Top Matchups: Coming Up

UFC 253: Sep 26

• Adesanya (C) v Costa (#2)
• Reyes (#1) v Blachowicz (#3)
• Dawodu v Tukhugov
• Sanchez v Matthews
• Riddell v da Silva
• Landwehr v Young

UFC Fight Night: Oct 10

• Moraes (#1) v Sandhagen (#4)
• Yusuff v Barboza (#15)
• Perez v Vieira
• Azaitar v Buckley

UFC Fight Night: Oct 17

• Ortega (#2) v Zombie (#4)
• Silva v Salikhov
• Zawada v Lazzez

UFC 254: Oct 24

• Khabib (C) v Gaethje (IC)
• Whittaker (#1) v Cannonier (#3)
• dos Anjos (#9) v Makhachev (#12)
• Nurmagomedov v Morozov
• Zaleski v Rakhmonov

UFC Fight Night: Oct 31

• Mitchell v Fili
• Jotko v Muradov
• Hardy v Greene

UFC Fight Night: Nov 7

• Ferreira (#8) v Dober (#15)
• Heinisch (#15) v Allen

UFC 255: Nov 21

• Figueireido (C) v Garbrandt (#3)
• Moreno (#2) v Perez (#4)

UFC Fight Night: Nov 28

• Blaydes (#2) v Lewis (#4)

UFC Fight Night: Dec 5

• Hermansson (#4) v Till (#6)

UFC 256: Dec 12

• Usman (C) v Burns (#1)

* Edited at 09.16.2020, 2:41 PM ET *

• Adesanya (C) v Costa (#2)
• Reyes (#1) v Blachowicz (#3)

Very excited for both these fights, Adesanya has something to prove in this fight after the Yoel Romero fiasco, but that really wasn't his fault, Yoel fought terribly. I expect Costa to fight the exact opposite, pressure, non stop, and he's gonna work Adesanya's body. It's gonna be fun. 


Reyes vs. Blachowicz 


I see Reyes having the advantage here, but Jan is obviously no slouch. I believe this will end in a finish, possibly in the 3rd round by Reyes. His performance against Jon was exceptional. 


And for now


UFC Fight Night: Oct 10

• Moraes (#1) v Sandhagen (#4)
• Yusuff v Barboza (#15)

I was surprised to hear the next morning Sandhagen got submitted in the first by Aljo, not that I thought it couldn't happen because Aljo is a stud and handled one of the most brutal knockouts you could suffer at the knee against Moraes. I'm leaning towards Moraes. Striking, submissions, he has it all. 


Yusuf vs. Barboza


I don't watch MMA like I use to, being a fan since 2006 I have pretty much seen it all, so these days I generally just watch the big fights, so I missed the Ige fight. Yusuf is not nearly experienced enough to be taking on a guy like Barboza right now, especially since he's gonna probably make sure there is no decision because of that hard loss which was close to Ige. 

* Edited at 09.16.2020, 3:53 PM ET *

i'm really looking forward to Adesanya VS Costa and Khabib VS Gaethj should be wars for each one! 

Frontkick,

So who do you think is gonna win the Adesanya fight? 

I just rewatched Costa/Romero and Costa is not as immaculate as I thought. He has great durability, pressure, pace, volume and power but he is hittable. 

I see the matchup 50/50....maybe Izzy's counterstrikes will be effective like the Whittaker fight. Maybe Costa will break skinny Adesanya early as he predicts.

And, Frontkick, I agree with you about Reyes. After he really beat Jones (Rd1, Rd2, Rd3) and his impressive performance, its hard to not believe he can beat any LHW. I see Reyes as the Alpha LHW, much like Usman is the Alpha WW. Jan is a top LHW but Reyes has shown his dominance in their weight class.
...
Frontkick, with regards to Moraes/Sandhagen, I picked Moraes winning the decision. I see the fight more or less 50/50...its a hard fight to imagine....but we've seen Moraes slow down as the fight goes on...so can he fight the distance against sandhagen?? Or can Sandhagen get the submission late in the fight?
...
...And in response to your last comment, Frontkick, I see the Yusuff/Barboza oppositely. Yusuff will eat Barboza because he is a more physical animal. Barboza is great but he is mentally broken after so many loses. Yusuff is too good.

Tank, thanks for the reply....leave you Adesanya/Costa and Khabib/Gaethje predictions

Adesanya vs. Costa is a hard one to predict, but I believe Adesanya has more tools, but he has been hit in the past while countering. Costa will move forward, and he is very good at pressuring but very hittable as you said. 

Costa's boxing is decent, but I believe he is a tad overrated in that department, it's more about the pressure and his power. I don't see someone that one dimensional having too much success if Adesanya fights smart and uses the cage to his advantage and dances around Costa while peppering him with jabs and straight punches as Costa sort of leaves his guard open with his boxing stance.

I'm leaning towards Adesanya to fight smart, and Costa to turn it into a dog fight. Adesanya has many more tools, and has impressed me more and I think the guy could go down as one of the best.


As for Moraes, I think he is just better everywhere then Sandhagen and as you said he can fade, due to him usually finishing fights early, IMO. If he works on that, which I'm sure he has, I just don't see Sandhagen having a good night. 

We'll see Frontkick. 

Besides that, we have our head to head coming up and currently I'm ahead 90 points.

We have differing opinions on:

• Walker/ Spann
• Espinsosa/ Dvorak
• Alpar/ Clark
• Ewell/ Rivera
• Nam/ Rivera