🥊 The UFC Info and Prediction Thread

[tokeweed]

^  Yup!  Most of the smaller events have been as good as the PPV ones.  And I think it’s more Thompson is getting washed than Muhammad getting a lot better.  But yeah..  At this point, Muhammad has the higher ceiling than Thompson but only cos of age.  Thompson is in near retirement.

Yeah, Wonderboy is getting on a bit now. His takedown defense has never been that good, but his ability to constantly hurt the man in front of him is whats kept him at a high level. I think a few more fights for him, and he'll call it a day. Any fighter he goes up against knows the recipe to beat him, its a bit like Kevin Holland, where they're both incredibly dangerous on the feet, very skillful, though there's a clear pathway to beating them.

The thing is with Thompson he's slowing down with age so he doesn't have that element to his game like he did a few years ago. Luckily Kevin Holland still has that, and will always remain dangerous while he's still in prime condition.

Its sad to see one of my favourite fighters deteriorate like this, especially against what I thought was a poor performance from Belal despite getting the win. I won't lie, when Belal said post fight he's the one with the hype in the division, I give a little laugh. In no alternative reality is he the hype man in the division, and I can't believe he had the audacity to even suggest so after that performance.

Kevin Holland is a black belt in BJJ.  It’s the reason why he basically accepts being taken down cos he’s also skilled with his back on the mat.  I mean it works against lesser fighters in the UFC but not against fringe top 15 guys and up.  And once fighter enter top 10, he should at least have decent defensive wrestling...  It’s modern MMA.

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[TheNineClub]

This is a very sorrowful moment for those people who closely follow women’s mixed martial arts for the sexy fighting kittens show. Claudia Gadelha has announced her retirement. I am quite certain many men in the world will be very sad and they will miss her hehehe. Who will be our next sexy fighting kitten champion?
~

Well, watching her fights has always been a pleasure, especially this one, a legendary, a must-see for MMA fans. She lost by decision, but what a fight, what a spirit!

As she explained in this video she was suffering from a post concussion syndrome, and decided to retire from competing in MMA professionally. I totally support her in this decision. She has put her name in the history of UFC, and now can gloriously retire.

Nooo, Claudia why you gone and do me like that...It's not a secret I am a huge Gadelha fan But in all seriousness, good for her. Should have been earlier, but I get it, there wasn't much money made through her career. But that's always the case with pioneers in one way or another. Go get it, Queen, you did well for the sport.

[Welsh]

Kevin Holland is a black belt in BJJ.  It’s the reason why he basically accepts being taken down cos he’s also skilled with his back on the mat.  I mean it works against lesser fighters in the UFC but not against fringe top 15 guys and up.  And once fighter enter top 10, he should at least have decent defensive wrestling...  It’s modern MMA.

I've seen varying levels of black belts, and that's what's somewhat controversial in marital arts, is that there's no universal standard of a black belt. Although, Kevin is actually pretty decent at surviving the submissions thrown at him, so his BJJ does help him there. However, he rarely ever dominates on the ground, and I think his weakness of takedown defense, and threat on the ground has been exposed recently.

Fantastic fighter on the feet, decent at surviving on the ground, but being competitive on the ground? We haven't really seen that at all, except for his sort of freak knockout from the bottom.

[YuginKadoya]

Wow! a Giga Chikadze fight is going to be a great match, in my opinion, I haven't had a glance at his opponents stats, records, and what is his style was, so I will surely have to look for it first before engaging in a decision, but from that Edson Barboza fight I surely like how Chikadze fight, and will be looking forward on what he might cater for this fight,

And from this event, I am looking at another fighting kittens match up and I am talking about the match-up between Vanessa Demopoulos VS Silvana Gómez Juárez, looking at both girls Instagram and both are looking stunning inside and out of the ring, pretty much will look even further on their stats, records and each girls fighting style,

And apart from being excited about some match on this event, I am sad with Ashley Yoder being injured she is the one that is set to fight Vanessa Demopoulos but because of that injury Silvana Gómez Juárez was the replaced fighter in her stead, but wishing Ashley Yoder to recover soon.

Giga Chikadze is so smooth. Great control of distance. Effortless kicks that deliver a lot of powerful. Switches stances well. Gets in and out with punches. One of the things i like about Giga is that although he looks slow, he sets up a ton of traps with his movement and feints. Being fast is a very good thing but if you are predictable it doesn't matter. This dude is surgical.

Well I know how Giga Chikadze fights surely enough he is a great striker that switches stances when he needed to, and surely he is a calculating fighter that is why I really love to see him fight, what I am not familiar with is his opponent right now, and that is Calvin Kattar, and yes I know we got plenty of time to get some information because the fight will take place on January 16, 2022, next year, and because of the holiday season, we surely get a Holiday break, that is why I am pretty excited now, Well, what I see on Calvin Kattar right now he is from a lost to Max Holloway but I don't want so quick to judge that Chikadze can finish him off easily, because Giga Chikadze comes from a win against Edson Barboza, but I love to see some thoughts on what do you think about Calvin Kattar, he sure has a blue belt with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu but the color is not important his skills will be when they surely fight, Maybe Kattar can pressure Chikadze or something, but I can see that Chikadze has a good takedown defense for Kattar to be aware of.

[tokeweed]

^  Chikadze finishing Cub Swanson, I was like yeah whatever..  Swanson is getting close to being washed up as a fighter.  But Chikadze winning Edson Barboza who was somewhat looking good at 145?  And not just winning.  Chikadze finished him in the third round.  That was pretty convincing to me that he’s on another level.  I’m kinda thinking Chikadze could even make it look competitive vs Holloway...  Dunno.

[notblox1]

^  Chikadze finishing Cub Swanson, I was like yeah whatever..  Swanson is getting close to being washed up as a fighter.  But Chikadze winning Edson Barboza who was somewhat looking good at 145?  And not just winning.  Chikadze finished him in the third round.  That was pretty convincing to me that he’s on another level.  I’m kinda thinking Chikadze could even make it look competitive vs Holloway...

After I first saw him fighting last year I think, I said that he is going to be one of the top fighters in his division and he is proving that with his positive attitude and his long winning strike.
He won all seven fights in UFC and one of his rear loses was only in Dana White Contender Series back in 2018.
I remember he was forcing and calling Dana and UFC to give him some fight and you don't see that so often in UFC.

[Welsh]

^  Chikadze finishing Cub Swanson, I was like yeah whatever..  Swanson is getting close to being washed up as a fighter.  But Chikadze winning Edson Barboza who was somewhat looking good at 145?  And not just winning.  Chikadze finished him in the third round.  That was pretty convincing to me that he’s on another level.  I’m kinda thinking Chikadze could even make it look competitive vs Holloway...  Dunno.

Not sure, that's what makes it exciting. I'd be interested in a Chikadze vs Holloway. I think I would lean towards Max, but I suspect that the odds would be good enough for Chikadze to make it worth putting a bet on. At this point, I think Max is probably at the very peak of his career, whereas I actually think Chikadze could reach higher levels than Max potentially despite being older. I think it's actually crazy that Max is thirty years old, feels like the guy has been around forever.

[bittraffic]

^  Chikadze finishing Cub Swanson, I was like yeah whatever..  Swanson is getting close to being washed up as a fighter.  But Chikadze winning Edson Barboza who was somewhat looking good at 145?  And not just winning.  Chikadze finished him in the third round.  That was pretty convincing to me that he’s on another level.  I’m kinda thinking Chikadze could even make it look competitive vs Holloway...  Dunno.

Not sure, that's what makes it exciting. I'd be interested in a Chikadze vs Holloway. I think I would lean towards Max, but I suspect that the odds would be good enough for Chikadze to make it worth putting a bet on. At this point, I think Max is probably at the very peak of his career, whereas I actually think Chikadze could reach higher levels than Max potentially despite being older. I think it's actually crazy that Max is thirty years old, feels like the guy has been around forever.

Feel the same way too that Max had been around since the time when Anderson Silva was in his prime. His fights are notable even when he's in the prelim fight. Feel bad that he loses against Poirier twice while he causes the neck injury of Oliveira. Max is younger, I think Chikadze will also take a beating just like what he did to Calvin.

Calvin vs Chikadze will still be exciting to watch if you are interested to see what Chikadze can do when he's back is on the mat. His takedown defense is quite good but if Kattar could set up his jab in order to throw his big right, it could be a ground fight after that. This is if Calvin could deliver his usual combo. So 2 things to watch out for whether Chikadze can defend himself while on the ground as well.

[tokeweed]

^  Chikadze finishing Cub Swanson, I was like yeah whatever..  Swanson is getting close to being washed up as a fighter.  But Chikadze winning Edson Barboza who was somewhat looking good at 145?  And not just winning.  Chikadze finished him in the third round.  That was pretty convincing to me that he’s on another level.  I’m kinda thinking Chikadze could even make it look competitive vs Holloway...

After I first saw him fighting last year I think, I said that he is going to be one of the top fighters in his division and he is proving that with his positive attitude and his long winning strike.
He won all seven fights in UFC and one of his rear loses was only in Dana White Contender Series back in 2018.
I remember he was forcing and calling Dana and UFC to give him some fight and you don't see that so often in UFC.

I wasn’t really impressed with him before Barboza tbh.  Almost everybody he’s fought in the UFC were not really that good before a somewhat washed Cub Swanson.  But yeah, just like Joel Alvarez you could see massive improvements in his game.  He’s def on another level.  

I wish we had championship futures market in crypto rn.  Chikadze and some of these prospects could be worth a small bet.

https://sportsbook.draftkings.com/leagues/mma/88670562?category=futures

I’ve already pm’d Stunna of Stake.  He said there’s some new stuff in the pipe line for the UFC betting market like live betting and hopefully championship futures.  

[Welsh]

Based on the differences of opinion here, I say we need to see the fight happen. Makes the division a little bit more exciting for me.

 I'm finding currently some of the divisions are starting to become a little stale. Even heavyweight for me with Ngannou. I'm not sure why that's the case for me, I quite like Ngannou, and I've been critical of Gane in the past, but I might actually be interested in seeing that fight to see if we can shake it up a little.

Although, I think Usman is getting a little bit stale now, I actually fancied Burns against him, but we all know how that turned out.

[tokeweed]

^  Yup.  The most stale weight class is 170 unless Chimaev gets a top 5 slot and challenges for the title.  Heavy weight is gonna be stale if Ngannou wins vs Gane.  145 and 185 have become somewhat stale too.  The most exciting divisions are 155, 125 then 135.

In 125 I think Fig wins his belt back from Moreno.  In 155 Makhachev could be the champ late next year.  In 135 Yan gets his title back from Aljo, Dillashaw challenges and loses then it gets stale.

[TopTort777]

In 135 Yan gets his title back from Aljo, Dillashaw challenges and loses then it gets stale.

I've heard that doctors don't allow Aljo to fight. They say he need a neck surgery, Aljo is doubting if he needs that surgery or should he continue training (he said that due to pain, he cant train for more than 1 round, then he need a rest and can continue). Aljo is just playing the time and enjoying champion status. He will avoid fight as long as possible. He will shout and cry that he wants to fight, but bad doctors does not allow him. In the end he will piss UFC bosses off and they will ask he to leave the belt. I think that in 135 Yan will fight Dillashaw for interim belt, and then Yan will get a real belt.

[YuginKadoya]

^  Chikadze finishing Cub Swanson, I was like yeah whatever..  Swanson is getting close to being washed up as a fighter.  But Chikadze winning Edson Barboza who was somewhat looking good at 145?  And not just winning.  Chikadze finished him in the third round.  That was pretty convincing to me that he’s on another level.  I’m kinda thinking Chikadze could even make it look competitive vs Holloway...  Dunno.

Giga Chikadze did a great job of conditioning Swanson guard and controlling the whole fight that body kicks was really something, and 1st kick was just to condition Swanson to guard higher, and the 2nd Kick was towards the liver of Swanson, that was really a notable fight that really makes Chikadze notable as a great striker, and In the Edson Barboza fight that was a genius move from Chikadze and that Giga Kick he throws on Swanson, he also did it to Barboza and that kick really hurt Barboza that he is now worried about that kick because Giga Chikadze gives a faint when lifting his knee that Edson Barboza lift his knee again to heck the Giga kick he can surely read when Barboza is fainting or not, that is how good of a striker Giga Chikadze is,

In 135 Yan gets his title back from Aljo, Dillashaw challenges and loses then it gets stale.

I've heard that doctors don't allow Aljo to fight. They say he need a neck surgery, Aljo is doubting if he needs that surgery or should he continue training (he said that due to pain, he cant train for more than 1 round, then he need a rest and can continue). Aljo is just playing the time and enjoying champion status. He will avoid fight as long as possible. He will shout and cry that he wants to fight, but bad doctors does not allow him. In the end he will piss UFC bosses off and they will ask he to leave the belt. I think that in 135 Yan will fight Dillashaw for interim belt, and then Yan will get a real belt.

Aljamain Sterling is the first fighter in UFC history to win a championship by disqualification, that was really a Cringe way of getting your way to the belt, I think Petr Yan still has the belt if no one will win by Disqualification but that is how the rules go, if Aljamain Sterling is just pulling the UFC official's head then he might ask for it to force Sterling out of the belt if proven that all of his neck problems was just a hoax or an elaborate fraud.

[notblox1]

I’ve already pm’d Stunna of Stake.  He said there’s some new stuff in the pipe line for the UFC betting market like live betting and hopefully championship futures.  

Oh man that would be amazing to have... I have been asking and pushing guys from Sportsbet for months to be pioneers and first to do it, but they say it's lot of work for live UFC betting.
I think having main and co-main events would be enough to have for start, and most of us have some delays during broadcast anyway so it's not that easy to abuse this feature like in other sports.

[Welsh]

In 125 I think Fig wins his belt back from Moreno.  In 155 Makhachev could be the champ late next year.  In 135 Yan gets his title back from Aljo, Dillashaw challenges and loses then it gets stale.

To be honest, I don't want either of them to lose. I quite like both Moreno, and Fig. Fig being so humble after his losses was nice to see, seemed genuinely happy for Moreno instead of just doing it to be a good sport. I think I do have a softer spot for Moreno though.

Absolutely, 100 percent agree with the Yan prediction, I actually think the rules need to be changed, and a belt can't be won via a disqualification. Instead, potentially vacating the belt would be better, something just doesn't sit right with me that you can lose the entire fight, up until an illegal blow. Punish the person that made the illegal blow sure, but don't reward the guy that was getting beat all over the cage. Yan takes the belt back, and hopefully Aljo doesn't avoid the fight for too long for the sake of the fans.

[TheNineClub]

Absolutely, 100 percent agree with the Yan prediction, I actually think the rules need to be changed, and a belt can't be won via a disqualification. Instead, potentially vacating the belt would be better, something just doesn't sit right with me that you can lose the entire fight, up until an illegal blow. Punish the person that made the illegal blow sure, but don't reward the guy that was getting beat all over the cage. Yan takes the belt back, and hopefully Aljo doesn't avoid the fight for too long for the sake of the fans.

That's a brainer, the Aljo Yan issue should have been resolved with a no-contest and a new fight. However, I am not sure that would punish Yan for his decision. Maybe some monetary cuts should have been implemented (for instance a cut from that fight pay for him, or lower a percentage of PPV for the next fight), but I am not sure that can be implemented. So if that is not an option and is regulated by the contract between the UFC and the fighter, how to punish Yan then? Him losing the title but Aljo not winning it? Maybe?

[TopTort777]

Money punishment and no contest would be the best decision in Yan vs Aljo fight.
How long will UFC wait till they take Aljo’s belt away? Btw, McGregor was in same situation (did not accept fights to defend title) when he was a champ in two division. It took a year for UFC to make a decision to take one belt away. But was with Conor, with their star. I think UFC must send and ultimatum to Aljo. Will he be ready to fight in q1-2 2022 or not?

[Welsh]

So if that is not an option and is regulated by the contract between the UFC and the fighter, how to punish Yan then? Him losing the title but Aljo not winning it? Maybe?

Yeah, that's the angle I was going for. Punish Yan for the obvious illegal strike, probably by stripping him of the belt i.e vacating it, but don't give it to Aljo. Then setup a rematch between the two for the belt again. I think that's the fairest, since Aljo didn't win that belt, and Yan dealt a fight ending illegal blow.

This approach will likely stop fighters faking or you know not faking, but playing up to the extent of the injury to get the win. We've seen it a few times with eye pokes, the fighter basically asks if the fight finishes will it still count, and the referee usually tells them you can't ask that. So, while I'm definitely not accusing Aljo of that, I believe there has been other instances of this, and I think all fights should probably go down to a no contest. I guess, the flipside is fighters could potentially try an illegal blow if they're losing so bad to get the fight as a no contest rather than a loss. Difficult situation really with that, but absolutely a belt shouldn't be won via a disqualification it just feels wrong.

[YuginKadoya]

No fights until the Holiday season but the news was burning hot with UFC fighters and right now Jorge Masvidal release in his youtube video an announcement that he is out of the injury list because after that Leon Edwards UFC 269 withdrawal from the said fight he is calling out names that are linked to him and calling out "actress that works at the Disney Channel" and that is Jake Paul, Nate Diaz, and lastly in his video he has called out Leon Edwards to sign another contract fighting him,

While Francis Ngannou was really impressed by Jake Paul's knockout over Tyron Woodley he was surprised by the Youtuber that knocks out Woodley that Jake Paul was really taking this thing seriously and that Jake Paul has surely Proven it.

And that is why right now Jake Paul is calling Nate Diaz, Jorge Masvidal, and Conor McGregor to fight him and now he is mocking McGregor for the weight over 190 lbs, Jake Paul Tweet  "Why does it look like Conor McGregor ate Conor McGregor, he's so thick now."

I don't know about you guys, I know many really hated Jake Paul and want someone to beat the crap out of him, but I agree with Ngannou that Jake Paul has proven something that he really can.

[notblox1]

Yeah, that's the angle I was going for. Punish Yan for the obvious illegal strike, probably by stripping him of the belt i.e vacating it, but don't give it to Aljo. Then setup a rematch between the two for the belt again. I think that's the fairest, since Aljo didn't win that belt, and Yan dealt a fight ending illegal blow.

I agree with you on this, but I think that Dana and UFC saw a potentially better deal with Sterling as Champion, because he is from United States and could get more profit from pay per views.
He signed many deals and sponsorship but we all know that he is not a true champion, and I am sure Yan or someone else will beat him in next fight.
I am waiting for that fight and I hope bookmakers will make Yan a big underdog, than I know what my next move will be