MMA talk - PFL, Bellator, KSW, ONE...

[TheNineClub]

Big news for Khabibs Nurmagomedov MMA promotion Eagle FC with information that ex-UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos signed deal with EFC and it's scheduled for him to fights with Yorgan De Castro on May 20!
Same fight card will have interesting co-main event Thiago Silva vs Hector Lombard.
https://www.espn.com/mma/story/_/id/33462769/junior-dos-santos-former-ufc-heavyweight-champion-set-eagle-fc-debut-20

Remember that you can watch all Eagle FC events for FREE or in later recording if you register on their app.
Check out face-offs for upcoming Eagle FC 46 with Kevin Lee and Diego Sanchez:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCQkkCe6eeo

Damn it Eagle looking like they trying to be the next Bellator. I would rather see them building up new talents and flashing money towards more relevant and contemporary fighters than fighters that don't have a home anymore and should be better off in retirement. Nothing against JDS and think he is an amazing fighter and seems like a great dude, but that guy faced some heavy opposition and I always think things like that take a toll on one's health. So I wouldn't want him to fight's himself into the ground.

[cygan]

the fights for the next ksw 68 event are now fixed. this time the event will take place on march 19 in radom.
in the main fight the frenchman Salahdine Parnasse wants to defend his belt against the polish cage fighter Daniel Rutkowski

[TopTort777]

Big news for Khabibs Nurmagomedov MMA promotion Eagle FC with information that ex-UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos signed deal with EFC and it's scheduled for him to fights with Yorgan De Castro on May 20!
Same fight card will have interesting co-main event Thiago Silva vs Hector Lombard.
https://www.espn.com/mma/story/_/id/33462769/junior-dos-santos-former-ufc-heavyweight-champion-set-eagle-fc-debut-20

Khabib is making his own UFC with most popular and famous fighters from every organization. That reminds me of old Pride or Strikeforce tournaments, where best 8 fighters meet and find out who is the best.

I am also surprised how quick Khabib acts and how he manages to be everywhere. March 3 Dos Santos was released from UFC. March 5 he was in Umar Nurmagomedov corner in UFC 272, March 9 he signs Dos Santos. Also he finds time to train and focus on other business aspects.

[notblox1]

Eagle FC 46 is ready to start with big main event Kevin Lee vs Diego Sanchez, that is going to be interesting to see how both of them will react after last defeats.
This fight card is going to happen in Miami, Florida, and there are a lot of fighters from Russia, some of them fighting against Americans in from of home crowd, so it's going to be hot atmosphere.
With FLX sign up you can watch all Eagle FC events including this one for free!


https://eaglefc.com/

[TheNineClub]

Big news for Khabibs Nurmagomedov MMA promotion Eagle FC with information that ex-UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos signed deal with EFC and it's scheduled for him to fights with Yorgan De Castro on May 20!
Same fight card will have interesting co-main event Thiago Silva vs Hector Lombard.
https://www.espn.com/mma/story/_/id/33462769/junior-dos-santos-former-ufc-heavyweight-champion-set-eagle-fc-debut-20

Khabib is making his own UFC with most popular and famous fighters from every organization. That reminds me of old Pride or Strikeforce tournaments, where best 8 fighters meet and find out who is the best.

I am also surprised how quick Khabib acts and how he manages to be everywhere. March 3 Dos Santos was released from UFC. March 5 he was in Umar Nurmagomedov corner in UFC 272, March 9 he signs Dos Santos. Also he finds time to train and focus on other business aspects.

I doubt he didn't know that JDS was going to be released. I also wouldn't be surprised that he has a deal with Dana where he tells him what contracts are up so he can approach those fighters in advance. Nothing is negotiated in such a small time period and they have probably been in talks for a while. Also, he ain't doing everything by himself. SO this time schedule of his does not seem all that much. The thing that would take the most of his time would be if he was actually Umar's coach, and I think he's not doing that. Am I right?

[TopTort777]

Big news for Khabibs Nurmagomedov MMA promotion Eagle FC with information that ex-UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos signed deal with EFC and it's scheduled for him to fights with Yorgan De Castro on May 20!
Same fight card will have interesting co-main event Thiago Silva vs Hector Lombard.
https://www.espn.com/mma/story/_/id/33462769/junior-dos-santos-former-ufc-heavyweight-champion-set-eagle-fc-debut-20

Khabib is making his own UFC with most popular and famous fighters from every organization. That reminds me of old Pride or Strikeforce tournaments, where best 8 fighters meet and find out who is the best.

I am also surprised how quick Khabib acts and how he manages to be everywhere. March 3 Dos Santos was released from UFC. March 5 he was in Umar Nurmagomedov corner in UFC 272, March 9 he signs Dos Santos. Also he finds time to train and focus on other business aspects.

I doubt he didn't know that JDS was going to be released. I also wouldn't be surprised that he has a deal with Dana where he tells him what contracts are up so he can approach those fighters in advance. Nothing is negotiated in such a small time period and they have probably been in talks for a while. Also, he ain't doing everything by himself. SO this time schedule of his does not seem all that much. The thing that would take the most of his time would be if he was actually Umar's coach, and I think he's not doing that. Am I right?

I have watched some interviews on youtube with EFC new fighters, and often they say that Khabib addressed them personally and negotiate everything. Did you know such fighter as Alexander "Storm" Shlemenko ? He is very experienced and popular in Russia. Khabib signed him to EFC through 5min phone call or by several questions But I agree that there are lot of people who assist him with management.

As far as I know, Umar trains and lives mostly in Russia, but had camp in US in AKA gym, together with Makhachev and co. Dont know Khabibs timetable, but everytime I see Makhachev, or other Dagestan fighters train, they train in AKA and Khabib is always around there.

[notblox1]

Reminder that you can watch Eagle FC 46 for free, starting less than two hours from now, and in different languages.
While you are waiting you can watch pre-fight interviews with Khabib Nurmagomedov, Chael Sonnen, Henry Cejudo and Kamaru Usman.
It is loading slower for me, so maybe you need to wait few minutes for everything to load:
https://watch.goflx.com/

[eaLiTy]

~
I have watched some interviews on youtube with EFC new fighters, and often they say that Khabib addressed them personally and negotiate everything. Did you know such fighter as Alexander "Storm" Shlemenko ? He is very experienced and popular in Russia. Khabib signed him to EFC through 5min phone call or by several questions But I agree that there are lot of people who assist him with management.

Rizvan Magomedov is the manager of Khabib Nurmagomedov that handles everything in Russia and his MMA camps and he is one of the owners for his Eagle Fighting Championship and in the US Ali Abdelaziz takes care of everything and he has a group of people around him that can move things in the MMA space and obviously the respect factor Khabib Nurmagomedov has in the MMA community.  

As far as I know, Umar trains and lives mostly in Russia, but had camp in US in AKA gym, together with Makhachev and co. Dont know Khabibs timetable, but everytime I see Makhachev, or other Dagestan fighters train, they train in AKA and Khabib is always around there.

Khabib Nurmagomedov handles all the fighters from Dagestan even if they train in AKA and if any of the fighters have a fight lined up he will be in the gym helping them out.

[notblox1]

Kevin Lee was better and won the fight against Diego Sanchez that surprised a lot with his solid performance.
Sanchez hurt his knee bad with first kick but he managed to overcome pain and win with unanimous decision, getting more money for this then for his fights in UFC.
It was overall good Eagle FC event but I am wondering how Khabib will going forward in future with this world situation we have now.
This week we have other MMA events but nothing big and Bellator is taking a break, cancelling Fedor Emelianenko last fight that was planned for this year.

[TheNineClub]

Big news for Khabibs Nurmagomedov MMA promotion Eagle FC with information that ex-UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos signed deal with EFC and it's scheduled for him to fights with Yorgan De Castro on May 20!
Same fight card will have interesting co-main event Thiago Silva vs Hector Lombard.
https://www.espn.com/mma/story/_/id/33462769/junior-dos-santos-former-ufc-heavyweight-champion-set-eagle-fc-debut-20

Khabib is making his own UFC with most popular and famous fighters from every organization. That reminds me of old Pride or Strikeforce tournaments, where best 8 fighters meet and find out who is the best.

I am also surprised how quick Khabib acts and how he manages to be everywhere. March 3 Dos Santos was released from UFC. March 5 he was in Umar Nurmagomedov corner in UFC 272, March 9 he signs Dos Santos. Also he finds time to train and focus on other business aspects.

I doubt he didn't know that JDS was going to be released. I also wouldn't be surprised that he has a deal with Dana where he tells him what contracts are up so he can approach those fighters in advance. Nothing is negotiated in such a small time period and they have probably been in talks for a while. Also, he ain't doing everything by himself. SO this time schedule of his does not seem all that much. The thing that would take the most of his time would be if he was actually Umar's coach, and I think he's not doing that. Am I right?

I have watched some interviews on youtube with EFC new fighters, and often they say that Khabib addressed them personally and negotiate everything. Did you know such fighter as Alexander "Storm" Shlemenko ? He is very experienced and popular in Russia. Khabib signed him to EFC through 5min phone call or by several questions But I agree that there are lot of people who assist him with management.

As far as I know, Umar trains and lives mostly in Russia, but had camp in US in AKA gym, together with Makhachev and co. Dont know Khabibs timetable, but everytime I see Makhachev, or other Dagestan fighters train, they train in AKA and Khabib is always around there.

Sure, Shlemenko is a well-known fighter, but he's also been in 3 different organizations in his 3 fights before EFC, and that tells me that he's willing to fight for whoever makes a phone call. JDS seems to be a fighter wanting to continue his legacy at a higher level and not shift from one organization to another, and I doubt deals like that are made on a 5 min phone call. Also, there's that thing of Shlemenko and Khabib being from the Russion union (Dagestan is not Russia but is in an union with them) and that somewhat shared backgroud makes things easier in negotiations.

[TopTort777]

Sure, Shlemenko is a well-known fighter, but he's also been in 3 different organizations in his 3 fights before EFC, and that tells me that he's willing to fight for whoever makes a phone call.

I have watched some interviews with him, and his position is not to accept any offer, but "as he is experienced and his name is known, he accept only highly paid fights". He has told that he has lots of offers, but he expect to get paid 100k$ minimum.

Maybe he was not very honest in his interviews, but he is more interested to fight against someone who prefer striking over ground game. But if the money was the only that he was interested in, he could have accepted offer from Russian Hardcore Fighting Championship. Its a bare knuckle fights, very popular in Russia. Even Alexander Emilianenko performed there recently. But to me this is more like reality tv show, as before fight, during talk show, fighters trash talk a lot.

[TopTort777]

In one months we are about to see Bellator 277.

This event will be interested due to 2 title fights. In light heavyweight Vadim Nemkov (from Fedor Emelianenko team) will face Corey Anderson, who has spend 7 years in UFC (for example he is famous for beating Glover Teixera, current LH chamption). And undefeated featherweight A.J. McKee will face Patrício Pitbull for the second time. There are chances that McKee will be signed by UFC after his contract with Bellator ends.

[tokeweed]

^  I'd totally love to see AJ McKee in the UFC.  I think that guy has legit skills and could carry his own vs the top 15 guys at 145 like Dan Ige, Edson Barboza or Shane Burgos.  And I could see him go toe to toe against some of the top 10 guys too like Giga Chikadze or Josh Emmet.  I hope the match makers don't move him up too fast tho.

I wonder the lines would be with Nemkov vs Anderson...  I'd go with Anderson if he's at least a 2.50 underdog.  Anderson's chin is questionable tho.  4 of his 5 losses were via KO/TKO.  A violence bet could be in play here.

[notblox1]

In one months we are about to see Bellator 277.

Lot of things can happen before next Bellator event and I think they will have to make some changes for their plans in future.
In next fee days we have PFL Challenger Series 5, and KSW 68 that look interesting Featherweight Championship main event.

I'd totally love to see AJ McKee in the UFC.  I think that guy has legit skills and could carry his own vs the top 15 guys at 145 like Dan Ige, Edson Barboza or Shane Burgos.  And I could see him go toe to toe against some of the top 10 guys too like Giga Chikadze or Josh Emmet.  I hope the match makers don't move him up too fast tho.

He is better joining Khabibs new Eagle FC mma organization if he wants to earn more money, or Dana White will squize him dry

[TopTort777]

I'd totally love to see AJ McKee in the UFC.  I think that guy has legit skills and could carry his own vs the top 15 guys at 145 like Dan Ige, Edson Barboza or Shane Burgos.  And I could see him go toe to toe against some of the top 10 guys too like Giga Chikadze or Josh Emmet.  I hope the match makers don't move him up too fast tho.

He is better joining Khabibs new Eagle FC mma organization if he wants to earn more money, or Dana White will squize him dry

Lets first see if Dana will be able to rise second Conor McGregor from Paddy Pimblett or not

AJ McKee needs to decide, what he wants more, money or fame. He can earn good in EFC, but I really have huge doubts that he will grow there or get any experience. He is 26 and loosing few years there (frankly, I don't know how many fights fighter should fight by contract). Maybe it is even better for him to stay in Bellator? He is champ and best pound for pound there. He can earn well there also.

[tokeweed]

I'd totally love to see AJ McKee in the UFC.  I think that guy has legit skills and could carry his own vs the top 15 guys at 145 like Dan Ige, Edson Barboza or Shane Burgos.  And I could see him go toe to toe against some of the top 10 guys too like Giga Chikadze or Josh Emmet.  I hope the match makers don't move him up too fast tho.

He is better joining Khabibs new Eagle FC mma organization if he wants to earn more money, or Dana White will squize him dry

Lolol.    Touché!

[notblox1]

Here is one more One championship MMA that is worth watching, with well known fighter like Demetrious Johnson being on main card.
Main event is woman strawweight Cchampionship title fight Stamp Fairtex vs Angela Lee, and co-main event is Demetrious Johnson vs Rodtang Jitmuangnon.
Great thing about their events is that you can watch them for FREE on their youtube channel, and I think it's going to be the case for One X event.


https://www.onefc.com/

[TopTort777]

Two more fighters worth paying attention on. Shinya Aoki and Yoshihiro Akiyama. Both are super experienced fighters, former MMA stars.

Shinya Aoki, master of submission (31/47 wins are by submission), rather contradictory personality, as he often injures his opponent and is disrespectful. He can break his opponent arm with kimura and then show him middle finger.

Sexyama - used to be one of best judo athletes. Used to one of best MMA fighters in 2005-2010 era. He is very popular in Japan, but when he has moved to UFC his career went into decline.

There is John Wayne Parr in the card. Veteran with over 130 fights and 99 win in kickboxing (but I know him more as a muay thai fighter). I am not familiar with his opponent. Probably Parr is going to win.

[notblox1]

Two more fighters worth paying attention on. Shinya Aoki and Yoshihiro Akiyama. Both are super experienced fighters, former MMA stars.

I never heard about them or watch them fight, but that is maybe because they are more famous in Japan and Asian region.
Demetrious Johnson is facing muay Thai champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon and they have special rule set for this fight, and this will be first event with crowd in 2022 for One FC.
For people who are interested, ONE X Press Conference is now available on their youtube channel so you can hear what fighters have to say:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOBl5w8jKLA

[TopTort777]

Two more fighters worth paying attention on. Shinya Aoki and Yoshihiro Akiyama. Both are super experienced fighters, former MMA stars.

I never heard about them or watch them fight, but that is maybe because they are more famous in Japan and Asian region.

Yeap. They are from times, when UFC was not as popular as now and barely could sell 30-50 PPV and their events had several thousand attendance only. And world MMA was located in Pride, Dream, One, Rizin.

Shinya Aoki is an Asian version of Covington, or who is most disrespectful towards fighters in UFC right now? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTm7D9pi4Bk This video fully displays what kind of a person Aoki is. Akiyama - he is a person a lot of people buy tickets. I dont understand the cult around him, Asian MMA fans cream like schoolgirls when they see boys band.