All UFC Thread

[OzExorcist]

She's saying she needs 12 weeks notice to make 145, and more time off aside from that because she's still recovering from the weight cut in her last fight: http://www.mmafighting.com/2016/12/6/13854316/dana-white-cris-cyborg-ufc-featherweight-title-fights

Take that how you will I guess. Personally the thing I'm most amazed about is the idea that there could seriously be a women's 145 belt in the UFC.

They may as well call it the "Cyborgweight" belt and have all the fights in that "division" at whatever catchweight Cyborg feels like making at the time. Because, again, there simply aren't enough 145-pound female fighters to sustain an actual division.

 

[underdog140]

Her not taking that second fight is odd. It would have given her 10 weeks to get ready to fight in her own weight class for the first ever 145lb UFC title.

She just might have blown her opportunity to be a UFC champion and start a new WMMA division in the UFC. I wouldn't be surprised if the UFC was done with her.

 

[OzExorcist]

Story now coming out that yes Holly Holm accepted a fight with Cyborg... but at a 138lb catchweight, and quickly walked it back once the idea of fighting at 145 was raised (title or no): https://twitter.com/bokamotoESPN/status/806218024596291584

...and as Patrick Wyman highlights here, "accepting" a fight with Cyborg at 138 means nothing, since everyone involved knew there was absolutely zero chance of it ever happening: https://twitter.com/Patrick_Wyman/status/806223062756491264

 

[we will rock you]

sick we got back to back cards this week for ufc cant sign only made that rumble fight is off

 

[FastOne]

sick we got back to back cards this week for ufc cant sign only made that rumble fight is off

206 Fight Card is still pretty good. Can't say the same about tomorrow's though... but who knows, maybe some fights will be good.

 

[we will rock you]

im pumped just to watch donald cerrone fight one of my favorite

 

[underdog140]

The 145 lb division seems like a bad movie where everyone says ... well things can't get any worse but then ....

http://www.bjpenn.com/mma-news/anth...ony-pettis-misses-weight-ufc-206-title-fight/

In the moments before Pettis took to the scale, Pettis’ coach Duke Roufus was able to confirm to BJPenn.com that his fighter would not make weight. Shortly thereafter, Pettis hit the scale, clocking in at 148, three pounds above the contracted weight of 145 pounds.

Despite Pettis’ weigh-in miss, precedent suggests Holloway might still be crowned the interim champion if he wins. At the time of this writing, however, it is not known if this will actually be the case.

 

[Cdub512]

I hope Holloway wins, not just because Pettis missed weight, but because he's a rising star. Yes, he lost to Conor McGregor for his last loss, but 9 wins in a row since then is pretty sick! He's only 25 too which is amazing considering all the fights he has been in.

 

[we will rock you]

im betting on cory anderson to win by decison and d lewis inside the distance

 

[we will rock you]

betting on max hollyway and cerrone to win

 

[Poker Orifice]

betting on max hollyway and cerrone to win

Yah I did too. I also took Swanson with the other two on a parlay. (that was a GREAT fight!).

Growing tired of Mike Goldberg's favourite things to say during a fight. Do I need to even post them?
Ok. His two favourites in order are:

'Dirty Boxing'

'slip & rip' (< this actually might be his new fave!)



Maybe he should spend some time in the gym so he can learn a bit more about what the fighters are actually doing there in the cage....

 

[underdog140]

I only got to watch .. Brown vs. Cerrone ..That was a good back and forth match. Cerrone landed that same kick multiple times and each time it stunned Brown.

Both fighters looked equal in size.

 

[Poker Orifice]

I only got to watch .. Brown vs. Cerrone ..That was a good back and forth match. Cerrone landed that same kick multiple times and each time it stunned Brown.

Both fighters looked equal in size.

I thought Brown looked quite a bit bigger (although I wasn't watching it on the PPV yesterday & the screen wasn't the clearest).

Wasn't even 100% sure of what all of my bets were last night... it was the first time I've bet on UFC in quite awhile (ever since canada was booted off of williamhill). I didn't even know if I'd submitted my bets properly.
After the fights were over I logged in to partypoker & my balance hadn't changed at all I figured I'd fk'd up somehow on my bet slip. Then I logged in today & was pleased to see a bit of an increase (won ~4x what I'd wagered) weeeeeeeeeee!!! Guess I'll be making a habit of this now (again).

 

[OzExorcist]

Despite all the silliness with the 145 title, it's hard not to be chuffed for Max Holloway. Plus the Jose Waldo business is gold

Speaking of silliness and 145-pound titles... did anyone else catch Dana last week saying they're gonna make a women's 145 division regardless of whether Cyborg fights in it or not?!? http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2016/12/...ion-dana-white-interview-womens-145-wmma-news

I mean making that division just to give Cyborg a title was silly, but I guess at least promotionally defensible. Making that division without Cyborg though? That's... insane. Unless they're actually banking on Cyborg never coming back, and thinking Rousey can use it to pull off the two-belts trick?

 

[we will rock you]

ufc 206 was a great card that swason fight was sick as hell cant wait till the next card

 

[underdog140]

Congrats on your win Poker Orifice.

I been saying for awhile that Ronda should go for the elusive two division championship. I am sure Dana has her in mind with the new division.

Maby UFC / Dana are trying to get Ronda to become champion again ... While also trying to set up Cyborg being the 145lb champion and having the two fight in a champion vs. champion fight.

I think there has been a major drop in her ( Ronda ) popularity. She been booted from the two main movies she was to be in. She was recently on Conan also and the episode ( viewer wise ) didn't do that well.

 

[Blackout09]

Max Holloway against Aldo in February!!!

 

[OzExorcist]

Yeah Rousey winning belts in two divisions only works if 1: she beats Nunes and then 2: they don't let Cyborg actually fight in this new 145 division.

FWIW I like Rousey's chances of doing the first one - Nunes doesn't have anything like the ringcraft of Holm, and I still think Rousey can armbar the hell out of anyone who comes in on straight lines and gives her the clinch.

As for the second one though... unless we see something radically different from Rousey in the Nunes fight (and I'd be surprised, as she doesn't seem interested in changing coaches or anything) I expect Cyborg would mop the floor with her.

 

[OzExorcist]

So women's 145 really is happening, and the inaugural champion crowned on February 11th will be either... Holly Holm or Germaine de Randamie?!?

http://www.mmafighting.com/2016/12/...de-randamie-to-fight-for-inaugural-ufc-womens

And it looks like for the time being at least they're just gonna cannibalise women's 135, which is already short on talent. Seriously, the 135 top 15 currently includes:

- Recently-retired Miesha Tate
- 39-year-old Marion Reneau, who is 1-2 in her last 3
- Jessica Eye, who is 1-5 (plus 1 NC) in the UFC and is taking the next year off fighting
- Fighters like Carmouche and Correia who aren't likely to ever compete for the title or do anything other than hang around the fringes of the top 10

There are some solid names in there too (Nunes and Rousey obv, Shevchenko, Pena, Zingano and McMann I guess).

FWIW Cyborg is taking a fairly circumspect "UFC gonna UFC" view of it all: http://www.mmafighting.com/2016/12/...everybody-knows-im-the-featherweight-champion

If I'm Cyborg I'd be preparing to wait a while before getting a shot at that belt BTW: if Rousey and Holm were both to win belts in their upcoming fights, then Rousey v Holm 2 in a champion v champion fight pretty much make itself doesn't it?

 

[Blackout09]

Its nice to have another Womans Division. This shoud be interesting if Ronda wins and decides to go for the 145 belt and Maybe see a fight against Cyborg

 

[winslowlee]

meh, Im not impressed

 

[OzExorcist]

Its nice to have another Womans Division. This shoud be interesting if Ronda wins and decides to go for the 145 belt and Maybe see a fight against Cyborg

FWIW I still think the chances that we see a Rousey-Cyborg fight are small: Rousey has made it clear she doesn't plan on fighting for very much longer, and frankly there's absolutely no reason for her to fight Cyborg at this stage of her career. She'll make about the same amount of money regardless of who she fights. If she were to somehow win two belts and avenge the loss to Holm in the process that would be at least as big for her legacy as fighting Cyborg... especially since she'd be very likely to lose the Cyborg fight. There's just no upside to it for her.

As for it being nice that there's another women's division I agree to a point - but let's see if they can actually make a division out of it first. I mean they've got two current 135ers fighting for the inaugural title. And I know I've made this point before (which I in turn borrowed from smarter people than me, like Jack Slack) but there simply isn't that much talent at 145 to build a division around.

Here's two independent rankings of the best 145 pound female fighters in MMA:

http://www.tapology.com/rankings/1265-top-women-featherweight-fighters

http://www.fightmatrix.com/mma-ranks/womens-featheweight/

You'll notice a few things. First off both lists feature a LOT of fighters with less than 10 pro fights. Several of them only have two or three.

Fightmatrix has to include "all fighters over 140 pounds" just to get 15 names, which means their list includes people like Gabi Garcia (who'd have to chop off a leg to make 145).

Tapology's top 15 includes a couple of fighters on two-fight losing streaks, some who haven't fought in 3+ years... and several that already have brutal losses to Cyborg. Plus they still list Gina Carano as the #29 fighter in the world LOL.

And that's before you consider how fast the UFC would be able to sign any of these names. Invicta will probably roll over like they always do and let them sign away the fighters on their roster. But some of the other names that feature high on both lists (inc Julia Budd, Marloes Coenen and Alexis Dufresne, assuming the UFC even wanted her back) are signed to Bellator. They're not likely to let them go without a fight...

 

[WVHillbilly]

I think they would be better off with a women's flyweight division since the 20 pounds from 115 to 135 surely forces a lot of women to either die trying to cut or fight naturally larger fighters.

 

[underdog140]

I predicted the 145lb division was coming and I am going to say something crazy here ..... in a few short years the 145lb division is going to be more popular then any current WMMA division.

As for Holm vs Rousey 2 for the 145lb belt. ... I don't think it happens. If she goes up ... she then has 0 excuses to not accept a fight with Cyborg. Her two toughest fights are now at 145lbs ... Holly and Cyborg.

I believe there was a time when Ronda thought she could beat Cyborg but her confidence has since dwindled.

 

[OzExorcist]

I think they would be better off with a women's flyweight division since the 20 pounds from 115 to 135 surely forces a lot of women to either die trying to cut or fight naturally larger fighters.

Yep, absolutely this - Valerie Letourneau (cutting down) and Velentina Shevchenko (fighting up) are just two examples. Plus 125 has a much deeper talent pool outside of the UFC.

I predicted the 145lb division was coming and I am going to say something crazy here ..... in a few short years the 145lb division is going to be more popular then any current WMMA division.

As for Holm vs Rousey 2 for the 145lb belt. ... I don't think it happens. If she goes up ... she then has 0 excuses to not accept a fight with Cyborg. Her two toughest fights are now at 145lbs ... Holly and Cyborg.

I believe there was a time when Ronda thought she could beat Cyborg but her confidence has since dwindled.

OK that's... interesting I guess. Why makes you say it'll become the most popular division? If anything I'd expect the opposite: I think it'll be the least active division by far in the company, and they might even abandon it after a few years.

And Rousey doesn't need an excuse not to fight Cyborg - Rousey is the draw there. She has the power, she doesn't have to fight anyone she doesn't want to. I don't think there's many people (your good self excluded, obv) even pushing for that fight any more. It was only really a thing when Ronda was short on other options, and when there was a real question over who'd win.

Plus all that aside, I don't even think Rousey-Cyborg would have that much sporting merit in this scenario. If (big if) Rousey and Holm both win the respective titles then Rousey absolutely WOULD have a good reason not to fight Cyborg: Holm would be the champion, and having Rousey fight Cyborg at 145 when she could be fighting Holm at 145 for the title would be patently stupid. You don't pass up the opportunity for a champion-v-champion match.