UFC FN 106: Belfort vs Gastelum Info and Prediction Thread

[tokeweed]

Date: Saturday, March 11th
Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass): 11:30 BCT / 3:30pm PST / 6:30pm EST
Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 1): 1:00 BCT / 5pm PST / 8pm EST
Main Card (Fox Sports 1): 3:00 BCT / 7pm PST / 10pm EST
Live Streams: http://firstrowus1.eu/




Main Card (Fox Sports 1)

Vitor Belfort (25-13) vs. Kelvin Gastelum (13-2) (Middleweight)
Mauricio Rua (24-10) vs. Gian Villante (15-7) (Light Heavyweight)
Edson Barboza (18-4) vs. Beneil Dariush (14-2) (Lightweight)
Jussier Formiga (19-4) vs. Ray Borg (10-2) (Flyweight)
Bethe Correia (10-2) vs. Marion Reneau (7-3) (Women's Bantamweight)
Alex Oliveira (15-4-1) vs. Tim Means (26-7-1) (Welterweight)

Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 1)

Francisco Trinaldo (21-4) vs. Kevin Lee (14-2) (Lightweight)
Godofredo Pepey (13-4) vs. Kyle Bochniak (7-1) (Featherweight)
Sergio Moraes (11-2-1) vs. Davi Ramos (6-1) (Welterweight)
Michel Prazeres (21-2) vs. Josh Burkman (28-14) (Lightweight)

Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)

Rony Jason (14-6) vs. Jeremy Kennedy (9-0) (Featherweight)
Rani Yahya (23-8) vs. Joe Soto (17-5) (Bantamweight)
Garreth McLellan (13-5) vs. Paulo Henrique Costa (8-0) (Middleweight)

Other

- Max Griffin was expected to face Sergio Moraes at the event. However, Griffin pulled out of the fight on March 2 citing an undisclosed injury. He was replaced by promotional newcomer Davi Ramos on March 4. Ramos is a BJJ specialist who won a gold medal at ADCC 2015 in Sao Paulo -- he usually fights at Lightweight in MMA, but will fight Moraes at Welterweight.

Thanks to the PuertoRican for letting me use this content

[SaShiRaJaVu]

Full stacked Brazilian card and i am not sure how the testing will be done outside US Belfort with TRT is a different fighter so i will wait to see the weigh ins how they look before deciding the line.I will go for Mauricio Rua , Bethe Correia andd Alex Oliveira to win the match,have to watch the rest of their tapes to make a decision.

[krach]

The only pick I have right now is Beneil Dariush who has great value vs. Barboza.
I also like Kelvin Gastelum over Vetor but the odds are not great. Other leans: Rua and  Reneau
Ill be back with a video and concrete picks soon.

[bbc.reporter]

@krach. Once again I will follow you on that bet on Beneil Dariush even if I think the Brazilians will take their TRT juices. Sash has a point when he said that there is no USADA in this event. I will also bet on Vitor if he looks roided during weigh-ins.

[Hydrogen]

The Godofredo Pepey vs Kyle Bochniak fight was cancelled.

If it hadn't been it would have been the 1st UFC event I've seen with 13 fights.

Should be a good card in brazil with a brazilian in every fight.

Excited to see this.

 

[tokeweed]

Good call on USADA not being able to test these fighters for the upcoming fight.  So I believe the UFC will be doing the tests?  After the Fertitta bro.s selling the UFC to WME-IMG, I noticed one thing.  They now want more spectacular fights more than real good match ups.  

Since this will be Belfort's last fight, I can see the UFC favoring him by you know...  I'm fairly confident that we'll see TRTor Belfort on the weigh ins.  

[krach]

TRT JUCIES

 lol
Asume all pro athletes are on something to push it to the limit, regardless of sport.
It is a matter of getting caught.

Barboza is chinny, doesnt fight well moving backwards. Possibly overrated because of spinning kicks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSFXXSijjkA



If you have never watched Tommy Toe Hold then you need to.
Here is an old one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfYSxLvnwng

[tokeweed]

I can't wait for the weigh ins this weekend and see how the Brazilians look.  If you notice a more square jaw, more lines on their faces and a more than normal ripped body, then assume their on performance enhancing drugs of some sort.  I can see the Brazilians winning the majority of fights in the event.  No USADA may be one of the reasons why.

Here's a video of Belfort vs Rockhold.  Is he on PEDs on this one?  Serious question.

Enjoy! 

Fight Night Fortaleza Free Fight: Vitor Belfort vs Luke Rockhold
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKY9GiJgUHw

[tokeweed]

Hmmmm...  It doesn't look like Belfort is in TRTor mode, looking at his face during the media day face offs.  His jaw isn't quite square enough.  There are slight differences in Belfort's face when he's on and off TRT.  I could be wrong tho. 

Do fighters take PEDs during training or do they take it days or even the night before the fight?  I guess I'll have to read up about it.

Fight Night Fortaleza: Media Day Faceoffs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS18s28c1dA

Enjoy! 

[Kemarit]

Hmmmm...  It doesn't look like Belfort is in TRTor mode, looking at his face during the media day face offs.  His jaw isn't quite square enough.  There are slight differences in Belfort's face when he's on and off TRT.  I could be wrong tho. 

Do fighters take PEDs during training or do they take it days or even the night before the fight?  I guess I'll have to read up about it.

Fight Night Fortaleza: Media Day Faceoffs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS18s28c1dA

Enjoy! 

I thought Vitor is already fighting post-TRT?  Anyways, I'm been watching Kevin Gastelum since he upset Uriah Hall  at The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale.
I love Vitor but I will go with Kevin here. I think he has a good chance of upsetting the "The Phenom".  Vitor is turning 40 and if fighting as natty?? and his window of opportunity is quickly closing in. I think Vitor will tire out in the second or third round. I'm predicting that Gastellum will take over if he see that Vitor is tiring and will try to go for a submission. Kevin by submission round by round 3-5.

[Hydrogen]

Anderson Silva's old striking coach, Rafael Cordeiro, might be training Shogun, Kelvin Gastelum, Marion Reneau and Beneil Dariush out of King's MMA for this one.

I like the style of stand up kickboxing he teaches.

AFAIK USADA tests in brazil. The only difference is the brazilian athletic commission is in charge there. Everything else is the same. USADA sends testers which randomly show up to collect samples.

[tokeweed]

There's not much to say about the weigh ins except that it looks like none of the fighters look different, aka under PED use.    I can say that I'm slightly disappointed by this because I really wanted to see Belfort at his best.  Yes he's at his best if he's on PEDs.  We've seen it lots of times in his fights all those years ago.  He was always under PEDs before the USADA came up with stricter rules.

UFC Fight Night Fortaleza: Official Weigh-in
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VpUpQ7fdSU

Vitor Belfort (186) vs Kelvin Gastelum (185)
Mauricio Rua (206) vs Gian Villante (206)
Edson Barboza (155) vs Beneil Dariush (156)
Jussier Formiga (126) vs Ray Borg (126)
Bethe Correia (136) vs Marion Reneau (135)
Alex Oliveira (171) vs Tim Means (170)
Francisco Trinaldo (156) vs Kevin Lee (156)
Sergio Moraes (171) vs Davi Ramos (170)
Rani Yahya (136) vs Joe Soto (135)
Michel Prazeres (156) vs Josh Burkman (156)
Rony Jason (146) vs Jeremy Kennedy (146)
Garreth McLellan (184) vs Paulo Henrique Costa (185)

Hydrogen, thanks for the heads up about USADA in Brazil.

[bbc.reporter]

What is going on with Jussier Formiga and Ray Borg? Early this week I saw him as the slight favorite and now he is the slight underdog. Maybe there is a hidden injury perhaps? I tried searching for some news but everything is fine with them.

[tokeweed]

I lost both my bets on Dariush and my last minute bet on Formiga. I wish I listened to krach's advice on Reneau. That would have added a W on my column. 

Vitor Belfort looked decent in the beginning but he's slow compared to Gastelum.  He's done.  Time to make way for the young guns.  I think this fight is a stepping stone for Gastelum too.  At least in his future fights, he can be marketed as the guy who 'beat Belfort into retirement'.

Edit:  Didn't realize the draw until eality mentioned it.  Didn't watch any of the games and fights live this weekend.  Too busy.  Just watched the highlights of the matches that I had bets on.

[eaLiTy]

The only loss in my bet for this event was Joe Soto V Rani Yahya. The rest of the card was pretty easy to wage and won big time and the only expectation was Bethe Correia as i thought she could win rather it went for a draw and if the match was not in Brazil Marion Reneau will win the match as she won the third round with a score of 10-8 without a doubt and still only one judge gave the match to Reneau and went for a majority draw.

[krach]

Tough beat on the Reneau fight majorty draw 
Dariush , damn Barboza did good timing that knee, amazing.
Dariush did well up to that point in the fight.
It is a hard sport and that is why we like it.

[HaXX0R1337]

Tough beat on the Reneau fight majorty draw  
Dariush , damn Barboza did good timing that knee, amazing.
Dariush did well up to that point in the fight.
It is a hard sport and that is why we like it.

I really cannot understand how they scored the bout to make it a majority draw. and it is true that the Brazilian judges will favor the home town fighter while scoring the fights and that is the reason it is know that if you are planning to go to either UK or Brazil you have to win the match before going to the judges as i have seen some strange results in close matches.

[krach]

Even with the new rules it still wont prevent these kinds of decsions. IMO untill there is some kind of major change and a move away from the 10 pt system we will always have a hard time with the judges.

[SaShiRaJaVu]

Even with the new rules it still wont prevent these kinds of decsions. IMO untill there is some kind of major change and a move away from the 10 pt system we will always have a hard time with the judges.

They have to come up with a new scoring system as they have taken this scoring system from boxing which is really a one dimensional sport ,they have to come up with a scoring system to score take downs and take down defense as well as kicking and striking and have to give a ten point system for every activity in a round .

[bbc.reporter]

Even with the new rules it still wont prevent these kinds of decsions. IMO untill there is some kind of major change and a move away from the 10 pt system we will always have a hard time with the judges.

Why not treat the whole 3 or 5 rounds as 1 long fight instead of treating them and scoring them on a per round basis. This will discourage some fighters from winning on points per round alone like Wonderboy or Dominic Cruz and fight to the finish.