UFC 285: Jones vs. Gane

The official Tapology discussion thread for the event!

really weird strategy to stack this card specifically more than the australia and england ppv cards

this card was already decent with jones vs gane on it and australian/english fans are generally crazy enough that they deserve over the top stacked cards, now 285 is overly stacked while 284 and 286 are insanely lacking

286 is pretty damn good tbh

Honestly on 284 they'd need to somehow get Whittaker in there, but against who? Jared takes hell of a lot of time to recover and also he was beaten soundly by Robert, and I do not think UFC is gonna again ask Sean Strickland to save their asses. While Roman Dolidze is booked for a fight vs Vettori. Muniz and Curtis are not top10 even so I do not think they'd be put vs Whittaker. 

against Pereira :)

I do not think Pereira will fight Rob before he'll be assured of what's going on with Izzy 

i think they're saving up israel vs pereira for international fight week card

whittaker vs khamzat or costa if costa gets the money he wants is what i'm guessing will be announced in the next few weeks for whatever card they pick to do it on, if not then whittaker should probably look to move up - fighting strickland or cannonier again literally does nothing for his career

* Edited at 01.18.2023, 4:02 PM ET *

Honestly couldn’t give 2 ****s about Valentina fights, she just so much better then everyone else in her division, I find her fight boring for that reason, I don’t mind all the rest of the main card bout 

I’m more hype for 286, I think this card is “better”, but 286 Is more fun, I also find the Brazil card this weekend more fun tbh

286 is better than I remembered but my issue with it is the potential it had as a card to be an all time great card but so far it seems like they've botched it

we won't get to see elite international talent on this card like albazi, chimaev, saaiman, whittaker, shavkhat (on a different card), ian garry, petrosyan, borralho, muradov, gamrot off the top of my head

obviously card isn't done yet and i'm guessing some of the fighters might be having injuries/conflicting schedules but still there's ton of international names missing from it

* Edited at 01.18.2023, 4:25 PM ET *

Aspinall injured 
Allen injured 
Paddy going on vacation with his girlfriend.
Till is probably injured.
That eliminates 4 big names for that card 

Paddy also having ankle surgery 

Alexa's clinch game is legit, probably the best I've seen in a wmma. With that, i think she can negate Valentina's takedowns from the clinch, which are the best part of her game, at least some of those takedowns, particularly if she avoids Shevchenko to close the bodylock grip she's amazing at. And on the feet, Valentina has not much to offer if she doesn't have the takedown threat, specially cuz she's not comfortable on the feet, she shoots too often in all of her fights, including muay thai, and all she has is a left kick and a right check-hook. Alexa is way superior on the feet, she can overwhelm Valentina with her boxing. 

In the Nunes fight, i really don't see many paths of victory for Amanda, other than maybe squeezing out a controversial decision with a couple takedowns, but that's unlikely cuz Irene has some of the best takedown defense in wmma, the only time she got taken down consistently was when she fought with a broken foot against Holm (if for instance Amanda or Julianna, fight Holly Holm, and they get in there with a broken foot, they would get knocked out in max. 8 minutes), and obviously you can't wrestle, move around nor throw with power, if you have a hurt foot and torn tendon like that. Also, Irene's weapons present too many problems to Amanda, including the footwork and the durability. Aldana is gonna destroy Nunes, she's by far the best fighter in the division, and the worst possible matchup for Nunes

Nunes and Basharat are my two locks so far on this card.  Brunson is a good dog but I have to do more research.

I like open minded opinions and always down for upsets have a digit! 

Does Khamzat fight Colby or Whittaker?

Shevchenko vs. Grasso
Valentina Shevchenko, DEC
This should be a dominant decision win for Shevchenko.

As brutal as Irene is I think Nunes' ferocity will be enough to not get stopped by Irene, Nunes via decision LFG

Jones vs. Gane
Ciryl Gane, TKO, R5
Stand up wise, Gane will likely dominate with his great footwork, long jan and powerful kicks, but Gane showed holes in his Takedown defense against Ngannou that Jones can try to exploit. Thing is Ngannou is way bigger than Jones and got those takedowns with his pure horse strength, I don't know if Jones is powerful enough to replicate that...

Shevchenko vs. Grasso
Valentina Shevchenko, DEC
I thought Manon Fiorot was next... It would have been a much more competitive fight in my opinion.

Nunes vs. Aldana
Amanda Nunes, DEC
It’s good Aldana got a title shot but she’s out of her depth in this one. I don’t see her getting finished though, she’s exceptionally tough

Wonder why nunes v aldana fizzled.

With Garbrandt on this card I must remind you that a ******* cheater killed his and 3 other fighters' careers, the fighters Im talking about besides Cody are
Renan Barao 
Joe Soto 
And Chris Holdsworth

* Edited at 01.20.2023, 6:10 AM ET *