🥊 The UFC Info and Prediction Thread

[eaLiTy]

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Ilia's case is different. He knocked out 3 legends in a row and he did it quickly. I'll say my opinion honestly and correct me if I'm wrong. Ilia Topuria's mistake was that he allowed Justin Gaethje to punch him in the face (ilia basically did nothing to protect his face, he basically told Justin: come to me and punch me as much as you want).

Ilia Topuria fought the same way when he knocked out three legends like you mentioned, move forward, fight in his opponents pockets and wait for the counters. The rest of the fighters fell for his trap, and he was able to surprise his opponents with his speed and fast counters but Justin Gaethje did not play the game Topuria wanted.

Justin Gaethje constantly moved away from Topuria's right hand, the exact right hand Ilia used to knock out Max Holloway and Volkanovski. Instead Gaethje was able to jab his way out and land right crosses which busted Topuria. Allowing someone to punch is a grave tactical mistake, no sane person plans a fight thinking they can get hit in the head a few times just to finish their opponent.  

Ilia couldn't see after 2nd round and was basically fighting blind from 3rd round. Justin Gaethje couldn't knock down or take down blind Ilia Topuria, which means that Ilia is significantly a better fighter than Justin, the difference is that Ilia's ego to knock him out in 2 minutes, destroyed his career. I'm 100% sure that Ilia would win if he wouldn't be so proud about 2 minute knockout or 1st and 2nd round knockout. He ate too much punches for nothing.

Ilia Topuria could not see because his eye orbitals were crushed by Justin Gaethje. Ilia could not do anything to protect his face or defeat his opponent. While he had the confidence he could put away Justin Gaethje, he ultimately failed, leaving him defeated mentally and physically and there is nothing he could do about it.

You are still thinking that Ilia Topuria did something different than in the fights he won in the past. Check out his old fights, he did the exact same things he did in the past against Justin Gaethje, but he was unable to put Gaethje away. Ilia did not have an answer after the second round. He gave his best shots and exhausted himself, yet Gaethje was still standing, which he never expected.

Just think about it, Justin couldn't take down a blind Ilia. What do you think, wouldn't Ilia take down blind Justin?

Justin Gaethje is an elite wrestler, but he completely switched to striking after the initial few professional fights of his career, so anyone thinking about takedowns, think about this. The fight was not a fluke KO, it was a strategical masterpiece on how to dismantle a fighter and how to make him quit.

Topuria claimed twice that he could not see out of his eyes. Normally, a doctor would call a stoppage, but the referee stepped in first after the third round. Otherwise, Ilia would have claimed the doctor helped Gaethje. Now that he has quit on the stool, there are no more excuses. Gaethje proved that to the world.

[Pumared]

He did stupid things in the airport, wanted to fight with the guy. Yes, we know that Dustin is an amazing fighter and he can beat 99.99% of the population but when you are a fighter, you should not use this skill against average citizens. Maybe Conor was right, Dustin played a nice guy.
Anyways, we unlocked a new mythical fighter, Dustin Bones Poirier
(...)

Found on the internet, a collection of UFC fighters' police mugshots, updated to include Dustin Poirier:
I'm not sure if this collection is comprehensive or if anyone is missing.

But yeah, fighters misbehaving are nothing new. I hope for Dustin it's just a one-time event and he's not going to end up with the entire row just for himself like Jon Jones 
I believe that he managed to calm himself down and didn't resist the arrest, which is a good sign. I think he also apologised and vowed to go easier on alcohol and not let it ruin his and his family's lives.

And if he feels he lost a purpose after retiring, he can always come back. He's only 37, so younger than Gaethje, who just won a belt. I'm sure Dana could find plenty of good matches for him.

A complete lineup for the greatest of all time. And regarding Dustin's case, I think it's something that's easy to reverse, as long as it's just an alcohol issue. If it's just alcohol, he should be out of it soon, because he'll need a lot of discipline, and I believe that's what fighters achieve most easily, especially him.

[Synchronice]

I'm not sure if this collection is comprehensive or if anyone is missing.

But yeah, fighters misbehaving are nothing new. I hope for Dustin it's just a one-time event and he's not going to end up with the entire row just for himself like Jon Jones 
I believe that he managed to calm himself down and didn't resist the arrest, which is a good sign. I think he also apologised and vowed to go easier on alcohol and not let it ruin his and his family's lives.

And if he feels he lost a purpose after retiring, he can always come back. He's only 37, so younger than Gaethje, who just won a belt. I'm sure Dana could find plenty of good matches for him.

What a people on this mugshot. Imagine all of them in the same room in the prison, it will be the fight scene ever, 100x better than the White House card but it will be dangerously brutal too

Have you noticed how Dustin Poirier likes to pull his shorts during fight? He does that all the time (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ0ms-S61Bc) and it is very strange that nobody yet caught him and punished for low hands. Guess what, in the recent airport situation, he has also pulled his pants https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cig84APbuck. You may retire from fighting, but your habit stays with you forever.

It drives me crazy why he does that all the time. He focuses on his shorts just too much. And now I would say that he focuses on his trousers too much too. Why does this guy has problems with shorts and trousers? He probably needs to fight with the belt on them.

Allowing someone to punch is a grave tactical mistake, no sane person plans a fight thinking they can get hit in the head a few times just to finish their opponent.  

I completely agree with you.

Ilia Topuria could not see because his eye orbitals were crushed by Justin Gaethje. Ilia could not do anything to protect his face or defeat his opponent. While he had the confidence he could put away Justin Gaethje, he ultimately failed, leaving him defeated mentally and physically and there is nothing he could do about it.

You are still thinking that Ilia Topuria did something different than in the fights he won in the past. Check out his old fights, he did the exact same things he did in the past against Justin Gaethje, but he was unable to put Gaethje away. Ilia did not have an answer after the second round. He gave his best shots and exhausted himself, yet Gaethje was still standing, which he never expected.

All I say is that he allowed Justin to crush his eye orbitals and I'm in shock why he did that. His overconfidence caused that, he thought I will allow him to punch me in the face just to get closer to him and then knock him out with one shot. That was definitely a very cocky and 50/50 strategy but Justin showed that was 0/100 strategy.

I also never said that Topuria did something different. He did what he did in the past fights and his cocky attitude caused the result. If he was smart and appreciated the opponent and match the strategy, I still think that he would win the fight. I'm 100% confident that skill-wise, Topuria is much better fighter than Justin Gaethje.

Topuria claimed twice that he could not see out of his eyes. Normally, a doctor would call a stoppage, but the referee stepped in first after the third round. Otherwise, Ilia would have claimed the doctor helped Gaethje. Now that he has quit on the stool, there are no more excuses. Gaethje proved that to the world.

I agree with you but I would say that he could really win, his cocky attitude destroyed him.

[pawel7777]

Fixtures and odds (from Winna.com) for all 13 fights of tomorrow's event:

Abdullaev,Tahir x1.95 Vs Nascimento,Jefferson x1.80
Almakhan,Bekzat x2.20 Vs Matsumoto,Jean x1.62
Donchenko,Daniil x1.18 Vs Berggren,Theodor x4.40
Ofili,Kaan x2.45 Vs Reyes,Javier x1.50
Ruziboev,Nursulton x1.42 Vs Pulyaev,Andrey x2.70
Yakhyaev,Abdulrakhman x1.16 Vs Walker,Julius x4.70
Hasanov,Farman x1.58 Vs Nolan,Eric x2.28
Magomedov,Abusupiyan x1.87 Vs Oleksiejczuk,Michal x1.87
Aliskerov,Ikram x1.34 Vs Ferreira,Bruno x3.05
Almabayev,Asu x1.38 Vs Johnson,Charles x2.87
Sadykhov,Nazim x1.45 Vs Camilo,Matheus x2.60
Magomedov,Sharaputdin x1.28 Vs Pereira,Michel x3.42
Fiziev,Rafael x1.87 Vs Torres,Manuel x1.87

Fiziev is under a bit of pressure. He won only once in his last five fights and the last fight was a TKO loss to Ruffy. He's at risk of dropping out of the top 15. In fact, he's not even included in the new Meta ranking, but in the old Media panel ranking, he's placed 11th.
Torres has 20 fights in his record, but only one of them went to the judges. All the rest were decided within the first round, so he wastes no time. We should expect serious action right from the start.

[trendcoin]

It’s not a bad event, but what makes it great for me is the start time... :)

The event will be held in Azerbaijan. That’s why the Uzbek, Azerbaijani, Kazakh and Turkish fighters catch my attention right away. But I’ll also be watching Shara with interest. I admire his fighting spirit...

[pawel7777]

I didn't even realise tonight's event is taking place in Azerbaijan, so Fiziev's home country. I guess he would have been an underdog if not for that fact. Fighting in one's home country is not always an advantage and it depends on the individual fighter. Most of the time, having loud support from the crowd has an uplifting effect, but sometimes it can cause a fighter to try too hard to please the crowd at the expense of discipline and sticking to the game plan.

Yeah, it should be a very good event. Apart from Fiziev and Shara fights, Oleksiejczuk could also be interesting, as it's an even match with 50/50 odds. Oleksiejczuk has a rich history of delivering entertaining fights, with numerous Fight of the Night bonuses on his account, including one for his fight against Shara, which he lost by decision.

[tokeweed]

I know the degen parlay is a loss from the very first match..   Lmao.  But just for completeness sake...  I'll still post it here.

Torres
Magomedov
Sadykov
Johnson
Aliaskerov
Olek...
Hasanov
Yakhyaev
Ruziboev
Reyes
Danchenko
Matsumoto
Nascimento

Anyway, good luck to everybody's bets. Enjoy the event!

[TopTort777]

Well, dude almost updated fastest knockout in UFC history That knockout is going to hype Yakhyaev media so hard that he could quit now and be star in local or small promotions Even though I had low expectation for that event, it suddenly turned out to be well. Lots of nice fights and finishes. Fiziev surprised with a finisher a looked much better than odds were showing us before fight start.

[trendcoin]

The UFC should give better opponents to Abulrahman Yahyaev now. He has won all of his UFC fights in the first round. Yesterday, he came very close to breaking a record. He’s proven that he’s a good fighter and deserves to be in big fights... Fiziev also won with a fantastic finish. In my opinion, he’s one of the fighters in the UFC who deserves respect...

[TopTort777]

But Fiziev should do something with his defense. I am sick watching how used-to-elite-muay-thai guy have started to block most of punches by head. If we close eyes on knockout, Fiziev ate some nice strikes. If he continues like this, crystal chin wont be far away. Anyway, no matter how cool Fiziev is, top10-15 I think will be his maximum for today. Maybe he can beat Hooker, but everyone above Hookers are mission impossible for Fiziev.

[tokeweed]

^  Yeah he's almost over the hill as a UFC fighter at 33 years old who fights at 155.  A couple or so years more then we'll def see him regress more.

Anyway, here are the results...

Rafael Fiziev def.   Manuel Torres   KO (spinning wheel kick and punches)   2   0:15   
Sharabutdin Magomedov   def.   Michel Pereira   Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28)   3   5:00   
Matheus Camilo def. Nazim Sadykhov  TKO (punches)   
Asu Almabayev def. Charles Johnson  Submission (Suloev stretch)
Ikram Aliskerov def. Brunno Ferreira  Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27)
Abusupiyan Magomedov def. Michał Oleksiejczuk  Submission (guillotine choke)   
Farman Hasanov def. Eric Nolan  Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27)
Abdul-Rakhman Yakhyaev def. Julius Walker  KO (punches)
Nursulton Ruziboev def. Andrey Pulyaev  Technical Submission (neck crank)
Kaan Ofli def. Javier Reyes  Submission (arm-triangle choke)   
Daniil Donchenko def. Theodor Berggren  TKO (head kick and punches)
Jean Matsumoto def. Bekzat Almakhan  Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28)
Tahir Abdullayev   def. Jefferson Nascimento  TKO (punches)   

On to the next...  Which is gonna be a good one. 



Date:  Saturday, July 11
Main Card:  9:00pm EST
Preliminary Card:  7:00pm EST
Early Prelims:  5:00pm EST
Venue:  T Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada



Main Card
Welterweight:  Conor McGregor vs. Max Holloway            
Lightweight:  Benoît Saint Denis vs. Paddy Pimblett            
Bantamweight:  Cory Sandhagen vs. Mario Bautista            
Flyweight:  Brandon Royval vs. Lone'er Kavanagh            
Lightweight:  King Green vs. Terrance McKinney   

Preliminary Card
Light Heavyweight:  Robert Whittaker vs. Nikita Krylov            
Heavyweight:  Gable Steveson vs. Elisha Ellison            
Bantamweight:  Cody Garbrandt vs. Adrian Yañez            
Featherweight:  Luke Riley vs. Kai Kamaka III

Early Prelims
Women's Flyweight:  Tracy Cortez vs. Wang Cong            
Middleweight:  Damian Pinas vs. César Almeida            
Bantamweight:  Farid Basharat vs. Ethyn Ewing            
Middleweight:  Ryan Gandra vs. Zachary Reese

^  Stacked event!

[TopTort777]

Dont forget that next event is in two weeks Find something to get busy July 4-5 or to MMA to watch. Plenty of time to think about and calculate (even though math dont work in MMA, I have checked it many times) how Holloway is going to beat McGregor. I will try to find how much Conor and Max are going to take home. Interesting, is Chandler still crying for not fighting Conor? Btw, July 11 2026, that is exactly 5 years passed since we last saw Conor in octagon.

[Pumared]

Dont forget that next event is in two weeks Find something to get busy July 4-5 or to MMA to watch. Plenty of time to think about and calculate (even though math dont work in MMA, I have checked it many times) how Holloway is going to beat McGregor. I will try to find how much Conor and Max are going to take home. Interesting, is Chandler still crying for not fighting Conor? Btw, July 11 2026, that is exactly 5 years passed since we last saw Conor in octagon.

Connor must be getting paid more; it doesn't make sense for him to come back and want less than his opponent. Unless he really wants to return to his fighting career. Then, yes, he must have received less. But, either way, Max will crush him.

[OgNasty]

Dont forget that next event is in two weeks Find something to get busy July 4-5 or to MMA to watch. Plenty of time to think about and calculate (even though math dont work in MMA, I have checked it many times) how Holloway is going to beat McGregor. I will try to find how much Conor and Max are going to take home. Interesting, is Chandler still crying for not fighting Conor? Btw, July 11 2026, that is exactly 5 years passed since we last saw Conor in octagon.

Connor must be getting paid more; it doesn't make sense for him to come back and want less than his opponent. Unless he really wants to return to his fighting career. Then, yes, he must have received less. But, either way, Max will crush him.

I'm a bit surprised that more people aren't talking about this.  I've been wanting to see McGregor fight since his last disappointment.  It almost doesn't even feel like this is a real UFC event.  It's like some side quest they're going on to appease McGregor.  Still, I'm curious how the fight will end up and hope that the lack of interest thus far doesn't translate into a boring fight.

[pawel7777]

Big win by Fiziev. A KO/TKO finish after a good fight against a talented and dangerous opponent is exactly what he needed to remind all that he belongs in the top.
And he got the Performance of the Night bonus on top of that.
You can blame him for eating too many shots and not blocking them properly, but this is mma, gloves are tiny when compared to boxing or Muay Thai and therefore blocking punches is much harder.

In the co-main event, Shara also delivered. He gave another entertaining, high-paced fight, but yet again he could not find the finish, and it had to go to judges' decision. It was not an easy win, as Shara got dropped by Pereira in the first round and suffered some damage throughout the fight, but he won by unanimous decision.
It's clear that Shara will not take the UFC by storm and he's not a champion material, but his fights are never boring and fans appreciate that so he will have no problems in getting new fights.

[bbc.reporter]

Dont forget that next event is in two weeks Find something to get busy July 4-5 or to MMA to watch. Plenty of time to think about and calculate (even though math dont work in MMA, I have checked it many times) how Holloway is going to beat McGregor. I will try to find how much Conor and Max are going to take home. Interesting, is Chandler still crying for not fighting Conor? Btw, July 11 2026, that is exactly 5 years passed since we last saw Conor in octagon.

Connor must be getting paid more; it doesn't make sense for him to come back and want less than his opponent. Unless he really wants to return to his fighting career. Then, yes, he must have received less. But, either way, Max will crush him.

I'm a bit surprised that more people aren't talking about this.  I've been wanting to see McGregor fight since his last disappointment.  It almost doesn't even feel like this is a real UFC event.  It's like some side quest they're going on to appease McGregor.  Still, I'm curious how the fight will end up and hope that the lack of interest thus far doesn't translate into a boring fight.

I speculate that this will not be a boring fight if the Conor Gregor is back! Do you remember Conor vs. Dustin 1 and 2? These were not very boring fights! On the rematch, we have witnessed Conor's leg broken and also saw him being interviewed and talking crazily with Seth Rogen sitting with him in the octagon!

[TopTort777]

Dont forget that next event is in two weeks Find something to get busy July 4-5 or to MMA to watch. Plenty of time to think about and calculate (even though math dont work in MMA, I have checked it many times) how Holloway is going to beat McGregor. I will try to find how much Conor and Max are going to take home. Interesting, is Chandler still crying for not fighting Conor? Btw, July 11 2026, that is exactly 5 years passed since we last saw Conor in octagon.

Connor must be getting paid more; it doesn't make sense for him to come back and want less than his opponent. Unless he really wants to return to his fighting career. Then, yes, he must have received less. But, either way, Max will crush him.

I'm a bit surprised that more people aren't talking about this.  I've been wanting to see McGregor fight since his last disappointment.  It almost doesn't even feel like this is a real UFC event.  It's like some side quest they're going on to appease McGregor.  Still, I'm curious how the fight will end up and hope that the lack of interest thus far doesn't translate into a boring fight.

Major hype is gone. Either you stay in fighting business and be recognizable. Or developing industry will quickly recycle you and only oldies will remember you. I bet modern young generation dont even know or remember who Conor is. All they know or remember that he has changed MMA and UFC greatly, remember that he was a good trashtalker and hyped a lot. But they doubtfully remember his opponents, best punch lines on interviews or his knockouts. I bet none of them remember he was TUF coach twice and that he was first to have 2 champion belts. Most of them remember how he KOed Aldo and shorts from youtube

[Synchronice]

Fighting in one's home country is not always an advantage and it depends on the individual fighter. Most of the time, having loud support from the crowd has an uplifting effect, but sometimes it can cause a fighter to try too hard to please the crowd at the expense of discipline and sticking to the game plan.

This is so true! Supporting crowd has an uplifting effect but that's the moment when you'll try too hard but here is the thing, it still has 50/50 effect. It will motivate you to do more than you do, to strike in the wrong moment but luck it turn into the right moment or it can end everything, that's why I say that it has 50/50 effect. The true benefit of crowd support comes when you are losing the match and then they start loudly supporting you, that's when you get the rush of the adrenaline and get a lot of energy in the moment, that gives you the ability to change the fate of the match.

By the way, I would say that the biggest advantage of having a fight match at home is that you don't have to adapt on the time. When we travel, our body goes through some changes, the body is in stress even if we mentally feel fine. When you fight at home, there is no stress for the body because you are adapted to this country, to this area, to this circadian rhythm.

[tokeweed]

Dont forget that next event is in two weeks Find something to get busy July 4-5 or to MMA to watch. Plenty of time to think about and calculate (even though math dont work in MMA, I have checked it many times) how Holloway is going to beat McGregor. I will try to find how much Conor and Max are going to take home. Interesting, is Chandler still crying for not fighting Conor? Btw, July 11 2026, that is exactly 5 years passed since we last saw Conor in octagon.

Lots to watch this weekend without the UFC imho...  We got F1 at Silverstone and the World Cup. 

As for Chandler, yeah...  He knows he missed the opportunity to fight for the big bucks and easier competition compared to the guy he fight at the White House event.    So of course he's gonna feel had about it.

Here's something to watch... 

Conor McGregor vs Max Holloway Full Fight Marathon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vy5HxMzxts

[Pumared]

Dont forget that next event is in two weeks Find something to get busy July 4-5 or to MMA to watch. Plenty of time to think about and calculate (even though math dont work in MMA, I have checked it many times) how Holloway is going to beat McGregor. I will try to find how much Conor and Max are going to take home. Interesting, is Chandler still crying for not fighting Conor? Btw, July 11 2026, that is exactly 5 years passed since we last saw Conor in octagon.

Connor must be getting paid more; it doesn't make sense for him to come back and want less than his opponent. Unless he really wants to return to his fighting career. Then, yes, he must have received less. But, either way, Max will crush him.

I'm a bit surprised that more people aren't talking about this.  I've been wanting to see McGregor fight since his last disappointment.  It almost doesn't even feel like this is a real UFC event.  It's like some side quest they're going on to appease McGregor.  Still, I'm curious how the fight will end up and hope that the lack of interest thus far doesn't translate into a boring fight.

Yes, we're putting a lot of expectation on the return. But it could simply be a fight like the preliminaries. Where only one dominates and the other can't react. Max prevails and Connor is crushed from start to finish without showing absolutely anything. That's a possibility, and it's quite realistic.