Predictions: 11 of 12 Winners, 7 Perfect, 780 Points
|
Tied for 61st
Happy with my performance on this card. I'm not a serious bettor and put on fun multis (parlays), and I know it definitely isn't the smart way to spend money. This card I landed;
5 legs @ 37.29 Karine Silva Katona Holobaugh Bautista (Robbery tho) Garry by points
3 legs @ 10.67 Petroski by ko or points Tavares by points Vera
Only pulled back $290 from $15 but still was a good day.
Had another multi that missed that was;
Rodrigues by finish Natalia by ko or points Weili by finish Sterling by Sub or points
Predictions: 11 of 12 Winners, 3 Perfect, 655 Points
|
Tied for 1097th
For the first time, I wasn't annoyed by Aljo's comments. At the Post Fight Press Conference, he actually sounded like a normal person that humbly accepted his loss. He was very honest with his responses to the media and I couldnt help but feel empathetic when he started to cry. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it.
"You are an infection. You are the definition of weakness. Everything that is wrong with the world is because of ******* you." - Strickland
Predictions: 9 of 12 Winners, 3 Perfect, 555 Points
|
Tied for 2800th
Dana said wonderboy already turned down the ian Garry fight. I like wonderboy but damn he's annoying as hell to deal with. He's almost 40 & only on a 1 fight win streak, he shouldn't be turning down ****
Predictions: 8 of 12 Winners, 5 Perfect, 550 Points
|
Tied for 2955th
Marlon Vera might be the luckiest fighter in the world. Because of timing he'll likely get the next title shot despite clear losses to Aldo and Sandhagen and with no wins over higher ranked fighters and while I thought he won last night, having the 3 cageside judges give him 2 30-27s and 1 29-28 while out of 17 media scores on mmadecisions.com , 3 had 29-28 Vera and 14! had 29-28 Munhoz.
Also Bautista (again I scored it for Mario) on mmadecisions.com got 5 out of 15 media scores and the other 10 went to Blackshear.
Just something to remember before you drop Munhoz too far in your rankings and whenever Blackshear gets booked.
* Edited at 08.20.2023, 11:51 AM ET *
"Grammar. The difference between knowing your **** and knowing you're ****."
Predictions: 8 of 12 Winners, 4 Perfect, 525 Points
|
Tied for 3324th
@mulefloydI don't think Marlon will get a title shot next. Suga came out and said he more so was just cutting a promo; he doesn't seem that interested in the fight now
"Learning is a gift, even when pain is your teacher."
Predictions: 8 of 12 Winners, 4 Perfect, 525 Points
|
Tied for 3324th
EARLY PRELIMS:
Karine Silvais definitely a threat in the women's flyweight division. You could argue thatMaryna Morozhad a bad night but I think that Silva was just that much quicker, stronger, and more dominate in every position, and Moroz had nothing for her. On the feet Silva was faster and landing much harder and cleaner strikes; against the fence Silva was stronger, had better control, and was landing whatever she wanted; and on the ground, well, we all seen what happened.
Natalia Silvaput on a striking clinic againstAndrea Lee. I had a feeling Lee was too tough to be finished in this fight but her fight IQ would be too low to win. That's basically what happened. Andrea Lee literally let Silva implement her gameplan and fight the exact fight she wanted to fight. Lee's coaches kept telling her to push forward but as we've seen in her past fights, she doesn't really listen to her coaches in the corner. Great display of striking by Natalia Silva.
Andre PetroskivsGerald Meerschaert. This was the classic grappler vs grappler fight that turns into a boxing match (for the most part). I thought Meerschaert edged out round 1 and definitely won round 3, so I expected him to win a split decision where two judges picked Meerschaert 29-28, and one judge picked Petroski 29-28. It did go that way, just in the favor of Petroski.
PRELIMS:
TUF Bantamweight Finale fight,Brad KatonavsCody Gibson. This fight was an absolute banger! I went to my clubhouse gym to run on the treadmill during this fight and within the first minute my cell phone reception was bad so the screen was blurry; I said F this and sprinted my happy ass back home to get on Wi-Fi because I quickly realized this was going to be a slug fest! Cody Gibson really put the pressure on Brad Katona and gave him no room to breath in that first round. The UFC commentary even mentioned that they were getting Forrest Griffin vs Stephan Bonnar vibes! I don't think another fight will ever live up to that fight because of the circumstances surrounding it; the UFC was losing money and they really needed The Ultimate Fighter Season 1 to be a big hit to turn the future of the company around, and it did, primarily because of Griffin and Bonnar. Anyway, Cody Gibson put a lot of pressure on Brad Katona but Katona was able to weather the storm, maintain a high level of cardio, and get the nod. Congrats to Brad Katona for being the first two time TUF winner.
TUF Lightweight Finale fight,Kurt HolobaughvsAustin Hubbard. Like many others, I leaned toward Hubbard pulling away with this fight and winning by decision, but I was wrong. Hubbard and Holobaugh both came out with some big hard strikes and Hubbard seemed to be getting the better of the exchanges initially, but The Hologram showed how experienced and high level he is and pulled off a beautiful submission in the 2nd round. Congrats to Kurt "the Hologram" Holobaugh, and welcome back to the UFC!
Gregory Rodriguesdid exactly what we hoped, but didn't expect he'd do. I thought that he would come out with a lot of pride since he was KO'd in his last fight, and stand and bang withDenis Tiuliulin. I did pick Gregory Rodrigues by submission in round one though...and when he immediately took Tiuliulin down, I just smiled thinking, yes, we made the correct pick! However, he only needed one punch to stun Denis, and one more to KO him (although it looked like it was to the back of the head). Robocop is a killer, he's in his prime, and has the potential to make some big moves going forward, especially if he chooses gameplan over pride!
PoorChris Weidman.Brad Tavaresabsolutely destroyed Weidman's "good" leg. Tavares had a really good gameplan in this fight and implemented it pretty much flawlessly. Chris Weidman took some heavy punishment to his lead leg, which pissed him off, and the dog came out! However, Tavares is just a good experienced fighter and had an answer for everything Weidman tried throwing at him. Man, and every time Chris went back to the orthodox stance, that leg kick from Brad came immediately. I seen Chris and Brad backstage, Weidman was in a wheelchair, and Brad asked him for a picture; Brad helped lift him out of the wheelchair and they took the picture together. Chris said, "thanks for not being a ****". It was cool to see.
MAIN CARD:
Marlon VeravsPedro Muhnozwas a good fight. Pedro came out quick throwing his lightning fast leg kicks; although he lost, he is still a high level fighter in my opinion, maybe gatekeeper status. This fight was kind of speed against power, but Vera is sneaky quick himself. I love training striking defense so this one was fun to watch and learn from because both guys are elite with their striking defense. I know prior to the start of UFC 292 Sean O'Malley mentioned his first title defense being against Marlon Vera, but, I don't think that happens. I think it has to be Merab...or Sandhagen. In the post fight press conference Suga even said he mentioned the Vera fight to cut a promo but now isn't that interested in fighting him.
Mario BautistavsDa'Mon Blackshear. First I want to give a shoutout to Da'Mon "Da'Man" Blackshear for taking this fight on less than a week notice after fighting less than a week ago. When Cody Garbrandt pulled out of this fight I started panicking because I really wanted to see Bautista back in the octagon but I wasn't sure anyone would have the balls to step in against him last minute. Especially since Bautista was on a 4 fight winning streak, finishing 3 of his last 4 opponents by submission in the FIRST ROUND! Da'Mon definitely didn't make this an easy fight for Mario, he made him work for the win. Between the level Mario is at and Da'Mon having to cut weight twice in two weeks (and coming off a fight a week ago) I think Da'Mon just couldn't maintain the energy required to win this one. Congrats to Mario for the unanimous decision win and thanks to Da'Mon for being Da'Man and stepping up.
The hype surroundingIan Garryis real folks. 30-26, 30-26, and30-24!? Ian Garry really punishedNeil Magny, there's no other way to put it. This was supposed to be Ian Garry's toughest test and he got a 100%, plus extra credit. First strike of the night (lead leg low kick) and Garry drops Magny. Garry lets him back up; second strike of the night (same lead leg low kick) and Garry drops Magny again. How many times did Ian drop or buckle Magny with low kicks this fight? Those kicks opened up everything else for Ian Garry. More fighters need to start learning and using the low kick. Also, more fighters need to learn how to check the low kick. Flawless victory Ian Garry.
Zhang WeilidominatedAmanda Lemos. Weili outlanded Lemos 288 to 21, do I need to say more? This was the biggest striking differential in women's UFC history. Zhang led the dance and stayed on the offense the whole fight. Although Lemos did have a few moments where she turned it on, Weili dominated her in suffocating fashion, and all Lemos could do was hold on and try to survive. Congrats to the Champ.
"Suga" Sean O'MalleyvsAljamain Sterling. I could be super petty and jump on YouTube and strike back at all the commentors who laughed at my Sean O'Malley TKO/KO prediction, but I won't. Since everyone was saying that Aljo was the Bantamweight GOAT, what does that make Suga? Nah, we cannot consider him the GOAT at this point but we can definitely give him a round of applause for his performance. I thought O'Malley came out looking good and fast. His ability to change directions and switch stances so quickly is exciting to watch. This even made Sterling look awkward or out of his comfort zone in that first round. However, I think Sterling won round 1, there wasn't too much to judge there, it was mostly a high speed feeling out process (Aljo did land more strikes). Round 2 started and Aljo came out with two body kicks (both blocked) immediately, Suga replied with a teap kick and over extended and fell on his gluteus maximus which allowed Aljo to jump to a single leg, but O'Malley was able to scramble like eggs out of it. They face off again in the middle of the cage and Aljo lunged with a straight left as O'Malley back stepped and simultaneously threw a hard right catching Aljo right in the temple, which dropped him flat on the face. From there Suga made it rain with a hail storm of punches, punishing Aljo to the point of no return. If you watch some of O'Malley's training footage prior to this fight, you'll see he was expecting Aljo to lunge the way he did; he trained for it, and landed the exact punch that he expected to land. Suga Sean O'Malley is the new UFC Batamweight Champion!
"Learning is a gift, even when pain is your teacher."
Predictions: 8 of 12 Winners, 4 Perfect, 525 Points
|
Tied for 3324th
@Parlay Bossyeah fam, I completely agree. I think his behavior at the post fight press conference will rub a lot of people the right way and he will gain more fans in this loss than possibly he would of with a win! I definitely felt empathy for him.
"Learning is a gift, even when pain is your teacher."
Predictions: 8 of 12 Winners, 4 Perfect, 525 Points
|
Tied for 3324th
@UFCGOAT69lol I think he was trying to use that clear path to victory but just couldn't get there...O'Malley's ability to change direction and switch stances had him out of his comfort zone...and O'Malley had him reacting to pretty much every feint
"Learning is a gift, even when pain is your teacher."
