UFC / MMA
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Some very good fights and a couple of daylight robberies
Smith needs to retire
Was sad seeing him loseChoi was excellent
Mitchell impressive
Volkov was robbed
Shak v Garry was excellent
Toughest fight both have hadPantoja was magnificent
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Navajo Stirling makes his UFC debut this weekend.
I'm confident this guy will have a good career. Another quality kickboxer but according to Bareman he's more advanced as a grappler than some of the other CKB fighters were when they first arrived
Here's his KO in the Contender series
UFC on Sky was mostly about him this week
Also Ulberg is fighting Blachowicz in March. The winner likely gets a title shot
2025 might be a very good year for Kiwi fighters. Not saying all of this will happen but:
- KKF probably has the next title shot v Pantoja
- Ulberg is probably one win away from a title fight
- Adesanya is probably one win away from another title fight
- Hooker might be one win away from a title fight (prob needs an impressive finish though)
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Cool to see these guys training together. The chances of them fighting again is slim.
Makes sense for Whittaker to spend some time with CKB too. He's been talking about moving up to LHW and there's a couple of quality LHW's at the gym to compare himself with
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Finally got around to 311. Merab / Umar and Jiri /Jamahal were pretty awesome. Others although finishes just seemed kinda forgettable, not entirely sure why. Aside from Holland didn't really know of any of the others and even he's lost so much its hard to be excited about his fights. Great to see Pereira / Ankalaev announced after what looked like on social media that it wasn't going to happen..starting to think they might have been planning to milk Pereira with weaker easier style-fits while they can rather than against an actual threat.
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Merab took him to deep water
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@Rembrandt said in UFC / MMA:
Rumours are Kai Kara-France will be facing Pantoja for the title at UFC314...no idea how accurate rumours are but surely he's the most likely candidate left
It's almost certain. KKF has been talking about that date recently. Hopefully we get the official announcement at the event this weekend
It's a big few months for CKB
This weekend - Adesanya v Imavov
A tricky fight. I'm interested too watch Izzy's cardio, Bareman was critical after the last fight. He was in control against DDP then made an error that Bareman blamed on tiredness. We're at the stage where age might be becoming a factor. Maybe a change in tactics and he'll go for a stoppage earlier?If Adesanya wins he'll probably fight the winner of DDP v Strickland for the belt
March 8th - Hooker v Gaethje (UFC 313)
5 rounds. I expect Hooker to get a title challenge if he wins. This fight should be funMarch 22 - Ulberg v Blachowicz (London)
Ulberg might get a title challenge if he wins. He probably needs to do it in style thoughApril 12 - Probably Pantoja v KKF (UFC 314)
For the titleMaybe Volk in April too?
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@Duluth good few months but outside of maybe Izzy the kiwi fighters will be pretty significant underdogs. Be interesting how Ulberg handles a wrestler, Pereira only just scraped past him.
Cracking interview with Hooker here, can see why he is such a fan favourite.
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Yeah Hooker not a huge underdog though. I think the odds are wrong on that one too.. Gaethje is very popular and that clouds opinions
Re Adesanya, I see Hooker was saying he’s leaned up again. Perhaps he had too much muscle on and that was affecting the cardio? I’m guessing he was thinking of moving to LHW and now has decided to complete his career at MW
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Adesanya got caught at the beginning of the 2nd. Striking was looking sharp but he’s getting hit more often than he used to.. he also got hit by an upper cut in the first too.
Will be interesting to see what he does now. I wouldn’t be surprised if he retires as he always talked about not staying around too long
Maybe he should’ve taken the break for the eye poke? No real complaints about the stoppage, maybe one punch early but he was rocked
Imavov v DDP would be great. Despite the previous result I think Imavov would get past Strickland relatively comfortably
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Huge win for Page
Dominance
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@Rembrandt Jan is not a wrestler, he has very good Muy Thai, beat prime Izzy on the feet, destroyed Ankalaev on the feet, then lost (drew) the fight due to poor wrestling. His wrestling is ok and he has solid jiujitsu. could see him mixing it up and using takedowns if required, Ulberg much younger and more athletic as Jan now 40s?
Dan I dont think can handle the damage of Gaethje, but love to see him win. Imo Dan has to fight outside technical, but he seems to botch it when he tries that
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@muddyriver said in UFC / MMA:
Dan I dont think can handle the damage of Gaethje, but love to see him win. Imo Dan has to fight outside technical, but he seems to botch it when he tries that
Basically agree but the big variable is how good is Gaethje now?
I was surprised at how much he struggled in his last fight. He looked considerably slower than in previous fights. Maybe an off night, perhaps the early head kick screwed everything up? I'm sceptical it was a one off.. the cumulative damage that guy has taken is huge
Even if that version of Gaethje turns up he still has the power and despite the nasty KO is so durable. Still, I think Hooker would be very happy this fight is taking place in 2025 and not 2022/23
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That fight (DDP Strickland) was pretty disappointing. DDP just exudes confidence, Strickland looked resigned to a beating and never looked like he was going to take control. Can’t help but think that Dana White keeps betting against DDP and losing…. What happened to UFC title defense in South Africa?
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That fight (DDP Strickland) was pretty disappointing. DDP just exudes confidence, Strickland looked resigned to a beating and never looked like he was going to take control.
Strickland has done this a few times in his career. He did it against Cannonier too but came out on the right side of the split scorecards
Can’t help but think that Dana White keeps betting against DDP and losing…. What happened to UFC title defense in South Africa?
It's a conspiracy! Justice for DDP
White says "I'd like to see that" to almost every question about locations. Or he'll say 'Yes that will happen'
with no guarantees about dates. When pressed on an Africa card he said it depends on two things - a compelling card & good authorities to do business withA compelling card? Well I think a Nigerian card was closer 3-4 years ago than a SA card right now
SA politicians? Hahaha. The UFC has plenty of locations begging for cards (they haven't been back to loads of places since covid) they will go to countries and states they know they can deal with first
DDP will spend a lot of his career with his de facto home being Australia and maybe London. Similar to Adesanya who has never had a UFC fight at home. Aussie was his 'home' and the Saudi's seemed to pay money for him too
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Doubt he'll get a title shot again. I'd like to see him and Whittaker finally fight
The way he was calling Khamzat out hard during the media interviews had me thinking that will be his plan B. If he loses to Dricus then maybe beat Whittaker or another high level and hope for a Khamzat title fight if Khamzat beats Dricus.
He's just so effectively one dimensional. Much more entertaining outside of the cage than in it.
