news The General MMA & Combat Sports Discussion Thread

NonPhixion

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Stephens went full Tyson in the media press conference “If he don’t die it don’t count”
Guy is a legit badass
 

JG22

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Title fights in the frame for Q1 2020

Tony Ferguson vs Khabib Nurmagomedov
Jon Jones vs Dominick Reyes
Daniel Cormier vs Stipe Miocic 3
Wheli Zhang vs Joanna Jedrezcyk
Israel Adesanya vs Paulo Costa
Henry Cejudo vs Joseph Benavidez
 
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Ah yes I am.

Yair/Aldo could be a good one. Or Cub if they want to go a little slower with him

You racist. ;)

On Choi though, it's great to see him back after his military service. I'm hoping that he's able to stay active and get back in the mix at 145.
 
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Aldo dropping to bantamweight seems crazy given he struggled badly to make 145 for a number of years despite not appearing to be a huge guy for the weight. Hopefully his old issues were more to do with diet/preparation and that the weight cut goes smoothly for him. He still has a lot left to offer and would make for some great fights against the top guys at 135. Him and Moraes would be a crazy war!
 
Ariel Helwani
17 mins ·
Conor McGregor announces at a press conference in Moscow this AM that he has agreed to return to action on Jan. 18 in. T-Mobile. He did not name the opponent. Fight isn’t signed. Two leading candidates are Cerrone and Gaethje. Cerrone is the frontrunner at this time, I’m told. McGregor pushed for 12/14 versus Edgar but those talks never went anywhere because the UFC really didn’t want that fight. They actually weren’t even scheduled to have a PPV in January but once it became clear McGregor was ready to return they came up with this 1/18 date. McGregor wanted to return on 12/14 but that didn’t make financial sense since they already had the 3 title fights booked for that card. McGregor is looking at 2020 as “a season.” He wants 3 fights next year: 1/18, winner of Masvidal/Diaz and then the winner of Khabib/Ferguson. And if Khabib wins versus Ferguson, he really wants the rematch in Moscow, I’m told.
 

burge13

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It'll be Cerrone. Easiest 'big-name' Conor can beat

I hope it's Gaethje just to see how it goes down when Gaethje keeps coming forward but either are big fights.

Conor beats Cerrone as easy as he beat Eddie. Too accurate and that teep kick to the body will have an effect as the fight goes on. Conor TKO R2
 

NonPhixion

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Going back to Tony v Khabib, here’s my breakdown of how I see the fight panning out:
Khabib needs to kill Tony inside 2 rounds, otherwise I don’t think he can win the fight. He is obviously capable of doing this via either club & sub or GNP. To me this is his most likely path to victory. Tony has more paths imo. The worst position to be in against Khabib is being up against the cage with him having top control. What Tony is very good at is controlling the centre of the Octagon, with his constant pressure & offensive footwork, he rarely finds himself pinned against the cage. At some point Khabib will take him down, he probably won’t have too much of a threat of a sub from the bottom from Tony, even though he is really good at this, I think the main issue will be Tony’s elbows from the bottom. They are vicious & will put concerns into Khabib. From round 3 onwards Tonys huge cardio advantage will start being a factor & I see Khabib struggling to get the TD’s. Even if he does so at some point in the rounds, I think Tony can apply enough pressure/output on the feet to squeak the points in the rounds. Another thing, Tony’s wrestling credentials are under-rated, he was a freaking NCWA national champion, I’m not saying he will out-grapple Khabib, but as the fight progresses Khabib will struggle & I give the advantage to Ferg on the feet. For what it’s worth I think Gaethje is stylistically a worse match-up for Tony than Khabib is.

TLDR;
Khabib needs a finish in R1 or R2, otherwise I see El Cucuy winning via late Rd stoppage/DEC.
 

JG22

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Going back to Tony v Khabib, here’s my breakdown of how I see the fight panning out:
Khabib needs to kill Tony inside 2 rounds, otherwise I don’t think he can win the fight. He is obviously capable of doing this via either club & sub or GNP. To me this is his most likely path to victory. Tony has more paths imo. The worst position to be in against Khabib is being up against the cage with him having top control. What Tony is very good at is controlling the centre of the Octagon, with his constant pressure & offensive footwork, he rarely finds himself pinned against the cage. At some point Khabib will take him down, he probably won’t have too much of a threat of a sub from the bottom from Tony, even though he is really good at this, I think the main issue will be Tony’s elbows from the bottom. They are vicious & will put concerns into Khabib. From round 3 onwards Tonys huge cardio advantage will start being a factor & I see Khabib struggling to get the TD’s. Even if he does so at some point in the rounds, I think Tony can apply enough pressure/output on the feet to squeak the points in the rounds. Another thing, Tony’s wrestling credentials are under-rated, he was a freaking NCWA national champion, I’m not saying he will out-grapple Khabib, but as the fight progresses Khabib will struggle & I give the advantage to Ferg on the feet. For what it’s worth I think Gaethje is stylistically a worse match-up for Tony than Khabib is.

TLDR;
Khabib needs a finish in R1 or R2, otherwise I see El Cucuy winning via late Rd stoppage/DEC.
Gonna be absolutely fascinating isn’t it.

When you talk about Tony not getting caught on the fence he spoke about how he deliberately trains with that in mind he doesn’t have ropes in his ring or something so he doesn’t get caught up. The guys been planning to fight Khabib for years.

The biggest trouble would be getting submitted, getting GnP’d to finish is hard and Tony would never give up. Although the guy does get mounted, and has been by lesser wrestlers. Khabib has spoken about his confidence to take down guys like Tony with small hips, I somewhat believe him.

Reckon we could have the fight standing for large parts.
 
Yeah, bummer! Sounds like Yoel is going to get next shot at Israel now instead of him.
that is kind of a joke.

Romero has lost 3 of his last 4 fights and is on a 2 fight losing streak yet is going to get a title shot in the same weight class
 

JG22

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Yeah, bummer! Sounds like Yoel is going to get next shot at Israel now instead of him.
Doubt it, Jared Cannonier would have to be next in line but I think they should just wait for Paulo.

Said he should be ready by April.

Tony Khabib
Stipe DC 3
McGregor v anyone
Jones Reyes

Should be enough to fill those first few ppvs
 
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Doubt it, Jared Cannonier would have to be next in line but I think they should just wait for Paulo.

Said he should be ready by April.

Tony Khabib
Stipe DC 3
McGregor v anyone
Jones Reyes

Should be enough to fill those first few ppvs

Cannonier would be my pick too, but the below article (admittedly from BJ Penn.com) references Adesanya's social media and seems to hint that the fight is in the works:

 
Conor beats Cerrone as easy as he beat Eddie. Too accurate and that teep kick to the body will have an effect as the fight goes on. Conor TKO R2
I think the Gaethje match up is easier than the Cerrone one.

I'd favour McGregor in either fight but the moment he starts looking fatigued....Cerrone will pull the trigger on his head kicks.
 

NonPhixion

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I think the Gaethje match up is easier than the Cerrone one.

I'd favour McGregor in either fight but the moment he starts looking fatigued....Cerrone will pull the trigger on his head kicks.
No hate but what makes you think Gaethje is an easier match-up?
 
No hate but what makes you think Gaethje is an easier match-up?
Stands and fights.....McGregor will land his shots on Gaethje.

Cerrone is taller, has a longer reach and is willing to use his ground game. Although it's his kicks that worry me the most against McGregor in a potential fight.
 

NonPhixion

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Stands and fights.....McGregor will land his shots on Gaethje.

Cerrone is taller, has a longer reach and is willing to use his ground game. Although it's his kicks that worry me the most against McGregor in a potential fight.

Cerrone almost always stands & fights as well. He rarely implements a game-plan where he shoots for take-downs to control it on the ground. Even if he did, I don’t think they would be much of a threat. Gaethje has wayyy better wrestling and if he wanted to could take down Conor with ease
 
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Cerrone almost always stands & fights as well. He rarely implements a game-plan where he shoots for take-downs to control it on the ground. Even if he did, I don’t think they would be much of a threat. Gaethje has wayyy better wrestling and if he wanted to could take down Conor with ease

Cerrone actually uses his grappling though. He's taken down Ferguson, Lawler, Story and Hernandez all of who have much better wrestling credentials than Donald. Gaethje on the other hand is 0-1 on take down attempts through 5 UFC fights.
 
Just got a text from TicketMaster informing me that Whittaker's speaking tour (or at least the event at Crown) has been cancelled due to scheduling issues. Was really looking forward to it.

On a positive note, the TicketMaster website says: "An exciting opportunity has arisen that requires Rob to return to training immediately"

I wonder if the UFC is lining up the rematch straight away between Whittaker/Adesanya now that Costo is injured? I can't see any other fight that'd be that urgent, given that Till/Gastellum still needs to play out.
 
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Just got a text from TicketMaster informing me that Whittaker's speaking tour (or at least the event at Crown) has been cancelled due to scheduling issues. Was really looking forward to it.

On a positive note, the TicketMaster website says: "An exciting opportunity has arisen that requires Rob to return to training immediately"

I wonder if the UFC is lining up the rematch straight away between Whittaker/Adesanya now that Costo is injured? I can't see any other fight that'd be that urgent, given that Till/Gastellum still needs to play out.

He got a 60 day suspension (45 days no contact) which is still yet to expire. I would be surprised if he was able to get in to any kind of serious training just yet. When was the speaking tour planned for?
 
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