Mixed Martial Arts Megathread

Total mismatch. Joanna totally negated Esparza's wrestling which was super impressive and laid some pretty good jabs on her throughout the fight. I'm really pulling for Joanne Calderwood to win in Poland next month and hopefully a potential match up between her and the new strawweight champ. That would be a fun straight up muai thai mma fight.

Did anyone else laugh a little bit when Reem had a perfect fight, and then went on to almost get finished in the last 30 seconds or so. His fights always leave me on the edge of my seat because they can end at any moment, EconoReem and Maynard are two cases of great skills but terrible chins.

CM PUNK sighting in Pettis corner.

Pettis needs to drag this fight to the championship rounds. Has never fought a fight that has gotten to the 4th and 5th round.

This is nuts. First we get Carla getting completely blasted by Joanna. Now Pettis is getting absolutely worked by dos Anjos.

What is going to happen when Khabib comes back.

Man Dos Anjos totally mauled Pettis tonight. Dos Anjos strength and conditioning was on another level tonight something on par with Frankie Edgar. Haven't seen a good thrashing of two champions like tonight since maybe Cain Valesquez against Junior.

Dos Anjos was in a class of his own. Can easily see him moving up a class if he wanted to after he tore through the division so quickly. What a fight.

Holy shit I didn't expect that. RDA just went to work on Pettis. Crazy.

Something tells me we're going to be seeing our first Russian UFC champ soon. That being said it's unreal how good dos Anjos has gotten. I wonder if his improved wrestling will be enough for Khabib (assuming he gets through Cowboy, go Cowboy!).

Still needs to figh Khabib, Eddie Alvarez is still out there and I'm sure Donald Cerrone wants to avenge his loss from a few years ago. I'd personally want to see Jose Aldo fight Dos Anjos or Pettis at 155 if he beats Connor McGregor & handles Frankie Edgar again in a rematch.

Wikipedia got it right...

I don't know man Khabib has a serious grappling game.

Holy shit. What did I just see? Did it happen? First Jedrzejczyk brutalised Esparza with a brilliant effort to stop the takedown, and then dos Anjos just completely destroyed Anthony Pettis, Pretty Tony no more. I can understand what Jedrzejczyk did, her standup game was always going to be vicious but that main event...Blew my mind. Just didn't see it going down like that. Full credit to Rafael, and to Rafael Cordeiro who has done amazing things turning him around in the past 3 years. 4 good wins a row, and a chance to avenge his loss to Nurmagomedov, this is great.

It's a shame for Lightweight though. I think the division would have benefited from a longer reign from Pettis, but it's a shark tank, it feels like LHW before Jon Jones got the belt when it was traded around good fighters.

Also want to say that I thought Overeem looked good, with the caveat that he has still got a glass jaw and he seems to have lost any killer instinct he once had. I doubt he can go on a run to the belt because people of the level of Mark Hunt & JDS will smash his jaw and pounce on him when he's hurt while Roy Nelson just went for really bad takedowns (seriously, Roy, your takedowns are dogpoop. You know that. I know that, everyone knows that you aren't good at taking people down) That said, Hunt vs Overeem II would be something I'd really enjoy. Sorry Alistair. Cejudo looked good having made the cut, just hope the UFC don't rush him into a title shot, like they've done with Horiguchi. Getting schooled by Demetrious could smash his confidence and that'd be bad.

And as a Scot, I am madly in love with the idea of Jedrzejczyk vs Calderwood at the Hydro in Glasgow in July. Hubba hubba.

Oh aye, one other thing I meant to mention. Duke Roufus. Going into round 5, Goldie is talking about how Duke is like a father to Sergio and Anthony. In the corner, Anthony says he can't see anything out of eye. Duke, acting like any father, immediately acts in his best interest, calls in the doctor to have the eye looked at, and the fight is ended.

Oh wait, that's not what happened, is it? Duke tells him I know and sends him back out there to get beaten even more. Well done Duke, another in a long line in MMA corners who could not give less of a shit about fighter safety.

God I just hope they don't' give Pettis a instant rematch. He doesn't deserve it. At least have him fight one person outside of a title fight.

@i_stay_puft: Yea, don't get me wrong there are still plenty of fights to be had within the lightweight division for sure. I just really didn't expect for Dos Anjos to look so strong against the champ.

In the post fight seemed like dana white wasn't going to give pettis an instant rematch but we'll see what happens. Looking forward to the mcgregor / aldo card in july. Ufc in general has been better than ever lately.

Khabib champion 2015. Now I can finally make my friends eat crow.

Dana has said in a post fight interview that the winner of Cerrone - Khabib is still getting the shot.

Wow during the post press conference Dana White said Dos Anjos blew out his MCL two weeks prior in one of his knees. Did he just really do that to Pettis last night with a torn MCL?

@i_stay_puft: From what I read, seems like it was a relatively minor tear, but yeah, he was able to do that while not being able to do any grappling training for the last 3 weeks of his camp. But it was serious enough to make him consider dropping out of the fight. Apparently the rehab on it is usually a month, so he clearly got fit in perfect time really.

It's time to look forward to the next UFC show. It's not a great one.

Fight Night 62 (10pm ET, Fox Sports 1)

Demian Maia vs Ryan LaFlare - A step up for LaFlare who is ranked #15 by the UFC against the #7 ranked BJJ player. Would be a solid upset if LaFlare wins
Josh Koscheck vs Erick Silva - Pretty sure this is only happening so Koscheck can get out of his UFC contract and either retire, or wait for Bellator to come calling for another TUF 1 name.
Leonardo Santos vs Tony Martin - No, Sorry, I can't preview this card. Leonardo Santos sucks.
Amanda Nunes vs Shayna Baszler
Gilbert Burns vs Alex Oliveira
Godofredo Pepey vs Andre "Touchy" Fili

Prelims (8pm ET, Fox Sport 2)

Francisco Trinaldo vs Akbrah Arreola
Kevin Souza vs Katsunori Kikuno
Leandro Silva vs Drew Dober
Leonardo Mafra vs Cain Carrizosa

Prelims (7pm ET, Fight Pass)

Jorge de Oliveira vs Christos Giagos
Bentley Syler vs Fredy Serrano

It's always generous when the UFC gives Jungle Fight some of their air time on Fox Sports...This is a bad card, totally skippable. And it's on too late as well, it's in Brazil but the main card starts at 10pm? Ugh. I'll probably watch it on Sunday because as much as I think I'm a hardcore, I don't want to sit up until 6am to watch Demian Maia vs Ryan LaFlare.

Esparza looked like her head was not in the cage . Jedrzejczyk was a beast though , Loved the elbows .

Being Irish can someone Tell me what this Wheaties thing is ?? Is it like a huge deal to get on the box ?

Is it weird that my first thought after seeing how RDA performed is that he must be on some new special supplements?

@sylar112: She looked way over head with the more experienced Jedrzejczyk (this name is so hard to spell) especially when her wrestling takedowns were getting stuffed so easily. I think Rose Namajunas could of probably beat her but I think her lack of experience did her in.

Quiet week in MMA there. They announced Ronda Rousey vs Bethe Correria, which to me is a totally uninteresting fight. And last week was an absolutely forgettable event. Some fun low-level fights but somehow a UFC on FS card managed to over-run despite only 3 of 12 fights going the distance. I hate UFC on Fox Sports cards. The pacing is absolutely intolerable and makes watching from the EU really difficult. Aside from the outrageously bad stoppage in the Drew Dober vs Leandro Silva fight, and Amanda Nunes continuing to attack Shayna Baszler after the ref had stopped it, I doubt I'll remember much of this event by Tuesday.

I went 9-3 for picks, thought that Fili, LaFlare & Dober would win. Was going to pick Maia for the main but a bunch of people/writers/podcasters convinced me he was on the decline and LaFlare was a happening thing. Feel like a mug for not trusting my judgement there but I also didn't feel like I actually remembered LaFlare at all.

Next week is an off-week for the UFC which is nice. Instead Bellator, with Joe Warren defending the Bantamweight title against Andre Galvao, & WSOF who have Justin Gaethje defending his Lightweight title against Luis Palomino. If those two event merged they'd have a decent card. But Bellator is Friday & WSOF is Saturday so instead you can watch them both...

Last night's card was a snoozer aside from a couple of fights. Amanda Nunes looked good... I blame Mario Yamasaki's half-assed stoppage for her extra punches... he literally just put his thigh against her back to stop the fight instead of jumping in. Christos Glagos on the prelims looked like he has potential so I'll be interested in watching his future fights. Maia looked dominant but the last round of him flopping onto his back kind of erased any good impressions.

Well shit. TJ Dillashaw has gotten hurt and had to pull out of the UFC 186 main event. He's apparently fractured a rib a month out from the fight.

Jesus, Bantamweight is cursed.

186 is now complete skippable. What a terrible card and Rampage's fight too might even get canceled.

I'll watch it because I adore Mighty Mouse (and also because it costs me nothing. I'd never pay $60 for it. Or even $10)

My thinking is more, yeah I'll watch it, but if something comes up, I won't care if I miss it.

Between Bellator & WSOF there were some fun fights out there this weekend. Joe Warren, self-proclaimed Baddest Man on the Planet lost in a slightly controversial fashion, John McCarthy deemed that his scream while being kneebarred was a verbal submission. Which is the correct interpretation of the rules, so Marcus Galvao is your new Bellator 135lbs champion. And if you want fun action then LC Davis vs Hideo Tokoro is well worth 15 minutes of your time.

At WSOF Justin Gaethje defended his 155lbs title against Luis Palomino with a 3rd round TKO. He punished Palomino with low kicks throughout the contest, and eventually he was unable to stand any longer. But the first two rounds were really close and it was a back and forth war (MMA hyperbole yo!). Another fight well worth your time. In a glorious moment of schadenfreude reprehensible dirtbag Thiago Silva got knocked out by his late replacement opponent Teddy Holder while being too aggressive. If you don't know why Silva is a dirtbag then yes, threatened his wife with a gun, another in a long line of MMA fighters who think domestic abuse is acceptable behaviour.

Dagestani Bantamweight prospect Timur Valiev made easy work of Ed West, exactly as expected, but surely the highlight of the entire weekend of face punching was this Vine from the Connor Heun vs Cliffords Starks where they manage to knee each other in the dangly bits. In beautiful synchronicity.

One Championship >>> UFC

I'm a huge MMA fan, and seeing as a fair bit of this was about RDA vs Pettis, I would just like to say that RDA is almost definitely on gear and that nearly everyone coming out of Rafael Cordeiro's gym is on gear. Historically too, the fighters associated with him, the Rua brothers, Wanderlei, Anderson, Pele too.

@forkboy: I agree that domestic violence is a problem in MMA, but I would also argue that it has been a prevalent problem in all sports.

@mmmorrowind92: What's the point? Seriously. What's the point of the whole suspicion thing? I've never understood it. I mean what's the benefit except if he gets caught down the line you can wave your willy around & yell "I was right"? Suspicion about who was and wasn't doping bummed me out about cycling for a while, until I stopped caring. If people get caught I want them to punish dopers harshly, and I want the testing to be of the highest level so cheaters are caught, but just going "he's doping" with no evidence except shit like "eye test" & "he's improved" is just pointless.

Maybe RDA is doping. You're not the first person to have had this thought, certainly. Crossed my mind too. But until he's caught I just don't see the point. He was amazing against Pettis. I'll just enjoy it for what it was and be bummed out if you're right.

@jonny_anonymous: Ruleset yes, talent level? Good god no. Apart from Bibiano Fernandes & Ben Askren (& if you're feeling super generous then maybe Shinya Aoki) there's nobody in One FC that's top 15 in their weight class. And I'll take top fighters over more fun rules and soccer kick violence.

Not sure if you guys been following the UFC embedded series during McGregor and Aldo's press tour but that's probably the most entertaining stuff I've seen in a long while for this series. McGregor talks a really good game and this is probably the most emotion I've seen from Aldo in a long while. If you haven't seen it I highly advise you to check it out on UFC's youtube channel. Oh by the way this happenend, McGregor has taken the trash talking game to a whole new level. Wouldn't be surprised if this is the largest ppv in the history of the UFC.

Really brutal stuff Aldo had to take from the Irish crowd but he really handled it with stride.

if you saw the Brazilian conference it was the same with the Brazilian fans to McGregor, just drunk Fans being silly ,

Its a pity though that those few fans get all the attention , First time I have seen it on the main news channel here in Ireland and that is what happens .

Oh I'm sure it was like that in Brazil as well but it just seemed most of the questions handled during the Brazilian press conference was handled by actual press while the majority of the questions in Ireland was asked by fans. I'd assume it's mostly because of the difference in mma news coverage between the two countries. Man some of that stuff was cringe worthy though if I was in Aldo's shoes, I shook my head at the one comment mentioning Aldo's wife and father.

@forkboy: Yeah I agree, suspecting everyone does take the enjoyment out of it a bit but I feel like it's reached such a critical mass, that it's hard to not just instantly assume. Do you not find it slightly harder to enjoy a good performance these days? Between the chicanery of promoters and athletic commissions, the constant lying and bullshitting from fighters and their coaches/managers, I don't know what to believe, so I choose to believe nothing, but then it all feels rather hollow.

Edit: That's not to say people weren't always cheating, but I guess I used to be wilfully ignorant.

Anyone else really hope Mcgregor wins the title? He is a total cocky asshole but he is so much fun to watch and seeing him continue to win would only build on that. Of course if Aldo performs better on fight night then I hope nothing shady goes on and Aldo gets the win, but I am probably gonna be cheering for Connor. With how it seems that most of the featherweights hate Mcgregor and his trash talking I would love to see him on top as the rest of the division goes after his head. I know he is talking about moving up to lightweight if he wins this fight but I doubt that would happen until at least a couple title defenses.

Speaking of trash talk, anyone else paying attention to the upcoming Cowboy Cerrone vs Nurmagomedov fight? I could see the winner easily being a strong contender for the belt, especially with the rumours of RDA juicing and the new UFC rules around testing coming into effect in only a few months.

@zella: Straight up, you're not on your own there, but oh my god I really am not on that side. Conor McGregor is a really exciting fighter. But the more he talks the less I want to see him. I dunno, I've just always found people who turn it up to 11 like him and Chael...it just comes off fake to me. But other people buy it up so hey, it'll keep being a thing. But no, Conor's mouth makes me want to poke my eardrums out and also I really love Jose Aldo as a fighter, and he would be a much bigger fighter if the UFC would actually promote him instead of just half-arsedly going "oh this guy isn't worth getting behind despite him being undefeated for 9 years and on top of the Featherweight division for 5.5 years". It's the same thing they do with Demetrious Johnson. The UFC are a promotion. Why are they so bad at promoting fighters?

And yes, getting to see Nurmagomedov run through Cerrone and then smashing up dos Anjos will be fucking awesome. Khabib is awesome. The UFC sure as hell better promote him.

@mmmorrowind92: I love Pride. Pride contracts specifically stated they could not test for PEDs. So yeah, there's no way this is a new thing, or even worse now than it was 10 years ago. So no, I'm not sure that it's harder to enjoy the fights without wondering about these things. Hell, the UFC's talked about new harsher policy, and blood testing, it's getting better and not worse.

I mean if it was a dude with Chael Sonnen or Josh Barnett's record then I get it, but Rafael dos Anjos (& Shogun Rua since you mentioned him) have never pissed hot. They get the benefit of the doubt from me.

Sort of off topic, but Glory 20 is this friday.

I strongly encourage talking about kickboxing. I need to find out who has the UK broadcast rights for Glory. BT did but it's not on the schedule, which is a bummer. And I'm not spending $20 on a PPV. I'm just not.

@zella: As much as I love the theatrics McGregor has done to sell me on this fight I just think some of the really disrespectful things McGregor has done and gotten away with really has me rooting for Aldo in July. If you watch the embedded and the UK documentary McGregor did when he first fought in the UFC you can tell McGregor is a very down to earth guy who has all the belief in his skill set. His meteoric rise to prominence has been something unbelievable but at the same time you can kinda tell Dana White and the promotion has been playing it safe with McGregor cause they smell the greens on him. No doubt McGregor has the ability but he really hasn't fought any of the top contenders in the division. I think probably his two toughest fights were Dustin Pourier and Max Halloway but even then he hasn't fought the likes of a Frankie Edgar or a Chad Mendes. Will I watch the fight? No question I will but is it deserved? I'd honestly rather see a Frankie Edgar vs. Jose Aldo rematch any day of the week over McGregor.

@i_stay_puft:
Would you really rather see Frankie get another shot? He might technically be more deserving but I don't see how it goes any different to the first time, at least McGregor is a fresh face with a fresh set of skills. The majority of Aldo's fights are against wrestlers turned strikers, it'll be nice to see him against someone with as diverse a striking arsenal as McGregor.

@forkboy: Yeah you're right, sometimes the behind the scenes politicking of the sport just makes me forget how much I actually love the sport when it's happening, I should probably just pay slightly less attention to all the bullshit.

This is my feeling as well. The question was posed to MMA journalists on a show I watch whether they think some MMA fans might be turned off by his antics on the world tour show. They said no... if you liked him before how would this change your opinion? It changed mine. I'm 100% rooting for Aldo to put him in his place. McGregor has been overexposed and most of his antics as of late have seemed childish. Taking the belt and having fatty Dana hold Aldo back and let McGregor hold onto the belt just seemed tasteless. And he did it not only once, but twice. Hopefully Aldo isn't shot from the wars he has been in and can knock him out.

I'm absolutely 100% behind another Frankie Edgar title shot if he beats Faber. But then I'm a big fan of Edgar. But the fact remains that nobody else has done better against Aldo. It's the same reason I'm totally OK with Machida getting another shot at Weidman before too long.

@mmmorrowind92: I totally get you on the behind the scenes stuff dragging me down. MMA is the best sport in the world when it's great, but then I sit watch shows and...I could spend a long time listing all my complaints. But it's all from a position of love, of how the sport could be bigger, how everyone should watch it because it's amazing. Stuff like the incredibly poor pacing of events (especially the FS1 shows oh god they go on for ever with so much filling), the half-arsedness of the "A" commentary team, both of whom have admitted they put in no research of fighters debuting on shows, low pay, high risk, shockingly bad ability at actually promoting fighters who don't fit into a mould, until recently they've shown no interest in dealing with the obvious PED problem in the sport, the terrible quality of both referees and judges, the inability of the regulating authorities to actually hold those bad decisions accountable.

Oh yeah, and the fact that knees to the head of a grounded opponent are banned. Boo that.

yes I agree 100 percent . and the thing is after all the madness of that , there ere 7 irish ufc fighters given a q and a and it went off without a hitch , its people getting on the bandwagon that fuck it all up .

familys should never come into it ,

I hope Mcgregor wins because I do think he is a fantastic talent , maybe should look at his pre game stuff but if it sells tickets and ppv then how can they argue it , tough place to be :)

imagine how mad it would have been if Croke Park was the venue ,

@forkboy: What about Adriano Moraes, Anna Osman, Igor Svirid, Luis Santos and Peter Davis?

@jonny_anonymous: Find me anyone who has those fighters in the top 15 of their respective weight classes.

For the record, Fight Matrix, who have the most comprehensive rankings that I know, a bit goofy at times, rank the ones you named 17, 17, 69, 55, & 289. So yeah, you can make an argument for Moraes & Osman (because women's 125 is a division where a third of the talent is at 135 & another third cuts to 115.) That's still 4 fighters. Which is sort of not great compared to Bellator, never mind the UFC, who have the best in the world at all divisions except 265+ & 115 for men, and 145, 125 & 105 for women.