realize how "fortunate" his path to the lightweight title really was, having dodged nearly all the worst matchups due to his name. Chad Mendes would have derailed the hype train if he had a full camp. He didn't have the time to get his cardio up to snuff with just two weeks notice though. I saw some folks claim Conor was the best striker in the UFC too, which is absurd.

On the other hand, those same casuals say he sucks now that he's had these very publicized losses. Conor actually is a good fighter. He's not the GOAT, but the guy legitimately had a well put together style that gave tons of people problems. In addition to his power and movement, Conor had a good variety of kicks at his peak. His front kick is underrated, for example. It was one of the few things he had success with against Khabib.

If we're being fair, Conor would still **** up a whooooole lot of folks, and still warrants a top 10 ranking. Maybe even top 5.

I just think he's made so much money already, which was his goal, that he doesn't need to stick around much longer. Were it not for his expensive tastes, he could probably end homelessness in Dublin and still have money to screw around with.

👍👍

He almost made me cry when he slept Aldo in 13 secs. The way he snuffed Eddie was pretty amazing as well.

A little late, but Sandhagen vs Dillashaw was an extremely close call.

Same for Maycee Barber vs Miranda Maverick.

I can't really be mad at the judges either way. With Sandhagen though, DC and Cruz did have a point. Sandhagen was winning whenever he fought orthodox. It was only when he went for spinning stuff that TJ managed to take his back and or push him up against the cage. That was enough for TJ to take the win though.

With it being a split decision, I wonder if fighting more conventionally would have been enough to give Cory the nod. I totally understand why he'd go for the flashier stuff--it got him spectacular KO wins in his last two fights-- but maybe this wasn't the time for it.

Side note: Miranda is a PhD student. I'm always fascinated by the academics who get into MMA and other sports.

Nice work from Cannonier. I sound like I broken record, but I still think Gastelum needs to go back to welterweight. As DC pointed out, there's so many moments when he just plain gets outmuscled at MW, despite even beating his opponents to superior positions during takedown attempts. He needs to find a proper dietitian, or whatever it takes to make the weight. I just feel like he's ruining his body for much less success than he could have at WW.

Highlight reel spinning wheel kick KO from Ignacio Bahamondes though. That was pretty cool.
https://youtu.be/obbhi82rSr0

Not hating on them, but I'd pick Oliveira or Aljamain to be the most at risk of losing first.

So the mma community take an L tonight. smh

Originally posted by Booya_69
So the mma community take an L tonight. smh

It also lends fuel to the fire of detractors. MMA fighters are often not great strikers.

Yeah, I think the problem is two-fold: MMA casuals and boxing purists.

MMA casuals don't realize MMA and boxing are different sports. Being the better overall fighter doesn't mean you'd win a boxing match. A boxing match is a very specific ruleset, and we should be impressed Tyron took it to a split decision tbh. Logan, love him or hate him, is a more experienced boxer at the end of the day. I kept telling folks this both for Askren and Woodley.

Many boxing purists incorrectly think this means MMA striking is "bad" though.

They don't realize the "boxing" portion of MMA is different from pure boxing. Sure, there's overlap, but it's not a 1:1 translation. Bareknuckle boxing has proven that, as that ruleset accommodates MMA style boxing a bit more. We saw Artem Lobov beat Paulie Malignaggi in Bareknuckle boxing, for example.

I would be curious if Logan actually boxed an MMA fighter that was his same size though. He keeps boxing MMA welterweights, and ones that are way past their prime.

Originally posted by StyleTime
Yeah, I think the problem is two-fold: MMA casuals and boxing purists.

MMA casuals don't realize MMA and boxing are different sports. Being the better overall fighter doesn't mean you'd win a boxing match. A boxing match is a very specific ruleset, and we should be impressed Tyron took it to a split decision tbh. Logan, love him or hate him, is a more experienced boxer at the end of the day. I kept telling folks this both for Askren and Woodley.

Many boxing purists incorrectly think this means MMA striking is "bad" though.

They don't realize the "boxing" portion of MMA is different from pure boxing. Sure, there's overlap, but it's not a 1:1 translation. Bareknuckle boxing has proven that, as that ruleset accommodates MMA style boxing a bit more. We saw Artem Lobov beat Paulie Malignaggi in Bareknuckle boxing, for example.

I would be curious if Logan actually boxed an MMA fighter that was his same size though. He keeps boxing MMA welterweights, and ones that are way past their prime.