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Date: Saturday, March 30
Preliminary Card (ESPN+): 22:30 BCT / 2:30pm PST / 5:30pm EST
Preliminary Card (ESPN): 00:00 BCT / 4pm PST / 7pm EST
Main Card (ESPN): 2:00 BCT / 6pm PST / 9pm EST
Live Streams: http://www.fìrstrow.eu/


https://i.imgur.com/Dw7l32V.jpg

Main Card (ESPN)

https://i.imgur.com/1M3a7Pb.gif Edson Barboza (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edson_Barboza) (20-6) vs. https://i.imgur.com/TNaFXPM.gif Justin Gaethje (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Gaethje) (19-2) (Lightweight)
https://i.imgur.com/TNaFXPM.gif David Branch (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Branch_(fighter)) (22-5) vs. https://i.imgur.com/S1w8SqT.gif Jack Hermansson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Hermansson) (18-4) (Middleweight)
https://i.imgur.com/TNaFXPM.gif Josh Emmett (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Emmett) (13-2) vs. https://i.imgur.com/TNaFXPM.gif Michael Johnson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Johnson_(fighter)) (19-13) (Featherweight)
https://i.imgur.com/7xYkGn0.gif Karolina Kowalkiewicz (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karolina_Kowalkiewicz) (12-3) vs. https://i.imgur.com/TNaFXPM.gif Michelle Waterson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Waterson) (16-6) (Women's Strawweight)
https://i.imgur.com/cmRz4O4.gif Paul Craig (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Craig_(fighter)) (10-3) vs. https://i.imgur.com/M5HAlET.gif Kennedy Nzechukwu (https://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Kennedy-Nzechukwu-212289) (6-0) (Light Heavyweight)
https://i.imgur.com/1M3a7Pb.gif Sheymon Moraes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheymon_Moraes) (11-2) vs. https://i.imgur.com/M5HAlET.gif Sodiq Yusuff (https://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Sodiq-Yusuff-152359) (8-1) (Featherweight)

Preliminary Card (ESPN)

https://i.imgur.com/9MsDPHl.gif Ross Pearson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Pearson) (20-15) vs. https://i.imgur.com/TNaFXPM.gif Desmond Green (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Green) (21-8) (Lightweight)
https://i.imgur.com/QsvKBvq.gif Enrique Barzola (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrique_Barzola) (15-3-1) vs. https://i.imgur.com/TNaFXPM.gif Kevin Aguilar (https://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Kevin-Aguilar-57838) (16-1) (Featherweight)
https://i.imgur.com/TNaFXPM.gif Kevin Holland (https://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Kevin-Holland-108999) (13-4) vs. https://i.imgur.com/TNaFXPM.gif Gerald Meerschaert (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Meerschaert) (28-10) (Middleweight)
https://i.imgur.com/U9DtY2I.gif Jessica Aguilar (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Aguilar) (20-7) vs. https://i.imgur.com/1M3a7Pb.gif Marina Rodriguez (https://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Marina-Rodriguez-193977) (10-0-1) (Strawweight)

Preliminary Card (ESPN+)

https://i.imgur.com/TNaFXPM.gif Ray Borg (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Borg) (11-3) vs. https://i.imgur.com/TNaFXPM.gif Kyler Phillips (https://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Kyler-Phillips-190919) (6-1) (Bantamweight)
https://i.imgur.com/HRmdqZF.gif Maryna Moroz (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryna_Moroz) (8-3) vs. https://i.imgur.com/WRoTS82.gif Sabina Mazo (https://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Sabina-Mazo-190501) (6-0) (Women's Flyweight)
https://i.imgur.com/TNaFXPM.gif Alex Perez (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Perez_(fighter)) (21-5) vs. https://i.imgur.com/TNaFXPM.gif Mark De La Rosa (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_De_La_Rosa) (11-1) (Bantamweight)

Other

- A strawweight bout between Alexa Grasso and Marina Rodriguez was scheduled at UFC Fight Night: Assuncao vs. Moraes 2. However, it was reported on December 17, that Rodriguez pulled out of the event due to a hand injury. The pairing was left intact and rescheduled for this event. In turn, it was reported that Grasso was pulled from the bout due to injury and she was replaced by Jessica Aguilar on March 23.

- A bantamweight bout between former UFC Flyweight Championship challenger Ray Borg and Pingyuan Liu was scheduled to take place at the event. However, it was reported on March 13, that Liu was replaced by newcomer Kyler Phillips for an undisclosed reason.

Thanks to the Puertorican for letting me use this content (https://www.liquidpoker.net/poker-forum/1161628/UFC_on_ESPN_2:_Barboza_vs._Gae...html).

Barboza vs Gaethje is a good bout to watch, well they both come from a K.O win but I think Gaethje got this fight.

I have noticed, that it is becoming common to put a women fight on on the main card.
Few years ago women in ufc were something new, now almost every event has 1-2 fights.

There were not much opportunities for women earlier but now they have plenty of options with every small organizations started allowing women fights and more women are coming into MMA and so is the reason you see more fighters but only a few are world class fighters but in the future things will change, the past champions were great in their respected sport until they shifted their focus to MMA and now we will see a new breed of fighters with mixed skill set like Valentina.

Barboza v Gaethje is a full on brawl without a doubt and Gaethje will march forward no matter what and i doubt Barboza will get the timing and distance to land his trademark kicks, someone will fall in the end for sure, never a boring fight when Gaethje is fighting, he is a good wrestler but never tried his basics inside the cage which is madness.

Notes.

-This will be Ray Borg's first fight moving up to 135 lbs. Ray Borg being around 5 foot 4 his opponent could have around 4 inches on him, standing at 5 foot 8. While initial odds are in Ray Borg's favor they could reverse later once the new weight division and size advantage of Ray Borg's opponent become more known.

-Both Justin Gaethje and Edson Barboza are known for unleashing powerful leg kicks to open fights. Neither is known to shoot for takedowns or go to the ground. The main event could be described as a king of the leg kickers contest.

-Jessica Aguilar is 36. David Branch is 37. Both could be nearing the end of their careers, respectively. Neither has looked good of late.

-Team Alpha Male has been on a losing streak of late. Not certain if it will affect Josh Emmett. If Emmett loses, it would be the latest in a long series of L's for T.A.M.

-This relates to Desmond Green:


Not certain if a negative pattern was forming here late last year but it is possible he's having personal issues which could affect his fighting career.

A couple of videos to watch and see what these guys are made of.  ;)  Barboza's prolly gonna win but I'm leaning towards Gaethje.  It feels like Gaethje's constant pressure could be too much and could neutralize Barboza's kicks.

Enjoy.

UFC on ESPN 2:  Free Fight - Barboza vs Dariush
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-wgTk6cgb4

UFC on ESPN 2:  Free Fight - Gaethje vs Vick
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRpMM4Wat8c

In my opinion, this will be a pretty astonishing bout both players have a lower body strength that each opponent should watch out for, Justin Gaethje is a Wrestler so submissions are just like a walk in the park and he obviously has potential in countering it, But Edson Barboza doesn't likely to use a submission against his opponent I should say Gaethje should watch out for Barboza's explosive knee kicks and roundhouse kicks that apparently will knock him out and because of Barboza had the upper hand with the reach but apparently this match will be stunning, I have a second thought of who would I pick but I will go with Barboza because I am seeing some intimidation on him than on Gaethje.

Yeah, both of them have been in wars for years, but I think Gaethje  is more strong mentally though, I see Barboza easily gave up when he is overwhelmed, but Gaethje seems to fight back when his back is against the wall.

I think some value in "human punching bag" at plus money.
Hes never in a a bad fight and certifiably brings it each time!
Hate to acknowledge the man by that name but its how hes mentioned in the media.

At first the two head liners doesn't ring a bell for me but upon looking at the fight stats of this two Barboza and Gaethje and most specially Gaethje, both striking percentage is above 50% and Gaethje take down attempts is only 1 but KO finishes is at 16 out of 19. I'm looking forward for a slug fest this coming Saturday.

Some women fights are more watchable than men fights unsurprisingly if the girls fighting are 2 beautiful women hehehe.

https://i.ibb.co/qy9c3s0/image.jpg https://i.ibb.co/tQTjCLk/image.jpg

In any case, I reckon Karolina is the real karate hottie, but I predict Michelle Waterson will win this, however. She has improved her clinching where it showed during her fight vs Felice Herrig.

Both are 33 years old and nearing the end of their career. IMO, the best lady out there is Maryna Moroz of Ukraine. She recently lost to Angela Hill in a very keenly contested match (unanimous decision after 3rd round), but her performance was awesome.

I hope there's a 2.5 under line with decent odds open somewhere mear the day of the event cos these guys look like they're gonna go at each other from the start.  :)

UFC on ESPN 2:  Barboza vs Gaethje - Striking at its Finest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR6xD7SsQz4

Here are the odds from Nitrogensports.eu

Edson Barboza (-129) vs. Justin Gaethje (+115)
David Branch (+105) vs. Jack Hermansson (-118)
Josh Emmett (-106) vs. Michael Johnson (-106)
Karolina Kowalkiewicz (-151) vs. Michelle Waterson (+133)
Paul Craig (+172) vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu (-196)
Sheymon Moraes (+125) vs. Sodiq Yusuff (-141)

Look at the odds given at the fight between Josh Emmett and Michael Johnson.
Surprised with the odds given to Edson Barboza and Justin Gaethje.

33 years old but looking better than most 18 year olds hehehehe. Certainly in this modern time of fast food, tv entertainment and video games.

Also, Conor has announced his retirement from MMA.

Read in full https://www.mmanews.com/conor-mcgregor-announces-his-retirement-from-mma-again/

By the looks of their body, they look young due to their constant training. Anyway, most models nowadays who look young were above their 20s or 30s but still kicking ass with their beauty and most especially to the ones who can fight inside the ring.

And for Conor, finally, he's planning to end his career and it seems that after his last fight he stopped since it would bring chaos to both of them.

@Zadicar. I reckon it might be something similar to what Floyd Mayweather is doing. He comes out of retirement only if the money offered is high enough for him.

Gaethje has a great punch I watched his fight against Vicks several times https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TfsiEOyvJo and the guy really packs a wallop, such devastating one punch and it took Vicks several times, to realize that he has been knock out, I expect to see Gaethje to do this again my bet is on Gaethje.

^  Yup.  But Barboza could f*ck him up with body shots tho...  But yeah, still leaning on Gaethje cos the odds on seem value.

He was not very happy with UFC. And to tell the truth, he wasn't given fair treatment by the UFC (probably because he was non-American). But that is no valid reason to stay out of MMA altogether. There are other brands out there, such as Bellator and DREAM. But the financials may not be as strong as UFC.

@Sithara007. I reckon Conor was asking too much from the UFC. According to some news adricles, he wanted ownership shares. However, he was told by Dana White that it was never going to happen.

Maybe this is another story board created by Conor and Dana to reboot Conor's MMA career hehehe.

Dana (i.e UFC) can survive without Conor (may be they'll lose a few hundred thousand Irish supporters). But can Conor survive without UFC? I don't know whether the rumors are true or not. If he is demanding the ownership shares, then I would say that he is bargaining too hard. Needs to be realistic about your demands...

Here are the odds for the Preliminary Card in ESPN and Preliminary Card in ESPN+

Preliminary Card (ESPN)
Ross Pearson (+350) vs. Desmond Green (-446)
Enrique Barzola (-115) vs.Kevin Aguilar (+102)
Kevin Holland (-188) vs.Gerald Meerschaert (+165)
Jessica Aguilar (+280) vs. Marina Rodriguez (-347)

Preliminary Card (ESPN+)
Ray Borg (-242) vs. Casey Kenney (+210)
Maryna Moroz (+125) vs.Sabina Mazo (-141)
Alex Perez (-347) vs.Mark De La Rosa (+280)

data from Nitrogensports.eu

Edited: Replace Kyler Philipps to Casey Kenney

Conor can survive comfortably hehehe. He made more the $100mil in his fighting career and he also has Proper no.12, his whisky distillery which is killing it according to Dana.

Also, why will Conor not buy the shares? Why does he want the UFC to give it to him as an offering?

I hope so, we have seen lots of sports personalities in the past who have lost all their fighting money. He has a lavish lifestyles, the cars, the houses, you need big money to maintained it. So I don't know if he can stay afloat with that if he stop his fighting career.

But the good thing is that he has a fall back though, like you said. His whisky business, will it bring enough money for him after he retired?

Probably wanted be a majority share holders, hehehe.

There is no guarantee that whisky business will remain profitable forever. If this guy is intelligent, then he should tone down his demands, make sure that he gets 1-2 good fights per year and aim for around $100 million per fight (that was the amount he earned during his fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov)

https://www.forbes.com/sites/trentreinsmith/2018/10/05/dana-white-conor-mcgregor-could-make-100-million-for-ufc-229-fight-against-khabib-nurmagomedov/#781825cd6638

I wonder what happened to Kyler Phillips, he was replaced by Casey Kenny (7-1-1) to fight Ray Borg. Kyler Philipps is a replace to Pingyuan Liu. Ray Borg needs to do a lot of homework since he needs to study the fighting style of Casey Kenny. Imagine from reviewing the fighting style of Pingyuan Liu, then Kyler Phillips and now with few days left till fight day Casey Kenny steps in.

Hah yes!  Gaethje won!  And I should've put some action on the under 1.5 rounds.  It kinda felt like it was gonna be all over at the first round (which it did) before the event.

Anyway here are the results.

https://i.imgur.com/hXu6Bi2.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/qSL5hAN.jpg

Didn't made a bet this time, but watched the highlights later. Edson Barboza lasted for a total of 63 seconds more than James Vick...

Justin Gaethje was simply outstanding.. and after the match, he was challenging Khabib Nurmagomedov!!! I would love to see Gaethje fighting against the Russian. Nurmagomedov has never lost a match... till now.. and if anyone has got any chance against him, it is going to be Gaethje.

https://usatmmajunkie.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/justin-gaethje-edson-barboza-ufc-on-espn-2-9.jpg

The fact remains that Conor McGregor does not need to fight again in his life as he is a smart business man and he has diversified his portfolio into his proper twelve whiskey and he is making a huge profit as it is an instant hit in the market and making millions with that business alone and how about the hundred million he earned from his fight against Mayweather and other millions he earned in his MMA career. Do i think he is really retired and will never come back, i am sure he will be back to fight but he will dictate his terms.

The fight card was a really predictable one and i messed up with Ray Borg as i never expected him to be outclassed like this. :'(

Damn, I knew Gaethje will win this match, but I wasn't expected that Barbosa will be demolished like this one. As I have said, when Barbosa was somewhat 'damage' in the exchange, specially his right eye, you can see that he can't handle it mentally. But it looks like a poke to the eye to me. Anyways, good win for Gaethje.

Nope, don't think so.  Khabib is just way too strong and he's just gonna throw Gaethje around like a rag doll imo.

I'd like to see Gaethje go for Iaquinta then Khabib if he wins tho.

Khabib is just an animal without a doubt but nothing can be predicted in a fight and anything can happen, if one punch connects properly that is the end of the fight and Gaethje is a really explosive fighter but when Khabib grabs you the fight is literally over, i would like to see Gaethje facing Antony Pettis and it will be a great fight without a doubt.

Hmm.. right now no one has a fair chance of defeating Khabib. You are right, may be it will be better for Gaethje to fight against Iaquinta this year. I just checked the most recent UFC rankings. Obviously Khabib Nurmagomedov is at #1 followed by Tony Ferguson. Al Iaquinta is at #5 and Justin Gaethje is at #9. BTW, do you know who s the next opponent for Khabib? 

https://www.mmafighting.com/2019/4/1/18290864/coach-says-justin-gaethje-doesnt-present-much-of-a-threat-to-khabib-nurmagomedov

Read what  Javier Mendez has to say if there is a potential match between Gaethje and Khabib. Just like most of us think, Gaethje will offer nothing to the table to beat Khabib. We don't know if he likes to go to fight again, but I'm sure they are looking for money fights now.

I really enjoyed the whole event which had some nice upsets.
Gaethje vs. Barboza was as expected with both fighters giving it all right from the start. Gaethje deserved this one, he touched his opponent a couple of times before knocking him down. Very spectacular !
Hermansson was impressive too, showing he's a complete fighter.
I also liked seeing Craig win with his triangle choke after being dominated the whole fight and taking this one with less than 40 seconds left.
Emmett's k.o. over Johnson was impressive too.
All and all, a very fun night.

Wait for the ranking's update.  Gaethje should be at 6 after winning vs Barboza. 

And Iaquinta is fighting Cerrone (that's gonna be a good match), so I guess Gaethje could go for the winner of that match and then go for a title shot?

No idea on Khabib's next opponent.  It should be Ferguson imo, but he has some personal issues to fix.  They say he went insane or something...  No April Fools.  :D   

^^^ I think Tony Ferguson is currently undergoing psychiatric treatment. Check this:

https://twitter.com/TonyFergusonXT/status/1108161098614661120

If that is the case, then he is ineligible for participating in UFC, right? Or do you want some mentally unstable guy to fight Khabib?

You mean another one ?

^  What 'another one'?  This happened before?


Huh?  And why would I want to see Ferguson fight if he wasn't fit?  Of course I wanna see fit, peak Ferguson to fight Khabib.  It's like one of the most anticipated matches of all time and it seems always jinxed everytime it's scheduled.

Oh I was just talking about a guy who likes to throw dollys and chairs at buses windows in a parking lot lol.

^  Lololol.  Ah.  They guy who loves thowing dollys, chairs, water bottles, whatever is a sociopath.  The other guy who sprinkles holy water on his wife and who could hear voices in the walls is like totally insane.  I hope he gets better soon.

In that case, a fight between these two loonies may be the most exciting fight of the year. Some of the price money can be used for their psychiatric treatment, and the rest can be used to compensate for all those broken chairs and equipment.

^  Lol.  :D

I mean seriously...  Those guys on Reddit would have a field day making memes on that one.

Lols, you guys give me a good chuckle reading your replies.  ;D. Is that the effect of getting too much punch in the face? ;D