🥊 The UFC Info and Prediction Thread

[TopTort777]

Going back to Yan vs Merab 2 fight, I would like to say that Merab has lost not to Yan, but lost to himself. Have 4 fights in one year, have all of them go full distance and 3/4 were 5 rounded fights. That is exhausting even for a professional. Merab had defended his title 2 months ago, and had a fight among former champ. Sum up all that and no wonder he has lost.

What is next? A rematch vs O'Malley? That fight was rather controversial. Dana loves O'Malley as he is a media guy

[Synchronice]

It was Merab who has made that post were Yan was in Peter Pan outfit

Btw, Cejudo after that loss announced another retirement This is his fourth loss in a row. He is 38 and it is really time for him to end his career. He is better at making podcasts and taking interviews now. Vettori also is having his fourth loss. I guess he will be released after being replaced in top15 by Ferreira.

Why does Cejudo even fight? This man isn't in his right mind. He really is better at making podcasts with Kamaru Usman.

Merab wanted a rematch from the UFC, but he looked really bad at the end of the 5th round. It could take 4-5 months for him to fully recover. If he returns before he is 100% recovered, the chances of him getting another beating are very high...

I also think that he needs 5 months for recover and then he will return beast. This man is the real warrior. He said himself that he is motivated like never before and I'm sure he will really return like never before. We will see a significantly improved version of him!

Going back to Yan vs Merab 2 fight, I would like to say that Merab has lost not to Yan, but lost to himself. Have 4 fights in one year, have all of them go full distance and 3/4 were 5 rounded fights. That is exhausting even for a professional. Merab had defended his title 2 months ago, and had a fight among former champ. Sum up all that and no wonder he has lost.

What is next? A rematch vs O'Malley? That fight was rather controversial. Dana loves O'Malley as he is a media guy

Fight in two month and especially when your opponent is Petr Yan, who had more than 5 months to recover from the last fight, is a very crazy decision. Merab became super confident and it didn't work well. If his opponent was Song Yadong, Deiveson Figueiredo and others, I'm sure he would win but fight in 2 months against top people and especially against Petr Yan? That was a huge risk from Merab.
Anyways, he is a Champion for me and I'm sure he will be back and will be much stronger than ever before. His another biggest mistake was his attempt to do striking against Petr Yan, who is superior in striking compared to Merab. Merab's cardio also sucked in this fight, he was more tired than Petr Yan. I really would love to see rematch! No one deserves immediate rematch besides Merab. The guy had 14 win streak and 4 title defense in one year, he is the one who deserves rematch the most!

[tokeweed]

Going back to Yan vs Merab 2 fight, I would like to say that Merab has lost not to Yan, but lost to himself. Have 4 fights in one year, have all of them go full distance and 3/4 were 5 rounded fights. That is exhausting even for a professional. Merab had defended his title 2 months ago, and had a fight among former champ. Sum up all that and no wonder he has lost.

What is next? A rematch vs O'Malley? That fight was rather controversial. Dana loves O'Malley as he is a media guy

O'Malley is gonna fight Song Yadong on January.

Merab wanted a rematch from the UFC, but he looked really bad at the end of the 5th round. It could take 4-5 months for him to fully recover. If he returns before he is 100% recovered, the chances of him getting another beating are very high...

By the way, did you watch the Iwo Baraniwski vs. Ibo Aslan fight? It was like a bar brawl specially prepared for those who have grown tired of wrestling in recent months. Joking aside, many UFC fans talked about this fight on Twitter...

I don't think he'll be Yan's next fight after what we've seen how Yan beat him for the whole 5 rounds.  As a fan I'd like to see Yan go against somebody else.  It was just such a bad fight for Dvalishvilli, I'd rather watch Yan vs Nurmagomedov or something.

As for "Iwo vs Ibo", yeah...  They looked like two little kids trying to knock each other out.  Lolol.  

Anyway here are the results.

Petr Yan def. Merab Dvalishvili via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 48-47)
Joshua Van def. Alexandre Pantoja via TKO (injury) – Round 1, 0:26
Tatsuro Taira def. Brandon Moreno via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 2:24
Payton Talbott def. Henry Cejudo via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Jan Blachowicz vs. Bogdan Guskov ends in a majority draw (29-28, 28-28, 28-28)
Manuel Torres def. Grant Dawson via KO (punches) – Round 1, 2:25
Chris Duncan def. Terrance McKinney via submission (Anaconda choke) – Round 1, 2:30
Maycee Barber def. Karine Silva via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Fares Ziam def. Nazim Sadykhov via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 4:59
Brunno Ferreira def. Marvin Vettori via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Jalin Turner def. Edson Barboza via TKO (punches) - Round 1, 2:24
Iwo Baraniewski def. Ibo Aslan via KO (punches) – Round 1, 1:29
Mansur Abdul-Malik def. Antonio Trocoli via submission (standing guillotine) – Round 1, 1:09
Mairon Santos def. Muhammad Naimov via TKO (punch) – Round 3, 0:21

[shield132]

This was a tragedy for the Georgian people and me. I woke up at 9 AM, my job starts at 10 AM. My father was watching a TV channel that was showing a live UFC fight and that was the moment when my father told me that soon there would be Merab Dvalishvili's fight. I called and told my employer that I would be a little bit late in the job, gladly, she was okay with that.

Merab is an amazing human being. He is the guy who achieved everything from nothing via very hard work. I have been in touch with him personally once in my life, he helped one of my very close friend to move to the USA. He is the real man. He will come back stronger than ever.

[pawel7777]

Going back to Yan vs Merab 2 fight, I would like to say that Merab has lost not to Yan, but lost to himself. Have 4 fights in one year, have all of them go full distance and 3/4 were 5 rounded fights. That is exhausting even for a professional. Merab had defended his title 2 months ago, and had a fight among former champ. Sum up all that and no wonder he has lost.

What is next? A rematch vs O'Malley? That fight was rather controversial. Dana loves O'Malley as he is a media guy

I think there's a lot of truth to that. I understand Merab's strategy to stack as many fights as possible before retirement, so he can capitalise on his position while his still in his peak, but everyone has limits. I don't necessarily think it was physical fatigue but rather a mental one. When fighting that often, it's impossible to approach each fight with the same seriousness and respect (or even fear) for the opponent. He and his team phave probably slipped into "another day in the office" attitude, while Petr Yan did his homework and showed up tactically well prepared.

An immediate rematch would be more than justified. But that's a golden opportunity for the UFC to bring back O'Malley and Yan would probably prefer that option too.

[bbc.reporter]

This was a tragedy for the Georgian people and me. I woke up at 9 AM, my job starts at 10 AM. My father was watching a TV channel that was showing a live UFC fight and that was the moment when my father told me that soon there would be Merab Dvalishvili's fight. I called and told my employer that I would be a little bit late in the job, gladly, she was okay with that.

Merab is an amazing human being. He is the guy who achieved everything from nothing via very hard work. I have been in touch with him personally once in my life, he helped one of my very close friend to move to the USA. He is the real man. He will come back stronger than ever.

We can be quite certain that he will return and again challenge Petr the mr. potato head Yan on 2026 for the championship of bantamweight. I predict that Merab will get his trilogy and get the championship again. After this, he will declare and announce that he will move to featherweight where he will challenge the champion.

I reckon uncle Dana will be much in agreement on this because this will be a super fight against Alexander Volkanovski. I would be very much excited for this heheheh.

[TypoTonic]

Fight in two month and especially when your opponent is Petr Yan, who had more than 5 months to recover from the last fight, is a very crazy decision. Merab became super confident and it didn't work well. If his opponent was Song Yadong, Deiveson Figueiredo and others, I'm sure he would win but fight in 2 months against top people and especially against Petr Yan? That was a huge risk from Merab.
Anyways, he is a Champion for me and I'm sure he will be back and will be much stronger than ever before. His another biggest mistake was his attempt to do striking against Petr Yan, who is superior in striking compared to Merab. Merab's cardio also sucked in this fight, he was more tired than Petr Yan. I really would love to see rematch! No one deserves immediate rematch besides Merab. The guy had 14 win streak and 4 title defense in one year, he is the one who deserves rematch the most!

I think Merab didn't choose to strike with him, it's just that he had no other option but to do so. His takedowns weren't as effective compared to their last fight. If we look at the stats, Merab only had 2 successful takedowns out of 29 attempts, and in those instances, he didn't really inflict much damage. It was apparent that Yan had good preparation for their fight. I understand wanting an immediate rematch, but honestly, Merab should just focus on recovery first and make sure that he's at best condition before fighting again.

[TopTort777]

It was Merab who has made that post were Yan was in Peter Pan outfit

Btw, Cejudo after that loss announced another retirement This is his fourth loss in a row. He is 38 and it is really time for him to end his career. He is better at making podcasts and taking interviews now. Vettori also is having his fourth loss. I guess he will be released after being replaced in top15 by Ferreira.

Why does Cejudo even fight? This man isn't in his right mind. He really is better at making podcasts with Kamaru Usman.

Maybe Cejudo needs money badly? Have you noticed how after the fight he talked or asked Dana if this was a fight of the night? What was that for? Did he asked for 50k?

Going back to Yan vs Merab 2 fight, I would like to say that Merab has lost not to Yan, but lost to himself. Have 4 fights in one year, have all of them go full distance and 3/4 were 5 rounded fights. That is exhausting even for a professional. Merab had defended his title 2 months ago, and had a fight among former champ. Sum up all that and no wonder he has lost.

What is next? A rematch vs O'Malley? That fight was rather controversial. Dana loves O'Malley as he is a media guy

Fight in two month and especially when your opponent is Petr Yan, who had more than 5 months to recover from the last fight, is a very crazy decision. Merab became super confident and it didn't work well. If his opponent was Song Yadong, Deiveson Figueiredo and others, I'm sure he would win but fight in 2 months against top people and especially against Petr Yan? That was a huge risk from Merab.
Anyways, he is a Champion for me and I'm sure he will be back and will be much stronger than ever before. His another biggest mistake was his attempt to do striking against Petr Yan, who is superior in striking compared to Merab. Merab's cardio also sucked in this fight, he was more tired than Petr Yan. I really would love to see rematch! No one deserves immediate rematch besides Merab. The guy had 14 win streak and 4 title defense in one year, he is the one who deserves rematch the most!

Rematch? This was already a rematch. It is said that in first fight Yan had injured hand and could not show his full potential. Now we saw default version of Yan, slow on start but add with every round. Maybe they would meet again, but that should not be an immediate rematch. Yan had to win 3 fights to get a title shot again. Something of that kind Merab must do to make it fair. Pantoja vs Van are the only ones who must have an immediate rematch

[shield132]

An immediate rematch would be more than justified. But that's a golden opportunity for the UFC to bring back O'Malley and Yan would probably prefer that option too.

Does an immediate rematch mean rematch as soon as possible? Sorry, I'm a newbie in UFC, I'm here only for Merab, Ilia, Giga, Roman and other Georgian fighters. I only watch their games because it's like a tradition and da duty in Georgia. If this is what an immediate rematch means, then I think that it's not a good idea for Merab because he needs time to recover.

We can be quite certain that he will return and again challenge Petr the mr. potato head Yan on 2026 for the championship of bantamweight. I predict that Merab will get his trilogy and get the championship again. After this, he will declare and announce that he will move to featherweight where he will challenge the champion.

I reckon uncle Dana will be much in agreement on this because this will be a super fight against Alexander Volkanovski. I would be very much excited for this heheheh.

Merabi is a real warrior. The thing that hurts me the most is that this match was different for him. It was Georgia against Russia. While I have no personal beef with them, in sports, Georgia vs Russia is taken seriously because we had war in 2008 and victory against Russia matters a lot for the Georgian people and the same for Russians too. If it were against someone American or Canadian, it wouldn't matter that much. Merab lost against a Russian guy and that hurts him the most, not the fact that he lost. He is a true warrior and he will return, I'm sure.

[TopTort777]

Can we avoid involving politics into sport? That is completely unnecessary. All the arguments, hate and trash should be left outside octagon or sport. Especially in individual sport. They are there to figure out who is better-stronger-faster, than whos politics point of view is right. Or this is too childish to find out whos hood is right in a football match. As a spectator, I want to watch sports instead of political arguments. If I want politics, then I can turn TV or any news portal and dive into dirt.

Fighters could have hate against each other. No one is suppose to like his opponent, specially if your opponent wants to finish you. But living with idea "your country did that to me so I would do that to you", is that right? There are not bad nations or countries, there are bad people.

P.S. I have recalled that shield132 is Georgian and I immediately remembered khinkali and chakhakhbili Now I am super hungry...

[tokeweed]

The next event has a decent main event but most of the other match ups are kinda meh...  Looking at the odds on Royval and Kape, am I really gonna be the underdog again and lose more money.    Seems like it should be closer than what the odds suggest.  But then again it could be a trap line. 

Costa seems like a decent bet in this spot tho.  Maybe, dunno...

Date:  Saturday, December 13
Main Card (ESPN/ESPN+):  9:00pm EST
Preliminary Card (ESPN/ESPN+):  7:00pm EST
Venue:  Kaseya Center, Miami, Florida



Main Card (ESPN/ESPN+)
Flyweight:  Brandon Royval vs. Manel Kape            
Featherweight:  Giga Chikadze vs. Kevin Vallejos            
Middleweight:  César Almeida vs. Cezary Oleksiejczuk            
Featherweight:  Melquizael Costa vs. Morgan Charrière            
Heavyweight:  Kennedy Nzechukwu vs. Marcus Buchecha   

Preliminary Card (ESPN/ESPN+)
Women's Strawweight:  Amanda Lemos vs. Gillian Robertson            
Featherweight:  Joanderson Brito vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan            
Welterweight:  Neil Magny vs. Yaroslav Amosov            
Heavyweight:  Sean Sharaf vs. Steven Asplund            
Women's Bantamweight:  Melissa Croden vs. Luana Santos            
Heavyweight:  Allen Frye vs. Guilherme Pat            
Women's Flyweight:  Jamey-Lyn Horth vs. Tereza Bledá

[Pumared]

What did you think of the BMF title fight? Oliveira hasn't accomplished anything this year and is resorting to anything, going for the BMF instead of improving his stand-up game. I strongly believe he will lose to Holloway. What do you think? How do you see this fight?

[TopTort777]

What did you think of the BMF title fight? Oliveira hasn't accomplished anything this year and is resorting to anything, going for the BMF instead of improving his stand-up game. I strongly believe he will lose to Holloway. What do you think? How do you see this fight?

What about victory over Gamrot ? He is #7 of lightweight division.

Holloway and Oliveira already met long ago and Max won that fight because Oliveira got an injury during fight (but everyone thought that Oliveira surrendered early in that fight and has no spirit). As to the fight, everything can happen. Both are chinny now, not in prime. It is hard to tell who has more fighting IQ now. Will Oliveira avoid open brawl against better striker, or Max will avoid any deep waters.  As to BMF title, that is such a joke. A belt that is not a belt, but a consolation prize Kinda gift that you give to second child to make him not cry when his other brother or sister is having a Bday party

[tokeweed]

^  I think Oliveira could be given another lower ranked opponent before getting a main event spot for a Fight Night then he prolly gets another title shot?  Dunno...  But I feel like he'll be matched up with guys like Saint Denis or Fiziev.  He has fans but I think the UFC match makers aren't fans of him rn.  Lol.

Anyway, here are a couple of vids to watch before making your bets on the main event this weekend.

Brandon Royval vs Tatsuro Taira
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWagdO7F8r4&pp=0gcJCSgKAYcqIYzv

Manel Kape vs Asu Almabayev
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ad9k1c5ELY

Kape looks pretty good in the replay.  Go watch it.  I still think it's gonna be a close fight with Royval tho.

[TopTort777]

That BMF belt looks like a farewell gift. When a fighter was a champion or failed many chances to become one, he has been in business for years and has a huge fanbase, you cant free him like a regular guy by not resigning his contract. UFC came up with that BMF belt. It means you are very cool in sport, but here is your last trophy (because we cant give you more shiny belt, nor you can take it yourself) and bye-bye

At first, when UFC presented that belt, I thought they would give to guys like Diaz brothers, who are real gangsters, Masvidal who used to be a street fighter, Sonner or Conor for their trash talk. But not every one fight for that belt Its strange that this belt has not weight categories and its played among lightweights.

[shield132]

Can we avoid involving politics into sport? That is completely unnecessary. All the arguments, hate and trash should be left outside octagon or sport. Especially in individual sport. They are there to figure out who is better-stronger-faster, than whos politics point of view is right. Or this is too childish to find out whos hood is right in a football match. As a spectator, I want to watch sports instead of political arguments. If I want politics, then I can turn TV or any news portal and dive into dirt.

Fighters could have hate against each other. No one is suppose to like his opponent, specially if your opponent wants to finish you. But living with idea "your country did that to me so I would do that to you", is that right? There are not bad nations or countries, there are bad people.

P.S. I have recalled that shield132 is Georgian and I immediately remembered khinkali and chakhakhbili Now I am super hungry...

If you mean my post, I really only wrote what happens in reality and why this fight was different for him, I really don't go into politics and I have no problem with any other nation or country. I completely agree with your statement but you know, this beef in sports really exists and it's impossible to hide. It's true from both sides. I have some Russian relatives and friends, so believe me, I have no problem. I am from Georgia and yeah, Khinkali is really amazing. Btw it's called Chakhokhbili, not Chakhakhbili. It's not my favourite meal to be fair. I prefer Khachapuri, Mtsvadi, Churchkhela and many other foods.

I watched Dvalishvili's interview on a local podcast and as he said, 4 fights in a single year wasn't the reason for his failure. He had traumas but that's not an excuse. The reason he failed was that he felt overconfident and underestimated Petr Yan's ability to change strategy and adapt better for the next fight.

[trendcoin]

What did you think of the BMF title fight? Oliveira hasn't accomplished anything this year and is resorting to anything, going for the BMF instead of improving his stand-up game. I strongly believe he will lose to Holloway. What do you think? How do you see this fight?

Charles Oliveira is 36 years old and had some bad results in his last fights, but he is still a legend. It is no surprise that he is one of the fighters who earns the most performance bonuses. This guy is like an anaconda, he comes on stage and chokes his opponent in an instant. But to be honest, Holoway is a good boxer, and Charles' chin is now very weak. So, as a result, Holoway is my favorite, but I want Charles to win, and I support Charles...

...
I also think that he needs 5 months for recover and then he will return beast. This man is the real warrior. He said himself that he is motivated like never before and I'm sure he will really return like never before. We will see a significantly improved version of him!
...

If he could defend his title at a more normal level, he could still be champion.  Watching a match from a period when he was better prepared and better rested would definitely be the best...

[TopTort777]

Can we avoid involving politics into sport? That is completely unnecessary. All the arguments, hate and trash should be left outside octagon or sport. Especially in individual sport. They are there to figure out who is better-stronger-faster, than whos politics point of view is right. Or this is too childish to find out whos hood is right in a football match. As a spectator, I want to watch sports instead of political arguments. If I want politics, then I can turn TV or any news portal and dive into dirt.

Fighters could have hate against each other. No one is suppose to like his opponent, specially if your opponent wants to finish you. But living with idea "your country did that to me so I would do that to you", is that right? There are not bad nations or countries, there are bad people.

P.S. I have recalled that shield132 is Georgian and I immediately remembered khinkali and chakhakhbili Now I am super hungry...

If you mean my post, I really only wrote what happens in reality and why this fight was different for him, I really don't go into politics and I have no problem with any other nation or country. I completely agree with your statement but you know, this beef in sports really exists and it's impossible to hide. It's true from both sides. I have some Russian relatives and friends, so believe me, I have no problem. I am from Georgia and yeah, Khinkali is really amazing. Btw it's called Chakhokhbili, not Chakhakhbili. It's not my favourite meal to be fair. I prefer Khachapuri, Mtsvadi, Churchkhela and many other foods.

I watched Dvalishvili's interview on a local podcast and as he said, 4 fights in a single year wasn't the reason for his failure. He had traumas but that's not an excuse. The reason he failed was that he felt overconfident and underestimated Petr Yan's ability to change strategy and adapt better for the next fight.

Sorry, I am not an expert in Georgian cuisine, ChakhAkhbili is how I remembered it when waiter offered it. Churchkhela, that is that stick with nuts in jelly, right ? That one is cool too

One of the reasons why Merab lost I think was his wish to make another record. Nobody ever defended belt 4 times in one year. He had winning streak that if he get one more win, he would set another record. And Merab is the guy who does not avoid opponents or fight. He is always ready. To bad this time he has made a little mistake, but he will return better. What is next for him, I dont know. He has cleaned already top of division. I guess he should face some new blood next.

[pawel7777]

What did you think of the BMF title fight? Oliveira hasn't accomplished anything this year and is resorting to anything, going for the BMF instead of improving his stand-up game. I strongly believe he will lose to Holloway. What do you think? How do you see this fight?

I see this was announced 5 days ago, but I completely missed it.
As TopTort mentioned above, BMF is not the same as regular belts. Fighters' "worthiness" to fight for that belt is not determined by recent wins but by other factors, mostly popularity among fans and fighting spirit.
The concept of the BMF seems a bit childish to me (not to say retarded), but I like that matchup. Both of them are really entertaining fighters and they don't give boring fights.

It's hard to make a prediction, but my money would probably go on Charles. He is bigger than Max and if he takes the fight seriously and looks for takedowns rather than striking exchanges, he should win. Then again, Max wouldn't be where he is if he didn't know how to defend takedowns.

[trendcoin]

We see fighters defending their belts four times a year because Dana doesn't open the tap. What should Merab do, work in construction? What should Islam do, raise sheep and cows? What should Alex do, work in a tire shop? :)

By the way, I think two belt defenses in a year is quite enough. Any more than that seems like an unnecessary risk to me. I'm sure every fighter in the division would love to get that chance, but even if the champion's nickname is “The Machine,” he is not a real machine... :)