Offical MMA & UFC thread.

That knee for the KO by Alvarez was pretty savage. Another wild fight, and Justin had him in a bit of trouble towards the end there, but Eddie was still sharp and focused enough to deliver a Thai knee that crumpled Justin. The aftermath from this will be interesting, Justin might have to start rethinking his strategy for future fights. But I doubt he will. He looks drunk when he's fighting, it's a little unnerving.

I should say, before the fight happens, that the reason I think Ngannou is more likely to win is because of Overeem's deteriorating ability to take damage. The guy has had a very long career and I really think his chin is getting fragile. So my thought is that all it'll take is just one good hit to the jaw from Ngannou to put Overeem out. That being said, the experience that has cost Overeem some ability to get hit and stay standing has also given him a much broader striking arsenal and (I think) an edge over Ngannou in terms of his general technical abilities and familiarity with fights in the cage. It's the classic case of the old, wiley, crafty, veteran against the young, strong, big, super-hard-hitting new guy. I just have to lean towards Ngannou because of my view that Alister only has to make one small mistake and he's done.

I decided to finally get UFC's Fight Pass a few days ago. Has anyone been watching the EBI events? I guess there's one on tonight that I was going to check out, so I'm wondering if anyone has anything to say about Eddie's past events.

Watching old fights from Pride on this is just great. If I had realized they had all this stuff I would have gotten it a long time ago.

On Thursday's episode of The MMA Beat, a viewer mentioned the UFC's theme song of sorts, "Face the Pain" by Stemm. The panel was asked about an alternative theme song and this got me thinking about what would be a good one to replace it. What are your thoughts on this, fellas? What song(s) would you argue for?

The UFC on Fox events are so unbelievably full of advertising. It's shit. Stupid Fox shit.

Fox has to compete with the ppv events that ask for $60 per person. So naturally the entire thing has to be ads. Sporting events are dumb.

I suppose that makes sense, however, the information does nothing to lessen the annoyance of it.

Maaan, don't sleep on Josh Emmett. Jesus.

I really can't believe Robbie can still have fights like that after 16 years of professional-level MMA. What a savage.

Maybe Lawler is doing some kind of PED's. Obviously I can't be sure, but it doesn't seem ridiculous to speculate about that.

I think The Eagle is about to swoop in and kill The Notorious.

Kalib did look impressive the other night, but can he take down Connor, can he take a shot from Connor? Nate took hits from Connor (at will), if Kalib has the same level of resistance it might be over. However it could be Aldo I all over again because Kalib does walk into shots.

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CliffStamp
Kalib did look impressive the other night, but can he take down Connor, can he take a shot from Connor? Nate took hits from Connor (at will), if Kalib has the same level of resistance it might be over. However it could be Aldo I all over again because Kalib does walk into shots.

Yeah, I think Luke Thomas made decent points along the same lines. The uncertainty of it is what I find really intriguing. The Eagle also has a pretty decent gas tank, I'd be nervous for Connor past the third round.

Personally I find Connor's accuracy to be very impressive, more than his power alone. The distinction between his punches and most other guys is that I don't think Connor just goes for a general head shot, he goes for the jaw, ear, etc. This is something that smart strikers need to take notes on. Aim small and miss small.

A trick I've learned (since I'm obviously a master-zen-ultimate-ninja striker) is to actually look at and aim for the neck/throat. That way it takes a huge amount of head movement for the opponent to avoid the strike, and since I'm aiming low like that I often end up hitting the jaw bone. Much better than the forehead, especially on da streets where there's no wraps or gloves.

The thing about fights is that there is always a large amount of randomness. Just watch a fight again thinking about this and thinking about all those shots that miss by a tiny amount, what would have happened if they connected. Why didn't they connect? There is just a huge random element. People often dispute this because they point to people like Mayweather which huge X-0 records. But you would expect this given a random distribution anyway. If you have a bazillion people rolling dice, you are going to see a number of long run's of sixes.

Yes, skill matters, size matters - but a lot of fights if you just ran them 10 times you are not going to get the same fight ten times as some things have really large random factors, all one-punch guys have this massive factor. A grinder like Kalib, not so much. Holly vs Cyborg for example would run very similar if you just reran it, but Connor vs Aldo, that could vary all over the place. What would have happened if that first punch did not connect and Aldo spammed leg kicks for several rounds? Or is Aldo's defense so sloppy that Connor would have nailed him consistently in the first round?

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CliffStamp
Yes, skill matters, size matters - but a lot of fights if you just ran them 10 times you are not going to get the same fight ten times as some things have really large random factors.

I still believe that Igor Vov beats Mark Coleman 9 out of 10 times at the end of the Pride Grand Prix.

I also think that as much as I see Fedor being one of the greatest of all time, 9 out of 10 times he looses to Randleman after he's atomically dropped on his head. If his body hit just a fraction differently Fedor would have had his neck broken.

Then again Sakuraba will spank a Gracie 100% of the time


Chumgeyser on Youtube
E-nep throwing Brotherhood. Charter Member

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CliffStamp
The thing about fights is that there is always a large amount of randomness.

Given that fact, would it be sensible (if a little bit nerdy) to say that all fighting techniques, methods, and styles are at their core just an attempt to reduce the randomness as much as possible?

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CliffStamp
People often dispute this because they point to people like Mayweather which huge X-0 records.

Isn't that similar to the gambler's fallacy? Where someone thinks that because they've just won 3 hands in a row that they're therefore more likely to win the next hand as well?

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Chum

I also think that as much as I see Fedor being one of the greatest of all time, 9 out of 10 times he looses to Randleman after he's atomically dropped on his head.

That is an excellent example, similar is Sap vs Nog. Nog is as tough as all out, but that spike could have killed him easily. Run that move a dozen times, he doesn't survive all of them, in many he never fights again.

Bellator 192 and UFC 220, not that often that I have two different events to watch in the same evening. In Bellator I'm mainly interested in the Sonnen vs. Jackson and MacDonald vs. Lima fights, and the UFC card is mainly interesting because of the two main event fights, Stipe vs. Francis and D.C. vs. Oezdemir.

I will cautiously side with Rampage in that fight mainly because of the big weight advantage, and I would favor Rory pretty heavily against Lima, though I honestly don't know much about Lima.

I'm tentatively leaning towards Stipe to win because I have more knowledge of his abilities than Francis', and pretty strongly leaning towards DC because the only thing Oezdemir seems to bring to the table (aside from having a frame that's ridiculously similar to mine but with an additional 30-40 pounds of muscle) is that he does seem quite aggressive and explosive. But I don't see that as a huge problem for DC, he should just be able to control and smash him.


Anyone have any thoughts?

Stipe is a real, undisputed, veteran, champ. That was an awesome fight. The exact same thing goes for Daniel.

I think Oezdemir maybe wasn't ready for DC as much as some people thought, and D.C. reminded a lot of people just how dominant he is as a fighter and champion.

I think Ngannou maybe wasn't ready either, but he presented Stipe with several challenges that no other contender has so far, and Stipe demonstrated his genuine superiority as the champion. I can't think of anyone Stipe has faced that had the physical size, athleticism, fresh chin, and strength of Ngannou. But he still beat him pretty handily and I don't think he was ever in serious immediate trouble from anything Ngannou did. Pretty impressive on both accounts.


As far as Sonnen vs. Jackson goes, I should have seen that outcome from a mile away. But I didn't.

Rory looked pretty good as well, it'll be interesting to see if Bellator can send anyone at him who's actually got a decent chance of beating him. I think it's gonna be a long title run for Rory.

Sometimes I think Chael is so spot-on with the things he says that I really can't help but respect the guy. He is a genius with this stuff:

When I heard that Tony Ferguson had badly injured his knee 6 days out from the fight, the fourth time this fight was made, I was pretty bummed. It's a really interesting matchup. Perhaps we'll see it at some point, but I have a feeling it won't happen.

As for Tony's replacement, I really have to take my hat off to Max. I think Khabib will win (not exactly a profound prediction) but for Max to fight that guy at all, let alone on 6 days notice, is extremely impressive and maybe just a little insane. Lots of guys have been avoiding Khabib for good reason. He's a monster. Max has some serious guts.

It's not the fight I was anticipating, but it's still pretty interesting. Hopefully Max gives Khabib a good fight.

This gets my vote for the strangest fight week of all time.

Impossible to really say, but Al gave The Eagle more trouble than he’s had in any fight of his I’ve ever seen.

Alright, even though Max vs. Brian is canceled, I just couldn’t pass up the rest of the 226 card.

Anyone have some ideas to discuss surrounding the main event between DC and Stipe? I don’t think I’ve formulated any thoughts on the matchup that are particularly interesting.

All I’ll say is both fighters are definitely in for an abnormally-difficult fight. DC hasn’t faced any heavyweights who have the same list of accomplishments that Stipe does, and Stipe hasn’t really fought anyone quite like DC before. Much different frame sizes but essentially the same weight. Very difficult match to guess, but I’m leaning slightly towards DC because of his very strong wrestling game.

I really miss the days when there was virtually no money or fame involved in MMA. When it wasn’t even considered a legitimate sport. Because it meant that a vast majority of the fighters were doing it for its own sake, for a genuine draw towards one-on-one combat at the highest level with very few rules. They just loved to fight people and that was the primary motivation behind their decisions. More and more, those type of guys seem to be going away and they’re being replaced by people with an entirely different set of motivations. It’s having an impact on game and despite the obvious increase in overall talent and technical perfection that we see today, I really miss the guys who just loved to fight people for it’s own sake.

Now just to be clear, I don’t think that the modern guys and gals are somehow wrong or shouldn’t be in the game. People have to do what they can to give themselves the best life possible, so I’m not faulting any of them for their choices or performances in the actual fights. I’m just sayin’ that I miss the old days a lot.

Anyone have any thoughts related to what I said here?

I must say, T.J. is an incredibly talented fighter. I mean just watching him, let alone actually being across the octagon from him, it’s so difficult to pin down his movements and try to outmaneuver and time the guy. He’s just a constant blur of feints and changing stances, I couldn’t get a handle on what he was going to do next. It’s remarkable. I really can’t overstate how good he looked during that fight last night, he’s incredibly talented.

There was a fight that just started on the prelims for the UFC event, and it was easily the most savage first round I’ve ever seen in bantamweight. Unbelievable beginning, tables turned, and the last two or three minutes was some of the most ruthless ground and pound I’ve ever seen regardless of weight class. Just goes to show that a prelim fight can be just as crazy as the main card ones.

Yeah, Sandhagan just had the most savage win I’ve ever seen in that division. You guys absolutely need to look up the highlights of you missed it, words really can’t do that any justice.