UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs. Aspinall

The official Tapology discussion thread for the event!

Heres some:
Francis Ngannou
Jan Blachowicz
Michael Bisping
Eddie Alvarez
Cody Garbrandt
Brandon Moreno
Juliana Pena
Nicco Montano
Carla Esparza

* Edited at 07.09.2022, 12:46 AM ET *

Francis, Jan and Moreno are elite fighter, I don't think you can argue other wise, Also, Hard to take you definition of elite seriously when you also have Tagir Ulanbekov, Kape and Perez as elite at flyweight, And not Moreno, 

Especially Tagir, Tagir is having split decsion fights where he arguably lost to ok  guys, it’s funny you think he’s elite 

* Edited at 07.09.2022, 2:20 AM ET *

Ah so you admit to not watching the fights 👏. No need to waste my time anymore

I agree with 5 of the people you put on that list. Francis, Jan, Moreno and Pena are all elite though. They can hang with all the top ranked fighters in their respective weight classes. I think if the women’s BW division was more deep Pena wouldn’t be where she is though

Lot of **** talking and arrogance  for his opinion for a guy who think Tagir Ulanbekov is better then Brandon Moreno,  Tagir Ulanbekov lost to Tim Eliot, And his other fights were close  and huge portion think he lost to both Silva and Naccimento, Don't compare him to former champions,To be a UFC champion you still have to be great

Kinda fun to make fun of your bad MMA takes, But I think we piss alot of people spaming the chat with thing to not do with the card

Also, I do watch most UFC fights and have watch every Tagir, Tagir is average, I wouldn't call him bad, I think he can win UFC fights, Don't call me a casual, I hate when people do that

* Edited at 07.09.2022, 4:59 PM ET *

Bearjew for champ 2023!!

Anyone who thinks Francis is not elite doesn't watch fights. Maybe he's not the most skilled and relies a lot on his power and strength but anyone who beats Ciryl Gane, Stipe Miocic and Curtis Blaydes is an elite and deserving champion.

Many people underestimate Brandon Moreno mainly because of his rather calm personality, his hobbies and appearance that can be considered certainly childish. But in reality, Moreno has excellent boxing (in Mexico there have always been excellent boxing trainers), his defensive and offensive wrestling is very good and his submission grappling is really good (he is a BJJ Black Belt who has truly shown that he has a Black Belt level ). Perhaps the flyweights are a shorter division in terms of roster but I do consider that there are 4 fighters who can be considered elite: Moreno who I already mentioned, Figueiredo who is dangerous on his feet and on the ground, Pantoja who combines excellent striking with excellent level of BJJ and Nicolau who has a great technical level both in striking and on the ground. Obviously not all champions are like GSP or Mighty Mouse, even many are only really good in just one area of ​​the fight and complement it with basic boxing and good defense if they are primarily grapplers / or with good takedown defense and transitions in scrambles in case of being primarily strikers. Beyond several exceptions (such as Nicco Montaño who won the belt after winning the TUF) since the rankings exist, each championship contender must add multiple victories and beat several top fighters before having a chance for the belt, after getting a opportunity they must beat a champion who in most cases already has several defenses and is considered one of the most solid fighters in the UFC (by the P4P list). There have been somewhat controversial executions such as Carla Esparza's multiple split decisions in the title run or Sterling's DQ win against Yan, but no one can deny that his journey to the belt was accompanied by victories over top opponents in the category. I always argued that Ngannou was lacking in various technical aspects, but in the last 2 fights he has shown an immense evolution in wrestling and his maturity during the fight. On many occasions, the way things are transmitted and other circumstantial aspects are judged more than how things really are: I am sure that if a fighter who has a more aggressive attitude and who seeks to be on everyone's lips (and who was also in another weight category), had Moreno's striking and grappling, surely few would argue that he does not belong to the elite of his division.

figgy > moreno

There is no point of comparison between Brandon Moreno and Tagir Ulanbekov: Tagir has good basics in sambo (combat sambo world champion) and had a good career outside of the UFC, but in the UFC his Takedown defense has not looked anything spectacular.
There is no comparison between a former UFC champion against a fighter who has not been able to convincingly win any of his fights in the UFC. Askar Askarov who has an excellent sambo draw with Moreno (controversial decision) Tagir has no chance against Moreno if they were to fight currently.

Seriously can anyone compare between Alex Perez and Brandon Moreno: Perez's only good skill is being a KO power striker, if Moreno and Perez were to fight Brandon would undoubtedly make Perez quit even worse than Perez vs Deivison.
KKF has evolved a lot since the first fight, he has been stable in City Kickboxing while Moreno has just changed teams and the clash looks to be quite even.
But I have no doubt that Perez and Ulanbekov would be easy fights for Brandon Moreno.

Blaydes vs. Aspinall
Curtis Blaydes, DEC
Interesting match because non of them before faced a good wrestler. I hink Aapinal might be a better striker. But I pick Blayedes because he had better competition and beat most of them, and he's slight underdog.

Hermansson vs. Curtis
Chris Curtis, TKO, R3
The question is which streak will be broken. Hermansson's win loss streak or Curtis's long win streak. Curtis is better striker and may be better puncher, Hermannson is better grappler. I hink Curtis either KO Hermansson or win standup game. I dont see it going to the ground ubless Hermansson rocks Curtis wih something big.

Pimblett vs. Leavitt
Jordan Leavitt, DEC
Shieeeet Plimbet is bigger than Lievit. I can't believe Leavitt is huge underdog. I think Leavit won't let bully himself and will cruise to UD.

Krylov vs. Gustafsson
Nikita Krylov, DEC
Krylov is good striker. I think Krylov is better MMA fighter than Gus. But the problem with Krylov is he does stupid **** over and over again and gets caught in submissons.

McCann vs. Goldy
Molly McCann, DEC
I've watched McCann's last fight and she can hurt Goldy. Tbh I dont know much about Goldy. I won't be betting on this fight tho.

Craig vs. Oezdemir
Volkan Oezdemir, TKO, R1
Paul "T-City" Craig. I like Paul Craig. I know I know Craig is destroying everyone with his triangle choke. I domt wanna go against Craig but he can't keep getting away with it. This he's facing is measured striker who can KO him. Look at Ozdemir's last 2 opponents, look at his last 4 opponents. Yeah all of them are strikers, but they are good and Ozdemir beat 2 of them.

Blaydes vs. Aspinall
Tom Aspinall, TKO, R2
Tough fight to pick. I have nothing against Blaydes, but I really hope Aspinall KO's him early because it's either that or a unwatchable fight.

Krylov vs. Gustafsson
Nikita Krylov, DEC
It's been 5 years since Gustafsson looked good in the octagon. Krylov has a terrible fight IQ but he's dangerous and tough.

Craig vs. Oezdemir
Volkan Oezdemir, TKO, R2
When Volkan KO'd both Manuwa and Cirkunov in "No Time" (under 1 minute) with some weird angles shot and short power, we all believed he was a huge knock out machine à la Anthony Johnson, but he never showed that frightening power ever since. In fact, he's a pretty slow but very technical kickboxer with a good chin, medium power in his hands and devastating kicks (it was a controversial decision, but he won the Rakic fight solely by destroying his leg). So it's either going to be a late tko for Volkan, or a slick sub for Craig. Great fight, both are better than their reccord might suggest.

Wood vs. Rosa
Nathaniel Wood, DEC
LOCK

You are 100% right about the Volkan KO Machine Hype that existed prior to his title shot against DC. Volkan quickly knocked out Cirkunov and Manuwa, but the two of them were a perfect matchup for Oezdimir: Both suffered multiple KO losses and both Cirkunov and Manuwa were never very good against pressure strikers, this allowed Volkan to come off like a train in the first minute and demolished them with unorthodox KO. In my opinion Oezdemir's best performance was against Latifi: the fight started slow, but Oezdemir launched a great volume of effective striking, in the second round he managed to hurt, 2 Knockdowns and put Latifi to sleep and Latifi is a very tough fighter: he took no problem with heavy punches from Derrick Lewis and the only time he was knocked out that way (rendered unconscious) in the past was by a surprise knee from Ryan Bader that caught him trying to close the distance. Paul Craig has managed to improve on feet as he showed in his 2 fights against Shogun Rua, but I think that submission game, which is based on working in the bottom position, can be counterproductive against Oezdemir: In his last fight Craig gave his head to inter catch a limb or fit a triangle, but LHWs are practically HWs that cut weight. Krylov managed to hurt him at times with Ground and Pound, if he relies too much on his bottom game he can be finished by Volkan's ground and pound.

I low-key can't stand Tom Aspinall. Fun fighter to watch but insufferable to listen to. Pretty sure he knocks out Blaydes last remaining braincell though.

Hermansson vs. Curtis
Chris Curtis, DEC
I want this pick Right now, -140 is a steal. Take down defense is so good! HERMANSSON Is not that good in my opinion.

Diakiese vs. Hadžović
Marc Diakiese, DEC
This is a fighter for your money. Against borchev, he didn’t let his ego get to him and swing with Borchev. He made I boring. He will do anything for the win.

Amirkhani vs. Pearce
Jonathan Pearce, DEC
Pearce has good wrestling, I think he jabs his way to a decision

Mokaev vs. Johnson
Muhammad Mokaev, SUB, R1
I don’t like these odds, but Mokaev is a beast. Johnson is good. I thought the odds would be -200

Herbert vs. Nelson
Jai Herbert, TKO, R2
Rocked Tuporia badly. Hai should get a finish here

Böhm vs. Leonardo
Victoria Leonardo, DEC
Naruto girl. She faced good completion in her career (maverick, blanchfield) step down in competition, I like her heart. Broken bone and she still wanted to fight.

Aspinall is a guy people can’t stand? Huh, I guess everyone’s got a different perspective on people

I used to dislike DC when he was a fighter, I changed my mind considerably after his second fight with Miocic. I love the guy now

@Daebak Says a lot about how insufferable you must be as a person if you're the kind of guy who "can't stand" Tom Aspinall.

🤣🤣 bunch of cucks. Aspinall's chat is abysmal. His banter is so dry he wouldn't be out of place in The Office. He's from the David Brent school of self awareness.

get jake hadley on the card