MMA/UFC Discussion Thread MMA • Page 542

I can’t tell if Usman will try to go after GSP’s record or if he’ll be the type to retire on top sooner rather than later.

He has some fun matchups left and I like how active he’s been, but it does feel like he’s getting to the bottom of the barrel. Before Woodley was removed from the rankings, Usman had beaten 6 out of the top 10.

 

What’s very interesting about Usman, despite it being very common for most other dominant champs, is that switching classes doesn’t seem to be an interest or option.

He’s heavy and imposing with most of the 170 guys, no lightweights (outside of Conor very recently) ever call him out or try to move up since he’s been champ (outside of Pettis who’s no longer in the UFC and it didn’t work well for him), but also Usman shows no interest in fighting middleweights or trying to face Izzy. So I think it’s quite possible, if anyone had a positive looking chance at catching GSP’s record, it’s him. I knocked his striking game a bit before but I think he closed the case for that argument with his stellar KO of Masvidal. He definitely can get caught though which we saw with Burns, and has some really wild haymakers as we saw in the Masvidal fight and that in my eyes is enough to think Wonderboy could be his best, current challenge.

 

believe me, I'd love nothing more than for Wonderboy to beat him

 

He's done it to everyone in his UFC career and is rapidly improving his striking too. I'd be very surprised if Wonderboy stays up if Kamaru wants to take him down. To me, Kamaru feels a lot like Khabib once he beat Johnson and took off like a rocket.

Maybe Wonderboy starches him, or Colby gets him out of there, but it just feels like we're watching something special with Usman.

I do believe he has a genuine friendship with Izzy, which is probably part of the reason he doesn't talk about going up.

 

Card has been okay, but I’m pretty excited for this main event. Could be a quick one or 25 minutes of striking.

 

The thing on Jiri's head.....

 

Omg he’s demolishing Dom. No way Dom takes 4 more rounds of that. Jiri is a problem for the division.

 

Some brutal punches from both fighters here

 

WWWWOOOOWWW.

 

FUCK

 

That's a classic UFC fight right there

 

That elbow right into the face - ughghghg

 

Dom was trying to fight back the ocean on that one. Jiri is a problem.

 

Holy shit that fight. Jiri just doesn’t know how to make a fight easy on himself, does he? lol he gets the job done eventually but he throws himself right into the fire to get there.

Dom was just starting to look like he was putting enough damage on Jiri to slow him down a step, but somehow the dude just goes crazy the second he gets back to his feet. Unreal.

 

Jan/Jiri is going to be one hell of a fight.

 

My gut tells me that Jan is a tough fight for Jiri. He’s just hard for people to figure out, and Jiri can’t be as hittable as his last two fights if he’s up against that Polish power. Haha. But you never know. Jan has lost to lesser opponents and it would be great to see the belt change hands to a younger, exciting prospect.

 

Eating punches seems to really be a part of Jiri’s game plan every fight if you watch his old ones. Steps into range, throws second but always lands harder and always following up with an uppercut or hook causing his opponent to step back probably 90% of the time. It happens too often with him to be a coincidence.

Somebody tweeted it’s very reminiscent of prime time cucuy and they’re not wrong.

 

Lets hope old man Glover doesn’t prevent us from seeing Jan/Jiri.

I think Jiri is too wild for Jan and would get finished. But the wild factor is intriguing enough for me to think Jiri has a shot.

 

Jiri stats after this fight

• ⁠28 wins
• ⁠27 finishes
• ⁠25 knockouts
• ⁠21 first round finishes
• ⁠22-1-1 record since June 2013

 

I totally forgot about Glover. I could see them doing Jan/Glover and Jiri/Rakic or Jan/Jiri and Glover/Rakic. I prefer the latter.

 

So when are we getting Lewis vs Ngannou 2??

 

Maybe Lewis vs. Gane first? He looked really impressive vs Rozenstruik.

 

doubt they make Lewis fight anyone else first

 

Yeah, plus Gane is already fighting Volkov.

 

Ngannou vs Lewis 2 will likely be announced for the late summer/fall soon on one of the coming ppv’s.


Unless somehow Jones still fits into the picture? Been talking a lot on Twitter to Francis.