UFC 231: Holloway vs Ortega Prediction and Info Thread

[tokeweed]

Date: Saturday, December 8
Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass): 22:59 BCT / 3pm PST / 6pm EST
Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 1): 1:00 BCT / 5pm PST / 8pm EST
Main Card (PPV): 3:00 BCT / 7pm PST / 10pm EST
Live Streams: http://www.fìrstrow.eu/




Main Card (PPV)

Max Holloway (19-3) vs. Brian Ortega (14-0) (Featherweight Championship)
Valentina Shevchenko (15-3) vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk (15-2) (Women's Flyweight Championship)
Alex Oliveira (19-5-1) vs. Gunnar Nelson (16-3-1) (Welterweight)
Hakeem Dawodu (8-1-1) vs. Kyle Bochniak (8-3) (Featherweight)
Jimi Manuwa (17-4) vs. Thiago Santos (19-6) (Light Heavyweight)

Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 1)

Claudia Gadelha (16-3) vs. Nina Ansaroff (9-5) (Women's Strawweight)
Katlyn Chookagian (11-1) vs. Jessica Eye (13-6) (Women's Flyweight)
Eryk Anders (11-2) vs. Elias Theodorou (15-2) (Middleweight)
Olivier Aubin-Mercier (11-3) vs. Gilbert Burns (13-3) (Lightweight)

Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)

Devin Clark (9-2) vs. Aleksandar Rakic (10-1) (Light Heavyweight)
Brad Katona (7-0) vs. Matthew Lopez (10-3) (Bantamweight)
Chad Laprise (13-3) vs. Dhiego Lima (12-7) (Welterweight)
Carlos Diego Ferreira (13-2) vs. Jesse Ronson (20-8) (Lightweight)

Other

- Antonio Carlos Junior and The Ultimate Fighter: Nations middleweight winner Elias Theodorou was initially scheduled to take place at UFC Fight Night: Santos vs. Anders. However, Junior pulled out on August 28 due to injury. The pairing was then rescheduled for this event. In turn, on September 13, it was reported that Junior was forced to withdraw as a surgery is required to treat the injury that caused the first cancellation of this bout. On October 1, it was reported that Eryk Anders would replace him.

- A featherweight bout between Renato Moicano and Mirsad Bektic was expected to take place at the event. However, Bektic was forced out of the bout due to an undisclosed injury on November 15. In turn, Moicano is not expected to compete and instead will serve as a "replacement" option in the event that one of the headlining participants is unable to fight at the event.

- John Makdessi was expected to face Carlos Diego Ferreira at the event. However, Makdessi pulled out of the fight on November 28 and was replaced by returning veteran Jesse Ronson that same day.

Thanks to the Puertorican for letting me use this content.

[cellard]

Max Holloway should win against Ortega and end his undefeated record in my opinion, he is the overall better fighter. He got beaten up badly by McGregor but he wants to rise again and is motivated (just like McGregor is extra motivated now after losing twice)

Schevkenchko should win against Joanna, I think Joanna has lost it and is going the same route as Rousey, may retire after this if she losses.

Im not sure about the rest of the card.

[bbc.reporter]

@cellard. Hehehe I reckon Max Holloway versus Brian Ortega is harder to predict than what you are seeing on paper. In the UFC the underdog has a bigger chance of winning, not like boxing or tennis or team sports.

Agreed on Valentina, however disagree on Joanna to retire if she loses this fight. Joanna is tougher in mind than Ronda Rousey.

[Hydrogen]

**Jesse Ronson was pulled from the card due to him being deemed too heavy to fight @ lightweight as scheduled.

Don't really have notes worth reading for this card.

The main event isn't as clean as it may seem on the surface. Brian Ortega tested positive for steroids back in 2014 & trains out of blackhouse MMA, the same gym where Lyoto Machida, Anderson Silva and Kevin Casey trained when they all tested positive for steroids. Max Holloway had unknown health issues which prevented him from stepping in and fighting Khabib Nurmagomedov. Some believe Max still doesn't look 100% healthy.

Other than those technicalities both Max Holloway and Brian Ortega have some of the most impressive winning streaks in all of mixed martial arts.

Should either of them be injured, Renato Moicano is the alternate who will step in & fight.

I don't have any good betting picks for this event. I suspect some of the underdogs could hit. Aside from that I might skip it from a betting perspective.

[YuginKadoya]

I would have to put my bet on Brian Ortega I really think that he could do the job and be a champion even it would be a fight of a one-two combo or a submission I really think he can pull a counter when put to the ring with the champion Holloway, I guess there is some weird thing with Brian's Submission Moves that intrigues me, he might pull a submission to Holloway and could ruined Max one-two combo, I should say it is very mesmerizing to watch him fight.

[nydiacaskey01]

I would love to see Holloway win this fight against Ortega and have a shot again with Conor McGregor. However, I don't know whats the status of Conor McGregor in UFC, the decision makers in the Singapore based One FC is considering taking on Conor McGregor as there are numerous old UFC fighters transfer to One FC.

[bbc.reporter]

@nydiacaskey01. I reckon Conor is not the money fight anymore, Khabib is the one.

Brian Ortega also mentioned in an interview that he wants to fight Khabib. That would be a great clash of styles. The wrestler who wants to takedown and fight on top versus a grappler who is good in fighting on the ground at the bottom.

[tokeweed]

I think Holloway could win it depending on his weight cut.  His last one didn't go so well in case you guys don't remember.  And Ortega just isn't ready yet.  It's too early for him to be getting a title shot.  IMHO.

Here are some vids as usual.  Enjoy. 

UFC 231:  Inside the Octagon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8TmBfS6ghE

UFC 231 Countdown:  Full Episode
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKDVJNRFlpE

[CTO@MyBitMine]

Here is my prediction about main event fight: Ortega will knock out Holloway easely in 2nd or 3rd round. I'm not a big fan of Ortega but there are a lot obvious reasons: Holloway do not have his best condition right now and he have big problems with health, remember when he acted from fight with Khabib and Max's last fight was year ago, Ortega looks very strong now and he is on the top of his career with best fight conditions right now. So easy bet on Ortega.

[tokeweed]

^  Nope.  I think it's gonna be close with one of them getting a KO/TKO prolly in thr fourth or in the fifth.  Both are slow starters.

And Holloway looked fine during the weigh ins.  It's not gonna be no easy KO in the third. 

UFC 231:  Weigh Ins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc-WOIhyV1U

Max Holloway (144.5) vs Brian Ortega (144.75)
Valentina Shevchenko (123.5) vs Joanna Jedrzejczyk (123.75)
Alex Oliveira (171) vs Gunnar Nelson (170.25)
Hakeem Dawodu (145.75) vs Kyle Bochniak (145)
Jimi Manuwa (204.75) vs Thiago Santos (205.75)
Claudia Gadelha (115.5) vs Nina Ansaroff (115.25)
Katlyn Chookagian (125.75) vs Jessica Eye (126)
Eryk Anders (186) vs Elias Theodorou (184.5)
Olivier Aubin-Mercier (155.75) vs. Gilbert Burns (155.75)
Devin Clark (205) vs Aleksandar Rakic (206)
Brad Katona (135.5) vs Matthew Lopez (135.5)
Chad Laprise (171) vs Dhiego Lima (170.25)
Kyle Nelson (155.5) vs Diego Ferreira (155.75)

[coolcoinz]

I'm thinking Ortega will win this. Holloway had to cut more weight to be able to fight, so he may be significantly weaker after those hot workouts. You just never know how the body will react. I saw some of Ortega's fight and that guy can take a punch. He's been beaten up many times and outpunched (eg. by Swanson) and still managed to get a nice choke or armbar and win the fight. He's very tough.

As for the girls, Shevchenko is my favourite. She's brutal.

[teilwalL05]

This fight is really hard to predict and to pick on who's gonna win, in the end, I say both of them are great but holloways is the slight favorite well maybe because he's the champion and a well-known guy with the belt And Holloway is younger than Ortega maybe he can get the upper hand with their fight but we can never say for sure because Brian Ortega can really muster a difficult submission move on Max Holloway for sure, I know the fight is really on but I still can not think on who's gonna win with the two fighters that is why I will be skipping my bet on this, I can not think of a better fighter to win this thing, Maybe because both really have the potential to really win.

[pixie85]

This fight is really hard to predict and to pick on who's gonna win, in the end, I say both of them are great but holloways is the slight favorite well maybe because he's the champion and a well-known guy with the belt And Holloway is younger than Ortega maybe he can get the upper hand with their fight but we can never say for sure because Brian Ortega can really muster a difficult submission move on Max Holloway for sure, I know the fight is really on but I still can not think on who's gonna win with the two fighters that is why I will be skipping my bet on this, I can not think of a better fighter to win this thing, Maybe because both really have the potential to really win.

All those champions seem superior until they get a worthy opponent that knocks them out. Conor was once unbeatable in the UFC, until Diaz came and showed that he isn't. Fedor was unbeatable until Werdum. We could go on and on with this. Ortega is good, I'd put the odds at 50:50 for this fight.

[btc_angela]

I'm thinking Ortega will win this. Holloway had to cut more weight to be able to fight, so he may be significantly weaker after those hot workouts. You just never know how the body will react. I saw some of Ortega's fight and that guy can take a punch. He's been beaten up many times and outpunched (eg. by Swanson) and still managed to get a nice choke or armbar and win the fight. He's very tough.

As for the girls, Shevchenko is my favourite. She's brutal.

Well Holloway vs Ortega was one of best this year. Those two literally punch each other but Max was the better striker between the two.

As for the girls Shevchenko beat Jedrzejczyk. I guess for Joanna, she needs to go back to straw weight and then Shevchenko vs Nunes will be awesome.

[bbc.reporter]

@btc_angela. However, the heart on Brian Ortega is very impressive. I was wishing he would turn it around in the 5th round. But I was slightly disappointed that the doctor stopped the fight because Brian's eye looked badly swollen.

In any case, good fight and good win for Max.

[coolcoinz]

I'm thinking Ortega will win this. Holloway had to cut more weight to be able to fight, so he may be significantly weaker after those hot workouts. You just never know how the body will react. I saw some of Ortega's fight and that guy can take a punch. He's been beaten up many times and outpunched (eg. by Swanson) and still managed to get a nice choke or armbar and win the fight. He's very tough.

As for the girls, Shevchenko is my favourite. She's brutal.

Well Holloway vs Ortega was one of best this year. Those two literally punch each other but Max was the better striker between the two.

As for the girls Shevchenko beat Jedrzejczyk. I guess for Joanna, she needs to go back to straw weight and then Shevchenko vs Nunes will be awesome.

I agree, it was a great fight. The amount of punches that landed was overwhelming. I knew Ortega was tough but man, his face was a mess and he kept fighting. He even took kicks to the chin. I'm a fit guy but I know I'd end up in a hospital after just one kick like that, but this proves that even tough fighters will fall if they don't defend and let it all land. Max was on target the whole fight. You could say that it was a fight of a great boxer with a brick wall, and he kept punching until he broke through

The girls were very well matched. I wish there was more time, because Joanna looked like she woke up in the last round and picked up the pace.
There's nothing for her in straw. She won against all top fighters there and lost twice to Rose, and I doubt she wants to fight her again.

[Juggy777]

@btc_angela. However, the heart on Brian Ortega is very impressive. I was wishing he would turn it around in the 5th round. But I was slightly disappointed that the doctor stopped the fight because Brian's eye looked badly swollen.

In any case, good fight and good win for Max.

It was indeed an excellent match, and matches like these makes you fall in love with this sports even more. Max truly believes in where's there's a punch there's a victory, at one stage it felt Brian was a punching bag. The doctor can't be blamed the amount of Punches Max send Brian's way it was only logical to stop the fight, but I'm sure these two would love to take a knock at each other soon. In the females section I feel Joanna could have won, had she showed the same intensity she showed in the last round.

[btc_angela]

@btc_angela. However, the heart on Brian Ortega is very impressive. I was wishing he would turn it around in the 5th round. But I was slightly disappointed that the doctor stopped the fight because Brian's eye looked badly swollen.

In any case, good fight and good win for Max.

I agree, there's no question about Brian's heart during the fight. It was like 5:1. But he continue to toe to toe except for a bright moment of take down but he wasn't successful as well. He is still young I'm sure he did learn a lot from that fight and he will see him even stronger in the next coming years.

Yes, it was a good fight for Max, but I guess the doctor did the right thing to stopped the fight because of Brian's eye.

[tokeweed]

Holloway was in the zone...  And the worst part for his would be opponents is, he's still peaking.  I think moving up to LW should be next for him.  Since McGregor and Khabib looks like they're gonna be suspended for a little while, why not Ferguson vs Holloway?

That'd be a good fight imho.

[darkangel11]

I agree, there's no question about Brian's heart during the fight. It was like 5:1. But he continue to toe to toe except for a bright moment of take down but he wasn't successful as well. He is still young I'm sure he did learn a lot from that fight and he will see him even stronger in the next coming years.

Yes, it was a good fight for Max, but I guess the doctor did the right thing to stopped the fight because of Brian's eye.

It was interesting because they both are students of gracie jiu jitsu and there was a big difference in their styles. Max preferred to keep the fight up and land punches, which is rare for a jiu jitsu fighter. They are always looking for takedowns and the only one attempting to do it was Brian. A very good and bloody fight, one of the best I've seen.