🥊 The UFC Info and Prediction Thread

[tokeweed]

I think the Pyfer fight is interesting. Izzy gets to style on him, because Pyfer is a bit slow and has a plodding type of fight style. However, Pyfer hits like a truck. The perfect fight for the neutral would be Izzy styling on him for 2 rounds, and then getting caught by Pyfer.

Obviously, I don't want to see that. I'll be routing for Izzy, but it does feel like his chin has gone recently.

Yup, not a good look if a guy like Imavov knocks you down and finishes the match via ground and pound.  Imavov isn't really known as a hard hitter and yet he knocked Adesanya down and finished him.  But he got a year off from fighting.  Sometimes it's good to take a break.

Anyway, let's see if 'Izzy' still has it.  But win or lose I think he'll retire after the fight.  Will prolly make the announcement in his post fight interview.

[Pumared]

Dana said on a podcast with Bradley Martin that he is not considering letting Conor McGregor fight Michael Chandler at the White House event.  He said that was a couple years ago and has appeared to have moved on now.

So we aren't going to see a McGregor White House fight.  Obviously this would have been a gimmick, but I still wanted to see it.  Hopefully they get some sort of a headliner together for this event.  I'm not feeling excited about any fighters at the moment.

At this point, mentioning Conor McGregor in UFC makes me very angry to be honest because this man doesn't fight and hyping up your audience for years while not delivering the fight is extremely annoying. Just don't talk about him and move on or make the fight happen.

I completely agree with you. I don't understand why they still mention the name of a guy who doesn't fight anymore and is only in the media to promote himself and doesn't contribute anything. The guy has already stopped fighting, but it seems they insist on reviving his glory days, which will never return.

There is another strange fight I have found. UFC 327 on April 11, Paulo Costa vs Murzakanov. What makes is strange is that Costa is a middleweight and Murzakanov is a LH. Only once Costa fought as a LH, when he wasnt able to make weight (at first fight was in catchweight (drank to much wine lol), but then turned to LH). Murzakanov, with 12 KO in 16 fights vs a guy who is lighter; I think even with a jab Murzakanov can KO Costa. But I am feeling that Costa will jump off from fight as usually.

If I'm not mistaken, Paulo Costa is one of the fighters, if not the greatest fighter, who has had the most fights canceled in his career. I'm giving up on any hype for this guy.

[pawel7777]

Dana said on a podcast with Bradley Martin that he is not considering letting Conor McGregor fight Michael Chandler at the White House event.  He said that was a couple years ago and has appeared to have moved on now.

So we aren't going to see a McGregor White House fight.  Obviously this would have been a gimmick, but I still wanted to see it.  Hopefully they get some sort of a headliner together for this event.  I'm not feeling excited about any fighters at the moment.

At this point, mentioning Conor McGregor in UFC makes me very angry to be honest because this man doesn't fight and hyping up your audience for years while not delivering the fight is extremely annoying. Just don't talk about him and move on or make the fight happen.

I think the UFC would be open to letting Conor fight for the last time, but he's totally unhinged and unreliable. Even if he was to straighten himself up, everyone considers him to be retired, so him Vs. Chandler could not be big enough as the main event for a prestigious event. They could get a co-main event at best.

(...)
Guys, do you remember that Khamzat Chimaev was fighting in Welterweight? Islam, one of the best wrestler in UFC is in Welterweight. Khamzat is also one of the best wrestler in UFC but fights in Middleweight. If Khamzat goes down to Welterweight, don't you think that Islam VS Khamzat will be a super fight? By the way, which will win from these two? I think that Khamzat will beat Islam in Welterweight.

That would be an awesome fight, but I have my doubts if Khamzat would be able to make weight. Cutting weight gets harder with age and he struggled with that in the past, i.e. he missed weight in the fight against Kevin Holland.
And I'm not sure if such fight is what the UFC would be willing to do. One of them would be defeated and would lose the invincibility aura, making his future fights less exciting.
I think Topuria Vs Islam is more likely to happen, but first, Topuria needs to get his personal life isses sorted out, and then he would face the interim champ (winner of Paddy Vs Gaethje).

[TopTort777]

Anyway, let's see if 'Izzy' still has it.  But win or lose I think he'll retire after the fight.  Will prolly make the announcement in his post fight interview.

I also think that he will announce retirement. He has charisma and he is popular on social media. I think he can easily do something online and earn well. Like podcasts, streaming. He can always coach and share his experience. I mean look at middleweight top roster. There are guys who he already has beaten, or who will beat him, or who wont (perhaps) give him much challenge. Stay in UFC only to hype on name and get paychecks?

P.S. But I would watch him fighting against MPV. I think it would be a really cool last fight for Izzy.

[Synchronice]

I completely agree with you. I don't understand why they still mention the name of a guy who doesn't fight anymore and is only in the media to promote himself and doesn't contribute anything. The guy has already stopped fighting, but it seems they insist on reviving his glory days, which will never return.

Yes, in 2022-2023 it was okay but in 2026? Still mentioning him but not delivering anything? That's very annoying!

If I'm not mistaken, Paulo Costa is one of the fighters, if not the greatest fighter, who has had the most fights canceled in his career. I'm giving up on any hype for this guy.

I think that he had 8 fight cancellations and out of 8, four was caused by him. There are others who have 8 fight cancellations too, Bobby Green for example.

That would be an awesome fight, but I have my doubts if Khamzat would be able to make weight. Cutting weight gets harder with age and he struggled with that in the past, i.e. he missed weight in the fight against Kevin Holland.
And I'm not sure if such fight is what the UFC would be willing to do. One of them would be defeated and would lose the invincibility aura, making his future fights less exciting.
I think Topuria Vs Islam is more likely to happen, but first, Topuria needs to get his personal life isses sorted out, and then he would face the interim champ (winner of Paddy Vs Gaethje).

If Alex Pereira can do such weight cuts at his age, then Khamzat definitely can do too. Khamzat is 31 years old, so it's definitely not hard for him to lose weight. I think that while losing weight becomes hard as we age, at some point it also becomes easier because you have more experience and more discipline. It becomes hard for the body to burn fat but it becomes mentally easier to do it.
I know that if I want to lose bodyfat at a very short time, all I eat is Salmon and I melt fat like it's nothing. High fat / high protein diet works the best for me and I learnt that from experience.

[pawel7777]

(...)
If Alex Pereira can do such weight cuts at his age, then Khamzat definitely can do too. Khamzat is 31 years old, so it's definitely not hard for him to lose weight. I think that while losing weight becomes hard as we age, at some point it also becomes easier because you have more experience and more discipline. It becomes hard for the body to burn fat but it becomes mentally easier to do it.
I know that if I want to lose bodyfat at a very short time, all I eat is Salmon and I melt fat like it's nothing. High fat / high protein diet works the best for me and I learnt that from experience.

Haha, nah you can't quite compare casual slimming down with weight cutting of professional fighters. The average person would have quite high % of body fat, so losing a few pounds is nothing. I can easily drop 10 pounds by just fasting for 2 days (which is quite easy when you get used to it).
But professional fighters have a tougher challenge. Most of them need to drop a significant portion of their "walk-around" weight. The diet itself and burning body fat is usually not enough, they need to go through severe dehydration just before weight-ins. That's why we often see professional fighters missing weight or sometimes ending up in a hospital, that's what happened to Khabib back in the day.

You pointed out Pereira, but he was a specimen, an exception when it came to weight cutting. Nobody could understand how a guy that big could drop his weight to such low levels. Maybe it's a genetic thing. I hear that some ethnicities have lower bone density, which converts to a lower overall weight. But even Pereira eventually moved up for good.

[trendcoin]

@AlexPereiraUFC Congrats, now we need to finish our business 🫡

https://x.com/KChimaev/status/1974720943592481070


Khamzat has his eye on Alex, but Dana won't set up that fight for him...

Alex is one of the fighters who Dana openly protects. Dana even protected him from Ankalaev, who isn't an elite wrestler. Unfortunately, there is no chance this fight will happen...

Alex is 39 years old. Maybe after he retires, Khamzat could have a chance to become champion in two weight classes, but right now, I think that position is locked for him...


Instead of taking a big risk by facing Islam in the welterweight division, there's an easier path for him, but the UFC's political landscape isn't conducive to that...


Don't you think so? Why would he take the risk of fighting Islam when there is an easier target like Alex?