MMA & UFC General - Featuring Bellator MMA & Rizin Fighting Federation

[I.B. Niggin]

Is either guy even trained? He's arm punching and his technique looks like ass, and it looks like he's rocking her with those arm only punches. She goes for the WMMA classic head and arm throw and gets reversed. The second fight had that guy doing his best Charles Oliveira impression and arm punching his way to a win. Even at the lowest tier of skill the difference in dynamism is so apparent between the genders.

From what I've gathered and if it's what I'm thinking of, apparently it was a card full of fights that pit gay men against women. The brainchild of this is the father of Marcin Najman, who gained notoriety by squaring off against meathead bodybuilder and strongman types in MMA freakshows like Pudzianowski and Robert Burneika.

Poland's having a gigantic explosion of freakshow MMA promotions after the success that KSW has had for the last decade, akin to the freakshow boxing craze here.

 

[Slimy Time]

Israel Adesanya reacts to Alex Pereira's UFC debut KO: 'In the next four fights I hope to see him'

Israel Adesanya appears to be happy Alex Pereira – the only man to knock him out – made a splash in his debut at UFC 268.

mmajunkie.usatoday.com

Sad state of the Middleweight division that the champ is saying the division needs fresh blood. Outside of Whittaker, there really isn't a compelling matchup for Adesanya. All the lower ranked guys who he wants climb up the ranks and fight like Till or Holland are getting beaten by Vettori, Brunson or Whittaker. When Vettori and Brunson are top of the heap, and no one can get past them, let alone Whittaker, it's a problem.

Honestly, wouldn't mind if they gave Pereira favourable matchups to get him up the ladder quick and into a title fight, because if Rob loses the rematch or doesn't make it competitive, that division is in the shit. Not much different than Women's Flyweight and Bantamweight.

 

[naffatune]

Shane is frustrating to watch. Dude is so long and tall, but he fights as if he's a short man, bobbing and weaving, eating unnecessary shots and not being defensively as responsible as he should be.

I noticed this too when I first watched his fight against Josh Emmett shortly after the Blaydes vs Volkov card was done. First thing I saw right away is that Shane virtually has no jab; even though he had somewhere around a 5 inch reach advantage over Emmett, who was also shorter.

Shane has fancy head movement by his side, but like most MMA guys, lacks solid boxing fundamentals. He is, by no means, good at boxing; at most he is average. Being fancy doesn't mean you're effective.

This is why I find it disappointing when I hear MMA fans say that traditional boxing doesn't work because Mayweather would get wrecked. It assumes that Mayweather's style is traditional, even though it isn't at all, and he could only make it "work" with excessive clinching. It also assumes that Mayweather was the best, even though his fundamentals were as underwhelming as the competition he faced during his career.

 

[Slimy Time]

Leon Edward's career continues to circle the drain.

This dude is never getting a title shot. Apparently they want Chimaev to step in as a replacement, and he's hinted that his response is a no.

 

[naffatune]

Leon Edward's career continues to circle the drain.
View attachment 2706034
This dude is never getting a title shot. Apparently they want Chimaev to step in as a replacement, and he's hinted that his response is a no.

Edwards is among one of the more unfortunate fighters in the UFC. To me, he's like a Welterweight Adesanya based on the way he moves and attacks (especially those kick feints with the hip), except his punch combos have more fluidity and he's more comfortable with initiating clinches to have a better chance at landing elbows.

The problem with Edwards is that although his striking technique is crisp, he chooses to either play defense or grapple. He's not one to constantly pressure in the same way someone like Covington would. This prevents Edwards from getting some of the highlights he needs to get himself a title shot.

I do think that Khamzat will beat Edwards, but I believe Edwards can give him some heavy resistance; it's a matchup with Fight of the Night potential. Win or lose, his fight with Khamzat is his time to shine.

 

[Slimy Time]

Edwards is among one of the more unfortunate fighters in the UFC. To me, he's like a Welterweight Adesanya based on the way he moves and attacks (especially those kick feints with the hip), except his punch combos have more fluidity and he's more comfortable with initiating clinches to have a better chance at landing elbows.

The problem with Edwards is that although his striking technique is crisp, he chooses to either play defense or grapple. He's not one to constantly pressure in the same way someone like Covington would. This prevents Edwards from getting some of the highlights he needs to get himself a title shot.

I do think that Khamzat will beat Edwards, but I believe Edwards can give him some heavy resistance; it's a matchup with Fight of the Night potential. Win or lose, his fight with Khamzat is his time to shine.

Yeah, but apparently he's hinted that he's not going to take the fight on short notice. The guy treats his career the same way he treats a fight, he plays it safe until he gets tired and makes a mistake near the end.

Also, I think his clinch work comes from not being good at pocket boxing. He likes being outside with his striking, or using the clinch and striking off it, but not engaging in these several layered exchanges.

 

[naffatune]

Yeah, but apparently he's hinted that he's not going to take the fight on short notice. The guy treats his career the same way he treats a fight, he plays it safe until he gets tired and makes a mistake near the end.

Also, I think his clinch work comes from not being good at pocket boxing. He likes being outside with his striking, or using the clinch and striking off it, but not engaging in these several layered exchanges.

Yeah, pocket boxing is definitely important and more effective than trying to land elbows, which are basically shorter hooks.

It seems like Leon really wants a fast route to the title given how he refused to take the Belal rematch, so knowing how to box in the pocket will be important, especially against Usman, who will probably use Leon's clinching against him by taking him to the fence to start a grappling exchange or at the very least deny it entirely.

If Leon doesn't want Khamzat, then I really only see him fighting Masvidal, Luque, or Thompson. Guys like Usman, Burns, and Covington are a little bit far from Leon's current position, in my opinion. We'll see how things go. No matter what happens, let's hope we see something exciting from Rocky.

 

[Slimy Time]

Yeah, pocket boxing is definitely important and more effective than trying to land elbows, which are basically shorter hooks.

It seems like Leon really wants a fast route to the title given how he refused to take the Belal rematch, so knowing how to box in the pocket will be important, especially against Usman, who will probably use Leon's clinching against him by taking him to the fence to start a grappling exchange or at the very least deny it entirely.

If Leon doesn't want Khamzat, then I really only see him fighting Masvidal, Luque, or Thompson. Guys like Usman, Burns, and Covington are a little bit far from Leon's current position, in my opinion. We'll see how things go. No matter what happens, let's hope we see something exciting from Rocky.

I want to see him fight Usman, but it seems pretty clear the UFC don't want him going for it. I can see them passing him over for someone else. I get why he doesn't want to fight. That division has done nothing but reward inactivity like they did with Masvidal and Covington, and Khamzat is a big risk. But I just don't think the upper brass likes him at all, and will ensure he does not get his shot.

 

[naffatune]

Man, there's no way in hell for me to overstate how surprised I was after watching Yair perform. I thought that Yair would resort to his usual undisciplined approach of using a ton of the flashy kicks that are thrown everywhere except the legs.

Instead, he actually stook to practical techniques which would help him exploit Max's weaknesses. I noticed that Yair brought out some of his Mexican spirit by boxing with Holloway, and to my surprise, he had success, especially with the overhand counter over Max's jab, which is something I noticed Kattar and Poirier using as well against him. Yair also did a good job of throwing the check hook every time Max made his entries.

Also, the fact that Max has always had a very simplistic way of defending punches and strikes, which is to either pull his head or step back in a straight line, led to him getting kicked in the body and legs multiple times and jabbed to the face as well.

I thought Max won due to his top control, which I was very surprised to see as well. Max was also landing lots of jabs as Yair threw his front kicks straight shots as Yair threw leg kicks (now that i've rewatched the first round), countered Yair with his cross as he swung widely at times, and stuck to his usual habit of throwing to the body, which helped score points too.

Although I still think that Yair has lots of room to improve his striking, my respect for him has increased dramatically. Rodriguez will definitely be around for a fair amount of time in the Featherweight division.



Now that the card is over, I can smell a Rodriguez vs Ortega fight coming sometime in early 2022...

Before I go, let me just take this moment to point out that Max can deal with leg kicks much better if he stuck to countering them with combinations instead of single shots. I'd say it's the best response to a leg kick that I can think of provided your hands are fast enough (which Max has) and it's usually a better response than checking. It'll be an important adjustment if Max wants to fight Volk again. Just a thought.

 

[Slimy Time]

Man, there's no way in hell for me to overstate how surprised I was after watching Yair perform. I thought that Yair would resort to his usual undisciplined approach of using a ton of the flashy kicks that are thrown everywhere except the legs.

Instead, he actually stook to practical techniques which would help him exploit Max's weaknesses. I noticed that Yair brought out some of his Mexican spirit by boxing with Holloway, and to my surprise, he had success, especially with the overhand counter over Max's jab, which is something I noticed Kattar and Poirier using as well against him. Yair also did a good job of throwing the check hook every time Max made his entries.

Also, the fact that Max has always had a very simplistic way of defending punches and strikes, which is to either pull his head or step back in a straight line, led to him getting kicked in the body and legs multiple times and jabbed to the face as well.

I thought Max won due to his top control, which I was very surprised to see as well. Max was also landing lots of jabs as Yair threw his front kicks straight shots as Yair threw leg kicks (now that i've rewatched the first round), countered Yair with his cross as he swung widely at times, and stuck to his usual habit of throwing to the body, which helped score points too.

Although I still think that Yair has lots of room to improve his striking, my respect for him has increased dramatically. Rodriguez will definitely be around for a fair amount of time in the Featherweight division.

View attachment 2715955

Now that the card is over, I can smell a Rodriguez vs Ortega fight coming sometime in early 2022...

Considering how Yair's hands looked... OK I guess, he did very well. Not a fan of his wild meme tier head movement of bending at the waist until his torso is parallel to the floor to avoid shots, until he started eating knees, and general lack of good boxing defence (put your hands up, don't just turn your head and lean back to take the sting off, that should be the last layer of defence, not the first unless you can counter off of it), as well as his issue with dealing with takedowns coming to light again, he did insanely well.

Stylistically on paper, this fight was a nightmare matchup for him. Guy who likes throwing rangy, if cool meme kicks, against arguably the best pressure and volume striker in the organisation, while in the smaller octagon, coming off a 2 year layoff. And he did really well all things considered, including his limitations. Certainly better than Kattar, Ortega, Edgar or Aldo did against Max. Bring on Ortega vs Yair for sure. Probably favour Ortega in that one because of how many times Yair ended on his back in this one, either from slips, caught/intercepted kicks or takedowns. Same time, Ortega can't blast a takedown to save his life. So who knows how that plays out.

Max still gets hit a lot, and I think if Volkanovski is looking at a 3rd fight and has two new bodies of work to analyze, as well as their two fights, he's got to be pretty happy with what he saw today, as opposed to having to guess what improvements/adjustments Max is bringing in like he had to do in their 2nd fight.

 

[naffatune]

It's good to see a fighter at the top telling the truth. Sorry, Max.

 

[Slimy Time]

So it looks like the UFC has decided to put all the old light heavyweights out to pasturer, as they have booked for March time:
-Jan vs Rakic.
-Santos vs Ankalaev.
-Very likely to have Glover vs Jiri soon after.
Really looks like they want the old guard gone and these new guys to transition into the top. TBH, light heavyweight probably needs it with how the division is. Quite nice to see it move on without Jon Jones.
---
Watching Yanez box is fucking something, especially when compared to supposed "good" boxers like Burgos. Grant rarely caught him clean. Just an understanding of distance, willingness to concede space while rolling and slipping, and then getting right back into space. Lights Grant up with the hands, then in the second basically has that calf kick there for free since he's so concerned with the hands. Give this guy a top 15 fighter. Fuck it, give him bin man O'Malley, he should get shine off beating that clown.

 

[naffatune]

Watching Yanez box is fucking something, especially when compared to supposed "good" boxers like Burgos. Grant rarely caught him clean. Just an understanding of distance, willingness to concede space while rolling and slipping, and then getting right back into space.

Yanez is a pretty solid boxer. i'd say he's in the top 10 when it comes to boxing holistically. I don't like how he uses rolling with punches as a primary form of defense; it's a higher risk technique that you should only be using if you have no space. It's important to stick to fundamentals, like blocking, slipping from side-to-side, and rolling under punches, but Yanez seems to have a mild form of "fancy disease".

I still see Yanez becoming a serious threat to bantamweights. I don't know what Grant was complaining about after the fight. The guy literally landed close to nothing, except some front kicks to the body and round kicks to the legs. Yanez was just rolling under his punches and with them as well, and landed more shots.

O'Malley vs Yanez is very interesting. I see it being competitive. Yanez tends to move away or roll his head with kicks, which isn't a good idea against a fast and consistent kicker like O'Malley. It's a fight where Yanez should be maniacally focused on leading with his hands and countering O'Malley's round kicks with punch combos whenever he gets the chance.

 

[Slimy Time]

So in light of there being no fights this week, Halle Berry's netflix film, Bruised, which is about her being an MMA fighter, starring Valentina Shevchenko, came out. Boy does it suck ass.

The most ridiculous thing to me is how completely out of type Shevchenko play-fights in this film. An impatient, aggressive woman who goes forward with non stop aggression, and is really impatient over how she isn't getting the finish. You know, the exact opposite of how Shevchenko fights for real. TBH, probably the most exciting fight she has put on in recent memory.

But yeah, this was awful. Rehashed Rocky film but with WMMA, and can be summed up as "life is shit, there are two sex scenes, one with each gender, and she loses the fight". Berry has this meme name of "Jackie Justice" as well. What also doesn't help is that this entire film is marred by the Cat Zingano controversy. They get Cat to sign up to play the antagonist in this film, she takes time off fighting to film it. UFC is pissed off, so they cut her from the roster, then Halle Berry cuts her from the film because she's not a UFC fighter. She is now suing everyone. Just shit overall.

 

[Swiss46]

Kinda sad the best MMA movie is "here comes the boom"

 

[naffatune]

Kinda sad the best MMA movie is "here comes the boom"

Warrior is a pretty good MMA movie, but my evaluation comes from seeing the rating; i only watched some clips. Judging by the realistic choreography of the fights, i'd say it probably did a good job giving an accurate portrayal of the sport.

With that said, Warrior is the only popular MMA movie i can think of aside from Here Comes The Boom. It's a shame, but i think more MMA movies will come out in the future. After all, boxing has always enjoyed some good attention from the film industry.

 

[I.B. Niggin]

The best MMA movies are still the Rickson Gracie infomercial "Choke" and "The Smashing Machine" about how much of a fuck up Mark Kerr was.

 

[East_Clintwood]

Former UFC Fighter Luis Pena Arrested Again, Faces Two New Misdemeanor Charges

Troubled former UFC fighter Luis Pena was recently arrested for the third time in the past few months.

www.sherdog.com

So Violent Bob Ross is really leaning into his nickname and has been arrested yet again, this time for battery and criminal mischief. Since they're only misdemeanors he's been granted bail, and since we still have a month left of 2021 (and all the holidays involved) we might get a 4th arrest before it's all said and done.

On a slightly related, but somehow even more WTF note, a random MMA fighter was arrested for domestic assault, for getting into a fight with his roommate over the lease. Now normally a 3-1 nobody getting into a fight wouldn't be particularly interesting except for this gem:

The roommate also claimed that, during this incident, Salvato bit his testicle causing a two-inch laceration.

That is a serious violation of every man code ever.

 

[East_Clintwood]

So at this point we can all agree that some sort of spiteful Djinn has cursed Nicco Montano right? I legit can't remember the last time I read a story about her that wasn't about something going wrong for her.

 

[Slimy Time]

So at this point we can all agree that some sort of spiteful Djinn has cursed Nicco Montano right? I legit can't remember the last time I read a story about her that wasn't about something going wrong for her.

>He kicker me and grabbed by hair, luckily someone heard me scream.
>I'm so lucky to have the skills to defend myself.
Which one is it?

Also, no, a spiteful djinn didn't cause her to miss weight all those times. She did.