UFC Fight Night & Main Event: Sportsbet.io Predictions & discussion

[rohang]

Fight night this weekend is on prefect time for asian countries as it starts at 9:30 PM for me and ends around 2 AM    (compared to usual 4-5am starts)

Whittaker vs Aliskerov is the main event and whittaker is the favorite at 1.71 odds,

I dont see prop bets yet on my site yet so I may be ignorant but Aliskerov has only fought in UFC 2 times vs people i dont really recognise,

so whittaker at 1.71 odds might be a really good play, although the odds do sus me out a little, was expecting 1.5 perhaps 

[cabron]

I will be a contrarian on this and I will be on team Izzy. He might have learned a new tactic in his homeland on the mountain ranges of China hehehehe. There might be a kungfu master there who will teach him new types of kicks and I predict that this will knockout this African Dricus. These fighters from China similar to Izzy do not surrender to a challenge hehehe.

In any case, if Izzy is the winner, does this imply that the king of Africa is a Chinese?

Hehe if am being serious, I speculate Izzy will win against Dricus.

Well it's true. Izzy could win the fight by a wide margin and I say this because I think they both have serious metrics that can actually contribute to making this a close fight. If Izzy can make a clean hit, DDP will lose. I haven't checked it yet but the odds probably favor Izzy.  He learned it all from Master Po but I think he will win the fight by UD.

I don't know if they mentioned it here, because I didn't see it. But Dana White said the following about Chimaev:

The problem is we don't really know. I saw a video of him on the ground, extremely sick. He's not doing well at all. He's been hospitalized again. Every time he's close to fighting, he gets really sick. I don't know, I don't know what to say. It's not like he's here in this country and we have doctors here to check on him or anything. He's kind of out of touch, so it's hard to deal with that.

So apparently he got sick over there, wherever he is, but he didn't want to be around the UFC doctors. I never understand why these fighters don't want to be around the UFC itself.

Dan lies all the time. Fans don't believe Conor was even injured. Conor vs Chandler fight didn't make a big sale and UFC wouldn't pay him what he asked so they didn't agree on a deal. That's what the rumor says. But check his interview https://x.com/jimrome/status/1802803402185048483

[notblox1]

I never watched Ikram Aliskerov fighting in octagon and it is interesting to see five canceled bouts in his MMA record, lets hope this one wont be canceled.
He only had two fights in UFC so I cant judge how good he is and what he can do against Whittaker.
This is tricky one to predict, Aliskerov is underdog against Whittaker, but I see he has a better record and reach advantage.
https://sportsbet.io/sports/event/mma/ufc/ufc-fight-night-whittaker-vs-chimaev/whittaker-robert-vs-aliskerov-ikram-666b7c10aafd2b0001e4956d

[Pumared]

I will be a contrarian on this and I will be on team Izzy. He might have learned a new tactic in his homeland on the mountain ranges of China hehehehe. There might be a kungfu master there who will teach him new types of kicks and I predict that this will knockout this African Dricus. These fighters from China similar to Izzy do not surrender to a challenge hehehe.

In any case, if Izzy is the winner, does this imply that the king of Africa is a Chinese?

Hehe if am being serious, I speculate Izzy will win against Dricus.

Well it's true. Izzy could win the fight by a wide margin and I say this because I think they both have serious metrics that can actually contribute to making this a close fight. If Izzy can make a clean hit, DDP will lose. I haven't checked it yet but the odds probably favor Izzy.  He learned it all from Master Po but I think he will win the fight by UD.

I don't know if they mentioned it here, because I didn't see it. But Dana White said the following about Chimaev:

The problem is we don't really know. I saw a video of him on the ground, extremely sick. He's not doing well at all. He's been hospitalized again. Every time he's close to fighting, he gets really sick. I don't know, I don't know what to say. It's not like he's here in this country and we have doctors here to check on him or anything. He's kind of out of touch, so it's hard to deal with that.

So apparently he got sick over there, wherever he is, but he didn't want to be around the UFC doctors. I never understand why these fighters don't want to be around the UFC itself.

Dan lies all the time. Fans don't believe Conor was even injured. Conor vs Chandler fight didn't make a big sale and UFC wouldn't pay him what he asked so they didn't agree on a deal. That's what the rumor says. But check his interview https://x.com/jimrome/status/1802803402185048483

It really makes perfect sense. Knowing Connor's character, the clauses for him to return will certainly include some percentage of the event's box office, if not from sponsors. It's a shame, I really wanted to see him again, so I hope he loses more visibility and leaves all this arrogance aside.

[rdbase]

I never watched Ikram Aliskerov fighting in octagon and it is interesting to see five canceled bouts in his MMA record, lets hope this one wont be canceled.
He only had two fights in UFC so I cant judge how good he is and what he can do against Whittaker.
This is tricky one to predict, Aliskerov is underdog against Whittaker, but I see he has a better record and reach advantage.
https://sportsbet.io/sports/event/mma/ufc/ufc-fight-night-whittaker-vs-chimaev/whittaker-robert-vs-aliskerov-ikram-666b7c10aafd2b0001e4956d

It is a rather interesting matchup because if I am being honest not many people have seen Aliskerov fights.
With what you have mentioned, this fighter has had so many cancelled bouts and it has been a horrible trending lately especially for main events.
Let's hope this is not the case for this fight night too.

Here is the Saudi Arabian Fight Night Media Day which I caught in the middle of it because of the time zones when I woke up a little while ago:
UFC Saudi Arabia: Whittaker vs. Aliskerov Media Day Live Stream
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65Wp5Bx0MAw

-clipped-
It really makes perfect sense. Knowing Connor's character, the clauses for him to return will certainly include some percentage of the event's box office, if not from sponsors. It's a shame, I really wanted to see him again, so I hope he loses more visibility and leaves all this arrogance aside.

Conor made a video recently explaining for himself what this injury is and a possible return to the octagon September 14 at the Sphere in Las Vegas.


https://x.com/EdParker02/status/1801604876352291004

This could all be for nought and just to throw more wood onto this dumpster fire of a comeback I had ever seen.
I have never heard of anything from the UFC about this and this was supposedly released by Conor on his own.
If that is so, then you are 100% correct in saying this was all about negotiations and getting the biggest bang for scheduling it for international fight week instead.

[danherbias07]

I will be a contrarian on this and I will be on team Izzy. He might have learned a new tactic in his homeland on the mountain ranges of China hehehehe. There might be a kungfu master there who will teach him new types of kicks and I predict that this will knockout this African Dricus. These fighters from China similar to Izzy do not surrender to a challenge hehehe.

In any case, if Izzy is the winner, does this imply that the king of Africa is a Chinese?

Hehe if am being serious, I speculate Izzy will win against Dricus.

He will win, that's my take on that fight.

Well, he is Nigerian, New Zealander, and Chinese. It's strange but this dude performs really well that it will be a waste to miss his fights. I am also going for Adesanya here and I think with all the talents he can showcase he can beat DDP. He will just have to avoid the knuckles of the champion that could become a critical key to win the fight.

@rdbase thank you for the link to the media day.

Here is the Full fight of Robert Whittaker against Paulo Costa.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Eg6VzMsWx8
It's nice to be refreshed again of how tough Robert Whittaker is. Paulo kicked him in the head on that first round and he wobbled and yet he recovered way too fast to defend himself and he never fell. So tough but so does Paulo absorbing all the punches from Whittaker.

[rdbase]

Here are the official weigh-ins for this Fight Night event in Saudi Arabia:
UFC Saudi Arabia: Official Weigh In Highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_88aiAM4yE

The ceremonial weigh-ins will commence in around 4.45 hours and here is the link to it from the official UFC channel:
UFC Saudi Arabia: Ceremonial Weigh-In
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU8KknlqQ00

[cabron]

I will be a contrarian on this and I will be on team Izzy. He might have learned a new tactic in his homeland on the mountain ranges of China hehehehe. There might be a kungfu master there who will teach him new types of kicks and I predict that this will knockout this African Dricus. These fighters from China similar to Izzy do not surrender to a challenge hehehe.

In any case, if Izzy is the winner, does this imply that the king of Africa is a Chinese?

Hehe if am being serious, I speculate Izzy will win against Dricus.

He will win, that's my take on that fight.

Well, he is Nigerian, New Zealander, and Chinese. It's strange but this dude performs really well that it will be a waste to miss his fights. I am also going for Adesanya here and I think with all the talents he can showcase he can beat DDP. He will just have to avoid the knuckles of the champion that could become a critical key to win the fight.

I think that was some time ago when Izzy represented China in kickboxing.  When he arrived in UFC, that changed already. It was just funny to raise it back because Strickland made it funnier when he said, Izzy is a China man.

I think Izzy can also win but this is if DDP does not emulate Sean who keeps pressuring Izzy in the cage. Izzy is uncomfortable when the fighter keeps pushing and doesn't give him space to breathe.  And also if Jan Blacho won against Izzy, DDP could win as well.

[Pumared]

Here are the official weigh-ins for this Fight Night event in Saudi Arabia:
UFC Saudi Arabia: Official Weigh In Highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_88aiAM4yE

The ceremonial weigh-ins will commence in around 4.45 hours and here is the link to it from the official UFC channel:
UFC Saudi Arabia: Ceremonial Weigh-In
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU8KknlqQ00

I'm looking forward to seeing Walker again, he'll be really funny to see back in the desert. I even think he'll make some jokes about it during the fight. He's an average fighter, but he's really fun to watch.

[danherbias07]

It's 3:00 in my timeline tomorrow so I guess I will miss the fight again. Well, there's always the replay.

Conor McGregor reveals broken toe as reason for pulling out of UFC 303 bout with Michael Chandler
https://sports.yahoo.com/conor-mcgregor-reveals-broken-toe-as-reason-for-pulling-out-of-ufc-303-bout-with-michael-chandler-171653252.html

McGregor's main fight was supposed to be against Chandler, who has been patiently waiting for the chance to fight McGregor in what would likely be the most lucrative fight of his career. Instead, McGregor seems open to the fact that the McGregor-Chandler matchup may never fully materialize.

The X-ray results of Conor's foot were already deleted in X. I was looking for it and could not find it anymore. I don't know why they deleted it if it's true.
Damn, that's a lot of cancelled fights in UFC 303 even though it's still a week from now. Well, this gives Daddy Dana White some time to call out different fighters who want a shot for the scheduled ones but the downside is there's no time for preparation anymore. We have seen fighters who made miracles and win their fights on short notice, I just hope it will be entertaining.

[rdbase]

^^
Quite tired of all it to be honest with you. At this point it all just sounds like deceptive practices if you think back to what was said at the announcement with that New Years video about saying he was going to fight at International fight week. Or whatever it was. I can not even remember with all the detours they had been having with this fight.
And frankly, I think everybody else are quite annoyed at this point where this has gone.
All just delays and trying to save face. This is very unfair to the fans and many are just sick and tired of it.

So let us move on to what is actually going to happen today with this fight night in Riyadh which I realized is the first time they had ever had UFC event there before.
All the other times they had been hosted by a middle eastern country they were in Abu Dhabi.
Remember the covid lockdowns and they had them toted as The fight in the desert.
And who could forget about Johnny Walker's response to the doctor during his fight when asked where he was:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/mma/article-12657807/Johnny-Walker-told-doctor-fighting-desert-medical-check-concussion-taking-illegal-knee-leading-chaos-Brazilian-fumed-UFC-294-bout-Abu-Dhabi-stopped.html

He is fighting as @Pumared had already mentioned in today's fight night which actually has an early start time in about 4 hours from now.

Another thing to note about this event is fighter Shara Magomedov had two opponents drop out and it was looking like his fight would of been cancelled along with 6 other fighters who were on this card making this one of the lowest amount fights on one card for the UFC.
Shara Magomedov was going to fight Joilton Santos first but he dropped out then he was scheduled to fight Ihor Potieria as a replacement but he also cancelled.
So now we have Antonio Trocoli taking to the octagon against him.

We will see how he fares against a very strong Shara on such short notice.

Here are the markets for this UFC Fight Night Saudi Arabia:
https://sportsbet.io/sports/mma/ufc/ufc-fight-night-whittaker-vs-chimaev/matches

[danherbias07]

Beautiful, beautiful finish from Robert Whittaker.

Experience-wise, he did the finish perfectly. He knew that Ikram was hurt as his legs got wobbly after that right-hand hook. After that, he never wasted a moment and smelled blood to finish the fight. A great uppercut to put Ikram to rest.

He said in the post-fight interview that he is ready for anyone. He looks fresh, he was not hurt, and he will probably battle again in a short span of time. This is a guy who wants to claim his title back and he is crawling slowly to it. I bet he will have his title shot in the future. He even accepted to be a backup fighter in case something goes wrong in the DDP versus Adesanya fight.

[cabron]

Beautiful, beautiful finish from Robert Whittaker.

Experience-wise, he did the finish perfectly. He knew that Ikram was hurt as his legs got wobbly after that right-hand hook. After that, he never wasted a moment and smelled blood to finish the fight. A great uppercut to put Ikram to rest.

He said in the post-fight interview that he is ready for anyone. He looks fresh, he was not hurt, and he will probably battle again in a short span of time. This is a guy who wants to claim his title back and he is crawling slowly to it. I bet he will have his title shot in the future. He even accepted to be a backup fighter in case something goes wrong in the DDP versus Adesanya fight.

Of course Rob will be interested to replace whoever will accidentally have toe injury. But fighting Adesanya again? That's like giving him too much credit, knowing this is his first KO win for more than 5 years. His 2nd chance already over and that was it, it was Izzy by UD. And he lost to DDP last year as well.

But it be interesting to see him fight against Sean, they been sitting their rank for a long time. Sean won and Rob won, they really should be fighting.