🥊 The UFC Info and Prediction Thread

[TopTort777]

Btw, Arman Tsarukyan is again doing everything but MMA This weekend he had participated again in submission grappling and won a fight against Benson Henderson. This is third time he is participating in a combat sport event outside UFC. I remember that UFC had a very strict policy about their fighters participating in other promotions and combat sport events. Tsarukyan havent fought for 1.5 year in UFC, but had 3 grappling fights... Wtf is this guy doing?

[pawel7777]

^  That's a good opportunity for Pimblett to step up imho.  Doesn't matter if Oliveira lost his last fight and Pimblett won his.  It's still an opportunity to climb the rankings and get a spot for title contention.  And for Oliveria, it's an opportunity to get back on track as Pimblett is one of the more popular guys in the UFC.

Pretty sure both guys are thinking that they could win in this match up. 

But man if Pimblett wins in Brazil and against Oliveira...  His level of popularity will go sky high that Topuria will demand that Pimblett should be given the next title shot.  It couldn't be more perfect.

Paddy won't take it on such short notice. He has too much to lose + we all know how fat he can get when he's not in a camp. He would need much more time to prepare.
Meanwhile, Gamrot expressed his readiness and rallied some fans around him, who demand Oliveira fight him. Oliveira doesn't seem to like this idea, saying he's not the type of fighter he was preparing for, which is ridiculous, given that Gamrot didn't have any camp at all, so Charles would still have a massive advantage.
Charles posted something about other fighters being afraid of him, just to start ducking Gamrot shortly after. It's not a good look, but, as I said, he's desperate for a win, and Gamrot would neutralise his jiu-jitsu completely. That's why he's afraid of this matchup.

[Hydrogen]

Btw, Arman Tsarukyan is again doing everything but MMA This weekend he had participated again in submission grappling and won a fight against Benson Henderson. This is third time he is participating in a combat sport event outside UFC. I remember that UFC had a very strict policy about their fighters participating in other promotions and combat sport events. Tsarukyan havent fought for 1.5 year in UFC, but had 3 grappling fights... Wtf is this guy doing?

Arman has been inactive due to no one wanting to fight him.  

I knew Arman was winning that BJJ matchup the second it was announced.

Ben Henderson has too many losses via submission from Usman Nurmagomedov and Anthony Pettis.

Adam Piccolotti also beat Henderson with his jiu jitsu on the ground in that split decision.

[TopTort777]

Its less than 2 weeks until UFC 320 that will be headed by Alex Pereira vs Magomed Ankalaev. Its going to be a rematch and a title fight. But, Pereira now weigh 13kg more than upper limit of light heavyweight (which is 93kg). Wtf is he thinking about? Its not easy to cut so much in a short period without consequences or killing yourself. There is a possibility that he wont make weight and it wont be a title fight. It would be ok, he was younger. But, the older you get, the harder it is to lose kg.

[tokeweed]

^  That's a good opportunity for Pimblett to step up imho.  Doesn't matter if Oliveira lost his last fight and Pimblett won his.  It's still an opportunity to climb the rankings and get a spot for title contention.  And for Oliveria, it's an opportunity to get back on track as Pimblett is one of the more popular guys in the UFC.

Pretty sure both guys are thinking that they could win in this match up. 

But man if Pimblett wins in Brazil and against Oliveira...  His level of popularity will go sky high that Topuria will demand that Pimblett should be given the next title shot.  It couldn't be more perfect.

Paddy won't take it on such short notice. He has too much to lose + we all know how fat he can get when he's not in a camp. He would need much more time to prepare.
Meanwhile, Gamrot expressed his readiness and rallied some fans around him, who demand Oliveira fight him. Oliveira doesn't seem to like this idea, saying he's not the type of fighter he was preparing for, which is ridiculous, given that Gamrot didn't have any camp at all, so Charles would still have a massive advantage.
Charles posted something about other fighters being afraid of him, just to start ducking Gamrot shortly after. It's not a good look, but, as I said, he's desperate for a win, and Gamrot would neutralise his jiu-jitsu completely. That's why he's afraid of this matchup.

Yup, things are pretty quiet from the side of Pimblett.  There were a couple of fighters who volunteered to replace Fiziev...  Moicano and Dariush.  I don't mind both but would prefer Dariush to be given his last chance as he'll be retiring in a couple of years or so me thinks.

As for Pimblett, we all know he lets go between fights and goes overboard with all the eating that he gains so much weight.  So pretty sure he can't get the fight on short notice even if he wanted to.  Lol.

[pawel7777]

Yup, things are pretty quiet from the side of Pimblett.  There were a couple of fighters who volunteered to replace Fiziev...  Moicano and Dariush.  I don't mind both but would prefer Dariush to be given his last chance as he'll be retiring in a couple of years or so me thinks.

Did Dariush even say he's ready to step in? Or did you mean Gamrot? As far as I know, only Gamrot and Moicano volunteered, with Gamrot having more support from fans and experts.
The whole situation made Oliveira look like a hypocrite, for openly ducking Gamrot. I think he's truly terrified of fighting any skilled wrestler.

As for Pimblett, we all know he lets go between fights and goes overboard with all the eating that he gains so much weight.  So pretty sure he can't get the fight on short notice even if he wanted to.  Lol.

I think this is his recent video:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ZWk38akfgqM

So yeah, not a chance he could make the weight for Charles.

The UFC should crack the whip on the light heavyweight "superstars" as the division slowly starts to look like a joke.
Someone posted this summary, which I think is pretty accurate:



Essentially, we have a big bunch of guys occupying the top 10 that are hardly active. Less talk, more action.

[Hydrogen]

Its less than 2 weeks until UFC 320 that will be headed by Alex Pereira vs Magomed Ankalaev. Its going to be a rematch and a title fight. But, Pereira now weigh 13kg more than upper limit of light heavyweight (which is 93kg). Wtf is he thinking about? Its not easy to cut so much in a short period without consequences or killing yourself. There is a possibility that he wont make weight and it wont be a title fight. It would be ok, he was younger. But, the older you get, the harder it is to lose kg.

13 kg is 28 pounds?

I think Pereira can make it, he has 2 weeks to cut the weight. He fought Adesanya @ 185 pounds and does not appear to be significantly larger than he was back then.

Jon Jones might have cut from 220 to 230 pounds. Which is why he took time to gain weight before moving up to 265 lbs.

It is not uncommon for MMA fighters competing @ 185 to cut 20 pounds of water weight on the final day before weigh in.

They have a technique called water loading where they drink 1 gallon of water every day to oversaturate their body with it.

Allowing them to lose 20+ pounds of water weight without too much trouble on the last cutting day.

So the story goes...

[TopTort777]

Yeap, 13 kg or 28 lb.

When Pereira fought Izzy, at 185, we did not know what was his weight when he start cutting. I know that fighters are able to cut weight and how they do it. But such weight cuts, 20lb or more already are called as extreme or insane. Take a look https://www.thesportster.com/scary-dangerous-insane-weight-cuts-ufc-mma-history/. People cut 20-40lb, but they do it when they more to other division, and dont do it in few weeks before the fight. And you know what is common in all examples? Guys who made extreme weight cuts, lose more than win.

[tokeweed]

Yup, things are pretty quiet from the side of Pimblett.  There were a couple of fighters who volunteered to replace Fiziev...  Moicano and Dariush.  I don't mind both but would prefer Dariush to be given his last chance as he'll be retiring in a couple of years or so me thinks.

Did Dariush even say he's ready to step in? Or did you mean Gamrot? As far as I know, only Gamrot and Moicano volunteered, with Gamrot having more support from fans and experts.
The whole situation made Oliveira look like a hypocrite, for openly ducking Gamrot. I think he's truly terrified of fighting any skilled wrestler.

As for Pimblett, we all know he lets go between fights and goes overboard with all the eating that he gains so much weight.  So pretty sure he can't get the fight on short notice even if he wanted to.  Lol.

I think this is his recent video:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ZWk38akfgqM

So yeah, not a chance he could make the weight for Charles.

Yeah thought so...  Oh well.  Would've been an epic match up imho.

Anyway, there are some underdogs I'd like to lose money to this weekend.    These are Dominick Reyes at 3.10.  I think he's slightly disrespected in this spot with that line.  Remember, not betting it for the win, I'm betting it cos there could be some value in there.  Loma Lookboonmee at 2.95..  This girl has more experience in the UFC and is on a tidy streak.  For 2.95, why not.

And Louie Sutherland as the slight underdog at 2.03...  I just wanna fade Justin Tafa.  

Carlos Ulberg vs Jan Blachowicz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFIiMOOT9Kg&pp=0gcJCesJAYcqIYzv

Dominick Reyes vs Nikita Krylov
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHV3B7h_AaY

[Hydrogen]

Yeap, 13 kg or 28 lb.

When Pereira fought Izzy, at 185, we did not know what was his weight when he start cutting. I know that fighters are able to cut weight and how they do it. But such weight cuts, 20lb or more already are called as extreme or insane. Take a look https://www.thesportster.com/scary-dangerous-insane-weight-cuts-ufc-mma-history/. People cut 20-40lb, but they do it when they more to other division, and dont do it in few weeks before the fight. And you know what is common in all examples? Guys who made extreme weight cuts, lose more than win.

Khamzat Chimaev is now UFC champion @ 185 lbs.

How many years did Chimaev torture himself cutting weight to compete @ 170 lbs.

I think its just bad decision making with a lot of athletes and their teams.

Cutting 20 pounds is ok if its water weight with water loading. There are guys who can do it without trouble.

Where people have trouble is usually when mistakes are made.

Some athletes binge eat after fights and gain tons of weight which is hard on the body when they shed the weight.

That type of weight cutting is hard. Where people get borderline obese inbetween fights. And need to work hard to get the pounds off.

[TopTort777]

I am not saying that its impossible to cut. But if a belt is on stake and a guy has already beaten you, then maybe its time to be a bit more serious? Instead of focusing on how to save health and make cutting less problematic, maybe its better to focus on a fight.

Since you have mentioned Chimaev and his competition in welterweight and middleweight divisions. How many times he had cancelled the fight due to health problems? Some cancelations were due to covid, if not mistaken 2 times he has failed to make weight, vs Whittaker and Askerov replaced him, vs Diaz and instead he fought Holland. 9 fights in UFC and 5 times his health failed him. Considering he is a healthy young man who does sports, I think cutting aka health tortures caused him all those problems. If he was +50 yo and not even close to sport, then no wonder if viruses and health issues would stick to him, but he is young. Just try to remember how many times you got sick when you are an adult, and when you were young (when you can walk outside in shorts and tshirt during snow storm and not even catch cold or have running nose).

[TopTort777]

Did Dariush even say he's ready to step in? Or did you mean Gamrot? As far as I know, only Gamrot and Moicano volunteered, with Gamrot having more support from fans and experts.
The whole situation made Oliveira look like a hypocrite, for openly ducking Gamrot. I think he's truly terrified of fighting any skilled wrestler.

It is confirmed that Gamrot is replacing Fiziev and will face Oliveira October 11 on UFC FN 261. BJJ vs submission grappling. On the paper it is going to be an interesting fight, but I think we will get 15 minutes of striking We might get a boring fight. Gamrot will evade all Oliveira submissions, while not being able to submit or TKO/KO Oliveira (look at Gamrot record in last fights, decisions most of the time).

[Hydrogen]

Since you have mentioned Chimaev and his competition in welterweight and middleweight divisions. How many times he had cancelled the fight due to health problems? Some cancelations were due to covid, if not mistaken 2 times he has failed to make weight, vs Whittaker and Askerov replaced him, vs Diaz and instead he fought Holland. 9 fights in UFC and 5 times his health failed him. Considering he is a healthy young man who does sports, I think cutting aka health tortures caused him all those problems. If he was +50 yo and not even close to sport, then no wonder if viruses and health issues would stick to him, but he is young. Just try to remember how many times you got sick when you are an adult, and when you were young (when you can walk outside in shorts and tshirt during snow storm and not even catch cold or have running nose).

I think there was something unusual going on with Chimaev's COVID issues.

He had half of his thyroid gland removed, which could have compromised his immune system.

There was a UFC heavyweight known as Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva who competed despite having part of his pituitary gland removed.

MMA is an interesting thing. I remember a time when Jose Aldo had trouble cutting weight vs Mark Hominick back in..... 2011.

Some were thoroughly convinced Jose Aldo was killing himself cutting down to make 145.

And here is Jose Aldo... 14 years later, still competing at 145.

Its difficult to say which weight class someone should compete at, not everyone is the same.

Some have denser bone or muscle structure. Different proportions of muscle and fat, retain and lose water differently.

Even athletes competing don't know which weight class they should be in, sometimes.

It is a strange thing.  

[TopTort777]

I would like to end this weight cutting discussion with expression my opinion. I dont like weight cutting. I dont find it fair. It spoils sport, because in rign, cage or octagon people find out not who is the best fighter, which style is the best, but whos body is more prepared for extreme changes in short period of time. I find weight cutting dangerous. Such stress is never good for body. Want to eat all what you want, then cut weight to look better or fit in limits - go to bodybuilding/mens physique. Imho professional athlete must be professional all the time. Not 3-4 months I am doing whatever I want, then kill my body during 2 weeks to quickly be back in shape.

[Synchronice]

^  Mmm...  I think Tsarukyan should be given his title shot then Topuria be given the 'money shot' with Pimblett. 

Topuria will literally eat Pimblett

Looks like the UFC is promoting Dominick Reyes again.  Do they expect him to win?

Sure I expect him to win but I'm not betting

Tsarukyan havent fought for 1.5 year in UFC, but had 3 grappling fights... Wtf is this guy doing?

Smoking crack.

Paddy won't take it on such short notice. He has too much to lose + we all know how fat he can get when he's not in a camp.

His transformations are insane. By the way, Daniel Cormier has said that Paddy isn't fatty. He said that after Topuria's fight, he had an interview with Paddy and when touched his body, it was solid like a rock and DC also said that he probably collects all the fat on his face because his body was in a good shape. I don't know how true is that but I really respect the weight loss that Paddy goes through every time he fights. That requires a huge discipline and hard work but I don't get it, why he doesn't eat normal after weight cuts because he definitely is very disciplined and he can be disciplined on his eating habit too.

[tokeweed]

Since you have mentioned Chimaev and his competition in welterweight and middleweight divisions. How many times he had cancelled the fight due to health problems? Some cancelations were due to covid, if not mistaken 2 times he has failed to make weight, vs Whittaker and Askerov replaced him, vs Diaz and instead he fought Holland. 9 fights in UFC and 5 times his health failed him. Considering he is a healthy young man who does sports, I think cutting aka health tortures caused him all those problems. If he was +50 yo and not even close to sport, then no wonder if viruses and health issues would stick to him, but he is young. Just try to remember how many times you got sick when you are an adult, and when you were young (when you can walk outside in shorts and tshirt during snow storm and not even catch cold or have running nose).

I think there was something unusual going on with Chimaev's COVID issues.

He had half of his thyroid gland removed, which could have compromised his immune system.

There was a UFC heavyweight known as Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva who competed despite having part of his pituitary gland removed.

MMA is an interesting thing. I remember a time when Jose Aldo had trouble cutting weight vs Mark Hominick back in..... 2011.

Some were thoroughly convinced Jose Aldo was killing himself cutting down to make 145.

And here is Jose Aldo... 14 years later, still competing at 145.

Its difficult to say which weight class someone should compete at, not everyone is the same.

Some have denser bone or muscle structure. Different proportions of muscle and fat, retain and lose water differently.

Even athletes competing don't know which weight class they should be in, sometimes.

It is a strange thing.  

And it's not just that...  Aldo in the latter part of his match ups in the UFC were at 135.  

But I do get why people are talking against extreme weight cutting.  The solution is to add more weight classes in between the current weight classes.  Like 165 in between 155 and 170.  It's a huge jump what Makhachev is doing and what Topuria is thinking of doing.  Lol.  Good chance Rakhmonov could beat both at 170 imho.

Adesanya also had a huge jump from 185 to 205 and lost.  

[TopTort777]

Have you seen how Ankalaev and Pereira promoting their fight? Such a lame trashtalk from Pereira (Pereira told that Ankalaev was hiding in locker room from him). Ankalaev is acting like schoolboy nerd. "You said that. No I did not say that" and bs like that.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/fG8Ui1hfA4E
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/sifUOYEpqnE
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HAZEPsDsOVU

Imagine if DC and Bones had trashtalk or conflict running like that ? Or Khabib vs Conor? These two are never going to set PPV record. Ankalaev is so lame at threatening people

[pawel7777]

It is confirmed that Gamrot is replacing Fiziev and will face Oliveira October 11 on UFC FN 261. BJJ vs submission grappling. On the paper it is going to be an interesting fight, but I think we will get 15 minutes of striking We might get a boring fight. Gamrot will evade all Oliveira submissions, while not being able to submit or TKO/KO Oliveira (look at Gamrot record in last fights, decisions most of the time).

Yup. Gamrot finally got what he had wanted for a very long time. He mentioned Oliveira as his dream opponent plenty of times in various interviews. It's a shame he doesn't have time for a full camp, but that's still better than fighting some unranked guys.
I searched for odds and this is what I found:
Charles: x1.8
Mateusz: x2.05

I expected Gamrot to be more of an underdog, given the short notice and that they're fighting in Brazil.

I don't think it'll be a boring fight. Both are experienced on the ground, so unlikely we will see any of them holding the other down with no action. And if they decide to stand up, there should be some nice exchanges, as both are pretty active.
I would much rather them rolling for 5 rounds, showcasing their skills, than see a first-round knockout. But that's just me.

[Hydrogen]

And it's not just that...  Aldo in the latter part of his match ups in the UFC were at 135.  

But I do get why people are talking against extreme weight cutting.  The solution is to add more weight classes in between the current weight classes.  Like 165 in between 155 and 170.  It's a huge jump what Makhachev is doing and what Topuria is thinking of doing.  Lol.  Good chance Rakhmonov could beat both at 170 imho.

Adesanya also had a huge jump from 185 to 205 and lost.  

That's a good point about Aldo competing at 135.

 

[tokeweed]

^  Yup.  But that doesn't all fighters should be doing it.  So if you're serious about betting in the UFC and serious about not losing your money then taking a closer look at the weigh ins should help your bottom line or at least will make you lose less.  

Anyway, here's a fun vid to watch to get yourself pumped for this filler of an event.  

UFC Perth:  Pre Fight Press Conference
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzpaOeeC1_M

And here's the weigh ins as usual.  Enjoy...  

UFC Perth:  Ceremonial Weigh In
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47AQKqZIf3U&pp=0gcJCfYJAYcqIYzv

Carlos Ulberg (205) vs. Dominick Reyes (206)
Jack Jenkins (146) vs. Ramon Tavares (147)*
Jimmy Crute (205) vs. Ivan Erslan (206)
Neil Magny (170) vs. Jake Matthews (170)
Louie Sutherland (259) vs. Justin Tafa ()**
Charlie Campbell (155.5) vs. Tom Nolan (155)
Rodolfo Bellato (205) vs. Navajo Stirling (205.5)
Andre Petroski (185.5) vs. Cam Rowston (184.5)
Rolando Bedoya (156) vs. Jamie Mullarkey (156)
Josias Musasa (135.5) vs. Colby Thicknesse (135.5)
Luana Carolina (136) vs. Michelle Montague (134.5)
Elisha Ellison (236.6) vs. Brando Pericic (261)
Loma Lookboonmee (115.5) vs. Alexia Thainara (115.5)

*Missed weight
**Withdrew