UFC 235: Jones vs. Smith Prediction and Info Thread

[tokeweed]

Date: Saturday, March 2
Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass):  3:15pm PST / 6:15pm EST
Preliminary Card (ESPN):  5pm PST / 8pm EST
Main Card (PPV):  7pm PST / 10pm EST
Live Streams: http://www.fìrstrow.eu/




Main Card (PPV)

Jon Jones (23-1) vs. Anthony Smith (31-13) (Light Heavyweight Championship)
Tyron Woodley (19-3-1) vs. Kamaru Usman (14-1) (Welterweight Championship)
Robbie Lawler (28-12) vs. Ben Askren (18-0) (Welterweight)
Tecia Torres (10-3) vs. Weili Zhang (18-1) (Women's Strawweight)
Cody Garbrandt (11-2) vs. Pedro Munhoz (17-3) (Bantamweight)

Preliminary Card (ESPN)

Jeremy Stephens (28-15) vs. Zabit Magomedsharipov (16-1) (Featherweight)
Misha Cirkunov (14-4) vs. Johnny Walker (16-3) (Light Heavyweight)
Cody Stamann (17-2) vs. Alejandro Perez (21-6-1) (Bantamweight)
Diego Sanchez (28-11) vs. Mickey Gall (5-1) (Welterweight)

Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)

Edmen Shahbazyan (8-0) vs. Charles Byrd (10-5) (Middleweight)
Gina Mazany (5-2) vs. Macy Chiasson (3-0) (Women's Bantamweight)
Marlon Vera (12-5-1) vs. Frankie Saenz (13-5) (Bantamweight)
Polyana Viana (10-2) vs. Hannah Cifers (8-3) (Women's Strawweight)

Other

- Thomas Almeida was expected to face Marlon Vera at the event. However, Almeida pulled out of the fight on January 31 citing an injury. He was replaced by Frankie Saenz on February 2.

- Ovince Saint Preux was expected to face Misha Cirkunov at the event. However on February 11, it was announced that Saint Preux suffered an injury and was pulled from the fight. He was replaced by Johnny Walker on February 12.

- Yadong Song was expected to face The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America bantamweight winner Alejandro Perez at the event, but pulled out of the bout on January 11 due to an undisclosed reason. He was replaced by Cody Stamann on February 10.

Thanks to the Puertorican for letting me use this content.

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[YuginKadoya]

No doubt about it a fight for the Light Heavyweight Championship I will surely go with Jon Jones because I can see that he is an excellent fighter with the range of his kicks I think he can manage to win over Smith, Well you can see from his records of 23-1 No doubt if it wasn't for his disqualifications of an illegal downward elbow in his fight against Matt Hamill he would be undefeated, But still I really think he is undefeated, Well I am sound bias against Anthony Smith but that is my thoughts on what may be the outcome over this fight, That is why my bet goes to Jon Jones.

And moving on to the Women's Strawweight division I really think that Polyana Viana is a gorgeous and astonishing fighter and my bet goes to her and will defeat Hannah Cifers in the match, Well for me wrecking a man's face after robbing her was a good example why she can win in this fight.

[TimtheYoutuber]

One of the best fight nights in UFC that I have seen in a while. This one will be really good to watch I am excited. I have to take John in this fight.

[kenzawak]

Jones has nothing else to prove in the lightheavies, he has to move up to the heavies.

[EndimyonsDream]

Jones will probably win, but I love Lionheart much more and hope he can do damage.He always fights with heart and gives it all. If he will be brave in this fight and creative he could beat Jones.

[Jating]

Pretty much a stack up line up here:

Definitely, Jones will be the favorite to win this fight. I guess if he win this fight, then he can either move up in weight or fight Thiago who blasted Jan couple of days ago and then that's it, he had clean the division again so he needs to move up to heavyweight.

Interesting to hear the thoughts of the rest of our MMA 'experts' regarding the rest of the cards. 

[eaLiTy]

The best card this year without a doubt Jon Jones, Tyron Woodley, Ben Askren, Pedro Munhoz, Zabit Magomedsharipov and Mickey Gall are my picks in this card.

Jones has nothing else to prove in the lightheavies, he has to move up to the heavies.

Jon Jones is an intelligent fighter and the weight gap in the heavyweight division is so huge if he is facing someone like Francis Ngannou, the size advantage is really a thing and one shot could change everything, he might do some selected fights in the heavy weight division rather than moving entirely up the division.

Jones will probably win, but I love Lionheart much more and hope he can do damage.He always fights with heart and gives it all. If he will be brave in this fight and creative he could beat Jones.

Anyone could beat anyone at a given day in a fight, but Jone Jones has not shown any weakness yet in his long career and that is the reason majority of the fight fans considers him as the greatest fighter ever and i am sure he is more focused than before even though he is partying even now.

[tokeweed]

I got a weird feeling that Woodley could lose this one, as much as I like him as a fighter. 

Anyway, here's a vid that should get all of you excited for this weekend's event.  Enjoy.    And there's more coming.

UFC 235 Countdown:  Full Episode
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaTNNIDHziw

[bbc.reporter]

@eaLiTy. Jeremy Stephens might defeat Zabit similar to what he did to the Korean Superboy. This is a dangerous ladder up for Zabit versus a fighter who has fought the top fighters and who also has knockout power.

I reckon Zabit should be prepared to be disappointed hehehe.

[tokeweed]

Hey guys, just dropping by to post some vids to get you guys into the event.  I think I'm the only guy around here who's uber excited about it especially with the Woodley vs Usman bout.  Usman's been talking a lot of sh*t.  Let's see how he holds up vs Woodley's haymaker.  


UFC 235:  Inside the Octagon - Jones vs Smith
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63fdPxJAWBg

UFC 235:  Free Fight - Woodley vs Till
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyxEDCRRcA0

UFC 235:  Free Fight - Usman vs Dos Anjos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q4uj1r98ok

UFC 235:  Free Fight - Jones vs Gustaffson 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucBsqt8hIAg

UFC 235:  Free Fight - Smith vs Shogun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln1M8Xg8678

[gabmen]

This division won't hold much of a contest for bones anymore if you ask me. The guy is on a league of his own and could easily be the most dominant ufc fighter pound for pound ever. People say he needs to go up to the hw div but i think he still would come out on top. If he could just remain clean and avoid out of the octagon issues then this guy is in for a long reign.

[kenzawak]

Ben Askren wearing a "Pay with Litecoin" shirt :

https://cryptowhaleclothing.com/products/take-control-ltc-tee?variant=14507836964906

[Baofeng]

@kenzawak - Yes Litecoin is really into MMA/UFC right now.

https://ambcrypto.com/litecoin-ltc-partners-with-premier-world-kickboxing-organization-glory-to-be-accepted-on-merch-store/

Litecoin, the fifth-largest cryptocurrency in the world, announced that it has entered into a partnership with GLORY, an International Kickboxing organization. The partnership will see Litecoin becoming the official cryptocurrency of the world’s premier stand-up combat league.

And the Litecoin logo can be seen officially @UFC 232 to promote awareness and bring crypto closer to UFC/MMA fans.

[tokeweed]

More vids!  They should help you get into the event.  Lol.  I wonder what would it take to get more people to watch and follow the UFC.  It's a great sport and fun to gamble on.

UFC 235 Embedded 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amT9lzCOdjg

UFC 235 Embedded 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_fzzYSXxkA

UFC 235 Embedded 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBDIOz4mepg

[nydiacaskey01]

Nice card we here this coming Saturday (Sunday here in Philippines). My picks will be Jon Jones,  Tyron Woodley, Ben Askren and Cody Garbrandt. I'm still at 50/50 with Ben Askren, he may have a good run with One FC but we do not know if he will have a good chance with the fighters in UFC, not that I belittle the fighters in One FC but those who are not successful in Bellator and UFC usually signs up in One FC.

[Theb]

Anthony Smith in the UFC looks good and all his matches all of them are wins via KO or stoppage. All that being said I still don't think he has a chance on winning against Jon Jones as Jones right now is definitely on a different level, Gustafsson which I thought was a evenly matched fighter didn't have any chance at all.

[bbc.reporter]

Ben Askren wearing a "Pay with Litecoin" shirt :

https://cryptowhaleclothing.com/products/take-control-ltc-tee?variant=14507836964906

Charlie Lee is known to hype altcoins on Twitter and was also known for selling at the peak of litecoin's all time highs. He might be a stone hearted pumper behind a harmless image.

The litecoin community might also say that litecoin's partnership with the UFC is for a campaign for adoption, however, it might also be Charlie's preparation for the biggest pump of litecoin hehehehe.

[mich]

Really don’t see a situation where Jon Jones loses this contest.  
The only problem is with odds of 1.11 it’s not very attractive.
This is why I am including Jon Jones in my parlays to lower the vig.
Total of 1.5 Rounds leads  me to believe he gets the late stoppage here.  
Waiting on some prop bets for Jones via stoppage.

[tokeweed]

^  Yup..  I'm waiting for the prop lines at Nitrogen too.  Lol.  I'm thinking of putting some action on Jones ITD if it's decent and Woodley ITD.  Askren via submission could be good...  And the under 2.5 rounds at 3.07 (in fact I'll do it right now.  Lol).

UFC 235 Embedded 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbIsnugaxOQ

[eaLiTy]

Nice card we here this coming Saturday (Sunday here in Philippines). My picks will be Jon Jones,  Tyron Woodley, Ben Askren and Cody Garbrandt. I'm still at 50/50 with Ben Askren, he may have a good run with One FC but we do not know if he will have a good chance with the fighters in UFC, not that I belittle the fighters in One FC but those who are not successful in Bellator and UFC usually signs up in One FC.

Ben Askren might not have debuted with UFC yet, but he was the undefeated welter weight champion at Bellator if you are not aware of it and he asked for a release thinking that he could join UFC but he got dumped because of an twitter exchange prior with Dana White and so he had no other options than to join One FC and he dominated them all and now he got a chance in the UFC and he started calling out everyone who talked about him in the past and the funny thing is no one is responding to his calls now.

@eaLiTy. Jeremy Stephens might defeat Zabit similar to what he did to the Korean Superboy. This is a dangerous ladder up for Zabit versus a fighter who has fought the top fighters and who also has knockout power.

I reckon Zabit should be prepared to be disappointed hehehe.

First you have to consider the location he is from, no emotions what so ever and he is the complete martial artist according to most of the experts as he is super technical on the feet as well as on the ground and yet with strikes and combinations we have not seen yet inside the cage and i really do not know who could match with him skill wise, Jeremy Stephens is a really good striker but i really doubt he could match up with Zabit.

[mich]

Very interested in how the evenings first match will go
https://www.reddit.com/r/WMMA/comments/awcl6l/polyana_viana_vs_hannah_cifers_weighin_faceoff/
Something about 🇧🇷 women that really gets me into the fights!

[tokeweed]

Wow after all the hype on Askren, he looked like a bum on weigh in.  Lol.  His gut looks like he doesn't train or work out.  Lololol.  I hope he's ready cos Lawler is a savage.

And Smith must be thinking 'what have I gotten myself into' just about...  now. 

UFC 235 Embedded 5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdgfRUMpxzE

UFC 235:  Weigh Ins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqGFGEmKcW4

Jon Jones (205) vs Anthony Smith (204.5)
Tyron Woodley (170) vs Kamaru Usman (169)
Robbie Lawler (170) vs Ben Askren (170.5)
Tecia Torres (115) vs Weili Zhang (116)
Cody Garbrandt (136) vs Pedro Munhoz (136)
Jeremy Stephens (146) vs Zabit Magomedsharipov (146)
Misha Cirkunov (206) vs Johnny Walker (205.5)
Cody Stamann (135.5) vs Alejandro Perez (136)
Diego Sanchez (170) vs Mickey Gall (170.5)
Edmen Shahbazyan (184.5) vs Charles Byrd (185)
Gina Mazany (135.5) vs Macy Chiasson (136)
Polyana Viana (115.5) vs Hannah Cifers (114)

[mich]

Anyone looking for Jon Jones props needs a account with Sportsbet since there are no prop odds at Nitrogen-



Jones wins by KO 1.91 sounds like good value.
Even better value when price boosted!

[tokeweed]

^  No Jones ITD...?  Like all KO, TKO or via submission altogether?  I've been waiting for Nitrogen and FJ props to come up but they still haven't the last time I checked.

[cellard]

Easiest money ever for a Jon Jones win to be honest. Antony Smith is just a filler fight to keep Jon Jones active and away from drugs and hookers, there's just no challenge for him. The reach difference is too big, the skill difference is too big. Smith only has more experience but that's all. I think he's going to get rekt and fast unless some miracle happens.

I want to see Zabit fight again, that guy is a genius. And then Woodley which is also easy money, will probably continue with his long wing streak. I would put a win on all of these 3. Other than that I wouldn't gamble to be too specific.

[bbc.reporter]

Nice card we here this coming Saturday (Sunday here in Philippines). My picks will be Jon Jones,  Tyron Woodley, Ben Askren and Cody Garbrandt. I'm still at 50/50 with Ben Askren, he may have a good run with One FC but we do not know if he will have a good chance with the fighters in UFC, not that I belittle the fighters in One FC but those who are not successful in Bellator and UFC usually signs up in One FC.

Ben Askren might not have debuted with UFC yet, but he was the undefeated welter weight champion at Bellator if you are not aware of it and he asked for a release thinking that he could join UFC but he got dumped because of an twitter exchange prior with Dana White and so he had no other options than to join One FC and he dominated them all and now he got a chance in the UFC and he started calling out everyone who talked about him in the past and the funny thing is no one is responding to his calls now.

@eaLiTy. Jeremy Stephens might defeat Zabit similar to what he did to the Korean Superboy. This is a dangerous ladder up for Zabit versus a fighter who has fought the top fighters and who also has knockout power.

I reckon Zabit should be prepared to be disappointed hehehe.

First you have to consider the location he is from, no emotions what so ever and he is the complete martial artist according to most of the experts as he is super technical on the feet as well as on the ground and yet with strikes and combinations we have not seen yet inside the cage and i really do not know who could match with him skill wise, Jeremy Stephens is a really good striker but i really doubt he could match up with Zabit.

However, Zabit has not fought anyone on a higher level in the UFC. Jeremy Stephens will be his first. Also, Tecia Torres might win versus the female chinese fighter. The same reason as Zabit and Jeremy.

[Baofeng]

Jon Jones wins by decision, no surprises here although others may have expected Smith not to last the full 5 rounds, but the guy is tough, what you can say? Usman dominated Woodley to end his title reign, Usman was so dominant that he was able to take control more than 17 minutes of a tough 25 minutes fight Woodley tried everything but Usman that night can't be denied.

[tokeweed]

^  Meh...  There was nothing spectacular in both matches.  And Askren who was supposed to be somewhat of a next attraction at 170 after Woodley was a huge disappointment.  The UFC should give Lawler another go at him.  Herb Dean made a dumb mistake stopping that match.

[Yaunfitda]

^  Meh...  There was nothing spectacular in both matches.  And Askren who was supposed to be somewhat of a next attraction at 170 after Woodley was a huge disappointment.  The UFC should give Lawler another go at him.  Herb Dean made a dumb mistake stopping that match.

Controversial decision by Herb Dean, anyways, Lawler accepted the defeat like a man, but I think it was an early stoppage by Herb.

It doesn't look that Lawler was in danger, his hand was in Ben's head so naturally he put in down and this gives the signal to Herb that somewhat Robbie was losing consciousness.

[kenzawak]

-Lionheart didn't show much heart against Jones who clearly controlled his fight. Smith looked like he didn't want to be there.

-Usman had a very impressive performance against Woodley. He showed incredible conditioning and was just better in everything. I hope we don't get the news that Woodley was sick or something because he seemed helpless right from the beginning.

-Zabit beat Stephens but it was definitely not easy. Standing up, Stephens was probably better (I had Zabit winning 2 rounds to 1).

-Munhoz won an incredible fight. I don't know how he didn't get knocked down when he and Garbrandt started trading punches. It took one final punch to end it.

-I have no idea how Lawler lost his fight. I thought he could have "destroyed" Askren after the first take down but it looked like he didn't want it. And that stoppage was of course questionable. But same thing, how did he manage to get chocked like this ? He seemed to be in control of the fight and gave his neck way too easily.
I also didn't like Askren's interview after the fight, being cocky and all. He was very close from losing and should show some more respect.

-I had a good laugh when I saw Johnny Walker dislocate his shoulder doing his celebration after his win. I don't like arrogant fighters who act like clowns in the octagon. That should teach him a lesson.

[Theb]

Like what I have said in my earlier prediction, Anthony Smith didn't have any chance against Jon Jones although I have to give Smith kudos on finishing the fight via decision which Alexander Gustafsson didn't make on UFC 232.  One of the biggest factor why Smith got outmatch on all rounds is him being not a natural light heavyweight fighter he only started in this weight class last year where he first fought Thiago Santos and loss. You can see the huge size difference in both of them even if Smith only weighs .5 grams lighter in the weigh in ceremony.

[bbc.reporter]

^  Meh...  There was nothing spectacular in both matches.  And Askren who was supposed to be somewhat of a next attraction at 170 after Woodley was a huge disappointment.  The UFC should give Lawler another go at him.  Herb Dean made a dumb mistake stopping that match.

Controversial decision by Herb Dean, anyways, Lawler accepted the defeat like a man, but I think it was an early stoppage by Herb.

It doesn't look that Lawler was in danger, his hand was in Ben's head so naturally he put in down and this gives the signal to Herb that somewhat Robbie was losing consciousness.

Agreed. However, Herb Dean saw the hand was hanging very loosely which made it appear that Robbie was unconcious. I remember Joe Rogan was also shouting he's out!

It was the wrong stoppage but I reckon Herb cannot be blamed for it.

[cellard]

Im glad I ended up not taking any bets on this one. Jon Jones did what I expected, that's to win. I didn't expect a decision, Smith is a thought mofo, Jon Jones may not have had his best night but the dude is very durable, he even took that illegal knee to the head and didn't give up. The skill and reach difference was too much for him to react unfortunately.

What shocked me was seeing Woodley being outmatched. He screwed up by being too defensive waiting for a perfect shoot that never happened.

Cody G was also disappointing. I thought this guy was going to be unstoppable after his Dominic Cruz win. Looks like Dillashaw loss streaks has put him into a losing mode. He still has time to become champion again tho, I wouldn't count him off. It was a good street fight if anything.

Zabit.. what can be said about him? He deserves to be headlining cards ASAP fighting the best. He is one of my favorite fighters ever, insanely talented.

[lemipawa]

Here is the results for UFC 235

Jon Jones Def. Anthony Smith via Unanimous Decision
Kamaru Usman Def. Tyron Woodley Unanimous Decision
Ben Askren Def. Robbie Lawler via Submission (bulldog choke)
Weili Zhang Def. Tecia Torres Unanimous Decision
Pedro Munhoz Def. Cody Garbrandt 1st Round TKO

Zabit Magomedsharipov Def. Jeremy Stephens via Unanimous Decision
Johnny Walker Def Misha Cirkunov via 1st Round TKO
Cody Stamann Def. Alejandro Perez Unanimous Decision
Diego Sanchez Def. Mickey Gall via 2nd Round TKO
Edmen Shahbazyan Def. Charles Byrd via 1st Round TKO
Macy Chiasson Def. Gina Mazany via 1st Round TKO
Hannah Cifers def. Polyana Viana via Split Decision

How about the stoppage of the fight between Ben Askren and Robbie Lawler, do you guys think referee Herb Dean called it too early?

[kenzawak]

Misha Cirkunov Def Johnny Walker via 1st Round TKO

It's the opposite actually. Johnny Walker won the fight.

[lemipawa]

Misha Cirkunov Def Johnny Walker via 1st Round TKO

It's the opposite actually. Johnny Walker won the fight.

Thanks for reading my post and correcting me on that. I edited my post. Cheers!

[bbc.reporter]

It appears that Dana will have numerous exciting storyboards for the welterweight division after Tyron's loss hehehe.

I speculate storyboards for Ben Askren, Wonderboy, Darren Till and Santiago Ponzinibbio to fight for a championship within 2 years.

Dana has also already declared that Colby Colvington will be Kamaru's next fight.

[btc_angela]

It appears that Dana will have numerous exciting storyboards for the welterweight division after Tyron's loss hehehe.

I speculate storyboards for Ben Askren, Wonderboy, Darren Till and Santiago Ponzinibbio to fight for a championship within 2 years.

Dana has also already declared that Colby Colvington will be Kamaru's next fight.

Well Askren has been calling Darren Till prior to his win so I guess Dana can make that storyboard. Ok so its gonna be Colvington vs Usman, they already hype the fight here, https://www.mmamania.com/2019/3/3/18249223/watch-kamaru-usman-and-colby-covington-get-into-a-casino-scuffle-after-ufc-235

[TopTort777]

It appears that Dana will have numerous exciting storyboards for the welterweight division after Tyron's loss hehehe.

I speculate storyboards for Ben Askren, Wonderboy, Darren Till and Santiago Ponzinibbio to fight for a championship within 2 years.

Dana has also already declared that Colby Colvington will be Kamaru's next fight.

Well Askren has been calling Darren Till prior to his win so I guess Dana can make that storyboard. Ok so its gonna be Colvington vs Usman, they already hype the fight here, https://www.mmamania.com/2019/3/3/18249223/watch-kamaru-usman-and-colby-covington-get-into-a-casino-scuffle-after-ufc-235

Colvington started to hype the fight to early. Usmas just got the belt and won the fight few days ago. According to wiki stats, title fights have 6month (or more) gaps. So I guess we wont see Usmas vs Colvington no sooner than 6months. During half a year this hype will be forgotten...


 

[NavI_027]

I've watched these fights a while ago (I know, it's late already) and get shocked on the results except to Bones' fight.

Jon Jones Def. Anthony Smith via Unanimous Decision

I thought that Smith can fight toe to toe with Jones but that'd not what I saw. I saw a versatile Jones this time where he uses knee, body kicks, leg kicks and ground skills. Just a lucky day for him that he doesn't get disqualified after the illegal knee incident. It's supposed to be his 2nd disqualification loss if ever, lol.

Kamaru Usman Def. Tyron Woodley Unanimous Decision

The result of this is a surprising one. I can't believe that Usman dominated Woodley all 5 rounds. I noticed that Woodley became not so aggressive on this fight, why is that?

How about the stoppage of the fight between Ben Askren and Robbie Lawler, do you guys think referee Herb Dean called it too early?

For me, the referee did a good call for that. He saw that Lawler  already put his hand down and seems unconscious as well so it's understandable if he decided to stop the fight.

I'm just disappointed because Lawler did a great job in the first rounds until a sudden shift happens. Well, Askren is really a good submissioner even his times on ONE FC, props to him .

[cellard]

It appears that Dana will have numerous exciting storyboards for the welterweight division after Tyron's loss hehehe.

I speculate storyboards for Ben Askren, Wonderboy, Darren Till and Santiago Ponzinibbio to fight for a championship within 2 years.

Dana has also already declared that Colby Colvington will be Kamaru's next fight.

I just can't believe Tyron freaking Woodley got his ass beaten in such a spectacular fashion. It would have been a total disaster for my finances if I ended up making a bit bet. I usually like the approach of making big bets on safe fights and profit from the expected outcome rather than making a smaller bet on the underdog. It always work with Floyd Mayweather. I guess we just don't have a guy like this on MMA, other than I guess Demitrious Johnson and Khabib Nurmagemedov which I expect they will never lose. I will not be betting on Khabib vs Conor rematch, if there is someone that can do the unexpected is Conor. I still think he can shock the world again as he did in the past, he is still young.

[EndimyonsDream]

Even though Jon Jones won the fight by being better in this fight, we can forgive illegal knee, as Lionheart did too, that is why he is my favorite fighter.Not only cos of that, but because he truly likes to fight, he is smart and learns all the time, has guts and can take a beating. He gets f.. up in his fight and takes punishment, but his composure and cool is omnipresent.

For me he is the winner cause of one simple reason.He saw what happens when he is not open and ready to go in, be aggressive, expose himself and play the game and he also saw that he can stand toe to toe with one of the best despite not giving all that he can give.

Usman fight - no need for comment, Woodley was not in the building, he was drinking pina colada with werewolves of London it seems 

Fight that I also liked was Jeremy Stephens (146) vs Zabit Magomedsharipov (146) - very fun to watch, even with no K.O. , Stephens did all he could to at least make it look like it was tight, but Zabit is becoming one of the fighter I look forward to watch and see what he can pull off.

[mich]

Some will say Lionheart should have taken the illegal knee for what it was worth.
He would have seen himself ripped to shreds from fans, UFC and media.
But there would been a rematch and much more money for both sides.
Goes to show Smith has the heart sized of a lion for not taking the east way out when many others surely would have done just that.
Hopefully Jones vs Santos is more competitive!

[bbc.reporter]

@mich. Jon's fake humility is irritating. I reckon yes, Anthony Smith should have taken the win by disqualification from Jon Jones because it was Jon Jones. There is no other fighter that I would like to see it taken hehehe.

[nydiacaskey01]

UFC posted and video with audio of Referee Herb Dean apologizing to Robbie Lawler for an early call. Herb Dean can be heard saying he thought he was giving up or passed out because his (Robbie Lawler) arms are not moving anymore. But Robbie Lawler is very classy in accepting defeat, he even approached Herb Dean saying that its ok.

[cellard]

Even though Jon Jones won the fight by being better in this fight, we can forgive illegal knee, as Lionheart did too, that is why he is my favorite fighter.Not only cos of that, but because he truly likes to fight, he is smart and learns all the time, has guts and can take a beating. He gets f.. up in his fight and takes punishment, but his composure and cool is omnipresent.

For me he is the winner cause of one simple reason.He saw what happens when he is not open and ready to go in, be aggressive, expose himself and play the game and he also saw that he can stand toe to toe with one of the best despite not giving all that he can give.

Usman fight - no need for comment, Woodley was not in the building, he was drinking pina colada with werewolves of London it seems 

Fight that I also liked was Jeremy Stephens (146) vs Zabit Magomedsharipov (146) - very fun to watch, even with no K.O. , Stephens did all he could to at least make it look like it was tight, but Zabit is becoming one of the fighter I look forward to watch and see what he can pull off.

There are small doubts on Zabit Magomedsharipov by some people in the know within the MMA community it seems. For me it was a rather solid performance, but some people detected some flaws. I think it was a bad matchup for him, but some people doubt he belongs on a main card and need more fights.

I can see Jon Jones retiring undefeated, no one is going to be able to crack the code. He's just that good. He's like Floyd in boxing, you can always bet on a win and don't go wrong (except when the dude decides to test positive and ruin people's bets of course)

I would like to see him fight Johnny Walker once he's more experienced. That guy's hilarious and moves like a lightweight.

[eaLiTy]

However, Zabit has not fought anyone on a higher level in the UFC. Jeremy Stephens will be his first. Also, Tecia Torres might win versus the female chinese fighter. The same reason as Zabit and Jeremy.

This is how Zabit performs with a fighter ranked above him in Jeremy Stephens, he just neutralized everything Jeremy has to offer and showed his all round skills in the fight, the way he gets challenged is when he fights a great ground fighter with slick moves or toe hold, other than that i really do not see him loose, Ortega, Edgar and Max Holloway are great challenges for him.

^  Meh...  There was nothing spectacular in both matches.  And Askren who was supposed to be somewhat of a next attraction at 170 after Woodley was a huge disappointment.  The UFC should give Lawler another go at him.  Herb Dean made a dumb mistake stopping that match.

I really do not see it as a dumb decision, his hands went limb and the bulldog choke was really tight, i am certain Lawler went out for a second and popped right back after the choke was released, it happens and you really never know whether you were out or not during that moment, so is the reason Lawler protested, there was plenty of time for Ben for hold on to this further, that being said i really thought Ben would have being stopped because of strikes as he ate a hell lot of punches from Lawler and that was a close call too.

[cellard]

However, Zabit has not fought anyone on a higher level in the UFC. Jeremy Stephens will be his first. Also, Tecia Torres might win versus the female chinese fighter. The same reason as Zabit and Jeremy.

This is how Zabit performs with a fighter ranked above him in Jeremy Stephens, he just neutralized everything Jeremy has to offer and showed his all round skills in the fight, the way he gets challenged is when he fights a great ground fighter with slick moves or toe hold, other than that i really do not see him loose, Ortega, Edgar and Max Holloway are great challenges for him.

^  Meh...  There was nothing spectacular in both matches.  And Askren who was supposed to be somewhat of a next attraction at 170 after Woodley was a huge disappointment.  The UFC should give Lawler another go at him.  Herb Dean made a dumb mistake stopping that match.

I really do not see it as a dumb decision, his hands went limb and the bulldog choke was really tight, i am certain Lawler went out for a second and popped right back after the choke was released, it happens and you really never know whether you were out or not during that moment, so is the reason Lawler protested, there was plenty of time for Ben for hold on to this further, that being said i really thought Ben would have being stopped because of strikes as he ate a hell lot of punches from Lawler and that was a close call too.

Wow Max Holloway vs Zabit would be a bomb, I would really watch that. In my mind the perfect outcome is that Zabit keeps climbing the featherweight division, becomes the king of it and eventually is forced to bulk up into lightweight, and then the megafight happens: Zabit vs Conor. I would like that Conor wins this one so the Khabib rematch would be inevitable at that point. Zabit has pics with Khabib on instagram, I don't know what in hell those russian Cyrillic characters mean in a million years but they seem to be friends, so I know Khabib's temperament, he would find the motivation for the rematch. I will never count off Conor, I think he is at a point in his career similar to Bitcoin. He has crashed hard, and now people are starting to think he is done, he's becoming underrated.

[btc_angela]

It appears that Dana will have numerous exciting storyboards for the welterweight division after Tyron's loss hehehe.

I speculate storyboards for Ben Askren, Wonderboy, Darren Till and Santiago Ponzinibbio to fight for a championship within 2 years.

Dana has also already declared that Colby Colvington will be Kamaru's next fight.

Well Askren has been calling Darren Till prior to his win so I guess Dana can make that storyboard. Ok so its gonna be Colvington vs Usman, they already hype the fight here, https://www.mmamania.com/2019/3/3/18249223/watch-kamaru-usman-and-colby-covington-get-into-a-casino-scuffle-after-ufc-235

Colvington started to hype the fight to early. Usmas just got the belt and won the fight few days ago. According to wiki stats, title fights have 6month (or more) gaps. So I guess we wont see Usmas vs Colvington no sooner than 6months. During half a year this hype will be forgotten...


 

I don't know if the hype will just die in 6 months. Usually when fighters has a bad history and been calling out each other in the media then the hype will not die down just like that. Even if they fight next year, people are going to buy tickets because those fighters have great skills and fight fans wanted to see them both in the ring.