UFC FN 144: Assuncao vs Moraes 2 Prediction and Info Thread

[tokeweed]

Date: Saturday, January 2
Preliminary Card (ESPN+): 22:00 BCT / 2pm PST / 5pm EST
Main Card (ESPN+): 1:00 BCT / 5pm PST / 8pm EST
Live Streams: http://www.fìrstrow.eu/




Main Card (ESPN+)

Raphael Assuncao (27-5) vs. Marlon Moraes (21-5-1) (Bantamweight)
Jose Aldo (27-4) vs. Renato Moicano (13-1-1) (Featherweight)
Demian Maia (25-9) vs. Lyman Good (20-4) (Welterweight)
Charles Oliveira (25-8) vs. David Teymur (8-1) (Lightweight)
Johnny Walker (15-3) vs. Justin Ledet (9-1) (Light Heavyweight)
Livia Renata Souza (12-1) vs. Sarah Frota (9-0) (Women's Strawweight)

Preliminary Card (ESPN+)

Markus Perez (10-2) vs. Anthony Hernandez (7-0) (Middleweight)
Thiago Alves (22-13) vs. Max Griffin (14-5) (Welterweight)
Mara Romero Borella (11-5) vs. Taila Santos (15-0) (Women's Flyweight)
Junior Albini (14-4) vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik (6-0) (Heavyweight)
Geraldo de Freitas Jr. (11-4) vs. Felipe Colares (8-0) (Bantamweight)
Ricardo Ramos (12-1) vs. Said Nurmagomedov (12-1) (Bantamweight)
Rogerio Bontorin (14-1) vs. Magomed Bibulatov (14-1) (Flyweight)

Other

- Dmitry Sosnovskiy was scheduled to face Junior Albini at the event. However Sosnovskiy pulled out of the fight in early January after undergoing surgery to correct a recent injury. On January 2, it was announced that Albini will now face promotional newcomer Jairzinho Rozenstruik.

Thanks to the Puertorican for letting me us this content.

[tokeweed]

Here are the weigh ins for the event.  It's not really a high profile event but I'm still pretty much excited to see how Aldo's gonna do. 

UFC FN 144:  Weigh Ins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DS_Jp2IA3FA

Raphael Assuncao (136) vs. Marlon Moraes (135)
Jose Aldo (146) vs. Renato Moicano (145.5)
Demian Maia (170.5) vs. Lyman Good (170.5)
Charles Oliveira (154.4) vs. David Teymur (156)
Johnny Walker (205) vs. Justin Ledet (205)
Livia Renata Souza (115.5) vs. Sarah Frota (123)
Markus Perez (185.5) vs. Anthony Hernandez (184.5)
Thiago Alves (170.5) vs. Max Griffin (170)
Mara Romero Borella (125) vs. Taila Santos (125)
Junior Albini (265.5) vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik (241.5)
Geraldo de Freitas Jr. (145.5) vs. Felipe Colares (145)
Ricardo Ramos (135.5) vs. Said Nurmagomedov (135)
Rogerio Bontorin (124.5) vs. Magomed Bibulatov (127)

[eaLiTy]

This is one of those cards which i am really confused on what to bet and how each will perform.  Raphael Assuncao and Marlon Moraes are experienced fighters and i am not sure whom to pick and that is the case with Jose Aldo, i am not sure which form he is in, if he is the old Aldo i will blindly put a bet on him but Renato Moicano is a killer, i might pick Demian Maia to win but his age is the problem. Have to check the entire card once again to come up with a decision.

[Baofeng]

There's a lot of recognizable names in the card like Thiago Alves, Demian Maia, Jose Aldo and Raphael Assuncao. But I would agree that this isn't a high profile match because some of them are already past their primes. Although Aldo won his last fight against a game Stephen, I'm still not totally buying that he is back. Moraes is a big test for him.

[tokeweed]

This is one of those cards which i am really confused on what to bet and how each will perform.  Raphael Assuncao and Marlon Moraes are experienced fighters and i am not sure whom to pick and that is the case with Jose Aldo, i am not sure which form he is in, if he is the old Aldo i will blindly put a bet on him but Renato Moicano is a killer, i might pick Demian Maia to win but his age is the problem. Have to check the entire card once again to come up with a decision.

Just pick the underdogs.  Lol.  I bet small on both Aldo and Assuncao.  Just around 5 bucks each just to make it interesting to watch.  But I'm def rooting for Aldo tho.  He needs to build his way up there again...  And I feel like he deserves a rematch vs McGregor and hope it happens at LW. 

[btc_angela]

^^ Yeah, might be good to put money specially on Jose Aldo. I wouldn't say that Moicano is a beast, but this guy is really improving so it's going to be interesting to see how Aldo will take on this young prospect. I don't think that a rematch with Conor though is feasible at this point. Aldo needs to live with that KO lost for the rest of his UFC career.  

[mich]

Not alot of discussion for this one maybe its cause both fighters arent too popular.
Aldo only been +money vs champs so wonder how good value is here.

[tokeweed]

Hah!  Aldo!!!  He's like just a bout away for another title shot imo.  What do you guys think of seeing him vs Brian Ortega?  

Anyway, here are the results.

[btc_angela]

When everyone has started to write off Jose (including myself), and saying that he is declining, he show us a vintage performance. He really improve his striking and his hands are very quick plus the body shots, Yes, he should fight Brian Ortega next or fight Conor in Brazil, that will be huge.

[mich]

Brilliant performance by the former champion of the world Aldo!
I couldnt have been the only one who thought this could have turned into another Kabib incident:
https://au.sports.yahoo.com/absolute-savage-ufc-veteran-goes-nuts-superb-ko-043451811.html

[bbc.reporter]

@mich. It appeared that Jose Aldo might have hurt his knee or his ankle when he did it hehehe. He was hiding the pain, however there was a very faint limp in his walk when he returned in the octagon.

[eaLiTy]

Just pick the underdogs.  Lol.  I bet small on both Aldo and Assuncao.  Just around 5 bucks each just to make it interesting to watch.  But I'm def rooting for Aldo tho.  He needs to build his way up there again...  And I feel like he deserves a rematch vs McGregor and hope it happens at LW.  

It was the vintage Aldo in action, I was having doubt with his mentality simply because he was supposed to be the main card but he declined that he does not want that spot and he will take a three round fight instead and so is the reason he was made the co main event. Now I understood why he declined the main spot, he just want to perform at this best in three rounds and not to go through the intensity of five rounds with no belts on the line against a young blood.

[TravelMug]

Brilliant performance by the former champion of the world Aldo!
I couldnt have been the only one who thought this could have turned into another Kabib incident:
https://au.sports.yahoo.com/absolute-savage-ufc-veteran-goes-nuts-superb-ko-043451811.html

Yes, I agree that he showed a lot in this fight and it looks like he bring back the time with his performance.

Aldo usually does that though, he jumps off the cage and run to his fans and celebrate a big win. Ortega next?

[NavI_027]

To be honest, I'm not familiar with both contenders who are fighting in the main event. This is my first time to hear the name of those two fighters even though this fight is their rematch . (I'm not really a fan of matches in the bantamweight class)
Wow! Aldo has a fight again and I think he can win this fight because his opponent is still young. Well, I admit that Moicano got a nice record but I still go for Aldo.

Said Nurmagomedov (12-1)

I thought he was a younger brother of Khabib right after I saw his name, but after I searched his name in Google I found out that he is not related to him at all. This man got a nice record too, how funny to think that the name Nurmagomedov is very good in MMA lol.

[mich]

@mich. It appeared that Jose Aldo might have hurt his knee or his ankle when he did it hehehe. He was hiding the pain, however there was a very faint limp in his walk when he returned in the octagon.

Leaping over Brazilian commentary looking fine to me