🥊 The UFC Info and Prediction Thread

[notblox1]

This was UFC event with very unexpected results for me, my money was on Jan Błachowicz and Justin Gaethje to do the job a nd win but they both lost  
I am giving credits to Pereira and I had my doubts about him going one division higher after losing from Adesanya, but he proved me wrong.
I think it's time for Tony Ferguson to finally retire after losing so many fights in a row, it is sad to watch him like this and Dana is just milking him for more money.
Derrick Lewis is back with a win and I was sure he was going out similar way like Ferguson, but maybe we are going to see few more good fights from him.

[pawel7777]

The BMF is not really that important but I think some fighters really want to claim it just to be called the BMF, for some reason Conor McGregor wants some additional belt on top of the Championship belt, Many belt much better,

The BMF belt will have a short life if Justin gets the title fight, which he should and that's what he's after. So if the BMF is put on the line it'll get unified with the lightweight title. If UFC want it to be a thing, they'll have to come up with some special rules on how it is to be passed on.

He is on a 6 losing streak now, for sure it is really up to him if he really likes to still fight then he likely is free to do so, it is just me I would likely not forcing him I am really waiting for the day he would likely lay the gloves off that was all,

As I said, he's past his prime, there's no question about that, but if he still feels like he have a couple more fights in him - why not?
And what people tend to forget that 6 losing streak was to guys from the very top, while his 12-win streak was earned mostly on low/average-rated guys. So looking just at wins/losses record can give you a bit distorted picture.

I really looks like his contract is over. UFC either give 3 or 6 fight contracts. If we divide his UFC record to 3 or 6, it would be a round number, which makes he has no more fight. Maybe UFC will offer him sort of a farewell fight, as he said he has lost current mostly due to accidental eye poke (but we have seen the fight and Tony was dominated in every round).

Are you sure about that 3/6 fights thing? I vaguely recall some fighter saying that they got an initial contract for 10 fights, but that was looong time ago, so it might have changed.
And sure, if Tony decided to retire and wanted to do a farewell fight, I'm sure UFC would get that arranged. But it doesn't seem like that's what he's after.

Lewis is pretty old at this point. I don’t know if it is going to be a great performance from him after this. I suspect he might decline in terms of success.

Age is not as important in the heavyweight as it is in the lower divisions. Lewis is still an exciting fighter and that's what the UFC heavyweight desperately needs right now, especially when it's probable that Jon Jones may retire after the Stipe fight.
I'm sure UFC will make Lewis 'some' offer, but it might be worse than what he previously had, and he's at the end of his career so might want to squeeze as much as possible, so if he gets a better offer from elsewhere, he'll probably go for that.

[bbc.reporter]

The BMF belt is retarded. I don't like seeing UFC moving further away from the sport towards some WWE-type entertainment.  

That might be the UFC's new tactic for marketing hehehe. WWE and the UFC has merged to become one company operated by the Endeavor Group. The CEO of Endeavor Group is Ari Emannuel who is a super agent who represents the biggest stars in hollywood movies.



Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Entertainment has agreed to merge with UFC to form a new publicly traded company controlled by Endeavor Group, the companies announced Monday morning.

Endeavor will own a 51% stake in the new combat sports and entertainment company, while WWE shareholders will have the remaining 49%, according to the terms of the agreement.

Source https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/wwe-agrees-merge-ufc-create-new-company-run-ari-emanuel-vince-mcmahon-rcna77880



Also, does anyone know the old HBO show Entourage? The characters are based on real people. The agent in this show is based on Ari Emanuel and the main character is based on Mark Wahlberg hehe. Mark Wahlberg is also a holder of some shares in the UFC.

[TopTort777]

Are you sure about that 3/6 fights thing? I vaguely recall some fighter saying that they got an initial contract for 10 fights, but that was looong time ago, so it might have changed.

First time hearing someone has 10 fight contract. With UFC bondage deals (contract) 10 fight contract is like slavery. But 3/6 fight contract are their default contracts.

Dont know why, but last years every time Ferguson fights, I feel sorry for him. Tony dont want to admin that he is no longer El Cucuy and cast fear to all division. At least he is not in top15 lightweight anymore. I really want UFC give him a farewell fight, but I dont know who would agree to step in and lose, or if he would be given a real underdog, would he accept him as a challenger and would the crown accept this fight to be a fair farewell fight.

[Synchronice]

How similar was Justin Gaethje kick to Leon Edwards' kick. It was an awesome finish. He was in the same hall when Edwards kicked us, by the way, this cage has magical results every time. The hit and fall were almost the same. Justin got the BMF belt, he finished fiziev before, now it's Dustin Porier's walk to a very solid summit. The finish was pretty flashy, I think it might be the best finish of his career. Next will be a bigger test for Justin. Charles and Islam are getting pretty hot again in the lightweight to match the cauldron of the match. Wow, that's a pretty good card. Head kick City Hell.

Was it Justin Gaethje that Conor McGregor was talking about with his tweet promising he’d be able to knock him out with one shot? It seemed a bit like this was the fight to decide who gets to face off against McGregor at the end of the year. I expected Gaethje to lose if I’m being honest, but now it seems like a Gaethje vs McGregor bout is likely what will happen next. Right?

That fight wouldn't decide who would face off against Conor McGregor because Conor already wanted to fight to Dustin Poirier because he thinks that the result of 3rd match wasn't fair because he broke his leg when he was fighting Dustin. By the way, he was so disrespectful against Poirier that he isn't going to fight with Conor anymore.
Btw, I wanted Dustin to win this fight against Gaethje.

I just watched the fight on youtube. Looked like a fairly even fight going into round 2, Gaethje jad a little cut on his eye but other then that noone looked dominant. That kick that ended it in round 2 came outta nowhere. I'm sure we will see the trilogy soon for these guys. Poirer IMO will take the 3rd match if Gaethje gives him the rematch.

After fight with Khabib, Dustin mastered to block leg kicks (there are memes about this) but Gaethje's kick was so brutal, omg, I was really shocked. Rematch between them will be very interesting and I think that will happen because right now the score is 1-1, 3rd match will decide who is the goat.

[yazher]

I am giving credits to Pereira and I had my doubts about him going one division higher after losing from Adesanya, but he proved me wrong.
I think it's time for Tony Ferguson to finally retire after losing so many fights in a row, it is sad to watch him like this and Dana is just milking him for more money.
Derrick Lewis is back with a win and I was sure he was going out similar way like Ferguson, but maybe we are going to see few more good fights from him.

It's really hard to win after a loss especially when you get knocked out by your past opponent because the emotional damage will be the main problem for you to not to focus and be scared to attack in your next fight. Thankfully he handled it well and managed to beat his opponent in the upper weight class and he should be staying there for a while in order to be comfortable until getting a worthy opponent once again. As for Tony Ferguson, he has done a good job to accept that fight but that's not gonna work well just like that, and losing that fight might gonna be considered for him to finally retire for real.

[tokeweed]

Was it really his last fight on the contract? I know Derrick Lewis in now free agent, but I can't imagine UFC not offering him a new one. As for Tony, I don't know, he still has a big name and could potentially move to other organisation and even get a better money fighting easier fights. But there's no question that his prime years are now gone.

I really looks like his contract is over. UFC either give 3 or 6 fight contracts. If we divide his UFC record to 3 or 6, it would be a round number, which makes he has no more fight. Maybe UFC will offer him sort of a farewell fight, as he said he has lost current mostly due to accidental eye poke (but we have seen the fight and Tony was dominated in every round).

A lot of people still want to see him fight and Lewis obviously still wants to fight under the UFC's banner, so I guess if he doesn't have any medical issues, Dana White and Hunter Campbell could still give him another contract...  I'd expect some announcement in a couple of months.

As for Tony Ferguson, uh man...  I think he should retire.  He isn't the same guy after the beating he got from Justin Gaethje.  That was a solid beating.

Lewis is pretty old at this point. I don’t know if it is going to be a great performance from him after this. I suspect he might decline in terms of success. But I do agree with @tokeweed that a lot of people would still want to see Lewis fight. And of course he’s also going to be interested to fight in the UFC. Because even though a lot of people are saying that that UFC does not be enough money, they are the ones who pay the most. So obviously he’s going to want to stay in the UFC.

It is actually sad to see the turn that the career of Tony Ferguson took. And I also agree that this happened after fight against Justin Gaethje. At this point, it is actually painful to see how he is getting wrecked in the cage. I think he should think about his retirement seriously.

Heavy weights have longer careers in MMA compared to the lighter weight classes as the demands in HW are actually not as hard.  And if you notice many of them are a bit older.  

Anyway, here's a free fight featuring Sandhagen vs Vera.  Sandhagen is prolly my most confident pick of the coming weekend's event.  

UFC Free Fight:  Sandhagen vs Vera
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzt2cwmZSyE

And thanks to jeremypwr, I won 4 mBTC in free bets!  Already made my parlays with them.  

[kro55]

Heavy weights have longer careers in MMA compared to the lighter weight classes as the demands in HW are actually not as hard.  And if you notice many of them are a bit older.  

Well, that is also true. And I think that’s because when fighting in the heavyweight category, age does not compromise a huge part of the skill. We all know that almost all heavyweight fighters are a little slow. So age does not compromise speed because speed is not that much of a great ability for a fighter anywhere at this weight. That’s why I think they can have a longer career.  But that does also mean they generally carry around a bigger chance of getting injured.

[pawel7777]

First time hearing someone has 10 fight contract. With UFC bondage deals (contract) 10 fight contract is like slavery.

I think I based that on some interview with a young fighter complaining about UFC forcing him to sign an initial contract of ten fights for some ridiculously low money in a range of $5k per fight. But again, I'm quoting from memory and that was at least over a decade ago, so there's a chance I got it twisted, plus, surely a lot has changed since then.

[bittraffic]

Cory Sandhagen vs Rob Font is a kind of unpredictable fight. It looks like it could end in any manner and whoever hits harder the first may win it. Unlike the fight of Andrade vs Suarez which Suarez might end up submitting Andrade.

First time hearing someone has 10 fight contract. With UFC bondage deals (contract) 10 fight contract is like slavery.

I think I based that on some interview with a young fighter complaining about UFC forcing him to sign an initial contract of ten fights for some ridiculously low money in a range of $5k per fight. But again, I'm quoting from memory and that was at least over a decade ago, so there's a chance I got it twisted, plus, surely a lot has changed since then.

$5K per fight. Must have been the time of Gracies yet
UFC probably didn't offer Derrick a new contract. This is also what Sonnen said in his podcast which his flying knee and his abs are his last act to make it. If he still couldn't get a call from Dana, we'll be seeing Derrick somewhere lese.

[YuginKadoya]

The BMF belt will have a short life if Justin gets the title fight, which he should and that's what he's after. So if the BMF is put on the line it'll get unified with the lightweight title. If UFC want it to be a thing, they'll have to come up with some special rules on how it is to be passed on.

Actually, this is the 1st time seeing the BMF belt and it was so black you can surely call it "Black Mother Fu_ _ _r" but surely if the UFC can really enlighten us on if they will make the BMF title a thing, can every fighter can go in different weight class to challenge the BMF title holder and as for Kevin Holland he said he wants the belt that if the belt is not in his division be would likely change division to have a fight on who is holding the BMF, but surely as the BMF right now it was 1st for Jorge Masvidal and pass on to Justin Gaethje as it have return back again, so maybe the UFC will make this a thing now,

As I said, he's past his prime, there's no question about that, but if he still feels like he have a couple more fights in him - why not?
And what people tend to forget that 6 losing streak was to guys from the very top, while his 12-win streak was earned mostly on low/average-rated guys. So looking just at wins/losses record can give you a bit distorted picture.

Well, I am looking at his movement now it was surely totally different from the Tony Ferguson we used to know, and love, Tony Ferguson now has a lot of openings and is pretty much slow now, and against Bobby Green, he likely has an age aswell and getting there Bobby Green looks absolutely the same, while Tony Ferguson is just a fossil or just a husk of his old self, pretty much his name might be profitable but given those losing streak the people will eventually get bored and might not watch him anymore,

Cory Sandhagen vs Rob Font is a kind of unpredictable fight. It looks like it could end in any manner and whoever hits harder the first may win it. Unlike the fight of Andrade vs Suarez which Suarez might end up submitting Andrade.

For me it is not really unpredictable judging from the latest Cory Sandhagen fight if you look closely that is a different Cory Sandhagen and his prime is really showing off from the fight against Marlon "Chito" Vera for me Chito Vega could win this because if it was pure striking then my guy Marlon Vera is the man that is calculating and more technical than Sandhagen, but I was really shocked and amazed at what Sandhagen did to Marlon Vera, because Sandhagen has a different arsenal that he have shown on that fight I was shocked to see Cory Sandhagen pulling some wrestling and submission in his career you can see the dedication and the willingness to evolve just to win so I am really expecting Cory Sandhagen has a giver advantage on this one,

[pawel7777]

Actually, this is the 1st time seeing the BMF belt and it was so black you can surely call it "Black Mother Fu_ _ _r" but surely if the UFC can really enlighten us on if they will make the BMF title a thing, can every fighter can go in different weight class to challenge the BMF title holder and as for Kevin Holland he said he wants the belt that if the belt is not in his division be would likely change division to have a fight on who is holding the BMF, but surely as the BMF right now it was 1st for Jorge Masvidal and pass on to Justin Gaethje as it have return back again, so maybe the UFC will make this a thing now,

There are a couple of ways they could spin it into a real thing, but they'd need to attach some special rules to it, to prevent it from getting merged with the title belt. i.e. they could make a rule that you could only win it by KO/TKO/submission, and if the fight is won by decision, the belt gets vacated and UFC fans could vote which next fight will be for the belt - to prevent it being locked in one weight class. Just a thought.

Well, I am looking at his movement now it was surely totally different from the Tony Ferguson we used to know, and love, Tony Ferguson now has a lot of openings and is pretty much slow now, and against Bobby Green, he likely has an age aswell and getting there Bobby Green looks absolutely the same, while Tony Ferguson is just a fossil or just a husk of his old self, pretty much his name might be profitable but given those losing streak the people will eventually get bored and might not watch him anymore,

Can't disagree. You can tell something is not quite right just by looking at him. I don't think it's just the age thing. There are some rumors that he has some mental issues, and watching some of his interviews you can tell he holds some resentment against UFC/journalists and maybe a whole world.
But maybe changing the environment and moving to a different organisation could work well for him. He could get some easier fights and strangely enough, he could even get a better pay.

[TopTort777]

Cory Sandhagen vs Rob Font is a kind of unpredictable fight. It looks like it could end in any manner and whoever hits harder the first may win it. Unlike the fight of Andrade vs Suarez which Suarez might end up submitting Andrade.

I think Cory Sandhagen has an advantage, because Rob Font is a replacement fighter in their fight. Sandhagen had more time to prepare to fight against Nurmagomedov, who withdrew due to injury just couple of weeks before the fight. Its is a catchweight, and previous catchweight fight Font lost. If we look on numbers, then Cory has finished guys, who Font won only by decision or lost to them. Odds also show that Font is a big underdog.

[YuginKadoya]

There are a couple of ways they could spin it into a real thing, but they'd need to attach some special rules to it, to prevent it from getting merged with the title belt. i.e. they could make a rule that you could only win it by KO/TKO/submission, and if the fight is won by decision, the belt gets vacated and UFC fans could vote which next fight will be for the belt - to prevent it being locked in one weight class. Just a thought.

That KO/TKO win is really hard to achieve for sure but for me if the fight is awesome or a level of competition if you remember the Glover Texeira VS Jiri Prochazka fight well even if it is a decision result it is a very entertaining fight they could surely get the belt in 1 class and then it got turn over if a fighter wants one, but they could also give all division a BMF belt of their own, but that would be something and let's just wait if this is getting into another division or not,

Can't disagree. You can tell something is not quite right just by looking at him. I don't think it's just the age thing. There are some rumors that he has some mental issues, and watching some of his interviews you can tell he holds some resentment against UFC/journalists and maybe a whole world.
But maybe changing the environment and moving to a different organisation could work well for him. He could get some easier fights and strangely enough, he could even get a better pay.

You are right just like other UFC fighters that are going to other organization because the level of competition is very different than with the UFC, well, yeah we can not say it is ultimately age or time, there might be something about Tony Ferguson that we likely didn't know and maybe he is mad about it because it could be true and could surely end his career, or rather be something that he don't want everyone to know, but you are right having Ferguson to PFL, Bellator, or One Champion is quite a spectacle to see even if it is not that high of an institution maybe because of the audience Ferguson can accumulate when he goes in those fight organization that Organization could give him a higher pay from it,

[TopTort777]

Glover Texeira VS Jiri Prochazka

Glad that you have reminded me about Jiri Prochazka. I keep on forgetting to post a question here for a long time Do you guys know that Jamahal Hill got injured during playing basketball and has relinquished his UFC light heavyweight title ? According to UFC.com he is still a champ, according to wiki belt seems to be vacant. So what now? Who is the real champ (Jiri?)? Who is gonna fight for a belt now? Jiri and Ankalaev, according to position in ranking. But does Ankalaev deserve a chance, since he had draw with Blachovicz and Blachovicz lost his last fight via split decision?

[tokeweed]

^  205 is in shambles.  I think the UFC was hoping for Pereira to have a great showing in his first match at 205 but it was really a lack luster performance.  Would people really pay to watch him vs Jiri Prochazka?  It's the same situation as Ankalaev.  But between Pereira and Ankalaev, I'd rather see Ankalaev vs Prochazka.  The UFC could prolly make it a co main event of Jones vs Miocic or something.

Here's a replay with Font beating a prospect...

UFC Free Fight:  Font vs Yanes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3qVs53XZRY

Anyway, who among you guys think Sandhagen is a max bet this weekend?  I think he'll be the first guy to KO Font.

[TopTort777]

^  205 is in shambles.  I think the UFC was hoping for Pereira to have a great showing in his first match at 205 but it was really a lack luster performance.  Would people really pay to watch him vs Jiri Prochazka?  It's the same situation as Ankalaev.  But between Pereira and Ankalaev, I'd rather see Ankalaev vs Prochazka.  The UFC could prolly make it a co main event of Jones vs Miocic or something.

A think that Ankalaev wrestling skills are much better than Blachowicz and it would be easier for Magomed to submit Pereira. We really dont know how good Pereiras wrestling skills are (because he hasnt faced a good opponent yet), but something tells me that a any man with a name Magomev that is into martial arts can get him to the ground and choke. Maybe this is a created vision that Pereira is only a kickboxer that bother me to objectively evaluate Pereira, but I cant seem him wrestling.

Anklakaev vs Prochazka is what I would watch. I think Ankalaev deserves a title fight (not for a vacant belt). That fight against Blachowicz was strange, many thought that Ankalaev won. Ankalaev got offended on judges after that fight btw. He even though to retire after that draw, but that was a more like an emotional announcement.

[bittraffic]

^  205 is in shambles.  I think the UFC was hoping for Pereira to have a great showing in his first match at 205 but it was really a lack luster performance.  Would people really pay to watch him vs Jiri Prochazka?  It's the same situation as Ankalaev.  But between Pereira and Ankalaev, I'd rather see Ankalaev vs Prochazka.  The UFC could prolly make it a co main event of Jones vs Miocic or something.

A think that Ankalaev wrestling skills are much better than Blachowicz and it would be easier for Magomed to submit Pereira. We really dont know how good Pereiras wrestling skills are (because he hasnt faced a good opponent yet), but something tells me that a any man with a name Magomev that is into martial arts can get him to the ground and choke. Maybe this is a created vision that Pereira is only a kickboxer that bother me to objectively evaluate Pereira, but I cant seem him wrestling.

Anklakaev vs Prochazka is what I would watch. I think Ankalaev deserves a title fight (not for a vacant belt). That fight against Blachowicz was strange, many thought that Ankalaev won. Ankalaev got offended on judges after that fight btw. He even though to retire after that draw, but that was a more like an emotional announcement.

Fans were already used to seeing Pereira sending his opponents down the floor. It so happens Blachowicz is also big and fights him by wrestling not in a standing fight. Maybe the reason why they made Alex won. People think it is robbery but the UFC sees it as an opportunity to make another match. Both Pereira and Anklakaev I think will not win against Prochazka.

They are really making it hard for Pereira to climb if they match him againsts Anklakaev. He may have won Jan's Wrestling but Dagentan wresting is a bit superior.

[owengtam09]

This was UFC event with very unexpected results for me, my money was on Jan Błachowicz and Justin Gaethje to do the job a nd win but they both lost  
I am giving credits to Pereira and I had my doubts about him going one division higher after losing from Adesanya, but he proved me wrong.
I think it's time for Tony Ferguson to finally retire after losing so many fights in a row, it is sad to watch him like this and Dana is just milking him for more money.
Derrick Lewis is back with a win and I was sure he was going out similar way like Ferguson, but maybe we are going to see few more good fights from him.

Justin Gaethje lost? I though he won at the UFC 291 against Dustin Poirier, while Jan Blachowicz really lost a close match to the ground but with the stand-up for me Alex Pereira surely won it, and the judges will surely priorities the points on damage well, damage truimps all, so it is likely that Pereira really won that fight for sure Alex Pereira needs to improve his ground approached, he will likely be controlled in there by someone that have a much higher level of wrestling than Jan Blachowicz,

For sure I agree with the Tony Ferguson retiring to the UFC, maybe try his luck with a different Organization where he can become relevant again because there is a level of competition towards different organization, I think Tony Ferguson can surely won a few fight make some money in that or even become a champion in that Organization, we can not say for sure,

It's really hard to win after a loss especially when you get knocked out by your past opponent because the emotional damage will be the main problem for you to not to focus and be scared to attack in your next fight. Thankfully he handled it well and managed to beat his opponent in the upper weight class and he should be staying there for a while in order to be comfortable until getting a worthy opponent once again. As for Tony Ferguson, he has done a good job to accept that fight but that's not gonna work well just like that, and losing that fight might gonna be considered for him to finally retire for real.

Well, I think Alex Pereira have learned something from Israel Adesanya getting back up from a lost and that lost from Israel Adesanya will surely reminded him how top be powerful in his next fight, well for sure our minds have a bigger part in creating those wins and pretty much it is a struggle of mind over matter battle on what is going on with each fight on Israel Adesanya's case he surely keep thinking to unleashed his inner beast and he has done it, and from this lost Alex Pereira has shown to never give up in those struggle so for me I think he will likely going to be champion in this division and for Israel Adesanya to take it from him,

[TopTort777]

Both Pereira and Anklakaev I think will not win against Prochazka.

If only Prochazka fully recovered from shoulder injury.

Lol, we are still discussing UFC 291 and potential fights instead of Sandhagen vs Font event that is going to happen in few days. I did not notice previously, but wikipedia has started to post information about how much UFC has earned through ticket sales. For example on UFC 291, UFC has earned 6.5 millions only on tickets.