Mixed Martial Arts Megathread

Wanna take the temperature of group. Any of you excited for the PPV this weekend?

@travisrex: I honestly haven't looked at the entire card yet, all I know is Werdum and Cain are fighting to unify the heavyweight belts. Unsure who's gonna win, I have to put all my chips in on Cain but the dude hasn't fought in like what 2 years?

The card isn't half bad, the only fight I'd probably be interested in besides the main event would be Gilbert vs. Alvarez.

Yes only in that Cain is returning. Its an OK ppv overall in terms of quality but that's really the only thing I'm excited about.

@i_stay_puft: stop being so dramatic....only 20 months

He's supposedly been pushing it to the limit with Daniel Cormier so I'm sure in terms of ability it's still there, but ring rust could also be a factor. Plus Werdum has that improve stand up game along with those kicks.

Btw did you hear the smack talk Rothwell was spouting on Cain? I'm sure that didn't sit well with him.

@i_stay_puft: when was that? I saw rothwells post fight interview that was amazing (cringeworthy too), don't remember any calling out Cain.

And I like Werdum, but if Cain is on his game, no one beats him in the he division, including Jones if he moved up or straightened his life out

@nightriff: It was the other day on one of those MMA podcasts. He heavily implied that Cain was on something and that we would see a fairly different Cain once the random drug testing happens in July.

http://www.mmamania.com/2015/6/8/8747159/ben-rothwell-doubt-cain-velasquez-fights-same-way-after-ufc-drug-testing-kicks-in-mma

@i_stay_puft: Hasn't Big Ben tested positive for banned stuff before?

@nightriff: Haha YEP! He got banned for using TRT without proper approval back in the day when it was allowed.

I'm also amazed Bellator is commissioning a fight between Kimbo Slice and Ken Shamrock. If you want to watch two old, lumbering, over the hill fighters do what they gotta do in the middle of the Bellator cage, then this the card for you.

@i_stay_puft: Speaking of performance enhancing substances and a Shamrock...

He just posted this the other day. Yeah Ken, you aren't on anything at 51 years old...

Even his brother admitted to his almost constant HGH and steroid usage.

@i_stay_puft: @straightgrizzly:It's probably the final fight of both their careers, who the hell cares if the pop for 80,000 substances. Sad thing is Bellator has to do this to bring interest to their cards.

The undercard is pretty meh with the exception of Henry Cejudo, but the last three fights are all interesting.

And I guess the Albert Tumenov show on the fightpass prelims is going to be...fun? distressing? one of those. Hector Urbina dodged a bullet there.

Feels very YAMMA 2. Just needs Pat Smith and Butterbean on there too. Maybe Phil "Da Pain" Collins? What's he up to these days?

@amafi: Tumenov fight is cancelled, Todhunter passed out while trying to make weight and the doctor's won't deem him fit to fight.

Not too excited for this weekend's event. Never been that much of a heavy weight fan so no interest in the main event. Interested to see how Cejudo does, and the Alvarez/Melendez fight should be good though.

Anyone else see today's story with Aldo having a urine sample collected for testing, which then was thrown out because the guy who came to collect it was from the NAC? Aldo and coach Pederneiras contacted the Brazilian commission and ended up having the federal police show up to deal with the situation. The issue being that the guy from NAC did not have a work visa, and is now facing a minor fine and being told to leave the country.

Aldo is still going to be tested soon but by the Brazilian commission rather than NAC. I don't think Jose is juicing really but that kind of stuff definitely makes the Brazilian Commission seem suspect with their history around PEDs.

@zella: Damn. I guess that fight is legit cursed. Hopefully they can get Tumenov a fight in not too long, having to go through a full camp and then having the fight fall through on you twice has to suck real bad.

@straightgrizzly: Looks like CGI Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator Salvation. The face doesn't match the body.

Anybody watching tonight?

So far the fights have been terrible that I've seen. I knowingly waiting to start watching but haven't cared much for the PPV. Second fight has been better but who are these people and why are they on the PPV? Anyways hoping for Cain to deliver a beatdown tonight, Werdum will be a tough test. And I really don't like either Alvarez or Melendez, just hope for a barn burner.

EDIT: Alvarez won the fight in my eyes, let's see if the judges agree...

Props to Werdum, dude fought great. Cain didn't look the same, think he under estimated that altitude. He'll be back.

Yeah crazy man, Cain looked gased by the 2nd round. Chalk it up to ring rust, the altitude in Mexico or Werdum's stand up game but it just made for a very one sided fight by the 2nd round. It's also kinda crazy that Cain's now 32 years old, where has the time gone.

Werdum looked great and definitely deserved to win that title fight over Cain. He looked way more fresh entering the 3rd round and knew exactly how to counter Cain's takeout attempt. Cain definitely didn't look like his old self tonight.

Werdum is a lot to deal with, and I think the layoff hit Cain pretty hard. At the start of the fight I though Wedum had no chance, but after the first 3 or 4 minutes it was pretty much all the Doom's.

Holy shit Joanna is for real. One of the most dominant striking performances I have seen. Her ground game clearly seems to be her weakness but her great elbows make the clinch a dangerous idea and her sprawling seems on point as well. Gadelha seems like the next up if she beats Aguilar at UFC 190.

Amirkhani is just a ton of fun to watch too. So much energy and he seems like a genuinely cool dude. Can't wait to watch him fight again.

I had forgotten about this how but seeing as this one ended at 10pm local time for me, lemme just say that Joanna Jedrzejczyk has gone from an unknown to one of my absolute favourite fighters. Incredible charisma and just scarily violent. What a fighter.

That was a fantastic performance by Joanna.

Also, so nice to have an mma event that ends before midnight here. Thanks, Germany.

Joanna is awesome, true skills and charming fun personality. Hope she breaks big cause she deserves it. Also quickly entering the condit camp for me in that she is always exciting and I know I will be entertained.

Hope she continues to be active, can only help her get the attention she actually deserves.

I do worry that with JJ being so amazing at busting people's faces open that she may not get the same attention as other stars in the UFC.

I think one of the reasons people find it so easy to get into Ronda Rosuey's fights, aside from her just being a dominant and entertaining fighter, is that they are relatively non-gruesome when compared to many other MMA fights. I know quite a few people who casually watch MMA and will get hyped about a brawl like Browne and Arlovski but when you get a match where someone is cut pretty bad they get squeamish (not their fault or anything but it prevents them from enjoying the fight). The blood does seem to make a difference for more casual fans and I expect it does even more of a difference when it is a fight between females.

I mean imagine how the mainstream sports world would react to a fight between JJ and Van Zant (which could likely happen not too long from now), where Van Zant will certainly be marketed as the more feminine fighter and her looks will be used as a selling point. If JJ were to bust her up like she did to Penne today I could see that being really off putting for a lot of fans.

Hopefully none of that matters though and she will get all the attention and PPV $'s she deserves.

@zella: I hope the Paige Van Zant fight is a long ways off, because that'd be hard to watch. Van Zant is talented, but she's nowhere near good enough yet. If Jessica Aguilar wins her debut, which she should, she should probably get the next shot.

First of all, pretty sad to see Niklas Bäckström lose by close decision. Would have loved to see him get back on track after that knockout he suffered last time. Though I would have settled for a draw, I don't think either of them came out looking like a winner. I am glad to see Makwan Amirkhani continuing to be successful, I hope he goes a long way.

Joanna performed awesome again. Though I am curious to see how she would fare against someone that potentially could bypass her striking for a real takedown. She has taken and kept the belt against people that failed doing so, more or less. I am wondering if she's just that good when it comes to overall takedown defense or if she's a bit of a "glass cannon" in that respect if she ends up on her back.

@pezen: If Randa Markos keeps improving at her current pace she might be the one to test that in not too long. Absolutely one of the strongest wrestlers in the division.

@amafi: @pezen: She fought Esparza and completely dominated her so I probably wouldn't doubt the girls got legit takedown defense. Reading up on Esparza she was all-american in college which is still pretty freakin impressive that Joanna was able to negate anything she was trying to do. I think if Randa Markos did fight her it would end in the same result, not enough on the feet to prove a threat against Joanna. Also isn't Marko and Esparza about the same height and size after watching that season of the ultimate fighter? Joanna just looks huge when compared to other fighters except for maybe Penne last night. All she would have to do is protect against the takedown and she's good enough to defend against any dirty boxing moves Marko has in store.

I think if I was Dana give the fight to JoJo Calderwood or Rose Namajunas. Both have a level of striking that can probably legitametely cause some strife for her. While Rose actually has offensive moves on top or on her back to put Joanna reeling. I think Rose probably has more of a shot than Jojo does considering she already fought for the belt and Jojo did have that devastating loss over in Poland a few months back.

@pezen: I'd need to rewatch her fight with Gadelha, but the pure stats say that Jedrzejczyk stuffed 9 of the Brazilian's 16 attempts, 13 of Julianna Lima's 14 attempts, 16 of Esparza's 17 attempts and 11 of 11 of Penne's attempts (all according to FightMetric, I'd have counted her as landing one takedown, the toss at the end of round 1). Esparza was a solid collegiate wrestler, Penne has a good trip game in the clinch, & Claudia Gadelha has the best wrestling in the division according to Sherdog's Patrick Wyman (& I'm inclined to agree with a lot that Pat says).

It's not just that her defensive wrestling, her scramble game is good (which it is), it's the scary rate that she is improving at. The bottom line is that aside from Gadelha I don't know who at 115 has the wrestling ability to get JJ down and keep her down for any length of time. Jesica Aguilar I guess is the best alternative.

As for who is next? I think that's easy. The UFC 190 features the divisions #2 Gadelha (who won her fight with Joanna on a lot of scorecards) against the long-time #1 Strawweight fighter Jessica Aguilar. JAG holds wins over Esparza, and a couple of wins over Mega Megu Megumi Fuji, who was a real pioneer at 115lbs. In my book that's the no-brainer matchup, the winner of Claudia vs Jessica faces off against Joanna, maybe on the last PPV of the year.

Namajunas, Markos, VanZant, these women just aren't ready yet. JoJo Calderwood is coming off a loss to Maryna Moroz in Poland (& who saw that coming? That was a breakout performance), and I'd put Moroz in the not-quite-ready-yet bracket. Obviously Joanne has Rawlings next month, but the brutal truth is that beating Bec Rawlings shouldn't put you in title contention.

Soooo Kimbo vs. Ken... anyone actually bother watching it? I heard the card had some good fights to it but it really undersold it for me since the main event was Kimbo vs. Shamrock.

@i_stay_puft: Nah. If it had been the main event at YAMMA 2 I would just for the trainwreck factor, but what Coker is doing to Bellator is too sad a trainwreck to watch. I really hope their actual talent can get the fuck out of there so they can have a shot at real careers in a real organization, and it'd leave more room for Coker to put on Ortiz/Shamrock 4.

Hmmm. I cannot agree with this at all. What Coker has done to Bellator is increase ratings, meaning more people know who Will Brooks & Patricio Freire are than before. It's a really good strategy when you're not the UFC and don't have 98% of the best fighters in the world: you take names to get eyes on your talent. It worked in Strikeforce and it's working for Bellator. Coker is a really good fight promoter. Not perfect, there are some question marks over how prospects were booked in Strikeforce, but generally speaking it's a big step-up from the Rebney era, that's for sure. Have you seen some of the prospects that Bellator have been able to scoop up? Look up Aaron Pico if you have any doubt: kid is going to be incredible, he's a freestyle wrestler, just 19 years old, was the FILA Junior World Championship 66kg runner-up, he beat the 2013 Senior World Champion David Safaryan, and on top of that he has a history in boxing too! He wants to do the Olympics, but even if he wrestles in both 2016 & 2020 Bellator still have minimum a decade with a hell of an athlete.

And the promised card they are running with Glory, oh man that's going to be a blast. Paul Daley in Glory at long last is fucking cool, Liam McGeary gets a good showcase against Tito, and the 4 man LHW tournament is old school as shit and I love that. Not the best division that Bellator has but Davis, King Mo, Newton & Vassell is a potentially fun line up. And hopefully it leads to more tournaments and more Grand Prix because Grand Prix are fucking awesome and the fact the UFC don't do them is the pits.

Michael Chandler looked good in a total mismatch, but still showed the same defensive flaws that mean he'll never hit the top of the LW division. The FW title fight is well worth watching, great comeback from adversity. Bobby Lashley's fight was fucking terrible, and the main event was...I enjoyed it. It wasn't good but it was so weird that it was entertaining.

And no, it wasn't a work. Ken Shamrock is just terrible at MMA.

@forkboy: Of course it wasn't a work, anyone who actually thinks that has no idea what an old, broken man Shamrock is. Poor guy is completely busted after a lifetime of fighting, taking chair shots and hormonal supplements. My issue is that the fight was booked and that a state commission allowed it to happen.

And I'm all about seeing more Semtex in kickboxing. Did they announce him vs Schilling, or was it just that Daley and Schilling were the only two announced fighters on the Glory portion of the card?

@amafi: The latter. Neither guy has an opponent yet, we just know they are fighting. It'll be a fun night.

And trust me, I have seen a lot of people who don't get how bad a shape Shamrock is in, there is a small but vocal minority out there you really think you're a Bellator shill if you don't accept that Shamrock threw the fight. I have no idea why he would, why would you give up a "clear" RNC so you can get KO'd instead? Not like he need more brain injuries.

@forkboy: Personally, I'd love to see Semtex fight Chad Sugden. Just a shame they went with a separate ring, I fucking love Caged Muay Thai and think it'd be great to hold the Glory fights in the Bellator cage.

ALDO WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! You better fight, sucker.

What's the latest word on Aldo? Last I heard he had bruised ribs but was fighting.

They have Chad Mendes as back up. Considering that all you can do with a bruised rib is sit it out and wait to get better, if he fights he'll be going in missing 2 weeks of training. And god only knows how he manages to cut to 145 without exercise. So if he takes the fight he's going to be exhausted & likely still hurting (worth noting that USADA have been going to gyms and warning fighters that rehydration via IV is against the WADA code, so that's an added challenge to making the weight), and that's if he's even able to cut the weight. Remember that he's regularly had a hard time cutting. To put it mildy, weight cuts aren't Nova Uniao's strong point.

I don't think he should take the fight. He's not just hurting (& bruised ribs hurt pretty much any time you breathe), his opponent is aware that he's hurt.

@forkboy: Well if anybody needs someone to sell a fight between McGregor vs. Mendes, McGregor had done that months ago.

The absurd part is that McGregor might not find out for certain who he's fighting until the night of the weigh-ins. Got to give him a massive amount of respect for being willing to take the fight against a totally different guy from what he's prepared for, and one who is a stylistic nightmare for him, on practically no notice.

@forkboy: yeah, I mostly just saw no one was talking about the injury on here. I agree, he shouldn't fight unless it happens to be not as bad as we all think. What a blow to all that promotion the UFC put in though.

It's not as bad as people would think. I think personally if Aldo is out for the fight the UFC should push back the fight and make it the co main event at another time. I think Aldo's injury could be healed in time for a fight sometime this fall, McGregor would be a disadvantage fighting someone else who stylistically different from Aldo, while Mendes would be a guy with nothing to lose and could possibly walk away with an interim belt. It's not like this card would suffer, you still have Lawler vs. McDonald for the welterweight still happening on this card.

Don't forget that there are fights tonight. Admittedly it's a bad card and the very definition of skippable, but Romero vs Machida is a good main event. Not Fight Pass prelims so fights start 8pm ET but on the other hand it's an FS1 show so it'll run over and the pacing will be fucking abysmal.

Romero's sitting on a stool in the cage till after the fight starts.

@i_stay_puft: lmao

@i_stay_puft: On a stool or in a pile of his own stool?

Because remember that time Yoel Romero, one of the best Middleweights in the world, shat himself? I love MMA

I'm passing on the card tonight. Nothing really that interesting tonight as the matchup of Machida and Romero really doesn't make any sense. If its good I'll find a way to watch. Rest of the card is awful.

@nightriff: Same, will probably tune in once the Romero vs. Machida fight starts.