McDojoDelux

Main Card Middleweight Bout: Kazushi Sakuraba (186 lbs) vs. Ken Shamrock (205 lbs) Welterweight Bout: Paulo Filho (185 lbs) vs. Gegard Mousasi (185 lbs) Middleweight Bout: Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (205 lbs) vs. Kevin Randleman (205 lbs) Heavyweight Bout: Roman Zentsov (230 lbs) vs. Ricco Rodriguez (245 lbs) Welterweight Bout: Renzo Gracie (185 lbs) vs. Makoto Takimoto (185 lbs) Heavyweight Bout: Aleksander Emelianenko (255 lbs) vs. Carmelo Marrero (255 lbs) Preliminary Card Heavyweight Bout: Dan Severn (250 lbs) vs. Rolles Gracie (250 lbs) Featherweight Bout: Takeshi Inoue (145 lbs) vs. Antonio Carvalho (145 lbs) Welterweight Bout: Hector Lombard (185 lbs) vs. Yushin Okami (185 lbs) Lightweight Bout: Luiz Azeredo (165 lbs) vs. Nick Agallar (165 lbs) Welterweight Bout: Ryo Chonan (185 lbs) vs. Brian Stann (185 lbs) Featherweight Bout: Yoshihiro Maeda (145 lbs) vs. Tomonari Kanomata (145 lbs)

Main Event Women’s Strawweight Championship Bout: © Weili Zhang vs. (#1) Rose Namajunas Co-Main Event Flyweight Championship Bout: © Deiveson Figueiredo vs. (#1) Brandon Moreno Main Card Light Heavyweight Bout: (#4) Dominick Reyes vs. (#6) Jiri Prochazka Middleweight Bout: (#11) Chris Weidman vs. (#9) Uriah Hall Lightweight Bout: (#15) Gregor Gillespie vs. Francisco Trinaldo ESPN Preliminary Card Heavyweight Bout: (#13) Blagoy Ivanov vs. Marcin Tybura Lightweight Bout: Renato Moicano vs. Damir Ismagulov Bantamweight Bout: Rani Yahya vs. Joey Gomez ESPN+ Early Preliminary Card Lightweight Bout: Davi Ramos vs. Jordan Leavitt Women’s Bantamweight Bout: Melissa Gatto vs. Liana Jojua Welterweight Bout: Gabriel Green vs. Uros Jurisic

Main Card Welterweight: Ben Askren (#8, 20-2, 1NC) vs. Robbie Lawler (#9, 29-14, 1NC) Bantamweight: Jose Aldo (#7, 28-6) vs. T.J. Dillashaw (#4, 16-4) Women’s Bantamweight: Irena Aldana (#2, 14-5) vs. Pannie Kianzad (#18, 14-6) Light Heavyweight: Sam Alvey (#17, 34-14, 1NC) vs. Dominick Reyes (#7, 12-2) Light Heavyweight: Luke Rockhold (16-5) vs. Anthony Smith (#6, 33-15) Preliminary Card Middleweight: Abu Azaitar (15-2-1, 1NC) vs. Andre Muniz (20-4) Women’s Strawweight: Felice Herrig (#20, 14-10) vs. Syuri Kondo (#23, 9-3) Women’s Flyweight: Mackenzie Dern (#20, 9-1) vs. Talia Santos (#24, 15-2) Women’s Featherweight: Megan Anderson (#2, 10-4) vs. Olga Rubin (#6, 6-3) Featherweight: Suman Mokhtarian (8-3) vs. Chas Skelly (19-4)

Bellator 210: Bader vs. Kongo Date: February Week 3 (2019) Sunday Event posts will be a mixture of both fight play-by-plays as well as quick bullet points to summarize the event as a whole, only key fights like the fight of the night or fights, the performance of the night as well as fights that have a lot of significance like the main event, co-main, or key bout on the main-card or prelims will be covered. These play by plays are romanticized for dramatic effect but the results are legitimate, if the play-by-plays are too long or you don’t feel like reading them I’ll have a more brief summary of what happened plus the full card results at the bottom. -------------------------------------------------------------- FIGHT PLAY-BY-PLAYS: Many have criticized Bellator for their supposed “protection” of the undefeated Micheal ‘Venom’ Page as the undefeated karate style striker has been labeled a “can-crasher” by not only the causal but hardcore audience. If Bellator ever wanted the brash, outspoken, cocky, and at times disrespectful Brit to one day become a superstar a rise in competition was inevitable but some are saying a match-up with the former Bellator Welterweight Champion the sambo wrestler Andrey Koreshko is too much too soon. Koreshko is famously (1-1) with former Bellator Champion Douglas Lima a fighter many say is capable of being a Top 5 UFC Welterweight today (mostly Joe Rogan), he could potentially win in a pretty boring fight to put a can on Page’s hype but Koreshko is a very solid striker himself plus many are overlooking the slick BJJ on ‘Venom’ Page. But still, the rise in competition like mentioned before is a huge one, but this will undoubtedly prove where Micheal ‘Venom’ Page ranks amongst the best Welterweights today. Round 1 Page comes out throwing combos to keep Koreshko away at a long-distance often throwing the 4 straight punches, the intent isn’t really to hurt but to manage distance as the two settles into the rhythm of the fight. Page lands a few leg kicks that set up Page to leap in with a superman jab, Koreshko nearly grabs the body lock but ‘Venom’ Page reacts fast enough to move out then lands a nice spinning back kick to the ribs. Koreshko set-up jab that doesn't hit but he rips the body of the Brit with two hooks then puts Micheal ‘Venom’ Page up against the cage after grabbing ahold of him. Koreshko tries to look for a double-legged takedown but some brutal elbows from the top force Koreshko to disengage. Page fakes a lead uppercut instead, starting a combo off with a straight to the body followed by a head kick which is blocked but he then hits another nice spinning back kick to the ribs with the other leg. Lead elbow lands for ‘Venom’ Page he ducks the counter right hook of Koreshko to land a nice counter uppercut then lands 3 consecutive leg kicks. ‘Venom’ Page talks a little trash as the round ends he takes the famous stance from the Karate Kid (1984) movie whilst sticking his tongue out at Koreshko. Unofficial Judges: MMAJunkie: 10-9 Page Blurcat: 10-9 Page Sherdog: 10-9 Page Round 2 After a slow start from Koreshko, he looks to take action and become more active but he still is put at a long distance as Michael ‘Venom’ Page is still using straight punch combos to keep Koreshko at a distance. This frustrates Koreshko who starts throwing some haymakers that ‘Venom’ Page uses slick head movement to avoid an example of this is when Koreshko blitzes in throwing two looping hooks which slipped right then left to avoid ducker under an overhand from Koreshko to land a spinning elbow right as Koreshko was running in this backs up the Russian leading to ‘Venom’ Page's turning it up offensively. Starting with a switch head kick that's blocked he is able to slick his opponent's guard with a one-two then another one-two, Koreshko tries to fire back with an uppercut but Page slips right then cracks Koreshko with his own uppercut that puts Koreshko to the canvas!!! Koreshko catches himself with his two hands but Page takes the back starting to rain down punches and elbows!!! Koreshko shows his veteran experience surviving the onslaught, Page is on top in full-guard but uses excellent wrist control to prevent any ground n’ pound plus transition changes the two seem content to just lay there with little happening as the round ends. Unofficial Judges: MMAJunkie: 20-18 Page Blurcat: 20-18 Page Sherdog: 20-18 Page Round 3 Do or die round now for Koreshko he couldn't have asked for a worse start with ‘Venom’ Page as he has been completely outstruck and his wrestling nullified by long-range combos. Page starts the round with a head kick that Koreshko eats right on the chin Page looks to follow up with a flying right-cross but overextends himself leading Koreshko to land his best counter overhand right on the chin of Page. Which staggers him backwards!!! Koreshko quickly grabs a hold of him but Page springs to life landing two slicing elbows from the clinch then a roundhouse kick as the two separate. A big cut over the right eye of Koreshko starts bleeding blady here in the 3rd and final round!!! Page digs into the body with a single right hook that deflates Koreshko for a brief second as he tries to pour it on it seems Koreshko excellently faked him as while he runs in Koreshko gets a hold of the body lock then trips Page down to the mat for his 1st successful takedown of the fight!!! Page tries to do the same wrist control that Koreshko did to control ‘Venom’ Page on his back but he doesn't have the same effect as Koreshko landing some nice elbows from the top plus some body punches. While Koreshko keeps up the ground n’ pound Page twists and turns trying to make his way to the cage then possibly gets up. But instead, his antics allow Koreshko to grab full-mount!!! Very little time left Koreshko starts throwing everything he has at Page, landing lethal elbows that nearly put Page out!!! Referee Frank Trigg looks like he is about to stop the fight but Page keeps moving but he is also still getting hit!!! The fight is over as the horn rings just time to save MVP from what was undoubtedly a potential TKO loss. While standing up we see Koreshko split open a cut on his eyebrow, as the two waits for the decision. Did Koreshko do enough to get a 10-8 round and a potential draw? Or will the judges give it 29-28 to MVP or will we see a potential screw job like seen twice at UFC on ESPN+ 1 will see right now here’s Bellator announcer Micheal C. Williams. Unofficial Judges: MMAJunkie: 28-28 Blurcat: 29-28 Page Sherdog: 28-28 “Ladies and gentlemen having gone the distance this 3 round Welterweight fight will go to your judges at cage side, all 3 judges see this contest 29-28 your winner by unanimous decision Micheal ‘Venom’ Page” OFFICIAL RESULT: Michael Page def. Andrey Koreshko via UD (29-28x3) -------------------------------------------------------------- Lima dropped the Bellator Welterweight Championship last year in a fantastic war with current Champ Rory McDonald while he lost the fight he also proved he is a legitimate fighter as Rory left the UFC as a Top 5 Welterweight. Now it’s just a matter of climbing back up the ladder for another title-shot he faces possibly the hardest 170 hitters on the Bellator roster Gerald Harris. Notorious for his slam knockouts Harris a veteran of the sport looks to claim a World Championship near the tail end of his career, although many have criticized this match-up because of the difference in age (Lima 31 / Harris 39) Harris has said his experience will be to his advantage although Lima has more MMA fights than him. Round 1 Both men land left hands but as Lima backs up Harris keeps up the pressure with a jab then feints going for a slam takedown to go upstairs with a devastating overhand that lands right of the forehead of Lima!!! He’s down!!! Harris looking to finish Lima within the first 10 seconds of the fight!!! Big hammer fists land but Lima pounces up but Harris swings wild punches while Lima covers up!!! While up against the cage Harris is throwing some looping hooks one gets through Lima’s guard but the Brazilian is covering up excellently. But before he can circle out Harris grabs the body lock then lifts Lima up!!! He attempts the slam but in a moment of brilliance from Douglas Lima, he tilts all his weight forward as Harris goes down for the slam leaving the two in a sprawl which sees Lima escape Harris as the two get back to their feet. Lima lands a jab then flings out a head kick which lands, after that Lima starts digging in with his notorious leg kicks landing 3 consecutive kicks. Harris blitzes in with an overhand trying to drop Lima again but a perfect counter combination from Lima sees him land two quick hooks to the head then two quick hooks to the body finishing it with another devastating leg kick!!! A calf kick from Lima then another and then another!!! Lima keeps up the pressure he wants a finish in this 1st round!!! Harris blocks a right hook firing off a few jabs that land but he walks straight into a front kick to the face straight foot to the chin!!! Brilliant round as it comes to an end. Unofficial Judges: MMAJunkie: 10-9 Harris Blurcat: 10-9 Lima Sherdog: 10-9 Harris Round 2 After such an exciting round the two go right back at it in the center of the octagon. Lima stings Harris with a very nice right-cross trying to avoid more follow-up strikes Harris backtracks to the back of the cage, Lima throws a few spinning attacks with a few spinning kicks to the body with some of them landing then he clocks Harris with a spinning back fist!!! Harris drops to the ground catching himself with his two hands then jumps back up, Lima stays patient and it pays off as he enters with a combo landing a jab overhand right on the forehead then a question mark head kick puts Harris down on his butt for the 2nd time tonight!!! Lima doesn't pounce on him though letting Harris back up to his feet, Harris gets caught off balance with a one-two nearly falling to the canvas again then is hit by a body kick as the two fighters circle each other. Lima clinches and unloads with some nice elbows plus knees, Lima pulls off a flurry of bus driver uppercuts whilst driving him up against the cage. Lima attempts a standing guillotine but doesn't get it fully under the chin, but Lima keeps a hold of the submission until the end of the round. Unofficial Judges: MMAJunkie: 19-18 Lima Blurcat: 20-17 Lima Sherdog: 19-18 Lima Round 3 Finale round the two meets each other going toe to toe in the center of the cage. Lima looks fresh continuing to throw combos pretty easily pumping out jabs while also continuing to hack at the legs of Harris with more devastating leg kicks. Lima ribs Harris to the body with a right hook plus a straight then goes upstairs with an uppercut!!! Douglas ‘The Phenom’ Lima pours it on with even more combinations starting with a spinning back fist that grazes the right side of the forehead of Harris he is then cracked with a led elbow whilst he tries to counter with an overhand, Lima throws a couple of push kicks to the body then lands a stinging calf kick that nearly floors Harris!!! Gerald Harris's leg has a huge hematoma on his right leg, his left isn’t much better, his thigh area is redder than a tomato!!! Harris flings out a jab that lands clean but there seems to be very little power to his punches now as his movement is completely stagnated as Lima pumps a one-two right to the chin of Harris. Calf kick from Lima lands to the left leg on Harris who attempts a counter hook but Lima’s too quick landing the leg kick ducking the hook then hits a straight-right to the body. Lead elbow lands for Lima then he hits two more leg kicks followed by a spinning back kick to the body. Another kick and that's it Harris taps to strikes he can’t take it anymore!!! OFFICIAL RESULT: Douglas Lima def. Gerald Harris via TKO [Leg Kicks] R3 (4:00) -------------------------------------------------------------- There has only ever been 3 Bellator Heavyweight world Champions the last one was crowned in 2014 a full 5 years have passed since Bellator has held a Heavyweight World Championship fight until now. To reintroduce fans to their new and improved Heavyweight roster Bellator held a Heavyweight Grand Prix with 8 fighters in total competing to be crowned the Bellator Heavyweight Champion the two finalists Ryan Bader and Fedor Emelianenko was scheduled for an end of year fight for 2018 but an Emelianenko injury has forced the Russian out of a lengthy period of time. Leaving Bader without an opponent for quite some time so instead Cheick Kongo a decorated French Kickboxer and veteran of the sport. Bader will look to become the first-ever Bellato double-champion as he already claimed the Light-Heavyweight title against Phil Davis back at Bellator NYC/180 (June 2017). Round 1 Kongo’s check right hook is slipped but Bader who counters with a single straight-left, the two starts feint and faking strikes both looking to slowly establish themselves into this fight. While the fight at a semi-long distance Kongo throws a few wide looping leg kicks which resulted in Bader able to pick up a few then throw a counter elbow. After catching another leg kick from Kongo this time Bader fakes the elbow to mask in a level-change which he easily gets with a double-leg takedown!!! In full-guard Kongo tries to get grip his hands around the back of Bader to try and force a stand-up but ‘Darth’ Ryan Bader powers out of it transitioning into full-mount early!!! After rocking Kongo with some very hard punches from the top but the desperate twisting and turning from Kongo got Bader off balance momentarily, nearly causing him to escape in a scramble but before he can get away Bader grabs the back of Kongo while they stand then it Bader attempted a standing rear-naked choke but last minute changed it to a bulldog choke to the surprise of Kongo!!! As the two falls to the canvas, it’s clear there is no way out for Kongo so he promptly taps out!!! Ryan Bader is the first Bellator double-champion ever and the first Bellator Heavyweight Champion since Vitaly Minkov all the way in 2013. OFFICAL RESULT: [HVYC+LHYC] Ryan Bader def. Cheick Kongo via SUB [bulldog-Choke] R1 (3:16) to win vacant Bellator Heavyweight Championship -------------------------------------------------------------- Critical Rating: 79% / Commercial Rating: 74% Attendance: 5,566 (Gate: $1,371,462) Venue: Michelob Ultra Arena ( USA, Las Vegas ) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Main-Event [HVYC+LHYC] Ryan Bader def. Cheick Kongo via SUB [bulldog-Choke] R1 (3:16) to win vacant Bellator Heavyweight Championship [Fight Rating: Great] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Co-Main Douglas Lima def. Gerald Harris via TKO [Leg Kicks] R3 (4:00) [Fight Rating: Fantastic] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Main-Card Zach Freeman def. Ryan Couture via UD (29-28x3) [Fight Rating: Good] Juliana Velasquez def. Colleen Schneider via SUB [Kimura] R1 (3:50) [Fight Rating: Great] Michael Page def. Andrey Koreshko via UD (29-28x3) [Fight Rating: Good] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Predictions: rodrigoviolim - (5/5) correct predicts *flawless victory* (1st perfect predictions of the dnyasty, congraustlations rodrigoviolim ) vladjarca - (4/5) correct predictions Majster_93 - (4/5) correct predictions CageRage - (3/5) correct predictions -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gotta give big props to Bellator and Scott Coker as on their first-ever show on the fairly new streaming service DZAN they put on quite a show whilst going head to head with the UFC on their first event broadcasted on ESPN with UFC on ESPN+ 1: Cejudo vs. Dillashaw taking place on the exact same day. Hardcore and even some casuals have admitted that fight-wise Bellator offered a more entertaining product and while the UFC undoubtedly got more viewers plus financial success this is a very good sign for the world's 2nd best MMA promotion going forward. Possibly in the best-case scenario, the card started out with Micheal ‘Venom’ Page getting that much-needed win over a very credible opponent in Andrey Koreshko to break off into the potential mainstream media of MMA/ sports in general. Page showed while he is flashy he can also follow the game-plan using long-range combos of straight punches plus leg kicks which left Koreshko frustrated on the outside this led to him throwing thunderous punches in an attempt to get a one-shot knockout but Page with the excellent counter uppercut himself while slipping Koreshko put the Russian down in the 2nd nearly finishing the former champ. With two rounds in the bank for Page, Koreshko showed the heart of Champion with a very successful finale round finally taking advantage of Page’s mistakes when he missed on strikes taking him to the ground rocking him on the ground with punches but Page survived for the final horn to get the decision win. Julianna Velasquez continued her undefeated streak with a dominant grappling display getting a first-round kimura submission she looks to possibly challenge undefeated Bellator Flyweight Champion Ilima-Lei Macfarlane soon as she demanded a title-shot whilst talking to promoter Scott Coker as he was cage side. Zach Freeman and Ryan Couture put on a really solid fight with Freeman winning round 1 after a competitive back n’ fourth round with the two exclusively standing. Freeman was able to string together more combos while Couture mostly just got single snipping counter punches plus a few leg kicks and jabs from long distance. Round 2 led to Couture implementing his wrestling to win the round quite convincingly, but the 3rd saw Freeman sprawl excellently to prevent the takedowns of Couture as he went 0-3 on takedowns. The two traded combos but Freeman was landing way more often finishing his combos with a check right hook to win a very close unanimous decision. Douglas Lima won his first fight back after dropping his Welterweight Championship to Rory McDonald last year. It was a very scary start to contest which saw Lima be dropped after a flash knockdown in the first 10 seconds of the fight with an overhand as Gerald Harris was pouring it on with wild rapid punches to get the finish but Lima would regain his wits to outstrike Harris brutalizing him with leg kicks plus punches eventually near the end of round 3 the amount of damage to Harris's legs was too much with a huge hematoma on his right leg he tapped to strikes after Lima landed an array of more leg kicks. Finally, Ryan Bader is now the first Bellator double-champion after domaining Cheick Kongo putting an insufferable pressure grappling fight with the Kickboxer taking him down quickly grabbing mount nearly finishing him with ground n’ pound then in a scramble grabbed the bulldog choke to get the submission victory. Bader currently holds the Light-Heavyweight and now Heavyweight Bellator belts while being interview by commentator by ‘Big’ John McCarthy he said, “I’m the best fighter in the world, I'm a champion in two of the heaviest weight classes in the world, I’m the baddest man on the planet and have yet to be tested. I’ve got so much I didn’t show tonight I genuinely think no one is on my level [Daniel] Cormier is too slow for me [Alexander] Gustafsson doesn't have the heart that I have. Just watch me I think we'll be fighting in a cross-promotion very soon and if not you all know why”. - Ryan Bader

Right on the money with your take about a possible move up to Bantamweight for Cejudo, hard to book a rematch after such a dominant display but if they can both keep winning in their separate weight classes or TJ drops the Bantamweight strap I see no reason as to why Cejudo doesn't get his chance at becoming a double-champ himself. Also, I can confirm that Adalaide Byrd, Chris Lee, and, Cecil Peoples were the judges for both fights.... Well that's my headcanon at least.

UFC on ESPN+ 1: Cejudo vs. Dillashaw Date: February Week 3 (2019) Sunday Event posts will be a mixture of both fight play-by-plays as well as quick bullet points to summarize the event as a whole, only key fights like the fight of the night or fights, the performance of the night as well as fights that have a lot of significance like the main event, co-main, or key bout on the main-card or prelims will be covered. These play by plays are romanticized for dramatic effect but the results are legitimate, if the play-by-plays are too long or you don’t feel like reading them I’ll have a more brief summary of what happened plus the full card results at the bottom. -------------------------------------------------------------- FIGHT PLAY-BY-PLAYS: Two highly praised prospects of the Light-Heavyweight division will battle to open the main-card of the UFC’s first fight on ESPN+. However, as mentioned before Dominick Reyes takes this fight on only 1 week’s notice as Cutelaba’s original opponent Glover Teixeira pulled out due to injury. Reyes has talked pretty big explaining how he needs no training camp to beat anyone, saying during the 1-week preparation he mostly just cut weight and didn’t even train. Cutelaba has called out Reyes for lying and putting out excuses so he’ll “feel better when he gets smashed”. Round 1 The two open up with an exchange in the middle of the octagon Cutelaba attempts to back down Reyes by constantly pumping out the jab but instead, Dominick Reyes circles around him hitting some nice leg kicks early on before firing off a one-two that lands then two hooks which are blocked well. Cutelaba seems content to wait on the outside staying on the defensive side of things as he awaits for Reyes to make a mistake he can capitalize on, this leads to him eating more leg kicks plus a few push kicks to the body from long range but eventually, an ill-advised jab then spinning heel kick to the head combination from Reyes misses baldy leaving Cutelaba to grab his back with a body lock around his hips then the Sambo wrestler gets a beautiful suplex slam for his first takedown of the fight. The next two minute is spent with Cutelaba on top getting some decent body shots but nothing else as Reyes shows some create transition defense as well as covering up well whenever Cutelaba unload with ground n’ pound as he is left mostly in half-guard for most of the time spent on the mat until the referee Jason Herzog stands then up as Cutelaba tried to converse some energy. Reyes starts pressuring Cutelaba backing up looking to put it on him to possibly win the round winning out looping hooks in a rapid flurry starting with 3 hooks to the body then 4 to the head with only 2 of the hooks to the body landing as Cutelaba covered up well against the cage. Unofficial Judges: MMAJunkie: 10-9 Reyes Blurcat: 10-9 Reyes Sherdog: 10-9 Reyes Round 2 Reyes throws out a pretty sloppy combo of straight punches followed by a front kick to the head which also missed allowing Cutelaba to counter with a strong straight as he basically jumped into the shot then grabs the single-leg but can’t get the takedown so Cutelaba settles for pushing him up against the cage. Some occasional body punches and foot stomps are all that follow for the next minute and a half as the two catch their breath. After another 30 seconds of stalling referee Jason Herzog finally separates the two. Cutelaba once again basically jumps into a straight punch which he lands but due to the poor movement this time he is clipped by two hooks from Reyes which wobbles Cutelaba a little bit!!! He immediately dives for the double-leg takedown pushing Reyes un against the cage but just stalls looking to recover, but he has to disengage as Reyes rains down some elbows. As he tries to get away, Cutelaba is again clipped by hooks on the forehead!!! Reyes is taking some deep breaths it’s clear the conditioning on such short notice is finally taking its effect. Reyes flings out a one-two but Cutelaba leans back then blasts Reyes with an uppercut but Reyes responds with a clean jab then calf kick. Reyes again starts pushing himself near the end of the round to possibly swag the judges. A jab hits home for Reyes then he catches Cutelaba with a roundhouse kick to the body then Reyes follows it up with 2 out of 3 straight punches landing then ends the combo with two quick leg kicks then both land. Unofficial Judges: MMAJunkie: 20-18 Reyes Blurcat: 20-18 Reyes Sherdog: 20-18 Reyes Round 3 Reye’s is completely out of gas clear by him slouching on his stool covered in towels and ice packs on the body. Cutelaba sees this and immediately shoots to wrestle, easily grabbing a single-leg he can’t seem to get Reyes down as Reyes himself actually prevents Cutelaba from pushing him up against the cage. Reyes actually attempts to out-wrestle Ion Cutelaba but it ends up with Cutelaba getting a very solid body lock as he attempts to put Reyes down again with another suplex slam, however, he still can’t get Dominick Reyes down this time Cutelaba is able to put him against the cage. Reyes tries to cage walk in an attempt to circle out as he does so though Cutelaba is able to get off a few uppercuts plus foot stomps for the next incoming minute. Cutelaba shows his raw strength advantage by getting a huge belly-to-belly suplex takedown, but Reyes is able to shift into a sitting position against the cage and is able to quickly get back up against the cage trying to cage walk his way out of the clinch again. But Cutelaba is once again able to drag him down to the mat then rinse and repeat as the same sequence happened for the next couple of minutes as Reyes is able to get back to a sitting position against the cage and get up then get sit back down until the end of the fight. In total Cutelaba got a total of 4 out of 7 takedowns during the round. Unofficial Judges: MMAJunkie: 29-28 Reyes Blurcat: 29-28 Reyes Sherdog: 29-28 Reyes “Ladies and gentlemen after 3 rounds we go to the judges’ scorecards for the decision, the judges score this contest 29-28 Cutelaba 29-28 Reyes and, 28-28 This fight is ruled a split decision DRAW”. Both fighters have a look of shock on their faces. Reye can't believe the decision while Cutelaba looks shocked as well as happy to have gotten a draw at least. The 12 thousand fans in attendance at the Barclays Center do not agree with the decision with a loud shower of boos coming down when the decision was read as well as the crowd booing Cutelaba throughout his post-fight interview with Jon Anik. Cutelaba tried making the best out of the situation by saying it was a “very good fight” and “a rematch is a must”. Meanwhile, Reye’s while stunned didn’t seem to keen on the rematch actually during his interview with Jon Anik “honestly I feel I beat him and I took on an opponent which is lower ranked than me, I did the UFC a favor I feel I should get a crack at a Top 5 opponent you saw what I did with a week now give me a full training camp I knockout everyone”. OFFICIAL RESULT Dominick Reyes draws w/. Ion Cutelaba -------------------------------------------------------------- After wowing UFC president Dana White securing a UFC contract on the 5th episode of Dana Whites Contender series, Perez has gone a solid (3-0) inside the UFC showcasing a high-level fight IQ with a strong leg plus good positional wrestling he looks to finally rip off the label of prospect and become an official contender. Although much like Dominick Reyes a few fights before he’ll have to prove himself on short-notice as he only had 3 weeks of preparation to face the longtime Flyweight contender Joseph Benavidez who finds himself likely on his last ever title-run with all to lose and nothing to gain Benavidez didn’t have to accept this fight. But Benavidez said he wanted to “stay active and stay in love with the sport, I want to become the world Champion someday and a Champion doesn't say no to anybody especially someone he knows he can beat”. Round 1 Benavidez is rushing in like a raging bull wanting to trap Perez up against the cage then wrestle him, but while he charges forward he attempts a very visible straight-right which is easily ducked by Perez who then counters with a clean one-two that hits Benavidez on the forehead but a follow up spinning back fist from Perez misses when Benavidez dips his head to the right then slams a roundhouse kick to the body. Benavidez fakes the lead uppercut instead rushing in with a clean right-hook, the body followed by him tying up with Perez driving him against the cage. Benavidez remains busy by quickly driving 3 knees to the body plus a few bus driver uppercuts before perfectly getting a body lock allowing Benavidez to get a very solid takedown. Perez excellently defends the ground n’ pound from Benavidez as well as preventing Benavidez from grabbing mount multiple times until the round comes to an end. Unofficial Judges: MMAJunkie: 10-9 Benavidez Blurcat: 10-9 Benavidez Sherdog: 10-9 Benavidez Round 2 Perez fires off a set-up jab that misses but is able to land a leg kick to the thigh of Benavidez but while retracting the kick Benavidez grabs a hold of the leg then gets a single-leg takedown to go 2 for 2 on takedowns!!! The ground game is a very similar story to the 1st round as Benavidez transitions plus ground n’ pound just isn’t finding a home as Perez is doing very well defending off his back. While Benavidez is transitioning to side-control Perez decides it would be a good idea to put all his energy into a scramble in an attempt to get on top or get the fight to its feet again. A costly decision as Benavidez proves to be the better sprawler instead he finally grabs full-mount!!! Instead of going for some big ground n’ pound, the Benavidez attempts two sold armbars while they don’t really come close to submitting Perez, Benavidez did hold onto them for a relatively long time (1 minute and 12 seconds). A long long period of the two doing nothing on the ground follows suit until Perez who was able to shift himself near the cage uses his two feet to push off the fence of the octagon and while the two scramble Perez breaks free and the fight is back to its feet!!! Benavidez rushes down Perez landing a nice jab but eats a hard right hook to the chin for his troubles too, the two start to employ some great defense as Benavidez is checking Perez’s leg kicks almost every single time whole Benavidez while he found a home for the jab can’t land anything else as Perez parries it of just blocks it by covering up well. Perez looks for another leg kick but he fakes the kick going for the legs instead he hits a hard spinning kick to the chest of Benavidez following it up with a hard left then right hand but Benavidez responds with a right hook to the body. Benavidez lands a nice jab then straight but again is clipped by a hard right hook as he fails to follow up with strikes or cover-up afterward. Perez three hooks to the body all miss, Benavidez tries to land a counter uppercut but at the last minute, Perez slips it as the round ends. Unofficial Judges: MMAJunkie: 20-18 Benavidez Blurcat: 20-18 Benavidez Sherdog: 20-18 Benavidez Round 3 Benavidez flings out a one-two, Perez slips his head to the right dodging both punches then once again counter with a right-hook but instead of being one and done he lands a left hook to the forehand as Benavidez tries to circle right Perez nails a nice straight to the chin that backs up the veteran Flyweight to the cage!!! Perez grabs a hold of Benavidez trying to unload with 2 knees to the head but they are both blocked. Benavidez is able to slightly-out wrestle Perez for a moment as he tries to reverse the position as he attempts to reverse however Perez times an excellent sweep which puts Benavidez down to the mat as Alex Perez gets his first successful takedown of the fight!!! Perez does well mostly nothing with his top control staying in full-guard for a majority of the control time he has in the third and final round possibly to converse his energy for a last-minute flurry near the end of the round. Eventually referee Keith Peterson stands the two fighters up after a lengthy period of inactivity. Benavidez after checking a leg kick from Perez rushes forward landing a one-two then ducks under the counter right-hook from Perez while circling out. Perez comes in with a combo of 5 straight punches but only the starting jab lands but he surprises everyone with a venomous head kick which Benavidez slips backward to doge at the last possible seconds!!! If that landed it could've ended the fight my goodness!!! The two mostly trade jabs as the fight comes to an end. Unofficial Judges: MMAJunkie: 30-27 Benavidez Blurcat: 29-28 Benavidez Sherdog: 29-28 Benavidez “Ladies and gentlemen after 3 rounds we go the judges’ scorecards for a decision all three judges score this contest 29-28 to the winner by unanimous decision Alex Perez” Oh boy, if you thought the boos during the Dominick Reyes versus Ion Cutelaba decision was bad this one was way worse. Benavidez drops to his knees in disbelief while Perez raises his hands in victory. The whole experience is very similar to when GSP got the split decision win over Johnny Hendricks at UFC 167 (November 2013). Perez could barely get in a few words during the post-fight interview the boos were just that loud, the social media reaction on Twitter was also very toxic with commentator Daniel Cormier not helping by screaming into the microphone “what a disgusting decision, Joseph Benavidez has just been robbed for everyone to see unbelievable”. Cormier has apologized for this outburst calling it “unprofessional”. OFFICAL RESULT: Alex Perez def. Joseph Benavidez via UD (29-28x3) -------------------------------------------------------------- Alexander Hernandez is a red-hot prospect coming into 2019 after becoming a breakthrough star in the Lightweight division during 2018. Knocking out the very entertaining Beneil Dariush in 42 seconds he then got a convincing decision win over Olivier Aubin-Mercier but he said he “wasn’t happy” with the performance wanting a more convincing win. “I like to finish people, when it goes to a decision it hurts me a little bit because I know I should be knocking everyone out”. Wouldn’t you know it Paul Felder originally booked to be a commentator on this card is stepping in on short notice just like Alex Perez and Dominick Reyes before him with only 3 weeks of preparation? Felder is regarded as a very high-level creative striker but with such a short camp how will it hold up against a powerhouse in Alexander ‘The Great’ Hernandez? Round 1 Hernandez starts the round with a slip and pull counter by extending his head backward to avoid the one-two then straight then blasts a counter straight to the chin of ‘The Irish Dragon’. Felder responds with a push kick to the body then a one-two he finishes the combo with a spinning elbow that Hernandez ducks to the right to slip the elbow. Alexander ‘The Great’ Hernandez dodges a 4 punch combo of hooks from Felder countering with a roundhouse kick to the body, Hernandez slips past a right hook by slipping his head to the left then cracks Felder with a hard counter one-two, quick left then right hook combo!!! Felder attempts to counter with a lead elbow but Hernandez commits another excellent pull and counter breaking Felder’s nose with a massive overhand!!! That punch seemed to have activated a killer instinct for Paul Felder who starts pouring it on!!! Displaying some rapid-fire quick punches Felder hits a nice jab to the body then goes up top with a one-two to the head followed by a leg kick to the thigh then he grazes the forehand of Hernandez with his own overhand causing a cut on the right side of Hernandez’s head!!! Felder lands a flush question mark kick to the head!!! But leaves his guard very low allowing Hernandez to respond with a powerful right hook to the chin of Paul Felder!!! Felder responds with a push kick to the body then a one-two then lands moving forward constantly Felder isn’t giving Hernandez any room at all!!! Hernandez lands another pull and counters with a left hand then follows that up with a right hook to the forehead, but a spinning back fist from Felder lands directly to the forehead of Hernandez!!! These two are going to war here near the end of the round!!! Hernandez with a one-two to the body then a nice uppercut right under the chin of Felder who blasts Hernandez again with a rapid-fire 5 punches of hooks which all land with 3 to the body and 2 landing to the head!!! He ends the combo with a spinning heel kick to the head but Hernandez blocks it, a jab from Felder misses but a leg kick lands he then dodges a straight-right from Hernandez then lands a nice counter body kick!!! Very exciting round and a probable round-of-the-year contender for 2019 already!!! Unofficial Judges: MMAJunkie: 10-9 Hernandez Blurcat: 10-9 Felder Sherdog: 10-9 Felder Round 2 Felder initiates an exchange of punches to start the round with Felder going to with a straight-right but walks right into two left hands from Hernandez who then rips Felder with another clean uppercut right under the chin. Despite this ‘The Irish Dragon’ connects with a nice jab while moving backwards then plants his feet to hit a clean right hand followed by a calf kick. But again Hernandez responds with two quick left hands he then slips back to avoid the jab then tries to counter but Felder hits him with a quick head kick that reopening the cut on the right side of Hernandez’s forehead!!! But Hernandez takes the kick very well by firing back with a jab then right hook but Felder fires off a combo starting with a crunching left-hook, body kick, then one-two but misses on the finishing uppercut. Felder is starting to take big breaths and starting to back-up as the two previously were meeting each other in the center of the octagon for nearly the entire fight. Alexander ‘The Great’ Hernandez lands a pair of jabs then a clean one-two that snaps Felder’s head back a 5 punch combo of hooks from Felder doesn't trouble Hernandez as he slips all of them then lands a left-cross right to the chin of Felder. ‘The Irish Dragon’ hits a one-two counter as Hernandez tries a lead uppercut but Alex keeps charging forward getting a one-two of his own, finishing the combination with a right hand then left hook that both landed clean. Hernandez again blitzes in but this time rushes into 3 straight punches from Felder who then hits a flush switch kick straight shin to the face of Hernandez right as the round ends!!! Unofficial Judges: MMAJunkie: 20-18 Hernandez Blurcat: 19-19 Sherdog: 20-18 Felder Round 3 Felder goes all in one a one-two followed by a spinning elbow then venous heel kick but he misses all of his strikes leaving him off balance. Herandez while on the backfoot cracks Felder with a right hook that puts Felder to the floor!!! Hernandez pounces on Felder raining down punches landing several devastating looping punches until referee Jason Herzog puts a stop to the action!!! Wow!!! Alexander Hernandez a huge statement victory here tonight!!! OFFICIAL RESULT: Alexander Hernandez def. Paul Felder via TKO [Punches] R3 (0:33) -------------------------------------------------------------- Ever since Connor McGregor became the UFC’s 1st ever UFC double-champion at UFC 205 it seems more and more fighters are interested in joining the double-champ club as currently, only two fighters reside in it with the previously mentioned McGregor and Daniel Cormier. Dillashaw will attempt to become just the 3rd to do so out of 4 attempts in UFC history, but unlike the previous 3 before him, Dillashaw will be moving down a weight class in an attempt to get 2 belts. Dillashaw has expressed some cold-blooded intentions heading into the fight not caring if the UFC does close down the Flyweight division if he does win tonight's fight. Cejudo with a win could possibly save the division and has expressed interest in a possible move up to Bantamweight then Featherweight in an attempt to become a three divisional world champion. Dillashaw has also expressed interest in possibly moving to Featherweight to become a three-division champ as well. Round 1 Referee Mike Beltran in charge of the action here gets the fight started after a no touching of the gloves from either fighter. Dillashaw starts off the fight with a long stance similar to the long karate stance of Cejudo firing off a jab then a body kick both of which are blocked. Cejudo has both his hands outreaching in a mummy guard with his body wide open Dillashaw looks for another body kick but Cejudo excellently catches the kick and Dillashaw could not stop the single-leg takedown of Cejudo who easily lifted the Bantamweight Champion into the air then to the canvas. Cejudo quickly grabs side-control firing off some elbows which are blocked then he easily moves back into full-guard despite being a Champion in a lower weight class it seems Cejudo is the bigger fighter out there. Cejudo tries some ground n’ pound to the body of Dillashaw as he does so TJ uses an underhook to work for some separation. It's a terrible decision though as Cejudo reacts fast seizing this opportunity to grab full-mount early in the round!!! Cejudo quickly grabs the armbar and finds it locked in, leaving Dillashaw no option but to tap!!! Dillashaw did try to troll everyone as he only tapped once as he tried to make it out like he was working to get out of the submission instead of tapping but the replays quickly disprove Dillashaw who tried to make it seem like it was a bad stoppage instead of him actually tapping!!! OFFICIAL RESULT: [C] Henry Cejudo def. TJ Dillashaw via SUB [Kimura] R1 (3:11) to retain UFC Flyweight Championship Cejudo 1st Flyweight Title-Defense -------------------------------------------------------------- Critical Rating: 72% / Commercial Rating: 89% Attendance: 12,329 ( $2,175,075 ) Venue: Barclay Center ( USA, New York ) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Main-Event [C] Henry Cejudo def. TJ Dillashaw via SUB [Kimura] R1 (3:11) to retain UFC Flyweight Championship [Fight Rating: Good] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Co-Main Alexander Hernandez def. Paul Felder via TKO [Punches] R3 (0:33) [Fight Rating: Great] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Main-Card Alex Perez def. Joseph Benavidez via UD (29-28x3) [Fight Rating: Good] Mara Romero Borella def. Andrea Lee UD (29-28x3) [Fight Rating: Average] Dominick Reyes draws w/. Ion Cutelaba (29-28, 28-29, 28-28) [Fight Rating: Average] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Preliminary-Card Deiveson Figueiredo def. Ray Borg via TKO [Punches & Knees] R1 (2:31) [Fight Rating: Great] Tom Duquesonoy def Brian Kelleher via UD (30-27x3) [Fight Rating: Great] Syuri Kondo def. Livia Renata Souza via UD (30-27x3) [Fight Rating: Good] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Early-Prelims Jordan Johnson def. Ryan Spann via SUB [RNC] R1 (2:47) [Fight Rating: Great] Curtis Millender def. Lyman Good via TKO [Head Kick & Punches] R1 (4:48) [Fight Rating: Good] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fight of the Night: Paul Felder vs. Alexander Hernandez -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Performance of the Night: Henry Cejudo, Deiveson Figueiredo, Jordan Johnson -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Predictions: vladjarca - (4.5/10) correct predictions Majster_93 - (7/10) correct predictions CageRage - (7.5/10) correct predictions rodrigoviolim - (5.5/10) correct predictions -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- While the first-ever UFC on ESPN+ card wasn’t an all-time great card that fans will be remembering for years it was still a very solid night of fights that mostly lived up to expectations. We'll start off with the main-event Henry Cejudo took little time to dispose TJ Dillashaw with a 1st round finish. It seemed like Cejudo was just, in general, the bigger fighter he had the wider frame and looked more bulky than TJ did, Dillashaw during the post-fight press conference told reporters “I made a very stupid mistake something I won’t ever do again. This one is very hard for me to swallow. I trained so hard and didn’t really get a chance to do anything out there. I think the stoppage was a little early. I was trying to make my way out of it. This will motivate me to be better than I’ve ever been before”. The mistake he mentioned was his choice to use an underhook to cause separation while Cejudo had him on the canvas this led to Cejudo grabbing the full-mount then the armbar. Dana White confirmed with this impressive performance that the Flyweight division “is here to stay” and when pressed on Cejudo’s desire to move up to Bantamweight which he expressed during the lead-up and post-fight interview with Jon Anik, Dana White said, “Well look, if he wants to challenge for the Bantamweight title that means a rematch with [TJ] Dillashaw, and I don’t wanna see that fight straight away again. It was one-sided domination. I say let TJ do his thing at 135 for a while let Cejudo do his thing at 125 then we’ll see what happens after that”. - Dana White A star was born during tonight’s co-main event as Alexander ‘The Great’ Hernandez stopped Paul Felder early in the 3rd in a sensational fight that had the crowd buzzing. The two traded shots at a brutal pace during the 1st and most of the 2nd round, Hernandez punches seemed to be doing more damage wise but Felder landed more often plus his striking was as expected way more crisp than the still very raw Hernandez but in the 3rd the amount of damage became too much for Felder to handle. After Felder missed on a one-two followed by a spinning elbow then venous heel kick, Hernandez while moving backwards dropped him with a right-hook very similar to how Stipe Miocic knocked out Fabricio Werdum to claim the Heavyweight Championship at UFC 203 (May 2016). With ground n’ pound to finish him off Hernandez then did a very pro-wrestler like callout of both Tony Ferguson and Dustin Poirier calling them both “old men'' calling for the two of them to “step aside the new generation of Lightweights is coming and only I have the right to put the first loss of Khabib’s [Nurmagomedov] record”. Now let's move onto a huge story early on the main-card that being judging in MMA. To start the main-card we have the controversial Dominick Reyes vs. Ion Cutelaba split decision draw. Most had it 29-28 Reye’s and some could argue a draw since round 3 which people almost unanimously believe Cutelaba easily won featured Cutelaba out grappling Reye’s for a full 5 straight minutes getting 4 takedowns in total during the round. But to counteract that he never landed anything of significance or had a deep submission that round either so is that really a 10-8 round? More bewildering is that one judge scored it 29-28 for Cutelaba giving him rounds 1 and 3. While round 1 saw some time with Cutelaba on top again he didn’t do much plus the majority of round 1 was spent standing where Reye’s was picking him apart with his superior kickboxing. Even worse was a key Flyweight bout between Alex Perez and Joseph Benavidez that saw Perez win 29-28 on all three judges' scorecards when most fans and pundits scored the fight 29-28 or 30-27 for Benavidez. In fact, 15 out 15 MMA media sources that scored the fight tonight gave Benavidez the decision win however, all three judges saw it differently as all three of them gave rounds 2 and 3 for Perez. Souring things even worse for Perez was when he expressed interest in fighting Deiveson Figueiredo who called out both Benavidez and Perez wanting to fight the winner of their fight, Perez said “It makes a lot of sense in terms on ranking and I feel the winner gets a title-shot in all honesty”. This year the UFC and many athletic state commissions across the United States decided on a new criteria for the unified rules of MMA (at least for inside the UFC). Mostly to fix judging in MMA with the legalization of knees to a grounded opponent, all forms of soccer kicks, plus more of an emphasis on effective striking and grappling overwhelming the volume of strikes plus time spent on the ground effectiveness with the striking and grappling it the new top priority for judges to look for in a round by round system. Perhaps the UFC will abolish the 10-9 must rounds system one day but for now. Moving on to some very impressive performances of the night Deiveson Figueiredo didn’t take long to TKO #3 Flyweight Ray Borg to stay undefeated he backed down Borg to the fence of the octagon then landed a devastating right hook after using a set-up one-two then became the first fighter in the UFC to finish his opponent with knees to the head as it was recently legalized. Like mentioned before Figueiredo called to fight the winner of Perez vs. Benavidez for a number 1 contender fight that he said “made a lot of sense” to Jon Anik. Also staying undefeated Jordan Johnson is quickly rising the ranks of the Light-Heavyweight division quickly getting fellow Light-Heavyweight prospect Ryan Spann to the ground then showed Spann’s lack of experience on the ground tapping him out rather quickly. Jackson called for a ranked opponent after the fight saying he was “too skilled” to continue fighting a non-ranked opponent, a request the UFC might just give him. Lastly Mara Romero Borella got the biggest upsert victory off the card being a (+470) underdog to the (-330) favorite in Andrea Lee. The first round saw the two have a very surprisingly competitive striking match as Lee didn’t really utilize her kicks making the 1st a boxing contest in which both landed some decent shots, Borella was marching down Lee that round forcing her to use a lot of footwork and general movement even though Borella was just feinting sometimes. That led to Borella zapping Lee’s energy as she gassed at the start of the 2nd which is when Borella incorporated wrestling which led to the Italian getting a very convincing unanimous decision victory. This is done and dusted let’s head onto the results of Bellator 210 (in the next thread post that is).

Main Event Middleweight Bout: (#1) Robert Whittaker vs. (#2) Paulo Costa Co-Main Event Light Heavyweight Bout: (#15) Ryan Spann vs. Maurício Rua Main Card Flyweight Bout: (#3) Joseph Benavidez vs. (#4) Askar Askarov Women's Flyweight Bout: (#2) Katlyn Chookagian vs. (#7) Viviane Araujo Middleweight Bout: Gerald Meerschaert vs. Bartosz Fabinski ESPN2 Preliminary Card Light Heavyweight Bout: Tyson Pedro vs. Ed Herman Bantamweight Bout: Denys Bondar vs. Joe Soto Bantamweight Bout: Randy Costa vs. Trevin Jones Featherweight Bout: Michael Trizano vs. Rafael Alves Women’s Flyweight: Tracy Cortez* vs. Justine Kish Featherweight Bout: Jared Gordon** vs. Danny Chavez

Main Card Heavyweight Championship Bout: © Fedor Emelianenko (230 lbs) vs. Alistair Overeem (245 lbs) Middleweight Championship Bout: © Glover Teixeira (205 lbs) vs. Wanderlei Silva (205 lbs) Welterweight Championship Bout: © Ronaldo Souza (185 lbs) vs. Dan Henderson (185 lbs) Featherweight Championship Bout: © Brad Pickett (145 lbs) vs. Urijah Faber (145 lbs) Lightweight Championship Bout: © Norifumi Yamamoto (165 lbs) vs. Vitor Ribeiro (165 lbs) Middleweight Bout: Mauricio Rua (205 lbs) vs. Ricardo Arona (205 lbs) Heavyweight Bout: Josh Barnett (250 lbs) vs. Andrei Arlovski (235 lbs) Welterweight Bout: Robbie Lawler (185 lbs) vs. Yuki Kondo (185 lbs) Lightweight Bout: Takanori Gomi (165 lbs) vs. Marcus Aurelio (165 lbs) Featherweight Bout: Miguel Angel Torres (145 lbs) vs. Jose Aldo (145 lbs) Preliminary Card Welterweight Bout: Carlos Condit (185 lbs) vs. Kazuo Misaki (185 lbs) Middleweight Bout: Vitor Belfort (205 lbs) vs. Melvin Manhoef (205 lbs) Heavyweight Bout: Heath Herring (250 lbs) vs. Gilbert Yvel (235 lbs) Lightweight Bout: Josh Thomson (165 lbs) vs. Mizuto Hirota (165 lbs) Featherweight Bout: Joachin Hansen (145 lbs) vs. Cub Swanson (145 lbs) Heavyweight Bout: Eric Esch (265 lbs) vs. Yoshihiro Nakao (220 lbs) Welterweight Bout: Jose Landi-Jons (185 lbs) vs. Keita Nakamura (170 lbs) Middleweight Bout: Vladimir Matyushenko (205 lbs) vs. Emanuel Newton (205 lbs) Featherweight Bout: Masakazui Imanari (145 lbs) vs. Georgi Karakhanyan (145 lbs) Lightweight Bout: Cristiano Marcello (165 lbs) vs. Evan Dunham (165 lbs)

Majster don't miss Main Card Predictions: LW: Rashid MAGOMEDOV vs. Arman TSARUKYAN FW: Movsar EVLOEV vs. Mirsad BEKTIC WW: Elizeu Zaleski DOS SANTOS vs. Ismail NAURDIEV MW Tournament SF: Brad TAVARES vs. Dricus DU PLESSIS W FlyW Title: Mariya AGAPOVA vs. Valentina SHEVCHENKO

In the words of the great Nate Diaz, "Hey, I'm not surprised mother*******", also this one of the most stacked cards I ever seen in a Dynasty Thread my lord.

Main Card Predictions: FW: Makwan AMIRKHANI vs. Salahdine PARNASSE MW: David BRANCH vs. Andre MUNIZ WW: James KRAUSE vs. Jake MATTHEWS W BW: Bea MALECKI vs. Chelsea CHANDLER FW Title: Ilia TOPURIA vs. Edson BARBOZA

January Week 3 (2019) Recap -------------------------------------------------------------- MMA News -------------------------------------------------------------- UFC on ESPN+ 1: Cejudo vs. Dillashaw [Preview] Main-Event [ESPN+] Flyweight: [C] Henry Cejudo (#10P4P, 13-2) vs. [bNT-C]TJ Dillashaw (#4P4P, 16-3) Co-Main [ESPN+] Lightweight: Paul Felder (#10, 15-4) vs. Alexander Hernandez (#11, 10-1) Main-Card [ESPN+] Flyweight: Joseph Benavidez (#2, 25-5) vs. Alex Perez (#15, 21-4) W-Flyweight: Andrea Lee (#5, 9-2) vs. Mara Romero Borella (#11, 11-5-2NC) Light-Heavyweight: Dominick Reyes (#8, 10-0) vs. Ion Cutelaba (#13, 14-3-1NC) Preliminary-Card [ESPN 1] Flyweight: Deiveson Figueiredo (#6, 15-0) vs. Ray Borg (#3, 11-3) Bantamweight: Tom Duquesonoy (16-2-1NC) vs. Brian Kelleher (19-9) W-Strawweight: Livia Renata Souza (11-2) vs. Syuri Kondo (6-1) Early-Prelims [uFC-Fight Pass] Light-Heavyweight: Ryan Spann (15-5) vs. Jordan Johnson (10-0) Welterweight: Lyman Good (20-3-1NC) vs. Curtis Millender (16-3) -------------------------------------------------------------- The UFC is back this weekend with a historic card as they make their debut on the ESPN network and their first show on the ESPN+ subscription which they as well as the ESPN network have been marketing like crazy in preparation for this event. ‘The ESPN cure’ is a real thing to some as we head into tomorrow night's fights as a total of 8 fights have been altered with 4 fights in total being pulled. But throughout the build-up, the main-event has been solidly intact as Bantamweight Champion TJ Dillashaw had a successful weight cut making weight easily for the first and probably last time at Flyweight. The fate of the Flyweight division is in all likelihood on the shoulders of Champion Henry Cejudo as challenger TJ Dillashaw has expressed no interest in defending the belt if he wins it and the UFC has been in talks of shutting down the Flyweight division for years now. If the Bantamweight Champion can come down scoop up the Flyweight belt then what really is the point of the division especially since the male's Flyweight division statically draws the least amount of fans on the UFC's viewership ratings. Also on the line are some possible key pound-for-pound rankings as with Jon Jones losing to Gustafsson along with Cormier and Khabib expressing possible retirements soon that number 1 pound for pound spot could be wide open very soon. Dillashaw has also called out Featherweight Champion Max Holloway to a super fight in a bid to become a champ, champ, champ. Cejudo has also expressed interest in claiming the Featherweight belt to become a champ, champ, champ as he told Submission Radio “after I beat TJ [Dillashaw] at Flyweight I then take his Bantamweight belt then I challenge and beat [Max] Holloway for the Featherweight strap. I’m not stopping at just being a champ, champ in the UFC I wanna be champ, champ, champ, champ. Olympic gold medalist, UFC Flyweight Champion, Bantamweight Champion, and Featherweight Champion". The two have talked big leading up to the event with Dillashaw also taking spots at the former pound for pound number 1 and former Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson calling him “washed up” and a “disgrace to the sport” when Johnson held the pound for pound number 1 spot. He also called out Cejudo for his previously missed weight for a couple of Flyweight fights earlier in his career. Meanwhile, Cejudo himself has taken the role as the hero willingly on behalf of the Flyweight division, stylistic wise it’ll be interesting to see how far Cejudo striking has become as Dillashaw in recent years has come on the power powerful dynamic strikes able to put you out with punches, kicks, knees, elbows, and an array of spinning attacks. Cejudo has developed a very solid karate base style with some good kicks seen in his previous fight with Demetrious Johnson also like he has mentioned over and over in the lead-up Cejudo's an gold medalist in wrestling which should clearly show who has the superior wrestling abilities. Although Dillashaw is a comfortable (-200) favorite, Cejudo has been picked by many respectable MMA pundits like former Welterweight turned UFC commentator Dan Hardy who said on an episode of ‘Inside the Octagon’. “Cejudo’s ever karate style was able to keep up with the dynamic attacks of Demetrious Johnson who while isn’t as powerful has similar speed and reaction timing to [TJ] Dillashaw. Along with excellent wrestling that has transitioned into MMA very well I think he can win this fight”. Paul Felder who 4 weeks ago was training for a marathon will now see himself fighting in the co-main event on the first-ever card on ESPN+ against a rising prospect in Alexander Hernandez a power puncher who is starting to improve all aspects of his game focusing on his wrestling, BJJ, and muay-thai as his original Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone while primarily a kickboxer does have some very underrated wrestling with lethal BJJ particularly with the armbar. But Cerrone would pull out 3 weeks before the event allowing ‘The Irish Dragon’ Paul Felder to step in, many have this circled as a can’t miss fight of the night contender as Felder a protegee under Duke Roufus loves to strike especially using spinning techniques. But Felder much like ‘Cowboy’ has some underrated wrestling which he could fall back on if need be. Despite Hernandez taking some shots early on at Cerrone for taking the fight the two have been respectful towards each other with Hernandez saying during media day, “I got no problem with Paul [Felder] he stepped up and took this fight probably against his best judgment. But I’m glad he took it and I’m still on the card with much respect to him”. The main-card plus prelims have seen a lot of changes due to a slew of injuries but let's get into it. Alex Perez on short notice much like Paul Felder will face a main staple of the Flyweight division Joseph Benavidez, Perez will look to use his deadly leg kicks plus dominant positional wrestling that could test the longtime Flyweight fighting off his back as Perez likes to dictate the pace of his fights. We all know what we get from Benavidez, a very solid all-round fighter, a jack of all trades who has some of the best sprawling and submission defense the UFC has ever seen. Women’s Flyweights Mara Romero Borella versus Andrea Lee in what can be seen as a classic wrestler in Borella taking on a striker in Lee who has an accomplished background in karate. Borrela isn’t that bad on her feet as the marketing of this fight will have you believe though she is durable plus has shown flashes of decent boxing but more than likely she’ll be outpointed if the fight stays standing the entire fight so this fight will be a test for Andrea Lee as we’ll see if here takedown defense, BJJ, and possibly the ability to fight off her back all be tested tomorrow night. Rounding out the main-card it’s another short notice fighter stepping up in this case it’s Dominick Reyes who took the fight on basically a week's notice after Brazilian legend Glover Teixeira pulled out due to injury. Reyes is a very high-level kickboxer fast with his hands. He has some serious one-shot knockout power with everything he throws from punches to kicks, elbows, knees, anything really Reyes has a lot of power behind. The question is how will Reye’s cardio and overall game plan look like on only a couple day’s notice? Reye’s thinks it’ll be a non-factor, “I’m the best Light-Heavyweight in the world and that's what I’m going to prove tomorrow night, I don’t need a training camp to defeat anyone in this division. I know I’m the best and after this fight, everyone will be asking how I made this look so easy with little to no training just a week of weight-cutting". - Dominick Reyes His opponent Ion Cutelaba hasn’t taken too kindly to Reye’s big words in the lead-up calling him “otherworldy stupid”. Cutelaba himself is another very promising prospect for the Light-Heavyweight division being incredibly nimble for a 205’er he too poses one-punch knockout power with some accomplished boxing but the best part of his game is his strong sambo wrestling. Reye’s is yet to be tested against such a high-level wrestler how will he do especially on short notice can his takedown defense be up to snuff? Onto Dana White’s “if you don’t know, now you know” special Twitter post where he highlighted 2 fights on the prelims. White started off with the new headliner of the prelims, a big Flyweight fight between the undefeated powerhouse Brazilian Deiveson Figueiredo he has a power never before seen in the Flyweight division but to test this power the returning Ray Borg will look to outlast Figueiredo. Moving back to the Light-Heavyweight division we see another two prospects within the division who look to crack the rankings sometime soon as Ryan Spann is a very raw prospect with one punch knockout power. Spann is solid in all areas of MMA and a jack of trades with fight-ending power has proven it can make a long way in the UFC’s Light-Heavyweight division but it’s all up to how Spann develops. His opponent Jordan Johnson is a strong high-level wrestler that likes to keep up a suffocating pace much like Welterweight Kamaru Usman. -------------------------------------------------------------- Bellator 210 [Preview] Main-Event [DZAN] Heavyweight: [LHY-C] Ryan Bader (26-5) vs. Cheick Kongo (29-10-2) For Vacant Bellator Heavyweight Championship Co-Main [DZAN] Welterweight: Douglas Lima (30-7) vs. Gerald Harris (25-7) Main-Card [DZAN] Lightweight: Ryan Couture (12-6) vs. Zach Freeman (9-3) W-Flyweight: Julianna Velasquez (7-0) vs. Colleen Schneider (10-8) Welterweight: Andrey Koreshko (21-3) vs. Michael Page (13-0) Not going over the prelims as there aren’t really that many notable fighters so only going over the main-card. -------------------------------------------------------------- Just like the UFC the number 2 MMA promotion in the world Bellator is back for their first show of 2019 on a brand broadcasting network as they will be broadcasting all their events exclusively on the DZAN subscription after signing a huge $1 billion deal. In 2019 Bellator launched a Heavyweight Grand Prix to crown a new Heavyweight Champion due to the title being vacant both Ryan Bader and Fedor Emelianenko made it to the grand we're supposed to fight by the end of the year for the Bellator title. But a Fedor injury would put him on the sidelines for an estimated 6-months not wanting to wait Bellator called up the best Heavyweight on the roster they could find to fight Bader for the vacant strap in French Kickboxer Cheick Kongo a high-level striker and a veteran of the sport he faces Ryan Bader the Bellator Light-Heavyweight Champion looks to become the first Bellator double-champion ever since signing with the promotion Bader has taken his boxing to a whole new level showcasing one-shot knockout power he seemingly never had before with his high-pace wrestling he has quickly become one of Bellator’s better fighters. But this fight against such an experienced striker will showcase if Bader striking has developed to an elite level or will opt to wrestle instead? Speaking of one-shot knockout power enter Welterweight Gerald Harris who has a notorious knockout highlight reel on Youtube he holds one of the most vicious knockouts in UFC history when he KO’d currently ranked UFC Middleweight David Branch at UFC 116 (July 2010). He fights the very technical and durable now-former Bellator Welterweight Douglas Lima who looks to reclaim his title after losing it in a fantastic fight against Rory McDonald, “My loss to [Rory] McDonald has lite a fire under me I have never felt before, the need to feed my family and to cement my legacy is at an all-time high. I have never felt this way before and I’m very excited to compete again”. Staying the Welterweight division another former Bellator Welterweight Champion fights on the main-card as Andrey Koreshkov a two-time opponent of Douglas Lima will face one of Bellator's biggest prospects in the undefeated Micheal ‘Venom’ Page. Many all calling this match a mistake for Bellator as Koreshkov a sambo wrestler has the ability to totally dominate Page that will deflate all of the hype ‘Venom’ Page has gathered over his years in Bellator. But just because he loves to wrestle doesn't mean Koreshkov doesn't have solid fundamental boxing especially in the clinch where he is an excellent dirty boxer. Seen as a “can crusher” for years by most higher-up MMA pundits this a chance for Michael Page to prove he is a legit fighter who can hang with the best Welterweights in the world his takedown defense and overall wrestling will be tested in this fight. The trash talk that Page has unleashed towards Koreshkov has been vicious very similar to the trash talk Connor McGregor did to Khabib Nurmagomedov he has crossed the line by fans many times mocking the Russian culture, family, friends, and has taken many potshots at every single post-Koreshkov has made on Twitter mostly counting down the days until he knocks him out. Koreshkov has remained ice-cold even face to face during a press conference with Page being loud mouth self no emotion or angered response as done by Koreshkov but he did tell reporters the press conference when they asked if the trash talk would effect, “Yes but not the way he’ll [Michael Page] hope for. The punch is gonna be a little harder, that kick will sting a little more, that takedown will be done with a lot more strength than he expects it to be”. - Andrey Koreshkov To round out the main card don’t sleep on the son of MMA legend Randy Couture as Ryan Couture takes on Zach Freeman in a Lightweight bout. These two fighters are both very similar with solid all-round games who deliver on giving fans fight of the night barn burners. Bellator has pulled all the stops in their debut with DZAN and will take on the UFC head to head tonight broadcasting-wise, the UFC will undoubtedly have higher ratings but if Bellator can deliver with some solid ratings plus some solid viewership it’ll be a huge step forward for the company. --------------------------------------------------------------

Main Card Heavyweight Bout: Hidehiko Yoshida (235 lbs) vs. Peter Graham (245 lbs) Lightweight Bout: Shinya Aoki (165 lbs) vs. Sean Sherk (165 lbs) Heavyweight Bout: Mark Hunt (265 lbs) vs. Bob Sapp (265 lbs) Middleweight Bout: Kiyoshi Tamura (205 lbs) vs. Roger Gracie (205 lbs) Lightweight Bout: Hayato Sakurai (165 lbs) vs. Pat Healy (165 lbs) Preliminary Card Middleweight Bout: Kevin Randleman (205 lbs) vs. Kazuo Takahashi (205 lbs) Featherweight Bout: Tatsuya Kawajiri (145 lbs) vs. Alexandre Franca Nogueira (145 lbs) Heavyweight Bout: Valentjin Overeem (235 lbs) vs. Alexey Oleynik (235 lbs) Featherweight Bout: Kotetsu Boku (145 lbs) vs. Rumina Sato (145 lbs) Lightweight Bout: Jens Pulver (146 lbs) vs. Katsunori Kikuno (165 lbs) Heavyweight Bout: Mu Bae Choi (245 lbs) vs. Yusuke Kawaguchi (255 lbs)

January Week 2 (2019) Recap -------------------------------------------------------------- MMA News -------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------- MMA Twitter --------------------------------------------------------------

Main Event Middleweight Bout: (#4) Darren Till vs. (#5) Marvin Vettori Co-Main Event Featherweight Bout: (#7) Arnold Allen vs. (#10) Sodiq Yusuff Main Card Bantamweight Bout: (#12) Merab Dvalishvili vs. (#13) Cody Stamann Women's Strawweight Bout: (#6) Nina Ansaroff vs. (#12) Mackenzie Dern Welterweight Bout: Sean Brady vs. Jake Matthews ESPN2 Preliminary Card Flyweight Bout: (#11) Tim Elliott vs. Jordan Espinosa Middleweight Bout: Zak Cummings vs. Sam Alvey Heavyweight Bout: Yorgan de Castro vs. Jarjis Danho Lightweight Bout: John Makdessi vs. Ignacio Bahamondes Middleweight Bout: Kyle Daukaus vs. Aliashkhab Khizriev Women’s Bantamweight Bout: Norma Dumont vs. Bea Malecki Featherweight Bout: Jordan Griffin vs. Luis Saldana

Main-Card PredictionsFlyW: Sean SANTELLA vs. Alex SILVA FlyW Tournament SF: Amir ALBAZI vs. Jordan ESPINOSA BW Crown: Sarah KAUFMAN vs. Sarah MORAS LHW: Anthony SMITH vs. Ed HERMAN LW: Steven RAY vs. Vinc PICHEL Also on an unrelated note when I looked onto your thread and saw the word 'Press Conference' I got so confused and thought I was looking back at my thread for a minute . Love the detail with the presser and great job as always.

January Week 1 (2019) Recap -------------------------------------------------------------- MMA News -------------------------------------------------------------- UFC ‘Next Generation’ Press-Conference: Venue: Barclays Center (America, New York City) UFC usually schedules these big press-conference events before the summer of the year but due to the new ESPN deal and wanting to give UFC fans something to watch during the companies 3-week break from the fight scene the Barclays Center would hold a huge press-conference with many fighters taking center stage. Of course in the middle of it, all was Dana White the fighters on stage included Flyweight Champion Henry Cejudo, Bantamweight Champion TJ Dillashaw, Lightweights Alexander Hernandez, and Paul Felder. Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley, former interim Welterweight Champion Colby Covington, former interim Lightweight Champion Tony Ferguson, and contender Dustin Poirier. Light-Heavyweight contenders Jan Blachowiz and Anthony Smith, Welterweights Mike Perry and Niko Price finally Women’s Flyweight Champion Valentina Shevchenko and challenger Katlyn Chookgain here are some bits and pieces of what they all had to say during the presser. *ever should be never also partners should be training partners* -------------------------------------------------------------- MMA Twitter

The main and co-main are two potential fight of the year contenders if they both live up to the hype plus the rest of the card has some pretty appealing fights too. This could be a card of the year contender at least on paper it is, can't come soon enough.

<p></p><div style="text-align:center;"><p></p><div style="margin-left:25px;"> Romanov some serious skills for a Heavyweight, really don't see anyone beating him anytime soon. Also that 1% lead on my total predictions I have over Majster_93 is just really funny to me for some reason will defiantly lose it sometime soon but I'm celebrating it while it lasts </div><img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/biggrin.png.929299b4c121f473b0026f3d6e74d189.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><div style="margin-left:25px;">. But predictions yes.</div><p></p><div style="margin-left:25px;"> </div><p></p><div style="margin-left:25px;"> </div><div style="margin-left:25px;"><strong><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Main card predictions:</span></strong></div><p></p><div style="margin-left:25px;"> LHW: Devin CLARK vs. </div><div style="margin-left:25px;"><strong>Rafael CARVALHO</strong></div><p></p><div style="margin-left:25px;"> HW: </div><div style="margin-left:25px;"><strong>Roy NELSON</strong></div><div style="margin-left:25px;"> vs. Javy AYALA</div><p></p><div style="margin-left:25px;"> MW Title & Tournament SF: </div><div style="margin-left:25px;"><strong>Karl ROBERSON</strong></div><div style="margin-left:25px;"> vs. Darren STEWART</div><p></p><div style="margin-left:25px;"> LHW Title & Tournament SF: Dovletdzhan YAGSHIMURADOV vs. </div><div style="margin-left:25px;"><strong>Ryan SPANN</strong></div><p></p><div style="margin-left:25px;"> HW Tournament SF: Ilir LATIFI vs. </div><div style="margin-left:25px;"><strong>Tanner BOSER</strong></div></div><p></p>

MMA End of the Year Awards (2018) -------------------------------------------------------------- Male Fighter of the Year: Daniel Cormier Runner-ups: Khabib Nurmagomedov, Gegard Mousasi, Aung La Nsang, Alexander Gustafsson Last year was a rough one for Daniel ‘DC’ Cormier in 2017 he famously went through the whole debacle with Jon Jones at UFC 214 suffering his first knockout loss and losing his championship he summed up what most fans feelings were at the time of his biggest televised failure, “when you lose both fights there is no rivalry”. But when Jon failed his post-fight drug test Cormier’s 2nd loss to Jones was overturned to a no-contest and he was reinstated as Champion. But his chin had finally been cracked and major holes in his game had been exposed by Jones once again with the dark cold of Jon Jones over Cormier's head some speculate he could very well already be mentally checked out from the sport; he still to this day considers the 2nd Jon Jones fight a loss on his record. You’d be forgiven to think Cormier was on the decline and on his way out of the sport to start his 2018 he’d get a pretty one-sided 2nd round TKO win over the dangerous kickboxing knockout artist Volkan Oezdemir to defend his Light-Heavyweight title, in his 2nd fight of 2018 he would not only get the most iconic win of his career but in UFC history becoming the 2nd ever double-champion in UFC history by knocking out Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic in the 1st round who many consider the greatest UFC Heavyweight in the company's history, he finished the year with another one-sided victory defending his newly gained Heavyweight Championship with a 2nd round submission [rear-naked choke] of Derrick Lewis a bout the two both took on short-notice to save UFC 230 for the UFC's yearly Madison Square Garden appearance in November. This made him the first UFC double champ to defend either one of his belts since the previous one Connor McGregor failed to defend both his belts. Now heading into 2019 it’s most likely Cormier will fight either Brock Lesnar or will do battle once again in a rematch with Stipe Miocic. -------------------------------------------------------------- Female Fighter of the Year: Valentina Shevchenko Runner-ups: Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, Tatiana Suarez, Jessica Andrade Valentina Shevchenko had a very successful 2018 in her two fights within the year she started it off with a performance of the night 2nd round submission victory against Julianna Peña in her Flyweight debut then won the vacant Flyweight championship against former Strawweight Champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk with a 5th round guillotine submission becoming the first fighter to submit Jedrzejczyk. She now looks to make her first title defense against the number 1 contender Katlyn Chookagian. -------------------------------------------------------------- International Fighter of the Year: Aung La Nsang Runner-ups: Khabib Nurmagomedov, Kamaru Usman, Israel Adesanya, Gegard Mousasi Who is Aung La Nsang I hear you ask? He is the current One Middleweight and Light-Heavyweight Champion the only double-champion in One’s Champions history he started the year winning One’s Light-Heavyweight title in just 56 seconds of the 1st round with TKO via head kick and punches then added two defenses of his Middleweight title continuing his dominance with two 2nd round TKO finishes in two one-sided fights he dominated in. An accomplished Kickboxer and BJJ artist the Burmese-born American mixed martial artist could very well be the best fighter outside the UFC. -------------------------------------------------------------- Breakthrough Fighter of the Year: Israel Adesanya Runner-ups: A.J. McKee, Anthony Smith, Aaron Pico, Zabit Magomedsharipov Former Kickboxing Champion Israel Adesanya had a stellar 2018 to become the hottest prospect in the Middleweight division currently ranked 7th he started the year with a very close split decision win over fellow prospect Marvin Vettori who many pundits still think can be a future Champion one day. He’d follow it up with two back-to-back performances of the nights with a unanimous decision win against Brad Tavares in his 1st main-event then put on one of the best striking and takedown defense displays to defeat heated rival, Derek Brunson, with a 1st round knockout [knees & punches] at Madison Square Garden. Adesanya has predicted this will be the year he dethrones Middleweight Champion Robert Whittaker demanding a title-fight, which he could get if he can get past Anderson Silva at UFC 234 with another performance of the night victory. -------------------------------------------------------------- Fight of the Year: Dustin Poirier vs. Justin Gaethje (UFC on Fox 29) Runner-ups: Chan Sung Jung vs. Yair Rodríguez (UFC Fight Night 139), Robert Whittaker vs. Yoel Romero 2 (UFC 225), Tony Ferguson vs. Anthony Pettis (UFC 229), Douglas Lima vs. Rory Macdonald (Bellator 192) On paper, Dustin Poirier vs. Justin Gaethje is just the fight for fans who want a technical brawling war to satisfy our MMA needs and it delivered in fact probably over-delivered. Early on Poirier showed some crisp combinations with his hands but Gaethje wasn’t going anywhere as the only direction he knew was forward pressing the action he was able to land some solid hands of his own but from rounds 1 to 3 his best work was with his leg kicks inflicting some serious leg damage to ‘The Diamond’. As the fight entered the championship rounds it seemed advantageous to Gaethje as round 3 the insane amount of damage to Porier’s leg saw ‘The Highlight’ unload with fight-ending shots and if not for a point deduction due to eye pokes would have easily won the 3rd round. To start the 4th however, Dustin Poirier showed his heart by rocking Gaethje with a switch counter left-hand then dropping him a right straight then left-hook combo sent Justin Gaethje to the canvas again then as Poirier continued to blast his opponent with right hands Herb Dean stopped the contest at 33 seconds in round number 4. -------------------------------------------------------------- Knock-out of the Year: Yair Rodríguez vs. Chan Sung Jung RD5 [Elbow] (UFC Fight Night 139) Runner-ups: Brian Ortega vs. Frankie Edgar RD1 [uppercut] (UFC 222), Lyoto Machida vs. Viktor Belfort RD1 [Front-Kick] (UFC 224), Mandel Nallo vs. Carrington Banks RD3 [Knee] (Bellator 207), Mark Hunt vs. Junior dos Santos II (UFC Fight Night 142) All runner-ups were some good knockouts particularly Ortega’s uppercut knockout of Frankie Edgar becoming the 1st man to finish Edgar as well as Derrick Lewis epic come from behind knockout of Alexander Volkov a fight he was getting dominated in until he landed a right-hook bomb in the literal last seconds of the fight. But none of them could compare to the epic once in a lifetime knockout Yair Rodríguez pulled over the insanely durable Korean Zombie in a fight he was losing on the scorecards in the last second of the fight while the two traded leather Yair ducked under the advancing Chan Sung Jung then knocked him out cold with an elbow while coming up knocking him out with 1 second left on the clock. -------------------------------------------------------------- Submission of the Year: Suman Mokhtarian vs. Steven Petterson RD2 [Flying D’arce-choke] (UFC Fight Night 142) Runner-ups: Zabit Magomedsharipov vs. Brandon Davis RD2 [suloev Stretch] (UFC 228), Aljamain Sterling vs. Cody Stamann RD2 [suloev Stretch (UFC 228), Donald Cerrone vs. Mike Perry RD1 [Armbar] (UFC Fight Night 139) Last year Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson won the submission of the year with a flying armbar over Ray Borg at UFC 216, the following year we’d get an upgraded version of that submission as Suman Mokhtarian was able to lock in a D’arce-choke in mid-air after performing a judo throw on Steven Petterson. -------------------------------------------------------------- Event of the Year: UFC 228 Runner-ups: UFC 229, UFC Fight Night 139: Korean Zombie vs. Rodriguez, UFC on Fox: Poirier vs. Gaethje While one of the lower selling pay-per-views of the years those who did tune in were in for a treat starting off with the early prelims veterans Jim Miller and Diego Sanchez picked up impressive wins over two rising prospects. Then two of the only Suloev Stretched Kneebar submissions happened on the card as Zabit Magomedsharipov and Aljamain Sterling got two of the most elite submission fans have ever seen. Tatiana Suarez turned from a prospect to a contender with a one-sided mauling against former Champion Carla Esparza getting a 3rd round TKO. The co-main event saw Jessica Andrade show power never before seen in the Strawweight division with a first-round knockout over Karolina Kowalkiewicz with a powerful right-hook. Finally, Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley got an exciting finish over then-undefeated Darren ‘The Gorilla’ Till after dropping him with a powerful overhand in the 2nd then submitted the Englishmen with a D’arce-choke after some brutal ground n’ pound. -------------------------------------------------------------- Comeback of the Year: Derrick Lewis vs. Alexander Volkov (UFC 229) Runner-ups: Tony Ferguson (injury), Paul Craig vs. Magomed Ankalaev (UFC Fight Night 127), Claudio Silva vs. Nordine Tabel (UFC Fight Night 130) Tony Ferguson's return from injury with a win in a fight of the year contender with Anthony Pettis is a very feel-good story but this award was a lock for ‘The Black Beast’ Derrick Lewis who pretty much lost every second of his fight against Alexander Volkov but in the last dying seconds of the fight Lewis landed a nuclear right-hook that put the Russian down then some of the most ruthless ground n’ pound in recent years put Volkov lights out. -------------------------------------------------------------- Upset of the Year: Henry Cejudo vs. Demetrious Johnson II (UFC 227) Runner-ups: Alexander Gustafsson vs. Jon Jones II (UFC 232), Alexander Hernandez vs. Beneil Dariush (UFC 222), Khalil Rountree Jr. vs. Gokhan Saki (UFC 226), Jodie Esquibel vs. Shana Dodson (UFC Fight Night 142) Back in 2016 at UFC 197 then UFC Flyweight Champion Demetrious finished challenger Henry Cejudo in just under 2 minutes in the 1st round via TKO [knees & punches]. Two years passed since they last fought Johnson would break the UFC record for most consecutive title-defenses with 11 and Cejudo bounced back with impressive wins over Wilson Reis and Sergio Pettis that would earn him a rematch against the at the time number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world. During their rematch, however, it would be a completely different fight in a very entertaining chess match Cejduo the Olympic gold wrestler would be able to incorporate a very smart game-plan mixing his gameplan up this time being able to implement his high-pressure Olympic level wrestling and karate base striking to get a slim split decision win over Demetrious Johnson. --------------------------------------------------------------

Main-Card Welterweight Bout: Matt Hughes (185 lbs) vs. Murilo Bustamante (185 lbs) Heavyweight Bout: Dan Severn (250 lbs) vs. Tank Abbott (265 lbs) Welterweight Bout: Royce Gracie (185 lbs) vs. Makoto Takimoto (185 lbs) Heavyweight Bout: Don Frye (245 lbs) vs. Wes Sims (260 lbs) Lightweight Bout: Roger Huerta (165 lbs) vs. Yusuke Endo (165 lbs) Welterweight Bout: Chael Sonnen (185 lbs) vs. Jorge Santiago (185 lbs) Preliminary Card Lightweight Bout: Eddie Alvarez (165 lbs) vs. Duane Ludwig (165 lbs) Heavyweight Bout: Ben Rothwell (260 lbs) vs. Jeff Monson (235 lbs) Middleweight Bout: Matt Lindland (205 lbs) vs. Alexander Shlemenko (205 lbs) Lightweight Bout: Yves Edwards (165 lbs) vs. Antonio McKee (165 lbs) Middleweight Bout: James Lee (205 lbs) vs. Cyrille Diabate (205 lbs) Welterweight Bout: Dan Hornbuckle (185 lbs) vs. Josh Burkman (170 lbs)

Thank you very much, with this thread having a huge emphasis on trash talk I've been trying to get every fighter and or MMA pundit to actually sound like their real-life selfs. Plus I'm subscribed to Sonnen's Youtube channel and watched plenty of compilation videos of his best trash talk so I had some pretty good reference

Main-Card Predictions: W BW: Bethe CORREIA vs. Joselyne EDWARDS HW: Junior DOS SANTOS vs. Ben ROTHWELL HW: Matt MITRIONE vs. Daniel OMIELANCZUK HW Title & Tournament SF: Alexander ROMANOV vs. Sergey SPIVAK LW Title: Gregor GILLESPIE vs. Renato CARNEIRO

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="rodrigoviolim" data-cite="rodrigoviolim" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="52737" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Controversial this main event, I think that if it was so controversial there could be a triology I think it would be the most logical.<p> </p><p> Cyborg was undoubtedly the favorite, not surprising her victory.</p><p> </p><p> Now I thought that Arlovski, even with his experience, would be defeated by Willis. What a victory for "Pitbull"</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:center;"><p></p><div style="margin-left:25px;">A trilogy probably is the best route, even with the controversial stoppage which I don't have a strong opinion on. Jon is still one of the greatest MMA fighters ever and probably deserves an immediate rematch for that reason alone despite him being finished in the 1st it was still a pretty competitive 1 round fight. Especially since there is no other clear contender at the moment in the Light-Heavyweight division although Corey Anderson is calling for his title-shot. As long as there are no positive post-fight drug test results a trilogy fight could be set-up for June or July. </div><p></p><div style="margin-left:25px;"> </div><p></p><div style="margin-left:25px;"> Even with Gustafsson finishing Jones I was way more shocked that Arlovski was able to just run straight through Willis. Thought Willis would land just one clean shot to end it quickly but instead Arlovski put on a masterclass.</div></div><p></p>

<p></p><div style="text-align:center;"><img alt="Wbm3irk.png" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/Wbm3irk.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><p> </p><p> <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline;"><span style="font-size:36px;">January Week 1 (2019) UFC Rankings</span></span></strong></p><p> <strong><span style="font-size:36px;">--------------------------------------------------------------</span></strong><img alt="POz8nNL.png" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/POz8nNL.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> <strong><span style="font-size:36px;">--------------------------------------------------------------</span></strong><img alt="IWDRUha.png" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/IWDRUha.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> <strong><span style="font-size:36px;">--------------------------------------------------------------</span></strong><img alt="NcJOqZT.png" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/NcJOqZT.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> <strong><span style="font-size:36px;">--------------------------------------------------------------</span></strong></p><p> <img alt="eb9b5PE.png" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/eb9b5PE.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p></div><p></p><p></p>