🥊 The UFC Info and Prediction Thread

[TopTort777]

By saying "I also wonder if the winner will try to challenge Islam Makhachev after this fight" you already say that Topuria is going to win, because he is the one who is hunting Makhachev Makhachev has already told that he has zero plan returning to lightweight. Gaethje is not planning to move up no next division. There are lots of questions to Topuria if he plans to move to welterweight. He will look like dwarf in that division. Besides, Gaethje is one step from retirement. Before getting interim belt, he was talking a lot about retirement. If not belt on his waste, he would have left gloves on center of octagon long time ago and retire.

[Pumared]

By saying "I also wonder if the winner will try to challenge Islam Makhachev after this fight" you already say that Topuria is going to win, because he is the one who is hunting Makhachev Makhachev has already told that he has zero plan returning to lightweight. Gaethje is not planning to move up no next division. There are lots of questions to Topuria if he plans to move to welterweight. He will look like dwarf in that division. Besides, Gaethje is one step from retirement. Before getting interim belt, he was talking a lot about retirement. If not belt on his waste, he would have left gloves on center of octagon long time ago and retire.

If Makhachev keeps causing losses for the UFC and doesn't participate in these big fights, they will almost certainly give him an interim belt and sideline him. He seems to have given up on fighting, he's not accepting the challenges he's faced. It seems he got what he wanted and now he's going to behave however he pleases in the organization.

[tokeweed]

UFC Freedom 250



Date: June 15

Main Card: Mon, Jun 15 / 3:00 AM GMT+3

Venue:    White House

Main card (Paramount+)
Lightweight: Ilia Topuria (c) vs. Justin Gaethje (ic)
Heavyweight: Alex Pereira vs. Ciryl Gane
Bantamweight: Sean O'Malley vs. Aiemann Zahabi            
Heavyweight: Josh Hokit vs. Derrick Lewis            
Lightweight: Maurício Ruffy vs. Michael Chandler            
Middleweight: Bo Nickal vs. Kyle Daukaus            
Featherweight: Diego Lopes vs. Steve Garcia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFC_Freedom_250#Fight_card

Only 7 fights 

Yeah...  It's like just the main card of an event.  These are all solid match ups except for the Lewis vs Hokit one.  Putting the main and the co main event aside, my favorite match up is Diego Lopes vs Steve Garcia.    That one is gonna be a banger...  Rooting for my guy Garcia.

Here are the results of the last event..

Gabriel Bonfim def. Belal Muhammad via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45)
Brendan Allen def. Edmen Shahbazyan via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Tom Nolan def. Fares Ziam via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Bryce Mitchell def. Santiago Luna via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 3, 4:52
Iwo Baraniewski def. Junior Tafa via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 1:25
Alessandro Costa def. Matt Schnell via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 2:32
Marcus McGhee def. John Yannis via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Edgar Chairez def. Bruno Silva via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 4:13
Chelsea Chandler def. Priscila Cachoeira via submission (armbar) – Round 1, 3:42
Joanderson Brito def. Jordan Leavitt via submission (ninja choke) – Round 1, 4:19
Jeisla Chaves def. Yuneisy Duben via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Ketlen Souza def. Ariane Carnelossi via knockout (head kick) – Round 1, 1:34

[trendcoin]

9 fights, 9 wins, 9 first-round finishes.
Last night it was Iwo's 3rd UFC fight and he received a Performance of the Night award 3 times in a row. He made $250,000 from the bonuses alone.
I think he already showed enough to match him up with someone from the top 15, although it can be argued that Tafa was not a big challenge. Baraniewski previously agreed to step in and replace the injured Blachowicz in a fight against Guskov, but Guskov refused.
He could bring some freshness to the top light heavyweight division, especially after Pereira moved up.

I totally agree. We really need to see him face off against someone from the top 15. By the way, this could have happened even before this fight. Based on his performance so far, Iwo definitely deserves to face someone from the top 15. And as viewers, we also deserve to see it. By the way, from what I’ve seen so far, he’s finished opponents with his fists, but his ears are sending us other messages too... :)

[pawel7777]

When did Bryce Mitchell fall off the top 15?
I was sure he was still ranked. I think he should be.

They matched him up against young Santiago Luna (21 years old) in last weekend's event. Luna was undefeated with 8-0 record and it was his 3rd UFC fight. I'm not sure if the UFC wanted him to make his name by defeating Bryce, but things didn't go too well for him. Or maybe it was the other way around and they wanted Bryce to bounce back. Bryce tends to say things that the UFC owners probably don't want to hear, but he has a large fan base and he is much more entertaining than many of the ranked bantamweight fighters.
Bryce dominated throughout all 3 rounds. He was able to take Luna to the ground and control him there. He was actively looking for submission and he finally found it just before the end of the fight. I'm not sure if this win will be enough to put him back in the ranking.

[bbc.reporter]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/articles/c5y7ngydjm7o

There's a new drama brewing up between Eddie Hearn, one of the most famous boxing promoters and Dana White.
Recently, Hearn's new talent agency signed a deal with Tom Aspinall and now Hearn is publicly calling for Dana White to release Aspinall from his UFC contract, saying he could easily offer him at least 3 times as much as what the UFC is paying him.

This move has a revenge element going on, as previously Dana White's boxing promotion Zuffa "stole" Conor Benn, one of the biggest stars in Eddie Hearn's stable, and Dana allegedly commented that Eddie should be happy for Benn to be earning more money under Zuffa. So now Hearn is throwing Dana's argument back at him.

If we will discuss this news again, I have a new speculation on why the moon face Aspinall has agreed to join Eddie Hearn. This is certainly because the moon face Aspinall is becoming skeptical on the UFC's purpose for him after Alex Pereira's transfer to heavyweight hehe. Who will be uncle Dana's favorite fighter on this weight division?

It appears that the moon face Aspinall's answer for this question is Chama hehehehe.

[TopTort777]

Yeah...  It's like just the main card of an event.  These are all solid match ups except for the Lewis vs Hokit one.  Putting the main and the co main event aside, my favorite match up is Diego Lopes vs Steve Garcia.    That one is gonna be a banger...  Rooting for my guy Garcia.

Hokit is the guy who is slowly turning into new freak and trashtalking star The must have had one guy who has great verbal skill to hype the crowd

Btw tokeweed, I know how you like underdogs and risky bets, so how about picking Gaethje? He is a huge underdog. He was a huge underdog against Pimblett, but the fight was a one sided beating in Gaethje favor. Or maybe instead of choosing who will win in Topuria vs Gaethje pair, pick that the fight wont go to judges decision?

[Jostern]

UFC Freedom 250



Date: June 15

Main Card: Mon, Jun 15 / 3:00 AM GMT+3

Venue:    White House

Main card (Paramount+)
Lightweight: Ilia Topuria (c) vs. Justin Gaethje (ic)
Heavyweight: Alex Pereira vs. Ciryl Gane
Bantamweight: Sean O'Malley vs. Aiemann Zahabi            
Heavyweight: Josh Hokit vs. Derrick Lewis            
Lightweight: Maurício Ruffy vs. Michael Chandler            
Middleweight: Bo Nickal vs. Kyle Daukaus            
Featherweight: Diego Lopes vs. Steve Garcia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFC_Freedom_250#Fight_card

Only 7 fights 

It’s going to be a huge battle between both fighters, Ilia Topuria is undefeated in his fight so far and that makes it a very interesting fight with a tremendous records.

But I will not underestimate Justin Gaethje because he has had a very good and tremendous fight as well in the featherweight division.

All this games looks to be very interesting and I’m anticipating this matchup which tends to come up with so much excitement in the fights.

Josh Hokit vs Derrick Lewis, I’m excited and anticipating that matchup.

[TopTort777]

Wonder where have "devastating lowkicks" from Gaethje have gone? Commentators and on social media he was often claimed to be one of the hardest lowkick kickers in division. Gaethje also used to be a wrestler. Now he is going more in punches exchange and neglect defense. What has happened to Justin? Fighting IQ has dropped several tens of points? I wish Gaethje starts landing those lowkicks and avoid close distance with Ilia. Reach is Gaethje advantage in this fight. Imho he must try to make this fight last as long as possible and try to make Ilia lose mobility. Kill Ilias front leg, that would be task Nr1. Going close distance and boxing is a suicide mission for Justin. Even though he is an underdog with +5 odds, I think he has chances of winning.

[Synchronice]

By saying "I also wonder if the winner will try to challenge Islam Makhachev after this fight" you already say that Topuria is going to win, because he is the one who is hunting Makhachev Makhachev has already told that he has zero plan returning to lightweight.

That's not true. Makhachev said that he will return to lightweight to fight Topuria if UFC pays him well. I 100% know he said this in one of his interview but in general, he doesn't plan to go to lightweight, he might do this only for that fight but also here is the thing, Topuria wants to become a 3 division champion, so he will move up most likely. By the way, Topuria has to win a few fights in lightweight before he has the chance to fight for the title in welterweight but honestly, if he knocks out Gaethje, especially in the first round, then he deserves the title fight for welterweight, this is my opinion. And if he knocks out Islam Makhachev, he deserves the title of the GOAT.

[chinhar]

By saying "I also wonder if the winner will try to challenge Islam Makhachev after this fight" you already say that Topuria is going to win, because he is the one who is hunting Makhachev Makhachev has already told that he has zero plan returning to lightweight. Gaethje is not planning to move up no next division. There are lots of questions to Topuria if he plans to move to welterweight. He will look like dwarf in that division. Besides, Gaethje is one step from retirement. Before getting interim belt, he was talking a lot about retirement. If not belt on his waste, he would have left gloves on center of octagon long time ago and retire.

Islam is a beast, and it's no coincidence that he's been a P4P champion, winning championship titles and cementing his place in the UFC. Topuria has expressed his desire for this fight, but it's more to consolidate his experience in the UFC, even though he arrives with a 17-0 record. However, i don't think this fight will happen, and if it were, I'd bet everything on Islam, given his accomplishments and having only suffered one defeat. For now, let's see how Topuria fares this Saturday.

[tokeweed]

Yeah...  It's like just the main card of an event.  These are all solid match ups except for the Lewis vs Hokit one.  Putting the main and the co main event aside, my favorite match up is Diego Lopes vs Steve Garcia.    That one is gonna be a banger...  Rooting for my guy Garcia.

Hokit is the guy who is slowly turning into new freak and trashtalking star The must have had one guy who has great verbal skill to hype the crowd

Btw tokeweed, I know how you like underdogs and risky bets, so how about picking Gaethje? He is a huge underdog. He was a huge underdog against Pimblett, but the fight was a one sided beating in Gaethje favor. Or maybe instead of choosing who will win in Topuria vs Gaethje pair, pick that the fight wont go to judges decision?

Nonono...  Lol.  I'll never fade Topuria at the current stage of his good run in the UFC.  I really feel like the match is gonna end in either R1 or R2 with Gaethje getting starched and sent to the shadow realm. 

But for our degen parlay the underdog that I'm gonna pick is Kyle Daukas.  I mean I like Bo Nickal but I'm starting to feel like he's kinda overrated.  Dunno tho.

[TopTort777]

Yeah...  It's like just the main card of an event.  These are all solid match ups except for the Lewis vs Hokit one.  Putting the main and the co main event aside, my favorite match up is Diego Lopes vs Steve Garcia.    That one is gonna be a banger...  Rooting for my guy Garcia.

Hokit is the guy who is slowly turning into new freak and trashtalking star The must have had one guy who has great verbal skill to hype the crowd

Btw tokeweed, I know how you like underdogs and risky bets, so how about picking Gaethje? He is a huge underdog. He was a huge underdog against Pimblett, but the fight was a one sided beating in Gaethje favor. Or maybe instead of choosing who will win in Topuria vs Gaethje pair, pick that the fight wont go to judges decision?

Nonono...  Lol.  I'll never fade Topuria at the current stage of his good run in the UFC.  I really feel like the match is gonna end in either R1 or R2 with Gaethje getting starched and sent to the shadow realm.  

But for our degen parlay the underdog that I'm gonna pick is Kyle Daukas.  I mean I like Bo Nickal but I'm starting to feel like he's kinda overrated.  Dunno tho.

Where has spirit of adventure and random predictions have gone? Come on man, Topuria has pillow hands, all fights won by luck, lucky punches and rigged fights (lol) Add Gaethje on your degen parlay. Even chatgpt gave me a wall of text why Gaethje would win (I have asked why Gaethje will win Topuria lol )

"So the clearest path to a Gaethje win is: Relentless forward pressure + damaging calf kicks + turning the fight into a brutal five-round war rather than a clean boxing match."

Only US fighter must win on this event to MAGA and because its Trumps bday.

[notblox1]

This should be a great UFC event but it sucks they didnt include Sean Strickland simply because of his political words and criticizing one country, but we know people from that country owns UFC
Moving to interesting fights in this fight card I see a huge value in backing underdogs in some way, one of them is Derrick Lewis against Josh Hokit.
Lewis can knock out anyone with one punch, and he has weight and reach advantage in this fight.
Anyway this fight goes I think we are going to see early stoppage.

Check the odds on JackPotter casiono: https://jackpotter.com/sports?bt-path=%2Fmixed-martial-arts%2Fufc%2Fufc-freedom-250-topuria-vs-gaethje%2Flewis-derrick-hokit-josh-2655382542924001318

[HaXX0R1337]

But I will not underestimate Justin Gaethje because he has had a very good and tremendous fight as well in the featherweight division.

Justin Gaethje never fought a single fight in the Featherweight division. All of his professional MMA fights were in the Lightweight division.

Wonder where have "devastating lowkicks" from Gaethje have gone? Commentators and on social media he was often claimed to be one of the hardest lowkick kickers in division.

Justin Gaethje has the hardest kicks at close range in MMA, now he is becoming technical and changes his approach according to the opponents.

Gaethje also used to be a wrestler. Now he is going more in punches exchange and neglect defense. What has happened to Justin? Fighting IQ has dropped several tens of points? I wish Gaethje starts landing those lowkicks and avoid close distance with Ilia.

Justin Gaethje was a wrestler but never wrestled in MMA, he always wanted to strike and that is how he created his reputation. Check out his last few fights and you will understand his fight IQ.

Max Holloway was able to time his low kicks and Max was able to counter with strikes and after that loss he started mixing things up.

Against Rafael Fiziev, he was avoiding leg kicks because of his opponents speed and more focused on jabs and counter striking.

Against Paddy Pimblett, he was using low kicks in combination with his punches.

I am expecting more leg kicks from Justin Gaethje against Ilia Topuria because of his boxing heavy stance.

 

[pawel7777]

Odds for the UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House, by Winna.com:

Derrick Lewis x3.75 Vs Josh Hokit x1.24
Diego Lopes x1.57 Vs Steve Garcia x2.30
Bo Nickal x1.30 Vs Kyle Daukaus x3.30
Mauricio Ruffy x1.14 Vs Michael Chandler x5.10
Sean O'Malley x1.23 Vs Alemann Zahabi x3.85
Alex Pereira x1.87 Vs Cyril Gane x1.87
Ilia Topuria x1.16 Vs Justin Gaethje x4.70

Topuria is a huge favourite, to the point that I'm considering betting on Justin. Ilia has the invincibility aura going on for him and Gaethje lost a lot of fans for his alleged support for Isreel (the country, not Adesanya) but I don't know what exactly he did say. Anyhow, he seems to be a bit underestimated. He was rarely taken seriously but he knows how to fight. He dismantled Paddy and, before that, he outstruck Rafael Fiziev.
Then again, he lost to Holloway, who lost to Ilia, so who knows.

Bookies sees Pereira Vs Gane as 50/50 fight, which is a bit surprising to me, as I thought Alex would be at least a slight favourite.

[OgNasty]

I saw Suga Sean O'Malley on the Friends Keep Secrets podcast today.  He seemed in good spirits.  They talked a little bit about the White House fight and the UFC but it was mostly more personal stuff.

This did remind me how close we are to seeing the White House event.  I really hope it is something special and not a massive gimmick.  Sort of sucks it is behind a paywall.

[BluebloodCXVI]

By saying "I also wonder if the winner will try to challenge Islam Makhachev after this fight" you already say that Topuria is going to win, because he is the one who is hunting Makhachev Makhachev has already told that he has zero plan returning to lightweight. Gaethje is not planning to move up no next division. There are lots of questions to Topuria if he plans to move to welterweight. He will look like dwarf in that division. Besides, Gaethje is one step from retirement. Before getting interim belt, he was talking a lot about retirement. If not belt on his waste, he would have left gloves on center of octagon long time ago and retire.

Topuria is winning by UD that’s my prediction;don’t ask me why 🤓. And after this fight, i think the logical option for his next opponent should be arman tsarukyan. Because it is clear that makachev is already comfortable at welterweight so the chances of him moving back to lightweight is very low. Unless of course if Dana white decides to organize a champion vs champion super fight scenario but for now i don’t think ilia is ready to move up to welterweight yet.
Gaethje on the other hand is already at the end of his career so i don’t think there is much to expect from him anymore perhaps after he loses this fight with Ilia which i know he will, he might get a few fights before finally moving to the final chapter in his career.

[TopTort777]

Odds for the UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House, by Winna.com:

Derrick Lewis x3.75 Vs Josh Hokit x1.24
Diego Lopes x1.57 Vs Steve Garcia x2.30
Bo Nickal x1.30 Vs Kyle Daukaus x3.30
Mauricio Ruffy x1.14 Vs Michael Chandler x5.10
Sean O'Malley x1.23 Vs Alemann Zahabi x3.85
Alex Pereira x1.87 Vs Cyril Gane x1.87
Ilia Topuria x1.16 Vs Justin Gaethje x4.70

Topuria is a huge favourite, to the point that I'm considering betting on Justin. Ilia has the invincibility aura going on for him and Gaethje lost a lot of fans for his alleged support for Isreel (the country, not Adesanya) but I don't know what exactly he did say. Anyhow, he seems to be a bit underestimated. He was rarely taken seriously but he knows how to fight. He dismantled Paddy and, before that, he outstruck Rafael Fiziev.
Then again, he lost to Holloway, who lost to Ilia, so who knows.

Bookies sees Pereira Vs Gane as 50/50 fight, which is a bit surprising to me, as I thought Alex would be at least a slight favourite.

I am surprised to see card where there are only 2 fights that suppose to be close. The rest there is an obvious favorite who most probably is going to finish opponent. As if they have prepared card where every fight should not go to judges decision I am very much pumped to find out how UFC managed to organize such an event. This is totally unusual event. I think there will be more than usual amount of celebrities of people from government. There must be like thousands of police and security guys around.

[tokeweed]

Yeah...  It's like just the main card of an event.  These are all solid match ups except for the Lewis vs Hokit one.  Putting the main and the co main event aside, my favorite match up is Diego Lopes vs Steve Garcia.    That one is gonna be a banger...  Rooting for my guy Garcia.

Hokit is the guy who is slowly turning into new freak and trashtalking star The must have had one guy who has great verbal skill to hype the crowd

Btw tokeweed, I know how you like underdogs and risky bets, so how about picking Gaethje? He is a huge underdog. He was a huge underdog against Pimblett, but the fight was a one sided beating in Gaethje favor. Or maybe instead of choosing who will win in Topuria vs Gaethje pair, pick that the fight wont go to judges decision?

Nonono...  Lol.  I'll never fade Topuria at the current stage of his good run in the UFC.  I really feel like the match is gonna end in either R1 or R2 with Gaethje getting starched and sent to the shadow realm.  

But for our degen parlay the underdog that I'm gonna pick is Kyle Daukas.  I mean I like Bo Nickal but I'm starting to feel like he's kinda overrated.  Dunno tho.

Where has spirit of adventure and random predictions have gone? Come on man, Topuria has pillow hands, all fights won by luck, lucky punches and rigged fights (lol) Add Gaethje on your degen parlay. Even chatgpt gave me a wall of text why Gaethje would win (I have asked why Gaethje will win Topuria lol )

"So the clearest path to a Gaethje win is: Relentless forward pressure + damaging calf kicks + turning the fight into a brutal five-round war rather than a clean boxing match."

Only US fighter must win on this event to MAGA and because its Trumps bday.

I'm telling you...  It'll be just like Topuria vs Oliveira.  Most of the guys itt were saying Topuria will have a hard time against Oliveira and I think I was the only one who said that Oliveira will get KO'd in R1 or R2.    Gaethje better be careful with this match up as this is not Pimblett who's he's dealing with.

This is gonna be another R1 or R2 KO by Topuria imho.

Anyway here's my picks for the degen parlay.

Topuria
Pereira
O'Malley
Hokit
Ruffy
Daukaus
Garcia