MMA/UFC Discussion Thread MMA • Page 91

Has cyborg/holm started? Debating ordering it

 

Nope. Just about to. Just stream it bruh.

 

Khabib deserves the title shot. And I think he’d beat Conor. Only guy I can say that about.

 

I think Ferguson can beat anyone including Khabib and Conor. They're all three so good though, I don't think I'd pick any of them 100% of the time (although I would lean towards Khabib).

You know the UFC is in a strange place when you have a 25-0, 8-UFC-fight win streak contender coming in wrecking everyone and also have an interim champ who is on a record 10-fight win streak.....while your actual champ only has one division win and is doing boxing.

 

Do you see Conor fighting in the UFC again? I really don’t

 

Damnit.

Conor wants no part of Tony or Khabib. Light work for either of them.

 

I think Khabib will run through Ferguson and then call our Conor again. At that point he won’t be able to run anymore. He can’t blatantly run from it.

 

He can, and he will.

 

Submission of the Year
- Mighty Mouse's arm bar. No question.

Knockout of the Year
- Edson Barboza jumping knee KO of Dariush. Clean, technical, and he made the perfect read off of Baneil doing the same combination over and over.

Fight of the Year
- I guess I'll go with Gaethje vs. Johnson.

Fighter of the Year
- I'm going to go with Whittaker. He had dominant wins over Jacare AND Romero and basically got promoted to champion. All of the fuckery with the Middleweight title and the fact that his wins were so early in the year make it easy to overlook him.

Biggest Story of the Year
- I'm going to be broad with this one and go with "Money Fights". With Conor taking the boxing match with Floyd, GSP's return, TJ calling out Mighty Mouse, Nate Diaz going on hiatus, Woodley practically begging for any big money fight he could get, many more fighters jumping ship to Bellator...the trend I noticed the most was fighters realizing their worth and subsequently holding up the divisions (for better or worse). That's why guys like Max, Tony, and Robert shined this year; they would fight anyone they could get.

Breakout Star of 2018
- I think a lot of these guys will jump in popularity (Rose, Tony, Khabib) but the obvious choice is Francis Ngannou. His name has has already increased in popularity exponentially in the last month, so I think the UFC is going to really push him and bet on him beating Stipe. I'm personally leaning towards Stipe winning, but I think the stars are aligning for Francis to become a star.

 

Knockout of the Year is definitely Ngannou vs Overeem. His consciousness was uppercut into a different dimension.

 

I admittedly didn't give it to him out of sheer bias. Heavyweight KOs are great but they are kind of a given, for me. If you get touched at that weight class, you're probably going out. Plus, Reem has been cracked so many times and then fought extra wild on top of that. It was a recipe for a bad KO. haha.

That said, I wouldn't argue with a single person that claims that's KOTY.

 

It's hard for me to recall all the KO's of this year, but it clearly sticks out because it's relatively recent and the power behind it was astronomical. His fight with Stipe is my most anticipated for this year right now.

 

I'm agreeing with what Ariel Helwani said: this is the most interesting HW title match up since JDS/Cain 1. Honestly hoping we get multiple fights out of this one.

 

Joe R also did on his pod too with Shaub.

 

Submission of the Year
- Mighty Mouse's arm bar

Knockout of the Year
- Ngannou on Overeem

Fight of the Year
- Oliviera v I forget. Was on the TUF 26 finale card/wkend

Fighter of the Year
- Rob Whittaker. Just beating Mighty Mouse and Holloway

Biggest Story of the Year
- I didn’t care for it til the trash talk world tour but prob Mac v May

Breakout Star of 2018
- Ngannou, Rose, Whittaker, RDA at 170

 

Cowboy Oliveira vs. Yancy Meideros was my runner-up for sure. Funny how they matched up Meideros with the other Cowboy immediately after.

 

FS2 just replayed Conor-Nate 2. That was such a sick fight. I doubt it happens, but I’d love for Conor to defend against Khabib/Tony and then do the trilogy fight.

 

Speaking of Khabib, Jimmy Smith said something that really put in perspective just how good Khabib really is. Even like five years ago, top level wrestlers absolutely dominated and made people look helpless, but since then, the game has changed and people have been able to prepare for that style. It's been a while since we've seen people lose from lay-n-pray or getting held down and beaten up.

Khabib STILL does that to even the best people. He's one of the few aside from maybe Maia and Askren who can still pull off that style.

 

I'd pay for Khabib v Askren. That'd be a clinic.

 

Any combo of Askren, Khabib and Maia would be pretty awesome. I'd throw in Jake Shields too since he actually out grappled Maia and was super competitive with Askren in training.

 

JRE? Great episode that jimmy smith one

 

I'd be weirdly OK if Shields decided he just wanted to run in the grappling circuit. Same with Maia, but to a lesser degree. Former pros like Shields, Faber, etc. can be the ones to really elevate grappling to another level.

 

Then whymakeTonyInterimChamp

Then again, DC is his teammate. Not far-fetched to think UFC is doing him a solid and sending him there to watch a teammate.

 

I really don't doubt anything they do anymore. We've gotten to the point now where they don't even pretend to not be solely entertainment, so whatever the "biggest" fight is, that's what they're going to make. That said, I think it's really funny how McGregor didn't even fight in the sport in the last year, and he's still calling the shots and is all anyone cares about. Like, multiple divisions are still waiting on his next move.