MMA-UFC UFC Fight Night 80 & TUF 22 Finale Thread

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We're a weeks away for a weekend bonanza of MMA fights

And since there's a thread for 194, I thought I'd make a thread for these two cards also. I'm going to be glued to the screen for a good portion of next weekend cause there's some quality fights on all three cards that weekend.

UFC Fight Night 80

Main Card
Rose Namajunas vs. Paige VanZant
Jim Miller vs. Michael Chiesa
Sage Northcutt vs. Cody Pfister
Elias Theodorou vs. Thiago Santos

Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Tim Means vs. John Howard
Omari Akhmedov vs. Sérgio Moraes
Antônio Carlos Júnior vs. Kevin Casey
Aljamain Sterling vs. Johnny Eduardo
Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Andreas Ståhl
Danny Roberts vs. Nathan Coy
Zubaira Tukhugov vs. Phillipe Nover
Kailin Curran vs. Emily Kagan

The Ultimate Fighter 22 Finale

Frankie Edgar vs. Chad Mendes
Edson Barboza vs. Tony Ferguson
Joe Lauzon vs. Evan Dunham
Ryan LaFlare vs. Mike Pierce
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Jason Knight
Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Konstantin Erokhin
Joby Sanchez vs. Geane Herrera
 
Edgar vs Mendes has been lost in the build up to 194. It's a great fight & one where I don't want either to lose but if I had to pick I want Frankie to win.
 
Crimson Azure said:
Edgar vs Mendes has been lost in the build up to 194. It's a great fight & one where I don't want either to lose but if I had to pick I want Frankie to win.
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Agreed. This fight has me more excited than the Faber vs Edgar 'superfight' earlier this year
 

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Crimson Azure said:
Edgar vs Mendes has been lost in the build up to 194. It's a great fight & one where I don't want either to lose but if I had to pick I want Frankie to win.
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When I was reading this I expected you'd end up saying you want Edgar to win. I've picked up on the fact that you love Frankie. :p

It's such a great fight. I recall that I was pretty confident that Mendes would win a few months back, but not now. It's a tough fight to call. Just like a lot of the best fights on the upcoming 3 cards. That's what makes these fights so good.
 
Joey LAUZON!!!

Good to see Jim Miller fight again but how much has he got left to offer.

PVZ hardest fight to date. Upset on the cards?

And didnt Sage just fight. Might expose this kid to early in the future. He needs to learn...still very young in the game.
 
Lauzon vs Dunham will be a really fun fight.

At least Miller's not fighting someone who's a really good striker. It's a good fight and hopefully it plays out on the mat for most of it. They're both good grapplers and that'd be fun to see.

VanZant vs Namajunas is a really even fight. Another fight where I've got no clue who's going to win. And another really good fight. So many really good fights coming up soon.

Northcutt's been given 2 of the worst LWs on the roster in his first 2 fights. It makes a lot of sense because he's very likely not ready for much more than that. He should win, but he's inexperienced and very young. I could see him losing and even if he did it shouldn't hurt him too much.
 
I'm confused. What's with the Fight Night? Why are they separating interesting fights across 3 nights instead of 2? Given they clearly have high hopes for Van Zant in particular, why is she on the Fight Pass card?

I find this all really strange.

That said, I'm really keen to see Edgar/Mendes, Lauzon/Dunham, and Namajunas/VanZant. I might be one of the last people in the world who kind of likes watching Gonzaga fight too... probably because it harks back to a slightly more golden era of MMA before it became as over-exposed as it is now (as evidenced by doing 3 cards across 3 nights!)

And I guess I can afford to be confused rather than angry, cos the "Fight Pass" card is on Fox Sports on Friday.
 
I don't really know why they put VanZant and Northcutt on a Fight Pass card. Maybe to increase subscribers? Also, maybe so they don't overexpose them too early to everyone?

3 events in 3 days is a bit much for me too. Having 1 on the weekend just gone seems like it would have made more sense. I don't really mind though. There's good fights on all 3 cards and I'll skip a lot of the fights that aren't that interesting. I'll probably come back to some that I missed later.

At least there aren't 2 in a day like they've done before. I hated that. But there was never going to be 2 in a day because they're all in Vegas anyway.
 
BradWCE said:
When I was reading this I expected you'd end up saying you want Edgar to win. I've picked up on the fact that you love Frankie. :p
It's such a great fight. I recall that I was pretty confident that Mendes would win a few months back, but not now. It's a tough fight to call. Just like a lot of the best fights on the upcoming 3 cards. That's what makes these fights so good.
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For Mendes to win, he's going to need to do pretty much what Maynard did against Edgar in their second and third fights only getting the finish. I just can't see him going the distance with Edgar and outworking him. The wrestling will be a huge key in this fight and I think whoever gets the edge there will probably get the win. I don't think Chad will be trying to take the fight to the ground too much unless he's getting lit up on the feet, but Frankie works his takedowns in with his striking beautifully and will likely look to incorporate a few takedowns in per round. If Chad can stuff his shots, I think it bodes very well for him.

bkozican said:
Joey LAUZON!!!

Good to see Jim Miller fight again but how much has he got left to offer.

PVZ hardest fight to date. Upset on the cards?

And didnt Sage just fight. Might expose this kid to early in the future. He needs to learn...still very young in the game.
Click to expand...

Both he and Rose fought at 192, just over 2 months ago. Both ended their fights in the first round and took hardly any damage, so the quick turnarounds shouldn't affect them too much.

As for Sage potentially being exposed too much, I think that's exactly what they're trying to do with him... expose him to the masses against guys he can look good against. Pfister hasn't looked like much chop in his UFC career so far, but looked to have a decent chin on him. I guess the thinking here is Sage gets to look good against a tough, but limited opponent and it furthers the hype machine.
 
I went and watched Northcutt's earlier fights that I could find. He's obviously still really raw, but he's got heaps of potential because he's a great athlete. He's big for the weight class, strong and fast. Given time he should be able to pick up a lot of skills.

One thing you really need to succeed at an elite level of MMA is to be really tough and durable. That's a question mark at this stage.

Anyone watched the Embedded for this? Northcutt and VanZant are really uninteresting. I guess you wouldn't expect many people to be that interesting at 19 and 21 though. Good thing they look the way they do. Recently listened to some Aljamain Sterling interviews. It would have been nice to see him on these because he would have been way more entertaining.
 
BradWCE said:
Anyone watched the Embedded for this? Northcutt and VanZant are really uninteresting. I guess you wouldn't expect many people to be that interesting at 19 and 21 though. Good thing they look the way they do. Recently listened to some Aljamain Sterling interviews. It would have been nice to see him on these because he would have been way more entertaining.
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Yeah I have been watching it...was laughing at the idea that Pfister thinks he is juicing. The kid is just ripped...I doubt he is juicing.
 

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bkozican said:
Yeah I have been watching it...was laughing at the idea that Pfister thinks he is juicing. The kid is just ripped...I doubt he is juicing.
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Yeah who knows. Funny thing is I saw an article recently that mentioned Northcutt's Dad got caught with heaps of cocaine years ago and that he was known in gyms as a steroid dealer. Saw a picture of Northcutt's Dad from back in the day too. He was absolutely massive.
 
BradWCE said:
The Namajunas/VanZant card? Pretty sure the whole card's on Fight Pass. Heard Aljamain Sterling say in an interview that he doesn't mind that he's on the prelims because the whole card's on Fight Pass.

And this says the entire card's on Fight Pass in the US: http://www.ufc.com/event/ufc-fight-night-las-vegas-2015?id=
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Yeah strange, could have sworn I saw it was on Fox Sports 2 as well but yeah I think you're right, didn't even realise on YouTube they called it UFC Fight Pass on the embedded episode.
 
The Vanzant v Namajunas fight is on fox 2 at 11am friday and the tuf finale (edgar v mendes) starts on saturday at 9am right after the weigh ins for 194
 
nobbyiscool said:
Yeah, cos being tested USADA, the same drug agency that tests every other athlete means nothing :rolleyes:
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Yep, you're right. It does mean nothing. I'm not even going to go into the number of athletes who are known (and some admitted) PED users who never or at least went years without testing positive. Say hi to the unicorns for me.
 
Rewatched some fights recently. Has certainly changed my opinion of the VanZant/Namajunas fight a lot. I think the match-up favours Namajunas quite a bit now. I wouldn't be surprised if VanZant wins by late stoppage or decision by outworking Namajunas. I don't think that's going to happen though. VanZant makes too many mistakes and I think Namajunas will capitalise on those mistakes.

Namajunas is better in most areas too. The only place that VanZant holds an edge is probably in the clinch. VanZant needs to get in close for her game to flow together. Namajunas holds the edge at range and she's a better grappler. VanZant got tagged by Chambers as she closed the distance. Namajunas could hurt her badly as VanZant charges in. VanZant makes mistakes on the mat that I think Namajunas could capitalise on too. Namajunas has had issues with fighters shooting in on her legs for takedowns, but VanZant gets takedowns from the clinch. I think Namajunas wins by submission. Either by hurting VanZant on the feet and then jumping on the submission or in a scramble.

I saw Gaethje in the Embedded episode and didn't think about it too much until Namajunas mentioned him in an interview. She said Gaethje has a fighting style like VanZant, but times 1000. That's so true. Training with him will prepare her so well for this fight.

After checking out Nothcutt's and Pfister's recent fights I'm far more sure that Northcutt wins. The difference in athleticism is enormous.

Sterling could be in some trouble if the fight stays standing for a large portion of it. I think he'll get a number of takedowns and probably win by submission.

Months ago I said that I think Mendes beats Edgar and recently I backtracked on that a lot. After reading some previews of the fight I'm back to thinking that Mendes wins this. Edgar by decision is probably the safest bet, but I think Mendes will win by KO or decision. It's in a small cage and I think that certainly favours Mendes. Edgar's striking functions a lot better when he's able to get takedowns. I don't think he'll be able to take Mendes down, at least not in the first 2 or 3 rounds. I think Edgar will get beat up on the feet if he can't take Mendes down. Mendes by KO is very easy to see happening. Mendes by decision is less easy to see, but I think he can win the early rounds to win on points.

I think Mendes is basically a much better version of Maynard. Pretty much in every aspect of MMA. I could easily see Mendes finishing Edgar early, which Maynard wasn't quite able to do in those two fights.

I want Mendes to win and maybe that's clouding my thought process a bit here. I don't really like Edgar and I don't even know why. He's generally in good fights and seems to be a nice guy. It's a similar thing with Bendo for me too. I'd love to see Mendes KO Edgar very early in the fight.
 
BradWCE said:
Months ago I said that I think Mendes beats Edgar and recently I backtracked on that a lot. After reading some previews of the fight I'm back to thinking that Mendes wins this. Edgar by decision is probably the safest bet, but I think Mendes will win by KO or decision. It's in a small cage and I think that certainly favours Mendes. Edgar's striking functions a lot better when he's able to get takedowns. I don't think he'll be able to take Mendes down, at least not in the first 2 or 3 rounds. I think Edgar will get beat up on the feet if he can't take Mendes down. Mendes by KO is very easy to see happening. Mendes by decision is less easy to see, but I think he can win the early rounds to win on points.

I think Mendes is basically a much better version of Maynard. Pretty much in every aspect of MMA. I could easily see Mendes finishing Edgar early, which Maynard wasn't quite able to do in those two fights.

I want Mendes to win and maybe that's clouding my thought process a bit here. I don't really like Edgar and I don't even know why. He's generally in good fights and seems to be a nice guy. It's a similar thing with Bendo for me too. I'd love to see Mendes KO Edgar very early in the fight.
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I'm also torn on Mendes and Edgar. My head and heart says Mendes but then a part of me also wants to see Edgar perform really well and win so that we can see him face McGregor, if he does indeed win on Sunday which I'm not counting on, or at the very least a second Aldo/Edgar fight for the title rather than Aldo/Mendes 3. Although I'm not really against watching an Aldo/Mendes title fight again, I prefer Mendes over Edgar and the first two fights between Mendes and Aldo were ******* awesome.
 
Yeah, Edgar winning is better for the division no matter who wins the title fight. McGregor/Edgar would be great and Aldo/Edgar 2 would be really interesting too. Although, like you say Aldo/Mendes 3 would still be good. McGregor/Mendes 2 would be great too. Any pairings of the top 4 at FW would be great fights.

The top 4 at FW is ridiculously good. And in the near future Holloway could be giving these guys tough fights too. Mendes is so unlucky that his whole career has been in a division that Aldo has been on top of for so long. He's unlucky just to be in a division with one of the best fighters ever, but he's even more unlucky because Aldo is such a bad match-up for him.
 
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